There are many great mysteries in life. Why are we here? How did we come into existence? Who keeps greenlighting Madea movies? But the one that has the most impact right now is whether you’re fully vaccinated. And not unlike the questions I asked previously (especially that Madea one), there doesn’t seem to be a clear answer.
You would think there would be, though, because it seems to be a yes-or-no question. Ah, but thanks to our good friends on the Left, it’s gotten more complicated than the network used to buy Hunter Biden’s paintings. Yet, these same Leftists insist everyone should be fully vaccinated to do anything from going outside to walk your dog to gaining entry to restaurants and bars. Why the duplicity? Glad you asked!
fully vaccinated
What the Left thinks it means – a social responsibility that must be maintained so we can overcome COVID-19
What it really means – a constantly changing metric with little to do with overcoming COVID-19
When the first COVID-19 cases hit the US, we weren’t sure how to deal with it. Some people got very worried while others pretended it was no big deal. Eventually, though, most of us came around to the idea COVID wasn’t anything to sneeze at, and we started the process of combating it. It was during this time of uncertainty that Leftists went from dismissing it to embracing it because they found a way to make money on and take power from it.
It started with Democrat governors initiating lockdowns and mandating masks to attempt to try to contain the pandemic. By the way, happy second anniversary of “two weeks to slow the spread.” When that worked as well as President Joe Biden’s Afghanistan exit strategy, the restrictions continued with dissenters (i.e. anyone who could follow basic logic and saw the fail-fest for what it was) being called out as being evil assholes who just didn’t understand the severity of the pandemic and should be shamed as much as possible.
If you’re seeing parallels between that situation and the current vaccination situation, give yourselves a gold star because it’s the same strategy. As cases continue to mount, Leftists are using vaccination in the same way they’ve used being masked: as a means to pick out the “good” from the “bad.” (No word on the “ugly” at this time.) Using that simplistic measuring stick, the Left stroked their own egos like Bill Clinton stroking his…cigar at a Playboy shoot. It became a moral litmus test and they all rushed to prove how moral they were.
You know, after spending the latter months of the Trump Administration saying they didn’t trust any vaccine that he pushed out.
Anyway, the standard for being fully vaccinated changed with the wind. First, you needed one or two shots, depending on the brand you chose. Next, you needed a third shot. Now, there’s the possibility of a fourth shot being necessary to be considered fully vaccinated. With the way things are going, the next vaccination card you get may be “Get 9 and Get the 10th Free” variety.
And here’s the kicker: Leftists are admitting the vaccines don’t actually prevent COVID-19, but merely mitigate our body’s reaction to getting it. I guess they had to change the narrative after the vaccinated started spreading COVID like they claimed the unvaccinated did. You know, I’m starting to think the bulk of the people telling us to “follow the science” might not know what science is…
Naaaaaaaaah! It’s just a coincidence these folks continue to be wrong about just about everything COVID-related.
At the heart of the Left’s approach to the pandemic is the concept of coercive power, how much people are willing to do to avoid negative consequences at the hands of the powerful. This goes waaaaaay beyond naming and shaming the unvaccinated. There are Leftists, some who have considerable political and social stroke, who want to punish people for not being fully vaccinated. Read that again. Punished not for refusing to get shots, but for not getting enough shots.
Replace “shots” with “health insurance” and you have Obamacare.
Given what we know now about the nature of COVID-19, there remains an unanswered, yet vital, question: what is Plan B if the current Plan A fails? Nobody on the Left seems to have thought that far ahead, which is disappointing, but not surprising. While concepts like natural immunity and herd mentality that were initially dismissed as not being supported by science are now being embraced because it turns out they were all along, the people who tell us to get vaccinated keep repeating the same mantra as a cure-all. And still people resist for any number of reasons.
That is what fucks over the Left most. When people are allowed to choose what is best for them, they may not choose what the Left’s option. Leftists want more of a controlled choice where you must choose between what the Left wants and what the Left wants. And, no, that’s not a typo. They want the illusion of choice more than they want actual choice, like elections in the former Soviet Union where voters chose between two members of the same Communist Party. Come to think of it, that’s pretty much the same as the 2020 Democrat primaries.
Either way, being fully vaccinated should be a personal choice. I am fully vaccinated and will get booster shots as needed due to my medical history, and I will continue to wear masks in closed public spaces for the same reason. Beyond that, I don’t care. It’s your call, and I support it because I’m not an authoritarian asshole. COVID symptoms suck regardless of how severe they are and no amount of virtue signaling moves changes that.
Regardless of whether you’re unconvinced of the effectiveness of the vaccine or get more pricks than an orgy in a gay porn movie, the negative motivations behind getting everyone vaccinated are hard to ignore and even harder to explain away. And the Left isn’t making an effort, or if they are it’s at their usual energy level. Either way, there is one thing you can do to annoy Leftists and point out the folly of this issue using their own logic against them.
Just say you identify as being fully vaccinated.
And don’t be wearing your good clothes when you do. The head explosions in the aftermath may get messy.
Tag: president donald trump
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
Life is full of choices. What do you want for dinner? What car should I buy next? Ginger or Mary Ann? Well, thanks to the Left, we now have another choice.
We can have a filibuster in the US Senate, or we can have democracy.
This choice came about due to Leftists attempting to push through voting reforms, but ran into a little snag called Senate rules. To sway public opinion, Leftists are now saying we cannot preserve both democracy and the filibuster in the Senate.
Of course, there’s a bit more to the story. And by a bit, I mean a whole fucking lot.
democracy or the filibuster
What the Left thinks it means – the decision between making it easier for people to vote and retaining a Senate rule that doesn’t make sense
What it really means – a false choice between something we don’t have and something the Left doesn’t like right now
Let’s deal with the elephant in the room first: we are not a democracy and never have been. We are a constitutional republic. Granted, we’ve been using democracy and republic interchangeably, but there are clear differences that prevent the two from being synonyms. First, they’re spelled differently. Second, and probably more important, a democracy doesn’t require electing officials because the people have the power to decide the outcome of matters. A republic does.
