April 2019 – Page 2 – Really Right

Attacking Mike Pence

There is a Democrat Presidential wannabee that has spent the last several days attacking Vice President Mike Pence because Pence is an Evangelical Christian. Pence has done nothing to merit this attack but the mere fact that he exists is enough to set this guy off.

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a 2020 presidential hopeful, took direct shots at Vice President Mike Pence Sunday regarding his sexuality, telling the vice president his marriage to a man has moved him “closer to God.”

“That’s the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand: That if you have a problem with who I am, your quarrel is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator,” the Indiana Democrat said during a speech at the LGBTQ Victory Fund’s annual brunch.

Link: Democrat Buttigieg to Mike Pence: if you oppose my sexuality, ‘your quarrel, sir, is with my creator’

If you dig deeper into the story you will discover that Pence and this guy have had a cordial working relationship in the past when Pence was governor of Indiana. This guy is attacking Pence solely to elevate his profile within Democrat circles and fundraise in the process.

I’m going to defend Pence but not as politely as the VP would. You see, I’ve got a dog in this hunt and I’m tired of the bullying from the “rainbow people”; especially, when they try to justify themselves by using the Bible.

Lest you think I’m picking this fight, try this from the fake news outlet, MSNBC.

Buttigieg, most recently, targeted Pence at a fundraiser for the LGBTQ organization Victory Fund on Sunday.

“If me being gay was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, far above my pay grade,” Buttigieg said. “And that’s the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand. That if you got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me — your quarrel, sir, is with my creator.”

Buttigieg’s comments came hours after he made critical comments about evangelical voters’ support of President Donald Trump during an appearance on “Meet The Press.”

“It’s something that really frustrates me because the hypocrisy is unbelievable,” Buttigieg said. “Here you have somebody who not only acts in a way that is not consistent with anything that I hear in scripture in church.“

Link: Feud between Pete Buttigieg and Mike Pence escalates

Mayor Pete is an openly homosexual guy that claims to be a Christian in good standing because he is a member of the Episcopal Church, an ecclesiastical body that endorses his sexual preference.

I don’t know about you, but I am reluctant to get any biblical advice on sexuality from any guy whose last name begins with Butt… however, let’s look at the money quotes in the above citations.

Claim #1 Homosexuality is God’s Will

Mayor Pete says in essence, “God made me this way so your problem is with Him.” I think this is a fair summary of his position.

There are two responses that I can make with the statement, I can agree with the mayor or disagree with him but either way he is wrong.

Argument 1: God Made Me This Way

God makes some people to be vessels of wrath. They are made for destruction.

Paul’s letter to the Romans Chapter 9:18-24

Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonor?
What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Paul’s letter to Timothy Chapter 2: 19-26

Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonor.
If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.
Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.
And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

So if Mayor Pete believes that God made him that way, as a vessel of destruction, he is biblically correct.

Argument 2: Mayor Pete Chose This Way

Paul’s letter to the Romans Chapter 1:18-32

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

So whether Mayor Pete was made that way by God or chose the lifestyle himself, he is on the receiving end of God’s wrath, a vessel fit for destruction.

Claim #2 My Church Affirms Homosexuality

Pete claims, Mike Pence “acts in a way that is not consistent with anything that I hear in scripture in church.” As stated before, his honor is a practicing Episcopal.

Christianity is defined in terms of the historic Creeds; these are Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian.

Think of Jesus as the Shepherd and Christians as his flock. The Creeds are the fence line surrounding the pasture. Any denial of the Creeds makes that person not a Christian and thus outside the faith.

Sadly, the Episcopal and Methodist churches in the United States have left “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (Jude 1:3) Their clergy no long must to affirm that God is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; the bodily resurrection; the incarnation; six day creation; biblical marriage; sin; Jesus as the only way to God; etc.

So what mayor Pete might hear in church could conflict with what Mike Pence says, does, or believes. Pete is not a member of the Christian Church but a heretical, non-Christian sect. Mike Pence is not the standard, God’s Word is.

I am not saying that a homosexual cannot be saved. The Apostle Paul writes,

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

A homosexual will cease to be one once they come to Christ. They will be a “new creature: old things are passed away.” (2 Cor 5:17).

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Romans 6:1-2

Mayor Pete is not really a believer. If he were then he would stop celebrating his sin and repent. Instead he claims God is honored by his sinning that grace may abound. Thus he turns Scripture on its head.

