Category: snivelry

19 February 2019 — The Old Red Con, the Green New Fail, and the Green Leap Forward are all too easy. They’re all good and they’re all apt, but Green Leap is best as it evokes Chairman Mao’s heroic efforts to centralize Chinese agriculture (modeled no doubt on Tovarishch Stalin’s Ukrainian Triumph) resulting in the deaths of tens of millions. In so doing, the Helmsman edged out Uncle Joe as America’s second favorite mass-murderer (“Honest” Abe stands second to none, even as his body count pales in comparison to such giants.)

24 February 2019 — Previous Kommissar Kasich said that he’d vetoed Ohio’s recent “heartbeat bill” because it “contradicts the Settled Law” of Roe v Wade. Maybe I missed it; did Komrade Kasich ever weigh in on the “settled law” of Dred Scott?

9 March 2019 –– Yeah, I Support the Troops. I’d rather not, but the alternative is prison. There’s a big chunk of support taken out of my every paycheck, and it is long past tiresome. I find it particularly annoying to still be supporting such filth as Robert Bales and Nidal Hassan. If it were all I ever had to pay again I’d cheerfully kick in for two last bullets. Although you can recycle rope, so I shouldn’t be so hasty.

11 March 2019 — Representative Tulsi Gabbard declines to parrot the party line that “Bashar al-Assad is a War Criminal.”: If MI-5 and ha Mossad could only persuade their underlings at Langley to convince El Donaldo that Assad is gassing villagers (“again”), just when it is least tactically helpful (again), and most strategically damaging (again), maybe he’ll murder more Syrian janitors (again).
That’d show her!

16 March 2019 — Marching to a familiar drummer, correspondent DL (“Concealed carry… is frightening”) is taken in by the logical fallacy of the seen versus the unseen. It is certainly apt to consider what eventual consequences may follow Governor Blevins’ signing Kentucky’s new concealed carry measure. If some future Kentuckian misjudges or otherwise misbehaves and misuses a firearm it will be known, and DL’s misgivings will be vindicated. On the other hand, when a lone jogger elects to flash iron at would-be predators, we’re unlikely to hear about it. In many jurisdictions what she has done is illegal, so she’s probably not spreading the news. And the punks who decided that rape was not such a good idea after all? Cowards and punks and posers are uniformly disinclined to signal their true colors, so the good news goes unreported.

27 September 2019 — It is amusing to witness Jill Biden‘s channeling Monica Lewinsky as she reminds us that it is sometimes necessary to swallow in order to support our Democrat standard bearers.

3 September 2019 — “Agitators Of Conscience” Ocasio-Cortez and Presley, antiFA’s own Congress-minions, betray their hands when they encourage black clad thugs to assault Proud Bostonians who would otherwise peacefully celebrate their own particular peculiarities. Their eager and adulatory support for the bail fund has helped to mitigate the discomfort of about a dozen or so masked violent apparatchiks, and has helped to spread the word more widely that the leftist’s answer to cogent discourse is a coward’s sucker-punch.
( * Ever the peacemaker, I select “minion” over “man” or “woman”
in deference to the left’s campaign AGAINST gender clarity. )

16 December 2017

The underlying principle behind “Net Neutrality” would also bar Disneyland or Kings Island from selling “fast passes.” It’s just not fuh-fuh-fair that some people can afford, and are willing to pay for, cooler stuff than I can. This analogy is super apt. You don’t “need” to watch NetFlix or display your virtues on FaceBook any more than you “need” to ride The Beast or Space Mountain. History is replete with examples of the tragedy of the commons, usually leading to depletion of resources, deforestation, and starvation. Today’s lefties would inflict similar damages to net freedom.

We witness it almost everyday on the socialist road system. When there is no apparent cost to enter and max out your consumption, people will enter when they wish and max out their consumption — getting the goods before their greedy neighbors catch on. With toll roads and net freedom, people will assess the costs of their consumption without the assurance that casual users are subsidizing their cherished hobbies, and actually think about the cost of their goods and maybe consider alternatives to peak use periods.

update 171222:  correspondent EA ignores my point and enquires after my empathy. Then she wishes for me to experience the soul crushing anguish, apparently, of waiting on line and seeing those who can afford the fast pass blow by me and my family. Unfortunately for her presumed designs on my misery, I was actually there at the time and it didn’t bother me in the least. I knew the deal going in, and I hope I took it like a grown up. I don’t recall my daughter’s reaction at the time; it seems to me she was just mainly delighted to be there. EA goes on to opine that those who do hold such perks are “spoiled brats” endowed by their “parents’ inheritance” or their ability to “thrive off… minimum-wager[s.]”

