“Your death amounts to the same as your life, a zero sum!” -Dr. Arnim Zola (Toby Jones) from the (2014) film Captain America: Winter Soldier
I’m kind of feeling that quote right now. No, I’m not dying or anything, but I do feel like everything I believe in is a “zero sum.”
If any of you follow me on twitter or Facebook (and amazingly, I still have active accounts on both, although twitter is restricting me somewhat), you know what I mean.
I’m almost too despondent to write this, but I feel compelled anyway.
I know many of you are rejoicing that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were inaugurated and are now the President and Vice President of this country. No, I’m not sorry to see Donald Trump go, but I’m not happy to see Biden and Harris come either. This is how I imagine I would have felt if Hillary Clinton had been inaugurated four years ago.
I find myself wondering why Trump was elected in the first place. For that matter, was he really the best candidate the GOP could have found to run against Clinton? It was a million to one shot that he would have been elected and yet he was.
Ironically, it was the best thing that could have happened to the Democratic party and the Leftists. It couldn’t have worked out better if the Dems had orchestrated his win themselves. If Hillary had won, it would have been “business as usual.” But after four years of Trump, he handed the Democrats, actually the leftists starting to dominate the Democrats, everything they could have dreamed of. Now no conservative and moderate dares to criticize Biden/Harris else they be labeled “Trumper” and be completely dismissed and shamed (or worse). There’s more than one way to censor a human being.
As an aside, I just want to say there’s a huge difference between liberals and leftists. Liberals (and I was one once) believe in freedom of speech. In fact, there were whole demonstrations on numerous university campuses in the 1960s protesting FOR free speech. According to Dennis Prager, leftists oppose free speech (often rebranding it “hate speech”) because in order to forward their agenda, there can only be one unopposed narrative. Theirs. They’ve convinced free speech liberals to surrender their ideals because they are told to fear conservatives more than the loss of their rights.
For more, see:
The difference between ‘left’ and ‘liberal’ – and why voters need to know
The Difference Between Liberals and Leftists
Leftism Is Not Liberalism. Here Are the Differences.
Readers React: The difference between liberals and leftists.
The Democratic party isn’t even what it was during the Obama administration. Oh sure, you have your old school Dems like Pelosi and Feinstein, but they are aging and will be replaced by people such as “the Squad,” which includes leftists Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley. These are the ones who really make me nervous.
And while Joe Biden is generally one of those middle-of-the-road old school Dems, Kamala Harris is not.
In America’s haste to “take out the trash,” in this case meaning Donald Trump (who by now is hiding under his bed in Florida), they didn’t stop to consider what they were buying into.
“When I went under, the world was at war. I wake up, they say we won. They didn’t say what we lost.” -Steve Rogers/Captain American (Chris Evans) in the 2012 film The Avengers.
I don’t actually think Biden (well, Harris really) will make being a conservative illegal, but there have been some disturbing bits in the news.
The aforementioned Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez recently proposed “reining in” the Press, effectively limiting or even eliminating the First Amendment. Remember this Amendment, in addition to guaranteeing a Free Press not influenced by the government, also guarantees that the government will not interfere with our freedom of speech, our right to peacefully protest, our right to petition the government, and our right to worship as we please (even if you are an atheist and disagree with “religion,” it’s still the right of the faithful under the Constitution).
What do you think would happen if you took away all that?
Sound fantastic? Am I a conspiracy theorist? And yet “AOC” as she’s known by, directly attacked one of the major foundations of that amendment: a Free Press.
We already have censorship in high tech social media platforms. Of course, twitter and Facebook are private companies and are allowed to have terms of use in which they can enforce, but do they enforce those uniformly? Do they censor political conservatives while allowing Islamic Jihadists to say “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” (no, these are not merely euphemistic statements)?
Anyone who has read George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984” (published in 1949) knows that whoever controls information and language controls thought. You can manipulate a population’s beliefs and attitudes by limiting and shaping the information to which they have access.
