Societal Decay – Page 5

February Thoughts on forming the Ministry of Truth

Folks, if you want to see what’s likely on tap for your digital future, then one country to watch is Australia. Australia is doing many things differently than we are, but many of the tech companies in the United States are wanting to see their policies adopted here.

First, in Australia, Microsoft and Google are in a fight about a proposed policy that directly affects online news articles.

February 11, 2021

Australia is currently in the process of passing regulation which would force Google and Facebook to pay publishers for linking to their news articles, a controversial proposal which appears to go against the whole ethos of the web, which is in the end all about linking to pages for free. Importantly Australia would not allow Google to avoid paying the newspapers by simple delisting them from their index.
Microsoft says the controversial Australian link tax should come to USA, explains why

In the blog post, Smith explains the 4th Estate is a very important element in democracy, and that the weakness of news organizations and the strength of social media is what resulted in Donald Trump being able to convince tens of millions of Americans that he won the election he actually lost.
“It was far from unusual for a losing candidate to request a recount or take a dispute to court – both parts of the democratic process,” Smith noted, “But, this year, even after losing more than 50 lawsuits in a row, President Trump waged a sustained campaign that successfully persuaded tens of millions of his supporters that the election was rigged. Without this sustained disinformation barrage, it’s hard to imagine that January 6 would have become such a tragic day.”

Smith notes that while Google and Facebook has generated billions in revenue from aggregating news, since 2000, newsroom revenue in the United States has fallen by 70% and employment has been cut in half. More than 2,000 newspapers have closed entirely. In many places, local news has been decimated. The majority now got their news (and disinformation) from social media, often only reading the headlines and not even clicking through to the news website.
Microsoft notes that news publications have been powerless to fight back, due to the monopoly position of Google and Facebook, but that Microsoft has always supported paying publishers for news and that they are well prepared to do this on a large scale if they gain market share.

February 15, 2021

Microsoft has turned into one of the most ardent advocates for the proposed Australian media code, which would see Google and Facebook pay news publications a share of their profits.
The proposal has been called a link tax which would break the internet, but Microsoft insists funding newspapers is important for the health of democracy and fighting fake news.
Microsoft offers myth-busting FAQ on anti-Google Australian news tax

Conceptually it is easier to think of the proposal as a tax on Google and Facebook, similar to the TV License in UK, where TV owners have to pay a £157.50 tax per year to support public access TV and news. In this case, the tax is being directed to trillion-dollar companies rather than the citizens of the country, and the benefit would be spread wider than simply the state publisher.
The FAQ does not address concerns that the proposal would fund newspapers which are equally involved in spreading fake news as Moldovian content farms and that it would place the power to decide which news outlet succeeds or fails in the hand of the government rather than the market.

February 17, 2021

In response to Australia’s proposed new Media Bargaining law, Facebook today announced that it will block publishers and users in Australia from sharing or viewing news content. This is applicable for both Australian and international news content. The proposed law will force platform providers like Google and Facebook to pay news publishers for using their content. To continue operating Google search in Australia, Google today signed an agreement with News Corporation for sharing the revenue obtained through news content. However, Facebook refused to sign any such deal citing the below reasons.
Facebook will restrict publishers and people in Australia from sharing or viewing news content

FAANG is Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google

Second, Australia is putting together a coalition of corporations to fight fake news.

February 22, 2021

Microsoft today announced that it is partnering with Adobe, Arm, BBC, Intel and Truepic to form the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). C2PA is a Joint Development Foundation project formed to address the prevalence of disinformation, misinformation and online content fraud through developing technical standards for certifying the source and history or provenance of media content.
Microsoft partners with Adobe, BBC and others to battle against disinformation

“There’s a critical need to address widespread deception in online content — now supercharged by advances in AI and graphics and diffused rapidly via the internet. Our imperative as researchers and technologists is to create and refine technical and sociotechnical approaches to this grand challenge of our time. We’re excited about methods for certifying the origin and provenance of online content. It’s an honor to work alongside Adobe, BBC and other C2PA members to take this critical work to the next step,” said Eric Horvitz, Chief Scientific Officer and Project Origin executive sponsor, Microsoft.

The major technology companies and social networks in Austalia have signed up for the Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation, a voluntary code of practice by the Digital Industry Group Inc (DiGi), a non-profit industry association advocating for the digital industry in Australia.
Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Twitter sign up for Australian misinformation code

The code has 7 key principles:

Protection of freedom of expression:
Protection of user privacy:
Policies and processes concerning advertising placements:
Empowering users:
Integrity and security of services and products:
Supporting independent researchers:
Without prejudice commitments:

The policy was developed at the request of the Australian government and will be reviewed in 12 months. Companies involved are required to have a working complaints procedure in place within 6 months. The code excludes private messaging services, email services, and enterprise services. Notably, it also excludes content authorised by an Australian state or federal government; political advertising or content authorised by a political party registered under Australian law.

Folks, please read the links of these stories if you want more information.

What you are beginning to see is that Big Tech is setting themselves up as the arbitrators of all truth. While some of the things mentioned above, sound good and perhaps even noble, the bottom line is that tech companies are deciding what information that you can or cannot access. Microsoft has kept a lower profile than other companies, but they are right there with the FAANG companies and Twitter.

Fake News

Before I go further, it will be helpful to note that the concept of fake news is not monolithic. There are several different types of fake news. Here are a few examples:

Microsoft often talks about the potential for fake news using digital manipulation. Think the movie Looker (1981) or Carrie Fisher being digitally added to Star Wars after her death. What if a video of a politician was faked for the purposes of fomenting rebellion or aiding the point of view of a media outlet hating said politician? Wouldn’t that be bad? In theory yes, unless its Donald Trump.

