Opus 2020-206: Habits

A word about habits.  Good habits are hard to establish.  The bad ones are easy to start and hard to stop.  Think about the click bait you see on your internet connection.  Some of the stuff they use actually looks interesting and I don’t mean the ones advertising beautiful Russian women looking for romance.  There are a lot that could really be interesting.  I have learned that it is all a come-on. 

What happens when you get suckered and click on the 10 most disastrous train wrecks?  In ways I don’t understand this gives marketing groups access to you and your world.  Sometimes it is just being deluged with ads.  Sometimes it is the loss of personal information.  Sometimes it is the joy of a plethora of malware.  It might be worth it but usually you never do find out about the train wrecks. 

Be careful what you click and that does not just apply to the internet.  It is one reason I don’t have a lot of interest in trying certain foods and drinks.  I have never been curious about drugs and little interest in alcohol.  There are traps everywhere.  It might be a good time to stop and examine the things that you do repeatedly. 

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-205: Ode to Old: Sunrise, Sunset

There are times when I whine about getting old.  One of the comments I have made and also heard others make is, “Getting old isn’t any fun.” 

There is some truth to that.  My joints are like that old pair of pliers that have been in the bottom of the tool box for too long.  They will eventually loosen up but it seems to take longer every birthday.  I am finding that I cannot do two things at once.  It used to be I could look at the titles of books on a shelf while I put my coffee cup down.  Now it seems like someone moves the shelf every time I try it.  The list goes on.

It is also camouflage for all the great things that are available.  One that everyone is not blessed with is grandchildren.  You can spoil them and send them home.  When my daughter was barred from returning to Japan by the virus panic we got the really work it.  She was glad to get out of here so she could start drawing lines that we would not step across.  Old people also get to take naps when everyone else is doing something requiring muscles.  We get discounts and sometimes cuts in line.  If you are able to retire then you have more control over your schedule.  It isn’t that you don’t have anything to do but you get more say on when it happens, and if you can put it off long enough your children will have to worry about it.

So cheer up.  Sunsets can be just as beautiful as sunrises.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-204: Should-a-Beens: Jesters and Questers

I have a suggestion for future presidential news conferences.  It will require more time but will pay big dividends for America.  We need to divide the press conferences between journalists who ask serious questions and hacks who go for “gotcha”. 

To be honest I don’t watch them now.  All I know are the cuts provided by the sites I visit.  They tend to support Trump and so pick and choose with that in mind.  I am aware of that.  I don’t know the actual number of serious and frivolous questions but I do see a pattern from certain individuals.  The White House should keep track of how many questions are more appropriate for the front page of the National Enquirer, the New York Times or the defunct Mad Magazine and which are after serious information.  After a time of compiling this data the White House should announce that there will be two news conferences from that point on.

I am going to make up numbers to illustrate the point.  I have no idea what the real quantities would be.  We would have two conferences with 20 press passes for each.  The first time you might divide up randomly but at the next set of conferences you would invite the representatives of the media to one or the other, based on the questions they asked last time.  Starting the second session we could have names for the two such as Jesters and Questers or even name one the National Enquirer with apologies to the Enquirer.  Thus if Jim Acosta asks a question about the Stormy Daniels law suit his next pass would be for the Jesters.  You could move up or down depending on how serious you were about the news.

Eventually I would recommend inviting sites like the Babylon Bee and People’s Cube to send representatives.  You could drum up enthusiasm by having a contest to identify which questions came from CNN and which from the Bee.  Prizes could be MAGA hats and T-shirts.  You could make the Jesters more entertaining by having guest Press Secretaries.  Imagine the creative answers you could get if James Carville or Don Lemon had the podium.  You could broadcast them opposite NBA games so that people would not be totally bored.

I am getting carried away.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-203: On the Street: Cud

Some things never change.

Several times in meetings I have heard speakers talk about studies that listed the problems in school from years ago and compare them to the problems of today.  I have read the same type of information on the internet.  Who knows if there was really a survey or whether it was done correctly.  You know how that goes.  In spite of that, both lists, as different as they were, listed gum chewing as a problem.

Some things never change.

