Opinions are like a-holes, everybody's got one

This post is going to be a reaction to a 1993 movie called "Falling Down". To be more exact, it is more like a reaction to people's reaction on the YouTube.

The people who made the movie employed what I'd call the Rorschach Test approach. That is to say, those viewing it can project their own mental state upon it with their reactions to it. You can see that in the comments to the various videos which show scenes in the movie. So I thought, everybody else is doing it, so why the hell can't I? So here I am. I'm a going to do it.

Oh, no! Does this mean you sympathize with the main character, played by Michael Douglas? Or maybe his counter-character, played by Robert Duval? That's part of why I say it is a Rorshach Test. Neither are presented as a protaganist or antagonist. Only that Duval's character is tracking down Michael Douglas' character. He's the cop, and Michael Douglas' character is the bad guy. The tricky thing is that Douglas' lines at the climax asks "I'm the bad guy?", as if to say that this isn't entirely clear that he really is the bad guy. To which Duval's character says "they lie to everybody"-- meaning that he sees his point. The two really aren't enemies, but the situation forces them both into a confrontation. In the end, Douglas's character provokes a fatal gunfight with his fake weapon of a water pistol. There's no hatred, just a pathetic attempt at redemption of a sort for Douglas' character, and ironically the same for Duval's character.

For Duval's character was seen as a type of weakling failure of a cop. But he makes a good takedown of a bad guy. A parallel can be said of Douglas' character, who thinks his death will provide for his family, which would redeem him as a failure as a breadwinner.

The comment section tends to identify which side a person is on. Michael Douglas is seen as somebody redressing the harms of an evil society. But Duval is seen to have overcome the disrespect from an unappreciative wife and his co-workers--- he rises to the occassion while Douglas "falls down". It's ironic that he gains the respect of an obvious dysfunctional society that he recognizes as such, while at the same time having to gun down somebody that he really didn't want to have to do. On the other hand, Douglas' child will not get any insurance money after his criminal acts will probably void any insurance payout.

There really doesn't seem to be any winners here. Only losers. Nobody to root for exactly, just a certain pathos of a man who can only redeem himself by killing a man he didn't want to have to kill.

You can go on about the rest of commentary, but that's all from me. Other than this: Douglas' "falling down" can happen to anybody. How many times has there been a situation in which you could make the wrong move and come out on the wrong side of society in the way he did? I know there have been times when I came close to "losing it". Hopefully I can continue to avoid "losing it" entirely. I wouldn't advise anybody to get into the position that he did, and make myself a victim of a souless and dysfunctional society.

As for that, that part about our society is more true now than it was in 1993. It's only getting worse, and the society is getting more and more oppressive in its responses. It's hard to judge Douglas' character harshly in that light. But you'd like to at least try to be constructive in your approach.

But oppresive to who? That's the Rohrsach test! If you're on Douglas' side, you'd prefer America as it once was. But if you are on the side of many of the others that he contends with, you might say something different.

Zip it

Fact may be stranger than fiction, but this fiction is probably more entertaining.

The last gasp of a dying empire

From this account, it appears that Majorian was on the verge of success. He was brought down by treachery.

There's a lesson here, but I don't suppose it will do any good to discuss it.

Blazing Saddles - Or are we....

They can't make a movie like this anymore, says Mel Brooks. It offends too many people, but guess who this doesn't offend?

The times are a-changing, but not for the better.

By the way, SOMEBODY is jerking off. C'mon now. Fess up.

Nothing new under the sun

The Federal Reserve Is Fighting Inflation Blindfolded via @Headline USA

Comment:

The only thing missing now are the gas lines, and it's 1970's all over again.  Wait!  You'll have to wait in line to charge your Tesla, so maybe it IS the same.

History repeats, first as tragedy, then as farce.

