Tuesday, February 23, 2021

First Amendment, Now an Endangered Species Too!

 


First Amendment, Now an Endangered Species Too!

Al Ritter 

For the last decade Conservatives have known that their Second Amendment Rights have been under attack by the left under the guise of “state’s rights.” It has always been confusing to this writer how “state’s rights” ever came into play in the first place. It’s been common knowledge that whatever isn’t mentioned and addressed in the Constitution or in its Amendments becomes the responsibility of the states. Yet the second amendment is clearly mentioned and addressed …. 

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” 

But here we are allowing states to adopt their own laws and bans on particular guns. 

As I mentioned in previous articles there is now an attack on the First Amendment triggered by the Jan 6th protest at the Capitol Building. New Channels have long since lost their unbiased base and present a definite slanted view from both sides of the spectrum. The big 3 ABC, NBC, CBS were the first ones to take a leftist stance in the late 90’s. Spin offs in the Cable Networks expanded that view. MSNBC, CNN, CNBC came online in the 2000’s and as a result Fox News came on the air in 2001 and quickly surpassed CNN as the top cable news outlet. Recently OANN, NEWSMAX have come online to support the Conservative view. Listeners were tired of News channels reporting the leftist view as the only one and were desperately search for other points of view. People on both sides understood that they could find like-minded reporting by picking their favorite “News” channel. 

Well it seems that now two House Democrats want to change that too. Anna Eschoo and Jerry McNerney (both from California) have sent a letter to AT&T, Hulu, Amazon, Comcast, Roku, Google, and Apple, asking why they carried the three purported “news outlets” (Fox, OANN, and Newsmax) as being the spreaders of misinformation. 

The same could be said about MSNBC, CNN, and CNBC, but the right has never seen fit to want an outright ban on them. 

I suppose that times are changing, but I found it humorous that the FCC reacted quickly and forcefully by issuing this statement immediately. 


 

https://rfangle.com/news/house-democrats-push-to-kick-fox-news-oan-and-newsmax-off-the-airways/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=house-democrats-push-to-kick-fox-news-oan-and-newsmax-off-the-airways

Sunday, February 21, 2021

News Is Now Over, Only One Opinion Remains

 

News Is Now Over, Only One Opinion Remains


Al Ritter

 

Remember how our parents told us, “There are two sides to every story?” Obviously this is no longer true in our new Cancel Culture society. We have now handed power to the Big Tech giants to make decisions on what type of opinion is acceptable and what is not. 

Consider for a minute if you will, Jeff Bezos CEO of Amazon decided to remove the web site of Parler because in their view posts made on that site had not been properly moderated about actions that happened on Jan 6th. Later investigation showed that 27 objectionable posts had been made on Facebook, 13 posts on Twitter, and yet only 3 had been made on Parler. That didn’t matter to Bezos, he never admitted he was wrong, nor reactivated Parler’s account. He made them find another server after barely salvaging their customer’s information. 

Consider for a minute Mark Zuckerberg’s latest actions. Australia has had enough of Zuckerberg and his mishandling of the privacy of its citizens by way of Facebook. In an issued threat Zuckerberg cautioned the Australian and New Zealand governments if they make him pay for published news he would ban all news articles from Facebook entirely in their country. Before the law had ever been signed into law Zuckerberg made a preemptive vindictive strike banning not only news but several government, health and emergency services pages on Facebook and Instagram. The EU, France and Canada are closely watching the outcome as they are considering similar laws. 

Consider for a minute Zuckerberg’s desire to get involved in Political outcome in a foreign country. In Myanmar the military coup over the democratically elected government has now been affected by Facebook. Zuckerberg has decided to remove any all presence of the military on Facebook siting violation of their terms of service. The Military has now threated to remove Facebook entirely from their country thus removing 22 million subscribers on Facebook. 

This so called Cancel Culture is being perpetrated by Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google, and Amazon.

Every new day they seem to find something else to push their agenda. After 8 months of Zuckerberg peddling his opinion of Covid-19 using the adage of “stopping misinformation,” he has now found a new agenda to combat “misinformation.” His new attack is on Climate Change…and censoring anything that he sees as running contrary to his view of “settled science.”

