We have a lot on our plates these days, what with inflation making prices higher than Snoop Dogg on any day that ends with, well, “day,” a potential world war starting due to the Russia-Ukraine war, OPEC+ nations signalling they would cut production which would drive up gas prices, and a lot of other matters. Good thing we have an Administration willing to tackle the tough issues, like…equity.
In fact, between Vice President Kamala Harris talking about equity in fighting climate change as part of the Inflation Reduction Act and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announcing the Biden economic plan focusing on racial equity, the concept has gotten some much-needed attention. Which means it will get some much-needed mockery this week.
equity
What the Left thinks it means – a way to level the playing field and address past injustices against affected people
What it really means – a shift away from equality and towards disparate treatment done in the name of equality
Although equality and equity are often used interchangeably (often by Leftists to try to hide their agenda), there is a vital difference we have to address. Equality requires a level playing field for all by definition. Nobody gets preferential treatment or special dispensation to ask for and receive anything extra. Everybody is square (and from what I understand from Huey Lewis and the News, it’s hip to be that).
Equity, on the other hand, doesn’t require all parties winding up equal. It allows there to be exceptions to the rule, so someone who may have been wronged previously can get a bit more to make up for it. In fact, there are three ways to achieve equity: elevate a party, lower a party, or a combination of the two. Of these, only one gives the recipient a chance to succeed on a larger scale, which naturally means Leftists hate it. Instead, they prefer to destroy rather that build, and I’m not talking about “The Big Dig” either!
The problem with is approach is weakening the strong doesn’t make the weak strong by extension. It just makes everyone weaker. At least, that is until Leftists try to rig things so those they perceive as weak (i.e. anyone who can be made to believe they’ve been oppressed) can become more powerful. But wouldn’t that make it so the formerly weak have to give up what the Left gave them to the formerly powerful? Well, the Left hasn’t figured that out yet and when you ask them about it, they give it some thought and realize it’s folly.
Nah, I’m just fucking with ya! They will just call you a bigot and go about their days without a sense of irony or an answer.
Regardless of the adjective Leftists use to clarify what kind of equity they want, understand it’s designed to deceive people into accepting outcomes that will ultimately screw them over. With racial equity, it’s playing to people’s guilt over previous racism they may or may not have been party to. With marriage equity, it’s playing to people’s guilt over past mistreatment of gays and lesbians. With economic equity, it’s trying to get people to feel guilty about other people being poor while they are comfortable.
Maybe it’s me, but I’m sensing a pattern here…
By making us feel guilty, Leftists psychologically manipulate us by preying on our desire to be liked. Of course, for cynical assholes like me, it’s a lot harder to do, but the point remains. Plus, we want the fastest resolutions we can get so we stop feeling guilty. What better way for Leftists to get what they want than to provide the current political/ideological version of indulgences to remove people’s “sins”? I mean, it worked for Oprah.
It wasn’t that long ago that Leftists clamored for equality, but that’s not good enough for them anymore. They need there to be some level of inequality (that they control, of course) so they can maintain the scam…I mean…wait, I do mean scam. Never mind.
The key to overcoming Leftist calls for equity is to continue to fight for equality, not of outcome, but of treatment. If we treat everyone with the same respect we would ask for ourselves, and if we support each other becoming the best we can be, it will go a long way towards removing the power the Left has when pushing for equity.
Well, either that, or not feeling guilty over shit we didn’t do or advocate. Remove the source of their power, and you negate their power. Simple as that.
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Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
This week’s Lexicon entry has its origins in the recent Italian election where Giorgia Meloni was elected Prime Minister to the surprise of Leftists worldwide. And let’s just say they’re not taking this turn of events well, going so far as to compare her to former fascist dictator and George C. Scott body double Benito Mussolini.
Yet, in spite of this, Leftists still haven’t adopted Ms-solini to describe her. That one’s a freebie. You’re welcome.
For an ideology that really pushes for women to get elected, the Left doesn’t seem all that thrilled with Meloni’s victory. Hmmmm…I wonder why…
Giorgia Meloni
What the Left thinks it means – the second coming of Mussolini and the sign the far right is taking over Europe
What it really means – the wrong kind of female political leader for the Left, which means the right kind for the rest of us
The Left relies heavily on females to advance its agenda, whether it be in office, positions of power in academia, or even working the help desk at your local DMV. When a woman outside of the Leftist hivemind gets into one of those positions of power, though, it throws a King Kong-sized monkey wrench into the power dynamic the Left has worked so hard to create. After all, we can’t have women thinking for themselves or they might do something crazy, like voting for a Republican, amirite?
That’s why the Left focuses on issues many women feel are important. Abortion rights, climate change, the pay gap, and so on. If they offered bottles or boxes of wine in some communities, the Left would never lose another election for at least 50 years. But just like not every woman loves wine, not every woman feels the way the Left does on the aforementioned issues. Instead of being accepting and tolerant (you know, like they claim they are), Leftists treat these women worse than Ike treated Tina.
Although this works most of the time to keep women on the Left, it creates a built-in conundrum about the agency of women. On the one hand, Leftists say women (and in some cases pre-teen and teen girls) are strong, capable, and smart enough to make decisions about issues that affect their lives. On the other, those same women can’t be trusted to make decisions about school choice, abortion, gun rights, and so on, so they need Leftists to think for them.
And that’s before we consider the Left still doesn’t know what a woman is!
All kidding aside (and by all I mean some), the Left continues to be a woman’s worst enemy because they don’t see women as anything but political pawns. In doing so, they’ve managed to convince millions of women that anyone that doesn’t subscribe to the ever-shifting-and-often-contradictory Leftist ideology is a traitor to womanhood. Twitter is full of Leftist women who openly chastise women for voting for a Republican because, according to the Left, Republicans hate women.
That’s going to come as a pretty big shock to a lot of women, Republican or otherwise.
But it goes beyond Republicans. Any woman who fails to drink deeply from the Blue Kool-Aid gets attacked for not being a real Leftist. Just ask Tulsi Gabbard, who was accused of being a Russian asset by Hillary Clinton, a woman with actual and direct ties to Russia and Vladimir Putin.
