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.
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
The big news this week involved President Joe Biden finally making good on a campaign promise to forgive at least some student loan debt. Many Leftists were overjoyed (mainly because I’m sure a number of them would be the beneficiaries of the President’s generosity), but there are more than a few people who are expressing concern about whether the student loan forgiveness initiative would be as effective and as expensive as promised.
Regardless of the boondoggle…I mean efforts to address student loan debt, there are a lot of questions to be asked. And I’m just the killjoy asshole to ask them.
student loan forgiveness
What the Left thinks it means – a compassionate move that will help college students and the economy at the same time
What it really means – the start of a lot of economic, Constitutional, and legal chaos with the stroke of a pen
On paper, student loan forgiveness sounds good. By forgiving up to $10,000 of loan debt, debtors and former debtors would have more money at their disposal, which could then be recirculated into the economy in all sorts of ways. And 10 grand will buy a lot of Starbucks and avocado toast!
Which some of these students complaining about the amount of loan debt they have to pay off are already buying in the first place, but we’re not supposed to know that…
Although the thought of more money going towards iPhones and gaming consoles is tantalizing to the capitalist in me, the long term implications are scarier than having Bill Clinton show up at your doorstep to pick up your daughter for a date. (Hey, at least it’s not Charlie Sheen!) And knowing how our friends on the Left aren’t known for planning any further out than the length of a TikTok video, you can bet few, if any, of the loudest proponents have given much thought to what I’m about to lay out for you.
Then again, it might be because I’m a weirdo. Either way, here goes!
– The Constitution may not grant the President the powers necessary to make this happen. President Biden’s actions came to pass because of an Executive Order, which is pretty much the President saying, “Do this because, fuck you, I’m the President.” Well, the Executive Order isn’t exactly a one-and-done situation because it can be challenged Constitutionally. And that brings us to Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, which authorizes Congress “to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States…” Now, last time I checked, President Biden was no longer in Congress, even though he spent most of my life in it. That means unless Congress signs off on it, it ain’t happening for long before the Supreme Court gets involved. And with the current makeup of the High Court, you can bet Biden’s Executive Order will get smacked down harder than Mike Tyson beating up Richard Simmons.
– It has the potential to fuck up contract law. A loan is a contact between a lender and a borrower. With student loans, the lender is often the government. And, we all know how fiscally responsible it is, amirite? Anyway, forgiving even a portion of the debt affects the existing contract. Even though the government is one of the particulars of the loan in this case, it has the potential to set precedent once a court gets involved. Get the right judge in the right court to rule in a certain way and before you can say “habeas corpus” the government has the authority to alter any contract it wants, possibly even if it’s not a party to the original agreement. Welcome to Legal Chaos Land, population…well, us.
– The economic impact isn’t as cut and dried as we’ve been told. It seems intuitive that if you give people more money they will spend it. That’s been borne out with tax cuts and credit cards for decades, although the Left still isn’t convinced of the former. Now, add in a little thing called inflation, which all of us are enduring right now. If you have to take out a third mortgage to get groceries, no amount of money from the forgiving of existing student debt will help for very long.
– It doesn’t fix the underlying problems. There are a few reasons why student loan debt is so high. Part of it is the rising tuition costs. Since 1980, average tuition costs have risen by 1200%. And, no, that’s not a typo. And since tuitions have gotten higher than Willie Nelson on 4/20, the federal government has had to lend more money to students. And that includes interest with rates and conditions that make payday loan sharks look legit. Of course, once colleges and universities know the government will keep forking over the money, they will find reasons to keep raising tuition, and the cycle begins anew. And there is no incentive for either party to change that dynamic after some of the loans are forgiven. The college/university still gets its money, and the government gets to look like it cares about people. They don’t, of course…
– Once you get a bite of the apple, you’ll want more. By nature, humans tend to be greedy, self-serving, and always looking to push the limits to see what they can get away with. Right now, it’s only $10,000 that will get forgiven, but does it end there? Judging from recent government boondoggles…I mean programs like TARP and PPP, it’s likely there will be more demands for other and more financial assistance. Next, it will be $20,000, then $50,000, then it will be because free range artesian goat cheese costs have gone up, and before you know it, just about every whim will come with a federal grant. You know, like the National Endowment for the Arts?
There are others drawbacks, but I think you get the idea. Now, if you could explain it to the Left, we might be getting somewhere.
