It's Been A Long Ten Years

Given the events of the past decade, I thought I should check in to see if I still have any followers... and if so, to probably alienate them.

It has been an eventful ten years since my last post in 2012.

The Republican Party is off the rails. I never was a Republican (as readers will no doubt recall) but often voted for them. As it stands now, I wouldn't vote for a Republican for dogcatcher. The TEA Party and then Donald Trump tore the heart out of the conservative movement and replaced it with tribalism (a trend already in progress when I semi-regularly posted here, to my dismay both then and now) and a reactionary instinct akin to the very ideologies I dedicated my political life to opposing throughout my young adulthood. In short, I look at the Republican Party today and I see the beginnings of fascism.

This is a serious charge, and I make it in utmost seriousness. (I also know that I'm far from the first, and that I used to make fun of people who called us fascists at protest crashes with PW circa 2005. I look back and wonder if they maybe had a point, even then.)

The TEA Party made opposition to the Obama administration dogmatic and reflexive, rather than issues-based, something I noted in my last post. It has gotten worse since. Donald Trump has been undermining our elections since shortly after his first run, baselessly alleging fraud and attacking election workers and administrators. As readers may recall, I was a poll worker myself in the 2008 primary. I have served in that capacity (never again as inspector, but several turns as both clerk and judge) many times since, and I can assure the reader of one thing: It is impossible to steal an election at the precinct level. We keep constant tally, and their are both Democrats and Republicans in the room, either of whom would scream bloody murder if the others tried to tamper with the votes - and everyone who signs up to work the polls (at least until recently, thanks to Trump) is committed to the democratic process and would do no such thing to begin with. Now we're under threat - both physical danger for poll workers because of Trump's lie that we stole the election (I'm in less danger than some because Trump unfortunately won my state, but I feel for election workers in Georgia and Arizona), and in terms of the integrity of future elections, with would-be officials running for positions that oversee elections with an eye towards putting a thumb on the scale next time. I solemnly swear I will continue to serve and do my duty to the utmost to ensure that does not happen, but the power of a precinct judge is extremely limited in the face of a crooked Secretary of State, should such a person be elected.

Needless to say, this sort of behavior does not behoove a party that purports to be loyal to the Constitution and the Republic. But there's more. Donald Trump, while in office, subverted and obstructed justice, committed gross abuses of office, and attempted to use the power of the Presidency to extract favors and quash oversight. He did everything he could to obstruct the Mueller probe, as the Department of Justice memo released today reminds us. He attempted to withhold military aid duly appropriated by Congress from Ukraine to extort President Zelensky to announce a sham investigation of his election opponent, with consequences we see today. Volumes can be, and have been, filled with other misdeeds by the former President, so not to belabor them, we'll get to the big one.

The Capitol insurrection. When I rallied with Protest Warrior, I thought the people we were counterprotesting were misguided, but with few exceptions I never believed them disloyal or traitors. But on January 6th, 2021, the then-sitting President of the United States unleashed a mob - a mob he knew was armed - on the United States Capitol, urging them to stop the certification of an election he had duly lost and egging them on against his own loyal Vice President, who to his credit did his Constitutional duty despite first pressure and then threats by the President. Trump only called off his dogs when it was clear the gambit had failed. For some time it appeared that they might succeed, but to the credit and through the sacrifices of the Capitol Police no members of Congress were caught. Bare yards separated Vice President Pence from a howling mob screaming for his head. It could have been much worse than it was. It failed, but I fear that unless serious consequences are levied soon it may occupy the same place in our history that the Beer Hall Putsch does in Germany's.

And in the failure of his scheme, Trump has been laying the groundwork for the next one. He has endorsed candidates for office who pound on the lie of a stolen election - and many are now nominated for positions that will let them at least try to steal elections. After all, if you believe the only way you could lose is fraud, why would you not "correct" the vote when you lose, if you can?

Meanwhile, despite the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, President Biden is still pursuing the interests of security and democracy abroad, killing Al Qaeda's leader (funny how Republican Presidents since 9/11 haven't managed to pull that off, but both Democratic Presidents since have) and supplying Ukraine's defense against Russia's naked attempt at conquest (which Trump, I reiterate, held hostage in the interests of coercing foreign aid in his own reelection campaign).

Ironic as it might be coming from a blog with this one's record, I call on all readers to vote for Democrats. Until the Republican Party comes to its senses, if it can, we cannot afford it to be anywhere near the levers of power. Our very republic is at stake.

This may well be my final entry into this blog, simply because it's an obsolete if not dying format, but I had to get that off my chest in it lest the views I held in my 20s define it forever. We shall see.

Ralph Hayes, Jr. is a coward and a fool.

It's not often that I do this; after all, writing a post for everyone who commits a logical fallacy in a debate would fill this blog to the exclusion of all else. However, argument through appeal to force is something I feel the need to write about.

