This ragged, old bird was hanging out on the pier at the tip of Cocodrie, Louisiana when we visited last weekend. He had found some place to ride out Hurricane Ida and seemed to be telling us that his kind had seen hurricanes before and would see them again. There was a slow, peaceful wisdom to him or at least the vibe he gave me. Enjoy.
Just a super short post today as I've got lots to do.
NYC is ending its programs for gifted students.
New York City will phase out gifted and talented classes in its schools, opting to end a program that critics said entrenched racial divides in the nation's largest public school system, Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed Friday.
I've heard plenty of howling on the right about how this is going to hurt the smart kids. Of course it is, you idiots. That's the point. Like the UC system ditching the SATs, it's designed to hide the data.
If no one can see the results of "alternative" families, then they can't suggest that traditional, married families are superior. It's another laser pointer for cats episode.
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| "Look! Look! The gifted kids are mostly white and Asian! Racism!" It's nothing of the sort. It's all about moral choices. Kids from homes where mommy and daddy are married do fine. If you dump the gifted program, you won't be able to see how broken homes fail. |
My compadre and I finished the Abide sign I'd shared a while back. It's now gone to the printer to be made into an 8' x 4' sign. I really like the way it looks. It was a real act of collaboration. My friend is an accomplished artist, but he was kind enough to follow my lead. We had a good time doing it, too.
To recap, it's for a Catholic men's retreat weekend. The retreat leader chose John 15:9 as his theme. He loves the beach and the water. The last image is mine, a waterfall in Alabama. My artist friend coached me on getting the geometry within the images to blend and it worked well once we chose pictures from Adobe Stock that had similar internal structures and color levels. In the previous version, we had planned to use a black background, but we both worried about how evenly the printer would spray the ink on a massive sign, so we went with white instead.
I left the image large, so it's worth a click. Enjoy!
Glenn Greenwald brought our attention to this bit of madness.
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| The Republican party allegedly believes in limited government. No authoritarian on Earth has ever wanted limits to their power, by definition. Whoever wrote this failed to apply critical thinking to their hypothesis. Then again, that's not unusual these days. See also: 2016 Election, accusations of Russian meddling in. |
I've been blogging a lot in the last few years about the irrationality of our Elites, specifically how they don't know how things work. I won't beat that deceased equine here, but instead say that I understand why it has happened because it has happened to me as well.
I use lists on Twitter to gather accounts under general categories. Among others, I have a politics list and a sanity list. My politics list is an endorphin pumper and my sanity list is just what the name implies - non-political, full of charming and beautiful content.
I read every post in my politics list. I mean every post. I rarely visit the sanity list. I go to the politics list for the rush I get from outrage. I know I'm doing it, too.
I would suggest that our current state of mania, particularly the one on the progressive side, is driven by the bubbles we inhabit. The rush that I crave doesn't encourage critical thinking, it encourages shrieking.
I've been thinking about taking a month-long digital fast, a la Dave Rubin's August tradition. Big Tech censorship is real - this blog has been muted by Google and my hits are a third of what they were just 6 months ago. It's not like many people read it or can even find it. I'm wondering what would happen to my thinking and emotions if I took a long break.
I figure I could modify the fast and only post photographic content, which would force me to become more creative with my camera and Photoshop. That, at least, would be productive. I feel like I've pulled all the threads of my "why is this happening?" curiosities. It's getting harder and harder to write in the morning because everything has begun to feel like a repeat.
What's life like after you stop sniffing outrage glue?
This morning, I read an interesting piece by Sohrab Ahmari wherein he suggested that we are not heading towards a dystopian novel future, but are in the dystopian novel right now. It's worth a read, but I think he's got it substantially wrong. Here's some snippets.
Our culture-creators are highly adept at prophesying dystopia, and we love to nod along as their premonitions come to life—but we can’t seem to be able to stop the process, much less reverse it. As Patrick Deneen has observed, “our popular culture seems to be a kind of electronic Cassandra.” It “offers entertaining prophecies born of our anxieties, and we take perverse pleasure distracting ourselves with portrayals of our powerlessness.”
What if dystopia is already here? What if our territory already conforms to maps drawn long ago by science-fiction authors? Could it be that we have crossed the invisible frontier that divides an ordinary place, an ordinary topos, from a dystopian realm?
He then goes on to draw parallels between modern life and a 2000 novel called Super-Cannes.
