write in David Brockert to replace Sen. Ron Johnson

challenge Sen. Johnson

Now that the Democrats are lining up to challenge Sen. Johnson, or whoever, for a Senate seat, I have some suggestions for ads.

The first is to take Sen. Johnson’s ad about how Sen. Feingold supported collecting data relevant to climate change. It showed a few men in lab coats chasing some cows with bottles to collect the flatulence from the cows. It can be noted, and someone can ask one who studies climate change and livestock, that Sen. Johnson does not know how science works. Is this someone we want as our senator, someone who has little if any idea of how science works?

A second is his ad about Sen. Feingold’s support for Obamacare, or whatever name it really has. Two women are chatting over a cup of coffee, and one asks if there is any government program that does not have corruption and fraud in it, so how can this health care system Sen. Feingold supports be any different? A good point, but Sen. Johnson supports building the wall between Mexico and the United States, and he used to think that Mexico was going to pay for it as well (I have a bridge I could sell such a gullible fellow), but the point about healthcare can be made about this wall. Why would he support the one and not the other? It can be considered that the costs to the taxpayer are really not all that different.

A third is the tax cuts and jobs act. I saw an ad of Sen. Johnson’s touting his support because workers will get paid more. Can anyone raise their hand because that actually happened to them? It is to be noted that he used to have a ticker on his webpage that showed the amount of the national debt, but now he has not done that. At one point it was just not counting anymore, now it is not there at all. I wonder why? He once said something about how politicians are not doing anything about the debt, “they just kick the can down the road.” Well, he is following suit, and making it worse by voting for the military spending bill Pres. Biden signed, and then objecting to the Build Back Better bill. Basically one is really important, and the other would just raise the national debt. I think that both are really important, and would raise the national debt, but somehow he figures that the two are not the same.

He also thinks that Mr. Trump won the 2020 election for president, and that the riot on 6 January was not so bad. He also thinks it would have been worse if it was Black Lives Matter rioters. His thoughts about it mimic the thoughts that caused us to have the second amendment to the Constitution. See “The Second – Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America,” Carol Anderson (Author) for reference.

Now that the Democrats are lining up to challenge Sen. Johnson, or whoever, for a Senate seat, I have some suggestions for ads.

A third is the tax cuts and jobs act. I saw an ad of Sen. Johnson’s touting his support because workers will get paid more. Can anyone raise their hand because that actually happened to them? It is to be noted that he used to have a ticker on his official Senate web page that showed the amount of the national debt, but now he has not done that. At one point it was just not counting anymore, now it is not there at all. I wonder why? He once said something about how politicians are not doing anything about the debt, “they just kick the can down the road.” Well, he is following suit, and making it worse by voting for the military spending bill Pres. Biden signed, and then objecting to the Build Back Better bill. Basically he says that one is really important, and the other would just raise the national debt. I think that both are really important, and would raise the national debt, but somehow he figures that the two are not the same.

But back to his belief that Pres. Trump won the election in 2020, he says something must have been skewed wit the election system. There must have been some systemic faults that made it so Pres. Trump lost. Is he thinking that our elected city and county clerks are not doing their jobs right? I am sure he does not want to disparage them, but how can it be that Pres. Biden won? It is just not believable!! Yeah, and he can alwo think the sky is green, but the rest of us know better.

Now that the Democrats are lining up to challenge Sen. Johnson, or whoever, for a Senate seat, I have some suggestions for ads.

A third is the tax cuts and jobs act. I saw an ad of Sen. Johnson’s touting his support because workers will get paid more. Can anyone raise their hand because that actually happened to them? It is to be noted that he used to have a ticker on his official Senate web page that showed the amount of the national debt, but now he has not done that. At one point it was just not counting anymore, now it is not there at all. I wonder why? He once said something about how politicians are not doing anything about the debt, “they just kick the can down the road.” Well, he is following suit, and making it worse by voting for the military spending bill Pres. Biden signed, and then objecting to the Build Back Better bill. Basically he says that one is really important, and the other would just raise the national debt. I think that both are really important, and both would raise the national debt, but somehow he figures that the two are not the same.

