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Brexit: Calm Down, Knee-Jerk Reactionary Fools!

June 27, 2016 by tornado Leave a Comment

Several days ago, a majority of the British people, in a fair and open democratic referendum, and with a margin comparable to the Obama-Romney election here, voted to pull out of the bureaucratic and regulatory quagmire known as the European Union.

I’m not going to pretend to be any sort of expert on the logistic or economic details of the “Brexit” maneuver. Yet I guarantee I’ve read more about it than 95% of the instant-experts on social media, who had no clue about it a month in advance, yet somehow grossly overestimate the meaningfulness of their day-after knee-jerk thoughts thereabout. All I can do is draw some parallels to tendencies I see every day in the news and in the society here, and draw upon experts I do read, most from the homeland of our former colonial overlords.

Brexit, in many ways, was inevitable. Ivory-tower left-wingers on this side of the pond have been casting the vote as “xenophobia” (example). Bullshit. American leftist Bill Maher, of all people, countered nicely: Is it really a phobia if you really have something to be afraid of?

Or, as Ian Tuttle put it: “They are unable to believe they may be wrong, so their opponents must be irrational bigots.” “Bigot”, of course, is a common, hackneyed, petty, laughable, increasingly meaningless, ad hominem slur, arising from the insular catacombs of a leftism that acts so self-congratulatory when some election result does go their way. No, xenophobia had nothing important to do with it. Instead, authentic, real-world concerns of real people did.

In addition to immigration, and likely more importantly, the issue of globalism was at play. The opposite of anti-globalism is not “xenophobia”. The latter simply is a convenient and patronizing pejorative used by the economic, bureaucratic and (pseudo-)intellectual elite for those they perceive as ignorant, drooling rubes. This is done to elicit head nods from the agreeable fellow members of the herd, as I’ve seen commonly on social media.

Go the globalists: “Clap clap clap…yes they’re xenophobes, clap clap clap, yes they’re xenophobes! Thank you sir, shall we pander to one another some more, and continue with our patronizing, elitist puffery…”

Instead the opposite of globalism is more properly termed sovereignty. Boris Johnson, who actually is English and is immersed in this issue deeply, elucidates this well, as he assures us all from within that the U.K. still is part of Europe, and isn’t going to collapse into a smoldering heap of ashes.

The reasoned people who supported this (yes, they exist!) cast a vote substantially for sovereignty, or if you prefer, against the slow-creep toward one-world governance. And yes, there were young voters who voted for this also; this fact is being swept under the rug. Minority or not, they clearly matter(ed). And yes, there were highly educated people who voted for this; that also is being conveniently ignored. I have read a few of their well-reasoned essays. But if one wants to take the easy road and label this “xenophobia”, it’s apparent the proletariat aren’t the ignorant ones.

Yet for expressing this layered, textured idea, I’ve been labeled “absolutist”. Hardly! Indeed, to dig deeper than that is the farthest from “absolutist”–but instead peels into layers of the onion that aren’t so readily apparent.

One of these is the supposed “regret” bloc that is receiving attention far out of proportion to its size of assorted well-publicized individuals. This is so short-sighted and irrational. If you’re going to vote one way and second-guess that the next day, you should have studied the issue better, or stayed home. Your vote is your word…too late now, grasshopper. That passionate one-night stand is done and you must live with your decision. Such is the case in any election in any nation.

Two days is much too short of a time to determine ramifications. The meaningful consequences of this vote, for better or worse, will unfold over 5-10 years. Rantings of pundits this soon thereafter are worthless drivel (it’s way, way, way too soon!)–much akin to NFL draft-grading before the players have even reported to training camp. That (including the aforementioned buyer’s remorse reactions) is itself reactionary, emotional, shortsighted.

Whither the shock and rage over losing value in the equities and monetary exchange markets? That is a very overstated, short-fused gnat fart when you graph it versus the past seven years’ bull market; if we do happen to go to into bear mode soon, factors far larger, deeper and darker than Brexit will be responsible.

Brexit is a sign simply and foremost of working-class disillusionment with an inertial and bloated bureaucratic establishment, globalist trade policy, unfettered immigration at the expense of domestic jobs and security, and loss of both economic and sociopolitical national sovereignty. It’s very loosely similar to some sentiments behind the Trump phenomenon here–but not necessarily in the way you might think at first.

Instead, it’s a manifestation of democracy as it should work: enough people get sick and tired of what those in power are doing and want to go a different way. Personally I wish that “way” in the U.S., were a truly intelligent leader like Rand Paul or Ted Cruz, and not a conceited, false-conservative buffoon like Trump, who is driving me even farther out of the Republican Party than the reprehensible “RINO” establishment in DC did. But for all his flaws, he (along with the authentically principled, if misguided, Bernie Sanders) has figured out one thing: there is a lot of discontent with the “way things are” out there and an intense desire to knock it down and start over.

