Tolerance and Acceptance vs. Activism - 4-17-2023

I've tried to wrap my brain around certain things for a long time, and I saw a tweet the other day that made a light come on. I know I've been absent from blogging for a couple of months. A combination of being busy with other things, a fundraiser I'm involved in being a big part of that. But also, it's fair to say my deep dissatisfaction with our country's direction and the societal divide as it has widened and deepened also a big part.

So, back to the topic. I can't remember the way the tweet that made my light bulb go off was worded, but I know what the light illuminated. A big reason for the deepened and widened divide in society is that activism has pushed and pushed and pushed until tolerance and acceptance simply weren't good enough. It is no longer good enough that we tolerate and accept LGBTQ people. It is no longer good enough, even, that we embrace and befriend LGBTQ in society, at work, etc. Now we are expected to defer to,  bow down to, celebrate, and proclaim our everlasting support for the LGBTQ community's activist agenda. Not the people. It is not enough to live, work, and play in our communities alongside LGBTQs, now we are expected to be confronted continuously with LGTBQ in media and advertising. Now we are expected to see our own selves differently because to see ourselves as traditional men and women, and as good old fashioned heterosexuals somehow isn't okay because to be so is "exclusive", not "inclusive".

"Birthing parent" in place of "mother".

"People who menstruate" in place of "women".

Cis this, trans that. Give me a fucking break.

Drag queen story hours for kids. Don't fucking deny it, they are around. Drag queens don't bother me. Caroline and I went with friends to a fun drag show in Las Vegas years ago, and to another in Chicago at a friend's nightclub. But putting drag queens twerking in front of kids (I have fucking seen it so don't fucking deny it!) is a goddamned perversion.

 

I know a lot of people whose beer of choice for years has been Bud Light.

How could Anheuser-Busch NOT have seen using a trans person as their new brand ambassador would make Bud Light "Queer Beer" in the eyes of many customers.

Anheuser-Bush made a big mistake by adding Dylan Mulvaney as it's now brand ambassador and advertising campaign focal point. For me personally, this didn't move my needle a whole lot. I really couldn't give two shits that Bud Light has a trans person (is this a trans-man or a trans-woman, I really don't know). But the broader push back, to me at least, is totally understandable. You've got biological men winning women's sporting events. That's a joke and an injustice, You've got biological men dressed as women on the President's Cabinet (one of whom was stealing luggage from airports!). You've got a biological man being selected as "Woman of the Year". You've got the aforementioned reluctance to use the terms woman and mother. Any person who is offended by the words mother and woman can kiss my ass. Get a fucking grip, dumbass. Motherhood is sacred. If not in a religious sense, certainly in a cultural and societal one. Womanhood has come a long, long way in the last 150 or so years. Equal rights, voting, advances in education and the workplace. Now they try to make "woman" a dirty word because a biological man who swears to actually be a woman in every way except physically and genetically feels bad when we use the term. It makes them feel "left out". Well, I am sorry you feel left out, but women are still women, no matter what you are. Don't you dare take it away because you're jealous that you don't have it.

And that brings me to gay rights. I have said many, many times I have no problem with someone who's gay. Who you love is your business. I accept it and will treat you with the same dignity and respect I do everyone else.

 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' bill doesn't ever say "don't say gay".

"Don't say gay". Never mind that the bill doesn't say that. What it does is restrict kid's teachers from using the classroom to advance the LGBTQ agenda with young, impressionable kids. What it did was require that those subjects be handled in an AGE APPROPRIATE manner. But activists portrayed the bill NOT as protecting young children from being indoctrinated by left leaning teachers fully on board with the LGTBQ activist agenda, but rather as homophobic and hateful. Look, activists on the other side called anyone in support of the agenda "groomers". I don't think that's right, either. Don't get me wrong, I think the law is and was the right thing to do, but I don't think every teacher and other person who opposes it are groomers. It's shit like this coming from both sides that pushes us apart.

 

Disney, long a bastion of LGTBQ folks, decided that as a corporation, it would meddle in Florida politics and law.

