Be Active: A Harsh Criticism for Republicans

The Republican Party in Oregon is a joke.

The Party fights and squabbles leading up to the primary, yet once the primary is done the Party is no more united then it was before the primary. Instead the different groups split off and call each other RINO or claim that because this candidate does not agree with me on X they are not a real Republican.

Unity

Purity testing is killing the Party and causing it to fractionate. The Party lacks any sort of unity outside of the name Republican.

The sentiment is if you do not believe what I, a real Republican, believe then I am simply going to stay home on Election Day and refuse to vote. Or I will write a name in or simply not send in my ballot because I do not want to waste a stamp.

If you fail to compromise within the Party then you will break and you might as well give up and allow a different Party to take your place. You cannot get everything you want all the time, grow up and make a sacrifice for the future.

The candidate might not be perfect but they are better than the alternative and they are more likely to listen to you in the future if you help get them elected.

Failure to Take Action

The Republican Party is inert. They do nothing to get out in the world and get their message out. I have seen more conservative action from non-political groups then I have ever seen from the Party.

The Democratic Party has several activist groups who attract attention and get people energized. What does the Republican Party do, argue on Facebook! Now is the perfect time for a conservative message.

Young men want, no need, to be told that they can take personal responsibility for their own lives and can make things happen for themselves. And they actually want to hear this message, just look at the wild popularity of Jordan Peterson.

People want to be told that you should always tell the truth and that seeking the truth is a good thing, at the very least do not lie. This is a conservative message, a message of the church and of science, to seek Truth above all else.

Instead they are letting the Progressive Left get away with lying for fear of pissing off their social justice mob. Where are the brave, strong, tough Republicans who will stand up for Republican values and American values?

They are afraid to say they love America because they do not want the bad media attention. But the people will see through the media lies. Use alternative media like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to speak directly to the people and expose the media for their lies.

Just about every cell phone has a camera now, use it and let the public decide for themselves.

Instead the Republican’s try to keep their heads down and hope they can slip in without anyone noticing. How has that worked out so far? That pain in your chest is your soul rotting because you are more focused on protecting yourself from Twitter hate mobs then you are for standing up for Truth, Responsibility, and American Values.

Allows the Left to Label and Define Us

You let those on the left define what you and the Party are. They call you racist, bigot, Nazi and what do Republicans do. The fire back with the word liberal.

It is clear to everyone who the racists and bigots are, just call them for what they are. What did the Republican Party do when Antifa threated to attack them if they marched in the Rose Parade on 82^nd? Nothing. The parade got shut down and the Republican Party did nothing.

This looked weak and conceded the point Antifa was making, that the Republican Party is racist and full of Nazi’s and Fascists. Where was the push back, where was the pride of the Party to defend their reputation?

The people of Oregon are begging for someone to step up and stand up to these people, but the Party leaders are too afraid of being called racist. I understand that the press is against you and you will not get a fair shake in the court of public opinion but that does not mean you take the easy road.

You stand up and fight back, take the hard road, accept the suffering that will be heaped on you and understand that if you are speaking the truth that it will all come out in the end. Have faith.

You allow the left to control the conversation. You argue using their words and premises. It is time to reject their premises and prove them false.

Do the work, challenge Democrats to open debate, make it public and do your homework before the event starts. Study their tricks and literature and do not make a fool of yourself. The left does not want their ideas out in the public and for good reason, they are authoritarian in nature.

Yet the Republican’s just come across as weak and leaderless. I have attended local meet ups and felt zero energy in the room. We have a Republican President, house and senate and yet it feels like the Party is ashamed of winning.

Do not be ashamed of being a conservative or Republican, conservative and Republican thought and ethics have a place and are valuable.

Pick Up What the Left has Abandoned

The left has abandoned Free Speech, innocent until proven guilty, and the universal rights of the individual just to name a few. Instead the left worships hate speech, social justice, and groups rights.