Right now, the Left is counting on the compassion card to get us not to think about the nagging questions of the wisdom of student loan forgiveness. For most of the population, it works. We don’t want to see people suffer, but there are also limits. If people suffer as a result of dumb decisions, our compassion tends to go the way of David Duke Appreciation Night at the Apollo. It’s the old “hand up, not hand out” mentality, and it still works today. I’m all for giving people a chance to apply themselves and earn some scratch from the sweat of their brows. Being allowed to have a chunk of your student loan that you’ve accumulated by studying Post Modern Albino Inuit Gender-Queer Photography in 16th Century Burma without even chipping a nail? Not so much.
And it’s not because I want college students to suffer under excessive debt. It’s because I want them to understand the feeling of earning something instead of just being granted it. Yes, not everybody will win a trophy under this mindset, but it will mean more when you do because you learn what you’re made of and what you’re worth. Platitudes and payoffs don’t teach you anything but how to whine until you get your way. That doesn’t make you anything but an asshole with the potential to be a Karen when you grow up.
And God knows we have enough of those as it stands.
Anatomy of a Freakout
You may have heard the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 allocated $80 billion over the next 10 years to the Internal Revenue Service. By itself, this sounds expensive, but not all that alarming. After all, we know the IRS is full of professionals who don’t try to turn people’s lives into a living hell of lawyers, tax returns, and audits more invasive than a TSA agent who moonlights as an OBGYN.
Then, a video started circulating showing what purported to be IRS agents training with firearms. From there, people on the Right began to freak out and spread this idea far and wide, or as far and wide as the Interwebs will allow. Several fact checks later, the story itself was debunked, but the damage was already done. High profile conservatives echoed the sentiment, sounded the warning sirens, and whipped up their followers into a froth that would make a Starbucks barista jealous.
Of course, this reaction is understandable, given the IRS’s recent history regarding conservatives. Lois Lerner and her happy band of IRS agents made quite a splash by discriminating against conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status because…I shudder to think about it…they had words like “patriot” and “TEA Party” in their names! Oh, sure, they went after Leftist groups, too, but the predominant victims were the conservative groups.
I will admit I have more faith in Mexican water quality than I do the IRS playing straight with us, but I have to offer a meager defense of the IRS here. The Right overreacted with their initial “OHMYGODTHEIRSISGONNASHOOTUS!” response because there is a plausible explanation. For one, we don’t even know how many IRS agents are going to be hired, let alone armed. And, yes, there is a fraction of the IRS that does need to be armed as part of the job, but they are in the vast minority.
Having said all of that, the IRS does bear some responsibility in adding fuel to the conspiratorial fires with their ineptitude. When they initially posted ads for openings as a Criminal Investigation Special Agent, there was a requirement to “Carry a firearm and be willing to use deadly force, if necessary.” After an IRS employee deleted the requirement because…he or she thought the verbiage shouldn’t be there, the Right, who was already fired up about the potential of armed IRS agents, jumped to conclusions again. The delay in acknowledging and addressing the issue didn’t help, either. When dealing with conspiracy hypotheses, whenever there is silence by a government figure or entity, that silence will get filled with wild ass speculation.
And that’s where Leftists get ammunition to discredit both the well-grounded and the batshit crazy criticisms the Right levies. One thing the Right doesn’t understand about the Left is no matter how well-sourced and factual your argument is, the Left will never accept it as truth because they disagree with it and you. Although this makes people like Joe Rogan look like Nostradamus, Leftists will continue to perpetuate the ideas they pulled out of their collectivist asses to avoid admitting they were wrong.
However, when the Right pushes a narrative that is full of holes, the Left doesn’t have to work that hard to discredit it. They simply mock its inconsistencies, make sweeping generalizations about how dumb the Right is, and move on with their days. That’s why it’s important not to jump to conclusions. Sure, Leftists won’t admit it, but others may be paying attention, looking for information or facts to help them make sense of things. Coming off like a slightly more coherent Gary Busey doesn’t help.
Instead, it’s okay to do a bit of digging to make the right call the first time. Sure, Leftists will get the early advantage, but when they sound batshit crazy from the jump, does letting them keep talking really hurt?
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
Leftists had a bad week due in large part to a Republican (and one not named Donald Trump for a change!). In an election result that surprised almost no one who isn’t in a coma, or who watches MSNBC which is pretty much the same thing, Wyoming Congresscritter Liz “Not Dick” Cheney lost in the Republican primary for her seat. And by “lost,” I mean ass-blasted.
