“We Don’t Need No Thought Control”

“We don’t need no education”

We just need a little better thought control.

Remember when you thought our government overlords were the biggest problem? At least they, theoretically, can be voted or - worst case – thrown out.

By any means possible

As it turns out it’s even harder to depose the entrenched social media tyrants imposing their own limitations on freedom of speech. We’re all well aware of the tyrannical practices of Twitter and Facebook, the biggest and most egregious of the social media behemoths. But even second tier sites like Yelp, the social media crowd sourcing platform, serves to erode our liberty via it’s own form of woke censure.

A New Consumer Alert to Stand Against Racism

“Communities have always turned to Yelp in reaction to current events at the local level. As the nation reckons with issues of systemic racism, we’ve seen in the last few months that there is a clear need to warn consumers about businesses associated with egregious, racially-charged actions to help people make more informed spending decisions.”

I suppose it’s hard to be opposed to a “stand against racism” – except that Yelp’s bold anti-racist “stand”  holds the potential to ruin businesses. Based on what? “Problematic behavior” reported via “crowd sourcing?” That sounds highly reliable, what could go wrong?

And now here’s an interesting twist in Big Tech’s media control: following the backlash over Twitter’s censoring of the New York Post article regarding Hunter Biden’s nefarious affairs in Ukraine and China the tech giant changed its “policy.” It’s even worse now:

We will label Tweets to provide context instead of blocking links from being shared on Twitter” This is actually more sinister than their previous approach—censorship. At least that was obvious.

No, they will no longer block. Now, like Yelp, they’ll instead get into the business of interpreting. They will become prosecutor, judge and jury and you will be the benefactor of their enlightened decisions.

This is, in essence, thought control.

You, the great unwashed, are not capable of analyzing for yourself. You need guidance—the same guidance they provided when publishing ad infinitum obvious disinformation about non-existent Trump-Russia collusion or propaganda from Javad Zarif, foreign minister of a country whose citizens are not allowed access to the internet but just happens to have 1.5 million Twitter followers.

It seems odd to us older Americans who’ve been around the block a few times that “investigative journalists” who were once dying to find the next set of Watergate burglars now have absolutely zero interest in Hillary’s secret server, the players behind the Steele dossier Russian hoax, Crossfire Hurricane or the Biden connection to the Ukrainian deal. You know, the “deal” that served to launch the impeachment of an American President. And apparently they likewise have not interest in pursuing whether Joe Biden’s family “business” dealings with China might have serious national security concerns should the man become president. Indeed, they’re not even interested in Joe’s medical records which might explain Joe’s apparent lake of stamina, muddled thinking and endless word salad ramblings while on the “trail.”

Right: because we’ve had enough

So, carry on. Nothing to see here.

Thumbs Up: An Early Call For Michigan

Colors are at peak right now in many areas of southern lower Michigan.

Many things have changed during the 4 years subsequent to the 2016 election; even Michigan’s peak color season. It was later than usual the last time Donald Trump was elected.

As yesterday was the last sunny day in the foreseeable future as far as the National Weather Service is concerned, Raj and I decided to take a short road trip through the center of Michigan’s thumb. We had taken a similar trip just before the 2016 election. At the time our spirits were buoyed because - despite spotting quite a few Hillary signs along the way – there were more Trump signs than we had seen in all of the metro-Detroit area to date. That, along with my unscientific poll of vehicles bumper stickers in the Ann Arbor area - there were more cars still displaying old Obama stickers than shiny new Hillarys - led me to predict a 2016 Trump victory.

I got the same sense yesterday. Through the heart of the decidedly blue collar Thumb area, including the outskirts of Genesee county home to notoriously Democrat Flint, Trump signs outnumbered Biden signs literally 5 to 1.

I started counting on the backroads in the outskirts of Genesee county and did so all the way into downtown Frankenmuth in Saginaw county. The tally: 51 Trump signs/flags of different styles, colors and sizes proudly displayed on homes and businesses. Biden signs: 10.

It was not just the abundance of Trump signs, it was the complete lack of Biden support in what should be a  Democrat stronghold that speaks to the, uh, enthusiasm gap.

That’s kind of surprising, as Joey is the standard bearer for the Left’s panoply of issues so important to middle class Americans trying to earn a living and raise their families: defunding the police (there were a lot of Blue Lives Matter flags on display along our route as well), open borders - in order to bring in a lot more cheap foreign labor, turning all sporting events into BLM rallies, and ensuring transgender rights so boys who “think” they’re girls (hee hee) can use the same bathroom as your daughter. Plus, he’s such an eloquent spokesman for all ofnthese causes:

“The idea that an 8-year-old child, or a 10-year-old child, decides, you know, ‘I decided I want to be transgender. That’s what I think I’d like to be, it would make my life a lot easier,’” he said. “There should be zero discrimination.”

