Category: Musings

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I think the “He’s like Hitler” Trope has lost its value.

There was a time when invoking Hitler was the worst insult you could hurl at someone. This was particularly true in politics.

It was a shocking statement and conjured up some of the darkest images in recent history. There was a time when if someone called you Hitler, you were doing something very bad.

Trump was called Hitler, Ron DeSantis is being called Hitler by Nikki Fried (who is campaigning to take DeSantis’s position.)

Lately it seems as if that shocking insult is being leveled at anyone over simple political disagreement.

“Hitler” as an insult is rapidly becoming as commonplace as “racist”. Both are losing their shock value and their impact.

Now if someone calls you a racist in a discussion, it just means “You Win!” The person calling you a racist is declaring that they cannot win the discussion on merit, facts, or logic. This is the verbal equivalent of “The nipple crippler, or titty twister” in a fight. It’s a shameful and pointless move born out of desperation. It’s wholly ineffective and serves no purpose other than to show others what kind of poor loser you are.

Comparing someone to Hitler is rapidly becoming the same lame move.

One could similarly compare the Biden Administration to Nero fiddling while Rome burned. The story of Nero fiddling is not historically accurate but has entered into the collection of descriptive tropes we use as shorthand to describe things.

Nero isn’t nearly as insulting as Hitler these days, but in the sunset of The Roman Empire I’d bet calling someone “A Nero” was cause for a duel.

For me, when someone screams racist or Hitler I’m done. Nothing that person says after is of any importance. They came to a debate or a discussion unarmed and then got butt hurt when the weakness of their position was unmasked.

Nikki Fried has lost her election bid right from the start. She didn’t consider her audience.

Think about the age of most of the residents of Florida. A fair number of them would have been told stories of the horror of Hitler by their parents or grandparents. The images of the camps may still be in their memories. The fact that Hitler was so bad, we allied ourselves with Stalin to defeat him would also not be lost on those people.

A simple comparison of DeSantis today versus their memory of Hitler’s atrocities puts lie to Nikki Fried’s comparison.

Fried speaks for Miami. A lot of Florida doesn’t consider Miami part of Florida. Miami is where all the New Yorkers hang out, it’s a place where the prices are too high, the crime is too prevalent, the politics are too blue, and liberal progressive elites are thankfully mostly contained.

When I was a boy every hurricane season the “Normal” Florida secretly hoped a hurricane would scour Miami off into the Atlantic.

I’m wondering if DeSantis will address Fried directly. She’s handed DeSantis a great line. Fried calls him Hitler, he responds, “No, the trains still aren’t running on time.”

The majority of older Floridians would chuckle at the reference then watch in amusement as Fried tried to figure out what that meant or how it was relevant. A bunch of older Floridians would correct DeSantis by pointing out he’d gotten his dictators confused. Benito Mussolini, not Hitler, is the despot who insisted the trains run on time.

Unfortunately, the media would blast it as, “DeSantis admits he’s Hitler”

It’s a pity that sarcasm is lost on most people today.

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Biden gets more recognition

#BareShelvesBiden is trending on Twitter.

I didn’t say the recognition was necessarily positive…

The fact that it’s not being censored by twitter is amazing in itself.

Give it time… The Twitter fact checkers will find some reason to shut down the hashtag as misinformation.

What’s happening is people all over the country are taking photos of empty shelves in grocery stores and posting them with #BareShelvesBiden. The fact that it’s trending on the Twitter platform is demonstrative of how wide spread shortages are becoming.

As I said I’m sure the Twitter fact checkers will find some reason to censor it. When they do, it’s possible that a large portions of people will have undeniable proof that Twitter is not the bastion of truth and honesty they believe it is. The real question will be; Are they going to believe their own eyes?

Biden is supposed to give a fiery speech about voter rights in GA today. He’s staunchly opposed to the new GA laws that are designed to prevent potential voter fraud.