In the U.K., the people had their vote. Agree with it or not, we should respect it. Or as more than one Obama voter obnoxiously and pompously stated after 2008: “Deal with it”.

As for the anti-establishment sentiment here, I refuse to support a candidate entirely devoid of integrity, whether “establishment” (HRC) or pretending to be anti-establishment (Trump). I will not play that binary-choice game anymore. Hillary and Bill Clinton (and they are a package deal, remember) are classic corporate-globalist tools (not to mention corrupt as hell), and Trump is simply deranged. Neither gives a whit about the Constitution in full; either would ratchet domestic spying and Constitutional evasion to new levels. I’ll be voting third-party; hence, don’t blame me for whatever happens when either of those two egomaniacal head cases attains the presidency.

Filed Under: Not weather Tagged With: arrogance, Bill Clinton, Brexit, bureaucracy, Clinton, Donald Trump, economics, economy, elitism, England, establishment, European Union, globalism, Great Britain, Hillary Clinton, immigration, nationalism, one-world governance, Republicans, sovereignty, trade, Trump, xenophobia

Scattershooting 160508

May 8, 2016 by tornado Leave a Comment

Scattershooting while mourning the loss of Blackie Sherrod, one of the greatest sportswriters…hell, one of the greatest journalistic writers, period, of my lifetime. He started the “scattershooting” tradition many decades ago; and I, for one, plan to carry it forward by doing the same from time to time, on this BLOG, in my style. Get ready for brutal honesty; it’s the only way I know.

…

I’ve been on five storm intercepts this year, four of them substantially in the same Frederick-Lawton-Marlow corridor. All have been wet, messy supercells or bow echoes–interesting and worth observing (given their close proximity to home), but not yielding much in the way of outstanding photography. Regardless, the mere opportunity to head out a short distance and observe a fascinating variety of severe-storm morphologies, multiple times per year, is a privilege I do NOT take for granted. Every storm intercept is a unique adventure and learning experience. I’d like to thank visiting Polish atmospheric scientist Mateusz Taszarek for his keen and enthusiastic company on all the SW OK storms so far.

…

As I ponder the upcoming High Plains storm-observing season, the mind’s eye wanders longingly toward those tremendous, post-frontal, upslope-flow supercells that roll off the Laramie Range a couple days each June, like clockwork. They never fail to plant astounding storm structure and/or a picturesque tornado in the viewfinder–sometimes both. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Raton Mesa, Palmer Divide and Cheyenne Ridge too. But all things equal (and how often are they?), I’ll choose the rotating slinky coils that lumber eastward to southeastward off the Laramies toward Yoder, La Grange, Morrill and Pine Bluffs. Their beauty and power mesmerizes me.
…

We’ll need to behold and appreciate all the natural beauty we can find, and seek solace outside this world (in the Lord), given the continuing degradation of mankind. Here we go…

…

Speaking of degradation, are you on the left and want someone to blame for Trump? Since leftists love to assign blame instead of solving problems, look no further than Obama. Yes, Obama begat Trump. Every overreaction has an unequal and opposite overreaction. The pendulum keeps swinging wider and wider. That’s the brutal and unpleasant truth. Trump’s support is the overreaction to the thoroughly and unequivocally disastrous Obama regime, which was an overreaction to a mixed-results Bush administration. Both Obama and Trump, at this stage of the game, were/are presidentially unqualified figureheads of pathetic personality cults; and indeed, one is the yin to the other’s yang. Sad thing is: Trump isn’t even an actual conservative; in many ways he is a flaming liberal. Celebrity-worshiper voters, willing to follow any Pied Piper who promises them hope and change, feed these political monstrosities, and the second monster was spawned by the first.

…

So Bernie Sanders’ supporters are dissatisfied by the powerful moneyed lobbyists and corrupt political climate of Washington, and the Fourth Amendment-violating invasions of Americans’ privacy by the NSA and CIA. So am I, actually, even if I think Sanders is a Utopian leftist crackpot with unworkable solutions, behind his facade of an affable and congenial old guy. So who has been overseeing that source of angst for the last eight years? Guess Obama didn’t deliver the “hope and change” you wanted, did he? Blame Congress instead? Bullcrap. The President and Congress were Democrat-dominated for two years and didn’t even accomplish then what Bernie and his far-left lapdogs want. In fact Obama’s underlings doubled down on the domestic spying from the Bush era. Hey, this is what you voted for. You should have known he, like the overwhelming majority of politicians, would sell out on many of your ideals. Guess what: so would Bernie. That’s right, so would Bernie. The only one I’d even partly trust to make any dent in the spying/cronyism machine is Rand Paul or perhaps the Libertarian candidate that emerges from their upcoming Orlando convention. The former is out of the race, and the latter is unlikely to win despite likely getting my vote. Hanging onto the promises of any one politician is a setup for disillusionment and despair when they inevitably break them. The sooner you realize this, the less naive and more truly enlightened you’ll be.

