Twitter vs. The Peasant, Round 3

Just recently I received an online message from the Twitter 

twits, those censoring, totalitarianism-loving trolls who 

suspended my Twitter account a few months ago without

informing me as to the reason for their actions: they now

have decided to make me a lifer in their Twitter prison.

In other words, your jailbird Peasant will never be able

to tweet again, and that includes posting my announcements 

of my upcoming blog posts each with a brief blurb telling

their subject matter; life sentence, no parole. So this is 

what, at last, has become of my battle with Twitter.

Of course, the ungiven reason for Twitter doing this is the fact

that I had the audacity to put up some conservative content

(horrors!), much to the displeasure and discomfort of the 

Twitter solons. William F. Buckley said many years ago 

that "Though liberals do a great deal of talking about hearing

other points of view, it sometimes shocks them to learn that

there are other points of view." Apparently this is the case

with the staff at Twitter.

So I now have an account at MeWe, a social media site which 

welcomes people of all political ideologies, as its staff are

not merely proponents but are practitioners of the 

First Amendment, only disallowing foul language and threats.

Your pleased Peasant heartily recommends MeWe for those

of you, my grand readers, to engage in political discussions 

with fellow conservatives and others with an interest in the

political scene without having to keep an eye out for left-

wing censorship. As I explore the internet for more like

sites, I shall make mention of them here on PWAP for you

all to note and to visit. Perhaps we shall meet up on some 

of these sites and get together for some wonderful visits!

Anyway, sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to 

name but three are inhospitable places for conservatives

and anyone else who does not buy into the politics and 

general philosophy of the left-wingers, as the latter would 

shut up and shut out the former rather than debate them.

After all, it isn't much fun to enter a gunfight with a pop

gun for obvious reasons. Conservative talk show hosts

Mark Levin and some others have discontinued their 

pages on some of these sites and have gone over to MeWe,

Parler, and other such sites, having so informed their 

audiences. Joe Pags was himself suspended by Twitter,

and former President Donald J. Trump was, like your

Peasant, permanently suspended (Suspended, heck!

I was banned and so was our 45th president!) by same.

We shall simply regroup on more friendly territory and 

dig in. We will have a level playing field, and on it shall

win our battle for freedom of speech and ultimately win 

our war for the heart and soul of our country.

Oh, as I go to press, a timely news flash: Elon Musk, the

world's most successful and famous entrepreneur and maker

of the electric-powered Tesla automobile, as well as the 

wealthiest human being on the planet, very recently began

purchasing shares of Twitter stock making purchases every

month since the start of the year. Musk now owns about 9%

of all outstanding shares in the social media giant, and this

week turned down an offer from Twitter to join their board

of directors; crazy like a fox, he knew he would be forbidden

to exceed a cap of 14.9% on stock ownership if he accepted 

a seat on the board but could buy many more shares, setting 

up a hostile takeover attempt. The motivation driving Musk 

is his elimination of Twitter's censorship of political views

diametrically opposed to those of Twitter (Musk himself has 

run afoul of Twitter's so-called fact-checkers and content

approval crew with his own Twitter account) and letting in

the breezes of free speech and unfettered political expression

to waft through the tech titan's facilities. If Musk's mission

is successful, would it mean that the Twitter jailhouse Peasant 

would cease being an inmate and once again be a rootin',

tootin, tweetin' righty account holder, tweeting my conservative

content to one and all? As they say in broadcasting, 

"Stay tuned"; here, as this blog is obviously of the print media,

I'll say "Keep reading".

MEM

NOTE: I just today found an error in the text of this post 

and went to correct it, but the site made the publish date April 19

when in fact it was posted last week. I don't know if this was 

because of me, or a quirk in Blogger. It may not make any 

difference, but your detail-conscious Peasant thought it 

important to point out to you, my dear readers. 

Anyway, thank you for your understanding.

MEM

Easter Gladness to You!

The Peasant wishes to extend Easter greetings and best wishes

to you, my beloved readers! May you all enjoy the company of

family and friends, and bask in the love of the One who made 

Easter possible through the frightening sacrifice He made.

