Saturday Learning Series - What you don't know about stoicism

Stoicism is probably not what you think it is.  It's actually an interesting philosophy to live by and definitely interesting.   Here are a few videos on it that explain it and it's possible application today.

Do Not Use Google, try Duck Duck Go instead

Despite Google's recently repeated insistence that they do not have a bias (they do), that they do not manipulate search results (they do - their business model is based on ranking results - there is an algorithm built into the ranking, which automatically will favor one site over another.  Not sharing that algorithm obscures whether they are playing fairly) and that they do not track you unless they are given permission (they do), you are not anchored to the search engine.  There are many options.

Duck Duck Go, despite the awful name, is a great alternative\, especially for conservatives.

Friday Musical Interlude - Christmas music

More Christmas music for the month of December. This time some Christmas pop.

Well, Theresa May survived

British Prime Minister Theresa May has just survived a no-confidence vote among conservatives to remain Prime Minister.  This despite delivering such a weak-tea effete deal for Great Britain that those who voted to exit the European Union are probably having second thoughts now.

I'm not sure she will survive politically though, and she seems to realize that too.

Sunday verse

Friday Musical Interlude - Christmas Music

It's December.  How about some Rush Limbaugh inspired Christmas music? Mannheim Steamroller - Christmas (full album).

Also while you weren't looking: trying to foil Brexit

British establishment is trying to sign a deal so bad for Britain to leave the European Union, that it destroys the Brexit movement.  Why else would this deal, destined to fail in parliament, be proposed for ratification?  OMG it's so bad:

I’ve said some hard things on this page about the 45th president, but credit where it’s due: He’d never have come back with the miserable deal that Prime Minister Theresa May is trying to sell to an incredulous British public. The famous dealmaker saw right away what had happened. “It sounds like a good deal — for the European Union,” he told reporters as details emerged.

For once, Donald Trump was guilty of understatement. This is the sort of deal that a country signs when it has lost a war. Under its terms, Britain will remain subject to all the costs and obligations of EU membership, but will give up its vote, its voice and its veto. In Brussels, they crow that the sole change, for at least two and probably four years, will be that the U.K. loses its Commissioner, its Members of the European Parliament and its vote when the EU makes decisions. If the remaining 27 members now pass a measure deliberately designed to harm British interests — to shift business from London to Frankfurt, say — the U.K. will have to apply it.

And at the end of that “implementation period”? The original idea, as the name “implementation period” suggests, was that the U.K. and the EU would use it implement a comprehensive trade relationship. In practice, they haven’t begun work on such a relationship, and the EU now has no incentive even to start.

Why? Because of the so-called “Northern Ireland backstop.” Unbelievably, British negotiators have agreed that they will remain within the EU’s tariff walls, and contract out their trade policy to Brussels, unless and until the EU side is satisfied that there don’t need to be physical checks at the Irish border.

The thing is, this is not going to turn out to be Brexit supporters turning on the idea. This deal is so blatantly bad for Great Britain, that it is actually the British establishment shooting itself in the foot. Nobody is buying that this is a good deal. No one is falling for it. So to put this to a vote, not only will it fail, it might actually topple the conservative majority in parliament. That's a bad thing. But with Theresa May on board with this deal, perhaps the party really needs a shake-up and a return to a Thatcher-like leader, just as the Republican establishment in America is undergoing a shake-up.

While you weren't looking (or being told) France caves

Remember that Paris Agreement on climate change that president Trump withdrew from on behalf of the United States?  Turns out people in France are not so keen on the imposition of more taxes on gasoline either.  As a result France's leader Macron has backed down, for 6 now at least:

Populism it turns out, is not strictly an American phenomenon.

Sunday verse

Saturday Learning Series - Fake News Exposed (indisputably and for real)

Taking a break this week from the recent Saturday Learning Series focus on geography to take a look at two recent scientific items in the news that are in all truth, fake news and clickbait.

Anton Petrov's "What Da Math" looks at these two instances of hyperbole and brilliantly puts some truth to them. Firstly let's look at the giant asteroid expected to destroy life on earth in 2023.

Here's the other fake science news being exposed. A gamma ray burst from Apep.

When you watch the media, always, ALWAYS question what they tell you.  They might be right, but there are facts, there are distortions, there are opinions and there is often hyperbole.  It's up to you to sift through what they say and discern for yourself what part is fact.  That's because they do not limit themselves to to facts, more and more they are about the rest of that list.  Fake news is a strong term but it is a necessary term as so much of what the media shares is bias-filled, clickbait focused tripe.