Free Speech, innocent until proven guilty and universal rights of the individual are founding principles that most Americans believe in and will gladly vote for. They have been abandoned as if they are trash on the side of the road.

All the Republican Party has to do is pick them up, yet they just look at them as if they were a coiled rattlesnake. You would just have to read the constitution and the bill of rights as if they were a political playbook and you will have more votes than you have ever had in the past.

Even if the left tried to argue with you most people still agree with the bill of rights. They would be arguing against the bill of rights. They will argue against it, the lefts ideology says it was written by a bunch of white male slave owners and so it is bad.

Of course they hate it because it gives rights to the individual and not the group and all they care about are groups, who they then turn into voting blocks. Yet Republican’s remain silent. They are trying to be statesman like and proper, the time for being proper is over.

Pick up freedom, hold up liberty, and promote personal responsibility, because if you do not then no one will. Republicans complain that the country is being ruined by Progressives, yet they stand by and watch it all happen.

Republicans seem to be in love with their complaints as opposed to doing what it takes to do something about them. It is easy to complain, it is difficult to get real things done.

How about you stand up and fight for the values that made this country great. People want to hear about conservative values and to be told that they, as the individual, have the power to change the world, and the great thing about that message is that it is true!

Why the Republican Party is too afraid to stand up and do anything is beyond me. Where are the radical Republicans that ended slavery, fought against Jim Crowe, and stands up for the rights of the individual? Where are the Republican Activists?

Where are the Republicans who will willingly march into a Progressive city like Portland and tell the small business owners that they are there to support them when their livelihood is being overrun by the homeless? The Progressives organized a protest in favor of the homeless people against the businesses. Seize the opportunity.

Where are the Conservative thinkers who are not afraid to stand toe to toe with a Democrat and challenge them with powerful traditional ideas? Ideas such as the importance of the family and that a family with two parents in the household is better than single parent families.

Where are the Republicans pushing back against the poisonous ideas being disseminated by the Progressives through universities, the media, and Hollywood, such as Toxic Masculinity and White Privilege? Stand up for the young man who is already nervous to approach a girl he is interested in but now has to worry if he could face legal action for making a fool of himself.

Pick up the disaffected liberals in the Democratic Party. They are sick of the Progressive radicals who are simply authoritarian socialists and communists or violent anarchists. You just have to appeal to them in ways they can understand. With classical liberal ideas (read Locke and Mill and founding fathers).

Instead Republicans just wait for Democrats to fail hard and hope that they can get voted in simply for not being Democrats. Why not try to get voted in for being conservative? If you wait the damage done will be irreversible.

What to do

Be controversial. It is not hard because now it is controversial to say you support Freedom of Speech. Ignore the labels heaped on you by your political opponents, it is just an attempt to keep you silent so they do not have to argue against your ideas or principles because they have no arguments against them.

Be public. Get out and interact with people. Hold your own events, do not simply attend other events. Go to controversial events and talk to people. Show people that you will stand up clear and strong.

Be honest. Tell the truth, or at the very least do not lie. The truth always finds a way to come out and you can either take your knocks now and improve or you take make it worse and end up losing everything in the end.

Have thought out arguments and principles. I do not care if we disagree on them as long as they thought out and strong. Consider criticisms to your arguments and use them to make your ideas stronger. Make your case powerful and be ready to face opposition not only in the form of arguments but also in the form of name calling. You know it is coming so be ready for it.

Have a clear place you want to go and a good reason why we should go there. If you want to be a leader than lead. Have a vision of the future, develop a plan for reaching that future and figure out why it is good that we should go that way as opposed to another way.

I make these criticism and suggestions from my own experience as a conservative who has lived in Oregon his whole life and has never had a conservative government in power. I wrote this knowing full well that some people will be angry about it. If that is you than ask yourself are you angry because I got it wrong or angry because it hits close to home?

