Evil is Evil is Evil

 I guess I tempted fate by posting recently that the Islamic extremists in the world are greatly diminished.  This may or may not be the actual case, but as we all know now - there was a horrific assault on Israel from hamas last weekend, on a scale not seen since the last Arab-Israeli wars.  It was spearheaded with the terrorizing of civilians on a level of horror not seen since the Holocaust itself.

Innocent men, women and children slaughtered.  Their bodies defiled, mutilated.  Women raped mercilessly in front of their pleading or already dead families.  Children and infants, killed, tortured, abducted - terrorized relentlessly.

Abject Evil.  Captured on camera and broadcast to the world by the perpetrators themselves.

Over a thousand civilians dead and still rising.  Just as many if not more missing and likely kidnapped.  The entire country on edge and ready to fight back.

It was truly Israel's 9-11.

And yet, as purely evil as this all was and is - my heart is heaviest not because of these heinous acts.

I know hamas and their contemporaries are evil.  I've known this all of my adult life.  Although I was hopeful that the days of terror on this scale were in the past, I've always known that they could return.  Evil will always exist and evil will always exercise it's worst impulses.   This savage incursion was a bit of a shock and surprise, as there was a massive intelligence failure that didn't foresee it happening - but that it did happen is in the end, not a surprise at all.

It was, in hindsight, inevitable, and really if anything is surprising it's that this kind of thing took so long.

So what I am saddest about, in fact, relates to my last post.  My heart of course breaks for those actually attacked and suffering - but my heart is also hurting because of the indifference of good people in the United States, and also because of the open hostility of not so good people among us as well.'

First, the indifferent.

In a way, these folks are the worst of all.  People who hate Jews, or people who are so brainwashed that they believe that the crime of Israel existing justifies decapitating babies - those people, like the terrorists themselves, are too far gone and not really worth spending energy on.

The indifferent, the silent and the shoulder shruggers - those hurt the most.  Especially the Jewish ones.  I have several life long Jewish friends who will post every leftist idiocy, from a sanctimonious black square in their profile picture to praise the grift that is BLM to the smarmiest mask/vaccine shaming meme you can imagine.  And yet, when their spiritual homeland is brutalized, they go radio silent.

It's bizarre.  It's baffling to me.  

This goy is proud to change his profile to the Star of David.  I am morally compelled to speak out and raise my voice in support of the Jewish people and the country of Israel in light of what has happened.  I repeat myself - the deadliest day in the history of the Jewish people since the holocaust itself.   

It just makes me sad and makes me doubt the faith and hope that has long burned brightly in my heart.  Hopefully the deafening silence that I am getting is more of a product of social media fatigue than anything else.  But it's tough to believe that sometimes, when I still see other very recent posts about frivolities or worse, leftist causes.  If you're going to be part of the online community, you need to say something when your community of faith is in the cross hairs. 

Second, the hostile.

I really have no time or patience for my fellow Americans who, at the first sight of dead Israelis on the news proceed to lecture me about historical context.  They can all to a one, fuck right off.

I don't care if Israel hasn't always been the best to the Palestinians.  I don't care what perceived injustices are being used to justify the brutality of last Saturday's incursion.  I really don't want to hear it.

Decapitated babies.  Fuck right off.

Still, it does hurt that people who I have grown up with in the United States, seemingly have no intellectual capacity to understand what it's like to live surrounded by enemies who frequently say out loud that they hate you and want you exterminated.   I for one grasp this, and I also understand that often the Israelis hate the Palestinians right back.

But Israelis don't do what the Palestinians did last weekend.  They just don't.

That's enough for me.

I don't need a history lesson, I don't need "historical context".  I need you to get on the side that doesn't butcher babies, rape women and mutilate corpses.  Full stop.

If you're going to wave a Palestinian flag and set off fireworks to celebrate depravity, you are not my friend.  You are my enemy and you need to stay away from me.

