Month: November 2021

Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week

As those who read my work on a regular basis know (and if you do read me regularly, I’m sorry), there are some politicians who are always good for a Leftist Lexicon topic. One such politician is Senator Elizabeth Warren. Now, I won’t call her Pocahontas or Fauxcahontas as others have because I want to respect her heritage while giving her all due respect. Hence, I call her Chief Running Mouth.

Anyway, Senator Warren took to Twitter to complain about gas prices rising in spite of President Joe Biden releasing 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Oil Reserve in an attempt to lower gas prices. Now, what did CRM blame for the rise? OPEC nations playing hardball? China and Russia conspiring? Donald Trump? Nope! She blamed…corporate greed.

When discussing economics, corporate greed is the Left’s favorite boogeyman, and it seems to catch on every time it gets used. To understand why, we have to take a closer look at the phrase and analyze the parts. That, and to help pad out this edition of the Leftist Lexicon.

corporate greed

What the Left thinks it means – one of the major road blocks to progress and economic justice

What it really means – proof the Left doesn’t understand basic economics

Economics can seem pretty complicated, but there are some core concepts that anyone who has been to a garage sale, like, ever can understand. Which means Leftists will struggle with said concepts, but I’ll try to keep it simple so they have a chance to catch up.

Contrary to popular Leftist belief, the reason for a company or corporation to exist isn’t to pay taxes, provide jobs, and ensure every employee gets paid a living wage with full benefits, maternity leave, and any other benefit. It’s…now brace yourselves…to make money. After all, if a corporation doesn’t make money, it’s either a scam, kept afloat with taxpayer funds, or defunct. Or in the case of green energy companies during the Obama Administration, all three. And without money, companies/corporations can’t provide the laundry list of what Leftists think employees should get since that money helps keep the doors open. So, it’s in a company’s best interests to be greedy.

Where the Left gets things twisted is in thinking (if you can call it that) that greed is bad. There are aspects of greed that inspire more positive aspects of the corporate world. And there’s one that Leftists are absolutely in love with that proves this point: COVID-19 vaccines. Now, Leftists will argue Johnson & Johnson, Pfiser, and Moderna went to great lengths to get the vaccines out to people who needed it out of pure altruism, but the truth is they did it so they could make money. And when Uncle Sam is willing to push your goods without you having to spend a penny to advertise it? You would have to be an idiot to decline an unlimited source of money, most of it being pure profit.

Or a certain Senator from Massachusetts, but I repeat myself.

While Leftists complain about corporate greed on Twitter using their iPhones, they are blissfully unaware of how the capitalist sausage is made and how they’ve already bought into it by virtue of the little decisions they make. Namely, what they buy. Granted, we’re subject to the same buying decisions, but remember we’re not the ones railing against corporate greed. We bought into it, while they’re selling out to it.

And here’s the kicker: Leftists really don’t oppose corporate greed when it furthers their personal goals. Take Chief Running Mouth, for example. While she attacks oil companies for allegedly gouging customers at the gas pumps and pushes for laws prohibiting Congresscritters from direct stock purchases, she and her husband have made a tidy sum on annuities, which according to the Boston Globe includes stocks and bonds. Even though they’re indirectly stockholders, they’re still stockholders, and their fortune, at least in part, is reliant upon the very corporate greed she says she opposes. Amazing how that works, isn’t it?

Oh, but it gets better! She also got campaign contributions from Apple, Google, and other big-name companies, including the ones she rails against for…wait for it…corporate greed.

And, as you might have guessed, this is by design. By creating a faceless beast in corporate America, the Left has ginned up fear and hatred of any big company who wants to make a profit. Granted, some companies abuse this notion (I’m looking right at you, Wells Fargo), but Leftists never come out and tell us how much they feel companies should be willing to give up to keep the doors open. I know they don’t have an exact figure, but I guarantee whatever it is they calculate, it will never be enough because Leftists think all money is finite. If someone gets rich off building a better mousetrap (personally, I prefer napalm, but that’s just me), they think that wealth comes at the expense of someone else, and they want people to feel they’re the ones getting screwed. Then, people like Chief Running Mouth come along and say they want to take on corporate greed and win one for the little guy.

As of this writing, that hasn’t happened yet, but the promises to do something keep mounting and getting louder. But they need to keep the con going, so they find new ways to lambast “greedy” corporations so you feel green with envy while they continue to feel green in their back pockets from all the donations they get from the companies they attack for being greedy.

