Higher Learning

In 1995 I remember watching a movie titled Higher Learning. In it one of the characters played by actor Michael Rapaport (Remy), befriends a white supremacist, and eventually joins a Neo Nazi Skinhead group.

The movie dabbles in some of today's social issues, and how peer pressure affected these young students while they tried to fit in their society. In the movie, Remy is brainwashed to kill for the white race. 

I was reminded of the movie when I saw a picture of Neo-Nazi groups planning yesterday's "National Day of Hate" protest in the United States.

While the United States protects the right of neo-Nazis, white supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan, and other hate groups to hold public rallies and express their views openly, Germany has strict laws banning Nazi symbols. 

Looking at the top picture, it is clear that we have a lot of young men in the United States trying to fit in, and being brainwashed to hate. Why are these young men so mad that they feel the need to embrace a hateful ideology and loathe those different than them?

The Common Denominator

In 1989 I visited my best friend from high school who lives in Florida with his family. We traveled all over the state, including Key West and the Everglades.

In the Florida Everglades on our way to Tampa from Miami, there is a section called Alligator Alley. You can see alligators sunbathing on the side of the road. As they bask in the sun, if you take precautions, you can stop the car and take pictures of them. Which I did; I knew better than to get close to the banks of the Everglade waters.

This past Monday, I read a news report from Florida, where an 85-year-old woman who was walking her small dog near a pond by her house was killed when a 10-foot alligator dragged her into the water, after the alligator first attempted to take her dog.

The common denominator in most of these alligator attacks in Florida is that the victim was too close to the water, before being attacked. I feel sorry for the victim, but these incidents occur so often that I sometimes wonder if these Floridians don’t read the news about alligator attacks?

The top image has been photoshopped from the comic book Florida Man.

Quite A Root On That Tooth

Went to see my dentist this week, as a reward for my good behavior he gave me my favorite lollipop. 

I have been living in the same apartment for the past 20 years. All the essential health services are not far from my residence, sometimes a walking distance from home.  I am afraid that if I move to a different state, running away from cold weather, I will never find the same healthcare services and compassionate providers that I currently have. 

In fact, when I began thinking about retirement and relocating, I like my dentist so much that I told him that he will have to move his office near me so I could continue getting his excellent services.

At Least 102 Minors Were Working In United States Meatpacking Plants

I just read a report by the Labor Department where 13 meat packers sanitation services hired more than 100 minors in their meatpacking plants, where they were cleaning dangerous industrial equipment using hazardous chemicals. It included 13, 14 and 15-year-olds.

Whould've thunk it? Child labor, in other words, explotation of children in the United States. The 13 meat facilities were located in Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee and Texas. 

These companies need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

My Golden Anniversary

It dawned on me recently, that I have been riding motorcycles since 1973. Therefore, this coming April I would be celebrating my 50th year anniversary as a motorhead.

One interesting aspect of this is that not many of my social work/healthcare colleagues have an awareness of my motorcycling past. And even though I first began working in the HIV/AIDS field in 1995, my hooligan motorcycle childhood friends in Puerto Rico believe that I am still working as a technician/service manager in a motorcycle dealership somewhere in the United States. 

I must give credit where credit is due : my love for motorcycles saved me from falling in with the wrong crowd and on the wrong life path. And my pursue of a higher education in the motorcycle industry, allowed me to build a career in the field. And for that I am grateful. 

At my age, 66 years old and counting, with good genetics and a healthy lifestyle, I hope to continue riding motorcycles for the next 20 years.

Republicans In Washington DC Are Melting Down After New January Economy Report Was Just Released

January Job Report: lowest unemployment rate in 53 Years, 517,000 New Jobs. This economy is outperforming Trump's economy, when Trump said: "he had the strongest economy ever in all of world history." 

This economy is outperforming what Trump said. So now we just grab the popcorn and wait for the MAGA republicans to keep telling us how Joe Biden is destroying the economy.

Next up they are going to hype up some culture wars talking points telling us the next thing we should be afraid off to distract from these incredible job numbers. 

I remember back in 2004, before becoming president, the Orange Turd told Wolf Blitzer that the economy always does better when Democrats are running this Country. The orange turd said and I quote: "I’ve been around for a long time and it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans.” This is probably the only truth Trump has ever told.

The best part of this job report was watching a FauxNews host disppointing face, looking not too pleased having to share the great job news to their Orange Turd audience. 

Hypocrisy! Thy Name Is GOP - China Spy Balloons Crossed Into U.S. 3 Times During Trump Administration

Suspected spy balloons from China crossed into the continental United States at least three times during the Trump administration, according to a statement Saturday by the Department of Defense.

The spy balloon visits while Trump was in office undermined outrage by Republicans who complained that Biden didn’t order the balloon this time around shot down quickly enough, or that he shouldn’t have allowed the balloon to enter U.S. airspace to begin with.

Craig Singleton, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told AP that Chinese surveillance balloons were sighted several times in the past five years. Some of them have been spotted near U.S. military bases in Hawaii.

Likely Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley also beat up on Biden for not taking more immediate action, but also failed to address balloons in the last administration.

Hablar En Publico

En el 1995 recibi un entrenamiento por la Cruz Roja para hablar en publico sobre programas de educacion del VIH/SIDA.

A pesar que yo estaba aterrorizado al tener que pararme al frente de estudiantes y personas de la comunidad, yo estaba preparado porque sabia bastante del tema que iba a presentar y en aquel tiempo usaba notas (index cards) para saber que iba a decir paso por paso. Para una persona como yo, primera vez parandome al frente de un grupo, no fue facil hacerlo. 

Han pasado 28 años desde aquel entrenamiento, y ahora voy a aventurarme a algo casi igual y a la misma vez desconocido. Tratar de grabar en video (vlogging) y crear contenido para mi canal. Una cosa es escribir un guion y hablar comodamente en la sala de mi casa mientras grabo el video, que hablar al frente de un microfono en la calle mientras camino con personas a mi alrededor. 

No me gusta no saber lo que estoy haciendo, prefiero estar preparado. Es bien importante tener contacto visual con la camara, por eso pienso utilizar un pequeño teleprompter para el celular y la camara GoPro. Tambien voy a utilizar un estabilizador gimbal para el celular al igual que para la camara GoPro. Prefiero estar preparado y tener las herramientas imprescindibles para hablar en publico.