Nothing is going to make me embrace climate change like having kids yelling at me. Oh wait, no it won’t.
The Climate Strike
About two hundred kids got together in Washington DC this past weekend and had a climate strike. What is a climate strike? Not sure. It’s the weekend and the kids obviously don’t have jobs so I’m not sure what they are striking. But after watching the children and their speeches, I think the climate strike is a series of speeches where the little whipper-snappers just start yelling into the microphone and hating adults. Here a clip from some of the speeches courtesy of the Daily Caller:
There are a few things to get out of this.
First it’s all the fault of their parents and other adults. You know, the ones who but their food, give them shelter and keep them clothed. They are also blaming the previous generations that gave the iPhone that they are taking their selfies with. And the one that gave them Facebook, Twitter and Instagram so they could post those selfies. And the Internet that allowed them to look up all the overblown BS that they are spouting. And text messaging that allows them to send each other messages bitching about how bad their lives are.
Next, they gave nothing. All they did was scream and yell and stamp their feet and blame their parents. They didn’t talk about the science. Probably because they don’t really know what the science is. They didn’t give any solutions. They told us they would fix this mess but have no ideas on how they’re going to fix it. They did mention the Green New Deal but that doesn’t explain how it’s going to fix anything. They didn’t use reason. They restated the problem (which doesn’t help anything) and used emotion. Which should be expected because they’re kids!
Finally, why these kids in Washington DC? Go to China. Go to India. They are currently beating the United States. China by three times. Because the United States has cut its emissions. China and India, on the other hand, has doubles their C)2 emissions. Oh, I know why they don’t go. First they’ll have to fly next because they’ll be thrown in jail being accused of being spies.
OK, so there are a few things that we’ve learned from this:
Kids are dumb. Their prefrontal cortexes are not developed which is why they are so emotional and can’t reason for crap. Heck, if we based voting on their prefrontal cortex, they wouldn’t be voting until 25.
They shouldn’t be voting. See above.
They do not have any idea how good they have it. These kids, who probably have a thousand dollar iPhone with a cracked screen in their back pocket, appreciate nothing.I have a tough life but I appreciate all I have.
Finally, our kids are brainwashed. Our public schools are indoctrinating them. Our news media is confirming the indoctrination. And Hollywood is bringing emotional confirmation. Ugh!
But that wasn’t the idiocy of the week. Let’s talk about Greta Thunberg.
Greta Thunberg
This is the biggest load of crap I’ve heard all week. And I’m going to tear this up, line by line, because this little girl, who is a high-functioning autistic with OCD, is about to win a Nobel Peace Prize. I might be violating the Dave Rule tonight.
A whistle blower files a report against Donald Trump about a conversation he had with the President of Ukraine. This could be the death knell for the Biden campaign (hint: things ain’t going well for Biden in Iowa). And the democrats finally pull the trigger (sort of).
Trump and Ukraine
This story broke last week but we didn’t know much about it. Guess what? We still don’t know much about it. The story involves a whistle blower complaint that Donald Trump was speaking to the newly elected President of Ukraine. We’re still guessing as to what may have happened but there are two things that could have happened: Trump divulged classified data to a foriegn leader or Trump made a quid pro quo (you know, you scratch my back and I’ll scratech yours) offer to the President.
Of course, President Trump vehemently denies the allegation. He says that it was only a congratulatory call to the Ukrainian president for winning his election. He said there are transcripts, witnesses and recordings and he is looking into releasing them along with the actual complaint. Trump dismisses it as another attempt at his enemies trying to drum up a new narrative. Trump did admit to talking about Biden because of the scandal that is going to dog Biden from here on out. But that doesn’t matter. Dems are now screaming for impeachment…again.
Trump is going on the offensive. He has decided to attack Joe Biden about his own little indiscretions with Ukraine.
This one could be big. It might be the final blow to knock Biden out of the race. But let’s finish this story first.
This is really a non-story. Trump is President of the United States. He’s going to talk to other leaders. He has to talk to other leaders. He’s constatntly with people and being monitored. His calls are recorded. Trump may not be smart but he’s not stupid. He’s not going to say anything that’s going to get him into trouble especially since it is one investiggation after another.
But here’s the other thing: the vitriol of the left is just so expected. No one know what’s in this complaint (an anonymous complaint at that). And then we find out tonight that the guy who issues the complaints wasn’t even present during the conversation. Trump says he’ll release whatever he has to but he shouldn’t. His conversations with other leaders should be private and he should not cowtow to the complaints from a groups of people that are always going to complain.
The democrats want to impeach, go for it.
Biden’s Problems Might Be A Bigger Issue
I knew this was going to come out. I heard about it from Dan Bongino about a year ago. Listen to his podcast and read his books, they are extremely informative. His books Spygate and his latest, Exonerated are so packed with information about this Trump conspiracy mess that it might take a couple of readings to understand.
This story has been around for a long time. Back in 2014, Hunter Biden got put on the board of a gas company called Burisma. He was earning $50,000 a month. He had no experience with energy much less gas. An attorney there started investigating Burisma for corruption. Joe Biden, who was dealing with a loan of $1.4 billion to Ukraine, said he would not release the money unless this attorney doing the investigating was fired. Ukraine fired the attorney.
Now, this is kind of open news. This wasn’t something covered up. If fact, here’s Biden at a press conference bragging about having the attorney fired:
Is this a sign of a quid pro quo deal between Biden and Ukraine? Who knows? The attorney in Ukraine was known for corruption and many believed he should have been fired. Maybe Biden wanted a corrupt politician fired, not for a conflict of interest, but because he didn’t want to drop $1.4 billion on a corrupt country. It’s possible.
Where there needs to be an investigation is to find out where the smoke is coming from. This wasn’t the first time Hunter, who could never hold a job and was kicked out of the Navy because of drugs, got some high level position. He also got a high paying “job” in China. Coincidentally, Joe Sleepy, Creepy Joe was also working with the Chinese at the same time. It’s definitely very suspicious.
What Do I Think?
