I remember many moons ago, when Twitter first started, my friends(@bigdogbo and @79stanger) from BBM and G+ joined up. It was such a great and fun place. Combined with Vine I followed wars and conflict through the eyes of those oppressed. World events in real time. Twitter was also a tech person's best friend. So many nerds on the platform early on.

Twitter has now gone to shit. Just proves that one owner platforms are under control of a company and they will eventually control what you see and what you post.

Along comes Mastodon, all the same feelings, all the freedom to read and follow and toot what you want. Even own my own instance. It's amazing! You can nerd out on tech, follow real world events as they happen, laugh at some raunchy memes, art, dogs, cats, photography, food, etc. The fediverse is open to all and it's the future, which is now.

I'm amazed everyday when I open my feed and see the amazing toots from the people, hashtags that I follow. I boost a lot of toots so others don't feel like they are tooting into the void.

If you haven't joined Mastodon, you are missing out. My instance is open to join. Or find one that suits you. If it doesn't suit you, simply change to another instance and take your follow list with you. Don't get discouraged, give it a real effort. It's awesome!

Thank you for your time

Thank you for reading

My instance

I'm about to share an embarrassing thing about myself. I shouldn't be ashamed of this, it's for my kids but I am.

We are in #Oklahoma and we get food stamps aka SNAP. I was raised that you should be ashamed to ask for help and get assistance from the state. On this subject, every 6 months we have to have an interview to re-up your SNAP. Upload your check stubs, rent receipts, electric bill, gas bill, phone bill, Internet bill receipts. I'm okay with that. To me, SNAP is subplimental to your income to "help". I'm okay with that too. We don't buy junk, soda, candy, chips. I buy store brand products. I also switched from ground beef ($6.99 a lb for 80/20) to ground chicken ($4.99 a lb) and it's healthier. I don't buy expensive cuts of meat like roast, steaks, etc.

The food cost is going up so much that my monthly assistance doesn't cover our "groceries" (that word... So beautiful) for the whole month. That's okay, it's subplimental, right.

Anyway, this post is about the latest experience of the process of the re-up.

I get a letter in the mail that I have until the end of the month to upload my documents. Okay, did that the day that I received the letter. Now wait for a call interview....

Get another letter stating that I need to call for the interview. First time ever for this letter that I have to call them. Okay, I call. On hold for 3 hours and 30 minutes. The worker answers the call, asks all my information to look at my account. She also says that this is not the interview that they will text me to tell me that they are about to call. During this call they state that I need to upload my latest paid bills because they are looking for "fraud". She, the worker, says "fraud" 10 times. I say something about tRump BS. Anyway, the call continues with her explaining about the looking for "fraud" and thanked me for calling. So I now wait for the interview text and call.

Yesterday I received a letter stating that I missed my interview and I have until the end of the month to reschedule. I never got a text nor a call. I call the government number again. On hold 3 hours, 48 minutes just to get the computer hold system to hang up on me and they close at 5pm.

I call again today, on hold for almost 4 hours, someone answers, go through the whole process of giving fake permission to access my account. By the way, they take your phone number to call back in case a call drops. I'm in the middle of speaking with/explaining that I didn't miss an interview, the call drops. Hard way to learn that carriers hang up after 4 hours. That dropped call was an hour ago and no call back.

I think this is rigged to get people off of SNAP. I think that if they are so worried about folks working to receive assistance, give them a job working at DHS.

NOW, I will have to try and call again tomorrow to get this sorted. I'm not very happy about it. I wonder if telling them that I'm a registered Republican will help my case. Lol.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you for reading.

AND #FuckTrump #NotMyPresident

I am but one

I stand alone

With gentle persuasion and honesty, one can become two

We are a two

With gentle persuasion and honesty, two can become a few

We are a few

With gentle persuasion and honesty, a few can become many

We are many

With gentle persuasion and honesty, many can become more

We are more, standing alone, with gentle persuasion and honesty we can become change.

This may not be a popular opinion post but here I go.