 

Where else has a 36 year old wielded such power? Better question still is how did we let him obtain such power?

 

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

State of Maryland squandered $3 Billion and what do we have to show for it?

State of Maryland squandered $3 Billion and what do we have to show for it?


Al Ritter

 

As I reported back in 2008 in a previous article the Tobacco Industry entered into a settlement in 1998 with the state of Maryland to fund smoking cessation programs and also direct funding for relief to individuals because of tobacco related illnesses.

From 1998 to 2020 Maryland has received over $3 Billion from this settlement and while pocketing most all the money into the general slush fund has spent little to nothing on cessation programs (.03%)

I warned Marylanders then that the spending Democrats would get so used to this money that they would never rein back spending after the money disappeared. The settlement was only for 25 years and is due to expire in 2023.

Fast forward to Maryland’s new tax and spend bill SB 496 otherwise known as the Kirwan Bill. Gov. Hogan vetoed the bill but the legislature overturned his veto. House Dems disguised this bill as “Recovery for the Economy, Livelihoods, Industries, Entrepreneurs, and Families Relief Act.”

Here’s the kicker funding for this program will come from doubling cigarette taxes and flavored cigarettes and cigars. Although it will hardly make up the difference in lost income from the Tobacco Settlement of 1998 it’s a sure sign that the legislature is desperately looking for ways to make up the lost money! So where has the majority of the $3 billion gone Peter Franchot? 

https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/assets/factsheets/0365.pdf

http://alspoliticalview.blogspot.com/search?q=tobacco+settlement

https://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/Pages/Tobacco/escrowact.aspx


Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Imagine If You Will Cancel Culture Buys Towns:


Imagine If You Will, Cancel Culture Buys Towns:

Al Ritter

 

If Facebook, or Google, maybe Apple were to buy an enormous plot of ground say 70,000 acres and decided to create their own town. What would that town look like?

 

Most Cities start as Townships, transform to Municipalities, then to Cities. They normally start out by incorporating with the sole intent of creating a Township. Along with accepting that charter they assume the responsibilities of creating infrastructure, roads, courts, and Police Departments. This is how things are normally done.

 

Now let’s step into the Twilight zone for a minute.

 

Let’s now assume that an already Incorporated LLC (read that limited liability corporation) whose sole purpose was totally unrelated to the intent of forming a town. Starting to blur the lines of what is right and wrong aren’t we?

 

In Nevada the state legislature is looking into changing the law to allow a large Big Tech giant Blockchains LLC to turn a 67,000 acre plot into their own town, but here’s the kicker. Blockchains will control basically the whole town through a three member board of supervisors. Two of those supervisors will be named by Blockchains, the third appointment is unclear. Understand that there would be no elected officials of the town only appointed ones! Kind of undercuts the idea of Democracy doesn't it?

 

This will give the Big Tech Giant to make the rules, it is unclear whether the town would operate autonomously and have its own sovereignty or not. What is clear however is that Blockchains will have the authority to control all your identity information within its borders.

 

Is this the path our nation needs at this point? Handing over more power to Big Tech or removing it?

 

https://www.theepochtimes.com/big-techs-flawed-defence_3697363.html?fbclid=IwAR3tjxuUMbwOpm37pnBFPEYmbuuJ-Fj_t5-_dbe81UQjpVYNykGBu4_MnsY

Sunday, February 14, 2021

What Was Nancy’s part in Jan 6 Protest?

 




What Was Nancy’s part in Jan 6 Protest?

Al Ritter

 

Ok this has been bothering me for the past 4 weeks.

 

When viewing videos of the supposed break in of the Capitol building, we saw the police allowing the people in and in fact the crowd looked pretty orderly.

 

If you didn't know better, you would think they were on a tour of the Capitol Building right? NOW.....google who controls the Capitol Police Department.....one big hint...It's NOT the DC Mayor!

 

Congress controls the Capital Police!

 

Who is the head of the Congress? Someone needs to ask the question of the Commander of the Capitol Police Dept......(who has since resigned).......Who ordered the Police to stand down and allow the protesters into the building? #coup #nancyscoup Share if you have questions too!