Trump shoots his mouth up. He ain’t the most professional speaker. I bet a dollar he also shot his mouth talking to the newly elected President of Ukraine. Was it a quid pro quo: a Biden investigation for $400 million dollars? I doubt it. Why? a few reasons. The anonymous whistleblower wasn’t even in the room when the conversation took place. Sounds like swamp politics to me. Trump is willing to release the transcripts of the conversation with the President of the Ukraine. He’s not hiding anything. Finally, the democrats don’t want to see the transcripts (which is what I want to see) they want to see the complaint. Why would they not want to see transcripts? Because accusations are far more important to democrats than evidence. Especially evidence that doesn’t lead to anything.
To gain proof that Trump is being targeted, he’s bringing up Biden’s malthisians. And it’s hitting the target. Biden is stressing out. And He’ll have a lot to answer for in the next debate.
As far as Biden goes, there is, again, no evidence he did anything. There’s a lot of smoke and a lot of coincidences. But no evidence. Should we investigate? Probably, he’s running for President. If he wasn’t I wouldn’t care less. But this is going to kill Presidential bid whether he’s innocent or not. His gafs are one thing but the image of him being corrupt might be the final straw. As of this week, Elizabeth Warren is winning in the polls in Iowa. I think Biden’s run is done and Elizabeth Warren will be the nominee.
Democrats Do What The Democrats Do
Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, just dropped a MOAB of the democrats chances of winning the presidency for 2020. Listen.
Yep, they’re starting an inquiry of impeachment. It was kind of hard to understand because Nancy’s dentures kept rolling around. Nancy got together with all the other House democrats and they decided to go for it.
Sort of.
What an impeachment inquiry means is they are going to do a bunch of investigations (which will take six months to a year) where they are doing nothing else. Then, they will see if they have enough votes for impeachment (which, as of now, they don’t). Once that’s done, they’ll send this to the House Judiciary Committee which will vote. They will hold more hearings and vote. If it gets through that, it will then voted on the floor of the House. If it passes the House vote (only a majority is needed) it will go to the Senate for a trial. The senate won’t convict because the trial would be crap.
The House is wasting time and are doing nothing during all these investigations. They will lose the House, Senate and Presidency in 2020. By a landslide.
And that may mean there might not be another democratic President for twenty years because Mike Pence will run and win. He’s smart and likable. Then Nikki Halley will win because she’s smart and likable. I we still have Ben Crenshaw.
Justin Trudeau has some splaining to do. Sean Spicer, the former Press Secretary under Donald Trump, committed the mortal sin of being on Dancing of the Stars. And his dancing sucked too. And Merrium Websters gets woke and changes the meaning of the word, “they.”
Oh, Canada
Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, has gotten himself into some trouble. He went to an Arabian Nights costume event in 2001 a dressed in brown face. Even his hands were painted. This is a real problem for Trudeau because he is up for reelection and the race is tight. When the picture hit the news, Trudeau offered an apology:
During the interview, he was asked if that was the only instance of him wearing black face. He never answered. If that’s not a red flag I don’t know what is. Sure enough, two more photos were dug up.
I find this hysterical because it shows the hypocrisy of the woke left. This is a guy is constantly looking down at the little people from his perch. Telling us how we should act and how we should speak. He is part of the reason Canada is such a mess and people like Jessica Yaniv, the trans woman who is a lesbian (which means he’s a man), are able to raise such havoc through the legal system. He is responsible for promoting the change of language that could ultimately destroy Western Civilization. Listen to this clip of him admonishing a young lady asking him a question just because she did not use the right wording.
Isn’t he man-splainiing?
Wearing black face at that time was not a big deal and I do not think Justin Trudeau is a racist or should lose his job. But I also think the right would be making a mistake by not pointing out the hypocrasy. We should point it out and keep pointing it out because the left wing media will just try to let it go like they did with Ralph Northam.
There has been tons of controversy about Sean Spicer being accepted into the Dancing with the Stars competition on Fox. Sean Spicer was Trump’s Press Secretary for less than a year at the beginning of his tenure. Let’s take a look at his performance.
https://youtu.be/7YBEceR7oeM
Oh, God it hurts to watch. But he was having fun and that’s all that counts. He ended up with a score of 12 out of 30 which is the second worst score of the competition. But one thing people should have gotten out of this, just like with all of Trump’s appearances over the decades, is that Sean Spicer is just a human being who likes the same things as regular people.
Yes he can’t dance and he wasn’t a great Press Secretary. But he’s a nice guy and completely likable.
Vox, a far left website, published a three thousand word essay about the evils of Sean Spicer, why there is so much contraversy about him being on Dancing with the Stars and of course, how the orange man is bad. They published Tweets from all the celebrities complaining about Spicer as a Trump Press Secretary, not about whether the guy cold dance or not. There were two paragraphs about his performance and about twenty-five about how bad he is, how bad the Trump administration and how they needed to win the culture war.
This bring us two things we need to talk about: the culture war and cancel culture.
Things we will talk about with the culture war is how anyone on the right, even moderate conservatives, are being pushed out of culture by the left. Things like Dancing with the Stars actually makes conservatives look human. The left can’t have that. The want demonization of the right at all times. At one point I didn’t care about the culture war. That’s why conservatives are pushed out of Hollywood and blacklisted. That’s because the purpose of Hollywood is to bring an emotional perspective to the narrative that is indoctrinated through the education system and “confirmed” through the left wing media.
The culture war also fosters extremists groups like Black Lives Matter, Antifa, The Women’s March and the Proud Boys. This is really the scary part about the war because there is no dialog or debate with these groups. There is only violence.
Cancel culture means we must eliminate the “evil” of culture through boycotts and harrassment. I hate this. I think Nike and Apple are not only unethical companies but also immoral. I won’t boycott or try to have those companies destroyed. I just won’t buy their shoes or phones. Individuals have power. The collective doesn’t. How do I prove that? Boycotts never work.
Merriam Webster has decided to get woke. They have decided to add a definition to the word “they.” That other definition is:
—used to refer to a single person whose gender identity is nonbinary (see NONBINARYsense c)I knew certain things about … the person I was interviewing.… They had adopted their gender-neutral name a few years ago, when they began to consciously identify as nonbinary — that is, neither male nor female. They were in their late 20s, working as an event planner, applying to graduate school.— Amy Harmon
No, no, no.
