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Paypal Discovers Trust is a Social Currency Hard to Regain When Lost

Posted: October 9, 2022 by datechguy in business
Tags: , ,

One of the reasons why the left is so worried about Elon Musk taking over twitter is that censorship of the customer only works if everyone is going along. If there is no well traveled public platform where the word can break out then you can’t control the message (which is why the left took Trump rallies off of TV).

It’s even worse for a business. If you’re business model involves trust, ie the public trusting you with your money, the people need to know that:

  1. Their money will be available when they want it
  2. You won’t steal it

Apparently Paypal’s new “I’m going to take your money if you say or post something we don’t like” policy tends to violate that basic rule.

The report sparked outrage online, with many people tweeting pledges to dump the online payment facilitator. Particularly chilling was the fact that the policy said determinations of what could be deemed “misinformation,” or a threat to the “wellbeing” of other users was to be at the “sole discretion” of PayPal. The now-aborted policy said users could be liable for “damages” — including the removal of $2,500 “debited directly from your PayPal account” per offense.

And once you get a few high profile people with 3.1 million follower like this:

Or someone like this:

the real comedy is that Twitter attempted to hide this tweet so I could not access via Elon Musk reply

Or to put it another way, even with Paypal claiming this was an “error” and insisting this is not a pending policy if that was YOUR money would you trust it in these people’s hands?

Marcus has 100k followers Musk has 108+ million if only a tiny portion of those people say 1 / 100 of 1% decide they do not trust paypal what do you think happens?

Can you say “Bank Run”?

I suspect Paypal is going though the online equivalent of a bank run and I also suspect it’s not going to stop over a retraction, particularly if there are alternatives to paypal out there that people can use, from Donorbox to Glorifi that do not take your money if they don’t like what you say or think.

Well the bottom line isn’t pretty because Paypal is about to discover the 2nd lesson of dictating how customers should think or else.

It’s much harder to regain lost trust then it was initially to build it.

Closing thought are paypal deposits FDIC insured?

Why are Democrats in Danger in Blue Areas? Because What’s Happening is Happening to THEM

Posted: October 8, 2022 by datechguy in Uncategorized

Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.. 

Mel Brooks

The quote above is one of the key quotes in figuring out how and why people do what they do.

You see most of what liberals do tend to happen to other people.

  • Inflation doesn’t affect the elites, they make enough so that it milk, eggs or even gas doesn’t matter.
  • Bad schools don’t affect the elites, their kids go to private or woke Catholic schools where they are immune.
  • Ukraine doesn’t affect them, they see graft and public debt as nothing that makes them blink.
  • Israel doesn’t affect them, they have other places to go and the elites were never big on Jews anyways
  • Even abortion their sacrament that they claim rules over all (at least if you look at Democrat ads) doesn’t affect them because they know that they can always travel to kill their kid

All these issues the left can take or leave.

BUT once a democrat feels that they can’t walk safely in their own neighborhood, a neighborhood that hitherto was not touched by the effects of “Black Lives Matter” and/or “Defund the Police”. Once that reality comes into play and the realization that all their comfort and health are just one crazy guy away from being gone, BOOM!

Suddenly the agenda, all the excuses and all the virtue signaling mean nothing.

Nothing motivates people like their self preservation. Cure the 11th Doctor:

A Distinct Christian Disadvantage, at least in Temporal Matters vs the “I was only following Orders” FBI

Posted: October 7, 2022 by datechguy in Blame Biden Administration, culture, official oppression
Tags: ,

“You shall not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your fellow men justly. You shall not go about spreading slander among your kinsmen; nor shall you stand by idly when your neighbor’s life is at stake. I am the LORD.

“You shall not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow man, do not incur sin because of him. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:15-18

To the shame of the FBI and the Justice Department we’re seeing more of the targeting grandmas trying to save kids:

The only home agents raided was Gallagher’s. The ten other participants reportedly received calls from the FBI instructing them to turn themselves in. A press release from the DOJ declares that all eleven individuals will appear in U.S. District Court in Nashville at a later date on charges that they “used force and physical obstruction to injure, intimidate, and interfere with employees of the clinic and a patient who was seeking reproductive health services.”

