Category: Current Events

Another Crack in the Wall – Dem Colorado Governor Says COVID Emergency is Over

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Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, declared in a new interview that the COVID-19 emergency is “over” and that he won’t be implementing another statewide mask mandate in response to the spread of the omicron variant, explaining that if people aren’t vaccinated at this point it’s their “own darn fault” if they get sick.

As much as this is grudging acceptance it is at least acceptance of reality.  People have had enough.  It may save his career as governor.  So some Democrats can learn probably through fear.

“There are people that believe you and I are part of some massive conspiracy, Ryan,” he told “Colorado Matters” host Ryan Warner. “Some of them believe there is no COVID; some of them believe the vaccine doesn’t work; some believe that the vaccine has severe side effects. The truth is they’re in their own bubble, and it’s very hard to penetrate.”

 

 

 

A Council of Pygmies

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Today I watched a clip from a recent episode of Meet the Press.  It must be at least fifteen years since the last time I watched that show and apparently, I hadn’t waited long enough.  The show had been degrading for decades when I gave up on it sometime early in the Obama era but I wasn’t prepared for what the 2021 edition had become.  I believe Vox Day may have coined the term “midwit.”  If not then at least it’s one of his favorite descriptive insults.  Well, Chuck Todd and his panel probably aspire to one day reaching the towering heights of the mid-witted.  Currently they’re about halfway up that slope.

The clip I watched was a discussion, if that term could be used for the bed-wetting panic that was on display, over whether Bison Man was preparing to storm the studio at NBC and put the whole panel to the sword.  I remember when Meet the Press used to consist of the most senior NBC journalists and guests from the leadership of both parties and senior administration officials.  Todd was surrounded by nobodies who wouldn’t be able to get their parking tickets validated in Mid-Town Manhattan never mind get access to Capitol Hill.  He might as well have been surrounded by those animated yellow characters called the minions or maybe brightly colored parrots that can recite short snatches of obscene poetry.  The nonsense they were spouting was not quite as intelligible or amusing as those alternatives but equally ridiculous.

Chuckie and the munchkins were describing how the current Republicans in Congress are in the hands of insurrectionists who are preparing to undermine all future elections by being mean.  Worst of all they intend to prevent voter fraud.  Egad!  And what they found most upsetting is that tens of millions of Americans inalterably believe that the 2020 election was won by voter fraud.  And these poor deluded fools believe this even though Chuck Todd has assured them (himself!) that this is not true.  Heavens to Betsy!  One of the geniuses on the show assured Chuck that he had brought to bear every piece of proof and assurance of accuracy that he could but this particular New York City fireman that he confronted wouldn’t believe him.  Shocking!  I wondered to myself if during this debate had the fireman mentioned that these same journalists trying to convince him about election honesty were also the ones who had assured him that Russian collusion was responsible for the 2016 election outcome?  Ah well.

I have to confess that I had to fast forward through some of the show because one of the kids, Kimberly Atkins, was just so annoyingly dull-witted that it exceeded my patience to listen to her rant.  She somehow got back to the Civil War and I just didn’t think I would be able to live long enough to get back to even the 20th century in time.  So let me just get to my takeaways from watching this charade.

The first point is that Meet the Press is no longer watchable by grownups.  The level of debate is about on level with what you might here at the Mean Girl’s Table during the 10th grade lunch period.  There is no usable information unless you are engaged in the study of some obscure aspect of abnormal psychology.  To describe the point of view as hyper-partisan is to miss the point.  These people are in no way different from what you’d see watching Joe Scarborough and his sock puppets.  It’s the same act.

The second takeaway is that they are very, very worried.  I guess it’s because no one is listening to them anymore, except in the echo chamber and the majority of the country want Dementia Joe to disappear and take the Cackler, Drunk Aunty Pelosi and Crying Chuck Schumer with him.  This is existential terror.  They need someone to do something about this.  The army or the FBI or Dr. Fauci has to do something to make all those tens of millions of Americans believe Chuck Todd and his minions when he tells them that the 2020 election was 100% honest and Joe Biden is the greatest president in history and the economy is just wonderful and there is no such thing as inflation or supply chain.

Now back in the 1990’s Tim Russert hosted the show and of course he was a lefty but he tried to maintain the appearance of even-handedness.  And he was a relatively intelligent man.  I have to assume if he were brought back to life and he was trapped as a guest on the current show he’d run screaming for the exit in under ten minutes.  Chuck Todd is an odious partisan hack with the appearance and personality of a rat.  I don’t imagine I’ll have a reason to watch even snippets of that show again for the remaining decades of my life on earth.  But if for some reason I must watch it I’ll make sure I’m under some powerful opiate to prevent me from trying to do myself in.

