Saturday Quick Hitter - 10-09-2021

 

Biden's numbers are in the toilet. We know why. He's a terrible president, a weak leader, and a puppet of far left progressives.

Moderate Democrats are afraid of the far left part of their party.

Independents are unhappy about the direction of our country.

None of this will end well. Not for Biden, me, you, not for anybody. Progressives will stop at nothing to get their way, and breathe fear into the lives of anyone who dares to oppose them, which is how and why moderate Dems have been so effectively neutralized and silenced. President Biden cowers and kowtows to them.

It's a mess and I hope in 2022 moderates and independents will rise up and squash the anti-American, anti-capitalist, progressive, totalitarian racists who now effectively control the Democratic party.

It's bad y'know.

Couple of Thougths on Facebook's Whistleblower - 10-6-2021

The Facebook whistleblower's revelations shouldn't surprise any of us. It's obvious Facebook has continuously engineered and re-engineered the Facebook experience. For none of the reasons the whistleblower felt it necessary to speak out, I was disappointed in how those changes impacted my interactions with friends. Before I delve into that, let me describe, in the simplest terms I can, what Facebook did.

Back in the earlier days of Facebook, our timeline, or 'feed', would present the posts made by all our friends in chronological order. Then for a long time they started showing us 'top stories'; I think that's the way they said it. But with determination and effort, we could still select 'most recent' as our preference for our timelines. I remember again and again having to go back, frustrated about it as hell, and re-select 'most recent'. Facebook's definition of tops stories is probably less what that says it is and more like 'most likely to get users to click on it'. Eventually, if I am not mistaken, the option to see 'most recent' was eliminated altogether.

Something else that happened during this slow transition, and this goes back a number of years, is that the algorithm was also changed to diminish how often we see posts from friends with whom we don't often interact. So if I have an old friend, a school chum, perhaps, and we don't talk or at least rarely talk, the program reduces visibility to each of us of the other's content. This always bothered me. I can still see their content if I go specifically to their timeline, but with 500 or 700+ friends, that became rarer and rarer. So I lost touch with many people who I came to Facebook specifically to stay in touch with.

Facebook didn't do ANY of the above to improve our experience. They did it to increase the number of mouse clicks we make each time we're on. Money for them. They study our behavior, individually and collectively, and continuously tweak the algorithm to put likely mouse clicks into our feed and to remove less likely mouse clicks. So screw my old school chum and the fact that Facebook allowed us to connect and to stay in touch. That may be what I want, but it's not what Facebook finds to be in their own financial best interests.

The content we have shown Facebook to be profitable is the stuff that gets us mad. Political stuff. Social stuff. Controversial stuff. We click on it. You and me. As we do, our timeline adjusts itself away from other content and toward the controversial stuff slowly but surely. And thus we enter into the echo chambers of our own political thought. And sadly, and scary, too, is that this echo chamber is far less affirmation of the good things the politicians and personalities we support are saying and doing, but more often it's the stuff that angers us that those with whom we disagree are saying. And a lot of that kind of content is very caustic, hateful, and spiteful. We become inculcated with animosity to the other side, a natural reaction to being immersed in things that inspire our anger. The Facebook echo chamber specifically engenders division.

As a result of this, I know I am personally guilty of muting people, friends of mine, who are deep within their echo chamber, find these caustic and confrontational positions normalized, and then push them out. I can think of one dear friend from work, and African-American woman, whose posts I took as in essence calling me a racist again and again and again. Regretfully, I defriended her. But it seemed pointless to try and convince her I'm not a racist simply because I disagree with her on US immigration policy. Another friend of mine, this time from my football tailgate group, repeatedly posted articles by Dan Rather and the like that called Trump supporters, which I take to include myself, as stupid. I took it to mean she thinks I'm stupid for supporting Trump. How else was I supposed to interpret that? I muted her. I miss the interactions, but I'm not fucking stupid. I just disagree with you. Joe Biden if the fucking stupid one. There was a guy I know from when I was working. During the 2016 election, he posted that he was "ready to go to jail" over the election. I muted him, too.

Before I tell you why I think all three of the aforementioned friends were so comfortable insulting me, I want to make this perfectly clear: this is not exclusively a problem from the left. The one on the right is just as problematic an echo chamber as is the one on the left. I cringe at some of the garbage that's been normalized that comes from both sides.

