4th Doctor:Sit down. Sit down. What did you call those robots? Leela: Creepy mechanical men. 4th Doctor:Yes. You know, people never really lose that feeling of unease with robots. The more of them there are, the greater the unease and of course the greater the dependence. It’s a vicious circle. People can neither live with them nor exist without them. Leela:So what happens if the strangler is a robot? 4th Doctor:Oh, I should think it’s the end of this civilisation.
Doctor Who: The Robots of Death 1977
I’m a great believer in the idea that there is no point in buying a movie if you don’t watch it regularly.
So when I started buying movies on Amazon Prime I got into three different rotations on watching them
Watching them in order that I bought them
Watching them in order that they were released
Watching then in the order of the year that the movie takes place in (for the LOTR movies I consider it pre-history)
I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now, it was a great time killer during the COVID lockdowns but it got a tad interesting a year or so back because I bought the TV series The Time Tunnel so I keep having to jump back into that series when they jump into a particular year comes up.
Yesterday I finally go to the 20th century and went to put on the 1938 version of Dawn Patrol staring Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone which I bought back in 2019.
So imagine my surprise when instead of the propeller that opened the credits of the 1938 Errol Flynn movie I suddenly saw an opening announcing the 1930 version of the movie staring Richard Barthelmess in the role Errol Flynn would replace him in, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in the role that David Niven would grab and Neil Hamilton who would gain worldwide fame as Commissioner Gordon in the 1960’s batman TV series in the role Basil Rathbone would take over 8 years later.
Now I had never seen the 1930 version so I began watching it but found myself a tad put out by the idea that I had bought one movie and had another one switched on me without my knowledge or permission.
I tried to search for the 1938 version on Amazon and found it was no longer offered as a streaming movie in the US (but it was still offered in England) which does me no good of course. I suspected that for some reason Amazon lost the rights to the Errol Flynn version and substituted the other.
And while all of the flight scenes (except the closeups) and all of the scenes of the Germans and 2nd unit stuff were actually identical I wanted the movie I purchased so I contacted Amazon and had them call me back.
This was quickly escalated beyond the basic guy and the advance tech I got had me look up my initial order from 2019. The screen shot looked like this:
You’ll note that while the description shows the cast of the movie I ordered the photo is from the one I didn’t but when I clicked on Order details: it got well interesting
As I had suspected they lost the streaming rights to the 1938 version and substituted the Howard Hawks 1930 one. That this was done is was bad enough but not only did they substitute the 1930 version of this movie in my movie library but they edited my invoice after the fact to say that the 1930 version of the movie was what I ordered.
That really pissed me off.
Well the guy did the best he could. He refunded the price of the picture and left the 1930 one in my library with the assurance that if the 1938 version became available to Amazon Prime for streaming again it would restored to my library automatically, but there is no way this should have been done without notification and even if I had been noticed the editing of my existing invoice to indicate a purchase I never made is beyond the pale.
Now in fairness the act of substituting the 1930 version might have been (and likely was) some kind of global edit in their system so they might not have realized it would have edited the invoices of old purchases, but they SHOULD have known.
There are three lessons to this story
When you “buy” a movie or TV show from Amazon prime make sure you know you’re not “buying” a movie in the same way as a DVD, you’re buying a license for unlimited streaming of the movie for as long as Amazon has the rights to it, nothing more. Make sure you know this before you buy.
When you have a digital order or any order from amazon for that matter look up the invoice and when it says “Print it for your records” do so the very day you made the purchase because you can not trust that the records in the Amazon system stored digitally will be the same as the day you bought.
If you actually want to be sure that you will own a movie that you want BUY A HARD COPY
For myself Trust is gone I have made my last streaming purchase from Amazon, it will be BluRay or DVD’s or VHS tapes (I have my old Dawn Patrol copy around here somewhere) for me and when it comes to any other purchases from Amazon you can be damn well sure I’ll print out a physical copy of the order the moment I make it.
I can’t think of a greater incentive to go to your local department store and buy your goods in person.
Closing thought: Given what we’ve seen from other digital services like Youtube I think rules 1 & 2 should concerning Amazon should always apply across the digital world, particularly if you’re a conservative as I would not trust any of these services to refrain from creating a false digital trail for their own ends.
Yesterday I endorsed Ron DeSantis for President of the United States, Today Don Surber endorsed him as President of Disney while asking this question
How do you not make money when you can offer just about anyone in the world access to the most storied collection of family-friendly fare in the world? The company has 80 years of high-quality material produced by Disney, plus the Muppets, plus Pixar, plus just about everyone else who wholesome entertainment for kids.
Easy, because the goal of Disney today is to avoid wholesome family fare.