Disney took sides against millions of parents, and millions of Florida voters who don't buy the LGTBQ activist's characterization of the law as "Don't say gay". No. Disney came out and said they would fight to have the Florida law overturned. Luckily for Floridians, we have a Governor who is more inclined to support Florida Parents and Florida voters than he is to be a slave to Disney dollars. Disney has had an incredibly good tax situation in Florida, one that was predicated on the value and revenue Disney brings to our great state. Now they're going to pay their fair share like everybody else. Disney, listening to their activists, decided they could bully Florida.

Disney and Anheuser-Busch both made the same mistake. Fatal? I don't think so. But it was a mistake. They decided that tolerance and acceptance were not good enough. They treated anything less than embracing the activism as bigotry. By putting their brands proudly under the rainbow LGTBQ flag, they decided than any one of us who is the least bit uncomfortable standing under it in unity with activists is a bigot. It was a stupid mistake that didn't at all help the LGTBQ agenda and cost both companies quite a few bucks.

I'm tolerant of LGTBQ people. I accept LGBTQ folks as my equal. I have no problem with the people and their love and lifestyle choices. That being said, I reject the activist agenda that expects all of society to be molded in ways more to the LGTBQ activist agenda's tastes and preferences. I reject it. If that makes me a bigot in your eyes, I can live with that. That's your problem, not mine.

 

Balloon Buffoons - 2/5/2023

I've been AWOL, no doubt. Just a lot of stuff going on in my life away from this blog. I felt like I needed to weigh in just a little on this balloon fiasco.

"It is balloon!"

The Communist Chinese tested us. We failed.

There's no excuse whatsoever you can convince me of for us to NOT have shot the thing down nearly immediately after it was detected, which would have been someplace over Alaska. We have a weak President with lousy advisors. Anonymous Pentagon sources leaked that this happened several times on President Trump's watch. Former Secretary of Defense Esper says it didn't. Lemme tell you why Esper is telling the truth and anonymous sources are liars:

If this had happened on Trump's watch it, like they did with EVERYTHING and ANYTHING else, would have been used as a bludgeon to attach and discredit Trump. Hell, they'd have impeached him for it. But it wasn't and they didn't. Why? Because the anonymous sources are lying, again.

Can you imagine allowing a spy balloon to completely transit the continental USA and waiting till it is out over the Atlantic to destroy it? Well, the Communist Chinese don't have to imagine it. They know we elected a pussy, a nincompoop, a feeble old man too weak to lead and too political and unprincipled to stand up for what's right.

What do I think? I think we have the worst President in my lifetime. And it's not even close. People hated Donald Trump so much they voted for an incompetent, dishonest, plagiarizing, corrupt, dementia patient who also happens to be a patsy for the Chicoms.

Big Tech, Elon Musk to the Rescue? - 12/26/2022

As I gain a greater understanding of all the down side to big tech: data collection, censorship, content manipulation, government propaganda, promotion and demotion of ideas, people, and outlets favorable and unfavorable to whoever at the platform which did amount to election interference, I look for and struggle to find alternatives.

Google is the worst, hands down.

The Google search engine is relatively easy to replace. I use Duck Duck Go a lot. I haven't weaned off Google for searches totally. Maybe for 2023 I'll make a real, concerted effort. It's funny, with all the attention on Twitter lately, Google is the worst offender at both opinion manipulation and data tracking, by a country mile. It's bad. I heard a discussion with e left of center analyst who explained all the ways Google manipulated content and targeted various audiences leading up to the 2020 and 2022 elections. It's a lot worse than I thought. An example: based on their search and browsing history, Google reminded some people to vote. Other people, it did not. So in key locations, people of like-minded political opinion were reminded to vote. If you differ? Nope. Another: look up politician A, a Democrat: all kinds of positive results come to the top. Candidate B, the conservative? Results about scandals, etc. top the lists. You have to scroll and dig to find positive. How effective was all that? I don't know. But it is being done intentionally and with some outcome intended, not just for "funsies". Replace Google today. It's a start.

As bad as and a part of Google.

Videos is a little harder. I use YouTube, which is of course a Google company, for entertainment every day. I don't, however, use it very much for anything remotely political. I watch music reaction videos, how to stuff, and things surrounding my interests in wildlife and the outdoors. Rumble as an alternative sucks, as it is almost exclusively political. When there is a less politically based alternative that has more general content than Rumble, I'll try it, but till then I think I'm stuck with YouTube. I also subscribe to YouTube TV instead of cable. Maybe I shouldn't be giving the evil bastards my money, but I am. It's on my list for 2023 to explore alternatives.

