Author: Crowhill Report

Rep. Matt Gaetz must be a woman

Because I don’t like him, and Smitemouth seems to think the only reason I don’t like people is because they’re women.

I’m not sure what it is about Gaetz that rubs me the wrong way, but something does.

I’m also not sure what I think about yesterday’s news.

On the pro side …

Republicans have a deep-seated “we are the minority and have to compromise” mentality. It’s woven into their personalities, and they have to get past it. They have to learn to fight. McCarthy was not a fighter.

On the con side …

Republicans have a very slim majority in the House, and you can only do so much in that position. Maybe compromise is the best they can do.

Creating the perfect man

There’s something called “the unconstrained vision,” which believes man is maleable and should be altered to create a better society. The “constrained vision” believes in human nature, and that man can’t be changed all that much.

I see that distinction in the video below. Why does he want to change man rather than find a way to clone meat so that an animal doesn’t have to die to give us a steak?

Is “citizen journalism” a good thing?

I’m struggling with the concept of “citizen journalism” and whether it’s a good thing or not. There seem to be good and bad elements, and I’m very concerned about where we’re heading with “news.”

The infection has reached Hawaii

I was incredibly fortunate to be able to visit a daughter in Hawaii last week. It was a blast. Lovely place. Lovely weather. Great beaches. Just a tremendous time.

For some reason I harbored a small flicker of vain hope that the contagion — otherwise known as Catholic music — hadn’t infected the Island. I was wrong.

Here’s how I described it in my most recent Krehbiel Letter.

Just sing. Catholic church music sets my teeth on edge and makes my brain hurt, so I had hoped that the contagion hadn’t made it all the way to Hawaii. I was wrong.

Lesson. Sometimes an entire discipline can get infected with really bad ideas. Keep that in mind. While we should generally trust experts, there are cases where every expert (in whatever discipline) believes nonsense. Also, you shouldn’t get mad at the individual expert when the entire discipline has gone astray. They’re just following their training.

The second GOP debate was unimpressive

This debate was less orderly and reflected badly on most of the candidates. If they’re going to behave like this, it would be better to put the candidates in sound-proof booths and only turn on their microphones when they’re allowed to speak.

The questions didn’t impress me, and Ilia Calderón didn’t contribute anything of value.

Burgum started off well with a clear libertarian message, and had some good things to say, but at times he went off on confusing rants. He gets points for being consistent, but he has no chance.

Vivek has done a rather startling about-face on his opponents. Last time they were all “bought and paid for.” This time they were all good people. He did not do well, although I liked his comment about ending birthright citizenship.

Tim Scott was an asshole (trying to overcome his “nice guy” image?), but he did stand out a bit with his comments about the effect of the great society on black families.

Christie sounded much better tonight. I almost liked him.

Pence did a lousy job. He seemed confused at times. Still slow and boring.

Haley was a phrenetic asshole, seemed wonky, and not at all inspiring, although I did like her “bring it” reply to Scott (or was it Ramaswamy?).

Desantis was clearly the best, but didn’t distinguish himself enough to make any difference.

The best chance any of them have of becoming the nominee is for something to prevent Trump from continuing — i.e., either his legal troubles get to be too much, or his health declines, or something like that.