Archive for March, 2020

Candidate Cuomo

Posted: March 31, 2020 by chrisharper in Church doctrine
Tags: ,

The hashtag #PresidentCuomo has been trending on Twitter.

Musings about Cuomo as the Democrat nominee have come from everywhere on the left, including DaTimes columnist Maureen Dowd and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow.

If Democrats think Andrew Cuomo is the answer to their Joe Biden problem, think again!

The Trump ad campaign would start with Cuomo’s own words rolling on the screen:

“We’re not gonna make America great again. 

It was never that great. 

We have not reached greatness….”

Even an audience of Cuomo’s supporters booed when he said that in 2018.

But there’s more. Cuomo is an alleged Roman Catholic who supports late-term abortions, same-sex marriage, and divorce. That’s a troubling trifecta for religious conservatives throughout the land. 

But there’s even more.

Cuomo pushed for the NY State Act, which he described as the most stringent gun control law in the United States. 

The New York governor, who has spent nearly all his life in government, has opposed hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking and would stimulate the economy in Upstate New York. All you have to do is drive along the border of Pennsylvania, which fracking is allowed, and New York to see the difference in how much better the economy is south of the border. 

If the Democrats are thinking about appealing to Republicans, here’s Cuomo on what he considers “good” members of the GOP. 

“Their [Republicans’] problem is not me and the Democrats; their problem is themselves. Who are they? Are they these extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault-weapon, anti-gay? Is that who they are? Because if that’s who they are and they’re the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York because that’s not who New Yorkers are.”

If you go to https://www.ontheissues.org/andrew_cuomo.htm, you’ll find a host of issues that would make Cuomo unpalatable for many Americans.

–Raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
–Expand Obama Care.
–Opposes school vouchers.
–Tax the wealthy.
–Expand trade with Cuba.
–Supports the Green New Deal.

If the Democrats want to dump Joe and go with Andrew, it’s like trading for a younger Bernie. And think about the possibility that his younger brother, Chris of CNN, might be the White House spokesman. That’s a sobering thought whatever your politics are!

My Favorite Screwtape Quote, Journalists and #learntomanufacture

Posted: March 31, 2020 by datechguy in American Success Stories, business, culture, media, News/opinion
Tags: , , ,

If you have read this blog for any length of time you know that I like to quote the C.S. Lewis Class The Screwtape letters which is a series of letters from a senior tempter in hell, Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood who is assigned to tempt and help damn a particular Englishman during 1939 and 1940.

Of all the quotes I’ve used from the 39 various letters the one I’ve used most often comes from a letter excoriating Screwtape for allowing his “patient” an actual pleasure that resulted in repentance.

The characteristic of Pains and Pleasures is that they are unmistakably real, and therefore, as far as they go, give the man who feels them a touchstone of reality. Thus if you had been trying to damn your man by the Romantic method…you would try to protect him at all costs from any real pain; because, of course, five minutes’ genuine toothache would reveal the romantic sorrows for the nonsense they were and unmask your whole stratagem.

C.S. Lewis Screwtape 13

This has been the great reality of that our current situation has brought us. What has become rapidly apparent is that items that were considered critical for anyone of virtue, from discarding plastic bags and plastic straws to using the right pronouns are nothing compared to stocking shelves, and delivering food, to wit:

“We went from being nobodies to essential workers,” said Chad Montgomery, also a driver with Challenger Motor Freight. “I’ve never felt appreciated in my job until now. A lot of people don’t realize it takes a truck to get stuff on shelves. If it wasn’t for a truck driver, you would have nothing.”

via ace who likely already knew this, but a lot of people, particuarly those in elite media, either in news or entertainment do not grasp that while we can live without media reports or new movies, we can’t live without the food and goods the truckers deliver.

Nothing illustrates this better than journalists who when nuts when Mike Lindell of My Pillow took the podium at the president’s latest presser. Our media betters all had shocked reactions, great quips and clever one liners to deploy at his expense.

What could he offer that was more important than that? Only a factory being retooled to create 50,000 N95 masks a day that the country needs desperately right now.

The reality that is this crisis has illustrated what’s real and what isn’t to a culture that had forgotten.

So to our media and entertainment friends who consider themselves so vital I have some suggestions for you via hashtags

  1. #learntotruck
  2. #learntofarm
  3. #learntomanufacture
  4. #learntostock

When you can do those things, then you’ll be as important as a truck driver or a farmer or a grocery store worker or maybe if you’re very lucky someday, the MyPillow guy.

Report from Louisiana: Unfocused

Posted: March 30, 2020 by Pat Austin in Uncategorized
Tags: , , ,

By:  Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – We are now three weeks into this quarantine business, so how’s it going for you? I thought I would be so productive and get some projects done, make some progress on my book, do some inspired writing…nah. Not happening. My creativity is dry as a bone. Gone.