So, what happens when you realize someone else getting rich doesn’t affect you? Aside from feeling a sense of relief, it ruins the Left’s con and helps you see the Left’s ignorance in economics. No, there isn’t a greedy corporation taking money that doesn’t belong to them so they can have golden toilets, but there are a ton of greedy politicians who love to be generous with your money to ensure they get golden parachutes, and Elizabeth Warren is no different. If/when she leaves the public sector, she will have done so being as bad, if not worse, than the corporate greed she rails against.

I take that back. She will definitely be worse. After all, greedy corporations at least understand how to make a buck.

Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week

In case you’ve been living under a rock recently (and given housing prices these days, I wouldn’t blame you if you did), there was a little trial in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where Kyle Rittenhouse faced some serious charges and was ultimately acquitted. At the heart of the trial and the situation that came before it is the concept of self-defense. Others have hashed out the various details of the case itself, so I won’t go too far into it because a) they’ve done a better job than your humble correspondent could, and b) you’ve probably heard as much, if not more, about it than I have.

With the Rittenhouse case, people on all sides have been focusing on whether what he did constitutes self-defense from a legal standpoint, but not too many have looked into the political aspect of it. That’s where I come in!

self-defense

What the Left thinks it means – an antiquated and unnecessary idea used to drive gun sales to paranoid right-wingers and gun nuts

What it really means – a principle essential to personal freedom

To put it mildly, things have gotten a little weird out there in the past couple of decades. Between Leftists LARPing as World War II vets and Trump supporters acting like, well, Trump supporters, you’re likely to find yourself in the middle of a conflict that can go pear-shaped before you can say, “Hey, isn’t that a pear?” Throw in all sorts of racial, sexual, and sociological contexts and you have a melting pot on the verge of melting down.

Such was the case in Kenosha, where protestors decided to do what the Property Brothers do, just in reverse. As you might expect, property owners (some of whom could be brothers, I suppose) didn’t like the impromptu Burning Man/Woodstock 99/any weekend with Lindsey Lohan vibe in the city. And the Kenosha police? Well, they were trying to maintain order by letting the protestors run around unopposed. Put another way, Barney Fife was Rambo next to these clowns.

Enter 17 year old Kyle Rittenhouse, a young man who lived in Illinois, but worked in Kenosha. If the stories we’ve heard are true, he was asked to help protect a business in Kenosha, but he also wanted to tend to any wounded people there if needed. (Maybe it’s me, but that doesn’t sound like a bloodthirsty killer.) It wasn’t until he felt threatened by the riot…I mean protestors that he fired his rifle. And with one guy pointing a gun at him and another smacking him with a skateboard, it’s clear his life was in danger. Regardless of whether you feel he should have been there, the fact he was attacked and didn’t fire first shows he wasn’t there to get his jollies by killing people. He felt there was no other option than to shoot and he acted accordingly to protect himself in the absence of police.

And that’s why the Left lost their shit.

To the Left, anyone who isn’t one of them is a dullard and needs to have Leftists run his or her life. The minute you show even an iota of initiative to do something yourself is the minute you become dangerous to the Left. After all, if you don’t need government to do everything for you, you won’t need…them.

Thus, the Left has taken up the cause to make bureaucracy as expansive and essential as necessary so more and more of us become wards of the state. And they’ll make it happen by any means necessary, including convincing/coercing people to comply. Whether it’s an additional charge to make a payment with a credit card over the phone or demanding people jump through flaming hoops only to have the state reject a gun permit, the Left’s goal with all of that is to make sure they have their noses in our business for no legitimate reason. Just ask Glenn Beck about the hassles he endured just trying to put up a fence on his property in the Northeast.

So, when someone decides to cut out the middle-man and pass the savings directly on to, well, himself/herself, the Left loses money and power, which makes them more than a little cranky. You see, the Left believes in self-determination so long as you abide by whatever they deem appropriate. Kyle Rittenhouse didn’t, and as a result is being held up as what’s wrong with the Right, an enemy that needs no courtesy or even an obligation to get even basic facts right. He’s an “other” just as anyone else who defies the Left.

And, as a result, Rittenhouse may get Nick Sandmann rich soon. But that’s a blog post for another time.

Self-defense is the ultimate fuck-you to the Left. After all, the Left think only the police and military should have firearms. You know, the same police that are racist and the same military that is a tool of the elites? Mind-blowing hypocrisy aside, this is to a) make it harder for people to defend themselves, and b) creating a need that only government can fulfill. The only problem with that is time. Anyone who has spent any amount of time at the DMV knows the speed of government is usually inert. No matter how quickly your need is, the police will get there when they get there and not a second sooner.

