Not Voting For Socialists - The Rational Option

 We unfortunately have a crop of people who are philosophically aligned with the Democrat Socialists of America and who have infiltrated the Democrat Party to run as DNC candidates.  I'm asking my friends to take some advice from Nancy Reagan.

Just say "no".

Socialism in all of its forms (communism, socialism, progressivism, statism) hurts society.  At the worst, socialist governments have murdered over one hundred million innocent citizens.  That is 100,000,000.  A lot of dead people who's only crime was to be insufficiently supportive of socialist dogma and policies.

The late professor R.J. Rummel of the University of Hawaii coined the term "democide" to define an act of a government purposefully murdering civilian citizens.  The University of Hawaii maintains a great <a href="https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/welcome.html">website/database</a> that documents those abuses.

Set those major abuses aside.  Skip over the Soviet Union's Holodomor in Ukraine.  Ignore the killing fields of Cambodia.  Forget about over 800,000 Vietnamese civilians murdered by the government in "re-education camps" or forced into leaky boats that sank during their effort to flee that round of oppression.  Set aside the 10 to 12 million civilians murdered by Nazi Germany for a moment.  And yes, Virginia, the Nazi government was socialist in action and dogma.

What about lesser attempts at socialism?

There are "before and after" examples.

Take a look at Sweden which was a prototypical "democrat socialist" nation in the 1970s.  High taxes.  Lots of government programs.  And a standard of living that ranked towards the bottom of any list of European nations at the time.  In a rare move, the Swedes were able to vote themselves out of socialism and now have one of the highest standards of living in Europe.  They are leaders in developing and deploying new technology.  That have fully functioning free markets.  They still have more government programs that I believe is prudent for a free people, but the shift from the 1970s to the 2020s has produced a remarkable step forward for that nation.

Take a look at Venezuela which once was the wealthiest nation in Central and South America.  They had one of the highest standards of living.  Along came Hugo Chavez and that nation was steadily driven into being one of the poorest nations on the planet, much less in the Americas.  Cuba is another great example of a growing, prospering nation that rapidly slid into poverty due to their "revolution".

There are also side-by-side comparisons.

The easiest one is North Korea and South Korea.  North Korea periodically endures famine as they cannot grow enough food for their people.  North Koreans are on average a few inches shorter than their relatives in South Korea.  In terms of progress, one need only look at the infamous photo of the Korean peninsula at night to understand the difference between socialism and freedom.

Another easy example is the former East and West Germany.  When the East German government failed and the walls came down, everyone fleeing was going from East Germany to West Germany.  No one was going the other direction.

There are no examples of a country becoming socialist and improving the standard of living for their people.

This creates an ethical dilemma.  What do you do if you won't vote for one party, and the other party candidate embraces socialist ideals?  Just don't vote for anyone.  There is no obligation to vote for every single office.

I've skipped voting for certain offices.  One party had an awful candidate.  The other one simply wasn't qualified for various reasons.  The Libertarian candidate was a doofus.  I just left it blank.  Or wrote in "Mickey Mouse".  What I didn't do was endorse a candidate with a demonstrably harmful agenda with my vote.

When faced with a DSA aligned candidate...here in Michigan we have Abdul el-Sayed as a prime example...if you can't bring yourself to vote for one of the other candidates, then please do the rest of us the kindness of not voting for anyone at all.  The world will be a better place for your decision.

Review: Locus Magazine, Issue #788, September 2026

Locus Magazine, Issue #788, September 2026 by Liza Groen Trombi
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

This is a 3-star review. Maybe 2.5 stars.

Having been critical of Locus recently, I thought I owed it to them to have another experience with their product.

I found one book that I want to buy at some point in the future. Score 1 for Locus! Little else was attractive to me.

The reviews/commentary wandered a bit into the identitarian sphere on occasion. It appears that they have a cadre of favorite sons and daughters. Those authors were heavily reviewed.

One piece was written by a Democrat. Not a problem on its own, but the lack of viewpoint diversity throughout the magazine was obvious.

Cory Doctorow continues to be less than impressive. I'm being kind. He seems to consider ancient Rome to be a villain who owes reparations for something or another. Among other whims in his article.

The larger point is that if one is to stake out a position as an authoritative voice for genre fiction, one should purposefully seek to avoid favoring one's personal friends, families, and favorites. They don't. Their choice.

I wish them well. I also wish they had less influence on various genre awards.

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Blogroll Maintenance

I haven't updated my blogroll in a while.  Blogging seems to have become passe'.  But I still like it.

My blogroll was trimmed a bit eliminating some blogs that have gone quiet for years or who have changed their focus.  

But the world is continually being made new.  So I welcome Gary McGath and his blog The Sanity Project to my little blogroll.

Gary is an interesting guy.  He is into music including a bit of filking work as well as accompanying silent movies.  Gary is an author of fantasy books.  He has written non-fiction articles for the libertarian Foundation for Economic Education.

In our current moment, he is displeased with Donald Trump on a number of topics.  The most prominent topic being ICE activities.  Read his blog for more details.

His books are worth the price of admission.  So please buy a copy and read them.

Any political disagreement between us is probably motivated by the fact that the alternatives to Mr. Trump have always been worse.  Although, I have to admit that Mr. Trump is working overtime this year to demonstrate that Mrs. Harris might not have been a worse choice after all.  

I didn't vote for either of them in 2024, FWIW.

Gary is a decent guy and a good writer.  Please pay his blog a visit.

Socialism Works - Each and Every Time It Is Tried

 For certain definitions of "works".

And, yes.  I understand that there are esoteric differences between communism and socialism that matter in the ivory towers of the overly credentialled class.  The pragmatic results are the same.

