Category: Musings

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Prime Time Hearings?

I’ll admit I completely missed it.

Further, I’ll admit I don’t give a shit.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the “Truth” about the Jan 6th Riots won’t come out in our lifetimes. I further believe that whatever “Truth” will be the sanitized carefully massaged version written by the victors.

As with all history… It becomes what those in power want it to be.

I’m to the point in all this where I agree with Ilhan Omar. “Some people did some things…”

I just threw up in my mouth a little typing that. Jesus! How can it be that I agree with Ilhan Omar about anything?

I am curious to see what the ratings were for the hearing. I wonder if I’m alone or if the majority of my fellow citizens are right there with me.

The people in power have spoken about the radicalization of citizens toward terrorism. I can’t think of a much better tool to radicalize average people than the tone deaf responses on real issues, that are coming out of Washington D.C.

So whatever happens from here on out is on them. All of them, regardless of party.

Reports about the guy from California who was arrested outside a Supreme Court Justices home. Armed, and with tools to enter the home has been squelched. Apparently, the man was threatening harm to a sitting justice over Roe v Wade and gun control. According to Bill Maher an article can be found in the New York Times, on page A20.

The irony of demanding more gun control was apparently lost on this individual, since he was carrying guns to harm a conservative Justice. The man is apparently a liberal, progressive, Democrat… This is probably why the story is buried on page 20. Had this moron been a Republican going after a liberal judge… The story would warrant 24/7 news coverage Front page across the planet.

Even Bill Maher called out the NYT on its bias. How biased do you have to be to have Bill Maher take offense?

At the same time a credible threat was being booked at the police station, Congress decided against providing additional security for the Justices. This while protests in front of the Justice’s homes are being permitted.

In violation of the law!

Here’s a question. How does anyone know where the Justices live in the first place? I’d imagine that bit of information would be somewhat protected, or there’d be threats all the time on a justice and their families.

There was a time when I was a boy that society taught us all a few basic things.

No matter how much you dislike or disagree with the President you will end up in jail if you threaten him or her.

You cannot threaten a member of Congress, or the Judiciary unless you want to end up in jail.

You should not attack someone physically over a difference of opinion, even if you think they’re so wrong as to be sitting to the right hand of Satan himself. That too was a quick ticket to jail.

Protests are fine, when it looks like things are getting out of hand it’s time to go home. Staying for a riot was a ticket to jail.

(As an aside, My parents told me they wouldn’t bail me out of jail for stupidity.)

These weren’t all laws… (Some of course are,) these were compromises that insured the society didn’t devolve into anarchy and the inevitable blood bath that accompanies anarchy.

We were taught that it was okay to express disagreement with the President, Congress, or the Judiciary, and that no-one could take that right from us. We were taught that the law would even protect us while legally, (Peacefully,) expressing our opinions.

My how things have changed!

I know that The Slippery Slope argument is a fallacious one. There is no way to predict all the possible outcomes of a given action or series of actions.

That being said, I would argue that The Slippery Slope argument has some merit in that it may help define a set of probabilities. One or more of those probabilities may prove false but they may also prove true.

An extreme example: If you release a known serial killer of women into a population of women and by some miracle the killer doesn’t kill. Releasing 10 serial killers of women into the same population based on a sample of one, is a slippery slope. The probability is that one or more of those killers will kill again.

In that example, no-one should be the least surprised when women start turning up dead.

When we allow people to make threats, and take no action on those threats, we shouldn’t be surprised that more threats are forthcoming. Nor should anyone be surprised when someone makes good on their threat.

When we allow months of rioting to happen and see police standing by, observing destruction, arson, and looting, and doing nothing about any of it. Should we be surprised when angry people protesting, turns into a riot? The place and reason for the riot are irrelevant (non-partisan if you will).

By allowing riots for other things without taking action, we have tacitly approved of riots, and therefore fallen down a slippery slope. Anyone could have seen what was going to happen on Jan 6th.

The onus is upon those who failed to take action based on easily predicted outcomes.

Regardless of what Then President Trump said or didn’t say, or when. Regardless of your (or Congressional leaders,) like or dislike of President Trump.