I met Joe Biden last year. He was kind, thoughtful, and engaged. When I brought up trans rights, he got very serious. He leaned in and with a finger pointed at my heart, said: “I am in this fight with you. Trans rights are human rights.” I believe him.

I’m afraid a lot of other folks believe him as well. And that’s why I’m again calling Michigan for Trump.

Fair And Balanced 2.0.2.0

The Dueling Presidential Town Halls: ABC lines up its lapdog on the left to keep lobbing softballs at VP Depends.

“I’ll come out with a clear position before Election Day,”

“I have not been a fan of court packing … I’m not a fan — but it depends on how it turns out, how it’s handled.”

Biden didn't get one question on the Hunter exposé during ABC’s town hall, so thankfully nobody had to clean up that mess.

Meanwhile over on the right:

Savannah Guthrie stood in for Joe Biden at NBC’s 2nd Presidential debate. Joe still lost.

“Savannah Guthrie used her skills as a former litigator to interrogate President Trump during NBC's town hall.”

Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip….

NBC’s designated pit-bull repeatedly yipped at the President’s heels. She used her “skills” as a “former litigator” and “journalist” to inject both her own facts and opinions into the interrogation. In her dual role last evening, Ms. Guthrie also served as the designated onsite MSM fact checker, thus providing the ammunition as well as the weapon to accuse the President of being a liar at every opportunity.

So I think we all agree: the town halls were fair and balanced. Much like Twitter.

Only more so.

In China Terms of Service Violate You

Remember Yakov Smirnoff – the comedian who defected from Ukraine in the late 70s and made a career of mocking the difference between communist Russia and capitalist America? He practically invented the Russia Reversal joke:

Today it is China that has taken over as the world’s largest suppressor of freedom.

In America, we cherish liberty and privacy and expect U.S. companies to respect those values and incorporate them into the products and technologies they create. The CCP (Chinese Communist  Party), on the other hand, has a different set of values and views liberty and privacy as threats rather than rights. Absolute control of information and technology are foundational to how the CCP organizes its economy and controls its companies. As a result, it has built a legal system that forces technology companies to work with their government compelling them, without restriction, to share information with the Communist-controlled governmen. - Michael McCaul (R-Texas), The Hill

Or at least that was the case until yesterday when Facebook and Twitter chose to censor anyone attempting to spread the Hunter/Joe Biden story from a major American Newspaper around the web.

Both Twitter and Facebook took extraordinary censorship measures against The Post on Wednesday over its exposés about Hunter Biden’s emails — with Twitter baselessly charging that “hacked materials” were used…

The Post’s primary Twitter account was locked as of 2:20 p.m. Wednesday because its articles about the messages obtained from Biden’s laptop broke the social network’s rules against “distribution of hacked material,” according to an email The Post received from Twitter. – NYPOST

This is hardly the first time the tech giants have squelched content they don’t approve of (i.e. COVID data) but it is likely the most egregious. This incident  was enacted to do precisely what they claim they will not allow others to do: impact the result of the election. Of course they had help from the rest of the usual media subjects as well: zero time on any of the big MSM outlets yesterday spent on this YUGE story of corruption and lies involving the Democrat presidential candidate. Meanwhile, Twitter tweets.

Facebook and Twitter reducing distribution of New York Post Hunter Biden story - Social media site says it will rely on its fact-checking partners to determine the story's legitimacy

Yes, by all means! Bring in the fact checkers, that should take care of everything. 

Fact Checked: mostly false. Thanks to Twitter, Google and Facebook

If Yakov wants to restart his career perhaps he should reinvent himself as a Chinese ex-pat.

The jokes just write themselves.

Guilty. Trial to Follow.

Guilty: Amy Comey Barrett

Offense: the use of “outdated and offensive” terminology

Specifics: She failed to use the Left’s new politically correct term of “sexual orientation” using instead the term Joe Biden prefers (ha!): “sexual preference.”

Wow. When Wikipedia can’t even keep up with Progressive Word Choice Preferences, we’ve got a problem.

I’m quite certain Wikipedia has updated this “outdated and offensive” entry by now.

Here’s the Left’s real problem with “sexual preference,” it implies your sexuality is a choice (something the Left is all in favor of when talking women's “reproductive rights”) and if you have a “choice” that implies you cannot be a victim. And we all know how the Left loves, and needs, its victims. Ergo: “sexual orientation” – not a “choice.”

My question: where does this leave all of those “gender fluid” people who seem to make “sexual preference” orientation choices on a daily basis?

No wonder these peeps are confused, Newspeak keeps shifting on them.

So there you are: Amy Comey Barrett is guilty, further crimes to be revealed today.

All The Things…

Raj and I got married 48 years ago today; we were very young. 1972 was a tumultuous presidential election year as well but I didn’t understand politics well back then. As I said, I was young, foolish and yes, I voted for McGovern because those were the days and times we were living.

