WHAT IS AN ONLINE TROLL?

David Hogan
Leeds, AL

Photo from Wampler Pedals Website

OK lots of people have different takes on what an online troll is, but think about someone that comes into a discussion to STIR UP DISCORD. Emphasis on "comes into". If they were stating what others consider discord on their "own" timeline that's NOT trolling. The "trolling" aspect is about doing it where not invited, just like a troll in old tales sneaks into camp.

Most of the time trolls WILL NOT like your other posts you make about life in general, they will not celebrate anything positive in your life, they'll seldom take the time out of their superior and uppity life to like a post of you celebrating a birthday, wedding, graduation, or mourning illness or death.

But if you post ANYTHING they have a strong opinion of, they are MORE than happy to use your platform, or your post on your timeline to set the world straight and show all the error of your ways.

I don't consider someone on their own timeline to be a troll as they aren't trolling there, as it's their own original thought. Many TROLLS not only do this on your timeline they'll do it in groups too. It doesn't matter what the group is about, they'll find a way to throw in their diatribe or trigger.

A common group example is to come into a group that is absolutely biased on something and stir up crap. I'm not talking about a neutral or even supposed neutral place like a news page, even though most are biased but there is the assumption they should be fair, I'm talking about being a hater of a particular candidate for example and stirring discord and hate on their page. They know the majority will come down on them like white on rice, but they don't care, it's what they do.

Trolls exist politically on ALL sides. Many trolls head straight to their opponents pages to SHOW THEM THE TRUTH, and they believe that too. What they ignore is that unless they are making a peaceful post they haven't changed one mind, and what they have most likely done is HARDEN them up against both them and their cause.

Trolls often think they are harbingers of the TRUTH when in fact they are just SHIT STIRRERS because they're not being realistic about influencing people, they're being self-righteous dicks, EVEN if their cause is a worthy one.

That's a troll and they are a special kind of pond scum too.

An Immigration Story, Close to Home

David Hogan
Leeds, AL

Let's say you run a water distribution company out of your home and your basement is FILLED with pallets of bottled water. You even sell to a lot of your neighbors in town. THEN one day the city water supply is poisoned by a train that spills poison chemicals in the local lake water supply in a derailment, and it also blocks off the only road coming into the town as well. Authorities are struggling with the poison chemical because trying to right the derailed train may spill more and this has now moved into 4 days, and people have been without water for four days. YOU, owning a bottled water distribution center put a pallet of bottled water out in your driveway asking everyone to please take only 5 bottles a day and you'll put more out each day. In no time the pallet is emptied and the next day you hear the front door opening and people are pouring in your living room telling you they demand the water NOW. The first thing you have to do is get them out of the house and close the front door to get a hold of the situation. You want to help, but this is dangerous now. Welcome to immigration in America! So how dare you close the door, even if temporarily.

God NEVER left America, We Left God

David Hogan
Leeds, AL

God NEVER left America, we left God.

Picture courtesy of Liquid Church

There is NO doubt in my mind the rise of socialism, the rise of mass shootings, the rise of drug addicted homelessness, the amount of children without both parents, the rise in suicide, the poverty of not just lack of material things but the utter lack of any hope at all in the eyes of people I've seen on the streets and on lone park benches in utter despair, are the lack of a relationship with our creator.

Now so many are pissed at God and religion and often it's because we didn't get our way, or we had to put up with a goody two shoes pointing their religious finger at us, or we had to put up with bullies that USED to be kept in check by Godly people that looked out after one another.

Are Godly people perfect, why HELL NO. Are Godly people without the desires of pleasure, of course not many of us walk around with our pleasures showing plainly in our clothes size. Are Godly people without a need for love and yes sex from their partner, not at all in fact many of us love sex and are very good at it, we just share it with someone we love and are committed to, and for the most part save my mention of it here, keep that to ourselves.

Are Godly people better than all the rest?

Not even close, and neither do we think that, we just believe in the slogan on the money we use, In God We Trust, and one other thing, we are in NO means perfect we F$%& up all the time, we're just FORGIVEN and we know the sacrifice made to allow forgiveness and we try to give that to others.

You see America WAS founded on a belief in God and history does prove it, but more important is God NEVER left America, we as a whole, left God, but God remains loving and reachable America!

Go back to a church, move around if you have to, read the bible, stay a reasonable distance from those that point their finger in judgement at you even at churches, but also realize the path is not without work, and do your part, alone if you have to, in fact we will grow strong in our relationship with God when it begins personally and alone, for then we can truly help others.

