Californication

 

When I was growing up California was the land of bright lights and the path to fame and fortune.  It was the ideal place to live a life in a state which has amazing weather, access to beaches, and an overall easy life.  As I have grown I have seen the slow decay of this once great state.  Sure the politics in California was always somewhat left leaning but it was limited to San Francisco, Los Angeles and very few other major metropolitan cities.  In my forty-one years on Earth I have seen the spread of far left woke liberalism infect the very fabric of this beautiful place.  The picture in this blog is just one example of where I feel they have gone way off the map.  It is a picture of "drag queen" story hour at a local library in California.  In essence a man dressed in drag goes to a local library and reads books which encourage the LGBTQIA+ lifestyle and make it a normal thing.  As you can see these kids range in age from toddlers to pre-teens.  

So why am I writing this blog today you might ask.  The answer is simple, the California school names advisory committee released a spreadsheet of 42 schools in the state they wanted to rename and the reasons behind the need for change.  In the Los Angeles Times article it says "The renaming committee began its presentation with an homage to the Ramaytush Ohlone people, whose homeland is now occupied by the city of San Francisco."  They go on to explain the names of the schools the committee had flagged for removal were chosen "because of alleged associations with slaveholding, colonization or oppression."  The forty-two schools make up a third of all the public schools in San Francisco.  I wanted to highlight some of the names and why they want them removed.

The first name on the list that caught my attention was Abraham Lincoln High School.  The reason they want the change:

"Abraham Lincoln is not seen as much of a hero at all among many American Indian Nations and Native peoples of the United States, as the majority of his policies proved to be detrimental to them. For instance, the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 helped precipitate the construction of the transcontinental railroad, which led to the significant loss of land and natural resources, as well as the loss of lifestyle and culture, for many Indigenous peoples. In addition, rampant corruption in the Indian Office, the precursor of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, continued unabated throughout Lincoln’s term and well beyond. In many cases, government-appointed Indian agents outright stole resources that were supposed to go to the tribes. In other cases, the Lincoln administration simply continued to implement discriminatory and damaging policies, like placing Indians on reservations. Beginning in 1863, the Lincoln administration oversaw the removal of the Dine' Nation (Navajo) and the Mescalero Apaches from the New Mexico Territory, forcing the Dine' to march the "Long Walk" of 450 miles to Bosque Redondo—a brutal journey. Eventually, more than 2,000 died before a treaty was signed. Also responsible for the Dakota 38+2, largest mass hanging in US history"

In essence he was a racist.

The next name was George Washington High School.  The reason was much simpler, "slave owner, colonizer" that was it.  No further explanation needed I guess.  Lowell High School is next.  Named after James Russell Lowell.  The LA Times states "He was an abolitionist but depicted Black people unfavorably in his writings."  So again the reason, he is a racist.  Everett Middle school named after Senator Edward Everett.  The spreadsheet reasoning is "His pro-slavery stance was unpopular with his constituents."  Racist. Herbert Hoover Middle School takes the next hit.  They say "Racist President- accepting of white supremacy. While serving as Secretary of Commerce under white supremacist Wilson, he developed a campaign for exclusionary zoning (which developed into Redlining under the FHA), headed the Better Homes in America org, which pushed for the Federal government to solidify and expand existing segregation in the North and West."  

Roosevelt Middle School names after President Teddy Roosevelt, ""The Richmond School was renamed in honor of Theodore Roosevelt at a school board meeting on February 10, 1910.    Theodore Roosevelt - opposed civil rights and suffrage for Black folks. FDR -  refused to support anti-lynching bill (proposed by his wife) and other racist policies/views (including racial engineering and limiting migration dependent on race). Roosevelt ordered the forced relocation of more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans to concentration camps after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. As Vox reports, “Japanese American internment is almost universally considered one of the most egregious things the United States has done to an entire ethnic group.” It took a Supreme Court ruling to release the detainees, most of whom could read, write, and speak English, and only a fraction of whom had spent much time in Japan"

