Beloved Gentle Readers of Liberty’s Torch, you few whose patronage have sustained us lo, these many moons, your Curmudgeon has a problem. It’s one he cannot solve alone.
Yes! It’s true! I, Fran Porretto, international superstar, hero to screaming millions, the fantasy of would-be love slaves on every continent of the world, am at an impasse. X — the social medium formerly known as Twitter — has locked me out — and after I paid for a Premium-Plus account, at that. Their “help” facility has been no help at all. Apparently, to them “support” means “Yeah, yeah, sit down and shut up.”
It happened a few days ago, shortly after my desktop computer died and I had to resurrect this old laptop. Something displeased X’s digital monitors, and suddenly I had to “verify” my account by responding to an email. So I told X to send said email. It did not arrive. So I said “send another.” Still nothing. I must have told X to send (another) email more than twenty times. (I am not easily daunted.) Did I receive any such email? Of course not!
I was able to contact the X “help” system. Here’s what I received in reply:
Hello,
We have received your request and will get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience!
X Support
2024-11-29 18:54
As of yesterday afternoon, I’d heard nothing more. So I queried the “help” people once more. Their reply:
Hello,
Thanks for your report. It looks like this is connected with your original case # 0381606872, so we’ve added it to that first report.
We’ll continue our review with this information.
If you have more details you think we should know, please respond to this email to send them our way. We appreciate your help!
Thanks,
X Support
People get incensed over being locked out of “free” social media. Imagine my ire at being locked out of a site where I’ve already paid over $100 for Premium-Plus access — and then getting the sort of “help” above.
If any Gentle Readers are X users, would you please lend me your assistance? My account details are below:
User email: porretto -at- optonline -dot- net
User name: @FranPorretto
Acct level: Premium+
My thanks in advance for whatever you can do. I’ll update this post with any further developments.
Former Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat, has said that his party needs to “rebrand” in response to President-elect Donald Trump’s big win.
[…]
“What does it mean to be a Democrat?” Ryan asked. “People want to trust us. They don’t want to go to Donald Trump. I’m telling you, the middle-of-the-road people, they’re holding their nose to vote for him but we did not give them enough, like, we are reindustrializing, we are talking about American competitiveness. We are moderate on things like natural gas in western PA which ended up being a big issue which we can’t be for natural gas replacing coal.”
Doesn’t this look to you like another claim that “It was only the messaging!” Gentle Reader? An attempt to evade discussion of all the ways the Democrat Party is immoderate, even radical?
If the “middle of the road people” really did have to hold their noses to vote for President Trump, it isn’t obvious. Perhaps the “middle of the road” — a phrase with no objective meaning — isn’t where Tim Ryan thinks it is.
American values are not “moderate” in any objective sense. Freedom, individual rights, Constitutionally limited government — these are radical positions. They’re not found anywhere else in the world. Freedom is not the same as the “right” to vote. Individual rights are absolute guarantees, the violation of which is never justified by some “compelling government interest.” Constitutional limitations on government are similarly supposed to be non-negotiable, enforced by an armed citizenry disinclined to tolerate officials who give the Constitution nothing more than lip service.
One of the best known Democrat legislators, the odious Nancy Pelosi, once said on camera that “We [i.e., Congress] can do anything” — that the Constitution’s “necessary and proper” clause gives Congress unlimited authority to legislate on any subject whatsoever, to any end whatsoever. She said that in the course of deriding a question from a reporter: “Where does the Constitution give Congress the authority to legislate about health care?” Pelosi dismissed it as “not a serious question.”
Remember that. If you happen to encounter Tim Ryan, remind him about it. And never, ever trust a Democrat.
Is anyone sincerely surprised that Joe Biden lied when he said he wouldn’t pardon Hunter?
Lying is what Biden does. It’s his specialty. We joke about politicians lying, but when it comes to Joseph Robinette Biden, Usurper of the Presidency, it’s as natural as breathing.
Biden’s lies make a mighty long list. He only tells the truth by accident, and he usually regrets it afterward. What he’s sought in vain is that special technique that other politicians have mastered: the ability to not get caught. Perhaps it’s for the best that he lacks it.
