Stop apologizing to fascists - but on the lighter side. . .

Someone suggested to me recently that I try a different tact on my blog, sort of lightening up on the topics, because, you catch more flies with honey . . .  I would actually love to do more of what I used to do, history, trivia, music, art, etc. But, the Blog's sub-title is "what I'm thinking" (something like that - I actually forget exactly) and it is hard for me to write about anything other than what I'm thinking. And, these days I am often thinking of the growing fascism. Despite the fact that it is much more fun, relaxing and less stressful to think of pretty much anything else, it's too important to take lightly. And not that it is too important, because I have to be my own guide about what I want to write about, my general audience, always and still small (generally around 2000 hits a month lately) has multiplied at least a few times over since I started largely writing about fascism. 

Nevertheless, to break the tension today, I'll write a little on modern fascism (to make it even easier for me, and then will alternate with something a little lighter. Why not? Who could it hurt?

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Marjorie Taylor Greene has apologized for comparing mask wearing to the holocaust. Why? Of course, it's a silly comparison. But, her statements are not offensive. It was just a very bad analogy, not not just because of the quality of it, but because of the dimensions of it. The holocaust was obviously a million times, actually many millions of times worse than the mask mandates. As she said, she was just trying to say that they were forcing people to do things like the badge Jews had to wear. To some extent I agree, though I wasn't against masks for a period of time, although they weren't very effective.

But, we are facing fascism in ways I have been trying to describe for a long time now, since 2016. One thing that is at least incipient fascism is that everyone must apologize for some opinion, some real or imagined mistake or, goodness gracious, some slight to the narrative of the left or be canceled. I've always hated these phony apologies for unintended gaffes or plain mistakes. Worse, just because someone decides there feeling were hurt. Now, of course, the apologies seem to have to be made only by those on the right or just not on the left.
Come on – AOC said that they should archive the names of Trump supporters and thought about what sure sounds like the end of free speech and re-education. Did she apologize? I hear that and I suspect this is someone who would line people up and have them shot if she could. Ted Yoho apologized to AOC for calling her a "f***ing Bitch."  Normally, it wouldn't be nice, but, if someone said Himmler was a dirt bag, no one would likely be looking for an apology? This is AOC we are talking about - the woman who defended her "sis" Rashida Tlaib for calling Trump a "motherf***er." How does that person deserve an apology? She has complained that she is someone's daughter too, but she 

Maxine Waters literally encouraged a gathers in a city where rioting had caused 150 fires and uncountable damage, to riot again. Did she apologize? Sen. Hirono said she wouldn't sit though any more rhetorical speeches by Ted Crus and that she was leaving. She did. Hirono packed up her things and was silent when Cruz gave her yet another chance to condemn Antifa (mouthing the words out of a committee meeting when Ted Cruz (who I used to dislike - now I think he's terrific) castigated the Ds for not condemning Antifa. Here's part of their exchange:

"Sometimes I don't think you listen. So, how many times have I had to say that we all should be denouncing violent extremists of every stripe." 

"Does that include Antifa?" asked Cruz.

"I have the time." she responded. No, she wasn't going to put down the fascist group. Maybe she is afraid that they will show up at her door. Hirono, who is an out and out racist in my belief, said "I hope this is the end of this hearing, Mr. Chairman, and that we don't have to listen to any more of your rhetorical speeches. Thank you very much. I'm leaving."

Still, after a little sarcasm about her comments, he gave her one more chance. "Well, I appreciate the always kind and uplifting remarks of Senator Hirono. And I would also note that throughout her remarks she still did not say a negative word about Antifa nor has any Democrat here. "You're welcome to say something negative about Antifa right now."

It is reported that she said off the record that she said "I think that I've covered the subject quite well," but I also heard she cursed. I don't know. Couldn't hear on the tape.

Cruz said, "Okay, she declined to speak, so that is the position of the Democratic Party." 