He’s opposed to such heinous things as:

Not sending mail in ballots out automatically to all registered voters. A mail in ballot must be requested.
Absentee ballots have a narrower window to be requested, however for voters over 65 once an absentee ballot is requested additional absentee ballots will automatically be sent for the duration of the election cycle.
A voter will have to present ID to vote. If a voter doesn’t have a driver’s license, there are alternate methods of providing ID, A voter ID card, for example and other methods beyond that.
Limitations on the number of voter drop boxes.

Apparently this is all racist voter suppression. I’m still unclear how it’s racist or voter suppression because these seem like fairly benign rules. Then again I’m an uneducated hayseed with no concept of how the “real” world works.

Apparently Biden thinks that him giving a speech in GA is going to help congress push their voter protection act.

Biden and his handlers haven’t yet learned that his speeches usually have the opposite intended effect. There will always be people that hang on Biden’s every word. But I think the majority of folks that bother to tune into his speeches are more interested in the tragic comedy of his gaffes.

I don’t think the price we’ve paid as a nation to free ourselves from “Mean Tweets” was worth it. On the other hand I’m glad Biden is The President.

I can think of no one who better exemplifies the failure of both political parties. In the rarified atmosphere of Washington DC politics If Joe Biden was the best they could do, we have much larger problems.

Sure, the Democratic Party shoved this dementia riddled old fossil down our throats, but the Republican Party has sat idly by and taken no action to remove him for incompetence. Both parties are content to continue their masturbatory hearings while the country “burns” so to speak. Both parties are like greedy parasites hungrily gorging, oblivious to the fact that their host is dying.

It’s entirely likely that in the midterms we’re going to see a Democrat rout. Generally speaking, people are seriously upset with the way things are going. I suspect that the Republicans may also see an unexpected turnover in their congressional ranks as well. People are just as pissed off about their inaction.

I wonder if we’ll see wailing and gnashing of teeth and endless recount demands after the midterm election. It will be interesting if recount demands and accusations of fraud come from both sides.

One of my Grandfathers said, “I hate all politicians. They’re liars, thieves, and corrupt to their core. I think the way to keep them in check, because we unfortunately need them, is to find the most corrupt two or three every year and hang them on the steps of the capital building. That would maybe serve as a reminder to the rest of ’em. On the other hand, it could just make ’em a lot more clever in their thievery.”

Grandpa was born in 1902. He was a plain spoken man. He was polite, but didn’t suffer fools or criminals. He was a lifelong Democrat and union member. He’d give you the shirt off his back if you asked, and were in need, but he’d beat you to death if you just tried to take something without asking.

He was a finished carpenter, as he and his neighbors aged and retired you could always find Grandpa anywhere in the neighborhood by following the sound of hammering. For as long as he was able, he repaired steps, doors, and windows, built ramps to peoples homes if needed, mended fences, or whatever. He did this without charge and was quite content if someone made him dinner or a nice pie as compensation. Some of his neighbors would do the maintenance on Grandpa’s car in exchange for his carpentry skills. He loved building things.

He was also incredibly hard on squirrels when we were hunting.

That’s an inside family joke. Several of us were hunting deer with Grandpa. It had been a bad day, and we were heading back to camp empty handed and depressed. As we rounded a curve on the trail, there was a very large squirrel in a tree. Grandpa just couldn’t go back empty handed. So he raised he rifle and fired. Grandpa forgot that his gun was loaded for deer not squirrel.

The poor creature exploded. Grandpa stood there for a second then said, “Damn! The meat is spoiled,” he shouldered his rifle and continued walking back to camp. For several years after that he’d go to the hunting camp with us but he wouldn’t join us in the hunt. He’d stay at the camp keep the fire stoked and the coffee hot. He’d be prepared to help us dress the meat if our hunt was successful and offer solace if our hunt wasn’t.

It seems that Grandpa concluded he was dangerous, since he’d forgotten something basic like what ammo was in his gun. He’d go to shooting ranges with us, and enjoyed target shooting but obliterating that squirrel signaled to him that his hunting days were past.

Grandpa accepted the limitations of advancing years with grace and humility.

So in the family, references to being hard on squirrels has much deeper and loving meaning. All of us who were with Grandpa that day smile and remember Grandpa fondly. The story has been passed to the next generation. Those who didn’t know Grandpa remember him through the story. He’s forever woven into the beautiful colorful fabric of our little tribe.