This “presidency” has eclipsed all its predecessors for deceitfulness, spitefulness, and destructiveness. Perhaps that’s the only sort of mark Biden could make on history. All we have left to hope for is that he and his handlers don’t get us into a world war on their way out.
A little Knowledge is a dangerous thing – which implies that Greater Knowledge is not.
Education is the Key to a Good Life.
We’ve all heard similar sound bites before – all of them glorify knowledge as the most important aim of humanity.
One of the slurs against Christianity is that it is anti-knowledge. Didn’t one of the first stories in the Bible warn Mankind to limit their pursuit of Knowledge?
It’s a fight that lies behind much of history. What Knowledge the State wants its people to possess, and what is in the individual’s best interest.
Socrates used teaching the young of Greece to coax the young to oppose their elders. The young men began to believe they were better suited to running the affairs of the city because of their access to knowledge.
You know how THAT turned out.
Some of the Early Christians claim to have access to “special knowledge” that was available to them alone. That wasn’t an unusual concept at that time. Many of the religions had secret texts, withheld from those not in power, that gave them access to God-Like knowledge and power within.
Those were the Gnostics. A large part of the writings of the Church Fathers dealt with that heresy.
“By the 2nd century CE, Christianity was a separate religion from Judaism, but Christians retained the God of Israel and many teachings of the Jewish Scriptures. Gnostics agreed that the creator God in Genesis created the universe, but creation consisted of evil matter. In some Gnostic systems, the God of Israel was not only evil, but Satan himself. Thus, the commandments of the God of Israel were deemed invalid.”
There is a lot more at the link. It’s worth reading.
The plan for AI is for it to be embedded into most online and computer-facilitated interactions. It’s operation should be largely out of sight, as the average person can feel antagonistic about ‘machines controlling their lives’.
However, in practice, most AI systems have an interface that is both friendly and personalized. Users are encouraged to input their ideas, and generate the AI-created results. I’ve seen uses of this that seem to work, such as book covers for sci-fi. I’ve seen others that laughably fail.
The above was derived from AI being asked to show Mother Theresa Fighting Poverty.
AI is in its infancy. I’ve no doubt that it will increase in its ability to fulfill Human’s requests in an appropriate manner.
At present, AI is deficient in understanding nuance. It fails in understanding which of several meanings of words are intended to be used. As the American English language is ever-evolving, I foresee a long period of time when AI simply cannot keep up.
And, FWIW, that is the technological solution that developers have long used. We are frustrated by systems that can only work within limits:
Press 1 to leave a message, Press 2 to hang up – neither one was my choice
Which of these describes your problem (followed by a few categories) – Um, NONE of these – which is not among the choices
Do you wish to reach Billing, to report a power outage, or to leave a message? When I indicate Billing, I am informed that I can hear my balance, recent transactions, and pay by phone. None of which applies when I’m interested in talking to a Human about a billing mistake.
“Technological advances can usher in both the dawn or endless night, depending on our choices. Science by itself can never tell us what science should do. If AI is left to define the ultimate ends of human life – essentially our religious beliefs – it will have usurped the Kernel of humanity and our last agency. In large part AI works by minimizing the distance between its conjectures and the known facts. Once AI controls the black box it possesses everything it needs to make whatever it says the final authority.”
The Left strongly favors the Gnostic position. They claim superior knowledge, in a time when more than 1/2 of Americans have attended college.
Never fear, there is a response to THAT – those “lesser beings (hardly Human!)” attended non-Elite institutions, where they were only taught correct ways to approach their learning – such as in Engineering, Science, Math, and Business. It was not the Correct Knowledge, which they could have for only $19,990 per semester! A BARGAIN!
This year, thousands of volunteers fanned out across that unfamiliar territory known as Middle America, where they worked to get Kam-ala and Walz-ing Timmy elected. Many met up with people who agreed with them – others found staunchly opposed voters, who were not cowed by the kids’ Educated Assurance.