Point of view that hates the City of Houston

5:03 PM

You can criticize Houston all you want, but whatever changes you make to it, you have to rationalize upon some basis. The basis of the criticism was that Houston is "made for cars". But I tried to live without a car in Houston and fuggeddaboutit. It takes too long to get to point A to point B by mass transit. That's all there is to it. Cars may not seem to be time efficient, but they are.

Why are cars more time-efficient? Mass transit requires too many stops. Everybody has to wait while one or two people get off at each stop. You wouldn't believe how time consuming this is.

People who want these things have a political agenda. That agenda is not necessarily the best in terms of maximizing prosperity. Time is money. Mass transit slows things down. If you want that, then be aware of the cost.

The guy who hates Houston mentions this below. Whoop-de-do. It may be pretty to look at, but it doesn't move many people. Cars do it better. I know. Been there, done that.



end update of 9:53 AM 5/3/24 post





I used to live there. Indeed, I lived there for most of my life. There's nothing really wrong with a car-centric culture until it gets too expensive. Heck, that's why I am out here in the boondocks. Houston just got too expensive. It's getting more and more like that too. Is it worse than any other town? NO! San Francisco is much worse from what I've heard.

This guy isn't a fan of any American town. But he chooses Houston to bash. I won't defend Houston, though. It's going down the same path that all American cities seem to be going. They are all going commie. Houston is no different. The "solutions" are NOT working, by the way. It's making things worse.

Back in the sixties, Houston was much smaller ( as he mentions). As kids, we walked and rode bicycles everywhere. Tell me why did it change?

Note: I came across this video because there's flooding in Houston. So what else is new?

A way forward

The culture has gone way too crazy left. One of the leftists favorite tactics is to castrate the men.

It may take something like this for the men to wake up to their innate value to a society. The answer is not to imitate females. Channel your inner male, and do what men have always done. The anti-male left is making sissies out of too many men. We need more of this please. Let the men be men.

Men protect the nation. Either this gets done, or a nation falls. The USA is no different than any other nation that has ever existed in this regard. The left stands by helplessly because they have enfeebled the nation against its internal and external enemies. All good men must rise to the defense of the nation. The liberal women have not this sense, and will be ruled one way or another by whatever force is strongest.

One of the best photos of 2024 so far:

Fraternity brothers are pelted by anti-Israel protesters at UNC Chapel Hill while protecting the United States flag as it is re-hoisted following its removal by protesters.

Well done, gentleman. 🫡🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/0DiBQcVLBu

— Max Meyer (@mualphaxi) May 1, 2024

Sometimes you just plain get lucky

What are the chances….
pic.twitter.com/wWUhPEvx5o

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) May 2, 2024

Things are moving pretty fast, you have to be prepared to move fast to keep up

It's hard to organize a post, so it may be a bit confusing to follow it. Bear with me.

First of all, I woke up with a thought this morning. It was about truth, and the way back to sanity. Things appear pretty crazy right now, and something has got to get this to settle down into some kind of order. But you don't know at this time what that "something" will be.

That something could be the recognition of some point about upon which to unite. A hopeful thing would be around the truth, but the truth is an elusive quality. Part of the reason that it is elusive is that there's people out there who have a strong opposition to the truth. The truth doesn't favor them, so they mangle and distort events so as to be able to push forward an agenda that doesn't necessarily square with the truth.

If you don't have a firm grip on the desire to know the truth, then you will be like a feather in the wind. You'll go where the wind blows the strongest. For me, that is unacceptable. The wind that I follow is the wind of truth, and that goes where the truth lives. It doesn't live in certain kinds of people, and that in itself is the truth. Either we will organize ourselves on the basis of truth, or we won't. I think our society rose to greatness because it was organized in truth. This is in grave danger right now. It is not clear how this is going to shake out.

Now here is where it might get confusing. I saw an interview with a "student" protester yesterday. I didn't make note of it, nor did I make an effort to save it. Therefore, I am depending upon memory to relate it. So if I relate it, how do I prove what I saw? If the internet takes it down, then somebody can say that I made it all up. Facts could be lost down the memory hole this way. If you wanted, you can start making lists of things that have been convienently forgotten.

