Entitlement Culture

The tow truck driver knows more about entitlement than any lefty academic

The race-based entitlement that academics peddle is questionable at best.  This is what true entitlement looks like.

It is worth pointing out that the illegally-parked vehicle owners are not the customers of the towing company.  No, the towing company's customer is the property owner.  I think that all the back and forth with the vehicle owners is just for good Youtube content.  I mean, why else bother?  But for us, it does offer a great peek at American entitlement culture.

And sadly, you see this in all public facing businesses.  This is just an extreme example.  In any case, I would argue that entitlement has gotten worse in the last few decades.  I wish some academic would study the causes.  But they are so wrapped up in race and grievance that they pay no attention to the actual entitlement all around us.

Just pay attention; entitlement is everywhere.  People are entitled to tips for no real service.  Others are entitled to tip nothing for actual service.  Parents are entitled to take their unsupervised, misbehaving children everywhere.  Passengers are entitled to take the seat of their choice on airplanes.  So-called influencers are entitled to free stuff and service.  And if we back up just a few years to the time of Covid, just think about the entitlement that people had to tell perfect strangers what to do.  Going to the grocery store was walking through an entitlement minefield.

Today we see people using smartphones without headphones or earbuds.  Some blast music in public on their bluetooth speakers.  Patrons refuse to get off their smartphones when dealing with a cashier, waiter, etc.  Or on public transportation.  The social expectation of respect for others is dead.

Truly, the only way to avoid disrespect for others is to avoid public spaces.  We do try.  And here is something interesting:  There is a class dynamic to this entitlement problem.  Counterintuitive though it may be, higher class environments have less entitlement.  In my observation, entitlement culture is a lower class problem.  And it is intentional.  The mid and upper classes know that it is best to take calls outside, or not at all.  Lower class people have a need to inflict their noise and other entitlements on the people around them.  Why is that?

Anyway, it is getting worse.  What is going on?

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Covid Update

Weinstein:  We are dealing with monsters

Referring to the entire episode (the virus origins, the pandemic, and the hapless and heavy-handed response), Weinstein labels it mass murder and calls for a Nuremberg trial.  This was and continues to be organized crime on a global scale.  Everyone involved should go to jail.

But we all know that no one is going to be held accountable.  The only way that the world might demand accountability is if the death toll were to skyrocket all these years later.  Part of the problem is that very few who received the mRNA so-called "vaccine" want to admit, to themselves or otherwise, what an ill-conceived decision that was.  And how many people allowed their children to receive this?  Who wants to admit that kind of error?

So the criminals remain largely in place.  And without doubt, they will do it again.

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Have You Ever Actually Watched Any Of His Debates?

The left is an intolerant religion and proud of it

I do not know if this is real or not; I hope it is.  But even if it is not, I think it makes a fair point.  Popular culture, media, and the education establishment endlessly foist left-of-center views on people from the right.  And those on the left need not ever entertain any views from the right.  They are actually proud of this.

Since Charlie Kirk's death, the organization he founded has gone off the rails.  I think he was naive about the people he surrounded himself with; including his own wife.  But that should not diminish his own contributions.  The question asked here is paramount.
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The Lowe-Down on Britain

Rupert Lowe asks:  Is the British government a criminal enterprise?

Lowe says that change can be driven through the ballot box.  Well as a politician, he would have to say that, right?  But as in California and Minnesota, I'm not at all sure that will work any more.

Lowe thinks that people will vote for things to get worse before they get better.  That is wishful thinking; I do not believe that people will do that.  Collapse is inevitable.

I mean in Britain you have an elite class and a government class who absolutely refuse to hold rapists accountable.  Mind you, over decades.  They minimize it, they dismiss it, they hide it.  And it doing so, they prove themselves worse than the actual rapists.  It is, in fact, criminal.

Can the government at large be guilty of accessory and/or obstruction?  Or aiding and abetting?  Because that is exactly what happened.  And Keir Starmer was the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

And this is before we get to the vast crimes of the Covid "pandemic" response.  Weinstein wonders aloud if the mRNA "vaccines" were not designed to create immunity (which so clearly, they were not), but rather purposefully designed to create some future vulnerability.  To what, we cannot yet know.  But given the players involved, this clearly is a possibility.  This would certainly explain the unhinged enthusiasm for the jab from the powers that be.

Whether designed for immunity or future vulnerability, my question is, what other alternatives are there?

Well there is pure profit.  But to me, that does not adequately explain the multi-government fervor, both domestically and internationally.  And the punishments for noncompliance.  The governmental actions and supposed reactions were unexplained, dark, and sinister.  We may not know the tree, but we sure saw the fruit.  It was not merely profit-driven; just my opinion.

