Ken Padgett

  Many business owners believe Yelp is a protection racket masquerading as a review site. They say Yelp has full control over which reviews are counted and that Yelp manipulates the ratings based on whether or not a business buys advertising from them. They say Yelp salespeople are relentless and very aggressive. Business owners who pay for advertising are promised some control over their reviews. Yelp has a market capitalization of $3.2 billion. More than 42 million reviews have been posted to Yelp and the site averages 108 million visitors per month. Yelp Reviews Yelp's business model pits the consumer against the business. Yelp's product is advertising and their customers are business owners, not consumers. Yelp's content, other than advertising is provided free of charge by their users, but any time there is a conflict between a consumer and an advertiser, Yelp sides with the advertiser. Yelp salespeople are coached to offer advertisers assistance in getti...

Our enemies in Iran are watching. We should all question the justifications for the drone strike on terrorist leaders in Baghdad. We deserve some answers. But all the hand wringing in the media about Trump starting World War 3 and us being on the brink of war is only giving aid and comfort to our enemies. They want us to be afraid, divided and fearing what they might do next. And when the retaliation from Iran finally happens, the media will go all "Chicken Little" again. Yes, it may cost some American lives and that's unfortunate, but we run that risk every time we deploy troops. It's a dangerous world out there. We can hide under our beds or "Keep Calm and Carry On" while we wa it for some answers. Knowing Trump as we do, it's likely that this will turn out to be a monumental blunder that will be justified by a pack of lies. But it's done now and we have to live with the consequences. We need a healthy debate on the facts, but exaggerating...

"Amazon helps small-town businesses"   Amazon is responsible for the closure of thousands of storefronts in America and now offers their platform to business owners so that Amazon can get a piece of every online sale they make. Amazon claims their Amazon Storefronts, "a curated destination to shop exclusively from American small and medium-sized businesses" helps small businesses. Perhaps, but it will never offset Amazon's total devastation of Main Street America and suburban shopping malls, thanks to the overwhelming power of Amazon's marketing machine and predatory business practices. Then there are the many local jobs that have been lost, along with the local tax revenue from those jobs. Sure, Amazon creates some jobs in regional distribution warehouses; jobs that exploit workers and take such a physical and mental toll that few people can handle it for long. According to syndicated columnist Jim Hightower: "Bezos followed the bu...

Update 3/30/2023 I received an email today from a Mr Cacho at Dog and Rooster asking me to take this review down because Mr Jack Jung, former CEO has left the company and it is under new management. Since I'd prefer to keep this up, at least for the time being, I want to make it clear to everyone who bothers to read this (and I can't imagine why anyone would bother) that my previous issue was with Jack Jung in his capacity as CEO and I have no opinion on the new management of the company other than to wish them well. 11/13/2019 dogandrooster.com aka webdevelopmentsandiego.net aka "Dog and Rooster, Inc" aka "Dog and Rooster Studio" is also known as "Website Design San Diego" Lawsuit Update: According to "Trellis," on February 27, 2020, Defendant Todd Green was awarded attorneys fees and costs in the amount of $16,553.50. https://trellis.law/rulings/party/%22TODD%20GREEN%22/? Kudos to Mr Todd Green for standing up to the bullying by J...

Since the 1950s conservatives have been successfully redefining Socialism from "state ownership of the means of production" to be anything that helps average people cope with the excesses of capitalism. Millions of people are angry because the political and economic system is not working for them, which is how Trump got elected. But Trump's economic policies are no different than what the GOP has done before; cut taxes for corporations and the rich, more money for the military-industrial complex, while also cutting "entitlements" and privatizing government services for the benefit of private corporations.  The amazing thing is that so many fail to understand what's really going on while being easily manipulated by bigotry and trigger words like "socialism." The question is, what to do about it? How to reach people who are so totally enveloped in the conservative/Fox News bubble? They automatically reject any factual informati...

I used to love Miguel's, but today was my last visit? Why? Because they have added a notice to the menu that there is an additional 4% surcharge to cover having to pay for mandated increases in minimum wages and benefits. A 4% surcharge will be added to all guest checks to help cover increasing costs and support recent increases to minimum wage and benefits for our dedicated team.   The California Restaurant Association has always been one of the most outspoken and active opponents of minimum wage increases. Now they are advising restaurant owners on how to implement a surcharge while avoiding lawsuits. You'll note the inclusion of "increasing costs" in addition to the real reasons for the surcharge. That way they can spend this excess money any way they want and can't be sued for not actually sharing the money they collect with their employees. I support increasing the minimum wage and benefits, and I don't mind if a restaurant has to raise p...

  The War on Drugs is a ravenous, destructive machine that is laying waste to freedom, justice and fairness in America.  Our government shows advanced symptoms of being addicted to its own War on Drugs. Like hopeless addicts, our leaders refuse to admit the destructive consequences of their behavior and they habitually increase their drug war dosage with copious injections of cash. They are always looking for a stronger fix, but they can't pay for it so they run-up the nation's debt. Drug enforcement agents often act as judge, jury and executioner, and the media reinforces their negative behavior while they live in ...