Stories, "Brother Louie"
Diana Ross, "Touch Me in the Morning"
Quote of the Day
It is true that we cannot be free from sin,Maureen McGovern, "The Morning After"
Quote of the Day
Listen or thy tongue will keep thee deaf.Jim Croce, "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown"
There's hope for the GOP to come back in Arizona.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 19, 2021
That is all.
As a former Arizona resident (who got McSally spam texts on my cellphone), I've been amused by the left's political suicidal attack on Sinema. The Arizona GOP got hijacked by Trumpism, a perverse rejection of Goldwater/Flake conservatism. The left's hopes depend on Trumpism.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 19, 2021
This is Soft Rock America. No, Ted Nugent, that isn't cat scratch fever; it's COVID-19 you caught:https://t.co/ljEK5GiJQl
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 20, 2021
I think I've seen officially the dumbest tweet of all time: pic.twitter.com/rP3DnPKhnJ
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 20, 2021
There is not a single person who saw Chauvin put his weight on Floyd's neck who felt that the former police officer was innocent in Floyd's death. This does not restore Floyd's life but it is just.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 20, 2021
"Derek Chauvin found guilty of all three charges in the murder of George Floyd"
There is nothing "conservative" about Lahren, Shapiro and others. "Real conservatives" like me are wary of the abuse of government monopoly in all forms. Right wingnuts are no better than left wingnuts.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 20, 2021
Oh, Jesus! Every time someone like Maxine Waters proves she's irresponsible, a retarded Trumpkin like you has to say something even worse.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 20, 2021
I once again criticize Nate and Charlie's (Good Morning Liberty) naïve take on Trump Impeachment II, and along the way, I also take Ron Paul to the woodshed.https://t.co/sgQWrsXjcS
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 22, 2021
I bet immigration restrictionist Hawley also loved the Chinese Exclusion Act and FDR's Japanese-American interment camps.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 23, 2021
"Josh Hawley"
I'm not questioning deterring crimes based on ethnic identity, but why call it the "COVID-19" hate crime? Does this have anything to do with Trump calling it the "Chinese virus"?
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 23, 2021
USPS explained St. Paul used ancient Greek coins to pay postage. https://t.co/I0cPwlV2F7
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 23, 2021
I'm waiting for Wendy's to resurrect the "Where's the Beef?" ads from the 1980's.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 23, 2021
"Burger King"
Yet another abuse of eminent domain.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 23, 2021
Voters thought they were voting for Biden and got Trump. https://t.co/ClUTPh8yU2
I and other conservatives (I don't think any others are left in the Trumptard GOP) are scientifically literate and implore you to protect yourself, fellow workers and your social network from this pandemic where America has suffered a disproportionate number of victims. https://t.co/Q6CcuKV6Y7
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 23, 2021
Jerry West was THE player when I grew up, trying but failing to make my junior high basketball team. West excelled at both ends of the court, a clutch shooter, a perennial All Star, All Defense, a rare Finals MVP who lost to the champion Celtics. Dissed by owner?
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 24, 2021
"Jerry West"
My latest commentary focuses on the Chauvin verdict.https://t.co/KYIxYgVymV
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 25, 2021
I'm continuing my long tradition of not watching the Oscars, of not listening to entertainers bore us with their tiresome "progressive" political rubbish.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 26, 2021
The People's Republic of California has lost a seat for the first time in my lifetime as other patriots have joined me as ex-residents.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 27, 2021
"Texas gains two new seats in Congress, while New York, California and five other states lose seats following new Census numbers"
"American Indian culture emphasizes harmony with nature, endurance of suffering, respect and noninterference toward others, a strong belief that man is inherently good and should be respected for his decisions. "
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 27, 2021
Rick Santorum "don't know much about history".
For the first time in my lifetime, California left-fascists are worried about the cost of government. https://t.co/KqH7nAwOLE
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 27, 2021
Let me guess: WWE is going to call the Orton-Riddle tag team 'RK-Bro'.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 27, 2021
Quote of the Day
Life improves slowly and goes wrong fast,
Billy Preston, "Will It Go Round In Circles?"
The latest statistics from Washpo:
Quote of the Day
George Harrison, "Give Me Love"
Thank God for cellphones! Without video evidence of Chauvin's crimes violating George Floyd's natural rights, Floyd may have gone the way of just another unfortunate statistic, and Chauvin might have continued his career on the beat, unfettered of any responsibility or accountability. over the unnecessary, tragic loss of a life cut short.
I still recall my visceral reaction to the footage. I understand the allegation of Floyd's counterfeiting. I do not understand the use of unnecessary force; Floyd was no flight risk and there were multiple officers on the scene. He complained that he was having trouble breathing and yet Chauvin continued to maintain his weight on Floyd's neck. And, of course, this was not the first and only tragic result of police brutality to people of color. There was the notable event of Eric Garner, choked to death over selling single cigarettes (which NY saw as an illegal workaround to paying high excise taxes on local cigarette sales). I could talk of Walter Scott, Breonna Taylor, and other high-profile, unnecessary killings.