DEBUNKED: Remember the "very fine people" lie the Biden campaign and mainstream media fed everyone? Here's the whole story: pic.twitter.com/DkvLekG4Ei
— MRCTV (@mrctv) February 12, 2021

Click on link for video

But Microsoft is envisioning a video technology or capability that is even more manipulated than that of Trump or Carrie Fisher. What if we entered an era when no one would trust what they see? We are a very visual society, if people don’t see something, it is not real to them but what if someone took advantage of that?

Another type of fake news is the good ‘ole Dan Rather using Microsoft Word kind. For those too young to remember, Dan Rather faked a memo about then President George W. Bush in an effort to influence the 2004 Presidential election.

“Rathergate” is the derisive term applied to a set of four documents allegedly written by the former commanding officer of President George W. Bush in the early 1970s, and broadcast on the CBS program 60 Minutes Wednesday, September 8, 2004. The resultant exposure of these documents as forgeries, coupled with a lack of proper news investigating techniques, led to the ouster of four senior producers at CBS several months later, as well as the departure of long-time anchorman Dan Rather, for whom the scandal was named. Because of this, the event was also infamous for coining the phrase “fake but accurate”, referring to Fake news.
Rathergate

Let’s look at the previous election

To the is day, not a single liberal will admit to any voter fraud in any state during the 2020 presidential election. This is an unreasonable and unrealistic claim. There is always voter fraud. The question is whether it is widespread, systemic, organized, and enough to sway the outcome.

When liberals claim there is no voter fraud, it just doesn’t compute. Look at it this way, “The results after Michigan’s 83 counties finished canvassing showed Mr. Biden beating Mr. Trump by over 154,000 votes.” and then a few months after the election, comes a court victory with this headline: Michigan Removes 177,000 Voters From Voter Rolls After Legal Challenge Why am I the bad guy when I see such things and say it doesn’t pass the smell test?

If Michigan and other states would voluntarily clean their voter rolls on a regular basis then we conservatives would have more faith in the system; however, the reality is that it takes years of lawsuits to force Secretary’s of State in Democrat controlled states to do their job. Oh, and even prevailing in court is no guarantee that the voter rolls are ever cleaned up.

Folks, I know that California does not care about election integrity or keeping clean voter rolls. As long as Democrats continue to win elections, there will be no meaningful election reform in the once golden state.

Prior to the election, was this report from Judicial Watch:

New Judicial Watch Study Finds 353 U.S. Counties in 29 States with Voter Registration Rates Exceeding 100%

Media Matters and other groups on the left, throw hammers at Judicial Watch but where it counts, Judicial Watch wins.

The lawsuit confirmed that Los Angeles County has on its rolls more than 1.5 million potentially ineligible voters. This means that more than one out of every five LA County registrations likely belongs to a voter who has moved or is deceased. Judicial Watch notes that “Los Angeles County has the highest number of inactive registrations of any single county in the country.”
The Judicial Watch lawsuit also uncovered that neither the State of California nor Los Angeles County had been removing inactive voters from the voter registration rolls for the past 20 years.
California and Los Angeles County to Remove 1.5 Million Inactive Voters from Voter Rolls – Settle Judicial Watch Federal Lawsuit

Please note the last line in the quote above, California voter rolls have not been cleaned up in over 20 years which I’m willing to bet was the last time a Republican was Secretary of State.

Meanwhile, after a brief internet search…

Yep, it was Bill Jones, the last Republican to win the office of California Secretary of State. Jones served from 1995 – 2003.

This allows me to circle back to a claim made by Brad Smith, “… even after losing more than 50 lawsuits in a row, President Trump waged a sustained campaign that successfully persuaded tens of millions of his supporters that the election was rigged.”

Folks, Trump lost zero trials on the voter fraud issue because none was ever heard in court. Even the Supreme Court has taken a pass on this issue. The courts refused because they view this as a political issue and since the election is over, it’s a moot point. Thus, no determination is or will be made on election fraud or if it was significant enough to change the election outcome. I think the federal courts are taking a pass on this not due to the substance of the issue, but because they know that if the case is heard, it will be used politically as a way to even further politicize the court system and make it even less independent than it is now. Packing the court is a likely outcome of any judicial relief granted to Trump. Also, I don’t think the courts are comfortable being the arbiters of last resort in Presidential elections.

If during the first two years of the Trump administration, a national system or standard was set for vote I.D. in federal elections, I think the outcome would have been different last November. But when the leadership on both sides of the political aisle are all in very safe seats then little incentive exists to fix a very broken system. Oh, and yes, I would prefer a state solution over a federal one but see my comments above on California. No chance it ever happens here.

Conclusion

Much of the time, fake news is in the eye of the beholder. We see what we want and ignore much of the rest. This trend will continue into the future. Soon we will go from memes with fake quotes and funny captions to fake videos with words never uttered. Discerning truth will become more difficult. Look for some to just give up on trying and resort to feelings to guide them—half our population is predisposed to do this already. “Trust your feelings Luke.” Those of us that believe there is only one Truth will become fewer.

I know that digital information will be even more scattered and fragmented in the future. As our culture becomes more splintered and fragmented, we become even more isolated, even living amongst other people. Sin divides us from God, His creation, our fellow man, and ourselves.

More and more you will hear some variation of the mantra, “you have your truth and I have mine.” Or the sugarcoated Disney version of “follow your heart.” This is a lie. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9

There is only One Truth. Denial of its reality does not change Reality. Believing faerie tales like there are more than two genders, or evolution explains creation, or abortion is not murder, or “gay marriage” only proves your denial, self-delusion, and spiritual blindness.

The controversy over fake news is a microcosm or a much larger battle; a spiritual one.

Here’s what our future looks like unless we change our ways. Take a look at Deuteronomy 28 starting at verse 15.

Below are a few selections from this passage:

The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth.

The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.

The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind.

You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the LORD will drive you.

The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, but you will be the tail.

Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess. Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known. Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot.

There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life.

