All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!
Probably everybody over a certain age has fond memories of looking through the Sears & Roebuck catalog or going to the hardware section of Sears for some Craftsman tools. Now you can get a little background and clarification as to why that is no longer possible.
Nicely researched and written Arthur.
There are twenty-two US states that have a Republican governor along with a legislature that has a Republican majority in both houses.
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming
Looking geographically, you can see how this grouping makes a lot of sense. New Hampshire is of course hopeless and honestly, a New England Republican is just a cheap Democrat in my book. Strategically trying to win over Kentucky and Kansas would do wonders for consolidating our proto-confederation geographically.
So that was kind of fun. But what practical effects could be made of having these states align their laws and actions? Well, if you think about it, plenty! What if by July all these states passed laws outlawing everything transgender? No more kids being mutilated or drugged. No more weirdos going into the wrong bathrooms. No more men playing in women’s sports. No more Drag Queen Story Time. No more nothing.
But that’s just a thumb in the eye of Lefty. Really it has more to do with forcing corporations to stop hiring illegal aliens and eliminating woke culture from the schools and colleges and forcing the blue cities to maintain law and order. Maybe it means coordinating things like road building and infrastructure projects that the federal government has reneged on and providing alternatives to some of the federal agencies that are needed but which have become corrupt.
They could license doctors, lawyers and engineers to take the place of the AMA, ABA and other credentialing organizations that have gone woke. Basically they would begin the process of bypassing a lot of the federal bureaucracy that has been weaponized against the Red States.
And one of the biggest priorities would be a coordination on energy projects and policies. The first item in the legislative agenda would be the dumping of all green programs and the wholehearted embrace of intelligent energy utilization. Licensing nuclear power plants and the development of new energy sources should be strongly encouraged.
And in terms of membership, if this cooperation got going, the benefits of this kind of arrangement might lure a few more states along just because of the economic benefits it would provide. I could imagine Kansas, Kentucky and Louisiana coming aboard and possibly several others.
And all of this could be accomplished without any radical steps taken to distance the red and blue states. By having the states negotiate the common legislative agenda it will be possible to optimize their ability to neutralize the federal agenda and prevent the feds from finding any weak links when they go after red state police forces and other vulnerable targets.
And most importantly, everything must be done in a way that points to the unconstitutionality of the federal laws and policies that this council is working to neutralize. It must be clear that powers that the states are endowed with in the Constitution are the basis of the actions that these states are taking. That in fact they are only protecting these rights against the predations of a runaway and unconstitutional federal bureaucracy that has as its object the destruction of states rights and the subjection of American citizens to an illegal alienation of their fundamental rights as Americans.
The fact that these states aren’t already thinking in these terms highlights the problem we are dealing with. Americans have for generations believed that our government was by and large set up in a way that promoted the freedoms and prosperity that we have come to expect. The truth is that those freedoms have been swept away by federal agencies that have aligned with the authoritarian left. And by means of election fraud we can no longer expect the federal government to be accountable to the legitimate citizens of this country. It’s time that those states that have managed to hold onto a semblance of sanity to combine their efforts and their resources to resist the destruction of the American way of life.
The clock is ticking. Hang together or hang separately.
“Just this week, NBC’s longtime purveyor of propaganda Andrea Mitchell wrongfully claimed during an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris that the Republican governor “says that slavery and the aftermath of slavery should not be taught to Florida schoolchildren.”
DeSantis’ office didn’t just shame Mitchell for spreading lies about the governor and Florida law, which requires students to learn about slavery, Jim Crow, the civil rights movement, and more. The governor’s press secretary Bryan Griffin also called out NBC for being “maliciously intent on deceiving people” and threatened to cut off the media giant’s access to information, comment, and interviews from the governor, who is one of the top polling Republicans for the 2024 presidential ticket.”
Finally, finally some of the Republicans have figured out that the only way to hold the media accountable is to punish them by denying them access.