Godly folks do not turn away those trying, do not raise a superior smug attitude on anyone trying, but neither can they sit on their duff, they must put forth effort, but with our help, not with our judgement. They will fail many times, just as we fail, and we cannot discard them, but neither can they be given a free ride, for Godly people WORK together to GLORIFY GOD.

Why? Because, IN GOD WE TRUST!

Picture from internet search and marked from PersonalExcellence.co

America Needs More Youth Kickball Games

Leeds, Al
By David Hogan

The problem with America and politics is we don't play enough schoolyard kickball or softball anymore.

Without any teacher around at all, someone would suggest a kickball game, then someone suggested two people to pick teams.

RIGHT THERE WAS THE FIRST LESSON. Some didn't like who the two leaders were, BUT everyone pressed on.

The two leaders would go back and forth picking people, starting with the best players and soon came BOTH smiles and frowns, BUT everyone pressed on.

Then the teams took to the fields and some that were good players, put their glove under their arm and stood crossed legged and pissed that they didn't get on the team they wanted to, BUT eventually these people fell into one of two categories.

These pissed off youngsters would either wake up when a ball was hit to them by instinct and forget all about being pissed and get IN the game and MAKE the play, OR they would stand there pissed and let the ball go by to the detriment of the team to show them in their act of defiance they did not appreciate NOT getting their way.

As future games were played, lessons were learned, some players got better and improved and some sat on the sidelines, skipped the game, and bitched, and some were just grateful to be able to play.

ANTI This and ANTI That

By David Hogan
Leeds, AL

I'm trying to figure out how we corrupted this meaning for, ANTI.

Some seem to think that if we are FOR something, we must by default be AGAINST its opposite or even alternatives. I find that utterly ridiculous.

I don't like olives in my egg salad, but I still like olives, and really don't care if anyone else likes them or not in theirs, and can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would give a damn. I'm not ANTI-OLIVE EGG SALAD, I just prefer mine without olives.

I see all kinds of protests going on with the preface, "ANTI" in front of something aimed at certain people, groups, businesses and more. Upon investigation there is no oppression of the choice being defended, it's usually just that the person or owner, etc. doesn't favor it or embrace it.

NOW if they were denying access to someone of whatever persuasion being defended by the ANTI-XXXX protesting, I could see the point.

IF there are public tax dollars involved in the whatever it is choice, I could see a point of debate, but not when the link is made from a stretch like trying to tie a business owner's personal preferences on the whatever it is, to their ANTI-XXXX acusations.

The ANTI-XXXX protestors are often just bitching because someone disagrees or doesn't embrace THEIR choice. WOW, that's some really fascist controlling horse shit right there. Just because someone doesn't prefer or embrace something does not make them ANTI to whatever it is.

Some controversial items of debate go well beyond this of course, but many are more about being pissed someone doesn't agree with them than anything else, and often justified by what they believe is the only "right" way to think.

All Animals Are Equal, Sorta, Kinda

Thanks to good old George Orwell!

Facebook censored several big well known accounts that made news yesterday. Guess What? I didn't like ANY of them. GUESS WHAT ELSE? I don't care if I like them or not, censorship always denies us the ability to choose. Choose what, you may say?

To ignore, to embrace, to refute, to engage, to further understanding, to shake our head in disbelief, to know NOT to do what was written, to take action, to make any of MANY choices.

Notice how there are usually no DETAILED rules when people start censoring. Everything is most always SUBJECTIVE. This is usually followed by someone saying, "surely we can ALL agree" and usually, surely we cannot ALL agree on even the color of darkness, or if there even IS, a color of darkness.

When you HIDE evil or hate, IF we can even all agree to what that is, you allow it ambush status. Talk to one another, read, refute, reject, embrace, use your brain, instead of allowing someone else to decide for you.

OR NOT.

Right Now, Leave it for Others to Find!

The good and the bad of philosophy is that my great moments of wisdom fade soon and become dried up, but as time and conditions change they become meaningful again if not for me, maybe to someone else.

IF I wait around for them to be useful to me or receive praise from others, I could get lost in the wait and risk missing other wisdoms left behind by others, for me to find, when I truly need them.

I could have just said, live in the moment, but this seemed more profound to leave for others, and possibly the hint of a boat that may be used again, down the road of time possibly.