I would be happy to admit I was wrong, as I am still fairly new to the Party, so please correct me if you think I am wrong on some point.

It is time we stand up and fight for the liberties that have been bitterly won throughout our history. It is time to be active.

Part 2: Google's Culture of Bias REVEALED

David Gudeman has joined James Damore in the lawsuit against Google. Gudeman worked for Google from Oct 2013 to Dec 2016 at which point he was terminated.

Gudeman claims he faced discrimination based on the fact that he is a conservative, Caucasian and male, which he claims was the bases for his termination.

The Derail Document

On or about August 20, 2015 Kim Burchett, an L7 SWE Manager, published a document and posted it on a Google-employees only website. This document was titled “Derailing” and it discussed how individuals might attempt to silence someone’s opinions or distract from someone’s point of view.

The target audience of this document was Caucasian males and conflated ‘marginalization’ with ‘white male privilege.’ Essentially this document stated that if you disagreed with any statement about bias, prejudice, or privilege then you were guilty of “derailment.”

The thesis of this document is that on this one particular set of topics, the left-wing political frame of systematic bias, must always dominate. The receiver must accept that frame and its associated worldview as the only form of acceptable response.

Disagreeing with this article Gudeman left a comment stating his belief that men “need to understand that [Caucasian males] are the victims of a racist and sexist political movement and it is not their fault.” He continued stating that “the point of this document is to disallow any defense at all that a man might make when some woman complains about bias. There is no defense. The woman is always right. The man has no alternative but to submit to her superior moral position. We have a word for that attitude, it’s called ‘sexism.’”

After his comments, others stated that he was misinterpreting the document. Gudeman responded, “Well if that’s the point then you could be clearer, because all I’m getting from this document is that when anyone claims bias, there is no possible defense, not even the defense that the bias did not exist.”

He went on to suggest that “Maybe a section on what a man should do when a woman accuses him of bias in order to protect himself from a system that is highly biased against him.”

He was attacked by other Googlers for his comments to which he tried to further clarify, stating that “I started out intending to change minds by explaining logically and rationally what is offensive about this document. In response, I was treated dismissively.”

Gudeman also compared the document to that which “slave owners would have written for their slaves to help them understand how to interact with their masters,” in an attempt to point out the prejudices within the document.

Burchett, in reply to Gudeman stated that she was “[r]esolving this comment. Also escalating to management.” Ironically, other Google employees began to “derail” Gudeman’s point of view. Hiding behind the guise of advocating for an open dialogue, Burchett merely reported Googlers that disagreed with the thesis of her document to Google management as being “un-Googley.”

Punishment for Views on Racism and Discrimination

In September 2015, after being reported to Google, Google HR spoke with Gudeman about his points of view on race and/or gender equality and his political viewpoints. Gudeman was chastised by Google HR for attempting to stand up for Caucasian males and his conservative views.

At the end of the meeting Gudeman was issued a verbal warning. Gudeman saw this as a lack of fairness toward conservatives while liberals were free to express their thoughts and opinions without repercussions.

After Trump’s elections to the Presidency of the United States many employees at Google began to panic, having expected a different outcome. On November 10, 2016 in response to employee posting on Google-wide forums regarding fears about the new administration, Gudeman wrote that anyone “who believes President Trump will be out to get minorities, women or gays has absorbed a lot of serious lies from their echo chamber. And the echo chamber is entirely one sided. You can’t watch TV or go to movies without being constantly confronted with the leftist world view. Leftists can go their whole life never being exposed to the conservative world view except in shows written by people hostile to it.”

In another response to another Google employee Gudeman wrote “[i]f you truly think Trump is anything like a Nazi or Isis [sic], or wants to hurt gays, women or the disabled, then you are so badly out of touch it borders on delusional. If you don’t truly believe those things but are saying them anyway then shame on you for trying to stir up fear and hatred.”

