If I ever need to feel like a woman in power, a confident woman who can take on any problem at any time, a problem solver, a fixer. A woman who can take on all of Washington and the world, I flip on my DVR and for 43 minutes get lost in #Scandal. For 43 minutes, I take on the attitude of Olivia Pope. For 43 minutes, I can fix anything and am on top of the world! Olivia is a Gladiator, and so is everyone on her team. For 43 minutes, I am a Gladiator!
She's sexy, sassy,  intense, perceptive, powerful, emotionally strong, yet completely complicated and most importantly: Fashionably fabulous!... Yeah, basically Olivia Pope is Super Woman. 
Tonight's episode (4th episode of season 5) reminded me so much of the Lewinsky-Clinton scandal. This season is about the President's affair with Olivia being discovered and her actually admitting it to the world.
Tonight was the media picking her apart and making her the home wrecker (although we all know the President pursued her!) The idea was that the President could be impeached for the affair...sound familiar?  For the first time, it hit me, Olivia Pope is Judy Smith. Well, a very loose interpretation of her!
This was the super empowering episode where the entire world hates Olivia and the media has crucified her. The President's team has skinned her alive and hung her out to dry. Somehow, when the entire world hates you and anyone can "anonymously" post anything they want about you online, you can see the "person" in her. She is just as vulnerable as you or I, she simply has a much much higher tolerance for nastiness. A much thicker skin if you will!
Olivia Pope has her limit, she has her "kryptonite" like every superhero, like every person. And just like every superhero, she picks herself up from the floor, looks the villain(s) right in the eye, head held high, and she carries on. Respect is gained by standing tall, standing behind integrity and owning it. No matter what challenge life throw at us, we can always overcome it. We are all Gladiator's, you just have to discover your inner strength that makes you a Gladiator...and if you can't find it, at least you've got your 43 minutes a week!

​In the past few weeks there has been so much controversy about the #Peeples app, which is basically described as "Yelp" for people. Two ladies started it so you can “review” other people and give them a rating from one to five stars, kinda like restaurants! Users can assign a rating and feedback to anyone they know, positive or negative, and the ratee can do very little about it. Negative reviews would be live for at least 48 hours, and in order to remove them, the ratee would have to contest a negative review.
Today following the very well placed negative criticism, mean girl Julia Cordray, one of the two app developers, said the app might be less controversial than what was previously announced: “You will NOT be on our platform without your explicit permission. There is no 48-hour waiting period to remove negative comments. There is no way to even make negative comments. Simply stated, if you don’t explicitly say ‘approve recommendation’, it will not be visible on our platform.”
Why these two ladies thought this was a good idea escapes me, but it kinda reminds me (and everyone else) of the movie Mean Girls. 
In any case, we will only know how this new rating app for people actually works when it is released.
Sadly, this app isn't the only people rating/review system out there. MyLife (www.mylife.com) also has a pathetic version of this. In fact I actually looked myself up after someone mentioned to me I was listed on the site & even had a rating and review! I was stunned to find out that 90-95% of the info about me listed on MyLife was completely incorrect! Including the state where I live, previous addresses, not to mention family members I have never heard of! It's a complete joke! 
As far as my personal rating & review, I'm only a 7.5 out of 10! I don't know about you, but that's a pretty crappy rating for a human being. When I was in school a 75% was below average and unacceptable. I would hate to think I'm a 7.5 out of a 10 as a human being. To add to this degrading rating, the review was done was the Founder and CEO  of MyLife, Jeffrey Tinsley. A man whom I've never met and who knows nothing about me!  On this rating and review page you can rate people on a personal, professional or dating level. HELLO! Why oh why would you rate anyone on dating. That can obviously be done only by previous partners. It's a recipe for disaster!!! (note: I believe he's given the same review for everyone listed on the site)
Mr. Jeffrey Tinsley, you now get to join the mean girls high school team and I'm officially giving you a 0 out of 10 for thinking you have the right to rate or review anyone, much less people you don't even know. That is the definition of a megalomaniac and terrible behavior for a human being. Also your website is rubbish! To get your crappy review removed I have to provide a credit card. That's extortion! Not to mention all the incorrect info listed on your site. 
Bottom line, rating/review sites and apps for people are just a new way in the digital age to bully people. They are disgraceful and degrading. This gives kids (or anyone) a new way to be that "mean girl" only in a more cowardly anonymous way. Just because you can create something should you? 
My opinion: These sites will only last as long as the first lawsuit from a suicide of someone bullied to death or the first murder of the bully who posted nasty things about someone because they broke up, are jealous or just simply don't like you. 
In an age where anything can be posted online and people can hide behind online anonymity, people have become more cruel than ever, I think we all need to make an effort to embrace humanity and to be better people.  Think about how your actions can affect or hurt someone.
I believe what goes around, comes around, and karma's a b****! Be a better person, why surround yourself with negativity when positivity feels so much better?! 
Comments welcomed and appreciated!

