Two Masks are the New Masks? What?

 The Beer:  I need to hit up one of the local breweries soon.  It has been far too long.

The Bicycle:  I'm n a bit of a quandary here.  65 years old and have not been on the bike regularly in years.  It is not very safe to ride in these parts anyway, what with then ridiculous growth and the traffic it brings.  What is a boy to do?

The VRWC:  If two masks is good, why not three or four?  There is adequate data that indicates masks are just about worthless in dealing with the pandemic.  To claim that adding another layer is "just common sense" shows that common sense isn't so common.  Further, this NYT article shows the ridiculous love-fest the author has for the Democrats in general and the "Rainbows" in particular.  Look, I don't care that Pete Buttgieg (seriously?) has a "husband".   I have gay friends and I respect that choice.  But to gush over them because they wore 2 masks to inauguration?  Seriously?  "And it's just common sense".

Deprogramming?

 The Beer:  I have a recipe taken from the 1700's and likely would have been brewed by the likes of Samuel Adams, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson

The Bicycle:  It may be time to sell my trusty steeds.  I have taken great care of them over 20 years, but there just isn't any place to ride any more.

The VRWC:

The Media is now a full-on partner with the radical left.  This article from WaPo really takes the cake.  The claim here is effectively that anyone on the Right is "programmed" and "ill".   Everyone on the Right is "extreme".  The fact is that the Right has not moved substantially further right in my lifetime.  In fact, I would argue that if anything, the Right has taken a bit of a leftward two-step over the past 50 years.  The Left, however continues to move further and further Left.  

The Globalist Left and the compliant media continue to work to propagandize virtually every aspect of American life including claims of "White Supremacy", Gender dysphoria, the 2020 presidential election and covid, among many, many other subjects.  The only way to counter these is to know the truth and keep speaking the truth.  Speaking the truth many have some very negative consequences; to suppress the truth and meet the Leftist agenda, it may be necessary to kill the truth-sayers en masse.

Are you ready to take that risk?

Of Radicals and Terrorists

 The Beer:  Probably needs some hemlock added.

The Bicycle:  Apparently a tool of terrorists now

The VRWC:  

Democrats have been looking for a way to stomp out the conservative movement for a while now.  Probably for as long as they have been "radical".   Democrats have been consorting with the likes of Bill Ayres and Bernadine Dohrn, the Black Panthers, Antifa, PLO, Hamas and Iran for decades.  These are just the facts.  Throwing in some "One World Government" conspiracies and we have the real anti-American party.  Open borders, speech codes, cancel culture and violence/threats of violence in protesting has been the hallmark of those associated with Democrats since the Vietnam War.  They not only condone these things, they applaud them and support them.  Democrats have no problem running roughshod over the Constitution and shopping a judge to back them up.  Democrats have no problem having the press and social media do their dirty work of shutting down views with which they do not agree.

Through their own uncompromising dogma, Democrats created President Donald Trump.  Their reprehensible treatment of him created the protest and subsequent occupation of the Capitol.  And Republicans are not blameless in any of this.  Whether it is Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) supporting a see-something-say-something bill or support for the Patriot Act or failure to act to stop legislation anathema to the Constitution, they are complicit.  With a small handful of notable exceptions, Republicans failed to stand up for or even help their own party's President.  

Democrats continue to claim "democracy" is being overthrown.  We do not live in a Democracy.  We live in a Representative Constitutional Republic.  Everyone's views should be represented and debated in public.  Let the marketplace of ideas decide.

Snitch Culture

 The Beer:  Houblonmonstre is a beer I brewed a few years ago.  I want to brew it again.

The Bicycle:  The foot continues to improve.  I hope there is a time soon when I can get back up on the bike.

The VRWC:  Well looky here.  My very own Republican Senator is more than happy to stomp on Constitutional and Civil Liberties.  Things continue to get worse.  Did Trump supporters really intend to overthrow the government?  No.  If they did, it would have happened.  Did Trump supporters intend to send a message?  Probably.  Congress needs a "message".  Their continual usurpation of the rights of citizens is not acceptable.  The fence around the Capitol is unacceptable.  Troops in DC ostensibly "guarding" the government is unacceptable.  We either have a free and open society or we don't.

