Posts Tagged ‘datechguy's magnificent seven’

Celebrating Constitution Day by busting some Progressive myths about the Constitution

Posted: September 21, 2023 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
Tags: , , ,

This past Sunday marked the 236th anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution.  Most unfortunately for everyone living in the United States, the Federal Government has not followed the original meaning of the Constitution for many decades.  This has caused tremendous harm to the freedom and prosperity of every American. 

Few Americans understand just how far the Federal Government has strayed from the original understanding of the Constitution because they have been inundated with a mountain of misinformation about that particular document.  This is quite dangerous because the American people are the ultimate final barrier that is supposed to ensure that the Federal Government lives under the restraints placed on it by the Constitution.  The only way to reestablish the restraints is to bust the progressives myths that have kept the American people ignorant of true meaning and purpose of the Constitution.

Myth number 1 – The Constitution is a living document who’s meaning changes with the political and cultural climate.

This myth is very much false.  These three quotes are proof of just how wrong that point of view really is.

The Constitution on which our Union rests, shall be administered by me (as President) according to the safe and honest meaning contemplated by the plain understanding of the people of the United States at the time of its adoption – a meaning to be found in the explanations of those who advocated, not those who opposed it, and who opposed it merely lest the construction should be applied which they denounced as possible.” – Thomas Jefferson Letter to Messrs. Eddy, Russel, Thurber, Wheaton and Smith, March 27, 1801

On every question of construction let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, let us recollect the spirit manifested in the debates and trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.    From Thomas Jefferson to William Johnson, 12 June 1823

I entirely concur in the propriety of resorting to the sense in which the Constitution was accepted and ratified by the nation. In that sense alone it is the legitimate Constitution. And if that be not the guide in expounding it, there can be no security for a consistent and stable, more than for a faithful exercise of its powers. If the meaning of the text be sought in the changeable meaning of the words composing it, it is evident that the shape and attributes of the Government must partake of the changes to which the words and phrases of all living languages are constantly subject. What a metamorphosis would be produced in the code of law if all its ancient phraseology were to be taken in its modern sense.     From James Madison to Henry Lee, 25 June 1824

Myth 2 and 3– The Federal Government was granted complete control over the States and The Supreme Court is the only and final absolute arbiter of all things constitutional.

Thomas Jefferson set the record straight on both of these myths when he wrote the Kentucky Resolutions in 1798

Resolved_, That the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General Government; but that, by a compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for special purposes, — delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force; that to this compact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral party, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party: that the government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress.

Myth 4—The Constitution granted the Federal Government unlimited powers to regulate all aspects of life inside the borders of the States.

As you can see from this quote from Federalist 45 by James Madison, that myth is false.

The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the Federal Government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State Governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negociation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will for the most part be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects, which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties and properties of the people; and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State.

Tide is our woke laundry detergent

Posted: September 17, 2023 by John Ruberry in business, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

By John Ruberry

After years of calling out the outrages and absurdities of political correctness and its successor, wokeness, I still manage to be regularly shocked. Yesterday I stumbled across a box while grocery shopping that boasted, “Ultra concentrated Tide–turn to cold to use 90 percent less energy***.”

Yes, even laundry detergent has gone woke. 

Okay, who wants to save money?

Pretty much everyone. 

However, when you look at the triple asterisks–you mean one isn’t enough?–you learn about the cold water claim, according to Tide, it occurs “on average when switching from hot to cold water.”

What if you mostly use warm water laundry washes?

Tide’s propagandistic green marketing push goes back to 2021. The ultimate goal of Tide, which is owned by Proctor & Gamble, is to “save the planet.”

Of course, it is.

When Mrs. Marathon Pundit and I purchase detergent, we look for fair prices, which means we don’t buy overpriced Tide, but more importantly, we want soap that cleans our clothes without damaging them. 

That’s all. We are modest folks.

The Marathon Pundit household is confident that the fate of Earth is not connected to our choice of laundry detergent.

As for Tide, it has a sustainability page on its website, where among other things, Tide claims people washing their clothes can “get great results, no matter the water temperature. Tide is specially designed to give you the best clean in every wash, even in cold water. Tide even cleans better in cold water than the bargain brand does in warm.”