At Eden-Olympia, there were no parking problems, no traditional burglars or purse-snatchers, no rapes or muggings. The top-drawer professionals no longer needed to devote a moment’s thought to each other, and had dispensed with the checks and balances of community of life. There were no town councils or magistrates’ courts, no citizens’ advice bureaux. Civility and polity were designed into Eden-Olympia, in the same way that mathematics, aesthetics and an entire geopolitical worldview were designed into the Parthenon and the Boeing 747. Representative democracy had been replaced by the surveillance camera and the private police officer.
Again and again, Eden-Olympia’s architects drive home this point. In a telling exchange, Paul tells one executive that “‘there’s no drama and no conflict [at Eden-Olympia]. There are no clubs or evening classes….’
‘We don’t need them [the executive responds]. They serve no role.’
‘No charities or church fĂȘtes. No fund-raising galas.’
‘Everyone is rich. Or at least, very well off.’
‘No police or legal system.’
‘There’s no crime, and no social problems.’
‘No democratic accountability. No one votes. So who runs things?’
‘We do. We run things.’”
That utopian existence is what the modern professional class, the Elites, think they are creating. It's never going to come into existence because they're denying reality in so many ways.
And so forth.
The ivory tower belief that the utopia is coming through ever-greater intervention in the lives of the Normals by the Elites is a fantasy. The only way to convince yourself that we're on the path to said utopia is to close our eyes to reality. You have to hide the data.
See also: Scores, SAT, disposal of.
The Elites forced us to shut down the economy to fight a respiratory virus that almost exclusively attacks the elderly and the obese. It didn't result in utopia, it resulted in massive bottlenecks and shortages. Dig this chart of the Baltic Dry Index, which measures shipping costs.
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| "Inflation is transitory," said the Elites. Reality is saying something different. |
Here's the change in the murder rate, by city.
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| It turns out that cops actually serve a purpose. |
Finally, here's a video from the streets of Los Angeles.
This is Los Angeles, California. pic.twitter.com/uQNu4okoxa
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) October 5, 2021
This isn't a dystopian novel where the Elites have walled themselves away from the dirty, real world. It's one where they've closed their eyes, temporarily. It's a make-believe utopia.
Back in 2017, I went on a solo vacation, driving from Atlanta to Houston in four days. That's when I discovered how much I loved Mobile and when I drove all the way to the end of the Mississippi delta at Cocodrie, Louisiana. I loved that drive and treasured my memories of the people I met down there.
This weekend, I took one of our son kittehs to Louisiana and, after our swamp tour on Friday, we drove down to Cocodrie. In 2017, it was bright and beautiful. I saw colorful houses on stilts with docks in the channel wherein sat shrimp boats, most in very good repair.
Ida changed all that. Here's just one photo from that trip.
Hurricane Ida marched up Louisiana Route 56 from Cocodrie to Houma, blasting everything in its path. Some of the platforms had been wiped clean, the houses scrubbed off of them and blown to bits. The residents had cleaned the place up by the time we arrived, but the state hasn't been able to dispose of the debris just yet, so it sits in piles out in front of everyone's house.
This being Louisiana, it's not the first hurricane they've seen. The houses that survived the assault have blue tarps over the holes in their roofs and in some cases, the homeowners have started to rebuild. There was a USMC flag along with an American flag on one house with graffiti painted on what was left of the wall facing the road saying, "Semper Fi. We will rebuild. Cocodrie strong."
Even in the devastation, these people were beautiful.
... Oyster House was disappointing.
After wife kitteh and I had their chargrilled oysters a few years back, I've been talking them up something fierce. Son kitteh and I went yesterday and ... meh. Too salty, way too much Parmesan. I still like oysters served this way, but if you want something done right, you need to learn to do it yourself. Which I have and mine turn out pretty good.
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| On the plus side, they looked great. |
We're heading back to San Diego today after having cheered both the LSU Tigers and the New Orleans Saints on to last-minute defeats. Go ... team?
Dozens of cargo ships anchored off the coasts of Los Angeles and New York face shocking wait times of up to four weeks and railyards and trucking routes are hopelessly clogged due to the lack of manpower to unload goods - with an expert warning that the government needs to intervene or face spiraling inflation and unemployment.
The backlog of billions of dollars of toys, clothing, electronics, vehicles, and furniture comes as the demand for consumer goods hit its highest point in history as consumers stay home instead of spending money on travel and entertainment.
Supply chains have lagged far behind consumer demand due to a lack of manpower at American ports and the restrictions that came with the COVID-19 outbreak early last year. These constraints, which include social distancing and mandatory quarantines, have severely limited the number and ability of port workers to do their jobs.
The solution, of course, is to print more money and hand it out to ... someone.
Maybe lockdowns weren't such a good idea.
