I can always find someone To say they sympathize If I wear my heart out on my sleeve But I don't want some pretty face To tell me pretty lies All I want is someone to believe
I guess it is still technically Father’s Day back in the USA, so I’ll post a memory of my dad in his honor:
Facebook took me to task this morning for speaking honestly. Well, posting something truthful that they didn’t like. Here it is for your reading pleasure:
An opinion piece from a vaccinated Australian writer:
“If Covid were a battlefield, it would still be warm with the bodies of the unvaccinated. Thankfully the mandates are letting up, and both sides of the war stumble back to the new normal. The unvaccinated are the heroes of the last two years as they allowed us all to have a control group in the great experiment and highlight the shortcoming of the Covid vaccines. The unvaccinated carry many battle scars and injuries as they are the people we tried to break mentally, yet no one wants to talk about what we did to them and what they forced “The Science “to unveil. We knew that the waning immunity of the fully vaccinated had the same risk profile as others within society as the minority of the unvaccinated, yet we marked them for special persecution. You see, we said they had not “done the right thing for the greater good” by handing their bodies and medical autonomy over to the State. Many of the so-called health experts and political leaders in Australia admitted the goal was to make life almost unlivable for the unvaccinated, which was multiplied many times by the collective mob, with the fight taken into workplaces, friendships, and family gatherings.
Today the hard truth is none of it was justified as we took a quick slide from righteousness to absolute cruelty. We might lay the blame on our leaders and health experts for the push, but each individual within society must be held accountable for stepping into the well-laid-out trap. We did this despite knowing full well that principled opposition is priceless when it comes to what goes inside our bodies, and we let ourselves be tricked into believing that going into another ineffective lockdown would be the fault of the unvaccinated and not the fault of the toxic policy of ineffective vaccines. We took pleasure in scapegoating the unvaccinated because after months of engineered lockdowns by political leaders blinded by power, having someone to blame and to burn at the stake felt good. We believed we had logic, love, and truth on our side, so it was easy to wish death upon the unvaccinated. Those of us who ridiculed and mocked the non-compliant did it because we were embarrassed by their courage and principles and didn’t think the unvaccinated would make it through unbroken, and we turned the holdouts into punching bags. Lambie, Carr, Chant, Andrews, McGowan, Gunner, and the other cast of hundreds in prominent roles need to be held to account for vilifying the unvaccinated in public and fueling angry social media mobs. The mobs, the mask Nazis, and the vaccine disciples have been embarrassed by “betting against” the unvaccinated because mandates only had the power we gave them. It was not compliance that ended domination by Big Pharma Companies, Bill Gates and his many organizations, and the World Economic Forum… It was THANKS to the people we tried to embarrass, ridicule, mock and tear down. We should all try and find some inner gratitude for the unvaccinated as we took the bait by hating them because their perseverance and courage bought us the time to see we were wrong. So if mandates ever return for Covid or any other disease or virus, hopefully, more of us will be awake and see the rising authoritarianism that has no concern for our well-being and is more about power and control. The War on the Unvaccinated was lost, and we should all be very thankful for that.”
This is the first time FB actually blocked something I posted entirely (I have had fact check/context blocks added before, but they really didn’t want anyone to see this post. I wonder why? I got this message within one minute of posting:
No one else can see your post. We encourage free expression but don’t allow false information about COVID-19 that could lead to physical harm. If your content goes against Community Standards again, your account may be restricted or disabled.
Well, fuck you, Facebook. The plebes are waking up and hopefully won’t be fooled again.
Back here in the real world, the gals at Hideaway Bar seemed to enjoy the meal I provided:
The owner sent me over a free beer, and Joy surprised me with a Father’s Day gift:
After Hideaway, I headed back to my side of town. Once again, I had to pee by the time I got to Cheap Charlies, so I went up and took a leak, then I ordered a beer. I ignored my old regular girls just like they had ignored me but turned my attention to the cutie next to me named Anna. She was aloof but honest about it. None of that suck-up pretending to care routine in the hopes of getting a lady drink. I bought her one anyway, as much to rub it in on my former bar mates as anything.
Anna and I did have a nice chat, though, as she slowly sipped her drink. I asked her if she had a boyfriend, and she told me, “no, and I don’t want one.” Hmm. Why not? “My priority is being with my kids; I don’t have time for a boyfriend.” “Not even a rich one like me?” I joked. She just laughed. I asked her age (24) and the age of her kids (8 and 7). “So, you were only 16 when your first child was born?” Yes, she responded, we didn’t have a TV. What else was there to do? I got a laugh out of that, but it also had a ring of truth. I’ve noticed that the poorest of the poor seem to have the most kids. You gotta fill those hours somehow, I reckon. Anyway, I enjoyed our chat and appreciated her blunt honesty. She’s my new favorite at Cheap Charlies!
I had one more stop left in me, so I headed over to Alaska Club. Marissa, the dancer I met Friday, wasn’t working, but my crush Karen was.
It had been in my mind that I was going to have to choose who I flirt with on future visits to Alaska. Marissa has given signs that she’d be up for a rendezvous, while Karen is much more reserved. It seemed like an excellent opportunity to clear things up some, and the belly full of beer gave me the confidence to ask if Karen had any interest in getting to know me better. Bless her heart; she was honest in her response. “No, I don’t.” Hey, the truth can hurt sometimes, but I much prefer it to all the pretend bullshit in this town. Thanks for that, Karen!
After the dog walk, I took myself on down to Baloy Beach for a morning stroll.
