Sunday verse

Saturday Learning Series - Philosophy crash course 8 (science & pseudoscience)

Karl Popper explained how science disconfirms, while pseudoscience confirms.

President Trump 1 - W.H.O. 0

President Trump terminates the U.S.A.'s relationship with the World Health Organization over China.  Deservedly so.  But while this is a good step, the real issue is China and their mobster tactics on the world stage.  Hopefully there is more to come.

Kayleigh McEnany 1 - Jim Acosta 0

Jim Acosta, making it personal, gets schooled by Kayleigh McEnany.  She's a beast.

Joe Biden is full of hot air.

Literally.  And live on air too.

Hong Kong is just China now

Hong Kong is no longer recognized as autonomous by America.  That will have a dramatic impact on US-China trade, and unfortunately also on the freedoms of the people of Hong Kong.  Hopefully China sees that and backs off, but it's not likely.  The underpinning of the Chinese communist government is the ability to take advantage of easy trade terms with the rest of the world and cheap Chinese labor to continue it's totalitarian regime.

The only way out for the world, and the people of China, particularly Hong Kong at this moment, is to remove that underpinning that is enabling China.  It's tough but necessary.  This would have been easier for everyone if it had been done 5, 10 or 15 years ago. Doing business with China, is enabling a repressive and yes brutal, communist regime.

Social Media is not free from scrutiny

Bill Barr says so.  Good for him. You cannot be both a platform and a censor/editor.

CNN is about CNN, always.

CNN reporter gets arrested live on CNN.  It almost seems staged to me.  I agree with Tim in this video reporting should not lead to arrests - that's a terrible precedent.  But I do have some questions.

Firstly the arrest looks like a primer on how to get arrested - as in instruction for protesters. I'm not saying CNN is creating an instructional video for protesters but it sure could be taken that way.  

Secondly there's a political aspect to the arrest - see how bad president Trump is?  Orange Man Bad.  He's having protesters arrested.  Never mind the fact that the president has nothing to do with the arrest.  Never mind that it's CNN making the story about CNN.  Never mind that it's sensationalism.  That's not to say the arrest is not newsworthy but this is CNN being about CNN and CNN trying to make it about social justice warrior, to serve CNN.

Friday Musical Interlude, except it's not music

I often listen to nature sounds when I'm relaxing, and my wife used to really enjoy them for falling asleep as well.  Today, instead of some music I thought I'd share one of the nature sounds videos I found on YoutTube recently.

China is a goon state

Communists are thugs.  They use violence - the are thugs.  They are goons. Don't believe me?

Karl Marx himself wrote:

there is only one way in which the murderous death agonies of the old society and the bloody birth throes of the new society can be shortened, simplified and concentrated, and that way is revolutionary terror.

It's clearly just a tool they employ.  Communist China is no different.  They are passing new laws intended to allow for brutal suppression in Hing Kong.  It's coming, and likely this year. It's coming because a one-country, two systems approach to Hong Kong has been a thorn in communist China's side ever since the British mistakenly terminate their lease of the city from China in July 1997.  They want one country, one system - and that system is communism.  The new laws foreshadow a coming dark period for the city.

Brutal suppression is as much a standard tool for communists as it is for mobsters.  History shows us this if you are willing to look at the unvarnished truth of Stalin, Mao, Castro, Guevara, and even modern day equivalents like Maduro or Xi Jinping.

Why American business make excuses for the Chinese government is baffling.  Yes there are short term profits but the Chinese government is not only exploiting it's own people, if they had their way, they would ultimately eradicate the businesses that seek to do business in China, after they have ceased to be useful tools for the state.

Democrats don't want to hold Biden accountable

The cancel culture on the left, clearly does not extend all the way up to their nominee.

Answering questions from a progressive

Not that she needs my modest ability to help, but this great video from Dr. Karlyn Borysenko deserves as much of a platform as possible.

Memorial Day wishes

Wishing all those who served and their families a happy, peaceful Memorial Day.  Thank you for your selfless service in the cause of freedom.

Sunday verse

Saturday Learning Series - Philosophy crash course 7 (the meaning of knowledge)

The course on philosophy continues with a look at the meaning of knowledge.

Friday Musical Interlude - Something To Believe In

Back in the 1980's I didn't much care for Poison's music, but I've grown to like a number of their songs.  They were a pretty good band.  Parts of Something To Believe In, actually from 1990, have a slightly dated sound, but another way to put that is classic.