At Instapundit today there is a bit of a quip on a post concerning Assisted suicide in Canada:
All of this can be summed up with one simple sentence:
“Your like sucks so would you care to commit a mortal sin as the last act of your life before you meet your maker?”
That’s the truth in advertising for assisted suicide that nobody wants to say aloud.
Tucker Carlson had the former head of the capital police on his Twitter / X show yesterday redoing an interview that he had done at Fox but was never aired.
People seem shocked that it was never aired, I don’t see why, after all does anybody really think that the folks who gave the signal that the fix was in (the Arizona call) would not do all they can to preserve the narrative?
Oddly the first thought I had when hearing about this was it’s exactly the type of thing that got Drudge started, when the MSM passed on the Clinton Dress story. I guess that means in 2043 Tucker will sell out and go left.
The American Spectator has a piece going over all the lies of the left during this administration. Again I don’t understand the shock. When you’re stealing elections, imprisoning people for prayer and prosecuting your political enemies lying is pretty small potatoes.
What’s more I suspect a lot of folks who support them know that they are lying but consider power more important than truth, just like the left knew Barack Obama was lying about opposing Gay marriage but pretended otherwise for the sake of the narrative.
US paper mills are scaling back production as big-box retailers buy less cardboard, signaling a slowdown in consumer spending.
This tells me the worst is yet to come, I’ve already seen part of the worst as this week my 40 hour week was only 30 hours, last week it was 36, the week before it was 32 and I suspect I won’t see a 40 hour week at my job any time this month and it would not surprise me if that’s true for next month too.
Oh well, it beat getting laid off and I suspect a lot of folks will be seeing that soon.
Wherever large-scale green energy facilities are built forests are first cut down, grasslands are cleared, and other natural habitats are destroyed. This is all done in the name of saving the environment from climate change.
Liberals are apoplectic when a land is cleared for a single housing development, factory, or shopping center, yet they remain completely silent, and often cheer loudly, when nature is destroyed so that a green energy boondoggle can be built. That to me makes no sense at all.
In my town I’ve witnessed the clearing of many acres of forest so that solar farms can be built. I was absolutely outraged at the destruction of the beautiful ecosystems that were the home of countless animals and birds. I’ve seen the erosion and soil runoff that results.
This has been repeated over and over again all across the United States for solar and windfarms. The same holds true in Europe.
Since 2000, the Scottish government has felled around 1,700 trees on a daily basis, all to make way for “green” initiatives. Leave it to the government and their leftist abettors to harp on the “destruction of the environment” then chop down literal trees to create barren wastelands—all to make room for obtrusive, industrial, inanimate behemoths that obliterate all sorts of animal populations, and create massive amounts of environmental pollution (in production, maintenance, and disposal).
According to an article by Frank Bergman and posted to Slay News yesterday, the Scottish government’s scheme of systematic deforestation was implemented to “meet the goals” of the climate agenda. Is that not one of the most ludicrous and asinine things you’ve ever heard? Or perhaps, the move is right in line with the climate agenda, because the goal isn’t environmentalism… but rather communistic destruction?
A Scottish government official has admitted that almost 16 million trees have been cut down in Scotland to make way for ‘green energy’ farms.
These fools seem oblivious to the fact that trees, bushes, and other plants, absorb Carbon Dioxide. Will the windmills and solar farms eliminate even a tiny fraction of the CO2 that these millions of trees would have absorbed? That is extremely doubtful.
Thus the word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, you shall warn them for me. If I say to the wicked man, You shall surely die; and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his wicked conduct so that he may live: that wicked man shall die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his death. If, on the other hand, you have warned the wicked man, yet he has not turned away from his evil nor from his wicked conduct, then he shall die for his sin, but you shall save your life.
Ezekiel 3:17-19
One the most important pf all the virtues is courage, without courage no other virtue can exist. Courage manifests itself in many ways but one of the least appreciated but most important is to see things as they are and be willing to say aloud the truth, even if it’s a painful truth that you wish wasn’t so.
Well it’s time to speak a painful truth to supporters of President Donald Trump.
Let me start by stipulating the following
Donald Trump is one of the best presidents we have ever had. By the ranking I made the day Biden came in Trump is in the top four presidents who have ever held the office. Since that day revelations on Fauci & COVID bring his rating down but the revelations of the degree that he was was undermined from within make his accomplishments even more impressive so at of now it’s a wash.
I have made it clear for a while that I believe election 2020 was stolen. To me this is confirmed by
The stops of the counts in several states
The efforts to hinder and/or stop examination of ballots and counts in question
The actions to censor those who said it was stolen so
The persecution of both Donald Trump and those who support him by this administration and by this justice department and FBI is both a national and an international disgrace.