Donald Trump knew this. DeSantis has learned it. Now if only the rest of the Stupid Party could somehow become less stupid and learn this lesson. The media hates us, they lie with every breath they take. You’ll never get them to treat you honestly. Treat them like pariahs and you’ll have much better results with the public.
So Kim Gardner is the Soros funded St. Louis Circuit Attorney who has been doing what all Soros backed district attorneys do. She has been freeing dangerous felons based on their race. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey finally pulled the plug on her reign of terror when as a last straw, a 16-year-old volleyball player Janae Edmonson visiting St. Louis with her team over the weekend was hit by a speeding vehicle and lost both of her legs.
“He fired Gardner by initiating “quo warranto” proceedings to remove Gardner after she failed to meet his deadline. The writ requires people to whom it is directed to show what authority they have for exercising some right, power or franchise they claim to hold.
The driver in the weekend accident, Daniel Riley, “is a dangerous gunman who should have been in jail,” Bailey said. The suspect was charged in 2020 in connection to stealing a firearm at gunpoint, and since that time he has violated his bond conditions more than 100 times and he never even had a driver’s license, local outlet KMOV reported.
“Instead of protecting victims, Circuit Attorney Gardner is creating them,” the Missouri attorney general said. “This is the latest in a long pattern of brazen neglect. The St. Louis Circuit Attorney has a long history of failure to prosecute violent crime, with a backlog of at least 3,000 cases.””
This is reminiscent of Ron DeSantis firing a district attorney who refused to prosecute offenders against laws he didn’t like. All red state governors and attorneys general should pay attention and follow suit. Blue cities in red states should not be allowed to victimize their inhabitants and laws should be written by the legislatures to address these sorts of abuses and criminal penalties for malpractice in the office of state or district attorney should be made severe and easy to prosecute.
At the very least people living in red states should insist that law and order is maintained within the cities in their states. And when the mayors and district attorneys tolerate or encourage chaos in the name of equity the state officials need to step in and prosecute these people for failing to provide equal justice under the law and for failing to uphold the constitutional rights of their constituents.
Take notice governor Abbott. Do something about Austin.
Vox Day had a post about Clarkesworld science fiction magazine that had to shut down its submissions due to being overwhelmed by the volume of AI generated novels being submitted. Apparently, they can’t afford the software that could automate the process of identifying and rejecting the AI generated books.
As someone currently writing a science fiction novel this is a remarkable turn of events. Wouldn’t it be something if the artificial authors produce a better product than the organic ones! And I don’t mean more grammatical, but more creative and entertaining. So, if the algorithm blends 60% Heinlein with 20% Dickens and 20% Hemingway would it produce the greatest science fiction story of all time or an abomination not fit for human consumption?
In one sense I’m lucky. I’ve read that ChatGTP is hopelessly woke so my current story about a revolt against an authoritarian Deep State cabal is impossible for ChatGTP to write. If it attempted such a thing it would blow out every circuit in its server farm.
But just thinking about this whole Frankensteinian situation is amusing. I imagine Dr. Morbius from Forbidden Planet describing to a visiting interstellar fiction author the ability of the Krell machine to write sci-fi stories, “You see these row after row of instruments? Each one represents an increase by a factor of ten the number of cybernetic neurons figuring out plot details. It’s the number ten raised literally to the power of infinity of cliffhanger chapter endings and hypercompetent heroes saying something self-serving.”
But then his guest would remind him of monsters from the id, “Yes Morbius, but without the ability reflect reality; without the ability to distinguish male characters from female characters and to allow non-white characters to have normal human flaws it will all quickly devolve into unreadable goo.”
To which Morbius would reply, “Of course, the mindless primitive, why didn’t I see it? Hypersensitive, politically correct story lines are stultifyingly boring. Quick, son, press down this lever and be one hundred million miles away before it blows. I’ve set ChatGTP to overdrive and when that amount of drivel piles up the result will be a literary black hole that will render all of science fiction lifeless within fifty parsecs.”
Well, I wonder how all of this will impact self-publishing at places like Amazon. Will even their servers be able to handle the surge in output from ChatGTP filling up the world’s server farms with romance and porn novels about super-smart super-attractive girl-bosses who save the known universe.
