Archive for the ‘politics’ Category

Teach your kids to lie, blame others, and procrastinate so they will be ready for a career in politics

Posted: January 1, 2023 by John Ruberry in Blame Trump, congress, economy, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

Hello parents! Do you want to raise children who will enter politics? Then keep reading.

Rather than bringing up kids to act responsibly, your politico children need to end up the complete opposite of that.

Unlike me. Which is why rather than claiming the idea for this blog post as entirely my own, I have to credit an old Mad Magazine article from decades ago. 

Here we go.

Your political children need to be proficient liars. Incoming Republican congressman George Santos of New York invented an entire past for himself. He lied about where he worked, what schools he attended, what religion he is, how much money he made, where and when his mother died, and possibly even his sexual preference. Apparently, Santos was more truthful when he ran for Congress in 2020. And what did that get him then? A defeat. 

Over on the Democratic side, US Sen. Elizabeth Warren, all the way back to her academic career, claimed to be a Native American. In preparation for her 2020 presidential run, Warren released a DNA test that she claimed there was “strong evidence” that she had an Indian ancestor six to ten generations back, making her anywhere from 1/64th to 1/1024 indigenous American.

That lie led Donald Trump to dub Warren “Pocahantas.” As for the former president, he refused to release his tax returns after announcing his first run for president because the real estate mogul said we was undergoing in IRS audit. He wasn’t. 

But our current president, Joe Biden, is a Baron Munchausen-level fabulist. Some of his lies are humorous, such as the tale, which has been debunked numerous times, about Biden being told in the 2010s that he traveled over one million miles on Amtrak by an on-duty conductor who retired twenty-years earlier. Other lies, such as Biden the blaming the rise in gasoline prices since he took office two years ago solely on the war in Ukraine, betray a lack of emotional maturity. 

Just last month, Biden claimed to have been the impetus for the awarding a Purple Heart to an uncle, a World War II veteran. That didn’t happen. 

And the Inflation Reduction Act is simply an expensive falsehood.

Your political children need to blame others for their mistakes. In addition to blaming Putin for high energy prices, Biden and his administration pointed their collective finger at Trump for the highest inflation America has suffered in four decades. Rather, it was Biden’s anti-energy policies and his pork-laden $1.9 trillion stimulus bill of 2021 that were the culprits. The American economy was well on its way to recovery from the COVID-19 lockdown by then, the bill was not only unnecessary, but also harmful. 

Your political children need to procrastinate. Just a few days ago, as a government shutdown loomed, Joe Biden signed into law a massive spending bill, one that will almost certainly add oxygen to our roaring inflation fire. Spending bills are due annually before October 1, but not since 1996 has a spending bill has been signed into law before that date.

So when one of your children drops a bomb on you that urgent help is needed on a ten-page term paper–which is due the next morning–you should be proud. You are raising a politician. Which brings me to my next recommendation.

Your political children need to ignore their homework assignments. Here’s one more item about that most recent spending bill. It’s over 4,000 pages long. Few if any members of Congress read it before voting on it. And I am certain that man who signed it into law, Joe Biden, didn’t read it either.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

Santos the Pol vs Santos the Catholic

Posted: December 28, 2022 by datechguy in catholic, Church doctrine, politics
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I’ve known the Popes back in Illinois known all of them, they’re all liars and braggarts but don’t know of any particular reason why a liar and a braggart shouldn’t make a good general.

Abe Lincoln on being told John Pope can’t be trusted to tell the truth.1862

I must admit I’m slightly conflicted about the George Santos business.

On the one hand I’m a great believer in people being hoisted on their own petard. Our Democrat friends have become big on utilitarianism, (remember Harry Reid’s famous “He didn’t win did he?” concerning his lies about Romney) and the whole abandonment of the standard of honesty among the left has become so great that it’s almost laughable that they’re complaining about Santos’ whoppers.

Furthermore there is the question of vetting, I think Jazz Shaw’s theory on the matter is likely on the nose here:

How did George Santos make it over the finish line before all of this information came to light? The general consensus among New York Democrats seems to be that it’s a matter of timing. You see, Santos ran for this seat in 2020 against Democrat Tom Suozzi. It was obvious that Santos was going to get his clock cleaned and he did, losing by roughly 20 points. He was basically little more than a placeholder name on the ballot for the Republicans, so nobody really bothered vetting him or looking at the race too closely. And two years later, since he had run before, a lot of people clearly assumed that he’d already been vetted. (And there were bigger, hotter races to cover in the state anyway.)

Given the Democrats failure to vet an opponent and the tactics they have repeatedly used the partisan in my sees no reason for George Santos to resign anything. If they voters in his district want him out the proper solution is a recall election and who knows maybe Lincoln observation about not knowing of any particular reason why a liar and braggart shouldn’t make a good general applies to being a member of congress too.

But then we run into the Santos the Catholic business.

Santos is in fact a Catholic and as a Catholic there is a specific thing about the whole “bearing false witness” business. To win this office by bearing false witness is going to be damaging to his soul.

Christ was rather emphatic about this being a bad idea

Then Jesus said to his disciples,

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct.

Matthew 16:24-27

Since gaining the whole world isn’t a good enough reason to forfeit eternal life how much less is a two year term in congress?

So my advice to George Santos: resign the seat and take a good look at the state of your soul.

That’s the best advice I can give, however since he has embraced the whole gay marriage, Joe Biden Nancy Pelosi “Catholics for Mortal sin” business I suspect this advice will go unheeded.

I’ll pray for him anyways. You should too.

I Suspect it’s not just Mitch

Posted: December 27, 2022 by datechguy in politics

Donald Trump said something interesting concerning GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell:

The Marxist Democrats must have something really big on Mitch McConnell in order to get him and some of his friendly “Republican” Senators to pass the horrendous “All Democrat, All the Way” OMINOUS Bill. It gives Border Security to other countries, but ZERO $’s to the U.S., it fully funds the corrupt “Justice” Department, FBI (which RIGGED the Presidential Election!), and even the Trump Hating Special “Prosecutor.” It is also a massive giveaway & capitulation to CHINA, making COCO CHOW so happy!

Donald Trump on Truth Social

I actually suspect this is the norm rather than the exception. I suspect that when a promising young alderman or state rep starts advancing the deep state gets right to work. They look for an opening to compromise them, maybe it’s a “companion” at a party, maybe it’s a financial consideration that they insist is legal, maybe it’s a favor for a son, daughter, brother or sister, or if they are already compromised in some way, they promise to keep it quiet during any election to higher office. They provide comfort, wealth and advancement.

But once these favors are taken, they’re owned and said favor is held over their head to compel action and then the compelled action exasperates the hold until the subject is held in bonds that they are terrified of breaking because if they do then all the wealth, power, influence and comfort they have acquired for themselves and their family and friends can suddenly disappear. Even worse an investigation can take place where the process is the punishment, a process that will take years and most of the gains that they have acquired in years or decades of the grift.

This is the type of hold I suspect an awful lot of people are subject to in congress and other places these days and I suspect these hold are exercised, not on every vote or every issue, but in the key moments where it’s needed to protect the deep state and those who profit from it.

I could be totally wrong about this, as could Donald Trump, but I doubt it.

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.

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