And Now For Something Completely Different:
(Yes, I stole that line from "Monty Python's Flying Circus".)

Today marks the beginning of our fifth month without cable. Yep. 120 days ago we cut the cord. Of course we kept the internet and a landline, but the TV programming is gone. And we don't miss it one little bit. As it turned out most of the channels we watch are the sub channels of local broadcasters that we could get free through an antenna anyway.

What put us on this path was how much we use the internet for getting our information. Our provider had a monthly one terabyte limit, I've heard they've increased it a bit since, but the third time you break the limit they switch you from a residential account to a business one at a significantly higher rate, but allowing for unlimited data. We already had two strikes against us so when I saw a two year deal, without TV, but unlimited data for a hundred bucks a month less… We switched. It was a preemptive strike. It was going to happen sooner rather than later. I wanted it to be on our terms not theirs.

Then we found out our Amazon Prime account also entitles us to a lot free programming through their Prime Video (the movies they produce leave a lot to be desired) as well as a lot of the programming from IMDB (yes, IMDB is owned by Amazon too). The only other network we've subscribed to is Paramount+. That is the lowest cost provider of the Smithsonian channel. They have the best detective documentaries show on TV, "Air Disasters". And along with that a whole lot of documentary series about both World Wars. Like the saying goes "Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it".

And who knows where it goes from here? One thing is certain. It will be wireless. I just read an article that 26 gigabit speeds are close to reality as they develop new ways of using incredibly high frequencies, and that translates into far more data throughput with longer ranges between radio towers that many thought impossible just a couple of years ago.

So what does this mean for franchise cable? Nothing good. It ends the need for 20 to 30 year franchise agreements cable operators demand justifying the long term because of the costs involved in wiring a municipality. It also means more choice for consumers, a doing away with "programming packages" where you're stuck buy 10 channels to get the one channel you want to watch. (And a lot of those junk channels you never watch, their ownership trail leads back to the cable company to boost their total number of channels they advertise at relatively little expense.)

As for me, I see a day when you sit down at whatever device you're using, picking the channels you want and activate them instantly online, streaming video is only the first step in that direction. I can see a day where programmers create a co-op of sorts where programming providers would contribute to running this ala-carte system with something like a monthly fee you can cancel at any time prior to a set monthly date and be done with the expense of a channel you've decided you can do without. And it will help weed out the truly garbage channels that make you scratch your head saying "I'm paying good money for this trash every month."

Remember when President Reagan said we should "Vote with your feet". I can see that day coming sooner rather than later when it comes to news, history, and entertainment. T-Mobile has already started offering a real choice in how you send and receive data in your home or office through wireless.

Of course all this depends on politicians doing the right thing and not succumbing to the demands of well-heeled (with our money) cable operators with ludicrous bought and paid for laws and regulations.

Beware Of The Whackadoodles

I don't know if I was unlucky enough or if yesterday was whackadoodle day. So many misguided souls howling for a "revolution". Now! That's not to say we won't get there at some point in time but we sure aren't there yet.

History has shown us you need a large critical mass number to be met before people stop making us think they're just raving lunatics. We're talking in the 70 to 80 percent of the population sort of range. And the oppression level has to reach entirely unbearable levels. If the oppression is blatant, the oppressors will fail, precisely why they've moved quite slowly until present. Throwing some bobbles to the peasants to keep them sated, unambitious, and unsuspecting. That also helps keep them uneducated, a key to successful oppression. Add to that two to three generations of students who've been taught nothing of the truth in history, simply fed fractured fairy tales of some mythical lands they will never truly learn the first thing about.

Yes, we are creeping closer to those horrors, and the rate of change is increasing. The duty now of parents and especially grandparents who really understand history is to teach the current generation of youth the real truth. What life in America was really like when people were expected to be responsible, when they knew why there were two, and only two, genders, what it meant, and felt like, to live up to an ideal. Then take on the responsibility of bearing children in the mold which made us the world's success story. That is what past Americans did. And it worked!

There was nothing Americans couldn't do or accomplish. And we did it because we knew we could, that we could invent anything, create anything, do what had never been done. It was a land to be proud of.

But like every other battle or war, it only is fought when it is crystal clear that it must be fought. And the whackadoodle brigades just can't seem to get that through their heads. Sure, at some point we may arrive at that point. But that if, and only if, they get back to instilling true historical norms of laws, responsibilities, governance, ingenuity, pride, and education. And all of the issues I've just mentioned need to be tried, tirelessly. And if all of that fails the whackadoodles won't sound quite so whacky. But much more importantly a great deal of the populace will be educated and make a legitimate argument for change regardless of the price that will certainly need to be paid.

In the meantime I'll just keep on keeping on with working to teach folks our history along with a huge dose of the long forgotten thing called "common sense".

My logic is quite simple to understand. I would much see very little of fellow Americans rotting away in pine boxes six feet under, regardless of which side they were on. But I certainly wouldn't mind seeing politicians, ego maniacs, disciples of Satan rotting the rest of their entire lives in prison cells by night and being forced to work prison farms by day to feed the folks they led into poverty and ignorance.

Hey!!! We're back!!! Having run an internet business I can feel for our friends at PC. There's always this dire fear of "Have we lost it all?" and through all that you've got to take a really deep breath (some of us have been known to hyperventilate) and just keep banging away at it... Congratulations to the good folks at Politichatter!!