Sunday, February 16, 2020

Vision Zero doesn't work

This obsession progressive liberals have with creating ever more laws to force people to obey the existing laws that they aren't is a topic which I've touched on before in previous posts especially in regards to gun laws. But I thought I had written specifically about this Vision Zero thing here at the sepulchrum but apparently not. I must have it confused with posted comments on Queenscrap and the Newtown Pentacle. What can I say, I'm getting old.

However aside from a tangental subject on bicycle lanes where I wrote that being an entitled asshole with a lack of civility and exercise of common sense which cuts across all demographics is the problem, not lack of more laws or bike lanes and I might add more cameras. To actually believe it is possible to reduce all traffic accidents with fatalities to zero, let alone any and all traffic accident for that matter, is completely impossible unless someone engineers a new, flawless human who never makes mistakes.

So until that happens, this vision zero thing is an idea born of either industrial grade imbeciles or grifters of the political or activist stripe with an altogether different ulterior motive. Either way, it will not work for its stated purpose because it does not properly address the human element but maybe it was never supposed to work in the first place.

Here is an article from FEE detailing the progress of Vision Zero in that progresive sewer of Los Angeles. To any Angeleno who might take offense, NYC is just as bad of an leftist open sewer and festering progressive liberal boil on the ass of America so nobody's getting an attitude here. As to Vision Zero, it's just as I've said.


Donald Cavaioli

Friday, February 14, 2020

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Meeker Avenue at Penny Bridge ca 1936

Sometimes it's nice to escape back to a simpler time.


Here is Meeker Avenue on the Brooklyn side of the old Penny Bridge barely visible on the far right. This is probably around 1936 at the latest as with the completion of the Koscuiuszko Bridge, it was demolished. The photographer however, was far more concerned with this Stephenson model 1907 car at the terminal stop of the Meeker Ave line of the B&QT when it was a privately owned railroad company. The end of the track and catenary wires clearly visible on the right.  I like the little green convenience store, if that's what it is, with the coca-cola sign on front. Getting the colors of the Stephenson right was tough because these cars were originally convertible cars- double ended open motorman control and sides can be removed in the summer to permanently a fully closed car, front and rear doors with parts of slightly differing shades of red added.

The original black and white photo was found in the hidden back 'World' menus of NYC Subway.org where the trolley photos are carefully concealed (those ERA types, I tell ya!) and by myself colorized in defiance.



Donald Cavaioli

Monday, February 10, 2020

When the far right mirrors the far left

The model of the political spectrum I favor in a previous post here makes a prediction that can be tested that could strengthen it as a more logically consistent and better model than the horseshoes, circles and pretzels favored by others. It predicts that the extreme far right and the extreme far left would hold similar positions but for diametrically opposite reasons. They would be mirror twins.

For those who only look at the subject superficially, it would be understandable how they make the error of bending the spectrum to make the two ends meet. If A = C and B = C then A must equal B and they would still be wrong if the comparison were between libertarian anarchism of the right endpoint with communist anarchism of the left endpoint. One needs to look just beneath the surface to understand the differences in motivation and ideals involved. But as I have said, their endpoints are only similar as anarchism itself means different things to the right and the left.

For the left, anarchism is the end product of Marxist dialectic materialism, the synthesis after the communist anarchist antithesis destroys the current "capitalist" thesis. In Marxism, this synthesis is undefined as to what exactly it will be other than the state (the dictatorship of the proletariat interim phase) withering away under communism. As it is in the future, it is as unknowable today as capitalism and the industrial revolution would have been during the earlier patriarchy and feudal phases. This new synthesis is not only inevitable but the final stage of human history.

For the far right anarchists, there would simply be a stateless society as Man, in their view, is a naturally rational economic actor, a fundamental property of human nature as they see it, where all people would keep and dispose of the products of their labor as they see fit. No courts, no military, no police, no national borders, no basic services as each individual will see to these matters themselves or at worst, a minimal form of government for at most basic services like water, sanitation and sewage. It would be a society, if you could call it that, where each person is a country unto himself and his national boundaries don't extend beyond the tip of his own nose. Courts would only exist to protect individual property rights. Overall in the libertarian society, everybody does as he pleases and the whole of the law shall be do as thou wilt as long as it does not violate the non-aggression principle- another fundamental property of human nature in libertarianism.

So both believe in a stateless or nearly stateless society but the critical difference is the communist will have the fruits of individual labor equally distributed throughout the community whereas the in the libertarian anarchist society it's every man for himself, getting by or not based only on one's individual talent, ability and drive.