Granted, Leftists are going to say this is a semantic difference, but it’s really not. It’s like saying a chihuahua and an elephant are the same because they’re both four-legged animals. But, as anyone who has tried to housebreak an elephant will tell you, they’re not the same. Regardless, the fact remains we don’t have a democracy, thus half of the choice is false on its face. You know, like Nancy Pelosi’s face?
The other half of the decision is a lot less technical, but no less important to understand and appreciate. The best way to describe it is a higher threshold than a simple majority and it’s usually reserved for matters of high importance. That way a crackpot majority can’t ram through self-serving laws merely by having a few more crackpots than the opposition. It’s a useful tool for the minority party in the Senate because the mere threat of one is often enough to take a piece of legislation back to the negotiating table.
Of course, that happening these days is rarer than how Dracula takes his steak. Neither major party has been able to count on having the minimum 60 votes to overcome a filibuster threat for several years now, but instead of trying to craft actual bipartisan legislation, they dig in deeper and get nothing done.
Which is fine by me, by the way.
But it’s not fine by Leftists. They have big plans to turn America into the socialist shithole like they’ve always wanted. Due to the current makeup of the Senate, Democrats have 48 seats and Republicans have 50 seats, with two Independent Senators caucusing with the Democrats. To force a tie, every Democrat and the two Independents have to vote in a bloc, thus allowing the President of the Senate (Vice President Kamala Harris in this case) to cast the deciding vote.
Enter Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, two Democrats who have gotten the ire of Leftists for…not wanting to get rid of the filibuster. Just remember, Leftists are free thinkers. Just ask them. But, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. In this case, even free is too expensive.
Behind the rhetoric, there is some serious deception going on and the Left hopes you’ll forget all about it and support making the filibuster as obsolete as Ralph Northam’s future with the NAACP. For this next section, we’re going to assume the Left is correct about America being a democracy.
The first Senate filibuster in American history occurred in 1837, which means it has been in existence for 185 years. Also, Senate Democrats used or threatened a filibuster over 300 times under President Donald Trump. And it’s only become a threat to democracy now? Sorry, but I’m throwing the brown bullshit flag on this one. The only reason the Left wants us to think it’s a problem now is because they don’t get to use it like they did when Democrats were in the minority in the Senate.
It’s almost as if the Left aren’t trying to protect democracy so much as they’re trying to protect Democrat-acy.
Now that we’ve entertained the Left’s “America is a democracy” fantasy, we must go back and deal with the real world. One of the reasons the Left is hellbent for leather to get rid of the filibuster is because they claim Republicans will get rid of it when they’re in the majority. Even though…they didn’t. In fact, Mitch “Old Age Mutant Senator Turtle” McConnell bucked President Trump when the latter wanted the Senate to do away with it. And to date, Republicans have not attempted to eliminate the filibuster, although they did render it toothless when it came to judicial nominees. Still, a weakened filibuster under certain conditions isn’t the same as eliminating it altogether, which is what the Left wants now.
But as many a Leftist has yet to fully understand, political power is always in flux. Democrats may control the Senate now, but they may not after Election Day. The very thing they want to eliminate will become another tool to use when they’re out of power. Then, I guarantee Leftists will sing a totally different tune. How can I be so sure?
Because New York Senator Chuck “Amy’s Funnier Relative” Schumer sang that tune a few years ago when he defended the filibuster. If you doubt me, look up Senator Tom Cotton’s recent speech in the Senate where he quoted Sen. Schumer directly. The only thing consistent about the Left is their inconsistency, that’s for sure.
Although I see a need to reform the filibuster, it’s not the existential threat the Left makes it out to be. It’s a safeguard against bad decisions, of which there are plenty in Washington, DC, like the effort to get rid of it. Funny how that works, isn’t it?
There is no choice between democracy and the filibuster to be had. Since we don’t have the former, we can keep the latter with no issues.
Except for Leftists, who don’t have issues so much as subscriptions.
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
In case you were wondering what holiday follows New Year’s this year, it’s not MLK Day; it’s 1/6 Day.
Over the past year, Leftists have made so much hay over what happened a year ago they can keep John Kerry fed for the winter. While most Americans have put 1/6 in the past, the Left made it a focal point for a good chunk of their rhetoric since it happened, whether it be calling the protesters “domestic terrorists” or lamenting how close we came to “the end of democracy.”
Eat up, Mr. Kerry. And while you’re eating, let me give you something to read.
1/6
What the Left thinks it means – an on-going threat to our country, proof at how radical the right wing has gotten
What it really means – a date that lives in infamy only because the Left keeps resuscitating it
In the grand scheme of things, 1/6 was one of those times when some of our fellow Americans acted like a drunk uncle airing dirty laundry during a family reunion (or spilling all the iced tea, if you want to maintain the reunion imagery, or spilling all the Twisted Tea, if you want to maintain the drunk uncle imagery). These knuckleheads broke some laws and deserve punishment, no question.
Then, the Left overplayed their hand. Surprising, right? They started trying to dox anyone they could find related to the 1/6 incident, even if the people they found were literally obeying the law. On top of that, the lawful and the lawless were lumped together and called domestic terrorists. Since then, the Left has stoked fears of another 1/6 happening because…well, they haven’t really figured out the reason, but they’re sure it’s real!
If you thought “Russia Russia Russia” was overplayed, you aren’t ready for “1/6 was an act of domestic terrorism” 12-inch club remix.