Let me also stipulate that when it comes to the candidates I see Trump and DeSantis the way I would look at Ted Williams and Stan Musial in picking a starting left fielder for a team:
One can see this, acknowledge this and even assert, as I do, that the 2020 election was literally stolen from him, and still decide that DeSantis is the better choice in 2024. That’ doesn’t mean that Trump is a bad choice it just means that you think DeSantis is a better one.at this time.
On the other hand if you look at the data, again from the economic numbers to the accomplishments and conclude that Ron DeSantis is not only the most effective and successful GOP governor currently in office but that he is likely the best GOP governor that we’ve seen in the 21st century and I don’t think it’s close.
One can see this, acknowledge this and even assert that he would make an excellent president and still decide that Donald Trump is the better choice for 2024. That doesn’t mean DeSantis is a bad choice, it just means you think Trump is a better one at this time.
My purpose is to defeat the Democrat agenda by electing a republican to the white house in 2024 and it is not to re-elect and avenge or defeat and humiliate President Donald J Trump.
If I can defeat the Democrat Agenda by embracing and nominating Donald Trump as the GOP candidate in 2024 I will do it.
If I can defeat the Democrat Agenda by rejecting Donald Trump and nominating someone as the GOP candidate else I will do it.
and if I can defeat the Democrat Agenda by having a long primary with a drag out fight between Trump and DeSantis or another candidate and then standing by the winner who survives the test for the nomination whoever he or she is I will do that too.
That is how this election should be looked at by any person who wants the Democrats stopped, any conservative who decides to sit out the election if Trump is the nominee or decides to sit out the election if Trump is NOT the nominee is going to end up with the Democrat agenda that they rightly deserve and will have the added pleasure of knowing that they inflicted it upon themselves.
You have been warned.
With all those things stipulated the time has come for me to endorse Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida both for the GOP nomination and for President of the United States
I have been leaning toward Ron DeSantis for a while, his record of acomplishments in Florida doesn’t need to be reiterated but for the record:
He was one of the first governors to push back at the foolish COVID rules
He has fought the good fight on school reform and education reform
He has fought back on the culture wars protecting children
He has fought back against Woke corporations like Disney one of the most influential donors in the state when everyone (including Trump) advised against it AND WON!
He has fought back on illegal immigration and exposed the left’s false compassion with things like the plane to Martha’s Vineyard and the various Bus Trips.
He has fought back against every media narrative that has been used against him.
He has refused to be intimidated by anyone
Despite incredible pushback he pushed forward voting reforms that made many of the tactics that the left has used to steal elections, tactics that were once common in parts of Florida, practically obsolete.
And just this week he replaced a Soros DA who refused to enforce the law
All of these are positive reasons to endorse him but I’ve held back because I’ve wanted to see how he handles himself on the national stage both in dealing with the incessant attacks from the Trump camp and from the MSM. The national stage is different than a state stage and until I was sure he could stand up under attacks at least as well as Trump I thought I should hold off making a final decision between him and Trump, but something happened last Tuesday , something that reminded me of what I saw at the rise of Scott Brown. Something that Trump supporters won’t like, but need to acknowledge as an unpleasant reality.
I headed off to my mechanic last week to schedule a day for my 1999 Buick LeSabre. He is a one man operation who has been in place for decades with a large and loyal blue collar clientele. He talks to everyone and everyone talks to him.
While I was there the subject of the economy came up. We both bemoaned how things were [In fact while I was tying this paragraph I got a call that a fellow I was giving a lift to work was just laid off.] His other customers say the same. Then he dropped what was a bombshell to me.
We talked about the upcoming election and he told me in no uncertain terms that many of the blue collar voters who frequent the place, voters who had voted for Trump before have told him in no uncertain terms that they were sick of him and would not vote for him, PERIOD. These were folks who didn’t like Biden and commiserated with him at the state of the country under him but still said if Trump was the nominee he doesn’t get their vote. He argued with these folks, bluntly asking: “You mean you’d rather the country go to hell than vote for Trump?” To a man their answer was “Yes”
Again, these were blue collar people, the type of people who elected Scott Brown in 2010, people who supported Trump in the past, people who hated Biden and what he had done to the country but decided they hated Trump or perhaps the circus that comes with him even more.
We talked about how this was crazy, how this was self destructive and that they were screwing themselves but in the end our arguments meant nothing because for these people feelings and emotion trumps reality.
And that when it hit me, if a percentage of the blue collar folks we need to win are saying that in this small auto repair shop I suspect it is being said (or left unsaid) all over the nation.
And thus I return to the bottom line for 2024.
The goal is to win, without the votes of people like this in states that aren’t already deep red we don’t win.