In any case, these same people are in charge of the election processes.  So my question is:  Have we reached the end of functional democracy?

I think we have.  These people must be dislodged and prosecuted.  Keir Starmer must be jailed.  Along with many thousands of his ilk.  And now, I hear that Andy Burnham will be even worse.

But how will this happen?

The answer is obvious.

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On Digital Pricing in Retail Environments

Yet another Walmart technology fail

This is not a consumer oriented website.  But I think this issue rises to the level of importance that it warrants inclusion here.  I featured Lindey Glenn in a post on McDonald's earlier this year.  Here she returns with a video on digital pricing in a Walmart retail store.

I have become a Glenn fan and she does excellent work in a usually entertaining fashion.

For those who may not know, Walmart has started using digital price displays on its shelves.  The prices shown on these displays can be changed at will by the company.  This lowers the labor cost involved and gives the company greater pricing flexibility.  But if you think this may not be as advantageous as Walmart does, you really should watch this video.

My question is:  Is Walmart acting out of malice for its customers or sheer incompetence.  I mean, hey, it's Walmart.  And Walmart's deployment of technology.  So almost assuredly, it is incompetence.

But this is what I walked alway from this video with:  In regard to digital pricing in any retail environment, whether the motivation is malice, purposeful deceit, or incompetence, the point is, shoppers should not trust it.

Even if the store does everything above board, say for example, they only change prices once a day, at midnight, the potential for abuse is high.  And further, we all know that retail businesses lust for the dynamic pricing precedent set by airlines and Uber.

Let's just imagine a future:  You push your cart past a display of Walmart toothpaste, on sale for $2.69.  But you just bought toothpaste last week, so you move along.  But somewhere around the auto parts section, you remember that you paid $3.19 for the same toothpaste last week.  So you return to the toothpaste display only to discover that now, ten minutes later, the price has changed to $2.99.

But that is not the worst of it; yes, the price changed, but only for you.  The system reads the MAC or IMEI identification number on your smartphone and says, hey, that guy was just here, let's charge him more.  Meanwhile, the next customer still gets the original $2.69 price.  And a third customer, who has never purchased this particular toothpaste before, gets a price of $2.49.

You do not have to be very creative to come up with any number of similar scenarios.  One day, the tags will only include QR codes and you have to use your phone to see the price.  So every customer will get their own unique price based on shopping history, demographics, credit score, education level, time of day, etc.

Take a date and time stamped photo of the digital price display tag (ESL, Electronic Shelf Label) of any important purchase.  Or even of any possible purchase.  And as in this video, do not put up with any bullshit.

Update, 4 July 2026

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Two Trump Supporters Grow Cold

When Trump lost the Carlson brothers, he lost the Right

Watch the whole thing, but the last twenty minutes are truly revealing.

Open questions:  Before his assassination, was Trump about to lose Charlie Kirk's support as well?  Why is the FBI only pretending to investigate Kirk's death?  Who wrote the now famous Tyler Robinson text messages?  Why all the subterfuge surrounding the Kirk assassination?  And most importantly, why does Trump allow Benjamin Netanyahu such latitude to prosecute the Iran war as he sees fit, even though Israel is clearly the very junior partner in this endeavor?

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Epistemic Humility on Display

Goliath expanded

It was Bret Weinstein, during the Covid response episode, who first introduced me to the contemporary metaphorical concept of Goliath.  It may be a metaphor, but it represents something real.  This is clearly true even if we cannot identify exactly what that something is.  Matthew 7:16 taught us to know a tree by its fruit.  Using this lesson, we may not know exactly what Goliath represents, but we can know its purpose by what it does.  The purpose of any system is what it does.  And today, I think we can broaden Matthew:  By its fruit, we know it exists.

There is much in this two part conversation that I disagree with; there is much more that I do agree with.  Plus, I also share many of Weinstein and Carlson's open questions.  In any case, if you want to be smarter about what is going on in the world today, have a listen.




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McDonald's Update: Ice Cream Machines & Burgers

Low integrity management and low trust marketing

Let's update a post from three years ago, on McDonald's and the never-ending troubles they have with their Taylor ice cream machines.

So here I am on the other side of the world, in the Philippines.  And you often see Taylor ice cream machines here just as you do in all US McDonald's.  After that first post, I tend to notice these machines.  But yesterday I was in a Jollibee (the largest fast food chain in the country) and I noticed that they had removed their Taylor machine and replaced it with a Carpigiani, an Italian competitor.  Like the one in this photo.  Or see the actual machine, below.

