Mike's Musings

By Rich Kozlovich, Originally posted on Friday, January 27, 2023

In days gone by I loved reading Mike Royko, and William Raspberry, both gone way too early, both provocative writers who used foils to bounce their views off, real or imagined.  Royko's was the local bartender and his patrons, and Raspberry's was a local cab driver.  Mike the bugman is mine, who sends me stuff that's often humorous, yet profound.  I call these offerings,

So, let's get started with a bit of pretending.

Let’s pretend there’s not “a wide range of genders.” Let's pretend there are only two genders and a wide range of mental disorders.  I mean if you can pretend Bruce Jenner is a woman, Kamala Harris is black and Joe Biden is sane, you can pretend I’m wearing a mask, and I've been vaccinated 22 times, and think Fauci is a saint.  Trust me, that's a lot of pretending, which bring me to this observation.  

Why is it only in America can an ethnic group have a black awareness month, a black holiday, black only colleges, black only dating sites, black only bars and clubs and turn around and claim America is a racist nation?

Why is it when archeologists find human remains, they’re either male or female, and it appears they’ve never, ever, found any of the other alleged 112 genders and/or 71 subcategories?  

It’s been reported, truthfully or not, that Chinese third graders are learning multivariable calculus.  And while it certainly seems true our third graders are not being taught advanced mathematics, they're fully versed on the idea that men can have babies and the world is going to burn to a crisp.

I can’t help but wonder if that’s going to be a problem down the road?

Senator Kennedy from Louisiana once asked, “I don’t know why we have to give money to countries who hate us.  They should be able to hate us for free”.  After all, hating America is freedom of speech and thought.  Oh, wait, they don't have that in countries that hate us.  Well, now I see, that explains why we're paying them to hate us.  Tell me.  Does that seem stupid to anyone other than me?   But it isn't like we don't have a lot of stupid manifesting itself in America. 

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are convinced study, hard work and getting a good job is essential.  That is essential for them to be able to redistribute your taxes to a lot of people who never studied, never worked hard and refuse to work, but vote for Democrats.  It's called communism, and they think those who oppose this and think this is detrimental to the nation are extremists.   Imagine that!

Think about this.  Joe Biden has been President for over two years, and nothing is built, nothing is back, and nothing is better, and we’re shocked?  This is from a man who was only been stunningly successful at being a failure.  Let's face it, Joe Biden isn't the brightest pebble in the brook and his only success has been in getting elected over and over again by a lot of pebbles in the brook that are even less bright than Biden, with a lot of help from voter fraud.  But as Delaware's Senator, that state kept electing him in spite of the fact in all those decades in  "public service" he never accomplished a thing.  See, I told you there's a lot of stupid in America.

He was largely a failure at everything else he did before that, and has been plagued with charges, legitimate charges mind you, of plagiarism all of his life.  And we should believe him when he said he was shocked to find there was a lot of classified documents found illegally in his possession, right next to his Corvette? Now, isn't that being just a little bit picky? Nah, that's just being a little snarky.

His solution to the energy issues facing us now?  Tapping our oil reserves instead of drilling. Which is kinda like tapping your 401K instead of going to work, eventually there's a penalty to be paid for stupid.  

Is it true that when Joe Biden was asked about these latest scandals he opened up a can of alphabet soup, spread the contents out on his desk and read the answer?   Nah, that's not true either, but the end result’s the same, so does it really matter if it’s true or not?  Call it alphabet soup, or call it word salad, it doesn't matter. Stupid is stupid no matter how it comes out.  

One has to ask, if all these leftist politicians and their myrmidons in the Deep State are willing to treat Americans like dirt now, what would they do if all the guns were banned?  Is it possible they don't do those things now because they'd get shot for doing them?  Leftists rant about moral values, none of which they believe in because if there's no God, there are no values, and they don't believe in God.  The leftists claim if you shoot and kill a burglar it means the you value your things more than the burglar's life.  Talk about twisted reasoning.   I prefer this explanation.  

Home owners with guns have a more straight line of logic about this.  If you break into their home, "you" value the residents things more than "your" life.  See, simple.

So, that leaves two diametrically opposing views in America.  There are those who believe in God, know what restroom to use, believe equal rights is not equity, believe in law and order, believe criminals need to be arrested, tried for their crimes and put in jail, and have the most guns.  And those who don't.

Suggestions anyone? 