I am not going to change the English language because some idiot has decided to appease some people. There are several reasons for my stand.
When we start changing the language, we create confusion. “They went to the beach,” suddenly take two meaning. Did an individual go or did a group go to the beach? This is an effort to muddle language and English is a very exact language which already makes it hard. Don’t even get me started when someone ends his sentence with a preposition like, “Where are you at?”
Once we start normalizing bad or illogical language, we make great writing of the past bad language and therefore irrelevant. Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Aqineas, the Bible, Shakespeare, The Constitution and a plethora of other great works become irrelevent because the saw “they” as a genderless plural pronoun. And that leads us to the third point:
This attack on the English language needs to be seen for what it is: an attack on the English language. This is a militant take over. It is an acceptance that language is violence. And it will get worse. It’s already happening in Europe and Canada. We are a step from being fined, sued, jailed simply for not using someone’s subjective view of their pronoun. I fear I will lose my job because I say, “he” to a man when he identifies of a woman. Then I go to court and sue the company that fired me only to lose because Merriam Webster got woke and decided to change the language.
I can’t emphasize this enough: this is dangerous territory. These kind of changes lead to tyranny. We’ve seen it before in China, Russia, Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela and now, Canada and all of Europe.
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The Brett Kavanaugh thing is falling apart and the Dems seem to be getting quieter. Iran makes a bold move but Trump thinks patience is the key.
Brett Kavanaugh’s Saga Continues
The Brett Kavanaugh New York Times debacle continues. I probably should have given this a couple of days before publishing this story. It’s getting juicer. Just as a reminder, the New York Times published an article last Saturday that stated that there was another accuser. Remember? Someone push Kavanaugh’s junk into some woman’s hand. The accuser, Max Stier, who I said was a Clinton supporter, was actually on Clinton’s legal team during Clinton’s impeachment hearings.
You notice that all the accusers are heavy democrat supporters? Hmm.
Not only did the New York Times not point that out, they forgot to mention that no one at the party remembered the event, including the “victim.” The “victim” refuses to be interviewed.
They have been getting a plethora of crap from everyone including the left wing media.
CNN’s Oliver Darcy writes:
“It was the latest in a series of high-profile blunders that has caused embarrassment to James Bennet since he was appointed in 2016 as the editor overseeing The Times’ Opinion section. Bennet’s tenure has been marked with several mishaps that have generated controversy, drawn criticism, and spurred at least one lawsuit … While the Opinion section has unquestionably produced strong work in the years since Bennet took over, it has also been culpable for some of the biggest journalistic black eyes at The Times during that period.”
CNN’s Brian Steltzer said:
“Times turmoil take disciplinary action in the wake of this embarrassing episode.”
The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple said:
“The roar from the Internet left the New York Times with some explaining to do. How did this piece land in the Sunday Review section? What was going on here?”
Further, it has been reported that the Washington Post and the New York news division refused to run the story because it was unverified. What I didn’t know was that the story was run in the Review section of the New York Times.
Well, the authors, Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly, in attempt at saving a little face, when on The View and did what all left wingers do: throw someone else under the bus. Watch:
Of course Trump is going to sat something. And, you know something, what he said pretty much follows the democratic model: Cancel Culture. This is when someone screws up, there’s outrage, he apologizes, the outrage grows, then he’s either fired or resigns in disgrace. This happens all the time now. Trump says we should do the same thing:
Yep, that should happen. There should be consequences for bad reporting. These people should be fired and Brett Kavanaugh should sue the New York Times. But it’s not going to happen. But, what is happening is the left’s attempt to influence the a judge’s decisions, especially when it comes to that crappy law of Roe vs. Wade. I’ve talked about Roe vs. Wade in a previous podcast so I won’t bring that back up again. But, as a reminder, privacy is not more important than a human life.
But the real news story that is not being brought up by the media is the fact that this whole thing with Kavanaugh was a political hit job. No one; not CNN or MSNBC or CBS of ABC or NBC brought this up.
That’s right! The whole Brett Kavanaugh-thing was crap. We shouldn’t be surprised. If they can kill babies, is it a shock they would kill the reputation of an honored judge? Why are they doing this? Because they are trying to shame Kavanaugh into doing what they want. It’s horrific.
But there’s more. Blasry Ford’s best friend, Leland Keyser, reportedly did not believe Blasey Ford! She refused to testify. She says she was threatened to have her reputation ruined if she didn’t testify. And it’s in the book that the times based this story from! And the NY Times ignored it! This book that tried to throw Kavanaugh under the bus just proved that Kavanaugh was targeted.
And none of the left wing media reported it. I hate the term “fake news,” but it fits. Our news media has an agenda.
It was a busy weekend in the news. Brett Kavanaugh is accused of sexual assault… again. I have to shorten my podcast because someone told me it was too long.
Thanks, Dave!
They’re After Brett Kavanaugh Again
The left just can’t deal with Brett Kavanaugh and they keep coming up with garbage to bury him. And I mean literally garbage. Hot, stinking garbage.
On Saturday, the New York Times published a report that accused Brett Kavanaugh of another sexual assault. This gets a little confusing so stay with me. A guy named Max Stier said he was at a party at Yale, everyone was drunk and Brett Kavanaugh pulled his stuff out of his pants. Then, some guy grabbed Kavanaugh’s stuff and stuck it in the hand of the “victim.” Apparently Stier gave an interview to two reporters who were writing a book about the Kavanaugh accusers. This accusation closely mimicked the accusation by Debra Ramiriez. The FBI knew about the accusation during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing but, apparently, “failed to investigate it.”
There are a few things that stink to high heaven here. First off, Max Stier is a left winger that supported Bill Clinton. His ex-wife was nominated to a federal court by Barrack Obama. The people at the party don’t remember anything like that happening. In fact, the “victim” doesn’t remembering anything like that happening. The victim would not be interviewed by the press or law enforcement. The book where this incident is based on even said there was no witness testimony or proof that this ever happened. Kavanaugh’s friend said that Kavanaugh was popular and, if this ever happened, it would have been all over the Yale campus.