I already showed how Google does exactly that by manipulating search results. Click the link and read the content. It’s some of the most rigorous scientific analysis I’ve seen.
I won’t go on much longer because it’s not going to do any good. The evil Donald Trump was sent packing and the good and righteous Joe Biden and Kamala Harris now hold the keys to the kingdom (that’s almost not metaphorical, if I’m right). Oh, as far as that “sainthood” stuff goes, this Washington Post piece paints Biden as an absolute angel from Heaven. No kidding, no blemishes at all, not even his 1987 plagiarism scandal.
Besides the inauguration itself and how it hit me, what really inspired this blog post is another one by Amie Gibbons called Not Today!.
It heavily references the previously mentioned movie “Captain America: Winter Soldier” relative to more recent events. As difficult as it may be for you to believe, the world we have just entered might end up being one we have to fight our way out of, or at least resist kneeling to (lots of kneeling went on some months ago and it won’t be the last time).
The nation we have now under Biden and Harris could very well turn into one where we surrender our freedoms voluntarily for the sake of being “taken care of” and being “safe.” Safe from ideas, some of them pretty bad, admittedly. But that’s the nature of free speech. Sometimes you don’t like what the other guy or gal has to say. But they have a right to say it. We have a right to disagree and to call them on their BS if that’s how we see it.
“I disapprove of what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” -attributed to Voltaire
I’m feeling pretty beaten up right now. Part of me wants to give up and surrender to the overlords. I can’t do that, no matter how much it hurts. I’m not alone in the world. Yes, my children are all adults and free to make their own decisions, but I have three grandkids. They still need Grandpa to represent concepts like free speech, integrity, honor, courage, and what America is as an ideal if not reality. Old fashioned to be sure, but right now, we need a little old fashioned.
As another aside, no I’m not defending all of our nation’s evils. I’m not defending slavery, lynchings, racism and all of the other ugliness that’s been done in the name of the United States. I don’t defend those characters who recently invaded the Capitol building. On the other hand, I don’t feel like I have to become the government’s whipping dog in order to “atone” for all that, especially since I didn’t cause any of it (I realize that according to Critical Race Theory that doesn’t matter, but I don’t support positions based on Marxism, either)
I’m going to lick my wounds and when I feel better, I too will come back, and when ordered to kneel, I will respond, Not Today!
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I think we lost our freedom a long time ago. What happened today is mostly just another puppet show on the road to communism.
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You’re probably right, but the demon just peeked out from behind the covers, and in four years, he won’t even bother hiding.
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So say we all!!!!
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Sorry you’re feeling so down, James. Now you know how I have felt for the past 51 months.
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Everything Trump did will be reversed in time. Biden has already started issuing executive orders. But it’s gone too far. If you actually read my blog post, you can see how the political agenda has been positioned because of a Trump presidency. During Trump’s reign, your speech wasn’t restrained. Facebook and Twitter are only the beginning. AOC is calling to limit a free press which is a direct attack on the First Amendment (also in my blog post). As bad as Trump was, especially because he was rude about it, it will be ultimately worse under Biden/Harris, because they’ll start dismantling democracy, all the while saying they’re restoring it, and smile and say all the right “buzzwords,” and then we’ll walk up one morning as property of the state…or at least my grandchildren will.
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James said: “During Trump’s reign, your speech wasn’t restrained.”
An article to which you linked, James, while not acknowledging what I’ll quote,
is here. https://reason.com/2021/01/14/aoc-rein-in-our-media-literacy-trump-capitol-rots/
Users have every right to criticize these decisions, but ultimately Twitter and Facebook are private companies with the right to set their own moderation policies. They can prohibit speech they define as misinformation. Congress can’t. In suggesting a role for the government to regulate the media’s speech, AOC is echoing comments made by numerous right-wing figures—most notably President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly called for changing libel laws to make it easier for maligned officials to sue the press. Trump has also made threats against newspapers for covering his presidency negatively. It’s critical that the law not be changed; the media must be free to vigorously criticize the president, Congress, or any other aspect of the government…
At least she has shown a capacity to learn.
