Open Thread

So what's on your mind? Blab away!

Musical Interlude: Blogoversary!

Note: I also team blog at DEPLORABLE Bloggers Alliance (previously called Infidel Bloggers Alliance), founded by Pastorius, and used to post at NorthernVirginiastan.

So, here's the story of Always On Watch....

Seventeen years as of April 28!  I came to the blogosphere in frustration because of the whitewash of Islam — despite the Islamic terror attacks of 9/11.  To this day, if I have to recommend one book to read on the topic of Islam, I still recommend Serge Trifkovic's The Sword of Islam (2002), a book written from the historical perspective.  It is the book that awakened me in December 2002.

Now, of course, I have often moved on to topics besides that of Islam.  Why?  Because of something Friedrich Nietzsche wrote and because I really didn't have more to say on the topic of the threat of Islam to Western Civilization.  Look at the evidence and come to your own conclusion.  But don't look too long into the abyss.

HERE is my first post (April 28, 2005) at my first Always On Watch blog, using a Blogger template before Warren customized a template for me.  

After my first Always On Watch blog, because of troll wars I next moved to Always On Watch 2 (July 24, 2006-November 29, 2010); Always On Watch 2 uses Warren's customized template as does Always On Watch: Semper Vigilans, the blog you are reading right now.  Team member Silverfiddle often posts here, too, and keeps this blog running when Warren and I are too busy to do so.  Grateful for you, Silverfiddle!

It is through the blogosphere that I met and made the closest friends I now have, too many to name. I must, however, now mention Mustang, my first cyberfriend.  At the time of our  meeting here on the web, we were both new to the blogosphere and had to stumble our way through HTML, Java Script, and the like.  

Many of my cyberfriends became "real life" friends and helped me in different ways during the horrible 11.5 years after Mr. AOW's stroke in 2009 — especially Patricia, former blogger The Merry Widow, who came from Florida to Northern Virginia to stay with us several times to lend a hand.  At one point, she stayed with us for eleven months.  Eleven months!  I needed her help through kidney surgeries and complications thereafter.  She literally saved my life and saved Mr. AOW from confinement in a nursing home.  TMW passed away suddenly on March 29, 2020.  I miss her every day.

And, of course, it is through the blogosphere that I met my beloved Warren — and even the best man at our wedding The Beak!  And The Beak is the one who introduced Warren and me at The Electronic Bar.

Because of my original intent with my blogging, the following has been suggested as my theme song:

Maybe the song below should have been my theme song, although it keeps disappearing from YouTube:

About Islam...Ayaan Hirsi Ali on the critically-important topic, even to this day: Is Islam a Religion of Peace? Worth your time.

The Left Is Losing

Silverfiddle Rant!

A.B. Stoddard worries the Democrats may have nominated their last Supreme Court justice... 

"Two years from now Democrats face a terrible map and will be defending red-state or swing-state incumbents in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada, West Virginia, and Montana." 

It's rough sledding when your campaign slogan the past few years has been "Defund the Police!"

The Right (with the help of sensible Democrats) is Winning the Culture War

Our Experts Aren't

From covid, to the economy, to foreign policy, Americans are waking up to the fact that our experts have failed us.

Republicans benefit from this...

... because they are seen as the anti-government party (probably because they can't govern).  Democrats meanwhile are the party of government, because when they get in charge--unlike the feckless, dithering, double-talking GOP--they get it on, combining no-argument politburo-like decision-making with wrecking ball policies.

To Make Matters Worse, The Left Can't Meme

Just ask NPC Wojak, a "grey, lifeless figure who repeats empty phrases like ‘‘The future is female” and “Reality has a liberal bias.”"   The Soyjak and Gigachad memes have gotten out of hand now, but they were so much of a threat to the left that that prig-faced pseudo-intellectual progressives whined and fretted and linked this tomfoolery back to Stalinist Russia and 20th century fascism. Meanwhile, the Crying Liberal, left with not even a participation trophy, continues to weep. 

Even Worse, The Left is Losing the Tik Tok Wars

The Infotainment Media Complex and their high brow latte leftist set championed free speech when they were the gatekeepers. Those days are gone, so plutocrat papers like the Washington Post, New York Times and other Billionaire-owned outlets ring alarms, scream and compare Elon Musk taking over twitter to the Reichstag Fire.

Meanwhile, I'm noticing an increasing amount of lesbians, gay men, women of color, and other "natural Democrat Party constituencies" lambasting and lampooning the unhinged left.

