Archive for the ‘Blame Trump’ Category

Christmas musings from an alienated “bah humbug” conservative in a Blue State

Posted: December 25, 2022 by John Ruberry in Blame Trump, blogs, culture, doctor who, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics, Uncomfortable Truths
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Blogger on the right with a friend near Augusta, Georgia in 2021

By John Ruberry

Last week my wife was invited to a party hosted by one of my daughter’s friends. 

Who wasn’t? Me.

There was some-and-forth, but my daughter explained that the host, who has been to my home and whose mother I’ve known for years through an old job, didn’t think I’d be “comfortable” there. After some probing, it became clear that it was my conservative political views that were the problem for them. 

I pressed my daughter, “What kind of ogre do they think I am?” Well, I muscled my way into an invite–after all, I’ve lived all of my life in the Chicago area, so I know all about muscling–and do you know what? I showed up to the party. The guests found me whimsical and charming. In other words–I was lovable myself. 

Over on Facebook I’ve been unfriended by many old friends–now unfriends–and at least one relative over my posts there. 

In addition to my Sunday blog entries on this site I have my own blog, Marathon Pundit. The rollicking comment threads on my Facebook page–or more accurately, argument threads–bring traffic to my blog, and sometimes, here at Da Tech Guy. Friends–in the flesh ones that is–as well as co-workers, look forward to the next tiff on my Facebook page. I’m reminded of that constantly. And as I am now in my sixth decade, my real career, parts of which involve writing, is winding down. Moreso than ever, as William Shakespeare said to the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who, “Words are my trade.” Well, maybe not completely, but I do earn money blogging and I hope to earn more. 

Hey, I gotta eat.

And I absolutely do believe in what I write. And I voted for Donald J. Trump four times–twice in the Illinois Republican Primary and twice in the general election. I’m proud of those votes and I’m still 80/20 in regard to the former president. 

About those old friends: Many of them are carrying on without me. Sadly, but I suspect they see me as someone who has transformed himself into an SNL caricature of a conservative, a cross between the Muppets’ Sam Eagle and Archie Bunker, but sans the bigotry on the last one. 

I have long ears–and because of the blog–a long tongue. Oh, I stole that last line from Lawrence of Arabia. 

The invitations to get-togethers have stopped coming from most of them. I’ve been cancelled.

Bah humbug.

Oh, please don’t worry about me. I have a wife a daughter who love me. And many new friends. And I’m still in touch with some of those old friends. During my most recent vacations, in Alaska and Georgia, I re-connected with two of them–and I met a third friend in Texas, who I met through my blogging. That’s me up there on the right last year, with a high school friend who lives near Augusta, Georgia, who I hadn’t seen since we graduated so many years ago. That moment is my favorite of the current decade. 

A new friend–we met through Twitter–invited me for coffee when he visited Illinois this spring.

Even if I was really even partially Sam Eagle/Archie Bunker, your humble blogger is so much more. I work in an industry, automotive, that utterly fascinates people and I have numerous tips in regard to buying a car–without being ripped off. Your Marathon Pundit, currently nursing an injured hip, is really a runner. I’ve run 33 marathons. In addition to the blogging, I have another side hustle, stock photography. On the job, my real one, I’ve showed clients my portfolio, a couple of them are now selling pics online too.

I’m not a one trick eagle. 

Yet it is only Sam Eagle/Archie Bunker the liberals only see. Perhaps that is all they want to see. Such is life as a conservative in Deep Blue Illinois. 

Maybe I am the bad guy. On the flipside, I don’t believe so. According to a couple of polls, one here and another one here, it is the denizens of the left who are more likely to unfriend someone on social media than conservatives over politics. Oh yeah, liberals. The ones who so often have “Coexist” bumper stickers on their cars and “Hate Has No Home Here” signs on their lawn. 

Everyone is welcome in their world. Except for folks who don’t share their political beliefs. As for myself, I’ve never unfriended anyone on social media because of their political views.

Well, this is not the Christmas message you are accustomed to, but please let me reiterate, I am fine–please don’t tell Mrs. Marathon Pundit to hide the sharp objects. 

Christmas is a time for welcoming others. In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Scrooge’s nephew always invited the miser to his home for Christmas dinner. 

Next Sunday is New Year’s Day. As Robert Burns wrote, “Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never thought upon.”

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. 

And God bless us, everyone.

Never forget.

Now it’s time for me to get dressed in my finest and head over to my sister’s home for a Christmas feast.

A special thanks goes to that friend in Georgia for permission to use the above photograph for this blog entry.

John Ruberry regularly blogs from the Chicago area at Marathon Pundit.

Five More Under the Fedora Thoughts on the Raid on Donald Trump’s House: More Norms, Trump as Mr. Clean, In Your Face on Purpose, Silence and Consent, The Left’s Fear of Exposure

Posted: August 10, 2022 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, Blame Trump, politics, Uncategorized
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The degree of shock at the Raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago confuses me. Once you have people willing to destroy the norms on stealing an election what makes you think they’re going to respect any other norms?