There are a few things that come to mind. First, the conviction outcome wasn't that obvious. According to statisca, only 5 of 42 convictions of on-duty police between 2005 to 2020 were for murder; about twice as many for the lesser charge of manslaughter. (Chauvin was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.) According to this source, there are roughly 1000 police-responsible killings a year; the arrest rate is maybe up to 2%, and roughly only a third of the arrested are convicted. I suspect that the real unjustified killing rate is north of 2%; why aren't more arrested? I can only speculate about prosecutorial discretion; perhaps the public is willing to give officers the benefit of a doubt, prosecutors may not find witnesses (say, partners on the scene) cooperative or other evidence compelling, etc. Never mind that prosecutors rely on the police as their allies in law enforcement; no doubt prior convictions relying on the charged officer may come under scrutiny. Still, I knew and was nauseated by the fact the defense would try to scapegoat the real victim (George Floyd) for his own death, portraying him as in ill health, dead man walking, who could have died at any time with or without Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck. There can be no doubt that constricting a man's air supply, his neck in particular, for a prolonged period of time, put Floyd's health and life at risk. I've heard disagreeable people mock Floyd, arguing that he couldn't have been so bad off if he could manage to complain that he was having trouble breathing. Police arrest people every day without choking off their air supply. Would the jury buy the testimony of defense witnesses? I wasn't sure
Second, I'm tired of the predictable partisan nonsense. I knew leftist media like CNN would talk of systemic racism. I knew the right wing media, particularly in the Trump era, obsessed with supporting "law and order", would try to make Chauvin the victim of "mob justice", that jurors were more concerned about the political ramifications of a not guilty plea on social unrest (rioting and looting), throwing Chauvin's due process rights under the bus.
I don't intend to go into an exhaustive review of both sides. I just want to summarize a few notable examples to make my point. CNN primetime host Chris Cuomo started a white guilt Twitter trend noting that maybe white America would start taking police violence more seriously if their own children were victimized. I tweeted back that most (but not proportionate) victims of police were white. Be clear: I have concerns about the abuses of state power in any form regardless of ethnic group. I have spoken out against police brutality in many cases, including Garner and Floyd. I have written many commentaries and tweets about bad public policy with disparate effects on urban blacks. (and I'll briefly discuss those below). I've lived in integrated apartment complexes. I have had black managers and colleagues (including a couple of black DBA's who have served as professional references), my closest friend in fifth grade (also an Air Force brat) was black, and I once dated a black woman. One of my Catholic Newman friends back at UH was married to a black Christian female singer (and told me of his own parents not accepting his wife and children). I have a black nephew-in-law, a deeply Christian man who has worked in the pharmacy industry, with 5 beautiful kids I adore. I don't want to be put on the defensive that "some of my best friends are black". It's not just black Professionally, I've worked with innumerable Indians, Pakistanis, even a guy from Bangladesh. I've worked on an internationally staffed project team at IBM/ I've befriended and/or dated Latinos/Latinas. I have two grand-nephews whose mothers are Latinas. As a Catholic I've worked with Hindus, Baptists, Mormons, and Jews; one of my doctoral officemates was a Taiwanese immigrant woman, one of my clients on the West Coast was a Native American. When I was in Catholic sixth grade, my class "adopted" a poor Washington DC black family. Maybe I was different since I grew up in the integrated military and I attended a university built in the middle of a southwest San Antonio barrio where some male dorm residents were the sons of migrant farm workers. As a Franco-American (French Canadian heritage), I've never really felt I was part of the majority white community; I have a surname almost no one can pronounce, and I almost got held back in kindergarten because I spoke primarily French. (and the teacher spoke only English) Some of the first albums I ever bought were from Diana Ross and the Four Tops. So please, no elitist, presumptuous lectures. Mainstream leftists have an insulting, cartoonish simplistic view of most Americans and racial identities. Most people know to treat each other as equals without pervasive political indoctrination.
As for the right wing, don't get me started on what "comedian" Steven Crowder was thinking by mocking George Floyd's death scene posing with his neck exposed. Where did he get the idea to do that--when Hannity offered (but never followed through) to get waterboarded? And you can almost phone in the Trumpkin response--get a law enforcement officer of color to provide another perspective on the Floyd case. That's what "Catholic Vote", a Youtube channel I used to clip some of its videos way back when it provided good comments, but something happened to it during the Trump era and I haven't sampled content in some time, and this nonsense will likely result in my unsubscribing.in the near future.
For us libertarians, the violation of individual rights, including the right to life, is an abomination, particularly by the State, which rules by force. Bad public policy, especially affecting urban black communities, include, but are not restricted to:
Quote of the Day
In my many years I have come to a conclusion
McCartney & Wings, "My Love"
Quote of the Day
Here's to the crazy ones.Edgar Winters Group, "Frankenstein"
Quote of the Day
Seek ye first the good things of the mind,Stevie Wonder, "You Are the Sunshine of My Life"
This is in many aspects a follow-up to the initial post I ran here. To unfamiliar readers, I've been listening to a backlog of "Good Morning Liberty" podcasts hosted by Nashville libertarian hosts Nate Thurston and Charlie Thompson. More recently, I've been listening in descending sequence of episode size (I have gigabytes on episodes on disk), not necessarily in order of recency; I think the episode where they discuss impeachment II is #386 (as a mathematician I love numbers, and 386 is a well-known label for Intel's 32-bit chip architecture).
