Les Govment

A Republican In Name Only by Les Govment revised 5-13-2023 127 views Anyone very familiar with me on Twitter is aware that I'm a fan of Rand Paul. Of people who have been in Congress, only Ron Paul comes closer to me than Rand on the issues.   Neither of the Pauls have been labeled as RINO's. Former President Donald Trump has not been labeled a RINO, either. The RINO label has mainly been reserved for the likes of people like Lindsey Graham and Mitt Romney, who definitely deserve the label. (Frankly, I think a lot of the Republicans in Congress deserve the RINO label.) I'm glad that Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016. Trump governed better than Clinton would've, and in his first 3 years, Trump governed better than I expected. He cut regulations-- which made doing business in America more attractive. His foreign policy was more restrained than his two predecessors. And he improved the line up at the Supreme Court. Then covid hit.   Instead of rejecting the nonsens...

HEARTBEATS AND BRAINWAVES Protecting the unborn as best we can   by Les Govment authored 2021 175 views                                                     Throughout my adult years, I have written dozens of letters-to-the-editor that were published in newspapers, and several op-eds that were published, as well. As I recall, I wrote about abortion only once. My reasons for not writing much about abortion years ago were threefold: First, my beliefs about abortion fluctuated through my 20's and 30's. Secondly, being male and single, I expected that I was never going to have to face the issue of abortion in my personal life-- so I felt that whatever I believed about abortion wasn't very important. Finally, I felt that babies that got aborted were probably better off than if they were born into situations where they were so unwanted. For the record, I h...

THE LEFT'S AUTHORITARIAN SLIPPERY-SLOPE Many on the left have become quite intolerant authored August-December 2016 by Les Govment   572 views Educators and historians typically classify Nazism as being politically on the right, often labeling it "far right." That's no surprise, since most educators are on the political left. As for the politics of historians, I think it's safe to say it's likely that a sizable portion of historians are also left-of-center. Given the groupthink that dominates the politically-engaged left, it would be quite difficult to find an American progressive who wouldn't adamantly insist that Nazism should retain its right-wing classification. That classification has become old and worn out, unsound and outdated. I'm glad to see that many people have come to see that the Nazis were not conservatives. Since "conservative" and "right-wing" are basically synonyms, it's illogical to categorize Nazism as right-...

TERRIBLE TERMS OF SERVICE Why I'm not on GETTR by Les Govment 59 views Recently, a huge number of people started accounts on GETTR, which was founded by former Trump aide, Jason Miller. Many of my Twitter follows were among those who started accounts early in January 2022. So, naturally, I wanted to start a GETTR account of my own. Here's why I haven't, thus far. I went to GETTR's website and cruised though their Terms of Use. To make a long story short, it was the most complicated terms of use/service for social media I've ever seen. I haven't done a word count on their Terms, but it must be at least twice as long as Twitter's TOS. Like many websites, GETTR's Terms includes an Indemnity section (you, know, that section where you agree to pay for damages from some mystical, inadvertent act on your part or by some third party). GETTR's Indemnity section is about as bad as any I've ever read. Ditto for Trump's Truth Social. It is unreasonable f...

THE LEFT IS THE REAL PROBLEM Generational blaming won't fix anything by Les Govment 26 views Generational labels have never meant much to me. Heck, I went through nearly 4 decades of adulthood oblivious to the fact that I was born in a year that is considered part of the Baby Boom years. I always thought that Baby Boomers were folks born about 5-15 years before me. And I feel like I probably have more in common with older Gen X-ers than with older Boomers. Having disclosed all of that, I have to ask: Why should generational labels even matter to anyone? The stereotype of a generation doesn't apply to the whole generation, or even a majority of it. I've been watching Lauren Southern's videos since 2017. She's insightful, articulate and wise beyond her age. When I started my Twitter account in 2018, Lauren was the first person I "followed." In her thoughtful video, Why Young People Won't Work , Lauren admirably held out an olive branch to Baby Boomers. S...

DISGRACES OF THE PAST TWO YEARS I don't recognize many western countries A thread of tweets by Alex Jenkins, Feb. 2022 69 views I've been thinking about this the past night or so. With the way we've been going in what are supposed to be Western, liberal, constitutional democracies over the past 2 years, how can we really prove that we are morally superior to awful regimes like the People's Republic of China, Russia, etc.? Especially when we have Canada seizing bank accounts merely suspected to have taken part in the truckers' protests. So many countries in Europe (and other places) are turning people into second class citizens over whether they've had the vaccine or not. And among other disgraces over the past 2 years, businesses have been shut down or severely restricted in how they operate on what could only be described as the shakiest of evidence. How can the West regain moral superiority? Quite often, I don't recognize many western countries-- especiall...

Lauren Southern Is On To Something by Les Govment 73 views Government and big corporations have both contributed to today's poor economic and social/cultural conditions. Government has over-taxed and over-spent. Big corporations (some) have lapped up bailout money and/or subsidies from government.   Most Americans have not benefited from the economic coziness between government and corporations. Simply put, most jobs don't pay enough for one bread winner to support a modest sized family.  And that's quite unfortunate, to put it mildly. On the social/cultural front, government and big corporations (some) have also had a detrimental effect on society. They've joined in on the divisive false narrative about racism. They've also joined in on false narratives about gender/sex, which have had a detrimental psychological effect on vulnerable young people and kids. Lauren Southern is not a newcomer in her awareness of the aforementioned problems. And, as one born in the Bab...

