Posts Tagged ‘datechguy's magnificent seven’

Foolishness from “fact-checkers”

Posted: March 13, 2022 by John Ruberry in Afghanistan war, comedy, internet/free speech, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

The mainstream media has been a propaganda machine for leftists since the rise of Barack Obama. Prior to then, the media had reliably liberal, but at least attempted to appear unbiased. 

For instance, the mainstream media showed minimal interest in investigating Obama’s ties to former Weather Underground terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, as well as the role of political fixer Antoin “Tony” Rezko early in Obama’s political career, as well as the Obamas’ purchase, with Rezko’s help, of their Chicago mansion. By that time Obama admitted he knew there was a cloud over Rezko, who later served time in prison for fraud and other charges. Obama in 2008 called his decision to work the Rezko on that purchase “bone-headed” in his murky explanation of that deal. A decision he made in 2008 was much more bone-headed, his naming of Joe Biden as is running mate. Had that not happened, Sleepy Joe would be enjoying a quiet, but rambling, retirement wandering the sands of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Hey fact-checkers: Are you going to attack me on that last statement?

I was unaware of fact-checkers as a political force until the 2008 presidential campaign; oh sure, I knew about Snopes debunking juicy urban legends, but the fact-checkers, such as PolitiFact, which was founded in 2007, got to work attacking during that campaign such stories as the Obama-was-born-in-Kenya canard. The fact-checkers were less enthusiastic in 2008 about defending John McCain after the New York Times claimed the Republican senator had an affair with a lobbyist. 

Last week a friend-of-the-blog who lives in Alaska tipped me off to a Babylon Bee story, “Biden Sells Alaska Back To Russia So We Can Start Drilling For Oil There Again.”

That “report” was published last Monday, when America was still buying Russian oil; the following day, under pressure from the left and right, Biden announced America would no longer be purchasing Russian petroleum. 

Kind of a conservative and Christian alternative to the Onion, the Babylon Bee is a satire site. Not getting the joke was USA Today fact-checker Ana Faguy, who apparently discovered the story on the Being Libertarian Facebook page. She even sought a comment from the Being Libertarian FB group. Faguy labeled the Bee story “satire.” 

Duh!

Do USA Today fact-checkers investigate the Onion too?

Last year another USA Today reporter, Daniel Funke, fact-checked the internet memes, since proven true, that Biden looked at his watch several times during the ceremony when the remains of soldiers killed during a terrorist attack in Afghanistan were returned to American soil, calling it “mostly false.” After being confronted with facts, USA Today edited the story and it was upgraded, not to “true,” but to “missing context.” How brave.

It’s not just USA Today. Four years ago, another Babylon Bee piece, titled “CNN Purchases Industrial-Sized Washing Machine To Spin News Before Publication” was first labeled as “false” by Snopes. Like the Alaska-Russia fact-check, that Snopes article now deems the Bee story as “satire.”

Dan Bongino on his radio show and his podcast regularly tells his listeners that a reliable gauge that the left is getting desperate is how they protect sacred cows, such as the Biden White House, with fact-checks. One such story is the report from Russia that there are US-funded bio-labs in Ukraine.

“This story was real,” Bongino told Fox News’ Jesse Watters last week. “Yet the fact-checkers, who had no special access to information at all, came out and said: ‘No, no – no, no, no – that’s a bad story for the Biden administration – Obama may have been involved – so that’s a hoax and you’re banned from Facebook if you put it up. And you wonder why we are where we are right now with the information crisis in the country.”

Remember when Facebook, another priestly temple of truth [warning-satire!], used to routinely ban posts that claimed that the COVID-19 virus escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China? They don’t anymore.

Beneath ever fact-check entry at USA Today is this revealing note, “Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.”

Here’s a story that the big-time fact-checkers, Snopes, PolitiFact, and USA Today are ignoring, Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, the name of which is actually “Parental Rights in Education.” But leftists use the first name as they demonize the legislation.

Governor Ron DeSantis says he will sign the bill, which is aimed at primary school kids. Here’s a revealing passage from the legislation: “A school district may not encourage classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.” You know what I think? Let kids be kids, particularly in primary school.