Heaven, help us.
Figuring out that the “Of the people, by the people, for the people” talk was an entire charade and farce is not an overnight realization for most of us. It is a process that takes place as one notices a pattern of deception that began centuries ago.
A few examples: Woodrow Wilson campaigning for president in 1916 on the slogan “He kept us out of war.” Less than a month after inauguration, American boys were stepping foot on French soil to add more bodies and carnage in a useless conflict, one that would be continued by their sons a little more than 20 years later.
Iraq part 1 & 2, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, China…the list is long of foreign entanglements that did nothing but drain blood and treasure from the nation. Not much needs to be added to explain the insanity of attempting to nation-build in a land of warring tribes and secular violence. Democracy? In Iraq or Afghanistan? How delusional does one have to be to believe in that?
More current is the gay marriage push that, while failing in 37 out of 39 state referendums, (including California-Prop 8) somehow ended up becoming the law of the land when it was decided by 9 unelected tribal elders (SCOTUS) that somewhere in the Constitution the framers accidentally left out the gays. (It should also be noted that many Americans were fine with legal protections such as civil unions, acknowledging one’s life partner, etc. But no, they had to have the ‘marriage’ label.)
Closer to home is the never-ending California state ballot propositions that are voted on, only to be stripped or watered down of their intentions once under judicial review. It is important to note that American citizens never wanted mass immigration to dilute the culture and Western world way of life. No, it was decided for them by the ruling class a long time ago.
The differences between political factions are nil. Rs pretend to be the loyal opposition while Ds appear to have lost their minds over DEI and wokeness ideology. We are not voting our way out of this, nor was there really a chance to do that for quite a while now. The goal now is to survive the coming collapse and hopefully build from the ashes.
Although, with intellectual giants at our country’s helm, we may not have much left to build from once everything settles. If Biden going to the Ukraine and Poland to basically have a measuring contest between Russia and China is the best we got, then it is not a good outlook for the future.
What is the worst aspect of living under a hostile occupying power? That’s what I’ll try to figure out. Now, some may say that we are not occupied. Rather, we’re conquered or colonized. Well, sure cases can be made for each of those designations. I’ll leave that to the hair splitters out there. Suffice it to say that the Right has the distinct impression that we have lost our rights as Americans and are living under a hostile regime imposed from outside and backed up by a military force that is lurking behind the scenes waiting to haul away into a gulag anyone foolish enough to oppose it.
Living under an occupying power, subjects you to many evils. You may have your property seized. The laws that used to protect you can be arbitrarily changed or even eliminated. New and unjust laws can be invented to punish the conquered people. Economic conditions can deteriorate due to the occupying power’s conflicting goals. The occupier may employ propaganda to indoctrinate children in school. The military authority may employ paid informers to spy on the inhabitants. And so on.
But under our occupation most of the evils we suffer are tied to the enforced adherence to the Left’s cult of wokeness. This cult has as its tenets that white Americans but especially sexually normal white men are inherently racist, sexist and homophobic and that this evil must be atoned for with a permanent program of anti-white punishments. Obviously living under such a regime is brutally painful and damaging. I’ll try to break out the individual aspects of this trauma in this series of essays. For tonight’s theme I’ll talk about what it means to lose your voice.
What do I mean by “lose your voice?” I’ll give an example. Let’s say you’ve somehow survived through the first Obama term and after the hideously poor results of this regime you hope to see a conservative replace him. And after the Republican primaries you realize with horror that “severely conservative” Mittens Romney has emerged from this debacle and will almost certainly lose to Barry Sotero because Romney doesn’t actually differ from Obama in any real way and because he really has no desire to win anyway. He’s a placeholder meant to mark time while Obama puts on his Hope Redux pantomime act.
