CarlFBPicLately there’s been a lot of debate coming across my Facebook page about the protests of NFL athletes during the national anthem.

Some people think the protesting players ought to be fired.

Some people think it’s a form of protected free speech.

Few of them seem to understand freedom of speech or freedom of the press.

Newspaper reporters have freedom of speech, in their role as a PRIVATE CITIZEN.  They do not, in any way shape or form have “freedom of speech” in their writings for the newspaper, UNLESS THE OWNER OF THE NEWSPAPER GRANTS IT TO THEM.  It’s the owners newspaper and the owner is not only free to print what he/she pleases, but is also RESPONSIBLE FOR IT.

It’s the same with Freedom of the press.  A newspaper reporter writing for the Minneapolis Tribune does not have “freedom of the press” unless they publish their own blog or their own newspaper.  Again, the right and responsibility fall to the owner of the newspaper.

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Is it just me?

Or have we been overrun by these annoying “click factories”???

You know the type.  You see the ads or the posts on Facebook with a subject like “Twelve Celebrity Kids with a Prehensile Tail” and you just have to see which Hollywood kids are part monkey.

The page opens and there is more flashing neon and meaningless pushy ads than a Beetlejuice Commercial.

There are four or more arrows, chevrons, or other symbols, all of which might be the “next page” button or might be an “open this ad button.”  Who is foolish enough to pay for clicks that are obtain by this kind of deception?

Somebody, obviously, or there wouldn’t be so many annoying sites like this.

Just when you think you’ve found the right “next” button, you get distracted by an ad saying, “See how this two-headed woman lost 75 pounds in two weeks using just this one weird trick!”

Weird trick…

It’s a common slogan that seems to describe this unscrupulous method for generating clicks to visit a web page.

I keep trying to avoid and boycott these really annoying sites, and I do fine for a while, and then there’s an ad that says, “Woman, 36, to have Errol Flynn’s Baby” and I just have to click on it to see how that could be possible.    Did she get a DNA sample by robbing the great one’s grave?

But it’s annoying.  I’m going to stop now.  I’m not going to open another one of these websites.

I’ll let you know how it goes…

Thanks for reading.

cma

As a young teenager deer hunting with my father, I had the unusual experience of encountering a pair of “Snowshoe Hares” in the forest.  For those who haven’t heard of “Snowshoe” Hares, they are large rabbit-like creatures that live in Northern arctic and sub-arctic climes.  Only the Northern one-third of my home state of Minnesota has wild Snowshoe Hares.

The weak link in the camouflage of the Snowshoe Hare

The weak link in the camouflage of the Snowshoe Hare

Normally, I wouldn’t have seen these not-so-rare creatures because they are well-camouflaged.  In the summer, they are grey-brown and in the winter they are stark white.  As soon as the snow flies in the fall, their hair turns to white so as to conceal them from predators.  The white color makes them hard to see against the white snow.

Well this particular fall, there had been six or eight inches or snow and then a quick thaw, which melted all the snow, so the ground was the dirty brown grey of a Winter with no snow.

The Hares were still white, however. Continue reading

GarryOwenRiding in the elevator down to the lobby of the hotel Saturday night, I met a man in his sixties wearing a baseball cap proclaiming “Purple Heart.”

Immediately I said, “Wow! Purple Heart.  Thank you for your service, Sir.”

He replied, “Actually TWO Purple Hearts.  I was shot twice.” and as we clasped hands, I noticed a 7th Cavalry Regimental Crest pinned to his hat and I said, “Garry Owen!”

He beamed. Continue reading

Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik feels so strongly about the word “girl” that she made a video to tell us not to use it unless we are referring to a female child.  Here it is:

I’m a big fan of Ms. Bialik, and have great respect for her accomplishments (both artistic and academic), but she’s way out of touch here.
 

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