Why won't she say condemn Antifa? Does she approve of it? She has before said she understood why people were becoming violent (implying, it seemed to me, that if Trump is president people had a right to be violent, but whatever the reason, that sure isn't saying she will condemn all violence). She also won't apologize for not attacking a fascist group that has made Portland (and other places) a hellhole for so many, a group that has literally tried to burn cops alive and and has been implicated in murder. She won't apologize for calling Trump a bully or for when she falsely accused Justice Amy Coney Barrett at her confirmation hearing of using a term that was supposedly offensive to the LBGTQ - "sexual preference." I cringed when Justice Barrett apologized, saying she would not intentionally use a term offensive to them. I'm sure she wouldn't. But, it came from Hirono's mouth, so chances were very good it was a lie. And it was. She shouldn't have apologized. Of course, of course, of course, there is nothing offensive about the term whether sexual orientation is innate or developed and, of course, of course, of course, it turned out that many Ds have used the term like Joe Biden, Dick Durbin, Joe Biden and even Barrett's sainted predecessor, Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Any apology from Hirono or the other drones who repeated it? Of course not.

Kudos! to Daniel Elder, a 34 year old award winning composer from Tennessee who was blackballed by his own publishers and local choirs (they won't even let him sing) because he refused to apologize (his publisher wrote out a fawning apology) for saying something horrible. What did he say? Ready? He criticized ARSON (I know, you are thinking I'm exaggerating - go read - A Composer Condemned Arson. Now No One Will Hire Him. – Reason.com, 

This is the state of the world we are in. Sickened at seeing broken windows, graffiti, police cars attacked and the courthouse set on fire, not to mention his own friends support of mob violence, he wrote as a last post on the Instagram account he was cancelling - "Enjoy burning it all down, you well-intentioned, blind people. I'm done." He even called them well-intentioned (by the way, the arsonist was white - but the narrative is what matters to the left). 

Despite all the hate, he stood up for his values and refused to apologize, despite it torpedoing his career. To the contrary, I was vexed and disappointed by the couple from Missouri, Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who, fearing for their lives and property by BLM "protesters" who they said were going to burn them out and take their house - stood in front of their property with their legal guns (she pointed it at the "marchers"). Of course, they were terrified, and why wouldn't they be? So, naturally, like Kyle Rittenhouse, who defended his own life, they were prosecuted. After saying they will never back down - they pled guilty.  I'm sure that their attorney convinced them to take the no-jail, small fine misdemeanor plea. I know it's easy for me to say, as I wasn't facing jail, but I wish they didn't. It was like apologizing even though afterwards he said he'd do the same again (though, they took away their guns). And the governor had said he'd pardon them. I don't know if he will now.  

Stop apologizing! The psychiatrist (who should be mentally examined) who said at Yale that she fantasizes about killing white people, hasn't apologized. Has Donald Moss, who teaches at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute, apologized for his "On Having Whiteness," which calls being  white a "malignant, parasitic-like condition to which ‘white’ people have a particular susceptibility”? Has the American Psychoanalytic Association apologized for publishing it in its journal? 

Judy Munro-Leighton, a left wing activist who admitted making up her claim that Kavanaugh raped her, didn't apologize (nor was prosecuted). Julie Swetnick claims were so laughable even many Ds who had drank the Dr. Ford Kool-aid had trouble believing it (among her claims, she voluntarily went to multiple parties where there were gang-rapes (her idiot lawyer, once a MSNBC darling, has since been convicted of fraud and extortion).Have any of them apologized, even the team of D Senators who acted together to try to derail the hearing by interruption until they were outed for planning it)?

Did Nancy Pelosi, who tried to usurp the president's powers and absolutely slandered him by interfering with the chain of command for nukes (with zero reason) apologize and say, sorry, I over reacted? Did Chuck Schumer, who threatened Supreme Court members if they didn't vote the way he wanted, apologize?