GOOD SEX, BAD SEX: The sexual revolution has produced a devaluing of sex by Les Govment 41 views I regard human sexuality as something that is both good and important. Unfortunately, there are forces in society which counter that. For several decades, the sexual revolution has been permeating society, having a bad effect on our culture and on the sexual behavior of a broad range of people. It's sad that sexual self-control isn't the highly-valued norm that it should be. It's sad that so few value abstinence while single. Sex education in public schools has accomplished nothing good. Teaching students about sex with no moral perimeters has resulted in more teen pregnancies. And it's disgusting that some school teachers tell students how to do alternative forms of sex-- namely, oral and anal sex. Speaking of which, it's also disappointing to see so many adults on Twitter crowing about the alternate forms of sex they engage in. Whatever happened to the days when adults...

Why I Hope Trump Doesn’t Run In 2024 & DeSantis Does   by Just Mindy (Originally posted on my previous blog on 6-9-2022) 75 views Why I hope Trump doesn’t run in 2024 & DeSantis does (caveat: if Trump is the candidate, I will vote for him.)   1. Trump's age. He will be 78.  We need to stop electing anyone this old IMO. We all know faculties can decline quickly at that age and we, as a country, can’t risk that. 2. Ego. Trump still wants to relitigate 2020 & his poor treatment by the press & Russiagate etc. I understand his anger, I do. I just think our country is in such bad shape, we need someone who is laser focused on turning the mess around, not revenge. 3. Supportive Partner. I don’t think it’s a secret Melania didn’t enjoy politics.  Casey DeSantis is savvy, young, and has experience managing hostile Media. She is a confidant. 4. DeSantis has military experience. Our military needs a leader who knows how to pull it back from the precipice of all ...

REVISITING WACO Not geographically, but in memory by Les Govment 160 views  It was a crisp autumn day in 1984 when I first met Jimmy Riddle outside the entrance to a church in Waco, Texas. As I approached the entrance, he greeted me and introduced himself. Shortly thereafter we found ourselves engaged in conversation. We had gotten so caught up in the conversation that by the time we were done, the church service inside was coming to an end. Jimmy told me he was a member of the Branch Davidians, who were split into two groups at the time. One group-- which Jimmy was a part of-- followed David Koresh and were staying in a house in Waco. The other group was loyal to George Roden, son of the Davidians' founder. Roden controlled Mt Carmel Center, which was the Davidians’ residential and church property, just east of Waco. (For the record, I never met Koresh or Roden.) I eventually visited Jimmy at the house in Waco. There I met several other Davidians, including a man about 60 named Pe...

RAND PAUL 2024 by Les Govment 39 views I'm glad that Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016. We ended up with a much better Supreme Court than if Hillary were President. The rollback of regulations under Trump was another good thing, too. Also, Trump didn't expand our military presence in the Middle East. Unfortunately, we also got some bad things from Trump-- the bump stock ban, Dr. Fauci, and Covid bills full of corporate welfare/pork, to name a few. Because of Trump's failures on those matters (and other matters) and the fact that he did nothing to try to stop Congress' excessive spending, we need someone else in the White House-- someone who understands the Constitution and economics better than Trump. I nominate Senator Rand Paul. Sen. Paul has a solid history of opposing interventionist wars, opposing deficit spending, and opposing government measures that violate our constitutional rights. He also pushed back hard against Fauci in Congressional hearings. Ron D...

Conservatives and Libertarians Should Work Together compilation of a thread of tweets by Jesse Kelly 48 views The governors-shouldn’t-stop-vaccine-mandates camp is missing a critical thing about life. Maybe they’re missing it on purpose. Maybe it’s genuine. I suspect it’s a mixture of both. The simple fact is, not every political system is made for every time and place. It is not 1910; it's 2021. This is a different time and we are a different country. Decades of federal interference in private markets has turned them into one entity with one purpose. No major corporation is going to take on the government. They’ll be steamrolled out of existence. In some cases (the airlines), they owe their existence to federal bailout money. Which brings us to the American citizen having his civil liberties assaulted. What protection does he have? You’re arguing about what governors should or shouldn’t do, but what about the helpless citizen? What do you say to him?  Some say, Governors shouldn’t...

Blogger's note: The article presented here was originally authored 2013-2014, with some revisions made since then -- Les Govment FAMILY MATTERS Reviving the family is essential to society's future   by Les Govment 133 views   If you are middle-aged or older, you’ve probably noticed that the traditional, biological family isn’t as tenacious as it was in the past. Certainly, there still are good, tight-knit families in America. But families in general aren't as cohesive as families used to be.   The decline of the traditional family spans several decades, and a variety of things-- including personal, cultural, and political culprits-- have contributed to that downward slide. However, I’m not going to go into detail here about the causes of the decline of the family. For now, it’s sufficient to say that the sexual revolution and some elements of the feminist movement certainly played roles in weakening the family.   We can see the disheartening evidence of the weakened ...