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The Virginia #2a Tweet Awards!

Posted: January 21, 2020 by datechguy in culture, media, News/opinion, politics, special events
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Thanks to a combination of a left arm still unable to shovel, a wife deserving a good night’s sleep, the need for additional confession and weekly scheduled adoration I found myself away from my laptop until nearly 2 pm yesterday meaning that the 1st report I had as to what was going on in Richmond Virginia at the 2nd Amendment Rally came from my son repeating what his ultra liberal friend(s) were sending him him about White Supremacists etc when I picked up up just after noon. I told him at the time that because his friends resided in the liberal bubble their information was unlikely to be accurate or complete which proved to be prophetic when we finally got home after picking up DaWife and finally getting to sources of info that were not being censored by youtube or pre-written by folks trying to advance a meme rather that write news.

The 1st clue to the truth of this came at lunch with CNN as usual in the background on one TV at our favorite lunch haunt (the one drawback to the place). The lack of live coverage and breathless headlines during our meal demonstrated that all was not going as the media expected.

It also demonstrated the value of conservatives not abandoning Twitter as it became an excellent avenue to disseminate reality to people who wished to deny it as the 2nd Amendment march in the former 2nd Capital of the Confederacy turned out to be typical of tea party events that I had covered for many years while foiling every hope of a left media breathlessly waiting to proclaim a Charlottesville or a Kent State.

So today let’s look at five of those tweets and my responses that in my opinion illustrated the events of the day so well.

Don’t touch that Play Button, Part 1

Twitter is in many ways a lazy medium where many people will send a tweet with a link and video and people will either not click the video or follow the link allowing you to make any meme you want stick. That strategy however fails pretty miserably if people do

There are few things less frightening that a video of people walking down the street doing absolutely nothing threatening

Don’t Touch that Play Button 2

If you’re going to be a blue checked NBC reporter tweeting out clips of chants at a live event it does behoove you to match the chant with the clip you claim to be tweeting out to make the media’s contention that unlike bloggers you have layers of fact checkers credible.

The Scott Brown Election Night Memorial Clip

The saddest look I ever saw on the MSM’s face was the election night when Scott Brown won in Massachusetts but this one wasn’t all that far off. it’s even worse when the 1st guy interviewed is named Manny Cruz. Maybe he’s one of those “White Hispanics”. Anderson Cooper was even more taken aback here

His face says it all it looks like he’s going to throw up.

DaTechGuy’s Laws of Media outrage in Action

Nothing gets a story demoted faster on a MSM webpage than a Democrat/media narrative that is unmet by reality.

Moment of Accidental MSM/Left Clarity #1

Don’t you dare get the idea that the right isn’t violence just because there wasn’t any. Yeah there was no violence by the right, but that’s only because the tolerant and noble left wasn’t there to cause it!

Moment of Accidental MSM/Left Clarity #2

I remember covering a big tea party event during the 2012 primaries in NH that some expected trouble at. There was a single cop and not a harsh word to be said. The police at these events know when they’re in danger and when they’re not

I am the Ghost of Teaparties Past

Maybe Baltimore or SF can invite these folks to rally for gun right there. It will save them millions from their sanitary budget.

600 miles away the crime wave begins…

Why do I have the feeling channel 7 Boston would have been highlighting something different if the narrative had been met?

We’re all gonna die! Again!

One of the problems of constantly predicting doom a/la Peter Cook in the Secret Policeman’s Other Ball over the course of several years is that when voters who expected to be imprisoned, starving or living in a state of anarchy surrounded by the dead tend to notice when on election day they find themselves with good jobs in a booming economy on election day with nary a body in sight.

Meanwhile back in Bubble World…

My son’s friend’s likely only source of news but in fairness somewhere in the multiverse this reality might exist, perhaps in the same reality where the Crisis on Infinite Networks Letterkenny & the Witcher crossover is taking place.

The “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” award

Or, if you can’t get the nonviolent ordinary citizens who are opposing you to display the violence you insisted was inherent in their system you might as well blame said lack of violence on your decisive actions and forethought.

They mentioned the fence the Governor put up in that clip and I’ll close with a tweet commenting on that.

9th surprise, Adam Who? CNN as Tragedy, CNN as Comedy and two SB stats Under the Fedora

Posted: January 20, 2020 by datechguy in media, News/opinion, nfl, politics, Sports
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If you want to know why the left is so afraid of Donald Trump this headline says it all:

9th Circuit Dismisses Climate Change Lawsuit Brought By Kids

The idea that a federal court would dismiss a frivolous lawsuit is in general not all that odd a thing, but that the 9th circuit, the historical court of liberal insanity is doing so is a sign of the difference Donald Trump is making.

This was the fun story of the week.

