Sometimes one can only nod in agreement

 

Arthur Sido is what I would consider a right-wing blogger (some would say he's extreme right-wing, but I know of others much further along that spectrum than he is).  I disagree with many of his views on race and culture.  However, sometimes he hits the nail on the head, as he did yesterday.

Back in the years following Obama we saw a less than subtle shift taking place, one that really took off with the death via heart failure of George Floyd. It was in place and just waiting the right trigger, and the carefully edited video of Floyd’s death was just what the doctor ordered. No longer was it sufficient to be “color blind” or “not racist”. Now we were told “silence is violence” and that failure to be sufficiently outspoken in condemning “racism” was no different than lynching.

It wasn’t enough to simply not disagree with them, instead you were required to vocally agree with whatever they said. I recall vividly mobs confronting timid Whites in restaurants and forcing them to repeat “black lives matter” . It didn’t matter whether they agreed or not, the point was intimidation and humiliation.

We have moved into a new stage, one where you can now be forcibly silenced through violence, and a significant number of people on the Left seem to have no problem with using assassinations, whether the target was Trump or Charlie Kirk, a decidedly mild conservative ... Kirk for his faults was out there in the open. Even with Trump already in the White House he was outspoken and doing events, and because he was known he was able to be targeted. They couldn’t defeat even a fairly genteel conservative in debate so they shut him up the same way the Bolsheviks and their bastard offspring always have done: by terror and murder.

My general rule of thumb in the past was to say that the last thing I wanted was for the Left to be silenced or censored. Letting those idiots talk conveyed my arguments far better than I could dream of by blogging. Let them speak and let people see how stupid and vile they are.

Maybe that was a mistake, and maybe I am guilty of some of the same naive thinking that normies are guilty of ... The one thing that has marked leftist politics from the beginning is violence to overcome resistance to their retarded ideas. They are returning to form in America and Kirk won’t be the last to fall.

There's more at the link.

We can already see deliberate attempts from the progressive left to portray Charlie Kirk's murderer as a young man driven to extremes by his youthful love story.  Walter Kirn put it like this:

Here's how this will play out, here's the meta-script, and please don't laugh it off.

How this all started is not how it will end. A story that began with a clear traditional moral shape, an innocent victim, a vile perpetrator, will be transformed using secondary characters, new revelations, and other dramatic elements into its very opposite -- a story of forbidden love, persecution by religious bigots, a  poignantly rebellious heartfelt protest against a World that Doesn't Understand.

There will then be a total split, far deeper than mere "politics," between the segments of the public that were captivated by two incommensurate tragedies.

Rod Dreher explodes in righteous anger at such a mischaracterization.

Sure enough, look at Montel Williams on CNN, saying that poor sweet Tyler was simply trying to “defend his lover,” not attack an ideology. This is the play now.

Like I said, trying to keep a cool head, but … what world do these freaks live in?! Tyler Robinson blew a hole in Charlie Kirk’s throat because he despised what Charlie Kirk said, and this ABC News reporter has a sentimental boner about how sweet their gay-lover chit-chat is?!

. . .

I am seriously, seriously shaken up about the country. People don’t even know what reality is! These left-wing people will believe whatever they need to believe to maintain their narrative. Do I need to remind you that one of the signs that a country is ready to receive a totalitarian dictatorship is a refusal to believe in Truth, only “truth” as what satisfies you emotionally?

These people who are turning to their AI lovers for emotional gratification, while knowing full well that these things aren’t real — it’s a sign, y’all. It’s a sign of ever-growing detachment from reality. They prefer the “truth” of the way the Machine makes them feel to actual reality.

Again, more at the link.

Tyler Durden observes that the "woke" news media are marching in lock-step on this one.

The people dancing on TikTok and laughing about the murder come from all walks of life, from teachers to social workers and, of course, mainstream journalists.  The widespread vitriol has debunked the longtime claim that such psychopathy is relegated to a fringe minority. 

In reality, violent bloodlust is a feature of the political left, not an anomaly.  We saw it after the multiple assassination attempts on Donald Trump and we see it even more after the death of Charlie Kirk.

The justifications are rampant, with leftists claiming (falsely) that Kirk was a "fascist, misogynist, racist, homophobe, etc.", thereby absolving themselves of their elation over his shooting.  The real issue is that Kirk told the truth, on DEI, on transgender cultism, on feminism - And because they could not win against him in open debate, they wanted him dead.

. . .

Being a left-wing journalist, [Washington Post columnist Karen] Attiah's comments are strategically open to interpretation.  In the worst case, she appears to be justifying Charlie Kirk's killing because continuing to allow him to live is the same as absolving "white" American violence.  In other words, Kirk's words are the same as violence, therefore killing him is an act of self defense.

However, like most leftists in the media, Attiah is unable to produce any examples of Charlie Kirk actually espousing violence, or calling for violence.

. . .

Woke activists have been scrambling to control the narrative on Kirk's assassination for the past several days, at first applauding the incident as righteous vengeance, then claiming that the shooter was "right wing" (a false narrative), and now calling for conservatives to "cool things down" as if conservatives are the source of the problem.

More at the link.

We've seen this barrage of lies, propaganda and vitriol erupt and expand over the past week.  It's going to go on, and get worse, because the progressive left has to have a cause around which to gather.  If they can persuade people that "We're the oppressed ones here!", they can generate renewed and increased resistance to President Trump and his policies.  In reality, of course, they'll be relentless and merciless in pursuing those who expose their falsehoods and fanaticism.  I doubt very much whether Charlie Kirk will be the only martyr to their efforts.

Those of us who believe in our constitutional republic and the rule of law would do well to read the words of those I've quoted above, and gird our loins, both physically and metaphorically.  If we live in areas infested by such radical leftists (or even within striking distance of them), we should be prepared to defend ourselves, our loved ones, and our homes.  That may be more of a reality than we'd like to admit.

Peter

A certain deficiency in logic...

 

Circulating on social media:

Uh-huh.

Peter

The death of lecture-based universities?

 

That's what the Australian Courier-Mail foresees.  A tip o' the hat to our Australian reader Andrew for sending me the link to the article.

The future of face-to-face learning at Australia’s universities is in serious doubt as more institutions ditch old-school lectures in favour of full online or hybrid learning models.

