I don’t see it that way, but then if I was nuts, by definition I wouldn’t see it. So my self assessment is pointless. I’ll leave the reader to decide for themselves.
I’ve been writing for a long time, one way or another. It might have been technical manuals or instructional materials, but I’ve been putting thoughts into words on paper for a long time.
I’ve been blogging for a long time too. This blog had its original incarnation on Blogspot. I moved the blog here when Blogspot started making noise about censoring content.
Hey they’re a free site, and they can run that site anyway they want to. Since I was a free user, I had a choice. I could abide by their new rules, or I could go my own way where I made the rules.
I chose the latter.
I’m a major advocate of free speech and I wanted to be able to post pictures, comments, and thoughts where no-one could come along and tell me to shutup.
People can of course tell me to shutup in comments, they can tell me they think I’m a freak or a monster there as well. But mostly, if I’ve offended someone they usually just don’t come back to this blog. That’s their right and I’m fine with it. I’ll even allow some comments to show up even if they disagree with my opinion.
I am the sole authority and moderator for those comments, and to be clear, If I decide not to publish a comment… There is no appeal.
Re-Reading Opening Volley written in 2011, when I moved to this hosting site and set up this incarnation of the blog, I find that I’m not a whole lot different as a person. Some of my opinions have changed a bit. My approach is a little more moderated (not much,) and I still write what I’m thinking about life, politics, the world, and things that strike me as odd. I am not terribly filtered about what I say or how I say it.
I moved a bunch of older posts and images from the old blog that dated back to 2008 to this new site.
I noticed today that some of the photos from those older blog posts appear to have been unlinked. I remember moving the images and correcting the links at the time, but well a lot has happened since then. I’ll see if I can’t relink them when I have the time or inclination.
I also noticed while scanning the older posts that I was worried about censorship and what would become “Cancel Culture”, 10 years ago.
I could see the pattern of precursor events adding up even then.
People were starting to realize that “Flame Wars” which had previously only happened on sites with limited reach and a defined membership were beginning to explode across the infant social media sites and attracting global attention.
(Flame War – Best described as an escalating battle of words between two individuals over email or chat systems. These battles only ended when both participants were exhausted and devolved into name calling. Neither participant proved their point and usually other observers concluded that both participants were jackasses. See also schoolyard bullies.)
Social Media allowed Flame Wars to have global scope and like minded individuals were able to pile on in support of their preferred combatant. The global scope, finding supporters, combined with smaller secondary flame wars fed even the tiniest of narcissistic egos, turning them into full blown neurosis.
This blog is an exercise in narcissism. Really, who would, or should care about my opinions or thoughts? I could have the same satisfaction and writing practice with a simple journal. But there is a bit of pleasure to be had from seeing readership statistics. There’s a sense of satisfaction reading comments about a particular blog post.
So this blog is me paying my dues to limited narcissism. My hope is that by indulging in a little, I can avoid becoming a Kardashian.
In the 1500 or so posts contained herein are snapshots of life. You’ll find sex, thoughts on the day or year, good things and bad things, commentary from my perspective on what it is to be male and a man in this world.
You might find thoughts that touch you, anger you, please you, or that simply cause you to consider a subject from a different angle.
All of this is objectively good. Writing, like all art should engender a reaction. Mozart or Snoop Dog, Picasso or Rubens, Orwell or Shakespeare, Mapplethorpe or Adams, they all have their place and affect the observer.
Uh no… I’m not comparing my writing to those folks. I’m not sure that my writing could be printed on their toilet paper.
What I’m saying is that some of what you read here, you may like, some you will not, reading what I write isn’t meant to make anyone into me. It’s offered as a thought put out into the world or the universe and it’s up to the reader to make of it what they will.
Caught a headline on Apple News+ from ABC News saying that the Covid Death toll had reached 1 million.
The article was apparently building on a statement from Joe Biden lamenting this milestone.
According to the CDC…
CDC DATA :
Total U.S. DEATHS ( ALL CAUSES ) :
2014: 2,626,418
2015: 2,712,630 : Increase – 86,212 – 3.28%
2016 : 2,744,248 : Increase – 31,618 – 1.16%
2017 : 2,813,503 : Increase – 69,255 – 2.52%
2018 : 2,839,206 : Increase – 25,703 – 1%
2019: 2,855,000 : Increase – 15,794- 0.55%
2020: 2,913,144 : Increase – 58,144 – 2%
It’s not unusual for nearly 3 million people to die per year. That number would naturally increase as the population does.