Hopefully, the lesson most of them learned is that average Americans are smart enough to handle their own lives without the government’s interference. Maybe they learned that, although the farmers, construction workers, waitresses and clerks couldn’t DE-construct literature, they COULD handle their jobs, their children’s education, academic and spiritual, and could not be persuaded to vote in a way opposite to their own interests.
Given the response of many on The Left, I’m not confident of the outcome.
As a quote from the movie Rudy puts it:
Father Cavanaugh: “Son, in 35 years of religious study, I have only come up with two hard incontrovertible facts: there is a God, and I’m not Him.
That’s the spirit that an educated person should maintain.
Good luck with that. Although Trump is capable of using tech, he is probably most comfortable working person-to-person. He should get in the habit of having one of his aides turn on a blocker to keep his conversations private. Also, use a nondigital recording device to have evidence of what was actually said. Sad that he isn’t just fighting other countries, but enemies at home.
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, is of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” — C. S. Lewis.
You don’t have to be a Catholic to appreciate the season of Advent.
For the next four weeks, Christians everywhere will prepare for the holy day that commemorates the birth of the Son of God in mortal flesh. Perhaps you don’t even need to be a Christian — that is, to believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God, and therefore divine in his own right — to grasp the momentous character of this occasion. For that man, who never moved more than two hundred miles from the place of his birth, has had more influence on the beliefs and deeds of men than any other individual who has ever lived.
Tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent. Reflect, Gentle Reader. Reflect on the teachings of the one we call the Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of Mankind. Compare them to any other propositions that have been pressed upon you, and decide for yourself: Which would you prefer to become a Kantian “categorical imperative” to be followed by all who live?
There is nothing — there can never be anything — to compare with the promise of eternal life in the nearness of God. That is the promise that Jesus made to us. The condition of entry is that we follow a few simple rules:
Don’t murder.
Don’t commit adultery.
Don’t steal.
Don’t bear false witness.
Don’t covet what is not yours.
Honor your parents.
Love your neighbor as you love yourself.
…and that, when we violate those rules, we repent sincerely, with true contrition, and resolve not to repeat our sins. If you can find a bigger payoff for a smaller investment, I want to hear about it.
To me, this is the best bargain that’s ever been offered to anyone. And four weeks from tomorrow, he who proclaimed it will be born a man: the child of an impoverished couple who had to shelter in a stable, for the inn was full.
Hearken to the late, great Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen:
When God came to Earth, there was no room in the inn, but there was room in the stable. What lesson is hidden behind the inn and the stable?
What is an inn, but the gathering-place of public opinion, the focal point of the world’s moods, the residence of the worldly, the rallying place of the fashionable and those who count in the management of the world’s affairs? What is a stable, but the place of outcasts, the refuge of beasts, and the shelter of the valueless, and therefore the symbol of those who in the eyes of public opinion do not count and hence may be ignored as of no great value or moment? Anyone in the world would have expected to find Divinity in an inn, but no one would have expected to have found it in a stable….
If, in those days, the stars of the heavens by some magic touch had folded themselves together as silver words and announced the birth of the Expected of the Nations, where would the world have gone in search of Him?
The world would have searched for the Babe in some palace by the Tiber, or in some gilded house of Athens, or in some inn of a great city where gathered the rich, the mighty, and the powerful ones of Earth. They would not have been the least surprised to have found the newborn King of Kings stretched out on a cradle of gold and surrounded by kings and philosophers paying Him their tribute and obeisance.
But they would have been surprised to have discovered Him in a manger, laid on coarse straw and warmed by the breath of oxen, as if in atonement for the coldness of the hearts of men. No one would have expected that the One whose fingers could stop the turning of Arcturus would be smaller than the head of an ox; that He who could hurl the ball of fire into the heavens would one day be warmed by the breath of beats; that He who could make a canopy of stars would be shielded from a stormy sky by the roof of a stable; or that He who made the Earth as His future home would be homeless at home. No one would have expected to find Divinity in such a condition; but that is because Divinity is always where you least expect to find it….