…

Bernie Sanders’ odds of winning the primary asymptotically approach zero as Hillary racks up “superdelegates” in a rigged party-machine system, and as more time passes with no criminal indictment against her from a Chicago Democrat-machine Department of Justice. Now, how convenient it is for many Bernie supporters, they of the religiously self-righteous, anti-corporate, income-inequality Puritanism, quietly to lose all interest in Hillary’s nasty habits of 1) covering for and going after the victims of her husband’s serial sexual predations; and 2) playing kissyface with corporate donors, speech-buyers and political influence peddlers. Harder to “feel the Bern” as one’s own principles are sacrificed to expedience, eh? Welcome to the real world, grasshoppers. You’re just pawns in their game, fools played for fools. That’s not cynicism; it’s the plain truth. The sooner you realize this also, the less naive and more truly enlightened you’ll be.

…

This is going to be the ugliest, most revolting Presidential election of my lifetime, by far. It’s making me consider tuning out politics altogether for a few months (for the first time since age 5 or 6), exiting that malodorous theater stage right, and paying even more attention to storms and sports. You tell me: why should I continue to watch this toxic train wreck that I cannot stop? I didn’t and won’t vote for either of these two vermin. If I’m a lot less conversant on social media about political subjects for awhile, you’ll know why. It’s largely pointless. Defeatist? No, instead realistic…I already cast my vote for a different, better candidate and lost, and will vote out of conscience for a third-party candidate who practically is likely to lose in November. Don’t blame me for whatever happens next. Do improve your survival skills, armaments and stocks of nonperishables, for the sake of dependents even more than self.

…

I am not depressed in the least, despite all of the above and more ills in the world. In fact I can sit and pragmatically observe this tragic circus, and adapt to the developments arising therefrom, while living reasonably well and happy, in a state of long-term peace beyond all short-term trouble! Why? Easy: Jesus. He is the cure for the disease of worldly culture and suffering. At the Father’s command, on a day and hour we cannot know beforehand, He (unlike any politician) will fulfill His promise. He shall return, then set about cleaning the earth of all its rubbish: literal, figurative and spiritual. His whip-cracking, table-tossing tirade in the Temple, against the money-changers, was small change compared to what’s to come; Revelation promises such. The sooner the better, as far as I am concerned! Until then, through all tribulations, then forever after, glory be to Him!

Filed Under: Scattershooting, Weather AND Not Tagged With: Bernie Sanders, Donald Trmp, Great Plains, Hillary Clinton, immorality, Jesus, lies, politics, sellouts, storms, supercells, weather

If I Were Liberal, I’d Vote For…

October 28, 2015 by tornado Leave a Comment

If you are a liberal and thinking of voting for Hillary Clinton in your primary…for MotherEarthGaiaNatureGoddess’ sake, why? Are you out of your socialist/humanist/Utopian mind? Quaff that kombucha or sip that frappucino, dear grasshopper, and read on about the real deal: Bernie Sanders.

Forget Martin O’Malley; he’s going nowhere meaningful except as a possible VP candidate for the ultimate winner of the Hillary-Bernie contest. And yes, that’s the real contest, and contrast. Old Uncle Joe, the lovable/sexist bumbling buffoon and gaffe master that he is, already decided that the Democrat Party’s liquor cabinets are too blocked off for easy access, and wisely abstained from attempted pantry entry.

Why look further? Your best candidate ever is right there! That candidate is Bernie Sanders–consistent, idealistically pure as can be, a ’60s radical who never sold out to Washington pollsters or corporate money, who takes no donations from Fortune-500 high-rollers, who supports abortion and “gay rights” and always has, who took the same positions Hillary claims today but back when they were politically unpopular, who voted against the Iraq War when Hillary voted for it, who opposed DOMA when the Clintons (and they are a team, remember?) signed it into law. In other words, Bernie’s real.

There you have Hillary+Bill, who haul in mountains of corporate cash (and corporations are all evil, all the time…remember?), who again supported that hideous DOMA and Iraq War, whilst Bernie voted against them…she who only lately has come around to your views on several issues out of political expedience and pollster-popularity pandering. Hillary’s authenticity, ethics, honesty, temper, and decision-making are all highly questionable–and that’s the opinion of almost as many Sanders supporters as Republicans. “What difference does it make!?!?!?!?!?!?” I’ll tell you…

Bernie! He says what he means, means what he says. Hillary says what she thinks you want to hear; Bernie says what you want to hear, but truly means it himself! He doesn’t pretend to be anything he’s not, and has been remarkably consistent with most positions for decades. The one substantial shift (varying degrees of gun control) is something about which Hillary has wandered the spectrum also; so that’s a wash.

