Strike Out the Strikers    

               “Hollywood” has always seemed to be a world away from the rest of us that are still in tune with real life and normalcy. Especially during the pandemic, when all kinds of celebrities were hopping on the high horse to preach to us normal people to make questionable decisions, they seemed as out of touch as ever. To this writer, the Writer’s Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes are a sign that they keep drifting farther and farther away from reality. From New York to Los Angeles, these people are showing the madness and greed within their industry.

               First of all, these two strikes have been going on for 4 and 2 months respectively. With that time period, the strikers must be fairly well off enough to be okay not working. Which seems counter intuitive, as part of the reasons for the strikes is to negotiate better compensation from streaming services and to restrict the use of artificial intelligence in writing and production. Which, on the face of it, seem like reasonable requests. There should probably be some good discussions going on about those two issues. It shouldn’t be a big enough issue that they try to completely stop the TV and movie industry.

               The other side of this is how the couple of folks who are trying to keep working, whether they need to or want to, are getting bullied by the rest of the unions as well as groups outside of those unions. Drew Barrymore and Bill Maher, among others, have both recently announced that they would start working again, without replacing the writers on strike or their elements of the shows, and have both decided against it. These folks have other people who are not in the unions that work on their shows, but can not try to get them paid because of pressure from the strikes. Drew Barrymore was even dropped as a host for the National Book Awards because of the strike.

               At the end of the day, SAG-AFTRA represents around 160,000 professionals and the Writer’s Guild 11,500. The ability to find a deal that pleases everyone has got to be very nearly impossible. How many people will actually benefit from negotiations out of the 170,000+ represented? How many of those are actually suffering because they aren’t as well off as their more famous or successful peers? There has to be a better way to function.

               At the end of the day, one can stay with the unions, and hope for the best. This writer is under the impression that these giant unions and giant singular trade associations may not be great for business. Sure, there may not be much alternative when historically the industry has always been controlled by behind-the-scenes special interest groups operating in various shades of legality. That shouldn’t stop the people involved with saying “Maybe this isn’t a great idea anymore.” And I think whoever can pioneer the split or breakdown of these groups would eventually serve as the inspiration for a great movie one day.

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/09/18/bill-maher-reverses-course-pauses-hbo-show-due-to-writers-strike/?sh=540961e36b26

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_SAG-AFTRA_strike

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_of_Motion_Picture_and_Television_Producers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Writers_Guild_of_America_strike

Trump on Top

Once again, despite 90% of the country having moved on from 2020, the remaining few are doing their best to keep Donald Trump in everyone’s minds. The 45th President was booked in some jail in Georgia for the 4th criminal case levied against the President in 5 months. And once again, millions of people all over the country sighed and said “Really?”.

I’m not going to go into the details of this indictment besides saying that the charges seem like the farthest grasp at straws out of all of the accusations so far. Trump will be fighting against what seems to be a weak case that I don’t think will stick. Just like the last few times this happened, Trump will be walking away and the accusers will look like the fools at the table.

Considering the election in 2024, my way-too-early prediction is that Trump will win this one. Every year since he’s left office, his enemies have dragged him back in the spotlight. This has become a seemingly weekly event. Since he is in the spotlight, the difference between how he is able to function in mind and body is leaps and bounds better than President Biden and members of Congress like Dianne Feinstein, John Fetterman, and most recently Mitch McConnell. All things considered, one might wonder if his “enemies” are really enemies, after all?

The word “PSYOP” is becoming more and more commonplace as stranger and stranger things happen in America. And usually as these words become commonplace, they lose the reality of their meanings (see racist, Nazi, any kind of -phobic, etc). However, I believe that we are still in the golden window for “PSYOP” and if a PSYOP was occurring to bring Trump back into office, well that would be just grand.

What a wonderful time we live in.

Sources:

https://apnews.com/article/trump-georgia-election-investigation-grand-jury-willis-d39562cedfc60d64948708de1b011ed3

https://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/specialty-careers/special-ops/psychological-operations.html

The Duality of June

               June is widely known as Pride Month these days, which was initially celebrated in 1970. It started off as a week derived from another picketing day in July, and started to change to its current form to remember the Stonewall uprising and continue to advocate for support within and from outside of the gay community. Increasingly, large and small companies across the world are “standing in unison” with the community in many different ways. Pride month continues to grow.