But it also doesn’t make sense logically. Brett Kavanaugh graduated with honor from Yale…YALE. I’m pretty sure he was busy most of the time. He was never accused of anything then or through his time as a federal judge. He didn’t get accused until he was going to be a Supreme Court Justice. If this guy was the serial rapist everyone is making him out to be, why did he stop? If he is this insane, he won’t stop raping women. Oh, yeah: all these accusations come thirty years later!
Well, the New York Times had to make a revision on Suday stating that no one, including the victim, could substastiate the story. Oops.
The democratic presidential candidates, even with the New York Times revision still did what they do: make asses out of themselves. Is it a wonder that the democrats are represented by the mule mascot? Their reactions, even after the New York Times revision, were priceless and expected.
I couldn’t find Beto O’Rourke’s comments on Kavanagh but, who cares. He’s an idiot.
Vox.com had three stories on how Kavanaugh is Satan. Again, a day after the New York Times said the f-ed up. Yeah, they’re not biased at all.
Of course, President Trump weighs in.
Listen, Brett Kavanaugh doesn’t seem that conservative. So why does the left do
California is working very hard to screw itself completely to Hell. There are gay penguins in a London zoo and the zoo has decided to be diverse. And Monopoly has decided to correct its original patriarchal board game.
Oh, and there was another democratic debate.
California Is On Fire!
California continues to screw its citizens by implementing the dumbest laws while ignoring the real problems.
The first law is AB 5 which states that companies can no longer “misclassify” workers as independent contractors has passed the California senate and is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsome. This law will mostly effect companies like Uber and Lyft. Employers will now be on the hook for overtime, health insurance and retirement benefits. This will also allow employees who have been “misclassified” will have the ability to unionize.
Tyranny is alive and well in California. But I’m happy about that this law will just make things worse in California. Then, maybe, people of this state will begin to see the incompetence of the left in California and vote them out. This law s going to make California worse.
Uber and Lyft, which were the companies targeted, will simply stop service in California. This will cost the citizens the loss of a great service which is very affordable. It will also cost thousands of people who are in between jobs or need extra money to lose that easy opportunity to drive and make a few extra bucks.
In another ingenious move to try to create housing for the homeless, the state legislature passed a bill that would allow a statewide rent control. This law would limit rent increases to 5% after inflation. It also disallows evictions without cause which is what Newsome believes is the problem with the homeless.
I have three problems with this. First, the cities and state already regulate the hell out of landlords. That’s why rent is expensive. My family used to own apartment buildings that were under rent control. They never made any money because they were bled by the bureaucracy. They couldn’t wait to get rid of the apartments but, because everyone knew about it, had a hard time selling.
Second, this will have the reverse issue and will cause a greater housing crisis. People are not going to build apartments if they cannot be profitable.
And finally, the state is assuming that the reason people are on the streets because they cannot find a place to live. That’s just not the case. Most, not all, are living on the street because they are unable to function well enough to be able to afford an apartment. They are drug addicts. They are mentally ill. Or they just don’t want to hold a job and want to live on the street. Even if the theory would work and people build more apartments, for whatever reasons, these people will still be on the street.
This is another way that California is avoiding the problem.
California has one of the worst education systems in the United States. Kids that come out of California schools don’t know how to read, or write, or science, or math. They learn about climate change, diversity, the 63 different pronouns and how to have anal sex. Well, they may not be able to get in a college and get good jobs but at least they’re entitled.
I am on Twitter all the time (@RunninFewl) and, almost every day, and there is always a video of some brat yelling at a teacher because he’s not allowed to play Angry Birds on his iPhone X. At that point, at least the teacher could kick him out. Now they can’t.
Our kids are way too entitled and not at all disciplined. Oh, and I forgot uneducated, have no work ethic and are completely unprepared, not only for getting a job, but also for facing the difficulties of day-to-day life.
A London aquarium has announced that two lesbian penguins will resist traditional sexual stereotypes while raising their adopted chick. Four-month-old baby Gentoo will be “the world’s first penguin to not have its gender assigned,” Sea Life London exulted.
General Manager Graham McGrath said, “While the decision may ruffle a few feathers, gender neutrality in humans has only recently become a widespread topic of conversation, however, it is completely natural for penguins to develop genderless identities as they grow into mature adults.”
The Sea Life London announcement recalls a similar episode 15 years ago, when The New York Times fêted two allegedly homosexual penguins at the Central Park Zoo. “Roy and Silo, two chinstrap penguins at the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan, are completely devoted to each other,” wrote the Gray Lady. “For nearly six years now, they have been inseparable. They … have sex. Silo and Roy are, to anthropomorphize a bit, gay penguins. When offered female companionship, they have adamantly refused it.” The zoo even went so far as to take an egg from a normal penguin couple and let the “gay penguins raise it. The baby penguin was born and taken care of but the story had a sad ending. Roy and Silo hooked up with female penguins. And no one saw the two ever have sex as was reported. Oops.
Have we gotten so stupid? This isn’t a study. These idiots are trying to raise a “gender neutral” penguin chick. This reminds me of when biologists in Santa Monica, California were given a grant to find out how many gay seagulls there were. They dsaid that up to 60% of the seagulls could be gay. I never heard what happened with the report. What a waste of money.
Hasbro has decided to go woke with their next version of Monopoly! They are making a Monopoly game that will pay women more when they pass Go because of the “historical” gender wage gap.
“Unlike the classic game, women will collect 240 Monopoly bucks when they pass ‘go,’ while male players will collect the usual 200. The idea is to create a game where women make more than men, the first game to do so, according to Hasbro,” CNN reports.
It’s “a fun new take on the game that creates a world where women have an advantage often enjoyed by men,” the company said in a statement emailed to major news organizations.
