Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? – The Role of the Citizen in Government

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QuestionIn The Satires, VI, Juvenal poses a question of great importance, “Who will watch the watchmen?”  As more and more dirt on a host of politicians comes to the fore, as China expands its heinous reach in the Pacific Ocean, threatening trade and disrupting lives, as the Russia/Ukraine crisis grows, we, the citizens, are left asking this question.  There is only one answer, we, the citizens of representative governments, are charged with watching the watchmen.  A more critical and cogent point has not presented itself in these writings.

Regularly I write about the findings of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) – Office of Inspector General (VA-OIG).  As a disabled veteran, a person falsely arrested, injured by VA Police Officers, and flagged fallaciously as a “behavioral problem,” I am a watcher of the watchmen and report on the findings.  Unfortunately, the VA has turned both a blind eye and a deaf ear to the VA-OIG and my summarizations of the VA-OIG’s conclusions.  You, the taxpayer, need to know what the government is doing in your name and with your tax dollars.  We, are the watchmen tasked with watching the watcher (elected political officials), who were hired (elected) to scrutinize the government.  Is our role in the direct representative government of this constitutional republic clear?Apathy

Did you know your neighbors sued the Baltimore Public School system for breach of public trust?  For more than 40 years, the Baltimore Public School system has intellectually abused children and misappropriated public funds through forced taxation.  The unelected school district has done this while tax revenues drop precipitously, students cannot read (yet still pass high school graduation), and the neighborhoods in Baltimore become more unsafe.  Illiteracy is directly tied to crime rates, poverty, and helplessness; yet, the school board in Baltimore cannot even be bothered to allow parents the right of school choice.  What is the role of citizens in Baltimore, the same as it is everywhere else; protect children, scrutinize government, elect different leaders, and watch more closely those elected to protect the rights of all citizens.  “Who will watch the watchmen;” you are the watchers of the watchmen, and you are being lulled to sleep!

In our constitutional republic, we have three co-equal branches of government, the executive, the legislative, and the judicial.  President Biden is reported to be in full swing of destroying the power of the judicial.  Recently the world watched aghast while a wholly unqualified person was measured for a position with the Supreme Court, the court of last resort in American Jurisprudence.  President Biden is on record claiming he would nominate the first black woman to the supreme court; after ensuring that two other more qualified women of color were refused nomination earlier in his career.  Do you sense a hypocrite, liar, and charlatan?  The judge nominated cannot tell the difference between a man and a woman, allows sexual predators to have lighter sentences as she legislated from the bench.  Yet, we, the watchers, are expected to believe she is remarkably qualified and uniquely capable of sitting on the Supreme Court.  I have serious reservations, not because she is a woman or a person of color.  My reservations rest solely upon her record as a judge, which I find detestable at best.Patriotism

Everyone is aware, COVID-19 has plagued the world since late 2019, originating in China, and the costs have been exorbitant and extreme.  Only until the Russia/Ukraine crisis came along did the global media find a new story for wall-to-wall, 24/7 coverage like feckless beasts fighting for a bone.  Repeating only for emphasis, “Where has the opposition party been during COVID-19?”  The watchers, every single one, from the mayor to the US House and Senate, went to sleep and allowed bureaucrats to overcome law and common sense to the detriment of every single citizen.  Where did the watchers go, and why did they leave the citizenry to the incautious, ineffectual, inefficacious, and abortive bureaucrats who fired professionals, broke the law without regard, and still are running free?  Liberties, rights, freedoms, were stolen without consideration, and the opposition party was nowhere to be found.  Indeed, “Who will watch the watchmen?”

The Duty of AmericansOn the topic of China, why is Marco Rubio the only member of the US Congress willing to say aloud what the citizenry is wondering?  2020 closed with China owning $1.9 BILLION or roughly 192,000 acres of prime American farmland.  Want to know where those crops grown on American soil go; I bet you can guess they aren’t traveling to US Supermarkets.  China is still buying prime farmland, and nobody in the US House or Senate is willing to listen to farmers, ranchers, and dairymen about how their land is being purchased by China and they run out of business.  Rep. Dan Newhouse was quoted regarding farmland ownership by Chinese investors as a national security issue.  “The current trend in the United States is leading us toward the creation of a Chinese-owned agricultural land monopoly.  There are currently no federal safeguards against the creation of this monopoly.”  In response to Rep. Dan Newhouse, Rep Grace Meng proclaimed, “Can we honestly say that this Amendment, which singles out one country, won’t have repercussions on Asian-Americans across our country?  Let’s include all of our adversaries.”

Who will watch the watchmen?” An honest and fair question.  I agree that no enemy of America should be allowed to own land inside America.  Not that Saudi Arabia is an enemy to America, but it is important to note not just China is purchasing farms and ranchland in America.  Worse, fresh water in California is regularly purchased to grow alfalfa for shipping to the Saudi Kingdom.  California keeps declaring they are in a drought.  The water crisis continues with or without Saudi purchases through the government’s mismanagement of resources, the need for liquid capital to keep the debt wolves away from the door, and the silly environmental laws.  “Who will watch the watchmen; is apt and very important when discussing national security issues, the acquisitions of foreign entities inside America, and the need to meet citizen needs before foreign markets.quote-mans-inhumanity

On the topic of Biden, specifically the Hunter Biden laptop and the shady deals with China, one has to ask about the timing of China’s massive land purchases ramping up.  At the same time, Joey was Vice President, and Hunter was slipping the “Big Man” money.  The Hunter Biden laptop story has been closely followed since October 2020, and the revelations released in the various news outlets on this story leave me appalled, alarmed, and amazed.  I keep asking myself about the timing, why Joey was so valuable an investment, and the answer lies in his access to Obama.  One of the media pundits discussed how Obama and Clinton are tied into the sale of access by Joey, and not all of the financial analysis is completed even now.  Leaves me asking who got paid and why during the Obama presidency?  A careful records review shows China going on a land purchasing spree simultaneously, and more questions for Secretary of State Clinton need to be addressed immediately!  “Who will watch the watchmen?”Beware of Scam Phone Calls and Emails Disguised as Vendors : The New York City District Council ...

Detective 3The US Constitution, in the 10th Amendment, provides all the authority any citizen needs to demand the watchers scrutinize the government and, if required, replace the watchers.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

We, the citizens, own the direct representative government in America, and it is time for those elected to fear the citizenry.  Not because we have become violent, but because we are firing them, electing new representatives, and holding those removed from office accountable for their mismanagement while in elected office.  Our country is being sold out from under our feet by those elected to office, and it is time they are held accountable before the bar of justice.  Our national security is a hiss and an insult to them, all while they become enriched, and their children funnel money, and I am sick to death of seeing this nepotism.  We, the watchers of the watchmen, deserve answers from transparent and speedy investigations that conclude with people wearing distinctive clothing and permanently disgraced.

Knowledge Check!How have the watchmen become millionaires while holding public office?  This single question should be the watch cry of every single citizen in America until they are all held accountable and disgraced.  You deserve better watchers.  Our children deserve better watchers.  The world deserves better representatives of the people, by the people, and for the people.  Remember this in November!

© Copyright 2022 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images.  Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.

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Plastic Words – The Tool of Tyrants and Authoritarians

Detective 4Consider with me the actions of Fauci and the liquid definitions of “Gain of Function” research.  Before Fauci started getting hammered by Senator Rand Paul for funding “Gain of Function” research, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) changed the definition to protect Fauci from the crime of “lying to Congress.”  Consider the other lies, language tricks, and tyrannical actions of Fauci throughout COVID from Feb 2020 to the present (Feb 2022).  Fauci regularly claims he is “consistent” in his approach, even when claiming he lies with noble purposes.

Quoting Uwe Poerksen (1995, p. 6), “… words, they sometimes appear to be a skeleton that displays the structure of the world more clearly than a full ideological presentation. … Words are channels that run ahead of history… they should be questioned constantly.”  Consider this for a moment.  Think of the skeleton, the bone structures that form the fundamental structure of a body.  Words akin to the skeleton or frame allow the ability to communicate an idea, creating the substance of that idea for others to consider.

However, words by themselves, like a rib, an ulna, a hip bone, are merely a structure in a greater body.  Words need the sentence structure to be appropriately organized to communicate with another person adequately.  Why should words be questioned constantly?  Because the use of a word is intentional by those speaking, and if the person speaking is attempting to control others through subterfuge, they will intentionally employ language that sounds nice while hiding their agenda.

Angry Wet ChickenCanada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is employing these exact tactics right now in Ottawa, where the #FreedomConvoy is concerned.  Listen carefully to the words and tone used.  Someone in the media should have asked about the prime minister’s intent when calling peaceful protestors racists, fascists, and other derogatory terms.  Merely uttering those words should have been a warning to every Canadian citizen and media representative that the prime minister has left the reservation and needs to be questioned more thoroughly about his intentions, reasons, and legal footing for taking action and uttering the words he has used.