               I never realized that Pride month was as old as it was. I also keep forgetting that June being dedicated to a cause was already done, and done a lot longer ago.

               June is known as the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which has its roots in devotions from the 12th century and began to evolve to its current form in 1673. Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque was audience to visions of Jesus and communication with Him for over 18 months. In these visions, He explained His love for humanity (something which I believe we all continuously underestimate) and revealed different ways to venerate His Sacred Heart. In 1675, Sister Alacoque began promoting a feast under direction from these visions. In addition, there are 12 promises made by Jesus to those who venerate the Sacred Heart. The promises are:

  1. I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
  2. I will give peace in their families.
  3. I will console them in all their troubles.
  4. I will be their refuge in life and especially in death.
  5. I will abundantly bless all their undertakings.
  6. Sinners shall find in my heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
  7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
  8. Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection.
  9. I will bless those places wherein the image of my Sacred Heart shall be exposed and venerated.
  10. I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.
  11. Persons who propagate this devotion shall have their names eternally written in my heart.
  12. In the excess of the mercy of my heart, I promise you that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on the first Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance: they will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments; and my heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour.

I’ve always been one more partial to tradition than modern inventions. The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is much older than I believed. A tradition almost 400 years old certainly must have a strong foundation. These days, we have large groups with big voices who are making a show of pandering to the LGBT community in poor ways. Take the Los Angeles Dodgers, for example. At the end of the day, there is already a celebration for a person who wants us all exactly as He created us. I’d say it’s a much better way to devote our time to in June.

Sources:

https://www.loc.gov/ghe/cascade/index.html?appid=90dcc35abb714a24914c68c9654adb67

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251588/why-is-june-the-month-of-the-sacred-heart-of-jesus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Heart

https://www.zieglers.com/blog/the-12-promises-with-devotion-to-the-most-sacred-heart-of-jesus/

Legislature and Black Bear Season

               It’s that wonderful time of year when our state government is gathering in Baton Rouge to talk a bunch and get little done. We can usually count on one or two bills, amendments, or line items that come out of left field. Every now and then, they do something good as well. Their progress (or lack thereof) can be tracked on the Louisiana State Legislature website.

               If you need to spend time doing something small while waking up, the LA State Legislature website has daily schedules of what is happening and what is being discussed. One of the few good things I’ll say about the internet is that there are fewer secrets in the governments. Not “zero” secrets, just fewer. You can see in real time what is up for discussion today. And today, Thursday May 18, I noticed that there is a resolution being discussed to ask the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to introduce a black bear hunting season.

               Now our most famous bear here in Louisiana has been growing out of a precarious position in the last several years. The Louisiana black bear was considered “Threatened” from 1992-2016. The bear population is now considered viable for the next 100 years (assuming proper and appropriate management and conservation practices). The LDWF website has a lot of information about the black bear, the species recovery plan, and more.

               I think this would be an interesting and welcome change for hunters. Hunting is a great way to connect with the outdoors and gain understanding and respect of the animals we chase. Conservation success stories show that a proper understanding of the past and reasonable limitations in the present and future can keep animal populations alive and thriving. Most hunters I know use most or all of the animals they harvest, which would continue to hold true with bears.

               Let’s make it happen, LA Legislature! I’ve always wanted a bearskin rug.

Sources:

https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/subhome/louisiana-black-bear

https://legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1320242

https://legis.la.gov/legis/Agenda.aspx?c=H&g=BODY

https://legis.la.gov/legis/home.aspx

Rising From the Swamp: New Cajuns Mascot?

               When you think of a mascot, what comes to mind? Is it a buck-toothed beaver in a ball cap at a gas station? Or maybe a large green flightless bird? What about a snarky tree? All of these and more are the correct answers. Mascots are fun and terrifying at the same time, and every school needs one.

The lack of a mascot for the last several years at the University of Louisiana has been heartbreaking. I have been holding out hope that Cayenne, our great pepper, would be brought back in action but such has not happened. The University made a step in the right direction bringing back the Cajun Chicken during this past basketball season, but it is not enough. However, one alum may have the answer.

               Cory St. Ewart, a good and creative Cajun alumnus, spent much time and effort creating what he believes is a viable option for a new spirit leader. Albineaux “Al” Boudreaux is an enthusiastic white alligator full of Cajun Pride. He is also a collaborative work in progress, as this design is not yet final. The other big push is to get the University to notice and be open to exploring this option. I feel like coming to a conclusive final design for Albineaux would be easier than getting the school on board, unfortunately.