In an unrelated story, former campaign staffers for the Michael Dukakis campaign sent Rep. Cheney a helmet and a ticket for a tank ride.
The reason Leftists were upset at Cheney’s loss, aside from the fact she was one of the few Republicans in office trying to hold Donald Trump accountable for…well, being Donald Trump, was because she put didn’t put her party ahead of the country. You see, Leftists says Republicans, especially of the Trump fan variety, have done that, and apparently that’s bad. I’m always up for a good party, and I don’t mind if it’s out in the country, but I’m guessing that’s not what they mean. Let’s see if we can figure it out together.
party before country
What the Left thinks it means – putting political and ideological goals ahead of the betterment of America
What it really means – Republicans not doing what Leftists want
Liz Cheney’s not the first Republican to gain the love of Leftists, just one of the latest. Remember John McCain? He was one of the best-known “country before party” types, although he preferred a different term for his fair-weather friendship with the GOP, “maverick.” Leftists loved to praise McCain for bucking his party and painted him as the kind of Republican that could unite the country and even persuade Democrats to vote for him.
Then, he ran for President in 2008. Those adoring Leftists who couldn’t say enough good things about him? Yeah, they called every vile name in the book. He went from being a “good Republican” in Leftist circles to the second coming of Hitler, Stalin, and Leo Sayer all rolled into one. Huh…who could have seen the Left’s love affair with McCain go south as soon as he ran for President against a Democrat?
I mean, aside from Ray Charles.
And here’s the thing: it keeps happening. When Liz Cheney ran for the House, she was vilified for, well, being related to Dick Cheney. Once she got there, she voted with what Donald Trump wanted 93% of the time. So, what changed?
Her vocal opposition to Trump.
Since then, the same Leftists who treated her like dog shit suddenly admired her courage for standing up against her party and the President. If Leftist Twitter (a redundancy, I know) is any indication, there are a lot of people who say they’d vote for Cheney if she ran for President in 2024 because of her brave stance.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure those Leftists will “forget” their promises as soon as a Leftist throws his/her/its/zer/whatever made-up pronoun the candidate uses this millisecond hat into the ring. Then, all those alleged potential voters will abandon Cheney like Joe Biden abandoned Afghanistan, only with a lot less military hardware being left behind.
The same thing that McCain experienced will happen to Cheney. Leftists won’t give her a second glance when running for President (all while praising her and then slamming her), Republicans won’t give her a first look because of her betrayal of the party, and Independents won’t care because she’s a member of one of the two major political parties that keep fucking shit up. Great strategy there, Liz. Maybe you can get a job with The Lincoln Project. Apparently, they have a soft spot for anti-Trump pseudo-Republicans/conservatives. Oh, and little boys, too.
Too soon? Naaaaaaaah!
Cheney isn’t the only squishy Republican out there. Depending on the issue and circumstances, there are more than a few, especially in the Senate, who will cross the aisle. Marco Rubio, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Lindsey Graham, and Mitch McConnell to name a few. And no matter how many times they stab the GOP in the back, Leftists will never accept them.
But they will unfailingly cheer them on when they do pull a Julius Caesar on the GOP.
Of course, when it’s one of their own pulling a “maverick,” Leftists aren’t as keen on it. Just ask Tulsi Gabbard, who has been the subject of numerous slanders and vitriolic comments because she dares to hold the Left accountable for the shitty things they do and support. And, surprise surprise, that’s by design. To the Left, it’s okay for Republicans to sell out, but not for Democrats to do so because Leftists believe they represent the people. So, by daring to step out of line, honest Democrats like Gabbard betray the people, which Leftists can’t abide by…unless they’re the ones doing it.
Funny how that works, isn’t it?
While Leftists treat the “party before country” standard as a one-way street, it’s very much a two-way main thoroughfare with buses and commuter trains running at regular intervals to and from its epicenter. Take the recent Inflation Creation…I mean Reduction Act. It was billed (see what I did there) as a way to combat current inflation woes, but a deeper dive into what the bill actually proposed shows a lot of spending on items that don’t exactly fight inflation.
– a minimum tax on corporations to fight climate change and assist with health care initiatives
– allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prices for certain drugs…in 2026
– more money to the IRS for enforcement (yay?)
