I Blame Donald Trump
Former Socialists on Socialism
The RNC 2020 speaker who’s made the biggest impact on me thus far is Maximo Alvarez, a Florida businessman whose family fled Cuba when he was 13 years old. Here’s an excerpt:
I heard the promises of Fidel Castro. And I can never forget all those who grew up around me, who looked like me, who could have been me, who suffered and starved and died because they believed those empty promises. . . .
Those false promises — spread the wealth, free education, free healthcare, defund the police, trust a socialist state more than your family and community — they don’t sound radical to my ears. They sound familiar. . . .
But the country I was born in is gone – destroyed.
I may be Cuban born, but I am 100-percent American. This is the greatest country in the world. I said this before. If I gave away everything I have today, it would not equal 1 percent of what I was given when I came to this great country of ours: The gift of Freedom.
Many Americans now seem quite glib and sanguine about socialism, free this, free that, sharing all the good things of the land, etc. — but when you talk to someone who’s actually lived in a socialist country, they tell you that they couldn’t wait to get out.
Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion and former resident of the Soviet Union, contributed the following tweet to a discussion of socialism several years ago:
Sorry, but I'm from a place where everything was "shared equally" and it wasn't as nice as some of you seem to think it would be.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) October 20, 2013
And That’s the Truth: Jacob Blake
[And That’s the Truth is a feature by our guest blogger, Sojourner Truth– PE]
I seen the Jacob Blake video from two or three different angles. From what I can tell, a neighbor called police, told them Blake shouldn’t be there, he took someone’s keys and wouldn’t give em back.
One officer showed up, called for another officer, they called for more officers. They tried to arrest Blake, he wasn’t gonna have it. [Editor’s Note: Mr. Blake had an active arrest warrant related to charges of third-degree sexual assault, trespassing, and disorderly conduct, in connection with domestic abuse.]
They tasered him, tried to physically subdue him, he gets up, walks around his car, opens the driver-side door and leans inside.
What’s he got inside the car? I don’t know but I don’t aim to find out by having him pick it up and kill me with it.
I got another video for you. It’s pretty similar. Guy resisting arrest, gets tasered, physically subdued . . . the cops can’t get him into a position to get cuffs on him. Then they let him walk around his car, lean in the driver side, he pulls out a gun and starts shooting, then drives off.
Out on parole. Drunk driver. Pulled over by Highway Patrol. Officers tried to handcuff. Resisted arrest. Shot one officer, not fatally. Officers returned fire. #BlueLivesMatter #BackTheBlue pic.twitter.com/bHvQAUOFfj
— Trina ????????#KAG #BackTheBlue (@trinareyes) June 17, 2020
And that’s why I ain’t lettin Blake get into that car. I’m sorry but I don’t care how many people take a knee, if one of us is gotta be killed then I prefer that it be him. His kids was in that car! What was his plan? Get in the car and speed off? That ain’t a good plan! He’s a danger to hisself, to those kids and everyone in the community.
I’ve heard black parents say they teach their boys to fear the cops. If they asked me, I’d say teach em not to abuse women, not to sexually assault women, not to resist arrest, have your day in court. Teach em it’s better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
And that’s the Truth!
I Blame Donald Trump
On this date, Aug. 24, in the year 79 A.D., an estimated 20,000 people died when Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in volcanic ash.
Michelle Obama Fact-Checked by Associated Press
Surprising! Normally as a Democrat you really have to go off the rails to motivate a media organization to fact-check you.
“Trump used facilities that were built during the Obama-Biden administration to house children at the border. They are chain-link enclosures inside border facilities where migrants were temporarily housed, separated by sex and age,” AP fact-checkers said.
It noted that photos of children in housing centers that were circulated by Democratic officials online to criticize Trump were actually taken in 2014.
These pictures actually “depicted some of the thousands of unaccompanied children held by President Barack Obama,” AP said.
The “ripping migrant children from their parents and throwing them into cages” distortion was the most urgent issue in the world right up till the day everyone forgot about it, so why the AP is fact-checking it at this late date I do not know, but better late than never I guess . . .