And may we all meet here again afterward and enjoy each other's 

company and the poring through the latest political and economic

news! God bless you all!

MEM

Chick-fil-A Chickens Out

The Left is trying its hardest to make Americans, and
therefore America, think, talk, walk, eat, drink, and vote
as they tell us to. Being good little totalitarians, they
realize that they have to get everyone on the same page,
bar none, in order to transform our country into something
which we would not recognize and would want nothing to
do with, but they themselves would be deliriously
happy with. One of the ways in which they are trying to
accomplish this is to apply political and economic pressure
to businesses which either openly espouse support for
traditional view of marriage (heterosexual only) or keep
quiet and neutral on same. They try to force companies
to cease financial contributions to organizations which
these lefty "social justice warriors" deem bigoted,
reactionary, and anti-LGBTQ, such as the Salvation Army
and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes; these two entities
had long received such financial gifts from Chick-fil-A,
but that is over and done with thanks to a successful
campaign by the aforementioned far left-wing bullies.  

The backstory: in 2012 Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy,
a committed evangelical Christian, cheesed off these
enlightened souls by his own support for the traditional
view of marriage. A vicious political campaign was raised
against them, which included a boycott of their restaurants.
Earlier this year, three U.S. airports denied Chick-fil-A
concessions contracts --- no Chick-fil-As to set up shop
on their premises. Soon after, the campaign crossed the
Atlantic to pressure the landlord of the site where Chick-
fil-A was to open the first of their restaurants in the U.K.
Although the restaurant organization has, in fact, never
turned away customers which were openly gay or at least
thought to be by the restaurant managers, and has hired
openly gay people to their staffs, the lefty loudmouths
have accused the company of supporting organizations
"hostile to LGBTQ rights" and causes. 

COO Tim Tassopoulos recently announced that Chick-fil-A
will no longer give money to the "offending" organizations.
All this firm and its restaurants want to do is serve chicken
sandwiches and waffle fries, the likes being magnificently
delicious (yes indeed, your beloved Peasant has visited a
couple of Chick-fil-As here in the Milwaukee vicinity and
thoroughly enjoyed my meals!); they don't seek to wage
political fights over the rights and wrongs of the morals
regarding sexual behavior. And given their welcoming gay
patrons and employees, how have they harmed gay people,
or any of the other people represented by the other letters
in the name of this cluster of sexual grievance groups?
Whatever happened to the right of someone holding
and expressing an opinion which may not, at least in
some quarters, be popular, as long as they are not trying
to force it upon others? Seems that the Far Left has
become the biggest practitioners of this hostility to
First Amendment rights. And whenever they gain a
victory as they have in this instance, they become more
emboldened, they have more swagger, and they think
that they are invincible. To see Chick-fil-A knuckle
under to these totalitarians, even after weathering
boycotts and business property management owners
backing out of leasing deals while picking up the
patronage and the support of a growing number of
loyal customers, is not only disappointing,
it's sickening.

Add to all this is the fact that these LGBTQ radicals
do not speak for all gays or other sexual preference
groups; your inquisitive Peasant has heard gay people
call in to conservative radio talk shows, local and
national, stating that these rowdies neither speak nor
act for them. I have also read letters to the editor of
newspapers and magazines from gay readers to that
effect. But the LGBTQ crowd and their social justice
warrior allies never take "no' for an answer when they
declare their purpose and intentions; they have even
less time and patience for those whom they purport to
speak for when the latter do not accept them as their 

leaders and spokespeople than they have for the 
"usual suspects"; straight, white, male, heterosexual, 
politically conservative of politics and conservative 
of religious faith. 

And these putrid people claim to be doing all this in
the name of tolerance and diversity. God help us if
they ever decide to embrace intolerance and
homogenization! May Chick-fil-A locate their 

corporate spine and stand up to their oppressors 

and send them into full retreat.


MEM

The Slap Felt 'Round the World

In recent years the Academy Awards have lost more and more

viewers, as they have either found other bill of fare on television

or other things to do on Oscar night. But something out of the 

ordinary occurred last night which likely will be a one-off

but may stir enough renewed interest to bring back some fallen-

away viewers at next year's bash: an actor made a physical assault 

on another --- right up on stage, for all the world to see, even on

television.