The Jan 6th riot was not only easily predictable, it was equally preventable.

President Trump himself reportedly offered to call up the National Guard to provide additional security for the Capital. He did this while encouraging people to come and express their opinions.

This implies the President Trump had made a logical prediction based on the numbers of people that were showing up. He knew he was on a slippery slope and that mitigation was warranted.

The speaker of the house Chose to put personal animus above security, and refused the National Guard presence.

Here, President Trump failed.

Regardless of The Speaker’s refusal. President Trump should have ordered The National Guard to take posts securing the Capital and the city anyway. Just in case.

By Jan 6th it was too fucking late. Had people coming into the city seen The National Guard positioned to take action, it’s probable the events of Jan 6th would have gone much differently.

Having hearings, subpoenas, contempt of congress, and all the surrounding bullshit, the Jan 6th committee is engaged in, is nothing more than trying to find someone to blame.

This all could have been resolved simply.

Realize that blame is useless. Accept what happened, and make sure that it doesn’t happen again.

President Biden was declared the winner of the election. It’s a done deal. Move the fuck on.

The members of the Jan 6th committee would have been better served returning to their offices and making sure that riots were no longer to be even tacitly approved. For any reason, at any time or place.

They could have served the people of this country by conveying that the full weight of the law would come down on anyone engaged in rioting after the events of Jan 6th, and the previous summer.

Give everyone a pass, with the proviso “Never Again!”

They could have admitted, without admitting, the blame lay with them and the permissive attitude of the previous Summer. They could have in a bi-partisan way, told the people of the country that this behavior would not be tolerated. Then actually started laying the groundwork for the much vaunted healing President Biden promised.

They needn’t have spent 8 million dollars destroying the perceived enemies of one political party. In doing so, to my eye, they have painted themselves in a not too different light than Stalin’s show trials.

I suspect they’ve offended a lot of Americans like myself who cannot believe what they’re seeing.

Congress is looking a lot more like they’re trying to usurp the Judiciary and a lot less like lawmakers. The questions raised about limits on Congressional power are very concerning to me personally.

From the transcripts I’ve skimmed, this is shaping up a lot like the Trump Impeachments.

Then, as now I was thinking… Big Deal, So WHAT?

Personally, I’d love it if one of the witnesses stood up and told the committee, “Sit Down! Shut Up! Now get to work on dealing with real issues you political hacks!”

That won’t happen. But I’d pay to see it!

I thought I’d skim more of the transcripts, Now… I don’t think I will.

I’m done. This country is lost, thankfully I won’t live long enough to see it flush itself down the shitter. 10-15 years tops and while this place will still be called America… What that once meant will be lost.

The day they come to take everyone’s guns. Make no mistake they will. Is the day that the US Constitution will finally be nothing more than toilet paper and this land will descend into a marxist totalitarian regime.

Nikita Khrushchev said the communist party would win. I think he was right.

“Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It’s the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life’s joy in a mad scramble for power. For identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.” ― Loki of Asgard

This just in… Only 19 million viewers, across ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, and CNN, watched the hearing. I guess I’m thinking just like the majority of American Citizens.

Apparently, most everyone had something better to do…

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Dominoes

No, not in the old Cold War thinking.

As I was setting up the BBQ for Summer cookouts. I grabbed the Propane canister and gave it a good shake. It was about half full.

“Oh, I should go have this topped off,” I thought.

Then I thought about the gas in my car and thought, “I should probably fill the tank too.”

Then I thought about the price of gas and how much it was going to cost me. Almost $100, Damn! That’s a lot of cash. I decided to wait on both.

These thoughts inevitably led me down the road to petroleum and the economy in general.

I honestly can’t think of a single factor that has more control over our whole economy with more far reaching effect than petroleum cost.

We’ve all been feeling the pain at the gas pump. Many of us use gasoline on a daily basis. If we’re lucky we only fill up once a week or less. (I’m in the less category thank goodness.)

But it’s not just gasoline.

Jet Fuel is derived from Kerosene (petroleum). If the price of Jet fuels go up, then so do the prices of passenger tickets and air freight.