You get the picture.  Here are other names on the list that I feel are ridiculous.  Paul Revere K-8, Thomas Edison Charter Academy, Garfield Elementary named after James Garfield, Jefferson Elementary, Fancis Scott Key Elementary, and several other former Presidents.  But don't think the liberals wont eat their own also on the list are Willie L. Brown Jr. middle School.  Of him they say "Responsible for much of gentrification in SF while he was mayor" and Dianne Feinstein Elementary "Manilatown, she's responsible for the eviction of a whole Pilipino neighborhood, and the police brutality, allowed police dogs to attack Filipino veteran elders. She repeatedly protected and flew the confederate flag in front of sf city hall. https://sfbayview.com/2019/04/its-true-as-san-francisco-mayor-dianne-feinstein-did-repeatedly-fly-a-confederate-flag-in-front-of-city-hall/. Even though this flag was hung before her when a Black activist took it down, she called for his prosecution, and put the confederate flag back up instead of leaving it down. Dianne Fienstien was also again same sex partnership and advocated against same sex partnership/marriage."  Both of those people are not even woke enough for the leftist mob.  

So there it is, anyone who was ever labeled racist, slave owner, colonizer, or any other label the left doesn't like must have every single instance of their names stripped from history.  This is how the left wants it.  And as we saw this summer if they don't get their way they will just tear down the statues or burn the buildings down to get their way.  If you choose to stand opposed and highlight the great works of these men and women then you are also a racist colonizing slave owner and you just refuse to admit it.  I have decided to include a link to the spreadsheet here so you can go see the reasons for yourself and decide which side of the isle you are on.  For me a look back on the good, bad, beautiful and ugly of our history helps us to remember all the strides we have taken and just how great of a nation we have become.  In todays society it is so easy to get bombarded by the name calling, accusations of racism, mockery of our founders, and those who are willing to only point out the "systemic racism" of America.  We as patriots need to stand up and push back against this or we will lose everything.  The final thing I wish to share is something I shared on Facebook and think it perfectly explains why I wanted to write this blog:

THE DAY THE POLICE WERE NO LONGER NEEDED

On August 19, 1966 - Chinese students launched a fight for social justice to fight for the rights of the oppressed in China. It was widely believed that the 'patriarchal system' in China had been created by the 1% and held down women, minorities, and the working class. The students cried out for a revolution and change, and consequentially launched the infamous Chinese Cultural Revolution.

Students put a red band around their arm to stand in solidarity with the oppressed and called for a change on old ideas that they called the FOUR OLDS. The Four Olds were: Old Customs, Old Culture, Old Habits, and Old Ideas.

The movement was supported by the Chinese media.

Mass demonstrations and looting by the students ensued.

Statues were torn down.

Chinese architecture was destroyed.

Classical literature and Chinese paintings were torn apart and burned.

Temples were desecrated.

The Cemetery of Confucius was attacked.

The corpse of the 76th-generation Duke Yansheng was removed from its grave and hung from a tree.

Wealthy homes were attacked and destroyed.

Many families' long-kept genealogy books were burned to ashes.

All of history, in short, was to be removed and replaced. This was the central meaning of Cultural Revolution: That China was going to destroy every trace of its bourgeois (privileged) past and replace it with a new culture built on the principles of Maoism and Marxism.

Communist leaders like President Liu Shaoqi were taken out of power and replaced with men Mao believed were not critical of his reign.

Public leaders who were considered to be oppressive were tried by angry mobs and vigilantes.

Three days later, August 22, 1966, a central directive was issued to stop police intervention. The police were disbanded in the city and the students formed a community solution called the RED GUARD. The RED GUARDS policed the communities and punished anyone who did not agree with their ideas. Even people that supported the movement, but had bad thoughts ("wrong thinking") could be punished.

