Tagged: family

Power Vs. Acquiring Power

Trump is about to be the man who defeated the first female nominee and the first Black female nominee. I do not come across many, if any, comments on this fact of the election cycle.

It seems to me that there is a continuum of reasons why this is not discussed. On one end, there is the noble (and therefore extremely unlikely) notion that the formerly fun “men vs. woman” schtick is so abhorrent to us woke folks that it is unworthy of our time. On the other end, there is the sober fact that leadership in Republics has never been about sex.

Leadership, I propose, is about power. And while there are many different types of power, there is only one way to gain power: you must take it.

Hillary Clinton did not take the power. Kamala Harris’ entire political career seems to be defined by accepting power.

As for Trump? His career, his notoriety, and his very real power comes solely from his constant belief that there is a power vacuum and he is the man to fill it.

We’ve all seen the clip of 30-something Trump declare he just may have to run for president. And whatever he was thinking until 2008, by the time he saw Obama’s lack of power, Trump obviously convinced himself that there was more power for the taking—and he took it. Who can forget Obama’s smug, “At least I will go down as a president”? Would a powerful man say that?

So ladies, take note. In not having been president, it has never been about you being women. People care that you are weak, just like Obama was weak. And people want power in the presidency. That’s all it is about.

On Musk’s Hype, On Authoritylessness, and On Homeschool; Or Marriage Advice from Pete

This gets old for me, but I am happy to do it. Here goes: Don’t believe the hype! Even when the world’s richest man is behind the hype, it is still hype. Do not believe it.

The world isn’t at some precarious moment. Democracy/America isn’t at a precipice. Do not believe the hype.

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A friend and I who were in college (super small liberal arts college) together and had the pleasure of seeing Clarence Thomas speak were discussing the smear campaign the other day. Today my friend sent some WSJ op/ed about it. Let me be clear: there is no “authority” anymore. There is no news organization who can clear a name, nor one who can condemn a name. They have all lost all respect, and consequently lost all authority. You’re all suckers if you believe any of them or believe in any of them.

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I have wanted to homeschool my children for around a decade now. First, my 14 yr old, H-. And now my two toddlers, A- and J-. Divorce ended the first marriage. And this second marriage is to an Ethiopian who quite literally cannot imagine homeschool. I didn’t quite think through the profound ignorance regarding the field of education which Ethiopians have when I married her, but even had I laid out the entire plan, I am certain she would have been agreeable until she changed her mind—like every other woman.

The charter school my step-son just enrolled in (pretty sure affirmative action on some level got him in) is actually one of the good ones—ie has a “classics” education. And so while I still believe homeschool—by me, for my kids—would best set them up for success in life, I can also see that in some twist of fate, the two toddlers will be able to easily bypass all normal gate guards into the desirable charter school since their “black” (not really, but whites can’t tell the difference) brother already attends.

When I mentioned this somewhat change of heart to my wife she was ecstatic. She was most ecstatic, I was most sad.

I bring things the kids into the world and all anyone wants to do is take them from me. I lose my first daughter to the first, worst person I have ever met. And now, even when I have met a regular woman and married her and made babies with her, she cannot wait to give them away to strangers. It’s fucking messed up. And makes me sad. I have this goofy schedule where I am home every other week for the entire week. In other words, I am gone half the year for work. The flip-side is I am home, no work, half the year. If the kids are in school full-time, the amazing schedule I have is of no value. And it actually is a shitty schedule because now I am gone half the year and additionally miss my kids while I am home.

I didn’t have kids to be alone. I had kids to raise kids. Fuck. It is not that complicated. Why else would anyone have kids?

With everything we are watching in the news, with every event from the bullshit pandemic (can’t be worldwide if most of the world is too stupid to know it is sick with a new disease), to the wars, to the election, to the faggots, to those who want to let children cut off their dicks, to the childless cat ladies who think they should have a say regarding someone else’s kids’ education, to the women who want to kill their children, I just wouldn’t have guessed there was anyone still around who thinks, “less time with our children” is the answer. I just wouldn’t have guessed the selfishness (get the kids away from me so I can shop!) and belief in groupthink had spread to all corners of the globe.

So here’s the lesson, for any young readers. Selfishness is everywhere because selfishness is childish. It is immature. Don’t be selfish. And don’t marry selfish people.

Groupthink is everywhere because groupthink is childish. It is immature. Think for yourself. And don’t marry people who can’t think for themselves.