Sorry I don’t believe it.

I have reasons to be skeptical of overreaching claims, as I am old enough to remember being told that carbon emissions would lead to a new ice age. That is, until I was lectured by my “betters” that carbon emissions would lead to global warming and the melting of the polar ice caps, as soon as the last decade. Al Gore predicted that last one. Yes, he did–don’t believe the lying fact-checkers.

Not only am I skeptical of leftist claims, but I am also doubly so of marketers’ claims.

As a liberated 21st century male, I do a lot of our family’s laundry. Unless a fabric is super-delicate, most of what I wash is–sorry Tide–done in warm water. Our clothes come out cleaner and there is no soap residue, as is usually the case when, against my better judgement, I wash clothes in cold. With whites I use the hot water cycle.

But Tide tells us cold water is better.

Hogwash.

Oh, my guess is that the marketing geniuses with Tide are out-of-touch rich slobs who have hired help handling their laundry chores.

If you are squeamish, you may want to skip the next three paragraphs.

I’m a runner and I run about 40 miles a week. Athletes’ foot and jock itch, usually caused by the ringworm fungus, is something I have to cope with every summer. The best way to eliminate this pernicious fungus is to wash infected garments in hot water. You hear that, Tide? Color garments might get damaged by hot water, yes, but apple cider vinegar soaking for infected color garments is great way to kill fungus.

Let’s stick with white socks. And if you had any doubts, now you know why athletes wear white socks.

Not only is cooler water, both cold and warm, ineffective in killing fungus, washing in such temperatures runs the risk of spreading the fungus to other garments. Oh, if you have a significant other who you share a bed with and you are infected with a fungus skin rash, and then your partner pulls a sheet from you as you are sleeping, guess who might acquire that rash? Even after your bedsheets go through a full cycle of a cold or warm water wash.

Oh, I’ve unknowingly put on infected clothes months after a failed wash, and guess what happened?

Let’s just say fungi are survivors.

Once again, Tide, I buy laundry detergent to clean our clothes. My way. Without wokeness, haughtiness, and without soap stains and the spread of fungus.

Back to bed sheets: Hot water washes, not cold or warm, kill bed bugs.

And finally, I don’t believe Tide’s claim that using cold water while washing clothes and bed sheets consumes “90 percent less energy.” I’ve been lied to way too many times.

Use Tide detergent. Save the planet. Get bitten by bed bugs. Spread fungal infections.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

AI will only take your job if you’re a crappy journalist, an Admiral or General, or a moron

Posted: September 16, 2023 by navygrade36bureaucrat in tech
Tags: , , ,

There seems to be a lot of angst about Artificial Intelligence stealing people’s jobs. Already there are reports of journalists and reporters being laid off and AI used to produce click-bait headlines and bland content. The Screen Actors Guild is still on strike, something I get constantly reminded of while I browse YouTube, and its partially over AI-created content. Even the anti-work subreddit has posts about ChatGPT affecting workers.

As someone getting ready to leave the military, I’ve been asked if I think AI will make it hard for me to find a job.

My answer is a resounding NO.

First, as an author, I’ve used ChatGPT 4.0 to generate content for an upcoming training book. While ChatGPT is great at condensing materials and giving me a good starting point for technical books, it doesn’t produce interesting content. I still have to tweak what it outputs to turn things into compelling stories that people want to actually read. If you’re an author that cranks out multiple crappy books, then yes, ChatGPT is going to replace you. But if you write compelling stories that are interesting to human beings, then its unlikely you’ll lose your fan base.

BTW, shameless plug for you to buy my book, or the audio version if you need something to listen to in the car on your way to work.

Second, as a guy that installs networks and WiFi in my spare time, AI is no-where close to doing the renovation work I do. There are some robots like Spot that can perform some functions, but these excel at things that are repetitive and mundane. Problem solving work, like figuring out how to run an ethernet wire from one end of a historic church to another, still needs a human being to both figure out the solution and manually put it in.

The same goes for plumbing, electrical, locksmiths, and even painters. Those jobs that the laptop class looked down on because they don’t require four-year degrees are still very much in demand and won’t be replaced by AI anytime soon. AI can’t wire an outlet, plumb a faucet or change your locks, but it sure can analyze spreadsheets, manage social media accounts and write poorly sourced stories, so if that’s your job, you might want to update your resume.

