Opus 2020-181: New Terms: Political Dementia

I hope you are paying attention and don’t develop a case of political dementia.  That is where you can’t seem to remember anything and start believing whatever you are told by your care givers.  If you need to, take notes and take names.

At the head of my list is going to be our governor Greg Abbott.  I had felt good about him until the China Virus panic was drummed up by the media.  At first he got squishy by doing a partial shut-down.  Then he said we didn’t have to wear masks.  Now the Chicken Little’s have convinced him the sky is falling and he declared we all had to wear masks everywhere.  Out of the other side of his mouth he said he was not going to shut the state down again.  What does he think will be the result of masks, social distancing and reduced occupancy in restaurants?

There have also been cities and counties that jumped on the wagon.  It is probably too late to do anything in this election cycle.  Often the Democrat would have been even worse. 

That is in Texas.  If the city councils of Seattle and Portland are reelected then the people who have remained in those cities deserve what they get.  The same goes for New York, city and state, and California. 

The reality is that eventually everyone will be exposed to this virus.  That is the way the world works.  The vast majority will be totally unaware.  The unfortunate few will have a hard time.  The number of businesses that have gone under dwarfs the number of people sick.  I am disappointed in our governor.  I hope I have some options when he comes up for reelection.  I hope my dementia stays at bay.

Elections matter.  Vote the suckers out.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-180: The Law of Prosperity

Why are Marxists like Antifa and BLM so set on rioting and causing civil unrest?  It isn’t the destruction per se.  There is a deeper understanding at work.  They hate capitalism because it enables the masses to prosper without bowing down to the socialist elite.  One of the supports that free nations can supply for successful business ventures is a sense of law and order. 

Thomas Sowell, in his book Conquest and Cultures, is reviewing how what he calls “middlemen peddlers” can prosper even in areas where they are total ethnic strangers.  Whether it was Jewish peddlers following the Roman legions or Chinese in Malaya where the British were in charge, they could prosper if they had one thing.

“Neither racial nor cultural affinities with the conquerors are necessary for this to happen.  All that is necessary is for the conqueror to establish a degree of law and order under which others can feel secure.”, p. 17

They needed a place where they knew the rules and knew the rules would be followed.  He said that the rules didn’t even need to be fair as long as they were clear and consistent.

Which brings us back to places like Seattle.  The problem for the survival of a free society and prosperity is not the destruction itself.  The problem is that the Progressive* mayors did nothing to stop it, and in fact, stopped the police from doing their job.

Antifa can’t stop us if we are free to take risks but they can stop us from taking risks if we are worried about being stabbed in the back by the people who are supposed to work to protect us.  The authorities in Seattle and Minneapolis actually want things to fall apart.  These Marxists don’t want middle class blacks to be successful and grow a part of the American dream.  They want them feeling helpless and giving up.  When that happens citizens will be dependent on the government to survive. 

We need to establish law and order.  It is not necessary so we can set our rules.  It is necessary so that a free people can develop their own destinies and not be bowing before their “betters”.

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

Sowell, Thomas.  Conquest and Culture.  New York:  Basic Books, 1998.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-179: Move On Is More Than a Movement

I think we need to accept that this current virus, like all viruses, will eventually reach everyone who is susceptible to it.  If your genetic makeup opens you to the virus creating illness in you, count on it happening.  You will get sick.  How hard it will be depends on DNA and a lot of other factors but it will happen.  If you are resistant, that will not change.  Think of things like the common cold.  I understand there are many versions.  We all have experienced them.  It happens.

The craziness needs to stop.  I wrote about being kicked out of a hospital because I didn’t wear a mask.  It is a strange world where you are not allowed into a medical building if you are sick.  It is like being banned from the grocery store if you are hungry.  It also ignores the large number of people who pick up life threatening diseases while they are in the sanitary facility. 

There are things you can do.  Most of them are obvious and anyone with good hygiene and a sense of community is already doing them, in fact they were always doing them.  Someone remarked that one of the great results of all this panic media is that men are beginning to wash their hands in the bathroom.  If I were young and frisky I would be learning to stay home when I was sick instead of going to work and infecting everyone.  Simple things that are called common sense.

There are things you can’t change.  Was your youth filled with cigarettes, alcohol and STD roulette?  There isn’t much you can do about that now.  Did your parents give you weak lungs or a disposition to diabetes?  That is beyond your control, but keep in mind that those things were true before all the hype. 

