tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-152399252024-03-17T23:03:37.098-04:00Blog of the EndersRobert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.comBlogger661125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-40375751070369083862024-02-19T20:49:00.000-05:002024-02-19T20:49:11.327-05:00Don't give Trump money<p>I don't believe in vote-shaming. If you voted for Trump, that is your business. If you feel like telling me that you are planning on voting for him again, whatever. Just don't give him your money. Going back when he started those photo ops wearing that stupid red hat, his early fans were saying "At least he won't have to raise money to campaign!" Maybe he didn't have to, but he did anyway. To be clear, all competitive Presidential candidates are wealthy, and also raise campaign funds. Trump isn't special because he's rich, he is special because he has name recognition. I grew up in the 1980's, and I knew who Donald Trump was before I knew who Bill and Hillary Clinton were. I also knew who Saddam Hussein was, so don't confuse fame with virtue here. For the past 40 years, in order to be a successful Republican presidential candidate, you have to have been famous during the 1980's. This is the real reason Ron DeSantis' campaign went nowhere: he was just some elementary school kid back then. Maybe they'll run Alf next.</p><p>Anyway, he has been successfully sued for over $450 million dollars this year. There are other lawsuits that might push that total over half a billion. Trump's net worth is $2 billion, so imagine giving away 1/4 of everything you own to people you don't like very much.<br /><br />I'm trying to put myself in MAGA's shoes, and imagining that happening to a celebrity that I like. Remember when Katy Perry got sued over Dark Horse? Well it got <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-60705977">overturned on appeal</a>. But this was probably the one celebrity court case where I felt bad for the wealthy defendant. I dealt with it by focusing on my own real life, and not sending money to Katy Perry so she could pay her bills.<br /><br />Contributing to a political campaign is one thing. It's actually illegal for candidates to use campaign funds to pay off a personal lawsuit unrelated to a campaign. (Which means Trump will probably try to do that anyway.) So people are taking the extraordinary step of setting up GoFundMe accounts to raise money so Trump can pay off E Jean Carroll and the state of New York.<br /><br />If you are the kind of guy who has to wait until pay day to have spending money, you shouldn't send any of it to Trump. If you have any credit card debt, you shouldn't send any money to Trump. If winning $50 on a scratch off ticket gets you excited, then you shouldn't send any money to Trump. If his vast wealth can save him, so be it. If he slides into bankruptcy, that is something you need to make peace with. You need to look after you.</p><p>To put $450 million in perspective, the Trump campaign <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/2020-presidential-race/donald-trump/candidate?id=N00023864">spent $774 million</a> trying to get Trump re-elected in 2020. So figure his campaign would have to raise that much for a competitive campaign. So imagine all the money you donated in 2020 that you won't get back, and now you have to donate all that again plus way. way more money. The MAGA folk are talking about raising over a billion dollars for a candidate who couldn't win an election back when he was still President. All of you should be saving your money and energy for whatever comes next.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-2155178140479011412024-01-22T16:46:00.001-05:002024-01-22T16:46:44.295-05:00My wife left me.<p>We are still married, for now. I'm adult enough to know that As her husband, I believe that her happiness is as important as my own. And yet she isn't happy, and I want to address it.</p><p>I'm having trouble understanding why she left. There is a communication issue, to be sure. Here is a story about why I love her.</p><p>She bought tickets online for a movie with her money. We got to the theater, and the doors were locked. There must have been a staffing issue with the pandemic. Mistakes happen. We go back the next day, and I insisted on getting a refund for the tickets. She didn't want me to bother the theater employees, even though we were clearly in the right. She would have preferred to eat the cost of $30 in wasted tickets rather than cause a moment's inconvenience to a service worker. Regina is the anti-Karen. and that is what I love about her. I still got her money back. I just showed them that we bought tickets for a day that they were closed, and they didn't fight us about it. They gave us movie passes, and we used them to watch the movie.</p><p>I like to think that she is learning to stand up for herself.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-35377357664179772652024-01-11T00:30:00.000-05:002024-01-11T00:30:00.200-05:00How to react when they want to do something dumb?<p>Sometimes a loved one wants to make a life altering decision, like taking up an expensive hobby, moving to a different state, or making a career change. And then I'm presented with three options.<br /><br /></p><p>1. Try to talk them out of it. (Their response is that I am trying to kill their dreams. Never mind that this is one of multiple conflicting dreams and goals that they presented to me within a short time frame. I am the Dreamkiller.)<br /><br /></p><p>2. Encourage them in their passion. (Tomorrow, they're going to say that I'm pressuring them into doing something that could ruin their life. As if I have something to gain by them failing.)</p><p>3. Leave it completely up to them. (Obviously it's clear to them that I don't care about anything they have to say.)<br /><br />It's even more fun when they bring up, say, becoming an astronaut even though they have never been on a plane because they are afraid to fly. And now it sounds like I'm mocking them, but they never had any serious plans towards becoming an astronaut so why did they bring it up, so yeah, I guess I am mocking them.</p><p>And now they are going "I NEVER SAID I WANTED TO BE AN ASTRONAUT" and of course you didn't, because this story isn't about you in particular. It's about a lot of people I know who dream way, way too big. Like maybe the schools should stop with "anybody can grow up to be President" nonsense and just go with "anybody can grow up to be stable adults who pay their bills and don't have some kind of crisis every month".</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-13334995872964302112024-01-10T23:26:00.002-05:002024-01-10T23:26:46.904-05:00Gosh, I probably should update this blog more.<p> All these hopes and dreams that I have, all that require daily maintenance, and being a semi-pro blogger is one of them. There are challenging things going on in my personal life, but I shouldn't share too many details. It would be my luck if people chose this moment in time to take an interest in this blog at a time when I decided to share too much.