Great article from the LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-peeple-app-bad-reviews-20151006-story.html

Here is a good fact finding blog about the two ladies who developed the Peeples app:
https://www.notehub.org/2015/10/5/dear-julia-shame-on-you

Also a lovely screen shot of the review of me. Remember, that remove review button does not work, you must provide a credit card. Notice you can also post these anonymously .

Miami does not allow Lyft or Uber to pick customers up at the airport. After flying all day, I collected my luggage and went out to the cab line. I walked up, asked my cabbie if he had AC and told him where I was going. He said of course he had AC and didn't know where exactly I lived. I explained it in 4 VERY simple directions. You simply take the 112 to 95 North exit #, then go East to to beach.
From the minute I get in the cab, I am sweating like a piggie in heat! There is no AC and he is too busy on the phone speaking Creole to someone. Did I mention he could barely speak English? He's on the phone blabbing away, I am melting in the rear of the cab about ready to pass out because the cab smells of dirty shorts, ethnic food and what may or may not be BO. My nostrils were burning!
We get on the expressway and he exits early! I said this isn't exit #bla :Oh yes it is!" My response: No it's not.. I live here, you had no idea where this was and I am telling you if you go this way it will add several minutes and $9 to my already ridiculous cab fare! He is still on the phone... I shout (and this is so un-JStar style!!!) Get off the F-ing phone! You have no AC, your cab smells like a wet tiger (Ya, that actually came out of my mouth)  and you have no idea where anything is in Miami. I gave you 4 very simple exact instructions and you can't manage to read the numbers on the exit sign. Please go straight, get back on the highway make the next exit then go East. Uncomfortable silence followed. Meanwhile my mother called me to ask whats taking me so long to get home and am I safe. I said who knows, the cab driver has taken the wrong exit and wants to go through the hood!
We finally get to my place, the total: $47.45. I handed him $57 and said "Honestly, you are the worst cab driver I have ever had, but I shouldn't have yelled at you. Rather than not tip you for not listening and talking on your phone, I am hoping that you will be a better driver in the future for someone else."
Harsh? Absolutely! Here's the thing. If I take a Lyft to the airport, it's about $15- sometimes even $7-8 if they are offering discounts. Uber is $21-22. Both are great and the drivers have new CLEAN cars, AC, can speak English and have GPS! Amazing!!! Some of the drivers even offer water. You can see what your driver looks like, what car they are driving and the license plate. You can also see where they are so you know exactly when they will arrive. 
The point of this rant? Who wants to pay more than double to take a smelly, hot ride with someone who doesn't know where they are going, may or may not speak English and is just rude? You might say, Jamie... this is a one time thing... nope... sadly I have to take cabs home from the airport a minimum of 4 times and month and I have even worse stories! This was just the latest and the very first time I actually yelled at the driver. (That was wrong of me, I blame it on the Super Blood Moon!)
The cab companies complain about companies like Lyft and Uber but at the end of the day they offer a much better, cheaper and more efficient service- isn't that capitalism at it's best? Healthy competition.