Here’s the funny thing (one of several related to the topic, I assure you). What most of the 1/6 protesters did is…drumroll please…protected speech. The First Amendment covers a lot of ground, but one of the parts involves protest, i.e. redressing grievances with the government. You can disagree with the reasoning behind the rally/march/Congressional invasion, at the heart of it was an attempt to get government to answer a question about the 2020 Election. Thus, it was a legitimate form of speech, an argument the Left used throughout 2019 and 2020 to cover the riots…I mean protests related to Black Lives Matter, ANTIFA, and other popular Leftist causes. However, once the line between speech and illegal activity gets crossed, the First Amendment no longer applies.
Apparently the Left hasn’t gotten the memo, but now they have, they’re applying it to the 1/6 protesters. Granted, they’re applying it wrong, but hey. Meh for effort, I guess.
While this is going on within the Beltway, most of the rest of America has moved on, which is not what the Left wants. They need us to be afraid (oh, and snitch on anyone they tell us is a threat because you don’t want QAnon people in your neighborhood, right), so they need to keep the fear cranked up to eleven because, well, it’s one higher. This, in turn, has created the steady stream of misinformation combined with an unhealthy amount of paranoia. You know, like the media do with COVID? Given how they treat the unvaccinated like a leper at a buffet, they don’t even have to change the template that much. Yay, recycling! And because of this, the Left calls themselves real patriots, but I seem to see they’re wearing kilts when they do.
This is a reference to the “No True Scotsman” logical fallacy in case you didn’t know. Basically, the No True Scotsman fallacy tries to create division by stating nobody who believes X would act or think in a certain manner. The idea is to make the undesirable person and/or idea, well, undesirable. What it does, however, is create a false standard that the “undesirable” will never be able to attain because he/she will never meet the accuser’s criteria. Kobiashi Maru, anyone?
Through this intellectual and literal dishonesty, the Left has created what they consider to be the perfect trap to snatch up people who understand what happened on 1/6 and reject the Left’s reality on the matter. But just like James T. Kirk in the aforementioned Kobiashi Maru reference, there is always a way to avoid the trap. With Kirk, it was cheating. With people like us, it’s rejecting the Left’s entire argument on its face, which is really easy to do.
I’m going to repeat what I said on the topic about a year ago, so I apologize ahead of time, but there is a major point that really needs to be reiterated to put the Left on their heels. First off, calling 1/6 an insurrection is like calling Al Gore a climate expert; the Venn Diagram shows no link between the two. The purpose of an insurrection is to overthrow the existing government, and who was President on 1/6? Donald Trump. If there was an insurrection on 1/6 and the perpetrators were Trump supporters, logic dictates the insurrectionists would be trying to overthrow the man who allegedly inspired them to try to overthrow him. Either Trump is an idiot (which would make Hillary Clinton look even worse than she already does), or the Leftist narrative is wrong at best, dishonest at worst.
Let’s just say I’m betting the house on the latter.
The more lenience you can give to the Left is the protesters tried to disrupt the duties of the Electoral College in certifying Joe Biden’s election to the Presidency. At best, the worst of the disrupters caused a slight delay in the process, and the results were certified the way the Left wanted them to be. Property damage, trespassing, vandalism? All crimes that should be prosecuted, and given how quickly it’s going, we might be celebrating a 25th anniversary of 1/6 before we get done with the legal proceedings.
And justice still won’t be done.
I’m no Trump sycophant, but I have a few questions about 1/6 that the Left don’t want answered. Which, of course, means they’re questions that should be answered, if for no other reason than to get the full picture. The events of 1/6 weren’t completely lawful, but they weren’t the 9/11-times-a-gazillion the Left wants us to believe they were. Fortunately, most people have moved on, which leaves Leftists bereft of an actual reason to continue paying attention to 1/6.
Chew on that, Mr. Kerry.
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
There are some things about the 1970s that I miss. Great music. The Bicentennial. The lack of millennials. Yet, there are some things I wish would stay there.
One of those things is leisure suits, but since they’re not really that relevant, we’re going to talk about inflation. If you’ve been watching your nickels and dimes lately, you’ll see those nickels and dimes aren’t going as far as they used to, say, a year ago. Hmmm…I wonder what happened within the past year that could have caused that to happen. I don’t know, but I’m Biden my time, if you know what I mean.
But if listen to the Left, this current round of inflation is no big deal and we shouldn’t freak out over rising costs. Of course, these same Leftists think Paul Krugman is knowledgeable on economics, so you can take that with a grain of salt. Meanwhile, let’s take a look at inflation from someone who isn’t notorious for being wrong.
inflation
What the Left thinks it means – a normal economic condition that shouldn’t concern us
What it really means – an economic condition worsened by bad economic policy
I recognize economics is a subject so dry it makes the Sahara Desert look like Atlantis, but I do have to go into a bit of it to give us a baseline of knowledge to understand the impact.
When the cost of business goes up, goods and services get more expensive, resulting in the producers getting less money for the same effort. The producers then have to make a decision to address the shortfall, everything from adjusting the price to firing employees. More often than not, they raise prices, which in turn affects the value of our money.
But that’s not the only thing that affects monetary value. Politicians indirectly have an impact on it through legislation, regulation, and regurgitation (of talking points). One glib comment from a politician or squawking head and the economy can tank faster than a Proud Boys stand-up act at the Apollo. Even the hint of some new taxes or regulations of a particular industry can create economic instability.
Fortunately, we don’t have a current President who is notorious for making ill-informed staaaaa…oh, crap.
Say what you will about Donald Trump (and, believe me, I have), but one thing I will give him credit for is understanding how the economy works. And before you comment on the number of bankruptcies he’s filed, keep in mind Trump has been a part of the American social fabric since the mid 80s. He’s been all over everything from casinos to reality shows to steaks to online education. He’s the orange Ron Popeil.
Compare that to the laundry list of political and media knuckleheads who can’t tell their assets from a hole in the ground, and yet have the power to impact the economy without knowing how it works. (I’m looking at you, Socialist Socialite.) And, as it turns out, these are the ones who make the statements that cause the most economic headaches.