Be Prepared
An ad comes on the radio for a lawyer offering to sue the Boy Scouts on behalf of anyone molested by a scout leader . . .
“I was in the scouts. I wasn’t molested though. Or maybe I was molested so traumatically that I’ve blocked it out of my mind. What was that guy’s number again?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I like to ‘Be Prepared’ for financial opportunities.”
Weekend at Biden’s
I have a sense that Joe Biden is already dead and the Dems are trying to pull off a Weekend at Bernie’s scenario . . . just keep moving him around from place to place and propping him up . . .
“Mostly Peaceful”
Portland mayor says protesters are ‘attempting to commit murder’ and helping Trump’s reelection campaign — Los Angeles Times
I’m not sure how those two things go together but look, Mr. Mayor (is this the “Summer of Love” mayor or is that in Seattle?), you’re not going out on a limb by taking a stand against murder. Pretty much everyone is opposed to murder.
But if you’d enforced at some point over the last couple months the laws against lesser offenses like assault, theft and destruction of property, the state of affairs in your city wouldn’t have deteriorated to this point.
You now look like a fool saying “Someone should do something about this!” Like who, the mayor?
Why Are You Crying So Sadly?
One late autumn night, the disciple awoke crying.
So the master asked the disciple, “Did you have a nightmare?”
“No.”
“Did you have a sad dream?”
“No,” said the disciple. “I had a sweet dream.”
“Then why are you crying so sadly?”
The disciple wiped his tears away and quietly answered, “Because the dream I had can’t come true.”
Down in the Pleasure Center
What percentage of Americans get more pleasure from calling someone a racist than from having an orgasm? I’ll estimate 35 but I feel like that may be low . . .
I Am in the Herd, and a Coward
And he who is not sufficiently courageous even to defend his soul — don’t let him be proud of his ‘progressive’ views, don’t let him boast that he is an academician or a people’s artist, merited figure, or a general — let him say to himself: I am in the herd, and a coward. It’s all the same to me as long as I’m fed and warm.
Closer to Fine
And I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains
There’s more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
And the less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine
Dilbert: Reasonable Assumptions
Biden Is Not Available
Fox’s Chris Wallace: "In our interview last week with President Trump, he questioned whether his opponent Joe Biden could handle a similar encounter. Well, we asked the Biden campaign for an interview and they said the former VP was not available. We'll keep asking every week.” pic.twitter.com/5BIbp6dQ02
— TV News HQ (@TVNewsHQ) July 26, 2020
Four Existential Questions
- Can I eat it?
- Can I have sex with it?
- Can it kill me?
- Can I buy it at a discount?
People I Thought Were Dead
About 19 years ago, I published the first version of People I Thought Were Dead.
As of yesterday, July 25, 2020, with the death of Olivia De Havilland of natural causes at the age of 104, all of those people are now actually deceased.
Playlists for Pandemics
Come take a walk on the wild side
Come kiss me hard in the pouring rain
You like your girls insane
So, choose your last words, this is the last time
‘Cause you and I, we were born to die
What Young People Did Not Know
What young people did not know. They did not know that lumpy, aged, and wrinkled bodies were as needy as their own young, firm ones, that love was not to be tossed away carelessly, as if it were a tart on a platter.
Playlists for Pandemics
But I’m not crazy, I’m just a little unwell
I know right now you can’t tell
But stay awhile and maybe then you’ll see
A different side of meI’m not crazy, I’m just a little impaired
I know right now you don’t care
But soon enough you’re gonna think of me
And how I used to be
On This Date: Settling Clergy Sex-Abuse Cases
On this date, July 15, in 2007, the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Los Angeles announced it was settling clergy sex-abuse cases for $660 million.
Some people, including some in my own family, will tell you that America started going down the drain when we took God out of schools, whatever that means.
Call me a skeptic but we haven’t taken God out of churches and yet we still have $660 million worth of child rape. In one archdiocese!
Pass the collection plate, Padre!