Ask yourself:  If the media can lie about our imminent doom, why can't they do it for immigration, politics and climate change (formerly known as global warming)?

Friday Musical Interlude - Swingin'

I have been too busy the last couple of weeks to keep up with posting but I hope to be back to regular posting again soon.  Meanwhile here's John Anderson's 1982 country hit, Swingin'.

Sunday verse

Saturday Learning Series - Geography (Laos)

The country of Laos.


And the flag:

Friday Musical Interlude - Dirty Work

Steely Dan's 1972 hit, Dirty Work.

Happy Thanksgiving

Prison reform. But why?

This via CNBC:

The new bipartisan criminal justice reform bill backed by President Donald Trump could reduce thousands of sentences and save the federal government millions of dollars in incarceration costs.

Yet even with broad support and modest goals — it would affect only federal prisoners, a tiny slice of the nation's overall prison population — the bill known as the First Step Act is at risk of stalling in Congress.

At an event at the White House last week, Trump announced his intention to sign the bill, which his daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, have both publicly endorsed and pushed forward in the administration.

"I'll be waiting with my pen," said the president, who noted that the bill would reverse some federal policies that "disproportionately affected the African-American community."

The goal is to pass it before a divided Congress takes office in January. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Trump last week that this is unlikely due to time constraints, according to a report by The New York Times.

What?  The Republicans have a lame duck congress for a few more weeks and a chance to finish off a number of legislative items before congress is turned over to Democrat control.  How about a wall? How about that second tax cut? How about anything else? Why prison reform?

I think I know. It's possible that the president sees this as a low hanging fruit item.  Think of what passing it would mean for the president;  because it disproportionately affects African Americans, it can only help his approval rating in that community.  

In addition he can say that he has always been willing to work with Democrats on common ground items.  That serves two purposes, it can deflect from claims he is a danger to democracy or it can serve as a counter-punch to all the threats of impeachment if they do get it signed; the president can point out that Democrats are willing to work with him at certain times and therefore he can not be this horrible evil (or that Democrats are just as evil).  That is all assuming the president expects it to get stalled prior to the new congress and gets taken up as soon as the house changes hands.

And maybe, it's just bait.  

Sunday verse - the book of Genesis

From the Bible Project, an explainer on the book of Genesis.

Saturday Learning Series - The White House

A walk through of the White House?  Cool.

Friday Musical Interlude - 1 hour of "president Trump dancing"

Just because.

Conservative to distraction

Think the DemoNcrats (not a typo) are counting on your fatigue, distraction and short attention span to lie, cheat and steal their way to continued power?

Think again.  And again.  Think again, this time think really hard.

Liberals/progressives/Democrats/socialists/communists think that the truth will be forgotten, and the lies will take hold because they repeat things often enough and you are not focused.  And sadly, the infection is inexplicably spreading. 

Meanwhile these progressive liberals are patting themselves on the back because they are better than you, in every single way.

Now is no time to falter.

Cheat fatigue and the Republican soul.

A long time ago (2008), in a state far, far away (Minnesota), Al Fraken was able to steal an election.   Long before that, Democrats tried to steal a presidency. More than once. Now they are trying to steal the governorship in Florida.  They just got away with it in Arizona too.

Wait, go back - wasn't that the same scandal-ridden Broward county election official in 2000 who is trying to steal a win for a socialist Democrat today?  Yep.

The cheating is ridiculous, and Democrats count on a number of things to happen to get away with this sort of crap. (1) people won't notice - it's a week out from the election, the top level winners are set, so these less-national races might get overlooked (2) they have a compliant media to spin the "every vote count" narrative, which usually means - count the votes with the extra ballots we've been stuffing in since we realized we lost (and don't exclude the ballots we stuffed in before that either). (3) fatigue.

That last one is important.  Democrats are relentless in their pursuit of power and they hope that those who want to drain the swamp just run out of their willingness to fight back in the face of absolute corruption - cheat fatigue.

I get that, I'm exhausted at this point trying to combat Democrat malfeasance.  It's an endless deluge of toxic filth and those of us who fight back feel like we are trying to fight a tsunami.  It cannot be done alone, and Republicans, Tea Party groups and various conservative Think Tanks are at best only marginally aligned on message, and effort.

The Republican soul is one of liberty and individuality, not massive organized collaborative efforts.  There is strength and weakness in that, and it may be time to make a change in how we organize and fight the anarchy and bedlam of massive progressive efforts designed to wear us down like individuals rocks in an ocean tide.

Sunday verse

Because it's Veteran's Day, a Bible verse about liberty.

Veteran's Day

Remember and honor those who served in the cause of liberty.