The subject of today's rant is known as Ralph Hayes, Jr. Mr. Hayes is the illustrator and author of a couple of excellent webcomics, in addition to several mediocre to outright bad ones, hosted at his site which I linked to in the title.

This has little to do with my problem, however. What it has more to do with is the fact that he is an outspoken social conservative, and happens to advocate revoking all funding for AIDS research and treatment, in favor of quarantining the victims of the disease. I virulently disagree with his conclusion, but even that's not why I'm writing this.

No, I'm writing this because, after I wrote a long reply detailing just how bogus his money-saving rationale is, due to the fact that a quarantine would require cutting off international trade to prevent the virus from being re-introduced into the country, which would cost the economy an amount of money that makes the $13.7 billion he complains about seem paltry by comparison, he deleted my reply and banned me from commenting on his blog.

That's some way to win an argument there. Don't like what someone has to say? Destroy the evidence and get rid of him! Comrade Stalin would be proud.

As you can (currently; I don't know how long it'll last) see, he did not delete all my replies. Earlier ones based on the immorality of locking up so many people who had done nothing wrong were dismissed on the basis that quarantine would save lives, and he simply claimed I was wrong when I pointed out that quarantine in the modern world, with modern travel, isn't as effective as he would like, but when I destroyed his flimsy rationale, he got rid of me. Guess I struck a nerve.

I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when discussing it with him, but I'm sure as hell not going to now. The method of controlling the disease that he advocates is ineffective by every single measure - cost savings, preventing the spread of the disease, easing the suffering and extending the lives of the victims - except the measure of punishing those who engage in what he, as a social conservative, sees as immoral behavior. Sure, it's costing us boatloads of money and not advancing medical research in any way, but at least we get to lock up THE GAYS!

There. I said it. He hasn't, but that's the only purpose his proposed solution would serve, so there it is.

Mr. Hayes, if you ever read this, I want you to know: Censorship is the act of a coward. Public censorship, openly removing material after it has already been published and read, is the act of a fool. You have revealed yourself as a foolish, pathetic little man who, given a modicum of power, is quite prepared to use force against those who disagree with him. I also want you to know that argumentum ad baculum may make you feel better, but it has yet to ever win a debate.

"The attempt to silence a man is the greatest honor you can bestow on him. It means you recognize his superiority to yourself." - Joseph Sobran

Since I've apparently accidentally encouraged a "Truther..."

Well. In my last post, I embedded a video of a debate between the makers of the film Loose Change and the editors of Popular Mechanics magazine. Unfortunately, I failed to realize that some people are too dense to recognize a good intellectual thrashing when they see one, and instead side with the guy who shouts the most (when in actuality, being reduced to shouting in a debate usually means you've lost), so I've decided to correct that oversight.

So I am posting to promote the "9/11 Debunked" video series by R.K. Owens. These lay out, in simple format, precisely why the various 9/11 conspiracy theories do not stand up to the facts. I heartily recommend watching at least some of them to anyone interested in the issue, whether you believe the conspiracy theories or not.

The videos may be found here. Highlights include this video on why the fires in the World Trade Center didn't have to melt steel to collapse the buildings, this one handily shows that the towers did not fall at free-fall speed as frequently claimed by conspiracy theorists, and this one showing that the damage to the Pentagon is entirely consistent with a 757 hitting the building.

Be warned: Many of the videos, including the first two I linked, show the World Trade Center's collapse multiple times from multiple angles. If this is an emotional subject for you, as it is for me, you may wish to not take it in all at once.

North Korea pisses me off

Okay. On most days when I decide to post to this weblog, I try to post my opinion and analysis of important current events, and to do so with a level head. On those days, I try to stay objective and offer rational discourse. Today is not one of those days. Today, I'm posting a rant. General warning: This post contains profanity.

Pyongyang Chronicle.

How dare the North Koreans? How fucking dare they? Kim Jong-Il's government is literally starving the North Korean people, even instructing them to breed fucking rabbits for food, and now they go and not only tell their citizens that they have power and heat when they clearly do not, they tell them that we the people of the United States are not only without power ourselves, but are stealing oil from South Korea and causing thousands to freeze to death? The gall of the North Korean propagandists is just fucking appalling. Seeing this and yet being unable to do anything about it is possibly one of the most frustrating things I have ever faced, and this does nothing but rub it in.

And what's worse? The people buy this. It's drilled into their heads from birth that North Korea is the most prosperous country in the world, and that all others are far worse off. And what's even better? There are people over here, in the United States, who like North Korea. I've heard it said. If you're one of them, click here. Fucking Communists...

In conclusion, the Dear Leader, Kim Jong-Il can take his propaganda about how bad I have it and shove it up his ass, along with his entire government, economic policy, and ideology. That is all.

Man, I needed that.