The roots of the contretemps had actor/rapper Will Smith's wife,

actress Jada Pinkett Smith, last year publicly announced that she 

shaved her head because she found that she has alopecia. This is

a disease which causes baldness, and Pinkett Smith quickly lost

most of her hair so she shaved off the remainder, stating:

"Mama's going to have to take it down to the scalp so nobody

thinks she got brain surgery or something. Me and this alopecia

are going to be friends ... period!" Ever since then Pinkett Smith

has worn a wig. 

But Chris Rock, who was one of the co-hosts of the Oscars this 

year, being the prolific comedian that he is, could not resist 

making a crack about Pinkett Smith's follicle situation. While 

onstage Rock was about to announce the winner of the Oscar for

best documentary feature when he joked about her shaved head,

saying that he couldn't wait for GI Jane 2 with Pinkett Smith as

Jane. A short while later an incensed Will Smith stepped onstage

and slapped Chris Rock, an altercation never before witnessed

at the Academy Awards over its nearly century-long existence. 

While many of those present at the ceremonies thought that the

whole thing was a pre-planned gag, they were quickly disabused

by Smith's angry warning he yelled, twice, at Rock after returning 

to his seat: "Keep my wife's name out of your f****** mouth!".

Now, comedy has become a dicey and rather chancy thing of late.

Political correctness and wokeness, the latter being the former on

steroids has made it nearly impossible for standup comics to 

perform in most venues, especially college campuses and the 

Academy Awards without receiving the nastiest opprobrium. 

Many in Hollywood have opined that Will Smith, who was a 

recipient of an Oscar that night, should have his Oscar for  

Best Actor taken away and given to another actor in that category

for his behavior. Your non-star struck Peasant, however, says 

that while Smith may well have some punitive actions to face

(Chris Rock could certainly press charges of assault) but his Oscar

award is not relevant to the incident, therefore Smith should not 

be stripped of either his victory nor his prize. I say this, not as 

a fan of either combatant (although I have enjoyed some of 

their work) but as an objective observer and commentator. And no, 

I did not watch the Oscars last night, and have not done so for 

several years, having gotten sick of all the narcissistic, snooty,

moral and political preening by the Oscar winners and other

attendees. But The Peasant feels the need to comment on the

events which were part of the larger event, as there are 

ramifications for us all, and I'm unable to wait until the middle 

of the week when I usually post.

Moreover, we as a nation have almost lost our ability to laugh 

at ourselves. We take umbrage at the good-natured humor 

focused upon us, a close family member, or a close friend,

never mind one's nationality, ancestry, or gender. Or, for that

matter, any other category of human existence. While it is 

admirable that a man stands up for his wife, sometimes the

event doesn't necessitate a physical response. And when there 

is such a response in a situation like this, more harm than good

is done. Good Lord, what would have happened to Don Rickles

if he tried to work in such an environment? 

And we are further divided as a society, which leads to further 

division in our towns, our cities, our states, and our nation.

We need more unity, not more divisiveness, so let's not give in 

to anger over relatively small things and show righteous anger 

at the bigger things, i.e. Russia invading Ukraine just because

their strongman Putin wants to rebuild Russia the way it was 

in its Soviet Union days; a vast and truly evil empire. 

MEM

An Extremist Flames Out

Sarah Bloom Raskin, President Biden's choice for the post

of vice chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, recently 

withdrew her name in nomination for the job. Her action 

sent a clear message to the Fed that many U.S. senators are 

hostile to the idea that the central bank should allocate capital 

for certain politically charged endeavors --- and rightfully so.

What else could be done about Raskin, who is on record 

stating that the Fed should deny credit to companies 

that produce or consume fossil fuels (namely oil). 

Although she and her supporters, which include Sens. 

Elizabeth Warren, Sheldon Whitehouse and Sherrod Brown,

all far-left wing Democrats, have sworn up and down that

she would never use her powers that way in this position,

It's all a load of blarney that must have gone nicely with 

the recent Saint Patrick's Day.

