Opus 2020-286: Memory Aid

I am beginning to take names and make a list.  I am not Santa Claus.  I am an old man with a failing memory and, like most conservatives, willing to be understanding and forgiving.  While I must maintain a certain Christian attitude, I do not need to continue to be like Charlie Brown kicking the football.

We have all been told over and over that there is no difference between the Republican and Democrat parties.  In one sense that is ridiculous.  There are numerous issues that they differ on:  Abortion, taxes, Israel, China, the Second Amendment, God (really), whether America is good or bad, identity politics, and the definition of the family.  If I wanted to search I could find many more.  There is a difference.

At the same time there is a core of similarities.  Just as a beagle and a lab are totally different animals, you would have to admit that both are dogs.  We had a beagle and got rid of it as soon as possible.  Our lab became a part of the family.  The same is true of the two parties.  There are core ideas that make them the same.  There are groups that control both that would sell their soul for power and their mother for reelection.  A large group of Republicans are genuine RINO’s.  They are government-first clones that somehow ran on lies and have continued to serve on lies.

My list is generally going to be for my use.  It won’t focus on politicians but they will be included.  My main concern is the sources I have been using to get my news.  I am seeing a disturbing trend of people who claim to be genuine conservatives abandoning the president in the typical Republican way.  They still seem to think that if they are nice to the Democrats they will be left alone.  What will really happen is they will become disseminators of pollution.  They will try to ride on past laurels as they sneak poison into the minds of faithful readers.  We saw it happen with the Drudge Report.  I stopped going to the site during the first Trump campaign when it became obvious Drudge had gone to the dark side.  One that people are noticing now is Fox news.  I stopped paying attention to their opinions at least a year ago.  The degeneration is spreading.

So I will begin to note who is saying things like “there is no evidence of a stolen election” or calling on Trump to concede.  I am just one voice but I refuse to turn my mind off when we have had a chance to make America great again and the pontiffs jump ship.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-285: If We Can Keep It

Most are familiar with the response of Benjamin Franklin when asked what kind of government we have.  He did not say “A Democracy.”  He said, “A Republic,” and added “if you can keep it.”  We are on the verge, if not already over the edge of not keeping it.

Might I suggest that we need to come to a new understanding of the rule of law.  You have all heard the saying, stated many ways, that sometimes goes as “You don’t fight with the army you want, you fight with the army you have.”  I think it is time to start fighting with the laws we have.  By that I don’t mean the laws on the books but the laws actually being followed.  

My circle used to play a card game called Rook.  It is a real game with a commercially manufactured deck of cards.  The thing is we never played the game that was in the rule book.  I don’t know who made the changes but we called it Nazarene Rook.  Before you started the game you also had to agree on certain details.  Was the Rook high, low or worth 10 ½?  Did the cards in the kitty go with the most hands or the final hand?  We got to the point where we would call our brand “Point Loma Rules.”  As long as we agreed on the way we played we had a good time.

We need to do that with the law of the land.  The rules we play by need to be defined by what is actually allowed by law enforcement and the courts.  That means that elections are no longer based on a fair counting but on whom can be most creative in cheating.  It means that instead of expecting people to honor their duty we need to have teams of goons to threaten them and their children.  It also means that we are free to form gangs to attack people on the other side just because they need a reminder we are serious.

Those seem to be the rules.  

Can we keep our republic under that understanding of the rule of law?  Probably not but the way things are going we will soon substitute “banana” for “federal” as the adjective.  

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-284: On the Street: Sour Dough

We are currently in the Williamsburg area of Virginia.  My wife believes all the flyers we get for restaurants so we went out to an amazing place for breakfast.  She asked me how I liked my choice and I asked, “A fried egg is a fried egg.  It is really good because I don’t usually have a chance to have fried eggs, but it is still a fried egg.”  She disagreed but that is to be expected.  

As usual I had to make decisions.  I asked if the grits were good and got a puzzled look.  After a few questions we worked that out.  Then I asked for sour dough.  The waitress then asked me what kind of toast I wanted.  I was confused until it dawned on me I was in a state that had voted for Biden.  The confusion was clarified when I found out the waitress had never heard of sour dough bread.  I went with wheat and told her she needed to get out of Virginia.  She agreed.

We were not in some backwoods, isolated diner.  We were in the middle of a bustling tourist and retirement area.  The waitress had never heard of sour dough bread.  I should have expected it because the lady who seated us was totally on board with the governor mandating masks.  It seems that she has been led to believe that Virginia is one of the safest places in the country because of the lock downs.  When I started talking about facts she shared that she was not interested in how many deaths there were it was the number of cases that was important.

CNN strikes again.