The good news is the God has promised believers that His Spirit will lead you into all Truth. Only God can cut through all the “white noise” in our culture and give you the wisdom to discern which spirits of our age should be shunned or followed.

Trusting in Big Tech to decide what’s best for us is just another name for tyranny. That Big Tech wants to work hand-in-hand with big government instead of hold government accountable, is no surprise. In a way, this marriage of convenience; looks to be the ideal power couple… for now.

On Racism and Cancelling Charles Darwin

After I posted my brief response to the Wired Op-Ed, I started going thru some old mail when I came across an article on the subject of racism. It posed an interesting question, why does cancel culture never consider cancelling Charles Darwin? While Darwin didn’t create racism, he is singlehandedly responsible for advancing the scientific basis that some races are more fit than others. His beliefs have been the basis of eugenics and genocide for tyrants all over the world. Millions have perished and millions more have been subjugated because of the impact of Darwin’s racist ideas. Yet, Darwin is given a free pass.

The following is printed in Answers, a publication of Answers in Genesis. The article that is quoted below is Should We Cancel Darwin by Mark Looy.

Modern views about human origins are built on a toxic error. Unless these opinions change, racism will keep raising its ugly head. Any serious desire to solve racism must inspire the question, “What about the influence of Charles Darwin’s racist views? Should they be banned (or ‘canceled,’ in popular jargon) from the culture?”

In a sequel to the better-known On the Origin of Species, Darwin’s The Descent of Man argued that humans, having descended from apelike creatures, were continuing to evolve and produce various races. Darwin posited that some races were more developed than others. Throughout Descent, Darwin labeled different people groups other than his European race as “low” and “degraded,” including Africans. Darwin argued that the “highest races and the lowest savages” clearly differed in their “moral disposition” (Darwin, 445).1 These “savages,” he further claimed, possessed “insufficient” powers of reasoning (Darwin, 489). At the end of Descent, Darwin declared he would prefer to be descended from a “little monkey” or an “old baboon” as opposed to an Indian “savage” from South America (Darwin, 919).
Darwin’s racism and belief in white supremacy were an outgrowth of his ideas regarding natural selection (a view popularized later by others as “survival of the fittest”). Accordingly, he excused aggressive colonial imperialism with the comment, “The civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world” (Darwin, 521). Although he may not have explicitly endorsed such imperialism, Darwin saw the elimination of nonwhite races as the natural result of white Europeans, who “stand at the summit of civilisation” (Darwin, 507), being the superior race.
Such reasoning, even before Darwin laid it out, was essentially the same rationale used by European, Muslim, and American slave traders, who viewed the Africans as less than human and deserving of enslavement.

If they were consistent, cancel-culture advocates would ban Darwin from society. But most won’t touch him, for he is like a prophet for their worldview. Even if they condemn racism, they blindly still want to commemorate Darwin. From him, they have a supposed scientific justification for rejecting the Creator and living as they please with regards to abortion, sex, and so on.

Answers in Genesis proclaims that there is only one race of men. Toward the end of his article, Looy writes:

The Bible’s history is crucial to a true understanding of “race.” God’s Word reveals that all humans are descended from Adam and Eve. At the tower of Babel, God separated the rebellious people by both geography and language. The population broke up into sub-groups, and as people married within their own group, certain genetic features (like skin shade and eye shape) became more prominent. Some people groups ended up with light skin and others with dark skin. All people today are actually shades of brown, depending on the amount of melanin, the main pigment, in our skin (and some other minor factors). There are no truly black or white people.

Funny how, no matter how you look at the Scriptural position, it really is about the content of your character and not the color of your skin.

Disney Once Again Fires Their Woke Gunn

This week an actress employed by Disney’s Star Wars subsidiary was fired for saying that we should respect people’s political opinions even when we disagree with them. Yep, this revolutionary concept used to be a bedrock value when this country was known as America, but no longer.

Here’s the story. Please understand that due to the transitory nature of content on the Internet that the original and allegedly offensive comments were purged. Furthermore, most news stories on this incident don’t have the courtesy and objectivity to tell you what was actually said. I recall that journalism once prided itself on telling you all sides of a story and trusting readers to make up their own minds. This has not bee true in many decades.

According to Variety, Carano, 38, shared a message on the social media platform in which she compared today’s political divide to the events in Nazi Germany.
“Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…even by children. Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views,”
Gina Carano faces backlash for social media posts, ‘not currently employed’ by ‘Star Wars’

Two things to point out on the above; first, she did not write this comment, it appears that she reposted the comment; and secondly, is the end where it states, “How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?”

Note to Liberals: Those of us that are devout Christians see many parallels with the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany and the current treatment of Christians in this country. Our faith has been under attack; especially over the last 15 years. Our love for Trump is based in large part to his removing the heavy hand of the federal government from restricting religious liberty. Joe Biden has been signaling that persecution of people of faith will resume under his leadership. California government has never stopped persecuting us, but they have had their agenda derailed while focusing on Covid. Thus, the comparison above which appeared on social media is in fact a valid comparison.

Thus, Gina Carano is saying that we should not hate people that have different views from ours. Translation don’t hate me or other conservatives that disagree with you.

Oh, she also once posted a meme disagreeing with the stupid mask requirements.

A second post contained a photo of a person wearing cloth masks to cover their face and head with the caption: “Meanwhile in California.”

Gina also posted the following:

“Expecting everyone you encounter to agree with every belief or view you hold is fucking wild”
BREAKING: Lucasfilm caves to WOKE MOB and fires Gina Carano from Mandalorian

This is not the first time Carano, who played former Rebel Alliance soldier Cara Dune on The Mandalorian, has been the focus of social media ire for her political comments. Last November, she issued contentious tweets, one in which she mocked mask-wearing amid the novel coronavirus pandemic and another in which she falsely suggested voter fraud occurred during the 2020 presidential election.
“They have been looking for a reason to fire her for two months, and today was the final straw,” a source with knowledge of Lucasfilm’s thinking tells THR.
‘The Mandalorian’ Star Gina Carano Fired Amid Social Media Controversy

If you want to find the pot calling the kettle black, search for James Gunn liking the posts about Carano being fired. Gunn was fired by Disney and was subsequently rehired for actually posting derogatory stuff on social media. Also, note that at the time, I posted a blog in support of Gunn. I don’t have a problem with free speech only with people demanding that I have to agree with them.

