Author: beely

Violation of Free Speech 2020

[Posted this to NextDoor (11/14/2020) about election signs being stolen from yard]
“Thanks to the person who violated my 1st Amendment right to free speech by stealing BOTH of the Biden-Harris signs from my yard, not in the public easement on Thursday, 11/12/20. (I live on a corner so I had two signs – one for each direction.)

My “Yes on Prop 208” sign and my Mark Kelly for Senate sign were NOT stolen.
How are we going to have a civil transition with this kind of behavior?”

AE Factory Service – Trump Supporter?

Here’s a letter I’m sending to A&E Factory Service about one of their employees – I really question if this employee is following the company’s guidelines regarding political expression.

A&E Executive Solution
1560 Cable Ranch Rd.
Bldg. A
San Antonio, TX 78245

Good Morning,

I am writing with a concern about an A&E Factory Service employee who lives in my neighborhood: This individual has an A&E Factory Service vehicle (#46415) parked in front of their house/driveway, flying “Trump for President” flags from their personal truck and a flag pole attached to their house, and a Trump for President yard sign in front of the house.

I’m writing to clarify if this type of display is in accordance with your company guidelines, if your business promotes this type of political display by contracted workers. I am very concerned that your business actively encourages employees to promote the re-election of Trump. I am concerned that your company has racially biased business practices, has views regarding immigrants, and that A&E Factory Service provides monetary support of Trump and his candidacy for President.

If all of the above is true, of course your company and employees have the right of free speech. I also have the right to boycott your business: I will immediately stop considering doing any business with your firm and will inform others via social media of your company’s stance. I will encourage others to also immediately cease hiring and to boycott A&E Factory Service, to choose other businesses that are at least not so flagrant in their political support of Donald Trump.

Letter to Martha McSally

I am writing to you on the eve of the start of the impeachment proceedings/trial in the Senate against President Trump following his legal impeachment in the U.S. House of Represetatives. I am asking that you stay honest and impartial while listening to the evidence presented against the President recently forwarded by the US House of Representatives.

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Retrospect – Candidates 2016

I wrote this back in mid August 2016 in Evernote.

What draws me most to why Donald Trump is the worst choice America can make for our political leader, our figurehead, our primary representative to the world community is his lack of compassion for non-white citizens, his selflishness, and monumentally about not really wanting to make a difference in all American citizens’ lives. I never hear/see any of his words that state how he wants to “make America great again”, just how others, like blacks, Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, feminists of all genders, GLBTQ citizens, the down-trodden and less fortunate, all of these unwanted citizens aren’t really desireable members of his elitist club, the White Man’s club.

But the real question here is what does our current leader, President Obama, and our future President, Hillary Clinton, really say and do to set them apart from Trump? What attitude and spirit do they bring to the table that Trump has never shown?

  • Both Obama and Clinton have spent their adult lives in service to the public – their track records are very clear on how they care for all members of society.
  • Both Obama and Clinton have spent much of their adult lives in service to targeted, less fortunate groups and ultimately everyone in their respective communities.
  • Trump has only been in service to himself, his ego, his empire, his ultimate business goals of power and money – he doesn’t speak of his history of volunteerism or professional life work he’s done to help the less fortunate or social justice causes: Good reason because he’s done neither!

It’s clear he views anything outside the scope of business as a waste of time and energy. Problem is, he’s not that great at business when viewed in the scope of longevity, consistency, continued growth, enabling all members of his business. Prime examples are all instances of his failed businesses, topically the Trump Taj Mahal Casino fiasco: Trump failed in the business venture, screwed employees and contractors out of earned wages, and eventually screwed the state of New Jersey out of the money he owed. In Trump’s eyes it was a win for him – he didn’t take too great a loss, less money out of his bottom line.

The most disturbing aspect of Trump is his lack of empathy, his true lack of compassion – I’d hazard to say (being generous here) that he borders on a moderate degree of sociopathy. His general immaturity and obvious low scores in Emotional Intelligence don’t bode well for a possible leader; Examples:

  • His heartless and cruel ridiculing of a disabled press member this year.
  • His unwarranted and dangerous call for violence against Hillary Clinton.
  • His inciting riots and white-on-black violence at his pre-Convention gatherings.
  • His encouraging crowds to physically abuse protesters and unwanted members of gatherings.
  • His total lack of understanding what a nuclear missile can do, but still wanting to be the bully and scare everyone with the thought that he would consider their use. Clearly, he has no clue that the President doesn’t press a “button” and has a military cabinet that would fight against any such action.

Interesting Learning Techniques

Here are some interesting ideas on how we learn, what keeps us from learning and progressing in a field of study, what kinds of tools we can incorporate in our learning to get beyond the frustration and resistance so many of us experience while learning.

Dr. Barbara Oakley wrote a great article for LinkedIn about her experiences of moving from one field of study, where she used different techniques to learn a foreign language, to a move later in a direction she had never considered – mathematics and engineering. Great article on how she found her way and pushed through, used her “beginner’s mind” to stay open to the possibilities.

Dr. Oakley describes her experiences and teaches an online course through Coursera, Learning How To Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects. I’m going to commit to setting aside time to take this online course. I don’t quite know the costs yet, but there is a certificate of completion that can be posted to LinkedIn profile.

Links mentioned

Resources for Recent Presentation

I’ve recently attended the Southern California Linux Expo (SCaLE 15x) conference in early March 2017, paid with professional development funds by the community college where I work in the IT department at a local campus. I had an amazing time learning about some recent technologies within the Linux and open-source software communities. I heard some amazing speakers who inspired me and helped to renew my evangelistic enthusiasm for Linux, open-source software. Many of the conference presentation sessions are available in the SCaLE-15x YouTube channel. Some outstanding presentations, especially the keynote speaker, Dr. Christine Corbett Moran on Saturday morning!

SCaLE-15x
Southern California Linux Expo 15

I felt compelled to do a bit of “pay-back” and share some of the information and enthusiasm I have regarding the:

  • Linux operating system
  • open-source software
  • courses available within the College (and beyond) to help kick-start technology careers for students
  • and to help promote the need for more Women in Technology.

To facilitate this desire to give something back, I developed a presentation for students, faculty, staff, and community members. The presentation slide-deck is available on GitHub and the links to that and a list of resources mentioned in the presentation and more are hosted at a quick site I put up via Blogger: https://beelybox.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html. Check it out! I do plan on cleaning the presentation up substantially and modifying the presentation of the resources – kind of cobbled together.

Feel free to comment below.