I did a little blog post about that on SIGIS, and got a lot of unexpected feedback with people feeling the same way, which was reassuring in a way. It’s not just me.

It feels a little like the days and weeks following 9/11, to me. An overwhelming powerlessness and anxiety. Turns out there are a lot of people feeling this same way.

I’m incredibly frustrated with the inability of people to follow simple directions and stay home. Once again, this church in Central, Louisiana held services yesterday with 500 people in attendance this week, which thankfully is about half of what he had last week.

Pastor Tony Spell of the Life Tabernacle Church says, “The virus, we believe, is politically motivated, …We hold our religious rights dear, and we are going to assemble no matter what someone says.”

He’s not alone in his commitment to disregard the stay at home order issued by Governor Edwards. In New Orleans, a growing epicenter of COVID-19, authorities had to break up a large gathering this weekend where people gathered for a Second Line event. Video on social media shows revelers in the neighborhood drinking, dancing, and playing music. Now, warrants have been issued.

In an attempt to slow down the spread of COVID-19 in Texas, Governor Greg Abbot has put a travel ban of sorts in place. If you travel to Texas from Louisiana, you have to fill out paperwork indicating where you will self-quarantine for the next fourteen days. This does not apply to commercial traffic and the like, obviously.

The grocery stores are beginning to level out however there is still no toilet paper, Clorox wipes, or hand sanitizer anywhere and there has not been for three weeks. My grocery store, apparently depressed by the long empty shelf, now is stocking laundry baskets on that aisle.

The big-box stores in our area, Sam’s Club, sometimes gets those items in; Saturday morning the line to get into Sam’s wrapped around the building as they let in twenty-five people at a time. Hundreds of people in line, much closer to each other than six feet, mind you, and VERY close to each other the closer to the front of the line they got. Insanity.

I’ve mad a couple of quick grocery store runs and have found that some people are keeping their distance but there are others who completely disregard your personal space. I was looking at the eggs yesterday when a man leaned right in front of me and grabbed a carton.

I’m looking at grocery delivery services now or curbside pickup; the turnaround on curbside pickup is days out however. If you need something quickly, too bad.

At any rate, this is our new normal. With Trump’s federal distancing extended to the end of April, I expect that our school year is effectively done, which saddens me somewhat.

Now, if I could just get my creative spark back.

Pat Austin blogs at And So it Goes in Shreveport and is the author of Cane River Bohemia: Cammie Henry and her Circle at Melrose Plantation. Follow her on Instagram @patbecker25 and Twitter @paustin110.

The Corona Holding Action a World War 2 Analogy

Posted: March 30, 2020 by datechguy in News/opinion, Uncategorized
Tags: , ,

There seem to be a lot of folks on the left taking delight in the economic crash brought by the Corona / Wuhan virus and who seem to live for the number of infected and dead to rise in the hopes that it will lead to the defeat of Donald Trump (See my post CNN’s Letter to Sean Davis)

So for the sake of those reading that drivel and those who making who are saying it from ignorance rather than with purpose let me explain something.

Given the normal freedom to travel and the interaction of people you aren’t going to stop this virus from spreading across the nation, people are going to be exposed, 1st and at once in bigger cities where travel is more common but eventually elsewhere. That’s the nature of a virus.

The real idea is to slow down the spread for two reasons.

  1. To keep the level of infection low enough for hospitals to cope on a national level
  2. To give time to the best and brightest to come up with ways of treating this virus so when it does spread we can arrest it.

Both of these goals are frankly within reach and the measures already taken are contributing highly to that goal. Think of it like World War 2 when the plan was to hold in the pacific and push supplies to England in the Atlantic until we were ready to land in North Africa.

When there is a treatment that can prevent death available then we are half way there

But there are also long term goals that are also targets

  1. Give enough time to retool manufacturers to produce the items necessary in this situation
  2. Give enough time to move pharmaceutical production to the states
  3. Develop a Vaccine
  4. Create a strategic reserve of these various products for when and if this type of thing happens again.

Once these things are done then we can move aggressively knowing that no matter how much of a punch this has we can parry it and counter. This is the Invasion of Europe and the push in the pacific.

Oh and one more thing. Some metropolitan centers such as NYC New Orleans, Chicago , New Jersey and LA might have a tougher time . They will likely be under quarantine and restriction longer than others, this is Akin to the Island hoping strategy of the US forces in the Pacific Once the other easier area are secure full attention can be given to these problem sites.

This is what the president and his team are doing and those who are trying to make it something other than it is are just looking for advantage and should be treated accordingly

Older Entries