It’s this type of deliberate misinformation that is being used against Giorgia Meloni to paint her as Mussolini 2: Electric Boogaloo. To hear the Left speak on the subject (provided you’re into that kind of pain), Meloni was anti-immigrant, anti-LBGTQRSTUVCANTHEYADDANYMORELETTERS, and generally not a very nice person. What does she and her party, the Brothers of Italy, support? If only there were a website that outlined those positions…oh, wait, there is. Here’s a short list of some of their platform points.
– Pro-choice up to 3 months
– Equal pay for both genders (and, yes, there are still two)
– Increased environmental regulations
– Stay in the European Union
– Raising the minimum wage
Wow. Truly scary stuff, isn’t it? I am literally shaking over this. Well, either that or the furnace is on the blink and it’s the temperature of a cold snap at Ice Station Zebra.
Either way, there is a bit of a problem for Leftists wanting to make Meloni look like a fascist: there are a lot of areas where the Left and she overlap. Sure, there are some planks where they’re as different as cats and dinosaurs, but it’s dishonest to overlook the areas where there are areas of agreement.
Which is why the Left is doing it.
Since I have no dog in the fight, I decided to take a look at the platform and found it to be pretty middle of the road. Not overly liberal, not overly conservative, but apparently in line with the Italian public, if election results are any indication. And as the Left is so fond of telling us, questioning the results of an election is a bad thing.
Based on the coverage so far, which has been as far removed from reality as one could be without heavy sedatives laced with hallucinogens, Giorgia Meloni will be facing a dishonest press desperate to turn her into the very monster they want her to be, even if she doesn’t do anything that would lead any sane (i.e. non-Leftist) person to believe them. In other words, she’s the Italian Ron DeSantis. But something tells me she’s going to handle the Leftists in the press (a redundancy, I know) just fine.
Mainly, because I know how fucking stupid Leftists can be.
We’re At a Tipping Point…Again
It seems like we’re seeing old favorites (The Little Mermaid, The Lord of the Rings, a music scene without Nickelback) being revised for a new generation with little twists to make them seem different (a black Little Mermaid, The Rings of Power, Nickelback putting out another new album). The same can be said for political and social issues.
Former Vice President and Internet creator Al Gore resurfaced, which typically means 6 more years of global climate change talk. And, true to form, he was talking about…global climate change. But instead of pushing a doomsday scenario, he talked about the world reaching “a positive tipping point” thanks in part to the Inflation Reduction Act. I’m not sure what fighting inflation has to do with climate change, but hey, I’m not a biologist.
But I’m also not a dumbass with the memory of a goldfish with ADHD. It wasn’t that long ago that Gore pushed less-optimistic predictions concerning climate change.
It was waaaaaaaay back in 2006 when Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth” warned us we had 10 years to avoid “a point of no return” unless we took serious action to combat climate change. Sixteen years later, we’ve blown past that point and are now at a positive tipping point? What changed?
Absolutely nothing.
No new government programs. No societal commitment to green energy. Not even a Prius in every solar-powered garage. Just more of the same that’s been going on since 2006 and before.
In fact, you could count on Captain Hook’s, well, hook the number of times Gore’s predictions have been correct and still have the ability to hail a cab. But that hasn’t stopped the former Vice President from claiming his predictions have come to pass. Which brings us back to the original logical problem: if Gore was right all along, where is the ecological disaster we were promised?
That’s the beauty of Gore’s scam…I mean activism: it doesn’t have an expiration date because science keeps evolving. Back in the 1970s, we were told the world would freeze. Then, in the 1980s and 1990s, the planet was burning up because “the science is better now than it was then.” And in another 10-20 years when this year’s climate change fear porn doesn’t happen, the same asshats who told us the world would be experiencing climate disasters out of Irwin Allen’s fever dreams will tell us the predictions they made today were wrong, but the ones they’re making later are the right ones. Just trust the science!
Provided the science isn’t full of bullshit, that is.
Since I’ve been following the climate change debate in the early 1990s, I’ve noticed the Left has been bastardizing and lionizing science simultaneously. Since science when done properly follows a logical and consistent set of events, Leftists can’t feel their way to a correct answer. So, when the facts don’t fit the narrative, change the facts so they do! The Scientific Method be damned if it doesn’t come up with the results we need to force more government down our throats!
Meanwhile, the Left also makes it impossible to disagree with the science (that they’re rewriting on the fly) by appealing to the human need for community and acceptance within it. How many times have we heard “the science is settled” and just so happens to coincide with what the Left claims is happening? Well, I don’t know how to put this, but…that’s not how science works. Every hypothesis and theory is subject to testing and revision to see if the established conclusion is still valid. In other words, science is rarely, if ever, settled, and anyone who says differently is a fucking idiot.
Or they’re trying to sell you something, namely the “fact” of climate change.
Of course, they have a bit of a problem with their sales pitch: they’ve been wrong. Consistently. I’m talking make-your-local-weather-forecaster-look-like-Nostra-fucking-damas wrong.
With a track record of failure that long and spectacular, even the most ardent climate change worrier would pause to reconsider. Or they would if they were being honest, which the global climate change cult cannot allow for fear of being exposed as the frauds they are. To keep the gravy train of sweet fear porn cash coming, the narrative must be protected, even at the expense of the credibility of those pushing it.
Then again, it can be argued Al Gore has no credibility to lose…
The only tipping point we’re at right now is whether we will continue to believe the climate change bullshit we’ve been fed since the first Earth Day. I’ve long advocated for an honest discussion on the science behind climate change and to call out the bad actors on both sides so we get a clear picture of what we face, if anything at all. That won’t happen in today’s climate (see what I did there?) because there are too many people with a vested interest in maintaining the facade.
Such as a former Vice President whose two movies on the subject have made him a lot of money in spite of the fact he’s not a scientist, nor did he stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Take it from me. Someone truly concerned about rising tides due to climate change doesn’t buy up beachfront property.