Kerosene is also used to heat homes in the North East. Even in the South when I was a boy, we had a 55 gallon drum in our backyard. Every fall, the Kerosene man filled the drum and if it was a cold winter he’d come back again in December or January. The big Kerosene heater in the hallway of the house was a center of activity on cold mornings. We’d have our coats draped over it for a few minutes to warm ‘em up before heading out for the day.

Diesel Fuel (petroleum) has seen prices skyrocketing in recent months too. We’re all familiar with Diesel. It fuels the 18 Wheelers that deliver almost all the goods we depend on to our shopping centers, grocery stores, gas stations, etc. If it costs more, then so do our goods.

That’s a simple equation to get your head around.

What’s easy to forget about Diesel is all the other things that it powers.

Most ships for example. Not just your fancy Cruise ship. But those big assed cargo carriers that deliver cars, and manufactured goods, from China and the rest of the world. Yes, even those big oil tankers are powered by Diesel.

Estelle Maersk on her maiden voyage. Credit Simon Burchett www.channelphotography.com

Then there’s the fishing fleet. You know, the fishermen that catch Salmon, Tuna, Crab, Lobster, and Shrimp. If their fuel prices go up, so does the cost of your Summer Seafood festival.

Most farms use Diesel to plow the fields, run irrigation pumps, harvest the crops, dry the grain, and ship it to factories to make bread.

Cattle Ranches, Chicken Farms, Dairy Farms, and all the rest are dependent on Diesel to run the heavy equipment like skip loaders, and backhoes. Some may use Diesel generators to run heaters in the Winter so food animals don’t freeze to death before they’re ready for market. Then they transport those animals to slaughter houses using Diesel trucks.

Even the railroads are dependent on Diesel. Most of the locomotives use big Diesel generators to power big electric motors that drive the locomotive, carrying goods all over the country.

Cranes, bulldozers, Cement Mixers, Dump Trucks, and all manner of construction equipment use Diesel fuel to level the ground for new housing developments, and raise girders for skyscrapers. Those same machines are used to make roads and maintain them. Snow plows, garbage trucks, school buses, and lots of city buses use Diesel fuel to provide necessary services.

Given that Diesel fuel prices have doubled in the past year it’s reasonable to expect for the cost of all these goods and services to go up as well. Or the services will be curtailed to maintain profitability and the ability to make payroll for the entities that provide them.

The practical upshot is that everything will become more expensive. From a box of Cheerios to that slice of ham in your lunch pail.

It’s not just fuel either. The ink in your ball point pen is oil based. Kiln drying of lumber will become more expensive, adding to the cost of lumber. Which in turn adds to the cost of construction.

Plastics of every type become more expensive from the plastic tub your cream cheese comes in, to the wrap the butcher puts over ground beef in the meat section.

Recycling plastic, (Only about 50% efficient,) while a good thing, has an interesting effect. With each recycle, the quality of the plastic goes down. This implies that there is a finite number of times a plastic wrapper or container can be recycled into useful life before it ends up in a trash dump.

Ultimately, new plastic wraps or containers will have to be made from petroleum, and the increased production costs will be seen by the consumer as higher prices.

Even fertilizer is petrochemical based. Making fertilizer more expensive will either translate into higher food prices or shortages. A lot of farms run on very tight budgets. An increase of 1% can mean that the fields in the north 40 don’t get planted.

President Biden has said,

“When it comes to the gas prices, we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over,”

Well, he’s right about one thing. This is a transition. I don’t know if I’d call it incredible. I also found his choice of the words, “…the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels…” to be odd.

I’d characterize his statement as reckless domestic policy. However, America is not the world…

Thinking about the rising petroleum prices and our government’s hand in those price increases domestically, I have to ask.

What are they thinking?

If the idea is to force America off a petroleum based economy this isn’t the way to do it. First and foremost, the infrastructure isn’t ready for this miracle transition.

It’s almost as if the Administration is thinking about automobiles only, and neglecting to consider the overall impact of their energy policies.

I for one don’t buy into blaming Russia for our energy prices. On the first day in office President Biden took steps to thwart American energy independence and his administration hasn’t stopped since.