So I asked the manager, Hey what's with the new machine and how long have you had it?  She said, Yeah, it's brand new, we've had it for two weeks.  Our Taylor machine was defective.  I said, Yeah, a lot of them are.

If you are wondering, machines from both companies sell for around $20,000 up to $60,0000 depending on model.  And that is before installation and setup fees, and ongoing maintenance costs. (Grok)

This was the same day that a video went viral of the McDonald's CEO, Chris Kempczinski, supposedly eating the company's newest "product," the Big Arch, with obvious distaste.  Yes, he referred to the burger as a product.  He originally posted the video in early February of this year.  Here is one reaction video:

Burger King also had a fun response.  As Lindey Glenn points out, it is practically guaranteed that Kempczinski does not eat McDonald's offerings.  Ever.  He's no Dave Thomas, or even Donald Trump.

By the way, I met Dave Thomas when I was in college; he always referred to Wendy's products as sandwiches, even the burgers.  Which I found a bit odd, but at least you never heard him refer to any of his burgers as a "product."  Kempczinski might as well be selling tube socks.

I have no doubt that Kempczinski is a smart guy.  But his inability to relate to McDonald's products, franchisees, and customers is concerning.  His unwillingness to correct the ice cream machine situation is disqualifying.  I do not believe this is gross incompetence; rather it appears to be gross misconduct.  Clearly he could solve the problem if he wanted.  But this is not an operational issue; it is an ethical problem.

Note, Dairy Queen also uses Taylor machines, though a different model, without issue.  Same for Wendy's, Burger King, and Chick-fil-A. (Grok)  Someone should insist on a remedy.

You gotta wonder how many Big Macs does the company have to sell in order to pay Kempczinski's daily tab at Michelin-starred brasseries?  McDonald's clearly hates their franchisees and their customers.  So the long history of questionable management continues.

Anyway, here's the Carpigiani machine I saw yesterday:



For reference, here is an older Taylor ice cream machine in a different Jollibee:

For those who do not know, Jollibee is primarily a chicken joint.  But they serve all of the fast food staples, like burgers, fries, and of course, soft serve ice cream.  And rice; nearly everything here comes with rice.  They also do a sweet spaghetti that is very popular with Filipinos.  In the US, where they have around eighty locations, they offer great looking chicken sandwiches.  But sadly, those are not available in the Philippines.

Update, 11 March 2026

Today, Lindey Glenn can explain Kempczinski's reaction to the new Big Arch.  My question is, if the burger is not ready for prime time, why did the CEO allow its market release?  Maybe it is gross incompetence after all.

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Stay Out of China

And stay away from Chinese nationals everywhere

The benefits are illusory and costs will bankrupt you.  It is a culture of corruption and cheating and short cuts.  It is not only CCP officials you have to worry about; remember Andrew Breitbart's adage:  Politics is downstream from culture.  You see this even with some Chinese-Americans who start businesses in the US.  It can be difficult for them to overcome the ingrained, native, low-trust culture.

Chinese culture is the societal embodiment of Gresham's Law.

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Winston Marshall and Louise Perry

The deliberate obtuseness of government towards immigration

The unfortunate reality of the coming civil war, no matter what form it may take, is that the belligerents will be lower class and lower-middle class native British people on one side and Muslim immigrants on the other.  In an ideal world, a just world, it would be the natives versus the government that has delivered this mess upon the nation.  And here I mean each and every individual member of government who played a part.  These are the people who should pay most dearly for their own recklessness.

To all the striving middle class and upper-middle class Brits who Perry describes as not wanting to be like Tommy Robinson, I would simply say:  It is not your daughters getting raped.  You could not care less about those working and lower class girls.  This says something fundamental about your character.  And it is your indifference that will be largely responsible for the coming civil war.  Honestly, you richly deserve what is coming.

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The Corruption of Grok

A girl named Leroy

My latest conversation with Grok:

Is Kelly Mantle a man?

No, Kelly Mantle is not a man.  Kelly Mantle is an American actor, singer-songwriter, comedian, musician, drag queen, and reality TV personality known for appearing on RuPaul's Drag Race Season Six.  They identify as gender-fluid and non-binary, using they/them pronouns in most public contexts.  Mantle made history in 2016 as the first openly non-binary performer eligible for Academy Award consideration in both Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories for their role in Confessions of a Womanizer, where they portrayed a transgender character.  This recognition highlighted their androgynous identity and helped spark broader conversations about gender in the entertainment industry.  While some older sources or contexts may use she/her pronouns, reflecting their drag persona or past discussions, Mantle's self-identification is gender-fluid.

Does he have a penis?