While some students and staff are campaigning to save lectures from the chopping block, others in the sector say the train has already left the station and the future of universities is online as students “vote with their feet”.

The face-to-face debate reared its head again recently as Adelaide University students and staff protested what they claimed was a move away from in-person learning at Australia’s newest university – a claim the university continues to deny.

Meanwhile, Open University Australia helps potential students connect with more than 890 online degrees in response to changing student preferences.

University of South Queensland (USQ) Associate Professor Alice Brown has researched and written on the challenges and opportunities of online higher education learning, finding the ultimate determiner is the students themselves who routinely “vote with their feet”.

“There is a trend and phenomena of students becoming increasingly discerning about how they want to study and when they want to study,” Professor Brown said.

“If they are not offered an online option, then they will vote with their feet and go to courses that are fully online.”

. . .

The debate comes as a number of Victorian universities are now offering digital-only lectures, with most choosing not to reintroduce in-person models post-Covid.

RMIT environmental engineering student Ted Oldis, 24, said attending his university in-person was a toss-up decision he makes daily.

“If you’re trying to juggle work, friends and study you have to balance the convenience of the online lectures with attending in-person,” he said.

“If you don’t need the social aspect and you think the learning is the same, it honestly comes down to convenience, and more often than not it’s easier to do the online learning.”

Mr Oldis said he had toyed with attending as many lectures and tutorials as possible in-person this semester.

“This semester I made a conscious decision to attend every class and lecture I can in-person,” he said.

“I wanted to try to engage more and meet new people. But to be honest, I don’t feel it’s been worth it compared to doing the same stuff online.”

There's more at the link.

I have every sympathy with those students who are avoiding in-person classes and focusing instead on online and distance education.  I hold four university qualifications, two of which I obtained through distance education only (i.e. by post) and two by part-time evening classes plus distance education.  I can't say I felt in any way short-changed by not having the full "campus experience" of a full-time education.  In fact, the professors in my Masters degree often said to us students that they preferred working with us as opposed to full-time students, because we'd already learned to fend for ourselves and earn a living, and didn't expect the world to provide everything to us on a platter.  Comparing ourselves to the self-centered idle twits who infested that campus' post-graduate programs, it wasn't hard to see why they came to that conclusion.

Looking at the pro-Palestinian protests across many US universities over the past couple of years simply makes the contrast even starker.  The only reason those students could carry on so irresponsibly (not to mention violently) is that they had parents and trust funds and bursaries to pay for their existence while they did so.  The rest of us, who have to work for a living, may want to protest in favor of causes we support, but we can't afford to do so nearly as often or as long, because we know that our employers will kick us out and hire replacements who'll be willing to earn every dollar they pay us.  We've grown up.  Most of those students haven't.

I think American higher education would be a lot better off if we got rid of at least half the campuses in this country and fired all the professors who live in their academic cloud cuckoo land instead of in the real world.  I'd also suggest that we fire every student who doesn't pass at least half their courses every year.  No do-overs, no accommodations, no touchy-feely wishy-washy excuses.  Unless there are truly exceptional circumstances to excuse them, they can pass, or get out.  Why should my tax dollars be wasted on supporting them?

Grrr . . .

Peter

Don't just build the structure, pay attention to the foundations

 

I've been watching the outpouring of emotion over the murder of Charlie Kirk and the other blatant, in-your-face crimes that have shocked our nation in recent weeks.  I'm sure most of us agree that something needs to be done;  but what, precisely, should be done is fiercely debated.

I'd like to suggest that if we all "started small", we'd get a lot more done than if we all worried about the "big picture".  Each of us, as individuals, is too small and ineffectual a factor to get much attention on a state or national level.  However, at our local level, we can certainly organize ourselves into groups of like-minded people and put pressure on our town and city councils to fix the problems we encounter.  If a few dozen, or a few score, citizens were to insist that our local cops be given the authority, the budget and the free hand they need to control crime on our local streets, it would make all of our towns safer places to live.  If local towns were to come together and demonstrate that they can succeed in doing that, then our county executives might apply the same lesson on a larger scale.  If enough counties do likewise, then our state might begin to create the necessary conditions for change and improvement:  and if enough states do the same, then our entire nation might find a way forward.

However, it all starts locally, with the foundations rather than the superstructure.  We can't wave a magic wand and change our national government, or the Deep State bureaucracy, or so-called "blue state" policies.  However, we can affect the day-to-day lives of our communities at our own level.  If enough of us refuse to tolerate bigotry, extremism and dogmatism, we can take back our own environment.  If enough of us do that, we can inspire others to do likewise . . . but it all begins with the individual.

Therefore, let's not worry about founding new chapters of Turning Point USA, or joining the political party of our preference.  Let's join local churches, or make sure that local chapters of the Boy Scouts or Girl Guides are run in a balanced and sane manner, and do our best to see to it that local schools aren't infested with extremist views that make it a trial and a punishment for our children to attend them.  All that is within our power to do, if we're willing to exert ourselves for the good of our communities.

Have at it!

Peter

The writing life

 

I'm battling to complete a short story before the deadline for submissions later this week, so this cartoon made me laugh.  Click the image to be taken to a larger version at the Foxes In Love Web page.

I can almost hear the simultaneous groan from my writing and publishing buddies as they see it . . .

Peter

A very heartfelt "Thank you!!!" to my readers and friends

 

Last week on Monday my wife and I launched a fundraiser for my medical expenses.  I explained at the time that they're expected to total well over $100,000, possibly twice that.  We've been saving as best we can, and have taken out a second mortgage on our home, but we were still facing a big shortfall.  We set a fundraising target of $50,000.

To our surprise and great relief, you've responded very generously indeed.  As I write these words, the fundraiser stands at $49,236.  I expect we'll reach our target today or tomorrow, if this keeps up.  After the IRS takes its share and other expenses are met, we should get about $35,000 out of this campaign.  This is a huge relief to us, and gives us greater confidence that we can cope with the bills to come.