All the Biden Administration has succeeded in doing is kicking our economy in the balls, while it was trying to get up after the COVID lockdowns.

In a way, this could be characterized as a “Shadow” lockdown. I know I’m traveling less. I’m staying home because I don’t want to spend the cash on fuel.

All of my household errands are planned to minimize travel and maximize the return on driving. (In truth, this is not terribly different from my normal way of doing things.) What I have noticed is that I’ll put off making a trip to pick up something I need for a project until I’ve got to get several items in the same general location.

That, replicated across millions of households also has an effect on our economy. Couple this behavior with people tightening their belts, the unavailability of some products due to production or supply chain issues, and I start to wonder if people may be simply choosing not to purchase things. In effect making do with what they’ve already got or going without entirely.

That could have far reaching economic implications over time.

Just in housing, we know that recent reports state housing starts are down. But we know that more people are coming to this country who will need to be housed. The cost of my little house has jumped by almost $100,000 (According to Zillow estimates) in the past two years.

That kind of price increase will certainly exclude a number of home buyers from the market. Especially if the cost of living and interest rates continues to squeeze those buyers from both ends.

Rental costs are skyrocketing too. The rental cost of an apartment alone begs the question; How are thousands of people with limited skills streaming into this country going to afford a place to live? Even if the government, A.K.A the taxpayers subsidize these folks living arrangements?

Many of these folks are arriving with no jobs, few skills, and no transportation. While at the same time, this country is generally built around everyone having a vehicle.

When factoring the cost of used vehicles, increasing food prices, along with the gas prices to power them, how are these folks supposed to make it?

I can understand people wanting to come to this country because of the “Dream” of America. The harsh reality of what is happening due to poor government policies is another thing entirely.

It’s been said that midterm elections are a referendum on the current administration. If that is true then the upcoming midterms should be a bloodbath. The question is, will the administration get the message?

Will Washington D.C. understand that the unintended consequences of their actions have been far more devastating, and potentially longer lasting, than an actual attack on our country?

I suspect that the baby formula crisis is only the tip of the iceberg.

“Winter is coming,” as was said so often in Game of Thrones.

This upcoming winter may be long, cold, and deadly. I say that seriously.

Each year we hear of the elderly freezing to death because they can’t afford heating oil. We hear of people being found dead because they used a charcoal BBQ inside to heat their homes. What happens if food supplies run low, while simultaneously more people are forced to curtail their heating expenses? Will this become a starve or freeze situation?

Just how “green” is it having people going into forests cutting down trees to feed their fireplaces?

How will this country react if desperation reaches a level of “Survival, Cancels out concepts like Right and Wrong”?

The die may well have already been cast. Planting season is well underway. Decisions about how many fields to plant and with what crops have already been made. Cattle and poultry production schedules have been set based on current cost and anticipated cost to the ranchers.

All of these producers have to make profit to feed their families too.

Grain reserves may provide a buffer this winter. But by next spring, if nothing is done to address fuel costs, and with it supply chain issues, the following winter may be really hard.

How many Americans is this administration willing to lose in their incredible transition? How much destruction to the economy will this administration do, or idly stand by and watch before they take action?

Only time will tell.

I will not be surprised if soon the Mexican and Canadian Governments have to set up checkpoints to process a sudden influx of migrants trying to get into their countries.

The Canadians already have pretty strict immigration controls in place. The Mexico side of America isn’t too worried about people coming into Mexico. Since most people are trying to get into America they’ve left a lot of the worry to America’s Immigration and Border patrol.

I find myself sometimes wondering how Mexico will react if suddenly, the flow of immigrants reverses? What happens when / if people who’ve come to America decide that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be and head South for a better life lower fuel costs, lower cost of living, less regulations, and a warmer climate?

What would that look like? Would the Mexican army suddenly be patrolling their side of the border?

I’m not trying to be depressing, or depressed. These trains of thought sometimes start in my head and once started, have to run to their conclusion.

This one started with me shaking a propane canister on Memorial Day, in preparation to grill a couple of burgers.

This time next year, I might have lost the 10 pounds I’ve been wanting to lose and Memorial Day lunch might be a couple of wayward rabbits seasoned with rosemary or wild sage.

