Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Speechless: Controlling words, Controling Minds By: Michael Knowles


A fantastic book. We always talk about the PC culture and how toxic it is. But I was surprised just how pernicious the origins are. I know it's very cliché today, but today we are seeing the Orwellian dystopian world from his classic book "1984" coming to life. Anyone who has not read that book should stop reading now and either buy it, check it out at the library or ask a friend and read it.  He (and I mean that pronoun in the general term not the specific 🤦🏼‍♂️) who controls the speech controls the future. 
 


We have seen meanings of words changed, villainized, weaponized and distorted to meet a particular and specific perverted agenda or narrative. Sadly the political left is the main culprit in this attack on words. 

Years ago when same-sex marriage was in the headlines, I had a conversation with my then 80 year old father. He is a Cuban and very Christian man and to him homosexuality was a nonstarter.  I remember telling him "Dad, even if they are not "married" they are still having sex.  This is not about homosexuality but rather equal rights under the law".  I did tell him that the Christians, the biggest group that were against same-sex marriage should have changed the argument. What they should have said is that "marriage" connotes a religious component and thus should be maintained as such but that the legal aspect of two people, regardless of their sex and now (although I do not buy into it) their gender, should be called a civil union and that civil union under the eyes of the law should be equal while maintaining he original meaning of marriage. The argument became a red herring to pint the Christians as homophobic and bad people.  All heterosexual "marriages" and thus the term itself would be maintained by the religious meaning of it while we ALL adopted the civil union status to be "equal in the eyes of the law". 

Today, we have seen how toxic this PC culture has become. These SJWs (Social Justice Warriors) literally sit around trying to find what the new offensive term de' jour is going to be. How they are going to trigger the non-pc crowd

I am always shocked to see the left, which always pushed the narrative that they are much smarter than the right follow along like sheep just to virtue signal. That was very apparent during the Trump administration where saw the Trump Derangement Syndrome become a reality. Never have a seen a group of people go out of their way to discredit ANYTHING that man said regardless of it being true or not; the most notable was HQC for the treatment of COVID.  How many people lost their lives or sent their loved ones to their demise for vilifying HQC and thus making it ALMOST a crime (at least in Social Media law) to even mention it?

Even Bill Maher,  a strong supporter, advocate and proponent for the left has seen the damage done by the PC and cancel culture and now regularly calls it out. Comedy is officially dead.  No longer can we go to a show and laugh about ourselves and others without a bunch of childish  snowflakes making a scene and messing up for us adults. The only thing that can be made fun of these days is Trump, his supporters and Christians and that material gets covered in media everyday. It's old and played out.

If you read one book this year, let it be "Speechless" by Michael Knowles. 

Saturday, June 26, 2021

Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed By: Jason L Riley

 This was a great book.  I feel as though Blacks are being taken for a ride. During the 1800's and before, slaves had physical chains that would bind them. Physically removing those chains gave the slaves a clear indication that they could escape.  However the new, reprehensible form of chains is mental chains. If you buy into why supremacy, then you also have to ascribe to black inferiority; which I do not.  It is a pernicious attack on the minds of Black. 

When I was younger (way younger) I applied at the fire department and there must have been 200 people there.  I remember the guy administering the test saying to me "the passing score is 80%....... oh wait, you are Hispanic right?  You only need to score 70". I remember my 18 year old self feeling insulted by the fact that someone decided that I, a Hispanic male, was incapable of scoring 80%.  

I read a book that talked about Black youths at the basketball courts. You hear Lebron, Jordon, etc.  saying that they practiced, and practiced, and practiced some more. They say that they worked harder than everyone else. If a Black youth goes to the basketball court and sucks, their peers will tell them to practice more and put in the work.  Yet that same youth goes to

School and is doing bad, their peers will not give them the same advise.  What they tell them is that they are oppressed and that there is nothing they can do.  It defies all racional.  

The book covers many of the fallacies espoused by the race batters and the talking heads. He quotes one of my all time favorite authors Thomas Sowell. I recommend this book to anyone looking to see the other side of rubbish being talked about today.  Riley covers Black on Black crime, education, and so much more.  One of the statistics that stuck with me was the one regarding how Blacks were lifting themselves out of poverty at a higher rate when racism was legal (and in some cases mandatory) than now. 

It is truly sad to see Blacks self segregating themselves after the Great Martin Luther King Jr. fought so hard and gave his life to desegregate.  When I hear about Black only dorms, Black only graduations, and the like it truly makes me sad.  BLM has given nothing to the Black community. It has siphoned off the money to enrich the leaders and to pay for white  Democrats campaigns. 