It's been suggested to us that we should raise the target to a higher figure, but that seems a bit cheesy somehow.  Yes, the total bills may be quite a bit higher, but we don't know that for sure yet (it'll take months to have any certainty), and we don't want to appear greedy.  We're more than grateful for what we've already received.  We'll probably leave the fundraiser open until the end of September to give late responders a chance to join in, and then close it down at whatever the level is then.  Meanwhile, if you would please continue to mention the fundraiser now and again to your friends and contacts on social media, we'll appreciate that very much.

We thank God for all of you, and for your great generosity.

Peter

Memes that made me laugh 278

 

Gathered from around the Internet over the past week.  Click any image for a larger view.

Sunday morning music

 

The tragic murder of Charlie Kirk a few days ago has swept across our nation like a wave.  Some celebrate his death;  others mourn it.  Some reject all he was and stood for;  others proclaim it with pride and promise to continue his legacy.  I rather think that his assassination might turn into one of the pivotal moments in US political history, on a level with the murder of JFK.  I, for one, will honor his memory, and do what little I can to make America all that he believed we could be.

To mark his passing, I wanted a piece of music that would speak to all Americans, whether men and women of faith or not.  Yes, I know Mr. Kirk was a man of strong, intense faith (as am I), and he should be remembered as such:  but his message is one that reached beyond sectarian divides, and I wanted music that reflects that universal appeal.  I found it in Samuel Barber's well-known Adagio for Strings.  Here's Leonard Slatkin conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2016.  Turn up your volume, because the recording is relatively soft.

May Charlie Kirk rest in God's peace.  May his widow and children be comforted in their loss.  May their witness continue to spread his message;  and may we who remember him do likewise.

Peter

There are times I've agreed with him...

 

Stephan Pastis reminds us that there are ways to cope, and then there are ways...  Click the image to be taken to a larger version at the "Pearls Before Swine" Web page.

There's also beer, of course...  At present, harder liquor is not a good idea for me, thanks to opioid painkillers washing around in my system.

Peter

The vicious circle of AI and the employment market

 

The Atlantic points out that while artificial intelligence is being applied to the job market by both applicants and employers, fewer people are being hired.

Corporate profits are strong, the jobless rate is 4.3 percent, and wages are climbing in turn. But payrolls have been essentially frozen for the past four months. The hiring rate has declined to its lowest point since the jobless recovery following the Great Recession. Four years ago, employers were adding four or five workers for every 100 they had on the books, month in and month out. Now they are adding three.

At the same time, the process of getting a job has become a late-capitalist nightmare. Online hiring platforms have made it easier to find an opening but harder to secure one: Applicants send out thousands of AI-crafted résumés, and businesses use AI to sift through them. What Bumble and Hinge did to the dating market, contemporary human-resources practices have done to the job market. People are swiping like crazy and getting nothing back.

. . .

For employers, the job market is working differently too. Businesses receive countless ill-fitting applications, along with a few good ones, for each open position. Rather than poring over the submissions by hand, they use machines. In a recent survey, chief HR officers told the Boston Consulting Group that they are using AI to write job descriptions, assess candidates, schedule introductory meetings, and evaluate applications. In some cases, firms are using chatbots to interview candidates, too. Prospective hires log in to a Zoom-like system and field questions from an avatar. Their performance is taped, and an algorithm searches for keywords and evaluates their tone.

. . .

The impossibility of getting to the interview stage spurs jobless workers to submit more applications, which pushes them to rely on ChatGPT to build their résumés and respond to screening prompts ... And so the cycle continues: The surge in same-same AI-authored applications prompts employers to use robot filters to manage the flow. Everyone ends up in Tinderized job-search hell.

There's more at the link.

It's a conundrum.  All those who claim that new technologies may displace older jobs, but also open up new ones, are finding that the old explanation no longer applies.  Technology is providing more and more information on both sides of the equation, and (supposedly) speeding up the handling of applications:  but it's also focusing in on small details and exact matches to such an extent that people who might have been considered for a job in the past, no longer meet the much stricter criteria being applied.

I can't see this as healthy.  When I worked in the corporate world, in supervisory and middle management, I always looked at an applicant's work record first, to see what they'd actually achieved in previous jobs.  That was far more important to me than their academic credentials or other factors.  If their employment history showed increasing levels of responsibility as they progressed, and they could point to measurable yardsticks like completed projects or industry recognition, they were the kind of people I wanted to hire.  However, AI doesn't look at that in an overall sense:  instead, it has lists of key words, and if an applicant's work history doesn't include enough of them, they're unlikely to ever get to the interview stage.  I regard that as a cop-out.  Managers are using it to avoid having to do too much research into applicants, and don't want to take the trouble to dig deep to find new staff with the greatest potential.  By relying on "the system", they evade personal responsibility.

I have to admit, I'm glad I'm not looking for a job in today's market.  It sounds increasingly like a no-win situation for far too many people.

Peter

The murder of Charlie Kirk and the World Trade Center attack

 

The founder of Turning Point USA and key supporter of President Trump, Charlie Kirk, was shot dead yesterday while speaking at Utah Valley University in that state.

There's already been an immense amount of verbiage spouted by all the usual suspects on both the left and the right of US politics.  I'd just like to point out that Mr. Kirk's murder is merely the latest act in the growing intolerance, sectarianism and naked violence that's become a feature of our political debate since the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

So much changed in America on that day, and in the months and years that followed.  Life became more precarious, less insulated from the violence of the modern world.  We went to war, and spent thousands of lives (and tens of thousands more wounded and maimed servicemen) in an ultimately failed effort to combat terrorism and reimpose what our politicians saw as US dominance.  The scars of that conflict are visible all over the world to this day, in countries that have become unstable, violent and brutal - including our own.

Inevitably, that failure has had its impact on our internal politics.  Far too many of us are all too ready to lash out, less willing to talk, not amenable to compromise.  It's "our way or the highway", and we're ready to consign to the highway anyone with whom we disagree.  That's what somebody did to Charlie Kirk yesterday.  His very existence, and the message he proclaimed, threatened their own views of and desires for this country, so they killed him.

I knew almost nothing about Mr. Kirk before yesterday.  I've never followed Turning Point USA, and didn't pay much attention to his electioneering.  Nevertheless, his murder is a body blow to political discourse and sanity in America, because right now there are undoubtedly many on the conservative side of our political divide who are more than willing to see murder committed against a Kirk equivalent on the liberal/progressive side.  Any prospect for tolerance and discussion is, for the time being, almost certainly dead in the water.