Just a Random Thought or Two

By Rich Kozlovich

Here are some observations from posts of various types I've seen this past week, starting with this thought.  How often does anyone really do fact checking with CNN?   

If Donald Trump announced he'd discovered the cure for cancer, paid demonstrators would be out within hours proclaiming cancer cures were racist demanding the right to die from cancer, and insisting Trump can't take their cancer away.  

We've been through 30 years of Anthropogenic Global Warming, and since what warming there was stopped over 25 years ago, it's now Anthropogenic Climate Change, and there has been a suggestion to create a new government agency called the Bureau of Imaginary Problems with a Climate Change Division.

For years we've been hearing how the world must go back to the stone age in order to save the polar bears from extinction from global warming.  But, when Al Gore was born there were 7000 polar bears.  Now because of global warming, which isn't really happening, there are 30,000.  Hmmmm..... does that mean warmer temperatures would be better than colder temperatures?  

From the, 'Oh noooo, we're all gonna die", sanctified halls of academia and science.   NASA is warning the world we're going to run out of oxygen..... in a billion years.....  so you had better get your affairs in order.   Kiss your wives and children and....above all..... call mom.  One has to wonder how important that is when you consider all the other, "Oh noooo, we're all gonna die", warnings that appear weekly?    But scientists, government bureaucrats, and academics stock in trade is being profound.  As an example a professor might ask this ultimately profound question:

 "if we divide 125 genders by 3 bathrooms, how much climate change do we have?"  

Profound... Don't you think? 

We're seeing so many young men and women rampaging through shopping malls that malls are now demanding they be accompanied by an adult.  Should that also apply to Democrats when they campaign, speak to the media and vote in Congress?  

While it's true socialism murdered over 100 million people, and they destroyed the economy of one of South America's most successful nations, Venezuela, where things are so bad people are eating their pets, but none of that matters.  Bernie Sanders, who's never held a real job, says the trouble is real socialism has never been tried, so none of that counts.

A man found out a relative who was a lifelong Republican voted for Joe Biden, and that really disturbed him, because if his relative was still alive he would have been outraged.  

A woman asked a male friend living in the UK what it was like.  He said he can't complain, to which she said "that's wonderful".   He said... no.....not really...... if I complain I'll get arrested.   

My Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene

By Rich Kozlovich 

Thomas Sowell is one of my personal heroes and probably one of, if not the finest thinker in the world today.   He has been posting his Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene for years, but as he's in his eighties (update: he's 90)he's stepping back somewhat and I haven't seen one for some time.  

Here's a link to his archive.  Scan through it for the Random Thoughts articles, or any of his great pieces.

But that was the inspiration for having done one for myself years ago, and I said then I wouldn't do it again because it was a lot harder than you might think.  

Well.....this time it isn't so hard because  over the years I've posted a lot of thoughts on many sites, probably dealing with every subject there is: Geopolitics, environmentalism, medicine, agriculture, domestic and international politics and just about every science issue that arises.   I recently reviewed some of those comments, which has inspired me to again present some of My Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene.

Some have questioned my credentials, and since I'm an autodidact with no formal credentials for anything I write about, that's not unreasonable.  However, I say the same thing over and over again.  If I'm wrong: Prove it!  If I say things that are inaccurate: Name them!  

I base my observations on five things.  

• Everything is the basics.
• If you can see an issue in it's simplest possible form, it's easily understandable.  If it's understandable, it's fixable.  If it's fixable, it's explainable.
  
• History.
• I've read a lot of history books dealing with every issue I discuss.
• Logical fallacies.
• I spent a lot of time studying logical fallacies. 
• Seeing patterns. 
• The natural function of the human mind is to see patterns.  I just see them more easily than most, but we can train our minds to be better at it.
  
• I see farther deeper and wider than most everyone else.  
• Not because I'm so much smarter than everyone else.  It's because I read so much more than most everyone else.  After reading the thoughts and ideas of hundreds of authors, it's amazing how your perspective changes. You learn to read reality much better than almost everyone you talk to because you're able to see the nuances that aren't obvious to the general public. 
• And most importantly: 
• All the above teaches you how to think!
  

George Carlin remarked, 'Think about how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupidier than that". He also remarked, "never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups." No one can anticipate when mass stupidity will strike, and no one can plan for it.

Internet Trolls - As time has gone by I've given up responding to internet trolls, and I refuse to let them spout on P&D because I realize they are:

• Corrupt.
• Unending time wasters.
• Masters at logical fallacies.
• Purveyors of projection.
• Obfuscators of truth. 
• Ignorantly self righteous 

I also think their paid thought assassins.  I’ve also realized the more they blather the less credible and less sane they look, except to equally ignorant self righteous ideologues who can't be reasoned with. 