Saturday Learning Series - Geography (Kyrgyzstan)

More geography, this time Kyrgyzstan.


And the flag:

Friday Musical Interlude - Tom Petty & Stevie Nicks

Tom Petty's duet with Stevie Nicks, Insider from 1981.

How to handle Jim Acosta

CNN's Jim Acosta wants to own presidential press conferences. Here today after the election, he's clearly rude, hostile and highly opinionated, not journalistic. And even a little violent towards the woman who tries to pass the microphone to the next questioner.

How does "hundreds of miles away" equate to "that's not an invasion"?  There's no therefore that can make that true.  That's not my main point. 

If president Trump wants to stop Acosta from being an ass, there's an easy way to do it.  Of course the President doesn't really need stop Acosta, because he makes the perfect buffoon of a foil for the president.  Here's how you do it.

The president should at his next news conference go to Jim Acosta first.  Then when Acosta tries to ask more than one question, the president should clear the room and dedicate the press conference to just Acosta.  And if he tries it again, do it again.  And again.  Do it as often as necessary to make the rest of the media resent Acosta, and by proxy CNN.

Tell the room that Acosta wants to monopolize the briefing and conference and that he's being accommodated. Turn the media on itself, then stand back and watch the knives come out for each other. Get popcorn, be seated and enjoy.

Election results fallout - not my congress

Not all of the results of the 2018 midterms are in but there are some takeaways already.

The Democrats appear to have taken Congress, this is going to result in a blizzard of subpoenas on the president and absolute gridlock on legislation.  That's because Republicans expanded their lead in the Senate.

Some takeaways from that:

-Donald Trump is not the anti-Christ, he cannot induce winning at will. Yes, he wins a lot, but just like president Obama, not all the time, and his winning is not transferable.  Perhaps his winning is a little bit transferable, and definitely more transferable, but not as much as he'd like.  He is not infallible in winning elections.

-The electorate has become more polarized in large swaths of the country - Red districts becoming more red, and blue districts becoming more blue.

-2020 seems less safe today for the president than it did two weeks ago. The president and Republicans will have to continue to deliver on the economy and convince voters gridlock is Democrats fault as they have no real agenda.

-The president is now going to be tested. Can he get a wall built?  Can he get more tax cuts? Can he deal with Democrats in congress?  President Trump was really let down by Republicans during his first two years it is going to be felt during the next two years because nothing will get done, except for more Russia investigation.

-Republicans retain a majority of governorships but it has been reduced.  This also has implications for 2020, the census and future redistricting

-The polls and projections were, at the end, a lot less wrong than in 2016. Conservatives would do well to not disregard the polling implications completely as we have for the last two years.

-This is not the end of the world for conservatives.  Nevertheless, wouldn't it not feel great to march in the streets shouting  "NOT MY CONGRESS!" ? Not that we will, we're more mature than that.

Before you vote, realize this.

Sunday verse

Joel 2:18-20.

Midterms Matter: Governor Roundup, don't forget

In state governorships and statehouses, this election cycle is extremely critical.  That's because those elected now, will impact the next census in 2020.  It will impact redistricting and that will impact future federal elections. Now is the time to not only impact the midterms, but to impact future midterms as well.  Vote straight Republican tickets, even if you are not thrilled with local candidates - that's how important this election cycle is.

That's not to say there are not some great candidates in the statewide elections this year.  Here are some governor candidates that really deserve your support to whom I'd like to draw your attention.  Some of these races are very close. All of them are critical. These are all important elected offices, and don't forget to also vote for the Republican candidates in your local state houses as well.

Florida: Please turn out to support Ron DeSantis.

Georgia: Please turn out to support Brian Kemp.

Iowa: Please turn out to support Kim Reynolds.

Wisconsin: Please turn out to support Scott Walker.

Ohio: Please turn out to support Mike DeWine.

Kansas: Please turn out to support Kris Kobach.

Nevada: Please turn out to support Adam Laxlt.

Arizona: Please turn out to support Doug Ducey.

Oklahoma: Please turn out to support Kevin Stitt.

Oregon: Please turn out to support Knute Buehler.

Colorado: Please turn out to support Walker Stapleton.

Maine: Please turn out to support Shawn Moody.

Michigan: Please turn out to support Bill Schuette.

Minnesota: Please turn out to support Jeff Johnson.

New Mexico: Please turn out to support Steve Pearce.

Rhode Island: Please turn out to support Allan Fung.

Connecticut: Please turn out to support Bob Stefanowski.

Illinois: Please turn out to support Bruce Rauner.

Pennsylvania: Please turn out to support Scott Wagner.

Your support matters. Thank you.