Government Incompetence and Malice

January 10, 2025January 10, 2025

Government Incompetence and Malice

Man and woman in office laughing as city burns outside

We all always whinge about government incompetence. It’s an American sport. But there are times when that incompetence becomes deadly. The two examples of absolutely deadly government incompetence are currently staring the U.S. and the world in the face. The abysmal failure of the British parliament to pass a resolution to investigate rape gangs which have been operating for decades under the noses and with the knowledge, and at times, cooperation of law enforcement authorities. The second glaring example are the fires raging through Los Angeles right now. These both are horrifying reminders (or should be) that politicians and bureaucrats are not really in the business of actually being concerned about your wellbeing.

November 27, 2024November 27, 2024

Citizen Responsibilities

drawing of man sitting on bench in a park reading a newspaper. A U.S. flag is flying behind him.

As far back as elementary school, I remember teachers telling kids that we, as citizens of the United States, had responsibilities to ourselves and the country. I know that a lot of people would prefer to avoid politics and political topics altogether. I get it. Politics is frustrating, angering, annoying, and at times boring (ever try to read a policy proposal? I highly recommend them if you have insomnia and don’t want to take any drugs). But we as adult citizens have a responsibility to keep this country running as well as possible, oppose bad policies, and most importantly, we have a responsibility to pay attention so that we are fully aware of what is going on with our politicians and institutions. It’s our responsibility to pay attention and stop them from going off the rails.

October 31, 2024October 31, 2024

Lockstep Voting and Bullying

bald eagle superimposed on flag with word vote

How do you do, fellow bitter, clinging, deplorable, racist, homophobic pieces of garbage?

Warning: This is a rant and thus may wander a bit. I’m annoyed, pissed off, and just now caffeinating.

Okay, then. Here we go.

August 25, 2023August 25, 2023

Friday Thoughts: What Rights Are You Missing?

The other day I ran across an FB post with the hashtag “LGBTQ rights are human rights” and it got me thinking. What rights, exactly, do people who use that hashtag believe are not recognized for LGBTQ folks or what rights are LGBTQ people unable to exercise due to government or social restrictions? Seriously, what are they missing? Marriage? Got it. Speech? Got it. Access to healthcare? Got it. Religion? Got it. Housing? Got it. Jobs? Got ‘em. What are they missing?

May 11, 2023May 11, 2023

Back in the Game

I’ve been going through a few weeks of… not really malaise, but just a sort of checked out feeling. I haven’t been writing like I want to/need to/should be in order to keep to my self-imposed publishing schedule and while I have been following news and events, and have opinions on things, I haven’t mustered up the energy or whatever to write about them here either. But over the last couple of days, I’ve done some introspection and pulled apart some things and reminded myself that this sort of disconnect is not really productive nor is it conducive to keeping my creative side, which is still newly emerging, engaged and active.

March 17, 2023March 17, 2023

Friday Thoughts: Equity, Equality and Outcomes

In A Wrinkle in Time, Charles Wallace Murray, Meg’s little brother, responds to a seemingly unworkable conundrum, posed by IT, shouting triumphantly “like and equal are not the same thing!” In our own version of Camazotz ruled by IT and the Black Thing, we are told that “equality” and “equity of outcomes” are the same thing. Like Charles Wallace Murray, we should all be shouting at IT “Equality and equity of outcomes are not the same thing!” because they are not.

March 13, 2023March 13, 2023

Progressives Announce: Men Are Better Than Women!

Reading an article in The College Fix describing how several universities are changing “women” to “womxn” (I don’t even know how you would pronounce that) in order to be “more inclusive” during Women’s History Month, is the latest salvo in what is clearly a war on women by progressives. Women’s History Month celebrates women in history. How can it become more inclusive? And what, exactly is a “womxn”?

January 26, 2023January 26, 2023

Is Florida Really Forbidding African-American Studies?

For the last several days I’ve been seeing breathless articles describing the “racist” actions of Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida. DeSantis announced that African-American studies classes will not be taught in public schools. Of course, the left went absolutely ballistic over this announcement. But what, exactly, did DeSantis do? Let’s look at this latest kerfuffle.

January 13, 2023January 13, 2023

Friday Thoughts: Disagreement vs. Misinformation

I know I’m likely preaching to the choir here, but I wanted to take a few minutes and examine the issue of disagreement vs. misinformation. “Misinformation” is flying about a lot lately and in most cases it is mildly to egregiously misapplied. “Misinformation” is a word that conjures up images of propagandizing evil dictators. People think “Soviet propaganda” or similar when they hear that term. Characterizing statements as “misinformation” conveys to the listener that the statement is not only false, but deliberately misleading and therefore dangerous. Put your hands over your ears immediately before you become contaminated!

November 9, 2022November 9, 2022

Why No Red Wave? Or A Labor of Love

What happened? We were promised an almost unstoppable red wave in yesterday’s election. What we got was one or two upset races and it was business as usual for the rest. Fetterman – Fetterman! – won in Pennsylvania for God’s sake. The corrupt, criminal-loving, now cognitively impaired candidate won over a TV famous medical doc who actually had some good ideas. In Georgia, it looks like the corrupt, racist slum lord will win over the former football player, who yes, has some gaffe issues, but far less than Biden. In other races (check out Real Clear Politics for more results) what should have been clear Republican wins became nail biters and I don’t think it was all fraud.