Though many Christians supported the movement in the beginning, they quickly became the number one target of the RED GUARDS and public trials were held to condemn them to death.

Many of those that were on board with the cause of the rebellion, in the beginning, saw that it was not really what they had signed up for, but by then it was too late. The power that the Red Guard wanted had already been given.

More people died during the cultural revolution in China than any war, famine, or natural disaster in the history of man. An estimated 20 to 30 million people were killed."

This is why it is important.  You can substitute America or United States for China in this and see a very real and scary reflection of what is happening today.  Please lets love one another, unite against a common evil, and begin to show the world through example that we still are the greatest nation in the world.

"This is the worst year humans have ever lived through"

 So 2020 is almost over and as many people point out on all forms of social media "it is the worst year ever!"  I have read and watched videos of people claiming that Covid, loss of jobs, economic impact, and everything else we have dealt with is the worst thing to ever happen in human history.  So I spent the past few days pondering on such claims and really examining what could make this the worst year ever, here are my findings.

As the world got hit with a worldwide pandemic many countries took a strong stance of locking everything down to slow the spread of the virus.  Some countries chose not to do this.  Since I live in America I wanted to focus specifically on how the virus has made this the worst year ever.  Here in America we were running head first into an already heated election cycle.  The vast majority of the media had taken a side and began to run only stories to hurt the sitting President.  The other candidate was a 70 something man who was obviously in cognitive decline, but the media denied this and said he was the one to save us from the virus.  In March our government said we needed to lockdown for 15 days to slow the spread of the virus, most of us were ok with that because we understood our hospitals and medical supplies needed to have time to be fully prepared for the impact of the virus.  So we as obedient citizens closed our businesses, left work, cleared shelves of toilet paper and began the 15 days of sleeping in, watching Netflix, and hanging on ever update about the virus.  That 15 days got extended to 30, then 45, and here we are 8 months later with a lot of us still unemployed and businesses closing permanently (The one exception of course were big fish like Amazon and Walmart who have made millions leaning towards trillions while people struggled to pay bills).  Our kids schools have been closed and some parents forced to choose keeping a job and allowing their kids education to suffer or quitting the job and become a full time home school parent.  For a majority of us the financial impact is where we got hurt the worst.  In the end the media spread scare tactics and people ate ever last drop of it.  So what made the year so bad for us as Americans?  We have gotten to spend more time with our spouses and children, we have gotten to take that time to reaffirm faith, help other people as much as we could, and have the time to enjoy the fruits of our freedoms.  For me that isn't so bad.

The next step I took was looking into what scientists say was the worst year or period of time ever.  The most current article I can find came in 2018.  Some believed 1347 was as the black plague began to ravage the world.  Some said 1941-1945 when the holocaust happened.  1918 when the flu pandemic started which killed over 100 million people worldwide was another.  In the end they settled on 538, why this year?  That year a mysterious dusty fog appeared blocking the sun, causing temps to plunge and setting off years of around-the-world chaos.  Drought, crop failure, summertime snow in China, and widespread famine.  So at that time people didn't have Netflix and were not being asked to sit on their couches and wait it out.  People literally struggled to find food and survive!  

My point in this whole thing is asking people to take a step back and put this year into perspective.  You did not have to fight genocide, famines, droughts, plagues, great depression, or any other major event that the world has lived through.  You were asked to wear your jammies, watch TV, wear masks, and wait.  To me that makes this year one of the best years we have lived through.  Because of my job I have not had that luxury.  I have continued to have to go to work, battle the stores (So my spouse and kids did not have to take the risk), and most of all listen to all you entitled and self indulged asshats complain about masks or no mask, needing another series to watch on Netflix, why is this protest a virus spreader and this other one isnt, and most of all listen to all the bullshit theorists and non-fact scientists debate something we simply have no control over and have to wait out.  The only thing that made 2020 bad for me was you idiots.  Outside of that this year has been ok.  Sure I have to do things differently when I go into public.  Sure some of my favorite places have closed for good.  But in the end I got to see the true nature of this generation of people.  I got to cut people out of my life that I might disagree with but due to Covid realized they are not and will never be rational.  In the end my personal relationships have grown and I feel closer to my family than any previous year.  My only fear leading into the future is how all of the things I mentioned above will impact our stability as a civilization.  How those divisions will hurt our future.  But as many TV shows used to say stay tuned!

