The ornery ramblings and occasional fiction of a former political science professor turned author
Childhood is filled with rhymes and jingles that are easily remembered and designed to help us grow a sense of self-confidence. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is one. The other that’s been running through my mind recently is “I am rubber, you are glue. Everything you say bounces off me and sticks to you.” Both of these little jingles should be kept firmly in mind these days.
Continue reading “I am rubber, you are glue”
In his now famous “I Have A Dream” speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. declared “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Content of their character, meaning be judged for who they are – on the basis of their own words and actions – and not what they are – black people – which would mean judged on the words and actions of others.
Continue reading “Content Of Our Character”
The current Biden mainstream media sycophants are changing their stories on a daily basis to protect the current administration and they are counting on the American public to not notice. It’s getting very tiring and I don’t know how or why anybody still believes them. I mean, the stories change openly and radically.
Continue reading “Our Flexible, Malleable Media”
In the original 1962 movie The Manchurian Candidate, a soldier returning from the Korean War is haunted by a nightmare that the sergeant he nominated for, and who received, the Congressional Medal of Honor, has actually killed two members of his own platoon. In fact, the sergeant has been brainwashed by the Communist Chinese (in Manchuria, hence Manchurian candidate) to be an assassin and kill on command. Turns out that the sergeant’s mother (played by Angela Lansbury) and stepfather may in fact be communist agents scheming to get the stepfather elected to the presidency so that the communists can have control of the U.S.
Continue reading “Our Manchurian President”
I just saw the other day that Amazon Prime has pulled a movie about Clarence Thomas, the second black man to sit on the Supreme Court. They removed this movie from public access (censored it) during Black History Month. Think about that for a minute. Amazon censored a movie about the second black man to sit on the highest court in the U.S. During the month dedicated to celebrating the achievements of black people. Huh?
Continue reading “Cui bono? Who benefits?”
Freedom of Speech by LawDog One of the things that has been sticking in my craw recently is the tendency of folks busy deplatforming people for Wrongthink to solemnly intone: “Freedom of Spe…
Source: Freedom of Speech by LawDog
Reblogging from Sarah Hoyt’s page (accordingtohoyt.com) Read the whole thing.
A very good and brief overview of the limited restrictions on speech. In light of Congressional attempts to deplatform media outlets because Dems don’t like what they have to say, this is an important reminder.
Our freedoms are precious. We cannot allow creeping totalitarianism to erode them in the name of the greater good and attempts to create an insult-free (totally ridiculous idea) society.
Did you hear about Ted Cruz? Man went to Cancun while Texas froze…because of course, if he’d stayed in Texas, the snow and ice would have melted, and the power would have been restored within minutes. Well, that’s how the media would like you to view the situation. A couple of weeks ago the story broke that Cuomo and his office really did lie about the number of nursing home deaths and the governor’s responsibility for those deaths. That’s not a good look for the Dems however, so while it was reluctantly covered, the media went searching for something shiny with which to distract the American public. Again. Lucky for them, Texas froze, and Cruz went on a planned vacation with his family. Phew! If Cruz had been a Democrat, you KNOW that Cancun trip would never have come up on mainstream media except to claim “fact-checking” (Nancy in hair salon throws owner under the bus, Newsom in French Laundry, mayor of San Jose in Mexico, on and on. Rules for thee, but not for me and never covered by the press).
Continue reading “Distractions”
I get really twitchy when somebody tells me they are doing or saying something to me for my own good. I am a fully competent adult, thankyouverymuch, and I can make my own decisions. I get even twitchier when I’m told that some policy or governmental action is for the greater good. Governments rarely, if ever, do things purely for philanthropical reasons. Governments are filled with politicians. And politicians have but one goal, and that is to remain in a position of power. I wrote before about fear and how the powers that be will make sure that we are afraid. Now, I want to talk about how they’re going to make sure that we will be happy. And we will be happy as we are instructed. It’s for our own good.
Continue reading “The Greater Good”
EDIT: I’ve added the responses from Toni Weisskopf and David Weber at the end. Baen Books is a sci-fi/fantasy publishing house that has been around since the early 1980s. They’ve published thousands of titles from hundreds of authors. Baen is notable in our current time period because it is one of the only traditional publishers … Continue reading Publishing House Baen Books Attacked by Cancel Culture →
Source: Publishing House Baen Books Attacked by Cancel Culture
Cancel culture is real.
This is total bullshit. I’ve been on Baen’s Bar only once or twice, but it’s a multi-forum site for fans of Baen writers. Some guy (who likely got a manuscript rejected by Baen) has decided to try to cancel the publisher and force them off the web. Baen publishes science-fiction/fantasy and does so without regard to the writer’s personal political views. Baen also hosts the Baen Bar a site where fans can go to find free books (yes, the publisher gives away some books), talk with other fans, and sometimes talk with authors. There is no hotbed of political violence as this douche-canoe alleges. Yes, there are some strong opinions, but if that causes butt-hurt, you should just go back to your mama’s basement and cry.
We all must fight against cancel culture wherever we find it and no matter how small or large the incident.
And now, I’m on my way back to Baen’s Bar to show my support.
And now we bring them all together. Fear is the thing that ties cancel culture and censorship together. Yes, cancel culture and censorship are essentially the same thing, but there are differences. I’ve talked about censorship before. Can a non-governmental organization censor an individual? Yes, it can. The constitution prohibits the government from censoring speech, but it does not mean that a non-governmental organization cannot do so. Just because it’s legal does not mean that deplatforming or removing a website from your servers because you don’t like their political views is not censorship. Of course it is. Declaring it to be a legal action done by a private company does not make it any less censorious. Especially when said company has set itself up as a tech version of the public square.
Continue reading “Cancel Culture, Fear, and Censorship”