That means, whether or not we agreed with Mr. Kirk or President Trump, we're all damaged by this murder.  What will its wider, long-term impact be?  Nobody can say . . . but I suggest we'd better be thinking and praying very hard about it.

Rod Dreher has some very faith-filled and insightful commentary on this tragedy.

Charlie Kirk was no friend of the extreme right. But I fear that the gruesome slaying of Iryna Zarutska by a deranged black man, and now the assassination of Kirk — interesting that both bled out from a wound to the same place on their necks — will be a signal to militant far-right groups to go active. I hope I’m wrong. The urge to do something is powerful. I feel it too. But do what? White people and conservatives don’t burn down cities. Yet the capacity to absorb leftist violence is not infinite.

. . .

I suspect that today and in the days to come, there will be some people online cheering on the prospect of civil war, of violence to settle scores ... the fractures are so deep in America today. True, we are nowhere remotely close to the political violence that savaged the country in the late 1960s and early 1970s; reading Days Of Rage is a necessary corrective to fevered speculation about today’s climate. Nevertheless, there was at that time deep tissue connecting Americans, and that gave the country resilience. I fear that has gone now ... something wicked this way comes. We all know this. Prepare.

There's more at the link.  It's worth reading in full.

May Mr. Kirk rest in peace, and may his family receive what comfort they may;  and may his murderer(s?) be swiftly brought to justice.

Peter

This is so ridiculously stupid, it's an indictment of the "creative" artists responsible for it

 

I couldn't believe this article was real, but I'm assured it is.

Marvel Rivals video game is ramping up the LGBTQ+ representation with its fourth game release this month by featuring the sister of Thor, the Asgardian God of Thunder, who is a lesbian with a transgender husband.

The storyline for the game, put out by NetEase Games in collaboration with Marvel Games, follows villain character Doctor Doom who meets his alternate reality self — who is a hero — and that causes a “timestream entanglement” in which heroes and corresponding villains come to fight each other for domination over the universe. It is a first person shooter-styled game first released last year and already has several gay characters introduced.

The new release is reportedly set to add the character Vanguard Angela (Aldrif Odinsdottir), who is the daughter of Asgard’s God King, Odin. That makes her the sister of popular Marvel comic book hero, Thor, God of Thunder.

In the comics, the character, Angela, is married to a male character named Sera who was later written as having “transitioned” to  female in the comics.

There's more at the link.

How does this fit the Norse canon in any way, shape or form?  (Although, I suppose if Loki could turn himself into a horse and bear a foal, a lesbian goddess is far from impossible.  I draw the line at a transgender husband, though.  Even Odin couldn't turn his famously blind eye to that!)

Of course, if gay and/or homosexual gods are to become a thing, it'll give new meaning to the name of their home.  Perhaps "Asgard" should be re-spelled with a second "S" in the first syllable, and a "U" in the second?

Peter

The backlash grows against crime - and spreads to entire races

 

I think President Trump spoke for the majority of Americans in his comments yesterday about the murder of a young Ukrainian woman on a North Carolina transit system.  His statement is very brief, but I hope all my readers will take a couple of minutes to listen to it.

An equally tragic situation is arising in terms of relations between racial and ethnic groups in this country.  More and more people are unequivocally equating criminal violence with black crime and black violence.  Eric S. Raymond pointed out yesterday:

The part of me that was once an idealistic anti-racist liberal marching for civil rights died its final death last night as I watched the video of Irina Zarutska on the Charlotte light rail, being  fatally stabbed in the throat from behind by a black savage I refuse to name.

What has finally broken me is, incidents like that aren't even a surprise anymore. The frequency of brutal, senseless murders by "African-Americans", both individually and in predatory mobs, has risen exactly as rapidly as social and coercive controls on their behavior have weakened.

Meanwhile, for anybody who's wondering, American whites still have about the same crime rate as Switzerland. When enforcement of norms disintegrates, only intelligent people with low time preference still act civilized. 

As I've watched us sliding down the civilizational failure gradient, the question I've been increasingly unable to dismiss is this: was the whole ugly apparatus of racial repression - segregation, sundown towns, lynchings - really just senseless hatred? Or was it a rational containment strategy evolved under pressure from living alongside a large, visually distinct population of low-IQ savages?

I think I know the answer now.  And I hate knowing it. I preferred my innocence.

It doesn't do any good to protest that this particular savage was "mentally ill", whatever you think that means. The mobs that routinely form to beat up and kill whites unwary enough to wander onto their turf aren't psychotic, unless all Blacks are psychotic. 

Yes, yes, I know. If you were to select a population of whites for the same distribution of IQ and time preference as American Blacks, and then coddle them, scholarship out their brightest kids for four generations, and tell them all of their failures are society's fault, you'd get the same level of pathology and violence in about the time it took you to say "dyscultural and dysgenic".

That doesn't matter. We're not dealing with that hypothetical. We're dealing with reality. The reality is that we have a predation problem that will only be solved when our actual population of low IQ savages is contained again. Creatures like Irina's murderer, cognitively unable to participate in civilization, must be subject to either segregation or repression so brutal that they live in fear of it.

I don't really want to live in the kind of society that can do either these things. But Irina Zarutska's murder is the seal on my realization that there are no longer soft options, only hard choices.

I'd prefer the one where armed citizens routinely shoot down creatures like that at the time of the attempted crime, or immediately after it. All the alternatives seem far worse.

I've devoted much of my life to fighting the evils of racism and bigotry.  I bear the physical scars of that struggle on my body and in my mind.  I've written about them on occasion in these pages, as regular readers will know.  I absolutely hate reading such words from a balanced, sane commenter like Eric Raymond . . . but I know he's merely voicing the reactions of a great many Americans from other racial groups.  They're beginning to blame all blacks for the actions and attitudes of criminal blacks.  Given the number of cities that tolerate such offenders as the Charlotte murderer, it's almost impossible to advance a meaningful counter-argument.  There are simply too many such criminals out there, and unless and until they're dealt with, permanently, in the eyes of other racial and ethnic groups they will continue to drag their own race down into the ordure in which they swim.