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-50751642483780558532023-06-14T12:17:00.002-04:002023-06-14T12:17:29.076-04:00It's really all about abortion for the GOP base<p><span style="color: #302e2e; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.16px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA8aeHxre8IjQy3I1Jp5KUV1-LkN1yQJ6SuFwMvqYoNnt4GvLlXdClH-zbZqCbu3lMjiXeQlzI1ZtFNCMAUfwu5oEvD7lYObZSpdyDdEY_Jyus1bkMno8DkJzP7FouqKCi7y8C5Pq5JBbevPLlzDMQ3p_J26wpJ912Nl5d8D72Fp-ujgCMkXo/s1024/_683adcfb-1682-40c8-9cce-a2e6c5a58238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA8aeHxre8IjQy3I1Jp5KUV1-LkN1yQJ6SuFwMvqYoNnt4GvLlXdClH-zbZqCbu3lMjiXeQlzI1ZtFNCMAUfwu5oEvD7lYObZSpdyDdEY_Jyus1bkMno8DkJzP7FouqKCi7y8C5Pq5JBbevPLlzDMQ3p_J26wpJ912Nl5d8D72Fp-ujgCMkXo/s320/_683adcfb-1682-40c8-9cce-a2e6c5a58238.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Yesterday, I<span style="color: #302e2e; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.16px;"> </span><a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/13/2175155/-Why-are-Republicans-STILL-defending-Trump" style="color: #b55904; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.16px; margin-top: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank" title="">wrote a diary</a><span style="color: #302e2e; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.16px;"> </span><span style="color: #302e2e; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.16px;">that wondered why Republicans were so loyal to such a nakedly corrupt, immoral man. I went to bed, woke up, and it finally hit me. It is all about abortion for them. For 50 years, they couldn’t do anything about it. Then this promiscuous charlatan comes along and beats Hillary Clinton. Just as the sinking of the Titanic was a miracle for the lobsters in the kitchen, Trump’s victory looked like divine intervention for those who think God cares about US politics.</span><p></p><p style="color: #302e2e; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.16px; margin-top: 0px;"><br style="margin-top: 0px;" /><a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/5/7/2096555/-What-I-used-to-get-wrong-about-abortion" style="color: #b55904; margin-top: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Since I’m a man, I’ve had the luxury of taking my time to come around to the realization that a fetus only matters if its mother says that it matters.</a> Abortion can be a unpleasant subject to think and talk about, so that’s why a lot of people come to the wrong conclusion about it, even if they aren’t particularly religious. To be sure, there are atheists and agnostics who oppose abortion too, (and whatever their religious beliefs are, their secular belief that abortion should be illegal is still wrong.)<br style="margin-top: 0px;" /><br style="margin-top: 0px;" />So if you are a person who sincerely (but incorrectly) believes that abortion is murder, that can float to the top of your political priorities. You can rationalize anything, including violence, if it causes fewer abortions to take place. You stop caring about things like the economy, the justice system, and national security. Everything else can be dismissed as a distraction, or be exploited in order to distract others.<br style="margin-top: 0px;" /><br style="margin-top: 0px;" />Consider the topic of vaccines. If you care about fetuses, then you should care about the health of pregnant women. Maybe you might not support vaccine mandates, but you still might be making PSA’s about how pregnant women should consult with their doctors about vaccines, and how the rest of us should get vaccinated to protect pregnant women.</p><p style="color: #302e2e; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.16px; margin-top: 0px;">Except now there is a huge overlap between the anti-vax and anti-abortion crowds. The common factor is a misunderstanding of biology, and a weaponization of that misunderstanding.<br style="margin-top: 0px;" /><br style="margin-top: 0px;" />Trump gave the anti-abortion crowd three Supreme Court justices. No matter how delusional they are about everything else, they know that TFG played a role in overturning Roe V. Wade. They would follow him off a cliff for that alone. If we can win the debate on abortion, then that guts the GOP base. 2024 could be a fun year.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-76016626527664861082023-06-09T11:10:00.000-04:002023-06-09T11:10:26.528-04:00Why I'm not going to watch that videoI'm not going to watch your video. You aren't the first person I'm saying this to, but you won't be the last either so I'm writing this so I don't have to repeat myself. Don't be deluded into thinking that you won our little Internet debate. Feel free to think that I'm just a tool of the corporations, the Deep State, or whoever you think the bad guys are. But I bet you are never going to watch all of the January 6th Committee hearings either.<br /><br /><div>I already have a pretty good idea of what the video is going to say. Maybe it might have something that I haven't heard before, or maybe this a Rickroll or whatever the kids are doing these days. Even if that video is the only way to learn the secrets of Life, The Universe, And Everything, those secrets shall remain unknown to me because I will not watch that video.<br /><br />You could type out what relevant facts are in that video, and I might read them. But I suspect your real goal is to increase the viewcount of that video and help the people who made it. Or maybe you knew I was going to refuse to watch that video, and you want to be able to say that I'm biased and closed minded. Maybe you're closed-minded because you think everyone who doesn't have time or cellular data to watch your video is closed-minded. Why don't you go outside and touch some grass?</div><div><br /></div><div>As I am typing this, I have the day off. And obviously my Internet works. Now would be a very convenient time for me to watch videos. But I'd rather be watching Star Trek and writing this than watch your video. Maybe that's a poor use of my time, but suggesting videos to me is an absolute waste of your time, because that's just not going to lead to a desirable outcome.<br /><br />I have watched a LOT of videos before I wrote this. Far too many of them contain a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gish_gallop">Gish Gallop.</a> They say a bunch of things that sound like facts because they have big words and statistics. But you didn't bother to double check any of them, so why should I bother to hear them in the first place?</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-27163949799805031482023-04-30T13:55:00.000-04:002023-04-30T13:55:32.031-04:00Joe Biden for President <p> </p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I’m 44 years old. I have voted in every Presidential election since
2000. Next year I’m going to vote for Joe Biden for the first time.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">As a former long
time member of the Libertarian Party, I get that many people have
grievances with the way things are. In the past, when there wasn’t
a Libertarian on the ballot, I usually voted against the incumbent,
whether he was a Republican or a Democrat.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">I’ve had three
previous opportunities to vote for a presidential ticket with Joe
Biden’s name on it in the past. In 2008, I voted for Bob Barr
because Senator Barack Obama, Senator Joe Biden, and Senator John
McCain all voted for the TARP bailout. We were told that this was
necessary to prevent a recession, but that recession happened anyway.