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
Remember when Bill Maher was Leftist Jesus..you know if they actually believed in Jesus? During Republican Administrations, Maher would consistently rail against what he saw were Republican mistakes and idiocy, and Leftists cheered. Then, when Joe Biden became President and Maher started railing against what he saw were Democrat mistakes and idiocy, the Left no longer found him to be a voice of truth. But they did find him to be a traitor.
Welcome to the party, Bill. Go grab some punch and a cookie.
The reason I brought up Bill Maher (something I try not to do much for the sake of my sanity) is he recently introduced a Leftist term I hadn’t heard before: presentism. Apparently, Leftists are applying this whenever they discuss history, and it may be coming to a history discussion near you.
presentism
What the Left thinks it means – framing historical figures and events with modern sensibilities
What it really means – holding the past up to present standards to establish modern superiority
There’s an old saying, “History is written by the victors.” Although, these days, it could be written by the Victor/Victorias, but that’s not important right now. The saying refers to how some aspects of history get ignored or forgotten because people tend only to think in terms of winners and losers. Leftists have seized upon this tendency to push for what they call a more comprehensive view of history, i.e. downplaying the “white” view of history in favor of the histories of marginalized people.
And that’s how we get Post-Modern Native American Albino Lesbian Literary History degrees.
It’s all a part of the Left’s intellectual (stop laughing!) approach to all academic fields called intersectionality. Although this could be a Leftist Lexicon entry in and of itself, the long and the short of it is every form of oppression overlaps with others, like racism and sexism. By recognizing it, Leftists hope to undo the damage by…well, they haven’t figured that part out yet, but it has lead to some interesting discussions on who is considered more oppressed in a country where they’re allowed to drive, vote, and dress like Miley Cyrus during a performance at a strip club. Or, as she calls it, Tuesday.
By framing everything in terms of oppression, the Left has created a hellscape where just about everyone is oppressed to some degree. Unless, of course, you’re a straight white male. Then, you’re everybody’s asshole. Of course, I already have a lot of Leftists think I’m an asshole, so it’s nothing new.
Presentism plays into this framework by allowing Leftists to dictate the standards by which figures of the past (i.e. straight white males) are to be held without those figures even knowing it. Because, you know, they’re dead. That gives the Left all the power to frame the past with none of the piddly little details that add a little something the Left has a love/hate relationship with called context.
When I was in college back when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth, Leftists at the time were up in arms over Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because of the book’s use of the n-word. I won’t give the whole word for a number of reasons, not the least of which being I want to save Chris the headache of having to answer more angry emails about me than he usually gets. In their attempt to virtue signal before such a thing was a thing, they ignored a lot of context, namely the historical backdrop for the story and how Huck became the voice of those who wanted to treat blacks like everyone else. If it weren’t for people who actually read the book for comprehension rather than to find naughty words, there might be a generation that wouldn’t even know who Huck Finn was long before YouTube turned their brains into tapioca pudding.
On the other hand, it prepared them in case they ever got elected to be President of the United States.
The same attitude the Left used over Huck Finn is the same drawback presentism faces today: the lack of context. I’ll be the first one to admit human history is rife with events and attitudes that elicit shame and disappointment (like when Gary Cherone took over singing duties in Van Halen). Having said that, the people then didn’t have the advantage we have of being able to look back at the historical record. In more than a few of these dark periods of history, what happened was unprecedented because it had literally never happened before with the circumstances they had to work with. It’s like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle in the dark blindfolded while strapped to a ticking time bomb. You’re going to make mistakes, and the results won’t always be good.
Then, there’s human nature to consider. Contrary to Leftist belief, yet completely consistent with their actions and thoughts concerning others who disagree with them, humans are assholes. We will consistently choose evil over good for whatever reason we can justify in our own heads. Hatred, lust, greed, convenience, having to listen to “Baby Shark” on repeat because your child loves it, and so on. It is only through work, thought, and determination that we overcome our base nature to be better, and you can’t regulate your way to that end.
Can you say “War on Drugs,” kids? I knew you could.
In spite of those dark periods, there are points of light that Leftists will likely overlook or disregard because of the race, gender, and sexual orientation of the ones responsible for them. Take William Wilberforce, for example. During the British slave trade, Wilberforce worked to end it at great personal expense and against the prevailing attitudes of the time. But given the Left’s current prevailing attitudes towards white men (especially Christian white men like Wilberforce), I’m guessing he’s going to be mentioned well after someone like Cardi B.
Which is to say probably never because, well, Cardi B.
The big issue with presentism for me is how easily it can be manipulated for ideological gain. And by “can be” I mean “will be.” With Leftists controlling academia, they have all the power and, since they’re around other Leftists, none of the accountability. Combine the two and you have the perfect storm of academic and historical malpractice through the revision of history in real time. It will be like Wikipedia, but with more academics signing off on it.
Of course, nothing bad will come from academics signing off on bad ideas just to fit in, right? That reminds me, how is Michael Mann’s “hockey stick graph” holding up these days?
The worst thing we can do right now is to overlook how far-reaching presentism is. We’ve seen how Common Core has fucked up math and English, and presentism will wind up no differently from where I sit. And as George Santayana once wrote, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Or was it my high school history teacher threatening summer school if I didn’t get my grades up?
Either way, we will have to be on our toes and make sure what is being presented as historical fact meshes with actual historical facts. Yes, that will require us to be honest about our past, even the dingy corners of it, because that is the only way we will have the intellectual high ground. Opting for a version of history that just so happens to fit our beliefs doesn’t achieve this. We have to be above board because we know the Left won’t be.
So, Bill Maher was good for at least one thing. Yay…I guess?
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
The latest battleground for the fight over illegal immigration is a lot further north than you might expect. I’m talking about the Leftist haven, Martha’s Vineyard. It turns out Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis decided to fly several immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard to show them a better life. You know, Leftist utopias where everyone is super educated and live incredibly well? Away from conservative hellholes where racism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia are rampant and the people are uneducated rubes?
