Category: Politics

Why I’m Bearish On DeSantis

June 14, 2023 / / 0 Comments

First, some throat clearing. I’m not a registered Republican. I’m not going to be voting in the primary. Unless the Libertarians have one in some weird alternate dimension stuff. However, I know some readers will be voting. And, after all, it’s my blog.

With that out of the way…

I was originally pleased to see DeSantis leading the pack of contenders that weren’t named Trump. DeSantis had done well in Florida during the pandemic. He kept us open. Now we have stuff like this. From the Tampa Bay Times:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, vowed to restore the former name of the base that until last week was called Fort Bragg in honor of a Confederate general, if voters elect him president.

“It’s an iconic name and iconic base, and we’re not gonna let political correctness run amok in North Carolina,” DeSantis said at the convention in Greensboro hours after Biden’s speech and signing ceremony at Fort Liberty.

Here’s why I’m bearish on DeSantis. After winning the pandemic, he pivoted to be a social justice warrior. Just, a right-wing social justice warrior. If he’d just been pontificating, that would be one thing. But he started bringing the online fight into the halls of Tallahassee. Some of it, I might have supported. Then he went after Disney. I can disagree with Disney’s views. I can decide not to support them by giving them my money. What I cannot do is ask my elected officials to punish Disney, which was what DeSantis did.

Then the State College of Florida issue. He could have worked with the legislature to reform the State Board of Governance to stop the use of political litmus tests – such as DEI statements. Instead, he singled out one school and installed his cronies to the cheers of the online mob. The cronies who immediately set about giving one of their friends the job as president – and a raise. In the midst of declining enrollment.

Instead of helping with real issues in Florida – such as the housing crunch, rising insurance, and strained infrastructure from a slew of new residents (welcome!), DeSantis decided to play Tribune of the Plebes to the online mob.

I didn’t like it when I saw it happening on the left. I’m damn sure I don’t like it on the right.

Monday Links – Lots of Links

June 12, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Sit back, this is going to be a long one this week.

First, let’s start out with a bunch of Reason links.

Here’s an article on the recent Trump federal indictment.

No, Adam Smith was not a progressive.

Critics of lockdowns were muzzled.

Firing professors for the political views is unconstitutional – left-wing views edition.

SPLC is still overcounting hate groups.

Finally, the Biden administration is still refusing Second Amendment rights to cannabis users.

In other gun news, the deadline for pistol brace owners to submit the proper paperwork or be considered felons as passed. According to The Reload, only a quarter-million did so. In the best case, that’s 250,000 out of 3,000,000 – or about 8%. However, using industry numbers, it’s more like 250,000 out of 40,000,000 – or about 0.6%.

Now that the serious stuff is out of the way, let’s go on to our light items.

First, here’s some teasing that there’s a new Macross animation in the works.

Speaking of Macross, here’s an article that AnimEgo is going to crowdfund a release of the old Macross II anime from the nineties.

From The Brother, we have the top 10 finalists for Illusions of the Year.

Also from The Brother, we have an Ars Technica article about Redditors using Stable Diffusion to create working anime QR codes.

Debt Ceiling Deal

June 1, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Getting close to the wire, Congress and the President have come to an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. There was some concern as the deadline loomed due to me being a government worker, and a default would result in me missing paychecks.

I’ve listened to those who complained that we shouldn’t have to fight to finance spending that was already authorized. In a way, I agree. However, this seems to be the only time that any sense of fiscal responsibility shows up in Washington. It certainly wasn’t when the spending was authorized.

A lot of this has to do with Congress not wanting to do its job. Too many want to peacock for the cameras, raise money, and raise their profile for a later lobbying or punditry job. They are more than happy to let the administrative state and the courts do their job.

Monday Links

May 29, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Happy Memorial Day! We’re going to start off with several Reason articles.

First, the face of teachers’ unions during the COVID pandemic only taught for three years, but is expected to get a full pension. I’m of the opinion that if you’re working for the union, the union should be dealing with your benefits.

Next are a couple items on the reshuffling of the political parties. I’ll let the headlines speak for themselves. The left-right spectrum is mostly meaningless and the rise of right-wing progressivism. Just as the labor market is in flux, the political market is similarly in flux. Fun times.