We can have a long discussion about whether this was the right thing
to do at the time, and what to do next time a similar crisis happens,
but my stance is that successful banks don’t need to be bailed out,
and unsuccessful banks don’t deserved to be bailed out.</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">In
2012, I voted for Gary Johnson because I wanted marijuana to be
decriminalized. I don’t smoke, drink, or use drugs myself. But the
war on drugs has had a huge negative impact on my family, friends,
classmates, and neighbors. Thankfully, Joe Biden’s stance on this
has evolved.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">In 2020, I voted for
Jo Jorgensen because I was a long time Libertarian Party hack.
However, the Libertarian Party has been since been hijacked by
alt-right, antivax lunatics. I am the same guy that I was 20 years
ago. The Libertarian Party has gotten worse, but Joe Biden has gotten
better. He now supports marijuana legalization, marriage equality,
and opposes the death penalty. As Libertarians, we used to lose
elections proudly because we held these stances when they were
unpopular. Right now, Joe Biden is heavily favored to win the 2024
election. But heavily favored candidates can still lose if people are
complacent.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Here are the two
main reasons why I am voting for Joe Biden:</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
1. He
completed the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Some might argue that this
war could have ended better, but when would it have ended? At what
point would the ending be psychologically satisfying for all
concerned? Every war involves loss of life and equipment right up
until the end. If Biden loses, people will say it was because of the
withdrawal, and that could mean the next war won’t end.<br />
<br />
2.
Nobody running against him really has anything to offer.
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">RFK Jr is running on
an antivax platform. Vaccines are why we are living longer healthier
lives in the 21 century. For decades, they weren’t even
controversial. Red states and blue states alike require vaccines for
schoolchildren. Today, some adults understandably resent feeling
pressured to take a new vaccine. For some people, this might be the
first time in their adult lives when someone suggests that they
should get vaccinated. The bottom line is, vaccines work but you
don’t have to get a shot if you don’t want one. If your boss
fires you for not getting a shot, you should have no trouble at all
finding a new job when the unemployment rate is less than 5%.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Donald Trump is a
domestic terrorist and a foreign intelligence asset. When his
supporters were storming the Capitol, he could have stopped the
attack right away by going on TV and Twitter and telling them all to
leave federal property. The people who planned and carried out that
attack expected him to stay in office as a dictator.</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
Ron
DeSantis is waging an idiotic culture war against one of the largest
private sector employers in his home state. If you’re going to
fight Disney, fight them for the right reasons.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Folks, things like
vaccines, racism, and election results shouldn’t even be
controversial. Every candidate on the ballot should acknowledge that
vaccines work, everyone is equal, and Biden won the 2020 election.
Since Joe Biden is the only presidential candidate who believes all
of those things, I have to default to him as the only acceptable
choice for President.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-41387649995099012172023-03-07T17:00:00.001-05:002023-03-07T17:00:00.183-05:00National Divorce is a big joke<p> Many people reading this might be repulsed by the idea of secession or national divorce. I’m writing this essay for the secession-curious: no matter where you are on the political spectrum, secession isn’t going to lead to desirable outcomes. Back when I was a Libertarian, I gave it a bit of thought. Secession for Indiana would mean the Hoosier Nation-State would be surrounded on four sides by a foreign country that might not have cause to like us very much. Our only coastline would be Lake Michigan. Any imports we buy would have to pass through the US. I came to the conclusion that the best way to maintain friendly relations with the US was to remain part of the US.</p><p>But the idea seems to have more appeal in large states along the coast, depending on who the President is at the time. Here are just a few thoughts that they may not have considered:<br /><br />1.<strong> You lose access to the US Constitution and the US Supreme Court. </strong>To be fair, US politicians haven’t always complied with the Bill of Rights, which might be the reason why we’re having this conversation. And many state constitutions have clauses that also enshrine the Bill of Rights. But if your newly independent government locks you up without a trial, you won’t be able to ask the Supreme Court for help. You’re on your own.<br /><br />You were fighting for more freedom, right? Are you so naïve as to assume that everyone on your side has the same ideals?</p><p class="">2. <strong>Your state lines would become an international border. </strong>Ever visit Canada with a messy car? The Canadian border guards will search through everything in that car. Any firearms that were perfectly legal back home will get you arrested in Canada, even if you forgot that you had them in the car. You also need a passport to enter and exit Canada. Now imagine that same level of hassle to visit relatives in a different state.</p><p class="">3. <strong>Your taxes might actually go up. </strong>The newly independent Republic of Florida will not be able to print US dollars like the Federal Reserve does. It won’t have as good of a credit rating as the US government. But it will have to provide a lot of what you expect from the federal government: highway funding, a Coast Guard, Social Security, etc. You are going into uncharted water with secession, so who can say if you can keep your US citizenship if the state you live it breaks off. But you will still have to pay federal taxes if you keep your US citizenship. Your state taxes WILL go up.