Based on her broad sneers at “the rich,” correspondent TE expresses grave concerns about the ideological environment in which EA raises her children and wonders what this might portend for their future lives. This apparently makes him a “Neo-Nazi”, or likened thereto (EA), or at least “discourteous” per correspondent ML.

Gentle Gene scratches his head and ponders that one.

Correspondent EA goes on to warn us that without the protections of “Net Neutrality”, we face as much net access as North Koreans.
Correspondent GP warns that without government oversight, service providers will price us all out of the market. Correspondent RW points out that competition will work against such fantastic monopoly scenarios. GP steps up her objections to net freedom by citing examples of “corporate” insiders paying off legislators and regulators. I thank both EA and GP for their concessions in re state control and regulatory capture.
Correspondent BA wonders whether government should treat the net as a “public utility” and correspondent ML points out that the net was created by the government, and is therefore still the property of government and therefore in its proper sphere of control.

I’m willing to concede that FedGov got there first. But it is in the nature of techno-geeks that they’re going to play with their toys. Propelled by the twin advantages of plunder funding and suffocating regulations for the rest of us it is not a surprise that Leviathan wins again. So what? Since darpa-net, thousands of additional servers and millions of man-hours have been devoted to it and it has grown well beyond the nursery. More private hours and private resources have been devoted to develop what we know as the net today and what we may not yet imagine for the future than was initiated in Al Gore’s garage.

I’m even willing to concede that early growth took place over cable systems that were controlled by government enfranchised monopolies. Again, so what? Despite its corrupt origins it is still private property. Throughout history rights in real property have been created by homesteading and development and negotiation. To suggest that all the results belong to those who only planted the seed is to ignore the years of skull-sweat, tedium, and toil that went into our present good fortune. (That was also the excuse of the Ante Bellum slave-master and the East German border-guard.)

“Net Neutrality” was a cruel hoax that helped to solidify the positions of entrenched insiders (as all regulations do). It was a response to a problem that didn’t exist, and the horror stories that attended its demise will soon fade from memory.

update 171224:  I thought that was a fitting ending, above, but correspondent ML invites me to a more thorough discussion of the issues in a less vituperative environment, and challenges me to address “the disconnect”, though he declines to clarify what that might be.

I respond — Not to worry, after four decades and more of advocating peace, freedom, and personal sovereignty, I am well accustomed to being belittled, berated, and reviled. So far, my delicate little feelings seem to remain uninjured.
This latest crop of invective (spoiled, stupid, disingenuous, lacking empathy, magic, and Neo-Nazi) seems fairly tame. Well, okeh, I guess throwing “Neo-Nazi” was a little nasty, and so far has been neither recanted nor renounced. I’ll wait.
Meanwhile, Happy Xmas and Shalom!

update 171226:  For the record and to his credit, correspondent ML apologizes for “magic”, stands on “disingenuous” and attempts to mitigate EA’s “Neo-Nazi” remark with a weak “he started it” defense. Also, for the record, I still love ML and EA, but so far only respect, admire, and enjoy TE (as we’re mostly strangers). Upon reflection, I think maybe TE believes now that he should have known better. Warning parents about the physical, moral, or ideological dangers they expose their children to rarely works out well. I believe his intentions were benign, and I expect that if he didn’t recognize the petit gaff himself, then Mrs Colonel Potter has clued him in.

update 211129: Since the above was composed, I have come to learn that Mrs Colonel Potter may have already withdrawn from schooling correspondent TE. I wish them both well as they pursue their now separate lives.

26 January 2019

Prosecutor Preens While Jackals Slaver Over Fresh Carrion

That may be a little busy.

I appreciate the pains that headline writers take to come up with expressions that snare readers’ attention, draw them into the story, even tell part of the story, but still leave them eager for more.

Also, I don’t know for a fact that Mr Mueller is literally preening. I have no problem with the jackal comparison, of course, in light of the media’s recent disgraceful treatment of the young gentlemen from Covington, but I should probably not refer to Mr Stone as “carrion.”
I also like —

Privileged Elite Mob Assaults Lone Tribal Elder

That one is a lot more defensible. After all, the FBI themselves claim to be among the best of the best. You know, “Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity” and all that jazz (though some of their detractors have referred to them as a [Sexually active] Bunch of Idiots), so you bet! Plenty elite! And privileged? Who’s more privileged than the FBI? Not only do they get to wave around cool guns that you can’t, but they also get to kill people. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. Just because Lon Horiuchi can murder Sammy and Vickie Weaver doesn’t mean that you can get away with that kind of nonsense. Now THAT’s privilege! Also, they’ll lie to you just for the fun of it with complete impunity, but if you misremember the ingredients in your sandwich last Thursday you can look forward to prison romance. Maybe “Mob” is a little unfair. These guys are pros, so they’re generally more organized than the rest of us. Still, when you’re outnumbered by about twenty-seven to one, it does feel a bit like being mobbed.