So the news de jour right now is these student protests. My take is that it is hurting Democrats. But what may be conveniently forgotten is that it was the Democrats who did things that got this ball rolling. But then again, I cannot prove this right here and right now, because to do so would mean I'd have to "bring receipts", and I don't have them handy right now. One of those things was this interview with that protester yesterday. I went looking for it, and I cannot find that interview.

The person being interviewed denied a number of facts regarding Oct 7th, 2023, and a number of other events that have happened since. If information is being suppressed, then how do you prove that the terrorist event in Israel even happened? It is like Israel just attacked Hamas for no reason at all, and started a genocide for no reason at all. That is, if you believe these people like that girl who was interviewed.

Obviously, there's a problem here. If you've got thousands and maybe tens of thousands of people who believe things that are not so, and they decide to get violent about it, then you end up with what we've got now. A full scale revolt may be under way, but for what? Does Hamas deserve and sympathy at all? After all, the entire chain of events was caused by the events of Oct 7th, 2023. If Hamas didn't want trouble with Israel, then they don't attack Israel. But Hamas DOES want trouble with Israel, and they do mean to win their fight with Israel. If they win their fight, there will be no more Israel. There just might also be no more Jews in Israel. Even when Jews have been there for thousands of years.

If that be the case, then wouldn't lying be part of Hamas' strategy?

Let me swerve into this postmodern concept of what the truth is. The postmodernists will argue that there is no truth. It's all a subjective thing. I guess, according to that philosophy, someone pointing a gun at you or shooting at you is all in your imagination. A lot of dead bodies is just your imagination. You don't see what you're seeing. But if you insist, then that's YOUR TRUTH. Their truth is somehow different.

There's got to be an objective standard of truth. These events happened or they didn't. If Hamas actually attacked and killed civilians, they actually committed a WAR CRIME. Then how does Israel get charged with a WAR CRIME when they are making every effort to spare civilians? The distinction should be obvious. Yet somehow that is a challenge for some people. Their truth doesn't exactly square with what actually happened. The FAIRY GODMOTHER didn't kill all those Jews on that day.

If you cannot support the truth, and you will not acknowledge and defend the truth, then where does that leave you? It leaves you at the mercy of those who will distort the truth in order to prevail in their agenda. If the truth is in the way of that agenda, then the truth goes by the wayside. Who then, will defend truth? Anybody?

Now swerve back to Biden. The guy lies continuously. It will be attributed to his senility. He just an old man. But is that really true? Or is the truth is that Biden has always been at war with the truth. So have a lot of what people call "liberals". Actually, it is more like modern day liberals, which is more like communists of old. The communists would say straight out that they didn't care for the truth. This is another one of those things that I don't have the receipts handy. But Lenin was quoted to have said that. It might even say in the Communist Manifesto that bourgeous morality is not their thing. Objective truth might well fall within the realm of thus called "bourgeous morality". After all, it isn't ethical to lie. But communists aren't so enamored with the truth if it gets in their way. If the communists are not lying, then they'd tell you that themselves.

I think Biden has been captured by the far left. So have a lot of Democrats. They think that they have to fight "fascism" by "any means necessary". If lying is necessary, then they'll lie their asses off.

I don't believe that Biden saying his uncle was eaten by cannibals was an example of his advanced age. The man has been a liar the whole time. He had to leave the presidential race of 1988 because he got caught red-handed in plagiarism. Back then, there was more respect for the truth, and Biden didn't have political viability after getting caught like that. But these days, he can say the most amazing whoppers, and nobody even flinches.

We have become accustomed to this kind of dishonesty. The result is that all sense of order and reason are breaking down.

We have entered an age of unreason that is overthrowing an age of reason. Nothing good can come of this. The results, I believe, are the kinds of things we are seeing in these protests. The protests that are based upon a mountain of lies.

