Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog

There is one vital thing worth noting concerning our issues with Russia and China and it’s something that President Trump noted during his first term in office.

He noted that both China and Russia were acting in the interests of China and Russia and that he didn’t expect them to do otherwise, but the real issue was for the US acting in the interest of the US.

Now in fairness Russia acting for Russia while making sure that the two largescale invasions of Russia, one each during the last two centuries (Napoleon & Hitler) are not repeated often means acting to preserve the power of Putin in general and the oligarchs who support him in particular while crushing those who oppose him and China acting in the interest of China means not only making sure China is not simply a servant of foreign powers (see Japan circa the 1930’s & the various great powers in the 19th century) but primarily propping up the communist party state and apparatus while crushing any who might stand up for human rights.

But however you look at it both states are acting in their own perceived interest which is what having a state is all about.

However under the Biden administration the US is not about defending US interests or principles or people. It’s become about advancing the agenda of elites who are by and large being rewarded & supported by our foes and rivals.

Under Donald Trump this gravy train was stopped and the average American did better than he had done in decades.

Under this administration the average American is an afterthought at best and an obstacle to be pushed out of the way at worst

Again I don’t blame Russia, China or even Iran for working toward these result, I would expect them to do no less.

Alas there was a time when I expected more from those who supposedly serve America, I no longer do and until enough people get angry enough to do something about it these non-existent expectations will be met on a regular basis.

Unexpectedly of course

I’m a fan of the Gatestone Institute but I have to disagree with this line in a piece about Hamas and the support they apparently have around the world as they launch rockets at Israel.

These Arabs evidently understand what the anti-Israel activists around the world fail to see — that Hamas has brought nothing but disaster and despair to the two million Palestinians living under its rule in the Gaza Strip

I don’t think the anti-Israel activists fail to see this, I think they don’t care, I think their goal is dead Jews and no amount of Arab suffering in the process is too little.

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There is something missing in the premise in this article on the Silence of Chuck Schumer

One pro-Palestinian demonstrator launched a firework at bystanders, reportedly causing burns to a 55-year-old woman. Pro-Israel demonstrators were beaten in the street, and pro-Palestinian demonstrators spat at diners at a local steakhouse. Fox News added that a Jewish man was chased in a parking lot by pro-Palestinian demonstrators in a truck, flying Palestinian flags.

Yet Schumer has said nothing about the violence in his own state.

Ironically, Schumer has been voluble about other forms of bigotry, and other riots, celebrating the signing of a bill on anti-Asian hate crimes, and pushing for a bipartisan commission on the Capitol riot of January 6. But he has been silent about antisemitism in New York, and similar attacks in cities around the country, notably Los Angeles, where pro-Palestinian rioters attacked Jews.

Schumer not only understands that this is the base of his party and he can’t lead by attacking them, but he also understand that not only would the violent types he’s been condoning for a year would turn on him like a shot but he also understands that as a Jew he and his family would be targeted and killed with glee.

That’s why the left is easy on this violence because the only thing these folks hate more than us is an apostate.

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On twitter yesterday I pointed out the left should be happy about these audits as they should prove how wrong we on the right are about the election and got this response from a lefty:

https://twitter.com/D0ssky/status/1395816893974552592

The number of falsehoods in this reply are considerable and I’ve presumed that our friends in the left know this to be the case but this piece at the American Mind suggests there is something else at play:

The same holds true for Democrats. When it comes to the legacy media, well-known technocrats, or leftist politicians, they will default to an assumption of truthfulness. Reporters can repeatedly report lies, Anthony Fauci can flip-flop constantly on health policy, and Andrew Cuomo can lie about sending elderly New Yorkers to their deaths, but they are all still trusted. Collecting the evidence and doing the work of finding and accepting the truth is much harder than simply trusting them, so people ignore the red flags and contradictions. Conservatives can safely claim that they had no part in these disasters, but progressives are forced to account for their misguided support of such people. It’s much easier to ignore the evidence and accuse the other side of being crackpots and bigots.  

To acknowledge reality is to acknowledge responsibility. As Prager said he now understands how so many Germans were willing to pretend the Nazi’s were not what they were.

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I wish this was a surprise:

I have no idea why baseball executives think it is appropriate to celebrate an armed robber, drug addict, petty criminal, arrest resister and sometime porn performer, or why they think this is what their fans want to see. But I have no intention of patronizing a business that does something this clueless.

The reality is they’re not worried about John Hinderacker going to the park they’re afraid of it being burned down, particularly when the size of your police force continues to drop.

If I owned the Twins I’d move them.

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Finally yesterday I went for breakfast with my wife. I had the check book with me and was writing out some water bills. Apparently this got the attention of someone at the next table and his wife who said about 15 minutes he wanted me to run for mayor.

It was very odd and slightly flattering and the look on my wife’s face was interesting but I think that in a city that voted for both Hillary and Biden in a deep blue state a public Trump fan like me is not likely to go anywhere when it comes to elective office.

The whole business of vaccines needs some non political clarifications.

Vaccines were one of the great advances in medicine. By this large populations were protected from diseases that ravaged mankind for millennia.

Since day one vaccines have come with side effects as all things do and for a small percentage of the population these side effects were serious (my now 71 year old brother spent time as a youth in an iron lung do to a reaction to one) and even death. But in an age of diseases that could decimate a population such a rick was considered worthwhile for a population as a whole.

Many of these risks have dropped not only because of vaccines but of improved sanitary conditions both for human living and in the production of food etc that decreases the likelihood of such diseases breaking out.

The Wuhan / Corona / Chinese virus is more related to a flu than diseases like Polio or Smallpox but for the right populations, (the old the obese and those with existing illnesses) is seemingly more deadly than the flu and for some (my wife included) may have side effects that cause trouble even after recovery.

The unexpected arrival of this disease (likely from a weapons lab) and it’s effects on the population required drastic action which is why the Trump Administration operated “Operation Warp Speed” to develop vaccines much faster than normal.

As part of the emergency some of the normal precautions and controls that might take place with a vaccine we relaxed in the emergency just as in the field hospital a doctor might act with sanitary standards that he would never tolerate in a hospital.

That these or any vaccines were developed in this record time is a real human accomplishment that both the Trump administration and the medical can pharmaceutical industry should rightly take pride in however because speed was of the essence it’s is likely that the number of side effects, the severity of said side effects and the number of people subject to them would be much higher.

Because of this increased risk (which will dissipate over time as research continues) and the fact that the primary risk is to those to whom the normal flu would put at risk I have no problem with those who decide to give the shot a miss nor do I have an issue with those who go for the jab. We’re all adults here, let’s act that way when people make their call.