This is so stupid it’s awesome. I want to buy this game. I want to play a woman. It might be the first time I play monopoly and have fun with the game. I’m not sure who said it on a Daily Wire podcast (subscribe) but men have nothing to lose when they play Monopoly. I hate Monopoly when it’s fair because I always lose on an even field (well, not always). If I play Ms. Monopoly, I’m suppose to lose. But, if I win, I am superior. Nice! I wish they’d do something like that wish chess.
Far More News
This week, we had the democratic debates. I watched a couple of hours. Biden won but he sounded old and he needs to get better denture adhesive. He tried to be a moderate but appeared a tad dishonest when asked a tough question.
Bernie came in second but he looks crazy so he might have lost.
Elizabeth Warren sis not answer one question and her dishonesty will cost her. But she got third.
In forth…who cares. The rest are done.
Beto and Julian Castro came in last. Beto wants to break into our houses and steal our guns. Castro is a meanie to old people.
It is the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack. Every year I blog about this and I am going to do it again. Let’s talk about what I was doing that day. Let’s talk about other major events I had the honor and horror to experience in my lifetime and the disturbing trends I see with our kids today. And finally, as 9/11 becomes a historical event for our youth is it possible we could actually forget?
Where Was I?
It is six in the morning west coast time. I am a computer networking instructor that starts his class at 8 AM. I like to get to my classroom 30 to 45 minutes early just to check on things before the class starts. It only takes me twenty minutes to get ready and be on the road. I lived in Thousand Oaks, California at the time with my ex-wife and three children and I worked in Oxnard, which was about thirty minutes away.
During the drive, there is a very steep grade that can be a tad dangerous. It is very easy to go from 55 Miles an hour to 90 without even touching the accelerator. So you can imagine I really paid attention to my driving. It was at the bottom of that hill that I received a call from my ex-wife.
“A plane flew into the World Trade Center!” she said breathlessly.
“What?”
“The building is on fire!”
I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t even formulate a question. How could a plane run into a building? It didn’t make sense.
“Oh my God!” my ex-wife screamed. “Another plane just crashed into the other building!”
“What? When?”
“Now! Just now!”
“Both buildings are on fire?”
“Yes…”
I don’t know what she said then. I had goose bumps and really could not understand what was happening at the time. The United States had not really gone through a serious terror attack so that was the furthest from my mind at the moment. In fact, I’m not really sure when I did realize this was an attack.
Timeline for me gets really fuzzy. I got to work and was sitting in front of my computer, reading through the story on CNN.com. Now, mind you, the Internet then was not the Internet today. There was no YouTube and streaming video was very difficult. All I could do was refresh the web page and see if there was any more news.
That’s when the phone rang again.
“They’re gone. They fell,” my ex-wife says without so much as a greeting.
“What do you mean?” I ask her, not understanding.
“The buildings fell. They’re gone.”
I had a training in Philadelphia a few years before. When we completed, our training, my partner and I had a full day before our light. We decided to drive to New York because we’ve never been there before. We stopped off in Atlantic City and played a couple of games in Trump’s hotel. Weird how things change. We got to New York and parked on the edge of Manhattan. Parking and traffic were horrid. We took the subway to the edge of Manhattan. We were greeted by the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center (I didn’t know, at the time, that there was more to the Center than those two buildings.
They were huge. One building must have taken up ten square blocks. I practically put a crick in my neck looking at how tall they were. They were amazing. I could not conceive of what my ex-wife was telling me. They were way too big.
“How much of them fell?”
Looking back at the destruction, I must have sounded like an idiot.
“They are gone. Completely gone.”
I hung up. He words were confirmed when I refreshed the CNN page and a picture on the home page showed that iconic image of the rickety skeleton of what was left of the World Trade Center.
It Was Just One
The September 11th attack was a turning point in life. It was a realization that life as we know it had changed. After the terrorist attack, I knew we were in a world of terrorism and were going to be in a war that would probably last my entire lifetime, whether we had boots on the ground in a foreign country or just needing to protect our borders. But this wasn’t the only epic event through my life that made me. I wasn’t sentient during the moon landing or the Watergate scandal. But there were some heavy things that changed the direction of my life. Let’s talk about that.
The release of Star Wars. I know it sounds kind of dumb but Star Wars made me understand the core meaning of life: good vs. evil. Things are that simple. One can either be on the good side or bad side of life. I learned that controlling fear and anger are very important and I have been fighting that till this day.
The United States hockey team winning the 1980 Olympics and the election of Ronald Reagan. Those are the moments I became a patriot. I remember the U.S. beating the heavily favored Soviets and I could not keep my feet on the ground. And it wasn’t just me. Funny: I saw the game on a ten inch, black and white television in the kitchen of our house. I don’t even know who they beat to actually win the gold (the Soviet game was the semi-final) but I do remember the countdown. I’m getting chills just thinking about it.
Ronald Reagan was such a powerful figure. All he talked about was how great our country is. He did something no one did much at the time. When he won, I knew I wasn’t the only one who felt pride about being an American.
Ronald Reagan getting shot. I was at school when we heard the Reagan was shot and it was on video. This was when I learned that our President was no more than a human being. I also learned how people can be so hateful of others simply because of their politics. See, Donald Trump wasn’t the first who was hated by democrats and the media. They hated Reagan too. A lot of people don’t realize that the same things they say about Trump, they said about Reagan.
The breakup of the Challenger Space Shuttle. To that point, the space shuttle program was just going. It wasn’t even something exciting anymore. The shuttle launched, flew around the earth a few hundred times and landed. In short, no one cared. When that ship blew up, I realized how dangerous space travel is. I also realized why we stopped going to the moon. It is way too expensive and way too dangerous. I’ve come to realize that danger comes with the territory and there are always heroes. We should honor their bravery and continue moving forward. I prayed our space program would continue and advance. It did and is.
The fall of the Berlin Wall, the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. For me, this is sad. People today don’t realize what we went through during the Cold War. There was always the threat of nuclear war. I even had to have a debate as to why the United States should continue its nuclear build up during the Cold War. What did I learn? The power of capitalism, the vulnerabilities of socialism and communism and what “mutual assured destruction” is.
The Rodney King Riots in Los Angeles. This was my first real view of racism. At the time I didn’t know what happened. But I did learn. And I was concerned and angry because things didn’t seem to be covered correctly by the media.