Let’s point out that Congressman Schiff was on TV constantly, the media was pushing him constantly, newspapers were mentioning him constantly and three contestants on Jeopardy, the folks who know everything about everything had no idea who the hell he was, even with a picture. included.

That’s how little impeachment means to the public.

Speaking of things nobody cares about the media outrage over Senator McSally putting media hack Manu Raju in his place is really funny:

Given the abysmal ratings of CNN these days, the complete disintest by the country in impeachment and the low opinion the press is currently held while their anger is in fact a “tale told by an idiot” or rather idiots and does “signify nothing” I don’t think it their whining rises to the level of being “full of sound and fury” although it is full of something.

I’m really enjoying all of the outrage by the Bernie Sanders fans and others over CNN as being biased:

The big loser of the night was the network that hosted the event. CNN was so consistently aligned against Bernie Sanders that it compromised its claim to journalistic neutrality.

That’s from that well known right wing bastion the Nation in fact some Bernie sites are taking direct action:

A Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) subreddit has banned all content from CNN over the network’s coverage of the presidential candidate.

A moderator with the r/SandersForPresident subreddit, which has more than 373,000 members, announced the decision on Wednesday following the presidential debate in Des Moines, Iowa.

The post argues that CNN, which hosted Tuesday evening’s debate, has “abandoned their journalistic integrity” in an effort to derail Sanders’ campaign.

The level of outrage is really amusing as much worse than all of this is the kind of treatment that any conservative who isn’t willing to attack conservatives is subjected to daily.

Of course the Sanders crew has never been outraged over this kind of behavior as long as it’s directed at conservatives, but the idea that they might be the target, is beyond the pale.

cue the Troll in chief

Point and laugh time.

Finally it’s the Chiefs vs the 49ers in the Superbowl in two weeks. Basically an unstoppable offense vs an impenetrable defense but there are two stats that I find amusing going into this game

Stat 1: Going into the playoffs there were four QB’s in the playoffs that are locks for the hall of fame. Brees, Brady, Rogers and Wilson. Only Rogers made it to the final four and none of them made it to the big game suggesting this will be the passing of the torch.

Stat 2: If San Francisco wins this will be Jimmy G’s 3rd Superbowl ring as he won two with the Pats, one as a backup all season and the other starting a pair of games without losing one (he gone by the time they lost to the Eagles) that will put him at a full half Brady and he’s just getting started.

Fr Longnecker Nails Catholicism Perfectly

Posted: January 19, 2020 by datechguy in catholic, Church doctrine
Tags: , ,

As a result of this, many (of) his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.

Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”

Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

John 6:66-69

This weekend after a prolonged nap I woke from my sleep to see this tweet from Fr. Dwight Longnecker, one of the few married priests in the Catholic Church that speaks to one of the most salient things concerning the Catholic Church

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

This nails one of the most critical things about the Catholic Church that there is.

Think about it for a second. If you think about the kind of church you want to join, the Catholic Church would not likely be high on your list.

You aren’t allowed to divorce your wife or husband if the inclination comes

You an’t allowed to have premarital sex, or even contraception

If you’re gay, forget marriage, if you want to be a priest for nun, forget marriage and sex.

In fact forget about porn, masturbation and a bunch of other things that you might like to get away with

and even worse if you do any of these things you have to go before a priest, confess that you’ve done these thing, “firmly resolve to not commit these sins in the future” (and mean it when you say it) and when (hopefully if but usually when) you falter on some of those sins as is the way of life, have the embarrassment of going back and confessing them AGAIN.

And if you don’t do these things you either have to refrain from communion or go up for a blessing and left everyone SEE that you’re in an unfit state to receive communion.

And consider how many attractive alternatives there are avaialble.

You have Christian churches who preach predestination meaning that it’s all God’s will so no matter what you do now it doesn’t matter (so you might as well do what you want).

You have Christian churches who proclaim “one saved always saved” which means that you can sin all you want without fear of hell.

You have Christian churches that redefine sin to the point where not only are the sins you are most tempted from no longer considered sin but are even considered virtuous.

And beyond that you not only have a culture that hates the church, but celebrates you when you leave it but you have scandals from sexual to financial that makes being a public Catholic a very hard thing.

And if you are devout despite this you have a Pope that has at best been a Lemon or at worst been a heretic to the point where some of the alternatives like the Society of St. Pius seem not only reasonable, but honorable. You even have alternatives that the Church recognizes as valid like the Orthodox whose sacraments are recognized but do not return said recognition

So why does one stay Catholic, or as in Fr. Longnecker case convert to the Catholic faith? Simply for the reason Fr. Longnecker said

“…because it’s the true church.”