Some sad news, fellow Hasher Cabbage Patch has left us for the big On-On in the sky.
I came across this article loaded with photos from the cruising scene in Southern Cal in the summer of ’72. Brought back a lot of memories (we had a similar cult down in Orange County). Of course, I was comparatively poor, so none of those fancy muscle cars you’ll see at the link in my group. In fact, we did our cruisin’ in my pal Steve’s ’56 Pontiac. Good times.
Honestly, that’s all I’ve got for now. It’s Hash Monday, so you know what to expect tomorrow!
Honesty is such a lonely word Everyone is so untrue Honesty is hardly ever heard And mostly what I need from you
frioles
So close! Frijoles, with a “j.” I’ll chalk that up to a typo, so no biggie.
Why are you still on Facebook? The place is a fucking gulag. I know people talk about how Facebook helps them reconnect or stay connected with certain people, but it just doesn’t seem worth it to me, especially if you have opinions. Besides, most of the young, dynamic people left FB once the old farts took over and made the place uncool. Kids don’t want to hang out where their parents and grandparents hang out. FB is an old-folks home that smells of stale piss.
Switching gears: that chili looks good. The muffin looked a bit burned around the edges, but I’d eat that, anyway. Especially when it comes to cornbread, I like a bit of crispiness.
A dose of honesty from the local womenfolk is a welcome change. It’s all about the money, after all, and always has been.
I take to heart what the Aussie writer said. There’s a wrinkle, though: if we think rationally—statistically—then there are thousands of cases of injection-related deaths at this point, but over a billion people have been jabbed. Odds are that the jab won’t kill you (it hasn’t killed anyone I personally know), but I want nothing to do with what is essentially gene therapy, not a standard vaccine.
At my office, I’m surrounded by vaxxed coworkers, and they seem to be doing OK. Of course, they all got infected with omicron COVID after being jabbed at least twice while I apparently remain uninfected (either that, or I got the couf, was more or less asymptomatic, and am now immune). The injection guarantees nothing, and you’ll note the “experts” changed the narrative after vaxxed people started getting infected. They went from “the jab will prevent infection” to “the jab will minimize your hospital stay.” Moving the goalposts.
As for the battlefield being littered with the bodies of the unvaxxed, COVID was only ever a virus that affected the very elderly and those with comorbidities, i.e., people who were, evolutionarily speaking, on their way out, anyway. Meanwhile, the writer is correct that unvaxxed people in Western countries have had to endure a load of shit from their countrymen. I’m happy to be in Korea, where Karening is at a minimum (unless you’re that one dude who tries to board a subway while unmasked). In the West, people have regressed into five-year-old martinets, calling out strangers for being unmasked outside or haranguing people online for supposedly being “selfish.” This mass enstupidation has been incredible to behold at a distance. Koreans are apparently more libertarian than Americans: here, people generally mind their own business and don’t waste energy calling you out in person or online. If I ever did move back to the States, I’d have to go to a red state where people are sane in how they treat each other. Jesus.
I’ve always called beans “frijoles” in Spanish. When I first read your comment, I thought you were saying I shouldn’t have used the “j.” Rather than go back and re-read my post, I looked up “frijoles” to prove I was correct. I was all prepared to launch this comment with a “got ya!” and then I saw what you were actually saying. And then, I checked and realized that I had indeed unintentionally misspelled the word. The mistake was a typo, but I proofread right past it at least once, so once again, the fuck up is mine and inexcusable.
Yeah, Facebook sucks, and I don’t engage there much these days, but it is still a tool in my box. I belong to several groups, including the Hash, where information about upcoming events is posted. I also find it a convenient way to upload photos from my phone so I can save them to the hard drive on my laptop.
I knew the censorship on FB was out of control, but I was shocked that that post from Austrailia was deemed to “be potentially physically harmful” because of COVID misinformation. George Orwell would be shocked that Zuckerturd took his writing as a “how-to” guide rather than a warning. The Aussie simply pointed out that the demonization of the unvaxxed was wrong and that, with hindsight, they were proven right. The only harm that does is to the police state’s narrative.
Oh well, it’s a wake-up call for sure, and we need to find alternative ways to spread the word. Maybe blogs will make a comeback!
I do agree with you both regarding Facebook. I do have an account, but have not been there in years. But realistically, it is their sandbox. And as such, they make the rules on who gets to play and what they can play with. I don’t think that you guys moderate comments on your respective blogs, but if someone started posted stuff you deemed offensive/inappropriate/etc, you probably would block it or edit.
(Again, I am not in favor of what Facebook does. At this point and considering how big they are, they function almost as a public utility rather than as a private sandbox.). But having moderated a forum for a VERY short time, I know what a pain in the ass it is to be a moderator. Make one person happy, piss off someone else, and vice versa. It is a no-win situation. Of course at this point, Facebook is doing it all be algorithms. Would be interesting “see” the coding behind what caused your post to be banned.
I agree with Kevin. Don’t use it, or if you do, use it as it was originally intended. A way to learn about what is happening in others lives, and sharing what is happening in yours.
Yeah, I don’t engage in political debates on FB like I did in the old days. I’ll pass some time there reading about the lives of my “friends” I haven’t seen for years (my high school sweetheart, for example). I was just shocked to see how far FB has gone to support and protect the narrative of our ruling elites. To say anything in what I posted put someone in “physical danger” is so far over the top that it seems like satire.
I actually think FB and the other big social media companies should be considered a public utility and subject to 1st Amendment sanctions. Or maybe Elon can buy them out, too.