Men and Women

 The Beer:  I should be thinking about brewing a Bad Santa for Christmas 2021.  Gives it time to age

The Bicycle:  Has TDF been cancelled this year?

The VRWC:  The United States Government is bending over backwards to accommodate "trans" people.  The term seems to include those who fully transition, that is take on the physical manifestation of the opposite sex via surgical means and those who wish to change their appearance to look like the opposite sex.  It has gone as far as changing the definition of the word "gender" to accommodate a host of "other".  

I shouldn't have to put this disclaimer in, but it's 2021, so I will.  Nothing in this post should be construed to say that I hate trans people.  Don't care.  Don't have any close friends who are, don't really care what people do to themselves.  I mean....where's the harm?  

Now that we are clear that I don't hate trans people, let's talk about the harm.  As a rule, trans people don't harm anyone.  Government edicts harm people.  Allowing biological men to compete against women simply because they claim to be women and/or have been surgically altered to look like women doesn't make any of this ok.  The physical differences are not insignificant in terms of muscle mass and physical capability.  For 50+ years now, women have wanted equal access to many male-dominated institutions.  I suppose one could argue that this is an extension of that access.  But many women who have seen the male-dominated institutions from the inside are scrambling back the other way.  Boy Scouting and Universities are fair examples.

What of the harm to children?  No one under the age of consent (generally 16) should be allowed to make a decision to "trans".  And while I am a big supporter of parental rights, forcing your child to transition is nothing short of child abuse.

The larger question here is "why?"  What all the transitioning and why is the government supporting it?  I will try to address that later.

The Beer:  I saw a brewing rig yesterday that I'm really interested in ($$$$)

The Bicycle:  I have a bicycle I don't recognize in my garage

The VRWC:  A strange little article here.  But if the (mis)use of English is any indication, people are the largest impediment to the efficient use of words.

What Pew Got Wrong

 The Beer:  Bud Light....hey....it was free.

The Bicycle:  I have an unidentified mountain bike hanging in my garage

The VRWC:

Pew is out today with some new research about how "America Changed" under President Trump.  The data is pretty good, but the conclusions have completely missed the big picture.

Partisan Divide:

The argument is that President Trump caused a partisan divide.  This is only partly true.  Arguably, Democrats have been dividing the country for decades by using "the politics of personal destruction".  The attacks on GWB, then the TEA Party movement, then on President Trump the very day he was elected has been every bit as divisive as any Trump tweet over the last 4 years.  And these attacks come from the democrats, the press, the schools and universities.  These groups created President Donald Trump.  They need to own it.

Cannot Agree on Basic Facts

I argue here that it is not a problem of Donald Trump, but Donald Trump is a manifestation of it.   There are many "facts" that just are not facts.  Human-caused "climate change" is not a "fact".  It is not a "fact" that some are born in the wrong body.  It is not a "fact" that a fetus is "just a clump of cells".  There are many more examples of theory and opinion masquerading as fact.  And many of those upon which we disagree have political implications that are anathema to many Americans.  The press questions none of the government-provided "facts" and perpetuates the "opinion as fact".    Many also see conspiracy where there is none.  Many also cling to a belief that is clearly not true.  This happens on both sides.

The Legitimacy of Democratic Institutions and Traditions

The press, the judiciary and the electoral process have undermined themselves.  The press lost anything resembling objectivity 50 years ago.  The judiciary has allowed government to run roughshod over the Constitution for political expediency and the willingness of government to overlook cases of election fraud has caused many to lose confidence in it.  

A Reckoning Over Racial Inequality

Yes, there is racial inequality.  No, there is not "systemic racism".  If there is, why don't Democrats address it within their own constituents?  It cannot be the Right alone that perpetuates it.  Why don't Democrats address the abysmal record of public schools in the inner city?   I am pretty certain the reader knows the answer.

The article goes on about COVID response and economic impact, but I think it is far too soon to opine.