We need to thank Governor Newsome, and his fellow Californians. With their efforts we now know that in order to make good decisions, have a good economy, live good and healthy lives - just do the opposite of California. Thank you California!

Truth is the sublime convergence of history and reality. Everything has a historical foundation and context. Everything we're presented should bear some resemblance to what we see going on in reality. If what's presented to us fails in either of those categories, it's wrong!  Here's the really big component of truth. Time! Truth and time are always on the same side, and "truth will very patiently wait for us".  

I'm now 74 and I find my views and values, which historically were America's foundational social paradigm for most of my life, have become oppressive to some "friends".  We're no longer friends. It was their choice.

It's unfortunate so many have breathed the fumes of the fever swamps of the left for so long they will not accept the truth of history or reality.  Being in California makes it even more difficult to step out from the marching herd. Heterodoxy isn't for the faint of heart, even when it means embracing insanity. History is replete with such actions.

One of my customers was an old Jewish couple that have become good friends. She's a liberal Democrat who's now been "woke" to who the Democrats really are, and is going to vote for Trump. He's a Republican, which I didn't know for years, in spite of the many conversations we've had regarding history, politics and social issues of every sort.

I asked her once why Jews, who live, practice and believe in conservative values, raise their children with those values, vote for liberal politicians. She said she's a conservative in her head, but liberal in her heart, and I think that may be more common than is realized.

She now talks to her friends repeating the things we talk about and is going to vote with her head, not her heart. I thought at the time there was going to be a lot of that in the Jewish community in the 2020 election, and I expected that to increase, not only among Jews, but Catholics also.  

However, she told me her friends were angry at her for listening to me, and for two reasons.  I'm just a bug man, and I'm a conservative.  I clearly didn't grasp the significance of that.  I fear I didn't realize just how strong secular Jews are bonded to the Democrat party, a party that's clearly dominated by anti-semites who are working against Jews on many levels; not just Israel.   

•  Georgia's Senate candidates campaign with Farrakhan's man in Atlanta

As it turns out religious Jews went for Trump in a big way, but that isn't anything new.   Secular Jews went for Biden in a big way, 68%.  About 80% of white evangelical Christians voted for him.  But Catholics?  He didn't move that vote in his favor.  It was 50% for Trump and 49% for Biden.  If the figures from the 2016 election are valid, that was a loss with Catholics, since in 2016 he beat Hillary with 52% of the Catholic vote.  

 

With Jews there's a clear and definite break between secular versus religious Jews.  But with Catholics, there is a small break, but no real finite line of demarcation. 

 

Catholics overall don't want Roe v. Wade to be overturned.   Which I find startling!  Practicing versus secular Catholics being the line of demarcation again, but that line for Catholics is a whole lot fuzzier than it is with Jews, reinforced with this kind of fuzzy thinking: 

 

"Even though most Catholics said abortion should generally be legal, a majority also said abortion is morally wrong."  

 

If that's not cognitive dissonance, then there is no such thing as cognitive dissonance. 

Did Catholics move toward Trump in any meaningful way?  Apparently not.  While the secular Jewish vote did change somewhat in Trump's favor, that number was too small to be meaningful.  Certainly not as much as I thought it would for the obvious reason the Democrat party is probably now the biggest anti-semite gathering outside the Muslim world. 

So then, I think it fair to ask: What's wrong with Jews and Catholics?  

 

'Harmless' Measles Kills a Flight Attendant. Will Anyone Be Held Accountable?  What's truly tragic about this anti-vax lunacy are the parents who've been convinced by celebrities they're "protecting" their children's health by not vaccinating them. Then they contract easily prevented diseases and some die. What kind of heartache must that cause? What parents who've had this kind of loss need to do is start suing these arrogant celebrities, including Jenny McCarthy, Jim Carrey, Alicia Silverstone, Jenna Elfman, Charlie Sheen, Kirstie Alley, Selma Blair, Rob Schneider, Erin Brockovich, Danny Masterson, Juliette Lewis, Bill Maher, Kristin Cavallari, Esai Morales, and Oprah for promoting their ideas. And Andrew Wakefield should be in prison for the rest of his life.

 

Is the Impossible Burger Safe?  Here are the two things we can take away from this article with absolute confidence.