You know I’ve said this once and I’ll say it again, Donald Trump must be one of the cleanest businessmen who ever ran a business and one of the most honest pols who ever held office.

With the degree of scrutiny given to him and the enthusiastic desire to find something ANYTHING criminal about him from both the government and the press the fact that over six years they have come up with nothing solidifies this opinion.

The funny thing of course is that people likely would not have had that opinion before he ran.

There is one other aspect of what was done that should be addressed. One of the reasons people were shocked is how “in your face” this actually is.

That’s deliberate, they WANT people to understand that they will come after you and you can’t do anything about it, they want you to know who is in charge, who is the master and who is the slave.

It’s meant to be psychological terrorism.

There are a few people who are shocked at how few leftists are speaking out against this. I’m not shocked for three reasons:

  1. The violent wing of the left is still ready to go after anyone who speaks out of turn and particularly anyone they consider “traitors”
  2. The left didn’t see the possibility of Harry Reid’s filibuster reform being used against them, why would they see the consequences for them here?
  3. In a party that is post Christian, ends and means are what matters , why would you expect a moral stand?

Finally we talked about how clean Trump must be now let’s look at the other side of the coin.

For decades Republicans and Democrats have traded power, each side has been in charge for a while then the other. Other than that long run from the 50’s to the 80’s when the dems owned the house the back and forth was normal and both sides understood that sooner or later the pendulum swings back.

The sheer panic on the left concerning a 2nd Trump term suggest to me something different.

Could it be that the left is even more corrupt than we think? Could it be that the stuff that they’ve been doing, enabling and coordinating is even more horrific than that worst conspiracy theorists have imagined? Could it be that the Epstein’s of the world are the norm for the left and not the exception and that they’ve only caught the one?

That would explain the left’s Trump panic. Not being part of the normal system won’t turn a blind eye to things that have been done in the past and continue to be done, more than that he would be motivated to expose what the left has done for decades simply out of revenge over what’s been done to him without cause.

This is simply a theory, I don’t know if that’s true, but it certainly fits the current facts on the ground.

Let Me Ask Just One Question…

Posted: May 2, 2022 by datechguy in Blame Trump
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…if Donald Trump was actually to blame for Biden’s ministry of truth as Jen Psaki claims, would not every single media outlet have sounded a clarion call claiming that Donald Trump was censoring his critics with giant headlines in every major paper and the pols and pundits all over the place decrying the attack on free speech.

Somehow I don’t recall this happening.

Donald Trump took more heat than any president in my memory and took it better than any pol that I recall because he he was comfortable in his skin and sure that what he was doing was right.

The Biggest Messaging Problem for Democrats is Reality The 2nd is Saying What they Actually Believe Out Loud

Posted: December 7, 2021 by datechguy in Blame Trump, economy, elections, media, politics

Reality: I’m going to tear down your safe space, I shall smash it with glee.

Cartman: Who is that?

Reality: You can’t stop me from getting inside. I am cold and dark and my name…is reality!

South Park: Safe space , song: In my safe space 2015

I’m rather amused at the left’s insistence that the primary problem they are having is messaging.

That because there are two primary factors hurting their messaging.

The first is reality.

It doesn’t matter getting a standing O at the Kennedy Center if people are paying twice as much for Gas as there were a few month before and their grocery bills are though the roof even as the supply chain falls apart.

Nor does it help when people you have cheered as heroes just a year or two ago (Cuomo) end up either resigning or being fired for offences against decency.

Furthermore it’s hard to ignore rampant crime to the point where local TV stations are giving advice on how not to be carjacked.

All of these things are being actually experienced by actual voters, primarally in actual blue cities. The reality is so pronounced that it’s very hard to spin it away.

And I’ve not even mentioned Afghanistan or even Joe Biden’s inability to speak or move without constant supervision.

But that’s only one component of the problem. The 2nd is almost as deadly.

For a long time the primary MO of the left and their media allies was to avoid talking about their actual beliefs and goal.

Now we have members of the left openly calling for no bail for criminals.

We have people openly supporting socialism and communism

We have an AG calling parents attending school board meetings domestic terrorists

And most important we have Democrat governors and mayors openly pushing mandates at work at school and even at home that are not working while at the same time the primary non-trump villain in your drama (DeSantis in Florida) is doing the exact opposite with a wide degree of success.

While this stuff might play inside the Democrat media bubbles of academia and media outside of those safe spaces they just don’t advance the cause.

Now given the methods used to win the last national election it may well be that it doesn’t matter what the voters think but in midterm elections at a time of heightened scrutiny this is a danger.

The Democrats, the media and reality have come out as what they are, alas for them it’s unlikely that they can be fit back into their bottle.

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