That's all I need to say about that.

But if you're torn, on the fence, unsure - then you need to get with it and get correct pretty quickly.  I'm not here to try and convince you, I'm not here to hold your hand and have dialogue or discussion.  That time has passed.  

The time for talk ended when your side decided to systematically rape women and then parade them around, bleeding from the front and back.

It ended when your side killed an older sister in front of her two siblings and then put their reactions on social media.

It ended when your side decided to slaughter hundreds of teenagers at a music festival.

It ended when your side kidnapped women and children and then dragged them back to Gaza to use them as human shields.

I'm finished trying to convince and explain.  The time to pick a side is now.  I am standing with the side of liberty and compassion, opposite the side of tyranny and brutality.  I hope you will stand with me and Israel.

And I hope if you are indifferent, you will drop that apathy and embrace empathy and also realize that what hamas is delivering to Israel is precisely what many on the radical left want to deliver to the United States.  You can bury your head in the sand, but that won't stop the demon that's on it's way. 

The time to speak up and speak out is now, if we wait in silence for too long - it will be way too late.

Melancholy Memories - And a Prayer

 Another 9/11 has come and gone - 22 years and counting beyond the biggest terrorist attack on American soil and by far the biggest loss of civilian life our nation has endured at the hands of a foreign enemy.

As usual, I changed my facebook cover and profile pictures to the appropriate images, see below, and pondered posting a passive aggressive statement about the evils of radicals but never got around to it.

I find myself, as each one of these anniversaries pass, feeling less and less angry about external enemies and more and more anxious (and yes, also angry) about internal ones.  

Increasingly, I'm oddly nostalgic for a time when it was clear who the bad guys were, even though there were still plenty of Americans who waffled on this plain truth.  A solid majoirty of us knew absolutely that the USA is the beacon of freedom to the world and stands in stark contrast to zealots who would eagerly cut our throats if given half a chance.

Yes, those were the good old days.  Bad was bad, and we were good.  Criminals could be dastardly, but criminals went to jail.  The odd weirdo at work might grumble at George W. Bush, but it was comforting to know that he could do that because he knew he was safe and protected by the greatest forces for good on the planet.

In hindsight, I myself was wrong in supporting the Gulf War and the invasion of Iraq, not because those missions were incorrect but because we faltered in our plan and in our execution and ended up spending an obscene amount of blood and treasure for no reason.

But I, and hundreds of millions of Americans and westerners were correct and righteous in our opposition to al-qaeda, hamas, isis, take your pick of the barbaric savages.  A twisted religion that extols the subjugation of women and children is as in your face evil as it gets.

Today - isis is in ruins, the Islamic jihads still linger, but the regimes are in tatters and it's been over two decades without any attacks remotely resembling what we endured on that Tuesday morning barely a year into the new millenium. 

Knowing this, I confess, "The War on Terror" is now far from my mind.  I do get reminded on 9/11 that it still exists and we should be vigilant of course - but far greater concerns weigh on my mind about another enemy that now is growing in our midst.

Exhibit A -

Reading this just makes my stomach hurt.

It was posted on Facebook by the Burbank Police Department.  It has to do with how the prosecutorial offices of LA County are going to enforce the law.  Long story short, they are basically not going to, at all, in any meaningful manner.

It's this kind of document that makes me long for days like September 12, 2001 - when we were united as a country and could see plainly what evil looked like.

Today the water is muddy and people talk in doublespeak.  

Law and Order has been replaced with "fairness and equity" - meaning depending on where you are in the intersectional hierarchy of race, sexual preference or gender spectrum, you will be treated differently under the law.  If you rank high, you likely won't serve any jail time for anything up to and beyond gun crimes, sexual assault, crimes against children and the elderly.

If you rank low, you are expected to fall in line and comply with any and all capricious mandates handed down.  From masks, to jabs, to surrendering your appliances and gas powered vehicles.