When politicians or other celebrities apologize, it rarely seems sincere, anyway. For crying out loud, stop apologizing for things you aren't responsible for or are leftist lies! I don't care if you "fake (or pseudo)-apologize" that you are sorry if someone is offended (though I can believe few claims of it anymore). At least that is genuine.

By the way, the left is absolutely following the path of fascism, controlling the police and army, propaganda, including proselytizing minors, arresting people for defending themselves against them, and so on, even if its not the same scale yet. You think Ashli Babbett wasn’t murdered and nothing done about it? You think thousands of people aren’t dead thanks to under-policing, a direct result of this fascism? You think the entire BLM theme of victimization isn’t what Hitler did with Germany and using an ethnic scapegoat isn’t what Hitler did?

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(Babbett's husband can't get cop's name who shot her). I am not even saying he should be guilty of a crime, because we can't know edge:/the facts. Maybe he was listening to some CRT proponent and felt like he was exterminating a parasite. Maybe he hates women. Maybe he panicked. 

All I know is that when George Floyd died we knew Derek Chauvin's name right away and he was arrested and charged with everything they could throw at him and then some (3d degree murder, which doesn't even make sense). When Daunte Wright was shot we knew Kim Potters' name right away and she was charged with murder though everyone knows she thought she was firing her taser.  

Was there a difference. Even some experts for the prosecution recognized that there was at least some resistance by Floyd (I consider what happened to him an easily preventable tragedy and believe Chauvin should have been found guilty of manslaughter) and Wright. But, both were black, and BLM is energetic and doesn't care even if someone is responsible for his own death so long as he/she is black. Ashli Babbett was white though and in today's world, though the great majority of people, almost everyone, realizes that black lives matter too (b/c all lives matter); we've come full circle and now many people think justice for black slaves in America or victims of Jim Crow can only be made right by unfair killing or prosecution of whites. 

When I say almost everyone knows black lives matter too, I'd exclude two groups. 1) Nazis, Klan and the like. 2) BLM, which has, through its systematic attack on police (of any color), they've indirectly killed off more blacks to gang violence at a far faster rate than the Klan ever did, using NAACP numbers of lynchings. They also probably caused more damage to property of innocent people around Minneapolis environs than the Klan ever did anywhere, though I'm not sure of that. In any event, they are the biggest, most well funded gang in our history.

Be pro-civil rights, pro-justice. Be against fake civil rights and social justice - which means no justice except by virtue of skin color.

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On a lighter note - 

I read recently that the 19th century writer, Robert Louis Stevenson (Mutiny on the Bounty, Kidnapped, etc.) was buried on a hillside overlooking the water in Samoa. His tombstone bears a poem he wrote that spoke to me, whatever that means:

Under the wide and starry sky
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me;
"Here he lies where he longed to be,
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill."

Really nice. It started me remembering that some years ago, I was speaking with my 25 to life sentence about a guy we knew who felt he was good to the women in his life and would have appreciated it if once in a while they told him he was wonderful. I said to P, “I know you don’t think I’m wonderful.”
And my evalovin’ gf responded, sincerely, “Well, you’re not horrible.”
“Wow.” I said. “That’s my epitaph. ‘He wasn’t horrible.’”
Almost as good as Stevenson’s, right?

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I do believe Floyd was negligently deprived of life (the murder convictions were outrageous and it was not a fair trial) and I do think the police could have handled it much better. I watch that video and like everyone I know, left or right, cringe. Floyd didn't even really resist. He said "thank you," when they put him on the ground. Though he was a big man and imposing, he seemed more like a big baby than a vicious brute.

That said, he was one person who sadly died and for the gang known as BLM, it was the best thing that ever happened to them. No wonder they are celebrating on his anniversary. This was there excuse to riot and loot hundreds of times across the country in a matter of months. Before they had to rely on made up murders like with George Zimmerman (rightfully acquitted) or Darren Wilson (rightfully never charged), both whose lives have been terribly impacted by BLM lies. But, Floyd was something most people could agree on. 