Who will defend truth against a mountain of lies? Anybody??????? Why are the Democrats making these people a protected class? Are they in sympathy with LIARS? Is that what the Democrats have become? What about the GOP? Are they any different? The GOP likes to pretend to favor traditional values, like integrity. But where's the beef?





PS: Here's a receipt for ya. That girl in the interview mentioned above actually DENIED that things like this are going on:





Why would the media cover it up? Hmmmm????

A young Jewish woman was beaten unconscious by pro-Hamas students at the UCLA campus in California today.

Will mainstream media tell their viewers and readers about it? Or do we have to do all the work here on X?

Via @mihaschw pic.twitter.com/IMRCbLnS9U

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) April 30, 2024

Another receipt:

BIDEN: "There should be no place on any campus, no place in America, for antisemitism or threats of violence against Jewish students. There is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind, whether it's antisemitism, Islamophobia, or discrimination against Arab Americans or… pic.twitter.com/I6T8cK0RHc

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 2, 2024

Why do these terrorists and terrorist sympathizers deserve to be classified as being "oppressed", when they are doing the oppressing themselves????

Be careful what you wish for

You just might get it. Once you get it, there's no turning back. That's the trouble. Once you do something irreversible, you'll have to live with it. People may want to think carefully on this stuff.

Silly me. Nobody ever does that.

Doing some research and came upon this unhinged thread by Luttig.

It is amazing to me the extent to which these "experts" easily lie to their braindead followers.

The question before SCOTUS is NOT specific to the events of Jan 6 or 2020 election. Here is the actual question… https://t.co/gnHz2jnAIo pic.twitter.com/zy5Oevby88

— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) April 30, 2024

Babies are just future fascists

The American Mind

Thought provoking? Forget it. Nobody wants to think. Thinking is too hard.

They'll go on thinking that they're saving the world, but what if they're wrong? Then, it's all for nothing. They'll die old and alone. They'll have nobody to blame but themselves.

Babies Are Just Future Fascists https://t.co/32vXOAp3Xu

— BootsandOil (@BootsandO6892) May 2, 2024

No serious Christians

Link obtained from perusing Revolver.


It's not clear who he is, but I thought it may have been Bobby Fischer, the chess champion from years ago. Nope, too long ago.


I read his tweets, and I must say he makes sense.

Fighting between Catholics and Protestants is ridiculous because they’re both in such terrible shape. In the Catholic Church we are still working through financial problems resulting from decades of sexual abuse - and the priesthood is even now predominantly homosexual,…

— FischerKing (@FischerKing64) May 1, 2024

Republicans pounce

Stupid is what stupid does.

Democrats: “Evil Republicans are making us look stupid by sharing video of our stupid behavior at pro-Hamas protests. NOT FAIR!!”

— Skin that smokewagon! (@heatpacker) May 1, 2024

Big Tech is up to something again

Google and YouTube have almost totally scrubbed everything on RFK JR prior to this year. Wild

— Adam Townsend (@adamscrabble) April 29, 2024

The Rain Song --- Led Zeppelin cover

Not familiar with this artist. But that'll change.

Bravo. Very well done.

Afroman has had enuff

Hunter Biden is threatening to sue Fox for defamation. But Fox is tame compared to THIS. Hunter can't sue everybody, and besides, everybody knows that it was his laptop. If it's the truth, he can't sue unless the jury has been smoking crack too. Who knows?

https://t.co/pMlO0gbgHj

— BootsandOil (@BootsandO6892) April 30, 2024

James Carville loses it, big time

4/30/24:

If I may interject a basic observation here. The radical left wing is running the White House, and by extension, the Democrat Party. Consequently, they align with terrorists and terrorist sympathizers, like Hamas. They enact new regulations, such as Title IX equal opportunity laws that now include trannies as a protected class. This puts trannies in your daughters bathrooms at schools all across the nation. It is LAW. New tax laws propose to tax unrealized gains. This could put your home in their crosshairs if you cannot afford the taxes. If they start World War III, you'll have to go fight their wars. Far left lunacy is out of control.