One interesting side note is in the dissident right there is an interesting similarity to Marxist material dialectics where some believe in either withdrawing from participation in the political process and allowing the political and economic system to collapse on its own or voting for the most extreme leftist to speed up the collapse. It is as if they are the antithesis in a sort of passive-aggressive  conflict with the present thesis and as with the communists, the future synthesis cannot be described in either how it will come to be or what exactly it will look like. It will just happen and it will work out in favor of the dissident righters in a sort of libertarianish (although DR'ers seem to hate libertarians as apostates are wont to do) society and this is inevitable because they have the best ideas. Again the right mirrors the left with opposite expectations and opposite outcomes. Even with tactics employed in the antithesis-thesis conflict itself, the right is passive where the left is active.

However, it is disturbing how this sect of the right seems quite comfortable with Marxists concepts like material dialectics and their acceptance of blurring the definitions of words and phrases such as their refusing to define the 'right' as anything more than the 'not-left'. As well as their distrust of corporations and big banks and seeing them as a greater evil than big managerial government. But as I've previously noted, the dissident right appears to consist of libertarian and objectivist apostates and heretics with some disgruntled blue-collar, big pro-union, old-school New Dealer Democrats thrown in. So it should not be too surprising to find them using New Deal rhetoric and ideas. Just as it should not be surprising that many DR'ers being from the blue-collar and suburban middle-class strivers set would think that having a lot of money translates into power- If I were a rich man, with my gold alone I'd rule over the men with the guns. Completely absurd. No understanding whatsoever of the difference between influence and power.

When you use the right model, understanding the present and predicting the future becomes much easier.




Sunday, February 9, 2020

The People's Banana Empire's New 5 Year Plan which will take 20 years for Traffic Reduction Through Eliminating Roadway Lanes

From The Brooklyn Daily Eagle: Brooklyn-Queens Expressway panel delivers long-awaited recommendations by Mary Frost, January 31, 2020

Our glorious People's Rulers have devised a magnificent new plan to rebuild the aging Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in such a way as to reduce traffic by removing a lane of traffic. Now to the uninspired simpleton, not intellectually and politically advanced enough to comprehend this plan would make the atrociously insipid argument that removing a lane of traffic would increase and greatly slow traffic on the remaining two lanes. Absolutely not! For as our cosmically intelligent liberal betters have long since known that as building an extra lane on highways causes more cars to spontaneously appear through mechanical abiogenesis, then the contrary must be true that eliminating a lane from the highway will cause cars and trucks to be spontaneously annihilated.

A BQE Panel formed by Our Most Wise and Benevolent Ruler, Mayor de Blasio under the astute leadership of Carlo Scissura has definitively stated that this shall be a monumental improvement in traffic flow as it will allow broken down vehicles or ones involved in a traffic accident a shoulder upon which to await response of the appropriate officials. The return of both way tolls with high speed E-ZPass on the Verrazzano Bridge instead of one double toll with high speed E-ZPass would reduce traffic by some technical means that are so advanced that only Mr. Scissura and his high priests in the construction industry could fathom it. Thus, is the definitive ex-cathedra pronouncement on the matter. All other ideas submitted by the lower orders of the community were summarily disposed of in the circular file amidst some Jovian mirth.

Our masters should be given praise for being gracious enough to at least pretend that they cared what the filthy peasant masses thought and allowed the simpering fools to place their hopelessly simplistic ideas at the feet of their betters. The Official Plan is absolutely the best and shall work flawlessly because our betters have decreed it.

It should not cause any suspicion of a vested interest whatsoever that Mr. Scissura is the president and CEO of the New York Building Congress, an advocacy and lobbying group for the construction industry. That this fellow would be taking a 1.5 mile repair project and ridiculously expanding it to a unnecessary gargantuan project only so he and his buddies in the industry can reap an obscene fortune through crony-capitalism. There should be no censorious conspiracy theories that this is just a crony capitalist and politically powerful construction union feeding frenzy of public monies. The aging 1.5 mile section of the BQE is really in need of repair and it is absolutely necessary to re-construct the entire BQE to make it a 2 lane highway because.... you know.... reasons and stuff, save the planet from global weather change, prevent the return of Noah's flood (as Gaia is wroth at us), the sustainable eco-friendly thingie and more. Why, the whole blasted thing absolutely must be "re-thought", "re-imagined", and "re-worked" not to make consultant fees and allow for politically connected groups to perform endless publicly financed environmental impact, feasibility and planning studies. Not to allow more activist and lobbyist snouts in the public trough to feed for the decades it would take to complete this behemoth masterpiece, if it is ever really and finally completed, that is. But this is because they can and because our betters said it is necessary and this is all we ignorant, unwashed peasants need to know. To say anything else would be as rude and uncouth as casting aspersions of corruption upon this paragon of wisdom and virtue, our dear leader, Mayor de Blasio and our world-famous super-competent, honest and corruption-free city government.(please clap)

Nothing can contradict the official narrative of higher leftist moral truths and progressive canon as any truths based on objective reality are mere conspiracy theories promulgated by naughty rightwing badthinkers even if backed up by facts. Facts and objective reality, sir, are the devil's playthings.