I'm not religious. I believe in God, I don't believe in church. I believe in kindness and inclusion. I don't care which deity anyone worships. That being said, I don't understand why some people get in an uproar of saying negative things about Israel. Am I being antisemitic for saying that Israel leaders are cruel, evil people? Israel leaders murder, rape, pillage, control it's people... Israel appears to want to take over the world and manipulate everything in the name of religion. Israel leaders are worse than Russian leadership, worse than Nazis, in my opinion.

Now, I'm not a very smart man and I may be wrong in how I see this. Can we all not just be kind to each other? Can we not exterminate everything that doesn't see the world in the same way? We are stronger when we accept our differences and come together for each other, for our planet.

Thank you for reading. 🖖

I just wanted to post a little something about my blog style. I generally write straight from my brain to paper. No drafts , little pre thought. If something has been bothering me and I've thought about it for more than a day, I write about it.

I will have errors in punctuation, etc. but I hope that you get the point. If not, it's okay. I'm not even sure if I'm comfortable with "blogging".

Thank you for reading.

Do you remember when there was a saying, "Don't Be Evil, Google"? I do. How much intelligence will be lost due to AI? How much nature will Google destroy for AI? How much of OUR data is sacrificed for AI?

Google Is 100% EVIL! Destroying the environment, tracking EVERYTHING we do, taking away our intelligence, all for the all mighty dollar. It's NOT for human kind.

How do the Google leaders stand up there and smile and lie claiming human kind will be better? Sickening! #FuckAI FuckGoogle

I was at my youngest's graduation this morning. Everyone turns to the flag and sites The Pledge of Allegiance. This act has always been curious to me. Even as a child, I wondered why we were forced to do this.

Now under this regime, the Pledge of Allegiance reminds me of communism.

I'm an Army vet, 13Bravo, and I think that I am patriotic but I also served for this freedom to write this post and to NOT pledge allegiance to anything.

We aren't "United" states, just states. The flag is tarnished, the Republic is broken, we are divided AND these is no EQUAL liberty nor JUSTICE for ALL.

God has nothing to do with this country of man.

#FuckTrump #NotMyPresident

Have you tried the YouTube alternative, Peertube? I use it quite a bit. Here is mine - https://video.hardlimit.com/a/djghettoredneck/video-channels .

I like that it's a great alternative. It isn't mainstream but getting more popular. The Mastodon of video.

Speaking of Mastodon, my server is open for folks to join - https://mastodon.djghettoredneck.com/

Come join the fediverse!

I've started a new business.

So, at my club we have a couple of arcade games. One is a "Deer Hunter" shooting game and the other is a "Boxer", a punching bag game.

The vendor that provides these games has switched hands because of the owners death. The new owners aren't very transparent and aren't sure which direction they are going with the company.

I purchased my own "Boxer" (see below picture). The "game" does about $1500 a month with the club taking half and the vendor half.

Now that I will own my own machine, I will be getting that money and once I pay off my machine, it was $6400 to buy, I will have more income for my family and will save up to buy 2 electronic dart boards.

I am usually NOT a risk taker BUT I know what these machines bring in every month so I am taking a chance.

I'm not looking to get rich but a little extra money isn't going to hurt.

Thank you for reading! 👋

Today I give you a photo of little ducklings following the mother goose.

Let's try out this subject for my 2nd blog post.

This regime that has infiltrated our country's government needs to go. I don't agree with murder as a way to get rid of the regime. That being said, I can totally get why there are citizens out there plotting and trying to kill them. I've had the thought, "Why can't someone just kill them?". Then dismiss the thought and feel shame for having it.

We are ALL fed up with this regime's bullshit! I'm not even sure if voting is even going to get rid of them. The thinking behind them is deep in people that voted for this.

I used to think the world, not just the USA was becoming more tolerant of others different than ourselves. I guess that I was wrong.

I want the Star Trek world.

Thank you for reading, thank you for your time.

I really don't know what I expect to do here. I really just wanted a place to park my domain for cheap.

I might post occasionally, I might not.

I feel like I'm extremely too private to have a blog

I enjoy ALL music. Could write about that

I enjoy gaming with a couple of online friends. Mostly #COD

I love animals. My dogs especially.

I run a night club. which has more than enough going on to blog about.

I have many many interests.

I'll see if I can come out of my shell enough to blog something. 👋