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.

Not Good Enough is Not Good Enough - 10/16/2022

Lemme tell you something. A lot of us don't like the candidates who show up on our ballots. I had quite a few friends in both 2016 and 2020 who said they disliked both candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in 2016, and Joe Biden and Donald Trump in 2020. For them, and I think this represents a sizable portion of the U.S. electorate, their votes wound up more against one of them than it was a vote for the candidate they chose. This can have disastrous results.

Joe Biden wasn't elected. Donald Trump was just so hated he was displaced. Every damned day Joe shows us he's not good enough to do the job. Simply put, "Not Trump" is not good enough for our country.

Allegations of cheating and wrongdoing aside, the presidential race in 2020 is instructive in this regard. Democrats and establishment Republicans alike hate Donald Trump for 1,000,000 reasons I feel no need to recount here. Whether you or I agree with them or not is immaterial. Getting President Trump out of the White House was for many voters an imperative. Enter President Joe Biden. Joe was an also-ran and wanna be for decades. He had never made it to the White House, though. Why? Lots of reasons. But in 2020, an election year in which Democrats had a very thin bench, Biden ran as former President Barack Obama's former VP and presumed protege. Nothing, or at least next to nothing about Joe Biden warranted making him President on his own merit. But he had the connection to Obama and he certainly wasn't Donald Trump.

Evicting Trump from the White House and moving Biden in meant overlooking Biden's career of mediocrity, his history of dishonesty and plagiarism, his corruption: "10% for the Big Guy", and his declining mental and physical health. But that's what they did. We are left with an incompetent nincompoop, a guy who needs crib notes to talk, a guide to help him walk off a stage lest he wander into the corner looking lost and perplexed, and a guy who sometimes reaches out with handshakes intended for empty space. He defers to his handlers on policy after policy. He's weak on economy, energy, foreign affairs, immigration, on and on and on. He's terrible. But he's not Donald Trump. Damned shame he ain't, actually. Sure, Trump's a dick, but he had us in better standing every which way than this guy does.

Which brings me to Florida and the 2022 gubernatorial race between former Governor Charlie Crist and incumbent Ron DeSantis. If you ask me, DeSantis has done a great job in Florida. But liberals hate him. He has rejected woke policy after woke policy. The propaganda from the left tries to paint DeSantis as an evil fascist and all that other baseless nonsense that surrogates for substantive policy alternative from the left. Luckily, DeSantis is a bit more in control of his tongue than Trump, and they haven't been able to gather similar fodder to demonize him as they had on Trump. I like DeSantis. I won't be voting against Crist, I'll be voting FOR DeSantis.

Florida gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist ain't Ron DeSantis, either. He'd be another bad mistake. He's not good enough, and that ain't good enough.

Ron DeSantis is going to be re-elected as Florida Governor. I surely believe it and hope so. Electing Charlie instead would be Florida's version of Joe Biden: a has-been with no business trying to do the job. Florida voters in 2022 have more sense than national voters did in 2020. We like prosperity. We love our state. We don't believe woke ideas should become policy.

Joe Biden is a failure. Charlie Crist will fail us, too, if given the chance. Floridians, vote for Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis for Florida Governor in 2022, and for POTUS in 2028.

On Tulsi Gabbard - 10/12/2022

Tulsi Gabbard has left the Democratic Party. #walkaway

Yesterday morning I heard Tulsi Gabbard talk about leaving the Democratic Party, and why she's doing so. Last night discussion of Gabbard by conservatives on social media was instructive in explaining why Republicans and conservatives can't seem to stop tripping over themselves and each other. So let me make a couple of things clear, for those of you in the back row too shy to raise your hand and speak up.

I agreed with just about everything Tulsi said in her statement yesterday. The Democratic Party has gone bonkers under the control of the woke, liberal, progressive wing of the party. I applaud Gabbard for publicly denouncing it.

Agreeing with Tulsi Gabbard on her decision and explanation to leave the Democratic Party is NOT an endorsement of every single Tulsi position on every single issue. And if because you disagree with her on gun rights, abortion, and economic issues, all valid points of disagreement for many conservatives, that you can't applaud this decision and announcement, YOU are part of a bigger problem. You've got conservative myopia. On the 8 x 10 piece of paper that the political landscape in 2022 is charted out, you're focused on a single square inch in the upper right hand corner and refusing to look at, think about, or even be told about anything in the other 79 square inches on which it's described. Agreeing with Tulsi and applauding this decision and announcement is NOT the same thing as endorsing her as the GOP candidate for the House, Senate, Governorship, for VP, or President.

Completely shutting down and or ignoring every person with whom conservatives disagree on any and every issue or issues, keeping a small tent of purity, one of rote agreement on an entire conservative platform, is a recipe for failure. A bigger tent, a bigger coalition, a broader spectrum of citizens is a far better way to win majorities and undermine the woke, progressive, socialist, anti-American, neocons, and globalists who far better than we work the system to their own ends.

I don't know that I'd ever vote for Tulsi Gabbard. But I like her. I didn't say I agree with her on all issues. I said I like her. Believe it of not it's okay to like people with whom you disagree. I did look into her position on abortion and it's not really that far off from mine. See, I'm not an absolutist on that issue. I'm not an absolutist on most issues. I oppose the leftist absolutists' positions on most, though. Tulsi does, too. Not to the extent I do, but we're talking a matter of weeks, not a simple purist's yes or no. I like Tulsi Gabbard. I am happy she did what she did publicly yesterday. She's kinda easy on the eyes, too.