As One Commenter Said “Satan Has Recalled Chris Wallace to Hell”

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No, Chris Wallace is still alive but he’s heading over to CNN.  Finally!  I despise this man as much as anyone in the media.  Having him on Fox was a betrayal by that deeply flawed corporation.  Now that he can be the new Chris Cuomo I think he’s found his home.  Hopefully he can hit the gym and bring his biceps and lats up to Chris Cuomo standards.  I hope Wallace will enjoy his stimulating on-air banter with that super-genius Don the Lemon.

12DEC2021 – OCF Update – This’N’That

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Good afternoon folks.

On the personal front yesterday was another enjoyable family get together without any nonsense about masks or social distancing or vaccine passes.  I had a chance to talk with my two older grandsons about which movies we would watch next week when they stay over.  We decided that Iron Man (the first installment) was probably the best of the bunch.  We decided to add Thor: Ragnorak just because I never saw it and they said it wasn’t the worst.  Camera Girl is beginning her holiday food planning.  Soon sacks of flour and barrels of sugar and butter will be delivered to the loading dock by petty dwarves and elvish butchers will transport cured hams and legs of lamb.  She also brought my attention that the grackles are beginning to swarm around the fields.  Remarkably, hundreds of these black birds will swirl down like a black tornado and cover the ground and the branches of the surrounding trees and find and eat every single grass seed and insect on the ground.  And then as if by magic the whole flock will fill the air and shoot off to a new spot and repeat the whole thing again.  I’ll have to try and get a photo of them taking off.

Some fairly interesting information on the “omicron variant.”  The data coming out of South Africa, which seems to be ground zero for this new strain continues to be extremely positive.  The transmisability of omicron is off the charts” meaning it is infecting people at a phenomenal rate.  The testing of the populations shows that 25% of the population has already been infected.  But the death rate is miniscule.  Since the beginning of the surge the daily death rate for the whole country is about 25 deaths a day.  Compare this to the earlier waves like the delta variant when the daily death rate was 500 to 600 deaths a day.  If the variant continues at this rate, the entire population of South Africa will have been exposed to it in a couple more weeks.  If the spike ends there without a serious death rate that will go a long way to convincing rational people that herd immunity to a weakened endemic strain has been reached there and soon worldwide.  At that point it will be prudent to dump your Pfizer stock.

This week saw a large number of articles out there about the growing anger over the abolition of law and order in the blue cities and states.  Reports from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, New York and especially Chicago range in tone from disbelief and fear to outrage and anger.  The escalating severity of the crime epidemic is finally registering with the people who are responsible for its existence.  Of course, they won’t do anything to fix the problem so my sympathy is basically nonexistent.  As I’ve stated they’ll get my attention when cannibalism is formalized in San Francisco.  Hopefully that  will be before Pelosi emigrates to Florida so she can be the main ingredient for a really lousy soup.

Well, things appear to be hotting up.  Dementia Joe has ordered the media to declare that inflation is not a problem.  For some reason the public has its doubts.  The courts have halted all his vaccine mandates and if the omicron variant fizzles by January Dopey Joe may have to declare victory against COVID again.  I don’t expect that to get him much applause.

So the prospects for a Merry Christmas are encouraging and if Manchin hangs tough on Build Back Better a Happy New Year is looking more possible.  Have a nice Sunday and I’ll post whatever seems interesting.

I’m Not the Only One Who Thinks the FBI Must Go

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Here’s another liberal who agrees with the Right that the FBI is a fascist outfit that does more harm than good.

“The FBI has always had a policy requiring that all consequential interviews be conducted by two agents — one to ask questions, the other to take notes. Then the agents return to headquarters, where the notes are typed up. The report is known as a Form 302, and it is the official record of the interview.

The interviewees are thus placed between the proverbial rock and a hard place. If they testify, they must stick to the FBI’s version. If they deviate from the Form 302, they can be charged with having lied to the agent or, at trial, of committing perjury. Hence, there is enormous pressure on witnesses to testify not as they remember a situation, but rather in accord with the Form 302.

As a result, I’ve developed a policy of never allowing a client to be interviewed without my recording it. The agents would tell me that I’m not allowed to record the interview. I replied that I have my own policy. The agents then would leave.”

Based on what I’ve read if I ever had the FBI knock on my door I’d tell them I have nothing to say.  After watching what they’ve done to people like General Flynn I have no respect or trust in these Gestapo agents at all.