The Fed's dual mandate is to ensure full employment and 

stable prices. But the progressive wing of the Democrat

Party (which is practically the only wing of that party 

these days) wants her to use her powers in this position 

to promote and advance their items on their political wish

list. This would lead to the politicizing and the corruption 

of the Fed itself.

Republicans on the Senate banking Committee, led by their 

leader ranking member Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), voiced 

their concerns over Raskin's public stances on the afore-

mentioned issues. Raskin, you see, has written that financial

regulation should be used to "allocate capital and align 

portfolios toward sustainable investments that do not depend

on carbon and fossil fuels." Also, her husband, U.S. Rep.

Jamie Raskin (D-MD) didn't report her stock holdings in

Reserve Trust as required by congressional ethics rules ---

a major no-no. she made a cool $1.5 million selling those 

investment holdings after RT's Fed account was secured.

Toomey offered a deal to Banking Committee Democrats:

Republicans would vote to advance four less radical and

therefore less controversial Biden Fed nominees, out of

committee if the Dems would block Raskin. However, 

maverick Sen. Joe Masnchin (D-WV), who isn't on the

Banking Committee but has been a constant thorn in

the side of Senate Democrats for having voted against

Biden's Infrastructure monstrosity which would have cost

trillions of dollars to enact, announced that he would not 

back Raskin's nomination if it were brought before the 

entire Senate. This torpedoed Raskin's chances, slim though

they already were, of getting the plum position she had

hoped for, and was a huge victory for the GOP senators,

much of the credit going to Sen. Toomey for engineering

the derailment of Raskin's ascent. 

Raskin's defeat should make Fed Chairman Jerome Powell 

more confident to rebuff attempts by others on the Fed's 

Board of Governors to shape financial regulation to be a

means of battling climate change. Will President Biden 

learn from this episode? One hopes, but one doubts that

he will. He blamed Raskin's defeat on "baseless attacks 

from industry and conservative interest groups." When

he nominates another candidate, and that candidate has 

the same ideas and plans, what excuse will he offer for

that candidate's defeat? 

MEM

The Peasant's St. Patrick's Day Plans

On Thursday, March 17 I'll be making the rounds

going to parties at my favorite Irish pubs in town,

visiting with friends, singing Irish songs (including

getting up onstage to sing with a band or two), and 

enjoying some Guinness, some wonderful Irish food,

and I'll be at it from morning to night. I am also 

taking the week off from posting new commentaries,

essays, and the like, as I have begun celebrating the 

feast day of Ireland's patron saint just this past Saturday

in similar fashion and am taking in a bunch of like 

activities throughout this time. And I, and all my 

friends and family, are grateful to have our St. Patrick's

Day back, with all the activities which we always enjoy

on the day but had them taken from us during the 

COVID-19 pandemic. We outlasted the virus, and we 

are back in the business of having good old-

fashioned shenanigans just as always!

We shall, of course, get back together next week 

and resume business, poring over the political and

economic news, commending the heroes and condemning

the heels. In the meantime may you all, my treasured readers, 

have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day; even those with no Irish

blood in their veins can have a grand time on this special

occasion! Enjoy!

MEM

P.J. O'Rourke, R.I.P.

One of my favorite literary people on the Right, and one

with an especially wicked, no-holds-barred wit, recently

passed from our midst. P.J. O'Rourke, 74, was not what 

you would call genteel; he once fired a machine gun off

of his left-wing counterpart Hunter S. Thompson's porch.

Both of these old friends were "gonzos" in temperament 

and behavior. He perfected his craft as a young radical

working on the staff of underground papers including

Ramparts, later when with National Lampoon. O'Rourke

later brought his polished skills to conservative publications

such as American Standard, and wrote humorous books

in which he tore a new one in the backsides of politicians

and political parties, such as A Parliament of Whores

(which your favorite Peasant had the great pleasure of 

reading some years ago) and Vacations in Hell. 

A member of the next generation of the literary stars in the

firmament of the modern American Right, he has gone to 

join its founders, among whom is William F. Buckley Jr,

founder of the National Review. Godspeed, P.J. Thank you

for all the wickedly wonderful fun. Requiescat in Pace.

MEM