Sunday, July 4. 2021
 Doing some reading, and musing, on this 245th year of the greatness which is our fine nation. Right now, we live in a world where we're supposed to be humble, and there are factions which would prefer to not tout American Greatness. Still others believe our best years are behind us. My view is some of our best years are behind us, but our very best is still ahead, as long as we understand where we've come from, and the principles for which we stand.
I don't believe in being humble about our national identity. No other nation has done many of the things our nation has. Our Constitution was one of the very first, and certainly the first that enshrined individual rights as primary over the predations of a government. Our Constitution started a period of constitutional revolution which spread around most of the world at that time. And while our nations' flaws are evident, we are among the few nations which air our dirty laundry, not proudly, but to learn and improve. Other nations can point to civil or human rights failings we have now, or have had in the past, but none of them have a track record better than ours improving these rights.
Continue reading "Happy Independence Day"
Thursday, July 1. 2021
 Physician Practice Acquisitions Accelerated During COVID-19. A new study shows an acceleration of physician practice acquisitions, leading to nearly half of US physician practices being owned by hospitals and corporations.
It is a short easy read and is chock full of information that challenges the woke narrative
How did Bill Cosby's conviction overturn happen? Legal experts weigh in
Vogue declares Jill Biden 'a goddess' and puts her on their cover as the epitome of style
Supreme Court Says Students Who Identify As Teachers Must Be Allowed To Use Teacher's Lounge
Majority of liberal college students not proud to be American, favor socialism, NDSU survey finds
If Trans Women Are Women, What Does That Make Women?
Crime: What Was California Thinking?
HOW LOW CAN HOLLYWOOD SINK?
California: Put your masks back on, and don’t whine about it
Global Warming 33 Year Birthday a Celebration of Failures
Via Schneiderman:
Berry claimed she'd been 'set up' by organizers who knew she would hate standing on the podium as the Star Spangled Banner played.
'I felt like they did it on purpose,' she moaned.
Really, Gwen?
You think the people running a huge and very complex logistical operation like the US Olympic trials during a global pandemic had nothing better to do than secretly plot to annoy you, the third best female performer at the Hammer?
God, the mind-blowing dismissive arrogance of this statement. No offence, but to borrow a line from Top Gun, methinks your ego's writing cheques your body can't cash.
NSA VS. TUCKER: AN UPDATE [UPDATED!]
If the Woke Revolution Cancels Truth Itself, What Then?
Kamala Harris Has a Big Problem
The incredible shrinking Kamala Harris
Putin Declares The Age Of American Dominance And Leadership Is Dead…
Monday, June 28. 2021
This is not a follow-up to the post on cryptocurrencies, but it may as well be in some ways. When you consider the fact that only our government can print legal tender (Constitutionally true, but factually not exactly true, since lots of non-governmental resources are often used as 'money' - think stocks, bonds, mortgage swaps, etc.), placing your trust in anything the government does or provides is rather foolish. Markets survive on trust. Without trust, no market works. The legal and regulatory frameworks which underpin markets are useful and beneficial, but they change frequently (and sometimes not a little), so saying the markets survive because of them is not true - if anything, they survive because markets do need some small level of enforcement mechanisms to function efficiently.
At any rate, the reason I'm writing this is because of my most recent experience with government. Applying for unemployment. I've had my problems with the postal service (government run is a disaster which costs us billions a year in tax dollars that are wasted), Amtrak (government run money losing crap service), the DMV (no explanation necessary), and a host of other government services. So when I'm told "the government can provide..." I scoff. I reject unequivocally. Government is a failure on many levels, and the sooner we understand this the better, because government is not the solution. It's the problem.
I ended my employment in February. I applied for unemployment, but was rejected (as I should have been) because of my severance payment. However, protocol requires certifying on the first eligible day. So I was to reapply in June, after the severance ran out. Which I did. And nothing happened. After a week, I checked in and found a hold on my account and a number to call. After 2 hours on the phone, during which I was transferred twice and then cut off, I finally reached a competent and friendly woman who did all the legwork needed, and took my number in case we were cut off, to determine that the state and completely botched management of my claim. It now turns out I'm owed back unemployment insurance because they misfiled my claim and as a result I lost out on 24 weeks of coverage that I was entitled to due to the pandemic. I should note, that once she'd solved all my issues, I was cut off a second time. Thankfully without a need to call back, though I should say hopefully.
At this point, I should note that in the 5 months I've been laid off, I've now spent 5 hours on the phone with NY State Unemployment trying to solve problems with my account. The idea is to get me back to work - and those are 5 hours I could have spent productively elsewhere...even searching for a job or replying to other inquiries I'd engaged.
One may be inclined to say "would you rather have the 5 hours back or solve the problem?" I'm inclined to reply I would prefer to not have had the problem and not wasted the 5 hours - which were not my fault, but due to a bureaucratic error on the part of some unknown official somewhere who hit the wrong processing button.