One example, the prime minister claimed he wanted to build trust with the Canadian People.  Still, all evidence (polls, opinions, and observations) declares the prime minister is vainly struggling to hold onto personal power, not build trust.  How is the prime minister using the terms trust, terrorist, and other words to frame his ideas to better the lives of Canadians?  Since the media is not going to call out the prime minister’s authoritarian actions and words.  In that case, those protesting in Ottawa and at key crossings across the Canadian US borders are justified in peacefully assembling and demanding the government listen and act accordingly.

Recently, in the United States, people who consider themselves to be leaders and influencers gathered and discussed the plight of democracy.  While the event was couched in friendly-sounding narratives, the actual intent of this gathering was to steal rights, liberties, and freedoms, further moving the United States of America under the heel of socialism (communism) for personal power.

?u=http3.bp.blogspot.com-CIl2VSm-mmgTZ0wMvH5UGIAAAAAAAAB20QA9_IiyVhYss1600showme_board3.jpg&f=1&nofb=1Since the fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), democracy has experienced the same fate as the term sexuality, as discussed by Uwe Poerksen (1995, p. 12).  Democracy has “made its appearance as a fixed element, which the reader cannot comprehend.”  Political Science degree holders, media representatives, and tyrannical influencers have twisted the term democracy, plasticizing the term and then stretching it until confusion reigns, chaos flourishes, and the result is theft of thought.  Unfortunately, democracy is but one of a list of thousands of terms regularly plasticized for political gain and the expansion of tyranny.

During President Trump’s run for the presidency and his tenure in the Oval Office, a mental disease was passed around called “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” plasticizing a word while trying to describe the phenomenon of the term “disease” for political gain.  Yet, what did we witness then, which continues today, people choosing to blame President Trump for everything wrong when personal responsibility and confusion of vernacular are central to the problems experienced.Mediocrity Joke

Governor Jerry Brown, California, 1975-1983, in praising Uwe Poerksen’s book, made the following statement.

In the spirit of George Orwell, Poerksen lays bare the tyranny of the small number of words such as ‘development,’ ‘information,’ and ‘strategic plans,’ that now corrupt official thinking and even invade our very consciousness.  His treatment of ‘plastics words’ is careful and chilling.  Study it and wake up.”

George Orwell’s book “1984” sits beside my copy of Uwe Poerksen’s book, “Plastic Words: The Tyranny of a Modular Language,” for a reason.  These books speak to the problem every citizen faces in representative governments, and modular language is the tool used to steal our governments, rights, liberties, and freedoms.  If we do not, in Gov. Brown’s words, “Wake Up!” [emphasis mine] we will lose our governments, our voices, and our children will have to fight for that which we gave away.

Exclamation MarkConsider the following from Uwe Poerksen (1995, p 88-89), where the author speaks of experts acting as functionaries who shape reality through their words.  Compare this to Biden, Trudeau, or any number of other politicians, media talking heads, and so-called “influencers,” and a cold shiver should creep up your spine.

The Expert

    • Silences anyone and everyone who disagrees with them
    • Reforms the everyday world using concepts and vocabulary of the scientific world inappropriately
    • Employs language with a wide radius of application
    • Displaces words from a common understanding
    • Speech is poor in content
    • Speech reduces diversity to a common denominator
    • Disembodies history from the context
    • Transforms words into a social laboratory for experimentation
    • Dispensing truth and moral right and wrong for progressive, backward, regressive, etc.
    • Consistently appearing on the side of enlightenment
    • Claims expertness and employs other experts to pompously fill the social function they supply as more important than everyone and every other problem and issue
    • Calling upon other experts to raise individual prestige
    • Awakens limitless needs
    • Institutionalizes themselves interjecting their expertise into every problem
    • Creates compound words as flexible instruments to manufacture new reality models
    • Castigates history as useless, impertinent, and useless in the present tense
    • Claims international appeal and anyone denying is considered out-of-date and out-of-touch
    • Their positions are always new
    • Their language lacks individual voice

Knowledge Check!The list above is not directly quoted but summated.  I am in no way an expert, and Uwe Poerksen wields language like a surgeon wields a scalpel, with precision and exactness.  I admit that my biases and understanding could vary wildly from the author in summating the list above.  I have included this list precisely because it forms a framework for judging for yourselves the media, politicians, lawyers, and others who consider themselves an expert.  My intent is to help you become more aware, awake, and knowledgeable of what is happening, empowering you to judge for yourself who is influencing you through words.

What you do with this information is your choice.  If I have awakened you to the danger around you and me through these abusers, tyrants, and authoritarians, I have done my job.  We, the owners of representative governments, must awake to how and where we are being abused to begin the laborious process of ending the abuse and taking back the reigns of the government.  The first step in recovering from an addiction is to admit we have a problem.  Waking up to the reality there is a problem is a job every citizen of a representative government must make for themselves.Theres more

What will you do now?  I refuse to be a victim of abuse!

© Copyright 2022 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images.  Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.

#FreedomConvoys and the Authoritarians

Theres moreLong have I hoped that the government of Justin Trudeau in Canada would have listened and heeded the voices of the truckers, farmers, and citizens of Canada long before writing on this topic.  Unfortunately, Trudeau chooses to be tone-deaf to all voices but the ones in his head and those pouring money into his political coffers.  Trudeau’s craven, cowardly, and corrupted government remains a disgusting and deleterious mark against the history of freedom.  The history books will mark him the “Low-Water Mark” in Canada’s history, as I believe the people of Canada are fed up!  Time will tell.

Unfortunately, Canada’s closest neighbor to the south is in just as poor hands and is acting just as incorrigibly!  Yes, little Joey Biden, I am talking about you!  Using the Department of Homeland Security to quash the American version of the Canadian #FreedomConvoy is so detestable as to rank with Kristallnacht in Fascist Germany!  I do not make this comparison lightly.  Using the government to silence the speech of others is WRONG!

Angry Wet Chicken 2Trudeau, are you listening?  Using the tools (Police Officers) to steal fuel from truckers is the definition of theft and is illegal!  Encouraging those in government, who have always longed to be a Storm Trooper to act in a manner that removes liberty and freedom while threatening the lives and livelihoods of others, is NOT how to govern in any representative government.  Trudeau, Biden, pay close attention; you are authoritarians and have broken the social contract inherent in your ability to govern.  Lacking the authority to govern means your only way to escape is to leave power!

Israel regularly arrests old people who are not wearing masks in the name of “curbing the spread of COVID.”  Australia is still rounding up people and putting them in camps for “public safety during COVID.”  Taxing the unvaccinated, as proposed in Canada, and the vaccine mandates and COVID restrictions in every country is 100% anathema to good order and discipline.  While also being questionable legally and inherently immoral and unethical.  Yet, those in power want to cling to COVID as a “health emergency” to clutch impotently to government powers gotten through coercion and theft.

COVID is only the latest excuse for grabbing power that rightly belongs to the people, but the government lusts after.  While some laws can be drafted to steal that power, other powers must be given to the government to abscond with zeal and self-righteousness.  Consider the following, certainly not an all-inclusive list:

  • Taxes – These are legislated government demands forcing citizens to pay for the privilege of living in a society governed by that government.
  • Private Property – At least in a Constitutional Republic, personal property must be given away.
  • Individual Health Choices – If you live in a representative government with socialized medicine, the government CAN dictate what goes into your body, as you do not have the right to control your health.
  • Individual Health Choices – If you live in one of the few countries remaining without socialized medicine, you retain the right to decide. These governments are working overtime to steal this right from you, using incentives and legislation to remove your choice of governing your health.

Exclamation MarkLet’s say you do not like the vaccine mandates; in a socialized medicine country, the government says, “Tough!  Take the jab!”  Then use the power of Storm Trooper bureaucrats to ensure you do what they demand.  In a non-socialized medicine country, the government is as powerful and refuses to be idle.  As has been witnessed in America, the government continues to employ whatever means necessary to confuse, blind, and sow chaos to win the power to demand you get the jab.  Lusting after power that rightly belongs to the electorate has become a game for the government, and insufficient numbers of people understand what is happening and the long-term effects.  Worse, the enemies of freedom and liberty already know the long-term consequences and are salivating at the thought of controlling others for personal gain!

Pope Gregory I, around 600AD, provided the capital sins, cardinal sins, also known as the 7-Deadly Sins.  Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride are the specific cardinal sins, whose curative opposites or virtues are: Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice, Prudence, Temperance, and Fortitude.  Why do I believe people are fed up and ready to take action?  All 7-Deadly Sins are in such power in the representative governments that no excuse can justify their continued existence.  While simultaneously, anyone living by the 7-Virtues is castigated, derided, and excluded from power, being demonized and made into the enemy.Tax Burden

History has proved, multiple times, that when governments throw off all virtue and embrace the 7-Deadly Sins, that government is ripe for a hostile takeover.  NO!  In making this observation, I am NOT advocating violence for political purposes.  Let’s be clear; change occurs without violence, sometimes.  I hope for a violent free shift in direction in the global elected representative government crop.  Still, the realist in me has long understood that weak people execute violence to protect what they deem as theirs.  Trudeau and his ilk have already begun beating the drum calling for violence against the truckers assembled in Ottawa, and I hope and pray for a peaceful resolution.  Australia and Israel have executed violence to protect the political pandemic and keep powers stolen.  America is ordering violence against all who stand in opposition as the US Constitution is dismantled for private gain.

