Posts Tagged ‘election 2026’

Five September Thoughts Under the Fedora: Greenland, A Great Incentive , First Amendment Reality, Russian Noises and The Election Comes Closer

Posted: September 21, 2026 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, elections, politics, under the fedora
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So let me get this straight. We now have full military control of Greenland, independent of what happens with NATO and veto power over any other power doing a thing in the Island.

We have this without condition, without payment and without any responsibilities of the governance, and the press wants to pretend this is no big deal?

The best deal is the one where you get what you want and the other guy thinks they’ve pulled one over you. This is classic Trump.

No wonder the press is pissed.

The Washington Examiner is reporting that illegal immigrants are being increasingly deported to third world countries.

I can’t think of anything that might provide an incentive for people to decide to self deport or to not pay a coyote to smuggle into America.

I have no idea how accurate this report is but if I was Trump I’d spread this far and wide as the deterrent effect shold be considerable.

The text of the First Amendment is as follows:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

It says absolutely nothing about allowing CNN, MSNOW & Politico access to the president inside the White House.

All three “news” organizations are free to report whatever they want & present it however they want. When that stops, call me.

Russia seems to be making threatening noises in the direction of NATO countries and the Baltic states.

In one respect it makes perfect sense, NATO countries have been aiding Ukraine defense against Russia and pressure on such states and covert actions against them is only to be expected.

But given Russia’s lack of success in Ukraine proper I don’t see how they are in a position to open up a front in the east when such a move might not only unite Europe against them but when it means fighting a Polish military that is solid, intact and has plenty of motivation historically to give them a bloody nose.

The real question nobody is asking is this: How desperate is Putin’s position in Russia?

The most desperate is position is the more likely he will do something stupid or risky to restore it. That more than anything else is the real danger and the wildcard in play.

I’ve reached a point where I’m not sure who to believe when it comes to what’s happening in the national races.

I’m pretty much resigned to Massachusetts not learning from it’s mistakes that driving people out of the state but the sheer amount of noise coming from all sides makes it practically impossible to figure out what is actually happening.

I suspect this is by design but the noise doesn’t matter because reality will eventually bleed through.

Let’s hope it’s a good one for the country.

Today’s Book Quote: Putting “Good Morning America’s” Spin in perspective 18 from Fitchburg vs 18 from the entire US

Posted: September 3, 2026 by datechguy in Blame Trump, media, Today's Book Quote, war
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One of the disadvantages of going to my favorite breakfast place locally is having “Good Morning America” on in the background with it’s constant spin. Today’s spin was trying to declare the Iran war a disaster &to overestimate the power of Iran vs our own.

This is quite understandable when you consider that an American victory before the election is the last thing that media wants. If the choice is between our defeat & Iran getting the bomb or the Trump administration having a GOP congress for their final two years they will choose our defeat every single time because Orange Man Bad.

Ironically as I was hearing this spin I was, as I do when I go to breakfast alone reading a volume I didn’t know existed a few weeks ago. As the spin was going on to my right I read the following lines:

Of the eight hundred (more or less,) of Fitchburg [MA] who have served in the army at different times during the war, one hundred forty-two, or upwards of one in six, have fallen by the bullet or by disease contracted in the service.[emphasis mine]

Fitchburg in the War of the Rebellion Henry A Willis 1866 P 148.

I would like to note that at the time of the Civil War or as Mr. Lewis calls it: “The War of the Rebellion” Fitchburg Mass was still a town with town meetings and such and would not become a city for another decade.

The civil war lasted four years and if you take those 142 deaths and divide by four you get 35.5 a year, half that and you have 17.25 every six months.

Think about that math for a second.

During the civil war the town of Fitchburg Massachusetts averaged the loss of just over 17 men every six months.

In the six months that we’ve been fighting the Iran war the entire United States Military has lost 18 servicemen and women.