But back to his belief that Pres. Trump won the election in 2020, he says something must have been skewed with the election system. There must have been some systemic faults that made it so Pres. Trump lost. Is he thinking that our elected city and county clerks are not doing their jobs right? I am sure he does not want to disparage them, but how can it be that Pres. Biden won? It is just not believable!! Reality is what it is, he can think the sky is green, but the rest of us know better.

a letter to the editor

a letter to the editor (Pecatonica Valley Leader, Thursday, 6 January 2022, Vol. 24, Num. 17, pg.3) from David –
I was happy to see the letter to the editor in a previous issue about why that person was not getting vaccinated, and by the way, this goes for not wearing masks, somewhat, too. I am a good Libertarian, so I support his choice. My real objection comes when it affects my pocketbook.

You can quote all the statistics you want in support of your view. That does not matter. Statistics are like the Bible, you can pull out whatever meaning you want from them. You just have to look hard enough. He has made his choice, and I am sure his facts and figures were found after he decided what his choice would be. We all do that to an extent.

But if he gets sick, what happens? If he has to be hospitalized, who will pay for his hospital bill – Medicare, insurance, benevolence of the hospital? Whatever, it will eventually trickle down to everyone else. To spell it out, even if you paid in for Medicare or premiums, you should not think that those organizations will just pick up the tab. They will up the taxes or premium because you are not the only unvaccinated needing to hospitalized. The hospital will tap the generosity of donors, but that can only go so far, ya know. But that is not his problem, you just know he will not ‘man up’ and pay for it himself.

Speaking of hospitals, they are saying they are at their limit, & the workers are getting burned out. But his concern is acting as he feels is right. Maybe he feels that it is terrible, as we all do how the Covid-19 has hurt the hospitals & their workers, but what can he do about it, and still act as he feels is right? Another conservative thinking, “Well, I am all right, why should I care about you?” I admit it is an oversimplification, and he can say “It is my right to make this choice as an American citizen,” but the other side of the coin is “Well, I am all right, why should I care about you?”

“The 39 Steps” by John Buchan, © 1915

This is a companion novel for “The Riddle of the Sands.” Both were written and published before World War I, so give a perspective of the British military that is not normally read of. These are works of fiction, but still there is some basis in the facts of the times, or they would be fantasy. Both are stories of spies. “The Riddle of the Sands” is of a spy for the English exploring the Flemish coast. This is of German spies infiltrating the highest levels of the British military.

Mr. Hannay has returned to London, England, after making a bit of a fortune in South Africa. He has been there for long enough he wants to leave he is so bored. He is accosted by some fellow, Scudder, who said he has been living in the same building for a while, and has seen Mr. Hannay coming and going. Scudder considered that Mr. Hannay would be a proper fellow to trust. Part of that trust is that he must allow Scudder to live in his apartment for a time. Scudder is worried that some fellows have found him out, and he wants to prevent them from starting WWI. He explains it to Mr. Hannay, so Mr. Hannay agrees to help.

But four or five days later, Mr. Hannay comes home to Scudder dead from a knife. Now Mr. Hannay is scared that more than he thought he should before. What is worse is that he can be blamed for the murder, yet he must stay free to at least try to accomplish the goals that Scudder can not. Mr. Hannay hightails it to Scotland, where he has some adventures, and stays one step ahead of the law and the spies that Scudder was avoiding.

At last, about a day or two before everything Scudder predicted to happen, Mr. Hannay comes to know a fellow who knew most of what Scudder knew, and wants to help Mr. Hannay. They travel back to London, meet with some other folks, and decide what is to be done, and do it.

In the end, everything turns out all right, but it is a close shave. Mr. Hannay was not so bored then, and when the war does start, he knows Britain has a good chance of winning because of what happened a few weeks before.

Get over it!

Joe and Kamala won! You may disagree, or you may feel it was stolen, or something, but so what? It is a done deal. Get over it! I have seen bumper stickers and window dressing saying, “Trump 2024 F*** your feeling” uh, yeah, it is too bad, but really it is not our feelings that are hurt. We can accept the voting and the election results. We did in 2016, and we can in 2024. Obviously it is you and your feelings that are hurt. If I could I would show you the world’s smallest violin playing for you, but I am sure you get the message.

