Did scammers hit Prosper Marketplace?

I've been investing with Prosper since around 2009, and my ROI has always been around 10%. I recently logged in to my Roth IRA Prosper account, and found that my ROI had dipped to 7.62%. Upon inspection, an unusually large number of notes are listed with an amount of "other" and "debt sold". I checked the account last month and there were 9 accounts with that status, there are now 56!

What the hell is going on with Prosper? Did they get hit by a group of scammers? Is this legitimate loans that have defaulted because of the economy? If anyone else has an insight into this, please let me know in the comments.

Jason Aldean and The Dixie Chicks

 I recently saw a Youtube video where Jason Aldean said "fuck Joe Biden" and fuck other leftists, and called for his supporters to vote for Grab 'Em By the Pussy Trump in 2024. Does anyone else remember when the political Karens canceled the Dixie Chicks in 2003 for saying they were ashamed that Bush was from Texas?

So, I have to ask the partisan zombies on the right, what happened to due respect for the office holder? And don't give me the bs argument that the Dixie Chicks had broken some non-existent taboo about criticizing POTUS while on tour in the territory of an ally.

I genuinely don't understand Trump supporters. In 2016, I could understand why some people, fed up with the status quo, were ready to vote for a political outsider. I thought they were foolish for thinking a bombastic, narcissistic billionaire would be the voice for working Americans. But after everything he has done to undermine our standing in the world, and his actions to overthrow the elected government, I do not understand why anyone still supports him. Are they willfully ignorant of his crimes, or do they simply hate America?

When the woke brigade came after Jason Aldean for his song, "Try that in a small town", I bought the song as a middle finger to the illiberal leftists who so eagerly misrepresent and spin anything they don't like. But now, I have to remove that song from my playlist because Mr. Aldean has proven he is anything but a patriot.

In summary, Fuck Jason Aldean and all trumpsterbators. They call themselves patriots, but they're blind partisan zombies and useful idiots for Trump and America's enemies.

Why I'm Ditching BAT by Brave - Basic Attention Token

What is a Basic Attention Token (BAT)?

Basic Attention Token is a crypto currency used in the Brave browser. It basically pays you for displaying ads that pop up in the upper right corner of your screen. At one point, each BAT was trading for over $1 USD. As of this writing, BAT was trading at $0.17 USD.

Why would anyone want to see ads?

I wanted to see the ads because they were often tech-related items, and they were relatively unobtrusive. I'm a geek, and I love techie toys. There were a lot of ads I wasn't interested in, like crypto/web3 and gaming stuff, but I quite enjoyed the other tech stuff. The fact that I was actually compensated was a decent bonus.

Why did you decide to stop using BAT?

I left because they stopped paying out the BAT I had earned. As of this writing, Brave International has not paid out the BAT I earned in 4 months. I received a notice saying I didn't need to click the ads to be paid, and I had to acknowledge that to continue earning BAT. I knew didn't need to click to earn. The problem is, the ads covered up my tabs AND my browser close, maximize and minimize controls in the top right corner. So, I ended up clicking on ads that would appear when I was trying to click to a different tab or when I was trying to close the browser.

I submitted two separate tickets, starting the first month the payment was missed. The first ticket was just marked closed without any resolution or explanation. The second ticket said the problem was resolved and my next payout would include all the back-owed BAT. That was two months ago, and no more BAT has been paid out. Searching through the Brave Community Forums, I see many people have this same problem.

Brave has not told me I've broken any rules. I was running the nightly, beta and standard versions on my desktop and laptop. I also ran Brave on my work computer. I had them linked to a crypto currency marketplace, and for a long time my payouts went directly into my account on the marketplace. The last payment was on May 1, 2023.

Another thing that annoyed me about BAT is my monthly payout would usually be significantly less than the BAT dashboard would list in each version of the browser. I would take screenshots at the end of the month in all the machines and versions I had used. I added up the earned BAT from all the screenshots, and I noticed my actual payout was often HALF that amount!

In summary:

I've come to the conclusion that BAT is not worth it. I think it is yet another libertarian tech-utopian idea that failed miserably. I'm done with BAT. I had hoarded a large number of BAT in my exchange account, and I have now cashed them out to USD. I've disabled BAT in all my browsers. I might just switch back to FireFox, but it will take some time.