Well, let’s just say Leftists aren’t greeting their new immigrant neighbors with open arms. In fact, Leftists are circulating the idea the aforementioned Governors with brass balls the size of, say, Pluto are guilty of human trafficking. And by circulating, I mean repeating the same squawking points with steadily increasing volume and frequency. As we’re about to find out, the squawking point has a deeper origin than even the Left has considered.
human trafficking
What the Left thinks it means – Republican Governors sending asylum seekers to other parts of the country against their will
What it really means – Leftists not understanding the issue, like, at all
Illegal immigration has a number of facets that often get glossed over in the debate on what to do with the immigrants we catch, and human trafficking is one such facet. And it’s not a once-in-a-while problem, either. The 2021 numbers show a stark picture of the scope of the human trafficking problem, but those are just the cases we know about. Government agencies from ICE to Customs and Border Protection and non-government organizations like the ACLU are sounding the alarm and efforts to reach as many people as possible are evident to anyone who’s used a convenience store bathroom can tell.
Good thing Leftists aren’t trying to demonize and/or eliminate ICE and the Border Patrol, right? Oh, wait…
So, what exactly is human trafficking? There are a number of definitions floating around there, but the general consensus involves the exploitation of people for sex, work, or services through coercion, deception, or force. For the purposes of this discussion, though, I want to use the definition provided by the United Nations:
Human trafficking involves the recruitment, movement or harbouring of people for the purpose of exploitation – such as sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or organ removal. Victims can be children or adults, boys, girls, men or women, and are trafficked by the use of improper means such as the threat or use of force, fraudulent schemes, deception, or abuse of power. It can occur within a country or across borders. Human trafficking is therefore characterized by an act (recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of people), specific means (threats or use of force, deception, fraud, abuse of power, or abusing someone’s vulnerable condition) for the purpose of exploitation (for example sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or organ removal).
To the Left, what DeSantis and Abbott are doing fits the UN’s definition of human trafficking perfectly because, as they frame it, they are exploiting the immigrants for political points. And since they’re being flown to different parts of the country, it’s a slam dunk, right?
Not so much. One of the aspects of the UN’s definition is recruitment. Both Abbott and DeSantis have been vocal in their efforts to try to stem the tide of illegal immigration, with Abbott taking specific action to enforce immigration law which the federal government doesn’t seem to want to do. And considering Florida and Texas are two of the top 3 states of reported human trafficking cases, I’m thinking DeSantis and Abbott might just have a vested interest in not encouraging any activity that would make those numbers worse.
In fact, it’s not Republicans who are rolling out the red carpet for illegal immigration. It’s the Democrats. By framing every immigrant as either escaping horrible conditions or wanting to make a better life here, they have done to illegal immigration what Glamour Shots did for housewives in the 80s and 90s: using tricks to hide or soften the imperfections and give a beautiful, albeit distorted, view of the subject.
Now, consider what impact that has on human trafficking. The Left makes no distinction between Raul who crosses the border illegally to find work and Pedro who crosses the border illegally to make money by exploiting people of all ages to fill the needs and wants of his clients. Maybe it’s me, but I think there’s a huge fucking difference here. Both are breaking the law, but only one of them drags other people with him into exploitation.
No wonder the Left wants people to think DeSantis and Abbott are the evil ones here. Well, that, and the fact they’re both Republicans who aren’t afraid of Leftists not liking them. If Leftists admit there are bad actors (and I’m not talking about Brie Larson) mixed in with the “good guys” coming across the border…illegally, it would not only ruin the rosy picture they’ve been painting for decades, but it would lend credence to what DeSantis and Abbott have been saying. And Lord knows Leftists hate to admit they were wrong.
There’s another reason the Left is freaking out about illegal immigrants heading to Martha’s Vineyard: DeSantis and Abbott are forcing Leftists to live by their own ideas. Remember when Leftist communities were fighting each other to get attention for being “sanctuary cities”? Well, it’s easy to make such proclamations when you aren’t dealing with a steady influx of illegal immigrants. You know, like Martha’s Vineyard? Once the immigrants start arriving, the Leftist welcome mats start disappearing, along with the signs saying “No person is illegal.”
The late comedian George Carlin made an observation about homelessness that has some application here in the form of the abbreviation NIMBY, which means Not In My Back Yard. Leftists talk a great game when it comes to helping people (usually in the form of more government), but they don’t always walk the walk when presented with the opportunity, as the citizens of Martha’s Vineyard have now.
Annnnnnnd they decided to ship their new neighbors to a military complex because…reasons?
Your compassion is underwhelming, Leftists.
When it comes to human trafficking, though, we need much more than words and stickers on bathroom mirrors. Yet, I’m not sure America is quite ready for the discussion and action needed to make real change. Both sides of the political spectrum have a vested interest in keeping the illegal immigration and subsequently the human trafficking issues alive to retain power over their respective voting blocs. But we’re dealing with human lives here, and there shouldn’t be an ideological divide. Yet, here we are.
And the Left isn’t helping matters any by throwing around accusations of human trafficking against two of the Republican Governors who have given the the most fits in the past few years. At the rate it’s going now, Leftists are going to wear out the “human trafficking” label like they’ve worn out the “fascist” label by overusing it to the point of irrelevance.
Then again, if you had as horrible a record on human trafficking as the Left does, you’d want to bring everyone else down to your level, too.
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
I know the event that inspired this week’s Lexicon occurred last week, but the real impact of it is still being felt this week. Besides, the Lexicon self-identifies as timely, so if you disagree you’re a bigot!
Anyway, President Joe Biden gave an address to the nation last week. To say the optics were a little on the horrible side would be understating it quite a bit. Yet, the speech being called The Red Speech was just the kind of red (speech) meat the Left wanted. Leftists fought for column inches and TV time to praise the speech, even though they pretty much said the same things…
Anyway, let’s take a closer look at The Red Speech.
The Red Speech
What the Left thinks it means – an awesome speech preaching of uniting against the greatest threat to America in history
What it really means – a disjointed speech that only appeals to the Left’s totalitarian nature
So I don’t get accused of taking Biden’s words out of context, here are the text and video of the speech in question. Of course, that won’t stop Leftists from making the accusations because…reasons.
