Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Five King Chuck (Charles III) Thoughts Under the Fedora

Posted: September 9, 2022 by datechguy in Uncategorized

For the first time in the lifetime of myself and most of humanity, I begin a day without a Queen Elizabeth on the throne of England replaced instead with a King Charles. A few thoughts:

This is not very respectful but the first thought that came into my head and stayed into my head for all of Thursday was a remix of the classic Steve Martin song “King Tut” remade as “King Chuck” with verses like this:

,

King Chuck

First wife was kind of curvy

King Chuck

HIs brothers kind of pervy.

Born inside a palace, never been to Dallas,  King Chuck

King Chuck

King Chuck

Never wore a beardo

Funky Chuck

His son married a weirdo

Ears just like a Donkey, Now he's the head honkey, 70 years he's waitin'  now they say "God Save Him" King Chuck

It’s has to be something to go from punchline to the most prominent King in the world in 24 hours

Elizabeth is a tough act to follow but Charles has several large advantages that she did not

  1. Decades of experience in his royal duties as the longest serving Prince of Wales in History
  2. Decades watching his mother perform her Royal duties at the highest possible level
  3. Rather low expectations
  4. One of the most inept collection of heads of state in the world to be compared to

I mean how tough is it to be a better example than Joe Biden or Vlad Putin?

Of course in the Expectations game he’s almost certainly can’t end up worse than the first King Charles who was beheaded by Cromwell or the 2nd King Charles who had to flee the country after his father execution and ended up with plenty of illegitimate children but no heir.

Ironically his first wife Princess Diana was descended from one of those illegitimate children which means that if either of his sons come to the throne England will once again have a king who is a descendent of all three King Charles.

There is another interesting parallel to history in Charles ascension to the throne. That of course is King Edward VII whose mother Queen Victoria was like Elizabeth II after her, the longest reigning British monarch at the time of her death.

The Edwardian age of course is celebrated in culture as one of the great era in British history, a time of peace and prosperity that came before the first and second world wars led to the dismantling of the British Empire and it’s place in the world.

Given the collapse of western Civilization over the last few decades such an outcome is unlikely but I suspect nobody predicted such a result from King Edward either.

Yesterday Charles completed his first full day as King including a speech to the nation.

Not a bad speech and hit all the right notes. The speech looks even better when you consider that he’s in mourning for his mother.

Of course getting the first thing right is as much of a guarantee as a successful reign as the Bills opening day victory over the defending champion LA Rams means they’re a lock for the Superbowl, but it certainly doesn’t hurt.

Charles is not only Head of State as of yesterday, but is now also the head of the Anglican Church. While both positions are largely ceremonial I expect to see him challenged in all of those positions by those with various agendas.

It will be how he handles those challenges that his reign will be judged and given his age it is very likely that I might live to see his entire reign and be in a position to evaluate it.

It suspect it won’t be boring.

The level of demagoguery and disdain for our founding principles from the Biden regime has reached dangerous levels

Posted: September 8, 2022 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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My Facebook newsfeed was jam-packed with condemnation of Joe Biden’s Independence Hall diatribe.  The same holds true for all of the Conservative and Libertarian websites I visited that day.  I have never witnessed such outrage.  

To make sure all of the fury was justified, I read the full transcript of Biden’s loathsome speech.  This first section made my blood boil.

Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic.

Now, I want to be very clear, very clear up front. Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology. I know, because I’ve been able to work with these mainstream Republicans.

But there’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. And that is a threat to this country.

By the time I was finished with this next section I was also nauseated and heartsick.

And here, in my view, is what is true: MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election, and they’re working right now as I speak in state after state to give power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself.

MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards, backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love. They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fanned the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country.

I have studied World War Two in great detail.  This infuriating diatribe was very much akin to Hitler’s Nuremburg Rally Speech.  Stalin and other socialist dictarors often made similar speeches before sending their secret police to round up political opponents and dissidents.  To me this diatribe is a warning sign that Joe Biden may be considering something similar here. 

Thankfully we have the Second Amendment here to discourage such tyrannical notions emanating from our elected officials.  Joe Biden has enough functioning brain cells to understand that this wisest of amendments is a major obstacle to such truly un-American moves.  That is why Progressives have been working for decades to abolish the Second Amendment.  Check out this statement Joe Biden made after arriving on Marine One.

So the idea of these high-caliber weapons is of — there’s simply no rational basis for it in terms of thinking about self-protection, hunting.  I mean, I just — and remember, the Constitution, the Second Amendment was never absolute.  You couldn’t buy a cannon when the Second Amendment was passed.  You couldn’t go out and purchase a lot of weapons. 

And those who — not many are saying it anymore, but there was a while there where people were saying that, you know, the Tree of Liberty is watered with the blood of patriots, and what we have to do is you have to be able to take on the government when they’re wrong.  Well, to do that, you need an F-15, you know?  Or you need an Abrams tank.