Mayor Pete may rage all he wants but his moral and ethical problem is with his sin. Pete needs to repent or perish. Unless God intervenes, he is destined to be a vessel of dishonor, fit only for destruction.

It’s All the King’s Land

We have many fictions in our society that are not true but regarded as such. The parable of the Emperor’s New Clothes is sadly more the case than not. One such fiction in our society is private property and/or home ownership.

Folks you don’t really own your home or the land that it sits on; you have it by the king’s pleasure. Don’t believe me then try not paying your property taxes and see what happens. If you really own it then the government couldn’t take it away. Furthermore, if you really owned your land then you wouldn’t need a hunting or fishing license to take game off your own land but the king claims to own that too.

While today’s blog is not about the California Legislature’s plans to dismantle Prop 13 which will happen under Garvin Newsom or plans for statewide rent control, it applies to that too. No, today I am going to briefly blog about a line in an article at the heart of property ownership dispute in San Francisco. Enter the Flintstone House.

A rich lady in San Francisco bought a house in 2017 for 2.8 million and is being told she must undo the decorations on the property. Owner, Florence Fang, doesn’t live in the home but uses it for entertainment and charitable events. She decorated it with the theme of the 1960’s cartoon, The Flintstones.

If you recall, the Flintstones theme song is “Have a gay old time” but invoking that motto hasn’t been enough to avoid conflict in this suburb of Bagdad by the Bay.

City officials said that Fang was given three stop work notices, a code violation citation, and then a hearing in front of an administrative panel made up of neighbors before a lawsuit was ultimately filed in March over unpermitted garden installations.
“If the lawsuit is successful, the judge will order her to remove the statues and the mushrooms and the Yabba Dabba Do sign,” Hudak told KTVU. “There are some other safety code violations that she needs to correct and the judge would order that as well.”
But an attorney for the 84-year-old told the Associated Press that snobby officials are after Fang’s constitutional right to enjoy her yard.
“Mrs. Fang has made people smile, she’s giving them joy. What’s not to love about Dino, who acts like a dog?” Angela Alioto, a former San Francisco supervisor, told the AP. “What is wrong with these people?”
While inviting reporters on a tour of the home this week, Alioto told the San Mateo Daily Journal the home is Fang’s “happy place.”

Link: San Francisco suburb says ‘Yabba Dabba Don’t’ to Flintstones house, owner fighting back

Having the Alioto family in your corner is a plus in San Francisco but that is not what caught my eye in the article. If you read down to the bottom, you will see this gem from one Tim Iglesias, a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law.

“If they let her get away, then all the other wealthy people in Hillsborough can say, ‘Hey, I can do whatever I want with my property.”

Hey Tim, if she owns it and it’s not structurally unsound or a fire hazard then leave her alone. You have enough other crap to take care of in your foul city. Perish the thought that your city might have something for tourists to enjoy besides of needles, crap, and wards of the welfare state on your sidewalks.

Just look at the photo, the grounds are immaculate and maintained better than any part of the city that the taxpayers own. Besides, it’s her property. If she really owns it, the city has no grounds (no pun intended) to tell her what to do.

The Darkside of Digital Content Strikes Again

In our age of technology, many are used to streaming videos, music, and other content. Amazon has been selling eBooks for its Kindle devices for many years. Folks like the convenience of content being delivered to their electronic devices; however, there are some drawbacks. I have mentioned some of these before but two more examples have surfaced lately that are worth noting.

If you have ever bought a Blu-ray or DVD movie, you often will see a sticker on the box that says free digital copy included. OK, so what happens when the digital copy company goes away?

The go to service for many years has been UltraViolet but UltraViolet is going away in July. So you can either transfer your digital content to one of three other providers or let your library expire. Since the physical disks have DRAM encryption on them, you can’t just rip your own copy to your computer.

If this is true of physical media with a digital counterpart, what about people that purchased a digital only copy of something? What happens when your eBook company draws its last breath or decides to get out of the business?

Enter exhibit number two, Microsoft.

It will come as little surprise to our readers that Microsoft is exiting another consumer market.
Today Microsoft posted a rather brutal announcement regarding the US-only ebook Store which they launched in 2017, saying “The books category is closing.”
Microsoft is not giving users a lot of time to ponder – the decision is effective today, with Microsoft writing “Starting April 2, 2019, the books category in Microsoft Store will be closing.”
More worrying is the second bit, however.
“Unfortunately, this means that starting July 2019 your ebooks will no longer be available to read, but you’ll get a full refund for all book purchases.”
Presumably, due to some DRM scheme, Microsoft will be remotely deactivating books readers already purchased and downloaded.
Microsoft says they will be giving full refunds, and if you used Microsoft’s much-touted inking feature to make notes, Microsoft will still be burning your book, but will give you a $25 store credit.

