Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Report from Louisiana: renaming, rebranding, and rewriting history in a free country

Posted: July 4, 2022 by Pat Austin in culture, Uncategorized
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Photo by Andrew Ruiz on Unsplash

By:  Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – We were supposed to be celebrating the Fourth in the Midwest this week, but our plans shifted by a week. We will be on the road next week. I love celebrating the Fourth in the heart of America, the Midwest, in rural America where it is easier for me to hide from the political and cultural negativity and pretend that things are as simple and kind as they were years ago.

Instead, I am here in Shreveport where we have already had one shooting today and I know with a fair degree of confidence that it won’t be the last; as I write this it isn’t even noon.

I sit here and scan the headlines over my coffee and see nothing but foolishness:

Nine Army bases will be renamed because they currently honor “Confederate traitors.” The new names include African-American, Hispanic, and female heroes who have served. “Officials with the Defense Department naming commission said the changes were designed to guarantee that prominent military locations have names ‘that evoke confidence in all who serve.’” This may not bother a lot of people, but I’m just so over this renaming, rebranding, and rewriting of history. When we take history out of context and force events to comply to current, perhaps even temporal thinking, we begin a trek down a path that leads to a point where we have no history at all. Where does it end?

On a somewhat related note, the New York Times reports that many orchestras, including Cleveland, are scrapping the 1812 Overture in their Fourth of July events as it would be upsetting to people in a time of war; the piece celebrates Russia’s victory over Napoleon’s army in Moscow in 1812.

Seriously.

So, now we literally have to rethink everything we name, sing, play, visit because we have to be certain someone somewhere doesn’t get offended or hurt.

Can I just say, you’d have to be looking really hard to have hurt feelings at some of this. When I hear the 1812 Overture, I do not think, “Oh, yay Russia! Good job trouncing Napoleon’s army! Woo!”

Today, on this July 4, I am longing for a simpler time when we as a nation come together to celebrate our independence, to remember those heroes who fought for it, and who sacrificed so much for it. I’m turning off the news today, I’m going to fire up the grill, light a sparkler, and listen to the 1812 Overture as loud as I can play it. I’m going to put out American flags and I’m going to celebrate the fact that I live in a free country and all that that entails.

Happy Fourth of July!

Fast Thoughts Under the Fedora for the 4th of July: Colorado elections, Silence in Worcester, Unarmed in West Hollywood, Gas Attacks and the one thing we’re not short of

Posted: July 3, 2022 by datechguy in Uncategorized

People really need to take a look at Colorado where a pair of candidates that nobody ever heard of managed to get a ton of primary votes, one of them winning the GOP primary for sec of state, you know the person who decides if an election is honest.

Never forget by the Democrat standard Al Capone was never a gangster because he never was convicted of same.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised that the the wrath of man has not fallen on Bishop McManus for steadfastly sticking with his decision concerning the Jesuit Trinity School and the gay pride and BLM flags.

Whoever leaked the private talks hoping to see the same reaction as with the Dobbs decision but with all that is happening with SCOTUS and Dobbs the Bishop has become small potatoes easy to ignore.

In West Hollywood in the face of an increase in crime the city has voted to replace armed sheriff’s deputies with unarmed security guards who are not only unarmed but have no authority to arrest people committing crimes.

Well at least there will be more people to run away.

That we’ve reached a point were a sitting president is attacking local gas station owners over his policies that have choked off the energy supply of America is astounding.

But not as astounding as the idea that millions of Americas would still be willing to vote for this administration despite it’s continual failures in order to prevent mean tweets out of the White House.

Given the choice of suffering for themselves and others or admitting they were wrong there are many who will always choose the later because embarrassment for them is the ultimate sin.

The potential for strikes among union dock workers in LA and other western ports is bad news for the country but is great news for the Biden Administration.

They will rush to use this as an excuse for a continued shortages of everything from fuel to tampons.

Given the end result of two years of their rule excuses are the only thing this country has in abundance.

When should you start a family?