Any reader familiar with my essays over the past 18 months or so know I've gotten increasingly annoyed by fellow right-libertarians making excuses for Trump's behavior resulting in his impeachments, and Nate and Charlie fall in that group. Also I've opposed Trump's Presidential ambitions from the get-go. I was never more than a nominally registered Republican when I as a rare Southern Democrat left the Dems in the 1980's over their political attacks on the Bork nomination, but Trump's rabid anti-immigration policy, protectionism, and toxic populism were anathema to my principled conservatism. I had struggled with Ron Paul's 2008 and 2012 POTUS candidacies; even to this day, I'm somewhat selective in clipping Ron Paul videos for my daily blog because he gets somewhat repetitive, strident, with touches of conspiracy theories and discussions of blowbacks. He has his own flavor of populism, including immigration restrictions, and can get downright preachy in his advocacy of Austrian economics. But he was philosophically consistent The point is, we libertarians notoriously disagree among ourselves.
One of more intriguing, exasperating things I have found in Ron Paul's Trump era/post stage commentaries is his soft approach to most of Trump's over-the-top behavior. Maybe it's Paul's more even-tempered personality, and I'm sure some Paul apologist can cite chapter and verse of subtle rebukes of Trump somewhere. But you would think that Ron Paul would have had serious issues with Trump's aggressive foreign policy (out-bombing Obama in Afghanistan, refusing to acknowledge collateral casualties and damage, the Soleimani assassination, hiring Mattis and Bolton, his support of Saudi intervention in Yemen (including veto of Congressional restrictions), his claim of unenumerated Presidential powers, his abuse of budgetary authority (transferring funds from DoD to congressionally-rejected Southern wall building), his abuse of "emergency powers", his many executive orders, his mammoth deficits (trading domestic spending increases for expanding the Pentagon budget), his demand that the Federal Reserve compete with the EU with negative interest rates, etc. I do think he was better on "Tariff Man" and "Economic Sanctions" Trump.
The point is: Ron Paul has given mixed messages on Trump, e.g.:
Paul hasn’t always been critical of Trump. The former Texas congressman asserts that in 2016, Trump “upset the Washington apple cart” and “set elements of the Deep State in motion against him.” But Paul quickly adds that Trump has since become part of the “Deep State” he once challenged.
And why did Paul buy into the Deep State conspiracy against Trump? Because Trump paid lip service to "America First", little more than a soundbite for jingoist nationalism, not a limited global footprint? This is a guy who saw diplomacy and trade as universally manipulated against gullible American interests, who argued the only real issue with American power was that he himself wasn't leading it, who not only threatened American adversaries but traditional allies. Never mind libertarian critiques that military spending was grossly overextended for legitimate defensive needs, that when goods do not move across borders, armies will.
Now, Nate and Charlie are sympathetic to Ron Paul's take (I think Charlie often opines how at least Trump hasn't started any new wars, never mind Trump's aggressive moves against Iran and Syria. I thought my eyes would roll out of their sockets when Nate and Charlie seriously tried to argue that Trump was the most libertarian President in their lifetimes, when, in fact, Trump specifically primaried or tried to primary Amash, Sanford, and Massie. Now I'm not a fan of Clinton's initial tax hike and attempts to nationalize healthcare (among other things), but you could argue that NAFTA was better than any Trump trade initiative (don't get me started on Trump's USMCA, which was a variation on Trump protectionism), the Internet was lightly regulated, Clinton was good on regulation and investment taxes, and Clinton was the last POTUS to actually balance the budget.
Now as to the events of Jan. 6, Charlie doesn't seem to get the difference between statutory law and Constitutional law. No, this is not a criminal trial in the ordinary sense. I think in part the Democrats muddied the water in terms of focusing on mob incitement. But let's be clear: Trump wanted his mob to confront the Congress in session. He scheduled his rally on the morning of the vote count. He knew there were violent protests over the state electoral college counts a few weeks earlier. He knew that some allied organizations were planning to do more than cheer him in a rally; the media, law enforcement, etc., had all issued warnings that protests could get out of hand.
Trump had a Constitutional responsibility to protect the Congress, full stop. He took an oath to uphold and protect the Constitution. Regardless of the outcome of the Jan. 6 vote, Trump had a mandate to honor the process. There should have been contingency plans, under due diligence, to protect the Congress in session. By any objective point of view, Trump was derelict in duty. It was an unprecedented failure in leadership, not seen in DC since the War of 1812. It doesn't matter whether Trump specifically advocated protest violence, whether the type of protest was specifically identified in some definitive law, whether or not protesters acted under their own volition. For someone who focused on his role of Commander of Chief, he did nothing to quiesce the riot, apparently balked at intervening and had to be talking into calling off the remnants of his mob. There is no excuse for Trump's failed leadership. I know the Founding Fathers themselves would have impeached and convicted Trump.