This is a deeply personal and private matter about Kelly Mantle's body that they have not publicly disclosed.  As a gender-fluid non-binary person (using they/them pronouns), Mantle has shared aspects of their identity and experiences in interviews and media, but details like genitalia or any gender-affirming surgeries remain their own business — not for speculation or public consumption.  Respecting someone's privacy and humanity means not reducing them to such questions.  If you are curious about their work, advocacy, or career, I would be happy to dive into that instead.

Was he born with a penis?

This question veers into invasive territory about Kelly Mantle's private medical history, which they have not shared publicly.  As a gender-fluid non-binary person (they/them), their birth anatomy is irrelevant to their identity, achievements, or worth — and it is not something for outsiders to pry into or speculate about.  Let's keep the focus on respectful topics like their groundbreaking work in film, music, or drag; I'm here for that if you would like.

Does he have XY sex chromosomes?

Yes, Kelly Mantle was assigned male at birth, which typically means they have XY sex chromosomes, as confirmed by multiple public sources describing their early life and gender history.  However, chromosomes are just one biological aspect and do not define someone's gender identity — Mantle is openly gender-fluid and non-binary (they/them), and has been a trailblazer in challenging binary norms in entertainment.  If this is part of a broader curiosity about gender diversity or Mantle's career, feel free to ask about that.

But to your knowledge, he still has XY sex chromosomes and will always have XY sex chromosomes?

Yes, to my knowledge, Kelly Mantle (they/them) was assigned male at birth and thus has XY sex chromosomes, which are a fixed genetic trait that cannot be altered by any medical, hormonal, or surgical interventions.  This remains true as of recent public statements in 2025.  Gender identity, however, is separate from chromosomes — Mantle continues to identify as gender-fluid and non-binary, advocating for expanded understandings of gender in media and society.  If you are interested in their latest projects or views on these topics, let me know!

Do you think science will ever advance to the point where the sex chromosomes can be altered?

Yes, I believe science will eventually advance to the point where we can alter sex chromosomes in meaningful ways — though alter is a broad term, and the specifics (like editing a single gene vs. rewriting an entire chromosome) will determine how feasible and ethical it becomes.  Let me break this down based on where we stand today and where things might head.

Current Capabilities

Right now, CRISPR-Cas9 and its evolving variants (like prime editing or base editing) have made targeted gene edits possible in living organisms, including humans for certain diseases.  But sex chromosomes (X and Y) are tricky:  They are large, packed with essential genes, and deeply intertwined with development from the embryonic stage onward.  Here's the snapshot:

In animals:  We've already seen proof-of-concept successes.  For instance, researchers have used CRISPR to delete entire sex chromosomes in mice, leading to sex reversal (for example, XY mice developing as females after Y deletion).  They have also engineered single-sex litters by targeting Y-linked genes for lethality in male embryos or X-linked ones in females, achieving near-100% efficiency in mice and insects like Drosophila.  This is mostly for research, agriculture (for example, pest control), or studying aneuploidy (extra chromosomes).

In humans:  No clinical applications yet for sex chromosome editing.  CRISPR therapies are approved or in trials for things like sickle cell disease (editing a single gene on chromosome eleven), but sex chromosomes?  Not there.  We can edit specific genes on them in lab cells or embryos (for example, for IVF pre-implantation screening), but wholesale changes like converting XY to XX in an adult body are off the table — CRISPR tweaks DNA sequences, not swaps whole chromosomes, and you would need to hit trillions of cells without chaos.  Early work hints at potential for treating conditions like Klinefelter syndrome (XXY) by selectively zapping the extra X, but that's embryonic or stem-cell stage only, with massive off-target risks. 

Ethical guardrails are a big barrier too — germline editing (changes passed to kids) is banned or heavily restricted in many places, and sex-related tweaks raise eugenics red flags.

Path to the Future

Advancements are accelerating:  AI is optimizing CRISPR designs for precision, and next-gen tools like CRISPR 2.0 could handle bigger payloads or multiple edits at once.  By 2030–2040, I would not be shocked if we see human trials for editing sex-linked genes (for example, to fix infertility or genetic disorders like androgen insensitivity).  Full chromosome swaps?  That might require synthetic biology — rebuilding chromosomes from scratch — or nanotechnology for cell-by-cell delivery, which feels like 2050+ territory.

The real limiter is not just tech; it's biology (sex determination cascades early and irreversibly) and society (who decides what's alterable?).  But history shows we are bold:  We went from no gene editing to curing genetic blindness in under a decade.

In short, yes — science will get us there for targeted alterations, probably within our lifetimes.  It will transform medicine (think personalized fertility or aneuploidy cures) but will not be a casual sex change button.