Okay, Sanders is an old white guy. Can you ever, possibly overcome your offense at that, and forgive him for such a genetic curse? Can you look past your negative racial and gender stereotyping of that demographic, Ms./Mr./M-whatever Leftwinger? Set aside his age and gender and your own argumentum ad novitatum bias, and view his ideals in the name of open-mindedness. Can you?

You damn well should, because his ideals are your ideals, to the core, and were back when Hillary was a pandering “moderate” still trying to wash the figurative (and maybe literal) semen stain from the bluesy-dressed reputation of her philandering spouse. Wait, she still is a pandering “moderate”! Be honest, she is, and you know it. Vote for her and you also get…Bill back in the White House (whoa…radical, duuuuuude). Meanwhile Bernie offers you a veritable cornucopia of marvelous free stuff like higher education and medical care and ganja brownies for your lumbago, damn the national debt (it’s just an irrelevant abstraction anyway, right?). He wants to tax those ghoulish, horrible, inhuman and inhumane 1%ers so hard they can be heard screaming in agony from repossessed yachts and mansions the world over.

But Sanders is “unelectable”, you say? Hogwash, or (for you holier-than-thou vegans, or two-faced Islamo-apologist “feminists”, or pencil-armed coffee-house metrosexuals who barely can bench-press a gender-studies textbook), lentil-wash! Sanders is as electable as the votes he receives, so why not vote for him and do your part to make him electable? I’m serious, Sanders really is your best candidate.

Now it’s no secret that I am a fiscal and social conservative, strong and true: unflinchingly, sternly and unapologetically so, in your face and in the face of all societal fads and whims, so much that I would advocate my positions were I the last person to do so with a hundred of Obama’s war drones aiming guns at me. If your senses of humor and tolerance are gone and something I write offends you…great! Suck it up and deal with it. I’m principled, idealist, iconoclastic–and I wear those labels (along with any of the usual array of “tolerant” insults hurled by the left at ill-educated backward rednecks like me) as a badge of honor.

Speaking of Obama’s war drones, guess who else besides me and Rand Paul opposed them (and Bush’s far fewer war drones before that)? Guess who besides me and Rand Paul opposed NSA spying and snooping that Hillary and Obama have supported? Guess who besides me and Rand Paul opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal before Hillary? Yep, you got it, Ms.-ter: Bernie! He was anti-war, pro-privacy, back when your parents were pissing in their own diapers. Sanders stands staunchly in opposition to the military/industrial/fossil-fuel/financial-sector complex that has heavily bankrolled the Clintons since today’s millennials were pissing in their diapers. The environment? Bernie is so green that he could be mistaken for a shrunken, elderly mutation of the Incredible Hulk. Check his voting record.

See, I actually was a liberal once, for a short while, as a young physical adult, conformably nonconformist and properly offended at everything representing “the Man”. Then I finally grew up. I read deeply and critically and discovered what a moral, ethical and economic dead end leftism is, and quickly matured past that shameful and shallow phase of pseudo-thought. No regrets, however: as a result, I know how a liberal thinks and easily can play the part, pretending to be one in any game of devil’s advocate (a very appropriate term for such a role, of course). [Whoa, I think I can hear more offended gasping…cha-ching! If I had a nickel for every time…]

Moreover, I still am a hard-core idealist. I know one when I see one–even when I can’t stand what he stands for. Bernie Sanders is that–or at least, the closest you’ll find in any national politician–and has been for far, far, far longer than flip-flopping, corporate-teat-sucking, dishonest, poll-pandering Hillary. He is the liberal light personified, your best representation, and it’s not even a contest. Bernie, far more than the Clintons, is aligned with your views, with a proven willingness to express them when not expedient. He is the real deal, honest and authentic in representing The Cause, in stark contrast to She Who Fakes Southern Accents When in Arkansas.

Again I ask: If you are a liberal and thinking of voting for Hillary Clinton in your primary…for MotherEarthGaiaNatureGoddess’ sake, why?

If I were a liberal, I would vote for Sanders. No hesitation, no doubt, no question. He embodies the left-wing ideal the very best, by far. If I were a liberal…

Thank God (not MotherEarthGaiaNatureGoddess) that I am not.

Filed Under: Not weather Tagged With: authenticity, Bernie Sanders, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, honesty, left-wing, leftism, liberal, liberalism

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