The world has always sought Divinity in the power of a Babel, but never in the weakness of a Bethlehem. It has searched for it in the inns of popular opinion, but never in the stable of the ignored. It has looked for it in the cradles of gold, but never in the cribs of straw – always in power, but never in weakness.
Pray: for peace, for the peace of your family and friends, and for the peace of the world. For only he who was born in a stable and laid in a manger can bring us peace.
Anyone NOT living under a rock (or only watching MSNBC for their information) will know that a violent gang from Venezuela is operating within the USA’s borders. Tren de Aragua was first noticed kicking in doors in Colorado. Since that time, we’ve found them in pretty much every major city in America, and a few minor ones.
Tennessee Conservative News has a pretty good roundup of this story, which notes that three women were also arrested, but rather than being Tren de Aragua members, these women are apparently being held in captivity and forced into prostitution.
Slavery. Sex slavery. Women being held against their will and forced to have sex with men who pay the gangs. That is evil.
When ever I encounter someone who advocates for open borders (which is thankfully few and far between in Idaho) my question to them is blunt: “Why are you in favor of sexual slavery?” I don’t want to hear that avacados are going to go up in price. I don’t give a shit. I care about the fact that women are being held against their will and forced to have sex with men who pay the gangs money. And all of this, ALL OF IT, is happening because we as a country refuse to secure our borders. These violent gangs are here because the Biden regime opened the borders and refused to stop anyone from coming in. These violent gangs, as well as the known terrorists, and the Chinese nationals of military age, and the Haitians, are here because of Joe Biden and all the people who voted for him. Which is at least twenty million less than the numbers they gave us in 2020 due to fraud and cheating, and we all know it. But if sixty million people had not voted for Joe Biden, then the cheating and the fraud wouldn’t have been effective. So yes, I’m going to put the blame for violent Venezuelan gangs running sex slavery rings in the USA squarely on the shoulders of Democrat voters. This is what they voted for.
“Oh but DAAAAVE, aren’t you a CHRISTIAN? Why don’t you want to help those poor people?” Good question. And it’s a very simple answer: Help them in their own countries. Don’t bring them in. Don’t allow any Juan, Habib or Chang to come into this country. Remember folks, the Good Samaritan bandaged up the victim of thugs and then helped him get to an inn where he could rest. He did not bring that man into his house. Your house is your castle. It’s where your family lives. Letting anyone into your home who feels like walking in puts your family in danger, and that makes you a failure as a man. Letting anyone just stroll into your house means that your wealth is gone, your daughter and wife are raped and possibly kidnapped or murdered, and you have nothing left with which to help anybody.
Whatever these people do in their countries, they are going to do the exact same thing when they’re here. Honor killings by goat-fucking pedophile worshipping savages? Yep. Happening in America. Killing pets and wildlife and then eating them? Yep, happening in America. Slavery, which we fought a bloody war to end in this country, being brought back by third world shitstains? Yep, happening in America. Hell, illegal aliens killed a bald eagle in Nebraska, and thanks to Joe Biden’s regime and the people who helped install him, they were only charged with misdemeanors and let go. Would anyone like to guess what would happen to an American who committed that crime? Anyone?
Open borders are evil. You want to whine about how the cost of produce is going to go up? If your economy is dependent on what is essentially slave labor, then your economy deserves to collapse. “But who’s going to build the houses?” Maybe people will actually have to hire legal citizens to build the houses. Maybe people will actually wise up to the fact that the US Government has put so many rules, regulations and taxes on businesses with regard to paying employees and it’s now effecting the nation as a whole. I mean, probably not Democrats, at this point most of them are a lost cause, but the people in the middle might start waking up.
We can hope, anyways.
Buy more ammo. When Trump is in office and Tom Homan starts the deportation proceedings, God only knows how the Left is going to react. Or the Cartels, who are going to see a huge chunk of their income get slashed. They’re not going to take that very well. I hope that Trump does what he said he’ll do, which is to label the Cartels as terror organizations, and then send in our best operators to take them out. The fact that this country has allowed criminal gangs to control OUR borders is disgusting, and a huge part of the reason that Trump won a third election.
OK, rant over. I have dogs to walk and logs to saw.