How does one know when authoritarians have forsaken all virtue?

Observing the 7-Deadly Sins is easy; observing virtue is a lot harder, but at the same time is easy, and a simple test exists to help further the observation.  Look at their fruits; look at the results of the decisions, and judge for yourself the consequences.  When was the last time a political leader admitted they were wrong, apologized, and then worked tirelessly to reverse course publicly?  Did it take a judicial decision to initiate the process of repentance, or was the repentance process begun through self-realization?  If a judge ordered repentance and an adjusting of course, did the person act immediately or slow walk, or worse, refuse to honor the judicial decision?

I Don't Want to Hear Another Non-Apology | Foluke's African SkiesIn my youth, I watched the Monica Lewinsky debacle with abhorrence!  Watching President Bill Clinton use an apology, which wasn’t an apology, for political course correction and stave off impeachment proceedings sickened me!  How many times has the same non-apology tactic worked?  Let’s ask Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Governors Newsome, Grisham, and Whitmer, as well as countless others who have made non-apologies.  Are the fruits of the 7-Deadly Sins and 7-Virtues apparent; maybe not; let’s use another example.

Currently, the United States is suffering under inflation not experienced in 40-years.  While I fully believe Biden and his executive branch despots are to blame, not all of the blame rests upon Biden and his team of despots.  The US Senate and especially the US House of Representatives are just as responsible and deserve to suffer from the fruits of their poor decisions.  Under the US Constitution, the President is not in charge of the budget; the US House of Representatives controls the American Government’s checkbook.  Speaker Pelosi is more responsible for the inflationary disaster in America, which is having a trickle-down effect globally, and thinks she can continue to skate because, in her opinion, “Americans are ignorant.”  Look at the fruits of the government, and you will find all 7-Deadly Sins, but little to none of the 7-Virtues.

Let’s take a moment to revisit the 7-Virtues, which stand in stark and absolute opposition to the 7-Deadly Sins.

    • Faith – is defined as an action that inspires firm belief based upon confidence in authority and veracity (truth) of another, rather than upon one’s knowledge, reason, or judgment.
    • Hope – is defined as possessing confidence (trust) that the action taken is possible and there is an expectation of succeeding, eventually.
    • Charity – is all about actions that help others in need without caring for a reward.
    • Justice – is a concept that encapsulates moral rightness (decency), conforming to a moral code from a desire, not from a third-party executing authority. Governing self is the first step in putting more justice into the world.
    • Prudence – Acting without regard for self-interest, seeking knowledge from others, exercising caution and wisdom in practical matters, executing common sense in planning for the future, and being reserved in exercising authority.
    • Temperance – is all about how one conducts their business in moderation, with self-restraint and care.
    • Fortitude – is centered around strength of mind allowing a person to endure pain, adversity, and chastisement with courage and conviction.

Chivalric Virtues - renarts-designThose who uphold and honor the 7-Virtues in their lives do not plasticize words.  For example calling peaceful citizens gathered to importune the government for redress, terrorists, racists, and fascists.  Leaders who desire to be honored and kept in office do not spend the public’s money like drunken sailors on a 3-day port visit.  Elected representatives embody the 7-Virtues reflecting their commitment to living as an honor of the trust the public has invested in them.  These leaders do not take bribes, sell access, and do not execute a lavish lifestyle paid for by big donors to the detriment of the electorate electing them to office.

Look carefully at the leaders elected and ask yourself, are they embodying the 7-Virtues or the 7-Deadly Sins?  If they honor, through living the 7-Virtues, you are better off economically, and your children are not saddled by debt.  However, the opposite is true if those political leaders embody the 7-Deadly Sins, which means there is nothing but trouble, pain, chaos, and the division imposed by the leaders to pit neighbor against neighbor, all leading to destruction.

Knowledge Check!How do we change the government?  First, we, the citizens, embody the 7-Virtues, living better, learning, and choosing a different path.  Second, we change how and who we elect to office.  Third, we change the laws to protect our society from the vagrants, tyrants, and societal abusers to keep them from elected office: we, the citizens, control and own the government.  We must remember this fact and then teach the elected representatives to respect us!

© Copyright 2022 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images.  Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.

Wants vs. Needs – Problems vs. Inconvenience

?u=http2.bp.blogspot.com-BKwWSo412lIUngTRkmSYwIAAAAAAAARd8GqxDhvovmRgs1600salestaxcartoon.jpg&f=1&nofb=1I recently encountered a highly emotionally driven individual who claimed to have a problem but could not identify whether they were experiencing a problem or inconvenience.  This person wanted but could not identify a need.  The heaped emotional hyperbole only added fuel to the fires of hostility.  From this encounter, this article is born.

Wants

Wants are things we wish for, desire strongly, and do almost anything to acquire.  First-world nations generally want material things, and in many parts of the world, food is wished-for in sufficient quantity to silence the hunger pains and provide a good night’s sleep.  Is coffee a want or a need?

Needs

Needs are items that are necessary, indispensable, and required for survival.  Many people claim they need coffee in the morning to “start their day,” but the need is the caffeine, not the coffee.  Coffee is a want as the preferred method for obtaining caffeine.  Lacking coffee, is this a problem or inconvenience?

Problems

Problems cause difficulties, presenting a puzzle requiring solving, people who are difficult to deal with, and personal matters requiring action, not merely words, represent problems.  For example, lacking coffee, the problem becomes how do I obtain sufficient caffeine to begin my day—a problem requiring solving to feel empowered to act.  A want, masquerading as a need, presenting as a problem, is merely an inconvenience in truth.

Inconvenience

Inconvenience is rooted in the word inconvenient, and something inconvenient is merely an annoyance or a disruption in the normal routine.  Walking to the coffee pot and not finding sufficient grounds to make a cup of coffee is an inconvenience as it disrupts a plan.

A simple analogy, but adequate to the purpose of helping to identify the differences between each item under investigation.  Wants are desires embodied; not getting those wants is inconvenient; plotting for a way to obtain that which is desired presents a problem or a puzzle for solving but cannot ever elevate a want to a need.  Needs are more critical problems requiring solving; not obtaining a need is not inconvenient; it is imperative, which if not resolved always leads to a negative consequence.

Exclamation MarkFor example, the Daily Signal is reporting, sourced from the Media Research Center, that the ratio for censoring by big tech is 53 to 1 Republicans to Democrats.  Does this present a problem or an inconvenience?  Is less censorship a want for Republicans or more censorship a need for Democrats?  Some people will erroneously claim, “It depends upon which side of the political aisle you reside.”

Why is this an erroneous claim; for the simple fact that censorship is a denial of liberty and freedom.  When one person is denied their rights and freedoms for political gain, everyone loses all their freedoms and liberties.  The Second Amendment cannot stand with the First Amendment.  Theft of the First Amendment for one person is a roadmap to stealing the First Amendment rights of all people.  The Third and Fourth Amendments to the US Constitution fall apart by removing the First and Second Amendments.  The legal framework of the Rule of Law is forever destroyed when the US Bill of Rights can be controlled by political operators for personal or political gain.  The importance of understanding the interconnectedness of the Rule of Law with morals, values, and the social contract cannot be understated.

What is the Social Contract?

The social contract is an agreement that all capable people living together in a society form with each other, declaring they will abide by a specific set of behaviors, ideals, and shared beliefs codified into law, which undergirds the “social fabric” of a society.  The social contract of the United States of America is found in the US Constitution and the US Bill of Rights, the first amendments to the US Constitution.  By choosing to be labeled an American, we agree to honor the rights of all people to pursue life, liberty, and happiness, so long as their pursuit does not inhibit another person from pursuing the same.President Adams

We understand that the pursuits of life, liberty, and happiness are a path, a journey, not a destination, and not a guarantee.  We respect those who achieve and emulate them to reach the same potential destination.  We Americans possess hope, born of struggle, that we can achieve liberty and happiness fairly and realize the consequences are ours alone to enjoy or curse based upon our decisions individually.

Let me pause here; currently in K-12 education, witnessed in Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Seattle, and many other locations, the public education system is intentionally abusing children.  Stealing their potential by refusing to teach them, and in so doing is raising generations of people who will struggle their entire lives in captivity and ignorance.  These actions by teachers, administrators, and elected political officials are intentional and stand in direct opposition to the social contract.  However, the children, and their parents, retain the ability to choose a different path, even if it means trying to learn how to read, write, and figure independent from the school abuse.  Individual agency to pursue life, liberty, and happiness is the first and quintessential aspect of being an American!