Take the aforementioned Paul Krugman, for example. He may have a Nobel Prize, but the fact he’s wrong more often than he’s right condemns both Krugman and the Nobel Committee. I mean, would you follow the advice of someone who said the Internet was a fad and would go the way of the fax machine (it didn’t) and advised people to get out of the Stock Market after Donald Trump was elected because it was going to crash (it didn’t)?
Oh, and did I mention Krugman is also one of the people saying inflation isn’t that big of a problem right now?
Although inflation is a pretty easy concept to grasp, the Left doesn’t get it, mainly because they aren’t economically-minded (except when it comes to their own bottom lines). A big reason for that is because they rarely think of money as a tangible matter. To them, it tends to be symbolic in nature, namely as a symbol for the rich oppressing the poor, men oppressing women, and so on. As a result, their “solutions” to the problems they make up…I mean find are simplistic. Just take X amount from Person A and give it to Person B and all will be right with the world!
Of course, they never see themselves as being Person A because they love spending other people’s money on stuff they want. They see money as power, which I can grant them to an extent. As long as they have money, they think they have power, but only they know how to use it property. Just ask them. That’s why there are a lot of rich Leftists out there. And the irony of their greed while chastising others for it is not lost on your humble correspondent.
The problem is their lack of understanding of the actual costs of inflation usually winds up hurting the people Leftists always want to court come election time. When prices go up, the ability for a significant chunk of the population to buy even basic goods goes down. The Leftist solution is to give more of other people’s money to that population while getting them to believe they deserve it, or should I say entitled to it. It works great to keep rich white Leftists in power, but it sucks if you’re constantly on the economic treadmill trying to make ends meet. But it’s never the Left’s fault. It’s always someone else. For example, President Joe Biden blamed the rising cost of beef, chicken, and pork on…wait for it…the meat producers! To believe that, though, you have to believe the Left had no influence on prices skyrocketing due to inflation when they have control over the laws getting passed and policies getting enacted.
But they don’t care because a) they assume everyone is as dumb as they are, and b) most of the Leftists who are okay with rising inflation make enough money to afford it. And it all goes back to their greed. After all, as long as it doesn’t inconvenience them, the Left is fine watching people suffer at their hands.
The Party of Compassion, everybody!
In order for us to weather the self-inflicted economic storm, we need to use our heads when it comes to spending. Cut coupons, comparison shop, budget for needs rather than wants, and do what you can to keep costs down, including learning how to make or grow what you might need to buy. Granted, not everyone is Bob Villa or has a green thumb, but it’s never too late to pick up some pointers or ask questions from those who are more knowledgeable. The one currency that never experiences fiscal ups-and-downs is human kindness. Even if today’s more divisive world, you can find someone willing to lend a hand in times of need.
The other thing we can do, which might a bit harder, is to vote for candidates with a strong understanding of economics. This isn’t a “Vote Straight Ticket Republican” idea, since the knuckleheads who got us into this mess come from both major parties. Take a hard look at what a candidate says and grill him or her on the economy. If they give a half-hearted or nonsensical answer, strike them from your short list. If they give a solid answer or an answer that checks out from the research you do ahead of time, give them a second look. Even if they aren’t your favorite person, ask yourself if you can afford a popular dullard impacting any part of the economy and vote accordingly.
The dollar you save might be your own.
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
The world has some really evil people in it, but there is one who is at the top of the heap. His actions have caused thousands of COVID-19 deaths, threatened millions more, and doesn’t follow the science like the way we’re told it has to be followed. I’m speaking of, of course, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Or at least that’s what the Left thinks of him.
With the attention DeSantis has garnered with the Left, I think it would be worthwhile to do a deep dive into the Governor to see if we can pinpoint why the Left hates him with the passion of a thousand suns.
Ron DeSantis
What the Left thinks it means – a cruel, incompetent governor who will kill as many people as he can through bad decisions
What it really means – Donald Trump with better impulse control
I think we’ve hit on the main reason the Left hates DeSantis, but more on that later.
Trying to keep track of how well different governors have been doing with the pandemic is like trying to calculate the color bleen: theoretically possible, but more likely to be maddening, and definitely pointless. While the sensible thing would be to count the number of cases and the number of deaths, the Left kept changing the rules to soften the blow of the multiple custerfucks from Democrat governors and to criticize Republican governors who had enough sense to, you know, not put COVID-19 patients in nursing homes where those susceptible to it were.
Among these eeeeevillll Republican governors was Ron DeSantis. While the Left fawned over Andrew “Sexual Assault and Letting Old People Die Are a Part of My Culture” Cuomo, DeSantis actually did the job Cuomo was being lauded for doing without actually doing it. And for that, the Left hates him.
Well, along with being a threat to the Left’s plans to keep the White House in 2024. And given how the current guy is doing, DeSantis only needs to keep breathing to beat him. If you think the Left had a hate boner for Donald Trump, prepare for one that will last far more than four years and will not require seeing a doctor because DeSantis dares to do something Donald Trump did and continues to do: call out the Left when they lie about him.
Let’s just say the Left has been very busy lying about DeSantis.
As I’ve noted before, the Left hates anybody who fights back against them in any way, and I do mean any. Even a marginal disagreement over policy can turn you in to persona non grata in Leftist circles. Just as Lawrence Summers, a former Harvard President whose only crime was to note men and women are better at different tasks and fields of study. How scandalous! When it comes to DeSantis, though, the Left have been having fits over how he and his communications director keep calling them out.
Of course, Leftists have fits at the drop of a hat, so that’s nothing new.
There is a line of thought that the reason Leftists are going so hard at DeSantis is because they’re afraid he’s going to run in 2024. I agree with this to a point, but I think there’s a bigger fear at work here. The Left is afraid of a 2016 repeat where a candidate who wasn’t supposed to win actually does. It wasn’t that long ago that the Left underestimated Donald Trump (when they weren’t using him as a ratings boost, I might add) and miscalculated just how unpopular Hillary Clinton was (or at least how clueless the Left is when it comes to acknowledging the screamingly obvious).
