Is There a Path to Citizenship?

This is a serious question, to which I would like a serious answer: Why aren't we putting the costs associated with our deportation efforts and "wall-building" efforts towards helping people enter the country legally and become citizens as fast and as efficiently as possible?

Can we turn our ICE teams, which as of late seem to be rushing into latino heavy communities and ripping families apart, into teams that rush into latino heavy communities to help facilitate the citizenship process, thus making citizens of everyone who wants to be in this country?

People who are here illegally, are here because they want to be here. They believe (and are hopefully experiencing) that the opportunities in the United States of America are greater for them and their families, than those available to them in their home country.

Yes, my first hope would be that everyone come here legally to begin with, but that's perhaps an unrealistic expectation. But for those already here illegally, why aren't we providing them with the ability to become citizens?

Ok, regular sarcastic posts to resume again soon; I just wanted to get this off my brain.

Movie Money Madness

I've got a major bone to pick with the movie industry and I'd like to rally for change!

WHY do we continue to report a movies success with its revenue*? It's not a fair and balanced representation. I don't care that we adjust for inflation to compare with the movies of yesteryear - it's a defunct measurement due to the range in cost of 3D and dine-in theater tickets, small art house theaters, big city and small town costs, and the surge during the run up to the Oscars.


WHY the hell don't we just report the number of tickets sold?

"Studio heads are high-fiving one another this Monday morning after the domestic weekend box-office performed better than expected across the board - Wonder Woman sold an incredible 7.4 million tickets which, given exorbitant cost of going to the movies these days, helps it to just about recoup it's $150 million budget. Guardians of the Galaxy hold strong in the top 5 with an additional 703,000 tickets, bringing its domestic total ticket sales to 25.3 million tickets sold. That being said, it looks like Gone With the Wind still reigns King (or should I say Queen) of the all-time box office with its more than 127.6 million tickets sold."

The hundreds of millions of dollars is a nice glitzy number but it doesn't really tell us anything. Of course Guardians of the Galaxy is going to make hundreds of millions of dollars more than The Big Sick; in addition to regular screens, it's being shown in IMAX, IMAX 3D, and regular 3D. Those tickets are often double the cost of a regular 2D evening ticket.

I just want to know how many people went to the movies and what they saw. I'm sick of hearing all the talking heads babble on about "the highest grossing movie ever" while I'm over here licking my wounds after paying $26.50 to see the latest Marvel release while enjoying a small popcorn.

* I know why: it's because we are a society obsessed with money. Money reigns supreme and is the driving force behind all that we do all day every day.  Money money money.