Now, about the 2024 election, how would it be if Mr. Trump if for some reason he was banned or prohibited from being in the race for president, how would you feel? What would you do? More insurrection? More whining and crying about how the election is rigged, or something? Again, get over it, he lost in 2020, and, if he can not run in 2024, maybe he should have played by the rules, or obeyed the law.

Election

I wonder if we really have a republic? After all the populace votes for candidates to represent us in various roles of our government, yet now we find it does not count in the case of this presidential election, so maybe we are not a republic, but some sort of weird other thing, partly one, partly another. Our Sen. Johnson is heck bent on keeping Pres. Trump in office because?? he agrees with his politics? He is a very special person who deserves to be reelected? He is an icon of what Sen. Johnson believes in? Whatever the reason, it sure throws out our reason for voting – why bother if the powers that be ignore the choices our voting indicates? I know plenty of folks who felt that way since forever, so they never voted, but now the rest of us are being shown it is so very, very true.

Victims versus Victors

I wrote an answer to a letter to the editor of the Pecatonica Valley Leader in response to previous letter published 2 July 2020.

Editor,

    I do not want to put your paper in the middle of a debate, but I must answer a letter that you published last week. Hopefully I will have my say and that will be it.

    The writer was bemoaning the fact that those who are protesting are not just taking it up for themselves to solve the problem, instead of rioting and causing problems. I think he is missing the point. They can not do anything about it – the system has to adjust so that these minorities will be treated as well as white people. Individually they can and do make wonderful lives for themselves, but they live in fear of something happening, because they are a minority, they lose it all and there is nothing they can do about it (do think those lynchings of 75 years ago did not affect, send a message to the people in the black community?). Police brutality was the fuse this time. Way back when it was segregation (Rosa Parks); then it was voting rights; now it is police treatment of them, read the justice system, not just brutality, but also incarceration and fines levied by the justice system. These folks are just trying to get a fair shake. One of the grievances against King George III in the Declaration of Independence was “For protecting them (armed troops), by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:” I am sure people of the colonial era thought the system of justice was fair, by and large, but, obviously, the signers of the Declaration did not agree. With every time a minority is killed by a police officer in the line of duty, and he is brought to trial, he gets away with it. He is absolved of any wrongdoing. Gosh, I would sure feel like the officers were just given a mock trial, too. Then there is the spectacle of the groups of police officers supporting their own when called to answer for some wrong, like knocking down that 72 year old man in Buffalo, or shooting that fellow in the back in Atlanta. That I can not understand – they did wrong and you think it is ok??!!

    Enough of this. I disagree with the previous writer.

Thank you,

David Brockert

Dear Editor,

“There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs – partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.

A story told me by a coloured man in South Carolina will illustrate how people sometimes get into situations where they do not like to part with their grievances. In a certain community there was a coloured doctor of the old school, who knew little about modern ideas of medicine,but who in some way had gained the confidence of the people and had made considerable money by his own peculiar methods of treatment. In this community there was an old lady who happened to be pretty well provided with this world’s goods and who thought that she had a cancer. For twenty years she had enjoyed the luxury of having this old doctor treat her for that cancer. As the old doctor became — thanks to the cancer and to other practice — pretty well-to-do, he decided to send one of his boys to a medical college. After graduating from the medical school, the young man returned home, and his father took a vacation. During this time the old lady who was afflicted with the “cancer” called in the young man, who treated her; within a few weeks the cancer (or what was supposed to be the cancer) disappeared, and the old lady declared herself well.

When the father of the boy returned and found the patient on her feet and perfectly well, he was outraged. He called the young man before him and said: ‘My son. I find that you have cured that cancer case of mine. Now, son, let me tell you something. I educated you on that cancer. I put you through high school, through college, and finally through the medical school on that cancer. And now you, with your new ideas of practising medicine, have come here and cured that cancer. Let me tell you,son, you have started all wrong. How do you expect to make a living practicing medicine in that way?”