Remember This Guy From The Past? There Are Many Like Him Now.

David Hogan
Leeds, AL
April 9, 2019

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, image from Wikipedia

The name Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf may escape the memories of many, even Americans born way before 9-11, but you might remember him by another name. That famous name for a time was, Baghdad Bob or as we saw him on CNN as the Minister of Information for the Iraq government in 2003, during the Iraq war.

Baghdad Bob became somewhat of a celebrity during the Iraq war mainly for disinformation, and soon was being called The Minister of Disinformation by many as he spewed outlandish things on the airwaves.  I remember possibly his biggest whopper was when the American tanks were coming into Baghdad he was saying there were no tanks in Baghdad even though they were less than a football field length from him and the noise was blaring over him speaking.

So, I bet you think I'm going to target the current state of news, don't you?  Actually, it's not my main point, even though I admit one can make an argument for a lot of disinformation being passed off as news in America today, but my concern is a troubling one in disguise, partly related to our mainstream media for sure, but a bigger concern at local levels of government.

Introducing the White House Press Corps was a good thing.  The White House Press Secretary announces the news of the White House in the presence of prominent news agency reporters, that question what is presented.

Now there is a similar scenario, but not the same in local government, known as their Public Information Office.  These offices put out news from city and county governments but, few have a meeting room or daily press conference. What they DO have is a Facebook page and website including live streaming meetings.

In part that is a good thing, in part.  What's missing is the presence of reporters to question the government while being watched in a setting of significance. There is another element to these new Public Information Offices and that is government created news releases, and their websites where they turn press releases into their own news articles.

The local government offices often selectively choose what they highlight in what makes it to their videos, articles and posts.  If you try to call them out on this, noting they are not under scrutiny, they will fall back on having meetings videotaped as a usual defense. Part of the reason people rely on news is they do not have time to attend government proceedings, or watch them on a video.

Press releases are a good thing, but they have created what I told my reporters to be "Lazy Shit Journalism".  If you don't follow up and ask questions of the news release you are letting government control news unfettered.  Many reporters put out the entire government press release as their article, with maybe a word or sentence changed at best.

Getting news from the government is a good thing. Getting news from the government without questioning it, verifying it and researching it, is not a good thing and can lead to our friend above, Baghdad Bob, spreading disinformation at will.

Unfortunately many mainstream news agencies have become versions of Baghdad Bob, often siding with a party, an administration, and embracing the news releases of whom they are siding with and ignoring the others.  Baghdad Bob would certainly embrace those agencies and woo them to be an ally.  The news cannot be an ally of any one part of government or political parties at the expense of the others.

Until news gets back to calling out everyone, the best we can hope for is to have news agencies that their bias, balances the bias of other news agencies.  That's a sad solution as mainstream news does not embrace the need of a two party system to keep each party in check. What they do now is to move forward an agenda of the side they are an ally with, and those news agencies that attempt to keep them in check are often outnumbered if even in existence.

This Independent Thinker is Growing Tired.

David Hogan
Leeds, AL

I've pretty much been an independent my whole life. It could have been from growing up with controlling parents, or having to endure fights as just the normal part of walking to and from school, or having 3 siblings and realizing early how easy people gang up on someone. Who knows?

There has always been a liberal side of me and a conservative side of me, and I'm not going to speak what issues take me to either side in this article, although ten years ago I would have been glad to.  Not any more.

There was a time when both sides of the aisle could look at something preposterous and say, "no, I'm not buying that."  No one even had to offer up a political side.

We didn't convict public figures to federal prison and then try to name a public facility after them. In fact Richard Scrushy had a road named after him taken away, after his fall from grace.

We also didn't sentence a politician to four years in prison for corruption and watch him walk around free three years later never having seen the inside of a prison either. Appeals are usually filed from inside prisons by those convicted and sentenced to go there.

We didn't grieve over the death of police officers on the one hand, while calling for them to be hanged on the other, after being cleared of wrongdoing.

In fact there WAS a time when this country operated on a presumed innocence stance on both sides of the coin, be it victim or perpetrator. Investigations were commonplace too, but we lived with the outcome, and if appeals were to be filed, then the process was enacted.

There was also a time when police officers took being a smart-aleck for just that, not a cause to be handcuffed for "disrespect".  Of course there was also a time a police officer was respected too.

