It's a Disgrace and You Should All Be Ashamed

Three minutes of common sense

Matt Walsh at his best.

When did mere common sense become so very radical?  And when do we ask ourselves:  Can I continue to be associated with these people?  I mean at any level.  As friends?  Colleagues?  Neighbors?  Family?  Really, any level:  Fellow citizens?

I don't know.  But I think we should all give it some thought.

I cannot even recognize people who want to mask children as...cognitively equivalent to schizophrenics.  Many are simply unthinking hysterics.  They may not be monsters (though some are), but clearly they should not be fully functioning members of society, much less running the place.

As for Walsh's closing comment, I assure you, they are not ashamed.  Just the opposite:  They are filled with self-righteousness.  They know better than you.  And you can be assured, they are better people than you.

I would simply note in passing that these are the least educated people in the history of western civilization.  They know absolutely nothing – because they were never taught anything.  They certainly never learned even rudimentary thinking skills.  And yes, that is a learned skill set.

Yet along with the lack of education and thinking skills, we find high levels of self-confidence and self-assurance in their beliefs.  They know they are right and are the smartest people to ever live.  How do they know this?  Well, they have been told this all of their lives...why would they doubt it?  They lack the humility to ponder and question.  The humility of wonder.

So we should not attempt to have a rational debate with these people.  They are not interested anyway.  As I see it, our only reasonable course is to separate ourselves from them.  Physically, intellectually, and certainly politically.  What that might look like, I have no idea.  I only know that it is becoming increasingly necessary.

Well maybe, I do have some ideas.  If you are in Chicago or Minneapolis or Seattle, I urge you to flee.  Yes, that is the correct term.  If your kids are in one of these crazy (and academically deficient) school systems, public or private, I urge you to move them.  If your boss and co-workers have gone woke, I urge you to quit – like her.  Go compete with them; they're not minding the store anyway.  And we all have choices about where to spend our money and who to do business with.

Ask yourself these questions:  Am I associating with people who share my values?  If not, is that okay?  Because sometimes it is.  But when does the chasm become so deep that something must be done about it?  When does the stench of their value system become intolerable?  And finally, can you tolerate the end results of their values?

Masked children, forced vaccinations, unnecessary lockdowns driven by wannabe tyrants, men in women's sports and in women's restrooms (with little girls...your little girls).  Censorship, blatant racism, rising antisemitism, and open borders.  Intersectional hierarchy.  A world divided into the oppressors and the oppressed; the guilty and their victims.  So-called educators more concerned with speculative ideas of gender fluidity and Critical Race Theory rather than, well, actual education.  Besides, correct math answers, proper grammar, and punctuality are evidence of oppression.  Burning cities, defunded police, increased crime and violence.  Real violence, not the silent kind.  Trump voters labeled as terrorists, and terrorists labeled as immigrants.  The personal agency denied black adults regarding voter IDs, and the spurious agency ascribed to ten-year-olds curious about their sexuality.  Sometimes without the knowledge of the parents.  If a child cannot consent to sex, how on earth can they consent to the start of a sex change?

And these are just some of the domestic social policy issues.  Add fiscal and foreign policies to this list and it's infinitely worse.  Runaway federal spending, inflation.  China policy?  Afghanistan exit plan?  Jesus.  Not to mention the unmerited elitism, smug self-righteousness, and sneering condescension that comes along with all of it.

The stench of it all is overwhelming and getting worse.

Understand, these are not good people with a different point-of-view.  I wish they were.  No, they are patently immoral power-seekers and their useful idiots.  They certainly view us as immoral.  Here I am reminded of the Charles Krauthammer truism:  The Right views the Left as stupid; but the Left views the Right as evil.  Well they are not merely stupid; they are evil.  Their goal is an undeserving elite caste ruling over compliant masses, and enriching themselves in the process.  It took me a long time to come to this understanding – Because it runs counter to everything we have been taught about America.  But look for yourself.  And ask yourself:  What is it they actually want?  Do you really think they actually care about what pronouns we use?  No, I think you will find only one answer:  Power.

Some of us can and will avail ourselves of these options easier than others.  That's okay; we all do what we can.  Recognizing the problem and coming to understand that something must be done, that is the first step.

But sooner or later, you will have to do something.