Joe Biden, and a lot of the other fossils in Congress need someone to tell them, “You’re really hard on squirrels,” though I suspect that they’re far too arrogant to accept the lesson.

That’s really a pity.

In my family, being told that, means you’re loved. It’s someone telling you, “we’ve got your back, we’ll take care of you right to the end, because you’re valuable to us. So rest easy Elder, ask us for whatever you need you’ll not go wanting, hungry, or alone.”

Maybe if more families thought that way, things would be better all around.

There’s security in that. It’s a feeling that I’m fortunate to have.

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One of those strange coincidences

Last Thursday the other half went to the drug store and dutifully got their COVID booster shot.

The day started out normally. The other half was feeling fine and went to work as normal. After work the other half dropped by the drug store and got the booster. Within four hours of having the booster, the other half was trying to cough up a lung. This was far worse than when they’d gotten the first vaccination.

I was worried because their coughing was so intense and rattling. I tried my best to be supportive asking if there was anything I could get for them and offering to make dinner. You know, the usual stuff you do when someone you care about is feeling under the weather.

Then the next day, I was coughing and running a low grade fever. This was a, “what the heck moment for me,” I hadn’t been around anyone that was ill except the other half who’d left the house perfectly fine Thursday morning.

I haven’t left the house for about 4 weeks, For the past 2 weeks, I’ve been nursing a bum knee and between the snow and ice, haven’t wanted to take the chance that I’d slip and make the knee worse. It’s been all I could do to navigate the level areas inside the house with a cane. This pretty much means that whatever I caught, I got it from the other half.

As we headed into the weekend both of us sounded like a tuberculosis ward.

Saturday neither of us did much of anything but sleep. My fever was running about 102F and seemed to remain fairly constant.

Sunday was much of the same although my fever was dropping off to just a degree or two above normal.

Both of us did a lot of sleeping on Sunday too. The whole weekend got away from us.

That’s not that big a deal, we both needed some down time.

The timing is just strange. I haven’t been sick since April of 2020 mainly because I haven’t been interacting with anyone. I’m unemployed and there’s simply not much reason for me to leave the house.

I think this is just an odd coincidence that the other half got the booster and then was actually sick and that I got sick too.

In the back of your mind though, when is events are apparently so closely related, you have to wonder if there’s not something else going on.

Honestly, if this was Omicron I’m fine with it.

Today I woke up feeling pretty good. I’m still a little feverish but it’s minor. Oddly, the knee that had been so swollen it hurt to bend is miraculously 90% better. Right now I’m feeling just like I do on the tail end of any standard cold.

Another day & I’m going to be back to my normal self. I’m likely going to nap a bit today between doing chores. Laundry for example works great with short naps.

The other half is doing much better today as well. Although anything respiratory takes a long time to clear for them. Which is why they decided to get the vaccination in the first place.

Being somewhat conspiracy “Curious” I can see a situation where if I was a full on conspiracy believer I’d conflate the onset of illness after a booster as proof that the vaccines are bad.

If you believed in an evil cabal of pharmaceutical companies, world governments, and the whole depopulate the planet thing… Something coincidental like this could feed right into your paranoia.

I choose to believe that it was just odd timing and bad luck.

If it wasn’t just odd timing and bad luck… Then the evil cabal took their shot at me and missed. I’m on the mend, and have survived. It’s gonna take a lot more than that to kill off this old buzzard!

Hope you all have a great week.

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Okay, I’m done with this year.

Let’s get this 2022 party started!

As we count down to the New Year, I often try to think of things I’m thankful for from the previous year.

The list this year is pitifully small. In 2020 it’s a, “What List?” situation, so I guess 2021 has been marginally better. I’m kind of worried that 2022 is going to be a sucky year too.

I’m thinking that we’re going to have to put up with a full year of really crappy politics running up to the 2022 election. No matter which party comes out on top, we’re no doubt going to have endless recounts.