I was going to do a thorough analysis of the speech going over the various elements from the lighting to the location to the verbiage used. Then, I remembered it’s a Joe Biden speech. They typically have the intellectual rigor of a completed Sudoku puzzle. The speech itself isn’t as important as the Left’s reaction to it.
To put it mildly, they loved it so much, they smoked a cigarette (or a joint) or vaped or whatever it is they do afterwards. To them, it was a combination of a call to action, an affirmation of American (i.e. Leftist) values, and a shot over the bow of “MAGA Republicans” letting them know they weren’t going to take it anymore. It was, if you’ll pardon the expression (and even if you don’t), red meat for the Left. I’m not sure how the vegans on the Left felt, though…
Regardless, there were a lot of threads to tie together into one speech. Outside of the Leftist hivemind, the reaction was pretty much universal: the Red Speech sucked ass, and not in the fun way. Not only were the positive elements overpowered by the negative ones, but the visuals and vocal tone didn’t help matters either. It came off as loud, hateful, and generally tone-deaf. So, like an episode of The Young Turks.
You can tell how badly The Red Speech was received by how quickly the Biden Administration walked it back. Literally, within hours of giving it, kids. Now, I’m no Presidential speechwriter, but to me good speeches don’t have to be retracted, respun, and revised less than 24 hours after they were given.
And given President Biden’s track record of being less honest than tobacco companies in the 50s, it’s hard to tell whether the speech or the post-speech spin reflects his true feelings. That allows political opponents to assume the worst and express it, thus making a bad situation even worse for Biden. And guess what? The longer the outrage, real or manufactured, keeps The Red Speech in people’s minds, the more it will impact the midterms. You know, the ones where Democrats are hoping to hold the House and get at least 2 seats in the Senate? Yeah, try being a pro-Biden Democrat running on the “MAGA Republicans are the greatest threat to democracy right now…until they aren’t” message. That prospect is scarier than day-old sushi sold at Food Poisoning Emporium.
What should be even scarier for Leftists is the fact The Red Speech sounded and felt a lot like a speech from Donald Trump. All you would need to do is change a few words. Remember when we were told Joe Biden would be a better President because he wasn’t Trump? Almost two years and several clusterfucks later, the current President is sounding more and more like the former President and the Left doesn’t even see it.
Doubt me? Let’s check.
– The “otherization” of political opponents? Check.
– Blaming these “others” for problems Americans face? Check.
– Appealing to America’s greatness and resilience? Check.
– Promising to take action against those who threaten us? Check.
– Use of patriotic imagery as a backdrop? Check.
– Appeals to our emotions? Check.
– Cheers from audience members? Check.
– Rallying supporters to support party ideals and candidates? Check.
You get the idea. Leftists might not, but you do.
At this point, we should answer the lingering question why the Left slobbered over each other to praise The Red Speech. Aside from being full of the policy positions they love so much, it was also full of a lot of the stuff Leftists have been talking about in private being uttered in public. Normally, this would scare Leftists more than letting Biden go off-script, but in this case it’s exactly what they wanted because it makes those ideas seem plausible, possible, and inevitable. The Left has been talking about the possibility of civil war for a while now, either to criticize the Right or to pump up the Left’s egos to make them think they could win such a war easily. Even the President recently pooh-poohed the idea the Right could successfully beat the US military.
You know, the same MAGA Republicans who almost overthrew the government on January 6th, according to the Left?
I don’t understand the logic, either, kids.
What I do understand, though, is how The Red Speech fits into the Left’s totalitarian nature. They need to be in control of as much of our lives as possible, and post-COVID they’re looking for another hit of that sweet totalitarian shit. What better way to get people to run to the Left for protection than to overstate the threat the MAGA movement is to the country?
I’m not a MAGA guy, but I recognize some common traits in the members of the movement. Aside from being super-pro-Trump, that is. Most of the people being labeled as domestic terrorists by the Left are just regular people who just want to be left alone by government and for America to thrive. If you believe the Left, that’s what they want, too. They just have a different road to achieve it.
That road, of course, being letting them rule over everything and make all the important decisions because they’re so much smarter than we are. (Just ask them.) Since those pesky MAGA Republicans don’t agree with them, the Left has to resort to coercion and even force to get people to agree with them. Hence, the reason the midterms are so important to them and then the 2024 Presidential election.
Which makes The Red Speech seem like a much bigger fuck-up than I initially thought. Once you say the quiet part out loud, you’re kinda stuck with it. You can’t memory wipe the world…or can you?…no, no, you can’t. People are going to remember your words and hold you accountable to/for them.
Including people outside of your ideological sphere.
Conventional political wisdom says you have to try to attract the middle (i.e. the un-or-disenfranchised) to win elections. It’s easy to get voters if they already agree with your ideas, but it takes a bit of effort to expand that base to include people who may only agree with some of your ideas. And the more radical you appear, the less likely these possible voters will vote for you.
After The Red Speech, there are already Democrats trying to keep the stench off them in the hopes of still getting elected. And we’re not talking about no-name Democrats running for dog catcher, either. There are a few big name candidates ranging from Tim Ryan in Ohio to Raphael Warnock in Georgia. Although it can be argued they’re keeping their distance for reasons other than The Red Speech, it cannot be argued the speech itself makes it harder for red state Democrats to appeal to the middle, especially if they agree even a little bit with the MAGA Republicans.
Spoiler Alert, Leftists: It’s not just Republicans who support MAGA. There are more than a few people from your side who are getting turned off by the overheated bullshit and the lack of attention to more “kitchen table” issues that can make or break a candidate’s campaign. But, tell us again how buying an electric car will help when you practically need to take out a fourth mortgage just to get groceries.
The Red Speech won’t go down as one of the best speeches ever, but it certainly has lived down to its potential as one of the most infamous.
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week – Special Edition!
By the time you read this, we will be celebrating or will have just celebrated a pivotal holiday in America. It’s a day to remember the sacrifices of so many to make our country a better place. I’m speaking, of course, of the start of college football.
Oh, and there’s also Labor Day.