Not all heroes die young

 

This photo is one of a true American hero.  His name is Charles "Chuck" Yeager.  Most people know him for being the first person to ever break the sound barrier.  But long before that his list of accolades and his reputation preceded him.  After joining the the U.S. Army Air Forces as a private in 1941 he was not eligible for flight training due to his age and educational background.  Because the US joined WW2 less than 3 months later he was granted approval for flight training.  He was trained as a fighter pilot and shipped overseas in Nov 1943.  On his eight mission in March 1944 he was shot down over France.  He escaped to Spain with help from the Maquis or French Resistance.  During his stay with them he helped construct bombs for the group using skills he learned from his father.  Although regulation prevented escaped pilots from flying over enemy territory again he was reinstated to flying combat.  In a statement years later he said  "I raised so much hell that General Eisenhower finally let me go back to my squadron" Yeager said. "He cleared me for combat after D Day, because all the free Frenchmen—Maquis and people like that—had surfaced."  On Oct 12, 1944 he became the first pilot in his group to make "ace in a day" a recognition of downing five enemy aircraft in a single mission, two of which were scored by not firing a single shot.  After he flew into firing position the pilot of one aircraft panicked and collided with his starboard wingman.  He finished the war with eleven and a half official victories.  After the war he became a test pilot and achieved breaking the sound barrier.

Among his awards were the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star with Bronze leaf cluster, the bronze star medal with bronze valor device for helping rescue airman from occupied France and a Purple heart among many others.  He retired from military service as a Brigadier General on June 22, 1969.

To many his accomplishments may not mean anything.  For those of us who served in the military we realize just how remarkable this man was.  He was a shining example of American patriotism and valor.  I woke up and saw he had passed away today and my first thought was "We just lost a hero".  The idea of American heroes is often trumped by Hollywood and the superhero movies we love so much.  Often the war movies that commemorate men like him go unnoticed and taken for granted.  Without men like Chuck Yeager our country may not have continued to exist.  He is a true American hero and proof that not all heroes die young.

R.I.P. Charles "Chuck" Yeager 2/13/1923 - 12/8/2020

I value......

 In recent weeks I have had several conversations with people about the current political climate being created in America.  Many of my friends believe in the extreme measures being taken by our Governors and politicians to protect the "greater good".  I have been told I am minimalizing the Covid deaths because I point out that the virus has an extremely high survivability rate.  I have been told I don't care about my fellow man because I want businesses and schools open.  I have been called a lot of names and told I should stop being so contrary and see the good of these decisions I feel are not doing anything for the greater good.  The three things that have been pointed out the most are locking down to stop the virus and prevent further deaths, redistribution of wealth so the poor can be in a better position and making radical change to our political structure to provide "safety".

The first greater good I fight against are the draconian lockdowns.  The other side says the lockdowns are needed because of "science" and if you don't agree then you must not believe in science.  I do agree that science is an evolving thing and what the "experts" say today that may contradict what they said last month may indeed be true due to new evidence.  Do I think lockdowns will stop the virus?  NO.  Do I think it will slow the spread to help the hospitals catch up? YES.  But at what social cost do we lock everything down.  There is another science that should be taken into consideration, Psychology and the emotional impact of these lockdowns.  Since we first locked down back in March we have seen huge spikes in drug and alcohol addiction, physical and sexual abuses in the home, homicides, and suicides.  All of those things matter too.  All of those things lead to deaths that are being disregarded by the lock down "scientists".  The fact remains that while Covid is highly contagious, it is not highly deadly.  Unless you are seventy years or older and have pre-existing conditions the likelihood you will get Covid and survive is incredibly high.  Just like all other viruses throughout history we will survive this one.  We will come up with a vaccine that minimizes the effects and death associated with it.  We will go on with our lives.  The only lasting impact will be how we as an economy survive.  We will either end the lockdowns and learn to live with the virus and ultimately maintain our thriving economy or we will turn all authority over to the government lock everything down and cost millions of people businesses and their livelihood and become another third world socialist country for "the greater good".  I for one an terrified more of the later.

