Do You Really Know Where Biden and Trump Stand?

 As an independent voter, I believe it is not which party you vote for, but the most important thing is that you vote for a candidate who most supports your views.

That said, I have been creating a series of quizzes about the candidates on Sporcle, a quiz website. I did the research and use actual quotes. I use only where the candidates stand now (as opposed to where they might have stood in the past). There is a note called "How to Play" at the top of the quiz that explains all this. Once you answer, a quote from the candidate about the issue and a link to the article that contains that quote appears.

I have been completely surprised to find that although most quiz takers seem to be aware of Joe Biden's stand on issues, few are aware of where Trump stands on the issues. I encourage you to try these quizzes out and see how you do. This will also help you learn where both candidates stand on these issues. You do not have to register to take quizzes on the website (creating an account only helps you keep track of quizzes and earn badges). Also note, that as a quiz maker I cannot see individual results only general statistics for the quiz.

Donald Trump Quiz                    Joe Biden Quiz

Censorship Is ALWAYS Bad: Authors, Writers, Freelancers UNITE Against Censorship

 I have written about the censorship Amazon is doing to prevent books from being sold that address the COVID-19 pandemic. These books do not violate Amazon's terms of service, and Amazon states it is dedicated to allowing diverse interests. It is not. My book has more than 300 citations from other sources. I spent months researching it, and I had to fight to get the one version of it they did publish published. They have blocked the black and white version and the large print version from publication, and there is no way for me to fight this block. 

Facebook has similarly stifled and flagged my posts. Since the beginning of COVID-19, I have not been getting the number of views I have seen in the past. One of my friends wanted me to fact check another post that had been going around about breathing difficulties from masks. Keep in mind that cloth and non-medical masks are not being regulated by the FDA (even though the FDA is legally required to regulate them), so it can be expected they would cause medical problems. I did the research and reposted the post with a statement that yes, masks can cause health problems. I then posted links to scientific papers showing masks of any kind cause health problems as a part of my post. Facebook labeled my post as partly false?!? 

We are in the middle of a nasty election. I recently posted on my RSS News Website that politics-not COVID-19-is what is killing us in America this year. I don't know where you stand politically, but we as writers have to put our foot down about censorship. The Democrats in the Spring, led by Nancy Pelosi, spoke with Facebook openly and said that Facebook needs to ban sexist posts. As a woman, I don't want read sexist posts, but as a writer I would far rather be able to speak my mind than avoid seeing something offensive. Facebook should ban posts that are sexually or violently explicit--the only censorship I support because you can skip a post you disagree with but those things don't ever get out of your brain once you see them-even if by accident. A post flinging mud at a political opponent should not be banned simply because the opponent is a woman unless you are going to stop all mud slinging. 

I cannot stand Arthur Miller because I truly believe he caused Marilyn Monroe's already fragile mental state to decline even more greatly. Everything I know about him makes me more firmly believe he is a self-absorbed jerk. I hate the Crucible and Inherit the Wind because many people take these plays as historical fact instead of fictional allegories. However, that hatred did not stop me from publicly reading the Crucible on Banned Book Day while in college because I don't believe in banning books simply because they don't align with my politics or because they come from someone I dislike. 

My entire voting life I have voted for Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and other third parties--even if it means writing their name on the ballot. But because the Democrats have pushed to stifle free speech so much in this election, I am not voting for a single one of them this year--even though I initially considered it. The Democrats knew Joe Biden got his son the job in Ukraine and that Joe used US funding to pressure the Ukrainian government to look the other way. Joe admitted this himself on television. Hunter admitted his father got him jobs. I mean, he worked on an Amtrak Safety Board when the only previous experience and knowledge he had was that he rode the train. I even figured out at the time about Ukraine before it became a social media pariah and posted about how bad that was for Biden to have done. Even a former Polish president admitted Joe got Hunter the Ukraine job. 

The Democrats knew that Joe Biden had a bad habit of letting racist remarks slip prior to electing him. Shoot, over a year ago I wrote a quiz on Sporcle about all his verbal gaffs. Because I am an independent, when Biden got the Democratic nomination this year, I wrote another one about President Trump's gaffs, which, in turn, sparked a whole series of quizzes about this election and the candidates that I am planning to complete in the next two weeks. I did this to be fair, but the Democrats are not playing fair in this election--and when they trample free speech to do it, they need to be checked. My complaint for years is that Democrats and Republicans don't offer a true "choice"--instead they both run identical candidates with different labels. The Trump-Clinton election was an obvious deviation from this path, but the problem with this election is that the Democrats chose an equally controversial candidate and are now trying to sugar-coat him by suppressing free speech. The only way I can think to protest their attacks on free speech is to not vote for them at all. That's okay, though, there are plenty of other candidates from which to choose.

COVID-19 Hasn't Stopped People from Cheating

 Every week, I get at least one invitation to a project asking for help with schoolwork. 

