Scrooge (still crazy after all these years!) 😉

Absolutely. We pushed an entire generation toward four year degrees while simultaneously looking down on skilled trades, and now we’re paying the price for it. There are union trades where you earn while you learn, receive healthcare, retirement benefits, and in many cases an actual pension, something increasingly rare today. Electricians, welders, machinists, pipefitters, HVAC, aviation maintenance, heavy equipment operators, linemen, shipbuilding, precision manufacturing…these are highly skilled professions that keep the country running. Not everyone is meant to sit behind a desk staring at spreadsheets and PowerPoints for 40 years. We need builders, makers, mechanics, fabricators, and problem solvers again. South Park actually nailed this years ago with the “handyman apocalypse” episode. It was satire, but there was a lot of truth in it. Everybody was pushed toward college and white collar careers while the trades were treated as “less than.” Now the person who can actually fix your plumbing, electrical, HVAC, or aircraft is one of the most valuable people in the country. Trade schools and apprenticeships should be viewed as equal paths to success, not a backup plan. For many young people, they may actually be the smarter financial decision. And honestly, the trades also provide something else our society desperately needs: an amazing second chance. A lot of people who struggled in traditional school environments, made mistakes when they were younger, came back from military service, divorce, addiction, or hard times found purpose, dignity, stability, and pride in skilled work. There is tremendous honor in building and fixing things that matter.

“The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” Happy Birthday to Mitch Albom. A beautiful reminder that purpose is rarely found in status or possessions, but in service, connection, and the things we create that outlive us. Good morning, everyone. ☕

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” — Benjamin Franklin I have been thinking about that quote a lot lately. Maybe it’s because I belong to that strange bridge generation between the analog world and the digital one. Generation Jones and early Gen X grew up free in a way younger generations can barely imagine now. We left the house in the morning and our parents had no idea where we were until the streetlights came on. We drove across town with no GPS, no cell phone tracking, no cameras on every corner, and no digital trail following us every second of the day. And somehow society still functioned. Now before someone accuses me of being anti technology or paranoid, let me be clear: I am not against security systems. One of the companies I owned years ago was a low voltage contracting business. I installed alarms, sensors, cameras, and access control systems. I understand exactly why many of these systems exist. If a window breaks in my home, I want the alarm company notified. That is targeted security protecting private property. But what concerns me is how quickly we normalized mass surveillance. License plate readers everywhere. Traffic cameras everywhere. Phones constantly tracking location. Facial recognition systems. Smart devices listening in our homes. Individually, every one of these systems sounds reasonable. That is how it happens. Each step sounds logical. Each step sounds harmless. Each step sounds temporary. Until one day you realize your entire life is being recorded, logged, analyzed, stored, and searchable. What especially strikes me is that I remember when Americans were horrified by the surveillance systems used in Communist China. Twenty years ago we openly discussed how frightening it was that citizens were constantly monitored. Now we voluntarily carry sophisticated tracking devices in our pockets and call it convenience. And before anyone says “if you have nothing to hide, why worry?” understand this: Privacy is not secrecy. Privacy is dignity. Privacy is autonomy. Privacy is the ability to exist without constant observation. Human beings behave differently when they know they are always being watched. In my line of work, you are trained to think about worst case scenarios. You do not judge systems only by how they function when good people are in charge. You evaluate what happens if bad people gain access to them. That is not paranoia. That is responsible risk assessment. A surveillance system is only as trustworthy as the network protecting it, and right now our cybersecurity landscape is frankly alarming. Breaches, ransomware attacks, infrastructure hacks, and database compromises happen constantly. Every connected system eventually becomes a target. So the question is not simply whether today’s authorities would abuse these tools. The question every free society must ask is: What happens someday if the wrong people control them? This is not a simple argument against technology. Many of these systems have protected innocent people and solved terrible crimes. Security matters. Safety matters. But freedom matters too. And freedom is usually not lost all at once. It disappears gradually, piece by piece, often in exchange for the promise of safety. I do not think we should stop protecting people. I do think we should be very careful before accepting a world where every movement, every interaction, and every aspect of our lives is permanently monitored. Because once a society becomes comfortable with constant surveillance, it may eventually forget what freedom felt like in the first place.

Back in the day they used to call me an “Oreo”: black on the outside, white on the inside. 5 decades later I get it. They mean I’m… normal. Up until I turned 57, I thought I was a liberal. I loved and got along with everybody. I never judged people. I obeyed the laws, paid my taxes, and just wanted everyone to be safe and happy. Then Trump came along and the world lost its mind. Suddenly, I was expected to: Hate white people Hate Jewish people Hate Christians Hate the unborn Fear the weather Fear the flu Support child sex changes Want criminals set free Not want a border Love illegal immigration And want every country to get more money and attention than my own. That’s when I realized I wasn’t the one who changed. I became a WHITE CONSERVATIVE, not because I fell in love with the Republican Party, but because I love my country. If that makes me a "TOM," or any of the other racist things the left calls me, so be it. I wear it proudly. God Bless the USA🇺🇸

Who’s ready to see Adam Schiff go to jail for the Russian collusion hoax, mortgage fraud, and J6 committee lies? He’s tagged in this post! Let him hear you.

I'm losing lots and lots more followers today because I am glad Thomas "Look at ME!" Massie lost. So I might as well go all in and purge all the freaks from my follower base. There are hundreds of nations and thousands of interest groups that constantly seek to influence American public policy. If the only nation doing that which you are bothered by is Israel, and if the only PAC doing that which you are bothered by is AIPAC, and if you drone on incessantly, endlessly and vigorously about Israel/AIPAC and no OTHER NATION OR PAC, rational, intelligent people know why that is. It's because you are an antisemite. And if you want to say "Oh you are so wrong, I'm bothered by ALL nations and PACs attempting to influence US policy," but literally the only time you ever mention it in your X feed is in the context of Israel, you are an antisemite. Don't like that? Want to unfollow me because I said that? Good. Beat it.