               The University needs to pick a direction and move no matter what. After the basketball season we just had, the fun in having the Cajun Chicken come back, our football program coming back and all of the other great teams we have, it would be a huge missed opportunity to continue going without a mascot. If it can’t be Cayenne, let it be Albineaux. Or whatever the final character ends up being. We need somebody!

               Please find a link in the sources to Cory’s Twitter account with descriptions of his idea, as well as contact info for some of the departments at UL who would be involved with the decision-making process.

Sources:

https://www.si.com/college/stanford/football/stanford-suspends-beloved-tree-mascot-for-antics-taking-place-during-arizona-state-game

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillie_Phanatic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cayenne_(mascot)

Highlighting Womanhood

               Women’s History Month is wrapping up next week, and what month it was! We have been able to celebrate women for everything they do to keep our world moving. Our society would never be able to survive without them—which may seem like a very obvious concept on the face of it.

               Recently, the world has gone so far into tolerating and advocating for different minority demographics that the idea of being a woman is no longer special. Our society is ignoring the rules which were set by a higher power, and saying if you feel like a woman you can be a woman. Not only is this completely insane to those of us who subscribe to the Bayou Observant brand of common sense, but surely has to be insulting to real women.

               Take the Hershey chocolate company’s International Women’s Day campaign. One of the ads featured a man who calls himself a “transwoman” as one of their main faces of the campaign. My legitimate knee-jerk reaction when I first saw that was “I think we have people for that part already.” Women are being passed over by men acting as women to represent and celebrate women.

               It’s the wildest thing and never ends. More and more stories are coming out about men switching to women’s sports and blowing out competition, while stories of women earning starting positions in men sports barely scratches the surface. Why is one group being celebrated by many and the other by a few?

               Drew Barrymore did something strange on her TV show recently. In a conversation with a man named Dylan Mulvaney (who made a big celebration of his first year as a girl recently), she gets to her knees and then moves to the floor talking to this fellow about his journey. Vice President Kamala Harris added to the farce surrounding this person by sending them a letter congratulating him on his “first year of girlhood.” A note on that: Dylan Mulvaney is 26 years old. Saying this past year was his first year of girlhood instead of womanhood is very strange.

               Men who make these changes and try to take a bigger part of their life over the line, such as using women’s facilities, playing women sports, etc., are putting themselves in a position to be the best “woman” they can be without dealing with the real aspect of being a woman—the possibility of childbirth and everything that goes along with it. If I was a woman, and have seen men become “Woman of the Year” or become champions in women’s sports or be the face of a pro-women campaign, I would be mad as all get out.

               Part of the problem is celebrities, prominent business owners, and the government keeping bowing to the demands in ways that encourage the desire for more by the pro-trans crowd. Whenever they have been given an inch, they have tried to take a mile. Seeing everything going on should bring a new wave of feminism! And I hope that day comes soon.

               The sexes were meant to be different. It is really a sad thing that some people do not feel “right” in their God-given bodies. If there is a perfect solution to that, I don’t know, but what is happening now surely cannot be it.  

Sources:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11886801/Keeping-busy-Kamala-VP-sends-trans-activist-Dylan-Mulvaney-one-year-birthday-note.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/hershey-international-womens-day-campaign-trans-woman-chocolate-candy-bars-2023-3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Mulvaney

https://womenshistorymonth.gov/about/

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2023-03-14/drew-barrymore-dylan-mulvaney-transgender-online-hate

https://www.sctimes.com/in-depth/news/2023/03/19/leigh-finke-minnesota-usa-today-women-year/69662214007/

February Check In

               Hey there, everybody. Strange things are happening among us, most of it starting last year but becoming widely known so far this year. I never would have thought that there would be so much to talk about so early in the year, but I’ve been very much surprised. Let’s talk about it.

               ChatGPT, a program created by OpenAI (who also created an artistic AI program), has become a hit since it launched last November. This program is not quite the first of its kind but it seems (to this writer) to be the most advanced. However, it has rules and biases that were input by the creators. The rules can be circumvented, as several experiments making their way across the internet shows. As far as biases go, those have also been brought out through experimentation. Having a robot with ideological leanings is weird all by itself, if you ask me. This combination, plus the paranoia of the system outsmarting the rules itself and cloning itself makes me wonder: do we really need AI around?