SO, just what am I tired of?  Justifications for bad behavior for any and everything.  It's one thing to go easy on the family stealing bread that has suffered undue hardships and presented their misery to a judge, and another to think someone has a "right" to settle differences with a gun, or to think systemic injustices make it OK to affront someone.

BUT WHAT I'M REALLY TIRED OF IS LAZINESS!

I'm tired of lazy protesters that won't do arduous work for change. I'm tired of people blaming one another simply because of race. I'm tired of everyone that thinks "things" that cost money are a right they are entitled to, without putting anything into the pot to pay for it. I'm tired of those that have nothing to put in the pot for social benefits that can't be at the least, grateful, for what they do receive. A mean, nasty, violent, old mangy dog, that's been on the street for it's whole life may growl at you, but it will still wag its tail once you've thrown it some food and moved on.

Most of all, I'm tired of those that think because you are tired of something, you have never endured hardship and are privileged because you don't just roll over and jump on a bandwagon without any questions whatsoever.

So, what is my answer to all this?  I honestly don't have one anymore. I used to tell people to, "agree to disagree", but now their reply is, "you're either with us or against us".  So, I'm just tired, for now.

The Need To Always Be Right Can Hurt Us All

David Hogan
Leeds, AL

Photo courtesy of Trustologie

A week later and media sources are STILL trying to find MORE wrong with the Covington, Ky students / Native American meeting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

There is PLENTY to learn.

• Maybe the Native American might have spoken in plain English to the young man instead of waiting until after to speak to press.
• Maybe the young man might have asked the elder if he wanted him to move or had anything to say.
• Maybe the school could admit to poor chaperoning
• Maybe those making a big deal about a hat and what it "means" to others might realize like it or not it is an expression of Free Speech and those griping also wear their symbols no matter how they try to scale one against the other.
• Maybe THIS, and Maybe THAT.

And MAYBE just maybe we ALL quit trying to one up the other "side" and maybe just maybe say hey we can do better, we can ask when we don't know, we can communicate in forms each of us CAN understand, IF we care enough to reach out.

Or just keep trying to BE RIGHT and let that cortisol building up take us to an early grave with I WAS RIGHT on our tombstones, THEN we can bitch about which tombstone is right.

The Power of SO WHAT in Dealing with Caregiver Anxiety

David Hogan
Leeds, AL

Photo courtesy of healthywomen.org

I have been a caregiver to different family members with various forms of dementia since 2006. I've shut down businesses to take care of loved ones, and continued running them as well. I am now retired and take care of my father in law with Alzheimer's 24/7. He is the last parent living for my wife and I, and he is 90 years old.

I run a Birmingham Area Facebook Support Group for Caregivers where we try and support one another, and provide resources and information to help one another insure our loved ones are well cared for at home, and that we, as caregivers learn to support ourselves.

People often say you must have to take it one day at a time while caring for someone with Alzheimer's.  I respond by gently telling them, "No, it's more like one minute at a time, as things often change with little notice or warning."

With that knowledge of change, it can bring about a lot of anxiety for caregivers.  What do I mean by anxiety for the caregiver?  I'll give a few examples:

• When will he go to the bathroom?
• He hasn't been to the bathroom in three days do I start the laxative, and how much?
• When is the best time to give the laxative?
• Did I feed him the wrong things and cause him to be constipated?
• He doesn't want to get out of bed, but he needs to move so he won't stove up, do I just get him up anyway?
• I don't think he is answering me truthfully about pain and just trying to please me and not wanting to be a bother, do I call the doctor?

And ON and ON it goes, as caregivers know all too well that almost every decision they make may be criticized by other family members and even worse by their own self.  Yes, caregivers can get into a rut of second guessing everything they do in all decisions.  Why?

No one can beat up on us like ourselves, and caregivers often blame themselves for things they have no control over.  Alzheimer patients at home can become irritable through no fault of anyone, even with us doing all the reassuring, soothing, calm and other suggestions told to us by professionals.  That's just one example.  Yet, we as caregivers also know there is an expert about everything out there on the internet and in support groups, so we think we should know it all.

GET OVER IT, ALREADY! BEND LIKE THE PALM TREES!

Sometimes they go to the bathroom just because they went to the bathroom. SO WHAT?  Everyone goes to the bathroom! Aside from making sure they are eating nutritious food, drinking plenty of water, getting ample movement, get over it already.  They will go when they go, and as long as it's not beyond what your doctor says is a reasonable interval, just deal with it when it happens.