When trying to help the victims of racial and ethnic violence in Africa, I had to learn (the hard way) that the only way to protect innocent victims was to end the onslaught of their (and my) violent predatory enemies, any way I had to.  I was a priest, and worked with many other priests.  The only ones who were effective ministers of the Gospel were those who realized that when Christ commanded his followers to buy a sword if they didn't own one, he wasn't joking.  We bought the modern equivalent of swords, and we used them to keep our flocks safe.  It felt very weird (at first) to be wearing a gun beneath my vestments, or have one stashed close to hand in case of need, but it was necessary under the circumstances, and many of us did so.  How many Americans are willing to contemplate their pastors and clergy doing likewise in today's society?  Unless we can put an end to this senseless criminal violence, congregations all over the country may have to make that choice.

May God have mercy on the victims, and may the guilty be brought to justice and condign punishment:  and may those who tolerate, support and encourage the guilty suffer the same consequences.

Peter

This is long overdue!

 

Thanks to insane regulations that forbid prisons to jam cellphone signals, inmates have for decades (literally) been using smuggled cellphones to operate crime networks and organize specific crimes from behind bars.  We've known they're doing it, but the regulators have always insisted that cellphone frequencies may not be jammed for any reason.

At long last, that looks to be changing.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 5, 2025 – The Federal Communications Commission may soon give state and local prisons authority Congress has repeatedly declined to grant.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Friday the commission will vote Sept. 30 on a proposal to let state and local prisons jam contraband cell phones - effectively cutting off the smuggled devices inmates use to communicate with the outside world. Carr stressed it would be voluntary and not a federal mandate to jam.

“Contraband cell phones are the root of so many evils taking place, not just in prisons, but across the country, for the crimes that people are phoning in and enabling,” Carr said, speaking at the Arkansas Attorney General’s office in Little Rock, following a tour of Varner Prison. “We need to do something about this serious threat to public safety.”

Carr said the proposal would sidestep federal law by declaring that calls from contraband cell phones are not “authorized communications” under 47 U.S.C. § 333, the statute that bars jamming. By de-authorizing those communications inside prisons, the FCC would clear the way for state and local facilities to deploy targeted jamming technology without running afoul of federal restrictions.

“Once contraband cell phone use is not an ‘authorized communication,' then the federal law is no longer a prohibition to jamming it, and that's well within the FCC authority to give that reading to federal law,” Carr said.

There's more at the link.

When I worked as a prison chaplain, I became aware of more than a few major crimes (up to and including murder) that were clandestinely arranged between inmates and their families and gangs outside the walls.  Even though that was a couple of decades ago, and modern miniaturized cellphones (much more easily concealed than the bigger, old-fashioned bricks) did not exist at the time, the cellular network was an increasingly important element in those arrangements.  With modern phones and encrypted communications apps, it's become a nightmare to keep track of what's going on.  This decision should be a major benefit to law enforcement in shutting down some of the worst of the worst criminals, who've regarded incarceration as simply a better-protected way for them to do business (because inside prison walls, their enemies outside find it, not impossible, but harder to get at them).

Peter

Asking for your help, dear readers

 

Regular readers will know that I've been battling multiple health issues for almost 3 years.  They led to an interruption in writing books, because I simply couldn't concentrate well enough to produce what I consider acceptable work.  I've also been blogging less frequently, for the same reason.

Last year I underwent four kidney procedures in an effort to overcome nephrotic syndrome, which first revealed itself as a severe case of hydronephrosis.  The situation was not helped by an incompetent urologist who subjected me to three procedures and then declared me cured.  He was wrong.  Fortunately, I could feel things still weren't right and insisted on a second opinion, which led to a fourth procedure to see what could be salvaged.  Sadly, although the last procedure brought temporary relief, it couldn't resurrect my right kidney;  so, later this month, it's coming out.  I hope that'll be the end of my kidney problems.  (Humans can live with only one kidney, provided it works normally;  so I'll be hoping for the best!)

About three years ago my partly disabling spinal injury, suffered more than two decades ago, began to give me more trouble:  increased pain (lately greatly increased), impaired mobility, and other issues.  Treating this has been complicated (understatement!) by legal issues.  The original injury was work-related, and treated by workers compensation;  but they closed the case in due course, and aren't about to reopen it unless it can be proved beyond doubt that any new problems are directly and immediately related to that injury.  Medical insurance, on the other hand, insist that since there's an older work-related injury in the same area as my current problems, the two must obviously be related, so workers comp should be paying for treatment.  I'm caught in the middle fighting two different sets of bureaucrats, both of which want to ensure that they don't pay for anything.  Lawyers are now involved, and it'll almost certainly have to be dealt with in court in due course.  However, treatment can't wait until the paperwork stops flying.

My wife and I have taken steps as best we can to carry the load so far.  We've mobilized our savings, and taken out a second mortgage on our home.  A very generous reader also donated a significant amount of money last year, which helped us pay for one of the surgical procedures on my kidney.  However, even after all of that, we're still facing a very large medical bill this year (possibly running into next year).  Spinal surgery is very expensive.  The lowest quote I've been able to get (hospitals being notoriously reticent to provide actual cost numbers in advance) is $49,625 for the surgery alone (i.e. surgeon's fees, anesthesia, use of operating theater, etc.), excluding:

• Diagnostic costs;
• Hardware or implants that may be required;
• Overnight or longer hospital stays;
• Post-surgical rehabilitation and physical therapy;
• The cost of treating any complications that may result.

All those expenses are over and above the surgery, and also for our account.  Total costs may exceed $80,000, according to those who've been through this before.  (I emphasize again that this is the lowest quote I've been able to obtain.  Others are significantly higher, exceeding six figures in all.  "Medical tourism" may be a cheaper alternative, but high-quality medical care remains expensive, even in the Third World.  Furthermore, long flights with a newly-repaired spine are sure to be very uncomfortable, and may be medically inadvisable.)

Therefore, I'm turning to you, dear readers.  If you enjoy this blog, and/or you've enjoyed my books, will you please consider helping us meet these expenses?  We've done our best to meet them according to our abilities, but even using the lowest quoted costs, we're going to be up to $50,000 short.  (If we eventually get something from either workers comp or medical insurance to pay some or all of our expenses, we'll use that to clear any remaining medical debt, then donate the rest to help someone else in our position.  We're far from alone in dueling with medical bureaucracies, we know!)