That fact we're deep in these click driven echo chambers doesn't make us right about anything, but it sure makes us think we're right. I know speaking for myself, and this is probably true for most of you who are taking the time to read this, I like reading articles that are aligned with my own views and opinions. It's reinforcing. The echo chamber that our clicks, mutes, defriends, unfollows, etc., create is that, but times 1000.

This brings me to the concepts of 'fact checkers' and 'disinformation'. It's all well and good for Facebook to say they're going to ramp up fact checking efforts to reduce disinformation, but I know damned well that whoever they designate the arbiter of truth and accuracy will be someone deep in the left's echo chamber, and as a result their thinking will be highly propagandized, leftist, elitist, and anti-right in almost every way. It's further down a slippery slope, not a fix to the problem.

This mouse click and greed driven echo chamber has been bad for social and political discourse. It has divided families. It has ended friendships. It has created far more problems between people than we even realize.

If Facebook offered two options: 1) See content from ALL of my friends, and 2) See most recent content, rather than tailoring my experience and pushing me into my right wing echo chamber, I'd take it on a heartbeat. Whether you're on the right, or from the left, wouldn't you? Oh, and for the record, I don't trust Facebook to fix this problem. There's more money in divisiveness for them than in letting friends stay in touch, and besides, the arbiters of accuracy and truth they'll employ to do it are ALL going to be from deep within their echo chamber, anyway. It's damned if they do and damned if they don't. Because my two options, 'all friends' and 'most recent' are not going to be anywhere near any option that Facebook will actually consider.

No Mean Tweets 10-2-2021

I have no confidence, as in none, zero, zip, zilch, nada, in President Joe Biden.

 

Lyin' Joe Biden

• I don't believe he's honest. He lied about the 2500 troops in Afghanistan, he's lying about all kinds of stuff. He was a dishonest plagiarizer 35 years ago, he's a liar now.
• I don't believe he's mentally competent.
  
• I don't believe he has the energy the job requires. He's a tired old man.
• I don't believe he projects the image needed for diplomacy in the US's best interests (which I don't believe are his puppet master's interests, anyway).
• I don't believe he's a leader who can get us through a crisis. In the Marines we'd talk about leaders we'd follow anywhere. I wouldn't follow Joe into a convenience store to buy a candy bar.
• I don't like how he's handling issues (well not him, the puppet masters who make him dance and talk): Covid is worse numerically, not better. The Afghanistan withdrawal was a disaster, the border is a mess, the economy is faltering, on and on and on.
• I don't like his advisors, their vision of America is a polar opposite of my own. Under Puppet Biden the US will decline. It's happening now.
  
• I don't believe he gives a damn about me or other middle and upper middle class voters at all, not a rat's ass.

Joe Biden is the worst and weakest President of my lifetime. But hey! No mean tweets.

Bucket List Dream Trips - 9-30-2021

I'm 64 years old. There are things I still want to do in the way of travel. I'll call these my "Bucket List Dream Trips'. In no specific order:

1. Pacific Northwest -

I want to hit the US National Parks in Washington: Mount Ranier, Olympic, and North Cascades. On the same trip I want to explore Vancouver Island, including beautiful Victoria, and take the train from Vancouver to Whistler, B.C.

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

2. Maine, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick -

Acadia National Park in Maine, visit Wild Bill while there, then north across the border to Cape Breton and Halifax. A ferry to St. John's Island would be an awesome add-on, but maybe that's a little much.

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Canada

3. Utah National Parks -

Bryce Canyon, Zion, Canyonlands, Capital Reef, and Arches. Throw in North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Horsehoe Bend, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, and Santa Fe, NM. A 3-4 week adventure.

Arches National Park, Utah

4. Alaska National Parks -

Wrangell-Elias, Katmai, Kenai Fjiords, Lake Clark National Parks. This one seems the biggest and the hardest. It's furthest away, covers the most miles from start to finish, and probably requires small plane transportation to at least one or two. This trip would be my biggest "dream trip".

Wrangell-Elias National Park, Alaska

A Good Man in the Brig and A Puppet in the Oval - 9-29-2021

It would be kinda fun to see the President, Secretary of Defense, and top military brass coming unwound the way they did if not for the fact that the USMC LtCol who is the guy told us the truth about the Afghanistan is in the brig awaiting his court marshal. Was he out of order for speaking (the truth) out of turn? Absolutely. He's already lost his command, resigned his commission and lost his military retirement, and been given psychological evaluations.