</p><p class="">4. <strong>Things like this never go as well as you think they will</strong> Ever break up with someone and think that you’ll still be friends afterwards? How did that turn out for you? Was it a velvet breakup like Czechia and Slovakia? Or are you more like Russia and Ukraine? There will be no trial separation here: once you realize that you made a horrible mistake , it will be too late to f</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-74422737957767478942023-02-12T10:09:00.001-05:002023-02-12T10:09:10.497-05:00Fiction That I Have Written<p> Short Story: Skullmates. <a href="https://vocal.media/futurism/skullmates-1">(available to read for free)</a></p><p>Short Story: Over The River And Back Through Time <a href="https://www.amazon.com/NovoPulp-Anthology-Speculative-Fiction-ebook/dp/B00TCO6TEG/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1BSTZ5O4ECEU2&keywords=Novopulp+anthology+2&qid=1676214080&sprefix=novopulp+anthology+2%2Caps%2C110&sr=8-1">(part of the Novopulp Anthology)</a></p><p>Novella: Wasted Life <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wasted-Life-Robert-Enders-ebook/dp/B004QS91UM/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3CE8I6TICHUZ3&keywords=Wasted+Life+robert+enders&qid=1676214480&sprefix=wasted+life+robert+enders%2Caps%2C90&sr=8-1">(available through Kindle)</a></p><p>Novel: A Long Way From Tipperary <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Long-Way-Tipperary-Robert-Enders-ebook/dp/B072C21759/ref=sr_1_3?crid=31325012F8LFR&keywords=a+long+way+from+tipperary&qid=1676214517&sprefix=a+long+way+from+tiperary%2Caps%2C88&sr=8-3">(available through Kindle)</a></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-41978681241040736412023-02-09T21:09:00.001-05:002023-02-09T21:09:30.306-05:00The Franchise That Shall Not Be NamedAfter I graduated from high school, a series of children's books came out. I had no interest in these books because I was already an adult.<div><br /></div><div>Some folks loudly denounced this series because it conflicted with the narrative in their own favorite series, frequently published as a single volume of 66 books. One would think that it's okay to like more than one thing. But I strongly suspect that loud disapproval of this series made the books even more popular.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is the problem with trying to kill an idea, even a bad idea. You can't even do it in your own head. Try to not think of a blue rhinoceros. The more you try to not think about it, the more you end up thinking about it. The more you try to actively discourage other people to not try that entertainment product, the more they will want to try it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I never, ever read that series. I never intend to. From what I've heard from other people, you weren't suppose to say the villain's name because it gave him power. This is somewhat true in real life: talking about controversial movies, books, games, and public figures only serves to boost their popularity and give them more power.</div><div><br /></div><div>The best way to reduce interest in something that you dislike is to promote the things that you do like. Feel free to do so in the comments section.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-36845661916712293042022-12-18T07:56:00.000-05:002022-12-18T07:56:39.966-05:00Conservatives shouldn't trust Elon Musk<p> I don't mean to tell conservatives how to be conservatives, but conservatism should at least stand for something other than "whatever liberals hate". Is the enemy of your enemy really your friend? Was Stalin a good person just because he fought Hitler at the same time America did?</p><p>Elon Musk was a Democrat right up until it was revealed that he was sleeping with his own employees. So he bought up Twitter and lifted the ban on multiple RWNJ's. He spent way more money on the deal than he could possibly make back through ad sales. This appears to make conservatives happy in part because it makes liberals mad.</p><p>As if it's an accomplishment to make liberals mad. It's not even hard. Liberals make each other mad all the time. I happen to be a liberal myself and I'm anticipating hatemail from other liberals over what I just typed.</p><p>What are Elon Musk's goals? He was already the richest man in the world, and then he lost over 100 billion this year. That doesn't matter to him, he has enough money that his grandkids can retire as soon as they are born. One measure of a man's morality is how he acts when he no longer has to care about his own needs. We don't need to hate him for being rich, but what is he doing with his money? He launched a car into space and bought a website of dubious value. I checked to see if he was funding any medical research. He is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jan/20/elon-musk-brain-chip-firm-neuralink-lines-up-clinical-trials-in-humans">paying for brain chip implant research.</a> </p><p>So I'm pro-vaccine, but I guess I'm not sure about brain chip implants. Maybe I might warm up to them if a bunch of other people try them first. If you are anti-vaccine because you don't want stuff injected into your bloodstream, how do you feel about chips inside your skull?</p><p>I'm not even telling you to be anti-brain implant. I'm offering you information and letting you draw your own conclusion. Maybe brain implants might be a good thing if they let paralyzed people walk again or blind people see again. But it's also healthy to be skeptical about stuff designed to impact your brain directly. I'm not going to be the first to try this.<br /><br />My overall impression of Elon Musk was shaped by watching him on Saturday Night Live last year. It seemed like he wanted to present himself as a cool nerd, a smart guy who solves problems. I wish I could believe that was the kind of guy that he is. But prior to the episode, he said he was going to make an important announcement about Dogecoin. Investors got excited and bought more Dogecoin, driving up the price. <br /><br />Here was the announcement that he made.</p><p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x5RCfQyTDFI" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />That little skit caused people to lose faith in Dogecoin. So people lost money because of him. If he was holding Dogecoin and sold it prior to the SNL episode, we could say that he was running a scam. But if he didn't have any Dogecoin, then as far as I can tell, he played a prank just to hurt people. Since Musk already has all the money anyone could ever want, I'm leaning towards the hypothesis that he's a sadist rather than a scam artist. You can make your own decisions, of course.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-1286796087050162192022-12-14T16:43:00.004-05:002022-12-14T16:43:46.795-05:00Meme<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Can't get to me here, can you Zuckerberg?