You will also obey language mandates and compelled speech.  You will be censored if you get out of line, you will be civilly and criminally charged if you "misgender" or commit "hate speech" - a double standard that is murkily defined and used only against American citizens who don't fall into step with the woke mind virus.

It is truly an upsetting time, I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would be facing enemies in my own country.  

I couldn't have conceived that my beloved FBI, an organization I wanted to join all through my teenage and college years, would become as corrupt and infested with marxism as any leftist college organization.  

I would never thought it possible that the Department of Justice would be weaponized at the behest of the president against political opponents.  

And most of all, my younger self would've been completely heartbroken that the greatest heroes of all, the US Military, would also fall victim to a bizarre cult of racialist nonsense and radical gender ideology.  

All branches of the military today are falling drastically short of their recruitment goals.  Three, four and even five generation military families are telling their youngest members to not follow in their ancestors footsteps.  These God fearing brave men and women wouldn't be caught dead joining todays service.  It's full of mentally ill sycophants who are more concerned with pronouns than they are with keeping their country safe and free.

So yes, the memories I have of 9/11 and what followed are indeed melancholy.  But not at the thought of the attack itself and our response.

A great evil arose, and though our response was imperfect (and in the end deeply flawed) - it was unified.  We all stepped up to the challenge and faced down our enemies.  We were joined together, heart and soul, as Americans - first and foremost.

Today, we have not just lost September 12 and all that it meant - we have lost our grasp on reality.  

We have professors shaming white students and humiliating black students.  

We have employees being fired for not apologizing or accepting their victimhood.  

We have schools who want to keep secrets with kids away from the parents.  

We have government officials in California who want to pay reparations to random black people in a state that was never under slavery. 

We have women's prisons full of men who are convicted rapists.  

We have porn in elementary school libraries, and people opposed to this are called nazi book banners.

And now, in LA County we have decided to return to cashless bail - because that has worked out so well for New York City, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle.

It's a bleak situation.

But I still hold out hope.  Already, things have been turning with a lot of my liberal friends.  Not all of them, but many of them, are slowly waking up to the truth that they have been duped.

It may not be enough in the end, but I am grateful for those of my friends who - even if they won't admit it out loud, understand that they were wrong about a lot.

Look, I've been wrong about stuff too. I supported W. Bush and his awful war.   I wore my mask outside when the pandemic first hit.   I was excited to get the covid vaccine.  I thought Disney was a great company for a long time after they had already been putting out woke garbage.

But I admit I was wrong on all of that, and probably more.

Will I ever hear from my friends that the covid lockdowns were incredibly damaging and a total scam and that the highest inflation in half a century along with a record setting surge in crime around this country is a direct result of democrat policies?  Probably not.

But I don't need an apology, or even contrition.  I just need to hold on to faith that things are going to get better.  And I need to pray every day, as I have been for a long time now, that my fellow Americans will extricate themselves from this poisonous ideology that has them enabling and allowing all of these catastrophes.

I would ask that you pray with me in this as well.

Pray for a return to seeing a color-blind society as an ideal to aim for.

Pray for the return of a true meritocracy to our land, where the best and the brightest are rewarded and the lazy and selfish are incentivized against these impulses.

Pray for our military, that they will find leaders with the courage to stand against intersectional pablum and be worthy of leading the next generation.

Pray for sanity in our local leaders and a return to anti-crime policies that worked.  Stop and frisk, broken window enforcement and mandatory long sentences for criminal behavior.

Pray for the courage of our local leaders to have zero tolerance for camping on the street, the garbage that results as well as open air drug use, defacation/urination and fornication.

Pray for all of that and more - and a return to the mentality of September 12, 2001.  

Bring moral clarity to the confused and bring God into the lives of the people who need Him most.

In His name I pray.  God bless all of us in our struggle.

Amen.