Termination

On November 9^th, 2016, Sarmad Gilani, a Google employee, posted the following message on an internal Google forum. “As someone already targeted by the FBI (including at work) for being a Muslim, I’m worried for my personal safety and liberty. Will Google take a public stand to defend minorities and use its influence, or just issue the usual politically nuanced statements about our values.”

Gudeman responded skeptically asking “In the administration of the most pro-Muslim president in history you were targeted just for being a Muslim? Why didn’t you file a civil rights suit? The Justice Department would take your side if it really happened.”

Responses to this comment were dismissive of Gudeman and accused him of calling Gilani a liar. Gudeman explained that he “would not suggest [Gilani] was lying without specific knowledge of the case.”

Gudeman remained skeptical of the story and offered additional motives the FBI would have for looking into Gilani, such as a recent trip to Pakistan. In response a fellow Google employee became hostile and stated she had to escalate this thread, reporting it to Google HR.

While speaking to another Google employee on November 10, 2016 Gudeman complained about his treatment as a conservative and a Trump supporter. Gudeman pointed out “Trump supporters are a hated and despised minority at Google. Googlers feel comfortable slandering them in a public forum and assume there will be no consequences.”

This was met with anger and accusations of “gaslighting.” Gaslighting is a term for manipulating (someone) by psychological means into questioning their own sanity. On December 5^th, 2016 Google HR reached out to Gudeman to discuss his comments, including those surrounding the Gilani post.

Google HR stated that Gudeman had accused Gilani of terrorism based on Gilani’s religion, and that this was unacceptable. As a result of Gudeman’s “accusations” Google stated that he was being terminated.

Gudeman attempted to question the logic behind a co-worker’s story of victimization on the basis of his race and religion and because of his political affiliations, Gudeman was retaliated against and fired.

Google employees were not allowed to question the diversity narrative of the company, even to the point of questioning politically-charged factual assertions by fellow employees to prove their own political agendas.

This culture at Google was severe enough that employees such as Gudeman were bullied into silence and required to tolerate harassment without pushing back. Google’s management refused to consider their concerns to be valid or even worthy of investigation.

Authors Note

If what Gudeman is claiming in this lawsuit is true, it is clear that Google not only openly discriminates based on gender, ethnicity, and political belief but has created and fosters this sort of behavior at all levels of the company.

This is part two of a three part series that covers the David Gudeman section of the lawsuit from page 16 to 21. Part three will cover the other class action claims being made against Google covering page 21 to 49. Pages 49 to 62 cover the cause for action part of the lawsuit with the remaining pages covering Exhibits being presented in court. In these exhibits you can find internal posts, memes, comments, calls to political violence, and open discrimination against Caucasian’s, Men, and Conservatives.

Part 1: Behind the Scenes of Googles Monstrous Culture of Bias

The Google Memo went viral around the world and sparked a debate around discrimination in the work place. Recently James Damore, the author of the memo, has filed a class actions lawsuit against Google.

The following is the information from the first 16 pages of this lawsuit followed by a short authors note.

Who is James Damore?

James Damore is the author of the now famous (or infamous) Google Memo titled Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber.

Before working for Google Damore attended the University of Illinois where he received a Bachelor’s of Science in Molecular Biology, Physics, and Chemistry. He went on to attend Harvard University and received a Master of Science in Systems Biology.

While he was employed at Google, Damore received the highest possible rating on two separate occasions on his performance review, one of which included his most recent review. He received approximately eight performance bonuses, was never disciplined or suspended and was promoted to Senior Software Engineer.

He did not supervise employees nor did he assign work and he had no ability to hire or terminate anyone. Since his memo was leaked and his termination he has gained notoriety, fame among the Free Speech crowd and infamy among the Progressive/Social Justice crowd.

In the Name of Diversity

Google holds weekly company-wide meetings called “TGIF meetings” to discuss topics involving Google. On March 20, 2017 Damore attended a TGIF meeting entitled “Women’s History Month.”