The Fake Economy Continues

So, it is my fellow readers and followers of this blog. All the pundits cheered today as Former Central Bank Chair Janet Yellen demanded Congress act quickly and pass a 1.9 trillion-dollar spending package. Yep, act quickly, because god only knows what would happen if the media found out what was in it right? Fat chance. This package will extend a fake economy started under Obama/Biden, and mostly continued under Trump.

Joe Biden, America’s most popular President at a campaign stop on his way to victory.

Here are examples of how the economy has been fake and how it will continue to be fake under Biden.

0% interest rates continue, this was a fixture since almost W. Bush’s presidency. As a result, banks can borrow from the Fed Reserve for about 0% and lend to you for around 3% if you’re buying a house, or many multiples more if you are buying a car. This does not stimulate an economy; it just let’s free money flow from one lender to the next. This works only if the buyer is able to “perform” (make payments) on the loan. Which leads to…..

0% interest also means banks will continue not paying you squat to have an account with them, in essence making your savings worthless. When you add in inflation adjustments annually, if your savings/money doesn’t earn at least that much your buying power has been decreased. Unless you are a business…..

0% Means corporations are able to borrow “cheap money” and buy out competitors. See what AT&T has done over the past few years, first buying DirecTV and recently buying Time-Warner. While consolidation is not always a bad thing, it stifles competition and leads to mass layoffs, again see DirecTV and Time-Warner among others. In addition, most corporations have started venture capital arms, whose sole goal is to “invest in startups” with the hope of buying them later. Kind of like that show Shark Tank on TV. Again, this is all well and good until the interest rates or the debt load eventually eat away your income. Many corporations will find the “next chapter” is Chapter 7 or 11, not to be confused with the iconic Slurpee chain.

$15 minimum wage, contrary to what economists on TV say, will create complete destruction among retail and food service work. (Like after ten months of Covid-19 they need any more help.) Government mandating of wages is the worst possible thing to do. Show me a worker who requires $15 an hour to work the grill, I will show you a robotic arm who can do the job far cheaper. Automation will be the word of the next decade, eliminating good paying jobs to replace with robot. Its coming quick folks. No minimum wage job was ever meant to be a career, for some (felons, rap sheets, drop-outs) it’s a hard way to earn a living, but didn’t their choices land them there? How come we don’t talk-up trade schools? More on that next….

We have ignored and made fun of the trade schools for far too long. They carry a negative stigma. Why work in construction, work on cars, or be a plumber? Especially when you can get a degree in arts or humanities. As a result, some of these have transformed into dangerous for profit schools who now charge prohibitive sums of money, but it’s okay because……

Student loan relief is a part of this bill. Biden has put off interest and payments until September of this year. Like savings, why be responsible? Don’t pay! More disturbingly, he wants to do 10K student loan relief with the stroke of his pen. AOC, Bernie, Schumer, and co aren’t happy and want 50k. That’s an ungodly sum and should fly in the face of anyone who has paid their loans in full. This also creates a dangerous precedent moving forward. But…..

$1,400 payments to all folks making under a certain income threshold is part of this mana from heaven as well. Who cares about erasing money or debt when we can just print more of it! Fear not, the system we will use to verify who hits the government mandated lottery is last year’s (2019) tax returns. Yep, even if Covid didn’t affect you at all you get a check! Made more than that and lost your job? Sorry Charlie, the Magic 8 Ball says, “No.” You may ask why we have no system that keeps track of those who lost their jobs due to Covid? Answer is we do, it’s at the state level and in CA we call it Employment Development Department (EDD). Why don’t we use their system….well Google EDD scandal CA. Never mind I’ll save you the time. Our EDD sent roughly 2 billion in fraudulent checks to folks incarcerated, or to the dead, unborn or infirm. Still don’t believe me? Checks went to Scott Peterson (on death row) and Senator Diane Feinstein. Yup go look it up. Sorry, but the person who ran EDD has been promoted and is a part of Biden’s team, so look for more undeserving folks to land checks. I’ll take Hunter Biden in the office pool.

Rest assured I doubt this will be the only check sent out. Sadly, my conservative friends see this as stimulus, not Universal Basic Income. (Republicans think the rules are for checkers not chess.) Like usual, the Democrats lure the GOP in and while we think we’re doing the Lord’s work, they immediately run the end around, fooling us and taking all the credit. Think Charlie Brown kicking the football. Try to stop these payments once they start.

Eviction and foreclosure moratoriums are currently through March. This is just kicking the can slightly. We will end up kicking it further, I predict September. Look for a utility payment moratorium as well. These folks are all hopelessly behind, but Biden knows if he cranks up the eviction/foreclosure machine the economy wrecks big time, all on his watch. Housing is in a major bubble and the only ones who can’t see it are the ones who benefit from it. I look to scoop up a McMansion in future for about half of what folks are paying now. In my hometown a McMansion about a decade ago was 500k, now modest homes are selling for around 700, with upward movement likely.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t all doom and gloom. The 90-Dday types will continue to talk about record high stock prices, and in some ways they are correct. They pointed to job reports of “growing payrolls” however a cursory look around town shows me nothing but government and retail jobs. The latter will be decimated by Covid, mark my words. They will turn on a cable channel and be greeted with folks saying all-time highs, this is because as I mentioned earlier your savings account pays you nothing, so you must invest it. The smart folks got in a long time ago and are more than happy to watch you scoop up more expensive shares. They smile about stimulus knowing you won’t be paying debts, just buying more stuff you don’t need. Only China benefits but that’s ok because Democrats get a cut off all the 5G iPhones you’ll be buying. This economy is fake, you don’t have to believe me, but you cannot print money, send out free money, and have a prosperous society. Someday the lender will want the money to be paid back, and there won’t be another check.