However, this is true. The word “gay” is not mentioned in the so-called “Don’t Say Gay Bill.”

Most fact-checkers, like their brethren elsewhere in journalism, are propagandists.

Blogger in Alaska, still part of the USA, in 2020

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

The sad decline of ballet

Posted: March 12, 2022 by ng36b in Uncategorized
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When I was in college, I had enough time to pick some sort of extra curricular activity outside of ROTC. Instead of something geeky like using 3D printers, the chess club or computer gaming design, I chose to compete in ballroom dance. That got more than a few snickers from my other male friends, until one of them came to watch a local competition, and realized that all of the Latin ballroom dances (think cha-cha, rumba, etc.) were basically excuses for women to wear tight fitting clothing (and very little of it at that!) and dance in front of a bunch of judges…and with me! It was pretty glorious, especially as a shy male in my early twenties that needed a bit of help talking to women.

Ballroom was enough of a good time that I even ended up taking a ballet class at college to finish off an odd non-technical degree requirement that the university required for engineering students. I was one of two guys in the class, and since the other guy was about 100 pounds overweight, so I got all the female attention.

Ballroom and ballet have changed significantly since then, and unfortunately not in a good way. In college, it was obvious that there was a big push for women to wear more revealing clothing and for much more sexualized movements. Ballroom, with its focus on executing a set of movements in the same way each time, was a bit of a bulwark against this, but at advanced levels the rules sort of disappear and its all in how you want to interpret it. But at least the stodginess is there, and there is some modesty, however slight.

Ballet though…nope. Not even close. Even at the younger levels.

My daughters are currently at a Christian ballet studio, which I used to think didn’t matter all that much, until I went to a “ballet” competition to watch them dance. I put ballet in quotes because over the 2 hours we were there, I think maybe 30% of the dances could be considered ballet. The rest was an ugly mix of girls moving in very sexualized motions, wearing very little clothing and dancing to music that while it omitted swearing, left nothing else left to the imagination. It was a bit shocking.

I thought it was a one-off. I was wrong.

Last weekend at another competition, a girl that couldn’t have been older than 11 danced to the Janet Jackson song “Black Cat.” Now, a throwback to Janet Jackson could be pretty cool, but that wasn’t this. She was dressed like a stripper, and danced like a stripper. All she needed was a pole. While she was the worst one I saw, I looked at the song list and there were definitely others competing in that race to the bottom.

What the heck happened to kids ballet?

How did we go from dancing Swan Lake and The Nutcracker to little girls practicing moves that should be relegated to R-rated movies?

And all to parents applause! How on earth are people applauding this, and then shocked when their teenager engages in risky behavior later in life. Like, duh, where do you think they learned it from?

It doesn’t have to be that way. There were plenty of performances to more modern songs that still used all the ballet techniques. There were plenty of upbeat and fun performances that didn’t require girls to dress like they were auditioning for the world’s oldest profession. There is no excuse for this, and yet it seems like that is all that is taught at most dance studios.

When we wonder later in life why our young women make risky choices with their sexual behavior, we’ll need to remember when we clapped to them acting those decisions out on a dance stage. And then maybe we’ll make some better decisions of our own.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency. If you enjoyed this post, stop by the author’s page on Amazon and order a book!

Joe Biden’s policies not 9000 unused drilling permits are responsible for skyrocketing gas prices

Posted: March 10, 2022 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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It is truly ironic that the Biden regime declared that individuals spreading ‘misinformation’ are domestic terrorists because Joe Biden spreads an inordinate amount of actual misinformation.  Just this past Tuesday, Biden told a rather egregious whopper about what is causing gas prices to climb alarmingly fast, to record levels.  Joe Biden told the world that gas prices are high because domestic oil production is not keeping up to demand, because oil companies are not using 9000 drilling permits that were previously issued. 

This article, American Petroleum Institute: Biden ‘Misusing Facts’ When Talking About Unused Drilling Permits (legalinsurrection.com), proves this to be a mistruth.

“Just because you have a lease doesn’t mean there’s actually oil and gas in that lease, and there has to be a lot of development that occurs between the leasing and then ultimately permitting for that acreage to be productive,” he said. “I think that they’re purposefully misusing the facts here to advantage their position.”