A lot can change in a year. I hope whatever change comes, it’s for the better.

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I must be getting old

I’ve been going through my computer and deleting stuff, for a variety of reasons.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to probably do a complete rebuild of the system. In preparation for this I’ve been evaluating several factors. One of those is how much software on my machine is actually useful to me today.

There was a time when all the applications on my computer had a function and were used often. Those days are past. So I’ve been purging applications and their associated data from my system.

So far so good.

Then I got to thinking about the fact that Apple’s new silicon runs much more efficiently than their previous Intel based computers. It’s likely that Apple will discontinue OS support for Intel systems within the next few years. That’s not Apple being bad guys, it’s just a matter of consolidating their programming & hardware resources.

Apple did this once before, when they transitioned from PowerPC chips to Intel. I’ve been to this rodeo before.

The question this raised is since I’m going to have to do a complete rebuild anyway should I take the opportunity to move to Apple silicon at the same time?

By complete rebuild, I mean a fresh start of the Operating System. The plan calls for reloading only those applications that actually serve my needs today. I’m going to clean out all the saved passwords from the various password keychains. (Those stored in the cloud and those stored locally on my devices.) It means the deletion of all the weird assed websites and caches, and deletion of all the bullshit accounts that every fucking website wants you to create these days. Then starting over.

The goal is to get as close to being a user that’s never had a computer as possible.

It’s a hell of a task. There’s lots of planning and preserving user ids that I still need, while shedding all the crap that’s built up over time. The worst offenders in this regard are the job search sites. They never have a login site that says plainly who the hell they are. This complicates immensely figuring out what to delete and what to save.

Since I’m going to all this trouble in the first place, does it make sense to make the leap to Apple silicon now and then plan to have a computer that is “Future Proof” for at least the next 7 – 10 years?

I like my current computer. I’m one of the few people who liked the much maligned TouchBar. This preference adds a time element to my decision. It just so happens that the last MacBook Pro that has the TouchBar and has the new M1 chip is also available in the size and configuration that I like. That being said, it probably won’t be available next year.

The advantages to a newer machine are better battery life, (almost double my current machine’s). The processing power in Apple Silicon is approximately double. The newer machine supports WiFi 6, which my current machine does not. The newer machine can give me 2 TB of Solid State hard drive space. The current machine didn’t have that option.

The disadvantages are that I lose 2 Thunderbolt ports. I’ll also lose (at least temporarily) the ability to run VMWare Fusion and therefore Windows on my Mac. Yes, I could use Parallels, but I started thinking about how often I actually use Windows these days. (Not once in the past 3 months.)

The loss of ports concerned me. Then I really thought about it, and realized that I rarely have need of 4 Thunderbolt ports. I think the maximum I’ve ever used is 3 of the four ports and that was maybe once.

I’ve got a Thunderbolt dock from CalDigit. It provides all the ports I need if I really need a bunch of accessories connected to the computer. There’s a CD/DVD drive connected to that dock right now that hasn’t been used in almost a year. My monitor uses Thunderbolt directly so even if the dock were to stop working, I’d just plug the computer into the monitor. The monitor even charges my computer when connected directly.

I’ve got several dongles that plug into my current computer but even then, it’s a very rare occasion that I’ve needed more than 2 at any one time. The dongle that gets the most use is an Ethernet port that lets me connect to a network if for some reason WiFi isn’t available.

What Microsoft applications I use, run natively on Apple Silicon. So there wouldn’t be any of the messy Rosetta application conversion that imposes a performance hit. There are a few applications that would use Rosetta but those are used infrequently enough that they represent a negligible impact.

Basically, moving to a new Apple system at this point would have little negative impact on me. All my accessories for the current machine will work the same on a new machine. All the work I’ve done to prepare for a system rebuild will work just as well if I transition, or keep my current machine.

Apple will credit me $400 if I trade in my current machine for a new one. Apple Credit will give me zero interest for a year and 3% cash back to boot. It’s not a huge savings but it’s better than a kick in the pants.

I’ve convinced myself… I ordered the new machine. It should be here in a couple of weeks…

All of above is what went into the decision.