You know how it is. Telling the truth is such a bad thing in a liar's administration like this one. Well, honestly, I'm not 100% sure it's a liar's administration as much as an administration that operates in an alternative reality. A bunch of useless Harvard and Yale policy wonks who've never lived and worked outside the bubble of their political circles keep pulling Puppet Biden's, oops, President Biden's strings. And Joe says what they tell him, regardless of how silly and ridiculous it makes him look.

I get there are consequences, and that LtCol Scheller was out of turn with his remarks. I have no problem with him losing his command and being processed out. But the fact he's in the brig, which is 'jail' for you civilian types, and the liar-puppet in chief and his military leaders are still not accepting blame/responsibility for the extremely poorly executed withdrawal from Afghanistan, and that the Harvard and Yale crowd pulling the puppet's strings on the economy and everything else aren't under a microscope is mind boggling. I don't expect that, as Democrats in Congress hold the gavels these days, and they live for the lousy policies of the Harvard and Yale Biden puppeteers.

And one last thought: I have as little regard for Jen Psaki as any Democrat ever had for any of Trump's spokespersons. Surely she has a tough job making excuses for this lying bunch. But her explanations on the economy and on everything else show how far out of touch with reality she and the rest of the clown's puppeteers truly are. She's probably having coffee with some Harvard puke, talking 'policy' right now. Because it ain't Joe informing her of the details, I guarantee you that!

CCP Virus thoughts from Matty P 9-28-2021

 

CCP Virus thoughts from Matty P:

I wear a mask sometimes when I absolutely don't have to. I don't really believe in it, but if the poor bastards working at Kroger and Walmart have to wear it and if the little old lady who's scared shitless because media has convinced her that people who don't wear them will kill her feel a little better about things if I wear one, I'll do it. I don't really believe the masks do much except reduce the dispersion of germs when a person with the virus sneezes, but only if that person happens to be wearing one. The rest of us? I'm kind of a "chain link fence mosquito guy".

I got the vaccine (moderna) and when we get back to Florida next week I'll seek and get the booster as soon as I can. I was very disappointed when I learned that people with the vax can still catch and spread the CCP Virus, but it does seem that hospitalizations, ICU patients, and fatalities are disproportionately tallying with unvaccinated people. Another thought: as the number of vaccinated people continues to climb, the percentage of cases will skew higher and higher toward us vaccinated people. This makes total sense. But from the very beginning, long before there was a vaccine, the important number for me has never been total cases or positives, it's been the numbers of very sick people and fatalities. Total cases has and continues to be a shock and awe statistic, but with only a small percentage of cases resulting in serious illness and death, it's simply NOT the statistic that concerns me. But people ARE getting very sick and dying, a small but VERY REAL percentage.

I am taking extra Zinc, Vitamin C, and Vitamin D daily. They're reported to help immune systems in general, and they're thought by many to be helpful in thwarting the CCP Virus. Are they? I don't know, but I'm at least as confident in them as I am in wearing masks, so I take them.

I know of more people who caught CCP Virus in 2021 than I did in 2020, and they're a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated people. One (age 67) said he was quite sick. He told me he showed his first symptoms just 6 days after he got the J&J jab. How's that for bad timing? He might have caught it at his vaccination place! Most people seem to recover in a week and a half to two weeks, whether they're vaccinated or not. That's the good news. The bad news is some people get really sick and die, and it would seem to be almost random. For 20+ guys it's no big deal, then someone seemingly in good shape gets it and gets deathly ill.

I still don't trust the government or big pharma. Yes, great things have been done, but I don't for one second believe that big pharma's motivations are purely altruistic. Money, baby, they're in it for the money. So inexpensive or common treatments will always be scoffed at in favor of super expensive treatments supported by super expensive research and testing. Big pharma and their elected and broadcast media bought and paid for puppets will always use every resource to undermine and destroy the reputation of treatments that don't cha-ching big pharma's cash registers. Sadly, big tech and social media companies are fully on board with big pharma's self-helping propaganda.

