Month: July 2021

The Fellowship of the Betrayed

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Let’s face it, we’ve been betrayed.  Not since that fateful night in Gethsemane has anyone been treated worse by “friends.”  I suppose if we were smart, we would shut up, play the woke playbook and start collecting CRT bonus points by attending a BLM riot in black bloc and burn down some poor neighbor’s small business.  That would be the smart play.  I’ve seen plenty of people do it.  I can think of one particular fifty something white guy who has embraced the whole thing.  He spends his work day giving training sessions in unconscious bias and white privilege.  It truly is enough to turn your stomach.  So, I guess I’m really not smart.

Good.  I’ve picked my side.  Now what?  Well, how about make the most of it.  Last Saturday I had the first meet up with the local group of deplorables.  Just some of the guys who were the Coffee Walk back during the 2016 election and their wives.  We had some good food and spent the night talking about life.  Kids and grandkids, work and family, even a little bit of politics.  It was pretty damn great.  We enjoyed it so much we’re already planning the next one.

And the on-line equivalent of that is the comments I get on this site.  I send out my thoughts and if they resonate with someone, he tells me what he thinks.  Now, I’ve never met any of these folks in the flesh but we can talk, we can share opinions maybe compare experiences.  I find this enjoyable, worthwhile.  I wish there were a thousand times more of you all out there.  I especially like when you talk to each other.  That really is the final goal, creating a network.

Taking this to its logical conclusion, smart people should be organizing a platform where this network can be focused on creating some concrete progress toward advancing our social and political goals.  As a for instance, suppose there was an effort to harness tens of millions of consumers to support or boycott some company based on its behavior toward our constituency.  Let’s take Coca Cola as a for instance.  Imagine if one hundred million people coordinated a boycott of Coca Cola for a whole year.  I think it just might drive them out of business.  But even if it didn’t, the damage that would be done to that company would frighten the hell out of all the other Fortune 500 companies.  And the same kind of action supporting a company that treats our people with respect would have an equally powerful effect.

Full disclosure there are websites who are trying to do this very thing.  The Media Action Network tries to coordinate e-mail campaigns against offenders and in support of allies.  But they don’t have the reach that an organization would have if it managed to mobilize the whole Trump electorate.  But that’s the dream, to see all of the deplorables joined together in a cohesive network and using that massive financial and political clout to accomplish concrete goals that would improve our day to day lives.  Imagine if we could scare the whole Fortune 500 into backing off their BLM support.  Imagine if we all quit Facebook on the same day and never opened it again.  I imagine it would knock half the value off the stock overnight.

So, this is my dream, to be part of the fellowship of the betrayed, to be part of a group that just doesn’t take our erasure by the Elites lying down but bands together to fight back.  My contribution is minuscule.  But it’s what I can do until something better emerges.  If you like my idea leave a comment.  If you disagree leave a comment.  Either way I learn something.

Disney’s Animatronic Biden Declared Legitimate President by Orlando Crowd

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I think it would be a good bet that animatronic Biden would win a debate with Dementia Joe every time.  The story says the dummy will be standing next to a table adorned with peach blossoms and aviator glasses.  But once he leaves with his secret service detail the animatron will get back to work regaling the public with anecdotes about Corn Pop and exhorting the crowd with his trademark, “come on man!” anytime someone uses flash photography.

The exhibit staff have been trying to find a way to prevent the adjacent animatronic Donald Trump from administering an “atomic wedgie” to the Biden machine.  They keep updating the Trump unit’s firmware but somehow it keeps returning to the subroutine.  One of the IT reps stated that it was “impossible to explain but still incredibly funny.”

20JUL2021 – OCF Update – The Weather Gods Relent

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Finally, finally, a day without rain.  So I went out there and cut the grass.  Although not all of it.  About two thirds of the west field was still too soggy to cut.  But the rest is done and now I’ll get back to work.

A week ago I was in a store looking for a baseball glove.  I have my grandsons coming over on Saturday and I want to be able to have a catch.  I’ve been using one of their spares and it’s a little on the small side.  So I looked at some gloves at a local store and they’re all made of pleather?  I was outraged.  The salesman called it vegan leather.  I walked out.  Finally I found a real leather glove.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.  With MLB supporting cop killers and disrespecting the flag and anthem I’m done with them too.

But now I can enjoy baseball the way it’s supposed to be.  Tossing around the baseball with my son was one of my favorite memories.  It brings me back to having a catch with my Dad.  He never had much time and we mostly played with the other kids but every once in a while he’d throw the football or the baseball around with us and invariably he’d pull something in his back or neck or whatever.  He’d put on a big show of being injured and beg off from the game and just watch us.  Mostly he’d yell warnings that we better not break any car windows on the block we lived on.  But it was still something I remember fondly.

Camera Girl has given me a new list of demands.  I must sweep the basement, vacuum the window blinds and clean up all the junk so we can have thirty people on Saturday in splendor.  We’ll see about that.  Calls are coming in about food that people are bringing and Camera Girl is getting kind of uppity when I ask about the arrangements.  I think she’s trying to pick a fight with me but I’m too wise for that.  I told her that she can serve the food in a trough if she wants, as long as we feed the guests I’ll be good with it.  My family isn’t too picky about meal protocol as long as the food is tasty and plentiful.  And I’m sure both of those will be true.  The whole family hasn’t gotten together in two years.  So this is going to be kind of great.