Hmmm… Even if Mr Mueller is not actually preening, it was still a pretty hefty show of force, and it left the breast-beaters and pearl-clutchers in the steno-media singing his praises.
Ah! Of course! I’ve got it! (Inspired by Charles Atlas):

Thug Flexes, Chicks Swoon

22 January 2019

We could call it “The One Jerk Rule.”
Every time you see a cop pull someone over you can be confident that there is at least one jerk involved.

Ideally, the jerk in question would be some jackass who had been driving like a maniac and threatening the rest of us with expensive inconvenience and mortal injury. Or perhaps the jerk is nowhere near the scene. Suppose my evil twin were to hold up the local Quikk Stopp. When Officer Friendly pulls me over he doesn’t know I’m not the jerk he seeks. He sees that my vehicle or I match the suspect description he was provided. If I’m patient and wise it will eventually be sorted out. Such events are rare, but do warrant mention. But those aren’t the jerks I wish to discuss.

Anyone who joins a cadre whose policy mandates that members fill quotas of abuse, whether it be Komrade Kruschev rounding up Ukrainians for mass-murder, or Officer Speedbump lying in wait for the tenth pickup going at least five miles per hour past the limit, has also chosen to be a jerk.

I’d say that more often than not I “run” the stop sign nearest my home on my way to work. “Run” is an exaggeration. I slow down to assess the situation and then conduct myself with both discretion to Deputy Fife’s possible presence down the next block, and deference to my own skin.

If I weren’t so lazy and cowardly (your basic Pussican American), I’d be tempted to ignore the next parked cruiser I saw when I safely negotiated entry into an intersection. As tickets for such an infraction could range from forty to two hundred bucks (your mileage may vary) I would thereupon demand a jury trial (and stand pro se), arguing that such dicta are a violation of the Fifth Amendment’s prohibition against uncompensated takings. Ignoring a stop sign is in and of itself neither trespass nor threat. FAILURE to YIELD can be reckless endangerment, and when rights of way are posted or otherwise understood it is also breach of contract.

But when an intersection is well lit and it is clearly safe to enter I do no harm to society by conserving my perfectly good momentum. I paid for that momentum by burning my own gasoline, which I purchased ultimately with my labor and irreplaceable time. By legislative or administrative fiat am I to be deprived of my just property? Or am I to be fined, and therefore deprived of my just property? (Am I to be forced to burn more gasoline and enlarge my carbon footprint and thus accelerate global coo– warmi– climate change?) There is no discernible benefit to “society” from this policy, just injury to the innocent and riches for the ruling class.

I will concede that stop signs at security checkpoints, factory or refinery gates, military installations, hygiene stations etc may well be appropriate. On public streets they are offensive. It is just as easy to mark thoroughfares with “Yield” signs. Failure to yield is already stupid and dangerous.
Let’s stop harassing the harmless and return to sensible security.

19 January 2019

Congratulations to the nationally renowned and Cincinnati’s locally celebrated drug dealer Molly Wellmann, whose outstanding record of serving toxins to junkies (et al) has earned her the recognition of her peers.

One might prudently hope that former Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor doesn’t get word of this elevated acclaim. In light of her confession (also in Friday’s Enquirer) that “without real border security [I am] at risk of becoming… drug-addled,” and in light of her long-standing record of interfering in the lives and businesses of strangers, there is a very real danger that Ms Wellmann’s newly found fame my redound to her disadvantage. (Two points about paraphrasing — Ms Taylor said “we.” This was rude. She seems to arrogate to herself the authority to speak on my behalf, as if I shared her inability to make grown-up decisions in the face of pharmaceutical temptation. Because she said “we”, which is a pronoun that ALWAYS includes the speaker, “I” is an apt substitution.)

While we might take comfort from the fact that Ms Taylor is safely out of office, we should heed newly installed Enforcer Mike DeWhinge when he claims that “it is appropriate to hold accountable those who dispense… drugs that can kill.” Should Ms Wellmann and I (and every other clerk at every other Quikk Stopp along the Interstate) expect to be jacked up by Maleficent Mike’s legions of eager DAs for our contributions to emphysema, bronchitis, cirrhosis, and despair?