Next I get told that the biggest problem we face is Capitalism.  I get told that Capitalism only aids the rich in getting richer.  Here the truth matters as well.  What we consider poor in America other nations would love to have because their people are starving and dying in the streets.  If this pandemic has shown anything it is that the only people making any money are the giant multi-billion dollar businesses like Walmart or Amazon.  These major corporations have made over one TRILLION dollars in profit this year.  That is more than any previous years.  And while these giants are raking in money hand over fist the small and medium business owners are being forced to close their doors and fire all their employees for "The greater good".  These business owners have no way to survive shutting down for more than two months in most cases.  Small and medium businesses run on very thin profit margins and in the end cannot and will not survive long term shut downs.  Why do these people that preach the "greater good" not see that the greatest good is done by letting businesses open and allowing people to take the proper steps in wearing masks, social distancing, and using proper hygiene to ensure people have jobs and can pay their bills.  A friend of mine yesterday said "They are only having to close because the Government did not do enough to help them".  My problem with this statement is the govt needs to get that money from somewhere.  He believes they should raise taxes on major corporations and big business and give the money to these small businesses.  I know for a fact this will cause businesses to take their headquarters and move out of the country costing thousands or millions of jobs. We need to stop thinking the government is there to solve our problems.  So in the end do we give up our freedoms and allow the govt to run our day to day lives or do we fight for our way of life and maintain the freedom and luxuries Capitalism has afforded us?  I for one am not willing to give up my freedoms for the idea it will help the "greater good".

Lastly I have been told we should move to a form of Democratic Socialism like Norway or Canada that way everyone can have access to healthcare, universal basic income, and everyone can prosper.  The problem with that is simple, we are vastly larger than all of the so called democratic socialist countries.  Those types of policies work when the population is small and the govt can pay for all of those things.  The healthcare in Canada and these countries is terrible, that is why they come to the US for most major surgeries and procedures.  The other thing that fails is the freedoms the citizens give up for the illusion of safety.  The governments in these countries tell their people not to worry about anything, the govt will take care of you.  Throughout history we have seen fascism and communism rise from societies built upon these beliefs.  Fascist dictators preach unity and doing what is best for the greater good.  Telling their citizens they need to give up their rights to allow all of them to become better.  They have told individuals that individualism is bad and we should all be "German" or "Italian" or "Russian" first.  In America we reject that idea and preach individual freedom, expressing yourself, and being who ever you want to be.  In a country that has the values I am being told are for the greater good we would lose those freedoms. 

I value all human life, born and unborn.  I value my freedoms and the luxuries I have here in America.  I value my way of life and the ability to go to the store and have the shelves stocked.  I value the ability to go out and spend time with family and friends.  I value the comfort of knowing our military is one of the best in the world.  I value knowing people float on make shift rafts and battle oceans to come to our country.  I value all of the things that America is and stands for.  So if you ask me if I will ever give up all of the things I value for the "greater good" my answer is simple, Hell no.  The same people using the freedoms America provides to protest, riot, argue on Facebook via their new I-Phone, scream at people in restaurants and bars, and do all of the other things to virtue signal to everyone how woke they are will be the first ones arrested by the tyrants they put in charge and give all of their freedoms to.  For those of us willing to stand up and say enough is enough and value all our freedoms and principles, we may be the ones put to death when these tyrants take over but the best thing about that will be the fact we wont be around to see the downfall of our once great society.  Stand up now so we don't have to kneel later.