Much Ado About Guns, Much Ado About Safety, Much Ado About First Responders

“As a veteran military interrogator…”

“From an ER nurse married to an LEO…”

“As a retired sheriff’s deputy…”

“As a physician…”

“As a retired federal agent…”

Dear Reader, care to make a guess as to the title or content of the YouTube video which had such opening lines to the comments?

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Last week was a busy week for me.

For a myriad of reasons, we just don’t fly as much at night, so most of my night hitches grow long and I run out of things to do. Sure, I read diligently. You remember I dabble in learning ASL. I exercise. But if you are able to rest all night and then have 12hrs before work, that is a lot of time to fill.

With that in mind, I had resolved a while ago to get my concealed carry permit again (I had one while active duty, but never kept it when I moved). Rather than take up time when home with the kids, I figured, “Why not find some training while away at work?” So I did.

I had the training scheduled for last Fri/Sat. It made for a bit of stress, because Thursday night and Friday night now became “I hope we don’t fly” instead of “Let’s see what the shift brings.” But it was a good plan.

Then the school shooting happened. This go-around, the unique part was that the kid was already known to be uncommon, to put it mildly. For all the talk about guns, this fact was the most depressing to me because it makes one feel the most helpless. We simply are not safe.

Then I had some time at the beginning of a shift to catch up on any company mandated CBT and saw that I had to do the annual “workplace violence” one before October. So I did it.

To summarize the week thus far, I knew I had concealed carry training (implies self-defense on the brain), there was a school shooting (I have two high schoolers), the shooter was known beforehand to law enforcement (we are not safe), and even at work I had to contemplate how to survive, as a first responder, to any violence while responding to a scene of violence.

That was all before Friday and the first part of the concealed carry training.

Sidebar: There is an actual shooting/accuracy test to the training, and I hadn’t shot in over a decade, so I was a bit nervous. I reviewed some videos which seemed to have good authority and called to mind what the Air Force had taught me. Suffice it to say, I will never watch another. Nor will I ever “train” or consider “training” as anything other than live fire. The recoil and overall physicality endured while firing a weapon cannot be replicated by any amount of anything. This is different from flying, for example, and many other activities in which simulation is highly beneficial. I’m writing this more for me than you, but if you don’t shoot much and have fallen prey to YouTube charisma, then feel free to use this confession to motivate you to get off your duff and go to the range.

Back to the main point of this post.

While in the training, we learned about a concept that I had never considered before (or heard of): insurance for the legal aftermath of “self-defense” shootings. It seemed like a reasonable concept/product and I was about to purchase it.

Then today I was introduced to the fine print and dissuaded from ever purchasing such insurance, in favor of hiring an attorney on retainer. (I am not sure if that is the proper language, but you get my point.)

Then while down that rabbit hole, I discovered the rather unique video which garnered the comments above. Without further ado, the video was a recommendation (which I have taken to heart) to always have the police take you to the hospital after a shooting. Reasons given ranged from strategic, to physical, to financial. But what struck me was the overkill of “appeal to expertise” or “ethos” (recall from Aristotle “logos, pathos, ethos”) in the supportive YT comments. First responders and others in similar positions at hospitals etc certainly have a thankless job. What else can be the reason they so nakedly want respect?

In the end, I am a dad, not a warrior, not a gunslinger. America is a safe place to live and work. First responders are as guilty for their attitudes as the thankless public. And I will be happy for a nice break, and some camping in the mountains with the kids in two days.

****

So did you guess correctly? Let me know in the comments.

I’m a Veteran and I’m Not Voting. (Trump Wins.) And What I Plan To Do If He Loses.

My acquaintances are disturbed when they encounter the fact that I am not voting. Here are my reasons for not voting, as plain as I can write them.

Firstly, I do not want Donald J. Trump or Kamala Harris to be the POTUS during the years 2025-2028.

Secondly, I do not support some higher principle on the issue of voting than that.

Got it? It’s not complicated.

On to the next question my acquaintances have often posed, “So you think life is fine and dandy and this election isn’t as meaningful as the general mood (which you confess to feel) suggests and that Kamala is a sacrificial lamb and the Dems are really just looking at 2028. I get it. But what does it mean if she wins? Like, what do you think it would mean since it would mean that you do not have your finger on the pulse, that you do not have accurate assumptions, and that you do not even know up from down? What then, Pete?”

Fair question. Firstly, action-wise, I plan to go to a store and buy an American flag and flag pole. Then I plan to return home and hang it upside down outside my door. One neighbor already does this. I have always liked and respected the silent power it holds. I also have always liked the idea of citizens silently solidifying through such tactics.