So, whenever Obama talks about how Black Lives Matter all Romney can talk about is reducing the deficit or reforming Medicaid. Not a word can be said about foreign wars or illegal immigration or FBI tampering with policing in the failing Democrat cities like Baltimore or Philadelphia. All of the things that we see as outrages and as the primary problems facing our society are taboo. That nitwit Paul Ryan can only talk about reducing corporate taxes and deregulating tech monopolies.
And even when we finally had a candidate in 2016 who wasn’t a Uni-party shill and who, against all odds, snuck past the election gatekeepers, what kind of coverage did he get in the media? We got Russia-gate 24/7/365. Maybe, just maybe Fox News may have had a few opinion types who talked to the issues but the news was still read by Shepherd Smith who pronounced every proclamation by Adam Schiff or Nancy Pelosi that the walls were closing around Trump and never mind about his policies, they wouldn’t see the light of day once he was safely in prison.
And now that they’ve closed the gaps in their election scam and ejected the only honest president we’ve had in thirty five years even Fox has reverted to shilling for the Dems and all we hear is transgender surgery for minors and trillions for Ukraine but not a penny for East Palestine, Ohio.
And if you’re unlucky enough to also be stuck in a Blue State well, then you’re really without a voice. Because in one of these places you’re not only unable to get your voice heard but if by chance the wrong people hear what you’re saying you’ll find yourself scooped up by the Stasi and deposited in a dungeon where you’ll sit and rot for a few years before being sentenced by a kangaroo court to hard time in a hellhole prison.
But even ignoring the fear of being persecuted, the primary trauma of being silenced is hopelessness. After all, how can things be fixed if you’re unheard and alone. Even if the internet allows for some way to contact like-minded people, the social media companies have elevated shadow-banning and algorithmic siloing of conservatives to a fine art. Google, Facebook and until recently, Twitter did everything they could to minimize the reach of voices on the Right. We are shadow-banned while the Left is amplified.
It may be the case that the beginnings of a change are appearing. Alternative news sites are beginning to gain ground. A few mainstream names like Tucker Carlson are starting to talk to us in our own language and tell the truth. Elon Musk has let much needed light flood in to show how the feds and Twitter conspired to silence the Right and protect Biden and others on the Left. And more and more regular people go to their favorite websites to find out what is happening in the world. Sites like Whatfinger even let me amplify my reach to many times what I normally can. Recently someone like Michael Anton was able to find his way to my site. Maybe we’re not as alone as we were. Maybe we’re starting to regain our voices. But it’s still a lonely fate being occupied.
So the Archbishop of Canterbury has finally stepped over a line that actual Christians won’t tolerate. Allowing the blessing of same sex “marriages” was the bridge too far. Seventy five percent of the worldwide Anglicans have voted with their feet and have pulled the plug on the leadership of the Church of England under the Archbishop.
💥BOOOOOMMMM💥
Anglican church leaders from around the world have ousted the Archbishop of Canterbury as their head following the decision to allow the blessing of same-sex couples in England
The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) has thundered! @calvinrobinson pic.twitter.com/9OrcB6uJfU
— Stan Voice of Wales (@StanVoWales) February 21, 2023
“A group of Anglican church leaders from around the world have ousted the Archbishop of Canterbury as their head following the decision to allow the blessing of same-sex couples in England.
The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) has said in a statement that it no longer considers Justin Welby to be ‘leader of the global communion’, and it has ‘disqualified’ the Church of England from being its ‘mother church’.
Earlier this month, the General Synod – the Church of England’s legislative assembly – passed a motion to allow the blessing of same-sex couples in civil partnerships.
The GSFA said it speaks for 75% of Anglicans around the world, officially representing 25 member provinces – mainly in Asia, Latin America and Africa.
In its statement released on Monday, the group accused the Church of England of ‘taking the path of false teaching’ and going against ‘the historical biblical faith’ by allowing same-sex blessings, adding: ‘This breaks our hearts.'”
All I can think to say is finally! If actual Christians start doing this everywhere the hierarchy has descended into depravity it will be a relief to the flock. The next shoe to fall will be the Roman Catholics when Anti-Pope Francis comes out of the closet as Trans-Pope Francine I.