What I find most infuriating about that last quote is how our illegitimate president takes a huge metaphoric dump on our most important founding principles while using a bunch of historically inaccurate gibberish to trash the Second Amendment.

The following video clip from Biden’s press secretary leaves no doubt about the Biden Regime being a bunch of totalitarian collectivists.

Those of us who believe in individual liberty, and everything else the United States stands for, must never be the first to use violence.  The purpose of the Second Amendment is for We the People to defend ourselves against a tyrannical government.  We have not reached that level yet.  I pray that we never will.

A Reason For Hope on Labor Day

Posted: September 5, 2022 by datechguy in Uncategorized

Today my sons took my wife and I out for supper at a local steak house chain.

There was a young lady who was our server, she was attentive and efficient making sure we had all we wanted and me being me I opened up a conversation.

It turns out she lives an hour away (the gas price must be rather high) in a rural area. Despite this and the price of gas she was rather cheerful.

During our spaced talks it came out Tuesday is her day off meaning she works six days a week I commented on the long drive and she said it was very peaceful and quiet which is handy because it’s not quiet at home with three kids.

Here is the kicker. The kids aren’t hers, they are her siblings, she has been taking care of them.

So consider this. Here is a young lady, working six days a week with an hour drive each way to work and three kids to raise that aren’t her own.

Yet she talks about all the good things there are in her life and takes joy in simple pleasures.

I don’t know what her politics or her religion are, I don’t care but as long as there are young people like this there is hope for the country and its future.

Report from Louisiana: Teacher Shortage

Posted: September 5, 2022 by Pat Austin in Uncategorized
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By:  Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – Besides the LSU one-point loss to Florida State last night, the other big headline in the papers this morning is the national teacher shortage.

At this point, when education officials and politicians lament about teacher shortages I just shake my head and move on. I might roll my eyes, too. I mean, why is anybody surprised that there is a teacher shortage?

I’ve beat this drum in this space before: I retired at 25-years from my teaching position. I could not do thirty years. I wanted to because I loved my students and I loved teaching. But when Louisiana public education officials pushed out the canned curriculum with script, pre-made, dull PowerPoint slides with scripted questions, which we were expected to “read with fidelity,” I was done.

Not to mention that the pay is terrible. The voters refused multiple attempts at a pay raise because we “knew the pay when we went into teaching,” and for multiple other reasons like inflated bureaucracy at the school board office. Top heavy administration. Created jobs for nepotism reasons.

No, instead of being paid like other professionals, we are given free donuts and soft drink coupons on teacher appreciation week. The local Sonic might donate some breakfast burritos for workshop day. That should do it.

Teachers are leaving not just because of low pay. They are leaving because they aren’t really allowed to teach.

They are leaving because their planning period has never been actually for lesson planning. (You don’t need to plan for lessons that are already prepared for you and your script written). No, planning periods are for meetings, “professional development,” and for covering other classes.

Teachers are leaving because classroom management is more challenging these days than ever before. Cell phones and air pods have changed the face of classroom management. 

Teachers are leaving because few people actually respect a teacher; they are thankful for you, sometimes. But they don’t really respect you.

Teachers are leaving because they have to create Amazon Wish Lists for basic classroom materials like paper, pencils, and markers. If you want a stapler on your desk, buy it yourself. If you need dry erase markers for your board, that’s on you, too.

Teachers are leaving because along with teaching you are also expected to support kids by being a class sponsor or a yearbook sponsor or a cheer sponsor or a club sponsor….all on your own time, after school hours, without extra pay. You are expected to do these things to prove that you love the kids and your school. I did them, and I loved my kids whether or not I was yearbook sponsor. But sometimes I was at school until midnight working on the yearbook. Without extra pay.

Teachers are leaving because the government has tied the hands of administrators is dealing out discipline. When a throw-down-girl-fight breaks out in your classroom over something that happened earlier in the day at lunch, and teenage girls are pulling hair and banging heads against the floor, furniture flying, endangering other students in the way, and those girls are hauled down to the office by the School Resource Officer, and the next day they are back in the classroom?  Who is really in control here? And by the way, you better beef up your classroom management because your administrator will tell you that if your classroom management was up to par a fight wouldn’t have happened. It’s your fault.

So, color me NOT surprised when you talk about a teacher shortage. I don’t regret my time in the classroom at all. There were times, with my students, that teaching felt like the best job in the world. But there were other times that teaching left you beat down and in tears at the end of the day.

It made the decision to retire at twenty-five years with an $500 per month pay cut in my pension easier. If I could have made to thirty-years I’d have gotten a better pension, but I absolutely could not do it. I was done.

And now, in the face of this teacher shortage, I never even consider going back.

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