Jason Riley - Author

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Encounter Books; 1st US edition (June 17, 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 216 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1594037256
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594037252
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.06 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

The Deep Rig: How Election Fraud Cost Donald J. Trump the White House, By a Man Who Did Not Vote for Him By: Patrick Byrne and Patrick M Byrne

A short but concise book on the irregularities of the 2020 elections.  In the absence of reading this book, I felt with every fiber that there was outright fraud in the 2020 election. There has never been a doubt for a single second that that statement is true. However I do recognize that the process, although from a foundational point of view was fraught with fraud, did complete Constitutionally and Biden is President*


If there is one thing that I feared before COVID but was sadly and painfully confirmed after this past administration but more specifically 2020, is the level the left will go to obtain and remain with power. Even if you do not agree with me, I can clearly say and believe it that Donald Trump portrayed himself as an A-hole. He was brash, in your face, at times rude, braggadocious  and his delivery left a lot to be desired. However with that said no one can argue that he did more for the American people especially PoC in spite of all the fake news that was spread than Clinton, Bush x2 and Obama did combined. 

The left spent the entire four years doing exactly what they complained about Republicans doing to Obama's for 8 years (which was false) but on steroids. If  the media had any standards, they would have canceled everyone who spread the lies about Russia, Ukraine, Pee-pee report (a la Clinton), and the countless other lies that were told and still told about Trump.  

Regardless of if you are for Trump, Biden, or anyone else the integrity of our voting system is paramount to have a free country.  I wish that the it was Trump that would have won under suspicious circumstances if only for the left to engage the "Moral Superiority" as they did BTW for years leading up to the 2020 election about voter fraud.  Sadly, the left has take the "kissing my sister counts" way of thinking.  For years after 2016, we heard "not my President" and "Constitutional Crisis" and "illegitimate President".  Apparently it was not so much what they believed had happened but who benefitted from the alleged fraud.  I can tell you 100% that if Trump would have won by cheating, I would be the first signature and vote for having him removed and thrown in prison, regardless of how I feel.  

Byrne explains who those key counties and cities were ironically the ones that stopped counting mysteriously, had rogue WiFi connections, traffic to and from those voting machines to outside countries, laws that were changed illegally at the last minute and the worst part is that NOW after President* Biden is President*, the very same that used the media and social media to silence any deviation from the narrative.  If the left was so sure of their win, why not shut the Trump supporters up by allowing and joining in the audit of the election and the ballots?  Why would they fight it every single step of the way and why would they attempt to pass laws that further the strange issues we saw during this election; things that they were concerned about before the 2020 elections.  Why the change of heart?  What changed?

The other is not a Trump fan, if anything the opposite is true.  However he seems to be deeply concerned with the integrity of our voting system which I can appreciate.  I do not want my libertarians to game the system, don't want the Republicans or the Democrats to either.  It should be a mutual thing we ALL want to see.  Mayor Giuliani was not the man to have next to Trump.  He was outside of his comfort zone and it showed.  I use to like him.  I did not though when he was with Trump.  This book only confirms what I always thought about him being a drunk and not up to the level he needed to be.  

This is a great book.  I recommend it to anyone that is willing to at least read a different version from the narrative that was put out by the putrid media and controlled by the putrid social media and big tech companies.  We have seen how astonishingly wrong the media has been on everything Trump.  Why would anyone believe anything they say?  Even on the HCQ.  How many people lost their lives to COVID because Trump made the colossal mistake of saying that it worked.  How many people hated Trump so bad that would have allowed their families and friends to die instead of conceding that maybe, just maybe he was right?

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08X1Z9FHP
Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 17, 2021
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 43544 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 236 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Deep Capture, LLC; 1st edition (February 17, 2021)

Tuesday, June 22, 2021

All I Ever Wanted: A Rock 'N' Roll Memoir By: Kathy Valentine

A touching story about familiar failure, youth struggles, success and humility. The story of Kathy Valentine is one that covers the spectrum of emotions. She experiences separation of the family nucleus which starts a whirlwind of youth antics condoned if not fueled by her mother.  Valentine gets pregnant, as insane as they may sound, at 12 years old and subsequently has an abortion.  She becomes promiscuous and starts to abuse substances of all kinds. She starts a band and is active in the band scene of Texas at the time. She soon realizes that California is the place to make it in and buys a car to make the trek. 