TikTok is a Communist China tool

Do not use TikTok, and let your friends know too.  Here's why:

Bidengate

These two videos show everything you need to know about Joe Biden's corruption (yes the first video is from Russia Television, maybe because American mainstream media thinks its job is to defeat Trump and not report the truth):

And this week, a previously classified phone call was released, proving that Biden was not lying.

Now imagine if Hunter Biden were Donald Trump Jr. and Joe Biden were Donald Trump - there would be howls of outrage from the media.  Instead we have crickets.  These two videos are as much an indictment of the mainstream media as they are of Bidengate and Joe Biden's corruption.

Media Darling Andrew Cuomo, actually is doing a terrible job.

I had to share this video.  Andrew Cuomo is not a good leader, he's just another liberal with no different ideas, and a failing state that he happens to manage.

Supreme Court 1 - Congressional Democrats 0

Democrats want more impeachment.  They want the Mueller Grand Jury documents to try again. By a 9-0 vote the Supreme Court said NO.

More Obamagate stuff

How deep this might go is pretty frightening. 

With Attorney General Barr saying he doesn't expect an investigation into Obama or Biden to come out of this, I have to wonder if he's lying about that. Or maybe he was not fully aware at the time of his statement.

Or maybe, he's part of the deep state, anti-Trump cabal and just happens to be a better actor that Peter Strzok, who could not have looked more the part of a sinister insider.

In either case, this does not look good for Joe Biden, and potentially it could give a re-elected president Trump more political capital to go after this swamp in 2021, either with or without Barr.

Obamagate crimes

President Obama and criminal activity explained by Kayleigh McEnany.

Whoa Wait! AOC refusing to pay taxes?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is refusing to pay her taxes?  How un-socialistic of her.  Hypocrisy has never been funnier.

Sunday verse

Saturday Learning Series - Philosophy crash course 6 (empiricism)

Locke, Berkeley and Empiricism explained in this continuation of the crash course in philosophy.

Friday Musical Interlude - Empire State

Fleetwood Mac's Empire State from the underappreciated 1982 Mirage album:

Where is the China Exit Strategy?

China has become a global problem as well as an American problem.  They have moved down the path towards being a global military threat.  They have embarked on a predatory mercantilist style of economic imperialism not just in Africa, but also Europe, the Americas and the rest of Asia.  They conduct espionage on a grand scale as well regularly manipulate their currency and steal intellectual property on a similarly massive scale.  Not to mention they have suppressed their own people with both propaganda and physical force. All of this is done by various Chinese entities in thrall of the oppressive, imperialist, expansionist communist regime or by the communist party itself.

Make no mistake, China has become a menace on global scale in the last 20 years in particular.  It has become more evident to some due to the at-a-minimum secretiveness around COVID-19. But it has not opened the eyes of enough people.  Because all the while this has become more and more evident both Republicans and Democrats in America as well as leaders in other nations around the world have shortsightedly chosen to enable China rather than thwart their evil global ambitions. No one seems to look beyond their own short term interest enough to see China as the bad actor that they are on the global stage.

How much do we need to see before we wake up?  If you are not "woke" to this you are part of the problem.

A holistic China Exit Strategy is needed.  With president Trump leading it has been apparent that European countries are willing to join American leadership on some issues.  Not only does the world need a military containment strategy, removing economic and intellectual ties or at least returning them to a balanced reasonable level is necessary and should be the objective. 

Supply chains cannot be moved overnight but they must be moved.  Not everything needs to come back home, there are other countries willing to trade with the U.S. fairly. 

While it's necessary, it won't be easy.

But that's only part of the solution.  A robust policy of trade in high technology goods is need.  Immigration, employment, and education all need monitoring, restrictions and controls put in place.  Chinese hacking needs to be aggressively countered, worldwide.  Chinese immigrants require a different level and type of scrutiny than others.  Embargos may be necessary.  COVID reparations should be provided to affected countries.  World Trade Organization membership needs to be reviewed.  And a pacific counter-alliance between America, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and potentially other regional nations would be timely.  An alliance of both an economic and military nature would be best.   A jointly funded and managed alliance unlike NATO would provide a level of military and economic security long overdue. 