We've started a fundraiser at GiveSendGo, which appears to be one of the most honest and reliable services of its kind.  You can click on the link provided, or on the top link in the sidebar of this blog, to be taken there.  My wife and I will be very grateful for any support you can provide.

Thanks, friends.  God bless you all.

Peter

Memes that made me laugh 277

 

Gathered from around the Internet over the past week.  Click any image for a larger view.

Sunday morning music

 

A couple of weeks ago I posted Nickelback's self-parodying sea shanty version of their hit "Rockstar".  Readers seemed to enjoy it, and a number expressed an interest in more "modernized" sea shanties.

While looking for more, I came across Jonathan Young's album of heavy metal sea shanties.  Some I enjoyed, others less so, but they're certainly a very contemporary look at a time-honored musical tradition.  Here are a few of them, some old, some relatively new, in no particular order.

If you enjoyed these, you'll find much more of Mr. Young's music on his YouTube channel, and at his Web site.

Peter

So much for customer service

 

Quoth The Raven laments its death, and sees an opportunity.

Everywhere you go, everything you do, every service you pay for—it feels like customer service simply no longer exists. And even worse, most places you go actually make you feel like an asshole for daring to be a customer in the first place. I catch myself constantly asking, “Why am I putting up with this shit?” right before looking down at the Cheez-Doodles or baseball cap I’ve somehow convinced myself I can’t live without.

Because here’s the ugly truth: service is dead. The only thing still alive is the endless, humiliating upsell and self-service. The drugstore, the bank, the dentist—it doesn’t matter. On a given day I interact with supposedly “best-in-class” businesses, and nearly every time I walk away feeling bent over a barrel. And this is when I’m choosing the premium option. The premium experience is still garbage.

Which is why, when I think about the future, I don’t see the next big opportunity as another buzzy app or sleek new product. It’s customer service. Full stop. Any company, in any industry, that actually treats its customers like human beings will have me throwing money at their doorstep.

. . .

God forbid I need to call anyone about anything. Changing an airline ticket? Calling my credit card company? Forget it. Every road leads to an automated voice system with the warmth of a Soviet switchboard. Look, I get it. It’s 2025. Most stuff can be handled online, and that’s great—I don’t want to talk to anyone if I don’t have to. But when I do need a human being—because no, chatbot Karen, you cannot solve this problem with a “help article”—there should be a way to reach one without descending into phone tree purgatory.

Then there’s the pièce de résistance: self-checkout. Bill Burr has a bit about stealing from self-checkout as payback for being conscripted into a job you never applied for. And honestly, he’s right. You’re not a customer anymore—you’re an unpaid employee scanning your own groceries while the one overworked human employee hovers like a prison guard, ready to pounce if you don’t place the cantaloupe in the “bagging area” fast enough. You’re damn right I’m stealing a bag. And I dare your lazy ass to chase me down Market Street to stop me.

So yes, customer service isn’t dying—it’s dead. Buried. Cremated. Scattered to the wind. What’s left is a charade where companies pretend to offer “premium experiences” while nickel-and-diming you, automating you into oblivion, and treating your desire for basic service like an outrageous demand.

The opportunity is there for any business bold enough to zig while everyone else zags. Charge me more, fine. But make me feel like a customer, not a nuisance. Make me feel like I’m buying something, not auditioning for an FBI background check. Because until that happens? We’re all just paying top dollar to be reminded—daily—of how little most corporations actually think of their customers.

There's more at the link.

The corollary, of course, is that companies and businesses that emphasize customer service tend to do well at the best of times, and in more difficult economic conditions (like right now) still have enough customers to keep their heads above water.  A good example is the butchery my wife and I use.  The owner is friendly to everyone, goes out of his way to make sure we get the cuts and quality of meat we want, and will take time and trouble for special orders if we're willing to pay for them.  I just ordered about thirty pounds of assorted meats from him, in one-pound packages, including some that's not often ordered by his typical clientele and cut in a specific way.  He quoted me a price about a dollar or two per pound over supermarket prices, but the quality of his meat and the extra care he puts into satisfying our needs make that a bargain, as far as we're concerned.  Because he's willing to go the extra mile for us, we're willing to pay the extra dollar or two.  Everyone's happy.

The same applies to many of the businesses we patronize as a family.  We actively look for vendors who will listen to us and provide what we want.  If they do that, we give them our money and recommend them to our friends.  If they don't - if we're just another body or two off the street to them - then we have no reason in particular to shop there, and no reason in particular to go back.  I've taken to writing to businesses such as medical offices, etc. where I find myself treated like just another digit in the system.  I complain about it, give examples of how they treated me, and inform them that I'll be looking for more professional care somewhere else.  A few care enough to respond.  Most don't seem to care at all.  They're too busy being good little bureaucrats in the health care machine.

We surely can't be the only people operating that way.  How about you, readers?  Do you actively look for good customer service, let them know you appreciate it, and recommend them to others?  Or doesn't it matter that much any more?  I'd like to hear your perspective.

Peter

Do it!

 

I note with satisfaction that the Epstein "victims" are threatening to release the names of those who victimized them.

Jeffrey Epstein’s victims have told Donald Trump they are compiling a list of men who were clients of the paedophile financier.

Survivors gathered outside the Capitol on Wednesday to demand that his administration authorise the release of all of the documents it holds on Epstein.

Lisa Phillips, who was abused by Epstein from 2000, said she and other victims will produce their own client list if the US government fails to publish the names of wealthy clients believed to be connected to Epstein’s crimes.

. . .

Ms Phillips added: “We know the names, many of us were abused by them. Now, together as survivors, we will confidentially compile the names we all know who were regularly in the Epstein world.”

Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, an ally of Donald Trump who is working with Democrats on a bipartisan bill to secure the release of the files, said she would read the list of co-conspirators and abusers to Congress.

Noting that Epstein’s survivors would struggle to publicly disclose the list of names over fears of the potential ramifications, she said: “Yeah, it’s a scary thing to name names, but I will tell you, I’m not afraid to name names.”

There's more at the link.