– spending money to investigate the causes of current drought conditions, especially in the western United States (insert Sam Kinneson comments about living in a desert here)
– extending financial assistance for the Affordable Care Act
– tax credits for buying a handful of electric cars
Well, around the time it was passed, the focus changed from reducing inflation to “a major climate, health and tax bill.” What happened? I would hope it was the fact the media got the memo that government spending a lot of money doesn’t actually reduce inflation, but that memo would have to be accompanied by a TikTok video with puppets, so it’s unlikely. Instead, I think it was to provide the necessary cover for Leftists to load down a bill with items on their wish lists while pretending it’s supposed to address a current concern for most Americans.
But it’s Republicans who put party before country?
While we watch prices go so high we can’t even pay attention without taking out a second mortgage, we should take a moment to realize the game being played on all of us right now. While we may not always agree on which major political party is doing the most for Americans right now (spoiler alert: it’s neither), to have Leftists proclaim one side is guilty of it while they’re constantly screwing over the country to achieve ideological goals is both frustrating and impressive. It’s frustrating because Republicans tend to roll over and take it, and impressive because of the sheer lack of self-awareness necessary to pull off such a feat.
And the best part of it all? The Founding Fathers urged us not to have political parties for this very reason. These men, who Leftists dismiss as backwards racists who couldn’t possibly imagine what life would be like in 2022, had the foresight to warn us that politicians would put personal and political ambitions above the good of the people they allegedly represent. Good thing Leftists are so forward-thinking and civic-minded so that doesn’t happen.
Oh, wait.
So, How’s That Sanctuary City Thing Working Out?
Remember when Leftists were all about setting up “sanctuary cities” to let illegal immigrants know they would be safe there? It became a race to see which communities would be the next to proudly proclaim “We don’t care if you broke the law to come here because we won’t enforce the law!” And for a while, it worked. It was a quick way to earn woke points and to use a souped-up Wagner Power Painter to paint anyone who disagreed with it as racist, xenophobic, insensitive, kid-haters who wanted these poor souls to die.
That worked pretty well for communities that were pretty far away from the US/Mexican border, but Texas Governor Greg Abbott had an idea: help the illegal immigrants get to the sanctuary cities. In a pure “fuck around and find out” move, Abbott started busing migrants to Washington, DC, and New York City. I mean, since those two cities are known sanctuary cities, Leftists should be thrilled that Abbott was adding to their diversity!
Not so much.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser was the first to feel the brunt of the move, resulting in her requesting assistance from the National Guard to deal with the influx. And in a completely expected move, the Department of Defense denied her request.
Then there’s New York Mayor Eric Adams. Apparently he’s not too happy at Abbott busing immigrants to his sanctuary city. Even Leftists are calling out Adams’ reaction to the situation, albeit while spitting venom at Abbott and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey for sending immigrants to sanctuary cities.
Which is odd, given how Leftists have rolled out the red carpet for illegal immigrants. You would think they would be thrilled to live up to their word. Ahhhh, that’s the problem. Leftists love setting up rules for themselves and different rules for everyone else. While January 6th protesters get the Library of Congress thrown at them for trespassing, illegal immigrants get treated with kid gloves for doing pretty much the same thing, albeit with fewer federal agents…I mean “concerned citizens.”
Although the potential overwhelming of sanctuary cities was enough to get Leftists to get pissed, there is an underlying cause I don’t think even they want to admit. And it all stems from Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. Although a few of his ideas would apply here, the one I find is the crux of the Leftist freakout is Rule 4: Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules. This not only exposes the hypocrisy of the opposing entity, but it opens up opportunities for ridicule and criticism that the entity cannot legitimately counter.
Guess what Abbott did, kids.
By sending immigrants to sanctuary cities, Abbott has effectively showing the Left’s commitment to the concept to be a light year long and a micron deep, which to be honest was always the case. Leftists don’t want actual solutions to the illegal immigration problem since they benefit too much from the problem’s existence. But they can’t really come out and say that because doing so would expose the scam they’ve been running for decades. The advent of sanctuary cities is just the new selling point to get people to circumvent federal law and live off the generosity of American taxpayers.
And before you Leftists say “but they pay taxes, too,” there’s a bit of a difference between paying sales tax and income tax, namely the enforcement arm of the latter being a lot less nice about those who don’t pay up. Oh, and the fact they could be packing heat. More on that another time.