Tale of two viruses

 

Covid-19 has turned 2020 into a tale of two viruses.  On almost every media outlet we are told the death tolls and fed fear about the infection rate.  But there is another side to this issue and that is what hardly anyone else is talking about, the survivability rate.  We are bombarded daily by the newest death toll, lockdowns from govt officials, told if we don't all wear masks we are trying to kill off the elderly and high risk people, and given numbers which go up and down on an almost hourly basis.  The problem here is very obvious to anyone willing to verify sources and validate claims, NOBODY knows anything for sure!

At the beginning of 2020 Covid-19 reached American shores, or so we were told.  I know some people personally who had symptoms and such long before Jan 2020.  The list of protections included masks, social distancing, hand sanitizer, and proper hygiene.  At first we were told by govt officials and medical experts not to go and buy masks as they were not effective against this strain of virus.  Then a few months later we were told masks were the only way to prevent yourself from getting the virus and they had only told us they were not so the medical front line workers would have access to the masks they needed to protect themselves.  Then about a month or so later other medical experts came out claiming masks could not protect you and the CDC shifted to protecting others as the reason for the masks.  It has gone on like this all year.  The only things that were constant were social distancing and washing your hands.  

As we reached March we saw widespread lockdowns and were told 15 days to slow the spread of Covid to ensure the hospitals did not get overwhelmed.  The period for the lockdown varied by state with some staying locked down for months on end.  These decisions crushed local businesses while giants like Walmart and Amazon made billions.  It should be noted that those giants are also the ones backing lockdowns until a vaccine is available, wonder why.  So did the lockdowns help?  Yes it did slow the spread and allow our hospitals to stock up and prepare for virus better.  As states began opening up we saw a rise in cases as expected.  The hospitals did not get overwhelmed yet some state governors refused to open things back up.  This caused a massive protest against the lockdowns.  When that happened the news told us that all the business owners were putting us all at risk being out in large groups protesting.  Yet when there were large groups protesting police brutality the media  applauded these people and claimed the virus would not be spread there.  I think this is the first virus in history to be so socially conscious.  

So here we are Dec 2020 and I am still seeing people on social media spread fear of a virus that has a survivability rate that exceeds 98%.  Daily they post about the latest death numbers, how it isn't a flu and should be feared, and mock those of us who are looking at this from a statistical and real perspective.  They say that looking at it that way is discounting those who have died or will die from this illness.  As we saw from Thanksgiving a few days ago people are tired of not being around family and friends.  People are sick and tired of isolation.  People just want to get on with our lives.  I have yet to hear anyone who looks at the actual statistics say that masks, social distancing and protecting those most vulnerable should not be done and don't make a difference.  

So which of these two viruses is reality and which is not.  Truth is both exist and it is up to every single person to decide their level of comfort and what precautions and risks they are willing to take.  I happen to fall into the camp that knows the virus is not going away.  I understand the large impact these restrictions and lockdowns are having on communities all over the US.  I have had family members get the virus, be hospitalized, and make it through even though they were in multiple high risk categories.  I know people who have lost loved ones are impacted but also know that other factors are causing loss of life as well.  Alcoholism, domestic violence, suicide and homicides are all on the rise.  As people lose their business, jobs, income, homes, and marriages who is going to protect them?  The most honest answer for all of this is simple; Wear a mask, social distance as much as possible, was your damn hands, avoid being around people if you feel sick, and most of all stop being afraid.  This virus will be with us forever and we need to look it in the face and say we will not live in fear.  Our govt will not stop us from living our lives.  Businesses need to stand up and be willing to open despite the risks.  Only if we unite against tyrannical leaders unjust policies can we ever see some form of normality again.