• First, an all vegie diet is unhealthy unless it's supplemented.
• Two, these food police are no different than all the other misfit activists - they're never satisfied.

So why are so many seemingly sane people trying to please them?

I have a suggestion. Since there are so many misfits who just ache to protest everything and anything, I think we need to create an Activist's Bureau run by the federal government. And they have to register with this government run agency before they can protest. In order to be a Certified Activist Bureau protester, they must meet the following criteria. 

• Require protesters to have started their own successful companies before we allow them actively involve themselves in public protests of others businesses. Having started businesses that failed will not count. 
• Require animal rights activists to start businesses that require them to feed the world or develop medicines without animal testing. Having failed will disqualify this person as an activist.
• We can require anti-energy protesters to start businesses that provide electricity to millions of people without any of the means currently being used. Nor will presenting future possible inventions that may possibly be invented at some future possible date count as a qualification to protest. 

Anti-pesticide activists must be operating a successful business that provides the following: 

• Actual protection from disease carrying pests without using registered or non-registered pesticides or chemicals in general. 
• Provide protection for homes without using registered or non-registered pesticides or chemicals in general against all the things we currently provide services for.
• Must be able to grow enough food to meet the same capacity that is currently enjoyed in this country. This must be done with the same amount of landmass without fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides.
• This all must be accomplished without grant money from any source, or tax incentives of any kind from the government.

Not meeting these criteria will disqualify the person as a registered Certified activist with the “Activist’s Bureau”.

If they meet the qualifications and are successful in the protest against any product, company or system the activists must be willing to undertake to provide the same service, product or whatever they have overturned. This must be done without using any of the means they have protested against. Failure to protect, feed or provide the services promised by the activist will require the activist to be liable to criminal and/or civil litigation.

Failure to be willing to meet this final requirement will require them to “just be quiet.”

There's a lot more, but I'm tired, and I don't want to work on this piece any more, and I've bigger fish to fry, so I'm done.  One of the few benefits of old age. 

Best wishes!

Random Thoughts on Liberalism, Leftism, Progressivism, Socialism...Take Your Pick!

By Rich Kozlovich

It turns out that liberals, socialists (communists and fascists), progressives, and leftists (whichever term pleases you; they're largely interchangeable.) are in a quandary. There is not enough money to throw at everyone and their traditional allies have eaten up so much of the public’s finances that they are in a position to bankrupt all the local and state governments in the nation, especially the teachers unions. Remember...they can't print money as can the federal government in order to hide their bankruptcy!

Now we have Democratic mayors fighting the very people they catered to; public and teachers unions which they signed super sweetheart contracts with to gain their political support; because the local people have had it with all of these insane deals.

We have the racial issues that have been the backbone of the Democratic Party ever since the Republicans passed all the civil rights laws that the Democrats fought against and now claim credit for as their own.

Illegal immigration is a jobs issue. Blacks will have to compete with these illegals and they don’t like it; and the illegals, especially Hispanics, want ever more latitude regarding what is legal….and of course everyone is ignoring the decent, patient and honest immigrants trying to get in through legal channels that can’t come into the country because there are so many illegal’s taking their place.

The Jews have traditionally been liberal supporters for almost 100 years and has been a rock hard foundation for them. However, that is changing. The leaders of the liberal movement (no matter the party) have turned anti-Semitic and anti-Israel to the point that Jews worldwide, including Europe, are being openly persecuted and they are scared. Rightly so! Although the story is still fascinating because New York Jews will still be voting liberal...although that is changing.

The two groups that have absolutely been foundational to liberalism are Big Labor and Big Green. Now they have to turn on Big Labor to appease Big Green, i.e., the XL pipeline, and they will have to turn on Big Green to appease Big Labor. Both of whom are coming under attack from the public.

As we review this situation the question that one has to ask is this. What reason do they have to exist at all?

They exist to have power. That is all the more reason to reject their views, their actions, their philosophy and them personally. I keep hearing that the left isn't evil, just wrong.

Wrong!

Leftists, including the fascist and communist monsters of the 20th century killed over 100 million people in the twentieth century.  Environmentalists, have killed up to100 million people in the last 75 years as a result of the ban on DDT.  And if you count all the other disasters they've created with their policies, it wouldn't surprise me if that number skyrocketed.  However, the left is easily responsible for the deaths of over 200 hundred million people.  And the greenies are still at it. Anyone who supports them shares in the blame for the evil they have wrought.