Yet today’s media declares this war a failure, that a nation of 360 million people is reaching the breaking point due to 18 dead in six months barely over one death for every three states.

I suspect the townsfolk of 1860’s Fitchburg whose young men died would be shocked by the conclusion of the media & even more shock that they’re on the other side.

I close with the following screenshot from a question I asked as I was finishing this post:

:

Maybe it’s just me but if we were losing this war I would think that the number of servicemen Iran managed to kill in six month might just be over the amount of people who accidently drown in the US every two days.

But that’s just me.

UPDATE: Here is a more damming figure for the “Iran is winning” narrative:

So let’s put this is perspective.

225 US service men & woman die annually in accidents.

18 US service men & woman have died in 6 months of war with Iran.

That means that the number of deaths that Iran has inflicted on our service personal in six months of war is about 16% of the number of service men and women who die accidently.

I’m sorry if that’s winning a war I’d hate to see what losing is.

Five Thoughts Under the Fedora: Graham over McConnell, Ignorance isn’t bliss, Yesterday’s Outrage is Today’s Ho-Hum, Planter Political Death and in Egypt yet another Islamic Conspiracy

Posted: July 12, 2026 by datechguy in culture, politics, Sports
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While everyone has been on the Mitch McConnell death watch the entire political world was caught completely by surprise by the sudden death of a seemingly healthy & vigorous Lindsey Graham.

It’s an important reminder that nobody is promised even tomorrow or even the rest of today.

Plus you never know, back when the Catholic “Sacrament of the Sick” which is now regularly given to those who are ill, was the called “The last rites” given to people expected to die my mother had received them 7 times before she was 50 due to illness & incidents.

She lived to be 88.

Of course Graham will get a full autopsy because he was considered “young” & that he was on Iran’s kill list but in my youth a person dying at 71 would not have elicited a 2nd thought.

A lot of people complain food is killing us or the environment is killing us or manufacturing is killing us but the truth is that we are living longer and longer because western civilization gives us a safer & cleaner life than than even the richest people 100 or 150 years ago.

As a biographer of Churchill, William Manchester, noted in the first of his three volumes on his life, the food served to the lords of the Manor in the 1890 would not pass a basic safety muster of today.

We live in what most people in history would consider a paradise & the only reason why so many young are discontented is because they’re too ignorant & uneducated to realize it & it’s in the interest in those who wish to use them to keep them that way.

The reaction to the death of Lindsey Graham is a great example of the new rules of culture and how they are applied.

As recent as two decades ago the idea that any person with a national platform would speak ill of the dead within 24 hours after they died unexpectedly was considered beyond the pale.

Today the fact that I completely expected to see it online, both by people who want to get credibility with their fellow haters & by their opponents to get clicks by saying how nasty they are for doing so, doesn’t move or outrage me at all.

It’s the natural results of the new rules. I disagree with these rules & I would like them to no longer exist but one must live in the world you’re in even if you wish it changed.

I can’t get angry at people when I don’t expect better from them.

Since we’re speaking of death it’s worth noting the political death of Graham Platner in Maine.

I was actually surprised that he pulled out of his race as he had nothing to lose by staying particularly since the left is completely terrified of the violent DSA types, not to mention his overwhelming victory over a sitting Democrat governor. Whatever incentive they offered must have been really something.

The only thing that really surprised me is how fast the media played the “boy were we stupid” card so soon after they had done so with Joe Biden.

That anybody falls for it is amazing, but it shouldn’t be. It’s amazing how much you don’t see when blindness fits into your political or financial desires.

I don’t blame fans of Egypt for being disappointed. After all they were up 2 goals with under 12 minutes to play for a chance to get to the final 8 in the World Cup before the defending champions with perhaps the single best player in the world managed to put three goals in the net

I don’t even mind them questioning the calls.

What I do mind is trying to turn their defeat by the defending champions into a Jewish conspiracy against Islam in general & Egypt in particular & also going after Argentine “football” as something corrupt.