I have never understood the attraction of chewing gum.  I see someone who seems to be intelligent and well dressed when suddenly they start doing their imitation of a cow resting in the pasture.  I wonder if they have an emotional problem or something.  Once when I was trying to take my mind off food, I bought some sugar free gum and started chewing.  It lasted until my wife caught me and wanted to know what was wrong.

I think of chewing gum as degenerate.  It is just a hang up I have.  If you are a chewer then ignore me.  To me chewing gum is like cigarettes.  People who use them don’t know what a trash can is for.  You can drive or walk through some areas and the ground looks like a bad case of acne.  It is covered with spots and butts. 

I guess there could be worse habits than chewing gum.  I should know, I have enough of them.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-202: Headlines: Bad Timing

Isn’t it strange the way people who go against the Progressive* narrative see their lives come apart.  I don’t follow the NBA but I read about Jonathan Isaac refusing to conform to the leftists and stood during the national anthem.  The Daily Wire reports he has had a “season ending injury”.  I look forward to eventually seeing video.  My guess at this point is it was a deliberate hit, orchestrated by operatives for the Marxists running BLM and Antifa.  It could have been a genuine accident.  It is a convenient coincidence though. 

Look back a little bit.  Think Bill Cosby.  He was flying high and revered by everyone until he told a black audience that the black community needed to become responsible for their own lives and stop playing the victim.  It wasn’t long after that the lawsuits began.  Was he guilty?  The jury said so.  The question then becomes the timing.  He had been abusing women for a long time.  Nothing came of it until he stepped across the line.

Go to Louisville.  The Marxists there are getting into the extortion racket.  Disrn reports local businesses are being threatened if they don’t pay off BLM.  It reminds me of the mob during prohibition. 

So watch your back.  Lock your doors.  Keep in mind that you being paranoid is healthy when they are out to get you.

*(Liberals, educators, socialists, communists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, etc)

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-201: Should-a-Beens: Some Day

I wonder if we will be sitting around swapping lies some day and the big controversy will be how many times we got banned by social media.  I keep hearing about it and reading about it.  So far I am batting .000.  For those of you that are not into baseball, that means that I could not get on a team even with affirmative action. 

I wonder if I should continue just expressing myself or whether I need to start trying to get knocked off.  I am sure I offend someone but I guess most of the people I would offend only watch CNN.  Being banned assumes that I ever get read enough to register.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-200: Dueling Judges

One of the questions we don’t like to ask is, “Who will police the police?” 

I do not offer that in criticism of the police because they have plenty of oversight that could be applied if the political clowns wanted to go there.  I am offering it concerning the courts.  So the real question is, “Who will judge the judges?”

It is a potential slippery slope because it is hard to imagine any system that would honestly evaluate judges and not become just another political club used by closet tyrants.  But then, would it be any worse than what we have going on now?  Judge Emmet Sullivan is presenting a classic example of the misuse of power.  The prosecution dropped the case against Michael Flynn.  It seems there was no real evidence.  In a court that follows the law and believes in due process, that should have been the end.  But a demagogue like Sullivan realizes he is the one in the black robe and that he can use his creative imagination to mess with someone he differs with politically.  This should be illegal.  This should be punished. 

I believe in the rule of law.  I do not believe in the rule of fiat.  I do not believe in the divine right of judges any more than I believe in the divine right of kings.  I am sure that much of our legal system works just fine.  I have only made it through jury selection one time.  There was nothing even remotely political about the case.  I was happy with the assessment of blame but not happy with the awarding of damages.  Such is life.  Such is due process.

In spite of that, much of our legal system is beyond repair.  We have violent criminals being released to protect them from the virus and mothers being arrested for not wearing a mask.  This is beyond crazy.  I think it is deliberate.  I would recommend impeachment but that is a two edged sword and the Progressives* would wield it with no respect for justice.  They would do to judges what they are trying to do to the president.  Someone I was talking to suggested we make dueling legal again.  That may be the only solution that would work.  Perhaps a form of dueling that allows you to refuse the duel but requires stepping down from the bench instead.

Put on your thinking caps while we still have a country.

*(Liberals, educators, socialists, communists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, etc)

homo unius libri