But, what justification is there for the rioting, the arson, the murder everywhere across the country where the idiots who are in power gave in to radicals demanding some kind of "justice," against the police - you know, the ones who save lives every day, the ones who can stop crimes just by patrolling (at least formerly)? Even as racist a person as self-loathing Joe Biden (who thinks - possibly pretends he thinks - that only whites can be racist), says that rioting and looting is not protesting and should stop (though like Obama, encourages them in other ways). They have turned parts of cities inhabitable or disgusting places. The police, subject to scorn by fascist pols like De Blasio, stopped policing in many places and the gangs took over. When will this country wake up? Taking over the police, education, the media, the big lie, etc., all part of the Nazis' playbook and now BLM/Antifa etc. They actually hurt minorities and it's a crying shame, because as Obama - yes, that Obama, said in 2016 repeatedly, this was the best time and place ever to be a minority. 

We are not a perfect country. None is. But, we were a great country with liberty and order. I have said many times (many many) up to a few years ago, that we were not just the luckiest people on earth, but the luckiest people in the history of earth. Are we anymore? The fascists, and they are nothing less, are trying to take that away. And, it's working, especially in big cities. I will say it to anyone - if you are for BLM, CRT, Antifa, CRT, etc., then you are for fascists. If you voted for Biden, you are at least supporting those who support those groups. And, remember, they usually eat their own at some point.

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On a lighter note - 

Some opera music is just exquisite (some of it people don't even realize is opera because they just hear the music alone in a movie or tv commercial), but most opera singing is just unbearable to me with some exceptions. The exceptions, like with the instrumental parts, are often songs that usually end up in tv commercials or in the movies. Just a few examples with links to Spotify and Youtube.

 

La Donna è mobile from Rigoletto (Verdi). 

https://open.spotify.com/track/1nRkprKas1lFz6Mu3Qh05X?si=bce6004bcf0b4eed

(14) Andrea Bocelli - La donna e' mobile - Live From Piazza Dei Cavalieri, Italy / 1997 - YouTube

The Queen of the Night aria, Hell's vengeance boils in my heart, from The Magic Flute (Mozart).

https://open.spotify.com/track/2IRMCtPrxmJwpyfCF8WcJA?si=19ac251f73fc4dfe

(14) The Magic Flute – Queen of the Night aria (Mozart; Diana Damrau, The Royal Opera) - YouTube

The Habanera from Carmen (Bizet), 

https://open.spotify.com/track/3pzBD8BVdrv7VJ7glRYshl?si=f756d80359b4418a

(14) Carmen - Habanera - Lyrics (Angela Gheorghiu) - YouTube

The Flower Duet from Lakmé (Delibes),

https://open.spotify.com/track/5Zhpw0qZya9rrklFvSkc2s?si=bd51617000834577

(14) The Flower Duet Charlotte Church - YouTube

You probably all know these songs even if you think you don't.

Finally, here's a rock n' roll star's version of the tune to Nessun Dorma from Turandot (Puccini). Jeff Beck did this pretty late in his career, 2010. No singing. I find it hauntingly beautiful.

https://open.spotify.com/track/6a08bsmQBcmsjmn2AzTu5F?si=2657dca933ee4a72

(14) Nessun Dorma - YouTube

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In California v. Texas (poor Texas, can't win a thing), the Court, for the third time, saved the ACA. How, this time the case was dismissed on standing grounds. In short, I will say that standing still means to me that the court just ignores the cases it doesn't want to decide by claiming it's not a real case and controversy (as required by the Constitution for them to review). In other words, it found neither the individual or state plaintiffs had suffered an injury related to the statute that they claimed. Justice Alito does a great job of showing the lengths the court has been willing to go to shelter this act. The standing issues in the case are kind of in the tangles of legal mumbo-jumbo and would take a long time to summarize here, so read the opinions if you want to understand better. 