What makes me feel old is that I’m looking at this new machine as possibly a computer that I’ll use until I’m dead. I feel old too because I’m not that interested in the hassle of maintaining or updating a bunch of applications anymore.

I first noticed this phenomena on my phone, I’ve gotten my phone’s application count down to one and a half pages. There are more applications on the phone that will probably be deleted because the benefit they provide isn’t worth the annoyance of finding them, or dealing with making sure the latest version is on the device.

That philosophy spread to my computer, and iPad too. I’m down to 81 applications on my computer. That includes those that Apple provides for free. The number is about the same on my iPad and iPhone. When the new computer arrives, I’m betting that the number will drop to 70 or so, maybe 10 of which I’ll use daily.

My Apple Watch is nearing the end of its usable battery life and rather than drooling over the rumors of the new Apple Watches, I’m thinking about a plain simple (not flashy) watch. My Rolex is still my favorite but I think I’m going to have to lock it in a safe so that I’m not mugged at gunpoint over it.

I’ve been looking at automatic watches in the 300 to 500 dollar range. Oddly, that’s the same price range as a new Apple Watch. If I go the plain watch route, I won’t have to worry about recharging or the $10 per month cellular fee added to my bill every month.

Don’t get me wrong, I like a lot of the Apple Watch features. But if I’m out camping or hiking for more than a day, power becomes an issue. I can turn my phone off to conserve power and have some privacy, but I kinda like to have a watch when I’m out in the wild. I don’t want to have to carry all the paraphernalia required to charge the darn thing. An automatic winding watch will die 2 days after I do. Rather than die after me wearing it for a day.

Sure, I can carry a solar panel, I’ve got one. I can carry a battery pack, I’ve got one of those too. They both fit in my backpack and work really well. But suppose I don’t want the added weight? Traveling by air with them is a pain in the butt. TSA always seems to have a problem with them. “What’s that? Why do you have it? Why do you need it?” You’d think the TSA agents would have seen stuff like this before, alas, apparently not. I keep waiting for TSA to ask me where my papers are.

I suppose that’s making me feel like I’m old too. I’m eschewing the “Trendy, Modern,” stuff for the old tried and true. As I’m getting older, I have less patience or indeed concern about making sure all the little bits of high technology in my life are working.

If something isn’t working, it might not be that important. The importance seems to be directly related to how long it took me to notice something was amiss.

The funny thing is that I don’t stress over a lot of these things when I notice them like I used to. Now it’s kind of, “huh that’s dead. Do I need it right now? Nope, okay I’ll look at it later when I have nothing better to do,” and move on with my day.

That’s the way my Grandfathers looked at their world. If something wasn’t immediately useful, they’d move on. When I was younger I couldn’t figure them out. They’d chide me about my leap to technology. They both thought I was nuts for using ATMs. I kept wondering, how could they not be annoyed that the TV wasn’t working? How come they’d be so calm if a power drill broke and just pick up a hand cranked one?

I thought they were just old and dumb. But now I’m seeing their wisdom, perhaps because I’m acting just like they did.

They’d realized that you only need one coffeecup, one plate, one glass, one spoon, fork, or knife. Especially if you washed ’em when you were finished using them. They’d managed to see what was convenience, and what was necessity. In that realization, they became particular about what they wanted. That led them to frugality, not because they didn’t have money, but because they wanted to un-complicate and un-clutter their lives.

At the time they died, the world was becoming more connected, more complicated, and busier. I’d enjoy taking with either of them about the world today. I’m sure they’d be simultaneously appalled and amused.

They’d both be holding their sides laughing at me tossing useless crap out of my life. They wouldn’t get the computer purging, but they’d be smiling as they watched me picking up bits of dead or broken technology and tossing it into the bin.

They’d probably get a big laugh out of saying, “Welcome to being old and dumb.”

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If the GOP takes the House and Senate will it make any difference?

Unfortunately, I think it won’t.