Just a quick thought this morning, as I’m still on a backup computer with no software except Windows, Kindle PC, and Notepad.
I’ve been reading — and am greatly impressed by — Henry Brown’s six-volume Paradox series, the core motif of which is a “multiverse” caused by the invention of a space-time “warp generator.” Persons with access to such a device can move freely through both space and time, given sufficient power. In doing so, their actions become capable of “splitting” the timestream, which gives birth to an alternate reality separate from its origns and from the destiny of that previous stream.
In this fictional multiverse, there’s a war on. There are forces that seek to control all movement of that sort. Others — mostly individuals, whom the would-be controllers call “rogues” — merely want the best situations they can contrive for themselves. Violence erupts whenever the controllers manage to track down a rogue, and they are dedicated to that effort.
What’s the rationale? “Order over chaos:”
“Think of it this way: humanity has emerged from chaos, and built order. That order is seen as fragile, on many levels. With time travel, the danger of sliding back into chaos increases exponentially. They don’t want that. We don’t want that. All humanity is in agreement that order is better than chaos.”
Superficially, that sounds good… until we confront the question in the title of this piece:
“What’s the big deal about having a bunch of alternate streams?” I asked.
“Untold numbers of radically different world lines would be extremely difficult to police.”
“So why do you need to police them? Let the natives police themselves.”
She shook her head in frustration. “That simply won’t do.”
“Why not?”
She made a flinging gesture with her hand, and sighed again. “As I said: I don’t want to argue with you. My organization has its reasons. The CPB wants to preserve order, as do we. There is no good and evil, per se. That’s novice, binary thinking.”
It always comes down to that final rationale: “There is no good and evil, per se. That’s novice, binary thinking.”
Frankly, a man who believes “There is no good and evil” had better not try to get behind me.
I just read a previous post from yesterday, in which Francis laments the death of his laptop, and asks Ragin Dave and I to carry on.
I’m typing this from bed. I woke in the middle of the night with digestive upset, and, feeling a little light-headed, went back to bed. I briefly climbed out this morning, verified that I could keep food down, and toddled back under the covers.
I’m HOPING to be ready to go again by tomorrow – there’s a big Ohio State game on TV, and my kids and my husband are rabid fans. If not, I’ll send my husband on his way, and go back to bed.
There are worse places to be now. NC residents are STILL living rough, and those FEMA employees whose parents never married have snippily refused them permission to reside in the small home the Amish built. Apparently, their “ethical awareness” is such that the alternatives – leaving the area with a pitiful sum of money PROMISED, but not paid (allowing FEMA’s chosen raptors to take over the land and condemn/tear down the houses), spending the money to rebuild to today’s code standards – IF, and when, they again GET PERMISSION to do so, or, like the stubborn hillbillies they are (in my mind, that’s a compliment), keep living in tents and freezing.
I hate to tell you, FEMA, hillbillies are NOT the people to bet against. They out-stubborn just about everybody. My Dad was born and raised in WV, and the reason we used to say, “There is stubborn, and then there is West Virginia stubborn”. He had an aunt and uncle who got into an argument early in their marriage, and vowed not to speak to that person again.
They lived together another 30 years or so, having several kids in the meantime, and never again spoke a direct word to each other. They would pass messages through their kids (God knows what they did after the kids grew up!).
Trump cannot take office soon enough.
On that subject (changes we HOPE will follow the swearing in), I’ve heard a lot of talk about the possibility that the GOP majority will be worthless, given the people who have already left to join the new administration, and the likelihood of that Dam#ed RINOs rolling over and showing their belly in a crunch.
I don’t agree. A LOT of what is wrong about government is in the Executive Branch:
Departments – policy is set by the head, who also has control over the organization. He/she may not be able to directly fire employees, but he CAN eliminate their position, in the name of lowering costs and improving efficiency. That’s where the DOGE folks come in.
Agencies – replace the head, direct him/her (see how PC I’m being?) to cut through the regulations AND THEIR ACCOMPANYING DEFINITIONS OF ELIGIBILITY. Yes, I’m riding my hobbyhorse of CMS having “interpreted” the meaning of Beneficiary Eligibility to include THE FREAKING ILLEGAL ALIENS WHO ARE ON A DEFERRED DEPORTATION STATUS!