If current trends continue, 2024 is going to come down to an established Leftist pawn…I mean candidate in Joe Biden, an inexperienced Leftist pawn…I mean candidate in Kamala Harris, and whomever the Republicans put forward. If current trends continue further, the Republican candidate is going to be Ron DeSantis, which works against the Left. Whether the Left supports the doddering old fool or the doddering young fool, they will have a hard sell for the American people, although not as hard a sell as when they tried to convince people to vote for Hillary.
The other aspect that scares the ever-loving bat snot out of the Left is DeSantis isn’t as unpredictable as Donald Trump was. Oh, DeSantis is as passionate and driven as Trump was, but he has a better control over his passions and words, which makes him Trump 2.0: all the Leftist butt-whuppin’ with a smaller likelihood of mangling the English language. That alone makes DeSantis dangerous to the Left. Oh, they’ll still paint him as a racist/sexist/homophobic/bigoted/fascist/religious nutjob/Hitler-wannabe, but it won’t affect him while having the potential to pimp-slap the Left in the process. Because…lack of self-awareness.
While DeSantis isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of Earl Gray (I’m looking at you, Lincoln Project), there is something to be said of someone who doesn’t take shit from Leftists and lets them know exactly what he feels about them. If some people have their way, that something will be “Mister President.”
For others, it will be “Skippy.” Don’t ask me why.
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
To put it mildly, social media have impacted our culture in widespread and somewhat disturbing ways. One of the cultural areas infected…I mean affected by social media is language. You know it’s gotten too far when Grandma says spells out OMG in response to anything.
After the 2020 Presidential election, Leftists have found a new way to refer to former President Donald Trump: TFG, or The Former Guy. Yes, the geniuses who gave us Faux News (not quite the burn the Left thinks it is if you know how to pronounce “faux”), GQP, and DeathSantis have come up with another term to describe/dismiss someone they hate. Whether it works is subject to how close to the Leftist hivemind you are.
Now, time to put a bit more thought into the term than the Left have.
TFG
What the Left thinks it means – a way to refer to Trump without mentioning his name because it annoys him
What it really means – the new way the Left tries to “otherize” Trump because he annoyed the Left
Back in the days of the Soviet Union, the Russians perfected the art of rewriting history when it came to troublesome countrymen, no matter how high-up they were with the Party. Photographs would be altered, history would be changed, and the troublesome person would be made not to exist. As much as the Left would love to wipe out the last four years, it’s hard since the object of their derisions was so public.
When faced with that obstacle, they figured out the next best thing, at least to them: refer to him as TFG. That way Trump doesn’t get mentioned, but those in the know get a clear message of who the original poster was talking about. In the Left’s hivemind, it deprives Trump of what he wants (publicity). And it gives them a little perverse joy in the process, so that’s good, right?
Yeah, not so much.
Even though they’re not mentioning Trump by name, the fact remains he’s still on their mind. (And, no, that’s not a typo.) I believe the term is “living rent-free.” The more the Left obsesses about Trump, no matter what they call him, the more it’s not going to matter. There’s a new President to deal with, and if your previous attempts to go after Trump are any indication, even a ham sandwich would be able to beat your indictments. There is zero upside to the Left’s tactic here. It doesn’t move the needle to get people to support them, wastes time (and brain cells), and can be easily disregarded by the intended target.
That leaves only one other possible reason the Left refers to Trump as TFGL they want to be communists. Okay, I’m only half-joking about that. What I mean is the Left wants to adopt the Soviet method and erase Trump from history. Using TFG as often as they do, they think it will accomplish that, but instead it will “otherize” him.
There is a tendency among some people to turn ideological opponents into either non-entities or the worst possible people in the world. In either case, the targets of such an approach are “otherized.” Unfortunately, it’s not limited to Leftists. Many politically-minded people do this to characterize anyone who doesn’t fall in line with their political mindset as the next coming of Hitler, but meaner. Sometimes the characterizations are on the money, but most of the time they don’t. That’s the problem with assumptions: they make an ass out of u and mptions.
The other problem with “otherizing” people is it dehumanizes them. As much as the Left hates Trump and wants him to go away, he’s still a human being. A flawed, loud, and at times boorish human being, but a human being all the same. When you treat someone like they don’t deserve an iota of respect, that you detest his or her very existence, it stimulates a darker part of your psyche, one that allows you not to feel anything when something bad happens to them. The Germans call it schadenfreude. I call it being a heartless dick, which could apply to a few Germans if you really think about it.
Seriously, though, “otherizing” people reflects on the hatred and ignorance of the people doing it. And before any Leftists reading this say “But you’re doing it, you hypocrite,” you may be right to a point. The only difference is I don’t hate Leftists. I think they’re wrong and power-mad, but I can’t bring myself to hate them like they hate me for two reasons: 1) I recognize their humanity, and 2) I’m getting too old to hate others. Hate takes up a lot of energy and it gives the person or thing you hate a level of control over you.
So, by reducing Trump to three letters, Leftists are unwittingly admitting he controls them. Of course, to anyone paying attention over the past 4-5 years already know that, but it’s always nice when the Left acts accordingly.
The way to respond to Leftists using TFG is to repurpose it. Each letter can be used to express an alternate and opposite intention. While the Left uses it to refer to “The Former Guy,” why not agree because it means “Trump’s Great, Friend” or “Terrific, Great, and Fantastic” to you? You can come up with your own versions, but by using a little intellectual ju-jitsu, it can turn a negative into a positive.
Plus, it will confuse or anger Leftists, so…win-win!