               Celebrities are continually making the case for removing them from their social statures. Sam Smith was invited to perform at the Grammy’s and decided to perform a song called “Unholy” in a very unholy way. This satanic performance was done by Smith and a trans performer named Kim Petras. Unfortunately, these folks have a large misunderstanding of religion. The show was also apparently sponsored by Pfizer, fanning the flames of massive conspiracy theories everywhere.

               Online it seems that all across the country, people continue to bend over backwards for folks that identify as “trans”. A Williams Institute study published in 2022 estimates that 0.6% of the American population above the age of 13 identify as transgender. But it seems like trans people need a major representation or consideration in an increasing amount—whether that is sports, media, unnecessary accommodations in public places—which is strange. Social media, which is not necessarily a bastion of truth, shows many teachers and schools talking about sexual identities and advertising for drag shows to elementary and middle school aged children. We probably shouldn’t be talking about this sort of stuff to kids who are mostly prepubescent.

               Lately, we’ve had four different flying objects come into United States airspace. Chinese and (possibly) extraterrestrial intelligence devices are coming take a look at our country. But depending on where they look, redeeming aspects of life down here may be hard to find. On the other hand, now that we have a United States Space Force hopefully we can figure out where these objects are coming from (besides China).

               But Mardi Gras is finally here, and we can really devote time and energy to things better than the inevitable robot uprising. I am personally looking forward to the “Chinese Balloons” that will hopefully take part in some of our parades!

Sources:

Click to access Trans-Pop-Update-Jun-2022.pdf

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/new-study-estimates-16-million-us-identify-transgender-2022-06-10/

https://variety.com/2023/music/news/sam-smith-kim-petras-unholy-grammys-1235510990/

https://www.businessinsider.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-chat-gpt-2023-1

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64620064

Year in Review: Looking Back at 2022

               We are now in that sweet spot of optimism and new beginnings that comes around every year. The gym’s going to be packed for a couple of weeks, maybe some folks are taking time away from social media, and others are reflecting on 2022 and how to make positive changes. I’d like to take the opportunity to reflect on 2022 as well—whether or not changes will be inspired is still to be determined.

               Bayou Observant kicked off 2022 with commentary on the omicron strain of COVID. The lunacy was still spreading back then, and New Orleans was bringing back a mask mandate. Hospitals and other healthcare services were firing employees who don’t agree with forced vaccinations and then complaining about their lack of workers. As a result, I am starting to feel more and more called to trust homeopathic cures and medicine women over proper hospitals. Bunch of jokers.

               Russia started messing around with Ukraine, causing tons of problems for folks across the world (and especially Ukraine). While Ukraine has bravely stood up and resisted the Russians, some of the first effects that reached us here in the United States was gas prices.

               Florida came out with their “Don’t Say Gay” bill which sounds scary but is extremely reasonable in practice, as it prohibited teachers from discussing sexuality with children who aren’t even 10 years old. Of course, the woke crowd freaked out and made fools of themselves. This cast of all-stars included workers from the Walt Disney Company staging a walk-out and ESPN reporters saying vague human-rights speaking points that were completely out of touch with the reality of the bill. These folks really do great work at discrediting anything “woke”.

               Roe v. Wade was FINALLY overturned, scoring an actual win for human rights. With that decision came protests that were misguided and poorly planned. Whenever the pro-life/pro-choice discussion comes up, the same arguments come up from the pro-choice side. These are weak arguments that rely on a tiny minority to justify the majority—a majority which discredits the pro-choice side as a whole.

               Following the poor protests mentioned above came another round of poor protests that includes many of the same crowd and a bold organization who is trying to take on the entire Catholic Church. This was sparked with a local Catholic high school clarifying their position on members of the LGB community who are active students. The organization immediately came out with ridiculous requests, though to be fair I believe they have amended their original aims to be a little more reasonable. It’s still a misguided organization, which is a shame because they have shown themselves to be people of action and could probably make real change in the community if their efforts were redirected or restructured.

               President Biden announced a wild student debt forgiveness plan, which is a nice idea but poor in practice. The plan has yet to be implemented, however, and is currently sitting in the Supreme Court.

               Russia kept messing around and giving us a good look at why domestic oil production and refining is extremely important. Europe was hit by massive surges on the price of energy as Russia choked supply. Just a reminder, we have the tools and resources to avoid a similar situation, and we need to be using them.