Response to a brain damaged John Stewart meme

Once again - I respond here so I don't have to deal with the drama.  I'm still pondering putting this in the comments, the dude who posted this is not really a friend but rather an old colleague from work.  We always got along, but I picked up that he was nutty early on.  Meh, I'll have to mull it over.  For now, my response stays here...

Skin color is incidental, not essential, to who someone is. It is superficial and immutable. The soft bigotry of low expectations, as pushed by white affluent leftists like John Stewart - where pigment is held up as what defines a person's worth, is both condescending, and in itself racist.

I myself don't worry too much about childish pablum like this. I'm 52 years old, and am successful light years beyond my working class upbringing. I have lived the American dream and earned every dollar I've made through hard work and treating people how I want to be treated. I know who I am, and I don't lose one wink of sleep over the sins of my ancestors or my own occasional lapses in being the best I can be. I do my best, but I'm only human. At the end of the day I sleep like a baby and when I wake up I genuinely don't care what rich leftist dummies like John Stewart, Ibram X Kendi or Robin DeAngelo think. They are infantile imbeciles and they have zero sway with me.

But when I see inflammatory posts like this, I can't help but feel sad for the young gullible people who buy into this decadent self-loathing and patronization of people of color. My first question is always - what is the solution being proposed here? I understand the directions - hate yourself, look down on others, black people are helpless, white people are oppressors, etc. But what is the desired outcome and if it's a good outcome (presumably better understanding and harmony between races) how do we ever expect to get there with this insufferable anti-merit anti-American ideology?

And of course there's also part of me that also gets angry when I hear influential people shit all over their lessers. John Stewart despises white and black people equally - he wants the former to feel guilty for things they didn't do, he wants the latter to forever remain victims. I'm disinclined to indulge his nonsense, and rather inclined to extend a big middle finger in response. John Stewart and his ilk can fuck right off.

And understand this - I will never submit to this madness. I will never bend a knee to marxists. I will never cower under threat of censorship, social ostracization or loss of livelihood. And I will never apologize for standing firm in my beliefs and values.  

I am never backing down, I am never going away, I am not giving ONE INCH of my liberty to marxists like Stewart and other elites.  I will speak my mind, I will have my say, I will not flinch, I will not hesitate, I will NEVER surrender.

Nicky the Poker Dealer

Just this last January I found myself staying at the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas, I was there to play tournament poker for four days in the Moose International Series.

Why, prey tell, you may be asking yourself, are you writing about poker here?  Don't you have a poker blog?  It's true - I do have a blog that's almost as old as this one, and it's right here and it's a very nice summary of my amateur poker career and aspirations.

But this story, though it is set in the poker world, really has much less to do with the game on the felt and a lot more to do with that super extra exciting game called life.

I was probably halfway through my trip - I had busted out of the Moose Main Event and I was playing a smaller tournament, trying to recoup my losses.

The tournament was long and grueling, and there was a chatty guy at the table.  Not really in the mood for prolonged conversation, and also trying to play patient and not get bored and get in trouble playing marginal hands, I popped in the ear buds and fired up a podcast by Ben Shapiro.

Ben is a conservative firebrand of sorts, but he's also my favorite of the fairly far right gang.  He's not a screamer or prone to hyperbole - he's a genuine intellectual juggernaut who puts his considerable brain power to work dismantling the far left.

At some point someone, it may have been the chatty guy, started talking to me.  I couldn't hear him, so I pulled out an ear bud.  "Sorry, I couldn't hear what was that?"  And we had a bit of small talk, and it was friendly and genuine and it carried on a little bit.

At some point I mentioned, "Yeah I don't mean to be anti-social with the ear buds, but I'm trying to stay patient and keep out of trouble.."   "Watcha listening to?" chirped the dealer.  She was a bright and chipper little thing named Nicky.  Probably 25 years younger than me.  I'd played with her dealing before and she was definitely in the top tier of the overall mostly very good Nugget dealers.