Son kitteh and I went to the LSU-Auburn game yesterday. Research suggested that you needed to experience the tailgate scene before the game. Further interviews with locals said that the tailgaters would give you some of their food for nothing. Thinking we ought to have something for exchange, we went to a local Walmart and bought a cooler, then went to a Winn-Dixie and loaded it up with excellent, Southern craft beer.
As a beer snob, I will loudly proclaim that, outside of San Diego, the South has the best craft beer in the country. In fact, Southern craft beer is more consistently good than anywhere else.
The game didn't start until 8 PM and we got there around 1 PM.
I have never experienced anything like it. A remote son kitteh, when he saw photos we shared on the Catican text group, said it looked like Coachella. The son kitteh with me has been to several Coachellas and said this was next level partying. We walked through 3 miles of party. The people were Southern friendly as we picked out the tailgaters with smokers and big pots of noms. The food was spectacular, the people lovely and everyone appreciated the beer save for one proud old boy who was slightly insulted at the suggestion that we thought we needed to offer him something at all.
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| Mile after mile after mile of this. The photo doesn't capture the feel, either. |
We went to Chimes, the pub right off campus that is the gathering spot before and after games and it was likewise stuffed with revelers and friendly as can be.
The whole experience was awesome and needs to be repeated.
The Tigers lost the game right at the end after leading for the first 55 minutes, but this team is built for next year and the year afterwards. The offensive line is dreadful and the QB is a sophomore. Like Cajun food, it needs some seasoning.
Today is the Saints game. We're so hoarse from yelling last night that it's going to be a real stretch to keep up the volume at the Super Dome. We'll do our best.
... is their eyes. Those vertical slits are just weird.
We had a great time on our swamp tour yesterday. I've got a ton of pictures from that as well as plenty from the subsequent drive to Cocodrie. Hurricane Ida went right up the road from Cocodrie to Houma and blasted everything to bits along the way. The place is a mess, but the people are resilient and are starting to rebuild.
Still, it's a far cry from the beautiful places I saw when I visited it a few years ago. More on that, perhaps, in a future post. Today is all about the LSU-Auburn game. Hope you have a great weekend, too!
I'm in Baton Rouge right now with one of our sons, here for the LSU-Auburn game and some general Louisiana fun. We're taking a fan boat tour of a swamp today, something I've never done. Photos later, I promise. All of that is to say that I'm a bit delirious with travel and a lack of sleep.
On the plane yesterday, I listened to a few more hours of JPII's Theology of the Human Person. It's papally deep, deriving hidden meanings out of Genesis and other parts of the Bible. It's a work of genius. As the words washed over me, I began putting a few ideas together in my head. Here are some of them, in a sleep-deprived irrational sequence.
JP II frequently refers to Genesis 1:27.
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Quoting from that blog post linked above,
If you listen to MLK speeches, removing Genesis 1:27 removes the first principle upon which his Civil Rights movement was based. MLK pointed out the hypocrisy of Christians professing Genesis 1:27 and then practicing racism. That contradiction permeated the debates over slavery in Britain and America throughout the centuries and led to its abolition.
I began to ponder what happens to a culture that ditches Genesis 1:27. I would think that you would inevitably degenerate into the logic of Caesar, Geronimo and Hitler. Why not become tribal? It's an easy way to classify people and rally your clan around you. The progs have almost completely ditched the whole Christianity thing, choosing to attack it save for those rare occasions when they quote it for political purposes. See this bit of Hutus vs Tutsis logic from a progolicious professor at a decent university following the Gabby Petito case.
The missing white woman syndrome is reflective of the dominant ideology of white supremacy. In other words, too often news stories are reported within a white racial frame that reaffirms the notion of white superiority. As a result, we privilege the disappearance of a white individual while people of color are othered, marginalized and symbolically annihilated.
The academy, if this is any guide, is done with seeing humans as being created in the image of God and is instead falling into the loving embrace of the Nazis*. Under MLK's formulation of Genesis, Gabby was a person, not a white. MLK was a Christian, you see. How gauche! No, Gabby is white, white, white.
Andrew Klavan, on his excellent podcast, has recently been wrestling with the difficult concept of not judging others. His claim is that we should try to see the people around us as God sees them. The rain falls on the good and bad alike. We all have the same value to God. For that reason, we should not judge people. He also makes a great point saying that everyone around us has as rich an internal life as we do.
That's another way to summarize Genesis 1:27.
When we ditch Genesis for racial classification, we don't just walk down the road of racial conflict, we also delude ourselves that we are bigger than God.
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| I could have made this myself. I simply chose not to. |
* - Modern, American progressives would similarly love Caesar and Geronimo. Race first! If you think I'm being hysterical, here's the passage above translated into the language of 1930s progressives.