This meeting was led by Ruth Porat, the Chief Financial Officer of Google, and Eileen Naughton, the Human Resources Director of Google. In this meeting individual departments were called out and shamed if they were comprised of less than 50% women. Departments that comprised more than 50% women were applauded and praised.

Porat and Naughton also announced that when looking at people for promotions or for leadership opportunities that Google would be taking into account gender and ethnic demographics.

They followed that with a statement that Google’s racial and gender preferences in hiring were not up for debate because this was morally and economically the best thing for Google.

Diversity and Inclusion Summit

This summit took place in June of 2017 and was attended by Damore because to Google a “commitment to diversity and inclusion” was an important factor in promotion to leadership. At this time Damore was on a path toward leadership.

The summit was organized by Google’s senior vice presidents and other members of Google’s leadership team, including Ari Balogh, Vice President of Engineering at Google and Sridhar Ramaswamy, Senior Vice President of GPI and Ads.

In this summit presenters discussed policies designed to prefer categories of people (women, and certain but not all ethnic minority groups). These policies included things such as providing extra interviews and putting applicants into a more welcoming environment based on their race or gender.

They also discussed putting ‘diverse’ individuals into high priority queues so that they were more likely to be hired and hired faster. ‘Diverse’ in this situation was defined as ‘women or individuals who were not Caucasian or Asian.’

Damore, troubled by these statements and policies spoke with Google HR member Meghana Rao who stated she had received similar complaints in the past from employees with conservative views and stated that “some of the political things at Google were a problem.”

In a breakout group Damore asked if Google looked at viewpoint diversity when making hiring decisions and in evaluating how inclusive Google was as a workplace. He was told that Google only looked at demographic diversity when making hiring and promotion decisions.

The Google Memo

It was after this meeting that Damore decided to write the Google Memo. Damore made no attempt to hide the memo but instead published it publically within Google so he could gain input and edits from coworkers.

He shared it in several groups within Google including CoffeeBeans (a group that discusses various issues at Google), the Women at Google Program, the Code of Conduct team, and Google HR.

Along with the memo Damore questioned the legality of diversity programs such as “Women Who Code” “BOLD” (an internship program offered only to women and underrepresented minorities), and “Stretch” (a class Google offers exclusively to women).

The sources he used to back up his memo were the Wiley Online Library, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Quillette, The British Journal of Guidance and Counseling, and The Atlantic. When the memo was published in the media these citations were left out or ignored in an attempt to attribute the conclusions directly to Damore himself.

The Code of Conduct Team responded by referring Damore to Google HR. None of Damore’s claims about illegal hiring practices were investigated or pursued by Google HR, other than terminating his employment.

The Women at Google group responded by stating their goal: 50% representation of women at Google.

His purpose in developing the memo was to promote discussion among Google employees regarding “diversity and inclusion.” He ended the memo saying:

 

Bias Busting

In July 2017 Google held another Diversity Training that consisted of an online course followed by an in-person training. The in-person training was titled “Bias Busting” and was focusing on biases against women in the workplace, and how “white male privilege” exists in the workplace.

Approximately 20 Google employees were present at this training ran by the “Unbiasing Group” at Google. When Damore verbalized his dissent during the training other employees, including managers, laughed at him derisively and considered his views to be conservative, and thus flawed and worthy of disparagement.

As feedback to this training Damore submitted his memo. It was at this time that is started circulating wider within Google and eventually was leaked by an unknown Google employee to either Vice Motherboard or Gizmodo. This selectively quoted and misinterpreted version went viral across the media and around the world.

Threats

On August 4^th 2017 Rao and another Google HR member called Damore into a meeting. They explained that while they could not ask him to take down his memo because it was protected political speech, they still thought it was in his best interest to do so.

Damore understood this as a threat from Google with termination for internal speech about workplace issues. Namely the issues of Google’s gender and race quote programs and its dismissal of unpopular (conservative) political viewpoints.

