Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

A Reminder Concerning Twitter (And Facebook, and Tic Tok and Instagram et/al)

Posted: August 20, 2023 by datechguy in Uncategorized

Screwtape: Even if a particular train of thought can be twisted so as to end in our favor you will find that you have been strengthening in your patient the fatal habit of attending to universal issues and withdrawing his attention from the stream of immediate sense experiences. Your business is to fix his attention on the stream. Teach him to call it “real life” and don’t let him ask what he means by “real”.

C. S. Lewis The Screwtape letters Screwtape #1 1941

One of the disadvantages of having blogged continually for 15 years is that you are constantly looking for something to write about.

It doesn’t matter what else is going on, if you have readers, particularly readers who have kicked in cash there is a desire to make sure there is material on the plate every day. When you do full time work and have other items on your plate that can be a challenge.

That’s where the addiction of Twitter and everything else in social media comes into play. It provides an endless stream of people talking about things and expressing opinions on things. It can be a useful source but the desire to be heard and to prove one’s own self importance can become an addiction as strong as any other.

Today after mass DaWife and I were thinking about a quick bite when we decided to stop in on our sons house. Our oldest grabbed a quick shower and joined us at a local donut shop where we sat outside had a drink and ate our stuff while simply talking.

We didn’t concentrate on our phones, or the net or anything else, we just enjoyed the sun, the food the drink and each other.

In short to the horror of screwtape we withdrew our attention from the stream.

Of course in C. S. Lewis’ day the steam was very different that it is today but the principle is the same.

You have the power to walk away and interact with life. Note how many companies have failed to withdraw from the steam of facebook and twitter treating it like it was “real life” rather than interacting with the actual people their business is dependent on.

Don’t make that mistake, take a step away and if it means you don’t see an update on one of your sites till this evening or even tomorrow. You’ll be shocked at how easy it is to do so.

Vivek Ramaswamy was absolutely correct when he spoke out against the tyranny of the minority

Posted: August 17, 2023 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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Before I encountered this American Thinker article, I had not paid much attention to Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign.  After reading this article I firmly believe whoever is nominated should select him as their running mate. 

While campaigning, Vivek Ramaswamy was approached by a woman who claims to be “pansexual” asking him about his opinions regarding the “LGBTQ+ community” and “same-sex couples.” Vivek calmly and politely explained that he believes America is falling victim to the “tyranny of the minority.” Although he spoke in a polite and respectful tone, what he said is a stronger answer than Republicans normally give and one that might play very well with the silent majority overwhelmed by slogans, yelling, and the other noise that characterizes today’s political discourse.

I have been making the exact same observation for decades.  I first witnessed this back in the early 1990s, when I was a student at UMASS Amherst.  That was my first exposure  to the true political left.  It was shocking to see how a small, yet extremely vocal, minority could trample on the beliefs and wishes of so many.

Vivek begins by accurately stating that so-called transgenderism is completely at odds with homosexuality. This is an important point. Homosexuality has been around since time immemorial, whether one likes it or not. Same-sex attraction is real. However, so-called “transgenderism” is a post-modern concept that has no basis in history or biology. Nevertheless, gay men are being told they’re really women, and lesbians are being told they’re really men—and then both are being pumped full of dangerous opposite-sex hormones and given mutilating surgery to prove this lie.

Regarding same-sex couples, Vivek said he doesn’t have a negative view, which is probably the case for most conservatives. I strongly disapprove of same sex-marriage because Justice Kennedy made up an imaginary constitutional right that smashes headlong into the actual First Amendment protection for religious liberty. And Vivek, to his credit, heads straight for that problem.

I agree with all the points he made.  I have no problem with the idea of same sex marriage.  I am absolutely opposed to forcing anyone to comply with anything they are opposed to.  The Free Exercise of Religion Clause of the First Amendment protects our God-given Natural Right to believe and live our lives as we wish.

In America, he says, America is allowing a tyranny of the minority to force behaviors on people. “In the name of protecting against a tyranny of the majority…we have created a tyranny of the minority, and I think that’s wrong.” He’s absolutely correct.