There is no viable alternative to Facebook. Unfortunately.

As for Facebook, I have and sometimes use the MeWe alternative. Functionally it is similar to Facebook, but like Rumble it lacks interesting non-political content. It's become a haven for Facebook refugees: people either banned from or who departed Facebook voluntarily for nearly exclusively reasons of political ideology. The result is an echo chamber without a wide circle of friends, and without content for the enjoyment of a wide set of interests. It seems nearly exclusively right wing politics. It's boring over there. Very.

Elon Musk is saving Twitter. Too bad he can't buy Google, YouTube, and Facebook, too!

Twitter is an interesting one. Since Elon Musk took over, he has tried to make it more fair and balanced. It is much improved. This is welcome as Trump's Truth Social sucks so bad it's unbearable. Parler sucks. Gettr sucks, too. Truth, Parler, and Gettr are echo chambers without enough non-political posting to hold my interest. And forget about Gab. Gab had so much overtly racist, offensive content that I only lasted about 15 minutes. What do I want from Twitter or platforms like it? News and info across a wide spectrum of topics and ideologies. General interest stuff like sports, music, travel, military stuff, etc. It's all there on Twitter. Gab, Parler, and Gettr? Hardly. Elon came to Twitter and in my opinion saved it for many of us. I don't know a thing about Mastodon, but I'm willing to bet it's a lefty Parler or Gettr. No thanks.

One last word on this topic: I don't care if the FBI and CIA use these platforms. It seems to me there's a good chance they can find some real bad guys on them and do some real good in doing do. But they need to be ousted from their roles as inside content moderators, censors, and internal propagandist. Get them the f*** out of Twitter, Google, and Facebook's headquarters. Make them use them from home and from their own offices like everybody else!

Elephants in the Room, or Why Hershel Walker Lost in GA - 12/7/2023

How about I just make this quick hitters today.

There's elephants in the room.

1. Georgia ain't near as red as you keep telling yourselves. It's purple. Period. It is. If you don't appeal at all to moderate Dems and independents in purple states, your chances go down. Considerably.

2. I don't give a shit how much you love Trump and how mad you are he got screwed in 2020. Too many people don't like him. It hurts "his candidates" in purple states especially. That's reality. Learn to live with it. Find a new MAGA brand ambassador. In purple and blue states, Trump is a huge liability.

3.  Ronna McDaniel as GOP Chair has got to go. Period. End of debate. Related to Mitt Romney.

4. Mitch McConnell has got to go, too. He sucks and the GOP he leads is an establishment elite GOP that doesn't care much about constituency, just dollars and the good old boys. He is quite happy in the minority.

5. The GOP needs more Black voter outreach. They're willing to accept the support of Black voters,. Yippee. How about some open mindedness to understand black issues and some flexibility with the platform to actually show Black voters you're listening and representing them. Right now seems like "long as you go along with us and our shit, we're happy to represent you. Your shit? Nah. We know what's best for you."

6. Embrace mail in and early voting like it or not. Do your best to BEAT them at their own game. Pissing and moaning about it? Not as much. Losing strategy.

7. All things considered, Hershel Walker was a shitty candidate.

7. If you don't care about 1-7 above because to you it's all about Dems cheating and that's all that matters, YOU are part of the problem

Advice for Republicans and Conservatives - 11/14/2022

 

Advice for the GOP and conservative voters.

Republicans don't want to hear it, but too bad. Here it is, some honest advice:

1. Figure out how you're going to appeal to 18-29 year old voters. They went overwhelmingly blue in 2022. Sure, they're brainwashed by teachers and TV and music and on and on and on. You can bitch about that and forego their votes forever, or find some policies and proposals that might appeal to them. I don't know of a damned thing in the GOP platform that is specifically intended to get 18-29 year old voters to vote for them. You do? What is it?