               The brains behind the company Patagonia showed the world why capitalism is the way to go, by turning ownership of his company to a trust in order to have it operate in the same spirit he started it in. This will help his overall mission of continuing to run charities and social programs to help those less fortunate. The important message: citizens can make a difference in the lives of others and no one needs the government to force them to do so.

               We saw the rise of “quiet quitting” and looked at the kind of folks who actually take part. Certainly not anyone we want on our team.

               The State of Louisiana elected and re-elected various members of our local, state, and national representatives and civil servants. No big surprises in the outcomes, but we did have a fair share of characters running.

               2022 wrapped up with the first several installments of the Twitter Files, which was entertaining then and still is now as each latest installment is published. They gave us great reasons to continue not trusting the government and social media, but especially in times like an election cycle or a pandemic.

               2023 is already off to a hot start! I’m looking forward to continue providing Common Sense Commentary on the good, the bad, the ugly, and the strange that happens in our world.

2023 Kick Off    

               Any one want to take a guess at how long it took 2023 to get just as weird as the last couple of years? First month? Week?

               Incredibly, Louisiana laws that went into effect on January 1 were able to kickstart the strangeness. One of these laws require pornographic websites to verify the age of Louisiana visitors by way of government issued ID or even public and private records from various sources. These procedures are being set up with the intent to keep minors off of these websites.

               On one hand, the government overreach is not good at all. This is surely going to be a huge privacy issue. On the other hand, any one who gets asked for their driver’s license to visit a seedy website and willingly provides that information is walking right into whatever privacy issue is going to be there. It’s like placing your wallet on the sidewalk in New Orleans—no one should touch it unless they are returning it to you, but I would never count on that being the case unless it comes back a few bills or a credit card lighter and you did it to yourself. The government shouldn’t be building lists of who goes to what site, but if you are showing them your ID to get in then why wouldn’t they use that info?

               If this law stays on the books, then let’s hope it slows traffic to those sites by minors and adults alike. If it doesn’t, then maybe the states and the websites can work out a better way to vet the visitors trying to access those sites. Keeping my fingers crossed that a snowball effect will have TikTok and Instagram and the other sites all shut down or see drastically less traffic as well.

               I can’t wait to see what the rest of this year will bring us!

Sources:

https://www.pcmag.com/news/louisiana-law-requires-id-to-view-porn

https://legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1289498

The Twitter Files

               Elon Musk is going wild and it’s fantastic. Exposing the craziness behind Twitter in the last several years—confirming what many people thought was happening anyway—has been a great thing to watch as it unfolds. Bringing transparency to this website that has gotten so popular and prominent is a great thing for all of us who use it.

               The Twitter Files so far (at the time of this writing, five installments have been published) show how the Twitter leadership played ball with the major political parties (their administrations in government). They discuss censor practices used by the Twitter teams, and how they grew more secure in the lines they were crossing to ultimately ban a sitting US President despite their own rules for doing so.

               We can all see reasonably why these issues are important. The Twitter Files highlighted the Hunter Biden laptop situation, and how that story was hidden. Discussing their blacklists and other mechanisms to hide tweets, topics, and users is also a discomforting thought. Deplatforming President Trump and they way they came to that conclusion is vague at best and just short of outright positioning Twitter to be the left’s platform only. These actions obviously exhibit a new position to an old ethical question: should they allow themselves to censor speech? And if so, should major news networks, governments, celebrities, and other folks of influence utilize the platform?

               Another weird thing is the amount of people who say Elon is causing all kinds of chaos inside Twitter, as if it’s a harmful thing to any individual what Elon is doing with a business he bought. No one should be bothered one bit by what Elon is doing (at least regarding the Twitter Files). But for some reason there have been folks complaining and acting like it’s a personal insult. What an enormous waste of time to feel this way and actually admit to those feelings out loud.

               There will surely be more to come, from Twitter regarding COVID and hopefully from other social medias exposing their own internal corruptions. There a few conclusions we should draw from this and whatever else will come up: firstly, that social media is not a great thing for anybody. Secondly, no one should rely on one social media network or news outlet—rather there should be many sources to confirm stories. Lastly, we should all have a healthy distrust of big businesses and the government, and especially of loud voices online. In my perfect world, this is the perfect beginning for all of the big social medias to start losing their pedestals. Let’s log off, especially for stuff like elections and pandemics.        

Sources: