I’m Not Going to Boycott In-N-Out over This

Image by JeepersMedia via Flickr. Some rights reserved.

Last Sunday, In-N-Out was a focus in the Famous Sayings post I published that day. The following Wednesday, August 29, 2018, the burger chain became the focus of voters in California because of the news that it donated $25,000 to the California Democratic Party.

How do I feel about this news? To put it bluntly, I don’t really care about In-N-Out’s donations given the circumstances. However, I feel that I must speak out about the boycott because I feel that it’s incredibly stupid.

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Alex Jones: Is His Banishment an Issue of Free Speech?

Original image by Michael Zimmermann [CC BY-SA 4.0 ], from Wikimedia Commons

No, Alex Jones’ banishment from a host of platforms is not about free speech, but it has started on interesting conversation among progressives.

Neoliberals and Neoconservatives Are Horrible People

Just about every person represented in this picture is either a neoliberal or neoconservative. They are part of the problem. Trump has no real ideology, but he has enabled craven neocons who want to loot the United States. Image made by DonkeyHotey via Flickr.

Neoliberals and neoconservatives suck. Not only have they controlled American policy for the past 50+ years, but they threaten the very survival of the human race and this planet. Whenever people try to talk about solutions to solve the biggest crises facing the world, they are rebuffed by the same forces that have created those crises. I got a taste of it this week.

If you couldn’t tell, I’m really pissed right now, much like I was 3 ½ months ago because once again, I was arguing over the Internet. Yet instead of arguing about Syria (I have two more posts about it coming up), I was arguing about the type of future Americans want. In the process, I went against at least at least one neoconservative puke and two neoliberals, one worse than the other.

What Do You Want in a Leader?

Yesterday, there were primaries held in four states: Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, and West Virginia. I will need an extra day to go into the details, but for now, I will say that some of the results disappointed me. That said, I would like to discuss a related topic: What government is for, what leaders are for, and what we should want out of them.

In the past few weeks, I got into some arguments with people, some of them were conservative and some of them were self-professed liberals. Believe it or not, the most heated exchanges I had were with the liberals. Usually, the conservatives I’ve clashed with over the years have ghosted once I countered their points. Many right-wing talking points (and pundits) infuriate me because if they’re not bereft of substance, they are contradictor or appear to be contrarian in nature — but liberals can be especially vicious to each other over disagreements.

Of course, there are some things that infuriate me about other liberals — and I have come across a discussion that made me think about where I part ways with similar-minded people. I especially don’t care for social progressives, those I have called social justice warriors; it’s because their economic, domestic, and foreign policy viewpoints are nonexistent, informed by whoever runs the country, or contradictory to their state social viewpoints. Also, they tend to be very authoritarian and ostracize people who are not in lockstep with them; that’s very toxic to any type of discussion.

Now, this is what bothers me about anyone, regardless of their ideological standing: if they are party loyalists and/or blind ideologues. If someone follows a party no matter what, that’s a problem. We also have a problem if people put their ideology over people and they refuse to intake now information.

All of this is encapsulated with the discussion of leaders and government. I would also like to revisit some thoughts I shared about what makes a good leader because this will help illustrate where I stand on the matter.

The Press Is Using Sarah Huckabee Sanders As a Prop

Comedienne Michelle Wolf at the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. This image was taken via a screenshot.

On Sunday, April 29, 2018, comedian Michelle Wolf received a backlash for her set at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner the previous night. During a nearly 20-minute set, Wolf took aim at the Washington, D.C. crowd, which included politicians and the establishment press. Most of the complaints focused on what Wolf said about White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, but that was a cover — and a lot of conservatives are going along with it because they want to score political points.

Let’s be honest here. Michelle Wolf went after a lot of people in her 19-minute set, including herself. All told, this is who she went after:

• Donald Trump and his campaign
• Hilton (“It’s not nice”)
• C-SPAN (“No one watches that”)
• The White House Correspondents’ Association (“The mung fish was fine”)
• Congress
• Roy Moore
• Reince Priebus
• Jake Tapper
• Hillary Clinton’s campaign
• Men who don’t pull out
• Harvey Weinstein
• Trump’s grown children (except Tiffany)
• Teachers
• Mike Pence
• Anderson Cooper
• Anti-abortionists
• Bear Stearns
• Al Franken
• Ted Kennedy
• Starbucks
• Mitch McConnell
• Paul Ryan
• Chris Christie
• The Republicans
• The Democrats
• Kellyanne Conway
• Scott Pruitt
• Anne Coulter
• CNN
• Fox News
• Sean Hannity
• MSNBC
• Rachel Maddow
• The press collectively
• The anti-immigrant crowd
• Flint, Michigan

Yet we are talking about one person and projecting things onto that comedy set. It says more about us and the press that’s pushing this narrative.

Laura Ingraham Taunted David Hogg and He Responded. Who’s Right?

Caption: Image of David Hogg via Wikimedia Commons By Barry Stock [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons. Image of Laura Ingraham via Flickr by Gage Skidmore. Some rights reserved.

Last Saturday, an estimated 1.2 million people participated in the March For Our Lives in Washington, D.C. and in sister marches across the United States. During the Washington, D.C. Rally, two of the key speeches were given by Emma González and David Hogg, two students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which was made famous after the Valentine’s Day massacre that left 17 students and faculty members dead. Since that shooting, Gonzalez and Hogg have emerged as leaders of the student movement, but not without controversy.

Hogg in particular has been singled out for mockery and conspiracy theories. Early on, he was alleged to be a crisis actor, but even though that charge was swiftly smacked down, he was still looked upon as a propaganda tool and target of derision.

This week, Hogg was taunted by Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who tweeted a link to a story from The Daily Wire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA…totally predictable given acceptance rates.) https://t.co/wflA4hWHXY

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 28, 2018

Hogg then responded with a call for other social media users to contract Ingraham’s 129 sponsors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pick a number 1-12 contact the company next to that #

Top Laura Ingraham Advertisers
1. @sleepnumber
2. @ATT
3. Nutrish
4. @Allstate & @esurance
5. @Bayer
6. @RocketMortgage Mortgage
7. @LibertyMutual
8. @Arbys
9. @TripAdvisor
10. @Nestle
11. @hulu
12. @Wayfair

— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) March 29, 2018

Shortly after, 11 companies announced that they were pulling ads from Ingraham’s program, which prompted her to make a quick apology:

 

 

 

 

 

Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA —incl. @DavidHogg111. On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland. For the record, I believe my show was the first to feature David…(1/2)

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 29, 2018

 

 

… immediately after that horrific shooting and even noted how "poised" he was given the tragedy. As always, he’s welcome to return to the show anytime for a productive discussion. WATCH: https://t.co/5wcd00wWpd (2/2)

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 29, 2018

Sometime afterward, Ingraham announced that she was going on a vacation.

In response to this controversy, some of Ingraham’s fans decided to support her on Twitter. The started the hashtag #IStandWithLaura and called for a boycott of the companies that pulled their ads.

Also, there was one opinion piece of note that was written in defense of Ingraham, which I would like to highlight.

Enough, Already! Why I Really Don’t Care for Circle Jerks (Part 1)

About a year ago, I complained about the San Francisco 49ers’ management. This year, I have a new complaint that’s closely tied to sports (and the 49ers): circle jerks. But it will take me three posts to get to the heart of what I want to say. This post is a set up for the next two.

Now, I want to discuss what circle jerks are and why I can’t stand them. In short, it’s about people who love something or someone (fans and fanboys/girls) and others who love to hate (anti-fans). I especially despise anti-fandoms because they are often what make circle jerks so frustrating.

News Roundup Special: The U.S. Is Messing with the Media

Hello, readers! This news roundup is jammed packed because it deals with several aspects of the media: The Internet, broadcast TV, the size of multimedia corporations, and deregulation. All of the following stories have been developing for weeks but not all have been discussed on this blog — until now.

Is There Still a Way for Us to Stop Pai and His Agenda?

Why does this guy always look like a douchenozzle? I defy anyone to find a picture where he doesn’t. I have no respect for this pro-corporate FCC chair because his agenda is against the wishes of most Americans.

This is very late, but I just need to make a quick post about net neutrality and more. Early last month, the U.S. Senate had to vote to reconfirm Ajit Pai’s horrible self for a new five-year term at the Federal Communications Commission, which would retroactively begin in July 2016. This leaves the door open for more horsesh— for Pai to continue with his agenda, as horrible and pro-corporate as it is.

Re: The Recent Hurricanes (Harvey & Irma)

I shared this message on Facebook, concerning the recent hurricanes.

We will know more about storms in the coming days, but it was important to talk a little bit about them now. I have sent messages to some people in Florida and I hope anyone who resides in the affected areas will be alright.