Now, let me say up front that being a scribe is a real, modern job that has merely changed titles to "Ghostwriter." Schools and colleges push for superior writing skills when not everyone (even very intelligent people) can obtain them. Writing is part education and part talent. Everyone should have basic writing skills, but not everyone needs superior writing skills. It would be better to just admit scribes still exist then going to all the trouble of maintaining secrecy about it. 

For this reason, I fully understand the masters or doctorate student hiring an editor to help polish his/her thesis or dissertation. At the same time, basic writing skills (and other basic skills) need to be practiced and learned by undergraduates and those in lower education. At any level, it is always unacceptable to have someone do your work entirely. 

Unfortunately, most of the "help" asked for is at the undergraduate or high school level, and it is not "help" but cheating. The job posts want you to do the work for them. Thankfully, Guru does not condone cheating and these are reportable projects that are quickly removed. Unfortunately, since Guru has taken away the $25 site-wide minimum transaction, more of these jobs appeared.

This leads me to the latest where the poster needed "a human who is familiar with.." certain chapters of a particular textbook. Perhaps they didn't think many cats, dogs, horses, or aliens would be familiar with the book. Poor English skills do not always signal some sort of cheating or scam, but all posts for cheating always seem to say things like this to make it seem like this is an official job while concealing the true nature of what is wanted. Cheaters know they are doing something wrong.

Even worse than the fact that these kinds of jobs have increased on Guru is the fact their are websites where you can hire people to do your homework for you. This mass of cheating on scales unheard of is harming our education in more ways than one. Not only are certain people who have the money getting no education, but also these same people are cheating others. You see, people develop higher level critical thinking skills at different times during their lives. You cannot rush this, but when a teenager is having an adult do their schoolwork, it looks like the teenager has already developed these skills. This makes educators mistakenly believe children can do advanced level thinking when they cannot. It puts those children who do not or can not cheat at a greater disadvantage because they are then expected to pursue higher order thinking when they are not developmentally capable of it.

To make matters worse, there have been numerous studies about online teaching and increases in cheating and plagiarism--especially in lower education. Plagiarism websites do not check to see if it was a commissioned work. COVID-19 has increased the chances for children to cheat by keeping them home from school. Without in-class writing samples, teachers have no comparison to determine if the homework was written by the student or someone else. Having seen parents assemble entire projects for students before turning them in during my years in 4-H, I have no doubt this is happening with online school as well. Cheating-whether by plagiarism, commission, or parents-is unacceptable.

As I said, editing something that is already written in the upper levels of education (when the student should have already learned those needed basic writing skills and just needs the eye of someone with more advanced skills) is different than completely doing homework for students. Still, I have met other freelancers who do not seem to care about the ethics of writing papers and doing assignments for those in school. This is wrong, but simply telling them this when they have no ethical care to begin with does not help. You also cannot appeal to the students who are cheating by informing them that they are making homework more difficult and harming others by their act. It is time the government shut down websites that cater to cheating. 

Unmasking the Lies

 As writers and authors, it is our duty to do extensive research and read information with a critical eye, to be able to show proof of our written conclusions, and to not simply take someone else's word for it. That is no longer happening in most writing circles and it is wrong. 

Tonight, I was denied entrance to an AMC theater because I have breathing problems and cannot wear a mask. AMC is not the only company that has instituted mask mandates that go against CDC recommendations by requiring everyone- including those with breathing problems--to wear a mask. This is in clear violation of the ADA which requires disabled people to get equal access to all services. 

There were maybe 20 people in the entire theater seeing all the movies. My husband was wearing the required mask. We could have easily been sat 6' or 12' or 20' away from any other patron if there was concern, but instead we were told to get out. Apparently, AMC theaters wants to put their disabled patrons lives at risk in the name of "public safety." They also seem to believe they know better than the CDC as to who should and should not wear masks.

This is why I compare what is happening today to Hitler's regime. There is no sympathy for disabled people--we are marked by not wearing masks and we are shunned and harassed at every stop. I get glares that I try to smile back at. I get nothing but hatred--and I have done nothing wrong but to have had the poor genes to give me a weak heart and breathing problems that are compounded by that. 

If I were a lesbian and denied entrance to an AMC theater--there would be a lawsuit. No one would visit AMC theaters in protest for what was done to me. 

If I my skin were darker and I had African or Mexican heritage and I was denied entrance to an AMC theater--there would be a lawsuit. No one would visit AMC theaters in protest for what was done to me. 

But I am disabled. There is no one to boycott AMC--because I should just be locked in my house and allowed to die since I am detestable for daring to put someone's life at risk. Nevermind that doctors only wore cloth masks from 1890-1930 because they were shown to be so ineffective. Nevermind that I have already had COVID-19 and cannot catch it or spread it to anyone else. The public hates me because I am disabled.

Authors--your writing is powerful. Last year, the rights of the disabled would have been championed. But in the midst of all the lies that keep changing, the disabled have become a thing to loathe.