I Speak Life!

Ok, this is not a subject I know too much about any longer, as I gave up most video games when I got married 18 years ago.  When I met my wife, I had a PlayStation (the original).  As a family we did purchase a Wii when it became popular, and played it pretty heavily for about a year, but even it tapered off and we stopped all together.  I was never beaten by anyone in Wii Tennis by the way, something I am still proud of to this day.  Today, I have a NES Classic that has many of the original Nintendo Games, and I play it occasionally when I am really bored late at night.  Outside of that I have a few mundane games on my phone. The reason I have chosen this topic for my blog is because of something that has been in the news lately about a specific game that was slotted to release.  The game is called, "Active Shooter" and was set to release June 6th on Steam, an online gaming store and platform owned by Valve Corp. As soon as news of the releas...

So it came out yesterday in court that Michael Cohen had, for years, created audio recordings of conversations he had with many people.  A team has been thoroughly reviewing all of the seized documents gathered in the raid of Cohen's office, home, and hotel room.  They have made it through about a third of the 3.7 million documents, and are even reconstructing shredded documents that were seized.  The big question is, what will be found?  What evidence will be present in that veritable treasure trove of information that connects Cohen to Stormy Daniels, and more importantly, Trump or members of his administration?  It is hard to tell, but I think the most interesting thing to watch moving forward with the case is Michael Cohen.  This is a family man who doesn't want to go to prison.  He has very openly said that he stands by and supports Trump, but as the evidence stacks up against him, and he sees an ever lengthening prison sentence in front of him,...

Ok, since this is fresh in everyone's Twitter Feed and running rampant on every other social media platform, let's talk about Roseanne and Racism! ABC cancelled the Roseanne reboot yesterday after the Tweet that broke the camel's back.  I say it that way because Roseanne has been known to do some grotesque things in the past, from dressing up as a Nazi and taking burnt "Jew" Cookies out of the oven for a photo shoot to...well, I shouldn't have to give another example after that one... Roseanne tweeted, "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby - vj".  VJ refers to Valerie Jarrett.  That tweet became the subject of the day in the Twitterverse, and eventually Roseanne pulled it down and published an apology.  ABC ended up cancelling her show and sending out their own response stating, "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show."  Donald...

I have been in multiple conversations recently both online and face-to-face with Trump supporters.  These are people who voted for Trump to become President, and are still supporters of him today, some 16 months and countless headlines later.  What I am amazed about in having these conversations is that some people are completely willing to overlook everything said and done by the President, and point out the few small successes he has had as President as a basis for their support.  Some supporters are open and say that they know of the many things he has done and said, don't agree with much of it, but are willing to overlook it all and look toward the positive things he has done.  Other supporters I have talked to take on the same mental model of the President and come out denying all accusations against the President, calling it all a deep state conspiracy to destroy his credibility.  One of the most common responses I have received when asking peo...

I decided some time ago that I was going to start a blog post where I could voice my thoughts on several issues that normally just bounce around in my head on a daily basis.  I wanted to be able to write my thoughts freely, cover the big issues and small ones alike, and put them into a venue where others can read them, comment if they wish, and have conversations about the subject matter.  I think I have achieved that. I was looking at my analytics recently and see that my blogs have been read in the United States, Germany, Australia, France, Poland, Spain, Peru, Russia, and the Ukraine.  I really found that interesting.  My purpose of this short blog is to simply say 'Thank You' to those of you out there who have read one or more of my blogs.  I plan to continue publishing blogs indefinitely, and I hope that people start following and commenting on them as well, because the true fun begins when we can have good conversations about the subjects.  I as...

So the floodgates opened after the Harvey Weinstein allegations about sexual assault hit the news.  The #MeToo movement was born and a tsunami of allegations against countless Hollywood celebrities, famous news personalities, and others began to roll in.  To list just some of the people with accusations against them you have Ben Affleck, Scott Baio, Mario Batali, Luc Besson, David Baine, Nick Carter, Vincent Cirrincione, Louis C.K., David Copperfield, Junot Diaz, Andy Dick, Michael Douglas, Richard Dreyfuss, Charles Dutoit, James Franco, Morgan Freeman, Gary Goddard, David Guillod, Paul Haggis, Dustin Hoffman, Ethan Kath, R. Kelly, Andrew Kreisberg, John Lasseter, Matt Lauer, James Levine, Peter Martins, Benny Medina, Murray Miller, T.J. Miller, Nelly, Carter Oosterhouse, Jeremy Piven, Brett Ratner, Twiggy Ramirez, Charlie Rose, Chris Savino, Nev Schulman, Mark Schwahn, Steven Seagal, Gene Simmons, Russell Simmons, Bryan Singer, Tom Sizemore, Travis Smiley, Kevin Spacey, Mor...

"You have to stand proudly for the National Anthem or you shouldn't be playing. You shouldn't be there. Maybe you shouldn't be in the country," Donald Trump said. I wanted to start the blog with the above quotation because it stands on its own so well.  This comment by the President comes on the heels of the NFL announcing a new policy in the coming season that essentially requires players on the field during the national anthem to stand.  The policy states that it is acceptable for those who want to protest to stay off the field in the locker room during the anthem, but that they cannot protest on the field.  It was essentially a policy the NFL came up with to stop the bleeding that has been happening with their ratings since Colin Kaepernick started the protesting nearly 2 years ago now.  Colin, however, was not protesting the National Anthem, but violence and unfair treatment of black Americans by the police.  It became an unbelievably controversial ...