And miraculously (although maybe I’m trusting too much to the accuracy of weather forecasters) the weather is supposed to be sunny and in the mid-seventies.  That should make the party very comfortable for everyone including the cook and the busboy (me).  So the summer has reappeared just in time to make the family get together great again (FGTGA).

The news cycle right now is full of the usual nonsense that the Democrats talk about.  Four trillion dollar stimulus bills that they hope to use for illegal alien amnesty and other horrors that they hope to inflict on us.  Good inflation and delta variants and Bezos in Space and Ben and Jerry’s joins the PLO.  The silly season is in full swing.  The runaway Texas democrats have infected Pelosi’ and Biden’s staff with the plague.  Let’s just say there’s no good news and the bad news is just too stupid to talk about.  Enjoy the summer and enjoy your life.  I’ll let you know if something interesting comes along.

What Portion Have We in Harvard and Wall Street? – To Your Tents, O Deplorables!

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In the King James Version at 1 Kings 12 the people of Israel receive Solomon’s son Rehoboam’s reply to their request to treat them more gently.

“13And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men’s counsel that they gave him; 14And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. 15Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the LORD, that he might perform his saying, which the LORD spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 16So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents. 17But as for the children of Israel which dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. 18Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the tribute; and all Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. Therefore king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. 19So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day.”

Or to quote from a less hallowed but fairly popular source “I am altering the deal. Pray I don’t alter it any further.”

I find the analogy of this to our present situation.  The descendants of the Puritans are the Elites that run and own much of the country.  They live in the blue states and send their kids to the Ivy League schools and run the Fortune 500 companies and infest the media companies.  They have told us that we are unworthy.  They want to chastise us with scorpions.  They have altered the deal and we should consider ourselves lucky if they let us exist at all.

Well, maybe it’s time we walk away from these masters of the universe and attend to our own affairs.  We don’t run multi-national corporations or sit on the Supreme Court.  But we have parents and children and we love the life that God put in us.  What portion have we in Harvard and Wall Street?  Neither have we inheritance in the Sons of the Mayflower.  To your tents, O Deplorables.  Now see to thine own house, Jeb Bush.

Wherever we find ourselves in positions of majority we need to begin the process of taking control of our own lives.  We will have to push back against the toxic narratives and destructive policies that Washington inflicts on us and our children.  Hopefully someone like Ron DeSantis or some other red state leader will step forward and recognize that this is the perfect time to begin the process of saying no to Washington.  The dispute over social media discrimination is the likeliest place where a break with Washington can have a meaningful outcome.  Punishing Facebook or Twitter seems to be within the power of a governor and state legislature and could let these companies know that their immunity from consequences is over.

We are Americans.  That used to mean we were free men.  I think we should remember that and try to make it mean something again.  Come on you supposed leaders, do something right.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) – A Movie Review

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(Spoiler Alert – Skip down to last paragraph to avoid spoilers and read recommendation)

“The Friends of Eddie Coyle” is a crime drama that takes place in and around Boston.  Robert Mitchum is Eddie Coyle, a small-time member of an Irish gang who is about to be sentenced for a truck hijacking that he did for another gangster named Dillon who is played by Peter Boyle.  Because Eddie doesn’t want to do anymore time he agrees to act as an informant to ATF agent Dave Foley.  He informs on the gun runner Jackie Brown who has been providing Eddie with pistols for use by a bank robbing gang being run by Eddie’s friend Jimmy Scalise.

At the same time, we discover that Eddie’s associate Dillon is also providing information to Foley too.  Eventually Dillon provides information on Scalise’s operation and the gang gets busted.  When both Jackie Brown and Scalise both get taken down by ATF the head of the gang decides that Eddie is responsible for the leaks and sends his hitman to kill Eddie.  And ironically the hitman is Dillon.

The movie consists of the various crimes, the gun-running and the bank robberies along with Eddie’s and Dillon’s meetings with Dave Foley.  The movie’s strengths are the dialog and the portrayal of these characters.  Listening to them justify the various and contradictory actions they take rings true.  Even Eddie’s relationship with his wife and family demonstrates what a hopeless mess his life is.  And the ending where Dillon takes Eddie to a Bruins hockey game and gets him black out drunk before executing him in a car ride into the suburbs is completely believable and emblematic of the faithless fraternity that these men inhabit.

Living in New England I asked a friend of mine what he thought about the somewhat recent Boston mob movie, “The Departed.”  He said that the legitimate quintessential New England mob movie was the “The Friends of Eddie Coyle.”  And I agree with him completely.  This movie feels about right as a representation of Boston corruption.  Whether it’s gangsters or crooked politicians this is what that world looks and feels like.  It’s petty and disloyal and penny-ante and very, very local.  There’s nothing grandiose and nothing heroic.  It’s gritty and believable.

If you like crime movies that reek of small-timer sweat, this is it.