This article, Biden’s U.S. Oil Embargo – WSJ, explains in great detail how Joe Biden’s radical policies are in fact responsible for the skyrocketing gas prices here in the United States.

On Tuesday he even blamed U.S. companies—not his policies—for not producing more. There are 9,000 available unused drilling permits, he claimed, and only 10% of onshore oil production takes place on federal land. Talk about a misdirection play.

First, companies have to obtain additional permits for rights of way to access leases and build pipelines to transport fuel. This has become harder under the Biden Administration. Second, companies must build up a sufficient inventory of permits before they can contract rigs because of the regulatory difficulties of operating on federal land.

It takes 140 days or so for the feds to approve a drilling permit versus two for the state of Texas. The Administration has halted onshore lease sales. Producers are developing leases more slowly since they don’t know when more will be available. Offshore leases were snapped up at a November auction because companies expect it might be the last one.

Different agencies under the Biden regime have worked hard at instituting policies that are responsible for the astronomically high gas prices, and will continue at their efforts, regardless how devastating they are to the American people.

Interior’s five-year leasing program for the Gulf of Mexico expires in June. Yet the Administration hasn’t promulgated a new plan. Nor did it appeal a liberal judge’s order in January revoking the November leases. But the Administration has appealed another judge’s order requiring that it hold lease sales.

Then there’s the not-small problem of financing. Companies can’t explore and drill, or build pipelines, without capital. Biden financial regulators allied with progressive investors are working to cut it off. The Labor Department has proposed a rule that would require 401(k) managers to consider the climate impact of their investment holdings.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to issue a rule requiring companies and their financiers to disclose greenhouse gas emissions. Mr. Biden has nominated Sarah Bloom Raskin, of all people, to be the Federal Reserve’s top bank supervisor. Her top priority is using bank regulation to redirect capital from fossil fuels to green energy.

Joe Biden’s green energy policies are so odious they are affecting the long term strategic planning of American energy companies.

Large energy producers are buying back stock and redirecting capital to renewables because they see the Administration’s writing on the wall. Small independent producers are eager to take advantage of higher prices but can’t get loans. Many relied on private equity during the last shale boom, but now these firms are cutting them off.

Progressive outfit Global Energy Monitor gleefully proclaimed Tuesday that $244 billion in U.S. liquefied natural gas projects are stalled because they “are struggling to find financiers and buyers” amid “pressure from cheap renewables”—i.e., rich green energy subsidies that Democrats want to make richer—and “tightening climate commitments.”

This article, Is It Intentional or Simply Ignorance? – American Thinker, explains in great detail how the Biden regime’s energy policies are most definitely causing gas prices here in the United States to skyrocket.

Among a number of things going wrong in America right now, worst of all is our totally unnecessary, self-inflicted end to energy independence.

This one is particularly frustrating because it is so unnecessary and arbitrary.  Based purely on liberal arrogance and adolescent egotism — not on well-considered business factors or with the country’s long-term well-being in mind — “President” Biden canceled the Keystone Pipeline as soon as he occupied the Oval Office.  This was simply a ploy to curry favor with the Green voting bloc and do something to counter President Trump.  It was the act of a shallow emotional simpleton and his behind-the-scenes puppet masters trying to look good in the eyes of the Squad and the liberal media.

It’s not as if the cancelation of Keystone in and of itself ruined our energy sector.  Biden also stopped any fossil fuel exploration in ANWR, voided existing oil exploration and development leases on federal lands, and sharply curtailed the ability of existing oil and natural gas fracking companies to conduct their operations.  This has markedly reduced our supply, but far more important, it sent a message to the world oil market that any possibility of substantial new American oil was stopped dead in its tracks.  The result?  We’ve now got hyper-inflation-inducing higher crude oil pricing, even before the Ukraine-Russia fandango fanned those flames even higher.

Report from Louisiana: Chasing Chickens and Facebook Jail

Posted: March 7, 2022 by Pat Austin in Uncategorized
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By: Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – It’s been a strange week. It started out with the Courir de Mardi Gras in Church Point, LA and ended in Facebook jail. Twice.

Let me explain.