I know that I am not the only parent in this world who is concerned about tech and how it is affecting the next generation of future adults.  Where I work there are break areas or staging areas where numerous employees hang out to eat, take breaks, or just sit waiting to be tasked out with work.  Back when I was on shift before the huge tech boom, those rooms were filled with conversations all day and night long, every day of the year.  I walk into one of those rooms now and see 5 people sitting at tables that are literally a few feet away from one another.  3 of the people are looking down at their phones, one is working on a laptop, and one on a tablet.  Not a word is being said and no interpersonal communication is occurring.  These are grown adults, and it is even worse with teens in America today.  Look at Snapchat as an example.  Each person on Snapchat has a number.  That number is essentially how many Snaps they have sent and...

I have had a very difficult time dealing with the happenings within the Administration over the past 16 Months.  I can barely stomach the outright lies and deception that have occurred on a scale never before seen in Washington.  What makes my stomach turn more than anything though is the current spin being drummed up by the President and his closest allies to discredit the Mueller Investigation, Department of Justice, Free Press, and individuals who have been doing their jobs and who happen to be closing in on subjects that hit exceptionally close to the President himself. Being a person who watches many news sources, I find it appalling to turn on FOX News these days, as they are spewing rhetoric and bending over to forward the President's agenda of demonizing the Mueller Investigation, the Free Press (that would be all press outlets that cover facts about Trump), the Department of Justice, and others.  The conspiracy theories that are discussed are laughable, and on ...

Another school shooting; this time in Santa Fe, Texas, claiming the lives of 10 people.  Just 2 days prior to the Santa Fe Shooting, a town just 10 minutes from where I live, Dixon, Illinois, had a school shooting in which the 19-year-old shooter engaged with a school resource officer who ended up wounding the shooter and stopping him from taking any lives.  That day, the 16th of May, got me thinking very deeply about all of these shootings, because that day my children were also on lockdown at their schools.  It hit close to home, and when things hit close to home, people tend to go deeper into thought about those things they get used to seeing hit the news feed every day in America. I am not just talking about school shootings in this blog, however.  I am talking about all of the senseless mass shootings that have occurred in America now for years.  If you look up the statistics, there are horrible school shootings and other mass shootings every year....

We have all heard it out of Trump's mouth and seen the term on Twitter countless times over the course of the Mueller Investigation; WITCH HUNT.  Donald Trump loves more than anything to refer to the Mueller Investigation as a Witch Hunt.  So the question I pose in the title of this blog is simple.  Is it a Witch Hunt?  First let me start with the dictionary definition of Witch Hunt: Merriam Webster defines Witch Hunt as 'The searching out and deliberate harassment of those (such as political opponents) with unpopular views.' Essentially, Donald Trump has said scores of times that Robert Mueller's Investigation is going on simply to harass him and his administration because they have unpopular views, and not because he or those around him have done anything wrong.  He stands by the fact that Mueller will find no collusion; another word Trump loves to hear himself say out loud, often with a long drawn out 'colluuuusion' escapin...

As I have stated many times before, the answers to the problems we face in America cannot be found on the right and left fringes of political ideology.  The answers that are best for the majority of Americans and for the current and future stability of America can be found in the center, center-right, or center-left.  Having said that, we always look at the Far-Right and Far-Left as two groups of people who are wholly different, with no similarities what-so-ever.  Interestingly enough, if you look a bit deeper than the surface, you may just find that there are more similarities between the two groups than everyone thinks. Let's start with what drives someone to hold beliefs on the fringes of the political spectrum.  Often times major events in one's life will drive them to have more extreme views on issues than the average person.  This could include personally experienced violent acts, loss of loved ones to violence, the feeling that the healthcare ind...

I know the title of this blog is a bit broad in its presentation, but the question it asks is one that billions of people throughout history and today have wondered at one point in time.  According to estimates of Adherents, an independent, non-religiously affiliated organization that monitors the number and size of the world's religions, there are some 4,300 religions in the world today.  Nearly 75 Percent of the world's population practices one of the 5 most influential religions in the world: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. Christianity and Islam are most widely spread across the world, with more than half of the world's population having religious affiliations with one of the two religions.  One of the most widely-held myths among those in English-speaking countries is that Islamic believers are Arabs.  In fact, most Islamic people do not live in the Arab Nations of the Middle East.  Here are the top 20 largest religions and the...

It's funny.  Racism is that issue we have faced as a nation for as long as we can look back in our history.  Our nation was built on the racism that existed hundreds of years ago.  Look at slavery.  This is something that has stuck with future generations of African Americans who know that in many cases, the only reason their families ended up in this country was because of the slave trade.    Yes, things have become better at times, but at other times Racism simply finds its way to the forefront of the news and media again and again.  Here we are in 2018, and just over the past 2 months we have seen black men getting the police called on them at Starbucks in a situation that likely would not have occurred if those men were white.  We have had a black college student at Yale fall asleep in a common area as another Yale student called the police on her for no good reason at all.  Now, allegedly, that same person...

Leader is defined as 'The person who leads or commands a group, organization or country.' Manager is defined as 'A person responsible for controlling or administering all or part of a company or similar organization.' Do you see the difference?  Many people do not.  Many people interconnect management with leadership and look at them as a hand in glove type of thing.  The simple fact is that they are in no way similar.  Just breaking down the simple definitions above can cue you in to the differences between being a leader and a manager. The definition of leader contains the words 'leads' and 'commands'.  The definition of manager contains the words 'controlling' and 'administering'.  Just looking at those four words shows that there is a tremendous difference between being a leader and being a manager.  This blog will talk about the differences and why it is vitally important to understand those differences in life. The term manage...