Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

By:  Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – Are people protesting where you live?  I know many cities across the nation are dealing with protests, some peaceful, some not so much.

In Shreveport, there have been protests and marches every weekend since the George Floyd incident exploded in the media. The focus of the protest this weekend seemed to center around the Confederate monument which stands in front of the courthouse. This is not news. The monument has been in litigation between the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the parish administration for years now. There is, in fact, another court date tomorrow. The protesters are angry that the monument is still there and want to see it moved to another location. Plenty of them want it simply destroyed.

I have not seen my city more racially divided since 1988 when riots erupted across Shreveport which drew national attention at the time.

Protesters gathered on the courthouse lawn Saturday and paced back and forth on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse bearing large, heavy guns.  Counter-protesters in support of the monument gathered on the sidewalk across the street, also heavily armed. No weapons are allowed on courthouse grounds, of course, and so those with the weapons stayed on the sidewalk while others took turns taking the microphone to speak or share their latest musical endeavor. Club music played over the PA between speakers. For the most part, it was a peaceful demonstration although there were reportedly a couple of arrests and verbal altercations between the two sides.

As photographs of the day, and live video streaming, began to filter onto social media, people expressed outrage and concern at the large number of heavy weapons on both sides.

One car backfire on Texas Street could have turned the whole thing into a very ugly scene.

On the other hand, Louisiana is an open carry state and so as long as your AR15 is visible, it’s just fine to carry it around in public.

The BLM group has vowed to be on the courthouse lawn every Saturday until the monument is removed. As long as they have a permit, they have the right to do this.

All eyes right now will be on the court action tomorrow. The case on the Confederate monument has been in litigation for years, even up to the US Supreme Court (which declined to hear the case); the UDC and the parish are currently using different legal angles and paths to continue fighting in the courts.

Both sides of the issue vow to be in the courtroom tomorrow – this time without the weaponry.

Pat Austin blogs at And So it Goes in Shreveport and is the author of Cane River Bohemia: Cammie Henry and her Circle at Melrose Plantation. Follow her on Instagram @patbecker25 and Twitter @paustin110.

Under the Fedora: Courage, Courage, Courage

Posted: July 1, 2020 by datechguy in Uncategorized

I’m old enough to remember when “conservatives” made it a point to tell people like me that fighting the culture wars didn’t matter.

How’s that working out for ya?

The lack of courage to make the fight is proving very costly in the end.


My lack of surprise that Justice Roberts Old Yellowstain ruled with liberals as the swing vote (reversing his own vote on a similar case when he was in the minority when Justice Kennedy was still on the court) on an abortion case was matched by my lack of surprise at his ruling with conservatives on supporting the right of the executive branch to fire appointees and a Blane Amendment case.

Roberts pattern is pretty simple. If a case is high profile for the left or his vote is the decisive one he will not risk being excluded from the left’s society. But if his vote does not matter or the case is not one that the media gives prominence old yellowstain is free to vote as he thinks.

There is nothing sadder than a judge without courage.


A UPI story (via Instapundit) notes that the latest spike in Corona/Wuhan/CCP virus among the young in Miami coincides with protesters that took place two weeks ago.

This corresponds to spikes in other cities where (coincidentally) large protests were not only encouraged but endorsed by medical professionals.

Now in my opinion even if the Doctors and other medical processionals had the courage to warn against the dangers of such moves the media/left wold likely have still pushed young heads full of mush to act.

But at least they would not have any guilt.


Things seem to be going slowly in Seattle with some people leaving, some staying and others arriving to try to keep the police from taking aback. John Sexton notes that there are competing goals and narratives in play while Ed Morrissey notes that it’s the opinion of some that it will take more force than the Seattle Police have to clear things out.

If course if there was more courage when facing violence in Seattle we would not have reached this point.


Finally there are traces of courage that are still public

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

This girl is likely going to face hell for standing for the flag, at least for a while but I also suspect that when all of this is done, she will be remembered while the rest of that team is forgotten

Don’t Be Like King Josiah

by baldilocks

Fletch Daniels at American Thinker:

Nobody gets to sit this one out.  The cultural enforcers expect everyone to parrot their talking points publicly, to destroy all resistance, forcing dissenters to grovel in submission.  That’s the whole idea behind the “silence is violence” aggression.  Cultural violence is quite the opposite of silence; it is forcing people to say what no sane person should believe in order not to be destroyed.

Few stand against this pressure, which is why nearly all major companies and organizations have come out with quisling statements of support of the name of a vile Marxist organization like Black Lives Matter.  It’s why Hillsdale College’s response was so notable, because it was a rare exception to the rule.  (This was not surprising coming from one of the only places in America still putting up statues to honor our tremendous heritage of liberty when the cultural zeitgeist is to rip them all down and start at a Marxist Year Zero.)  Hate groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter operate quite freely in this environment, serving as the cultural shock troops and the terrorist wing of the cultural tyrants who have taken over the Democrat party.