Surprise! Microsoft burning all your Store books on July 2nd

So just like that, the “velvet sweatshop” as its employees call Microsoft, just clicks a button and kills all you digital content. What if Apple or Amazon decides to kill your music library or eBooks?

If you dig into the terms of use and legal nonsense for such things, you paid money for the content but surprise, you don’t really own your copy! Thus they can keep your money and kill your content later. Please note that this is not just a matter of killing future downloads but they can click a mouse and kill the existing content of all your devices.

The truth is that Amazon has done this in the past with certain eBook titles. Just because something is on your phone, PC, or Kindle does not mean that it stays there. Oh this also means that existing eBook content can be edited on the fly to add, alter, or remove content. Talk about ‘Big Brother.”

So next time you think I’m old fashioned because I actually prefer physical media, at least I own what I paid for.

Love is this

I know many are talking about the movie Unplanned and rightly so but being pro-life is more than being opposed to abortion.

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
James 1:27

I saw this story about not just visiting orphans but loving them. Surprisingly, it is from the Washington Post. In journalism class, this was called a human interest story.

Two years ago, Liz Smith, director of nursing at Franciscan Children’s Hospital in Brighton, Mass., was headed toward the elevator at work when she saw her: a tiny girl with bright blue eyes and a single soft brown curl swept across her forehead.
“Who’s this beautiful angel?” Smith asked the nurse who was wheeling the infant down the hall. “Her name is Gisele,” the nurse told her. The infant, a ward of the state, had been at the hospital for five months, but Smith had never seen her before.
Smith learned that Gisele, then 8 months old, had been born premature at another hospital in July 2016, weighing just under 2 pounds. She had neonatal abstinence syndrome — a result of her birth mother using heroin, cocaine and methadone during pregnancy.
The state of Massachusetts took custody of Gisele when she was 3 months old and transferred her to Franciscan Children’s because her lungs needed specialized care, and she had a feeding tube. The baby did not have a single visitor in her five months at the hospital.

Link: An infant did not have any hospital visitors for five months. So this nurse adopted her.

Tesla Cars Hacked Again

For the second time in less than a month, media reports have surfaced of Tesla cars have been hacked. This time the autopilot—which isn’t really an autopilot—got hacked.

One series of hacks was with stickers. Yes, stickers like your children like to use instead of crayons in those kid’s meal booklets. Here’s the story:

Autopilot Hack #1

Elite hackers from China have found a way to trick a Tesla Model S into going into the wrong lane by strategically placing some simple stickers on the road.
Keen Labs, widely regarded as one of the most technically ingenious cybersecurity research groups in the world, developed two kinds of attack to mess with the Tesla autopilot’s lane-recognition tech.
First, the researchers sought to make alterations to lane markings, first by adding a large number of patches to the line to make it appear blurred. It worked, but as the patches looked much too conspicuous, the Keen hackers decided that it’d be too difficult to carry out in the real world.

Autopilot Hack #2

So the researchers tried to create a “fake lane.” They discovered that Tesla’s autopilot would detect a lane where there were just three inconspicuous tiny squares strategically placed on the road. When they left small stickers at an intersection, the hackers believed they would trick the Tesla into thinking the patches marked out the continuation of the right lane. On a test track, their theory was proved correct, as the autopilot took the car into the real left lane.

Tesla Hacked, Vehicle Operated By Remote Control

In other attacks, the Keen crew claimed to have the ability to remotely control the steering wheel and start up the windscreen wipers. In the former, via a complex series of steps that broke through some of the security barriers put up around the onboard network, Keen discovered a way to control the steering wheel with a gamepad, though they were in the vehicle at the time. While that initially sounds serious, the attack didn’t work when a car had been taken manually from reverse to drive mode at any speed above 8 km per hour. However, when in cruise control, the attack worked “without limitations.”

Link: Hackers Use Little Stickers To Trick Tesla Autopilot Into The Wrong Lane

Tesla Display Hacked

Two weeks ago, Tesla was hacked in a much different way.

Pwn2Own is a competition aiming to highlight the vulnerabilities of modern day systems and products, and since the Model 3 is one of the most digitally advanced cars in the world, it was a natural target for the organizers of the event and the hackers attending it.