Then I will wait. I do not know for how long. What will I wait for? A hero. There are no heroes at the moment. It may be decades before one emerges. But one will come again. And on that day, I will support the hero—even so far as with violence against men who oppose the hero.

But, and mark my words, none of this is going to happen. My house will stay nondescript. Life is fine-and-dandy and you’re all suckers for believing the hype.

Plain Sentences Uttered By Kamala Harris

In order to help her (Trump wins, but it isn’t glorious unless he has real competition), I have compiled the plainly spoken sentences uttered by Kamala Harris during the interview. Naturally, I have kept them grouped by question. And, “Yes, I am largely relying on CNN’s punctuation.”

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Q1 (Day One Actions?): Well, there are a number of things. I will tell you first and foremost one of my highest priorities is to do what we can to support and strengthen the middle class. 

Q2 (Repeat: Day One Actions?): There’s the work that we’re gonna do that is about investing in the American family around affordable housing, a big issue in our country right now.

Q3 (People Want To Go Back To Certain Relevant Aspects of the Past. Will You Help Them?): Well, let’s start with the fact that when Joe Biden and I came in office during the height of a pandemic, we saw over 10 million jobs were lost. Hundreds of people a day were dying because of COVID. The economy had crashed. When we came in, our highest priority was to do what we could to rescue America. And today, we know that we have inflation at under 3%. A lot of our policies have led to the reality that America recovered faster than any wealthy nation around the world. Prices in particular for groceries are still too high. The American people know it. I know it. Which is why my agenda includes what we need to do to bring down the price of groceries.

Q4 (Are Three Years Really Enough For Successful Administrations To Achieve Results?): Well, first of all, we had to recover as an economy, and we have done that. Donald Trump said he was gonna do a number of things, including allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. We did it. She’s not doing that any longer.

Q5 (You’ve Never Erred?): There’s more to do, but that’s good work.

Q6 (Is Pennsylvania a Must-Win State?): Sure.

Q7 (Do You Still Want To Ban Fracking?): As vice president, I did not ban fracking. As president, I will not ban fracking.

Q8 (Do You Still Want To Ban Fracking?): I kept my word, and I will keep my word.

Q9 (Gotcha!): Well, let’s be clear. My values have not changed. I believe it is very important that we take seriously what we must do to guard against what is a clear crisis in terms of the climate. That tells me from my experience as vice president we can do it without banning fracking. In fact, Dana — Dana, excuse me — I cast the tie-breaking vote that actually increased leases for fracking as vice president. So I’m very clear about where I stand.

Q10 (Have You Ever Used Reasoning Skills On Fracking?): What I have seen is that we can — we can grow and we can increase a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking.

Q11 (Is Immigration Feather Or Black Mark?): Well, first of all, the root causes work that I did as vice president, that I was asked to do by the president has actually resulted in a number of benefits, including historic investments by American businesses in that region. He killed the bill: a border security bill that would’ve put 1,500 more agents on the border. The Border Patrol endorsed the bill. That bill would have allowed us to increase seizures of fentanyl.

Q12 (Is Immigration Feather Or Black Mark?): (There was not a plain spoken sentence.)

Q13 (Is Immigration Feather Or Black Mark?): I believe there should be consequence. We have laws that have to be followed and enforced that address and deal with people who cross our border illegally. I’m the only person in this race who actually served a border state as attorney general to enforce our laws. I recognize the problem.

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Reader, making determinations about plain spoken sentences is hard work. As is all hard work, it is worthy. But I am not sure if my reach is broad enough to make the effort efficient. If you would like me to finish the interview, please comment below. I need three encouraging comments to finish. Let’s Help Kamala!

The DNC Is Overplaying the Black Card

At the modern, respected, and accredited evangelical Seminary I attended, the guest preacher at one Tuesday Chapel was a pastor of a large church in either Michigan or Wisconsin. His sermon was supposed to model to us future preachers a near perfect exegetical (as opposed to topical and/or liturgical) evangelical and biblical sermon. I remember the sermon encouraged “humility”. I also remember he used PowerPoint perfectly. (This means no words, just pictures. And take the picture down after you make your point.) But most of all, I remember that they said he went down south to start a church and never really got one off the ground. But when he went back to where he was from (WI/MI), he had a congregation of several thousand. The implication was “one’s language is far more than English”. (This concept is not new or debated.)