 

It now seems that the Democrats have dropped the Impeachment farce after threats from the Republican defense team that they would expose Nancy Pelosi for what she really is and present over 100 witnesses that would totally embarrass the Democratic party!

 

https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2021/02/13/326732-n326732?fbclid=IwAR2iFk-l6IL4nYPd7Nq3Veq8F3y1Ez1ROIwhQqKVNVNJA2B4ox5SESgOIOo

Friday, February 12, 2021

Welcome Back Patriots!


Welcome back Patriots!

Al Ritter

 

As I said earlier, I had been locked out of my own blog for 4 years! Who knows what will happen to my blog now as Google has control over my account. As we found out this year the “Big Tech” now has control of our conservative speech.

 

Well, where do I start to fill the void of four years? I have to admit, I was a “never trumper” in the beginning. I’m sure you remember that I SURELY didn’t like the Obama/Biden administration! When Trump was elected I was equally disappointed.

 

People tend to voice the old adage “ Well I voted for the lesser of two evils.” Sadly that doesn’t work for me. Certainly Hillary is evil, but I wasn’t sold on Trump either, and voting for the lesser of the evils is still voting for evil.

 

In his first year, I still wasn’t terribly impressed, but as time went on I started seeing him sign policies that I agreed with. I still had problems with his grandiose statements on Twitter, and Facebook. His need to poke a stick into everyone’s eye who didn’t agree with him troubled me. Obviously his parents never taught him how to pick his battles, because he seemed to want to fight them all!

 

In his second through four year his accomplishments started to mount. He still wasn’t my pick for the Presidency, but his successes were mounting. At least I finally voted for him in 2020, and not because he was the lesser of two evils, it was a vote this time of confidence.

 

I look at the President the same way I look at doctors now. I pick my doctor based on his abilities as a doctor, I don’t pick a doctor solely on the idea “Do I like him?” I pick a doctor for the care he can give me not because of some misplaced popularity contest. The same goes for me in picking a President, I don’t view him as being my buddy or a friend but someone who can do the best possible job.

 

As we move forward after the inauguration, I haven’t been terribly impressed, it appears as though he has reversed many things that improved us under the Trump Administration.

 

Only 204 weeks to go!

 

 


Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Ocular Migraine

 

Ocular Migraine:

Al Ritter



 

About 4 years ago I got my first ocular migraine, and not knowing what it was kinda freaked me out. After a trip to the eye doctor he assured me that there was nothing wrong with my eyes and that it was a fairly common occurrence.

 

It’s nothing really like its name would lead you to believe. It’s not a migraine in the sense of having a headache, I have never had a headache with it.

 

As shown in my drawing it appears as a “C” to me, very small at first then widening as time progresses shown in the arrows. The zigzag lines are flashing lights of yellow, red, and blue. Eventually the “C” gets so large it disappears out of my line of vision and the ocular migraine is gone restoring me to full vision. In some people it presents itself differently in shape and size.


 

The eye doctor told me they don’t really know what causes it and there is no known treatment for it other than to just wait for it to pass…..normally about 20 mins or so. I haven’t had one in a few months, and I normally have one now about 3 to 4 times a year.

 

Just thought I’d give you all a heads up in case you have your first one and get freaked out by it.

Friday, February 5, 2021

The biggest threat to the national security of our country: Mark Zuckerberg

 


The biggest threat to the national security of our country: Mark Zuckerberg

Al Ritter 

He came into our life in 2010 under the guise of offering you the opportunity of reuniting with old friends and also a way to share pictures of family etc. Little did we know of his dark intentions back then. 

Things we didn’t really know about him: 

In 2003 while in Harvard studying computer sciences and psychology he created two programs, one was called “Coursematch” which helped students pick classes based on what past students had taken. Later that same year he created a program called “Facematch” which allowed the students to make choices between two pictures based on who was “hotter.” Zuckerberg not only used those pictures without the permission of the students in the pictures, but never got permission from the University to use their network switch systems. 

Harvard subsequently shut down his program, and Zuckerberg had to make a formal apology. Articles written in student paper claimed his actions were “totally improper.” The seed for improprieties had been planted, it would be the first time he violated the privacy of others but it wouldn’t be the last. 