The only thing funnier is how they champion the “Palestinian” cause while having one of the tightest fences & borders to keep Gazans out of their country.

Egypt’s team had a great run that it should be proud of. 150 countries would have celebrated a team in the final 16 & their fans would be right to lionize their players & coach’s skill. Alas that’s coupled with pulling this kind of idiocy because since they attributed their victories to calling on Allah to curse the Christians & Jews before each game it’s impossible that they might actual lose a legit match.

Fortunately they don’t care about losing the respect of outsiders like me as long as they’re able to lie to themselves.

No wonder today’s left embraces Islam so.

Oh Please PLEASE Br’er Democrats Don’t Force a Party Line Vote on Funding ICE!

Posted: February 4, 2026 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, politics
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From every possible direction it looked the same. It was going to be unreasonably easy for Allen Carpentier to enter the Circle of Traitors…the place of punishment for those who betrayed their benefactors

Inferno Larry Nivin & Jerry Pournelle 1976

I think some of the wisdom of Donald Trump might be rubbing off on the GOP.

I know this is generally considered “the stupid party” but there seems to be a glimmer of it on the shutdown votes.

For context let me remind you of what I wrote concerning Donald Trump & the Epstein files a little bit ago:

I think he’s going to let the Epstein stuff play out as far as he can all the time saying to people like Elizabeth Warren:

“Oh please Please Br’re Pocahontas don’t throw me into the Epstein patch!”

And then when the left is fully committed to both the release of the information and harsh punishment for all those involved (including all those who have given them millions upon millions over the years) and then BOOM!

When that time comes and the decides to give them exactly what they want, a lot of very rich and very bad leftists and their funders will find themselves in trouble meanwhile Donald Trump will be hopping away singing:

“Born and bred in a Briar Patch!”

And will hop away while the left convicts themselves.

This is pretty much turned out as I predicted as leftist from Reid Hoffman to Bill Gates are scrambling to do damage control & the Clintons try to figure out how to testify to congress on the subject without pleading the 5th.

This of course could be predicted by anyone who doesn’t by the MSM propaganda and has actually paid attention but the left doesn’t think that way. Their primary goal is to win the current news cycle and to keep their base angry.

That’s why I’m delighted at the fact that ICE funding is coming up again in two weeks.

It’s is very possible and even probable that our friends on the left who decided a short term shutdown was NBD to take a stand vs ICE think that a party line vote on funding ICE is a good thing to fire up their base, particularly with former GOP leaders speaking against the agency.

One might have thought that they would have learned from their pushing of Liz Cheney that people who GOP voters disagree with don’t have a lot of sway with conservative votes, no matter how much the MSM thinks otherwise but apparently not.

Let’s go to the polling:

The survey found that calls to defund ice are “politically toxic. When voters are told Democrats want to defund ICE or even shut down the government to stop ICE from enforcing immigration law, the political fallout is immediate and severe.”

  • The generic ballot flips from D+4 to R+0 if Democrats oppose ICE.
  •  If Democrats force a shutdown to defund ICE, Republicans take a 2‑point lead; that’s a 6-point shift away from Democrats over a single issue.
  • Swing voters shift a staggering 16 points toward Republicans under a shutdown scenario.

The results indicate that Democrats do not view illegal immigration as a “serious national problem.”

But nearly all Republicans (97%) and 60% of Independent voters see it as a major problem. Overall, 64% of midterm voters and 71% of swing voters agree.

That link to the Cygnal poll is to the site Legal Insurrection which perhaps Dems don’t read, but I’m told that they do on occasion watch CNN:

And I’m sure the left’s base can’t wait to turn out for the party of Trans protesters calling black Ice agents “Nigger” on camera:

But apparently none of that matters to those in the land of the bubble.. It’s going to be unreasonably easy for the Democrat left to smile and celebrate when ICE funding comes up for a vote in two weeks and passes on a strict party line vote.

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