I would not be surprised if I found I had the virus.  My theory is that it has been around a long time but was just ignored because it was like any other flu.  The biggest danger is not the people who will die and have it blamed on the China virus.  The numbers that are on the road to an early death because they have been denied “non-essential” procedures are going to dwarf the real deaths from something called 19.  The spin off deaths from depression, loss of income and isolation will never be tallied.

Time for the world to get moving again.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-178: New Term: TAIHTSOTIATM

I don’t know about you but I am getting tired of trying to figure out and remember all of the cute little acronyms that people come up with.  I have lol down.  I now what wtf means even if I don’t use it.  I have used teotwawki.  My memory for this stuff is still in the KB and they require MB.

Go ahead and use them but understand that I will treat them like a lot of weird names in novels I read.  I will acknowledge them, not try to pronounce them, and move on.

TAIHTSOTIATM (That’s all I have to say on this issue at the moment.)

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-177: Business Opportunity

I wonder if there might be a business opportunity here.  The latest virtue signal is being sent by Dryer Ice Cream as they do away with the Eskimo Pie brand.  Who knows where this will stop.  My thought is that if they don’t want those labels, would they sell them? 

I am guessing that if someone came out with an ice cream bar called Eskimo Pie it would outsell whatever Dryer comes up with to replace it.  I don’t buy pancake syrup but I am guessing that if some entrepreneur were to come out with an Aunt Jemima label it would sell like hot cakes. 

It won’t happen though because these corporate snowflakes would realize that the competition would be bad for their business.  Maybe a package that looked almost the same with a similar name like “Alaskamo Pie”.  Or spell Jemima with a G.  You know, the kind of labeling you often see in a dollar store. 

I won’t be much help because I don’t know how long it has been since I had an Eskimo Pie and I am not big on pancakes.  I will accept a percentage of the profits.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-176: Post Independence Day Post

We need to change the name of the day.

Or maybe have another holiday with the new name.

I used to say we have it better than anywhere else.  I still think that is true but the gap is closing.  It is not closing because other countries are getting freer, but because we are losing our liberty wiggle room.

The popular conception of liberty is changing.  It used to be the opportunity to work as hard as we could and reap the benefits of our labor.  We were responsible for our own lives and accepted that it was up to us to take advantage of what was offered.  Then there is that other “R” word:  Risk.  We accepted that there were no guarantees.  We knew that the greater the risk the greater the reward.  We were only limited by our willingness to strive and the luck of the draw in skills and talent.  The role of the government was to keep the playing field level.

Now everyone thinks that life should be risk free and everyone, especially the snowflakes, should have everything life has to offer regardless of whether we earn it or not.  We think we deserve it.  We are special.  Our teachers told us so.  Everyone thinks it is the governments job to guarantee our security and lack of stress.  Based on the current response to the virus that would also include a guarantee that we not get sick or die.

I would like a day where we declared Independence for that kind of thinking.

Maybe we should call that day Unicorn Day.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-175: Headlines: Kanye for President

When I first saw the headline I thought I misread it or it was a misprint.  It said 2020.  Evidently that is what he said and what he meant.  I keep in mind a couple of things.  First, you can’t believe much that you read in the news.  The only thing I can be sure of is that sometime in the last few days Kanye West spoke.

Second, it was offered as a catalyst for thinking.  People have thrown the idea around before.  Maybe there is something to it.  So far I have seen nothing that adds or elaborates on the statement.

Third, it could be a joke like Trump was reported to have made about running for president.  And then the joke became reality.

I am not opposed to considering West for president in 2024.  Right now I think we need another four years of the Donald.  I would encourage West to keep the thought going and do some serious preparation.  Would I vote for him?  At this point I don’t know.  I know he has backed Trump.  It seems that his religious conversion is real.  Before that conversion it would have been an automatic “no”.  He is a successful business man in addition to his history as a Rapper.  Could be.

There will be some possible good competition in 2024.  In the politician ranks we have Tom Cotton and Jim Jordan along with governor Kristi Noem.  It would really be interesting if the different personalities could get together and pool their energy.  If we are serious about draining the swamp it will need to continue past 2024.

Interesting times.

homo unius libri