Posted: July 2, 2022 by navygrade36bureaucrat in Uncategorized
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I have five living kids at home, and would have an additonal six year old girl with Down Syndrome had she not died after a failed heart surgery. I also have a pretty odd mix of friends, most of whom don’t have a family anywhere near my size, so I get asked a lot of questions about raising a large family. The most common questions come from younger couples asking about when the right, perfect time is to start a family.

And well…there isn’t one.

Someone might tell you to at least wait till after high school, which sounds like pretty good advice. After all, you probably aren’t married in high school, need to finish your diploma, and let’s be honest, most high schoolers don’t think through such life altering choices as having a baby.

Yet I know a few families that were high school sweethearts that married in or pretty near to high school graduation. My mom was one of them. She was married at 18 to my dad (who was graduating college and 4 years her senior) and somehow managed to successfully raise three kids while traveling the world with a Marine Corps officer. Compare that with too many of today’s graduates that can barely write English papers and brag about doing their laundry only a few days late with hashtag adulting on social media. Perhaps that says more about the current state of education than family planning though.

We could pick more times: after you finish your degree, after to start your first job, after you “settle down” (whatever that means), or after you are “ready” (seriously, what the heck does that mean??). But every time you try to nail down a right time, you’ll find lots of counter examples of people starting families that don’t follow that logic that come out just fine.

Which is why there isn’t a perfect time to start a family. Sadly, I see too many good, family-oriented couples searching for the perfect time to start a family. Many of them pray over it, but their prayers revolve around asking God to tell them when to start a family, like they expect some booming voice to emanate from the clouds declaring “Have intercourse at 6:35 pm on July 12th!” or some other nonsense like that. This delay and worry is part of the reason people are waiting later and later to start families, which makes it harder to have children as your biological clock only runs at full tilt for so long.

The recent SCOTUS decision is likely making many couples revisit this question. Abortion and contraception make it appear to give us control of when we have children. Neither does, or certainly doesn’t without consequences. Accepting the challenges, and the joys, of having a family will mean accepting it on the timeline that it comes to you.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency. If you enjoyed this article, please consider donating to this blog or purchasing one of the author’s books.

Never be afraid to give voice to your political views

Posted: June 30, 2022 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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It is obvious to everyone that we live in a dangerously polarized political climate.  The left side of the political spectrum has demonstrated a remarkable hostility to anyone expressing political views that conflict with their Marxist ideologies.  All too often progressives. and other leftists, greet individuals espousing different political beliefs with anger, verbal abuse, and even threats of violence.

I have experienced this personally far too many times.  About ten years ago I came out of the closet politically as a Libertarian to my best friend of over twenty years, who is an ultra-liberal, in a public place.  My friend had no problem at that time with my confession.  Another person who overheard our conversation did take extreme offense.  After my friend left, that other person got in my face and berated me about my political views, going as far as to threaten me with violence.  My friendship with my best friend came crashing down several years later, months after we became Facebook friends, because he could not handle me posting my beliefs on social media.  He turned every post I made into an all-out war, full of ugly personal attacks. I never returned the favor because I had no problem with him sharing his political beliefs.

Since then, I have lost many close friends for the same reasons.  A startling number of friendships never got off the ground because they could not tolerate my right-wing beliefs.  This led me to be cautious when I comes to sharing my political beliefs, until I discern that that individual is a fellow right winger.  I have now realized that that was a major mistake.  I let these intolerant liberals intimidate me into silence.

Over the past weekend I was in the middle of a large group of individuals, with mixed political views, when the person behind started bad mouthing Biden.  Thus began a very boisterous political discussion between two outspoken right wingers.  I shared my Libertarian views with my new political comrade.  He agreed with my views because it turns out that he is a fellow Libertarian. 

A woman I knew to be a staunch progressive, who was sitting quite a distance away, approached me with a great many questions.  She really liked what I had said.  It had caused her to reexamine her political belief system.  It may take many more conversations, but she may end up becoming a fellow Libertarian.

I will never hesitate again when it comes to sharing my political beliefs with anyone.

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