Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog

Let’s be blunt. If you consider the value of a company based on its assets and potential there is no actual way that stock if Game Stop should be worth anywhere near $100 let alone $300. On the flip side of that argument while there are credible reasons why a stock shorter might decide that a company like Gamestop is overvalued there are several basic reasons why it’s unreasonable to presume they are on their way out.

1. Consoles and accessories
   Games need platforms to play on, and Game stop sells said platforms. As long as there is not some sort of direct plugin into your brain your going to need a system to play on and as long as Game stop carries those platforms and the accessories for them then they provide a product that there is an actual demand for.
2. No waiting: Amazon might have next day shipping or even drone shipping in a few limited places but if you decide you want that headset NOW or you want that platform NOW there is no substitute for actually being able to drive under an hour to a location that has said platform or accessory.
3. Porch pirates & the law: In an age of riots when police might not be all that interested in enforcing laws like theft of packages from your front porch or decide that to enforce said laws against the wrong people might bring the wrath of God upon them the choice to actually travel to a store to buy your game might be the surest way to make sure you get what you want and paid for without grief.
4. Physical contact: For all the talk about the convenience of downloads or cloud spaces there is a real difference between holding something in your hand and knowing you physically own it and owning something virtually that can disappear with a system crash or need to be downloaded a second time. Additionally at a store you can actually see the accessories that you are buying, feel how they fit, perhaps even try some of the games depending on the setup and even (gasp) talk to fellow gamers in your area who have a similar interest and (gasp) make friends. Furthermore said friends that you can see and touch are more likely to be who or what they claim to be rather than an image on a screen or a line of text.
5. Can’t cancel this: In an era of cancel culture where having the wrong political opinion or religious opinion or the wrong definition of what a man or a woman is can get you banished from all kinds of things online who is to say that a site or a cloud service won’t suddenly decide that yourself excluded, your games unplayable and the downloads and storage that you though you “purchased” revoked because it was in reality a “license”? Alas for the lords of cancel culture, if you have a physical copy of a game and a source of electric power this power virtually disappears. They can hate you all you want but unless your game requires access to said cloud as long as you have that physical copy you can tell tell them where they can stick it because they can’t just erase you. They’ll have to take that copy of the game out of your cold dead hands.

And this list doesn’t even touch on things like nostalgia, or convenience or even something to do.

Democrats have started using a word with increasing frequency recently. White House domestic policy advisor and former UN Ambassador Susan Rice stated that the White House will work to push “racial justice and equity” and “equity for families.”

Press secretary Jen Psaki said that the Biden Administration considered immigration part of “racial equity.”

And Joe Biden himself sputtered that “equity and justice” must be “part of what we do every day.”

Leftists care deeply about words. From parsing definitions of “is” to mysteriously finding distinctions with a difference between “persons of color” and “colored persons,” what words are used, and how, are of supreme importance to the Left. Apparently, using “black” to describe people with heritage from certain parts of Africa is discouraged, but using Black – capital “B” – is acceptable. Leftists will even attempt to colonize a foreign language to impose their gender hang-ups on other cultures (good luck finding a Latino or Latina who actually uses “Latinx”).

So now, the new Biden Administration has begun using the word, “equity.” Sounds like “equality,” and everyone likes equality, right?

My 1960 Britannica World Language Dictionary defines “equity” as “[f]airness or impartiality; justness…Something that is fair or equitable.”

In Anglo-American common law, “equity” is a concept that provides certain justifications for a judge to rule in favor of one party or another, not based on law, but based on similar concepts of fairness or justness.  Bankruptcy, for example, began as an equitable remedy, among others. Equity allows a judge to go beyond legislation to find a just outcome.

Equity is distinct from equality, though the similarity between the words is not without importance. Everyone is familiar with and favors equality, at least equality before the law; the law ideally favors no one over another, rich or poor, black (Black?) or white (White? Or white?).

Equity is something else. What is “just” or “equitable” is in the eye of the beholder. In the court, a judge’s decision of what is equitable has basis in precedents established by prior cases, and those affected even by a wayward judge remain limited to the parties in the case. Somehow, trusting the judgment of people who funded bail money for rioters and who favor giving vaccines to enemy combatants held at Guantanamo before American citizens, who favor a deal that would let the mullahs go nuclear and giving the Chinese Communist Party access to the U.S. power grid, to decide what is and what is not equitable, seems… in poor judgment.

Woke up today in the mood to do a livestream so let’s do one.

Today’s topics are

1. Robinhood, gamestop what it is, what it means and my opinion on it
2. Pipelines, solar panels and the Biden John Kerry’s of the world
3. Tom Brady Curt Schilling the Superbowl and the still clueless NFL

You can watch it here

If you like what you see and want to hit DaTipJar with your market winnings feel free before I’m kicked off. youtube or paypal or anywhere else I care to rant.

Two years ago Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) was conspicuous in standing and applauding during a President Trump SOTU address when he talk about tax cuts and opportunity zones announced.