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjf9HqigksoM3ClUcxVIC2KAbERThzHAQzhygIRCqVV0lKVtoZBUvSl2F51lOmHlmIvyHk4c1ICHgKJ5dWfYJukRwP7CmnfNNnhpBV9VVACdB8nxoUcdUhdUp1mGcaAQ7Mtgb1UCy3nL1_kkP5Ilbb_2dE-WA8KPnCB2KAVethmHJZU8L1UQIU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="479" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjf9HqigksoM3ClUcxVIC2KAbERThzHAQzhygIRCqVV0lKVtoZBUvSl2F51lOmHlmIvyHk4c1ICHgKJ5dWfYJukRwP7CmnfNNnhpBV9VVACdB8nxoUcdUhdUp1mGcaAQ7Mtgb1UCy3nL1_kkP5Ilbb_2dE-WA8KPnCB2KAVethmHJZU8L1UQIU" width="215" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-54369453170892589732022-12-12T16:25:00.001-05:002022-12-12T16:25:44.415-05:00Unsolicited career advice for conservatives<p> 1. I think you should get vaccinated so as to prevent possible sickness and missed work. But maybe you either disagree with the science, or you are trying to prove some kind of point. Maybe you actually do have a health issue in which vaccination is contraindicated. Moving on.</p><p>2. Try to acquire skills that let you work from home. Learning to code might be a place to start. Other ways to work from home include customer service, tech support, and social media specialist. Avoid any of that multi-level marketing crap.</p><p>3. If you won't get vaccinated and you can't work from home, that means you'll have to work around other people. Maybe you have some sort of assurance that you can keep your current job for as long as you need it. But if that's not the case, then you should expect to be speaking with HR reps within the next couple years. Some employers, such as healthcare providers, will have vaccine requirements posted up front. Other employers might not say up front that they want you to be vaccinated, but they still might review any publicly viewable social media presence that you have. If they see antivax memes on your timeline, they might decide to choose a different candidate over you. Remember that vaccination is a personal choice. You wouldn't tell an HR rep that you like boxers over briefs, or that you had Skittles for breakfast instead of cereal. Yes, pro-vax people like me can be insufferable. We feel that vaccination is a matter of public health, so we made our decision public. You on the other hand, made a personal decision. Keep your personal decisions to yourself.</p><p>4. Conventional wisdom holds that if the economy is good during an election year, then the President usually gets re-elected. The pandemic and its unfortunate economic consequences no doubt played a role in Donald Trump's defeat in 2020. It stands to reason that if the economy is good in 2024, then Joe Biden will likely be re-elected. Pretending that somebody else is President might cause an employer to question your sanity. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-63266016316831090482022-11-18T22:01:00.001-05:002022-11-18T22:01:13.359-05:00My wife made me get another Facebook account.Some more thoughts about getting banned and getting back on.<div><br><div>I think I tripped an algorithm and got banned. The very last thing I posted with my old account was a poor taste joke about Dale Gribble from King Of The Hill getting shot by the Oregon State Police alongside Lavoy Finicum. Maybe typing "Lavoy Finicum" set up a red flag to the ban bots. Maybe I was targeted by malicious reporters.<br></div></div><div><br></div><div>Maybe I shouldn't have spend so much time at shitposting pages. I'm not going to pretend that this is entirely not my fault. But sticking to safe topics is boring. If I wanted to do that, I'd just watch network TV.</div><div><br></div><div>Of course I had to alert key friends that I was banned from FB. So I tweeted about it. Of course shady people reached out to me offering to restore my account for a fee. I refuse to believe that this would work, and I refuse to pay in any case. Facebook promised that the site would be forever free to users, so I'm holding them to that.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-HDsIG1w1H5I/Y3hG9kZE5bI/AAAAAAAAOxk/Zph1aROwTFAlqEd_66frfRMtyYl9zxh2wCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/1668826870027920-0.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-HDsIG1w1H5I/Y3hG9kZE5bI/AAAAAAAAOxk/Zph1aROwTFAlqEd_66frfRMtyYl9zxh2wCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/1668826870027920-0.png" width="400">
</a>
</div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-7844132391149902902022-11-15T15:54:00.004-05:002022-11-15T15:54:58.249-05:00I got banned from Facebook.<p> So it looks like I'm permanently banned from Facebook. It didn't tell me which post broke which rule, but they won't review it, so that's that. Either it will get fixed or it won't. My account was likely collateral damage in a war between a corporation trying to produce a sanitized product for suburbanites and racist bigots who still think that Trump is president. <br /><br />Meanwhile, good ol' Blogger has been there for me since 2005. So you can find me here if you care to look. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-10980541386537518112022-09-12T16:34:00.001-04:002022-09-12T16:34:00.198-04:00For your own sake, stop calling yourself MAGA<p> People should stop calling themselves “MAGA”. I’m not asking you to give up Christianity, conservatism, or the Republican Party. I’m asking you to drop the MAGA handle. You weren’t born or raised MAGA. It was just a fad that started 7 years ago, and you are free to leave it behind.</p><p><br /></p><p>The phrase “Make America Great Again” implies that America is not currently great, but it used to be. The goal seems to be to change America back to that bygone era of greatness. </p><p><br /></p><p>To imply that America used to be great could be considered insulting. Imagine you are traveling in another country, and someone walks up to you and says in fluent English, “Hey, you’re an American right? Man, your country used to be pretty great.”</p><p><br /></p><p>Consider that if you have ideas that would improve the country, insulting the country as a whole is probably the wrong way to go about having them implemented. You can insult the President or any individual you like, but insulting the country itself won’t get you very far. Ever see a picture or a video of someone burning the flag? Did you care what they had to say next after that? </p><p><br /></p><p>What makes the past better than the present? Was it the economy? Back when a man could buy a house and support his whole family on factory wages by himself, because unions were stronger back then? Except MAGA doesn’t seem keen on unions. MAGA does pay lip service to grievances about taxation and inflation. But that was the Tea Party’s focus. MAGA absorbed the Tea Party and expanded its scope. MAGA is really about culture. Many people my age want the culture that we were raised with. But the biggest cultural changes of the 21st century have been due to the Internet. We can use it to connect to people who share the same interests, beliefs, and values. We also become very aware of people with contrary viewpoints. </p><p><br /></p><p>There are people in rural areas who did not have high speed internet until recently. They are experiencing a huge culture shock; like showing George Washington a train or Abraham Lincoln an automobile.