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I cannot agree. You say that Biden/Harris will start dismantling democracy. I say Trump spent four years attempting to dismantle democracy and Biden/Harris will start restoring democracy. But we clearly see the world through different lenses.
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I didn’t expect us to agree. In fact, the slight of hand being used may be completely invisible to those who aren’t looking for it. That said, I can’t predict the future. Just remember that just because someone is polite doesn’t mean they’re not trying to con you.
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It sounds like you would have been happier if Trump had been re-elected. Everything Trump did SHOULD be reversed. The executive orders that Biden signed were to reverse the damaging executive orders that Trump signed. And just because you see conspiracy theories everywhere doesn’t mean that they’re real. And it also doesn’t mean that I’m blind because I don’t see your conspiracies. Biden is a compassionate, empathetic, intelligent man — the antithesis of Trump. Trump was a danger to America. Good riddance.
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Actually, I’d be happier if someone less prone to radicalism, either left or right were voted in. Politics has become more dramatically polarized in the last 12 years or so, which I think is a mistake. This year I voted for the libertarian candidate, not because I thought she had any hope of winning (the two major parties have locked out all of the others), but because morally it was the right thing to do. From that stance, regardless if Trump or Biden had won, my personal conscience would be clear. Shocking as it may seem, I don’t think literally everything Trump did was bad. I actually liked the way he handled Iran and North Korea. They didn’t know if he was bluffing or not and didn’t want to call his bluff just in case. That’s how you handle bully nations.
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And then there’s how he handled Putin and Russia.
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I’ll see you Russia and raise you Biden, Hunter, and China.
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🙄
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https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210120-biden-administration-to-declassify-report-about-khashoggi-murder/
Following months of investigations, it was reported that the operation [to brutally murder a journalist] was overseen by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and his intelligence chiefs, according to audio recordings obtained by Turkish intelligence.
…. Outgoing US President Donald Trump boasted of having “saved” Bin Salman from being held accountable for the killing.
Since then, there have been calls to release the classified intelligence findings and Biden has been urged to do so. The Trump administration blocked its declassification despite being legally required to release the document.
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James, I really must protest that you have bowed the knee to those who have been falsely calumniating the honorable President Donald J. Trump, whose policies and actions in office were among the strongest accomplishments for American liberty and prosperity within the past half century. His administration and the memory of it should be celebrated unabashedly (period, full-stop!). His iconoclasm was absolutely necessary to challenge a long-standing status-quo among Washington officialdom, and it regrettably could not complete all the tasks that have been long needed. Part of the present malaise is the utter contempt being still showered upon him and those who supported his goals, including at least half of the electorate who voted in hope that he would continue in office. These people are now being dismissed as one vast lump of unwashed, deluded, “domestic terrorists” who ought to be “deprogrammed”. Present calls for “unity” are nought but thinly disguised commands for censorship of all disagreement, debate, and challenge of the impending tyranny that disregards Constitutional rights. Knuckling under and shutting up are not unity, and the USA is currently a deeply divided nation. Woe unto them who cry “Peace, peace, when there is no peace” — and silence is not peace. We need more iconoclasts like Donald J. Trump, and we should be truly sorry to see him depart the office that he has enacted well. Those who know just how well must not allow anyone to denigrate that legacy.
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Now that Biden, Harris, and Congress don’t need the protection anymore, they throw away these soldiers like a used Kleenex. These politicians aren’t heroes. They’re career politicians. They’re used to using people. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/21/national-guard-troops-vacate-capitol-461220 Also, what dirty little war is Biden trying to get us into again, and after a mere two days in office? https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/middle-east/1611293792-us-military-convoy-enters-northeast-syria-report No, something smells to high heaven.
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