Booker T. Washington wrote these words in his book My Larger Education, pp. 118-119, published 1911. Yes, 1911! Booker’s wisdom is needed more than ever today. What fools we are. The father doctor is the white guilt enabler. No matter the color, there are 2 kinds of people in the world, victors and victims. The mindset of the person determines which he or she will be. If Black Lives Matter cared about Black lives it would denounce Black cop assassinations and Black on Black violence, but its web site is mute! Hey BLM, 104 Blacks were shot in Chicago over Father’s Day weekend with 14 mostly children killed. Does 3 year old Mekhi James’ life matter? Your silence is deafening! Instead of advocating policies to strengthen Black families, BLM wants to “disrupt” nuclear families. There is no love stronger than that of a mother and father guided by the love of God and his son Jesus Christ. There is no mention of the greatest Black civil rights leader, MLK, or God at BLM’s web site. MLK was Christian, a constitutionalist, and a capitalist. BLM is none of those. BLM doesn’t honor MLK because it condones violence. BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors is an admitted Marxist. It is a Marxist, victimhood based, police hating political party.

Racism doesn’t prevent Blacks from success today.

The destruction of the family with about 75% single parent households is by far the biggest factor.

There are many kinds of privilege. Obama’s daughters are privileged with wealth and great education and more. Asian, Indian, and Jewish Americans all have higher average incomes than whites. No one asks about their privilege. White privilege is racist Democrat BS because racism is an industry and helps Democrats keep power. In an interview with Don Lemon,Morgan Freeman said race doesn’t have anything to do with wealth distribution. He said using race as an excuse is “kind of like religion”. “It’s a good excuse for not getting there (to success).”

When Lemon was telling Freeman that not everyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps, Freeman said “Bullsh..”“Courage is the key to life itself.”

He then told Lemon about the power of belief. Colleges that promote racist white privilege garbage need to be defunded, not the police. Multi-millionaire ‘victim’ Cohn Kaepemick went to Ghana in 2017 on Independence Day, July 4, to find his personal independence. What this ignoramus failed to learn about is the slavery going on today in Ghana, Benin, Togo, and Nigeria. (www.freetheslaves.net)

Blacks enslave Black children in the fishing and gold industries today. The American slave trade too, couldn’t have occurred where it not for the African chiefs and African traders who sold their captives for profit. Slavery of Blacks by Blacks existed before Europeans arrived in Africa. Slavery never ended in Africa. No people on Earth are free from a history of enslaving others, but only white people are made guilty of it.

Victimhood is self-slavery. There is no limit to the amount of evil a person can do once it is believed. White guilt is its spouse. Anarchists, ‘victims’, BLM, and their Democrat Party enablers will destroy the best country on Earth unless you act. Look at the cities they have run for decades now! Crime is rampant and getting much worse, education is abysmal, and their solution is to get rid of the police! That is the common sense definition of insanity.

A solution out of the abyss of victimhood is offered by Dr. Ben Carson’s mother, Sonya Carson. She saved Ben and his brother’s life as a single mother in inner city Detroit with a free library card and loving discipline. She taught her sons that the person that has the most power to make a difference in their lives is themselves. The Carson brothers grew up in worse racial times, but Ben became one of the world’s best brain surgeons and his brother an engineer. Sonja is my hero. She is an American hero. Victory over victim- hood. Free at last!

Gregory Erickson, Dodgeville.

the risks – know them avoid them

Erin Bromage “The Risks – Know Them, Avoid Them”

Jonathan Kay “Enough With the Phoney ‘Lockdown’ Debate” (on Quillette)

As it turns out opening the country is like having sex. If you take proper precautions, there will be no problem. If you do not, it is not absolute that you will have problems, just more likely. Like sex, opening the country can be personal (liberty!! – you can go out to a restaurant for supper, but how can you eat & enjoy your meal wearing a mask? You might just as well get take out and eat at home), or directed by government oversight, but either way, you have to act safely.

These two articles make the point that all is not lost because Pres. Trump is worried that if the economy does not rev up soon, he will lose the election, or something. I do not listen much to people who think they are God’s gift to the world, so I do not know what his reasoning for opening the country is, but to enhance his reelection is my cynical thought on the issue.

In the first article begins with a bit of analysis of the facts of what we are doing. The up slope of the cases, or deaths, or whatever, has a down slope that is the mirror image of the up slope. This simply means that we are not gong to be over the challenges of the pandemic just because we have gotten to the downward side. He points out that opening the country too soon will create more problems than it solves, but that is a whole other ball of wax that is not something we can do anything about.