Review: One-Fifth Dragon

One-Fifth Dragon by Shami Stovall
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is a 2-star review. I made it through 10% of the book. Chapter 4. Then I entered the Dorothy Parker book throwing Olympics.

Pretty good start. Generic Asian/Japanese-inspired culture focusing on ninjas. Various clans with unique magical abilities. Some early examples of how those abilities interact and compete.

The student is learning from the master. The master is a bit young to be a master and (until now) too young to accept a student. They are assigned this student who has been poorly trained up until now by a different master.

They go on a training mission to assassinate someone from a dominant clan. The student encounters trouble. The poor training becomes evident. Perhaps the student's attitude is wrong as well. The master saves the student. The targeted clan experiences many deaths. The student and master get away.

And then ...Record scratch.... they go to an inn where the student seduces (partially) the master across several pages of narrative. It turns out that the main clan had adopted the master many years ago. The master has a unique form of magic, but no one wants to marry them. The student came from a clan that had been almost wiped out. The student was similarly adopted by the main clan. They want someone to breed with the master. The student agreed (despite serious risks) and does everything possible to consummate the arrangement while they are on the run from committing an assassination and multiple murders.

The master...again a very stoic person...resists temptation with the obvious implication that when the cultural rules permit it, they will be actively participating.

4 chapters in!! No serious character development up to that point. Bubbly student. Stoic master. Rough sketches of the culture. That's it. A good start, but only a start. Let's get our freaky-deaky on!

I'm not a romantasy fan. This smacks of romantasy in so many ways. I've read Peter V. Brett, N.K. Jemisin, and Robert Heinlein - each of whom have extended sex scenes included in various works in ways that are carefully integrated into the plot. It isn't the sex that is the issue. It is the romantasy trope of making the entire story about a romantic relationship.

Couple that with the fact that the entire scenario as written would be "problematic" in any other setting. One person makes a secret deal to have sex with another person. That second person was already feeling manipulated and vulnerable. And their sexuality is bartered away without their consent.

Rhetorically chucked across the room and started something that I hope will be better.

2-stars only because the writing was pretty good. Grammar/spelling were solid if not perfect. It has the bones of a good story early on.


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Coyote vs Acme - A Modest Review

Wile E. Coyote.  Super-genius.  Or so he thinks.

Boom.

And then boom.

And then a catapult with a boulder that smashes.  That TNT that didn’t work before?  Boom.

When things go wrong so frequently and predictably, there must be a flaw.  Someone must have done something wrong.  The only correct response?

Boom.

No.  Get a lawyer!

This is the central conceit of Coyote vs. Acme.  Our hero…????…goes off to the big city of Albuquerque…again…????…to hire a lawyer to sue Acme for the serial harm he has endured.  His sooper sekrit and blueprinted plan suggests an ulterior motive.

Hijinks ensue as we learn that corporate greed fostered an illicit program of using cartoon characters as unwilling product development subjects subject to all the classics; fold, spindle, perforate, and the ever classic “boom”.  John Cena threatens Tweety by saying “I don’t pay you to tawt you taw.  I pay you to taw!”(1)  A sue-and-settle law firm learns the lesson of not giving up.  A corporate bigwig is prepared for a fricassee.  And the Coyote finds a friend…that he continues to chase.

Coyote vs. Acme does an outstanding job of playing all of the hits.  Pun intended.  The first ten minutes took me back 50 years to Saturday mornings in the basement with my little brother, our dog, and a box of Milk Bones.  We shared the Milk Bones.  I grew out of it.  My brother never did. 

Back when the cartoons had gratuitous violence that left little kids in stitches with laughter.  When you thought things couldn’t get any worse for the Coyote until it did…again, and again, and again.

Coyote vs. Acme is the best animated-and-live-action movie since Who Framed Roger Rabbit.  The writing is tight.  The actors are great (mostly).  The cartoon characters are back in their 1940s-1960s form.

This is a movie made for kids of a certain age.  Old kids.  Very, very old kids.

The dozen or so patrons at my matinee showing were rolling with laughter.  But that highlights the problem.  Most modern little kids won’t have the cartoon vocabulary to appreciate the jokes because modern cartoons not only grind off the serial numbers, they grind off the sharp edges.  This is a great movie for those that remember the originals.  Their children (and perhaps grandchildren) who have been suitably educated about the history of animation in America will have a good time as well.

Only time will tell if Coyote vs. Acme will make a net profit in the bank.  In terms of laughter it is a solid gold success.

---

Thanks to Mike Glyer over at File770 for running this piece.  As always, I appreciate his consideration.

(1)  The quote above isn't quite accurate.  You can see the full preview here.  The accurate quotation follows.

"I tawt I taw..."

"You tawt you taw? I don't pay you to tink you taw, I pay you to taw!"

"I did!  I did taw!"

"What did you tee?  What did you taw?"

Classic.  Go see the movie.

The Media Is Biased - Example #666

My trust in the media has been waning for decades.  Their biases have always been made manifest in their reporting.

I was listening to coverage of Michigan's Senatorial contest on ABC News on the radio this morning.  The focus on their reporting was on how the Democrat candidate, al Sayed, has to motivate enough voters to win to make it easier for the Democrats to take control of the US Senate.  Democrat control of the Senate was framed as being a desirable outcome.

Putting someone who is at the least philosophically "kissing cousins" with communism [in the Senate] is not a desirable outcome.  We need fewer progressives/socialists/communists in the US Senate, not more.

At the very least, coverage of the race should be neutral with no implied preference in either direction.

Dante's Devil in Hell will thaw long before the mainstream media will check their biases at the door.