Quote of the Day
Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.Tony Orlando & Dawn, "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Around the Old Oak Tree"
Let's start with the latest Washpo statistics:
Of course, some states like Michigan have disproportionately high outbreaks. And I don't have the specific number on the at risk 65+ population but 41% were at least partially vaccinated as of 2 months ago. I would like to think (I don't have the data to prove this yet) that mortality is mitigated by greater vaccine protection of the at risk Since testing is correlated to suspect symptoms.
The last of my 6 younger siblings finally got her first Moderna shot recently. I think the 9 children of 3 siblings have all been vaccinated and at least 4 of the remaining 12 other nephews and nieces are at least partially vaccinated. One of those 4 is a nephew living in Michigan.
I touched on the J&J vaccine blood clot kerfuffle in my last journal post. Basically 7 of 8 patients out of 7.4 million people getting the vaccine have developed brain clots within a couple of weeks Nearly all were women in young to middle-age range. Let's point out that in a country of 32 million cases, there's almost a 10% chance of getting an infection. Eight patients out of millions, even assuming you could prove a link, is extremely rare, a rounding error. I would have had no issue whatsoever taking the J&J vaccine.
Finally I tweeted about this after my last journal post where I speculated about a third Pfizer booster shot this year; sure enough, coincidentally within a day later, the Pfizer CEO spoke about a likely third shot.
I recently had a dream from my salad days of studying graduate school mathematics. Apparently I got an unexpected, aggressive love letter from a Chinese woman I didn't know. She proudly described herself as having won the genetic jackpot (which I interpreted as being very curvy), no picture, no description of her facial features (i.e., pretty). For context, I really haven't been the object of many woman's crushes (that I know about; maybe a handful over the years). I got the attention of a couple of very pretty OLL coeds who seemed to find my shy geek personality an attractive alternative from fellow aggressive male students. I just didn't have enough dating experience to know how to respond to aggressive women. (No, the dream ended before meeting her.) It wasn't a racial thing; my only co-author in academia was my former Taiwanese immigrant PhD student office mate. Minnie was married so we were friends. I have dated white, Latina, and black women; I don't think I've met any single women of Asian descent. No dating rule; in fact, I've found many Asian women attractive.. Ironically no Franco-American women like my Mom and sisters.
I've always been self-conscious of my eyes around women. Particularly in a climate of sexual harassment policy, I never wanted my glances to be interpreted as vulgar. I think the first time I really became self-conscious was when Sally, a fellow Navy math instructor and fellow buddy Bill's girlfriend, asked me, "Ron, did anyone ever tell you you've got bedroom eyes?" Um, no, and never since. What the hell does that mean? She thinks I'm leering at her? I never had any romantic interest in Sally (she was a pretty blonde, but she was my buddy's girl and off limits). I didn't want Bill to get jealous and punch me out. According to this source, it's more of a compliment and might mean she's interested. Then one of my programmer colleagues in San Antonio a year or two later had a friend couple visit him for lunch. I briefly greeted them in passing. My colleague saw me after lunch and was roaring with laughter. It seems the wife had nicknamed me "Eyes" and thought I was leering at her. I was in a state of shock; she has made zero impression on me and I never had an improper thought of any kind. I don't know where she got the idea. I think my colleague knew it was some weird projection on her part but what signals was I giving off that got massively misinterpreted?
But the thing I was really self-conscious about was a female supervisor when I worked for a private company in the Chicago suburbs. I had worked for the techie co-founder of the company. PC loved coding; he would get up early in the morning to work on creating computer games. As a company officer, he had to spend a lot of time with customers, cocktail parties, and the like, versus the techie stuff. I had grabbed his attention not by my DBA skills, but because I had written a PRO*C interface for batch cartridge monthly processing for our first and still biggest client, FC. I was sharply critical of one of his female programmers who got the DBA gig when the CEO assigned me to a problematic Citibank Indonesia project. (She basically only prioritized the applications she had been working on and left a few months later for a six-figure job in downtown Chicago. I don't know what stupid company offered her that job, but she and her husband were good friends with PC and his wife. and PC refused to give me the job when she left, pissed off over the kerfuffle.) He made an external offer for the position and the new hire had a family death and decided to take over the out-of-state family business. In the interim, I felt the company had reneged on my job offer and in fact I had turned down a subsequent job offer from academia. The CEO agreed if PC passed me over he would put me in another business unit. So PC eventually put me in the spot when the other candidate no-showed, later calling it one of the 2 best decisions he ever made.
PC decided some months later to take a tech management role at A, which his fellow co-founder CEO considered a rival and threatened a lawsuit. The last several days were surreal with PC holing up inside his office with blinds shuttered. PC would later recommend me to replace him, which was like the kiss of death under the circumstances; PC would later tell me his exit agreement would not let him recruit me to A.