The Washington Post punched down hard to expose and shame the previously-anonymous proprietor of the infamous and wildly popular "Libs of Tik Tok." (Libs of Tik Tok YouTube).  The unethical writer of the WaPo hit piece bravely leaned into centuries-old anti-Semitic stereotypes, noting  the 'Libs of Tik Tok' creator is a “‘powerful’ Orthodox Jew who is ‘shaping’ the media.” And not one person on the left heard echoes of glass shattering...

If you read no other link, please read this short article that encapsulates the Libs of Tik Tok Madness, and you will see why the humorless, authoritarian left is outraged:  

What the left is so Tik’d off about: Uproar over Libs of TikTok exposes woke lunacy

Stop the Hammering!

I'm not a social scientist or political analysist.  All I know is what I read, and people like James Carville and Ruy Teixeira are attempting to stand athward the Democrat Party and scream Stop! Stop the 'Latinks' woke madness, stop supporting illegal immigration, stop making excuses for criminals, stop opening new fronts daily in the LGBTQ, Race and trans culture wars.  Normal people are fed up and turned off. 

What say you?

Additional Links:

Blocked and Reported Podcast

Useful Idiots Podcast

Russell Brand YouTube Channel

The Reason Interview with Nick Gillespie

The Fifth Column Podcast

Bari Weiss Podcast

Ukraine Predictions

Silverfiddle Rant!

Farmer got into quite a donnybrook with Constitutional Insurgent and Thought Criminal over who's to blame for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  I stayed out and watched, but today I'll throw some gasoline on the fire, and hopefully keep the fight going.  I'll chime in with my two cents and invite you all to do so as well.

Russia is to Blame:  Putin's invasion is a baldfaced rape of another nation.  

What Contributed?  Had western powers taken different actions over the past 30 years, could this have been avoided? 

Nuance-Free Zone

First, a lot of nuance is being overlooked. We can acknowledge Russia is a bad actor while also acknowledging there is a logic to what they are doing, and they take actions based upon their national interests (twisted and misguided as they might be by our lights.)

We can agree Putin is a horrible person who hates the US and Europe and would destroy us if he could. Dismissing him at the same time (as many wishful thinkers in government and the press have done) is stupid and irresponsible.  

NATO nations have taken the dumbest combination of actions possible since the wall fell:

* Western Leadership swallowed Francis Fukuyama's "End of History" hook, line and sinker and have been sleepwalking for the past 30 years, displaying a dangerous and naive cornucopia of malfeasance, ignorance, cupidity, stupidity, and pie-in-the-sky happythink.

* Europe made itself vulnerably dependent on Russian oil, gas and other natural resources, supposedly with the hope of bringing Russia into the family of nations that respects international norms. That failed. Due to Western diplomatic bumbling and wishful thinking? Or Russian intransigence?  

If Europe saw this gambit failing, why did they continue sucking Vlad's gas pipe?  Wishful thinking is what Europeans do best.

* NATO nations did the most ass-backwards thing: They talked crap and encouraged Ukraine to talk crap, while denying Ukraine NATO membership.

* We encouraged Georgia and Ukraine to get cocky with a very big and very dangerous neighbor, and the bear took a bite out of both of them while we stood by and watched.  What the hell was our goal with those nations?

* Once again, we have taught dangerous and malignant regimes worldwide a very important lesson: If you have nukes, you have wide latitude to attack others.

* It is becoming clear that Ukraine became a very lucrative cash cow for well-connected westerners, with US government bureaucrats running business consulting and gatekeeping out of the US embassy in Kiev.

Pointing all this out does not mean I want Russia to win. I want Ukraine to kick their asses back to Moscow, while knowing that is damn near impossible.

Once again, we have a big mess on our hands that smarter people could have avoided or ameliorated.  Pardon my dissent, but I expect a higher level of thinking from Western "leaders," especially the US foreign policy establishment.

My Predictions:

I predict the war will drag out, with a mumbly, lacunae-infested fizzle, status quo ante, with Russia still informally controlling the pace of events in the east, while Ukraine retains nominal sovereignty.  Europeans will mouth sanctimonious platitudes while doing nothing.

Five years from now, Germany and Europe will be importing Russian gas and oil, and will be enjoying pre-war Nato spending levels.

More importantly, what say you?

Musical Interlude

(For politics, please scroll down)

I first heard this song in June of 1992, played on a boom box, at my favorite cousin's best friends' funeral for their only son, who died at the same age as Eric Clapton's son Conor (Clapton's only son, too). 

Two weeks later, my beloved cousin Jack died suddenly and unexpectedly — massive heart attack at the age of 49, and I was the first notified.  I was the one who had to break the news to Jack's daughter and mother.  I heard an instrumental version this song once again at Jack's funeral. 