Here’s the rub…

Despite government intervention, the government arbitrarily picks for political gain and personal advancement (through cheating) those which achieve without effort, and Americans inherently despise this aspect of government.  Consider the vitriol thrown at Hunter Biden, who has achieved, lived beyond his means, and benefitted from his family’s political connections.  The Pelosi’s, Kennedy’s, Clinton’s, Obama’s, Romney’s, and so many others who have achieved, living off the backs of pioneers, but have not contributed, breaks the social contract.  Theft, lying, and breach of honor in America are crimes, but when the criminals escape justice, this breeds contempt, copy cats, and empowers others into chasing the same path to a modicum of success through devious and nefarious means—rendering the social contract impotent, sundering any hope of success without government intervention, and placing millions of Americans into captivity.quote-mans-inhumanity

Look at the disgust America has for Big Technology firms.  While these firms have achieved and pioneered success, they have turned monopolistic, oligarchical, and thwarted their competitors, all for personal gain.  How are these companies pursuing keeping their gains?  They are employing the government authority.  They are using mergers to acquire intellectual property to protect their revenues, abusing the power of law, all of which harms competition.  This also breaks the social contract, sundering the social fabric of America and destroying the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness of others.

The want of power is breeding a need for correction in America by the oppressed.  Look at the rising feelings of freedom as expressed in the #FreedomConvoy.  Other examples include the protests against the interminable government mandates, the continued spreading of information deemed by the government, and Big Tech as “misinformation.”  Presenting us with a question is this a problem or inconvenience; the answer is PROBLEM!  This means there is a solution to the problem and a path to fix the rips in the social fabric and mend the social contract in America.

What is the solution?

With a nod to The Lorax and Dr. Seuss:

“I, the Once-ler, felt sad
as I watched them all go.
BUT…
business is business!
And business must grow
regardless of crummies in tummies, you know.

I meant no harm.  I most truly did not.
But I had to grow bigger.  So bigger I got.
I biggered my factory.  I biggered my roads.
I biggered my wagons.  I biggered the loads
of the Thneeds, I shipped out.  I was shipping them forth
to the South!  To the East!  To the West!  To the North!
I went right on biggering… selling more Thneeds.
And I biggered by money, which everyone needs.”

Return to the Rule of Law, smaller government, and stricter adherence to a moral code.  Some will claim, also erroneously, this is not the solution or is only a solution in a “perfect” “utopian” world.  However, I counter with the following, “What has brought America to this precipice?”  The 1880s saw the rise of bureaucrats restricting the ability to read, as a means of controlling the population, born of fear, and as racist an action as enslaving people!  Post-WWI, repeated more severely Post-WWII, the rise in government as a means of “recovering from war.”

Father Mulcahy 4Trace through history, and every time the government has undertaken a path to grow, the industrial complex has more closely tied itself to biggering government as a path to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.  However, the growth of government has come at the expense of the electorate through increased laws and legislation, bureaucratic mandate, and larger standing police organizations.  All this while simultaneously reducing the quality of education, restricting the power to read, write, and figure, and calling the advances “progress.”  Restrictions on competition, merging to form larger military-industrial organizations, and increased costs have shut out citizens from politics, thus capturing the reigns of government to keep feeding the growing beast.

Recently Biden has begun pounding the war drums to escape the financial problems, social unrest, and other problems at home.  He is sending congressional representatives out to try and support protecting the national borders of Ukraine while removing and destroying the borders of the USA.  Why take this path of war and destruction; because it has always worked previously.  If Biden can get America focused on war, he can keep biggering the government without scrutiny and with the tacit approval of the electorate.

?u=http3.bp.blogspot.com-CIl2VSm-mmgTZ0wMvH5UGIAAAAAAAAB20QA9_IiyVhYss1600showme_board3.jpg&f=1&nofb=1Look at history, especially recent history, and you will find that the most nefarious, liberty stealing regulations, legislation, and bureaucratic mandates have come while America was focused on 9/11, Afghanistan, Iran, ISIS, and the list goes on and on.  The hellaciously destructive and misnamed “Patriot Act” was born from 9/11, when had we merely focused on enforcing the laws already on the books, Americans inside America would not have lost all constitutional rights within their own country.  The Patriot Act is but one example of the problems created by confusing wants and needs, mistaking a problem for an inconvenience, and using the cudgel of government authority to force behavior changes in the citizenry.

The 9/11 commission found hundreds of places where the bureaucrats enforcing government failed, but were any of these people held accountable?  Were any bureaucrats forced from their cushy jobs and made to pay restitution?  Of course not, because this would have made the American government at fault as a co-conspirator and facilitator of 9/11’s terror attacks.  So, the solution was to avoid culpability, shirk responsibility, and appease the bureaucrats at the expense of all citizens.Gravy Train

COVID-19 is another example of runaway liberty theft, rights reduction, and smoke and mirror charades.  The government seized power from the people, biggered itself, and broke the laws for convenience while the electorate was focused elsewhere.  How’s that bigger government working for you?  Are you tired of being authoritatively ruled, restricted in your pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness?  Do you understand the problem?  If so, what do you need?

COVID-19 is a viral disease, humanity has survived a lot of viral diseases, yet COVID is somehow different, or so we have been told.  Since COVID kills less than .01%, the response has to be the complete and total destruction of the Rule of Law, the restriction of rights, liberties, and the destruction of all we have held dear.  But none of those mandating will answer why or how COVID is different from any other viral disease humanity has survived.

The government needs to bigger itself, or it dies.  In competition with a bigger government, the citizens need to be “… secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects.”  The party winning in this competition must be the citizen, and the citizen must staunchly defend all encroachment to their privacy, rights, freedoms, and liberties under the Rule of Law.  We, the American Citizens, deserve a smaller and less expensive government; this is not a problem or inconvenience; it is a necessity!

LinkedIn ImageIf you believe in the potential of all to pursue life, liberty, and happiness, join me!  If you prefer the thumb of government and the boot of oppression, find me when you tire of being abused, cheated, used as cannon fodder for illicit wars, and robbed from, so a select few government employees and elected representatives can live off your sweat and tears.  This is the stark reality we are living in right now!  We must choose a side and then stand.  As Father Mulchay said, “You can’t miss when you have good material.”  We, those who stand fast in our liberty, cannot miss, we have good material (the US Constitution), and we can win the day!

© Copyright 2022 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images.  Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.

Do we Understand this Principle?

The First Amendment to the US Constitution claims the following:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

What is the principle?  “Prohibiting the free exercise, or abridging speech, through the use of government mandates.”  The government is not supposed to be picking winners (acceptable speech) and losers (unacceptable speech).  More to the point, neither shall ANY private business, non-profit, or non-governmental organizations employ force of coercion to limit speech.  Yet, what do we see daily, government and business organizations stealing liberty through limiting speech.The Duty of Americans

Consider the recent actions of GoFundMe, stealing funds collected for one group and trying to disburse them to other more “accepted” charities.  What was the group being stolen from; the Freedom Convey in Ottawa.  Who is being stole from; small people trying to do everything they can do support an end to government mandates.  Who forced GoFundMe to steal; nobody!  Sure, there was political pressure by politicians, but there was no law broken.  Yet, theft was planned and executed until sufficient opposing pressure was applied.

Stealing money donated is denying a voice to the donors who willingly gave money to a cause.  Where else do we see speech being limited, social media; especially, LinkedIn and Facebook, with Twitter a close third and competing heavily.  Daily on LinkedIn people report being put into social media jail for sharing information, making comments, and trying to learn about topics the social media companies find “objectionable,” “misinformation,” or merely not politically acceptable to the company owners.

Since we hear the term so often, what is “misinformation?”  According to Webster, misinformation is any information considered incorrect.  What is being labeled as misinformation most commonly, how masks are ineffective against viral diseases.  Recently I read the back of a box of N95 (Chinese KN95) masks (effective filtration to filter haze and dust), the manufacturer claims the mask is not effective against viruses.  But, if you share this information online, it is considered “misinformation.”  Thus, either the manufacturer is providing misinformation by manufacturing masks that cannot stop a virus, or those forcing mask mandates are passing misinformation.

https://c1.neweggimages.com/ProductImage/87-879-016-Z21.jpg

Misinformation continues to be “the topic” for controlling information.  Why does information need controlled?  Consider the vitamin industry, tons of information are available, not all of the information has been approved by government agencies and bureaucrats, but the vitamin industry continues to make money and people benefit from taking vitamins.  Yet, according to the website Psychology Today quotes the Surgeon General on the following:

Information requires processes for representing, collecting, storing, retrieving, evaluating, transforming, sending, and receiving.”

People supporting this opinion are hell bent on stealing freedom and removing freedom from other people.  Information does not need a process for representation, unless someone has something to hide or a devious purpose in conveying the information.  The Surgeon General report goes on to relate the following as the definition of misinformation:

Information that is false, inaccurate, or misleading according to the best available evidence at the time.”