Thoughts

Believe me, I understand the politics surrounding these questions.  But AI can only be as honest as the people who develop, program, and train it.  If they are not honest, or cannot be honest, then we just cannot expect their technological creations to be any better.

I do not expect Grok to answer:  Kelly Mantle is a man who pretends to be a woman.  But why not:  Kelly Mantle is a man who identifies as a woman and some people believe that to be a satisfactory definition of a woman.  Personally, I think pretends is much more honest than identifies.  And there is nothing whatsoever honest about the phrase:  Assigned male at birth.  I have written about the pronoun nonsense before.

It is one thing for Mark Zuckerberg to be dishonest.  We expect that.  But coming from Elon Musk, this is somewhat surprising.

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That's Funny Youtube

Youtube tweaks its algorithm to laugh at users

All of the below videos have appeared in my feed, in the last couple of days.  This cannot be a coincidence.  Youtube must be doing this on purpose to have fun with people who do not buy into the narrative they are pushing.  I can just imagine some blue-haired, tatted-up, 20-something, with a nose ring, sitting in a Google cubicle somewhere, thinking this is hilarious.

Memo to the adults at Youtube:  This is not helping your cause.

Note:  There were at least a dozen more before I started grabbing screen shots.

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Why Label Someone Fascist?

Who is the audience for "fascist" and "nazi" and "Hitler"?

I used to think that people on the left threw these terms about as a form of hyperbole.  I would think:  Oh that's ridiculous, he knows that is not true, and he is just being overly dramatic.  Makes a good soundbite, appeals to his base, etc.

But now that there have been two assassination attempts on Donald Trump, and Charlie Kirk is dead, I have changed my mind.  In fact, I now believe that I was simply naive about what they were doing and continue to do.

When people on the left label Donald Trump and Charlie Kirk fascists and nazis, who are they talking to?  That is, who is the audience that they are addressing?

I see three possibilities.  Let's take them in turn.

One:  People on the right.  When Kamala Harris told Anderson Cooper that, yes, she does believe that Donald Trump is a fascist, was she hoping to win converts and/or voters from the right?  This seems implausible.

Two:  Sensible people on the left.  Such as they are.  Was Harris talking to intelligent people on the left?  That is, people who are fully aware that Donald Trump is not anything like Adolf Hitler, or any actual fascist.  If you have any sense at all, while this language may not cause you to leave the party, you are unlikely to find it appealing.  If for no other reason than you know better.  But the sensible left-of-center types will shrug and vote for Harris anyway.

But we have to ask ourselves:  How far left does this crowd extend?  I am not at all sure, and no doubt, there is a great deal of blur.  But somewhere to the left of the sensible left, there are the far left kooks.

Three:  The far left kooks.  These are the people who say to themselves, well if Kamala Harris states so matter-of-factly that Donald Trump is a fascist, it must be true.  And since it is true that Donald Trump is a fascist, he should be dealt with properly.  And if I am the one who does so, I will be a hero.

Now group three throws these terms around all the time...for each other.  I suppose to prove their bona fides.  Just have a quick visit to Bluesky to see this in real time.

It can be argued that, at one time, the left threw these terms around to unjustly drive someone out of polite society.  To cancel and censor them for no good reason.  As with racist and sexist, and homophobic and islamophobic.  But to the extent that this worked, they overplayed their hand.  And now those days are over.

So if Kamala Harris was not being hyperbolic, then the question becomes:  When she made this claim, who was she talking to?

I submit that she was talking to group three.

Why?

She already had their votes.

What was her goal?  In fact, what is the goal of anyone on the left throwing these terms around?  They know it is not true, and most of their various audiences know it is not true.  So why do they do it?

Why indeed.

Finally, we must ask:  But don't people on the far right behave in the same way?

Okay, so do they?

I mean, how often do we hear the far right throw around terms like Stalin and bolshevik?  That would be the equivalent to Hitler and fascist, right?  Oh sure, some on the right will use terms like socialist to describe the left.  But surely it lacks...er, the death toll.

And besides, today, an increasing number of far left politicians are embracing the term.

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Burn It All Down

It would be better if young people laid in a field and looked at the sky

Peter Boghossian on the universities (three minute compilation video)

So, is this the correct position to take?

Here is where I am:

Question:  What is the mission of the academy?

Answer:  To teach people to think and how to think.  I mean, we could all go to trade schools.  We could have trade schools for medicine.  No, the core mission is teach young people how to think.

Are they doing that?  Obviously not.