Say what you will about Greg Abbott (and, believe me, Leftists have), but you have to admit his solution to the illegal immigration problem was clever on a political level. Although his intended purpose was to alleviate the real border issues he faces on a daily basis, the impact of exposing Leftists as massive hypocrites, the utter destruction of the myth of sanctuary cities, and allowing cities too far away from the epicenter to get a taste of what Texas deals with was a calculated risk, one that is still paying dividends in the form of Leftist heads exploding.
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
If you think you’ve had a hectic week, just think of the week former President Donald Trump had. His social calendar (if not his Truth Social account) were a bit on the busy side, what with the FBI raiding…I mean visiting Mar-a-Lago looking for classified documents allegedly on the premises. Granted, I’m not sure who would want to hurt a Lago, let alone mar one, but that’s neither here nor there.
To say the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been in hot water in recent years is like saying President Joe Biden has a small problem with plagiarism: it’s accurate, but not nearly to the right magnitude. Now with the FBI under scrutiny again after their Mar-a-Lago visit, it’s as good a time as any to take a closer look at the agency.
the FBI
What the Left thinks it means – the most powerful law enforcement agency in America, full of hard working men and women upholding our laws and trying to stop criminals
What it really means – Barney Fife with less supervision
It wasn’t that long ago the FBI had a good reputation. In between J. Edgar Hoover’s trips to Victoria’s Secret, they managed to bring down criminals, keep the country relatively safe, and inspire young and old alike to be good citizens. But as all good things do, the image got some tarnish on it with some highly questionable decisions, like investigating and working against Martin Luther King, Jr. because Hoover thought he had Communist ties. (No word on if MLK had the matching suspenders.)
One could say the FBI’s image as beacons of law started to erode when Americans’ trust in government did. Watergate opened up the floodgates (if you’ll pardon the pun, and even if you don’t) as well as more than a few eyes to see the Emperor wasn’t wearing anything and Hoover himself was wearing a lace teddy and stiletto heels.
Okay, I’ve officially creeped myself out there.
From there, the agency could only watch as fewer and fewer people trusted the FBI. Of course, a history of domestic spying might make people a little paranoid…
Oddly enough, it was Leftists for the longest time who cried out the most about the FBI’s abuse of power, and with good reason. What the FBI did in the name of justice made a mockery of it in the worst way and caused serious damage to our nation for spurious reasons. But somewhere between then and now, the Left decided the FBI wasn’t so bad after all. And I think it started when Leftists ditched the love beads and Nehru jackets and put on suits and dress shoes to start working within the system they rallied against for so long. Either that or someone developed a strain of pot that made people want to join the FBI.
Saaaaaay…I might be onto something there!
Either way, when Leftists found their ways into positions of power, they did what they do best: fuck it all up through politics. Over time, the FBI has replaced actual justice with social justice and became tools of not the powerful, but the power-hungry. And thanks to the FBI, they ate very well, figuratively and literally.
As you might expect, the FBI found out it had a taste for power, too. I mean, when you are the most powerful law enforcement agency in the country and people can’t Karen their way into getting a supervisor, you tend to feel invulnerable. Oh, and did I mention they practically have unlimited funds thanks to the generosity of our Congresscritters? With that kind of power and money, you would hope the agency would work effectively.
And you’d be wrong. Here is a brief list of notable failures over the FBI’s recent history.
– ignoring red flags that Nikolas Cruz was likely to commit a crime, which lead to the Parkland, Florida, school shootings (Making David Hogg a national figure should be grounds to defund the FBI.)
– not following up on sexual abuse allegations against gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, resulting in high-profile gymnasts making the issue public to get attention on the allegations and the agency’s failures
– playing a game of cyber chicken with Apple trying to force/coerce them into unlocking an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters and exposing proprietary technology
– the disastrous events of Waco and Ruby Ridge
– the bungled investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails
Ranker lists 10 more beyond these, and Wikipedia has tons more, but you see the point. Our top cops make the Uvalde Police Department look like the cops on any of the 428 “CSI” programs on CBS right now. (I’m particularly a fan of “CSI: Nome.” Not a lot of cases, but the ones they get are intense!)
Of course with all of the negative attention around the FBI in recent years, FBI agents have hurt fee-fees. No matter what they do or what successes they have, people still like used car salesmen more than the FBI. First off, welcome to adulthood. Second, people might have a higher opinion of you if you didn’t constantly fuck up.