The Northridge Earthquake. I had been through several earthquakes in the past. None ever scared me like that one. Heck, I was 200 miles away when it hit. But it changed my view on survival. No matter how much fun I make of my friend from Tennessee, whose scared of earthquakes, he’s right. I have ten gallons of water, dry goods, guns, a medical kit and a survival kit. The next big one is coming.
The OJ Simpson Trial. It became very clear to me that race was more important than a horrific crime. Even when reason and evidence left no doubt. I heard the verdict at Cal State Northridge while in class. The reaction was disgusting. All the black student yelled in joy and everyone else just looked in shock. We thought (and I talked with people about it) being black was more important than justice. Forget that his wife was white. Forget the huge amount of evidence. Racism is back.
The election of Barack Obama. I didn’t want him to win. But he did. He was my President and I supported him. He, needless to say, disappointed me. I knew, with him being elected twice, racism was a talking point. There was no “systemic racism,” I started thinking for myself.
Last, but not least: the Iran-Contra Scandal and The Monica Lewinsky Scandal. I simply learned that our politicians are corrupt. I trust non of them now.
There’s been a lot of stuff that’s happened during my life that made me what I am today. The September 11th attacks were huge but it was only a drop in the bucket.
I do want to point one thing out. The U.S. hockey team winning the gold medal in the Olympics and the election of Ronald Reagan really shifted me to be a patriot. Ask yourself something: What have the millennial and Gen-Z had that shifted their beliefs to being patriotic? I had some great things. Things I didn’t even mention here. That included the first launch of the space shuttle Columbia (forgot about that one).
But that topic is for another podcast.
Are We Forgetting?
I will never forget. Probably anyone my age or older won’t forget either.
I’m not going to harsh your mellow here but for millennial and Gen-Z folk, this is history. They only know of 9/11 based off the teachings in school (and we know how the education system works). I have tons of sound clips that came out today to prove this event was not that important. I won’t play them because I want to keep this positive.
What’s important is that we teach it. Everything about the terrorist attacks even if that means contradicting the twenty-something teachers that are educating out kids.
Do not forget and make it your responsibility that your kids don’t forget.
Donald Trump cancels a secret meeting with the Taliban. Ahead of 9-11. Oops. A Swedish scientist has a not-so-insane way to end the climate “crisis.” Pierce Brosnon, a former James Bond, says it might be time for a female James Bond. And the gun control debate is still going hot and heavy. Let’s talk about “red flag” laws and the idiotic terms like “weapons of war” and “assault weapons.”
Baseball season is coming to a close and football season starts up. Love this time of year!
Trump and the Taliban
Donald Trump might have stepped in it last week. He was planning to hold a summit at Camp David. Who was he going to try to make peace with? Negotiators from the Taliban. That’s right. The same Taliban that ran a fascist regime in Afghanistan, participated in the planning of the 9-11 terror attacks and hid the mastermind of the attacks, Osama Bin Laden.
The meeting was meant to be secret, probably because it was not going to be a very popular meeting. Unlike North Korea, China and Russia, the Taliban has been directly involved in terrorism that has killed Americans and are guilty of massive human rights violations. It was announced yesterday that the talks were cancelled because of a bombing in Afghanistan that the Taliban took credit for. That bombing killed an American soldier. Here is Trump making that announcement:
Well, I guess Trump was able to bring us together in his way. Trump was condemned by the left and left wing media but his judgement was also questioned by the right wing media. The below stories are from one left wing publication (USA Today) and the other from the New York Post (traditionally right wing).
The stories are similar. And they should be. There were sixteen soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year. The Taliban was responsible for all of them. They are our true enemy. They are still ruling parts of Afghanistan with an iron fist, committing all sorts of atrocities. The other problem is that the meeting and any agreement would give the terrorist organization validity, not unlike what Obama did with Iran. This could cause the legitimate government, led by Ashraf Ghani, problems in the future.
Listen, I know why Trump was trying to do this. I get why he treats China, North Korea and Russia with respect (that is until they don’t do what he wants). But this is a group of barbaric thugs that should be wiped off the face of the earth. Everything they do is for power and they will lie to get it.
Does Everything Have to Be Political?
The Huffington Post reports that Pierce Brosnon said, “I think we’ve watched the guys do it for the last 40 years, get out of the way, guys, and put a woman up there…I think it would be exhilarating, it would be exciting.”
I don’t know why we can’t just leave our cultural icons alone. Why do we need a gay couple in a Disney cartoon? They have been doing cartoons for decades and no one cared before. Why do we need a gay couple in one of the Star Wars films? Sexuality has never been an issue in the Star Wars films before. Why do Captain America and Ghostbusters have to be remade with an all female cast? Why do DC and Marvel feel the need to add gay characters? Isn’t the asexuality of super heroes is what gives them their invulnerability to time and flaws of humanity as described by Umberto Eco in his article, “The Myth of Superman?”
Why can’t they just make offshoots of these films with new, female characters? Why does anyone need to be gay or trans?
San Francisco Just Blew It for Red Flag Laws
With the onset of several mass shootings over the past year, there has been a real push for some sort of gun control laws that limit those who may have mental problems cannot get a hold of a gun or would have guns already owned by a mentally unstable individual taken away until an evaluation is done on this individual. Even Donald Trump, who is a strong supporter for the Second Amendment, is open to some out-of-the-box solutions for monitoring those with mental health problems. This is a voluntary program and would using existing technology to monitor these people. You can read about the proposal below.
This proposal goes a little short of the “red flag” laws that the left has been pushing over the past few months. In case you’re wondering, red flag laws would allow people to report people who may be acting erratically. It is then that the authorities can confiscate guns or prevent the purchase of guns by these individuals.
This has had a luke warm response from pro Second Amendment folks. And after what the San Francisco city council did, any warmth for the idea got a lot colder. The San Francisco city council voted to declare the National Rifle Association a domestic terrorist group and is requesting that the federal government do the same.