Likewise, the DNC is overplaying the Black Card. This is another reason why I (and you) know Harris loses. They are not speaking to the whole audience.

It is certainly true that the Blacks own pop culture—what influencer-wanna-be teens don’t act Black around friends? No Black teen attempts to ball by imitating Musk or Romney or Tom Cotton or (this is oddly difficult). White is Right, but it is not cool. Mic Drop evidence: Beyonce opened the intro of the USA to the Olympics. (She’s Black.)

The Blacks (even Black Lesbians) own sports. (Thank you, MJ.)

The Blacks own public speaking. From MLK Jr., to Jesse Jackson, to Malcolm X, to Obama, to Oprah, to Corey Booker, to Tim Scott, to any Black Baptist gospel preacher, all other cultures would only improve with diligent study of Black orators. (Tip: Chew the meat; spit out the bone. \m/)

The Blacks own simplifying. Or they own what could be called “sorting.” Try telling a Black a convoluted story or nuanced description of how things went and they will see through you like a window. Three words. They will restate what you said in three words.

The Blacks own Matriarchy. Tiger Woods made the headlines, not only for golf, but because he thanked his dad. Tiger Woods had a relationship with his dad. “Stop the press! A successful Black man has a relationship with his dad? That’s like us!”

But the Blacks, while a unified voting block, are a small group. And while woke Whites in attendance will nod along with the poetry and call-and-response (exciting-‘cuz-it’s-new and I-can’t-wait-to-tell-my-friends), the same woke Whites are not really able to speak Black.

I am certain of this. How do I know? Because no other whites are at the Black churches.

This isn’t manifestation of racism. It isn’t mean-spirited. It happens for the same reason precisely zero non-English speakers are at Black churches. It is why no English speakers are at Spanish services or Ukrainian services. It is why Catholicism dropped Latin. When you go to hear someone tell the truth (sit down for this), you want to be able to understand what they say.

Tonight, Kamala will bring the DNC to climax. For Blacks. The rest of the audience won’t really understand why they’re cheering.

Or why Harris lost.

Ben Shapiro’s “Authoritarian Joy” Piece Misses the Point

He’s a busy man. I get it. But he missed the point.

We don’t need someone to clarify to Americans that joy is an emotion and not policy. We don’t need someone to clarify that appeals to emotion have been used by bad guys in the past.

Instead, we need some event to prove that government isn’t the answer to our problems.

When you listen to DNC speeches, even if you only lend one ear, the content is chock full of the idea that government can solve problems.

Ben Shapiro disagrees. I disagree.

But he and I have different understandings of where Kamala and the DNC err in their thinking.

He thinks their error is being inconsistent.

I think their error is theft.

The DNC is advocating (besides the actual theft its administration commits today) that the government (schmucks built no different than you and I) should be able to rob us as they tell us “We’re here to help!”

I am not ready to revolt. I can’t imagine how that would work. For now, I rest assured that Trump has this one in the bag. And while he is as guilty as the DNC of robbing us, he doesn’t make it hard for me to teach my kids that government cannot solve your problems.

Today Is The Greatest Day For MAGA Since the Escalator

You’ve been sweatin’ it, I know. Or at least that’s what I felt like the media wanted me to believe.

But with Walz as VP, it is time to shower and go on vacation. I wouldn’t even take the inconvenience to vote anymore. Yes, that’s how in the bag this election just became for Trump.

For those not paying attention, the MAGA folks’ thoughts on how Kamala of all people was chosen include “the dems know they lost this one, so they offer her up as sacrifice and will be back in ‘28 with a real candidate.”

Walz fits this bill perfectly too. My guess is they’ll have two folks in ‘28 that will be billed as “moderate”.

One cautionary note: Walz is a bit of a siren, in the Homer sense. Something in his speech inspires Whites to think, “Oh, good. Someone who knows.” And by knows they of course mean, someone who will stop racial integration, all immigration, financial regulation, and public intoxication. And then they will have their little slice of heaven on earth.

How else can you explain the Nordic Minnesotans turning a blind on to the full on invasion of their state by Somalia? It certainly isn’t happening because these Vikings (Skol!!) desire it.

Nope. The Minnesotans are stupid (sorry, friends but heartiness in cold weather only scores so many points). Somalis are more stupid, and add the double sins of lazy and Old Testament horny. And you, faithful reader, need to guard yourself. Walz may look like a duck and sound like a duck, but, like the Sirens of old, he is only interested in destruction.