The Chief

Those who won’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.

Reducing My Digital Footprint

I have grown tired of my friends being attacked by Facebook, Google, Twitter, and the rest. I’m tired of fearing for my employment because I disagree with the Liberal agenda. No, I don’t have a solution— although I am looking for alternatives to “Big Tech” and I hope to blog on that soon.

Folks, the boys in Silicon Valley only understand one thing and that’s money. Less users or subscribers is less money they can charge advertisers. To that end, I encourage you to do what you can to deprive them of revenue. Dump products and services that you don’t really need. To the extent that you can, demonetize FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google). So far Netflix is sitting this latest purge out, as is Microsoft, but given a chance to get involved, they probably would.

Is there a viable operating system for a computer that isn’t made by Apple or Microsoft? Nope, not one that does what I need for work or pleasure. Cell phones are dominated by Apple and Google (Android). There are Linux alternatives for PCs and even Smartphones but I don’t know if there are enough apps to keep casual users happy in this alternative ecosystem.

I have taken some actions and am considering more.

I have cancelled my Twitter account. I only got Twitter at the insistence of Sebastian Gorka. I got free tickets to hear him speak in Roseville a few years ago. He had worked for President Trump and had high praise for Trump. He encouraged folks to actually see what Trump was saying and not wait for the media’s take on what was said—because it was often out of context with what actually happened. I took Gorka’s advice, and you know what, Gorka was right. Rarely did Trump ever fire the first shot at anyone but he often responded to attacks from other platforms by posting his reaction on Twitter. (If Republicans had the spine to defend the President then the whole Twitter thing would never had been necessary.) As a platform, I was disappointed with Twitter because there was often a 12-to-24-hour delay between a Trump post and Twitter sending me a notification–which often never happened at all. Banning Trump for life left me with literally zero reason to keep my account open so I cancelled it a few days ago.

While Microsoft has thus far not interjected itself into the jihad on Conservatives, I decided to dump my Linked-In account. I never used it anyway. I only had it because when Sue Blake was rising to power as chair of the Sacramento Republican Central Committee, she encouraged us to open Facebook and Linked-In accounts.

On my to-do list is dumping my Facebook account. If Zuckerberg lifts the Trump ban in the next few days, I might keep it, otherwise I’m gone from their platform too.

If you leave social media platforms, please be aware that there are usually ways to download your content before killing your account.

I plan to explore this option before dumping Facebook so I can keep some photos and other things. I will let you know what the file looks like after I’ve done that. Here is where to find it in Facebook’s settings.

Where to find download option in Facebook
Settings>Your Facebook Information>Download Your Information

Oh, I plan to write a blog dedicated to a scathing post on Facebook by an Admin for one of the groups that I have belonged to for many years. Folks, the post is long but its really eye opening in a bad way.

Meanwhile, if you have any comments or suggestions related to this topic, please pass them on to me.

The Pope Wants Homosexuals in the Church

The editorial board was meeting at an undisclosed location when an urgent communication came across the live feed. The Pope of the Roman Catholic Church AKA the world’s richest man, aka social justice warrior, aka #notmypope decided same sex folks in a union (I guess we are still fighting the civil war) would be allowed in the church. Wait for it…. Wait for it……ok we wound him up, that’s Jake the Snake’s music …..time to turn him loose.

Seriously what Bible does this clown read from….I would say the Gospel of Marx AKA the heretic’s Bible! Literally, this social justice warrior wannabe feels the need to channel his inner Aaron Park spewing his stink all over everyone. Seriously I listened to this “pope” Francis AKA Bergoglio talk about needing to grow the church and that we are all God’s children……..ummm ok. I haven’t seen a constant flow of sewage like this since I drank the water in Mexico.

Maybe “Pope” Bergoglio should visit one of his churches, literally in the vestibule (for all you heathens, that’s the common area when you walk in the front door of the church) there are a couple brochures saying and I quote “Homosexuality is a mortal sin” which means you will not be granted eternal life in heaven. Yet this jackhole says all are welcome? HUH? It’s a mortal sin, but that’s ok?

Perhaps we should discuss the Pope’s handling of a local priest in this area, Fr Jeremy Leatherby. For many decades, the Leatherby family has donated both time and treasure to support the Catholic Church, as well as Prop 8, banning gay “marriage” in this state. Their “family business” something you will know nothing about running by the way, was vandalized in the midst of standing with the Church and its teaching, not a word from you or any of your ilk. Where were you when I heard several sermons about needing to vote for Prop 8 for the sanctity of marriage? And you pay back Fr Leatherby by having Bishop Jaime Soto defrock him? Well thank God we now know what it takes to get a member of clergy defrocked, have sex with a young child is ok, dare step out and not recognize the Pope’s authority for making socialist proclamations in the Name of Christ…..and he’s gone!

In closing, if you get a chance to get up close to this very reclusive Pope maybe ask him; why do you go against God’s teachings about homosexuality? Why do you discuss climate change when it is conveniently not found in any Bible I have read? Are you actually really Catholic? When did you become so out of touch with the Catholic Faith? Does your okaying of homosexuality release the priests who committed this alleged “moral sin” or is that why you have stopped the investigation child sexual abuse every step of the way? Sorry “Pope” but this won’t absolve the sins of those you have covered up for.

Pope Bergoglio you are a jerk! You tell us common folk to do your bidding, in regard to charity, giving, tithing and more, yet you won’t even police your own flock. You are the worst kind of person. Keep focusing on homosexuality you bozo, whilst ignoring the fastest growing segments of Catholicism are; Blacks, Hispanics, and Filipinos. And not to educate you, but those groups are among the most hostile to homosexual “marriage.” So, what is next, abortion is ok, only if you didn’t mean to get pregnant?