Carville has been speaking out against this stuff, but he wants the young to ignore all this madness, and actually embrace it. Which way is it, hmmm? For or against the radical left???

So Biden's poll numbers crash amongst the young and with their usual client groups. Perhaps not all these Democrat leaning groups have completely lost their minds yet. But Carville seems to be losing his. Or has he been nuts the whole time?

New CNN poll is final blow that knocks James Carville out cold… https://t.co/uwbpEjqBjd

— BootsandOil (@BootsandO6892) April 30, 2024

end update of 4/29/24 post





WTF??!!


Is he on crack or something?

James Carville threatening young people to vote for Biden:
"[If Trump wins] There will be no government left, there will be no rights left, you will live under theocracy, you'll end up with Christian Nationalism.
But that's alright you little fucking 26 year old, you don't feel… pic.twitter.com/vixpjLRzc2

— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) April 29, 2024

Title IX changes dead ahead

Leftist lunacy becomes the law. If you don't want trannies in the girl's restrooms, then you'd better hope Tx. Ag Paxton wins this thing.


Trump too. No way Trump signs on to this tranny tyranny.


We had GOP legislatures trying to remove Paxton. Where's the sanity? Do pay attention, ya'll. The left is sneaking in a bunch of really bad pooh-pooh.

Louisiana, Texas AGs announce lawsuits against Biden administration over Title IX rule https://t.co/LxwqNwkwDA via @JustTheNews

— BootsandOil (@BootsandO6892) April 30, 2024

Getting wild there

This reminds me of the story about a guy in a tire shop who got the nickname "Wild Bill". Wild Bill took an impact wrench to a hub cap that had decorative lug nuts incorporated in the hub cap. Then you've got this guy here trying to knock the wheel loose even though the lug nuts were still on.


Wild Bill lives!

pic.twitter.com/5kaUOWI0J1

— jny the human (@jnyboy) April 25, 2024

World's Strongest Magnet

Interesting properties of magnetism.

With respect to the re-entry of a spacecraft like Starship, I'd have to wonder if there's a magnetic interaction with the plasma ( provided that it forms ) and the stainless steel make up of the spacecraft.

That could produce some unpredictable effects.

Wacky space post

12:50 PM

Speculation alert: Here's another idea. With respect to re-entry, I am wondering if it possible to repel a heated plasma with a magnetic field. This would keep the plasma away from the spacecraft, and keep it cooler. It would depend upon the power of the magnetic force within the spacecraft, and the amount of plasma ( if any) created as the spacecraft heats up on re-entry. The heated plasma would have a magnetic field, presumably positive, so a magnetic field, properly oriented, would repel it.

Indeed, since the Starship is made of stainless steel, it may be possible to magnetize it. It wouldn't add any mass to the spacecraft.



end update of 8:14 AM , 4/29/24 post



Speculation alert. Here I am, talking out my ass again. That seems to be what I do best.

Anyhoo, I got an idea that I'm sure that nobody will dream of doing, because it is too simple, and makes too much sense.

With respect to the lunar lander for Artemis, I would suggest that SpaceX would just forget about landing the Starship on the Moon, or at least not for now.

Instead, here's an alternative:

Use the second stage Falcon 9, and the Dragon capsule, with an extra extended compartment for fuel, to land on the Moon. SpaceX could use the maxxed out version that could put 200 tons into low Earth Orbit. Now, looking into the Apollo Era, the masses for that equipment could be launched with the SuperHeavy booster all in one launch. The second stage Falcon 9, and the souped up Dragon could mass out at less than that. It could return to Earth on its own, or just land and return to the Gateway, as per current flight specs. I'm guessing the required delta-v available in such a configuration would be adequate for the mission.

I haven't really run the numbers on any of this, so it really is a speculation supremo.

If that profile turns out to be feasible, then go for it. A return to the Moon could be feasible. You already have flight proven equipment, except for the SuperHeavy, and that could be developed along side the rest of the needed equipment. It could be done faster than what the current plan is going for, I bet.