The following semester in early 2004 he began writing code for a new website entitled “Thefacebook.” Just six days after its launch, three Harvard seniors accused Zuckerberg of intentionally misleading them into helping to build a site called HarvardConnection.com. while in fact he was building a competing product. The three complained to the University newspaper The Harvard Crimson. The paper started an investigation. 

Following the initial launch of the website the three seniors filed suit against Zuckerberg. The final settlement was for $20 million in cash and 1.2 million in Facebook shares. This was the first in many lost cases Zuckerberg would endure in the future due to lies, stealing ideas and privacy issues. 

Another law suit appeared by Eduardo Saverin as being a co-founder of Facebook. A settlement was reached out of court and the terms of settlement are sealed. More theft of content by young Zuckerberg. Much better to settle out of court rather than have your theft made public. 

Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard in his sophomore year to complete his project. A few days after leaving Harvard he decided that Facebook wouldn’t be just a domestic product but a world-wide venture. After leaving Harvard he enlisted help to spread it to 8 more Universities. 

Zuckerberg joined forces with Dustin Moskovitz in 2004 and moved to Palto Alto California where they met Peter Thiel, his first investor. A few companies offered to buy Facebook but he turned them all down, siting from an interview from 2007 he said….. "It's not because of the amount of money. For me and my colleagues, the most important thing is that we create an open information flow for people. Having media corporations owned by conglomerates is just not an attractive idea to me." This statement is very ironic in light of today’s situation. 

In 2007 Facebook entered into a program called Beacon which was later discontinued in 2009 which user content was harvested on the outside and sold to Facebook. The service was discontinued due to a class action suit which resulted in termination from the project. 

In 2008 the New York Times pointed out that there is no real way to delete an account, as some information will always be retained by FB such as private messages and posts to groups. 

By 2010 Facebook had 500 million users and in Zuckerberg’s words had topped out on available advertising space per page. Later he would embark upon new projects to increase income to become the very conglomerate he so abhorred. 

Zuckerberg in 2010 started “hackathons” every 6 to 8 weeks to see what ingenious projects his employees could come up with. One of Zuckerberg’s peers referred to him as a hacker at heart claiming Zuckerberg once told him “it’s ok to break things to make them better.” 

It was reported that in 2010 that “Instant Personalization” was an inside pilot program of Facebooks’ allowing the selling of users data to Yelp, Pandora, and Microsoft Documents. 

In 2011 Facebook integrates facial recognition into all user profiles. It claims to be 98% accurate compared to the FBI’s 85%. It’s still active today and there is no setting or preference to remove it. It’s active on ALL photos not just the ones you are in, so understand that any group picture you place on Facebook can violate the privacy rights of non-users! 

In 2011 the Irish Protection Commissioner started an investigation after receiving 22 complaints by group “Europe-v-Facebook” in which they made access requests at Facebook Ireland of data per person and received back 1,200 pages of data that Facebook was holding on them in 57 categories. The group has claimed that FB has failed to supply them with additional categories of up to 84 data groups including facial recognition. After threats of banning FB from Ireland, FB gave in and changed policy there. As a side note “Facebook Ireland” was formed to AVOID TAXES IN America. 

In 2012 Facebook purchased Instagram for $1 billion, based on an IOS or Android system it allows people a picture sharing outlet. 

In 2012 Facebook shared its data with Cambridge Analytica through an app designed by Global Science Research to aid the Barack Obama Campaign. This marked the first time Big Tech appeared to endorse a candidate. There were no FaceBook “fact checkers” that refuted any claim by this campaign. 

In 2013 he announced he was on track to register 5 billion users world-wide and was pushing for more worldwide access to the internet to increase his share hold. 

In 2013 Facebook purchased a VPN Onavo based on IOS systems and used it to spy on other apps. Media outlets labeled it as spyware and by late 2018 had been discontinued. 

In 2013 it was exposed by Edward Snowden that Facebook and Big Tech giant Alphabet Inc (aka Google) were suppliers of data mining to a military program called Prism. Along with personal information stored from Facebook and Google, Facebook also allows sharing facial recognition technologies (not only about FB members but anyone whose picture you post) to the NSA. This alone is the scariest part of Facebook and Google! 