I’ve not voted for a Democrat since. Let’s hope the incumbent Republican President wins in an even larger landslide than Nixon did then. And God-willing the county’s youth will self-educate in the ensuing years and never waste their votes again.

As for me, today is sunny, warm and colorful;  I’m taking a mental health day. Hope you all have a good one.

The Things You Are To Me

If I held in my hand
Every grain of sand
Since time first began to be
Still, I could never count
Measure the amount
Of all the things you are to me

If I could paint the sky
Hang it out to dry
I would want the sky to be
Oh, such a grand design
An everlasting sign
Of all the things you are to me

You are the sun
That comes on summer winds
You are the falling year
That autumn brings
You are the wonder and the mystery
In everything I see
The things you are to me

Sometimes I wake at night
And suddenly take fright
You might be just fantasy
But then you reach for me
And once again I see
All the things you are to me

You are the sun
That comes on summer winds
You are the falling year
That autumn brings
You are the wonder and the mystery
In everything I see
The things you are to me

All the things you are… to me

Secret Garden

First They Came For the Red Skins

I’ve been outraged by the cancelling of Columbus Day since 2009. Initially as Dewey From Detroit in Goodbye Columbus:

What enters the classroom in one decade emerges as mainstream 15 years later…

When you combine the social engineering principals of political correctness and social justice you get…a rejection not only of the explorer that made the building of our great country possible, but the political philosophy that made it a great country.

In an era when few Americans bothered to ask “who watches the watchers” fewer still were concerned with “who teaches the teachers.” Unfortunately this is the answer to the later:

Bill Ayers - an America hating communist - and his cronies. We let them take over and run the education departments at the nation’s best universities, write all the country’s text books, rewrite the nation’s history: and then we wonder why the youngsters want to tear down statues of old white men and effectively cancel them.

As Daniel Greenberg noted years ago the end game is to cancel America itself:

The explorer who discovered America has become controversial because the very idea of America has become controversial…the discovery of America has come to be seen as somehow shameful and worst of all, politically incorrect…

It is about whether America really has any right to exist at all. Is there any argument against celebrating Columbus Day, that cannot similarly be applied to the Fourth of July?…

It is easier to hack away at a nation's history by beginning with the lower branches.
Columbus is an easier target than America itself, though La Raza considers both colonialist vermin. Americans are less likely to protest over the banishment of Columbus to the politically correct Gulag  than over the banishing America itself, which was named after another one of those colonialist explorers, Amerigo Vespucci. First they came for Columbus Day and then for the Fourth of July…A nation's mythology, its paragons and heroes, its founding legends and great deeds, are its soul. To replace them with another culture's perspective on its history is to kill that soul.

Initially city councils in such diverse places as Salt Lake City and Detroit voted to replace Columbus Day with the parallel “Indigenous Peoples” Day at the local level despite the fact that Columbus Day is a federal holiday. That way you can decide whether you want to be one of the enlightened, tolerant, sensitive, cognoscenti celebrating the First Peoples on your day off,

or one of the brain dead cretins celebrating a genocidal white supremacist.

But here’s the thing I’m still unclear on: Are Progressives in favor of open borders?

Or not in favor of open borders?

C'MON MAN!

I think the Democrats are beginning to get more than a little worried about their first draft pick.

KTNV reporter Ross DiMattei approached Biden and said that viewers were anxious to know if he supported expanding the Supreme Court to more than nine judges.

Biden: No.

DiMattei: 'This is the number one thing that I've been asked about from viewers in the last couple of days.'

Biden: 'Well, you've been asked by the viewers who are probably Republicans.'

DiMattei: 'Don't the voters deserve to know where you stand on -'

Biden 'No, they don't deserve - I'm not gonna play his game, he'd love me to talk about, and I've already said something on court packing, he'd love that to be the discussion instead of what he's doing now.'

That’s an odd exchange, really, since the obvious answer would be “no” and game over. Except he can’t do that. Not because it’s a lie - we all know Joey has NO problem with lying – but because he can’t afford to PO the rabid Left who know that packing the court is the only chance for getting their way. This puts Joey in an awkward position he’s not accustomed to.

And at this point in his stellar career he simply cannot understand:

Joey B: Why are you peasants asking me all these questions? Don’t you know who I am? Don’t you realize who you are? C'MON MAN!

OK, we won’t ask you any more tough questions Mr. Vice President, let’s talk about fracking instead:

Joey B:  C'MON MAN! “I am not, not, not banning fracking, period,” he assured union members in Erie, Pa., a crucial swing county in the battleground state.

C'MON MAN! You may be peasants, but you’re MY peasants! Stop giving me a hard time you dog faced pony soldiers.

I’m still not sure what he told them. I know a double negative is a positive but what’s a triple? A home run? A tie? Forfeit? Maybe Joey should just fake the cooties and stay home from now until election day.

Either that or get someone more reliable to run through batting practices with. Somebody more like Steve Sully for instance.

That’s more like it!