Finally, an article from The Volokh Conspiracy discussing a recent Florida Supreme Court decision that loading and openly carrying a gun on your property is not criminal use of deadly force. Although, if you’re having to face multiple attackers on your property, it may be more prudent to have your weapon already loaded. Or get behind cover to load and wait for the police.

In the vein of self-defense, we have an article from The Hill about a “prank robbery” going horribly wrong when the pranksters came across an armed civilian. And this kind of outcome won’t slow down these kinds of pranks. Because the dumb fucks think it won’t happen to them.

Now for our light items.

I think this is probably vapor-ware, but this Extreme Tech article depicts a “laptop” with six monitors, dual AMD Epyc “Genoa” 96-core CPUs, and 24 DIMM slots for up to 6TB of DDR5 memory. And it weighs 55 lbs. Um, yeah. There’s part of me that wants one in a kind of morbid fascination way.

Finally, we have a Variety article on Weird Al. Because Weird Al.

Monday Links

May 22, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Well, this week’s links will probably be all over the map.

First, let’s start with an AP article on Disney scrapping a billion dollar project because of DeSantis fighting with them. Y’know, I hear a lot of gunnies decrying when certain states use their power to compel companies to do gun-prohibitionist things. Or when they chase companies out of states with ridiculous regulations. Shoe. Other foot.

Speaking of Disney, this article from Techradar, states that when Disney merges their Disney+ and Hulu services, they will probably shrink the available library. One of the tech podcasts I listen to was commenting that the Streaming War is over, and now the Great Streaming Consolidations will begin with the survivors. Guess I should watch the Willow television show before it disappears.

It’s not Monday Links without Reason articles.

First is Reason’s take on the Durham report. When a report like this makes a stalwart like National Review’s Andy McCarty think hard on if the FBI is salvageable in its current state, then it’s a damning report. IMHO, it’s high time to, at the very least, split the FBI’s intelligence role off of its law enforcement role.

Second – can Uvalde’s authorities not do things to prove how incompetent and authoritarian they are? From the article: “Adam Martinez’s youngest son was at Robb Elementary on the day of the shooting—though thankfully he was physically unharmed—and, like many other parents, he became a vocal critic of the police department. However, in retaliation for his criticism, the school district banned him from school property—and school board meetings—for two years.“

A couple of other headlines that grabbed my interest.

From Insider, a Michigan teen used a slingshot to stop the kidnapping his sister. The suspect was apprehended with wounds consistent with being hit by a slingshot.

From CNET, a new company is going to be offering free 55-inch televisions. The catch? It has another screen to just for ads. Maybe other stuff too.

Finally, a light item.

Monday Links

May 15, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This may be a bit of a hodgepodge.

First, we go to Reason for:

Debt ceiling fight is hitting a hard deadline. Yes, we need to cut spending. No, we should not allow the government to default.

Inflation ticks up again in April. Surprisingly, the culprit is rent. Which is a big issue in my neck of the woods.

No, universal background checks do not stop mass shooters. It’s a complicated issue. As previously discussed.

Now that we’ve consumed our vegetables, we can have some fun dessert articles.

First, Recoil has a review of the Beretta A300 Ultima Patrol shotgun. This one is in the running for the new Ward semiauto shotgun.

Next from The Drive, an article on FHP’s Mercury Marauders.

Finally, from the local news station, the local high school drama group is garnering some well-earned attention for their version of Disney’s “Frozen.” Like the movie or hate, the kids done good.

Monday Links

May 1, 2023 / / 0 Comments

It’s going to be a little sparse on the ground this week.

First, we have a Reason article about Disney suing DeSantis. Based on statements made and the timing of actions, I think Disney has a decent case. I’m also not liking this populist trend of DeSantis using government power to achieve political ends regardless of civil liberties.

Next, Professor David Yamane has an article in The Hill explaining that Stand Your Ground laws do not give people a license to kill. I agree with a lot of commentators that the consistent repeating of this mantra is misinforming a large segment of the populace – who then rely on that misinformation to inform their actions. When it comes to self-defense, that has life-changing and life-ending consequences.

From The Verge, we have an article that Microsoft is shuttering a large segment of its peripheral business. They’re shifting to “premium” Surface-branded peripherals. Which means I probably need to stock up on some Sculpt keyboards.

The Drive has a profile of an Oregon company that does custom lifts for Subarus. Okay, the idea of lifting the Ward Wagon intrigues me, but the likelihood of me using any off-road capability is minimal.