It's become crucial that president Trump wins the 2020 election because he is the first president since before Richard Nixon to recognize the threat and to want to do something about it rather than have America be the frog in the slowly boiling pot of water as communist China rises at the expense of the rest of the world.  American leadership, and the provision of a liberty and fair, capitalist alternative to free stuff from China are critical now.  It cannot be ignored any longer, we do so at our own peril. 

Keep talking Joe. (Or trying to talk)

Joe Biden just cannot talk without stumbling. Keep talking Joe.

Happy Mother's Day

Family is so important to a society, and mothers are so important to families.

Sunday verse

Adam Schiff, you must resign.

Adam Schiff must resign.  Build the momentum by adding to the outcry.  Seriously.  He has to go.  But this goes even higher than him.

Saturday Learning Series - Philosophy crash course 5 (skepticism)

Philosophy. Today it's Cartesian skepticism, and Neo from The Matrix:

Did Wuhan lab create the COVID-19 virus

Maybe.

In what universe is 14.7% U3 unemployment good news?

Apparently, this one.  Fox Business shared the news earlier today, as Dow futures climbed.  Yes, 14.7% unemployment, considering how much has been shut down for social distancing purposes, is actually quite good.  The U6, the fuller picture of unemployment was 22%, also surprisingly low.

Looks like the president, and Americans are doing a good job helping America weather this COVID-19 storm.

Friday Musical Interlude - Sundown

Gordon Lightfoot's 1974 hit Sundown.  Despite a number of hits, this was his only #1 song in America.

Wrong again honey

When you talk about Canada, know your facts.  Canada is not an immigration Utopia.



[Language warning]

Kayleigh McEnany exhibits pure brilliance in 90 seconds

A reporter tried to have a "Gotcha" moment with White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday. Except her response was pure brilliance. It was a mic drop moment that shamed the mainstream media in what is possibly the perfect sound byte. The assembled press should have walked out of there with their tails between their legs.

YouTube advertising, like creator policy, has gone haywire

The pathetic state of YouTube advertising is as bad as censorship and de-platforming at everything else at YouTube:

YouTube, like the rest of Google, needs a wake up call.

Maybe the judge should apologize

A Texas hair salon owner got sentenced to 7 days in jail and fined $7,000 not for not shutting down her salon during the COVID-19 lockdown, but for refusing to apologize per the judge's sentencing demand.

I get the importance of the rule of law. I get her position  as well.  But this is not a cut and dry, back and white situation.  What is clear, is that the judge was overly harsh in his sentencing.  This is especially true in a county where felons were being released due to coronavirus concerns.  That's not justice.  

The judge may have believed he was trying to do the right thing, but seeing the fallout, perhaps the judge needs to be the one to apologize.

Keep talking Joe, keep talking

The more Joe Biden talks, the less electable he becomes.

YouTube, Suzy Lu, content and free speech

YouTube has managed a particular situation poorly.  The details of the case itself are important only insofar as they are indicative of how YouTube will interact with any content publisher as well as complainant when it comes to copyright and cyberbullying or harassment.  The best way to put it is inconsistent.

A redacted (yes, redacted) background video on the Suzy Lu YouTube copyright situation.  Keep in mind this is not about her, it's about how YouTube reacted to the situation (which is past half way into the video but the prior parts provide context, albeit in an anti-Suzy-Lu way (no judgement either way, that's not my point here)).

YouTube's reversal of the channel termination is odd.  It would seem as though the views matter to YouTube more than copyright violation - in this case at least.

Free speech is being impacted and YouTube is slowly, continuously sliding into the realm of publisher instead of a platform:

This could have been your president America

To think that so many people wanted her to win is a frightening thought.  The lack of self awareness is indicative of a lack of general awareness.  She was like that during the campaign, combined with moments of physical issues.  In a similar vein,  the current Democrat nominee-apparent Joe Biden has a lot of moments of lack of clarity and a lack of awareness of his own history of wrong-doing with women. 

Also similarly his supporters seem to be willing to overlook his malfeasance and deny his cognitive issues.  Those who would put both of these ersatz nominees in charge of America would have gotten what they deserved - a weakened America.  Or perhaps that what they really want.

Sunday verse

Saturday Learning Series - Philosophy crash course 4 (Reality)

The nature of reality, explained.

Friday Musical Interlude - No More Pennies

This song sounds like it was influenced by a mix of the Rolling Stones and perhaps Hole.  Starcrawler's No More Pennies from 2019.  Bands like this give me hope that music has not degenerated into completely bland, repetitive, sans-melody garbage.