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
It’s official. The Biden Administration is engaging in the War on Misinformation! As we breath a collective sigh of…well, utter confusion to be honest, we’re left with some serious questions. What is considered misinformation? Who determines what constitutes misinformation? What is Joe Biden’s favorite flavor of ice cream? (Okay, that last one wasn’t really mine. That’s an actual question asked of the President by a “reporter.”)
Ice cream question aside, we’re entering a strange new territory, one where the rules of reality as we know them are null and void. It’s to the point we’re one ironic twist away from a Rod Serling voiceover. This isn’t just a Leftist ploy; this is a question of reality itself, and we’re not even college-age stoners. Well, you might want to light up a fatty and settle in because this one is going to get weird.
misinformation
What the Left thinks it means – false information that damages society
What it really means – information that damages Leftist narratives
As I’ve noted before, the Left has a love/hate relationship with the truth. They love it when the truth backs them up, and they hate it when the truth doesn’t back them up (which is most of the time). With the advent of a Donald Trump Presidency, however, they started hugging the truth tighter than a “popular” girl’s prom dress. And, surprise surprise, the Left found misinformation with every Republican/conservative statement, no matter how factual the statement was. There’s a reason Trump supporters and others have come up with the #TrumpWasRight hashtag, and it’s not because they’re cult members.
It’s because, well, Donald Trump was right.
But the Left can’t bring themselves to admit the truth. After all, they claim reality has a liberal bias (except when it comes to the number of genders, the effects of Welfare on the poor, and the absurdity of the government spending money to prop up the economy, just to name three). When the facts don’t fit, the Left does its best to either memory hole the truth or poison the well (not literally, unless you count Flint, Michigan) by attacking the source instead of refuting the information.
I’ve covered an aspect of this previously when I discussed media “fact checkers”, but for those who haven’t read it yet, here’s the short version. Most fact checkers you’ll find are tainted by biases, especially well-known and oft-circulated ones like Snopes and FactCheck.org. They would scrutinize every word Donald Trump said to find the worst possible interpretation while giving Joe Biden as much leeway as a needle thrown in the Grand Canyon. Yes, I know this smacks of “whataboutism” but it’s not wrong. Check out Politifact’s recent “fact check” on whether President Biden wants to ban handguns, which is a direct quote from the man. Let’s just say Politifact’s interpretation is the fact checking equivalent of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. (Speaking of which, does Melinda get half of the foundation in the divorce?)
To bring this all together (finally), this process of partisan fact checking lends itself very well to misinformation. Combine that with social media’s lax and contradictory application of misinformation standards and you see the crisis for what it is. It’s like trying to get a sip of water from a firehose. There’s a good chance you’ll get something, but you’re more likely to get overwhelmed by the sheer volume being sent your way.
And that’s only part of the problem. Our attention spans are getting shorter than…wait, what was I talking about? Oh, yeah, attention spans! With the sheer amount of information we get on a daily basis, we have to pick and choose what we consume, which makes it easier for misinformation to get around. After all, if someone with some authority says something and it gets repeated by others, it must be right, right? Oh, by the way, Dr. Fauci, phone call on line 5, one for each of your positions on masking.
I don’t disagree with the notion misinformation can be destructive, but it gets more destructive when it becomes politicized because all politics is personal on some level. That’s why political attack ads are effective and still being used today. Where I part company with the Left is in the danger assessment. The Left claims misinformation can be deadly, citing the number of COVID-19 cases and President Donald Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic. If only we had followed the science and listened to our non-Trumpian leaders, we could have saved millions of lives!
Except not even the Left follows the science completely and gives off misinformation on the regular to sustain the notion President Trump made the pandemic worse. He could have taken other actions, sure, but while he was trying to get a handle on the situation, the Left and the media (but I repeat myself) gave constantly changing information. First it was “you don’t need masks” to “wearing masks is a sign of Asian hate” to “OHMYGODTHEWORLDISGONNADIEUNLESSYOUMASKUPANDQUARANTINEINPLACE” to “don’t trust the vaccinations because Trump rushed them to the public” to “maybe you should get them if you’re in a high risk group” to “OHMYGODYOUNEEDTOGETTHEFAUCIOUCHIEORYOUWILLKILLEVERYONE.” Put simply, the people who are so concerned now about misinformation are the ones who benefitted most from it politically and ideologically. If that and the gradual escalation of hysteria aren’t huge red flags that can be seen from orbit, I don’t know what to tell you.
Actually, I take that back. I do know what to tell you: be smart about what news you consume and do your own research before taking a stand. Not only will you be able to develop intelligent opinions, you will be able to ferret out the bad actors, and this time I’m not talking about Tara Reid. And don’t buy into the idea misinformation is in the eye of the beholder. It doesn’t matter who initially distributed it or what their intentions were or what greater good they think they’re serving. If something is wrong, it’s wrong. End of story.
And whether it’s the federal government or Big Tech doing it, I’m not a fan of the current crop of self-professed determiners of truth and falsehoods being the ones to dictate reality to us. Some of these folks are confused by the idea there are only two genders, for the love of Pete! Do you want these nozzleheads anywhere near the decision-making process on what is misinformation?
Anyway, I wish the Biden Administration the best of luck in their battle against misinformation. I mean, it couldn’t be any worse than our showing in the War on Drugs, right?
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
Technology can be a two-edged sword at times. Whether it’s email or Twitter or Twitch, there will be a time when your past will come back to haunt you.
Just ask Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Over the past few days, a Freedom of Information Act request unleashed a torrent of emails to and from the sainted Dr. Fauci showing a less-than-flattering side to the good…ish doctor. The Left has rallied around him, even to the point of blaming those who are reporting on the emails for the controversy. Hmmm…is that gas I smell?