In California she struggled to really break into the band scene as a member due to her young age. Finally catches a break with a local band, The Go-Go's.  Soon after, she begins to enjoy the fruits of her labor. She continue to abuse substances which eventually affects everyone in the band.  Anyone that was born prior to 2000 knows how big The Go-go's were.  

Later, the band is dismantled and Belinda takes on a successful solo career, and others in the band follow suit, Valentine struggles to make it.  She finally finds sobriety and it changes her life. Today she may not be a super mogul or a billionaire but she has her sobriety and that is worth all the money and success. 

Great book. I plan to read Belinda's book as well. Valentine seems humble today and is focused on being a mother. Good for her. 

Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Texas Press; Illustrated edition (March 31, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1477312331
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1477312339
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.9 x 1.3 x 8.6 inches

The Holdout: A Novel By: Graham Moore

A plot twisting thriller about a court case gone bad.  This book will make you rethink responding to the Jury Duty notice you receive in the mail every year.  This book is very "Murder on the Orient Express" esq..... In the end. 


The story centers around a group of jurors who come to a decision somewhat coaxed by one of them.  This  decision has different effects on each of the jurors and even the defendant.  Bobby Nock, a part-time English teacher at a high-school finds himself in a precarious situation where he is in a relationship with a 15 year old student, Jessica Silver.  Silver is from a prominent, wealthy and well known family.  The body is never found but nonetheless, Nock is being tried for her "murder".  

** SPOILER ALERT **

Maya Seale, one of the jurors follows the judges orders to a T.  She is looking to see if there is a "shadow of a doubt".  During Jury Duty, where they were sequestered for months, Maya and Rick, another juror, have an affair against the rules of the court.  

Rick writes a book about his negative feelings about Maya's process to convince the jurors but never mentions the affair.  Rick continues to "investigate" the crime and ten years after the "not-guilty" verdict, Rick oranges a reunion for a Documentary and Podcast. Rick ensures that he has evidence of Nock's guilt. The plot thickens when Rick is found dead in Maya's hotel room.  She is implicated in his murder and that's when it begins the fight to keep her out of jail.  

There are twists and turns in this book that continue until the end.  Just when you think you have it figured out and that Jessica's murder would never be found, BOOM!!!! they twist it on you.  I hope they make a movie out of this book.  

I enjoyed the book.  I recommend it.  

Love how they bashed Twitter with the "F*%k Twitter" line.  

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House (February 18, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 039959177X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0399591778
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.29 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.4 x 1.07 x 9.52 inches

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

The Double Life of Fidel Castro: My 17 Years as Personal Bodyguard to El Lider Maximo By: Juan Reynaldo Sanchez and Axel Glyden

This was a great book in more ways than one.  This book, written by Juan Reynaldo Sanches, a former Fidel Castro's "inner ring" of security is an amazing inside look at lies of Fidel's life and lifestyle. 


Just as every dictator before him, Fidel's incognito Capitalist lifestyle was at odds with the rhetoric he spewed.  This is nothing new.  You do not need to go to Cuba to see the lies of this Socialism and Communism rhetoric.  Right here in the U.S.  You had Bernie Sanders that would constantly pontificate about "Millionaires and Billionaires". Ironically, his rhetoric changed when it came out that he owned multiple million dollar homes, made millions on his book and drove expensive cars.  Highly different than the austere life style he preaches about.   Also we see people like the "Trained Marxist" Patrice Khan-Cullors who constantly ranted about the rich 1% and the evils of Capitalism until she spent millions of dollars buy 4 homes for herself with the proceeds of her "organization".  There are countless examples of those who talk the talk, but do not walk the walk. You constantly see these spoiled kids studying in their Ivy League schools paid by their parents that have sacrificed themselves to put their kids through college, sipping their Starbucks, wearing their Birkenstocks, driving their BMWs all the while complaining about Capitalism.  Anyone who tells you that Capitalism is not the best system in the world, you are either dump or complicit.  

Fidel lived the life of a Capitalist billionaire.  He had people waiting on him hand and foot, had multiple homes throughout the island, billions of dollars in offshore accounts, and was a narcissist evil man.  No one, including his family were safe from his brutality.  I personally have family and friends of the family that disappeared during the "revolution" never to be seen or heard of again.  My father left the island when Fidel took power leaving behind several properties seized by the government, money and my mother and two sisters.  He came to the U.S. when there were signs saying "No Cubans" similar to how Blacks were treated.  He worked three jobs to claim my mother and sisters as well as other family members.  They came in legal and worked hard.  They lived in New Jersey, were it was cold and miserable.  They left possessions, family and friends behind to flee this disgusting tyrant.  I think this is why I oppose Socialism and Communism so much.  Seeing what it did to me family here and worse what they did to my family there make we privy to a lot of information the talking heads today conveniently leave out.  Socialism and Communism is a cancer wherever it is tried.  