The story behind "Tears In Heaven," written as part of a father's grieving process:

"Tears in Heaven" is a ballad written by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings about the pain Clapton felt following the death of his four-year-old son, Conor, who fell from a window of the 53rd-floor New York apartment of his mother's friend, on March 20, 1991. Clapton...arrived at the apartment shortly after the accident....

Irony: Eric Clapton had been sober for several years when his son died.

[video: The whole story of Conor Clapton]

[the first time Eric Clapton played "Tears in Heaven" in public]

Get it Off Your Chest 4/22/22

Open Comments

Elon Musk

Unless you've been living under a rock for nearly a week, you've heard about this: Elon Musk Makes $43 Billion Unsolicited Bid to Take Twitter Private. 

Musk is apparently a "free speech absolutist."  Libertarians and others on the political right would love to see a "free speech absolutist" take over Twitter; the Left and other cancel culturists, not at all.

Conservative commentator Brian Lilley on this topic:

Another view: When Your "Public Square" Is a Private Company, Any Sulky Billionaire Can But It.

Your views on this topic?

Resurrection Day 2022

(For politics, please scroll down)

From Messiah, oratorio composed by George F. Handel (text):

I Corinthians 15:55, 57 (KJV):

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?...[T]hanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Holy Saturday 2022

(For politics, please scroll down)

Good Saturday, while our Lord lay in the tomb, should be a day of meditation. We should, most of all, contemplate our need for a Savior.

From George F. Handel's Messiah (Isaiah 53:6, KJV)

 

Isaiah 53:6, KJV:

All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way;
and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Good Friday 2022

(For politics, please scroll down)

The Lamb of God died for me!

From George F. Handel's Messiah (Isaiah 53:4-5, KJV): 

Related reading: Ed Bonderenka's essay What's so Good about Good Friday?

Unhinged Teachers

In my view, the individuals such as those below should be drummed out of the field of education. They aren't really teachers but rather _____________ [you fill in the blank]:

See the two relatively-mild examples embedded below:

Teachers are DESPERATE to talk to little kids about sex. It’s a disorder pic.twitter.com/6lWzpdWhBy

— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) March 27, 2022

Narcissistic Florida 1st grade teacher has breakdown over the thought of not being able to talk about her marriage pic.twitter.com/EZkG80z59U

— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) March 31, 2022

The madness is not limited to matters of "gender identity":

INSANE: Multiple parents have come forward with information on @WaunakeeCSD’s “furry protocol.” The school reportedly lets students identify and act like furries.

I called the school and they immediately got hostile and refused to answer if they indeed have a furry policy. pic.twitter.com/x4BRsPpRqX

— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) April 1, 2022

More madness at Libs of Tik Tok on Twitter.  Take just a few minutes to see posts on that site.

Child abuse in the name of "education"!  Malpractice of education!

Related reading: Child Sex Change Treatments Are A Hill Some LGBT Activists Are Willing To Die On.

Musical Interlude

(For politics, please scroll down)

Long-playing audio of serenity, desperately needed in today's world:

Index for the above:

0:00:00 J.S. Bach - Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068: II. Air 0:04:17 Brahms - Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90: III. Poco allegretto 0:10:17 Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor “Pathétique”: II Agagio cantabile 0:15:04 Marcello - Oboe Concerto in D Minor: II. Adagio 0:18:56 Ravel - Piano Concerto in G Major: II. Adagio Assai 0:28:15 Beethoven - Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 “Pastoral”: II Andante molto mosso (Szene am Bach) 0:40:56 Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37: II. Largo 0:53:40 Brahms - Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77: II. Adagio 1:03:23 Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 12 in C-Sharp Minor “Moonlight”: I. Adagio sostenuto 1:09:06 Grieg - Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46: I. Morning Mood 1:13:18 Chopin - Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor Op.11: II. Romance. Larghetto 1:24:05 Fauré - Élégie, Op. 24 1:30:34 Mahler - Symphony No. 5: IV. Adagietto. sehr langsam 1:38:51 Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467: II. Andante "Elvira Madigan" 1:44:54 Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18: II. Adagio sostenuto 1:56:01 Mozart- Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in A Major, K. 622: II. Adagio 2:03:21 Schubert - Symphony No. 5 in B-Flat Major, D. 485: II. Andante con moto 2:14:10 Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major K. 488: II. Andante 2:20:30 Tchaikovsky - Serenade for Strings, Op. 48: III. Élégie. Larghetto elegiac

Get it Off Your Chest 4/8/22

 Open Comments

Political Snuff Porn

Silverfiddle Rant!