If you want to land cargo on the moon, just send the Dragon without any return fuel, and unmanned. A cargo mission could be paired with a manned mission.

So much for this idea. I'm sure nobody will want to do this because it is too sensible. Just for the record, I don't really like the Starship being used for a lunar lander. At the very least, it should be modified in order to simplify the mission. Think the KISS method. Too many launches complicates this beyond reason.

Why not toss the whole case based upon the rogue prosecutor, who has no standing?

Levin makes the case that the Supreme Court has already gone too far down the road of legitimizing an illegitimate act. It shouldn't even be discussed in the Court. They may rule on a wrong basis. They could make this a moot issue by throwing out Smith for not having standing to bring these charges. All charges dismissed, no other issue to decide.

WATCH: Mark Levin: They've 'criminalized' the election process https://t.co/HRGR5FMNCe via @worldnetdaily

— BootsandOil (@BootsandO6892) April 28, 2024

Bragg's sham show trial

What prospect for a fair trial can exist when this also exists?

Revolver Inside Source Reveals Critical 13-Year-Old Mistake in Stormy’s ‘Trump Extortion’ Plot and Real Reason for NDA https://t.co/OxV8ZyJABp

— BootsandOil (@BootsandO6892) April 28, 2024

WTF is going on?

You Don't Need to Be a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind's Blowing at Columbia https://t.co/i0taATHk9z

— BootsandOil (@BootsandO6892) April 28, 2024

So, you've got that going on, and then there's this.

D.C. Police Reject George Washington University's Request to Clear out Anti-Israel Encampment https://t.co/9BRbD9tBzO

— BootsandOil (@BootsandO6892) April 28, 2024

You can draw no other conclusion than the powers-that-be WANT there to be civil unrest. For what purpose? To steal another election, or even to foster a revolution?

Prime Minister of Hungary: "The 5 Methods of Oppression Liberals Use to Silence Conservatives"

And they'll throw in a generous dose of gaslighting while they're at it.

https://t.co/G2Hnr3hlBm

— BootsandOil (@BootsandO6892) April 28, 2024

Some are using the descriptor " Black Swan"

Yields To Trigger "Serious Earthquakes" Across Economy: Jack Boroudjian by Quoth the Raven

Jack and I discuss monetary policy, fiscal policy, the move in gold, politics and why the bond market may take the spending keys away from the Biden administration.

Read on Substack

And this...

Kick Back, Watch It Crumble by Quoth the Raven

Monetarily and fiscally there seems to be no other way to describe our government’s actions other than willingly and excitedly driving the country full speed ahead toward the death of the dollar.

Read on Substack

Ian Miles Cheong: "This is communist revolution"

They say they want to smash both major political parties. Hmm. Maybe I'm not opposed to defeating them in an election. But replace them with what exactly? Hamas? No thanks.

Besides, Hamas has a lot of sway with the Democrats. Maybe they want to smash themselves. Now that is an idea. More at Twitchy.

"We want to smash the Democratic Party. We want to smash the Republican party. We want to smash this whole goddam capitalist, imperialist empire." This is a communist revolution. pic.twitter.com/8etY0FA0s5

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) April 27, 2024

In order to have a conversation, you have to speak the same language

It would seem obvious.

Does anyone else notice the language evolving before our very eyes? It is almost like a new language is now being spoken.

Not to mention that cultural terms are being invented. We now have oppressed classes. Where the hell did that come from?

I bring this up with respect to a Elon Musk tweet recently. In response to his tweet, this foreign sounding question was posed to him, and my reaction was, how the hell do you answer a question like that? What does that even mean? The question needs translation. English please.

If people are being indoctrinated into this new culture, then where does that leave the rest of us who do not speak that language?

It's like becoming a stranger in a strange land, but that land used to be called home. We are sailing into strange waters here. How the hell did this happen?