I'm pretty conservative

Really, I am.  But every now and then something just triggers my 'Oh FuxK NO' button.  Well, first of all this whole disaster of an election season sucks big time - but I digress.  We live out in the back of beyond.  This is Conservative Country and that's fine.  People who live around here have horses and chickens and goats and why not.  It's not the city.  I'm sure most of them have guns not that there is ever gunfire in our neighborhood.  We have guns.  Granted most are ones that I fired when I was a child.  A couple of them are probably older than I am and that's saying something.  But, again I digress. 

The radio 'news' carried a story about how hackers can take over your car.  The reporter is talking excitedly about how the radio is blaring, the wipers going crazy and, worst of all, the brakes being useless.  Well, gee!  What kind of crap is that?  First of all, yes, there are plenty of computer systems in a modern car and yes, where there is a computer there can be a hack.  However, every maker has their own software so a 'universal' hacker would have to have individual hacks for every make.  Perhaps even several for different styles of car.  A Chevy Cruz probably isn't using the same software as a Corvette.  So this 'news' story is just aimed at increasing our paranoia.  Thanks!

We are in our mid sixties so many of our relatives are as old or older.  These older relatives are getting really paranoid.  We have one person who a few years ago took a cruise to Australia and stopped at several south pacific islands.  Now she is getting worried about being out and about in her own neighborhood at night.  Now certainly this could be the sign of some mental illness but they too live in conservative country and they are hearing the same crap on the radio that we are getting.  OMG, we are becoming a nation of idiots!

Of course we have Presidential candidates who are talking about building a fence between the US and Mexico to keep out illegal immigrants.  What happened to "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free".  (A quote from The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus and installed in the Statue of Liberty.)  Are there Mexican drug dealers who would like to live here?  Well, hell yes.  So let them sell something, arrest them and throw them in jail or ship them back home.  But does that mean we should keep out thousands of hard working normal people?  I certainly don't think so.  One guy I know doesn't like immigrants because they have 'taken over construction jobs'.  Well, that's what is called life.  Read a history book.  The Italian immigrant wasn't exactly loved when they arrived.  The Irish were hated. I imagine every incoming group was vilified.

Paranoia has it's place.  Walking around in bad neighborhoods at night is probably a bad idea.  Flashing a roll of bills in a bar when you are drunk is probably a bad idea.  But it shouldn't drive our society.  It shouldn't drive our Presidential election.  I know 'good news doesn't sell newspapers' but it doesn't follow that we need to make up crap.

Sorry.  I'll get off my soapbox and return to pictures of pigeons in the birdbath next time.  Take care and thanks for stopping by.