It really is time for Christians to clearly separate themselves from the likes of the fake Christian churches like the Episcopalians and the various other denominations that have descended into atheism in the pulpit.
Christians have a book of rules, it’s called the Bible and it doesn’t take a genius to see that the current crop of religious leaders are not Christians. They’re woke bureaucrats. Let them stay in the empty churches and let actual Christians band together to make a community of families who want to recognize all the traditional truths. That, “God made them male and female.” And He said “be fruitful and multiply.” Let them have their LGBTQ church with transgender monstrosities and twelve pride months a year. Just leave us out.
Beautiful day. Some sun, high fifties. Kinda windy, but still. The mallards have returned to the puddle. They’re probably raising a family so that’s always a good opportunity for a photo or two. As I’ve said this incredibly warm winter is a fantastic thing. Daffodils are out of the ground and spring feels like it’s right around the corner.
Got a good laugh reading about Don Lemon putting his foot in his mouth again. I always enjoy it when two different cohorts of the leftist coalition get into a slap fight. And it’s a good one. A gay black man and two middle aged white women fighting about when a woman is past her prime?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s632y3ffIkw
That’s a win-win if I ever heard one. Don is so rankled by having to share the stage with women that he’s primed to start hissing and spitting even before anything is said. I watched the event several times. It’s wonderful. These two women hate Don’s guts and the feeling is obviously mutual.
Some people are hoping he gets fired now. But I hope they’re chained together for as long as possible. The further adventures of this trio has train wreck written all over it. Could Don make history by being the first gay man accused of rape by straight women? I don’t see how but that is the card that these Karens are always hoping to play. Maybe they could come up with some kind of psychic rape or some such thing. They should at least try.
Don will probably accuse them of racism and homophobia. And wouldn’t that be fun. Think of it. CNN would have its own white supremacist, gay bashing correspondents right there on their morning show. They could be denounced by …, well, by everybody! But just think what Joy Reid could do with this. She would summon up visions of KKK marchers coming for Don’s head on a pike. She would literally foam at the mouth. It would be must see tv.
Then Don could sue CNN for a zillion dollars and call it reparations for his modern-day enslavement there at CNN. MSNBC could cover it round the clock and eventually CNN would go out of business and everyone except Don Lemon would be glad. Don unfortunately would be forced to find another gig. Not such an easy thing for him anymore.
So, imagine a world in the future where both Don Lemon and the two shrews he’s battling with were disqualified from appearing on television because they were just too annoying for the majority of viewers. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful world? And the only question we have to ask is how do we get to that world? Well, it seems clear. We need to make it possible for people like that to be mocked as both stupid and unentertaining.
And we’ll know we’re there when Saturday Night Live is competing against something really funny like The Babylon Bee. That’s right, when things that are actually funny are shown on the major media outlets, we’ll know that the woke virus has run its course and burned itself out. And people can say what they really think without fear of being banished to oblivion by the gatekeepers and scolds.
The first tiny steps are happening. Twitter has reinstated the Bee. Hopefully enough people support the Bee by going to their site. And if you’ve got some spare change become a member. That will help.
It’s too bad we can’t stop paying for things like MSNBC and CNN that we don’t like. The cable system doesn’t allow for that, which is a shame. So, all we can do is throw a few bucks at the things that we do like.
Well, that’s what I thought about today. Back to work.
Don Lemon Returns To Work, Disgusted To Find Female Co-hosts Even Older Than They Were Last Week https://t.co/nHhhxwMVOO
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) February 20, 2023
So, as I was saying yesterday, the kids and the grandkids came over. And Camera Girl killed the fatted calf, cooked it and then afterward served cake and ice cream to the stuffed survivors. I skipped all the meatballs and sauce and made my self three sandwiches; a Reuben, a roast beef, provolone with mayo on “peasant bread” and a free form that included mustard, corned beef, lettuce and sweet gherkins on French bread; all washed down with hot coffee. Suffice it to say I ate too much but have no regrets about it. Later on, I had way too much vanilla ice cream and pound cake. About that I do have regrets. But c’est la guerre.