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Greenwald Breaks Free

System Update Moves to Rumble  

 

I mean, really, how long before Google takes down this website?  Blogger (Blogspot) is a Google platform.  They already shadow ban much of this site from Google search results.  So we all must find and support new platforms.  I don't like the fact that Rumble charges monthly fees – If you want to take on YouTube, you must provide an equally accessible alternative with comparable pricing.  Nevertheless, we must not allow Google's censorship to remain unchecked.

Here, Glenn Greenwald does an amazing job of taking apart The Washington Post and their perfidious reporting.  Watch to the end; it's worth every minute.  The Post tagline is:  Democracy Dies in Darkness.  Of course it should be:  We'll Keep You in the Dark.  Or maybe:  Orwellian Totalitarianism Requires Darkness.

Greenwald shines a light on the whole enterprise.

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You Will Comply

Why the vaccine push?

Here's a question for you little totalitarians:  If you are fully vaccinated against Covid, why do you care about the vaccination status of anyone else?

Answer:  You don't.

So why the push, the increasingly hard push, to insist and mandate that everyone get vaccinated?  To argue that this has anything to do with health is disingenuous in the extreme.  No, you are pushing this because you cannot stand the fact that a group of people have a different perspective.  And you want to punish and humiliate them for it.

You have no interest in making a rational argument to convince people that your position is correct.  Rather, you want everyone to bow to your superiority and follow your dictates in spite of their own beliefs:  You may not want to get the vaccine, but you will because I say so.  That is a demonstration of real power; North Korean-like power.  You must be so proud of yourselves.  And you are – smugly proud of your self-righteousness and your ability to inflict your will upon the disbelievers, the heretics, and the dissidents.

It is the same with mask wearing.  But this is so much worse because you are actually injecting foreign, untested substances into people.  With ever-increasing levels of force and coercion.  This is an unprecedented level of power in our society and in the American experience.  We have all heard the expression drunk with power.  But I don't think this is adequate.  It certainly does not capture the sheer glee and schadenfreude on the Left.  No, no, what we have here is masturbatory power writ large.

One straw argument seems to be – let me see if I can capture the logic – that the vaccines are not one hundred percent effective and therefore, the virus can still be transmitted even from or to the fully vaccinated.  Well okay, so there's no harm if I wait for more testing, or God-forbid, just FDA approval.

No, this is not about health, this is about simple compliance.  Even obedience.

You will comply.  Or you will be made to comply.

I have noticed that for the first time in my life, I have started using the word "evil."  And I do not use it sarcastically or flippantly.  This is evil.  And if you support it, you are evil.

You are evil.

I'll tell you something else I am going to do for the first time in my life.  I am going to buy a gun.

I am not worried about Covid.  But I am scared to death of you.

Update, 9 August 2021

The thinking of those on the Left is really difficult to understand.  At least for me.  But here, I think Glenn Reynolds comes pretty close:

Many people simultaneously need to feel that (1) they’re morally and intellectually superior; and (2) that they play an important role in the world.  Mask- and vaccine-shaming allow them to do so easily and with no sacrifice.  The price, of course, is making the world at large a nastier and worse place, while not at all advancing — and probably even setting back — the cause they’re allegedly in favor of.  But it’s not about making the world a better place, it’s about feeling good about themselves.

Update, 10 August 2021

Ben Shapiro doing his thing.

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Why Bother?

What's the point of talking to the other side?

Over the last decade, it has become increasingly clear to me that the divide between the Left and the Right is irreconcilable.  For a long time, it was arguable that sports could be our one, last shared experience.  But today, just look at how the two sides view sports.  It is like we are not watching the same spectacle.  We certainly view the purpose differently.  Even in this last arena, where we once were united, now as in all else, we are divided.

Sports joins a long list:

We do not view the same television or movies.

Or any of the same media.

We do not read the same books.

We do not read the same journalism.

We cannot agree on our history.

We do not eat the same food or in the same restaurants.

We do not shop in the same stores.

Increasingly, we do not share the same language.

We do not even share the same weather.

Today it is so bad, that we can each observe a situation or event, and yet we cannot even agree on the facts of what we have just witnessed.  We cannot agree on what is a man and what is a woman, and even whether or not these exist.

Some of us want equality of outcomes; some of us want equality of opportunity.  Some of us view racism as the defining feature of this country, past and present.  Obviously, they have not traveled much.  Others know that the United States leads the world in race relations.  The difference here is vast and insurmountable.

Some of us believe that silence is violence and that actual violence is free speech.  And some of us believe that silence is silence and violence is violence.  And the best cure for bad ideas and bad speech, is more speech and differing perspectives.  But the cultural revolutionaries insist that you parrot their every thought.  Aloud.  Or else.