</p><p><br /></p><p>There have always been gay people and trans folk. We’re just more aware of them now than we were when we got our information from three TV networks and the morning paper.</p><p><br /></p><p>There have always been people of other races. We are seeing them star in more movies and TV shows. You can watch these shows if you like. If you don’t want to watch the new stuff, there are decades of older stuff that you might be more comfortable with.</p><p><br /></p><p>Cancel culture has always been around. When people don’t watch a TV show, it goes away. When an actor acts like a jerk, it typically (but not always) tends to wreck his career because people don’t want to see his movies anymore (or at least until he redeems himself in someway).</p><p><br /></p><p>Common courtesy is changing. It’s now common to hear words like “fuck” and “shit” while in public. We hear them so much that they have lost all meaning. A child who says “fuck that shit” doesn’t intend to have intercourse with excrement; he just doesn’t know what the words mean. If you use words like “n*****” or “f*****”, that can end a career if the wrong people hear them. We’ve always known to watch our language, it’s just now the vocabulary of vulgarity has changed.</p><p><br /></p><p>Pronouns aren’t hard. When you are talking to a person, as I am talking to you right now, the proper pronoun is “you”. When you are talking about a person, “they” and “them” is fine if you don’t know what their gender is. If they want you to know what they want you to use, they’ll let you know. If you don’t know them well enough to know what they want to be called, that’s fine. But if you don’t care enough about them to find out, why continue to talk about people that you don’t care about?</p><p><br /></p><p>When you call yourself MAGA, you offend two very large groups of people: 1. Americans who think America is currently great, 2. Americans who would have experienced discrimination in the past that you are nostalgic for. You can certainly continue to be white and Christian, as every US president has been one or both of those. But you should consider refraining from calling yourself MAGA. You can be the same person you always were, but just choose a different label.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-65600793387827132212022-04-04T20:22:00.002-04:002022-04-04T20:22:42.705-04:00The culture war is a sham.<p> You can fight for freedom. You can fight for truth, justice, and your way of life. You can fight for your home. But culture in and of itself isn't something you can preserve. A nation's cultures are constantly being shaped by internal and external influences. Every generation tends to enjoy a form of music that past generations find appalling. Millennials like whiney breakup songs, which Gen X likes to mock. Gen X likes grunge and rap which boomers hate. Boomers like rock and roll, which made the Greatest Generation's hair go grey. The Greatest Generation loved jazz, which the Lost Generation loathed. And so on. I imagine the first prehistoric human to grunt with a rhythm probably shocked the elders of his tribe.</p><p>Culture is a foolish thing to fight a war over, because culture is impacted by war. Soldiers never come back home to the America that they left. World War I took German language out of everyday American life, and a lot of Americans even changed their last names. World War II made us give equality for women and black people a closer look. Vietnam gave us hippies and Middle-Eastern wars gave us nationalist country music ballads.</p><p>Technology impacts culture as well. You are likely reading this on a device that is less than 5 years old. You're already thinking about getting something newer. We communicate with images, videos, and memes. We stay in touch with friends that we haven't seen in years, if we ever met them in the first place.</p><p>In light of all that, if your sole goal is to preserve your language and culture, then perhaps you should form a pacifistic, luddite society like the Amish.. But if you prefer to stay connected with a world that continues to evolve and grow, then expect changes that you just aren't going to like.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-49144533313479503222022-03-11T07:47:00.001-05:002022-03-11T07:47:05.603-05:00The liberty movement and Ukraine.<p> The liberty movement is like Ukraine. It's a group of feisty people surrounded by Team Red to the right and Team Blue to the left. In an ideal, perfect world, they could go their own way and maintain their own identity. They have a shared past and heritage with Team Red, and many of them self-identify as Team Red. But Team Red's recent hostile actions cannot be ignored. In order to stay alive in the long run, Ukraine and the liberty movement must join Team Blue.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-24542404048984005842021-09-12T02:46:00.001-04:002021-09-12T02:46:20.351-04:00Biden's new vaccine mandate.<p> Not every thing the government does is good, and not everything it does is bad. I see the vaccine mandate as a mixed bag. Biden was reluctant to push for this; even some progressives are concerned about the government's growing footprint now.</p><p>Biden wants you to get vaccinated. He wants the pandemic to end during his first term in office. Biden doesn't really want to force you to do it, because he needs to keep his approval ratings up if he wants to get re-elected.<br /><br />Your boss wants you to get vaccinated. He wants you to not get sick and not make your coworkers sick. Your boss wouldn't mind forcing you to get vaccinated, but he doesn't want to get sued and he doesn't want you to collect unemployment if he has to fire you.</p><p>So the Biden Administration and Corporate America came up with a plan. The mandate will "make" companies do what they want to do anyway: fire people for not getting vaccinated. But with the mandate in place, terminated workers will not have any legal recourse. When you try to fight the Man, the Man always wins.</p><p>People like to ask "Why does the vaccine have to be political?" Anytime the government is involved, it's political. Many Trump supporters are upset that Trump isn't getting credit for Operation Warp Speed. They want to boycott the vaccine out of sheer spite.