The parallels between this case and the Houck case are stunning. Like Houck, local law enforcement addressed the actions of Gallagher and the other participants at the time. The Philadelphia municipal court dismissed a private criminal complaint against Houck in July. Likewise, on the day of the event in Tennessee, officers arrested several participants on misdemeanor trespassing charges. There were no charges of verbal or physical assault against the protestors. After they posted bail, the protestors were released.

Apparently this “Justice (and I use the word very loosely) department” has decided that it’s primary focus is going to “avenge” the repeal of Roe v Wade on every pro-lifer who has ever peacefully protested the slaughter of kids or attempted to talk a young girl out of a decision that will haunt her forever.

Now in a society where justice is supposed to be colorblind such things at best are a horrible aberration and at worst the actions of a rogue prosecutor, but when your principles are Marxist which is all about ends vs means rather than Christian which is about avoiding sin no consideration concerning justice applies.

And of course the knowledge that if power is lost they may face investigation and or prosecution

The real advantage for these folks and disadvantage for us, is that we are restrained by the concepts of justice so even when the time comes that their power is broken, what we can do and how we do it is temporized by those commandments concerning love of enemies and justice that do not cease to apply even when we are oppressed.

The irony of course is that our friends on the left have done all they can to pull people away from those values and the real danger to them comes if those who they are dealing with choose to ignore those restraints?

It won’t be fun to find out.

Some Sound Advice for Billy Eichner

Posted: October 6, 2022 by datechguy in blogs, entertainment
Tags: , ,

One of the more amusing things of the past week that I didn’t bother to write about was the incredible tirade by director Billy Eichner concerning the reaction to his movie Bros.

His unmitigated rage at those unwilling to contribute their hard earned money and time which one can not supplement betrays one of the most common problems among people.

White the two of us are very much unlike in terms of age, cultural background and certain tastes, allow me to provide some perspective that he apparently lacks.

There was a time when this blog’s readership was in the hundreds of thousands a year, where we were in the top 100 conservative blogs regularly and that my blogsite actually had cracked the top 100,000 website in the world. At that time I dreamt of making a living doing this full time and providing for my family in this way, of my secular radio show DaTechGuy on DaRadio going beyond the small syndication that it had and being a national figure and there have been several big moments and several big stories that we have covered that makes me extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished in the days when the blog started when the election of Obama heralded the end to my tech career.

As you can see this has not happened. Our monthly draw of readers is what we used to do on one good day. We rarely draw links from the larger blogs as we used to. Our tip jar hits are nearly non-existent and the subscriber base while not at the point where it fails to cover expenses is slowly heading in that direction.

Fortunately if I want to confront the person most responsible for this turn of events all I have to do is walk in front of a mirror

While there may be a few extenuating circumstances here and there and a bit of bad luck occasionally when it comes right down to do it the reason this blog isn’t as big as Instapundit, or as well read as HotAir or as edgy as Ace of Spades or as prominent in the Conservative press as The Gateway Pundit or as skillfully written as The Other McCain or as able to cover large events as Legal Insurrection or as respected as Don Surber all comes down to me either not working hard enough or making the wrong calls or wanting a particular direction or simply not being as good a writer or promoter as others who have done a better job in this business better over the years with their eyes on the goal of achieving what those giants in the conservative blogosphere have done.

I’ve reached an age where it’s not prudent to take the risks necessary to try to change this direction nor do I have the ambition that I once had to make those goals. For now I’m content to rest on the laurels I have (there are a few) to keep thinks rolling and to put my two cents in along with the excellent writers who remain until I’m too old to go on or until they censor me away.

and that brings me back to Mr. Eichner.

He is still a lot younger than me and in the end he has produced a large movie with a large cast that has been shown in thousands of theaters across the nation which is an achievement.

But if he is looking for a larger scale of success the first thing he has to learn is to take ownership of failure and learn from it rather than blaming people he hates for it.

Until and unless the likes of Billy Eichner can understand that the father of one’s failures is almost ourselves he will will go from an angry young man to an angrier old man.

Take my advice, that’s no way to live.

Closing thought. If anyone of you think we’re still worth a ten spot a month or more your tip jar and or subscription will not be unappreciated.

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