What we can do is pay attention to proper safety measures that will decrease our exposure to the virus. It is explained how the virus is spread needs time and exposure. Just because some one with the disease passes you on the sidewalk, does not mean you are going to be infected – there is not enough time to acquire the virus so you would be sick. Another problem that he does not mention, though, is that this can only happen when the other is already infected. If they do not have the disease, they can not infect you with it. The bigger question is how do you know? You do not, so you act as if they are – an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

The rest of the article tells of situations where the disease has been passed en masse, outbreak clusters.

The second is not the article that inspired the first, but it is pertinent. It explains that people are not stupid. They took care of what needed to done before the government told them. Sort of gives you hope for mankind, eh? It also means that just because the country opens up, people will act like normal. They will behave in safe and cautious ways, just as before. They are not going to put themselves in harms just because the government says they can.

“Donald Trump, American Idiot” by Umair Haque

I was happy to read Mr. Fanlund’s article about the American idiot. Before I read that article, I read the one he referenced, “Donald Trump, American Idiot” by Umair Haque. I was surprised at how appropriate the title fit the politics or Pres. Trump, and his followers. But after reading that I went back to Mr. Fanlund’s article and read it. I was a bit disappointed that Mr.. Fanlund did not give any solutions or work arounds or anything. It was just his thoughts on what the other article said. That was fine, it gave me the words to express some thoughts I have been having, but not the ability to verbalize them. One important instance is “our culture embraces individualism as a smokescreen for selfishness.” As a good Libertarian, I support individualism, but that is not selfishness, that is being able, within reason, to do things as you want to. I am ashamed when some folks use it to ‘line their own nests,’ as the two articles point out. To be an individualist does preclude working for the greater good, but some figure, “Why bother?” or “I will just help myself here,” and that is not right.

But my main point in writing this is that I was looking for some answers from Mr. Fanlund. He did not fail me, he was not writing that sort of article. I will have to figure out solutions for myself, so it goes. I write letters to the editor, I vote, and I try to be the person my dog thinks I am. When I write letters to the editor, I send them on to Sen. Johnson, but you know he does not read them. Why would he bother? He has hired help to do that so he he can read only the ones that support his views or offer him campaign money. His hired help can tell I am not going to vote for him, in fact I am running a write in campaign to replace him, so why bother the important one with my simplistic, sniveling notes? Even if they did show him a letter I wrote, it would not make a dent – he has his points of view, and any argument I bring up is not so good it would change his mind. If you think about it,. Neither of these articles would touch Sen. Johnson’s, or others who agree with his views, soul. The articles would be just ignored as liberal pattering, trying to prove something that is so simple to prove wrong, why bother reading that article? In the end, I will not change what I do, I will write letters to the editor, I will vote, and I will try to be the person my dog thinks I am. It is all a simple working stiff can do. If you have other solutions, am willing to listen, or, rather, read letters to the editor for them.

Response to COVID-19 in Taiwan

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762689 Even the comments are interesting. I have not read the full article, so I do not know what all Taiwan did, but, obviously, it worked, and we did not copy. I am sure that Sen. Johnson will claim that the federal government has been very successful in dealing with the pandemic, just not as successful as Taiwan, mostly because our country is so much larger, or something along the line of how great we are making it hard to do as they did. I am sure that there are civil liberties issues that would complicate the matter as well.

Now I have read it. I have heard that in January & February, Pres. Trump wanted to damp down news of the Corona virus because he thought it would affect the stock market in a bad way, thereby hurting his reelection. To me it sounds like something he would do – putting politics, his reelection, ahead of the well being of the American people.

This article tells me that Taiwan went overboard in it’s response, but that is in foresight. Now it was a good, very good, response. I think the figures are some 400 confirmed cases, and 6 deaths, out of a population of 27 million. It was also a response prompted by it being shunned by the international community. More power to them! But, as mentioned elsewhere, the ‘facts’ we had were not accurate, so, ya know, garbage in, garbage out. Now it is all too late for us to do as Taiwan did. We will just have to muddle through as best we can.

compensating political activists

I find it slightly hilarious that the protesters carried rifles to the protest. Who do they think they will shoot? But, really, I figure that they are just ‘compensating,’ like Pres. Trump with his sex workers. “They are asserting their rights!” Ya, sure, they are. (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).