Glenn Greenwald on Congressman Matt Gaetz:

"The Florida Congressman may one day be indicted and convicted. For now, this episode highlights the dangers and abuses of trying a person through media leaks." 

I plead guilty to thinking Gaetz was all but convicted of child sex trafficking and drug use.  The New York Times said so! I scoffed at Gaetz's claims that it was all part of an extortion scheme aimed at him and his parents.

Did you know this?

"A Florida developer and convicted felon “was arrested on a charge that he tried to extort $25 million from the father of Rep. Matt Gaetz in exchange for a presidential pardon that would shut down a high-profile, criminal sex-trafficking investigation into the Republican congressman.” In November, that developer, Stephen Alford, pled guilty to trying to extort $25 million from Rep. Gaetz and his family.

In other words, the only component of this story that has thus far been confirmed — a full year after the NYT first trumpeted it — is the part of Gaetz's denial where he insisted that all this arose from an extortion attempt." (Glenn Greenwald)

 Yes, "The Right" does it too...

Hunter Biden has not been charged with anything.  Rightwing outlets dishing catty church lady gossip about his drug addiction and sad behavior--complete with cringy, voyeuristic pictures--are no less guilty than the mainstream Democrat sewage geysers.  

Feeding the Addiction...

It's all purposely provocative and salacious, delivering a giddy limbic sugar high combo of sin and political ideology, today's sick version of snuff porn. 

So, we have a humongous media double-standard in the handling of Gaetz and Biden. On both sides.  The left has the upper hand only because they own the institutional flagships like the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, etc.

Please read the entire article.  Greenwald--one of the few remaining real American journalists--thoroughly and concisely explains the issue, and the reader is much better informed at the end of this short read.  A rarity in today's Infotainment Media Complex

Who's to blame for the debased condition of the media today?  

We are.  We are addicted to this crap.  The Infotainment Media smut peddlers are just giving us what we crave.

Progressives Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste

Silverfiddle Rant!

Tucker Carlson's right: Every time energy prices spike, giddy progressives rub their little hands together in anticipation of even higher prices, hoping that finally, this time, they can hijack trillion$ in government funds to "go green." See Ed Markey: Ditching fossil fuels makes even more sense now 

It's all pie-in-the-sky BS. If green energy were cheaper, energy producers in the US would be fighting and trampling each other to abandon carbon fuels and provide this mythical cheaper green energy to US consumers. They are not. 

To put your feet back down in Realityville, yahoogle Germany's Energiewende. That green initiative should have insulated them against gas and oil shocks. It has not. See:  Germany's Energy Fiasco 

After all the Germans' sacrifice, paying higher utility bills (doubled or more) to 'go green,' the German government is telling its citizens to brace themselves for higher prices and rationing.

Biden Owns the Gas Price Hikes

By this chart, Biden owns at least half of the gas price hikes since he took office. Actually, more, since--for some reason--drilling and extraction has not enjoyed a post-covid rebound under Biden.  Because of that, petroleum imports have skyrocketed since Biden took office.  See also:  EIA Projection 

Biden Owns Rampant Inflation

Biden also owns rampant inflation. To be charitable, our US government owns it, including Trump, who was president when some of the 'stimulus' and 'covid relief' was disbursed in the form of trillions of newly-printed dollars. Look at this US Inflation Chart.   Inflation spiked in 2021, the year Biden took office.  Russia Invaded Ukraine in February of 2022.  

Covid Relief Fraud

Bonus Reading:  Covid Fraud stole anywhere from $100 billion to half a trillion of our tax dollars

What say you?

The Actual Biden Agenda

The Biden Agenda for Green Energy as explained by Tucker Carlson. Even if you don't like Tucker Carlson, please watch and seriously consider what he says in the video below (about 13 minutes):

[link in case the above video doesn't work]

Our government is corrupt beyond words!

Musical Interlude

(For politics, please scroll down)

Enjoy Alan Silvestri's Academy Award nominated "Feather Theme" from the 1994 film Forrest Gump, one of my favorite films and one of those rare films better than the novel of the same title, by Winston Groom.  The images in the video below are unrelated to the film.

Read about the symbolism of the feather HERE.  I concur with Sally Fields:

Sally Field compared the feather to fate, saying: "It blows in the wind and just touches down here or there. Was it planned or was it just perchance?"

More of the complete soundtrack for the film Forrest Gump.  Golden Oldie's!

About composer Alan Silvestri (1950-present) HERE and HERE. 

Get it Off Your Chest 4/1/22

Open Comments