Labor Day was established to celebrate the contributions of working Americans, and as you might expect, Leftists are quick to champion those working Americans. Or do they?
working Americans
What the Left thinks it means – the backbone of this country, people who constantly get fucked over by the corrupt rich and corporations
What it really means – a wide swath of Americans who constantly get fucked over by the corrupt Left
If you listen to Leftists (and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have a stiff drink or five), the only ones fighting for the working men and women are Leftists. They work so hard to get middle class tax cuts, only to be thwarted at every turn by those evil Republicans who are in the back pockets of the greedy rich. It’s all they can do for the people we rely on so much to make the country run as smoothly as possible.
Which is complete bullshit.
Oh, I know there are hard-working Americans out there because I am one. But the Left’s fawning over folks like us is phonier than a Karine Jean-Pierre excuse for why the country is on proverbial fire right now. Leftists have a healthy contempt for working folks, and no matter how many flannel shirts, blue jeans, and hard hats they wear, they can’t escape their attitudes or looking like a member of the Village People.
As frequent readers know or have figured out on their own, the Left hates anyone who isn’t them. Meaning, rich white Leftists. Everyone else is treated like pawns to be moved across the political chessboard as the elites see fit. Granted, the Right does this as well, but not to the extent and levels of deception the Left does. And when it comes to the game, the Left is Garry Kasparov.
The way Leftists deceive…I mean persuade people of their pro-worker stance is by playing into their emotions, namely greed and jealousy. After all, if working people are struggling, it has to be because someone is stealing from them and living the high life. It can’t possibly be any other reason!
Wellllll…except that it can, and a lot of times it’s because of what the Left proposes to “help” people. More on that later.
By playing into our natural negative emotions and setting up a nameless, faceless villain, the Left sets itself up to be our white knights. And although they profess to be fighting for all of us, they actually don’t. They like working folks who belong to labor unions and consistently vote for Leftists, even if it winds up shooting themselves in the foot with a Gatling gun.
Personally, I’ve seen this contempt for working Americans for a couple of decades, but it’s only recently that the contempt has been more overt, provided you know what to look for. And there is no better textbook on this than Thomas Frank’s What’s the Matter with Kansas? Fortunately, I read it so you don’t have to because, dammit, I care! (Actually, it was because I was curious to see what Frank had to say about conservatives in the Midwest, but I still care.)
I can summarize Frank’s entire book in one sentence: Conservatives have conned working people, and only Leftists can save them.
There. I saved you time, money, and emergency room visits for blunt head trauma from hitting your head against a wall repeatedly.
Frank’s attitude towards people living in the state he came from, merely for voting for Republicans, drips off each and every page. Although he does blame Democrats for sounding and acting fiscally conservative in order to win elections, he saves the bulk of his venom for conservatives who he felt corrupted politics in the state to work against the best interests of the voters.
The reason Frank’s screed…I mean book is a great example of the Left’s hatred of working Americans is because it exposes the rift between what the Left knows about working Americans and what working Americans actually are. What Frank attributes to conservatives convincing people to ignore their best interests is actually conservatives listening to working people and proposing ideas that they might actually like.
And judging from how well the Left has been dealing with the election of Donald Trump in 2016, they still haven’t figured it out. While the Trump Administration wasn’t exactly the best and brightest, they did get quite a few things right, including cutting taxes for working Americans. And contrary to what Leftists want us to believe, those tax cuts weren’t just for the wealthy. According to the IRS, middle class and working class people benefited the most from Trump’s tax cuts.
Then, Joe Biden rolled into town and undid all of that. Yay?
Of course, the Administration had answers for just about every concern we had about rising costs and how to address them. A lot of them involved, surprise surprise, initiatives the Biden Administration and Leftists want. Worried about rising gas prices? Get an electric car! And if you’re still concerned, just laugh! Having trouble paying for groceries? It’s Russia’s fault! Supply chain problems? Spend more on infrastructure! Unemployed? Support green energy!
I haven’t seen anyone this tone deaf since William Hung, and we’re being run by several of these assclowns. But, hey, no mean tweets, amirite?
Yet, for all of the answers the Left seem to have, few of them actually apply to working Americans. The only thing preventing Republicans from getting more working class voters is they’re incompetent when it comes to closing the sale. For all of his faults, Donald Trump at least made an attempt, which is more than a previous Republican Presidential candidate and rich guy, Mitt Romney, did in 2012. Guess what? It fucking worked!
Right now the door is wide open for Republicans and conservatives to make the sale they might be better for working Americans than the Left is. The Left is too busy focusing on social issues that turn off many Americans and finding new ways to fuck up the country to bother with Joe Sixpack’s problems. Trump gave the GOP a blueprint, much to the chagrin of people like Romney, whose version of a Republican President is as exciting as mayonnaise.
While Republicans try to figure out how to attract working Americans and Leftist try to find new ways to screw them, the working class are left with financial problems, rising costs, and more broken promises than a treaty with Native Americans in the 1800s. And the only way that changes is if working Americans are open to change their thinking. Many of them are locked into voting for Democrats because it’s what they and their families have always done. It’s like a rite of passage, only with more bureaucracy. As Donald Trump said in 2016 when asked why working people should vote for him, “What have you got to lose?”
Given how expensive things are now, we can’t do any worse.
Let’s Go Dark Brandon?
It really shouldn’t amaze me the Left isn’t all that original, but even this one had me shaking my head. There’s a new hero on the Left, one of mythical proportions, a man (but I’m not a biologist) who kicks ass, takes names, and looks damn good doing it. His name is…Dark Brandon.
What started out as a way to try to spin out of a “Fuck Joe Biden” chant at a NASCAR event became a cultural phenomenon extending well beyond the political realm. So much so the Left had to co-opt it after spending months decrying the phrase. You know, just like they did with Err…I’m sorry, Air America during the height of conservative talk radio.
You know, I wonder what happened to those plucky progressives trying to give people an alternative to Rush Limbaugh. Oh, yeah, they closed their doors in 2010. But I’m sure they won’t make the same mistake by co-opting a chant from the Right, right?
Not so much.