Maybe do us all a favor, speak to Pope Benedict and ask him, maybe if these are ok? Actually, never mind. Screw it, keep peddling your half truths about poverty, climate change, and homosexual marriage. Too bad you don’t have any time to proclaim the Gospel, I think the world needs that a lot more than another idiot with a collar extolling the virtues of Karl Marx. Even the Pope can’t sever two masters.

Jake the Snake

Editor’s Note: For those doubting Jake’s position on this topic, I wanted to bring up the following passage which states that some in Corinth were homosexual until they believed. Paul makes it clear that you can’t be a believer and an cling to your sin.

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,
1 Corinthians 6: 9-11a

Society’s Problems in One Photo

While browsing television options in an Idaho hotel last week, I ran across this juxtaposition of programming.

Yep, the Crave channel is offering More Sex, Less Stress followed by Boy Scouts: The Sex Abuse Coverup.

Gee, what’s next Bill Clinton: the Monica Years followed by Jeffrey Epstein’s Weekend Getaway? No wonder people in our society are so confused about morality.

ESPN Deems Black Anchor “Not Black Enough”

BY Chief

Disney Corporation sports subsidiary ESPN made headlines again for all the wrong reasons earlier this week. ESPN has a blog on its website called “The Undefeated.” It’s for blacks, by blacks, about race topics etc. Honestly, I do not have a huge issue with it, even though some of the writers like Malcolm Metcalf have an obvious racial bias against white people. It is usually off to the side of the website, and never really made a focal point. However, controversy has been stirred up and it’s a doozy.

The Undefeated was going to air a race focused special called “Time for a change, we won’t be defeated.” The special would feature ESPN personalities, Jay Harris, Michael Eves, Maria Taylor, and Elle Duncan. Suspiciously missing from the list is Sage Steele. I say suspicious because she hosts the flagship show “SportsCenter” during prime time and is one of their more visible hosts. Steele was upset, and understandably so. Here are some snippets from the Wall Street Journal article about her expressing her disappointment.

ESPN anchor Sage Steele has told management she believes she was excluded from a special the network aired on race last month because she wasn’t considered by certain Black colleagues to be an authentic voice for the Black community, a person familiar with the matter said.
Ms. Steele, one of the network’s most prominent on-air personalities, voiced her concerns to ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro in early June, saying the incident showed the network has a divisive work environment, the person said.
Ms. Steele said colleagues told her she was considered for the special by the executive in charge, Michael Fountain, until two of the other on-air personalities involved, Elle Duncan and Michael Eaves, complained, saying Ms. Steele wouldn’t be accepted by what they considered the Black community, according to the person familiar with her account to management.
Sage Steele claims she was excluded from ESPN race special thanks to colleagues complaints

So, let me, as a middle age white man ask, how is someone not an authentic voice for the black community? In addition, how is a black person, Steele as shown in the photo is black, not accepted by her own community? Well Steele answered that question for me, she burns “The Mouse” pretty badly with her response….

Sage Steel–deemed not black enough by ESPN

“I found it sad for all of us that any human being should be allowed to define someone’s ‘Blackness.’ Growing up biracial in America with a Black father and a white mother, I have felt the inequities that many, if not all Black and biracial people have felt—being called a monkey, the ‘n’ word, having ape sounds made as I walked by—words and actions that all of us know sting forever. Most importantly, trying to define who is and isn’t Black enough goes against everything we are fighting for in this country, and only creates more of a divide.”

Well as an outsider looking in, no shock there, you cannot be black in this country unless both parents are black, live in the hood, don’t have a good job, and are on some form of assistance. Actually, I would have enjoyed hearing her perspective, she also has interviewed scores of athletes over the years and I’m sure her rolodex of contacts are huge. Seems like a no brainer to me.

Well the truth is ESPN brass doesn’t like Steele for her political opinions, she has said she doesn’t feel comfortable speaking about BLM, she spoke out against folks not standing for the national anthem, and made waves for tweeting her disappointment about protestors blocking airports due to Trump’s anti-immigration order. While she doesn’t come off as political, if you don’t tow the party line, you are part of the problem.

In that regard, Eves and Duncan are perfect, just like Joe Biden, neither have any beliefs; instead, they just parrot what is put in front of them on the teleprompter. In speaking to a couple of cable watching friends of mine, all of them said Eaves is an empty suit who really has no role at ESPN, and Duncan is pretty much useless. The ratings they draw likely are composed of mostly of drunks who pass out with their TV left on.

My main question is how come Disney gets a pass time and time again? No one is writing about this, only small anecdotes here and there. Which is funny because with today’s cancel culture, how come their founder gets a pass? He was a devoted racist even putting his views in black and white and technicolor! Disney is in deep trouble financially. I am sure their theme parks will finally re-open someday. Meanwhile, they get to host the NBA games later this month.

Sage Steele, if I was you, Fox has a growing sports network called FS1 they could use someone like yourself. Leave the mouse.

The Chief

Why Race Relations Will Never Be Repaired

There will be a lot to unpack in this article, but I want to highlight a few key issues as to why race relations will never get better here. I ask you set aside any preconceived notions and put aside your bias and take this in before jumping to a conclusion. It actually is painful to write this because race relations actually got a lot better up until Barack Obama took office in 2008. It can actually be argued he set us back several generations.

1 Police Bias:

This kind of cuts both ways, the Rodney King incident, as well as the war on drugs has put scores of minorities (black, Hispanic, Asian etc.) in jail for crimes some could argue are petty in today’s world. The Rodney King incident caused the black community as a whole to no longer trust police; and as a result they mostly do not cooperate, and in some cases even shield perpetrators from justice.