2. Unmarried women voted for Democrats in large numbers. Why? Abortion. Lindsay Graham tried to get a reasonable compromise on abortion going earlier this year. He was attacked from both the left and the right, as both sides have adopted absolutes. What's the party's position? No bullshit. No hedging. No deception. Hey, if you don't care whether unmarried women vote for Republicans ever again, then don't change nothin'.

3. Trump. Figure it out. After 2020 and 2022 you still think he wins? I don't. God forbid I like DeSantis better. God forbid DeSantis appeals to a broader base. Yeah, McConnell, Ryan, Bush, etc. suck. If you think Trump can win without DeSantis supporters, and without support from moderate Republicans who support McConnell, Ryan, Bush, etc., you are wrong. Dead wrong. I have VERY low confidence that Trump will win in 2024 if he's the nominee. I give him two chances: slim and none. You love him? Well a LOT of people whose votes he needs hate his guts and they are NOT going to vote for him.

4. Stop fighting about and bitching about mail-in voting. Fighting it and bitching about it is the same as conceding elections. It's fucking tiresome and unproductive. You don't trust mail-in ballots? You don't like them? Guess what? You are stuck with them. And even without cheating they help Democrats. How? Low enthusiasm voters don't have to get out of the house to vote, and there has been an enthusiasm gap in both 2020 and 2022 that mail-in voting almost totally took care of. Also, think about this. The GOP has been pushing "Vote on Election Day, ONLY vote on Election Day." It's a fucking stupid strategy. If there are long lines and people are going to give up, if there are problems with machines and people need to vote with a provisional ballot, and if someone gets the flu and can't get out, all those issues disproportionately take away GOP votes.

5. It it time to drop the MAGA slogan. It's too stained by Trumpism. Change the mantra to "Putting America First" and stick with it. MAGA was great in 2016. Since then? Not as much. Time to turn over a new leaf.

The definition of insanity is doing the same things over again and expecting a different result. Too many seem to want to do exactly the same things as 2018, 2020, and 2022 in 2024 and expect a different result. It's not a losing strategy. It's not a strategy at all.

Trump, DeSantis, 2022 and 2024

Sometimes I wish President Trump would shut the fuck up. This is sometimes:

I don't give a rat's ass if McConnell, Ryan, Jeb Bush, or anyone else talks to Governor DeSantis. Don't get me wrong, I don't like any of the three, not even a little bit. DeSantis is a great governor in my state. He won by 20 points. Trump never won Florida by 20. In my opinion, the attack on DeSantis is another classic unforced Trump error. And to all the Trump supporters coming in with the "4-D Chess" and "Trump is always three steps ahead" bullshit? Just fucking stop it. It ain't 4-D Chess. It ain't some secret or master plan so brilliant none of us can see. It's petty. It's selfish. It's NOT in the GOP or conservatism's best interests to have an internal civil war because Trump and his core supporters want absolute purity, wherein vengeance is more important than unity and winning. So, President Trump. Shut the fuck up about DeSantis. And shut the fuck up about 2020, too. I will NOT vote for you or anyone else "because 2020". 2024 is about the future. Talk about the future. Talk about the Democrats.

I love our Governor. I hope he just ignores Trump totally.

Donald Trump is the king of unforced errors and really bad endorsements.

Why didn't the GOP make bigger gains:

Because unmarried women broke left over abortion in far greater numbers than expected. Because voters 18-29 were conned by President Biden into this phony student loan relief bullshit. It was never constitutional, no more so than Trump shuffling previously allocated funds around the ledger to pay for the wall. The courts shot that down. This is NO DIFFERENT. Congress allocates money, not the White House. The money was a scam, and that's all there is to it. So to the 18-29 year olds out there. Suck it up. You were scammed by a U.S. politician. Wasn't the first time this has happened. Won't be the last. Get used to it.

You was duped, kids. Wanna buy a watch?

Abortion cost the GOP a lot more votes than they expected. Young unmarried women love abortion rights.

Pennsylvania:

While I'm at it, I'm gotta mention Pennsylvania. The GOP gubernatorial candidate was the Trump picked candidate. He lost. Dr. Oz was the worst GOP Senatorial candidate in my recent memory. Endorsed by Trump. Lost. Trump ain't no kingmaker. There is a lesson here in PA, friends. Trump, 2020 PA election shenanigans (a.k.a. malarky!) aside, Trump lost there in 2020 and his candidates there lost in 2022, too. You think Trump is the answer to bringing PA into the fold in 2024? Insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result.