Alito ends his sharply worded dissent this way:

"No one can fail to be impressed by the lengths to which this Court has been willing to go to defend the ACA against all threats. A penalty is a tax. The United States is a State. And 18 States who bear costly burdens under the ACA cannot even get a foot in the door to raise a constitutional challenge. So a tax that does not tax is allowed to stand and support one of the biggest Government programs in our Nation’s history. Fans of judicial inventiveness will applaud once again."

Though obviously Thomas is, with Alito, the main defender of the Constitution on the court, the bottom line is, despite Trump's having put three judges on the Court, it really is, generally, still a left of center court in the cases regular people care about. 

The interesting thing lately with the Court is the fact that despite being now - supposedly - 6 conservatives to 3 liberals, doesn't much seem that way in those sexy cases that people really care about. At least 2 if not more conservative judges seem to flip to the minority side, giving them the majority. In this case, even Thomas, supposedly the most right wing guy on the Court, hated by liberals, joined them along with two of Trump's picks, and, not surprisingly, Roberts. I read Thomas' concurrence, of course, and I see that he said he agreed with Alito about the previous two cases and might have on standing, but felt that there was because these were not raised below, they were forfeited. I am surprised he did, because it seems to me Alito made mincemeat of his arguments (Dissent, ps. 20-22, if you care). Right now, in most important cases though, it seems more like a 7-2 or 6-3 liberal favor than the reverse.    

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On the lighter side - 

Since the woke tried to bury him, I'm finally paying more attention to Woody Allen after a hiatus of maybe 30-35 years or so. When I was young, I and friends found him hysterical - a genius. I still have my copy of his Without Feathers, one of the funniest books I've ever read. But, of course, it was his early movies that killed us. Take the Money and Run, Play it Again, Sam (for me the greatest of them all), Sleeper, Love and Death, Annie Hall, and others. As he got older he sort of lost interest in being funny and his movies became less uproariously silly. Some were serious. Anyway, I stopped watching them a long time ago (I think Manhattan was the last one that interested me). Maybe I was unfair. Some are critically acclaimed, but I rather disagree with a lot of critics. If the NY Times' movie critic hates a movie, there's a good chance I will love it. I'm just giving you some scenes I find hysterical from the distant past:

This one's from Take the Money and Run. It's ridiculous, I know, but so funny. Poor Woody (there is, of course, a character name, but I'll just call him Woody here), is a career criminal who always loses. Here he muffs a bank robbery. (14) Woody Allen - Take The Money And Run - Bank Scene - YouTube.

This one's from Play it Again, Sam, where the hapless Woody is fixed up on a double date and is a little nervous. (14) Play It Again Sam Blind Date Scene - YouTube.

This one from Annie Hall. This movie was a little more serious than the previous. Here he explains the difference between the horrible and the miserable. (14) Annie Hall - "the horrible and the miserable" - YouTube.

I know some women didn't like his movies when we were young, because they hated slapstick (I don't know if there is a poll somewhere, but it seems many women in my age group hate slapstick) and also because his nebbishness was too much for them (like with George in Seinfeld), but it still cracks up me and a lot of my older friends. 

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There is nothing dumber than woke arguments and if it wasn't so dangerous some would just be hysterical. Lately they are debating (seriously, they really debate this stuff) since "black" must now be capitalized to (I guess) bolster the self esteem of black people or maybe exalt their escape from slavery (I know, whatever it is, it's just ridiculous), whether "white" should also get a capital W. What's the issue? How could it not. Well, it seems that some woke people feel that giving white a capital letter will be a nod to white supremacy. No, this isn't a Woody Allen movie. It's real.