Which brings us to the raid on Mar-a-Lago. Although the Left ate up that red meat like a hungry lion (or Ron Swanson wanting a light snack), there are some serious questions to be answered, and our good friends at the FBI aren’t quick on providing them. More superficially, however, it just doesn’t look good. The more we discover about how the warrant was issued, the worse it gets for the FBI. Seriously, the only way it could have looked any more anti-Trump would be if Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were running it with James Comey riding shotgun.
And that’s a major issue for me. Politics and law enforcement don’t mix very well because at some point the former will hinder the latter. There is a reason Justice is blind, and it’s not so bribes can be taken under the table. It’s so every person is considered equal under the law, whether you’re Nancy Pelosi’s husband or Joe Sixpack. Unfortunately, though, our justice system is full of ideologically-driven people looking to recreate the law in their own images.
Guess which federal law enforcement agency with a three-letter abbreviation has that problem right now.
For the Left, that’s the perfect breeding ground. Almost unlimited funding, almost unlimited power, the intimidation factor, and a well-documented movement to reform law enforcement to make it more Leftist-friendly. No wonder the Left has been so quick to defend the FBI lately: it’s on their side. Just remember, Leftists were the ones who came to Strzok and Page’s defense, saying their text message on phones that belonged to the government (i.e. us) were private and shouldn’t be made public.
Even though these text exposed them as being anti-Trump and overtly willing to undermine his election.
Oh, well. I’m sure the FBI will get right on that investigation as soon as they charge more January 6 protestors for crimes that would normally get a slap on the wrist instead of years in jail awaiting sentencing.
Right now, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is Fucked Beyond Infinity because it’s lost sight of what it’s job and duties actually are. Nothing short of a wholesale refurbish would solve the problems the FBI has right now, but as long as the Left has its tentacles in it, nothing like that will occur. Unless it’s to get rid of conservative FBI agents, of course. They’re super-duper-dangerous, what with their belief in the Constitution and following the laws as written.
In the meantime, the best advice I can give is to not catch a federal charge. If you do, be prepared to enter a world of pain unlike anything you’ve seen since the last Pauly Shore standup show.
No One Is Above the Law…Except Us
After Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago had the FBI visit and look for alleged classified documents in his possession, the Left had a field day. Between jokes at the former President’s expense, memes recounting times when Trump made statements that now applied to him, and hoping this would finally be the thing that landed Trump in prison, Leftists were full of more hope than a Barack Obama rally.
There was also a common theme among the talking heads in the media and politics: no one is above the law. Although I’m happy to see Leftists embracing law and order for a change, let’s just say I’m not convinced they’re genuine and/or consistent in that sentiment.
Leftists being hypocrites? Heaven forbid!
Now, what I’m about to go over will likely get dismissed as “whataboutism” and there’s certainly an element of that in play. Having said that, these examples are necessary to lay out the groundwork for my argument.
For as close to an apples-to-apples comparison as I can get, we need to go back to May 2002 when former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger took classified documents out of the National Archive in his pants. (And I wish I were kidding about that last part.) After calling it an “honest mistake,” he eventually plead guilty in 2005. His punishment? Two years of probation, surrendering his law license, a loss of his security clearance for 3 years, and a promise to cooperate with investigators.
No FBI raids on his home. No wall-to-wall media coverage detailing every sorted detail of his crimes on a 25/8 continuous loop (because 24/7 isn’t enough, or because Common Core math took over telling time). Just an acknowledgement of the sentence, a hand-wave of the severity of the crime, and glowing obituaries upon the event of his passing.
Granted, Donald Trump hasn’t gone to the Great Mar-a-Lago in the Sky yet, but there is a decided difference in how the Berger and Trump document situations are being handled. Aside from a handful of balanced analyses from pundits like Alan Dershowitz and Jonathan Turley, the rule has been to assume Trump is guilty and deserves the treatment he’s gotten. Some even point to the Berger situation as precedent in the court of public opinion as a means to condemn Trump.
But there’s a bit more at play here outside of the “whataboutism.” Leftists believe in their superiority (just ask them), and try to shape the world to affirm it. When someone on the Left violates the law or acts inappropriately, it’s circle the wagons time! Only after it’s a done deal will Leftists acknowledge the actual crime, and usually as a means to dismiss it as old news.