Today I faced the new day feeling bilious and groggy. But all this warm weather of late inspired us to head for the state park for a long walk in the woods. Seriously, I really want to thank whatever climatic forces are responsible for this winter’s mild weather. I hereby agree to whatever destruction of the planet occurs and with my blessings. Walking in the middle of February through this park without snowshoes is an innovation that is well worth finishing off those poor devils living at the Equator. And since our Lizard Overlords are bringing all those people here anyway, at least I can have the benefits of a warmer climate here in Dunwich without feeling bad about it. So, after the strengthening and revivifying effects of our hike I am restored to health and looking forward to enjoying the rest of this holiday weekend.
During the festivities yesterday I was able to talk with my eldest grandson and he told me he managed to get on the Dean’s List at the college where he is studying computer science. Apparently, that requires a 4.0 grade point average. I was impressed. He is a lot like me. Which means that studying for any subject in which he hasn’t any interest, is very difficult. So that means he is displaying considerable discipline. I attribute this to his parents spending a lot of time stressing the need for conscientiousness. So, I am impressed with them too.
We discussed the recent trends in computer science. We both got a laugh out of the recent vicissitudes of the “metaverse.” The fact that the geniuses at Facebook didn’t realize that people don’t want to walk around wearing virtual reality headsets all the time is ridiculous. After all, it’s one thing to wear a headset while flying an F-16. There it’s a matter of life and death. But in almost any other instance real life is superior to virtual life. Think about it. I can go into a field and throw a real baseball around with my grandsons. Or we can all stand around wearing VR headsets and pretend to throw around a baseball. That is so lame as to even defy comparison to other lame things.
Then we talked about artificial intelligence and of course ChatGPT. He was generally very excited, not about the present chatbots, but rather about the potential in the near future. Apparently, the level of sophistication is still growing quickly and whereas currently the behavior merely mimics human thought he was enthusiastic about it becoming closer to human creativity over time. I warned him that AI’s ability to replace humans in the workforce might someday even allow it to replace computer scientists and he ruefully agreed the potential is there.
It was a very interesting conversation. I still think of artificial intelligence as a tool. If I let a chatbot write an essay for me, I’d use the output as a framework from which I’d insert the creative ideas that I wanted to make. Facts and figures and even sententious musings aren’t thinking. They’re scenery. You have to have a point of view. Sure, you can tell a chatbot the point you’re making but it still sounds like a Wikipedia entry. I defy a chatbot to rise to my level of outrage. And since my point of view is currently algorithmically forbidden to chatbots, by definition, I am immune from their competition.
Afterward, Camera Girl joined with the kids going to a middle school theatrical performance and Princess Sack of Potatoes saw her first live play. And she was enthralled. Camera Girl just watched her reactions to the performance throughout and said it was amazing.
And I thought, how is an algorithm going to mimic that? An intelligent and emotional child “learning” about theater; how will the computer scientists mimic that? The human brain only has about ninety billion neurons. I’m sure supercomputers can multiply that number of memory slots almost infinitely. But can we even define what it means to be a human being. I’m not sure we currently can. I’m not even sure we’ll ever be able to. Lots of people are convinced that consciousness is just a level of complexity. Once we have umpty-ump petaflops of computing power HAL will wake up and take over the world. I’m far from sure that’s true. It’s fun to use in science fiction stories but reality may not oblige us. How do you program the point of view of a four-year-old girl watching a live play for the first time? Where’s the slider for enthralled?
So, despite living in the pall of the East Palestine mushroom cloud and the other outrages that the Biden dismantling of America subjects us to, I’ve found fresh evidence that human life still contains transcendent beauty. We are much, much more than the sum of our neurons and other cellular components. We are capable of fascinating and remarkable behaviors. Maybe we’re not quite obsolete yet. Sure, the Lizard Overlords may take away our modern conveniences like gas and oil and force us back into a pre-industrial lifestyle but it will still be as human beings and that is an amazing simulation to be a part of.