Yeah, suddenly I’m going to be real supportive of red flag laws. looking at the aggression of the city of San Francisco, I’m sure they will not abuse the red flag laws and take away guns from law abiding citizens.
The reality is we need to stop attacking the tools of the mentally ill but focus on the mentally ill themselves. I’ve talked about this in a past podcast. But there is no way to implement gun control and there is no way taking guns away from law abiding citizens is going to end mass shootings. All it is going to do is take away their ability to protect themselves.
Maybe They Should Worry More About This
The “leaders” of California are really running this state into the ground and they seem to be doing nothing about it. We have banned straws, banned plastic bags, call manholes “peopleholes,” call felons “justice involved individuals,” have gas prices that are $2 higher than any other state to protect us from climate change and have declared the NRA a terror group.
But we seem to ignore the homeless problem, the drug problem and the diseases that come from it. We already have had bouts of typhus and hepatitis to deal with. Well, we now might have a new problem, leprosy. That’s right, a disease that is only in the worst countries and has been all but eliminated for over a hundred years in the modern world.
According to Dr. Drew Pinsky, we are very close to a bubonic plague outbreak if it has not already out there. Listen to Drew Pinsky:
I had to actually look this story up to verify it wasn’t a joke. And it’s not. It’s just another example of a radical professor and social justice warrior being absolutely insane.
The professor is Magnus Soderlund, an economics professor from the Stockholm School of Economics. He said in a conference last week that there is one way that we could combat climate change: cannibalism. Yep, no kidding. Now, he didn’t mean we should actually go out and kill people. Not that…not yet anyway. He meant we should eat the dead.
He said “conservative” taboos against cannibalism can change over time if people simply tried eating human flesh. Then we could just kill all the cows and their farts will not pollute the air. OK, I made that up because the article did not exactly say why eating dead people would save the earth.
When asked if he would eat human flesh he said, “I feel somewhat hesitant but to not appear overly conservative … I’d have to say … I’d be open to at least tasting it.”
Well, if I had any liberal in me before it’s all gone at the thought I am closed off because I won’t eat a dead person. I won’t eat dog either.
But one can tell that this is an economics professor and not a medical doctor. Apparently there is a protein in human flesh that can kill you. A tribe in Papua New Guinea actually stopped being cannibals because of a disease called Kuru, also known as Laughing Death.
Maybe Prof. SJW should talk to the really educated before he comes up with something insane like that again.
I have been looking forward to this movie since it was released from theaters. I actually bought tickets for my girlfriend (well, former girlfriend) and I. But we never went. She always found a reason not to go even though I knew she liked action films, loved the first two films and she knew this one was probably going to be awesome based on the reviews.
Well, we never saw it. And that has been a sore point of our relationship (no, I’m serious). I finally got to see it. It was awesome! Here’s the preview:
What a great movie. Yes, the action was over the top. John Wick should have died six times and broken his legs at least twice. No handgun holds 28 rounds. But it was stylish and awesome. It was like combining the Matirx and The Bourne Identity.
This is a very violent movie. Over the top violence. But if you like action movies, you’ll love this one.
It’s been a week since Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide or whatever. I mentioned it last Monday but didn’t think much about it. But it’s been a week and the weirdness has had some time to ferment s let’s talk about it now. After all, it has been a rather slow news weekend.
The Story
Last week, Jeffrey Epstein, the pedophile billionaire from New York who was on trial for trafficking underage girls to the world’s elite, committed suicide in jail last Sunday. Epstein had a checkered past that seemed to have been helped on by his billions.
He was first in trouble in 2005 when a 14-year-old was found to be in his Florida home, giving Epstein several massages. Though sex did not seem to be the issue, the girl still performed the massage on the naked Epstein in nothing more than her underwear…ew.
The FBI started a 13-month investigation during which they found multiple witnesses, 17 cases of sex with a minor, hidden cameras, child pornography and videos of elite people, presumably to be used for blackmail. One of those men was, presumably, the Prince Andrew, Duke of New York…oops.
Charges were filed and a grand jury was convened. But, U.S. attorney, Alex Acosta struck a deal with Epstein’s attorney. That deal stated that Epstein would plead guilty to solicitation of prostitution, register as a sex offender and pay restitution to the 30-sum-odd victims.
Basically he walked. The deal was so bad that it eventually cost Alex Acosta his job as Labor Secretary under President Trump. But you can bet once Epstein got a taste for this and felt he would never get prosecuted, you could bet he wasn’t going to stop. And he didn’t.
In July of 2019, Epstein was arrested and charged with child trafficking. If convicted, the 66-year-old could face 45 years in prison. In other words, the rest of his life. On August 10, 2019, Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. He was rushed to a hospital and was pronounced dead.
OK, so what. A perv offs himself. Big deal. Well, it kind of is. Over the last week, every conspiracy theory from both sides of the aisle have blown up. But also a load of the weirdest stories I have heard in a long time. I really didn’t think this was going to be as big a deal as it turned out to be. I am so glad I waited a week.
The Conspiracy Theory
There are a lot of people who do not think Epstein killed himself but think he was murdered. Epstein had a lot of enemies and was connected enough that both political parties could turn this into an advantage. After all, That’s what we do today. But first, let’s go over the suspicious death itself before we get into the reasoning behind the conspiracies.
The death itself was very suspicious. Epstein was in one of the most secure jails in the country. Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the Mexican drug kingpin, was held there during his trial. Each cell has a camera, prisoners who require it can be held on 24-hour suicide watch and prisoners are kept with bunk mates to make sure that there is someone in the cell just in case one of the cellmates decides to commit suicide. Also, if a prisoner is thought to be suicidal, he is given paper sheets so that hanging is impossible.
Sounds like a pretty good set up for a high risk prisoner, right? Well, things didn’t quite workout that way.
First the camera for the cell Epstein was in didn’t work. Weird. The they took him off of suicide watch a month after he has attempted suicide a month prior. Weird.
He was taken off of suicide watch even though he had attempted suicide by hanging last month at the request of defense council. Very weird.
Next, a few hours before he killed himself, the administration removed his roommate for not apparent reason (word has it they were getting along) which goes against jail policy. Incredibly weird.