Although I wasn’t keen on “Let’s Go Brandon,” I could understand the appeal. After all, more than a few people think Joe Biden should go fuck himself especially after everything he’s done to fuck us. And in the aftermath of 4 years of Donald Trump and his supporters feeling empowered to shout back at the Left, old habits die hard…in Minecraft.
The chants still go on, albeit less frequently than when it first became part of the political lexicon (see what I did there!). So, what better time than when the fad is starting to die down (in Minecraft) to start reframing it?
What the Left lacks in timeliness they make up for in lame ideas. And if Dark Brandon were a horse, it would already be glue (in Minecraft).
Leftists have power fantasies that would make Sigmund Freud go to therapy. They need to control as much as possible, including people. Naturally, that means they tend to gravitate towards people and ideas they see as powerful and expect the sheer force of that power to silence opposition. More often than not, the perception of force is enough to make people back down, which feeds their egos and makes them believe they are as powerful as they think they are. When that doesn’t work, they pull out all the stops to flex on you, including whining to social media platforms about how you’re a meanie-head.
Ultimately, though, when they can’t get what they want, Leftists will find a way to scratch that control freak itch, even if they have to create an alternate reality to make it happen. That’s where the Dark Brandon persona comes into play. Leftists haven’t been happy with the way Joe Biden hasn’t gone after Republicans (at least, not until recently) and have suggested he’s too polite. After getting pissed at “Let’s Go Brandon” (and the President getting more than a little confused about who this Brandon guy is), the Left started leaning into it a bit more.
Thus, Dark Brandon was born.
Dark Brandon is everything Joe Biden isn’t. He’s decisive, aggressive towards his political enemies, tells it like it is, and lost all semblance of giving a fuck a long time ago. And Leftists are eating it up. But here’s the kicker. Dark Brandon isn’t a dark alternative version of Joe Biden; he’s a Leftist Donald Trump. And just like with Err America, the progressive copy is vastly inferior to the original.
As much as the Left wants the President to go on the offensive, they’re only making the argument why Donald Trump should get a second term as President. (That, and the economy being so far in the shitter, you’ll need to go spelunking to find the bottom.) Make no mistake, though. The Left was never against mean tweets, just mean tweets about them. They’re perfectly willing to go lower than a snake’s cock ring when it suits them.
But here’s the part I’m not sure the Left understands yet, if they ever will. By creating Dark Brandon and fawning over him and what he represents, Leftists are admitting the Biden Administration has been a failure. They’ll say it’s because Biden doesn’t go far enough Left, but it’s really because he’s truly not capable of leading a one-person parade, let alone the United States. Of course, this was obvious to anyone who paid attention to his career as a politician, but no one expects the Left to stay informed on current events, or events over 45 years, for that matter.
Either way, the Left embracing Dark Brandon right now encapsulates the problems they face right now right before the midterm elections. Not only will they have to defend Biden’s record, but they’ll have to figure out how to reconcile the fantasy they’ve created and the reality of how bad Biden’s done so far.
Good luck with that.
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
When you think about it (and I have because I don’t have a life), the Internet is a once-in-a-lifetime invention, and it has radically changed the way the world does things. Sorry, Paul Krugman.
Among the many elements of modern life affected by Al Gore’s invention, the way we communicate has changed. Not only do we have the ability to send images and videos around the world (which is useful to the Internet porn industry…not that I know anything about that, mind you), but it’s created a culture where its users share aspects of their lives, whether it be major events or the BLT you had for lunch.
And, as with anything that gets shared, some people aren’t going to like what is being shared. Enter one of the relatively new players in global Internet culture, LibsOfTikTok. Within the past few weeks, this one Internet account has been linked to anti-gay, anti-trans, and pro-Russia sentiments according to the Left. Are they right…errr correct? Let’s find out!
LibsOfTikTok
What the Left thinks it means – a dangerous Internet presence that has become a new weapon against the Left
What it really means – a dangerous Internet account to the Left because it exposes them and what they believe when they think no one is watching
Politicians in general, but Leftists especially, operate in secrecy as much as they can to prevent others from finding out how the ideological sausage is made. Before the advent of the Internet, it was a lot easier to show a public face and a private face. To her credit, Hillary Clinton is a master of this, and Leftists justify it no matter how dishonest it makes her look.
With the Internet and the way it’s affected how we interact with each other, it’s a lot more difficult because there are cameras everywhere (and I’m not just talking about the NSA’s cameras, either). All it takes is someone with a cell phone and an opportunity and a politician can look like the two-faced rat bastard he or she truly is.
But that same principle applies to other non-political figures, like public school teachers. With Leftists dominating the education system like the Harlem Globetrotters dominate the Washington Generals, the classroom has become the new ideological battleground where they have the high ground, the low ground, the middle ground, and pretty much any ground that isn’t already owned by the federal government. With that nigh-uniformity comes a sense of invincibility, which leads to a level of confidence and comfort that only the best hugboxes provide.
But I’m sure oversharing online while feeling untouchable would never end badly, right?
Enter Chaya Raichik, former real estate professional and current Leftist boogieman…errrr boogiewoman…errr boogieperson? Fuck it! We’re going with boogieman just to piss off the Left even more than they already are. Raichik started sharing videos Leftists made and put on social media willingly, but would make them look like raging assholes to anyone outside the Leftist hivemind. Whether it was teachers attempting to indoctrinate students to be more accepting of gay and trans people (a decent enough goal, but one that the parents should at least be in on) or quoting what hospital employees say about giving “gender affirming” medical procedures to children, she kicked a hornets’ nest, leaving Leftists to spin events so much the estate of Enrico Fermi is consulting lawyers to see what their legal options are.
With the Leftist dominance of social media, it wasn’t too long before platforms started to a) be filled with Leftist outrage over being exposed as creeps, and b) find ways to try to limit access to Raichik’s accounts. Why, it’s almost as though they had something to hide…
Missing in all of the outrage is a bit of perspective. Well, that, and self-respect, shame, and common sense, but you get the picture. Raichik wasn’t posting videos edited in a way to make the subjects look bad. She left that to the mainstream media since they’ve had much more experience. All she did was find the videos and post them.