The way it looks now, (although it could change,) people are dissatisfied enough with the Democrats in Congress that they’re likely to be voted out. This would effectively kneecap the Biden Administration and lead no doubt, to endless squabbling and nothing getting done for another two years. AGAIN!

While everyone is gearing up for the circus of various elections, the Jan 6th Committee will continue on without actually doing anything, except issuing subpoenas. Those subpoena’s will be fought in court wasting millions in taxpayer dollars and bankrupting supposed members of Trump’s inner circle. That in itself is unfair punishment and very probably the point of issuing the subpoenas in the first place. Especially if the person happens to be innocent, this way they’re punished anyway and their families. Reminds me of a certain biblical king who killed the firstborn male child of every Jewish Family.

Honestly at this point I think the Jan 6th committee should just open with, “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Republican Party?” They can follow that up with, “Have you ever stayed at a Trump hotel, attended a Trump rally, agreed in any way with Trump, worked for Trump, spoken his name, have you ever been in Washington DC or communicated with anyone in Washington DC, or believed at any time that The Constitution of The United States was valid?”

Their next statement should just be, “We find you guilty… of whatever!”

I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if they pulled up all the ballots for Trump and just imprisoned everyone that voted for him instead of Biden. It would be simpler and save everyone a lot of time, money, and aggravation. That seems to be where they’re heading anyway.

Yes, I’m annoyed by the whole thing.

I’d be a lot happier if they’d stop “fishing” and focus on the primary suspects, then branch out to other suspects as the evidence led them. In my opinion what we’re seeing right now looks a lot less like a search for truth, and a lot more like the old Soviet Style destruction of political enemies.

If they’ve got a valid point they should make it, if not, then shut up and get back to the work they were elected to do. I’m totally sick and tired of Trump witch hunts. What have we had, 5, 6 years of this mind numbing bullshit?

Trump was impeached TWICE, both times big nothing burgers. Now he’s supposedly at the heart of a plot to overthrow the United States? If he’s SOOOOO dangerous why the fuck isn’t he sitting in a prison cell? Why are there a bunch of other people sitting in prison cells denied due process?

I’m not looking forward to the continuing follies of the Jan 6th committee in any way. The bunch of them should be slapped like the three stooges, then disbanded. Although I’d tune in to C-SPAN to watch someone slap ’em all. Yeah, I often have C-SPAN open on my computer.

It’s a great way to see and hear what’s happening real time in a variety of hearings. It’s also a great way to understand why so little gets done in Congress. These people spend more time bloviating and self aggrandizing than they do asking germane questions.

One of these days there’s going to be someone like me testifying who’ll interrupt some congressman thanking them for their appearance for the 20th time and that person will say, “Yeah congressman, I’m here because you demanded my presence, threatened my livelihood, and my family, so stop with the bullshit thanking me and get to your fucking point!”

The other scenario that would have me rolling on the floor laughing would be where the congressman spouts on, and on, monologging without asking a question. I’d love to see the witness interrupt and ask, “Uh do you need me for this? I’ve got other places to be and you aren’t asking a question.”

I’d pay to see either one!

I’ve loved watching Rand Paul tearing Fauci a new asshole every single time he’s appeared. I miss Trey Gowdy in hearings. I’m happy that he’s doing something he likes doing, but I loved him being a bad ass lawyer when he was asking questions in Congressional hearings. I didn’t always agree with him, but damn, he earned my respect. I’d hire him as my attorney anytime! Rand Paul and Trey Gowdy tearing at Fauci and Collins would be an epic pay per view event.

In the new year I’m going to try to ignore the “news,” more so than I have this year.

I am going to be listening to the actual hearings more. I’m hoping that the Jan 6th committee starts broadcasting everything on C-SPAN, I doubt very much that they will.

I’ll be watching what they do broadcast with interest. I can hardly wait to see their evidence of a plot. If there was a plot, I’d like to understand what that was, how it came to be, and who were its architects. If there wasn’t actually a plot, I’m sure that Adam Schiff will present some really interesting faked slides with out of context quotes that can be debunked. Again.