The missing Jewish woman syndrome is reflective of the dominant ideology of Jewish supremacy. In other words, too often news stories are reported within a Jewish racial frame that reaffirms the notion of Jewish superiority. As a result, we privilege the disappearance of a Jewish individual while Germans are othered, marginalized and symbolically annihilated.
Bingo.
Just a quicky today. Lots of stuff to do at work and home.
I've been listening to JPII's Theology of the Body book lately. I also muddled through the first few hours of Pope Benedict's Jesus of Nazereth. What struck me in both were the references to the Old Testament. As a mostly-uneducated Catholic, I never understood how much we take forward from the Old Testament. That's cool.
It also means that you inherit all of the problems of the Old Testament and you can't just brush them away with a "Well, that was in the past and we don't really cotton to all that wrath and smiting stuff." Enter The Bible In A Year Podcast with Father Mike.
BiaY has taught me so much about the Old Testament, what it means and how to read it. Thanks to Father Mike, I have fewer problems reconciling the Old with the New.
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| "Man, oh man!" is one of Father Mike's favorite expostulations as he explains what we read today. I need this shirt. |
President Biden is out on Twitter saying that his elebenty gajillion dollar infrastructure bill will be free. No, seriously, he's saying that it's free.
The Democrat who runs the House Budget Committee or whatever it is gave a speech to some donors eating rubber chickens saying that the government cannot go bankrupt because it can print money.
Glenn Kessler of the WaPo, whose professional dignity must have committed hari-kari long ago, lectured us on Twitter with great exasperation that there's a difference between a net cost and a gross cost. The elebenty gajillion will be paid for, you morons, so it's free.
And then there's this from the soulless chick who tells the credulous press corps lies every day*.
Jen Psaki: It’s “unfair and absurd” that companies would increase costs for consumers in response to us taxing them more. đł pic.twitter.com/rHilrYdj4j
— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) September 28, 2021
For a while this morning, I didn't know what to make of it. It's so patently false that I couldn't figure out why she said it.
It finally hit me that she and her political masters have reached the spoiled toddler phase. They are simply screaming at us to give them our money and be quick about it. This is nothing more than banging your spoon on your high chair, your face beet-red, howling for ice cream.
It's free, it's free, it's free! Gimme gimme gimme!
Last week, we were patiently explaining to the Elites that men and women were substantially different. This week, we have to teach them about money. Earlier, they couldn't understand that removing cops from the cities would lead to crime.
Next week ... what?
* - I'm not singling her out here. Every press secretary lies constantly. Why we still have the position and why the media show up to these things to ask questions is beyond me.
... please slap me.
Dig the ages of our 26 oldest senators.
| State | Name | Party | Age |
| California | Feinstein | Democratic | 87 |
| Iowa | Grassley | Republican | 87 |
| Alabama | Shelby | Republican | 86 |
| Oklahoma | Inhofe | Republican | 86 |
| Vermont | Leahy | Democratic | 80 |
| Vermont | Sanders | Independent - Dem Caucus | 79 |
| Kentucky | McConnell | Republican | 78 |
| Idaho | Risch | Republican | 77 |
| Maryland | Cardin | Democratic | 77 |
| Maine | King | Independent - Dem Caucus | 76 |
| Illinois | Durbin | Democratic | 76 |
| Connecticut | Blumenthal | Democratic | 74 |
| Massachusetts | Markey | Democratic | 74 |
| Delaware | Carper | Democratic | 74 |
| New Hampshire | Shaheen | Democratic | 74 |
| Utah | Romney | Republican | 73 |
| West Virginia | Manchin | Democratic | 73 |
| Hawaii | Hirono | Democratic | 73 |
| Oregon | Wyden | Democratic | 71 |
| Massachusetts | Warren | Democratic | 71 |
| Rhode Island | Reed | Democratic | 71 |
| Missouri | Blunt | Republican | 71 |
| Michigan | Stabenow | Democratic | 70 |
| Washington | Murray | Democratic | 70 |
| New York | Schumer | Democratic | 70 |
| Arkansas | Boozman | Republican | 70 |
These people are pathetic. None of them need the money. For the most part, they are voting robots. They come from deeply-partisan states, too. Seriously, does anyone think that if Blumenthal or Romney decided to retire, they wouldn't be instantly replaced by a younger model of themselves?
What are they doing?
This is further support for my thesis that the government is way too big. If it was about half its current size, it might not matter all that much if the residents of Casa de Mañana were running it.