2021 and 2022 data wasn’t available when I checked. There have been some reports that the CDC is re-evaluating their data due to over reporting of COVID deaths and potential skewing of the numbers because death with COVID is different from death due to COVID.
Even in 2020 during the height of the lockdowns and with no vaccine really available the average death rate from all causes seems within normal.
Indeed there is an anomaly, a lower than average increase in death rate in 2018 and 2019.
I’m not attempting to minimize the pain and anguish of a loved one’s death, I’ve been through it.
What I am saying is if we’ve had a million deaths due to COVID are these in addition to the normal death rate, or did COVID simply push some people over the edge that were already “one foot in the grave”?
My uncle “Died of COVID” according to the family and death certificate. But he was in his 70’s, had already had bypass surgery, still had heart problems, was an asthmatic, and was exhibiting the signs of what the family used to call normal end of life for the men in the family.
72 to 75 is about normal for us, we wear out and kick off. The best we can hope for is that we kick off having sex. It’s shitty for our wives or partners but we go out happy. Typically we’re not laying in a hospital bed in our own poop. From a quality of life, (or death,) standpoint, I’d prefer to just drop dead or have a mind blowing orgasm, go to sleep and not wake up.
Did my Uncle die of COVID? Or did COVID just put a banana peel next to the grave he already had one foot in?
Death sucks, but it’s part of life. We gotta move aside to make room for the next generation so they can screw things up as badly as we did.
I’ve always been morbidly fascinated with the way we Americans address death. We keep putting our fingers in the dike trying to hold back inevitability and honestly I’ve questioned if in doing so we are causing more pain and suffering than is necessary for the person dying, and the family of the soon to be deceased.
I’m not saying that we shouldn’t strive for healthier or longer lives. I’m saying that at some point, we each need to draw a line in the sand and accept the inevitable with some semblance of grace.
When you look at the numbers from 2014 through 2020 it’s 3 million people a year more or less. We’re not wringing our hands over those folks as a nation. But for some reason 500,000 additional deaths per year due to COVID merits a Presidential speech?
Honestly, I find it somewhat offensive.
It’s almost like The President is using those deaths for his own gains. If the President is so upset about it, then let’s do the investigation to find out where COVID came from and figure out methods to mitigate a similar future tragedy. No matter where such an investigation may lead.
Assuming that the one million deaths were solely the responsibility of COVID as a single factor, (Dividing the 1 million across 2 years,) that increases the annual 3 million natural annual deaths by 0.16 which is about on par with the expected increase in death shown in the CDC’s data above.
Were it not for COVID, that increase might well have gone relatively unnoticed.
It’s still tragic, it’s still a marker for all the people who lost loved ones in a year. But people die…
Again, not minimizing the loss for the families, I just think we should have context against which to evaluate the headlines. Let’s look at the big picture, and let’s look at it in the cold light of truth.
As the media, Hollywood, and politicians continue to bang on about just how awful overturning Roe v. Wade will be and their shrill demand My Body My Choice echos through the land. I got to thinking…
If they really mean “My Body My Choice” then shouldn’t they also condone prostitution?
Would all these Neo-Feminists be so keen to preserve Roe, if the ruling also said Prostitution is legal in all 50 states?
Is it fair that a woman can be arrested for renting her body? After all, a prostitute is still exercising autonomous control over her body isn’t she?
It’s hypocritical on its face that many of the same women demanding abortion be Federal, not in the hands of the states, typically take a very dim view of prostitution.
I’m not even going to point out the hypocrisy of those same women becoming screaming “Karens” demanding everyone get a COVID vaccine.
Then there was one shrew on a show saying that all boys should be subject to mandatory vasectomies when they reach reproductive age.
Her reasoning was “It can be reversed”. But that’s not entirely true in all cases. Norplant and IUDs can be reversed too, again not in all cases. However, she wasn’t calling for mandatory Norplant or IUD implantation.
Nope, for this particular shrew, it was only men that bore the responsibility for unwanted pregnancy. She completely ignored the fact that while some rapes result in pregnancy, the vast majority of abortions are performed on women who consented to sex.
Both men and women bear the responsibility for an unwanted pregnancy. Birth control is readily available to both genders.