Given suitable safeguards to prevent innocent people from being falsely accused, I think this is a very good idea.  One could protect against abuse by naming only people who are remembered by two, or three, or more of the women, so that it isn't a "he said, she said" case, but one with multiple witnesses and/or victims.  One could also remind them, prior to publication, that false accusations can lead to both civil and criminal charges against those making them, so they'd better be willing and able to back up their claims.  Given those and similar measures, I can't see a downside to this.

I'm prepared to believe that President Trump's people in the Department of Justice have not found "smoking gun" evidence to convict anyone of complicity in Epstein's crimes - but that's only because their predecessors, and some of those still in the DOJ, have carefully erased or hidden that evidence.  The cover-up has been massive.  Anyone who believes that Epstein committed suicide in his prison cell has got to be so naive as to defy credulity.  "Blissninny" just about covers it.

As far as Epstein's crimes are concerned, we haven't even scratched the surface yet in determining culpability and punishing offenders.  It's long overdue.

Peter

Medical news I had no need to hear

 

CNN brings us this life-changing news headline:

Using the phone while you poop

greatly raises hemorrhoid risk, new study says

Of all the medical information I never expected to hear (or need, for that matter), I daresay that has to rank pretty high up the list.  Didn't we have enough strain in our lives already?

Oh, well.  To quote the Moody Blues, "Face piles of trials with smiles"!

Peter

Following the medical money (or lack thereof)

 

A few weeks ago I wrote an article titled "From 'Medical Care' to 'Medical Couldn't Care Less'."  In it, speaking about conflicting medical bureaucracies with whom I'm having to deal at present, I said:

Neither bureaucracy cares about me (or any other patient) as a person.  They're just ticking off the boxes on their forms, checking their reams of regulations, and putting their organizations' interests ahead of anything and anyone else.

That's being driven home yet again by the latest medical shenanigans.  I'm in pretty severe pain (all the time) from a deteriorating spinal condition, but no doctor or nurse seems interested in speeding things up to get to a point where that could be alleviated.  Instead it's fill out this form, get that test, make follow-up appointments (which they then cancel because I haven't yet completed all the tests they want - but they don't tell me that until less than 24 hours before my appointment), and so on.  What's worse is that medical insurance is an integral part of the problem, in that they won't discuss further treatment until a series of tests are completed, even if those tests have nothing whatsoever to do, medically speaking, with the specific health issue under discussion.  The forms have to be completed, with all the boxes ticked off, even if some of those boxes apply to other conditions.  If I complain and argue about it, I'll be frozen out of the process until I knuckle under.

The problem is, all of this costs money - and with competing bureaucracies arguing over who is or is not responsible for the bills, I have to pay for everything up front, in the hope of getting at least some of the money back from one or the other agency in due course.  The fact that such costs run into thousands of dollars is irrelevant, as far as the bureaucrats are concerned.  I have to get the tests done;  if I can't afford to have them done, I won't be approved to proceed to further treatment options (for which they still won't pay, at least at present) through their bureaucratic processes.  If I can persuade doctors to offer the treatment(s) I need without medical insurance pre-approval, it'll have to be on a cash basis, in the hope that subsequent discussions with my lawyer might persuade the insurers to contribute something towards them.

I'm going to have my right kidney removed towards the end of this month (the culmination of the kidney problems I had last year, with four lesser surgeries having failed to correct the situation).  It'll take me a couple of months to get over that, I'm told, so back surgery will have to be on hold until I've fully recovered my strength.  If I can raise the money for that, it should happen late this year or early next year, if I can get my medical ducks in a row.

I'm going to be launching a fundraiser within the next week or so to ask for help in meeting these expenses.  This is a very costly situation for us. We're in the process of taking out a second mortgage on our home, and we've saved what we can to meet initial expenses, but we're still looking at a looming fiscal cliff in the not too distant future.  I know we're far from alone in facing that sort of problem:  I've mentioned others' fundraisers in these pages on occasion.  Thank you to everyone who's already been generous.  We couldn't have made it this far without you.

Peter

Boom, or impending bust?

 

Ted Gioia is worried about the state of the economy, and the mixed signals from higher levels that are conflicting with data "on the ground".

Are we entering an AI-driven boom time like an out-of-control Monopoly game? Or will we be too broke to eat breakfast?

Let’s try to answer this question—because a lot is at stake in getting the answer right.

I see signs of economic turmoil everywhere in the real world:

• Starbucks sales are down and they are closing 100 stores.
• KFC and Pizza Hut sales are down in the US.
• Dozens of other restaurant chains are closing locations.
• Las Vegas tourism is down sharply and visitors describe it as a ghost town.
• In fact, the entire hotel and hospitality industry is shrinking.
• There are now a half million more homes for sale in the US than home buyers.
• Credit card debt is rising—and is now back at its all-time high.
• US unemployment is the highest it’s been since the pandemic.
• The jobs data was so bad that the person compiling the numbers got fired!

Companies are getting desperate, and they can’t hide it. A friend reports that Pizza Hut sent him a promotion on Tuesday morning, offering a two dollar pizza. He wondered how they could possibly make money on this deal.

And then that same day he got a notice from competitor Papa John’s, also promising a two buck pizza.

Two bucks for a pizza? Really?

This is how businesses respond when customers totally disappear. They will do anything to bring them back. Otherwise they have to shut down.

And this is a reality untouched by promises of an AI boom time. It’s everywhere in the real world where flesh-and-blood people live and work.

Mr. Gioia goes on to note five important points about the so-called AI "boom":

1. Half of the gains in the stock market are due to just five stocks.
2. These companies are betting everything on the buildout of AI data centers.
3. There’s no indication that consumers are willing to pay for this enormous infrastructure.
4. The reality is that nobody can afford the proposed AI data center buildout.
5. And there are all sorts of other warning signs—energy usage, water consumption, etc.

He concludes:

By any reasonable measure, the current trend is unsustainable. And there’s one thing I know about unsustainable trends—there’s a day of reckoning, and it’s not a happy one for the people who caused it. But, even sadder, they take down a lot of others with them when the bubble bursts.

There's more at the link, including some informative and worrying graphics to illustrate his points.