That ONE change – explicitly classify all people without permanent residency or born or naturalized in the United States as INeligible for benefits – would, at one fell swoop, remove the people who never should have received the benefits from the rolls.
BTW, once a person is deemed eligible for one benefit, it’s easy-peasy to get more. Agency workers are drones, who will go along with the easiest solution. If they reject someone, they will likely get ‘dinged’ for the complaint. Too many of them, and their job is in jeopardy.
After that change, let the cost-cutting dogs loose.
MOST of the overreach of The Left was slipped in there by agencies and departments exceeding their authority, with the Executive Branch’s cooperation. If the President was challenged about an action, he could gracefully defer to the administrators, and imply that his hands were tied.
And, most people bought it.
Not Trump. In his businesses, he had to face opposition from bureaucrats. He knows that there are times to get in there and schmooze with the bosses, and times to put on the gloves. He will back up admins and department heads who do the same.
Fran knows me to make connections between sometimes widely diverse observations. Today’s connection is far from diverse. I hope its importance reinforces his inclination of providing me this platform in which to speak out.
Here, in a nutshell, displays the warning of the problem the Uniparty is preparing to exploit.
But wait. The situation is even worse than simply losing votes on bills.
Using my recall of California majority manipulation, I see the potential for a 5 alarm fire being created to thwart President Trump this term. For all stolid Trump worshipers — you better pray he is as expert at 4-D chess as you claim he is. Here is the worrisome precedent from California, the testing ground for all assaults on America as a whole.
“When Willie Brown ran for re-election in 1994, California’s newly-enacted term limits assured that it would be his last stint in the legislature.
Although Brown easily retained his Assembly seat in 1994, Republicans won a one-vote majority in the California State Assembly and it appeared that Willie Brown’s record-setting tenure as Speaker was finally over.
Brown pulled off a remarkable upset, clinging to his leadership of the Assembly by a margin of a single vote, cast by a Republican member whose loyalty Brown had won in an earlier session.
When the Republican dissenter was recalled in a special election, Brown stunned the opposition again, by persuading another Republican member to stand for Speaker against the Republicans’ chosen leader.
Brown’s choice won the votes of all Democrats and a single Republican in the Assembly. When Brown’s chosen successor was also recalled, he persuaded Democrats to support the candidacy of the one Republican [GOPe] who had supported Brown’s choice for Speaker, thereby dooming the hopes of Brown’s Republican rival for a third time.
The Republican majority were forced to withdraw their first choice and elected a fourth Speaker for the brief remainder of the Assembly session.” — https://berggruen.org/people/willie-lewis-brown-jr [emphasis added — PF]
It took me a good deal of searching to get the above details to reinforce my memory. It should surprise nobody that Leftist Wikipaedia provided far less detail. But as you will see, it did end with a far more ominous observation which I will emphasize.
“The 1994 California State Assembly elections were held on November 8, 1994. California’s State Assembly in its entirety comes up for election in even numbered years. Each seat has a two-year term and members are limited to three 2-year terms (six years). All 80 biennially elected seats in the Assembly were up for election this year. Republicans gained a net of eight seats from the Democrats, taking control of the chamber by a slim margin. However, Assemblyman Paul Horcher soon left the party to become an independent, allowing Speaker Willie Brown to remain in power for a few months until Horcher was recalled. As of 2024, this is the last time the Republicans won control of the California State Assembly.“
And mind you, unlike California, SCOTUS reads the constitution as not permitting recalls of turncoat members of Congress.
We’d better have a lot of people on our side, in addition to President Trump, prepared for all Uniparty treachery that is being set up.
I hope this thought gains some traction and wider notice, because we on the Right need all hands on deck to provide pressure to combat what has a high likelihood of coming our way.
