Archive for July, 2023

The subject of the Oakland A’s pending move to Las Vegas has been the subject of an awful lot of chest thumping by sportwriters all over the place who loudly denounce the very thought of the 29-76 A’s abandoning the City of Oakland, as they abandoned the city of Kansas City in 1968 and the City of Philadelphia in 1955.

The is all kind of talk about “loyalty” and the legacy of the great A’s teams of the 70’s and the Bash Brothers of the 80’s but there is a subject concerning the preference of Las Vegas over Oakland that has not come up in the context of the move by any sportswriter I’ve read nor any sportscaster I’ve seen or heard.

However it’s a subject that any resident of Oakland knows is one of the top concerns of the city, in fact it’s such a concern that the NAACP of Oakland has decided to state it publicly:

Some key quotes:

Oddly enough what the local chapter of the NAACP decry and the residents of the city know the national media which decries the inability of the A’s to draw fans doesn’t have a word to say, blaming the owner instead.

The subject of crime in the city, crime so bad that it’s expedient to pull a major league team, albeit one of the worst teams you will ever see, and move to a city so renowned for it’s criminal past that it hosts the mob museum is an odd omission, until you remember that there is a national election coming up and the issue of crime, particularly in cities run by the left (The last Republican mayor of Oakland was elected in 1961) and when it comes to media, no media is more consistently left than sports media, particularly on the national level.

So while the discussion of the move of the A’s continues over the next couple of years, you can bet your bottom dollar that the subject of crime in the city will continue to be ignored by those in media, at least until after the election.

Unexpectedly of course.

There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.”

C. S Lewis

I did a double take when I read this:

Yeah, call them sexually transmitted diseases, sexually transmitted infections, or sexually transmitted inconveniences; it’s still a good idea to avoid them. Failing to do so can result in things like overall health problems, blindness, disfigurement, and even death. But in America’s bizarre and Dali-esque last days you can do more than shout your abortion; you can also shout your STD. “Say it now and say it loud: I’m infected and I’m proud!”

According to a report in The Publica by Natasha Biase, the number of STD influencers erupting on social media is on the rise. There are people on various social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok (naturally) trying to convince their followers and viewers that it is fine to contract STDs, including HIV/AIDS.

You see the easiest way to avoid this type of thing is surprise, surprise the Christian life of sex saved for marriage and no sex outside of it but since we live in a post Christian society which can’t acknowledge this fact well I guess like the guy who decided to go to the psychologist vs the urologists over peeing his pants, people have decided to consider it a positive.

Because apparently it’s much better to pretend all is well than to deal with the reality of disease and its consequences.

If you want to know what the fruits were of parents not wanting to parent and wanting to be “friends” this is it.

I have been an Amateur Radio Operator for over 35 years.  Emergency communication is the most important aspect of the hobby.  When all else fails there is Ham Radio.  That is because most of our equipment is portable and can operate without any infrastructure at all. All we need to establish reliable worldwide communications is wire antennas supported by trees, our radio equipment, and a way to power the equipment that does no rely on commercial power.  Portable gas powered generators are absolutely perfect for that.  

When I saw this headline, Proposed New Biden Rule Essentially Bans All Portable Gas Powered Generators Currently On The Market (thefederalistpapers.org), I was absolutely outraged because I knew that ban would be very detrimental to all emergency communications, not just ham radio.  This will cost a lot of lives.

The Biden administration is working on a new rule through the Consumer Product Safety Commission that limits the carbon monoxide emissions of products. The rule is so stringent that 95% of the current portable gas generators on the market wouldn’t meet the standard. Industry insiders have warned that this could result in a massive shortage of generators since it would take manufacturers years, not the given six months, to design compliant generators.

The only other practical alternative to portable generators are solar panels and car batteries.  I know from a lot of experience that they are no where near as reliable.

There is no valid reason for the ban.  The vast majority of individuals know generators produce carbon monoxide, which can kill you.

Ham Radio Operators will not be the only ones negatively impacted.