A number of mainframe developers reported to PC. The company was leasing a mainframe on site, and the lease was something like a quarter million dollars per year. The company was transitioning applications to microsystems like from Sun, where we found payback within 6 months (basically application conversions paid for themselves in months), so the mainframe programmers feared for their jobs. Somehow I became the scapegoat of their angst, the company's axman who would replace them with fresh computer science graduates. I have no idea where this rumor came from; the company NEVER discussed personnel with me and I knew the company valued the industry experience they had and felt it was easier just to retrain them. But the malcontents threatened to resign in mass if I was promoted, and the company threw me under the bus.
The person who got PC's spot was D, who had been in charge of the mainframe staff and she was a protégé of the CEO. Zero exposure to microsystems/the Unix world. And she was determined to make an example of me in front of her rogue programmers (by the way, the chief troublemaker left within a few weeks anyway). She thought she was a badass; she didn't give a shit about my stellar company service to that point, I would have to prove myself to her. It was classic managerial incompetence; yes, women can suck as managers as much as men. I could leave for a better-paying job in a second, and management knew it. I made it clear if the company didn't transfer me to another business unit, I would quit; it took a few weeks, and she fought like crazy to keep me from going to Brazil thereafter. They ended up putting someone who made like $15K a year more than me as my replacement, and she knew he didn't have my skillset. And I think he ended up weeks later for Oracle Consulting; he demanded a raise to stay.
So a long intro just to introduce the reader to D, my married female boss. There was one physical characteristic that particularly made me self-conscious around her. She had noticeably large breasts; no, she didn't wear low-cut or tight outfits or flimsy undergarments. She dressed professionally, but her bulging figure was obvious, no matter what she wore. She had a sense of humor about her figure. She once participated in some employee picnic skit where she played a magician's assistant; he pulled out the largest bra I've ever seen from his magician's hat and she blushed, folding her arms across her breasts as if somehow he had peeled off her bra. I was so afraid of being caught/accused of looking at my boss unprofessionally. I tried to minimize our encounters and to maintain constant eye contact around her. I was miserable until the job transfer happened.
One of the puzzling storylines post Wrestlemania is Charlotte Flair, not happy with being excluded from the championship match between then champ Asuka and new champ Ripley, seems headed to a triple-threat match at Backlash. The odd thing is Flair has had prominent victories over both Asuka and Ripley at Wreslemania, so a bit of been here, done that. This week Ripley for some odd reason distracts Flair in a clash with Asuka, costing the former a win. Flair snaps at the male ref after the match, and WWE has "fined and suspended" her. I'm still waiting for WWE to resurrect Green Mist heel Asuka. They need to do that anyway before Becky Lynch makes her long-awaited return. And for some odd reason, WWE hasn't featured AJ Styles and his superheavyweight bodyguard, the new tag champs, since Wrestlemania. They seem to be pushing the Viking Raiders into a clash with Styles. But the booking of Raw in particularly is puzzling.
Quote of the Day
People are more easily led than driven.Vicki Lawrence, "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia"
Quote of the Day
To the world you may be just one person,The O'Jays, "Love Train"
Wow, I think I have a fan. Most of my tweets don't get engagements like like's or retweets. So when Twitter mentioned one Twitter user had liked 31 of my tweets, it grabbed my attention. I don't really pay much attention to my own likes of tweets I would probably guess Justin Amash has won a plurality of mine.
I've been in a stat slump of sorts I think I've only had one "viral tweet" (my term for 1K+ timpression weets) over the last few weeks. I really can't predict which tweets will attract the most attention. Some ad libs will gain hundreds of page views. Probably one of my favorite tweets ever (search below for the term "unfettered") hasn't even reached double-digits as I write. I was made aware of the tweet, asking for a defining principle of libertarianism, by Justin Amash's response. I wrote the tweet as a form of word sculpture, and I'm happy with it. My own blog and Twitter feeds haven't attracted attention by well-known libertarians or groups now libertarians famously disagree with each other. Occasionally I've gotten brief email responses from people whose content I've featured in my blog, but that's not the same as, say, someone promoting my work on his own. It's sort of like being a supposedly favorite uncle (I have 21 nephews and nieces). There are some who will acknowledge my generally unilateral attempts to contact them. But almost none ever contact me on their own. I'm okay with that; people get wrapped up in their own lives.and I'm not their parent. But I miss the attention I got when they were young; one niece wrote I was her favorite person in the world; my RN sister has 3 daughters, and I recall on a long ago visit, they fought over who got to sit next to me at the dinner table. Maybe one day I'll submit a post to Lew Rockwell's site. But the said tweet is an example of my own libertarian content, and I'm working on a post that goes a little further in that direction.