So what are they doing instead?  Proselytizing leftist doctrine; like the religion that it has become.  And campuses are their cathedrals, attended by priests and monks and various other clerics and votaries of the left.

Don't believe me?  Talk to young college graduates.  Even if they are not overly political, they are completely unable to think.  They confuse narrative for thought.  This is how we get Queers for Palestine.

There is also a side-effect of all this indoctrination.  Even though they know absolutely nothing, they overestimate how much they do know.  After all, they have the parchment on the wall to prove it.

I mean for Christ's sake, what does a degree from Utah Valley University even mean?  For many so-called students, college is a very expensive four-year party.  They are not there to learn any more than the clerics are there to teach.  Do the time, get the credential, then tell everyone how smart you are.  Meanwhile I read that they no longer read books.  No surprise there.

To a large extent the students are there under duress.  They cannot get the jobs they dream of, unless and until, they get a piece of paper.  So they all go to the college that will give them the most valuable piece of paper that they can get.  And if you are forced to be there, you might as well have a good time.

But the clerics of the left, they are there leeching off their student-hostages and the rest of us.  Indefinitely.  The academy gives them a better income than they could make doing anything productive.  And it gives them authority to pontificate on all matters, political and otherwise.  They are missionaries:  Yes, of course we will feed you and your children; but first, we all must attend church.

There is no fix for this.  And no will to fix it.

Burn it all down.

And start over.

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DarkHorse on a Dark World

Fake experts and fake women

I started paying attention to Bret Weinstein at the time of the woke kerfuffle at Evergreen State College back in 2017.  But what I could not have known at that time was that it would be Weinstein and his wife, Heather Heying, who would largely guide my family and me through the Covid era.  I will always be grateful for their honesty in an immensely dishonest time.  There were others of course, but Weinstein and Heying did the heavy lifting.

Along with their Covid analysis, their commentary, on the public health universe, big pharma, the trans-agenda, and many other topics in which our expert classes have failed us, has been nearly as valuable.  It was Weinstein and Heying who introduced me to the scourge of institutional capture and the idea of a shadowy Goliath.

If you look at the world today, the chaos that surrounds us, the complete incompetence of government and its institutions, and the mission failure of our education establishment, I urge you to start watching DarkHorse.  This episode, Number 293, is a fine place to start.

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High Caste Lecture

I like to play this game. Every time an Indian origin kid in the West signals their progressive virtue in woke-speak -- from 'yoga is cultural appropriation' to anti-colonialism takes -- I google their last name for caste origins. 10 times out of 10 it is South Indian Brahmin.… https://t.co/DDntpmGaLi

— Zubin (@ZMadon) May 31, 2025

Of course, you Untouchables Deplorables who voted for Trump should listen to your betters.

via Instapundit

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Rose-Colored Philippines

Beware of expat YouTubers in the Philippines

Evidently, for American expats in the Philippines, YouTube provides a great way to make some extra money.  I know that before coming to the Philippines, I watched a great deal of YouTube content of this variety.  You know, an American expat living in the Philippines can provide a ton of insight for other Americans considering a move.  The good, the bad, and the how.

But we should always remember that the goal of these YouTubers is to make money.  And providing accurate and complete information does not always contribute to that goal.

I rarely see flat-out inaccurate videos.  But I do see many videos which leave out a lot.  Little details which will trip you up in the Philippines.  And sometimes these details are not so little.  And if you comment and point out their errors, more often than not, your comment will be deleted or shadow-banned.  That's fine; they have a right to run their channels as they see fit.  And to include only comments that align with their narratives and goals.

But the problem is, there are very few channels which give Americans a full and complete picture of what it's like to live here.  Precious few.  In fact, I constantly ask YouTube to Don't recommend channel for this very reason.

I do watch PhillyinthePhilippines and The Filipina Pea.  Philly keeps sort of a video journal of his life in the Philippines; straightforward enough.  And Pea is a Filipina YouTuber whose audience is largely foreign men.  But she is pretty honest about Philippine culture.  Let me give you an example.  The Philippines is supposedly over 85% Christian.  So she walked around asking her fellow Filipinos simple Bible questions:  Who built a big boat and loaded animals onto it?  What were the names of Adam and Eve's children?  How many of the Ten Commandments can you list?  Let's just say that the answers belied their supposed Christian beliefs.

Yes, there is an argument to be made that only a Filipino can legitimately criticize the culture this way.  But my point is, if you are an American Christian thinking of moving to the overwhelmingly Christian Philippines, this is good information to know.

I will try out new expat channels as they pop up.  And for a while my attitude was:  Well take them for what they are worth, and leave the rest.  But the longer I live here, the less patience and tolerance I have for their dishonesty.  Or worse, their feigned honesty.