As a result police look skeptically on young black men, and in some neighborhoods police even refuse to patrol out of fear for their own safety. Bottom line, the bias cuts both ways. When JJ Clavo was murdered in Del Paso Heights, the community did not help assist in finding the murderer, and the same holds true when a young/old white man in Folsom or Granite Bay goes on a crime spree and is not shot…there will always be a bias. But neither community is helping the matter

2 False Narratives:

Think Sharpton, Jackson Jr., Marcos Breton, and Benjamin Crump (the prominent civil rights lawyer) these guys decide to take a narrative they think fits the crime and run with it, and worse yet some in the media are more than happy to run with it. Examples include; hands up, don’t shoot! He was reaching for his wallet…not a gun. You can add Barack Obama too this as well saying, “If I had a son he would look like Trayvon Martin!” This did nothing but fan the flames and like anything else in this country, the partisans took sides and a screaming match ensued. Members of Congress even took to the dais and spoke about how the deceased or the police were 100% in the right and if you viewed it any other way you were a racist, or you hated the police!

3 Creating a False Prophet:

In Florida, Trayvon Martin is viewed as a martyr. He attacked a night watchmen and ultimately paid with his own life. Regardless of what human piece of waste George Zimmerman (the watchman) did, we should not be honoring this kid. Michael Brown in Ferguson is getting a statue in his name and he is being compared to Martin Luther King Jr. Are you kidding me! This kid was hocked up on drugs and tried to steal a police officer’s service weapon to kill him. This guy is no civil rights icon and frankly he got what he deserved. Eric Garner in New York, he of “I can’t breathe fame.” He was a known criminal with a very long rap sheet to boot, including major drug usage. I will add, I think the police went too far, but at the same time when you have a record and a history, police treat you far different than someone with no record…check the stats. Stephon Clark in Sacramento? He had every drug in his body and quite a sum of alcohol, and now they are talking about naming a library after him? Huh?

This George Zimmerman did not found Men’s Warehouse

4 Hypocrisy:

In the cases of Martin, Brown, and Clark; those who defended them wanted to make sure their criminal histories, drug/alcohol abuse, and personal life info were not allowed anywhere near the trial, as to not cloud the judge/juries minds. However in the case of Amber Guyger (white police officer who entered wrong apartment and shot a black man), the prosecutor wanted all her texts/love life/history, everything you could think of included because…well somehow this was different. I guess justice for all, unless we wish to tip the scales!

5 The Amber Guyger Trial:

From the first minute, they made this into a racial crime, white police officer killing an unarmed black man, and in a sense it was true. Black Lives Matter did their usual, essentially portraying all white people as police sympathizers. Guyger, in the eyes of this young, white, male, made a major mistake that night. While I believe her testimony was a large steaming pile of crap, I feel bad for her in certain ways. First, her life is over. She, like the police officers in the other shootings, will be remembered as such for the remainder of her life. God may forgive but people do not.

Second, those clapping, whooping & hollering, and rejoicing after the guilty verdict should be ashamed. It is a courtroom not a local tavern or bar. Just remember, while Guyger may have been found guilty, her family was in attendance. Imagine the officers acting as such after being cleared of wrong doing??? Then BLM shouted and took to the streets after the sentencing phase the following day…there you go again, when you don’t get your way act out! While I will admit a sentence of 10 years, likely only being 5 years served seems a little light, just remember that the victim’s brother said he didn’t want the officer to go to jail. Also, a known police officer in prison has a target on their back for the duration of the prison stay. Lastly, this is Texas, where you are also sentenced by the jury, as opposed to a judge…most people do not want to send a peer away for a long time, especially someone with no criminal record.

6 The Guyger Trial Sentencing Phase:

I have mixed feelings about a lot of this as many of you probably do too. The optics of the bailiff stroking Guyger’s hair and comforting her do not look great; as anyone who wasn’t law enforcement would be getting handcuffed at this point. I have zero issue with the victim’s brother hugging Guyger, and the two of them showing raw emotion, actually this could have been a healing moment.

I also didn’t care for the judge (Mrs. Kemp) hugging the defendant either. In this case, I do sympathize with the victim’s family. They lost a loved one and what happens? A police officer is convicted of murder, gets a light sentence, and a hug from the judge?

Judge hugging Guyger after guilty verdict

I don’t think many defendants have ever gotten so lucky. I have no issue with the judge giving Guyger a copy of the Holy Bible, actually in most of these cases, I believe the defendant should read the good book in hopes they can turn their life around and be a change agent. Fear not, a group has already filed a complaint about this judge for her actions regarding the Bible. Glad to see the atheists and agnostics decide to weigh in, and now the judge will face a commission investigating her actions. Were this in California, the judge would get a harsher sentence than the defendant.

This leads me to my conclusion.

Race in this country will continue to divide us, even long after all of us, the living are dead. To be very clear, America has a very rough history in regards to slavery and rights of others, but it is the year of our Lord 2019 and we are moving in the wrong direction. It will take leadership from all sides and making adults act like they have an IQ above that of a piece of lunch meat. I would like to see a citizen review commission created in place of the current internal affairs model that the police currently use. My reasoning is simple, “policing your own” pardon the pun will always be looked at through jaundiced eyes. Next we need so called “journalists” to quite the sensationalism. You are stoking the flames of hate and causing an unnecessary uprising. This goes for political types as well. So called leaders of the black community should focus on getting their people out of poverty and more importantly focus on the future. However none of this will happen. We no longer believe in the rule of law, instead we only believe in selective information that we deem to be factual. You have your “facts” and I have mine. You can look at any of the above examples and fallacies exist in every one….stoked by a media and partisans looking to push an agenda. Rather than trying to punish a white police officer, maybe take a page from the Jean family playbook, forgive and allow someone to move on? Except that is not in our DNA anymore. Everything now is “gotcha” and punishing one to atone for the sins of the whole. The charlatans such as Breton need to find real work and quit stirring up the natives. Also we need to be very wary of the prophet seeking profits (Sharpton, Jackson and Crump.) Race relations will never get better in this country until we try to move forward, and as I tell people, we must get into a car with a gas pedal, no brake pads, and no mirrors, the past is the past. Leave it there. We can never apologize enough, and frankly reparations are not a means to an end, just a temporary band aid.