Either that, or it’s the smell of yet another Leftist Lexicon entry!
the Fauci emails
What the Left thinks it means – emails hyped by right wing media to discredit Dr. Fauci and his leadership
What it really means – emails that prove Dr. Fauci is not only fallible, but may be as bad as some have claimed he is
The self-professed “Party of Science” elevated Dr. Fauci to the point that anyone who questioned him was ignorant of the science, a right wing wacko, or both (because there is no difference between the two groups in their hivemind). With the emails being released, however, the Left is no longer talking about the science, but is talking at length about how the emails aren’t anything contradictory, hypocritical, or even newsworthy. And the Left is digging in using this defense.
You know who else benefited from this kind of digging in? Bill Clinton, post-Lewinski, if you know what I mean.
This is pretty standard for the Left when it comes to Leftists or Democrats found to be utter scumbags. Deny the allegations until the coverage gets too hard to ignore, then pretend like nothing’s wrong and it’s old news. For most Leftists, this works too well. Remember Hunter Biden’s laptop? I guarantee the Left does…and simultaneously doesn’t.
With Dr. Fauci, however, it’s a little harder to cover up, mainly because of the Left acting like Dr. Fauci’s hype men…uh, women…uh, non-binary individuals. Anyway, the point is the Left pushed all their chips in on Dr. Fauci early on and built a narrative around that act. Granted, it was done primarily to spite President Donald Trump, but the motivations don’t negate the action itself. You own this one, Leftists.
Not that you’ll recognize the problem you created with your Fauci worship. One of the Left’s greatest faults is they can never admit when they are wrong no matter what. Remember President Trump’s “very fine people” comment? There are Leftists who still believe he called the white supremacists “very fine people” in spite of the volumes of context and actual text that they get sent whenever the topic arises. I’m not a Trump fan by any stretch, but even I will defend him on this point. He never said what the Left accused him of saying, but that memo either never got to the Leftist drones, or it did but it was already shredded into a fine powder by the time it got to them. Either way, their reality may not be on speaking terms with actual reality.
At the heart of the Left’s defense of the Fauci emails is this very concept. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on specific items because a) so many others have already done it, b) it wouldn’t affect my opinion, and c) my family wants to see me at some point. However, I will say what I’ve seen so far has shown Fauci to be interested in his personal star rising, giving orders to others to figure out what to do, and pawning off “lesser” tasks related to COVID-19 research to others. In other words, Dr. Fauci became Joe Biden in a lab coat.
Even now, I sense Leftists are already penning missives about how wrong I am and/or how I’m a brainwashed anti-science Trump lover with the same number of teeth as IQ points. And that’s if they’re being kind. Meanwhile, the actual emails reflect a man swept up in a wave of popularity, but in over his head. If we’re supposed to “Follow the Science,” that implies the science is worth following. Even the most hardcore Fauci fan who is being honest with himself or herself or themselves has to be concerned by his words and attitude during a global pandemic. He couldn’t be bothered with some of the mundane details because he was so busy…going on TV shows to impress upon the viewing public he was in control and knew what was going on.
After his flip-flops on whether masks did anything, that’s when Faucimania died for me, and it should have been the jumping off point for the science-minded folks out there. The fact it wasn’t for so many, including the “Party of Science,” signifies how much the Left have invested in making Fauci untouchable and how scared people were of the multiple question marks COVID-19 created, which made it easier for the Left to manipulate people into believing Fauci. Fear can be a great motivator, but it requires rational thought to go on vacation to be truly effective.
Let’s just say a lot of people’s rational thought found a great deal on AirBNB and stayed away for, oh, over a year. Eventually, though, it will start coming back, and the Fauci emails will be foremost on our minds for a while because the discrepancies between his acts and words are hard to ignore. Not to mention, they make it harder to take his suggestions seriously. Then again, after he said to wear multiple masks after saying masks didn’t work, only to say he lied so there wouldn’t be a run on masks, most people paying attention tapped out.
Which leaves Leftists to carry Fauci’s water, which they are more than willing to do because to drop out now would mean admitting they were wrong. The Fonz was more willing to admit being wrong than the Left are. At this point, the Left has forgotten “Follow the Science” in favor of “Follow the Scientist.” Namely, the now-discredited Anthony Fauci. And it’s starting to look like the tide is turning against him, now that Big Tech is allowing people to mention the idea that COVID-19 was manmade or originated in a lab without getting the ban hammer. The looser those restrictions get, the bigger the trouble the Fauci emails become.
Now, if only they could do something about that Nigerian prince who keeps emailing me…
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
In the aftermath of Impeachment 2.0 winding up the way Impeachment 1.0 went, Leftists are praising Republican Senators who voted to convict former President Donald Trump for allegedly inciting the January 6th protest/riot. And they’re using a phrase they’ve used before to blast Republicans: country before party.
Confused yet? Just wait until you think about how Leftists went from cop-haters to cop-lovers within a couple of weeks. But that’s a blog post for another time.
Until then, hopefully we can digest what the Left is saying now before they change their minds.
country before party
What the Left thinks it means – putting the good of the country ahead of any political good
What it really means – putting the actual good of the country ahead of the good for Leftists
The phrase “country before party” sounds like it came out of the PR department of the DNC or a clever turn of a phrase from the media. Wait, they’re one in the same. Nevermind.
Seriously, though, I can’t understate how rhetorically brilliant country before party is. Not only does it play to our emotions and patriotism, but it automatically creates a dichotomy that makes people pick a side based almost solely on our psychological need to belong. Nobody wants to put a political party ahead of the United States of America, right?
Not so much.
One of the issues I have with the phrase is how manipulative it is. Anyone who uses it forces you to make a Faustian deal: either agree with the side who claims to be for the country or be shunned as someone who sides with a political party. It’s akin to saying if you love dogs you must hate cats. That may go over well on the absurdly-specific Why Dogs Are Morally Superior to Cats web forum, but in practice it’s a false choice. You can love your country and support whatever political party you want because the two aren’t mutually exclusive. That’s the beauty of America: you don’t have to agree on everything to love the country that gave us muscle cars, 24/7 access to porn, and Taylor Swift. And to be fair, I’m willing to negotiate on that last one.