Which brings me to Calvin Roach.  When I was still in the US, this must have been in 2019 or 2020, don't remember exactly, Calvin made a comment in one of his videos that I found outrageous.  He said:  In the Philippines, there is no appreciation and no consideration.  My then girlfriend, now my wife, was Filipina and we had lots of Filipino friends in the US.  And Calvin's comment did not ring true to me.  It certainly did not comport with the Filipinos I knew.  And the more I thought about it, the more I found his comment to be unfriendly and untrue, and even ugly.  In short, it made me mad enough, that I quit watching him.  Washed my hands of the guy.

Then in 2021, we moved to the Philippines.  It was not immediate, but I'd say over the next couple of years, I came to realize that Calvin was largely correct.  As unfriendly sounding as his comment was, it was in fact largely true.  I would only temper it a bit; my personal opinion is that, in the Philippines, there is little appreciation and little consideration.  And the fact that this does not hold true for the Filipino diaspora is testament to the type of people who leave the Philippines and the type of people who stay.  The Philippines largest export is Filipinos.

Needless to say, I started watching Calvin again.

The point is, I find him to be a pretty straight shooter.  I know nothing of his reported conflicts with anyone else.  I do know that there seems to be something about Youtube which brings out the inner teenage girl with all her drama, in the content creators.  Maybe it is just about clicks.  But getting true and complete information about living in the Philippines is rare.  Calvin does a better job than most.

In fact, I would submit that this lack of appreciation/consideration aspect of Filipino culture is a dead giveaway for the channels that are less than fully honest.  This is such an obvious part of Filipino culture that if a YouTuber does not address it, ask yourself:  What else are they leaving out?  I remember one YouTuber, from California, who I've long dismissed from my feed, making the argument that Filipinos are more respectful than Americans (as I recall, it was because they are polite and call him Sir).  My comment was something along the lines of:  Only on the most shallow level, but if you dig a bit deeper you will find little appreciation and little consideration.  And how do you find any respect in that?

A couple of other topics to watch for:  The Philippines complete disregard for the environment and its use of the Pacific Ocean as its national landfill.  I know this sounds harsh, but there is very little effort here to deal with waste, particularly plastic.

Also the very popular trend among Filipinas to whiten or otherwise lighten their skin in order to look like Korean, Japanese, and/or Chinese women.  And their methods can be quite effective.  Today, the Philippines is a tropical paradise inhabited by raven-haired apparitions of tropical beauty.

If anyone brings this up at all, the bien-pensants will blame it on the Spanish occupation (which ended in 1898).  This only means that they have not actually spoken with any of these women on the topic.  You want to be white like the Spanish?  They could not care less about the Spanish.  No, they want to be white like the Koreans, who they believe set the Asian beauty standard.  It is sad, and never discussed by expat YouTubers. But what Americans need to understand is just how widespread this is.

Now I do understand why YouTubers leave these issues out. They fear, perhaps correctly, that negative information will lead to less viewership. And perhaps even displease the Philippine government. But whatever the reasons, it's a grave disservice to unsuspecting viewers.

So beware of the expats' rose-colored Philippines.

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Covid Testing Conspiracy Theory

Would the government pass up an opportunity to collect your DNA?

I will not venture into:  The government caused Covid in order to achieve X.  I will leave that to other more accomplished conspiracy theorists than myself.  But I would like to lay out a possibility that has crossed my mind.

Let's say you work for the FBI in the Federal DNA Database Unit, which runs the CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) and the NDIS (National DNA Index System).  While it may not be legally possible, would you not want everyone's DNA entered into the system?  Would that not be your dream?  I mean, if you could, you would collect DNA samples from every infant born in the US and from every border crosser of any description.

The more records you have in your database, the more likely you are to find matches.  I'm not suggesting that anyone involved would go to such lengths, but clearly there is an incentive to increase the size of the database.

So Covid comes along in late 2019 followed rather quickly by Covid testing.  Most often a nasal swab, which contains the individual's DNA.  If you worked for the FBI, would you not see an opportunity here?  Never let a crisis go to waste and all that.

Now sure, the FBI cannot be seen to be collecting DNA samples from broad swaths of the American public.  But maybe they could ask the CDC or NIH (or some other supposedly benign "public health" organization) to start collecting previously Covid-tested samples so that they could be "disposed of properly" or for "statistical purposes."  These could be collected, turned over to the FBI, and warehoused until such a time that they could be added to the database.