This is part of the reason why I don’t urge people to vote anymore.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-283: On the Street: Virginia Is Not for Lovers Any More

Virginia is obviously run by Democrats.  They are doing everything they can to milk the tourist trade.  One of the great surprises for us was the sales tax for breakfast.  In addition to the state tax of 7% there was an additional 4% for eating out.  

I can testify to the 11% because we just paid it.  The internet is a bit confused.  Google tells me that the tax at most locations is 5.3%.  Then why does it also say it is 7%?  Then they add that groceries for home use pays a “reduced” rate of 2.5%.  Amazing.  Even California does not tax the food you take home to feed your children.

It turns out that we were lucky we did not eat in Hampton.  According to Google, and you know how reliable that is, Hampton adds 7.5% to the bill making a whopping 14.5% tax on your meal.  You have to be seriously bored to eat out in Virginia.  

Virginia is not for lovers anymore unless you mean lovers of taxes.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-282: Overlooked Consequences

We read a lot about the disasters that are waiting to happen if Biden wins this election.  We know that the criminals who tried to drag President Trump down will walk away laughing.  We know the ingrained criminals that are manipulating our elections will be emboldened.  Most of what I am reading is serious but most of it focuses on the United States.

I think we need to think about what it will mean to the world also.

The Middle East will return to blood and bombs if Biden is sworn in.  I have heard concern about Iran but little about the extraordinary progress Trump has achieved in bringing Israel together with Muslim countries.  The last count I had was four new countries recognizing Israel.  Biden will do anything he can to turn the clock back.  This will be disaster for the world.

NATO has been forced to grow up and ante up.  Trump has forced them to start moving toward paying their own way.  Poland feels supported.  Ukraine has been getting the aid it needs.  Russia has been restrained.  Assume that will all go belly up if Biden and his minders come to power.

The Chinese will bring about war and bloodshed or simply take over in Southeast Asia with no one standing up to them.  Taiwan is in their sights.  Hong Kong’s protestors will be destroyed.  Korea may become a battle zone again.  I can see dangerous things happening in the world of Japan.  Move a little south and west and we could have open war between India and China.  From what we can see the Bidens will become even richer as they sell Asia to the Chicoms.

As much as I am worried about the future of my grandchildren, this is not just about us.  Trump fights to make America great again but he also works to make the world a better place to live.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-281: CNN, Fox and Pigs

Did you ever think that you would see Constitutionalist conservatives celebrating the success of CNN, the original Fake News Network?  

Evidently the latest report puts CNN ahead of Fox in the ratings.  Since America lovers have been turning away from Fox for months now this is a vindication.  The Wallace/Trump and the Arizona call for Biden seemed to wake a lot of people up to what has been going on for a long time.  Fox is drifting to the left, or rather they were drifting.  It seems now they are in a mad rush.

People have stopped watching Fox.  Whether the CNN numbers are an increase or the change is strictly a decline in Fox I don’t care enough to look into.  If they left Fox to tune into CNN then it obviously is not a move based on principle and discernment, but it will cut into the income at Fox.  The Murdock son running the network may be so committed to destroying the country that he doesn’t care.  He may have a secret stash coming from the Deep State.  He also may be a capitalist at heart and try to correct the suicide of the fox.  It will take a long time to rebuild confidence.

Meanwhile conservatives cheer for CNN.

Maybe next we will see pigs fly.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-280: On the Street: Virginia Secedes

I respectfully submit that Virginia is no longer a part of the South.  I will concede that we are spending our time in the Williamsburg area which might not be representative but I can see how this area is a Democrat dream come true.  We passed one fellow who was out taking a brisk walk in a nature area.  He was dutifully wearing his mask to keep us all safe.  Or maybe he was worried about catching something from the trees for grass.  Either way the Democrat governor had instilled enough fear into him that he felt a need to comply.  We went to a Trader Joe’s because we were familiar with their products and the grocery stores around us all have names involving the earth or environment.  We were told we could not approach the cashier until all our items were rung up and totaled.  That is a new one on us.  It seems that the virus cannot be transmitted when money is changing hands but is dangerous when groceries are being moved.  Maybe the key is to carry a dollar bill stuck up our nose.

Taxes are unreal but I will write about that somewhere else.

Driving around here is like living in one of those European style developments where the businesses are on the ground floor and apartments are above them.  It is all very well kept up and expensive.  Signs for the businesses are small and blend in with the decor.  If you don’t know your coffee bar is there you drive right by it.  Everything is zoned up the wazoo.  And I would imagine that there is a special wazoo tax.

Gas is significantly higher than any other state we have been in.  

They need to turn in their Southerner Card.  They have become an extension of the damn Yankees.

homo unius libri