ZMan Talks About Anti-Racism

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The ZMan had his usual Friday morning podcast.  It was a review of the Left’s use of terms like racist and white supremacy and how their meaning differs from what the rest of the world means by those terms.  It was as usual very interesting.

What stuck in my mind was the reminder that when dealing with the Left, the term that we can use that has enormous power is declaring their policies as anti-white hate.  The ZMan’s contention, and I think it’s a valid one, is that the Left’s narrative depends on people thinking that they speak from a moral high ground.  But if you can indict what they’re doing as a hateful and therefore immoral activity you rob them of this legitimacy.

And he’s right.  Specifying something as anti-white hate frightens and confuses leftists.    ZMan should be congratulated for popularizing this insight.  Equity, diversity, inclusion really just an anti-white ploy.  CRT is anti-white propaganda.  It’s a powerful tool.  Think about it.

10DEC2021 – OCF Update – This’N’That

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  • Urban Mayors and Prosecutors continue to get called out by their constituencies for the complete breakdown of law and order in their cities.
  • Federal judges continue to put together a patchwork of stays against Dementia Joe’s volley of vaccination mandates.
  • Fauci and company continue to call for a permanent vaccination regime.
  • Polls show Democrat and especially Biden popularity in free fall.
  • Economy mired in runaway inflation and the word recession beginning to be whispered in economic circles.
  • The omicron variant getting closer and closer to being confirmed as the benign end of the COVID-19 nightmare.
  • Jussie Smollett’s jury felt safe to admit reality in their verdict.  I’m sure this pathetic excuse for a man will get off with a slap on his limp wrist.  Even Dave Chappelle knew from the outset that no one could believe this story.  But it is comforting to see that fantasy is starting to recede even in places like Chicago.  Not that it will save these places but it’s comforting in the same way that knowing that gravity will keep the Earth in its orbit.

Yeah, it’s just another Friday.  Well, I did my chores yesterday, moved the snow off the driveways and cleared a few leaves out of the gutters.  Tomorrow’s another grandchild birthday party here with a rematch of the worst pool players under five feet tall.  Should be fun.

I’m freezing my review of Justified Deadly Force at the top row of the site for a while to try to give it the maximum visibility I can.  If anyone wants to link to it I’d really appreciate it.

Hope to get some writing done today so stay tuned.

 

Cracks Continue to Appear on the Left

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There is no more stereotyped group than New York City Jewish Intellectuals.  It brings to mind Woody Allen riffing on his Jewish girlfriend’s upbringing in Annie Hall:

You, you, you’re like New York, Jewish, left-wing, liberal, intellectual, Central Park West, Brandeis University, the socialist summer camps and the, the father with the Ben Shahn drawings, right, and the really, y’know, strike-oriented kind of, Red Diaper.

This demographic is as entrenched on the Left as anyone can be.  So when they start questioning their allegiance to “the Left” something’s definitely “happenin’ here.”

Liel Leibovitz writes for Tablet Magazine which describes itself as “a daily online magazine of Jewish news, ideas, and culture.”  In her article called

“The Turn: When I saw the left give up everything I believe in, I changed politically. You can, too.”

She describes how a lifelong and sincere believer in the Left found herself betrayed by the Left on almost every principle she believed in.

“You don’t get to be “against the rich” if the richest people in the country fund your party in order to preserve their government-sponsored monopolies. You are not “a supporter of free speech” if you oppose free speech for people who disagree with you. You are not “for the people” if you pit most of them against each other based on the color of their skin, or force them out of their jobs because of personal choices related to their bodies. You are not “serious about economic inequality” when you happily order from Amazon without caring much for the devastating impact your purchases have on the small businesses that increasingly are either subjugated by Jeff Bezos’ behemoth or crushed by it altogether. You are not “for science” if you refuse to consider hypotheses that don’t conform to your political convictions and then try to ban critical thought and inquiry from the internet. You are not an “anti-racist” if you label—and sort!—people by race. You are not “against conformism” when you scare people out of voicing dissenting opinions.”

So, just another data point.  Cognitive dissonance can break through even an intellectual’s disregard for reality.

Brain Dead Mayor of Chicago Ups Her Game

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Depend on Lori Lightfoot to put her light foot in her big mouth every time.  The reality challenged Mayor of Chicago has begun blaming the victims saying that the stores are at fault for not having more security staff and cameras and for trying to sell merchandise to customers.

