Quick Sunday News Bits

Let’s discuss a few issues before we enjoy the rest of the day.
 
Highway Driving
 
Wow, be careful out there.
 
I drove back to Missoula from Helena today and let me tell you, I saw some crazy things.
 
There’s a lot of traffic and there’s a lot of out-of-staters on the road.
 
Many, many RVs and big-haul trucks and quite a few motorcycles too.
 
It’s summer driving season and that means lots of passing. I saw a few close calls, so be careful.
 
I like the sign before McDonald Pass in Helena that says 205 highway deaths in 2015 and 70% not wearing a seatbelt.
 
Perhaps a dad will see that and ask over his shoulder, “hey, seatbelts on back there.”
 
Little things like that might help. I still like the idea of posting DUI fines and such on the side of the road, perhaps near bars.
 
I discussed that in my post about 20 bills needed for the 2017 Legislature and there are plenty more good ideas.
 

Feeding the Consumer Bug
 
Wow, it feels good buying stuff, huh?
 
I think we’re hardwired to work those pleasure circuits that buying stuff just seems to do.
 
It helps that our consumer culture bombards us with advertising on a near-constant basis.
 
I think TV is a big part of the blame and I couldn’t help but notice that Bernie Sanders thought the same way back in 1979.
 

“With considerable forethought [TV capitalists] are attempting to create a nation of morons who will faithfully go out and buy this or that product, vote for this or that candidate and faithfully work for their employers for as low a wage as possible.”

 
I got that bit off of a post on Bill Moyers’ website called Did the Press Take Down Bernie Sanders?
 
Yeah, it’s a good one and I read it last night after reading posts like:
 

• There are more than 2.5 million uncounted ballots left from Tuesday’s statewide primary (LA Times)

 

• After Frustrating Primary, Millions of Ballots in California Remain Uncounted (Common Dreams)

 

• Ballot Blocks: It’s true that millions of California ballots have yet to be certified…(Snopes)

 

• Lawsuit Filed As Bernie Sanders Wins California By Landslide (Your New Wire)

 
Jeez, seems like something fishy’s going on, huh?
 
Here’s what PolitiFact said on June 10:
 

“Three days after the election, Clinton had more than 2 million votes to Sanders’ nearly 1.6 million, for a lead of about 450,000 votes, according to the California Secretary of State’s website. If there’s any landslide victory, at this point, it’s by Clinton.
 
Of course, the results are not official, as nearly 2.6 million ballots remained unprocessed as of Thursday, June 9, also according to the California Secretary of State. Most are expected to include votes in the Democratic presidential primary.
 
Reports surfaced on Election Day about broken voting machines, incomplete voter rolls and confusion among unaffiliated voters over how to obtain a Democratic ballot. Many voters received provisional ballots that were not immediately counted.”

 
So you’re telling me that there’s 2.5 million votes that haven’t been counted in California and not a peep from the corporate media?
 
Wow!
 
Currently I see CNN reporting the totals for Hillary are 1.9 million and the totals for Bernie are 1.5 million so that means there’s 400,000 votes separating them…with 73% of the vote in.
 
Gosh, that could be enough for Bernie to get the state, and he could get more delegates for the convention.
 
That would be awesome. Today the Montana Democrats chose the 21 delegates going to the Democratic National Convention. Many are for Bernie.
 
Anyways, back to that consumer bug.
 
I know you want to feed it, and like Bernie was saying 37 years ago, a big part of that is the TV.
 
So please, try and turn the TV off a bit more this summer.
 
I know – it’s tough.
 
We’re so hardwired to watch it all the time that we often forget the other things that we could be doing.
 
Here are some things I do. Remember, I haven’t had a TV in years.
 

1. Read books
2. Plant flowers and vegetables
3. Go hiking
4. Ride your bike around
5. Do a jigsaw puzzle
6. Listen to an audio book
7. Find a nice spot to put up a birdhouse
8. Collect some stamps
9. Read some magazines
10. Comment on some blogs
11. Go swimming at the waterslide
12. Take a drive
13. Make a photo album
14. Do some painting
15. Talk to your neighbors
16. Color in a coloring book
17. Listen to some music
18. Send letters to relatives
19. Play a musical instrument
20. Take a walk

 
See, there’s lots of stuff to do.
 
Actually, I got the idea for this bit of the post when I was coming out of the Missoula Public Library this afternoon.
 
I had a book on hold, one that was on my Goodreads current reading list but which I haven’t read in some time.
 
I felt good taking it out of there, like I’d fulfilled a bit of that consumer bug.
 
Other than that, gardening works good. Here’s what mine looks like this year…so far.
 

The Strandberg Garden, 2016

 
The Orlando Nightclub Shooting
 
I wonder if that’s what the media will call it.
 
Maybe it’ll be the Orlando gay nightclub shooting.
 
It was a gay club, and that’s one motive being tossed around today for why 29-year-old Omar Mateen went in and killed 50 people and wounded 53 more.
 
His dad, who’s from Afghanistan, says that it was because his son got angry when he saw two men kissing.
 
Really?
 
You can see that all the time on TV.
 
I think one of the real problems is that this guy either had serious mental health issues or he was doing some kind of jihadi-wannabe-style stunt and he chose that club to do it in.
 
I’ve already seen some reaction that says this nightclub shooting will only boost Trump’s case.
 
Yeah, this’ll be a political issue pretty darn quick.
 
Obama has already hinted that the easy access to guns is the problem, and I’m sure that’ll drive up gun sales.
 
My, isn’t that great for the arms dealers that are part of a $235 billion business!
 
So I have no doubt that this will become a guns/terrorism issue.
 
That doesn’t play well for Hillary, who just today had her joint-appearance with Obama in Wisconsin cancelled.
 
It was supposed to be Wednesday, but now that’s done.
 
I feel that mental health is a big part of the problem, but with the hoopla over refugee resettlement, that too will play into this narrative.
 
Mostly that narrative will be dictated by the corporate media and I’m sure it’s already wall-to-wall coverage of the scene and bodies being taken out and crews walking around now while others clean up the massive amounts of blood inside.
 
What a mess.
 

 
I've been thinking how Denise Juneau might play this. She's gay, but I feel she should call for more mental health, less “take our guns” type of talk.
 
Here in Missoula I hope it makes people think a bit more about refugee resettlement. I'd really like to see some costs associated with that as well.
 
I doubt I will, and I doubt we’ll talk about mental health funding and the need for it and the need for more local clinics and perhaps statewide institutions.
 
Our jails are full and people with serious problems are not going to get better there.
 
Let’s not even get into our drug problem, especially meth, and how this is making people do extremely crazy things like kill a relative and hide their body in a camper’s shower for 3 months, and God knows how long the kids were living there.
 
So that’s what we get right now, lots of terrible news and lots of stuff that just makes you wonder, ‘what in the hell is going on?’
 
I don’t know, but I feel it’s going to be a hot and crazy summer.
 
Be safe out there.