Consider just a few of the displays we’ve watched over the last few weeks.  A football coach had to apologize for wearing a One America News sweatshirt…in Oklahoma.  We watched as most of our senior military leaders bowed before their cultural masters.  We watched as statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Francis Scott Key, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, and even an assortment of abolitionists either were destroyed or came under attack, even as discussions of replacing the National Anthem erupted from the propaganda and activist cultural tyrants.

We watched as the weaponization of the federal bureaucracy by a U.S. president against a president of the opposite party was unveiled before our eyes to a massive shrug by the seditious media, who see it as a wonderful use of state power by their fellow leftist travelers in the bureaucracy.  They are smug in their belief that they can use their cultural power to protect the perpetrators, whom they regard as heroes.

We even watched as a sports league that caters to a conservative audience was complicit in perpetrating a crazy Jussie.  We observed an emboldened social media giant censoring the president of the United States for promising to protect Americans.

We also watched what I believe is the vilest propaganda campaign of my lifetime, when every cop in America was slandered as a racist with barely a protest.  The guardians of civil order, who put their lives on the line every day, often under unimaginably difficult circumstances, to protect their fellow Americans, are being demoralized and hounded out of service.  This has created the fertile ground for a massive increase in lawlessness that will result in a significant rise in the deaths of black Americans, showing that black lives matter not a lick to those claiming that name.

I wish I had a dollar for every American who uttered the phrase “never in my lifetime did I expect to see…” over the last few weeks.  We are living in the upside-down when patriotism is outlawed, the vilest of criminals are celebrated, and brave law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line daily are slandered as the worst of society so thoroughly that it descended into evil farce, when a kid’s show, Paw Patrol, came under attack since it is apparently racist to have a positive police character in a children’s show.

This is war, and the left is playing to win.

(…)

I’d like to see far more people vocally pushing back against the mob within their social circles.  Every person who pushes back emboldens others to do the same.

So, would I, but each person who does so has to be prepared first, and the primary area of necessary preparation is in the spiritual realm.

I know that I’m not alone in think that our country finds itself here because it has turn away from God. We have seen the results of this before; God lifts up His hand of protection and of favor just a little bit – not a total removal. And, suddenly chaos, anger, and fear seem high, wide and deep.

All I’m saying is that is we are plainly seeing the result of doing things the secular way; of raising children to hate each other and themselves. Of believing that if something isn’t perfect – like our history – that it should be eradicated.

Newsflash. Nothing in this world is perfect. Will every imperfect thing be blown up and every imperfect person be dead before the rampaging mobs figure this out?

I think that Daniels is right, action must be taken. But don’t run out there halfcocked, like that couple in St. Louis did while defending their lives and property.

They weren’t fully prepared, though they had just enough. Learn from them. (Side note: I heard that they’re Democrats, fans of Biden. After what has happen to them in the last few days — including being doxxed, I wonder if that is still so.)

Plan your rhetorical tactics and strategies. And take all your self-defense classes and whatnot for when those don’t work.

But if you act against the marauders without preparing your soul, you’re making the same mistake this country has been making for the last sixty years. You will make things worse, not better.

However, between the Wuhan pestilence and the hordes of demons er rioters, looters and mayhem-makers, it’s certain that a ton of people are talking to God already — more than was so in December 2019, at any rate.

Good.

Juliette Akinyi Ochieng has been blogging since 2003 as baldilocks. Her older blog is here.  She published her first novel, Tale of the Tigers: Love is Not a Game in 2012.

Follow Juliette on FacebookTwitterMeWePatreon and Social Quodverum.

Hit Da Tech Guy Blog’s Tip Jar!

Or hit Juliette’s!

Pats Pick up a Bargain Cam

Posted: June 28, 2020 by datechguy in Uncategorized

On my way back from Pastime Pinball in Manchester VT today (more on that tomorrow) my son took a peek at his phone and suddenly anounced that the Patriots had signed Cam Newton to a one year deal:

Newton has been a shell of himself for most of the past two seasons. First a shoulder injury, followed by surgery. Then a foot injury, followed by surgery that sabotaged his 2019 season and led to new Panthers coach Matt Rhule releasing him in April.

It is an incentive-laden deal worth up to $7.5 million and Newton will have all the incentive in the world to prove he can return an elite level and secure a monster free-agent contract for 2021 and beyond.

Here is what Giants cornerback James Bradberry told me in April about his former Panthers quarterback: “He’ll have a bigger chip on his shoulder than anybody in the league, I feel like. Everyone’s against him. I know he wants to prove all the doubters wrong.”

Now Cam Newton isn’t Tom Brady and he’s not expected to be, but if he manages to be Cam Newton that just might be good enough to get them to the playoffs and maybe beyond.

I would have rather have seen Brady, but given the kneeling and the rest of it I don’t care all that much either way, but it is interesting to note that Belichick traded one QB who is known to have a chip on his shoulder to motivate himself for another who would also be thinking the same thing.