Vivek continues, saying that it’s wrong to force religious people to preside over same-sex marriage ceremonies or to force women to compete against biological men or change clothes in a locker room with a man. “That’s not freedom,” he says, “that’s oppression.” Yes!

He is 100 percent correct.

Free adults, Vivek concludes, should be able to do as they will, up to a point, but they don’t get to force their behaviors on others. Those others, especially, include children, who are different from adults.

“I think a lot of frustration in the country—and if I’m being really honest, that I also share—comes from that new culture of oppression where saying those things [that is, opposing these aggressive new, leftist views] can actually get somebody punished.”

I don’t like the sentence “Free adults, Vivek concludes, should be able to do as they will, up to a point.”  He needs to add the phrase “until they hurt others or interfere with the rights of others.”  Then he would be voicing the true definition of liberty, which is the freedom to do as you wish, as long as you don’t hurt others, or interfere with the rights of others.

Today we have the Democrat Party, the Media, major corporations, Hollywood; all cramming this woke agenda down the throats of the entire nation, trying to force the vast majority of us to comply. That is the very definition of tyranny of the minority.

The Actual Question Concerning the Left

Posted: August 15, 2023 by datechguy in Uncategorized
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Today Glenn Reynolds had a piece up noting that according to the university of Chicago 30 million Americans think that violence would be justified to keep Donald Trump from being president again.

It would be nice if I could say this report surprised me at all but it does not because of what the left has become.

Reynolds finishes thus:

The people running things seem either oblivious to, or hopeful for, the prospect of a civil war.

Given that they are bought and paid for by China that isn’t a surprise but I think there is a better question to be asked namely:

If an enemy was trying to foment civil war in the United States what would they be doing differently than what the Biden Administration and the left are doing now?

Only idiots who have never studied history or never lived though a civil would consider this a positive thing.

Rethinking support for Ukraine

Posted: August 15, 2023 by chrisharper in Uncategorized
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By Christopher Harper

With the Biden administration proposing another $24 billion to support Ukraine’s military, I think it may be time to reassess my enthusiastic backing of the fight against Russia.

The United States is by far the largest donor to Ukraine. Congress has already approved $113 billion in military, economic, humanitarian, and other aid for Ukraine, including around $70 billion for security, intelligence, and additional war-fighting costs. An estimated 90 percent of that total has already been spent or designated to be spent.

In the past year, overall support for Ukraine has waned. According to a poll released by CNN last week, fifty-five percent of Americans now oppose more aid to Ukraine. The party breakdown is stark—71 percent of Republicans oppose additional assistance, while 62 percent of Democrats favor it.

Vladimir Putin is a bad guy. His invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2014 with the seizure of Crimea and the subsequent attacks a year ago, is anathema to world peace and security.

But is the wholesale support of Ukraine worth the cost and the potential downside of exhausting the ability of the United States to keep its military ready to fight against other threats, such as China?

The Heritage Foundation has put together a rather convincing case against continuing aid to Ukraine at its current levels.

In a recent opinion piece, Kevin Roberts, the president of the foundation, wrote the following:

–“It is simply untenable for Americans to bear the vast majority of the burden among our allies in standing up to threatening states.”

–“Our concentration on Ukraine has undermined our ability to address the worsening military situation in Asia, especially around Taiwan.”

–“However just and noble Ukraine’s cause is, continuing to focus on it at the expense of confronting and deterring China is not wise, moral, or conservative.”

Roberts makes a variety of good points. I take away three important ones. First, U.S. foreign policy must focus mainly on China’s economic and military threat rather than Russia’s. Second, the United States must take a strategic approach toward Ukraine rather than depleting American military stockpiles. Third, Russia poses a more significant threat to Europe than the United States, so NATO countries should assume a substantial burden of the cost. See https://www.heritage.org/asia/commentary/the-correct-conservative-approach-ukraine-shifts-the-focus-china#

I’m not arguing that we should cut off Ukraine. We just need to figure out a better strategy there and an even better one in dealing with China.

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