Now if you play poker on the regular, you know that a chatty dealer is generally a very bad thing.  Nicky was generally not that chatty, although super friendly.  So I was happy to answer, knowing she was very unlikely to follow up with another question.   Incidentally, this entire conversation she was shuffling, then dealing, not stopping or slowing at all.

"Oh it's just a podcast."

(Shuffling) "What kind of podcast?"  This was a follow up question!  Gulp!

"Uh... I'd rather not say, it's political"

(As she pitches the cards) "Why not?"

"Uh... well people get uncomfortable."

(She finishes pitching cards, stops and looks right at me). "Good.  People should be uncomfortable, because we need to have these conversations."

I was agape.  Nicky then turned to the player who was first to act and indicated him to go.   She was done talking, she had to do her job and move the game along.  But she had dropped the hammer, and the fellow on my immediate left couldn't help himself... he said - 

"Yeah, I'm done with not saying anything.  Look where it's got us.  I listen to Steve Bannon's podcast, so that will give you an idea of where I'm at.  But I don't give a shit what people think and I'm not staying quiet ever again."

I didn't have anything really to say to these impressive people.  I just nodded and smiled, but it was a profound moment and I let it sink in.

Interestingly, Nicky didn't add anything else to the conversation, as it was pretty much over, and she hadn't indicated her politics or her views on social issues - but she didn't have to.  Just by virtue of her statement "People should be uncomfortable" I knew exactly where she stood on topics that matter.

I think this moment was the beginning of the promise to myself to not stay silent on issues that matter to me.

Up until this revelation, I've really tried to stay quiet most of the time.  I have also failed many times.  In speaking out on rare occasion I may have already damaged my long term career goals, I may have set myself up to be held at arms length by a good amount of people anyways.  So really, why keep trying to stay quiet?   This truth, plus that Nicky, and the gruff fellow to my left at that table were both absolutely right and inspiring - it's left me determined to go forward living as they do.

Now I'm not saying I'm going to go out of my way to be confrontational - getting in people's faces and such.  I'm still a big believer in the axiom "Preach the Gospel as much as you can and when necessary use words."  Meaning - live by example, and only be direct when you have to.

But if there's something right in front of me that isn't right, I'm going to let it be known that I'm not good with it.  Period.

There's not a good reason to hurt feelings just for the sake of hurting feelings - but there's plenty of good reasons to speak out for what's right, even if it happens to hurt feelings.

Nicky was right - we have to have these conversations.

The fellow on my direct left was right - nothing good has come from staying quiet.

So I'm not going to.

*********

Long time no post…

 Yes I’ve neglected this blog a bit. Perhaps more than ever before. But I have been very busy, and overall been pretty happy with my life. I enjoy the company of my friends, the love my wife and child, a child who is now technically an adult. Things are good. And truthfully as tumultuous as the world still is, I feel it’s a hell of a lot better in 2023 then it was in 2020.

Last night I pounded out a response to a friend of a friend on Facebook who was pulling the old lefty gaslighting playbook. “What culture war? What are you talking about? Please explain…” I posted my answer after midnight and then eventually deleted it. I really don’t need to get involved in a long discussion with people I don’t know. But I really did enjoy my response, so once again I will paste it here.

It’s interesting that you are making the same exact mistake that Disney made. And I don’t know you, so I can’t read your heart and discern if you are willfully ignoring what is right in front of you or if genuinely have some sort of Pollyanna-esque gauze over your brain that prevents you from seeing the obvious. In either case, you and many on the left, much like Disney, have a lot to work on to get to where we need to go.

It is not acceptable to dismiss middle America, aka the majority of the country, from classic left of center liberals to those of us well to the right of center as loony. We are not deplorables, we are not fringe, we are not a cult, we are not any of the many slurs you and left wing pundits and politicians throw around casually.  In truth, I was being overly diplomatic when I said “half of the country” - Americans who believe the following are not half the country, we are a rather solid majority.