If it were just terrorists bombing buildings and public transit, it would be easier; even the feeblest Eurowimp jurisdiction is obliged to act when the street is piled with corpses. But there’s an old technique well understood by the smarter bullies. If you want to break a man, don’t attack him head on, don’t brutalize him; pain and torture can awaken a stubborn resistance in all but the weakest. But just make him slightly uncomfortable, disrupt his life at the margin, and he’ll look for the easiest path to re-normalization. There are fellows rampaging through the streets because of some cartoons? Why, surely the most painless solution would be if we all agreed not to publish such cartoons. [From Mark Steyn’s America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It]
The communists and other Hamas supporters stormed the [Macy’s New York City] Thanksgiving Day parade and tried to stop it. They aren’t Americans. They want to destroy America.
And it is so.
Time was, this would have been called “disturbing the peace.” Apparently, these days you can legitimately disturb the peace if you’re promoting the right Cause. At least in a “blue” city.
If you just want it to stop for a little while, you give in to it: you fold up your banners, deflate your floats, and go home. But that is positive reinforcement for the disruptors’ tactic. If there’s anyone out there who doesn’t grasp that dynamic, he’s never trained a puppy.
If you want it to stop and never happen again, you punish it so harshly that the “protestors” will feel it for years to come. I suppose people foolish enough to allow Leftists to “govern” them have a hard time grasping that.
Apologies, Gentle Reader. Not only am I writing this after a day of overconsumption that’s left me feeling as if I’ve swallowed a beach ball, I’m doing so on Notepad. Please pardon any typos.
There’s no refuge from the tide of “woke” in entertainment.
You’d think the British would have better sense, but apparently that’s not the case. The newest season of the BritBox series Hope Street, which centers on a police unit in a seaside Northern Ireland town, has become drenched with it.
Hope Street isn’t a glossy production. It’s peopled by unknown actors. The setting, while picturesque in a modest way, is mundane rather than glamorous. In many ways it’s a soap opera. But I thought the Northern Irish setting might provide some protection, at least, from the crap so many other productions have been shoving down our throats.
Sadly, no. The current run features:
A heavily overweight female Inspector;
Who’s married to a much-lower-ranking black detective;
That detective being by far the smartest and most penetrating member of the unit;
Which also features an openly lesbian Sergeant;
A young Constable who’s apparently fathered an illegitimate child upon a local married woman;
And another young Constable who has sex with the local “hot” girl in a pub lavatory;
Plus an assortment of white characters who are mostly nasty if they’re not outright dishonest.
And the C.S.O. is addicted to it. God, give me strength.
Sometimes life isn’t fair. Jesus is the light of the world, and he dined with sinners and prostitutes, yet when I do the same thing I’m “making Thanksgiving awkward”. People ask WWJD, but I don’t really think they mean it. — Weird Dave
I’m going to struggle through one post this morning, because the subject is so important.
The big “reveal,” if you will, that the State has gone totalitarian comes in parts. They don’t always arrive together, but once any one of them becomes visible, you may rest assured that the others will soon be upon you.
One of the parts is the State forbidding you to act in your own defense, or in the defense of innocent others.
Some years ago, an English farmer whose name I’ve mislaid was imprisoned for defending his life and property with a shotgun. Upon reading about that, I knew that “free” Britons would soon be in chains. And indeed, today, the UK government is as totalitarian as ever was the late and unlamented Soviet Union. Good Britons of every sort are now in fear of being arrested for stating a “disapproved” opinion on social media.
And now we come to these United States and the case of Daniel Penny.
It has been established, by forensic testimony confirmed by witnesses, that Penny did not cause anyone’s death. Yet he’s on trial for an “offense” that could result in his freedom being stripped away. Penny’s case isn’t the only one of its kind, either. There are others. Gun rights groups can tell you about a slew of them.
Many Americans are relieved that the recent elections delivered a sharp repudiation to the Democrats. About that I must say: Remain on guard. All politicians, without exception, love power and want as much of it as they can grab. The party designation and platform are often merely smokescreens for dark intentions. Remember that the lockdowns originated under Donald Trump.
I’m not paranoid. Just because I watch developments and strive to interpret them doesn’t make me a doom-shouter. But I can’t help noticing patterns. It’s the one and only thing high intelligence is really good for. Ask John Nash .