The book gives you the inside scoop on the methods and procedures Fidel used and how he funded and orchestrated those "regime changes" that our very intelligent Congresswoman Alexandria Ocassio Cortez loves to blame on the U.S.  He was also a gun and drug smuggler.  He had his closes people killed because they "knew too much". Thankfully he died.  Sadly, he lasted a very long time and with it, made the poor people of Cuba and the oppressive Human Rights violation which the media does not report on, suffer and still do.  I would ask anyone that feels that this "revolution" he created is a good thing, go to Cuba.  Not as a visitor with money.  Go live as the Cubans do.  Make use of their "free healthcare" and "free schooling". Doctors in Cuba make more money working a side hustle than being a doctor.  There you get to go to college for free however you do not study "gender studies" or some other useless major.  You study what the government tells you to study.  You are not free at all.  Ironically, those that love to criticize this country would be shot and killed for voicing their opinion in a Socialist or Communist country.  




Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (May 12, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250068762
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250068767
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.76 x 1.01 x 8.52 inches  

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

The Year of Dangerous Days: Riots, Refugees and Cocaine in Miami 1980 By: Nicholas Griffin

A fascinating look at the 1980's in Miami.  I was alive during this time and witnessed the good, the bad and the ugly of the 80's.  In this book, Griffin describes in detail the tragic case of McDuffie who was murdered by the police.  I remember the riots.  I remember them vividly because my father, never seeing something like that was terrified and gave me my 20 gauge shotgun to sleep with in the room.  He told me "if someone comes through that window, you know what to do".  I was mortified.  I never really heard about the details of the case, only that he was in fact murdered.

Sadly, McDuffie was beaten to death and the police officers were to blame.  Although he was driving over the speed limit, was shutting off the light to try and outrun the police and driving with a suspended driver's license.  Whatever the case may be, the police were wrong.  

As is still the case today, the response to some tragedy is usually worse than the original issue.  This is precisely why I feel that protesting that includes blocking streets where people are not involved, don't want to be involved, and/or don't even care about the issue is so dangerous.  Michael and Jefferey Kulp who ran their car through one such protest leaving a young girl pinned to a wall.  However Michael and Jefferey Kulp were tortured for hours.  Jefferey getting shot, stabbed, concrete blocks slammed on his head, his ear and tongue cut out and much more.  It was truly medieval.   The reality is that families lost loved ones on all sides of this incident.  Violence begets violence begets violence.  No one wins.  The McDuffie riots, in my opinion, did more harm to race relations during that time than any other issue of its time.  Whites and Hispanics remembered the horrific scenes on the streets of Miami. Many families told their kids to be careful around black people as they could not be trusted.  This was not the case at my house but I remember a lot of friends where that was the norm.  I am sure, many Black families also thought their children about the dangers of the police due to the McDuffie killing. It would be nice to all acknowledge this and try to move on.  Seems that is not the case and we have only doubled down.

Never in my days, did I ever think I would be alive to hear about separate black and white graduation, dorms, businesses, etc.  Today we are self-segregating.  Society in the name of "progress" has urged people to identify with a race and create echo-chambers, very much like what we see in prisons where you have Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, etc and they must fight for a manufactured issue created by those in power that have a vested interest in keeping everyone separate and stupid.  Hopefully we can pull through this and stop flushing motion of this society.  

Additionally I learned about Hector Sanyustiz which I owe my family to.  Because of his valiant and desperate move to ram the gates of the Peruvian Embassy in Cuba which was the impetus of the Mariel Boat Lift which is how my wife and her family arrived in this country.  Many people know about the Mariel Boat Lift from either family or even the movie Scar Face but very few that I have asked knew anything about Sanyustiz.  Many of my family members arrived from Cuba during this time and it is probably the only thing I am grateful to Jimmy Carter for.  My former brother-in-law made the voyage across the Florida Straits to Cuba to pick up his brother as well as my uncle and son.  I remember being glued to the TV to see if there were any updates to their voyage.