Funny thing, the same people thumbing their noses at Joe the Plumber and telling them to learn to code are now being replaced by AI. Perhaps they should learn to work with their hands instead of getting expensive manicures?

In the military, AI could replace the hoards of worthless Admirals and Generals we have. Hey, maybe Senator Tuberville should propose cutting 50% of our flag officers and replacing them with a multi-license copy of ChatGPT 4? If we add the PowerPoint integration, we’ll get better products in less time and are far more effective!

You think I’m kidding, but you haven’t seen the idiocy that hides behind the stars on the collars of our top “leaders.” While I was attending class at a nearby staff college, I used ChatGPT during a flag officer lecture to see if I could guess what that person would say next. By typing his words into the ChatGPT prompt and asking for predictions as to the content of his next paragraph, I got a 75% match. In many cases, what ChatGPT said was far more interesting! Weeks later at the same college, I used ChatGPT to generate actions that China would take in a simulated war game and asked it to generate speeches that particular Chinese leaders would make based on actions that other players took. It was amazingly accurate, despite not having access to classified data, and was better than many of the summaries I’ve received from senior officers.

Trust me, I’d welcome my new robot overlords over most of our current flag officers.

Your job will get replaced by AI if what you do is repetitive and monotonous, or if you are supposed to be creative but only generate junk, like say most of the so-called journalists. AI tools are incredibly powerful, and I use them to enhance what I do, but so far they are still well behind true human ingenuity.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, Skynet, or any other government agency.

No 20-mph default speed limit in Chicago: Stop the tyranny of the cyclists now

Posted: September 10, 2023 by John Ruberry in hobbies, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By John Ruberry

Last week, during a run on the North Branch Trail at Harms Woods in Skokie, Illinois, a speeding cyclist came close to running me over and causing enormous physical harm to me.

And that got me thinking.

Chicagoans voted for a handful when they elected Brandon Johnson as mayor. He’s a leftist whose candidacy was pretty much paid for by the Chicago Teachers Union. 

In July, his transition team released “A Blueprint for Creating a More Just and Vibrant City for All,” their gameplan for America’s third-largest city. In it you’ll find a recommendation that Chicago should “lower the default citywide speed limit to 20 mph generally and 10 mph on residential streets.” Currently, unless otherwise posted, the statewide urban default speed limit, when no signs are posted, is 30 miles per hour. 

That means for what you might call a through street, or an arterial street, such as Cicero Avenue or 111th Street, unless posted differently–and yes, possibly higher–the speed limit is 30-mph. Expressways have a 55-mph speed limits in Chicago.

Residential streets, or what Chicagoans have always called side streets, appear to also have a 30-mph speed limit too. Although, common sense–there are pockets of it here and there in the city–compels most drivers to motor along around 20-mph. The many stop signs on Chicago side streets, as well as the numerous but not-so-clearly marked speed bumps, which are tall enough to scrape the bottoms of most sedans and SUVs if you are driving too fast–are another form of discipline. And believe it or not, many drivers keep an eye out for pedestrians and cyclists. I do.

An aside: A Southwest Side man, fed up with an alley speed bump damaging his car, removed it. He was fined $500.

These proposed lower speed limits are another bad idea from Chicago, which seems destined to be passed in population soon by Houston. It’s another utopian parlor game idea brought to the mainstream. Most people, even those who don’t drive cars, probably agree with me. Our economy and our society are auto-centric and will remain so indefinitely. Disclosure: I work in the automotive industry. People like their cars. And if people don’t own one, often they wish they did.

In 2014, New York City recently lowered its default speed limit to 25-mph. Residents are fleeing New York too.

That’s not to say that bike riders have a legitimate beef about idiotic and reckless drivers. Many cyclists are severely injured and killed by cars. While running, I’ve been nearly hit by an automobile a few times. But bikers aren’t all angels either. More on that in a bit.

Now one thing conservatives and moderates don’t do, is yell and scream when liberals present fringe ideas. “That’ll never happen,” is a typical response they offer.