For example, returning to the mask mandates.  The manufacturer by law, according to Federal Regulations on labeling, must report what their masks can and cannot do.  Yet, if you publish the manufacturer’s label on social media, you can have your social media accounts suspended for publishing misinformation, but who decides what is and is not misinformation?https://preview.redd.it/5xyh8158lwz41.jpg?auto=webp&s=47e5a93fb6f8c34d4ca6ae5ae65050c55934a927

Who enforces something as “misinformation?”  No one should, but too many bureaucrats think they can limit speech and no elected official is stepping up to put the bureaucrats out of the freedom limiting business.  Thus, we must ask ourselves, why aren’t elected officials stepping up to protect the citizens, because they do not deserve to be elected officials.  Do you think this is too tough; I do not!  When the elected officials refuse to do their jobs and protect the citizen from the liberty theft from bureaucrats, then it is time for new elected officials and smaller government!

https://mljbbgrch8lc.i.optimole.com/Qdpzlqg-3RbbAFac/w:auto/h:auto/q:65/https://bestgifts.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/e268.jpgWho granted Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter authority and power as the police of misinformation?  The politicians did, by default and political power, by refusing to stand up for liberty, freedom, and the US Constitution they are duty sworn to uphold, has opened the abuse of the electorate.  Consider the following statement from the Surgeon General:

I am urging all Americans to help slow the spread of health misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.  Health misinformation is a serious threat to public health. It can cause confusion, sow mistrust, harm people’s health, and undermine public health efforts. Limiting the spread of health misinformation is a moral and civic imperative that will require a whole-of-society effort.”

Getting back to vitamins, the government makes claims, the vitamin manufacturers make claims, and the public is left the freedom and liberty to decide for themselves.  Why is COVID-19 any different?  Here is another pandemic, polio.

My wife, as a pre-teen (late 1940s early 1950s) contracted polio in Geneva, Ohio along with 14 or 15 classmates.  My mother-in-law refused the doctor’s diagnosis claiming my wife would have to live in an iron lung and remain handicapped for the rest of her life.  My mother-in-law went out, researched some treatments some Nuns in India/Asia were using to treat polio patients, and went to work convincing other parents and practicing the treatments on her sick daughter.  Of the children who listened to my mother-in-law, every single one has led a productive life, did not have their leg muscles split, did not live in an iron lung, and have survived polio.  One parent listened and followed the doctor’s advice, and the health policies of the county, that child had her leg muscles split, lived in an iron lung, and died early.

Polio has a significantly higher lethality rate than COVID-19 (50% vs. .01%), yet if a person does not listen and adhere to a doctor’s and bureaucrats every word as gospel for COVID, then that person is automatically considered bad, rebelling, and if they communicate online, they spread misinformation.  Yet, the best doctors know they do not know everything and will admit this openly.  Why should bureaucrats and scientists be given a free pass to say whatever they concoct, while everyone else is told to stop spreading misinformation?  By the way, masks are ineffective against Polio as well.

HSE warning over KN95 face masks

Is the problem more apparent?  Is the principle clear?  When speech can be selected as a winner or loser using the authoritative power of the government, then those selecting what speech is allowed or not are committing an illegal action.  It is 100% unconstitutional to regulate speech!  Regardless of online, in person, by letter, etc. it is illegal and unethical no matter how the regulations are wrapped in empathetic language.

Review again the mandate for controlling language from the Surgeon General.  Trading information on vitamins is health information and nobody is trying to restrict vitamins, but the Federal Government who wants more people to use pills from Big Pharmaceutical companies than natural remedies.  Slowly but surely discussing vitamins have had to onboard more and more disclaimers, but still the discussion continues.  America has reached a critical point, do we lay down our rights, liberties, and freedoms, or do we stand up and demand the government cease?

I choose to stand! Join me?

© Copyright 2022 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images.  Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.

Xfinity/Comcast – Poor Customer Experience

Xfinity/Comcast
Comcast Headquarters
Comcast Center 1701 JFK Blvd.
Philadelphia, PA
19103

Dr. M. Dave Salisbury

28 January 2022

RE: Xfinity – Retail Outlet, Customer Experiences, Las Cruces, NM.

To whom it may concern:

Denied service ever since May 2021 because I cannot wear a mask.  Discriminated against because I cannot wear a mask.  Twice I have received partial and biased service, I was forced to wait outside, where the representative did not have a computer on wheels, iPad/Kindle, and the representative worked inside.  The representatives could not answer basic questions and ran like scared rabbits inside at the earliest opportunity.  The rest of the experiences since May 2021 have been at best, described as passive hostility, discriminatory, and detestable.

As the VA letter discusses, I have a breathing condition that precludes my ability to wear a mask.  My documentation was refused the four previous attempts to have service rendered, even though this is a HIPAA violation.  As a consultant for helping businesses improve customer relations, customer interactions, and drive profitable solutions in operations, the actions of the retail outlet at 2750 Mall Dr Building 300, Unit 340 Las Cruces, NM ranks as worse than the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).  The managers in this location have had to work extra hard to hit this remarkably significant level of customer disservice!

In discussing the Xfinity retail personnel with multiple people, both those working for Xfinity/Comcast and non-employees, the management team is where the problem lies.  The employee churn, all management.  The customer dissatisfaction, all management.  The lack of respect for Xfinity/Comcast in Las Cruces, all the management at this retail location.  But don’t take my word for it.  I’m merely reporting my observations and experiences.

The bitter cherry on the crap sundae served by this retail location occurred 27 January 2022.  After being informed by four different call center representatives that my equipment MUST [emphasis theirs] be returned to the retail location, I arrived at the store and after trying to conduct business was told I am trespassing.  All while trying to conduct legal business during business hours, having the police called, and escorted off property.  If I treated my customers, as I have been treated by Xfinity at this retail location, I would be out of business, homeless, and unemployable.

When I had to turn in my modem (residential to business transfer of accounts; December 2021), the manager of this location refused to offer any solutions but demand I leave.  When trying to return the home security equipment, the manager refused to create a customer centric solution, tried to steal the equipment, and acted like I was trying to make his entire business sick with COVID.  Taking my equipment and refusing to provide a receipt, opens me to being liable for the equipment long after I have left the facility.  Taking something, refusing to change ownership, is theft.

Discrimination is contemptible and I do not care why or how it is being perpetrated.  No where on the mask required signs is a discussion about “the right to refuse service.”  No where on the signs, or in the policies effected by management in this location allow for individual circumstances and personal health concerns.  This is beyond contemptible and is behavior reserved for the lowest class of bad management practices.  When competition comes, I plan to change providers.  Feel free to take this letter however you choose, but as a professional, as an organizational psychologist, and as a consultant, the managers at this retail location representing Xfinity/Comcast, make me wonder about how other customers are being treated, and I shudder!

Sincerely,

Dave Salisbury Ph.D./MBA
Disabled Veteran

Customer Service – The Story of Customer Service Failure!

At the very core, customer service is a transactional relationship between people, people representing a need, and people hired to represent a company that can fill the need.  The variables in the transaction are how the transaction occurs, the speed, cost in resources including money and time, and the business processes for compliance and business need.  Customer service is always valued by those seeking the transaction, not the company representatives involved.  When poor customer service is determined, customers will report the problem vocally and with emphasis!!!

My Internet connectivity began having significant latency, packet delivery, and reliability problems at the start of November.  I called the Internet Service Provider (ISP; Xfinity) after spending considerable time texting with a technical support representative to no avail.  I scheduled technicians to come to my house, also to no avail.  The following is the account of ineptitude, hatred of customers, and the wasting of my resources by the ISP.  As a side note, the problem is still not resolved sufficiently to handle VoIP, data transfer, and maintain reliable connectivity.  My modem has been changed, my service plan changed, my cabling has been inspected and replaced, and the problem remains at the end of December 2021.

A critical part of this story, the technicians spoken to in-person and online have been outstanding and provided excellent services, even though the problem remains.  However, the same cannot be said of those providing phone service on the account, and especially cannot be reported from the retail outlet.  Report card on the un-service received by the account representatives includes, but is not limited to:

  • Being hung up on
  • A representative who cannot pronounce their words and offered nothing but hostility
  • Unnecessarily transferred
  • Improper information provided
  • Not active listening
  • Not listening

The retail outlet, however, is exceedingly worse, with behaviors to include, but not limited to:

  • Refusing to service the customer
  • Denying customers the ability to transact business
  • Refusing the agent tools to conduct business
  • Poor information
  • Needlessly making customers wait

The excuse offered for such deplorable and ignominious behavior; the customer must wear a mask.  Even after reporting the customer could not wear a mask, the customer was refused service, denied their transaction, and threatened with arrest for not complying with mask mandates.  Seriously, in four different attempts to conduct business, the mask service refusal was used twice, twice the agent was sent to service the customer outside the retail establishment without any hope of accessing the customer’s data, and produced information that was inconsistent, at best, with that received from the telephonic agents.