Hypocritical bastard left-fascist wants you to forget that the Democrats had already eliminated the filibuster for the lower courts.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 10, 2021
The hypocritical bastard also wants you to forget about the "Biden Rule". Garland was not the exception.https://t.co/Aak1ChPTuZ https://t.co/2KeucwZlzq
Anti-constitutional corrrupt political whore! No to anachronistic government monopolies1
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 11, 2021
Remember that brief moment when Haley held Trump responsible for the assault on the Capitol? I had to Google to remind myself it happened. Haley has no spine, no moral compass; she is no Lady Thatcher.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 13, 2021
"Nikki Haley"
If the alt-right's god Donald Trump got vaccinated and that didn't convince them, don't expect Biden to talk them into it.https://t.co/MsFUwKxlTv
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 13, 2021
"Deadliest Catch"
My basic issue is it hasn't already happened. This has been the US' longest, dumbest war. One of Bush's worst decisions, and neither Obama nor Trump had the stones to end it.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 14, 2021
"Biden set to announce the withdrawal of all US troops from Afghanistan by September 11"
Lindell was the moron who hitched his ride on Trump's never-likely reelection. It's not like Costco is an exclusive distributor. I recently saw My Pillow at Sam's Club. Not to mention Lindell's commercials are the most annoying since Namath started shilling healthcare.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 14, 2021
"Costco"
The New Axis of Evil. It's just missing Chuckie. https://t.co/Xc1coDUoYK
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 14, 2021
I stopped watching the SOTU when Moron-in-Chief Barry O personally attacked SCOTUS for upholding the First Amendment.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 14, 2021
"Speaker Pelosi"
Envy is a vice, not a virtue. If being a CEO was easy, you would be one.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 14, 2021
I take on "Good Morning, Liberty"'s Nate and Charlie's naive defense of Trump on Impeachment 1.https://t.co/11RPB5ALzP
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 15, 2021
Wow, I suggested as much in my latest journal post this morning. https://t.co/BM9TKUnpkB
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 15, 2021
"Pfizer's CEO says people will 'likely' need third COVID-19 dose six to 12 months after full vaccination"
I guess Stone's Trump University course in tax accounting didn't work out so well.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 17, 2021
"Roger Stone"
I have to comment on the cited article. My maternal grandfather, a small Fall River grocer, was in fact quite involved with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. https://t.co/X02x9ifw2c
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 17, 2021
So apparently Trump made an impression on Joe Biden. It looks like his Asian-American VP needs to give him ethnic sensitivity training.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 17, 2021
"Japanese Boy"
Who cares about the crackpot Trumpkin caucus, consisting of freak show Republicans? They are no more representative of the GOP than the Squad for the Dems. I don't know who's worse--Omar or Greene.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 17, 2021
"Nazi"
I'm sure COVID-19 must have filed charges with the EEOC over Trump's "racist" classification.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 17, 2021
I seem to recall calling a man of color a "boy" is racist.https://t.co/0ius75yEzF
I don't know which is worse--the historic racism behind calling a grown man a "boy" or idiotic nationalism trumping the individual achievement of Hideki Matsuyama. Here's a clue to Biden: at last count, at least 63 Japanese men played MLBhttps://t.co/ghNq3vikPi
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 17, 2021
"Japanese Boy"
Trumpkins, of course, are clueless as to why Pompeo using State Department employees as his gofers violates professional ethics. They are still in denial of Trump's attempted shakedown of the Ukraine government to pursue a political attack on Biden.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 17, 2021
I'm a libertarian who in his adult life used to be a registered Democrat and then a Republican. But it's damn hypocritical for Democrats to attack McCarthy over the crackpot America First caucus when Pelosi has her own looney tunes Squad to deal with.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 17, 2021
"McCarthy"
Wow, Gutmann's rant on political correctness run amuck at an elite $54K/year private school, requiring the signing of an anti-racism pledge for admission, training for parents, is awesome. https://t.co/ZkGsRdJ9NO
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 17, 2021
Unfettered right to act, move, associate and exchange consistent with the rights of others.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 18, 2021
Progressive imbecility is a vice, not a virtue. In their delusional perspective, everything is about the bogeyman of racism. The fact is most (but not proportionate) police fatality victims are white; Chris Cuomo is uninformed, as usual.https://t.co/c2O0oyQcRO https://t.co/IbgQNlaqWC
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 18, 2021
Unlike Sam Cooke, you know what a slide rule is for (and still own one) #SignsYoureMiddleAged
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 18, 2021
your favorite songs play on oldies radio channels #SignsYoureMiddleAged
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 18, 2021
This is Soft Rock America. Elton John reminds us "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting".https://t.co/ntEjBoF4Ga
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 18, 2021
'Waffle House"
I see Bush Derangement Syndrome is still alive and well. Trump hates Bush, won the 2016 nomination dumping on him, and went on to prove that not only Bush could lose the whole Congress, but he could add more to the national debt in half the time. Bush reelected
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 18, 2021
"George W. Bush"
Let me guess: McConaughey will run for Texas governor as the guy who would give you the shirt off his back.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 18, 2021
"McConaughey"
Why don't you focus on reelecting Nursing Home Killer Cuomo?