Provided they come at all or aren’t hamstrung by politicians. Anyone want to turn your community into San Francisco East? I’m gonna go out on a limb and say you don’t, but it’s the way the Left wants us to live: where the law-abiding are always the victims of the lawless. If you take up arms to protect yourself from being a victim, the Left can’t take it.

And that’s why you should do it, if you want to.

Really, it’s not a good reason why, but it’s certainly attractive. The best reason is because you have a right to be secure in your person, and if the government or its agents can’t or won’t respect that right, you shouldn’t be shamed into submission. If we take nothing else from the Kyle Rittenhouse situation, it’s that the best way to not be a victim is to understand what power you have and to never let anyone take it from you.

Oh, and that Leftists suck at keeping track of the facts of a criminal case before spewing ignorance.

Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week

To say the Left took the recent election results badly is an understatement of proportions so immense it makes Rosie O’Donnell look like Kate Moss on a meth binge. One of the more stunning results came from New Jersey, where Republican Edward Durr unseated Democrat state Senate President Steve Sweeney after running a primary campaign that cost around $150 and a total expenditure of around $2200. Talk about bang for the buck!

Well, the Left has decided Durr is unfit to serve in the public sector because of an answer he gave during an interview recently. When asked what he would do as Senate leader, he said he didn’t know. That got Leftist and self-professed expert Tom Nichols to lament about how the lack of experience in politics is a bad thing.

But what does the Left mean by experience? Good question, since I got nothing else for a Lexicon entry.

experience

What the Left thinks it means – the basic information necessary to speak intelligently on a topic

What it really means – the Left’s excuse for dumb people making poor decisions and to discredit smart people making astute observations

I know I’ve talked about appeals to authority before, but for the new people reading this, an appeal to authority is the rhetorical equivalent of “because an expert said so.” Although this does work with some subjects (i.e. talking to a cardiologist about heart issues), it doesn’t always bear good fruit (i.e. talking to a YouTube creator about, well, just about anything). Even people we think would have the credentials to give good advice can be wrong or deceiving. I’m looking right at you, Dr. Fauci. So, it’s important we show a reasonable amount of skepticism when we see someone appealing to authority.

Especially when that authority is derived from whether an expert has a college degree. The Left loves to deflect criticism of the Socialist Socialite’s dumb ideas about economics because she has an economics degree. I ran into this recently on Facebook when a Leftist posting on a thread by The Atlas Society mocked the Socialist Socialite’s lack of knowledge of economics. The meme they posted was of a tiny handbag with the caption “AOC carrying around everything she knows about economics.” Funny, yet accurate!

Ah, but a Leftist took exception to it by suggesting the Socialist Socialite was smarter than Ayn Rand on economics because the former had a degree in the subject and Rand didn’t. Never mind the fact Rand lived through what the Socialist Socialite thinks would make America great and realized it absolutely sucks, it was the degree that tipped the scale in the Leftist’s mind.

That’s when I dropped the metaphorical hammer and pointed out Ronald Reagan also had an economics degree.

The Left seem to be impressed with college degrees, mainly because they’re often the result of Leftist indoctrina…I mean teaching. But the degree itself is just a piece of paper signifying that the recipient has completed the necessary coursework to graduate and, thus, can start paying back the student loans they’ve amassed. Yes, nothing says you’re an adult like crippling debt! Between grade inflation and meaningless majors, the value of a college degree is quickly becoming as valuable as an expired K-Mart coupon without imparting the most important reason to go to college.

Partying.

Seriously, the most important reason to go to college is to develop the ability to process and apply knowledge. And that’s where the Left and to some extent the Right fail. If I have to sit through another video of clueless Congresscritters trying to get a representative from a social media executive to explain how Twitter works, I’m liable to send a tersely-worded email that some low level intern is going to have to respond to with a stock answer ensuring me my elected official “cares about your opinion.” And we don’t want that, do we?