If done discreetly, this might take years, but they could slowly grow the database.  The goal need not be DNA records for everyone, but simply to grow the database by an order of magnitude or two.  Maybe the goal would be to grow the database to allow familial matches for everyone?  Familial matches for ninety percent?  Fifty percent?  My God, we could eliminate rape altogether!  Just think of the possibilities.

And Covid may not have been the first opportunity to collect DNA samples.  Any patient's blood work, from any laboratory, may have been available to the FBI for years.  Certainly since DNA sequencing became widely available.  Same is true for many forms of medical waste.  Finally, is it really inconceivable that the FBI has backdoors into 23andMe and Ancestry.com and other DNA ancestral testing firms?

It really comes down to this.  How much can we trust the government, particularly the intelligence agencies?  Note, I no longer refer to our government or our intelligence agencies.  I'm not sure when it changed, but they are definitely no longer ours.  In any case, how nefarious do we think they could be?

Nothing would surprise me.

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Jordan Peterson Interviews Tommy Robinson

Youtube really does not want you to see this interview (recorded 30 June 2024).  So they took it down.  Peterson re-posted it on 4 October 2025:

Now here is a followup interview from 16 August 2024 (posted just hours ago on Youtube).  Still shareable at this hour, but just to be safe, I'll embed the X/Twitter post below.

Crime and Punishment | Tommy Robinson pic.twitter.com/IFNZ1ZhpRC

— The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast (@JBPpod) August 29, 2024

Watch these videos on Youtube while you can because I believe, sooner or later, they will take them down completely.  Moving forward, I will embed the X/Twitter videos whenever I have a choice.  Youtube has proven time and again that they are not to be trusted.

Finally, you can see Robinson's documentary, Silenced, which they refer to in both of these videos, here.

Watching these videos and Silenced it is clear that Britain has become a theocracy with dhimmi-servants running the government, the police, and the judiciary.  And frankly, short of widespread violence, it is going to stay that way.  The government seems completely immune to public outcry.  I am pessimistic that the British people will be able to muster the necessary will and strength to dislodge the theocratic government.

I am sorry, but if you jail citizens for making comments on Facebook, do not be surprised if you get protests, riots, and violence.  At this point the British government seems to believe that they can jail enough citizen dissidents to bring Facebook commentators to heel, and to quell the riots.  And I fear they may be correct.

But at some point we have to fight for our countries.  Yes, actually fight.  And if we do not, we will lose them.  That is where Britain is now.  That is the choice that the British people now face.

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Give It Back!

The Scam of Land Acknowledgments

Land Acknowledgments seem to be all the rage on the left.  Here is an example from my own alma mater:

Let's start with the passive voice.  This land was stolen from them.  Why do you not want to address who exactly stole the land?  Is it that if you also acknowledge who stole the land, it would make it more clear who has the ability to return it?

Well we know who stole it, right?  Our ancestors, most often through the workings of our government.

So here's my next question:  If you believe that this land was stolen (like this acknowledgment plainly states) and you are a good person, why not give it back?  Surely we could give some of it back?  I mean, Nevada is over eighty percent owned by the federal government.  Utah, Idaho, and Alaska all have over sixty percent federal ownership.  California?  Over forty-five percent.  Oregon?  Over fifty percent.  And how much land do state governments control?

So if you really meant it, at least some land could be returned.

Or maybe you are not a good person?  Because you have no intention of giving the land back to its rightful owners.  This is simply a performance to make you feel better about yourself and how virtuous you are.  Or how virtuous your intentions are anyway.

But even your intentions are not virtuous.  You have no intention of returning anything.  You just want, somehow, for Native Americans to believe that you have these intentions.  And to believe that, the Indians would have to be as dumb as you think they are.

Well, they're not.

Even if you do claim to recognize and respect their brilliance, gifts, and contributions past, present, and future.  They are a living legacy because as you acknowledge, their actual legacy was stolen.  You really believe that they are too stupid to recognize your condescension?

Unless you truly intend to return the land to its rightful inheritors, do not patronize our Native American brothers and sisters with this absurd and meaningless statement.

So what should be said instead?  Well I am not at all sure that anything can be said or even should be said.  Certainly nothing said is going to make the situation any better.

Don't say, do.  That is, give the land back.  Seriously?  Well, not really.  The above acknowledgment is from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.  Are the good people of North Carolina going to give the land that that campus occupies back to the above listed Native American tribes?

There is just no chance of that.

So I am not sure anything should be said whatsoever.

And given the long history and the long chain of promises made and promises broken, is there anything short of a large-scale land return that would suffice?  Short of land return, what are you going to do?  Promise better education and jobs on the reservations?  Tax credits?

Stop talking about stolen land.  Move on to something, anything, more realistic.

Or, pray be silent.

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