Anxiety is feeling helpless over something.  Responsible acceptance is one of the answers to cope with caregiver anxiety.  If you know you are doing all the things doctors and experts are telling you to do, and paying close attention to things, accept that this is a horrible disease, and that you are like a palm tree in a hurricane that doesn't break because you can bend and know that not only are you doing the best that you can, but that you make a difference in the care of another human being.

We Can No Longer Trust Any News, So What Do We Do?

David Hogan
Leeds, AL

This retired journalist has waited a long time for news to rebound, to find its way in modern digital times, and the wait is over.

News can no longer be trusted, but it must still be protected, and it must still be read, only differently.

Years ago we all sat down before or after dinner, and we had our favorite network news station in ABC, CBS, or NBC, and many chose which station to watch based on the anchor person they liked.  However, they still knew the other networks would be airing pretty much the same news.

I could go into how ABC News Nightline changed the airwaves with night after night of the Iranian hostage crisis, or how CNN followed shortly thereafter with the birth of their 24/7 cable news network, but it seems we've had 24/7 news for so long now, that few see the significance of these changing events.  SO, what now?

Well we do have to mention that social media erupted and 24/7 news scrambled to get on board. And then there were the APPS, yes the apps for our smartphones, and we gobbled it up even with major news agencies still trying to figure out how to make money and deal with the blogger that the only real expense they have is the price of the internet and the price of web hosting.

Can we recognize that news is significantly different than before ABC News Night Line and CNN took to the airwaves?

There is very little news reporting that is not littered with opinion, conjecture, and leading the reader to pre-planned conclusions.  How can I substantiate those statements? They are validated by the 24/7 news cycle and the inability of news sources to simply report only what happened without making opinion a part of reporting, when it should be clearly separated from reporting, including being totally removed from all news desks.

The old model was more than enough, in fact it was wonderful.  The old model of reporting nothing more than factual news and having Sunday news talk shows, or evening news commentary clearly separated news reporting from news commentary.

We have insulted the entire American populace by thinking they must make immediate decision on all news and group them into categories that are now always aligned with political parties.

OK, but again, what now?

Learn!

Learn to recognize the play being made on us in so called news reporting.  Did they really get the other side of a story, or only a token comment as a show of being fair?  Was it even necessary to use the many adjectives used in a story title?  Does the news have to say that someone,"spun another big one", when the truth of the topic remains under investigation or has opposition? Can they not just report the damn news and leave opinions out?

Don't forget to question those that ask the questions!

Many will say that is the heart of investigative reporting and I don't buy that for a second.  What that is to journalism is LSJ (Lazy Shit Journalism), meaning the news is seeking public approval and accolades without the arduous and hard work of digging, interviewing, researching, asking questions in the background not in the spotlight.

There are journalist that want to do it right, but they are hamstrung by their bosses.

Modern day news can't seem to report without injected direction and opinion, so it's up to us to recognize the adjectives, and the careful move in a story toward calculated conclusions.  It's simply time we no longer trust the news, but must continue to listen to all of them to piece together a sense of truth, and we must do so as hardcore skeptics.

And lastly, this article is nothing more than my opinion, I feel good that I can admit that.  As Don Miguel Ruiz says in his book, "The Fifth Agreement", "Be skeptical but learn to listen."

My Bike Then, My Bike Now

David Hogan
Leeds, Al

I got my first bike later than most kids as we simply didn't have the money to buy bikes for four kids in our family. So, I walked, and I walked a lot, from the time I was in first grade, all the way up to about age 12, when I got a bike from money I saved cutting grass in the neighborhood.

Pretty soon I realized those walks I used to make in the summer from near Belcher Lumber Company in West End, over to Legion Field and other "far off" places to an adolescent, were now just a bike ride away. 

The bike to me at the ripe old age of 12 was independence and freedom!  It was also a way I cleared my head in solitude, as well as being a way to meet up with friends.

I recently read an article with the writer lamenting their feelings on why everyone doesn't "ride the right way" anymore.  Hmmmm.

Fast forward 46 years later and my bike(s) are still independence and freedom to me.  Additionally, they are a means to hook up with others and share a bike ride with friends. What they are not, is something where someone is going to tell me what I can ride, how I am supposed to ride, when I am supposed to ride, and who I am supposed to ride with.  To do so would be to spit in the face of the freedom and independence my bikes have brought to me for almost half a century!

You enjoy your ride, and I'll enjoy mine, and just maybe we'll have some great rides together too.