Errors happen. They happened even in private business, I remember enough that I had to fix at my old job. But the point is private business is far more accountable and I am willing to believe that there is a fraction of the errors or problems that I've experienced with government work, in private industry.
Unaccountable and faceless bureaucrats, or as my father-in-law likes to say "Assholes with a clipboard" cause more problems than they solve. If they didn't, the Soviet Union would still be around.
Friday, June 25. 2021
Your Fault: Crushing Climate Impacts Sooner Than Feared
Spotify Bans Song For Having Lyrics Critical of BLM…
Homicides Have Skyrocketed in These Six Democratic Cities; Black People Are Disproportionately the Victims, Data Shows
Standing Up to the Gender Ideologues: a Quillette Editorial
The controverted speech in question was contained in a 2019 blog post, in which de Wahls wrote that “a woman is an adult human female (not an identity or feeling),” and that trans women are “biological males [who] choose to live as a woman, or believe they actually are women.” These are statements that almost every person knows to be true, but which have become unfashionable to say out loud in highly progressive subcultures. And so, when a handful of people raised a fuss about de Wahls’ work being sold in the RA gift shop, Academy officials not o nly purged de Wahl from their inventory earlier this month, but peacocked their reasons for doing so.
Green New Deal Illinois Style: Unions Battle Greens Over How To Screw Taxpayers
The Republic Is Preserved – But The Democrats Will Try Insurrection Again
US has lowest levels of public trust in media among 46 countries: Reuters survey
Attack Damages Iran’s Nuclear Centrifuge Manufacturing Facility
Thursday, June 24. 2021
Republicans Are Not Responsible for the Democratic Party’s Crime Problem
Big surprise that there is a significant portion of the population whose behavior is deterred by serious policing and rough justice. Whenever I think about the topic, I realize it's why I keep it straight with my taxes.
Avoiding criminal behavior has worked out well for me. Speeding is my main issue. Not reckless, just driving fast when I can.
Monday, June 21. 2021
No alternatives. Scott Adams from NYC: His podcast, at the 23:00 mark.
Friday, June 18. 2021
 Everything these days sounds like satire. This is not: Guardian Article Condemns Apple Pie as “Food Injustice”.
Half or more of The Guardian is difficult to distinguish from the Babylon Bee. Seems to me that their specialty to beclown themselves much of the time.
The apple is an import from the Chinese mountains. The pie idea has been around since there was flour - probably the Sumerians put some fruit or meat inside some dough.
In my view, the nurseryman Johnny Appleseed, aka John Chapman -(photo) did us all a great favor. I am not a big fan of fruit, but most people are. Well, I like cooked fruit in desserts because fruit is nothing but sugar anyway.
The idiot who wrote the Guardian article clearly did not know that pumpkins came from Mexico, not from England. Pumpkins, and all squash, were appropriated from Central American farmers by North American natives - and by the Spanish too. Shame on them.
For me, I prefer a Tarte Tatin with a hard caramelized crust to an apple pie. With some ice cream (invented in Egypt). Is that un-American of me?
 Clockwork manicure robot is proof the future is here
Happy Birthday Mr. President From the Marginalized Majority
Bookworm Beat 6/14/21 — the Flag Day illustrated edition
Father's Day: Fatherlessness Is America's Top Domestic Problem
Why Do Colleges Dislike Men? The Disappearing Collegiate Male
Mark and Patricia McCloskey Plead Guilty to Charges, Will Surrender Guns
Mom Won't Let Her Vaccinated 15-Year-Old Go to Summer Camp, and Slate Agrees. A bad response from the magazine's parental advice column
CONCERNED SHAREHOLDERS TAKE ACTION AGAINST COKE’S RACIST DEMANDS
Critical Race Theory and Academic Freedom - State-based legislation banning the teaching of the toxic ideology is philosophically and legally justifiable.
Last Men Standing: Charles Murray vs. Ibram X. Kendi
England’s first Black Studies professor accuses his university of being racist
The Wrong Turn of Civil Rights
In Loudoun County, Dad Has 2 Reasons to Take on Critical Race Theory
John McWhorter: Ignore the left's gaslighting, it's not racist to criticize Critical Race Theory
Via HET:
As Sex Pistol John Lydon put it: 'I never thought I'd see the day when the Right would become the cool ones giving the middle finger to the Establishment and the Left become the snivelling self-righteous ones going around shaming everybody.'
Abbott launches Texas border wall project with $250 million 'down payment'. Texas' governor accused the Biden administration of abandoning its border responsibilities
Australian Media Mocks CNN's Glowing Coverage of Bumbling Joe Biden
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Legal lunacy: 
The Solution To California’s Water Crisis 