Although there is some merit to the notion public officials should have experience in politics to hold office, sometimes it’s the experts who are the problem in the first place. But the Left never thinks Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, or Maxine Waters (who have all been in office for at least half of my life, by the way) are the problem. Instead, it’s people like Chuck Grassley, who has been in office for, well, most of my life, who are the real troublemakers. You see, the Left loves experience via age when it’s coming from a fellow Leftist. If it’s anyone else, it’s “Get out of the way of progress!” Yet, in my experience with the aforementioned politicians, I would take Grassley over Schumer, Pelosi, and Waters not because he’s one of my Senators. It’s because he knows what he’s doing most of the time, and he knows when he’s out of his depth.

That’s what real experience does for a person. It’s knowing what you know and what you don’t know. For all of the talk of Grassley being a “dumb farmer” (as a former Democrat Senate candidate said and later regretted after being stomped like a narc at a drug deal), he has a deeper understanding of issues that matter to people, not because he has a fancy degree on his resume, but because he actually does the legwork to talk to people. I swear he’s in Iowa more often than I am, and I live here!

However, a lack of experience isn’t a deal-breaker when it comes to politics. After working in Corporate America for a number of decades, sometimes the best ideas come from people who are just starting a job because their minds haven’t been infected with “the way we’ve always done it.” Either that or their souls haven’t been crushed…

Anyway, a new perspective may be what is needed to solve problems. By definition, a desire for change is liberal, but liberals aren’t the same as Leftists. Leftists call for change without actually meaning it. Remember Flint’s water problem? Still there, but Leftists aren’t. You’re more likely to find Bigfoot working on a screenplay at a Starbucks than find any of the Leftists who trumpeted how Flint’s water problems are because of Republicans (if you discount all the Democrats who were and are in charge, of course.) Here’s an idea, Flintites. Next time there’s an election, why not…you know…vote for someone other than the Leftists who screwed up the city in the first place? It’s not like Republicans are going to make the water any worse, right?

To Nichols’ point (aside from the one on his head), dismissing someone because of a lack of experience only serves to maintain the status quo, which by definition is what a conservative wants. He does have a good point that the Right doesn’t tend to support new left-leaning officials, but he botched the reasons why. First off, Leftists do the same thing with new right-leaning officials like Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, albeit with more claims they’re insane. (In the spirit of bipartisanship, I’m willing to concede the point about MTG.) Second, it’s not a lack of experience the Right objects to with the Socialist Socialite; it’s the fact she’s an empty pant-suit, as demonstrated throughout her tenure as a Representative. I wouldn’t trust her to run my car though a car wash, let alone run any significant office in America. And if you’ve tried to run an office through a car wash, you know what I mean.

While Edward Durr may not have any real experience in governing, he’s admitted he’s willing to learn the ropes. That bit of refreshing honesty makes me a fan of his and I look forward to seeing what he’s able to do.

That, and the fact the only reason he ran for office is because of government bureaucracy and duplicity around New Jersey’s concealed carry permits. Thanks Leftists!

Is it right for you?

Turn on any TV channel in America today and you will eventually see a commercial for some kind of medication.

These run the whole spectrum of ailments. From constipation to mental illness to cancer and auto immune diseases. And everything in between.

All of these commercials follow the same basic format. One or more people with the same ailment and how it limits or otherwise impacts their daily lives. Then the drug gets introduced.

Then there is the consultation with a doctor or pharmacist and how the drug can help the impact that was previously stated. The commercial ends with the people saying how great it was that they started taking it. And how you should contact your doctor as well to see if the medication is right for you.

Of course all during this we have a voice over describing the potential side effects of the medication. Death is sometimes included and what you should do if you start getting some side effects.

Every drug uses this advertisement pattern. From over the counter medication through prescription drugs to potentially life saving wonder drugs made of miracles.

Every one of them. Except for the Covid-19 vaccine drugs.

The commercials that exist for these drugs are very different. First they use an emotional attack approach. Thus causing you to have an emotional reaction to it instead of a reasoning and rational one.

At no time during these commercials, or anywhere else, is any report of side effects of any variety from getting the Covid-19 shot. It is as if this life saving wonder drug has no side effects at all since they aren’t mentioned. Yet we all know that there are dangerous and deadly side effects to taking this jab.

Also there is never the statement to check with your doctor to see if taking the jab is right for you. It is always right for everyone aged 5 years and older. No questions asked or even allowed.

In fact if you ask questions about the Covid-19 wonder vaccine. You become the cause of all misfortune in the world.

You are why other people die.

You are why other people can’t visit their family.

You are why a business had to close.

You are why other people can’t travel where they want to go.

You are why someone else lost their job.

You must be a religious fanatic.

You must be a science denier.

