Tag: Government

Serious Stuff

Deep Thoughts, Good Stuff

This is the best socio-political essay of the past 50 years, because it describes irrefutably what has happened to our so-called leaders (he calls them the Permanent Managerial Class, or PMC) as Afghanistan has reverted to a Muslim emirate.

It’s not too long — and even if it is, it will be the best time you’ve spent all day, perhaps all year.  It’s impossible to summarize (like all good essays), but here’s my favorite part:

How long it will take for their institutions to disappear, or before they end up toppled by popular discontent and revolution, no one can know. But at this point, I think most people on some level now understand that it really is only a matter of time.

Go there now, and read all of it.  I’ve read it three times.  (Thankee, Insty)

We Are The Enemy

Gummint, Resistance

Over at the Treehouse, Sundance outlines how We The People have become the enemy of the governing class:

The United States Department of Homeland Security made a quiet and alarming announcement yesterday, creating the official position of the United States Government under the Joe Biden regime. [SEE DHS STATEMENT HERE]  According to the statement, if you question the orthodoxy, mandates, or COVID-19 response from the U.S. government, you are now considered a “terrorist”, specifically a “Domestic Violent Extremist” (DVE).

You know, if you treat people as the enemy long enough, and provoke them often enough, they will eventually become exactly what you accused them of at the beginning.

Just sayin’.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to the range.

Automotive Control

Drive Time, Gummint, Nannies

Over the past couple years, I’ve taken a lot of guff from people when I’ve stated my implacable hostility towards the Internet Of Things [spit]  intruding on my private life, and specifically when it comes to my car.

“Oh but Kim,”  the response comes, “think of the convenience of not having to drive!” , etc. etc.  My retort to giving up control of one’s vehicle is usually, “Giving up control to whom, exactly?”

Well, here’s a little example of what I could see was coming down the pike:

The bipartisan infrastructure bill includes a provision that would require auto manufacturers to equip “advanced alcohol monitoring systems” in all new cars.
Buried in the massive proposal—which is already longer than 2,700 pages—is a section titled, “ADVANCED IMPAIRED DRIVING TECHNOLOGY,” which mandates new vehicles include “a system that … passively and accurately detect[s] whether the blood alcohol concentration of a driver of a motor vehicle is equal to or greater than the blood alcohol concentration” of .08, in which case the system would “prevent or limit motor vehicle operation.” Automobile manufacturers would have a three-year grace period to comply with the regulation.

Here’s another prognosis to this already-ghastly invasion of our privacy:  it won’t stop at “prevent or limit motor vehicle operation”.   Given the all-pervasive network of operations from Skynet, what is to stop the government (federal, state, local or a combination thereof) from levying a fine for drunken driving (to be deducted automatically from your bank account), as well as sending your car’s GPS coordinates to Officer Friendly at Hometown P.D.?

Tell me I’m exaggerating or overstating the thing, I dare you.

But it’s all for our own good, isn’t it?  So why would I be so upset about this?  After all, seatbelt mandates have saved countless lives, so why not apply the same rationale for car immobilization and punishment for intoxicated driving?

By all means, let’s all get upset when the government suggests implanting computer chips into guns so that they can be controlled by law enforcement during times of emergency — “That’s like totally beyond the pale, dude.”

This car nonsense is precisely the same thing, being suggested for all the same reasons.

I foresee a rush towards the purchase of older cars which don’t contain computers of any description — until, of course, the government outlaws ownership thereof.

Once again:  tell me I’m exaggerating or overstating the thing, I dare you.

No Kidding

Health, Politics

Via Insty:

Read my lips: We’re not going back to masks and lockdowns again

Thankfully I live in Texas, where the state government isn’t entirely run by power-hungry assholes like those in California and New York, to name but two.  Which means that this mask foolishness is unlikely to get any traction except by members of the Perpetually Fearful Set, who are concentrated in Democrat hell-holes like Austin and suburban north Dallas.   The mommies shopping at Trader Joe can wear a dozen masks at a time for all I care;  I’ll just shop in my normal manner.  (And if Trader Joe starts that “only ten people in the store at a time” nonsense, I’ll shop elsewhere until they come to their senses.)

As for lockdowns… forget it.  The boys at Meal Team Six can stay home playing Medal Of Honor or working in the JiffyLube grease pit.

Outcomes

CRT, Wokism

As I’ve often said, Marxism/Socialism/[whatever the Left calls it now] has always ignored the consequences of their stupid “philosophy in favor of its intentions.

Here’s a very interesting take on the whole CRT business, from someone who’s had to live with its consequences for over a decade:

The overarching truth is that an idea pushed South Africa to the brink. You guys know this idea, because it animates the sermons of critical race theorists trying to force you to take the knee and atone for your supposed sins. I am going to call it the Beautiful Idea, because it is beautiful in a way — but also dangerous.
The Beautiful Idea holds that all humans are born with identical gifts and should turn out to be clones of one another in a just society. Conversely, any situation in which disparity survives is in itself proof of injustice. This is the line promoted by CRT pundit Ibram X. Kendi, who blames all racial disparities on racist policies.

Read it all.

Then there’s this:

And here’s the ultimate outcome of such a philosophy:

And there ya go.  Now apply that to schools, universities, government departments, corporations and just about every other institution, and consider the inevitable outcomes.  To the Leftists, though, the outcomes are irrelevant, as long as the policies are noble and virtuous.