And beyond these real differences, we look down on the choices, observations, and opinions, of the other side.  We do not share the same moral outlook.  We do not share the same values.  And let's face it, we question the morality of the other side.

I know this is true for me.  Take Covid for instance.  I view the way the Left has dealt with this "crisis" as immoral.  At the same time, I refuse to use made-up pronouns.  And of course, they view this as immoral.  Even violent.

I view my wealthy, very left-of-center former friends as immoral.  As they preach their lefty doctrine from their million-dollar homes.  Oh, and look down their noses at average, hard-working, very middle class, right-of-center types.  You know, the guy working in the heat to keep their air conditioner running.

I am not wild about the religious right, and all their similar moralizing.  They can be very cruel to people with a different conception of God.  And certainly to people with no god.  But they hold so little power and influence; their judgements matter little in our world.

I see no point in engaging in any discussion with the Left.  Individually or as a group.  If we cannot agree on basic facts, there is no longer a point of origin.  We can no longer hash things out in the public square, nor in the marketplace of ideas.  We go on our respective television networks and preach to our own choirs.  Engagement with the other side is not part of the equation.  Yes, this is bad, but evidently, in 2021, this is the way we, all of us, want it.

And if you do try to engage, say on an individual level, with your friends or family or colleagues, I think you will find that their starting point is so foreign, that you do not even recognize it.

Dinner conversations that at one time were interesting discussions of current affairs, now revolve, exclusively, around children and their antics (but not their academics, which of course have become politicized).  Although, if we are feeling a bit reckless, we may venture into lawn care.  Just avoid discussing fertilizer choices or your new gas-powered lawnmower.

But let's face it, we no longer have "mixed" dinner parties.  No, not any of the out-of-date definitions of "mixed."  Thankfully, we have put that nonsense behind us.  Although, this too, is a point of contention.  No I mean "mixed" as in ideologically diverse.  Politically diverse.  Can't be done today.

Today's dinner party is an echo chamber.

We are all worse off for it.  But the worst is yet to come.

There will be blood in the streets.

There already is.

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Pandemic Redefined

How should we define pandemic today?

pandemic (noun)

1.  Conventional

Let's go with Merriam-Webster:  

An outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area (such as multiple countries or continents) and typically affects a significant proportion of the population : a pandemic outbreak of a disease. 

Of course, this usage can also be an adjective.

New 2020 Definitions

2.  Crisis not to be wasted by pro-government types

Crisis which allows vast expansion of government and government-mandated regulation.

3.  Excuse used by public-sector employees

An excuse not to work:  Excuse to not do your job, and yet, still get paid.  Particularly for government and public-sector employees.  See teachers.

4.  Virtue signaling event

An ideal virtue signaling milieu for left-of-center types.  See zeitgeist.

5.  Mass hysteria

Exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement among a group of people.  Also see, zeitgeist.

In fact, I would argue that 2-5 have really come to define the zeitgeist of our time.  It is truly shameful.  Yet half of us are smugly proud of it and half of us have been and continue to be victimized by it.

Update  8 July 2021

Today I read that global Covid-related deaths have reached four million people.  Yeah, that's a lot of people.  But in a world with nearly eight billion people, the mortality rate of Covid hovers around:  0.0005.  That's one-twentieth of one percent.  And the alarmists...er, I mean the politicians and the so-called journalists, are happy to include comorbidities in their reporting.

I should think that the lunacy of shutting down the global economy is more than obvious.  You have to be willfully blind not to see it.  Or, have completely ulterior motives entirely.

In other words, if you are part of this nonsense, or if you merely support it, you are stupid or unthinking or just plain evil.

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American Psychosis

Let's see Paul Allen's card...

Well, virtue signaling is a psychosis.

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How to Solve Illegal Immigration: Tax Remittances

To address this problem seriously, jail employers and tax remittances

While everyone seems to agree that this is a problem, to my mind there is little or no national will to really address it.  So we can build border walls and otherwise attempt to police the inflow.  Or, we can look for smarter, more effective strategies.  When and if we ever decide to get serious about the problem, I have two proposals.

