Please say a prayer for me. Apple has figured out that my iPhone has not been upgraded in some time and “they” are slowing it down to a slow crawl to force me into a multi-year transaction for a new one. I’m overmatched in this battle. I’m not sure how much a new phone costs, but it seems like a new phone for yours truly is inevitable in the immediate future. Might see if I’m eligible for some Platte County CARES money.
This is a good time to remind everyone of my mother’s financial advice. “Guy, they’re going to $19.99 a month us to death.” I think her concept was correct, she just didn’t calculate inflation well enough. Probably going to $99.99 a month us to death, but you get the point.
My favorite anti-vaccine people are the ones that claimed it will track you for the government. The same people that were texting this to you via their phone, that literally tracks them 24/7. The same people posting their opinions on Facebook somehow thought the government needed more access to them via a vaccine hoax. I’m pretty sure most of us can be tracked at this point, chip insertion or not.
I’m old enough that I’d go for a chip at this point. If I get lost, I’d just soon somebody be able to find me. Assuming anyone would want to find me if I was lost. Anyway, the point is that I don’t do anything exciting or illegal enough that anyone in the government would care what I was up to. It’s kind of sad, but accurate summary of my life.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas made big news when he sprung a surprise initiative to move police funding away from the state-appointed Kansas City Police Board control and to the City government. Members of the police board were said to be unaware the mayor was going to make the change and some council people appeared in the dark on the plan as well. Opponents quickly called it a “defunding” of the police, which is not accurate, but it appears unlikely to help matters in a city that needs help with crime.
Northlanders are quick to complain about the dollar drain of police resources for the south area of Kansas City and Lucas was quick to accuse the Northland complainers of a “cultural” attack. The moving of the money plan initiated by Lucas and a majority of the city council appears likely headed to a courtroom and to garner legislative response, which will help a lot of lawyers’ Christmas accounts, but not really help solve crime.
Lucas likes to throw shade at former governor and current Senate candidate Eric Greitens on his social media but in the end, Lucas reminds me of Greitens, albeit a liberal version without the personal baggage to date. They both crave any photo op, and both are disruptors of the status quo but with no apparent end game for constituent success. The end game often appears more social media interaction, more news stories and more coverage of the politicians, but little in terms of outcome.
Kansas City violent crime is real, and we should commend Lucas for wanting to think outside the box and disrupt things that don’t work. In that same context we should all be asking of if this disruption is helpful? It’s likely not and that is the final measure of success or failure, not how many likes the process got.
(Guy Speckman can be reached at gspeckman@me.com or standing in line at the Apple store)