Next, apparently, he was in a cell with a bunk bed and cloth sheets. Extremely weird.
Finally, the two jail guards, who were not really guards but were “jail employees,” were suppose to check Epstein every fifteen minutes but did not check him for three hours because the “fell asleep.” That’s right, they both fell asleep and forged the check in forms. Weird beyond all understanding.
Then there is the autopsy. The medical examiner said it was suicide by hanging and the independent medical examiner agreed. This isn’t that big a deal and I believe it. But what was strange was that Epstein had broken his neck. He didn’t hang himself from high enough to actually snap his neck. Now, I will give them the suicide because two medical examiners agreed and Epstein was 69 years old so he may have had brittle bones. But it is odd.
The Conspiracy Theory
As you may have guessed, not a lot of people like the story of Epstein’s death. I love the story because Epstein was a pedophile piece of crap and his suffering just started in Hell. But I’m in the minority. People who do not like the narrative will do two things to a story like this: Politicize it and come up with a conspiracy that will confirm that political view. And that’s what happened.
The right exclaimed that this was another killing by Bill and Hilary. My side (not me) thinks that Epstein had something on Bill. Let’s face it, Bill does like the young stuff. And how could he give in to anonymous sex with a teen on an island that is owned by his host? Let’s face it, there are a trail of bodies along the corrupt trails of the Clinton’s. Um, OK. I don’y buy it. Bill did lie about being with Epstein as much as he was. He was on the island (more on that later) and traveled extensively with Epstein around the world. Bill also lied about how often he traveled with Epstein. He said he only went on a couple of trips when, it turned out, manifests showed he went on twenty-seven trips. Bill also lied about always being with Secret Service, who could vouch for him. Turns out, they weren’t. Is it possible Bill slept with young gals while with Epstein? Most definitely. Do I think he and Hilary killed him? No, I don’t.
The left claims that Donald Trump, who was an acquaintance of Epstein, was involved along with his “lackey” Bill Barr. They point out that there were a lot of people on the right that were accused of messing around with kids including Alan Dershowitz, Epsteins first attorney. I don’t buy the Trump story for a few reasons: 1. The Russia collusion story (which was proved not to be true) 2. Trump seemed to like twenty-something models and 3. He kicked Epstein out of Marot-Lago because Epstein was hitting on underage girls. Not buying it. Bill Barr is a straight-shooter, doesn’t need to be Attorney General and would quit before attempting to cover-up corruption. Not buying that. Everything else, I’m not sure of.
Conspiracies are stupid. I would prefer to believe that the guards were just incompetent and a man who was looking at 45 years in prison on a sex crime against children did not want to face the suffering he was going to go through in prison. There were circumstances that gave him an opportunity and he took it. This wasn’t about conspiracy. I believe the Japanese navy attacked Pearly Harbor and the United States didn’t know about it. I believe Kennedy was killed by a lone gunman and Oswald was killed by a Kennedy supporter. I believe we landed on the moon.
It may be my filter on reality, and we all have one, let’s me accept things that may not be true. But I think this is all just circumstance.
Pedophile Island
Jeffrey Epstein owned one of the Virgin Islands. It had a couple of nicknames: Pedophile Island or Orgy Island. The employees of the island were required to sign a non-disclosure agreement and were brought in, daily, from the other islands. Being interviewed, the employees said nothing (that we know of). So the FBI took things into their own hands and searched the island.
There were some stories that have not been confirmed completely. Hopefully they were true. If they are, were going to get a lot more answers.
First, there were reports that there was a safe hidden within Epstein’s compound (or, mansion). The FBI was filmed with a lot of stuff in their arms. hopefully, that was from some of the stuff located within that safe. Many testified, anonymously, that the safe held no money but pictures from the hidden cameras throughout the compound. Pictures of sex-acts that could be used for blackmail. Who knows. We’ll see.
Next, it was reported that Epstein, just a couple of weeks before his arrest, ordered a cement mixer from another island. He transported the mixer on his own transports (which nullified insurance) and had it on his island the next day. In total, it cost him $100,000 to get that device to his island. No questions were asked and he paid by cash and no one knows why. Very interesting.
A lot of people think that his secrets died with him. Well, I trust the FBI. Anything hidden will be found. I think we are going to learn a lot more before this whole thing is over.
SHUT YOUR MOUTH!
One of Epstein’s bodyguards was interviewed about Epstein’s behavior a while back, when Epstein was alive. His tone changed when Epstein was dead.
Former Russian UFC fighter Igor Zinoviev, Epstein’s bodyguard, said he never talked to Epstein about his en-devours and never saw anything. After Epstein was dead, his tone changed.
In an interview in 2015, Zinoviev said there was nothing happening. But when interviewed recently, he said, “So many time I tried to stop him. I try to tell tell him my opinion about that. He don’t listen to me. That’s the reason why I’m not working for him no more. I make him do that — to let me go.”
Yeah, he saw crap. As a bodyguard, his first responsibility is to protect his man. I don’t blame him for doing his job. But he knows more than he wants to proclaim. I actually feel sorry for this poor bastard.
Say It Ain’t So, Bill
In probably the second weirdest story, Bill Clinton has some explaining to do. Take a look at it.
This “painting” was found hanging in Epstein’s $56 million mansion. WTF?!
Apparently, the picture is Bill Clinton wearing Monica Lewinsky’s blur dress. What weirder is the painting was painted by a high school girl who had no idea that Epstein bought it.
Just f-ing creep!
The Creepiest of All
This was reported today and is almost, but not quite as creepy as the last story.
There’s not much I can say here. While Epstein was in prison, he bought, “small women’s underwear.”
This is while he served time for his first sex-crime in 2008. I’m not sure why he was allowed to have two pairs of small women’s panties as a sex offender but, whatever. He was kind of sick.
Conclusion
I won’t lie: this is kind of fun! We have a real mystery going.
Now, this is probably a lot less of a big deal than it is. Conspiracy is usually not as interesting as real life. But, sometimes, real-life is really awesome. Like, Oscar winning movies fifty-years-from-now awesome.