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 18, 2021
"Social democracy" is an economically illiterate proposition based on the vice of envy.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 18, 2021
The fiction that the political elite who lust for power better serve the masses through political monopoly and oppression than those who compete to serve their wants and needs through voluntary exchange.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) April 18, 2021
"Marxism"
Quote of the Day
Roberta Flack, "Killing Me Softly"
Quote of the Day
Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to doOccasionally I'll reprint something I consider worthy commentary. More recently, it's been things like a Facebook comment by Justin Amash. In this case it's a letter written by Andrew Gutmann, whose daughter is currently a student at Brearley School, a $54K annual tuition private school in Manhattan (NYC). It was recently reprinted in a post by Bari Weiss. Let me note that like Amash, neither Mr. Gutmann nor Ms.Weiss ,a left-leaning former journalist formerly employed by the WSJ and NYT, necessarily share any of my views, and no endorsement should be inferred.
I'm not going to review here at length my own educational views, which I've discussed in a fragmentary fashion in past posts. I'll simply point out that when I originally applied for admission to OLL, my intent was to get certified as a high school math/science teacher. (OLL has an excellent education program.) As a UT graduate student, I was responsible for conducting calculus lab sessions (word problem solutions), and as a UH graduate fellow and subsequent MIS professor at 3 universities, I had full teaching responsibilities for multiple undergraduate and/or graduate class sections. I, of course, had a track record of academic success, including as my high school valedictorian and graduating summa cum laude at OLL with a perfect GPA in two rigorous discipline majors, math and philosophy. I had won a dissertation grant and one of 4 competitive university-wide fellowships at UH, attended two competitive doctoral consortia at DSI and ICIS, numerous Dean's Lists, scholarships, and honor societies I always had very high personal standards. For example, if I had to master 14 units to earn an A, I might do 22. My high school biology teacher held me after class one day, saying I didn't have to come to class anymore, that I had my A; if he taught to my level, he would lose the rest of the class, and it would be a waste of my time to sit through watered-down content. I remember I could sit in on an undergraduate upper division course for credit towards my MA philosophy minor, and the professor held me after class one day. "What the hell are you doing in this class? This paper is graduate-school caliber work."
My Mom thought I would suck as an educator. because I would expect other students to work at my level of performance. No, and to be honest, I was bored during my early schooling and not really interested in grades or whatever. Teachers never really challenged me. until my sixth-grade English teacher Mrs. Montgomery (in SC: bless her). She taught the subject at a college level, and it turned me on. I know by the time I was 10 or 11, I was intellectually capable of doing college-level work (maybe socially or emotionally that wouldn't have been great, but still...). I was checking calculus books out of the base library and reading encyclopedias for fun.
I had tough but not impossible standards as a professor. I inherited students who couldn't write a cohesive paragraph if their lives depended on it. Students usually weren't prepared for the material I had to cover, and in my discipline I've had graduating students who had never written a computer program on their own (not on my watch!) I've had students livid at me because they were acing their history courses with minimal work but my courses required more work: if I was such a great teacher, it should be so much easier. Yeah, the same dudes who train weeks for a marathon don't have similar expectations for academic performance.
[I blogged some anecdotes about my first classes I taught at UH. One student compared my exams to having a lobotomy. A group of my students said they rated my exams by how many beers it took to forget them. One student said my exams were the first real college tests he had at UH.]
I don't believe in lowering standards or expectations. I don't believe in politically motivated disciplines or content. I embrace a solid foundation in western civilization and classic education. I found myself agreeing with much of the Paideia Proposal
April 13, 2021
Dear Fellow Brearley Parents,
Our family recently made the decision not to reenroll our daughter at Brearley for the 2021-22 school year. She has been at Brearley for seven years, beginning in kindergarten. In short, we no longer believe that Brearley’s administration and Board of Trustees have any of our children’s best interests at heart. Moreover, we no longer have confidence that our daughter will receive the quality of education necessary to further her development into a critically thinking, responsible, enlightened, and civic minded adult. I write to you, as a fellow parent, to share our reasons for leaving the Brearley community but also to urge you to act before the damage to the school, to its community, and to your own child's education is irreparable.
It cannot be stated strongly enough that Brearley’s obsession with race must stop. It should be abundantly clear to any thinking parent that Brearley has completely lost its way. The administration and the Board of Trustees have displayed a cowardly and appalling lack of leadership by appeasing an anti-intellectual, illiberal mob, and then allowing the school to be captured by that same mob. What follows are my own personal views on Brearley's antiracism initiatives, but these are just a handful of the criticisms that I know other parents have expressed.
I object to the view that I should be judged by the color of my skin. I cannot tolerate a school that not only judges my daughter by the color of her skin, but encourages and instructs her to prejudge others by theirs. By viewing every element of education, every aspect of history, and every facet of society through the lens of skin color and race, we are desecrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and utterly violating the movement for which such civil rights leaders believed, fought, and died.