Now she is conspicuous again bluntly ruling out the elimination of the filibuster as she promised back in 2019. This not only forces Chuck Schumer into a power sharing agreement in a 50-50 senate (based on the 2001 model) but also means that the Democrats will have to use reconciliation to push through their most radical bills as the only way to pass something with 50 votes (plus Harris).

A Democrat who keeps her promise even after she wins? That’s what I call a “Maverick” but I expect that term will not be applied to her by the press

Unexpectedly of course.

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Apparently Joe Manchin of West Virginia has now also come out against Nuking the filibuster.

I found his sudden case of “principle” rather nostalgic because you might remember that during the Kavenaugh hearings Manchen hemmed and hawed and hesitated but in the end came out for Kavanaugh…the very moment Susan Collins declared she would vote for him meaning his vote meant nothing.

Joe Manchin is the John Roberts of the left. When he is the deciding vote that the left needs he always has a vote for them. But as long as his vote has no bearing on if the agenda of the left shall advance then he is with the voters of West Virginia defending them against the excesses of the left and the media trying to save a Democrat seat is ready to paint him as such.

Unexpectedly of course.

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There were three interesting moves this week concerning Mitch McConnell as well the first being on the Filibuster . All were savvy moves that perfectly illustrated who and what Mitch McConnell is. On Wednesday McConnell was derided by Mark Steyn on the Rush Limbaugh show for dropping his demand during power sharing negotiations that Chuck Schumer explicitly vow not to nuke the filibuster.

Later that same day he was one of 45 GOP Senators who voted for Rand Paul’s point of order resolution saying the impeachment of an ex-president was unconstitutional.

Finally McConnell put out a threat of a “scorched-earth Senate” if Manchen or Sinema change their mind on a Filibuster

All were classic McConnell. The vote supposedly abandoning conservatives that got Steyn so upset was a meaningless concession to Schumer because it came after Sinema of AZ made it clear that she wouldn’t give Chuck Schumer the votes he needed to nuke it. Thus McConnell makes a public gesture in Schumer favor that I’m sure he got something in return for.

Likewise the “scorched earth” threat while I have no doubt he would follow through on such a threat (see what happened with judges) it again comes not before we know if the filibuster is in danger but after we know it isn’t.

Finally on the Rand Paul vote McConnell knew that his vote meant nothing because five Trump hating republicans, Romney, Collins, Murkowski, Sasse and Toomey were already with the Democrats. Thus McConnell’s could take a vote designed to appease Trump supporters who have been calling for his head and to head off those who are already extracting a deadly price from GOP house members who have gone along with this farce.

In all three cases McConnell made moves that meant nothing and cost nothing but were to his political advantage.

Unexpectedly of course.

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As I’ve stated before the NFL is thanking it’s lucky stars that Tom Brady has made it to his 10th Superbowl because it gives conservatives and Trump supporters a reason to watch the game.

However this hasn’t stopped members of the left to cry injustice that Tom Brady still has a job in the NFL and Colin Kaepernick doesn’t.

I took the liberty of going to Football Reference.com and noted Mr. Kaepernick’s stats. Over his six year career he only led the NFL in one stat in any season. That was in 2014 when he threw the more pick-sixes (that is interceptions run back for a touchdown by another team) than any other quarterback in the league.

Meanwhile Tom Brady either leads or has led the NFL in 64 different single season, active or all time categories according to his page.

There is a legitimate debate on if Tom Brady has reached a point where he contends with Babe Ruth or Bill Russell as the greatest team sport athlete in history (pro tip Ruth beats him because he won titles both as both a pitcher & position player and Russell beats him not only for more titles (11) but winning two of them as a player/head coach) but there is no rational debate that suggests Colin Kaepernick is in the same league as Tom Brady.

Kaepernick knows this which is why no offer will be enough to tempt him back into the NFL

Unexpectedly of course.

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Finally there is a point that needs to be made about something Ace of Spades said about the establishment GOP & abortion:

Conservative, Inc. only mouths very insincere pro-life rhetoric (but never demands actual action on the issue) to attract social conservatives, who would have no other reason to support their socially-liberal/arch-corporate-libertarian policies otherwise.

They’re “pro-life” with the “four exceptions:”

1. Rape
2. Incest
3. Life of the mother
4. “My situation”

Obviously, that fourth exception covers a lot of ground.

Now this isn’t all that inaccurate but frankly Ace without realizing it has hit on something that is not unique either to Rino or to abortion but is a basic trait when it comes to sin.

One thing you will find is no matter what a persons religion, lack of religion or belief system, when we are talking about the sins of other people we find ourselves ready to condemn those sins.

When it comes to our own sins, a person always seems to have a reason why we deserve a pass.

Unexpectedly of course

FYI that’s the reason why Catholic sacramental confession is superior to all other systems even those of our fellow Christians. Said folks automatically presume the forgiveness of Christ while a Catholic goes before a priest and acknowledges sins, even sins unknown to fellow men, and thus by the act of seeking confession admonish ourselves before God rather than waiting to be caught by others.

It is that self admonishment that opens the door the mercy we do not deserve.