We spend about five weeks a year – all throughout the year – in south Louisiana, specifically in Cajun country. New Orleans is quite another thing altogether but that’s not at all where we were. Cajun country is that mostly flat, prairie land around and including the Atchafalaya Basin. Stunningly beautiful, it is filled with the warmest, friendliest, happiest people I’ve met anywhere.

A few years ago on one of our trips, we met a couple in a bar on the Atchafalaya swamp who invited us to the Courir de Mardi Gras in Church Point, LA where they live. This is not the New Orleans kind of Mardi Gras that people think of. This festivity dates back literally hundreds of years to the very origins of the Cajun people themselves.

Well, Covid happened before we could take our new friends up on this invitation and a couple of years went by, but this year, we did it. And I’ve never seen anything like it. It was fabulous! What I love is how steeped in tradition it all is, and how utterly wild and fun it was to see.

We arrived as instructed, by 7:00 a.m. “because they going to close the roads!” As friends and family began to arrive, some still drunk from the night before, someone fired up a huge griddle on a table under the carport, and within minutes ham, eggs, and bacon were sizzling, biscuits appeared and someone opened the first beer of the day by 7:45.

The highlight of the day for me was the actual courir; only the men are allowed to participate in the chicken chase and they must be costumed and masked at all times. The costumes are traditional in nature with bright, multicolor scraps of fabric sewn all over them, conical hats, and masks of mesh and decorated with eyes, long noses, and grins. Everyone is unrecognizable.

We went to the first stop of the day; a lovely Acadian style home on a large piece of property. The spectators lined up in front of the house to watch. Soon, the costumed participants began to arrive en masse – on trailers, on horses, on foot, whooping, yelling, carrying cans of beer. After being granted permission to enter the gate by the homeowner, they lined up facing the house some distance away from the spectators. At the signal, they all let out shouts and yells and ran full steam ahead toward the spectators and began the chicken chase. It was hilarious as they fell, tripped, crawled on the ground, crawled between the legs of everyone standing by, untied our shoes, took our shoes, and scratched their palms in a silent request for money.

When you show empty pockets, the guys will flop down on the ground in mock tears. “I gotta make a gumbo!”

And that’s the point of the chicken chase, of course. By the end of the day the community shares a communal gumbo after several more stops of chicken chasing, a long parade through the country with floats, beads, and lots of horses. So many horses and costumed riders I’ve never seen before.

Our friends took us out onto the parade route in the middle of the country where we cooked boudin, pork steaks, hot dogs, and boudin stuffed jalapenos wrapped in bacon. One ice chest after another appeared, all filled with Jello shots of every imaginable color and flavor.

It was absolutely the wildest, most fabulous event I’ve ever seen in my life and I can’t believe I have lived in Louisiana this many years and never been to a courir de Mardi Gras before. It is absolutely the only way to celebrate Mardi Gras in my mind. It was amazing.

And so as much fun as all that was, it’s taken us a full week to recover. We are no spring chickens any more and all this debauchery leaves me wiped out.

And then my husband gets thrown in Facebook jail.

Ha! Well, it was only a matter of time. He’s a very vocal conservative and after being unable to speak his opinions freely for so many years due to his civil service career, once he retired, he felt perfect freedom to voice his disgust at this administration on Facebook. He was vocal during the last Democratic administration too – both terms of it. But, to be fair, he also uses social media to share corny jokes and to keep up with family. He has a love/hate relationship with Facebook.

So, like I said, it was only a matter of time until he got thrown in the Facebook Gulag. He got 24-hours for sharing a meme about a certain Arkansas presidential wife.  He was incensed! But, he promised to behave and decided that from now on he’d only share a joke of the day and get off of Facebook.

That was working out pretty well until the Facebook algorithms went back to a year ago and threw him right back into the Gulag for some meme he shared twelve months ago.

Now that he’s on their radar he’ll never get out and of course this is what they want. They want conservatives to give up and hush up.

So much for free speech, right? Toe the party line or be silenced.

Maybe we’ll just unplug and move to south Louisiana, get a houseboat, live on the swamp. Chase chickens at Mardi Gras, eat crawfish until we explode, boudin, and charbroiled oysters. Sounds a lot better than Facebook jail.

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