Tyranny is often thought of as a top-down phenomenon. But that’s only one possible pattern. Tyranny can come upon a people from the bottom up, too. Homeowners’ Associations. Activists and “civic” groups. Politicians at the state and local level who promise to “help” you, or to solve some “problem,” if you’ll just let them exceed the authority to which their positions entitle them.
My main computer, whose power supply fried on Tuesday, won’t be back to me until late this coming week. so I must ask once more for your patience.
This “backup” computer — an old Dell laptop I bought to serve as a “backup Kindle” — has virtually nothing on it but Windows, so it’s very difficult for me to produce the sort of material you’re accustomed to seeing from me. In the interim, I must entrust you to my Co-Conspirators, especially the fearless Linda and the valiant Ragin’ Dave.
Have a Happy and nutritious Thanksgiving Day. Enjoy the football, stay well away from the pearl onions in cream sauce, and for the sake of general amity: No political talk over dinner! Remember that, as Americans, each of us really does have a lot to be grateful for — and none of it comes from the government. That was kinda the point of the Revolution, y’know?
We’ve invited some friends and neighbors to come over for Thanksgiving. One of those families is a clan of Vikings from up the road. And I mean this literally. The dad is 6’5″, and not a single one of his family is under six feet tall. Even his teenage daughters. We’re expecting more than a few calories to be consumed by this group.
I’m finding it hard to drum up enough emotion for a holiday. To be honest, I didn’t feel all that hot about my birthday either, and quickly shut people down when they wanted to celebrate it. I have no idea how I’m going to feel about Christmas. But there will probably be more food, and more friends, which is a good thing. Last year my dad’s death was fresh on my mind, and I was trying to keep my mom sane and my wife happy. I think I managed it, but I ended up with the insanity and the sadness. This year I’m just trying to keep myself from driving East until nobody recognizes me.
Still working long hours. I never knew a part time job would require this much time. I’m hoping that as people come back from whatever illness has laid them low that I get back to the hours I was told the job would require.
So, I have a new job. My retirement pays the bills, but I need fun money because motorcycles are expensive, and trips on motorcycles are even more expensive. Unfortunately, I got hired and they immediately needed me to work extra shifts to cover someone who was sick. What was supposed to be a part time job turned into full time at least temporarily. Add in my other obligations, and I’m back to being out of the house for 14 hours at a time. I didn’t even check my email this morning. I just got home and fired up my computer at 2150 hrs Pacific Time.
So my news consumption is rather down at the moment, but I did manage to catch this tidbit which makes me dance a jig.
The Trump-Vance transition team announced that Stanford Professor Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, author of “The Great Barrington Declaration,” is his pick to lead the National Institutes of Health. This is a terrific choice; Dr. Bhattacharya is highly respected and was right about the negative effects of lockdowns during the COVID pandemic when so many others were wrong. He didn’t back down despite numerous attempts to silence him.
I don’t like all of Trump’s picks But he’s shown a pattern of finding people that the Deep State has attacked, and then nominating them to lead the very agencies that attacked them. That’s brilliant right there, and it gives me at least some hope for the future. Assuming that the GOP squishes don’t bend over and do the Democrat’s bidding again. A little prayer would be appropriate.
Hail holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
The other day I simply couldn’t recall the name Hydroxychloroquine. So I did a Brave search. “Off-label drugs to treat Covid.”
Neither Ivermectin (IVN) nor Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) turned up.
So I tried “two off-label drugs to treat Covid.”
Again, only the System approved drugs turned up, and neither were “off-label” to boot.
So I then resorted to “two off-label drugs used to treat covid like ivermectin”
And even this didn’t bring up HCQ.
However, Brave provides the option “news from the Left” and “news from the Right.” So I specified the latter this time. It worked.
I hope this helps the reader who has given up trying to get past the biases built in to seemingly all AI. Because Brave.com has the added benefit of not wishing to be caught lying (as Google seemingly cares not if we notice), it will spill the beans at least enough to obtain the lead you are looking for.