Or are we to infer that women are too emotionally weak, inflamed by their passions, or irresponsible to tell their sex partner, “No, not without a condom,” when they know they’re not using birth control themselves? Where is the concept of My Body My Choice here?
I can’t remember if the shrew was Sunny Hostin or Joy Reid nor can I find the exact quote at the moment.
(I’m looking for it. I’ve been shocked at how many threads there are demanding forced sterilization of men. One could infer that women think forced sterilization is perfectly fine as long as it’s a man, and only women have the right to “My Body, My Choice“)
I wonder how they’d feel if Roe was modified and codified into the US Constitution as All Americans have the same right, “My Body My Choice,” allowing prostitution and the right to refuse any medical treatment, regardless of the situation.
How would they behave if, in the spirit of equity, the law applied equally to Women and Men.
Then there’s another hypocrisy surrounding the issue. I’ll grant you it’s an outlier but think about this. If an unmarried couple find that they’ve created a life. The woman in the couple under current law, can have the baby aborted without the male partner’s consent.
However, if the woman carries the baby to term, the father of record, is legally obligated to provide child support and pay all the fees the court may decide to saddle him with. Regardless of his desire that the woman abort his child. He might also be denied the right to visitation. This, even if the couple has broken up and the woman has found another wealthier partner and married him.
I’m not meaning to open the can of worms about child support per se, but I do ask the question; why in this scenario does the man have absolutely no choice?
Well, he does have a choice… There’s the phenomenon of solo sexuality.
This is where normal healthy young men chose to tend to their own needs exclusively so that they don’t risk being trapped into fatherhood or anything else by a vagina owner.
This logical response by men who wish to avoid complications, or entrapment, is technically under attack with anti-pornography laws. Laws which oddly are billed as protecting women from exploitation. Is it exploitation when the woman is exercising “My Body My Choice” and she chooses to perform in a pornographic film?
The anti child pornography laws, I’m totally on board with.
Young men who have made this particular choice are often viewed as abnormal by society.
Which is it ladies? You say you’re afraid of rape, unwanted pregnancy, toxic males, and all the other bullshit. But at the same time you seek to deny other women the right to sell their services either directly, or on film, and seek to deny men a non-toxic sexual outlet.
The last I read about the solo-sexual phenomena, it seemed that it was mostly confined to large urban environments and the young men in question were educated and had decent jobs. They’re simply making a choice that does not involve risking the rest of their future for a few minutes of pleasure.
After dealing with the Neo-Feminists at work over the last 10 years or so, I understand their point.
I’m very glad that I’m partnered and that I’m more gay than bi. Don’t get me wrong, a mentally mature woman that knows herself and takes responsibility is sexy as hell. Unfortunately, they’re becoming exceedingly rare.
Generally, the women I’ve encountered in the workplace have convinced me that:
1) I will not seek a hetro relationship if my current one ends. (For that matter, I’ll probably not seek a homo relationship. Gay men are often just as nuts as Neo-Feminists.)
2) If I find that I’m jonesing for the company of a woman, I’ll fly to Vegas and rent some professional time.
3) A lot of the women I’ve encountered in urban settings, are not people I want to combine my DNA with. There are tons of drop dead gorgeous women, but intellectually they’re not up to snuff. I’d be better off importing an uneducated farm girl from some 3rd world cesspool to make babies with. At least they’d be strong, healthy, have practical comprehension of the real world, and common sense. We all have an inherent duty to make better offspring, not doom the planet to idiot children who can’t command fire.
4) Avoid at all costs any woman with a goofy dye job, weird shitty tattoos, and so many piercings they can’t get through a metal detector. Think of them like brightly colored animals or insects. Typically if a creature has some kind of wild coloration they’re toxic. Think Arrow Frogs, Lionfish, Blue Ring Octopus, Gila monsters, or Coral Snakes.
5) Spanking the monkey is a much more efficient and pleasurable use of my time. To this day, nobody does me, like I do.
The problem with solo sexuality is that it’s likely to lead us to life imitating art.
If only the dumb, or irresponsible, are reproducing then we’re going to end up like the movie Idiocracy.
If you’ve not seen the movie, give it a whirl. Call it a dark comedy. Sadly, I think the fictitious president and cabinet from the movie displays more intelligence than our current administration. That’s another story…
A Neo-Feminist reading this post will probably have her head explode and fire off some diatribe about me being misogynistic.