 

It's funny having a place in Louisville, Kentucky and another in Florida. No doubt Louisville has been more restrictive on its individuals and businesses. Again and again I see places either closed or running a skeleton crew because they either don't have the business, or more commonly that they can't find workers. Just yesterday I saw the O'Charley's off Breckinridge is closed. And the Book-A-Million I was in yesterday (yes, I was looking at books again) in that same area had all its normal cash registers closed. I paid for my books at the little Joe Muggs cafe they have inside. Florida Governor DeSantis was mocked and derided by lefties and super political blue staters, but if you ask me, he did the right thing in protecting the Florida economy. If people are scared and worried they'll catch CCP Virus at a store or restaurant, stay the fuck home, don't close the place. At some point these issues are personal choices. And, by the way, many states and municipalities were far too slow to cut off the extra unemployment money. If the state is open and the restrictions are lifted, people need to get their asses back to work or live with the financial consequences of their personal choice not to.

Last thought: any time I'm around a sizable group of people, as has been the case several times this month, I take my temperature and check my blood oxygen on a very regular basis, at least daily for at least a week. Hopefully if I am infected, I will see it coming and can reduce the chances of spreading it by quarantining myself early.

 

Now, live your lives. Don't be stupid. Don't be scared, either. You don't want the vaccine and you have your good reasons? I respect that. I disagree but it's your choice. You don't like wearing, or perhaps you always wear a mask? That's your choice, too. You don't want to go into this store or that one because they require a mask? Don't go in. You prefer in a place that requires masks because the masks make you feel safer? Put that fucker on and patronize the place. Spend all you got there. It's your choice, your money. But let's quit judging each other over our choices. Seek understanding. Except those of you who are wearing your masks while driving alone in your cars or while riding your bikes in the park. You fuckers are dumb. Really dumb.

3/3/2021 - Back From Self-Imposed Exile

 

 

Fuck the left. I mean, seriously. I never advocated violence or an insurgency, or any other violent or destructive act. In 2020 I watched Antifa and Black Lives Matter riot almost 300 different times in cities across the country. I not only never rioted, I never attended any rally or gathering that had any violence of any kind. But the Liberal leftist scumbags of Twitter purged me along with many, many other outspoken conservatives. See, being and outspoken conservative was deemed dangerous and harmful by a bunch of lunatic, leftist, scumbag, fascists in Silicone Valley.

Lemme tell you how I think they got me. There was a Mitt Romney parody account. And fake Mitt says (in a tweet), What would you like to say to me? Remember, it is NOT Mitt, it is a clearly labeled parody account. My reply was "Eat shit and die! LOL" The LOL was included. First I was suspended, I deleted the offending tweet, was reinstated, but in the purge I was subsequently permanently banned for it. Voices like mine, deemed dangerous by "who the fuck appointed you arbiters of speech" scumbags in California. The worst part is Twitter was the primary outlet for my blog posts. Secondary was Parler, but the lefties squashed Parler, too. But I digress. Maybe not, as Twitter is the left and that's what I'm ranting against.

I'm not just mad at Twitter and the left, though. I am truly struggling with my relationship with the GOP. The special election for two Senate seats in GA in January illustrates my difference with the GOP elite establishment perfectly. Their contention is that Trump caused those seats to be lost because he was contesting the results of the November election. Mitch McConnell and the rest of the GOP scumbag insiders would like you to believe that. Bullshit. Mitch threw the Senate majority to the Democrats by blocking Trump's $2000 stimulus in favor of $600. Even if I stipulate that the $2000 was a bad idea, and contrary to conservative principle, which I think it was, it was a loser politically. A total loser. And the funny thing is, by undermining Trump's desired $2000, he cost the seats, the Democrats won the majority and they're going to do $2000 anyway. Well, $1400, as we already got $600 of it. I blame Mitch for all that. Screw him.

Then, after the sham of a second impeachment, Mitch made comments which signaled to me he was trying to kill any future political aspirations Trump might have. I'm not completely sold on Trump 2024, but I am 100% sure I will NOT support GOP establishment 2024. Not a chance. I will no longer contribute to the RNC in any way. If I find a GOP candidate worthy of my financial support, I will either find a way to support him or her directly and cut the RNC out completely, or I won't contribute at all. If there's a chance one cent of my money will go to McConnell, Romney, etc., I'll keep it on my wallet. Fuck them.

One last thing in this first rant back from a short hiatus. President Joe Biden is a terrible president and was a really bad choice. He is a shell of his former self (whose policies I didn't like in his prime), controlled by special interests, foreign interests, and the power wielded by the leftist scum who control the Democratic Party in 2021.

OK. Got to go. I'm headed out to find a collection of Dr. Zeuss books for my granddaughter.