These were not the only threats Damore received. On August 3^rd 2017 George Sadlier, Director at Google, sent out a mass email condemning Damore’s essay as “repulsive and intellectually dishonest” and promising an investigation into Damore.

Sadlier also promoted posts that advocated for physical violence against Damore. On Friday August 4^th 2017 Damore received a late-night email from Alex Hidalgo, a Site Reliability Engineer at Google who is a member of Sadlier’s organization, which stated, “You’re a misogynist and a terrible person. I will keep hounding you until one of us is fired. Fuck you.”

 

When Damore forwarded this email to Google HR they suggested Damore work from home until things cooled down.

Other employees took it a step farther and suggested not only that Damore be terminated but that those who shared his views or supported him should also be terminated.

 

These practices were not only allowed but rewarded by Google. The Google Recognition Team allows employees to suggest fellow employees for “Peer Bonuses” typically awarded for outstanding work above and beyond an employee’s job duties.

A Peer Bonus was not only suggested but reviewed and considered appropriate and approved to proceed by the Google Recognition Team for “speaking up for googley values and promoting [diversity and inclusion] in the wretched hive of scum and villainy that is [Damore’s Memo].”

Colm Buckley, a high-ranking SRE (Site Reliability Engineer) Director, on August 5^th 2017 stated his intention to stifle political dissent within Google.

 

Due to this environment Damore filed a complaint the morning of August 7^th with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). After this massive companywide approved, promoted and accepted attack on Damore Google made the decision to terminate his employment.

At 6pm on August 7^th Rao and Chuck Wu, Senior Director of Engineering for Google, called Damore to let him know of their decision to fire him for “perpetuating gender stereotypes.” When Damore attempted to explain why his termination was unlawful, Rao stated that this was Google’s final decision and that there would be no discussion.

This information was drawn from the first 16 pages of the class action lawsuit filed against Google by Damore and other employees. It not only shows the incredible bias at all levels of Google but also the acceptance of discrimination as long as it is against approved groups.

Authors Note: This is part one of three focusing on this lawsuit. The second part will focus on the termination of David Gudeman and the third part will look at the potential class members that may also be included in the lawsuit. Feel free to share this post anywhere and everywhere, I strong believe this information needs to be known and I doubt that Google is the exception rather than the rule, but only time will tell.

Written by Cody Benson

A Raid on Seattle Home Leave Police and Neighbors Stunned

 

Breaking News: Seattle’s Police executed a search warrant on a home near two popular public parks that are frequented by children as young as three. This led to the arrest of three individuals and the seizure of over 10,000 gallons of illegal soda, packaged and ready for distribution.

According to neighbors the house, 4312 Speakeasy Lane, saw an increase in the number of cars parked outside and visitors at all hours.

One neighbor stated seeing a car arrive at 3 a.m. and four large men with dirty tee shirts and unkempt beards get out and enter the house only to come out several minutes later carrying several large light green cases and multiple bags of orange puff chips.

The normally quiet neighborhood was shocked when police started removing the soda from the house. Along with the soda they found several computers, violent video games, mini pizza beagles, and salty snacks.

One health conscious neighbor spoke with reporters saying “Our neighborhood is dedicated to the ideals of healthy living. We walk our dogs and jog on this very street and we stand united against the distribution of this vile substance in our community. We stand in solidarity with all healthy people and denounce this sort of behavior.”

One suspect, 30 year old Joe Dooley, has been arrested on 20 different charges including Distribution of a Controlled Substance and Tax Evasion. His bail has been set at $100,000 and he is being held at Seattle Police Department North Precinct.

According to the Seattle Police Chief this is the largest illegal soda running operation discovered to date.

 

Written By Cody Benson

For No Fact News

A Cody Benson Parody

How CNN Made Smoking Weed, Drinking and Partying Uncool

 

CNN the fake news capital of the world. A network who attempts to morally brow beat the rest of the American people for being racist, sexist, etc.