The phrase “all lives matter” is not racist in the least.  Our country was founded in 1776, not 1619. Our nation was not built on racism, nor is systemic racism present today. Absolutely we have had our problems with race, and some of those problems do still exist. But this idea that we are rotten from the beginning and currently rotten to the core, it’s just nonsense. The majority of Americans do not believe it or accept it.

The United States from the outset, did more to end slavery around the world more than any other country. The cartoonish politicians who stump for “reparations“ are the actual racists here. First, because their condescension greatly diminishes black people and second because, as we just saw with Gavin Newsom, when the rubber meets the road they lie through their teeth to avoid making good on any of their ridiculous promises.  They lie because in the end they know most Americans oppose what they are saying, that black people are incapable of succeeding on their own and need special help. 

And of course the race grifters, from black marxists like Ibram X Kendi to self-loathing white idiots like Robin DiAngelo, are eagerly lined up to take money from stupid affluent white people, who are even more eager to swallow the lie that a meritocracy where superficial immutable characteristics don’t matter is not only unobtainable but a bad thing.

Gender theory, the idea of gender fluidity, is decadent nonsense.   The far left obsession with pronouns is the biggest red flag you could have to indicate prosperity and a dearth of real problems in society.

And of course there is the more sinister “gender affirming care” for children, that includes experimental and not at all reversible puberty blockers that in many cases render teens permanently sterile and unable to achieve orgasms. The butchery that takes place against kids is even more of a horror show. Lopping off breasts or sawing off penises of prepubescents does nothing to curb the suicide ideation rate of gender dysmorphic children. All Scandinavian countries that pioneered this “healthcare” have reversed course and have adopted “watchful waiting” as the preferred treatment for minors.

That this madness is all rooted in a public school system which now openly advocates for taking children away from their parents who refused to “affirm” their gender, is perhaps the most infuriating thing of all. Parents everywhere, of all political stripes, feel egregiously betrayed by educators and civic leaders who don’t see parents as the final say in how to raise their own children.

Speaking of sinister, the recent anger towards the pride movement, is not borne out of homophobia or even a disapproval of gay marriage. Most Americans now fully support marriage for gays and lesbians. I certainly did, long before it was popular and when Obama was firmly against it. The boycotts you see against Bud Light, Target and yes even Disney, are not anti-gay. They are anti-the targeting of children, in our schools and in our culture.  

Target in particular has incurred wrath by selling bathing suits explicitly for children with extra room in the crotch for tucking prepubescent penises under the body. This is not in dispute, this is a real thing on real videos. And there is much much worse targeting (so to speak) of children elsewhere…

The very idea that a drag queen twerking and gyrating in front of little kids who put dollar bills in their G strings is entirely unacceptable. And yes, much like your refusal to see the culture war right in front of you, the hundreds of videos online documenting that this is happening everywhere, including red states, seem to be completely “unnoticed” by those on the far left.  

The gaslighting playbook that you all use- “This isn’t a thing.  OK it is a thing but it’s rare.  OK this thing is happening all the time but it turns out it’s a good thing” is tiresome and at this point simply ineffective. Most Americans don’t buy this lie anymore.

Trust me, the majority of the country does see this happening all the time, and comprehends that it is unacceptable. 

Clowns like Dylan Mulvaney, are not genuinely trans, they are autogynephilia perverts who put on woman face like a clown or a minstrel and get off sexually through their absurd antics. That’s where all the anger against Bud Light is coming from. Not from some antiquated redneck anti-gay stereotype.

So when you casually dismiss Americans who believe in these truths as loons or fringe, you are effectively pissing into the wind. Feel free to keep doing so and you, like Disney, can remain bewildered and befuddled by the hostility and to be completely unable to regain any faith or trust. 

Or, you can use what I have written here as a helpful starter to begin to understand why so many of us are so angry with companies and our fellow Americans like you who obstinately refuse to comprehend the very obvious reasons for our fury.