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Friday, March 30, 2018

Gun Grabbers' Goal and Their Perpetual Rants

(Image by Gary Varvel)

Last weekend saw breathless news coverage of the March to Confiscate Law Abiding Gun Owners' Guns  For Our Lives.  Ben Shapiro broke down David Hogg's speech.

The Five also followed-through examined the march.

But while gun-control activists continue their endless loop of Two Minutes of Hate, like their spokeskid calling NRA members "pathetic fuckers" they're ignoring the silent backlash that's brewing.

Paul Joseph Watson "supports" the Parkland Students.  (As in:  "never interrupt an enemy while making a mistake.")

The more the kids rant, the more people they'll motivate to buy guns, donate to the NRA--and vote.

On Tuesday, Former Chief Justice Stevens called for a repeal of the 2nd Amendment.

Derek Hunter said:  Go ahead and try it.

Ben Shapiro went one step further and said:  Do it, I dare you!

Other than Stevens' open call to repeal the 2nd Amendment, Kurt Schlichter reminded us that everything else leftists say about guns is a lie.

Even if they're not actually lying about guns, a lot of leftists can't define "assault weapons" and are ignorant of just about everything else about guns.

Eric Scheiner and Brittany Hughes take a humorous look at some of the cringe-worthy signs brandished by the protesters.

Despite the flame wars I got tangled-in the last time I posted something political on Facebook, I'll continue to do so as long as leftists refer to me as a "pathetic fucker," or brandish signs like this:
(Image and commentary by:  Benny Arthur Johnson)

Saturday, March 24, 2018

Facebook Fracas & Scandal Fallout


(Image by Henry Payne)

Just before St. Patrick's Day, a scandal erupted over Cambridge Analytical utilizing Facebook as a data mine to help Our Grand Nagus's 2016 campaign.

But as Tucker Carlson, (and cartoonist Henry Payne) point out, there's a data double standard in play.

Most of the backlash I've seen has been directed at Facebook, rather than Trump.

Advertisers are threatening to leave and users are deleting their accounts, or at least trying to.  (I know one person that's done it).

Whether anyone truly succeeds in deleting their account or not (because the Internet is Forever), the company that started out as a campus "Hot or Not" game is now struggling to extinguish the firestorm.


(Image by Steve Kelley)


I've enjoyed being on Facebook for the most part, and have tried to minimize the personal information I put on line.  I never post pictures of any trip, or event until it's over and I'm back home.

Censorship is another concern of mine, like Zuckergerg assuring German Chancellor Merkel he'll try to police-up anti-immigration speech.

Lately though, my main issue with Facebook has been with left-leaning users I call friends.

In the wake of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, I was fed up with the Endless Two Minutes of Hate that was spilling on to Facebook and directed at the National Rifle Association (NRA).  So near the end of February, I posted an article on my page which claimed millions RUSH to join the NRA because of the anti-gun rhetoric, to which I added my own comment and observation:

I don't have to rush to join the NRA. 
I've been a lifetime member for several years now.
The tactic currently employed by gun control activists--that of endlessly looping "Two Minutes of Hate" directed at law-abiding gun owners, and one of the associations they may be members of--appears to be counter-productive.
Not only can such attempts at "gun shaming" drive up NRA membership applications, but gun sales, applications for concealed weapons permits, and enrollment in gun safety classes also increase.
I'm sure gun-control activists don't see themselves as recruiters for the NRA, or spokesmen for arms manufacturers; but the the consequences of their actions--unintended or otherwise--is having that effect.


This brought an immediate reaction from some of the tabletop gamers, and writers I know.  What surprised me wasn’t so much the amount of negative reactions, as it was the intensity.  These people truly HATED the NRA.

I was told the NRA were a pack of fear mongers, blowhards, and even outright assholes.
To be honest, I get irritated when I’m constantly bombarded with requests for donations, and I often find their newsletters to be rather bombastic.

I wasn’t about to admit that to any of them.  No dissension among the ranks, and all that.

This turned out to be a harbinger of what was to come.

A few days into March, I posted the article about the adult supervision--and money--behind the "Children's Crusade.".

A handful of my high school alums saw this--and went batshit crazy.

The first person to comment accused me of suffering from oxygen deprivation.  And the “debate” went downhill from there.

The flame war lasted over three days.

Fortunately for me, several of my ex-military and federal government buddies were drawn to the conflict and rolled-in with supporting comments, and jokes (at my opponents expense) and scathing personal attacks of their own.

I should have reigned-in my friends, but I was still fuming over the oxygen deprivation, and subsequent personal attacks directed at me, along with the claim of the NRA being a terrorist organization.

Mud-slinging aside, we made every attempt to reason with them.

Even my attempts at humor failed to humor our opponents.  Despite feeling so angry, I tried to maintain my composure and responded with reasoned counterpoints.

However, the breaking point came when one guy told me that he lived in Chicago and the main problem is with gangs and people owning illegal weapons.  I responded that he proved my point that gun control laws would only affect law-abiding gun owners.

His response:

First, today's sane, law abiding citizens are tomorrow's mass murderers.

I wrote a response telling him how wrong he was to have such an attitude and that we couldn't have a rational discussion about gun control because we have no common ground.

Then as soon as I posted it, I unfriended him and two others.

While I haven't decided whether or not to leave Facebook altogether, I've decided I'll unfriend anyone who holds such an extreme view and considers me, along with my like minded friends to be Enemies of the State.

This also got me wondering if Facebook has been enabling the rancor among friends and family with opposing political social views.

When I post personal, or funny comments and links, I'd get a handful of responses.

I found it more than a mere coincidence that my post about the NRA was responded to immediately by people in my tabletop gaming group who had intense feelings against the organization, while my high school alums who are passionate about the "Children's Crusade" immediately saw my AstroTurf post.

This seems too much like specific targeting to me.

So I think Facebook's arcane algorithms are doing more than facilitating data mining. 

As more of Facebook's shenanigans come to light, who knows who will be bailing out on whom...

(Image by Steve Breen)

Sunday, March 18, 2018

Computing Forever, and Other Videos: What Has Britain Become?




What indeed.

Now that the St. Patrick's Day celebrations are over, we can talk about one of the problems plaguing the British Isles.

I've wanted to visit the UK ever since I can remember.

However, I'd rather not visit a place that allows jihadists to run rampant--and give them free housing--while recently detaining conservatives for simply wanting to talk about free speech, or against creeping sharia.

Paul Joseph Watson considers Britain is broken.

Brittany Pettibone and her beau talk about their detention, while Sargon of Akkad interviews Lauren Southern about her being banned from Britain, and Roaming Millennial interviews Tommy Robinson about "London Falling." 

In light of all this, I've pretty much taken the British Isles off my bucket list.

While I'm certainly not as pretty or popular as Brittany and Lauren, I wonder if I could even enter the UK.  All it would take is for someone in MI-5 to stumble across anything I've posted here on Station WTFO.

Maybe I'm thinking too highly of myself, but I'd rather continue my admiration of Great Britain from afar, and save myself from the hassles conservatives deal with daily from Her Majesty's Government.


Thursday, March 15, 2018

Hillary Falls Again--In More Ways Than One

(Image by Tom Stiglich)


Our Uncrowned Queen Hillary made the news a few days ago while in far-off India.

Her deplorable comments were really nothing new, just a continuation on how she was Ides of March'd during the 2016 Presidential Election.  The added twist was:  White women didn't vote for her because their menfolk told them not to.

I could go on and add lots o' links, but Guy Benson summed it up best:  Hillary Clinton--The Biggest, Sorest, Nastiest Loser.