Yet these outrages only apply to those who are not CNN, at least according to the CNN New Year’s Eve live broadcast.

I like Boobs

In 2017 CNN host Brooke Baldwin, in an interview with Clay Travis and Keith Reed, went off about how offended she was that Travis said “I am a first amendment absolutist; I believe in only two things completely, the first amendment and boobs.”

Not willing to pass up the opportunity for a good virtue signal Brooke Baldwin acts as if she is outraged and shocked.

See video below:

 

Yet on New Year’s Eve, only three months later Baldwin, during a national live broadcast said to co-anchor Don Lemon “My balls are bigger than your balls.”

See video below:

 

Of course this is a joke referring to the ball necklaces both hosts are wearing, just like the boob comment from Clay Travis was a joke. Yet Baldwin is outraged by one and not the other.

This is just proof that all the virtue signaling done by these Progressive types is meaningless and two faced. It has nothing to do with standards, morals and principles and everything to do with an agenda of power.

Yet not all is lost. Clay Travis, watching CNN offers $10K to anyone who will go down and say “I love boobs” live on air with Brooke Baldwin and Don Lemon. One couple took him up on the offer.

See video below:

 

Pot Bus and Kush Kaye

Marijuana is now legal in several states including Colorado. CNN decided to send a reporter out to Colorado to cover the Puff, Pass, and Paint event on New Year’s Eve.

You can see the reporter, Randi Kaye or Kush Kaye as she calls herself, on a pot bus heading to the event. During her interview she produces a gas mask fitted with a bong on the end and has one of the bus goers demonstrate its use.

They return to Kush Kaye later in the night while she is at the event. She is holding a joint to the camera while laughing and waving it around as she explains what is happening around her.

See video below:

 

My Takeaway

I personally do not care if people want to smoke pot. That is their choice and if it is legal and they are of age than go ahead. I also do not have a problem with people cracking jokes and partying.

Yet the drunkenness on display by Don Lemon and Brooke Baldwin and the level of hypocrisy is cringe inducing. Smoking pot, partying, and drinking were cool things to do, when you were in your twenties. Sure it is fun occasionally and if that is what people are into, more power to them.

Yet seeing Don Lemon, Brooke Baldwin, and Randi Kaye of CNN (people who like to morally grandstand and virtue signal every chance they get) debauch themselves in this manner just highlights the fact that the new counterculture is responsibility and morality.

The CNN New Year’s Eve live broadcast was like watching your parents trying to be ‘hip’ and ‘cool’ or like watching that person who is obnoxiously drunk at the party making a fool of themselves without realizing it. At the end it just made those things less ‘cool’ than they seemed before.

In the end I do not have a problem with these actions, we all like to have a little fun now and then, and instead it is the hypocrisy I take issue with.

CNN, in one night, did more damage to the culture of partying and pot smoking than any conservative group could do in a decade. Welcome to 2018, it is going to be a good year.

#PumpGate

After January 1^st 2018 rural counties in Oregon under 40,000 will be able to pump their own gas. In three other counties residents will be able to pump their own gas after business hours (6am – 6pm).

The Triggered

Of course it is Oregon and you have people who are upset over this new law. One person stated “I’ve lived in this state all my life and I REFUSE to pump my own gas… This [is] a service only qualified people should perform. I will literally park at the pump and wait until someone pumps my gas” according to the Washington Post.

You have people claiming it is unsafe for specific disadvantaged groups such as disabled, seniors, and people with young children, who all need assistance when at the pump. This person goes on to claim that they do not feel safe pumping their own gas with “transients around.”

The LOLz

Of course people online have produced endless jokes and memes about this over reaction. Only Oregon and New Jersey do not allow you to pump your own gas.

The rest of the country is enjoying a good chuckle at Oregon’s expense.