The first is easy:  Start jailing employers.  And make a lot of noise about it.  Keep it up until all employers of illegal immigrants constantly fear arrest.  I have zero sympathy for these people.  They all know exactly what they are doing, and often take advantage of the truly vulnerable immigrants.  I know employers who pay next to nothing and work the immigrants like slaves.  Maybe worse, I know an employer who has sex with all his immigrant female employees.  How can they say no?  And what does he care if they won't have sex with him, he simply won't hire them, and there's a line at the door.

That's easy enough if we have the will...and the decency.  My second proposal is a bit more complicated.

Most people believe that taxes are about raising revenue for government expenditure.  And they certainly can be.  But taxes can also be used to alter behavior.  For an example we are all familiar with:  If we tax cigarettes highly enough, many people will choose not to smoke, if for no other reason than they can no longer afford it.

I am not sure who said it, but I have always liked this line:  Remember, if you tax something, you will get less of it.  It may have been Milton Friedman, who had a genius for stating the obvious.

So let's first ask why people come to the United States today?  Do they come here for the same reason that people came through Ellis Island a century ago?  To build a new life and become Americans?  I am sure some do – But those folks mostly choose the legal immigration route.  Today most people coming to the United States illegally have other plans.  They come here, they work as long and as much as they can, then they go home.  That's the plan from the get go.  If you don't believe this is true, just strike up a conversation with any of them.

And while they are here, they send money home to their families.  This is the whole point – To send money home.

So I would like to propose a tax that will not raise any revenue.  Or not much anyway.  Believe me, I am not interested in giving the government more money from any source or from anyone.  Let me explain.

Proposal:  Tax remittances at 50%.

Let's use an example:

A person (US citizen, legal immigrant, illegal immigrant, anyone) walks into a Western Union, as typically found in most grocery and convenience stores, to send $1,000 overseas.  I don't care where, this would apply to all overseas countries.  Here's how it would work:  $500 would go overseas and $500 would go to the IRS.  Plus any transaction fee Western Union charges.

Now this $500 tax paid could be later used as a credit on income taxes.  So, the person gets it back in full.  And ultimately no tax is paid.

So why the rigamarole?  Well notice this:  In order to get the tax back, one does have to file income taxes.  So American citizens and legal immigrants end up not paying the Remittance Tax.  And rightfully so.  They've already paid income taxes on their money.  They can do whatever they like with it.

So who pays the Remittance Tax?  Anyone who does not file income taxes.  And who does not file income taxes?  Illegal immigrants.  Notice also:  The reason to set it up this way is so the clerks do not have to determine if the person is a taxpayer or not.  Everyone pays the Remittance Tax up front.  Makes it easy; I'm not trying to construct a mini-DMV here.

But of course, the illegals are not going to pay it either.  No one in his right mind would be willing to pay a 50% tax.  So remittances would stop.  But remember what  I said above, the whole reason they are here is to send money home.  If remittances are outrageously taxed, they are basically unavailable.  And if remittances are unavailable, there is no reason to be here.

Again, there would be no reason to be here.

Now is this a complete solution?  Certainly not.  I am a big believer in Thomas Sowell's injunction that there are no solutions, only tradeoffs.

People would still come here illegally; they would just look for other ways to get money home.  And the whole remittance process would be pushed underground.  Instead of going to the supermarket, illegal immigrants would find their way to the backroom of some shady convenience store, where some greasy guy and a couple of toughs would take his money, and for a fat fee, someone overseas would provide money to the family.  See Hawala.

Pricey.  And probably less than trustworthy.

So people would carry their own money and money for others.  No doubt, we'd see cash mules.  People would mail money.  I'm sure any number of ways would spring up to get money home.

So I am not suggesting that this proposal completely solves the problem.  But it does make it more inconvenient and more expensive to send money overseas (if you don't file income taxes).

Currently this much is certainly true:  No matter how easy or difficult it is for illegal immigrants to enter the US, sending money overseas is extremely easy and cheap for anyone.

It should not be.

Ultimately, a Remittance Tax would work like any other so-called sin tax.  If we tax remittances by illegal immigrants, we'll get less remittances by illegal immigrants.

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The Current State of Information Consumption

Today, everyone gathers their own collection of information sources.  We all choose where to get our information and what websites, writers, and other content-producers to follow and trust.  Someone should simply package this as an app with an attractive, user-friendly interface, and call it YourDaily or some such.  But it can't be like Apple News, with only Apple-approved sources.  It must be completely customizable by each user.