(Adam, FYI, your most recent “text message” fake was poorly done. Everyone knows what a real text message looks like. If you’d like assistance faking text messages, graphics, or evidence, I’m available, and I work fairly cheap. BTW I am a pure capitalist who’s been forcibly unemployed for a long while, I could use the money. I don’t have to agree with you or even like you…)

(I’m also available for hire to the defendants in the Jan 6th probe. If I can make fakes, I’m gonna be good at spotting and debunking them.)

Hey, a man’s gotta eat! I’ll work for the highest bidder! Go Capitalism!!!

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A Rasmussen Poll has found that 63% of Democrats support voter ID.

There’s an article from Breitbart here The original Rasmussen Report is here.

I personally think that voter ID is a good thing and support it.

But as I was thinking about the way things get done in this country. Perhaps it’s time for a little reverse psychology.

If members of the other voting blocks (ie Non-Democrats) were to simply make it known that they thought “Fair is Fair”, and that in the next election and specifically in the 2024 election they were going to resort to dirty tricks to win the election…

You know, things like abusing mail in ballots. Voting in multiple districts where they do not reside. Buying homeless folks a meal in exchange for them voting “correctly”. “Helping”people fill out their ballots. Offering iPads to deep Blue lower economic districts, etc.

I guarantee that voter ID would be enacted inside a year. Racism and voter suppression, be damned. Of course we’d have to have the representatives of the other voting blocks in congress and at the state level screaming bloody murder about the unfair exclusion that such laws create.

Even if voter ID laws didn’t make it onto the books, if the other voter blocks were to actually follow through with all of the above shenanigans the court cases could fowl up the elections for months. It would no-doubt result in Vote ID laws being implemented.

My Mother says, “Two Wrongs don’t make a right,” maybe in this case she’s incorrect.

My Mother is also adamantly against voter ID laws. Her reasoning for this would be sound if there were a lot more people 90 years and older who hadn’t ever worked, or driven, or had a bank account, or utilities, or gone to the doctor, or written a check at a grocery store, or gotten a payday loan, or received a western union moneygram, or, or, or, or, or.

If there were hundreds of thousands of people like that who were citizens of this country then I’d agree with her. But there aren’t. The number of people who would be excluded from voting on those grounds is vanishingly small.

The number of illegal immigrants, or unvetted immigrants from the Middle East and elsewhere, who are not citizens and therefore shouldn’t be voting, on the other hand is rather substantial.

Given the implementation of RealID where the holder of the ID is designated as having met the RealID requirements and is either a citizen of non-citizen. It seems to me that all the bullshit about voter id has no legs to stand on.

If one were required to produce a passport to vote. I’d be against that. Passports are expensive and that expense would place an undue burden a large percentage of citizens who are eligible to vote.

That being said, If someone asked me personally to produce ID to vote, I’d happily hand them my driver’s license and my passport.

In state like California where there is no voter ID requirement. The polling people get pissy if you hand them your ID with your ballot. I had a lady in San Diego practically throw my driver’s license back at me.

I was dropping off my mail in ballot from another district at a polling place. I thought at least due to the irregularity of that circumstance that someone would check the name and address on the ballot against the name and address on my ID.

Nope! the lady very testily told me to put my ballot in the box marked “mail in”.

This was in the 2016 election and at the time I thought, “Wow, it would be really easy to stuff the ballot box.”

As a law abiding citizen, I’d never do such a thing, but I was surprised at the lax security. In that election, I’d voted for neither of the presidential candidates. I had however voted for a number of measures and local candidates that were important in my community.

At the time, I remember wondering if there was some way I should make the Presidential candidate section so that it was clear I had meant not to cast a vote for any of the candidates. I’ve still never gotten a good answer about that one.

The Rasmussen poll is interesting.

If 63% of the Democrats polled and 88% of the Republicans polled, and 74% of the Unaffiliated voters polled all are in favor of voter ID, why hasn’t it been implemented? Those percentages are better than the last presidential election. Obviously a large percentage of voters agree on something.

I wonder if Voter ID could be put to the people in the next California election?

I’d make a drink, and popcorn every night listening to the media lose their minds over a ballot measure like that.

Talk about an entertaining reality TV show…