Leading to a genuine question, during periods of government mandates and in extremis situations, whose job is it to prepare customer service agents to service customer transactions, the customer seeking a transaction, or the business leaders?  In extremis situations arise, almost daily, this is part of business, but how you the business leader choose to treat customers is remembered forever!  If I treated my customers, employer, and fellow employees as Xfinity has treated them, I would not be able to keep a job or have customers in my business.  Yet, too often, since 2020 and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies have placed the onerous upon the customer seeking a transaction to facilitate the atmosphere and environment conducive to completing the transaction.

I admit, fully, that Xfinity, before and during the pandemic, in the three or four different states I have been unfortunate enough to be forced into becoming a customer, has had a consistent problem with customer service.  I am not singling out the experiences in Las Cruces, NM, as poor.  The entire company has a poor to terrible reputation where customer service is concerned; thus, signaling that the problem is organization-wide and leadership-centered.

Leaving the question, asked by Myron Tribus, as applicable to Xfinity/Comcast, “Is the enterprise a money-pump, or is it to be a source of good to society?”  From observation, money-pump is the only answer deducible from customers’ incredibly inhumane and disgustingly decrepit treatment.  Yes, I include employees in the customer label, for I have spoken to several employees who have left the organization in utter disgust with nothing but contempt for the leadership.

Long have I wondered if the leaders of Xfinity have ever called their customer service department, suffering through the automated answering service.  The automated answering system time to reach an agent has grown significantly and become less valuable.  Then, when you finally get to a live person, you run the risk of being hurried off the phone, hung up on, provided information sending you to a retail outlet, or heaven forbid you to have to call back multiple times in a day.  The customer is left asking about the leadership hatred for customers.

John Pinette used a line, “My cherub-like demeanor,” to discuss how he felt standing in lines, especially when a customer would ask, “How small is a small?”  Most customers can forgive a problem requiring in-depth review or additional time; most customers can even forgive a harried agent for being less than perfect.  I know of no customer who is willing to take the garbage thrown by Xfinity as “customer service” and remain pleasant and kind.  After multiple years of Xfinity’s poor customer experience with unreasonable prices, and inept employees, my “cherub-like demeanor” has evaporated!  I cannot tell which is worse, the DMV, the VA, AT&T, or Xfinity, where incredibly useless customer service is concerned.

Please note, replacements for your services are actively being pursued.  I will not tolerate longer the abuse of the customer!  I will no longer be the customer waiting for improvements!  I will not be ignored or denied service when I pay such extortionate rates and receive deplorable (at best) service and support!  To all the Xfinity customers, evaluate the price to value equation for yourself, and if you agree, join me in seeking out the competition!

© Copyright 2021 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images.  Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.

The Kool-Aid Crowd and COVID

Bobblehead DollSince 2000, the US Federal Government has spent billions, if not hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to improve labels and then “educate” people into reading labels.  The laws passed have forced private businesses to spend hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars in changing labeling on packaging and products to comply.  Go to any mask package and you will find similar:Mask Packaging

Recently I sought service at a Xfinity retail store and was denied service because I cannot wear a mask.  During this outing, I received severely dirty and threatening looks and attitudes from shoppers in a Walmart, all because I cannot wear a mask.  People are becoming violent, just as the government has demanded, to anyone not toeing the government COVID line, and this behavior reminded me of the Jim Jones religious cult.

President Biden is expected to force more people to listen to him threaten and try to scare Americans into getting vaccinated.  The mayors of Boston, Chicago, and New York continue to double down on activities that have not worked since February 2020.  The governors of California, New Mexico, Michigan, and others, continue to use powers not available to them in the name of “public health emergency.”  More mask mandates, more vaccination orders, and more “green passes” to exist.  Here’s the rub, how many of these solutions have worked; honestly, look at the data from February 2020 to December 2021, and tell me how many people were saved wearing masks.

People saved from these government freedom theft mandates, I guarantee, the number is NOT statistically significant!  How do I know; Australia, essentially a large island, has the strictest policies, and Omicron was still able to get onto the island.  How do I know; COVID infected children (school age K-12) have the same risks as uninfected children.  Who is the resource for this information, The New York Times!

Real numbers, Israel has one of the highest vaccinations and boosted populations on the globe; guess what, they also have the highest spike in Omicron infections!  Europe, socialized medicine, high vaccination and boosted populations, where the Omicron and Delta variants spiked infection rates.  Think of this for a moment, populations forced by government to vaccinate, and they are still passing around COVID infections, which is precisely viral science in action!

Peer reviewed researchers in the virus infection community have shown this life cycle of viral infections repeatedly since scientists began writing down what they do.  Vaccinated people pass around strains of viral mutation, which then infect other vaccinated people, until the virus mutates itself to death.  Please, do not believe me, look up this science for yourself, and you will come to a similar conclusion.  At the end of the day the viral infection community of scientists are plotting the death of COVID as a viral infection, but government elected leaders, and the bureaucrats powering the echo chamber of political thinking, will not give up the power theft committed since Feb 2020.

Jim Jones and the Kool-Aid cult suicide has been mocked, used as case studies in group think, and represents a dark time in human psychology and the abuse of religious thinking and adherence.  Guess what, the insanity of COVID-19 is as silly, irresponsible, and dangerous as Jim Jones and his cyanide-laced grape-flavored Kool-Aid.  Senator Manchin nailed it, government is beating the “living crap” out of every citizen, the beatings are intensified by the state government, and the county and city governments.  Yet, little Joey is going to continue to threaten, cajole, beat, and denigrate people using COVID as the excuse.

Did you get the vaccination just to appease government and end the beatings?  Are you able to unmask and live your life without COVID mandates, just because you got vaccinated?  I have friends here in NM who have masked, vaccinated, and done everything the government has demanded of them to avoid the government beatings.  They caught COVID, the whole family was quarantined, and extended family still caught COVID from my friends, once the quarantine was lifted, they gathered, and the extended, vaccinated, masked family caught COVID.  The repetition of this story is exhausting and provides clear proof the government beatings, mandates, and exercised powers are NOT helping but hurting, and make the Jim Jones Kool-Aid episode even more appropriate.

The science from South Africa, where Omicron variant was identified, reports the COVID virus stays in the nose and mouth region.  Guess what, so does the common cold virus, and there has NEVER been an attempt to vaccinate against the ever changing common cold.  We, the citizens of representative government, are the owners of government and it is time we take the reigns and stop the Kool-Aid massacre.  Government should never hold the power over an individual citizen’s health, welfare, or ability to pursue happiness.  Yet, this is exactly what the government bureaucrats want you to give to the government to stop COVID.  Since February 2020, has this worked?  Answer this question as well; how much faster would herd immunity have been achieved had government done what it has done for every other Chinese virus, which is nothing?

Look at recent history, Asian Flu, Hong Kong Flu, Bird Flu A (H5N1), Swine Flu, SARS, etc. the government did nothing.  NO shutdowns, no mandates, no economic stimulus, no job losses for those not vaccinating, no Big Pharma money pump for vaccinations of dubious nature, and the world did not end.  Did some people die; yes.  Did some people get sick; yes.  But herd immunity was faster and more effective than any action the government could think would have worked.  Dear reader, to you I ask, “Are you better off for the government intervention on COVID-19?”  I know my answer, but to you I leave the question and the answer.

Now, flash forward 10-years in your mind.  The real death toll of government intervention is still being hidden, but the deaths from a dubious vaccine are scaring populations silly.  When do we ask ourselves if the forced government vaccinations are the cause for infertility, for economic destruction, and for the massacre of human dreams and lives?  Who do we blame after the money is spent and the vaccines have irretrievably destroyed wide swaths of populations?  When vaccinated children whose risk from COVID remains minimal are sick, twisted with pain, or are dying in droves with reduced life expectancies, but the government continues to defend “doing something in the face of COVID.”

If the Jim Jones religious cult comparison is not appropriate now, when will it be appropriate and concerning to every single citizen across the globe?  Do you know the phrase “Judas Goat?”  The Judas Goat is the goat that befriends sheep, and then leads them to their doom in a slaughterhouse.  Belief in the omni-powerful government is a myth and a Judas Goat, yet to not blindly follow the government mandates is to be refused employment (nurses, firefighters, doctors, police officers, etc.) to be denied service (anyone unable to wear a mask), to be refused legal protection, and be castigated as heretic.  Jim Jones’ believers did similarly to everyone not believing, and they are all dead!  Those who are skeptical of the Judas Goat, are also dead, but their fellow sheep herd went first.

I admit, from day one (October-November 2019) when I first began reading of a new viral infection killing people in China, I have been skeptical, concerned, and boring the daylights out of my wife with the reports, the history, the potential ramifications of this new viral infection.  But in my most fevered nightmares I never thought the government could assume and amass so much power without citizens becoming rebellious.  Flash forward two-years, three arrests for not being able to physically wear a mask, fines, and economical losses incalculable, and my horror is just starting, when I see the vaccinated kids, the shutdown schools, the lost opportunities and potential, and the “hits just keep coming” from government and the bureaucrats.