My degree is in Computer Science, I’ve trained as an engineer, I’m a maths guy. Do you realize how easy it would be to go to a denomination that said my current sins that I battle were not sins and that the various temptations to other sins I have were no big deal if I thought that the Church was not true? Do you think I would put myself though those things if there was the slightest doubt in my mind that the church wasn’t true?

And that not even dealing with the various ethical dilemmas that have come up regularly from loving one’s enemies rather than taking easy revenge on them or taking ethical shortcuts that would have made me wealthy and my life comfortable

Those alternatives are all dangled before us, from the abolition of our since (as opposed to forgiveness) on one end to the affirmation of our virtue on the other with worldly celebration in between. Almost as if it was being said to us.

All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me

Matthew 4:9

That’s the real irony. We are in fact being given the same tempting offer that Christ was and by the same being too. Might I suggest the same answer:

At this, Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan! It is written: ‘The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.'”

Matthew 4:10

Now I’m no Jesus. I’m going to fail a lot and so are all the rest of us but the Eucharist remains the Eucharist, the Sacraments are still the sacraments and the Church for all the scandals it has had over two thousands years and for all the lemons we’ve seen from it, past present and future, remains the One Holy Catholic Church in faith in reason and in truth.

That’s is why I have stayed and will stay. With the Church’s help I might obtain heaven despite my sins and maybe if I’m very lucky and very blessed be of some use to Christ in helping a few others, by the grace of God, along that same narrow path.

Missing Mike the Butcher

Posted: January 18, 2020 by datechguy in American Success Stories, culture, local
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Yesterday Mike Romano the owner of the last butcher shop in Fitchburg that has been run by his family for 100 years died after a short but violent bout with cancer at the age of 69.

Mike was in the shop every day. Six days a week open and Monday’s doing his bookkeeping except for the week of Christmas, Thanksgiving or New Years when he would close on the holiday and open on Monday to make up for it. He was a fixture of the city. For decades when you walked into Romano’s Market you saw Mike fist with his father and uncle and then later with his sons. He was of the old school, he worked hard, did his job well, didn’t whine, didn’t complain and took care of customers.

I first wrote about Mike after seeing a post at Instapundit comparing sausage making and laws. His piece prompted this email which was the 1st time I was mentioned at Instapundit:

UPDATE: How bad have things gotten? Bad enough that when you compare journalism to sausage-making, people write in to defend sausage-makers! Reader Peter Ingemi writes:

I live 7 doors down from a butcher shop that has been in the neighborhood and one particular family for 100 years. A couple of months ago when I walked in and was making my order I noticed Mike (the butcher) cutting and cubing pork. He seemed to be cutting an awful lot of it, I didn’t see a special on the board so I asked about it.

He reminded me it was Wednesday and that is the day he made all of the different sausages he makes (about a half dozen types not counting chicken and kielbasa) I stood there and watched him making sausages and realized that the old saying about Sausages no matter how true it might be for a plant or maybe another butcher shop it wasn’t true at Romano’s. (I can’t speak for other local butchers but I would bet good money that this is true for other family butcher shops too.)

I think Mike and the other local butchers deserve a caveat.

So noted.

Shortly afterwards Mike let me film him making sausage it turned into an in depth look at an old fashioned neighborhood family business

part 2

Part 3

part 4

part 5

part 6

There is no part 7 or if there is I don’t know what happened to it, here is part 8

Part 9

Part 10

I filmed there several other times. like the day before Thanksgiving one year

Kaite is only there occasionally these days, Michelle is now 29 and still works there part time in fact she cut the steak I bought there Wednesday. Harold has been dead for a few years. Mike’s Son Josh the teacher is now the Principal of school he was at and left the service as a Major. His other son Todd from the videos is still in sales but is regularly at the shop

I have no idea what the future of the Butcher shop will be as I can’t imagine going anywhere else after almost three decades of walking down the street for my meats but even if it continues it’s going to be an odd thing walking in there and not seeing Mike anymore but I’m glad that I had the chance to shoot these videos and others so I and others can remember him by.

Mike was a good man, and if he treated his other customers half as good as he treated me and mine over the years he will be sorely missed as a person can be.

Update: Corrected his age, Mike was 69 would have been 70 this year. I should mention that if you walked into Romano’s over the last few years, particularly during the holiday season or the summer months you were very likely to be waited on by one of Mike’s many grandchildren which makes seven generations of Romano’s at this business.

Here is his Obit from the Sentinel & Enterprise this jumped out at me:

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made in Mike’s name to the Lunenburg Fire and Rescue, 655 Mass Avenue, Lunenburg, MA 01462 or Fitchburg Fire Fighters Relief Fund, 33 North Street, Fitchburg, MA 01420. or may be left at the funeral home.

The firestations would always come down for a big order on a regular basis

thought I’d include one more video of his sons talking during the pink slime business:

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