If you've followed our discussions in these pages over the past few years, you won't be surprised by any of this.  Previous administrations have spent us into near-bankruptcy, and papered over the fiscal cracks with almost unlimited treasury bond sales and other measures.  Our deficit is so high it's almost impossible to visualize:  and as always, excessive debt becomes a drag on the economy as a whole, both for those who caused it and those who simply happen to be in the same country.  Sooner or later, our economic chickens will come home to roost, and some (like myself) think that won't be long delayed.

I hope I'm wrong.  I really do.  It would be wonderful to think that President Trump will be given enough time to stave off the crisis, and do what's needed to begin restoring our economy . . . but I somehow suspect that the damage is already too great.  He'll paper over the cracks as best he can, but no matter how good his policies may be, he's not a miracle-worker.  (He also contributed to the problem by not controlling deficit spending during his first term of office.  He gets a great deal of credit for his current policies, but also a share of the blame for the mess leading up to the present situation.)

Go read Mr. Gioia's whole article.  Food for thought.

Peter

So where's the justice in this sentence???

 

I was infuriated to read about an extraordinarily lenient sentence in a child sex abuse case.

Just hours after her first day of high school, a 15-year-old girl sat in a Fremont County courtroom and told a full gallery of people, both known to her and not, about her life from the ages of 7 to 12, when she was being sexually assaulted.

Candon Dean Dahle, 22, was sentenced by District Judge Steven Boyce to a minimum of five and a maximum of ten years in prison. Boyce then suspended the sentence and placed Dahle on probation for eight years.

He was also given a 180-day local jail sentence that began on Tuesday. After that, he will be required to complete 200 hours of community service.

There's more at the link.

The source article contains sickening evidence from the victim and her family of what this man's abuse did to her, the psychological effects of which will probably continue for the rest of her life.  I won't publish that here, because I try to keep this blog family-friendly, but if you can stomach that sort of thing, I urge you to click over there and read it for yourself.

For the life of me, I can't understand how such a monster in human form could be let off with so light a sentence.  There are parts of the world - including many in Africa, from where I come - that wouldn't have left him alive after doing things like that.  People there wouldn't wait for the courts to give him a slap on the wrist.  They'd administer rather more than a slap on the wrist to make sure he never did it again, and so that anyone else with ideas like that would be given a graphic example of why they should never, ever even consider putting their ideas into practice.

Furthermore, I've never yet seen a single case where a child abuser was "cured" of his "disease" by any therapy, program or punishment.  I've had to deal with far too many of them as a prison chaplain.  Even those who'd sincerely, genuinely repented of their sin would tell me that they didn't know if they could refrain from doing it again after they finished their sentence.  They said that for them, temptation sometimes grew so great that it amounted to an irresistible compulsion, so much so that some of them actively considered suicide as the only way they believed they could avoid acting on it.  I somehow doubt that Mr. Dahle will prove any different.

I'd call him a complete and utter waste of oxygen, except that I'd then have to apply the same description to the judge who let him off so lightly, and the prosecutors who plea-bargained his offense down so greatly.  I suspect society would be better off without any of them.

Peter

The day they blew up a river to save Yellowstone

 

I came across a very interesting article about the 1988 wildfires in and around Yellowstone National Park (the biggest and most dangerous in the Park's history), and how local farmers, ranchers and residents partnered with the National Park Service to save West Yellowstone from the encroaching flames.  Here are some excerpts.

The plan was to surround West Yellowstone with irrigation pipes and sprinklers to dampen the ground, stopping any flames before they reached homes and businesses. As the park’s busiest gateway community, ensuring West Yellowstone’s survival was critical.

Howell and several other farmers hauled all the industrial-sized irrigation pipe they had available to West Yellowstone, but that wouldn’t be enough to stop the fire.

The critical factor was finding an adequate water source to feed the pipes.

To pump water through the pipes, they needed a hole — and fast.

There wasn’t time to excavate the bank of the river, so they blasted it with explosives.

. . .

Bryers ... cut any trees that had fallen or were leaning into the trail to ensure large vehicles and their irrigation pipes could reach the river.

There was a surprise waiting for Bryers when he emerged from the forest at the riverbank: Yellowstone District Ranger Joseph Evans.

“Joe was scratching his head as I came out of the opening in an orange Ford truck,” Bryers said. “He said, ‘You can't be driving in here and using chainsaws.’ So I go, ‘I can't believe you haven't heard. I'm clearing the way for a big line of diesel trucks hauling pipe.’”

Despite having the full permission of the NPS and Clyde Seely, the fire commander, nobody had informed Evans that Bryer would be cutting through Yellowstone’s trees to get to the Madison River.

“He went off to see what in the world was happening,” Bryers said. “There was a lot of miscommunication back then.”

. . .

Soon, an unassuming Ryder rental truck arrived at the western bank of the river. Inside was a large amount of detonating cord, supplied by the federal government, that would be used to create the crater.

“They did one blast, and it turned out it wasn't quite enough to make the crater they needed,” Bryers said. “So, they put a bunch more of it in there for a second blast.”

. . .

After the second detonation, [Bryers] noticed that a 7,500-pound boulder had crashed through the top of the Ryder truck, landing on a massive coil of detonating cord.

“I wish that I would have got a picture of it, but I didn’t have my camera,” he said. “That rock was just sitting there on top of all the explosives.”

. . .

The fire got concerningly close. Bryers was laying out a line of pipe from Duck Creek to the Fir Ridge Cemetery north of town when the fire caught up to him.

“Me and another fella stripped naked and jumped into the deep part of Duck Creek,” he said. “We wanted to come out and dry off, but there were a bunch of surprised Idaho farm boys watching from the bank.”

. . .

The crater blasted into the Madison River is long gone, slowly filling with sediment until it disappeared completely a few years after the fires.

However, Bryers said the crater was a fishing hotspot until it was filled in.

“Trout liked to find a nice, deep, slow spot in the river, so I told my fly fishing friends about the crater,” he said. “They caught some big fish out there.”

There's more at the link.

It's a great story of ordinary folks working together to save a vital part of America's natural history.  It must have been utterly exhausting for all concerned, but they got the job done.  Highly recommended reading.

Peter

Memes that made me laugh 276

 

Gathered from around the Internet over the past week.  Click any image for a larger view.