And, not to put too fine a point on this, these videos Raichik posted were put up by the people themselves. Voluntarily. As in they made a conscious decision to post these videos. All she did was expand the reach through circulating them (and providing commentary at times so no one could doubt where she stood on the shit being posted).
For that, LibsofTikTok became public enemy number one with Leftists. Although they’ve succeeded in getting her social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram suspended, usually it’s been temporary. (Funny how these things seem to happen to conservatives primarily…oh, well. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.) This, of course, pisses off Leftists to no end. How can they attempt to subvert America with everybody pulling up a lawn chair and watching?
If there’s anyone who can identify closely with what Raichik is going through it’s James O’Keefe of Project Veritas. O’Keefe has suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous Leftist propaganda for doing what LibsofTikTok is doing. Granted, O’Keefe has shot himself in the foot a couple of times, which helps the Left paint him as untrustworthy, but far more often than not he has the goods. That makes him effective, which is why the Left have to try to destroy him however they can.
Thus, we have the gameplan going forward with LibsofTikTok. The thing that LibsofTikTok has in her favor, though, is the current state of communication these days. The Internet is the ultimate grapevine where you can hear gossip, news, and people complaining about gossip and news. While the Left holds onto social media tighter than Al Gore’s asshole, people of like minds still have a way to make their thoughts known using the very tools the Left controls. Email is still a thing, too, but it’s supplemented by YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and any number of means. Hell, even TikTok is reaching people. After all, there wouldn’t be a LibsofTikTok account without there being a TikTok to begin with. Now if only I could get my LibsofAmericaOnLine idea off the ground…
Regardless of how you feel about the person behind the account, it’s pretty fucked up to go after a person for posting what other people say online, and it’s being done with the express purpose of silencing dissent. I guess dissent is only patriotic when the Left is out of power. And to make matters worse, these folks are playing the victim when they advocate for bizarre and potentially deviant behavior and get caught. So, it’s okay to suggest adult/child sex isn’t wrong, but don’t you dare call attention to it because…reasons?
It would be a stretch to call what LibsofTikTok does as investigative journalism, mainly because I wouldn’t want to taint her with the connection to journalism right now. But the spirit is still there, and just like in the days when reporters would track down a story and be relentless in finding the truth, the powerful want to silence her. Ironically, it’s the nature of social media that makes those silencing attempts not only futile, but amplified to the point of saturation. And far be of me to disagree with the opinions of the journalistic giant that is Vice, but LibsofTikTok isn’t a threat to anyone except Leftists who want to keep their deeds kept undercover.
However, I have an idea that will get the Left to either bugger off or make their heads explode (so, a win-win). Just say LibsofTikTok identifies as Media Matters.
In the Meme Time
I know this is one of Chris’ features, but I figured I’d give it a try. And boy do I have a doozy!
Leftists have been circulating the following meme to attack Republicans who opposed President Biden’s Executive Order to forgive $10,000 of student loan debt.
On the surface, this looks like a slam dunk for the Left, but as you might expect, there’s a little more context to the situation.
Due to a little thing the kids like to call COVID-19, businesses were hurting with many struggling to meet payroll for their employees. As a result, the government passed the Paycheck Protection Program which offered loans for business owners to keep their doors open and hire back employees. Built into this program was a way for these loans to be forgiven, provided certain criteria were met. Keep this in mind because it will become very important later.
Now, for the list. I’ve done a bit of research into the names and figures and found some…interesting facts the meme doesn’t mention. I apologize in advance for some of the Leftist sources I had to link for information.
Matt Gaetz – I was unable to locate where he received a PPP loan, but a business his father is involved with received between $350,000 and $1 million in PPP loans. The only connection is the fact the Congressman owns stocks in the company.
Marjorie Taylor Greene – Taylor Greene did receive a PPP loan…for a construction company her husband and she own.
Greg Pence – Pence received a PPP loan…for a family business.
Vern Buchanan – Buchanan received a PPP loan…for three car dealerships he owns.
Kevin Hern – Hern received a PPP loan…for a company held in a family trust that controls 5 McDonalds franchises.
Roger Williams – Williams received a PPP loan…for a car dealership he owns.
Brett Guthrie – Guthrie was a director of a manufacturing company that received a PPP loan.
Ralph Norman – I don’t have firm data on this, but it’s my belief Norman received a PPP loan for a family business where he was a real estate developer.
Ralph Abraham – Abraham received a PPP loan…for two businesses he owns.
Mike Kelly – Kelly received a PPP loan…also for car dealerships.
Vicki Hartzler – Hartzler received a PPP loan…for farms and equipment supplier businesses her family own.
Markwayne Mullin – Mullin received a PPP loan…for plumbing and contracting firms he was tied to.
Carol Miller – Miller’s husband received a PPP loan for, you guessed it, car dealerships.
Although these Republicans or their family members had PPP loans forgiven, they voluntarily requested the loans and received them. Now, remember when I said earlier that PPP loans could be forgiven if certain criteria were met? Well, there’s a problem with the logic suggesting the aforementioned Republicans are hypocrites.
Federal student loans typically don’t come with forgiveness terms. The only exceptions to this prior to President Biden’s Executive Order were death or disablement. Granted, willingly going after a degree in some of the shit Leftist students major in these days would make a pretty convincing argument they are disabled, but I’m not sure the federal government would sign off on it.
Put simply, the expectation prior to the Executive Order was students taking out federal student loans was…they paid them back. There was no “pay it back unless an elderly President decides he needs votes to help his party during the midterm elections” clause in the loan documents that would make it okay. You either paid it back or you didn’t.
As a result, comparing PPP loans to federal student loans is like comparing horse shit to dog shit. Yes, they’re both piles of animal shit, but that’s where the similarities begin and end. To try to equate the two on the basis of one point of commonality is an example of intellectual dishonesty that has become the norm with political memes like the one I posted at the beginning of this piece.
And now you know, and as any kid of the 80s will tell you, knowing is half the battle.