Sadly Botham Jean was killed by mistake, and he will never come back to this earth, and Amber Guyger will go away to prison and will never be the same, as she will always be connected to this tragedy. Additionally how sad that we as a country used Botham Jean, Amber Guyger, and the judge as puppets in a sick, twisted game to litigate race relations.

Sound off in the comments!

Chief

Zombie Apocalypse Day 1 Recap

Photo: Auburn, CA 10-09-2019 credit Sacramento Bee

For those of us in the shadow of the State Capitol, it’s just another day. However, if you live elsewhere in the State, things are anything but normal.

Shoot the Messenger

A PG&E employee was driving a truck Tuesday evening in Northern California’s Colusa County – before the electricity cutoffs – when a bullet shattered one of the vehicle’s windows, the California Highway Patrol told The Associated Press. The driver was not hurt, according to the AP.

CHP is investigating the incident, which occurred north of the town of Maxwell as the staffer headed southbound on Interstate 5, according to authorities. A white pickup may have pulled up beside the PG&E truck before the shooting, CHP Officer J. Sherwood told the San Francisco Chronicle.
PG&E pleads for employee safety amid outage; police report gunfire at vehicle

Welcome to Venezuela

More than a million people in California were without electricity Wednesday as the state’s largest utility pulled the plug to prevent a repeat of the past two years when windblown power lines sparked deadly wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes.

The unpopular move that disrupted daily life — prompted by forecasts calling for dry, gusty weather — came after catastrophic fires sent Pacific Gas & Electric Co. into bankruptcy and forced it to take more aggressive steps to prevent blazes.

The drastic measure caused long lines at supermarkets and hardware stores as people rushed to buy ice, coolers, flashlights and batteries across a swath of Northern California. Cars backed up at traffic lights that had gone dark. Schools and universities canceled classes. And many businesses closed.
Lights out: Power cut in California to prevent deadly fires

Why have forest management when you can just pull the plug at random?

“I wish we weren’t in a situation where, in maybe one of the wealthiest jurisdictions in the world, we are turning power off to large swaths of the population every few weeks,” said Michael Wara, director of the Climate and Energy Policy program at Stanford University. “But it is better than what we’ve been through, and I very much hope that we get through this fire season without a repeat of 2017 or 2018.”

PG&E declared bankruptcy in January, in part because of potential liabilities from its role in some of the 2017 northern California fires and the 2018 Camp fire that killed a total of 129 people and destroyed tens of thousands of homes.

“Is it a huge inconvenience? Yes. Is it going to be dangerous? Yes,” Wara said. “There are lots of risks on the other side. Someone could die because they have a medical device.

PG&E should have been maintaining and updating its infrastructure before the crisis reached this point, said Mindy Spatt, a spokeswoman for the Utility Reform Network.

“PG&E should be held to higher standards than this,” she said. “No one wants to see another fire like the fires we’ve seen in the past, but we have to remember that the problem that these shutoffs are hopefully going to address are PG&E’s negligence and incompetence, and PG&E’s propensity to ignite fires.”

Now PG&E customers must bear the burden of navigating possibly days without power, with businesses losing money and people in possibly unsafe situations, Spatt said.

“Consumers would rather have their power shut off than have their homes and businesses burnt down, but they would also rather have a utility that didn’t start fires,” Spatt said.
Record power shutoffs in California are set to become the new normal

The shutoffs are part of its wildfire mitigation plan, mandated by the state and agreed to by the California Public Utilities Commission, the state’s top power regulator. — Kevin Stark
Why Is This Happening? Answers to Your Questions on the PG&E Shutdown

Folks, when you live in a socialist state, you get socialist utilities too. We keep being told the lie by the ruling class that wind and solar are the way to energy independence so what happens on a sunny, windy day—conditions that we are told are best for energy production—why we cut the power off to people in the state’s flyover country.

But elites take care of their own. Tesla is prominently mentioned in two articles that I saw about the scheduled blackouts yesterday.

One article mentioned that the scheduled outages stopped just short of Tesla’s production facility in the San Jose area and the other was to juice-up before the lights go out.

The electric automaker issued a preemptive over-the-air advisory overnight to many vehicle owners, telling them to charge up ahead of the planned outages, which utility Pacific Gas & Electric began rolling out Wednesday to try to lessen the risk of wildfires.

“A utility company in your area announced they may turn off power in some areas of Northern California beginning October 9 as part of public safety power shut-offs, which may affect power to charging options,” the message read, according to social media posts. “We recommend charging your Tesla to 100% today to ensure your drive remains uninterrupted.”
California’s power outage means problems for electric cars. Tesla says charge up, quick.

So what ever happened to Elon’s promise that his cars could be charged as they were driven by solar cells built into the car? Actually, Toyota was promising something similar a few years ago but I digress…

I still haven’t heard whether Oakland participated in the lights out festivities.

Closing Comments

All of this bowing to the environmentalists goes back to the oil spill in Santa Barbara back in 1969. Up until that happened, nobody cared about the environmentalists. From that point forward, they increasingly gained access to influence public policy in California. Now nobody dares to act without their blessing.

Environmentalists purposely destroyed the logging industry in California and now we have tens of millions of dead and dying trees in our forests and nobody to cut them down. This is why we have decades of fuel gathering on the forest floor.

Dead and diseased trees in California #1

While PG&E did spark some fires, many in our State are the result of arson and nobody has been arrested for most of the manmade forest fires.

Dead and diseased trees in California #2

Any way you slice it, government failure is to blame for the current mess.