Portable gas generators play a crucial role in helping approximately five million households keep their lights on during power outages. If the proposed rule comes into effect, these generators could become exceedingly hard to obtain as manufacturers will be prohibited from stockpiling non-compliant generators before the rule is enacted.

This proposed rule follows closely behind a similar one by Biden-backed commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. which is aimed at banning gas stoves, a move he terms as mitigating a “hidden hazard.” This comes at a time when many parts of America are facing increased risks of power outages due to an over-reliance on green energy. The inability to meet electricity demand, especially during peak times, has already led to power blackouts in states like California.

This ban is not necessary at all.

The Portable Generator Manufacturers’ Association has already implemented voluntary standards to ensure safety from carbon monoxide emissions, requiring generators to automatically shut off when carbon monoxide concentrations reach certain levels, among other safety measures. The Biden administration, however, argues that more stringent emission caps are needed

Taurus Killgaren: [last words] This destiny of greatness is yours and yours alone, Syzygy. You can’t paint me a Villain trying to steal your place of glory. Once it becomes clearer to you you’ll realize your fate is one not many would covet. I know I’m about to die, but even so I’d not trade places with you for all the Treasures of the Universe.

The Price Jim Starlin 1981

It’s almost superfluous to start this post saying that I feel bad for LeBron James and wish the best for his family in general and his son in particular and hope that he still manages to achieve the goal of at least one NBA game if not a full season playing on the same team as his son Bronny.

As a father of two sons I’d hate to be in the position he is today worried about his sons health after a heart attack (or “cardiac arrest if you want to split hairs). It’s actually something I’ve thought about more than once. My father died of a heart attack at age 66 and had them regularly during the final five to ten years of his life, I’m only six years younger than him right now and run about 280 lbs. There is every probability that I will share that fate (although perhaps a bit later as I never smoked and rarely drink as he did for most of his life) and as both of my sons are bigger than me both in size and weight there is a possibility that I could live to see one of them have a heart attack. It’s not a pleasant thought.

But lets be real, I’m a sixty year old man from a family with a history of heart problems who is very overweight and I’m telling you right now if I was morbid enough to have approached a bookie a week, or a month or a year ago and put up $100 that Bronny James, the physically fit all American NBA prospect son of the greatest star in NBA history who is still active (I’d still take Russell over him all time) would suffer any kind of “cardiac arrest” or heart attack before I or one of my sons did today I’d be collecting enough money today to retire comfortably. The odds of that would seem astronomical, but there is of course one vital difference between myself, my sons and young Mr. James.

LeBron James declared that the COVID Vaccine was the right decision for him and his family and I’m sure this decision caused others who were hesitant to take the covid shot(s).

Nobody in my immediate family did. Not one of us.

And that is why I would hate to be Lebron today. He of course will be able to make sure his son gets the best medical care available in the world but a scenario where he might not be able to play basketball again at the college level or at all on the professional level is a real possibility and of course like any father he would gladly take that possibility in a second over anything worse that’s life threatening.

There is also the possibility that there will be no further issues with Bronny’s heart and we all hope that is the case here but regardless of the result it’s very likely that for the rest of his life LeBron is going to be second guessing his decision to take the shot and have his family get it. The fact that he also spent years carrying water for the Chinese communists who made the virus and did so for cash likely isn’t playing well with him either. I suspect these things are going to be a source of horrible pain, pain that I wouldn’t wish on anyone and I certainly wouldn’t trade places with him today, money and fame not withstanding.

But I’ll tell you this, as much I’d hate to be in Lebron’s shoes today I’d hate to be the Fauci and his vax pack in media and medicine who pushed this on people. They are likely the only people praying for Bronny’s full recovery as hard if not harder than the James family because if LeBron decides to blame these liars for misinforming him he has the cache to not be ignored or cancelled for it and thus is in a position to make things miserable for them for decades, and if he does a lot of other regular people who have been silent might just pick up the pitchforks behind him.

God help the Vax Pack if Bronny takes a turn for the worse and James decides he wants vengeance. Imagine a person with that kind of reach deciding their goal is your destruction.


Closing thought: I wonder how many professional sports players who had themselves and their families take the jab are jealous of Kyrie Irving today?