That is if Leftists admit there was wrong-doing in the first place. Anyone remember Lois Lerner? If not, she was one of the people behind the IRS targeting political groups with connections to the TEA Party. After blaming the scandal on “low level employees,” the Department of Justice closed their investigation without Lerner being charged. Oh, sure, the DOJ report references mismanagement at all levels, but they allegedly didn’t find any laws being broken.
Unfortunately for them, there were. Lerner admitted to singling out applications for tax exempt status with the words “TEA Party” or “Patriot,” but argued those actions weren’t politically motivated. Yeah, and I’m the first Lutheran Pope. Where the legal violations come into play is when she turned over tax documents from the aforementioned groups to the DOJ.
Yeah. That’s illegal, not to mention unconstitutional. Remember, kids, Leftists say Roe v. Wade was based on a Constitutional right to privacy (that really isn’t in the Constitution, but play along with me here for a minute). That means the IRS violated the right to privacy of TEA Party groups. Oops.
But did the Leftists cheering the raid on Mar-a-Lago say much of anything about Lerner’s criminal and Constitutional missteps? Nope. They went along with the “low level employees” line, which was bullshit from the word go.
With Berger, Lerner, and any number of other Leftists (I’m looking at you, Eric Swalwell), no crime is too grave to excuse, or in most cases ignore, because they’re on the right side. And by “right side” I mean Left side. Bill and Hillary Clinton, Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, Hunter Biden, and the whole Hee Haw Gang on the Left are a handful of examples of people who get to be above the law by virtue of being Leftists and having media Leftists (a redundancy, I know) cover for them by not covering them committing crimes.
Republicans, conservatives, and anyone else who falls outside the Leftist hivemind don’t get that treatment. If anything, they’re more heavily scrutinized to find every micron of dirt they can find to make the target of scorn look even more like Al Capone, only less honest. Speaking personally, I’m afraid opposition research will find I had an overdue library book in elementary school, which would certainly derail any hopes I had of becoming President. Or even County Supervisor of Creating Busy Work for Government Employees So They Don’t Actually Try to Do Real Work.
Why…it’s almost as if the Left’s version of law and order only goes one way!
Which, of course, to them it does. Since they are superior to us plebs, they write their own rules and excuse their own mistakes. But that’s not really justice; it’s rigging the system to one’s own benefit. Leftists will argue (without irony) this has been going on for quite some time and only through their efforts will everyone get a fair shake in the legal system. Yet, their efforts to give everyone a fair shake only reinforce the existing power structure where some people are treated better than others.
That’s called a self-own, kids.
Regardless of how you feel about Donald Trump, he was absolutely right about ideology trumping (see what I did there) justice. As more details come about about the Mar-a-Lago raid, I think we’ll see the former President proven right yet again.
And without having to lie to the FISA court, no less!
FBI Raids
If the FBI can raid the home of a former US President the following are all true:
- The Republic is Lost.
- Our Liberties are Lost.
- The FBI has been weaponized as secret state police.
- No one is immune to it, unless you are part of the Democratic Party elite.
I believe this action to be the same kind of attack that the Obama Administration did against Donald Trump during his first run for President. After all the Biden Administration is just Obama’s 3rd term anyway.
What we have under the Democratic Party administration is a weaponized Federal government. Hell bent on crushing any opposition to it’s policies by any means necessary. With the goal of making the Democratic Party the only viable party in America. A one party state.
This by any name is Leftist. No matter what you call it; Statism, Totalitarianism, Communism, Socialism, Nazism, or just a plain dictatorship. It’s all the same. It is evil and corrupt to the very core.
These must truly be the Last Days of mankind indeed. And the shinning city on the hill is crumbling down from rot within rather than any outside agent against it.
The Taiwan Conundrum
While a lot of conservative commentators are focusing on domestic issues, there’s a foreign policy matter that deserves much more attention than it’s been getting. And would you believe we have Nancy Pelosi to thank for it?
I’m referring to the situation with Taiwan, mainly because Paul Pelosi’s drinking and driving isn’t an international incident…yet. When the Speaker of the House visited Taiwan recently (for reasons that escape me, unless she was setting up some primo deals that would earn her more money…I think I just figured it out!), it added Everclear to an already tense situation between Taiwan and China. See, China believes Taiwan is still a part of China and Taiwan disagrees, preferring to be independent from China. And given how China is a repressive totalitarian state whose leader looks like Winnie the Pooh, I can see why.