Finally, Blabbermouth reports that a new Savatage album is coming next year. According to Jon Olivia, this will be the last album for Savatage. Thank you Jon for giving me decades of music.

Monday Links

April 24, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Of course, we’re going to start with some Reason links.

First an article on the administration’s plan to charge borrowers with high credit scores additional fees to subsidize borrowers with lower credit scores. “Oh, it’s only $40 a month more.” That’s a tank of gas. Also, law of unintended consequences in 3,2,1…

Here’s an article on Fox settling with Dominion for almost $800 million.

DeSantis signed a law no longer requiring unanimous juries for death penalty recommendations. After having read about all the abuses from prosecutors’ offices, I’m no longer in favor of the death penalty, much less lowering the bar.

Also, the FDA head wants the authority to regulate “misinformation.” Oh, yeah, that would never be abused.

This one’s more for the journal-side of this blog. Last week, Floridians were awoken by an accidental emergency alert. Before 5am. The Wife and I were at the gym, but needless to say, there was much uproar. And the contractor responsible was fired.

From ABC, the manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin have been dropped. Rumors are that the weapon was found to be modified and found to be faulty. I’m sure we’ll learn more. It still doesn’t excuse the complete lack of safety protocols on that set.

From Larry Correia is a rant that readers need to get over the hurt inflicted by authors who promised and never delivered. Because there’s a lot of new authors that deserve a chance. As someone who may be one of those new authors, I wholeheartedly agree.

Finally, from Gizmodo is an article on Netflix ending its DVD rental program after a quarter-century. First off, I didn’t know they were still doing that part of their business. On the other hand, it does bring fond memories of the early aughts when I was a master on the quick churn of the red envelopes.

Tab Clearing

April 20, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Monday Links was pre-empted by history. I still need to clear out some links that I’ve built up.

Let’s start with a few Reason articles.

First, one on the EPA banning the production of gas-powered cars. I’m not a fan of mandates. I know surprise.

Second, a discussion on the benefits of teen employment. I am a fan of young people learning work ethics from their first job. My years managing fast-food showed me the best and worst of employing teens.

Third, a discussion on proportional representation. I’m kind of leaning more and more to something like this.

From ABCNews comes a story about every gun owners worst nightmare. Police get wrong address, homeowner comes to the door with a gun, and as the article states “chaos ensues.” Homeowner ends up dead.

An article from Android Authority reports that the FBI warns not to use public charging ports. Also, don’t plug your phone into the USB ports in a rideshare or taxi. Just don’t.

An article from Bounding Into Comics about WoTC’s decision to remove half-races from Dungeons and Dragons. On the one hand, it invalidates decades of lore and characters (both in the novels and players’ favorite characters). On the other hand, it would be more in line with actual biology – unless orcs and elves are some form of human. On the gripping hand, the stated reason for the change is fucking bullshit.

Finally, an article about finding the original recording of the Wilhelm scream. H/t to FB friend Rob Reed.

Monday Links

April 3, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Let’s start with getting one of the big stories out of the way. Some asshole decided to shoot up a small private Christian school in Tennessee. The fact the asshole identified as transgender has sent the normal talking points all skewed. Here’s Operation Blazing Sword’s press release which probably encapsulates my feelings on the issue. I don’t judge a movement by its lunatic fringe – unless the moderates are celebrating the lunatic fringe.

Moving on to a couple of Reason articles.

US Trade Commission admits that tariffs caused increased prices to consumers. Which is what I’ve always said.

DeSantis signed a bill banning rent control and pre-empting local zoning. This could be good or bad. Particularly in the current housing market.

A couple of other serious items.

How do you treat someone who’s been a fixture of the local television and radio market for better than fifty years. According to The Tampa Bay Times, you fire him after a show to cut costs. I listened to Jack Harris for many a year – particularly before I got into podcasts.

According to Mac Rumors, General Motors is going to phase out CarPlay and Android Auto in favor of its own infotainment system. Great way to make sure your vehicles are not in the running the next time the Ward household is in the market for a vehicle. Or renting a vehicle.

Wrapping up with a couple of light items.

Gizmodo discusses Makita’s portable microwave. Which, the prepper side of me is interested in, but the more realistic side is telling me I’m not the target audience.

And because of the explosion of crochet in the Ward household, we have a Guardian article about how crocheters tried using ChatGPT to create patterns and hilarity ensued.