Most of the goals set by the organizers were not met by the competing teams, but one of them reached their goal: Fluoroacetate, a duo comprising hackers Richard Zhu and Amat Cama.
To get the prize, the two had to launch the attack from inside the car and “achieve code execution by browsing to malicious content.”
Zhu and Kama were able to hack into the car’s Internet browser and have it display a message of their choice on the car’s screen: pwned by Fluoroacetate.
For their achievement, Richard Zhu and Amat Cama were awarded a $35,000 prize, but most importantly got to drive away in the Model 3, complete with the hacked browser.

Link: Duo Hacks Tesla Model 3, Walk Away with the Car and $35,000

Folks what you need to understand about hacking the display of the Tesla is this, there are no instrument panels or gauges in this particular car. The display screen (liquid crystal touch screen) is the only information that the driver has on the car. This is also where everything is controlled by the driver. If the screen can be hacked, it can be used to trick the driver by providing false info to the driver. Could this be used for malicious purposes? It may only be proof of concept for now but…

The Ballad of a Jerk

The Chief takes another scalp in this real-life story of how a jerk reacted to not getting his fries piping hot at a local Red Robin Gourmet Burgers in Elk Grove.

The jerk was unhappy about not getting his fries piping hot as described above, so how does he react? Well like any other irrational prick would when complaining on the Internet; he fills out the online survey attached to his receipt and proceeds to light both the store and his waiter on fire. I guess it makes him feel better. After doing so he said he didn’t want a coupon…a first for him, didn’t want free food, also a first, and said he will never go back because the experience was so bad. Keep in mind he paid $10 for a burger, fries and coke, and left no tip.

For those unfamiliar with Red Robin, they are a sit-down place not a fast casual order at the counter place. Leaving no tip is the ultimate jerk move, especially when you ordered the loss leader and complained about your order not being adequate.

The only comments I’ll make on Red Robin is they never have a consistent experience. I have always loved their burger, but the fries run the gamut of being piping hot; lukewarm, and soggy; and being almost straight out of the freezer cold. However, since they are “bottomless” I just order another basket and move on.

Bottomless fries–your temperature may vary (a lot)

I have always found the food to be decent. If a complaint is warranted, it would be they don’t have a niche market and are trying too hard to be all things to all people. All you can eat fries draws a certain crowd, high priced entrees draw a different crowd, just like a dollar menu draws its own crowd. Pick a lane, decide what customer you want to attract and go from there. There is a reason if I go to a fast food place that I go inside to order and eat. I’ve gotten short changed at the drive thru too many times! I never once felt like lighting the store up.

This however wasn’t even the best part of the story. Literally a week later, he spoke about wanting to go back to the same Red Robin for the same deal! Hubris? Holy smokes man, the embers aren’t even out yet, and here you are wanting to go back? For what? A chance to light them up again? Little does the jerk know, he paid with a credit card so the transaction has time and date stamped, so the store knew what he ordered and who his waiter was. Suffice to say the waiter was likely “axed” the question a few days later and terminated for having a horrible complaint filed. Like I said now you’re going to return to the scene of your 1-star service experience?

At least Steve Martin is funny, but not this jerk

The jerk doesn’t get it, and likely never ever will. The jerk consumes more television in a week than William and I combined in a month. He knows very little about current events or history, but knows everything going on, on every reality TV show or soap opera…. all while claiming that he watches no TV mind you. He embodies the millennial generation in a nut shell. He lit both the business and his server on fire, and then believed he could just walk on in and all will be forgotten? Sorry dude, your credibility goes out the door with me. A complaint would be justified if a trip to Morton’s or Ruth’s Chris was subpar, but a local chain restaurant? I also believe the jerk lacks cognitive ability to reason. A rational human looks at the experience and says, well I have never been here before, didn’t know what to expect, came in the door for the cheap meal, and left saying I won’t be back…no negative review needed or necessary. Alternatively, a rational person who is a regular might say he is disappointed but is willing to reserve judgment until a future trip can confirm said slippage of service and product. However, this would require far too much from your reality TV aficionado.

It takes a very special person to light-up a waiter who buy the way, is likely doing this while attending school trying to eke out a little spending money on the side. Your complaint likely got him terminated, and likely got the manager a call from corporate about poor customer service.

PS Truth is I visit Red Robin maybe 4 times annually, and I know what I am getting as a result, I ignore the noise and tune out poor experiences.