Where America comes into the picture is we are stuck between the two opposing sides of this conflict by our own actions stemming from a long time ago, or ancient history in TikTok terms.
We set the Wayback Machine to 1949, when Chinese communists defeated Chinese nationalists and took over mainland China. Since the nationalists weren’t too keen on reading Mao’s Little Red Book, they fled the country and set up shop in what is now Taiwan. Back in the days of the Cold War, America would vocally support Taiwan’s right to independence and try to get China to lay off, wouldya?
Then two Bushes and the Commander in Briefs happened.
The first Bush in question is George H. W. Bush, who was President during a time when Chinese students were protesting for government reform and freedom, culminating in a stand-off in Tienanmen Square. And by “stand-off,” I mean one student literally stood in front of a tank line, creating one of the most iconic moments of the 20th Century, if not of all time. Bush, to his credit, called for China to address its human rights violations (good thing China didn’t respond by saying “You first, dickweeds.”) and promised harsh sanctions if the Chinese government didn’t change its ways.
Annnnnnnd then Bush promptly backed down faster than an Internet tough guy whose bluff gets called. No human rights violations address, no sanctions, not even the ultimate of geopolitical smackdowns, a tersely-worded memo from the UN giving China 1248 more chances to shape up before another memo gets sent. The horror!
And if that assfucking wasn’t bad enough, Bill Clinton not only overlooked China’s human rights violations, but gave them Most Favored Nation status without China having to fix anything! For those of you playing along at home, Most Favored Nation status is basically the US saying they want to do a lot of business with a country because we think it would be in both countries’ best interests. Good thing that turned out so well or we’d be totally fucked right now…oh, wait.
And to complete this shit sandwich, George W. Bush decided it would be a good idea to sell a significant portion of our national debt to China in exchange for…well, nothing really. Now, I’m no Paul Krugman (which is actually a boon in this case since it means I know a thing or two about economics), but I believe that would give China significant leverage over us. Whether they would use it to fuck us over is a matter of some debate, but the fact we have this Sword of Damocles hanging over our heads in the first place isn’t a good thing. Even if China is buying our stuff.
Yeah, about that. Turns out China is on the good end of a trade deficit with us. The figures from just this year show we are importing far more goods from China than they are importing from us. And it’s a trend that’s been going on for quite a while. In fact, we have to go all the way back to 1985 to find an annual trade deficit where the two sides are even remotely close. And the last time we posted a positive trade deficit with China? April 1986.
In the interest of fairness, we haven’t exactly been wowing Taiwan with our goods, either. Even so, when you compare the deficits with China to the deficits with Taiwan, it’s clear we’ve been more willing to work with the dictators than the people we allege to support.
Then, there’s the whole One China policy. To put it simply, China believes it is the only legitimate government for China and Taiwan, and the rest of the world…agrees. In spite of our chest-thumping about supporting freedom worldwide (see the established squawking points re: Ukraine), America fucking sucks when it comes to walking the walk. We can’t even have political figures say whether Taiwan is a country without there being controversy.
Hey, Taiwan. Ask Israel for advice on how to deal with America’s fickle foreign policy. They might be able to give you some pointers and a discount on industrial drum-sized containers of KY Jelly.
It’s this kind of duplicitous dumbfuckery that makes it hard for anyone else around the world to take us seriously. Granted, Joe Biden already gave us the fast track on that long before he was President, but this is well beyond even Biden’s ability to fuck things up. This was a team effort.
Although it’s easy for me to sit behind a keyboard and bitch about the matters at hand, I understand the predicament America put itself in through bad economic planning, worse political gamesmanship, and an apathetic public wanting more faster and cheaper than we’re willing to wait to be produced ourselves. With China having both an impressive potential economic market and a pretty sizable bargaining chip, we have a built-in incentive not to piss them off under any circumstances. This puts Taiwan in a rough spot. Not only is one of the world’s largest military machines breathing down its neck like Joe Biden at an elementary school photo op, but the largest and most technically advanced military on the planet can’t be bothered to show up because we need cheap electronics.
With friends like us, who needs enemas? Or enemies, for that matter.
While Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan made for interesting news, it exposed a fundamental weakness in our foreign policy with Taiwan and China and reiterated an oft-repeated doubt among other countries when it pertains to the way we claim to support freedom, but only when it suits our interests. If there is a silver lining to Pelosi’s visit, it’s the fact even she couldn’t fuck up our foreign policy any worse than it already is.