'Queer' is a slur, not an identity

Over the last few years I've heard people referring to themselves as 'Queer', and it's always a bit jarring. You see, I have been called 'queer' most of my life. As a kid it was a slur lobbed at me for not being sporty and not gawking at girls. As an adult, it has been lobbed at me for daring to be an out homosexual male. It was also hurled at me by a bunch of men who assaulted me outside a gay bar in 2002.

So, it's rather jarring to hear people labeling themselves 'queer'. Being an individualist, I don't begrudge anyone labeling themselves any way they wish, even if it seems odd to me. The problem is, the term 'queer' has become shorthand for the entire 'LGBTQIA2+' community. Those who 'identify' as 'queer' have also started referring to gay men as 'queer', and they seem unconcerned when they get push-back.

I bristle at being called 'queer', as do, I suspect, most self-respecting homosexual males. So, if you meet me, don't be surprised if you get a stern rebuke if you refer to me as 'queer'. That awful word is, and always will be, a slur against gay men. Most of the young people who now 'identify' as 'queer' are actually straight. In other words, they are NOT homosexual. That being the case, we have a bunch of straight kids using a homosexual slur as an 'identity'. You know, the same group that previously used to hurl at gay men. STOP THAT! It isn't your word to 'reclaim'.

Replacing Evernote with Joplin and pCloud

I've been annoyed with the cost of Evernote for a few years, but I never took the time to find an alternative. For me, Joplin seems to do everything I needed with Evernote, but without the high cost. I had a lifetime paid subscription to pCloud, so I might as well use it to store my notes.

If you're trying to use Joplin with pCloud, follow these instructions to help you set it up.

First, create a folder in your pCloud account to store the Joplin data. For simplicity sake, I recommend making it all one word, like "Notes" or "Joplin". Why? Because you're going to have to include the folder name in the URL you provide in Joplin to point to the folder. 

***WARNING failure to setup a separate folder WILL RESULT in the files in the root folder of you pCloud being turned into .md files. 

Tools > Options > Synchronization

Under "Synchronization target" select WebDAV.

For WebDAV URL enter: https://webdav.pcloud.com/your-folder_name-goes-here

***See the warning above. If you fail to include your folder name, it will attempt to turn all your files into Joplin notes by encrypting them and making them into .md files.

For the WebDAV username and password, enter your pCloud login information. Leave synchronization interval at 5 minutes, unless you want to disable it or set it to synchronize less frequently.

Click "check synchronization configuration". It should say "Success!...". If it doesn't, you need to make sure you entered your username and password correctly.

If you have trouble, you can ask for help in the Joplin discourse.

Lavender Rights Project is Anti-White and Anti-Gay

If you look at the Lavender Rights Project's form 990 filings throughout the years, you'll notice they slowly removed any reference to gay and lesbian assistance, and slowly transitioned to Black trans assistance.

Does anyone else think it's probably illegal for a 501(c)3 to discriminate based on race?

I think these are the same hateful fucks who were charging White people more than everyone else for entry into a Pride event.

I'm sending this as a tip to the Blocked and Reported Podcast. I hope they have their nonprofit status revoked.

Hopelink has jumped on the Equity Bandwagon

My favorite poverty alleviation charity, Hopelink, has partnered with Hassan Minaj for a "Reaching Out Luncheon".

I'm not against reaching out to impoverished communities, I am against any race-based prioritization. If you put one person at the head of the line because of their race, you're discriminating against a similarly situated person of a different race (probably White).

I've been a monthly donor to Hopelink for years. I just logged in to my bank and stopped the monthly donation through the bank's bill pay service.

I really hope the left comes to their senses on this equity bullshit. Why can't they see that discrimination based on race is evil? Why can't they see that they're stoking the animosity of poor Whites at a time when they should be seeking to help everyone to escape the poverty trap? If these elitist swine can't see how crippling poverty destroys White and Black families alike, they shouldn't be in positions of power.

Goodbye Hopelink. Another formerly enlightened institution falls to the forces of envy and animosity. It's a sad day for the Seattle area.