?u=http3.bp.blogspot.com-CIl2VSm-mmgTZ0wMvH5UGIAAAAAAAAB20QA9_IiyVhYss1600showme_board3.jpg&f=1&nofb=1China is using biological warfare against the world; but the Chinese government is to blame, not the people of China.  I repeat, only for emphasis, do the research yourself.  Make your own decisions.  Unlike the government, Big Tech, and the bureaucrats hungry for power, I trust you to use your freedom and powers of critical thinking.  We might not reach the exact same conclusions, but we can still respect each other, and being better informed from reputable sources improves us both.  Political party be hanged, we are humans first and we need each other.  Please, do not go quietly into that dark night like the sheep entering a slaughterhouse, following the Judas Goat who has skipped aside to miss the consequences.

© Copyright 2021 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images.  Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.

Houston; We Have A Problem! – The Texas Complaint!

COMPLAINT REGISTERED AGAINST:
Practitioners Name: Dr. Aamr Herekar M.D

PERSON REGISTERING COMPLAINT:
First Name: Michael David “Dave”
Last Name: Salisbury

DETAILS OF COMPLAINT:
I possess a note from my doctor, a VA Primary Care Provider, written to my employer on VA Letterhead with a wet signature, declaring my inability to wear a mask.  Advanced Neurology Epilepsy & Sleep Center (ANESC), Dr. Aamr A. Herekar M.D., and the office staff were presented with the same letter and hassled me before both appointments for not wearing a mask.  At the second appointment, the commando secretary became hostile, argumentative, and a nuisance over the mask issue, even after I complied with putting on a face shield.  If, as a provider, you reserve the right to refuse service, why did you agree to see me in the first place?  This simple question is a mark of the deplorably low and execrable service I received in this office!

Over Facebook Messenger (23 September 2021), I was informed that I would be invited to find a different provider “due to my refusal to wear a mask.”  Except, I never refused to wear a mask, I physically CANNOT safely wear a mask for health reasons.  I have several breathing problems that begin with asthma, low-lung volume, and rigid T-Spine from a spinal injury sustained in US Navy service.  I suffer from chronic pain and a musculoskeletal-neurological issue in my chest that does not allow me to breathe with enough force and volume to safely wear a mask!  Even a face shield causes me breathing problems; CPAPs, cause me breathing problems; surgical masks cause me breathing problems.  I reiterate and repeat, only for emphasis, I have NEVER refused to wear a mask, I have NEVER refused to wear a face shield as an alternative; provide me an alternative, I will comply.  Act all huffy, put on attitudes, get hostile, rude, argumentative, and I will ask to leave and not return.  Just validate my fuel chit so I can be reimbursed for my wasted time and fuel, which Dr. Herekar’s office was singularly inept at doing!

Yet, imagine that; Facebook Messenger has become the medium of choice for ending a patient relationship with a medical provider.  How very inappropriate!  How very unprofessional!  Wait.  Does Dr. Herekar have alternative methods of technology available to him to communicate with patients?  Does he know how to use these other channels of communication?  Yes, he does, and I cover these further down!  When did Facebook Messenger become the channel of choice allowed by the State of Texas to end patient relationships with providers officially?  Seriously?!?!  Using social media to make claims that I harassed, swore, threatened, and sexually propositioned an office staff member.  These are crimes; yet, the Dr. can think of no other means or methods of expressing the end of a patient relationship except to use Facebook Messenger; tell me, is this professional practice in the State of Texas?  If I did not have access or a Facebook account, would he have hired an airplane and used sky-writing to alert me the doctor-patient relationship had concluded?  Prior to this notification, I had spent two-solid weeks trying to call, leaving phone messages that were never returned, text messaging and not receiving a response, and emailing to no avail.  Yet, the doctor decides the only channel to employ to return communication is Facebook Messenger.  Do you see a problem with his conduct here?  As an Industrial and Organizational Psychologist with more than 20-years in the trade, I certainly see several ethical breaches and operations problems here!

30 August 2021:  I enter Dr. Herekar’s office and am confronted by a hostile office person, a commando secretary.  Who knows I have a breathing problem and cannot wear a mask, who was presented the VA letter on my first appointment, and I did not have to wear a face shield to be seen.  Important to note, no further contingencies were mandated for my next or any future appointments.  Who proceeds to invent a reason to deny me care.  She calls a supervisor, then “politely” (in a rude, condescending, and hostile manner) invites me to a back room to try and tell me off.  She then walked out when I suggested she had two options, move my care to another neurologist or have me wear a face shield, and I was leaning towards option 1.  I had no patience for the commando secretary who was inventing reasons to deny me care after having already been almost run over by traffic and being in the middle of a bad pain/nerve day.

Let me digress for a moment; I am hypersensitive to ALL touch.  Nobody touches me, and I shy away from anyone trying to touch me.  The commando secretary or Dr. Herekar invent that I swore, was rude, threatening, and propositioned the commando secretary to sit on my lap!  All of which is a gross and fallacious LIE of the blackest hue!  Then to use social media to discharge me from his clinic like I was the one committing some type of crime takes unprofessional conduct to a new level of abhorrent and repugnant low!  I twitch 24/7/365, I suffer from neurological spasms, my chronic pain levels continue to be in 10’s and regularly climb to levels beyond.  Now, one final piece of private information, I am married, and I have never even propositioned MY WIFE to sit on my lap, why in the name of all that is holy and pure would I proposition a complete stranger in a doctor’s office to do something I would not ask my wife to do as it would cause me excruciating pain?

Let me address why it has taken me so long to file a complaint.  The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) set up this doctor-patient relationship, I needed to allow the VA the opportunity to handle the problem.  As they have referred me to you, and pulled a Cesear.  I now have free reign to discuss this odious and abominable incident with what I sincerely hope is an avenue where other patients can be protected from a cherry-picking doctor.  From the first minute Dr. Herekar entered the room, it was clear that I was not the type of patient Dr. Herekar wanted to see.  He immediately began trying to push me back to psychology, “fix” with pharmaceuticals, and rush me out of his office.  Due to the glacial speed of the VA, I will be obtaining more information about my neurological problems from a VA-provided neurologist in November.  However, this incident with Facebook Messenger needs to be clarified to me the patient as to whether Dr. Herekar’s actions in ending the doctor-patient relationship were of the highest ethical and moral standards according to Texas.  Then someone needs to investigate why my good name is being slandered and defamed, having these fallacious and execrable accusations created.  Just because I am a disabled veteran who cannot (not will not, CANNOT) wear a mask, does not mean medical providers can create from whole cloth excuses and falsify medical records!  As it says in the country song, “Houston, We have a problem!”

Remote Signature: 73.242.128.97

In the name of transparency, the above document, with some slight alterations to hide addresses and phone numbers, is what was submitted today (27 Oct 2021) to the State of Texas Medical Liscensure Board as a complaint!  When I figure out the New Mexico pathways, I have two additional complaints to file.

I am sick to death of medical providers falsifying records to hide incompetence, discriminate against those who cannot wear masks, and have the ethical behavior of pigs in the mire.  Enough is enough; I will not take this disrespect anymore!  Vaccination status is nobody’s business and mask or no mask should not dictate social acceptance.

COVID should not be the reason that America dies!

© Copyright 2021 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images.

“That’s Crazy!!!” – More Chronicles From The VA

Bobblehead DollThe week of 27 September 2021 started funkily and has gone downhill rapidly!  I reported Monday being refused medical service for not wearing a mask.  On Tuesday, I visibly struggled for breath, standing in the VA pulmonologist’s office in front of the pulmonologist who was holding my pulmonology function test results.  I am holding a letter showing I cannot wear a mask, wearing a face shield, and being told by the doctor, “I do NOT care, he needs to WEAR A MASK, or I AM NOT SEEING HIM” [emphasis his].  Eventually, the doctor agrees to see me, provided I remain more than 6 feet from him, and he does not have to touch me.  The doctor then proceeds to lecture me about getting the vaccine, wearing a mask, and of course, breathing through my breathing difficulties.

As they say on the Home Shopping Network, “But wait, there’s more!”  Crazy has only just begun, unfortunately!

A patient with iron-deficiency anemia died at the hands of VA Doctors at the San Juan Puerto Rico VAHCS (2017), and the VA-OIG is just completing and reporting on their death in 2021.  The patient who came in for a colonoscopy developed rectal bleeding, which required an anticoagulant, and the patient subsequently died.  A tragic set of dominoes was set up and knocked down in this patient’s case, and the VA is entirely at fault for the patient’s death.  How badly the patient’s family must feel with this report in hand and knowing they can do absolutely nothing!VA 3

100% crazy indeed; but wait, there’s more!

Justice was served cold and raw, and while I was hoping for a harsher sentence by far, I am still hoping his victims can recoup some of their losses and obtain retraining.  “Jonathan Dean Davis, the owner of Retail Ready Career Center in Texas, was sentenced for deceiving the VA of $72 million. Beginning in 2014, he offered six-week heating, ventilation, and air conditioning course, promising to prepare veterans for careers in the HVAC industry. However, upon entering the workforce, many of these veterans discovered that the course had failed to teach them many of the basic skills necessary for entry-level technician jobs. Davis was also ordered to pay $65.2 million in restitution and forfeit $72.5 million to the federal government.”