Note also that while I will sometimes continue to subscribe to journals like the ones listed, it is becoming much less important to do so.  For me, there must be multiple writers, that I want to read, at any one source for me to subscribe.  Why should I subscribe to The New York Times when I only want to read Bari Weiss.  Luckily, she recently solved that issue for me.

While this has been coming for some time, what we are witnessing in 2021 is the disintegration and fragmentation of the opinion journalism business.  If I want to read Bari Weiss, I no longer have to subscribe to The Times; if I want to read Glenn Greenwald, I no longer have to subscribe to The Intercept; if I want to read Andrew Sullivan, I no longer have to subscribe to The Atlantic.  I can subscribe to all of these writers directly.

This is a power shift away from publishers and editors to individual writers.  My thinking is that this will be healthy for the diversity of opinion available from high quality sources.  These writers, and others, no longer have to appease their bosses (or their newsrooms).  Sure, they are still answerable to their readers.  But they can each individually decide how that will affect their writing.

The internet continues to displace the gatekeepers.  And that is a good thing.  I certainly don't need the likes of Dean Baquet and A.G. Sulzberger and their ilk to tell me what to read.  Or importantly, what writers and opinions I must pay for.  I don't even need Apple to give me a list to choose from.  No, I'll make my own list, thank you very much.

Now for those of you who argue, but your information sources are not balanced, you are absolutely correct.  So I do tend to follow the opinion headlines at The Times daily.  For me, I'll read maybe one or two columns a week there – Or, until I hit my limit of free articles.  Because I refuse to pay for routine condescension and disdain.  I do the same with The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and several others.  Because yes, it is important to hear the other side.

On balance I would argue that I read more left-of-center material than your average, supposedly well-read, left-of-center bien-pensant reads right-of-center material.  Don't doubt me on this; just ask them.  They sneer at the idea.

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The Complete Hypocrisy of the Left

Every time I encounter some lefty-type preaching their sanctimonious drivel, I compliment them on some article of clothing they happen to be wearing.  They are always completely oblivious to the irony.

Better yet, tell them how much you like their Volvo.  Or their Subaru.  Or even their Prius.  They'll eat it up.

What?  You got a new Tesla?  It's lovely!

Yes comrades, you too, benefit from capitalism.  Otherwise, you'd be driving a Lada-like contraption with faulty brakes and dressing like a North Korean.

Now I'm sure the good folks at North Face are not socialists.  Rather, no doubt, they consider themselves to be responsible capitalists.  Right?  The problem is they are complete hypocrites.  As are almost all left-of-center types.

What?  You don't like three-dollar-a-gallon gasoline?  Well, you voted for it.

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The Religion of Government

Louis Rossmann's New York City Adventures Continue

"Government is simply the name we give to the things we choose to do together."

Does anyone really believe this?  Sadly yes.  But I don't think for a minute that Barney Frank believed it when he said it.  And Obama did not believe it when he quoted it.  But I know there are millions of useful idiots who buy into the idea.  That's why Frank and Obama and others use the line.

I know what Obama and Frank know, but dare not admit:  Government is simply the name we give to those people in charge.  It is simple.  It's about power.

What I do not understand is why and how so many people can be deluded by this idea.  But people are stupid and maybe it is just as simple as that.

This is not an argument against government.  I am not an anarchist.  I want infrastructure and security and justice as much as anyone.  It is not a question of government existence, it is rather a question of government scope.  This is the philosophical question underneath all political questions.

And when we see how bad government can be, both here in the US and abroad, it just boggles the mind how anyone could want more of it.

In this video, we get an update on Louis Rossmann's New York City adventures.  This is a follow up to a post from last month.  Here's a question for the government faithful:  If government is what we choose to do together, who chose for government to act this way?

No one.  So we must admit that government is more than that absurdly naive idea.

Are some governments better than others?  Absolutely yes.  Some are more efficient, responsible, and responsive than others.  So is there any indicator as to whether a government is good or bad?  Let's say we remove cultural differences.  For example, some cultures are more accepting of corruption than others, and surely this has an effect on good government.

So rather, let's look at the different governments in one country.  Ours.  And ask the question again:  Is there any indicator as to whether a government is good or bad?

Here's a proposition for you:  The more government you have, the less responsible it tends to be.

It is worth remembering that everything government does – everything – is at the point of a gun.  But let's not blame government for doing what government does.  Government is what government is.  Rather it is time to blame the people who vote for more and more of it.  It is truly a religion, and these are among the most religious people I know.

And as with any religious conviction, there's no place for reason.

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