Before she gets completely spun up, I’d ask her to consider this… I am exactly what you have made me. You have no right to complain. Take responsibility and change. It’s not just your body your choice, it’s also your mind your choice.
I’ve been amused that a lot of the main stream press photos of young protestors demanding Roe v. Wade are people, (Male or Female,) that I personally wouldn’t ever sleep with. No matter how much alcohol was involved.
Many of the females are so visually unappealing to me, I doubt they’re likely to see the inside of an abortion clinic.
As a man who respects himself, I can’t imagine being so desperate that I would risk putting my penis in any of them. I suppose there are men who don’t have my standards for potential reproductive partners. That’s totally on them, and god help us!
Saturday 5/14/2022
So now these people are protesting in front of Supreme Court Justices homes. Oh for fucks sake! First of all that’s illegal since there is part of the legal code that says attempting to intimidate a Judge, Witness, Juror, or officer of the court is punishable by 1 year in jail.
Peacefully Protesting in front of the Supreme Court building is. one thing. Disrupting the lives of an entire neighborhood and the life of the Justice by protesting at his or her home is another thing entirely.
These people in some of the videos are calling for mandatory vasectomies for BOYS! while at the same time carrying “My Body My Choice” signs…
Can you say hypocrisy?
Oh, wait, “My body My Choice” only applies if you’re a woman. But what is a woman these days? We seem to be unable to define that!
You men marching in solidarity for Roe v Wade… The minute you hear mandatory vasectomy for boys, it’s your fucking duty to switch sides or shut that shit down.
That vasectomy bullshit isn’t about abortion rights. It’s only about beating all men into submission and if you’re supporting that, you deserve to be castrated.
On it’s face that statement says women want to be in control not only of their reproduction rights but they want to control yours as well. If you’re that stupid, you probably shouldn’t reproduce anyway.
These harridans scream about bodily autonomy and in the next fucking breath say let’s subject all boys to un-necessary surgery. It sure feels like they’re trying to treat males like dogs.
“Oh look Marilyn-Moonrock, little Johnny is coming of age, pretty soon he’ll be marking the furniture… Better get him fixed as soon at possible!”
What’s next? Wait until a boy is 12 or so, take him in to surgery snip him, and circumcise him at the same time? That would cut down on the pubescent masturbation wouldn’t it? What will they call for after that? Mandatory, yet unnecessary surgery on boys genitals WITHOUT Anesthesia, a sort of pre-punishment for any ills the male might commit?
Then these… There is no other term for them, Vile Bitches could completely control all aspects of what coming of age as a male is.
From constantly telling boys they’re testosterone poisoned and violent, drugging them into submission in schools, complaining about their poor grades because they’re drugged into submission, then denigrating them for being stronger or wanting to test themselves, to making them ashamed of their natural development.
Good plan you vicious cunts! You know, a little female genital mutilation might also go a long way toward negating the need for abortions. Just sayin…
Figure 30 years of mandatory vasectomies, and we’d have women bitching and complaining that they can’t find a man committed enough to go through the surgical procedure to reverse the sterilization process. After all a man isn’t likely to want to relive the childhood trauma a bunch of nasty women imposed on him. I could just see that, a man telling a woman who wants children, “No, My Body My Choice.”
If this is what the majority of the liberals are like… I want absolutely nothing to do with any of them!
Joy Behar suggested recently that women go on a sex strike.
Guys… here’s a thought. Stop dating, or if you date, make sure the women pays the fucking tab.
If you end up in the bedroom, Make sure you wear a condom and demand that the woman has a diaphragm and spermicide in place. You can’t trust her if she says she’s on the pill.
Oh and to top things off… When you’re done, don’t worry about her orgasm. Pull your pants up and leave, dispose of the condom after you’re out the door.
Trust me a few months of that, and all the nice women, the good women, the kind women, the women you’d want to make a family with… They’ll hunt down and rip these liberal bitches limb from limb.
The liberals are very quick to call a man a misogynist…
I suggest to them, if you wonder why men seem more misogynistic…
LOOK IN THE FUCKING MIRROR!
I’d sooner get my jollies with rancid road kill than be intimate with most liberals
I know I sound pretty pissed off, and I am. The blatant hypocrisy these Neo-nazi, Neo feminists are displaying really fires up serious anger.
How about teaching fucking responsibility? Hey, there’s a concept. Oh right, no-one is ever. responsible for their own actions.
Yeah, I call bullshit!