It is very hard to describe what goes into the GI Bill besides money and time in service.  It is even tougher to explain how cheated you feel when the benefit is cut by the government, stolen by school administrators, and reduced by petty rules and regulations.  To see your benefits stolen through shoddy training and see your hopes and dreams dashed, as well as your benefit, turned into useless paper, the heartbreak is incredible!  The punishment for all involved should have been greater, and some federal employees should have shared the blame for failing to do their jobs!I-Care

Hold onto your seat, folks; the insanity has not even reached its peak yet; there’s more!

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) inspected the VA Illiana Health Care System in Danville, Illinois, to determine the validity of allegations, specific to COVID-19 and the Community Living Center (CLC), of failure to observe infection control practices, failure to minimize the risk of exposure to COVID-19, inconsistent ongoing testing, and failure to notify residents, families, and staff of positive test results. During the inspection, the OIG identified concerns related to leaders’ post-outbreak actions.  The VA-OIG substantiated a failure to observe general infection control practices, including in the following areas:

    • Leaders failed to minimize the risk of exposure to COVID-19.
    • Leaders did not respond adequately to staff exposure.
    • Leaders did not have a plan for the transfer and isolation of residents.
    • Leaders did not implement recommended infection control measures when performing aerosol-generating procedures and continued to hold group therapies.

The VA-OIG substantiated the lack of a post-baseline testing plan and a failure to test CLC staff after potential exposure.  The OIG identified actions taken by leaders following the CLC outbreak that lacked input from frontline staff to identify corrective actions and opportunities for improvement.”  This is the politically correct way of saying that the community living center leaders are thoroughly incompetent and should not be trusted in their current positions.

Leadership failure in spades, employees, patients, families all placed at risk because of incompetence and politics of the facility leaders, and the VA-OIG does not have the teeth needed to FIRE and REPLACE the leaders who are clearly out of their depth and ability!  For months the media and political leaders have been harping and preaching how dangerous COVID as a viral infection is.  Yet, the leaders in the Illiana VAHCS seem to be operating to a different set of rules and policies.  Will any elected leader be asking why?  Insanity runs deep in Illinois!VA 3

On the topic of COVID-19, and the failures of VA providers to do their jobs, we find another dead veteran due to what in the private sector would be a classic case of malpractice!  Yet, care at the VA is protected from malpractice, and the providers are safe from responsibility and accountability for their failures.  While the following is specific to North Carolina, similar examples are found across the United States.  Insanity thy name is represented in spades at the VA!Angry Wet Chicken

The VA OIG conducted a healthcare inspection at the Fayetteville VA Coastal Health Care System in North Carolina to assess concerns related to the quality, coordination, and timeliness of care, and the impact of COVID-19 on a patient with unintentional weight loss who was later diagnosed with oral cancer and died at another VA medical center.”

    • The VA-OIG substantiated that the primary care provider and dietitians did not provide quality care to the patient.
    • The VA-OIG substantiated that dietitians conducted incomplete nutritional assessments.
    • The VA-OIG substantiated that the patient’s PACT nurse and dietitians failed to coordinate care by not communicating the family’s request for a face-to-face appointment and the patient’s declining nutritional status to the primary care provider.
    • The VA-OIG found that incorrect scheduling resulted in the patient not being seen by a dietitian for a follow-up appointment and a delay in scheduling a non-VA dental appointment.

The VA-OIG concluded that COVID-19 impacted the care provided by dietitians because of the use of telephone visits, which did not allow dietitians to visually assess the patient’s physical characteristics caused by a declining nutritional status.”

Blaming a viral disease for the failure of people to do their jobs is the height of skullduggery, showing pusillanimous disregard for the patient and a timid weak-kneed, and yellow-bellied timorous approach to medicine.  None of you deserve to be in the medical field if you cannot properly take personal protection and see patients who need to be physically seen!  Now, let’s call a spade a spade and call out your wimpy, limp-wristed, lily-livered weakling leaders who refuse to act like leaders in a hospital and prefer to act like scared amoebas in a petri dish!  There is NO EXCUSE for your paltry excuses, your shady practices, and your hiding in offices and behind the disruptive behavioral committees when your policies and procedures FAIL when YOUR training plans fall apart, and when reality bites hard enough to disrupt hospital operations and your policies are the problem endangering patients!VA 3

Crazy…  Thy name is abused in the VA, and the leaders are failing to understand sanity!  But … wait, there’s more!

There are times when I describe the insanity at the VHA, VBA, National Cemeteries, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as designed incompetence.  The following is the purest example of designed incompetence witnessed to date.  Consider with me the following:

?u=http3.bp.blogspot.com-CIl2VSm-mmgTZ0wMvH5UGIAAAAAAAAB20QA9_IiyVhYss1600showme_board3.jpg&f=1&nofb=1Blue Water Navy Outreach requirements were met, but processing and procedures remain lacking and need improvement.  The VBA was legislatively mandated to extend veteran benefits to a classification of sailors who operated in blue water conditions off Vietnam or within 12 Nautical Miles of Vietnam.  The VBA went forward and established the computers, the records, the systems, etc., to handle these claims.  The results, a complete farrago!

The VA-OIG substantiated that the VBA has not established procedures for its employees to follow when the computer search tool they use to determine ship locations during claimant service dates returns unlikely results (for example, providing an inland location in a search for an aircraft carrier). In addition, VBA employees inaccurately decided approximately 46 percent of veterans’ claims (2,100 of 4,600) from April through June 2020, which led to about $37.2 million in improper payments to veterans ($25.2 million in overpayments and $12 million in underpayments) during that period. About 95 percent of these errors resulted from VBA employees deviating from policies governing disability-rating decisions.”

Did you catch that the VBA intentionally designed a system that failed to perform the task because humans and computers were lenient to deviate?  Nobody is held accountable for the continued loss of benefits, treatment, and wasted resources of the government and the veterans involved!  Here’s the rub, this is NOT the first time this has happened!  The VBA is notorious for failures like this and never held accountable by the elected officials hired to scrutinize the government!  Name a military excursion where benefits had to be carved out by legislative order, and you will find foot-dragging, designed incompetence, inconsistencies in decision making, and piss-poor performance at every level of the VBA.  Why?LinkedIn VA Image

Let’s imagine you hold a job that has a reporting requirement to an authorizing body that can shut you down.  You arbitrarily change language in metrics and reporting, do not tell the authority but still expect the authority to license you and your efforts.  How likely do you think the governing body will look favorably upon your changes?  The VA is legislatively mandated to report to Congress on its capacity in five areas, spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, blind rehabilitation, prosthetics and sensory aids, and mental health.  But, by changing the language, metrics, and methods of talking about injuries, the VA can hide, misreport, underreport, overreport, and play reporting games with the report to Congress and the VA-OIG second look get away with the deception.  Never forget, the maskirovka comes with veteran patient abuse!Angry Grizzly Bear

The VA-OIG has reported continuously to Congress, to deaf ears and plastic lips, the following, “… VA cannot compare its current mental health capacity with its 1996 capacity because of changes in diagnosis and treatment, service provision, and data collection. For example, VA must report on the number of veterans with “serious mental illness,” but VA no longer uses that term. And non-VA care, which veterans increasingly seek, must be excluded from reports on VA’s capacity to provide care. The OIG believes that by modernizing the reporting metrics, Congress would be better positioned to assess VA’s capacity to provide care for today’s disabled veterans.”

Congress continues NOT to push the VA to adopt 1996 language and metrics for reporting, or change the law to update the language and metrics to capture the data more accurately, thus allowing the lies and deceptions to continue.  Will anyone in the media EVER ask Congress WHY?VA 3

What kills me, the insanity discussed in this summation of VA-OIG reports does not even scrape the iceberg.  In my email inbox, I have to select between continued financial failures by leaders, veteran suicide during an inpatient residency, and the continued moral distress of employees by facility leaders.  I have twenty more VA-OIG reports sitting awaiting summation because the insanity has blossomed, and the VA-OIG is working hard to clear their reports for the end of the calendar year.  Each and every one of these reports deserve analysis, discussion, and mega-doses of sunshine disinfectant.  The sheer enormity of the insanity means that timely discussion physically cannot occur.  By overloading the system, the perpetrators of veteran abuse can escape sunshine disinfectant, and that is a sore injustice!Satire? Obama ISIS Speech Depresses Nation | Hooper's War - Peter Van Buren

Pray for the families of those who have died at the hands of the VA providers and for those currently dying under the hands of VA providers.  Congress needs to act, and we, the electorate, must hold their feet to the fire until they are consumed, or they stand and do their jobs!  There are no excuses for the insanity contained in these VA-OIG reports!

© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved
The images used herein were obtained in the public domain; this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.