I object to the charge of systemic racism in this country, and at our school. Systemic racism, properly understood, is segregated schools and separate lunch counters. It is the interning of Japanese and the exterminating of Jews. Systemic racism is unequivocally not a small number of isolated incidences over a period of decades. Ask any girl, of any race, if they have ever experienced insults from friends, have ever felt slighted by teachers or have ever suffered the occasional injustice from a school at which they have spent up to 13 years of their life, and you are bound to hear grievances, some petty, some not. We have not had systemic racism against Blacks in this country since the civil rights reforms of the 1960s, a period of more than 50 years. To state otherwise is a flat-out misrepresentation of our country's history and adds no understanding to any of today's societal issues. If anything, longstanding and widespread policies such as affirmative action, point in precisely the opposite direction.
I object to a definition of systemic racism, apparently supported by Brearley, that any educational, professional, or societal outcome where Blacks are underrepresented is prima facie evidence of the aforementioned systemic racism, or of white supremacy and oppression. Facile and unsupported beliefs such as these are the polar opposite to the intellectual and scientific truth for which Brearley claims to stand. Furthermore, I call bullshit on Brearley's oft-stated assertion that the school welcomes and encourages the truly difficult and uncomfortable conversations regarding race and the roots of racial discrepancies.
I object to the idea that Blacks are unable to succeed in this country without aid from government or from whites. Brearley, by adopting critical race theory, is advocating the abhorrent viewpoint that Blacks should forever be regarded as helpless victims, and are incapable of success regardless of their skills, talents, or hard work. What Brearley is teaching our children is precisely the true and correct definition of racism.
I object to mandatory anti-racism training for parents, especially when presented by the rent-seeking charlatans of Pollyanna. These sessions, in both their content and delivery, are so sophomoric and simplistic, so unsophisticated and inane, that I would be embarrassed if they were taught to Brearley kindergarteners. They are an insult to parents and unbecoming of any educational institution, let alone one of Brearley's caliber.
I object to Brearley’s vacuous, inappropriate, and fanatical use of words such as “equity,” “diversity” and “inclusiveness.” If Brearley’s administration was truly concerned about so-called “equity,” it would be discussing the cessation of admissions preferences for legacies, siblings, and those families with especially deep pockets. If the administration was genuinely serious about “diversity,” it would not insist on the indoctrination of its students, and their families, to a single mindset, most reminiscent of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Instead, the school would foster an environment of intellectual openness and freedom of thought. And if Brearley really cared about “inclusiveness,” the school would return to the concepts encapsulated in the motto “One Brearley,” instead of teaching the extraordinarily divisive idea that there are only, and always, two groups in this country: victims and oppressors.
l object to Brearley’s advocacy for groups and movements such as Black Lives Matter, a Marxist, anti family, heterophobic, anti-Asian and anti-Semitic organization that neither speaks for the majority of the Black community in this country, nor in any way, shape or form, represents their best interests.
I object to, as we have been told time and time again over the past year, that the school’s first priority is the safety of our children. For goodness sake, Brearley is a school, not a hospital! The number one priority of a school has always been, and always will be, education. Brearley’s misguided priorities exemplify both the safety culture and “cover-your-ass” culture that together have proved so toxic to our society and have so damaged the mental health and resiliency of two generations of children, and counting.
I object to the gutting of the history, civics, and classical literature curriculums. I object to the censorship of books that have been taught for generations because they contain dated language potentially offensive to the thin-skinned and hypersensitive (something that has already happened in my daughter's 4th grade class). I object to the lowering of standards for the admission of students and for the hiring of teachers. I object to the erosion of rigor in classwork and the escalation of grade inflation. Any parent with eyes open can foresee these inevitabilities should antiracism initiatives be allowed to persist.
We have today in our country, from both political parties, and at all levels of government, the most unwise and unvirtuous leaders in our nation’s history. Schools like Brearley are supposed to be the training grounds for those leaders. Our nation will not survive a generation of leadership even more poorly educated than we have now, nor will we survive a generation of students taught to hate its own country and despise its history.
Lastly, I object, with as strong a sentiment as possible, that Brearley has begun to teach what to think, instead of how to think. I object that the school is now fostering an environment where our daughters, and our daughters’ teachers, are afraid to speak their minds in class for fear of “consequences.” I object that Brearley is trying to usurp the role of parents in teaching morality, and bullying parents to adopt that false morality at home. I object that Brearley is fostering a divisive community where families of different races, which until recently were part of the same community, are now segregated into two. These are the reasons why we can no longer send our daughter to Brearley.
Over the past several months, I have personally spoken to many Brearley parents as well as parents of children at peer institutions. It is abundantly clear that the majority of parents believe that Brearley’s antiracism policies are misguided, divisive, counterproductive and cancerous. Many believe, as I do, that these policies will ultimately destroy what was until recently, a wonderful educational institution. But as I am sure will come as no surprise to you, given the insidious cancel culture that has of late permeated our society, most parents are too fearful to speak up.
But speak up you must. There is strength in numbers and I assure you, the numbers are there. Contact the administration and the Board of Trustees and demand an end to the destructive and anti-intellectual claptrap known as antiracism. And if changes are not forthcoming then demand new leadership. For the sake of our community, our city, our country and most of all, our children, silence is no longer an option.
Respectfully,
Andrew Gutmann
Elton John, "Crocodile Rock"