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| What a loser. |
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| The New Yorker, aimed at the Elites, is pondering the destruction of infrastructure to fight |
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| Those same Elites want to spend eleventy gajillion dollars on infrastructure. |
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| The money to pay for the infrastructure will be printed. |
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| The debt and currency debasement that has enslaved and impoverished the younger generations is being pushed by people who will all be dead soon. Dittos for the people producing the hideous results of our education industry, illustrated in the New Yorker essay above. |
I always wonder if there's some element of our over-credentialed, Ivy League class who understands how parasitical this is. My bet is that there is such a group, but left-wing censorship is so strong that we don't know they exist. Voices in the wilderness, if you will.
In any case, the New Yorker article came across to me like a great example of Keynes' suggestion that we hire some unemployed people to dig holes and others to fill those holes.
Bonus Tidbit: I saw some reds gloating about Chuck Grassley of Iowa deciding to run for reelection to the Senate. Old Chuck, or rather, Very Old Chuck, is a shoe-in to win and keep that seat red. Yay!
Chuck is 88. Yay.
I'm working on the environment and decorations for an upcoming men's retreat wherein Papists from across San Diego will be discussing how to poison wells and eat babies. Or something like that.
Anyway, the theme of the retreat is "abide in His love." The leader is a fellow who would be most at home in a Mexican beach house. Working on the sign for the retreat an artist friend and I came up with the idea shown below, where each letter reveals part of a different picture. The first four are either Mexican beach photos or a color pattern in that style. The last is a forest, waterfall and pond image from Alabama.
Hey, I get to put a little of myself in the thing, too, you know. :-)
Enjoy.
... and I mean ratchet, not racket. Ratchet as in only going in one direction.
All the illegals pouring across the border will almost certainly stay in the US forever. At some point, they will be naturalized and will be able to vote. That will put the cap on the plan - importing a huge number of voters that will, hopefully for the Ds, vote straight D.
It doesn't matter if Biden's numbers are tanking or if the Ds take a beating in the midterms. The damage is already done.
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| Playing the long game. |
I saw this on Twitter and loved it. I had something else in mind for today's post, but there was a lot of yelling at work and I had to deal with that instead of going tappity-tap on the keyboard. Oh well.
Enjoy!
From yesterday's Tucker Carlson Show comes this mention of Article 4 Section 4 of the Constitution, which further supports my semi-contention that any state wishing to secede has pretty decent grounds to do so.
What follows is a mental exercise to which I don't really have an answer.
What makes a nation? I can think of a couple of crucial characteristics.
As I watch the border "crisis*" unfold, I keep thinking that secession is a decent solution and that needs to be executed before all systems have completely failed. Today, I began to wonder, from what would states secede?
We don't have a border any more.
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| The Haitians at Del Rio have begun making lean-tos. On the plus side, there are no kids in cages. On the minus side, they're being released into the "United States," whatever that is, with only the most dilatory requests to file some paperwork, somewhere, at some time in the future. That means their constructions are probably not worth the effort. |
Can you really say you have a set of laws if they only apply to some people and not to others? See: vandalism, arson, looting, murder, etc. during the BLM riots.
We have a currency, but its debasement continues apace with the Fed printing like mad.
We sort of have a common language, English, but here in San Diego, you could make a strong case for there actually being a pair of official languages, Spanish and English.
We have a governmental structure, but given the fact that our border laws, legally enacted by our democratically-elected legislature mean nothing, what is the actual form of government? President Biden is claiming he can create a vaccine mandate without any voting by the legislature at all. Isn't that at odds with our understanding of how the government is supposed to work?
If a state wanted to secede, from what would it be seceding? Would you say, "Texas, you may not secede. You must stay and have your land overrun by non-citizens. You must obey laws that people all around you do not obey. You must use a currency that is being generated out of thin air. You must communicate to us in English. You must send us two senators and n congresscritters to represent you in an near-powerless legislature. Finally, you must accede to the wishes of our judiciary, whatever those wishes happen to be at the moment."
It seems to me that the US, as presently composed, is not nearly as solid and well-defined of a thing as one might think.
* - It's not a crisis if it's intentional.
... and if it comes back, great is the rejoicing!
I blogged before about arthritis issues in my knee. I thought I'd never again walk without a limp and definitely never thought I'd run again. When I realized that it wasn't going to get better, I went back to weightlifting, thinking it was my last chance at it.
Well, after about three months of serious work with the weights, going to the gym almost every day, the knee pain is not only completely gone, I can also jog again. Booyah!
I think there's a lot to be said for getting in shape to stay generally healthy, but I never really practiced it before. Having been given a reprieve, I won't take this for granted again.
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| Never again. |