</p><p>But if you care about politics, you need to realize that COVID-19 has a fatality rate that is greater than 1%. Elections are often decided by less than 1 percentage point. So let's you have a district with 100,000 Democratic voters and 100,000 Republican voters. All the Democrats get vaccinated. Let's say half the Republicans get vaccinated. Let's say 10% of those unvaccinated Republicans get sick. So that 5000 patients. One percent of them die. So now this district has 100,000 Democrats and 99,950 Republicans. Now, that might not sound like much of an advantage, especially since Democrats tend to have a lower turnout rate. But spread that across 435 Congressional Districts, and the GOP is going to struggle to take back the House.</p><p>So next year, when Democrats increase their control of Congress and become able to pass any laws they want, are you going to blame Biden for tricking you out of getting vaccinated?</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-10526509457073663522021-07-01T09:04:00.002-04:002021-07-01T09:04:42.144-04:00Why Trump lost in 2020<p> I'll try to explain in the simplest terms that I can. Trump might have won if it weren't for the pandemic; voters have been routinely re-electing Presidents since 1996. I can see how his supporters might be frustrated and disappointed by the outcome. Personally, I've been frustrated and disappointed by election outcomes my whole life. But it's important to understand why these things happen.</p><p>1. There was a recession economy in 2020. Whether it is right or wrong, voters often place blame for a poor economy on the President. This sort of thing caused Herbert Hoover to lose re-election in 1932 and Bush 41 to lose in 1992. To be sure, the recession was caused by the pandemic.</p><p>2. Trump's response to the pandemic was bad. He had federal agents seize medical supplies from hospitals. He visited patients in hospitals without wearing a mask. He kept holding public rallies in spite of the danger, and ended up getting sick himself. That showed poor judgement.</p><p>3. There are more liberal and progressive voters in the US than there are conservative voters. While a typical conservative is more reliable and more likely to show up for every election, higher turnout means more liberal voters are at the polls than conservatives. Higher turnout helps Democrats and hurts Republicans. There was record turnout in 2020 due to emotional charged events and state election officials working hard to allow voters to participate safely.</p><p> </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-34567384277270130382021-06-25T01:14:00.002-04:002021-06-25T01:17:01.892-04:00What if Walter White ran against Gus Fring for President?<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Walter White would be the idealistic liberal with big, bold ideas.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rUbEeS0R51o" width="320" youtube-src-id="rUbEeS0R51o"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Gus Fring would be the the pragmatic conservative with a proven track record.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rgPZ1PG8bD4" width="320" youtube-src-id="rgPZ1PG8bD4"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Hector Salamanca would be the dark horse third party candidate, challenging the 2 party system.<br /> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/utETxqjJduQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="utETxqjJduQ"></iframe></div><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-23358538379801100892021-06-21T12:07:00.002-04:002021-06-21T19:16:14.919-04:00What You're Saying Vs What You Really Want To Say<p> So far, here is what I've heard Republicans say about the Capitol Riots:<br>1.<u><b><span style="color: red;"> "Antifa had committed a false flag attack."</span></b></u> A false flag attack is when Group A tries to frame Group B for something Group A did. Most of the mob weren't wearing masks and weren't trying to hide who they were. Quite a few of the people arrested were already famous influencers before the election. Tim Gionet, better known as "Baked Alaska", was one of the alt-right goons who marched at Charlottesville in 2017. He was arrested after livestreaming from within the Capitol. Brandon Straka achieved 15 minutes of notoriety when he refused to wear a mask on an American Airlines flight in 2020 and tweeted about getting kicked off the plane. He said that he had a medical condition known as "sanity" that prohibited him from wearing a mask. Then he went on to film himself at the Capitol riot wearing a powder blue disposable mask. (I guess he got over his self-diagnosed case of sanity).</p><p><br>2. <span style="color: red;"><b><u>"</u></b></span><span style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: underline;">It was just some tourists."</span><span> Except tourists don't cause millions in damage, injure over 100 cops, and get five people killed.</span></p><p><span>3. <span style="color: red;"><b><u>"</u></b></span><b><u><span style="color: red;">The FBI had lured the rioters into storming the Capitol.</span></u></b><span style="color: red;"><b><u>"</u></b></span> Recently the FBI had been tricking violent morons into planting fake bombs at buildings. It's debatable if the FBI should continue using this tactic or if such losers are even smart enough to pose a threat. But if you fall for this kind of trick, you have to address the possibility that you are a violent moron too. It's also quite a stretch to claim that Christopher Wray would use Congress as the bait when entrapping Proud Bois.</span></p><p><span>4. <span style="color: red;"><b><u>"</u></b></span><b><span style="color: red;"><u>Ashleigh Babbitt was a victim.</u></span></b><span style="color: red;"><b><u>"</u></b></span> This woman was at the front of a mob of people trying to break through a set of locked doors that separated them from a group of members of Congress. If you watch the video of her shooting, you see somebody with a drawn weapon on the other side of the door. Most of the crowd takes the hind and gets down. Babbitt is still attempting to climb through the broken window, presumably to unlock the door from the other side. Stopping an entire mob is a lot to ask from a service pistol, so it was critical that the doors stay closed long enough for Congress to be evacuated. Now I suppose someone who knows more about police work than me could explain a way for that cop to hold back the mob without resorting to lethal force. But that cop also had to make a split second decision. Her death was a foreseeable outcome. Indeed, if the goal was to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and that goal was achieved, then her death might considered "acceptable losses" from a hypothetical military standpoint. But our real non-hypothetical military is backing Joe Biden as President.