The other issue I have with the phrase is the Left doesn’t really mean it when they use it. When they praise someone like Utah Senator Mitt Romney for voting to convict Donald Trump, I always have to go back to 2012 when these same Leftists were shitting on Romney at every opportunity. Did Romney change? Nope. He’s still the same fair-weather Republican he was in 2008 and 2012. And I can safely say the Left hasn’t changed. What changed was the end goal. In 2012, Romney was painted as the second coming of Satan because he was running against President Barack Obama. In 2021, Romney is being painted as a patriot because of his Senate vote.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that’s not an accident.
The Left did the same thing to George W. Bush. After literally comparing him to Hitler, most of them started “respecting” him after he came out against Trump. Ditto John McCain and the members of The Lincoln Project. Although after recent events, the Left may want to distance themselves from The Lincoln Project. Then again, they keep Bill Clinton on speed-dial when they need a little cash coming into the DNC’s coffers.
In any case, the Left will always put party/ideology before the country every time and they don’t even try to hide it anymore. Remember the long-promised COVID-19 financial relief package that we were supposed to get last year? Although we got $600 (which would buy us a limited amount of groceries, a few tanks of gas, or three trips to Starbucks), President Trump wanted $2000 more, which would have given much more, albeit temporary, relief. After Democrats took control of the House of Representatives in 2019, the Left had control of the federal purse strings. When COVID-19 hit and we needed financial help, the Left used this power of the purse to…prevent us from getting any more relief. The reason?
Orange Man Bad.
The Left hated Trump so much, they were (and still are) willing to make working people suffer for political victory. The sad thing is it worked. Now under President Joe Biden, we’re not getting the $2000 Trump was insisting upon. Instead, we’re getting $1400 because we got the $600 mentioned earlier, thus equaling $2000. And if you say anything like “Didn’t you promise us $2000 on day one if the Senate flipped to Democrat control” you get mocked, gaslighted, and talked down to as though you don’t know basic math.
Yeah, I want these assholes preaching to me about country before party.
The fact Leftists think they’re the standard bearers for country before party should be taken with a grain of salt…the size of Mount Everest. But you know who is the standard bearer?
We are.
I don’t care if you voted for Trump, Biden, Vermin Supreme, Godzilla, or the SMOD, as long as you want to make the country better. We will disagree on how to get there, but the final destination should be the same and we should be willing to figure out how everyone can get there. And the Left can’t have that because it doesn’t create chaos and discontent that can be exploited for their political gains. So, the next time you see a Leftist mention putting the country before a party, you can ask them what they’re doing to make that a reality in their own lives. When they can’t answer without bringing up an ideological stance, invite them to kindly shove their opinions straight up their asses.
Oh, and ask them when we’re getting the $2000 Biden promised because last time I checked $1400 isn’t $2000.
Why Trump’s Second Impeachment Is Already a Failure
Now that Democrats control both the House and the Senate, you didn’t need to be Nostradamus to see a second impeachment against President Donald Trump would be a foregone conclusion. Leftists and Democrats are overjoyed at the possibility of sticking it to Trump one more time as he leaves the White House because…unity? Anyway, right now the only matter on the table will be how severe the punishment against Trump will be.
No matter what the Left decides is sufficient punishment, the impeachment is already a failure. Oh, sure, they’ll get the votes to convict and to punish, but in their rush to impeach, the Left has overlooked one important detail that renders their efforts as irrelevant as the footnotes in a Vox article.
Donald Trump has zero fucks to give.
Remember, impeachment is a political action, not a legal one. That means the extent of the impact of any impeachment is limited to the political realm. Even if the punishment includes Trump never holding public office again, he’s already served in public office once. Can’t draw a federal pension? Trump might have the money to do without it. No Secret Service protection for the rest of his life? I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say he already has hired security on the payroll. No matter what else the Left wants to tack onto the impeachment in the way of punishment, Trump has it or can have it covered. He may still have issues on the legal side of the equation, but there are no political consequences that will hurt Trump now or ever.
This may open a can of worms, but it begs the question of why the Left is so hot to impeach Trump again even though the punishment won’t affect him. There are a number of possible reasons, but the one I keep coming back to is revenge for winning the Presidency in the first place. I would hope the Left wouldn’t hold a grudge, but considering they still crap on Ronald Reagan, I’m guessing they haven’t gotten past the first stage of grief yet.
What they have done, however, is open a door that can and will swing back to hit them on the backside. As of this writing, Donald Trump is no longer President, which means the Senate element of the impeachment process will be against someone who is now a private citizen. A loud and somewhat boorish private citizen, but a private citizen nonetheless. It’s almost like convicting someone posthumously, except the convict is able to speak and hasn’t voted 43 times in Chicago yet.
Now, let’s play this out a bit. Let’s say Republicans or Trump-allied Republicans win back the House and Senate in 2022. Under the current Leftist strategy, that means Barack Obama can be impeached and punished for any number of crimes, actual or political, as can Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and any number of previous Presidents. Under the current Congressional leadership, impeachments against George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, and even Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford could be on the table. We could see Impeach-A-Palooza for the next few years, which will significantly impact the ability of Congress to do its actual job.
Wait. Did I just make an argument in favor of politically posthumous impeachments?
While I try to figure that out, let me leave you with the bottom line here. Leftists and Democrats are so hell-bent on impeaching Donald Trump a second time (even though the first impeachment was legally flimsier than any case argued by Lionel Hutz) while ignoring the boomerang effect that will happen under different political circumstances because that’s what politics is anymore: using any advantage to the party’s benefit. And with some of the dirty players in DC, the taste of short term victory is sweet, but turns sour when someone else plays the long game.
So, I would invest heavily in popcorn shares. I get the feeling there is going to be a big demand for it when the fit hits the shan.