In addition to looking like some kind of hideous pop-eyed troll Lightfoot defies reason with the twisted logic that asserts that selling expensive handbags means you’re asking for thieves to steal them.  And as for security guards, if fifty or a hundred people begin a flash mob of smash and grab looting what are two or three security guards going to do?  The thieves know that the guards aren’t allowed to shoot them and with the odds against them they are the ones who could end up in the hospital or the morgue.

And at this point, the police sure as hell aren’t going to intervene.  Shooting someone for a property crime is a guarantee of ending up in prison.  So chances are commercial retail at a higher price point than the Dollar Store levels will be exiting the Windy City really soon.  C’est la vie.  Or rather c’est la guerre.  Goodbye Chicago.  See you on the other side of the revolution.

 

You Can’t Save Everyone

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Not everyone can be saved.  Not everyone wants to be saved.  Not everyone should be saved because some people are part of the problem.

I was talking to an old friend and he was very excited about all the problems that the Democrats are having right now and the prospects for Republican success in the midterms and beyond.  And it was fun.  But I had to remind him that we’ve seen this play before.  Unless there is someone with a plan that includes capitalizing on these opportunities in the form of meaningful change to the status quo then it will be just part of familiar Democrat/Republican Two Step.  They take a giant step forward; we take a tiny step sideways, then repeat ad infinitum.  I’m pretty sure he didn’t hear a word I said.  Now this way of thinking isn’t the primary problem but it sure as hell isn’t a solution.

Somebody who definitely is part of the problem is Mitt Romney, the quintessential RINO.  Imagine anyone who could be Governor of Massachusetts and US Senator for Utah.  Think of how supple a spine you would have to possess to bend into the pretzel needed to accommodate those two elected offices.  He is an example of who can’t be saved.  In fact, I claim that ejecting him from the Republican party should be one of, if not the highest priority of the Right.  The man is a poison in the body politic.  And if the people of Utah can’t see that then they’re doomed to become just another Colorado.  People like Romney, Cheney and Murkowski need to be targeted for primary challenges and never permitted back in the party.  Let them become Democrats and peddle their brand of poison to their rightful customers.  In this endeavor it’s instructive to see just how sound Donald Trump’s instincts are when he goes after the back stabbers and advocates for their replacement.  Even if the replacement politician is almost as bad, hell, even if he’s worse, the important effect is teaching the snakes that they won’t benefit from their treachery.  It’s a simple feedback loop.

And in a similar but less extreme case are the “allies” we’ve picked up.  People Matt Taibbi and Glenn Greenwald are honest men.  They are liberals.  They believe in left wing causes.  They want the same ends that our enemies want.  The only difference is that they are also committed to the constitutional freedoms that all Americans used to subscribe to.  In other words, they don’t believe that the ends justify the means.  At least now that they’ve seen how it translates into their profession.  I applaud their honesty and scruples.  But I am not so foolish to let them become my voice in the media world.  I think of them as an honest foe.  Honorable and to be respected but not an ally.  I can see situations where some kind of support for them could produce positive results for our side.  But my formulation is, “The enemy of my enemy is my enemy’s enemy and no more than that.”

In the end, the only way we will make progress will be to make common cause with those who agree with us on a relatively broad set of principles and social norms.  It won’t require us to become Puritans.  But we will have to eject all sorts of extremists and nonconformists.  Luckily, we won’t have to burn anyone at the stake.  We can just banish them to Blue State America.  In fact, with something like thirty states to choose from I could see even the Red States presenting more than one vision of what a conservative republic should look like.  After all, Alabama isn’t Alaska and Utah isn’t West Virginia.  I won’t use the awful expression a big tent.  Let’s say there are a bunch of small tents that make up our federation.

So, I’ve made my peace with living under a smaller tent.  I’m a live and let live kind of guy as long as I don’t have to live by rules that I find abhorrent.  I’d rather see small communities living by rules that everyone there believes in.  How that ends up happening is dependent on how the macropolitical situation evolves.  Under the present system the only way we can do this is under a chartered community that regulates many communal functions like law enforcement, education, drug policy, even social activities.  But if the states obtain greater autonomy these things can be enshrined in the state constitutions and reinforced by the powers of the state.

So, you can’t say everyone.  Not everyone can live together.  To contradict Rodney King, “No, we can’t all just get along.”

But we can agree to disagree.  And that’s what we should do.  After the revolution we’ll pack Crazy Aunt Alice off to San Francisco and when the deadbeats stop receiving welfare checks they’ll be happy to take a bus trip to live in New York City (assuming there still is a New York after the cannibal reset).  And we’ll all be better off for it.