I’m thinking it might be time for me to shift some of my retirement account into lifelike sex dolls… I think I see a ready to boom, business opportunity.
I finally got down to the Sheriff’s substation to pick up their report, that I have to take to the court house to file a restraining order.
They charged me $1 for a single piece of paper.
It’s not the buck, it’s a fundamental question of why was the victim charged for the paper at all?
This led to to wondering what the cost to file the restraining order would be. Thus far I’ve not been able to find a single bit of information about fees in general.
Paraphrasing the Talosians from Star Trek, “The county’s methods of data storage are crude and take much time to assimilate…”
Broad searches for restraining orders produce only results dealing with domestic abuse. No fees are listed. Narrowing the search still produced only domestic abuse results and scanning those, I now understand why so many abused people allow it to go on & on. The bar to enact a restraining order is high and requires the victim to prove beyond a doubt that a restraining order is warranted.
There are plenty of articles dealing with how to break a lease earlier so that the victim can get out of a rental situation and therefore get away from the abuse. (Tip, the victim can break the lease in less than 30 days. The law generously allows them to only give 15 days notice one a restraining order is in hand.
This is insane! The victim is so screwed. Ongoing abuse by the abuser, and then again and again by the law that is supposed to protect them. I think I see why domestic crime is often so damn violent…
I’m taking a break in my searches of the county web site. Poorly organized data is worse than no data at all. If there’s no information that’s one thing, but if the data is supposed to be someplace and is unfindable it just compounds the frustrating “original sin”.
Ah well, back to it… Or I take a longer break and take advantage of the cool weather to go outside and do some yard work.
I honestly didn’t know that Obama was going to be at the White House. Not that it matters to me at all. I still feel a little betrayed by Obama. I truly thought that he would deliver on his promises when I voted for him. By his second term, I was completely disenchanted because I’d come to believe he was yet again another President who was into the power not the people.
It’s not Obama I feel sorry for. It’s Biden. Just because I think Joe Biden is an incompetent senile old fool, doesn’t mean I can’t feel sorry for him as a human being.
Watching the videos of the Obama visit, it was pretty sad to see Biden trying to interact with the shakers and movers.
Biden was clearly the unpopular kid at the prom. I kept waiting for the pigs blood to pour on him, (if you haven’t seen the original Carrie movie you might not get that reference.)
The fact that I was reminded of a movie genre that deals with cruel high school cliques by the “Movers & Shakers,”in Washington D.C. probably says as much about their behavior as it says about my high school experience.
I wasn’t one of the pretty people, I wasn’t particularly popular and not in any of the “cool kids” cliques, but I was necessary.
I was the guy who knew how to get things done, who to contact for certain illicit things, and how to make some troubles just disappear. I guess I was The Mechanic, I would get my hands dirty so that the cool, rich, and privileged dilettantes didn’t have to… But I didn’t work for free.
Unfortunately Biden isn’t even that.
He’s the kid whose parents made him go to the prom, “stag” because they thought it was important for his social development. He’s the wall flower, the kid sitting alone at the furthest table who is totally invisible. He’s the joke, the “poor kid” from the wrong side of the tracks, wearing a hand me down suit, instead of being able to rent a tux.
One advantage of my “Mechanic” role was that from the shadows I got to watch people. I got to observe the social fabric and how cruel a smile from some people can be. I also wore a tux to the prom that I didn’t have to pay for. (I’ll do this thing that you ask, but one day you’ll have to repay the favor… Ahh capitalism!)
Biden reminded me of the kid at the dance desperately wishing to be noticed and wondering if he could leave and walk home before his parents come to collect him.
Biden has become the crazy unpopular old uncle at the family reunion. Invited because he’s family and no one knows how much money he’s got stuffed in his mattress, ignored because he’s got nothing to say. He’s always invited, treated cordially for the first 15 minutes and then handed a tall glass of vodka and sent to the kids table.
It was there for all the world to observe.
At the press conference Biden was discarded once his usefulness ended. Obama was introduced, and Biden wandered around begging for relevancy. Hoping for crumbs from the cool kids table.
Biden has never learned even the crumbs are doled out carefully.
Remember, the Biden administration crowed very loudly about the “adults” being in the White House again.
Uh huh, right!
That’s why I feel a little sorry for Biden. The realization that you’ve been used and thrown away is always a bit soul crushing. In his case, the sting may not have much of an impact because of his cognitive decline.