In 2013 he arrogantly stated in a post… The world economy is going through a massive transition right now. The knowledge economy is the future. By bringing everyone online, we'll not only improve billions of lives, but we'll also improve our own as we benefit from the ideas and productivity they contribute to the world. Giving everyone the opportunity to connect is the foundation for enabling the knowledge economy. It is not the only thing we need to do, but it's a fundamental and necessary step.” 

In late 2014 Zuckerberg tried to enter the market in China where Facebook is banned. Lu Wei the head of internet in China claimed that Facebook was a waste of time and refused to allow it. Facebook is banned in Iran, China, and Syria. 

In 2014 Facebook bought Whatsapp for $19 billion and is supposed an encrypted messaging system, the problem is they have never supplied documentation concerning their encryption. In an anti-trust suit against Google, it was revealed in court that Whatsapp allowed access to Google to private messages stored at Facebook. Hardly encrypted then is it? 

In 2016 Facebook instituted “Project Atlas” where they offered a market research program inviting teenagers 13 to age 35 to participate and let them use data mining on browsing history, web search, location history, and even personal messages. In turn the participants were offered $20 a month. This required the users to install a root certificate on their phone. As a result on January 30 2019 Apple temporarily revoked Facebook’s Enterprise Developer Program for one day virtually shutting down Facebook’s IOS connection systems. Apple stated that "Facebook has been using their membership to distribute a data-collecting app to consumers, which is a clear breach of their agreement with Apple" Shortly after Facebook discontinued the program. 

In 2017 Zuckerberg filed eight “quiet title and partition” lawsuits against 100’s of Hawaiians on the Island of Kauai. Encompassing 700 acres Zuckerberg later dropped the case when he discovered that Hawaiian property ownership law is very different than the 49 other states. 

In April 2018 he was required to testify before the Senate subcommittee on his abuse of privacy due to data sharing by the agreement between Cambridge Analytica and FaceBook. To this day Zuckerberg has refused to appear in front of a Parliamentary Committee in the UK to answer the same type of charges. 

In December 2018 it emerged that FB had been supplying Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix, Yahoo, and Spotify, and up to 150 third parties access to user’s private messages, address books, and private posts without their knowledge. 

Also in December of 2018 it was learned that when accessing Facebook from their app, your location will always be known by them even if your location setting on your device is turned off. Google has the very same access! 

In 2019 it was revealed that the company had enlisted contractors to create and obtain transcripts of users. 

In 2020 Zuckerberg was once again subpoenaed to appear before the senate commerce committee with other Big Tech giants to defend their censorship of individuals and their legal immunity according to section 230. 

In January 2019 laid plans to integrate an end to end encrypted system to be used in both IOS and Android devices, and tied to Facebook and Instagram, and Whatsapp 

In February 2019 it was learned that health apps owned by Facebook are shared with third party advertisers thus violating HIPPA restrictions. 

In 2020 FB saw the first appearance of “Fact Checkers” initially they were third party contractors but later hires were done through FB. The ones that they share background info on are all liberal supporters, some are even Chinese Nationals that support the liberal cause for money. 

Tax avoidance, FB uses a complicated system of shell organizations to avoid taxes through offshore accounts practically paying NO taxes here or abroad. For instance FB paid not one dime in 2012-2013 in the UK. 

In conclusion:

Mark Zuckerberg is a very intelligent young man. Sadly the lessons he learned early in life have enabled him to use the morality of “The ends always justifies the means.” What strikes me is his arrogance and narcissistic nature of constantly challenging the law and thumbing his nose at the Senate. His constant development of apps that violate privacy issues is troubling to say the least. He pushes until someone tells him no then he abandons that app and begins a new one to find yet another way into the back door. People who embrace these ideas in my opinion have no right to be participating in ANY government programs! Income from Facebook has topped out for Zuckerberg, but his two largest income producers after Facebook are Whatsapp and Instagram in that order. If you want to send him a message I’d suggest removing one or all of them from your life, after all we did without them in 2004. 

The way I see Big Tech is this…….they are all like a family….they fight like siblings among themselves, and even sue each other, but that’s like a chess game to them. When attacked together they act like one tight knit family and will fight you to the end! 

Remember one thing……..if the service costs you nothing……YOU are the product!