The truth is there were a lot of mentally unstable people released from the sanatarium and prisoners released from prisons, but most of the folks that came here were hardworking people looking to better their lives and the lives of their families.  I remember being introduced to "El Granizero" (The Snow Cone man) that created a snow cone cart our of a bike and some wood, the "Churro" man that would make Churros outside of the Zayres parking lot in Hialeah, and the "Biandero" which was essentially a mobile fresh market where the "Biandero" would pull up in your apartment building and start yelling "Biandero.. La Bianda barrata, barrata, barrata".  In Cuba, there were no parts for the American classic cars.  The Cubans were so resourceful they would manufacture their own parts.  However there were the drugs that was "the lure of easy money.... it was the smuggler's blues" ~ Glenn Frey.

We had family and friends that became millionaires overnight.  The strip bar trips where we would drop 10s of thousands of dollars, nightly dinner at the Forge in Miami Beach, boats, trips, cars, motorcycles and anything your mind could think of.  I remember that for 2.5 years, I did not own a car.  I would grab one of the many cars available (Ford Bronco, Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham and El Dorrados, AMG Mercedes Benz, Porsche 911 Carrera, etc).  Many smart dealers made money and used it to go legit but most allowed greed to take them to jail or the cemetery.  My father sold airline tickets from the house.  He made a lot of money selling these people tickets for world tours.  The club scenes was crazy.  Walking into the bathroom, you would see cocaine everywhere.  Dude would be snorting lines off of the urinals with $100.00 bills.  Miami Jai-Alai on Saturdays was the normal thing to do.  Thousands of dollars were dumped there.  All the drugs you wanted.  We would go to Broward County as a teen and hit the teen clubs with loads of cocaine.  As ugly as I am, I was like Brad Pitt.  I scored probably more than he did.  I enjoyed the life style but new that hanging with these people would soon bring my life to an end.  When they offered me $10K to go to Haulover marina to trailer a boat that was in the water and once I delivered it to its destination, I could keep the brand new Ford Bronco, I knew I was being set up.  Got away from all of it.  

The reality is that Miami was a shit-hole.  No one wanted to be here unless you were 100 years old.  It was a retirement community.  The drugs built Miami.  Many legitimate businesses made a lot of money.  Best thing was not to ask if it was blood money.  I had  carpet business.  There was a customer that lived on Brickell Key.  I would replace his white carpet in his giant apartment every month.  Regardless of what the situation.  Once, he was traveling the entire month.  No one was even in their apartment after I installed the carpet the month before.  I asked him if he wanted to skip this month and he said NO!!!  Come put some new carpet.  I made 10's of thousands of dollars from him alone yearly.      








Publisher ‏ : ‎ 37 Ink (July 14, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1501191020
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1501191022
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 9 inches






Friday, June 4, 2021

Wrong Alibi by: Christina Dodd

I enjoyed the book.  The end kind of came together a little quickly but it was good.   The beginning of the book was out of sequence but it worked out well.  A young girl gets into trouble and goes to prison.  She eventually gets released and gets a job in Alaska where her estranged mother and sister are currently living.  The new position requires Evelyn Jones to run errands, deposit money and all around assistance.  The employer, Donald White, has purchased the home from a couple where the husband has been kidnapped and the wife is trying to get him released.  


** SPOILER **

Since Evelyn was depositing cash money into a Cayman Island bank under her name, was seen in the city driving Michelle's car (Jaguar) all around town and seen at the house; when Evelyn finds the gruesome crime scene of Michelle and her young son, she is the prime suspect.  She is subsequently tried and convicted of murder since "Donald White" is a ghost and no one can validate him.  A freak accident and mud slide kills all except for Evelyn while being transported. Her face is badly injured and eventually she gets taken to the hospital.  Her face is reconstructed and to all outward appearances, she was among the dead buried under the mud.  She hides out for a decade in a fishing camp under a new name of,  Petie.  Michelle's widower returns after being released and has a vendetta against Evelyn after finding out she is alive.  Evelyn (aka Petie) returns to Rockin, Alaska after seeing Donald White, now Derek Green is actually dating her mother.  

The book includes love, betrayal, murder, sex, and relationships.  It flowed well and I finished it in a couple of days.


Publisher : HQN; Original edition (December 29, 2020)
Language : English
Hardcover : 368 pages
ISBN-10 : 1335549595
ISBN-13 : 978-1335549594
Item Weight : 1.05 pounds
Dimensions : 6.25 x 1.14 x 9.25 inches