Abolishment of cash bail is one of those “loony” ideas that no one took seriously ten years ago. Well, liberals kept pushing, albeit slowly at first, but next week the SAFE-T Act takes effect in Illinois–it abolishes cash bail. The defund the police movement–and some municipal police departments, not in Illinois, did see cuts in funding. Defund the police was another left-wing parlor game dream concept. Thankfully there has been some pushback lately. The left’s war on popular home appliances, such as natural gas stoves, dishwashers, and even ceiling fans, has begun.

One can view the low default speed limit movement as a secondary front of government’s war on internal combustion engine automobiles. But Chicago drivers, few of whom drive EVs, also have to cope with seemingly omnipresent red-light cameras as well as speed cameras that spew out tickets to motorists for driving just 6-mph over the speed limit. A 20-mph arterial street speed limit offers a new revenue stream for Chicago, which, because of unfunded pension mandates, is functionally bankrupt.

Why aren’t more Chicagoans going full “Howard Beale?” He was the tormented antihero in the Network movie. You know, sticking your head out of the window of your home and screaming, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore!” Watch the clip in the link. And the Howard Beale reaction works much better in cities.

Oh, let me return to those bicycle riders. Presumably, the proposed default 20-mph speed limit in Chicago would also apply to them. Or would it? What I call the cyclist lobby possesses the imperiousness of the green movement and the aggressiveness of a testosterone rush after a brutal workout. 

Prior to the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, I saw many senior-citizen regulars on the North Branch Trail during my runs. But lockdown queen Lori Lightfoot, Johnson’s predecessor as mayor, closed Chicago’s Lakefront Bike Trail. 

Where did the cyclists go? 

Some brought their bikes, or rode them, to the North Branch Trail. Several cyclists nearly ran me over in 2020. My guess is that they were speeding along well over 30 mph. Did I say speeding? Harms Woods is part of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, and the speed limit on paved and dirt trails is 15 miles per hour. I suspect there were many complaints about these Tour de France wannabes, because in 2021 I noticed newly posted 15 mph speed limit signs on these trails. A year or so later, all of those signs were gone. Likely there were more complaints, but not from the same people. And not only were those speed limit signs gone, but so were those elderly trail walkers. Those hiking regulars never returned.

Wait, there’s more! 

Many of these speeding trail cyclists ride three abreast on a very narrow trail. And it’s now a rarity when I hear a bell ring, horn honk, or an “on your left” shout out from cyclists passing me during a run. 

The photograph at the top of this post is of the North Branch Trail during the 2020 lockdown.

When I pass a walker or a runner on a path, I always say, “On your left.” My parents taught me manners.

Oh, until the running and cyclist paths were separated on Chicago’s Lakefront Trail, I experienced numerous close collision calls with cyclists while running there. Just as when there is a crash between cyclist and a car the “winner” of that collision is obvious, so it is when a bicyclist plows over a runner, particularly one like me, who is nearing retirement age. But don’t feel sorry for me. When it’s between me and a cyclist racing up an elevated bridge on the North Branch Trail over a busy street, I usually prevail.

Northeast of where I live is Sheridan Road, which bisects some of the wealthiest communities in America. Sometimes I see packs of bicyclists of more than a dozen, zooming in and out of traffic, seemingly oblivious to cars. 

While I don’t see those bike packs within Chicago’s city limits, with a 20-mph default speed limit, will emboldened cyclists misbehave recklessly in the same manner?

As for myself, I can take solace knowing that in three months the North Branch Trail will be nearly bike rider-free. Winter will be here, and the cyclists will retreat into hibernation. As they will in Chicago, whether there is a 20-mph speed limit or not.

While I see fewer runners on the trails on rainy days, particularly cold ones, I almost never see cyclists. 

Say what you will about automobiles, but they have roofs and windshield wipers, as well as heating and air conditioning.  Unless your car’s A/C is broken, unlike a cyclist commuting to work on a hot summer day, you won’t need to shower when you arrive at your jobsite to remove newly acquired body odor.

Oh, on occasion, I do ride a bicycle. And yes, I’m one of the good ones.

UPDATE September 12:

They’re not all gone! During this morning run, I saw a 15 mph “Share the Trail” sign in Harms Woods just north of Golf Road. I also saw many cyclists–and one jerk on a motorized bike–going much faster.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

Older Entries
Newer Entries