Trump's biggest endorsement mistake, Dr. Oz.

How bad a candidate was Dr. Oz? A brain damaged slob in a hoodie who can't speak coherently for 30 consecutive seconds won. Trump screwed the pooch in Pennsylvania, both with his endorsement for Governor and especially with his choice of Dr. Oz. Fetterman? Really, Pennsylvania? Really? I'm talking to you, PA voters. How fucked up are you? Really, really fucked up. That's how fucked up you are. Given two bad choices, you chose the brain damaged slob who can't even speak over the snake oil selling surgeon. Gotcha.

How bad is it? It's so bad they elected a brain damaged slob to the US Senate.

Apparently voters in Pennsylvania also elected a dead guy. He was a better choice than Fetterman or Dr. Oz, though. 

Over to Arizona:

I love Keri Lake. I absolutely love her.

Trump endorsed or no, I love Kari Lake. Sue me.

Arizona is an embarrassment. That's it. Their elections are a joke. The fact the votes aren't counted yet is an indictment of incompetence. And every single minute that passes and as each does we get further and further from Election Day, the opportunities and likelihood for cheating and corruption go up. I really don't give a fuck at this point what the explanations or excuses are. If Florida had 99% of the vote counted on Election Day night, how in the hell has Arizona been at 70% days after?

"I'm in charge of my own election." (fictitious but accurate quote) Move along. Nothing to see here.

And how in the fuck is Katie Hobbs, Arizona's Secretary of State, allowed to oversee an election for the highest office in the state when she's one of the main candidates? She damned well ought to have recused herself. I know whoever took over for her is likely to have been an extreme Katie Hobbs loyalist. I get that. But be that as it may be, she ought to have recused and instead I see photos of her in election counting facilities. That's a joke.

Vote Tomorrow! - 11/7/2022

Tomorrow is Election Day in the U.S.A.  Get off your ass out and vote. 

Whatever your party affiliation is, vote.

Whatever your most important issues are, vote.

Our system is imperfect, but it's the one we've got. Take advantage of it. It's a right. It's your duty.

Some changes I'd like to see made to the voting process in the U.S.:

1. Show ID to register. Show ID to vote. ID verified at registration and at the polls. With today's technology, it ain't that hard. The phony claims that this will disenfranchise various groups is bullshit. Quit saying Black people are too stupid and incapable of getting and having an ID. Stop saying that shit, you racist bastards. And for the record, turnout in places where ID requirements are imposed often goes up, not down. Don't give me the voter suppression bullshit. It's crock and you know it is.

2. For mail in and absentee voting, impose a deadline for mailing (postmarked by) several days before Election Day, the preceding Friday seems fair and reasonable. Ballots received after polls closed invalid, too. Mail in and absentee ballots counted (but not reported) starting the Saturday before Election Day. There's no excuse for waiting till AFTER polls close to start looking at absentee and mail in votes. I'm talking to you, Pennsylvania. It's a system primed for cheating.

3. We have early voting here in FL and I really like it. They pick 3-4 locations in each county and we can vote for 2 weeks or so before Election Day. It would be nice if at least one of the locations was open the weekend prior to Election Day to make it easier for some working folks to vote. Early voting should end on the Sunday prior to Election Day. Make early voting locations available everywhere. Obviously, large population centers will need more or bigger early voting venues. It can be done.

4. Mail in, absentee, and early votes can start to be tallied, but not reported, on the day prior to Election Day. This year that would be today, Nov 7th.

5. Voter fraud, ballot fraud, and tabulation fraud should be a federal crime, punishable by fine, imprisonment, and a MANDATORY loss of voting privileges for a period of 10 or so years. Penalties should sale up proportionally depending on the magnitude of the crime.

6. Non-citizens should NEVER vote. No exceptions, no matter how well intended. Non-citizens caught attempting to register to vote or actually voting should be deported expeditiously and without arduous process. Voting is a fundamental predicate for our entire system and government. If a guest attempts to meddle in that process, they should no longer be welcome here. Period.

Now get out and vote. Me? I'm not going to. I already did.