Except for the very fact that science isn’t fixed. The very nature of science is to question everything, including itself. And to question the answers one gets to see if they hold true and for how long.

I question the ads for medications.

I question the medication.

And I always ask. Is this medication right for me?

And so should you.

Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week

Although the Left loves to play with words, there are times when they’re played by words. Such is the case with the hot phrase making its way through the Right, “Let’s Go Brandon.” I haven’t seen Leftists this pissed off about three words since President Donald Trump.

I know I’m a little late to the party on this one, but seeing how the Left keeps getting their panties in a twist over it (and that’s not the only thing twisted here), I figured I might as well delve deeper into the phenomenon.

Let’s Go Brandon

What the Left thinks it means – a derogatory term to protest the Biden Administration

What it really means – a semi-organic phrase originating from an ill-advised attempt to protect the Biden Administration that has taken on a life of its own

In Leftist circles, Joe Biden is a popular President, and only a handful of misguided people think otherwise. In the real world, though, he’s only slightly more popular than sexually-transmitted diseases, a Hannah Gadsby stand-up special, and a nude pictorial by Rosie O’Donnell. And that’s even with a press slobbering over him more than the President does on himself.

While the Left struggles with why people aren’t worshiping the ground he walks on, it’s really not that hard to understand. For being in politics for most of my and his adult lives, it’s clear he hasn’t learned much about how to lead. Oh, he’s had leadership opportunities, but he hasn’t picked up on the simplest of basics.

Namely, don’t be a dumbass.

As a result of the President’s inability to master this, along with the ongoing allegations of voter fraud, people started to push back in small, but noticeable ways. Granted, these weren’t as extreme as knitting pussy hats or overtaking portions of Seattle and turning it into Beirut with Starbucks, but the effect was the same: it pissed people off.

And, hypocritically so, making Leftists clutch their metaphorical pearls because…there was vulgarity! The chant of “Fuck Joe Biden” became the go-to for people who didn’t like the President, and the same Leftists who got behind the “Fuck Trump” chants suddenly became Puritans. Or Im-Puritans as the case may be.

Either way, the point was made. Where the twisting of the phrase came into play was during a live interview with NASCAR driver Brandon Brown. Although it was clear the crowd was yelling “Fuck Joe Biden,” the reporter tried to pass it off as the crowd yelling “Let’s Go Brandon.” That one attempt to poorly explain away what was actually being said spread like wildfire on the Right. Everything from flags to hats to t-shirts, including face masks and a #1 song on iTunes, started popping up and spreading across the country.

Hmmm…apparently that small group of naysayers is a lot bigger than the Left believes.

Although there are a lot of reasons the Left hates “Let’s Go Brandon,” one of the less obvious ones is it didn’t come from the Left. The Left’s stock and trade is creating memorable phrases that resonate with potential voters and the party faithful. And let’s be honest, “Build Back Better” doesn’t exactly inspire passion in anyone but the hardcore Bidenites. To have something like “Let’s Go Brandon” catch on means the Left can’t control the narrative.

Which means they have to destroy it.

Recent articles by NPR, the Associated Press, and others attempt to peel the onion and mention the ill-fated turn of a phrase the Right co-opted, but fail to truly understand how and why it’s taken off. Instead, the Left tries to pass it off as vulgarity in lieu of political discourse. (Yeah, like “Fuck Trump” was the height of brilliant repartee.) And to be fair, that’s an accurate assessment, but it skims the surface without ever getting deeper than a mud puddle. So, let me fill in the blanks.

Joe Biden has made some horrible decisions as President that have negatively impacted people across the country. When this happens, people are going to get upset and look for ways to needle the powerful. That’s the way it’s been here since pre-Revolutionary War days, and it’s going to continue for many years to come.

The ultimate slap in the face, though, is the fact it’s protected speech, just like the Left’s tantrums over the past 5 years is. Even when we don’t like it. If the Left decides to go the legislative or regulatory route to stifle “Let’s Go Brandon,” it will only take until the next Republican President for it to backfire. Granted, no one said the Left was any good at long-term consistent thinking, but it’s still something to consider.

Speaking personally, I’m amused by the chant, if only because it pisses off the Left so much. It’s not something I would normally support because their brevity robs the ideas behind them of their power and intellectual heft, but I wholeheartedly support anyone who wants to use it because, well, I’m not a dick. Then again, sometimes the most impactful messages don’t need to be an intellectual masterpiece.

After all, they still sell Hot Pockets off the jingle alone.