I had hoped that it would put controls on the Biden Administration but now…

We’ve already seen what “accidentally releasing” a draft opinion on Roe v. Wade has done. I’ll grant you, the protests in the streets aren’t up to the par of our most recent “Summer of love,” but if the Democratic majority is tossed out on their collective asses as they well deserve, I expect the burning and looting to start all over again.

Republicans have been painted as sitting at the right hand of Satan. Conservatives are seen as racist minions of the Devil. Collectively, the two groups have been demonized as White supremacist domestic terrorists.

While to my knowledge, few if any of these assertions are true. There is a remarkably large group of people who believe it to be so.

Perception often becomes reality. Even when gravity doesn’t suddenly switch off on demand.

Those who believe Republicans and conservatives are terrorists, will require little to go back to rioting in the streets. I’ll not be surprised if we see people falling to their knees, rending their clothing, and crying as the election result are made known.

This poor individual. They’ve become the face of over dramatic stupidity.

I’ll be waiting for the tearful pronouncements, “Democracy is dead,” “NAZIS control Congress.”

I suspect that there will be a large number of saintly Democratic Candidates demanding recounts claiming that the demonic Republicans cheated at the ballot boxes or suppressed voters. Even in areas where the elections followed the same rules as the 2020 election.

They’ll trundle out the usual examples. People of Color, the poor, the sick, and you can bet there will be a trans person who won’t be able to vote “authentically as themselves” because their ID doesn’t match the name they give at the polling place.

I’m betting that first day with new members in Congress will be a circus. I haven’t figured out what kind of distraction the far left people within the Democratic Party will come up with, but I’m sure it will be amusingly transparent to everyone except the protestors.

There’s another problem though. Once all the protestors have gone home because it’s too cold to bother, the Republicans may choose not to take strong immediate action to curb the Biden Administration’s obvious screw-ups.

Why?

If I were running the Republican Party, I’d be inclined to let the current administration continue stepping on all the rakes they’ve left on the White House lawn.

They’ve pretty much looked like a bad combination of The Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, Abbot & Costello, and the Keystone Cops.

Were I thinking about maintaining Republican control for decades I’d let the administration continue to show just how incompetent they are. Let them destroy themselves, allow their policies and decisions to paint them as buffoons. Hey, I can be as much of a bastard as everyone else!

That would effectively gut any Democratic Party candidates for at least the next decade, possibly longer. Mothers who couldn’t feed their babies will have a very long memory. Truckers and commuters who lost their jobs due to gas prices will be unforgiving for a very long time.

Then at the last moment, preferably when Biden or Harris is on their knees before Congress begging for help. Only then does a Republican Congress roll out conservative, fiscally responsible, solutions to the Biden /Harris Administration’s self inflicted wounds.

The Biden / Harris Administration must be destroyed totally and shamed so throughly that none of the participants ever attempt to hold a political office again. The last thing I’d want (were I directing the Republican Party) is to allow the Biden / Harris Administration any room to say anything they did was a success.

Make sure that when the gas prices drop, The Country knows it’s the Conservative Republican Congress’s doing.

When the illegal border crossings stop, and the criminals who have used the open border to bring their crime, trafficking, drugs, and misery, are brought to justice. Make sure the Country knows who it was that took appropriate action.

When the shelves are stocked again, shipments are on time and under budget, driving cost of consumer goods down. Make sure there’s a (C) for Conservative visible on the shelf tags, to remind folks who actually does the job.

Then go after every single one of the former members of Congress who wrought this disaster. For those who lined their pockets from the misery of the American People regardless of their party affiliation… If the evidence supports incarceration, put them in the cells formerly occupied by the prisoners illegally held without due process or speedy trial in the Jan 6th riot.

To be clear, I don’t think the Republican Party or conservatives are saints. But I think they’d do a damn sight better than the current crop of morons running our country.

Sadly, it hinges on the newly elected officials in Congress putting the People first.

As I stated, I’m concerned that instead of taking action, they’ll choose vengeance. In their vengeance, the American People will still be pawns and suffer at the hands of power mad politicians.

I think, the only hope to rein in power mad politicians is the prospect of a very long prison sentence at hard labor, or hangman’s noose, if they’re caught.