Yeah it’s unfair how Trump has been treated, yes it’s unfair that the last election was stolen from us, yes he did a great job as president and his list of accomplishments are something to sing about, it’s unfair that we have to operate under these circumstances, and it’s unfair that we have to take irrational hatred into consideration when making a choice, but you know what, we’re conservatives and we know Life Isn’t Fair.
We don’t need to like or be liked by these irrational people, we don’t need these people to agree with us, but if we want to win we DO need these people to vote with us come election day 2024.
Say goodbye to the SCOTUS 6-3 rulings that have hampered the left (including Dobbs) because once a 2nd Biden admin replaces an Alito or a Thomas you can bet your bottom dollar John Roberts will start voting with the left again faster than you can say “old yellowstain”.
Say goodbye to any chance of the border being made secure.
And say goodbye to the restoration of equal justice under the law because if you think the FBI, Justice Department and various agencies are persecuting conservatives for their views now, imagine how it will be when they see there are not only no consequences for doing so but are backed up by a newly re-elected Biden Admin.
And let’s be blunt about another fact of life: Where does Donald Trump expand his vote count over 2024 with? What voter will he get this time that he didn’t get the last time around?
As I’ve already noted Ron DeSantis has more than proven himself as an excellent conservative choice, both on the social and the fiscal conservative front. Not only will he draw conservative votes but because he fought back against Fauci and Biden he can expand his base with those hurt by those decision, something that Trump who kept Fauci on the payroll and pushed the fast-tracking of the vaccines AND did so with the carrot of no liability can’t. In fact Trump history with the vaccine is something that every single GOP candidate for federal office will be hit with if he is the nominee. That’s going to cost us seats nationwide that a DeSantis nomination will not.
The single best argument against Donald Trump as the GOP nominee
Bottom line DeSantis draws votes that Trump can’t and doesn’t lose votes suffering from Trump fatigue and proved this by turning his squeaker election the first time around into a landslide, a landslide that came not despite his strong conservative record but BECAUSE OF IT. No matter how much you might dislike those voters who reject Trump this ability to expand one’s electorate is in fact a feature, not a bug but not as big of a feature as the fact that the left (and the Lincoln Project crowd) are scared to death of him.
We’re conservative we deal with facts. These are the facts, and these facts need to be put before GOP voters NOW before the voting begins and before all the lesser candidates dogpile on DeSantis which for most if them is the only reason they are in the race at all. There is no time to wait on this.
So for all these reasons, I Pete DaTechGuy now officially endorse Ron DeSantis for the GOP nomination and throw this blog behind his campaign and if you want us to win in 2024 I urge you to join me in doing so. This puts me on the opposite side of people I like, such as Don Surber who literally wrote the books on Trump and sites like Citizen Free Press who are invaluable conservative reads.
I suspect this will lose the blog more than a few fans and will generate cries of “RINO!” which is ironic given I’m the guy who in 2016 re-endorsed Trump right after the Billy Bush take came out when everyone and I mean everyone was running for the hills. It might even cost us a bit from the already depleted Tip Jar but this is no time to worry about that, I want us to win and the reality is what it is and the time to say this is NOW when it can make a difference and at a time when people are pushing the “campaign trouble” narrative it a case that needs making and if this advice isn’t taken then at least i’ll know that if the worst does come it will not be because I was silent.
You have been warned.
Closing thought: I’m convinced that if we nominate Donald Trump we will lose but if my advice is ignored and he wins the votes to be the nominee I will support him in the general election and make the best possible arguments for Trump (there is no lack of good arguments for his re-election) to convince those Blue collar folks to abandon their irrational hatred and vote for him, even though I think said effort is doomed to failure. After all with God all things are possible.
Important note: This is my own endorsement, I have not consulted any of my writers on this and it’s very possible that one or more or even all of them will disagree with me. They are welcome to do so and if they want to make the case that I am wrong here at the blog, they are welcome to do so as well.
Update: It’s been a while since my last Instalance. Thanks Glenn. Yup we’re still here after 15 years lost domain and banned youtube account not withstanding. Take a peek and see that the writers and I are still at it. You can find my old Youtube stuff at Rumble here and if you still like what you see after all these years please consider hitting DaTipJar as the Biden economy has not been so good to the blog and my employer is cutting hours.
Update 2: I was looking at the comments at Instapundit and it seems a lot of people there are taking my endorsement of DeSantis about as well as YouTube took me saying election 2020 was stolen.
Update 3: Two things:
in update 2 I meant to say “election 2020, not 2022 fixed
I work Sundays from 3:30 to midnight and have no net access I also moderate all comments so if you post a comment after 2:30 PM EST I won’t even see it till about 1 AM.
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