Every intelligent person knows that the blacks were horribly, murderously, oppressed for centuries. But, every intelligent person also knows that that was then and this is now. Obama himself said in 2016 in speeches (years after BLM started) that it was the best time ever for minorities in America. And, it was. It actually got even better during Trump’s terms with very low unemployment.
I will not give the “woke” the dignity of arguing the merits about whether it should be “B” and “w” or “B” and “W.” It's like the arguments that Baby, it's cold outside is promoting date rape, when it was really written as a duet for the composer and his wife, who would sing it together at parties for Xmas. It nonsense, and in case of "W/w", also racist and even fascist, because they cancel people over stuff like this and even intimidate them into agreeing with them. Sadly, the fascists have been winning, canceling people, prosecuting people who are defending themselves and the like. We have a lot of mayors and pols who believe in black supremacy. We don’t have anything even remotely like white supremacy in this country (many laws actually favor non-whites), or systemic racism (there will always be racism, and despite the woke’s mantra – anyone of any skin hue can be racist). I understand the Sharpton/BLM/Antifa mentality. Facts don’t matter, justice doesn’t matter, fairness doesn’t matter – only skin color. We must all reject this as more and more institutions crumble.

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On the lighter side - 

My life often slides into the ridiculous, and you wouldn't be the first person to say (if you said), your life should be a sitcom or your life should be a movie. They really mean, Are you an idiot? I may have told these stories on previous occasions here, but don't think so.

- I think I was roughly 21 and going somewhere out of state my friend, Peter when I had to use the rest room at the McDs we were eating in. I walked into the restroom, kind of sort of maybe picked up at the edges of my consciousness that the guys at the mirror turned to look at me, and then went into a stall. I came out, left the restroom and immediately got applause. Naturally, I had walked into the ladies room and somehow, in my usual stupor, failed to notice not only the sign, but that everyone else was a female and also that there were no urinals. It was a memorable occasion, but to tell the truth, I've done it a number of times in my life and just caught myself even more than that.  

 - Many years ago I was hiking along a trail in Sedona, Colo., the prettiest place I've ever been that I had never heard of before I went. My evalovin' gf was in the lead and our three girls, probably ages 8-11 at the time, were following single-file and I brought up the rear. I was looking down at them, feeling good and then WHACK, I was flat on my back. They, the tallest being P's 5' 4", walked under the tree branch extending across the path without bending. I did not. Right in the forehead. Stung like a bastard too. As much as it hurt at the moment, it gets a lifetime of laughs from all of us. Someone getting suddenly whacked on the noggin and flattened never gets old, even if its you.

- I was in Sicily with my friend, Fred, and after a long day in bright sunlight, I walked ahead of him into the small, shady lobby of the hotel we were going to stay in. As I entered I saw that some kind of shimmering gauzelike veil had been put up across the whole area blocking my way. Instead of stopping, for some reason I continued walking, but putting out my hands in front of me to make chopping motions in order to cleave my way through it. After a few seconds of not feeling anything with my hands and my eyesight normalizing, I realized it was just some relatively brief combined effect of my light-contracted pupils suddenly expanding and a ray of sunlight coming through the window. In other words, there was nothing there. Fred came up and asked me what I was doing? I think everyone in the room saw. Oops.

- This one involves, not me, thank goodness, but my friend, Fred, mentioned above, who I know since the first day of my first full time job as were both looking for coffee. There were bathrooms in the hallway outside our office door with two stalls. Fred went in and noticed in one stall was someone sitting down, happily reading a newspaper (Fred could hear the paper crinkling as the occupant turned the pages). He says he also heard whistling, although that sounds a little too good not to be a false memory. Fred entered the stall, accomplished his mission and ready to leave the stall, flushed the toilet. The other guy was still there reading.  Fred went to the sink and washed his hands. Just as he was drying his hands to leave, he hears water spilling. The toilet didn't flush and was overflowing. Up in the air goes the newspaper and Fred can see the poor sod desperately trying to pull his pants up. Fred didn't wait. He said "Sorry" and fled. I am sitting here laughing at the memory.

Next post's doom and gloom will possibly make you want to cry, so I'm leaving this on a lighter note.