When the presidential campaigns start up. I sincerely hope that Donald Trump has the good sense not to run. I don’t think he was a bad President. By comparison to Biden… He was awesome. Then again as Biden stands today, a psychotic monkey with a gun would be preferable.

Yeah I really don’t like Biden and haven’t liked him for as long as I can remember. I think maybe in the early days, he might have at least had his heart in the right place, but that faded very quickly.

I’d like to see pragmatic independent candidates who were unafraid to speak the truth. I’d like them to have a plan, and be willing to share their thoughts with the public during the campaign. Personally I eliminate candidates that appear to be pandering to specific groups.

I pay attention to candidates that have a consistent story, and those that say something like; “Oh, that’s an interesting point. I hadn’t considered that, you may have changed my approach,” to one of their competitors will have my full and undivided attention.

The last election, every candidate said something like, “We have to go totally green in energy production.” But few of them spoke about their vision for getting from where we are, to a green future.

I’d have asked, “Are you proposing using the advances we’ve made in nuclear reactors? Do you propose every roof of every home in America have solar panels? Is your proposal to create wind farms? Create more Hydroelectric power generation? What is your plan to achieve this goal?”

You don’t have to believe in climate change, to implicitly understand the less pollution we generate, the less we have to clean up. The less oil or coal we use, the longer those resources last. Everyone gets that. Even the most adamant Climate Change Denier won’t argue.

What they will argue with, is being told they’re going to have to use technology that isn’t adequate to their needs. For example, having to buy 2 pricey electric tractors to keep up their farm production where they only needed one 20 year old diesel tractor to do the job before.

Folks will balk at being told that fuel prices are going to be taxed into the stratosphere as an incentive to switch to inadequate technologies, by people who don’t have the sense to step around cow shit in a field. (No, Senator… That’s not a mud puddle! Those shoes weren’t expensive were they?)

Trust me, working folks will leap to demonstrably superior tools. Check out any construction site and you’ll find all the workers using battery powered tools all over the place. No cords, same capability, it’s a no brainer. Even nail guns are going battery. It’s nice to not have a compressor and a long assed pneumatic hose when you’re doing finish work.

A local handyman here, deploys solar panels across the hood of his truck to power battery chargers for his tools. He’s not high tech, he’s not a greenie, he’s just pragmatic. He works on vacation or rental homes that often have the power turned off.

The point is, instead of screwing with gas taxes and mandates, a politician should have a broad plan.

They should be able to say, “Yes, I want solar panels on every roof. During the day we should be able to direct excess power from the housing panels to power our schools or offices where we learn and work. Hopefully it would be enough that we could direct oil and coal generated power to industry during the day, increasing our GDP but overall reducing the fossil generated kilowatts those plants have to produce. At night, I’d like to have the ability to redirect oil and coal generated power to light and heat or cool our homes. We’ll use this system until we can bring new safer nuclear plants online. My plan is to transition in a logical, planned way. Along the way, I’m confident we will make new discoveries and those may make the transition faster, and more efficient. To that end, I propose that we fund as much energy research as possible. Not just power generation, but also power storage. I propose that we mine, refine, and produce the raw materials and finished products here in America. This provides jobs and potentially can increase our exports to other nations.“

Every politician should be able to lay out various plans to address the issues of the day.

You don’t have to agree with the plan. But someone who lays out the broad strokes at least has thought about it. They’re not just pandering to activists for votes. The harder step is holding them accountable and calling them out if they haven’t delivered on their plan(s).

I use the same approach when reviewing all candidates.

It’s a given that no one candidate is going to embody every cause of the day. What I’m looking for is a candidate or candidates that at least are bold enough to speak their minds, honest enough to admit they don’t know everything, and smart enough to have thought about the issues.

Sadly, we’ve created a world where one misstep or poorly chosen word can destroy a candidate who would otherwise be the best person for the job. This allows only the pretty, the pandering, the disingenuous, and those driven by greed for money or power to hold office.

I don’t think that’s likely to change anytime soon.

This is why I think the Republican “Red Wave” in the midterms is going to be a big nothing burger.

The new boss will be exactly the same as the old boss.

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For those of you who may be new to this blog…

First, by most accounts I’m nuts!

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.