The funniest response to the new law, in my opinion, is from Kale Williams an Oregonian columnist. “The Internet’s content farms fired up their harvesting machines and cherry-picked some of the worst comments and laid into Oregon. Could it be the rest of the country is mad they don’t have access to the fine-dining equivalent of gasoline?”

Perfectly outlining the ivory tower mentality so prevalent in the State of Oregon. Kale, I do not think they are jealous, they are laughing at the pretentious attitude on display by uppity liberal like you. But you probably still have some cut your steak for you too.

The Ramifications

The biggest and most obvious effect of this new law is that business owners in rural counties and consumers will have more freedom.

Hard to believe this legislation passed in Oregon, but it was well worth it to help small businesses and for the entertainment of the online meltdown.

What My Degree Got Me

I am going to start this off by saying I believe education has value and that it is important to become educated as a free thinker. Instead this is my personal experience with higher education.

In 2008, after five years in college, I graduated with a Bachelor’s of Arts in English. Thanks to my parents who allowed me to live with them while I went to school and a summer job that offered lots of overtime as well as a part time job during the school year, I managed to graduate with zero student loan debt.

I had just bought a house the year before and so I was on top of the world, ready to go forth and make the world mine. Of course reality had a different course for me. The housing market tanked and the place I was working closed its doors.

Entry Level Jobs

Jobless and with a house worth less than I owe I knew I needed to find a job. I found a retail job and after a few months managed to work my way up to management. This was a job I enjoyed at first but that quickly turned around as I was asked to do more and more all while being written up for not being ‘social enough’ with the employees.

Truth be told I was plenty social with my coworkers outside of work (we went bowling together and drinking), I just kept it professional at work. This upset some of the higher level management and soon I found myself looking for work again.

As I applied and interviewed for jobs I found that things were stacked against me. My employment history had a lot of part time jobs (due to attending college) which got me turned down from lots of entry level jobs for fear that I would not stick around.

Added to that fear was my degree. Hiring managers saw that and did not want to take the risk of hiring me because they did not think I would stick around. They were sure I would get a better offer and quit. I was even asked in an interview why they should hire me because I had a degree.

It quickly become obvious that I was not going to gain an entry level job because I was too educated.

Mid-Level Jobs

I tried a new approach to finding a job. Yet all the jobs that called for the level of education I had did not want to hire me either. This was due to my education no being the right kind of education.

I was told over and over again that if I had a degree I would be able to get just about any job I wanted. Of course this was true for the people who were offering me this advice. They were of an older generation and it was true for them when they were in the job market.

Times changed, no one wanted a degree in English no matter how much I tried to tie it into whatever job I was applying too. I even tried to get a job in a book store, thinking my education and retail management experience would make me a shoe in. Sadly this was not true.

These Mid-Level jobs were looking for specific education and they could demand it due to the high level of unemployment.

High Level Jobs

Again when I tried to apply for these jobs I was in no way qualified for them. They wanted my education but they also wanted experience. They wanted the experience you get from Entry Level jobs as well as a degree.

Of course my degree disqualified me from these entry level jobs. Again my degree did not help me but instead hurt my chances at these jobs. Looking back now, I was not qualified for these jobs, but I felt that I was because I had a degree.

Reality and Hindsight

Reality hit me hard, but I also hit back. After taking whatever job I could I finally found a place that was willing to take a chance on me. I spent a few years in production but thanks to my hard work and dedication I made it into a mid-level job.

Growing up all I heard was go to college and you will get a good job, it does not matter what degree you get. Reality did not reflect that statement. My degree actually hurt me in the job market.

The advice I should have been given was, get a degree in something people are looking for or go to trade school. I would tell my younger self to find a job that you enjoy and get an education that will help you advance in that job/industry.

Though my experience was personally a bad one I found that I was one of the lucky ones. I wasted five years and a lot of money but at least I did not end up weighed down in massive debt or as an activist mouthpiece for ideologically corrupt professors bent on forcing people into their version of a socialist utopia.