</span></p><p>What many Republicans really want to say is that they support the January 6th coup attempt. They can't really say that on social media because their accounts will get deleted. They won't say it around anyone who they think is wearing a wire either. </p><p>There are other Republicans who want to say that the coup attempt was Trump's doing, and that it was wrong and foolish. They can't say that out loud at all, because they fear the wrath of Trump supporters. They secretly hope that Trump will go to prison and things will go back to normal. But nobody can say for sure who will be in charge of a post-Trump GOP, or even if such a thing will exist at all.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-28288303285991297812021-06-19T21:49:00.000-04:002021-06-19T21:49:06.793-04:00I'm a Democrat now.<p>In a nutshell, ideologically I am a libertarian. Historically I tended to agree with Republicans on economic issues and mostly agreed with Democrats on social issues. But elements within the Republican Party are trying to start a civil war within the US. On January 6th, then-President Donald Trump sent a large number of his supporters into the Capitol in order to hold Congress hostage and force them to allow him to remain in office. This was an act of domestic terrorism.</p><p>The Republican Party needs to come to terms with what happened and why. But it doesn't seem like they are ready to admit that Trump lost the election and used violent means in an attempt to remain in power. Folks, another civil war is not something a fiscal conservative should want. The economic damage would reduce tax revenue and there would be a huge increase in military spending which would blow out the deficit even more. If the economy is a high priority for you, then a civil war should be something that you don't really want. Oh yeah, and people will get killed.</p><p>So my goal for the next election cycle is to cause the GOP to lose support, funding, and elections. I don't even care about free college or ACA, I just want Republicans to lose. I hope a different opposition party emerges to replace it, but since I won't know what that party will look like, I'm going to be a Democrat just to be on the safe side.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-65845506417739224342021-03-23T12:10:00.000-04:002021-03-23T12:10:04.205-04:00On bigotry against Asians<p> Asia is the largest and most populated continent. It stretch from the Suez Canal to the Bering Strait and from the Ural mountains to Indonesia. Most human beings on Earth live in Asia. If you hate all Asians, you hate over 4.5 billion people. Since six countries with nuclear weapons have most of their territory in Asia, if Asians hate you back then you have a big problem. Most religions have originated in Asia, and yes, this includes Christianity. Every US foreign war since Reconstruction has involved Asia. Ironically, most of these wars were to protect Asian countries from European countries or other Asian countries.</p><p>Most Americans' understanding of world history revolves around the US and Europe, but history literally started in Asia.</p><p>Bigotry against Asians is somewhat different than bigotry against other races. White supremacists think they are superior to black people but they can't help but feel inferior to Japanese. Of course if your first instinct is violence, then you actually are inferior to everyone else. Address the fact that you are an absolute loser, and go from there.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15239925.post-81090437601767713322021-03-15T00:17:00.002-04:002021-03-15T00:17:52.219-04:00Just get vaccinated<p>The word "vaccine" comes from the Latin word "vaccae" which means "cattle". I'm sure some anti-vaxxer will find a way to use that etymology compare people to livestock for wanting a COVID-19 shot. But during the 18th century Dr Edward Jenner noticed that people who worked with cows on dairy farms tended to not get smallpox. Instead, these folks were getting cowpox. Cowpox is a somewhat minor illness that is still around, but smallpox used to have fatality rates of 30%. So Dr Jenner intentionally injected pus from a cowpox patient into a young boy. The boy developed a mild fever but quickly recovered. A few weeks later, Dr Jenner injected the boy with pus from someone with smallpox. When the boy didn't get infected with smallpox, Dr Jenner concluded that cowpox could be used to protect people from smallpox. Today Dr Edward Jenner is praised as the inventor of the first vaccine.</p><p>Most modern vaccines do not rely on live viruses. A vaccinated person might experience an immune response or other symptoms. But that is a small trade-off compared to being vulnerable to a possibly lethal infection</p><p>Now here's some interesting facts:</p><p>1. Smallpox is now extinct, thanks in part to Dr Jenner's efforts. The last smallpox case happened during the 70's, so most people are too young to remember how deadly this disease was.</p><p>2. Medical ethics have improved greatly over the past couple centuries so you don't have to worry about new vaccines being tested on your kids. Only after a vaccine has been proven safe for adults will children be allowed to participate in trials with their parents' consent.</p><p>3. Dr Jenner did not even know what a virus was. He simply made an observation (cowpox patients don't get smallpox) and formed a hypothesis (infecting people with cowpox can prevent smallpox).<br /><br />I believe that the 3 COVID-19 vaccines that are being distributed in the US are safe and effective. They have passed months of rigorous and redundant testing. If these vaccines were dangerous, we would be hearing about what the vaccines are doing to the millions of healthcare workers and military personnel who have already received them. I am going to get the vaccine as soon as it is available to me. Should you get the shot? Since I'm not a doctor, you might have reason to be skeptical of any medical advice that I give out. You should also be skeptical of any medical advice that you get from YouTube videos. By all means, make an appointment with your doctor and ask directly if a COVID-19 shot is right for you in particular. Or you can do what actual doctors and nurses are doing and just get the shot.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-2855224314634552";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 15;
google_ad_format = "728x15_0ads_al_s";
google_ad_channel ="";
google_page_url = document.location;
google_color_border = "336699";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "0000FF";
google_color_url = "008000";
google_color_text = "000000";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script></div>Robert Endershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15592475828737641009noreply@blogger.com0