Donald Cavaioli

Saturday, February 8, 2020

A Critique of the American Right Strategy (or Lack Thereof) Part 3

Parts 1 is here and part 2 is here


So I've finally got around to finishing this post which started several months ago and grew to such lengths as I began exploring this idea that I decided to break it into 3 separate walls of text and still feel that there's much I didn't cover properly. And after much editing and re-editing, I still don't think the writing flows smoothly enough and is still missing points I should have made. But as they say- either get down to business or get off the pot so finally I got down to business.

Simply put, the right needs to reach out to and if not attract and convert more moderate middle Americans then to at least have them more sympathetic to the philosophy and goals of the right. For the most part, this means soft-peddling the previously mentioned segments of the right I critiqued rather than completely reading them out of the movement except of course, in extreme cases. Besides the obvious cranks and weirdos, there should be no place for the alt-leftists of national socialism and those who advocate for unprovoked violence against non-whites and starting race wars. The other rightists might still have contributions to make outside of their pet ideas or peeves even if I disagree with some of their positions. The right needs all the allies they can get.  As one last criticism of the alt and dissident right, by reading out the entirety of the conservative movement, are they not as guilty as when they criticize the Buckley conservatives for reading out the John Birchers and neo-confederates? Although Buckley and his NRO followers in the end failed as their critics charge and have in fact shifted into neo-liberalism, imperialism and social and political positions taken by 1950's and 60's Democrat liberals, these people, mostly professional pundits, are in fact, a minority of those who identify as mainstream conservatives. And again I ask the dissident and alt-right (if any still exist unironically) where are your achievements and successes? Did the Z man or Vox Day manage to eject the men in sundresses from out of the women's restroom yet? Still waiting, guys.

Proposed solution:
As conservatism is more familiar to Joe and Jane Normie and if reformed as the groypers attempted, can be valuable as a bridge between the more nationalist dissident right and middle America. That the mainstream rank-and-file conservative might still hold to a civic national/propositional nation of immigrants position, support of President Trump's make America great again more nationalistic position and support for the border wall show an openness to reconsider civic nationalism. They might therefore be more amenable to reason and this line should be pursued which will lead to a realization that its underlying "blank slate" model of humanity is likewise false. It should be stressed that noticing differences between peoples and cultures is not racism or does not necessarily mean one is better or superior to the other but simply acknowledging reality with no hate involved. So rather than recriminations of "boomercons" and further alienating conservatives who might otherwise move more towards nationalism, the dissident right should forego puerile name calling and vapid provincialism and consider forming alliances with them. Nor would it hurt if the conservatives were allowed to retain their own banner rather than forcing them to drop it in favor of identifying only as dissident right or alt-right (of the non-Spencerian flavors). The tact of "you're with us only under our banner (we're number one, huzzah!) and in complete lockstep with us or you are against us" serves only the left's so far successful drive to destroy the disarrayed and atomized right in detail.

Finally, the religion thing must be considered. Although it would set the teeth of right-leaning atheists on edge, there cannot be a strong concept of morality without it. Man will only obey the morality revealed by a power higher than himself as an absolute and eternal truth. This morality adhered to by the people en masse is necessary to the function of a high trust culture under a constitutional republic and a common religion is part of what holds a culture and community together. A strong commonly held moral order along with civic engagement by the average citizen is what keeps government honest by holding the bad guys accountable when found. So let the atheists get over their daddy issues and at least accept and support cultural Christianity even if they do not wish to participate in a religion.

I don't expect these ideas to gain any traction among libertarians, their apostates and heretics in the dissident right and alt-right because of their individualism preferences so a centralized ideology or philosophy around which all can coalesce simply isn't in their natures. Nor the mainstream conservatives who likewise share this individualist bent but are still waiting for permission to reject the failures of civic nationalism and the blank slate theory without fear of being called racist. All in all, the American right has accepted too many of the left's moral premises with elements of the far right viewing themselves as a passive-aggressive antithesis in material dialectics waiting in Galt's Abbey for the crash and the as yet unknowable new synthesis to spontaneously emerge. However, in the meantime, we'll continue to fight more among ourselves rather than the left because, hey, we're the American right. It's what we do.


Donald Cavaioli

Friday, February 7, 2020

The Psychic Inquisitors Know You Are a Racist Thought Criminal Even If You Don't Say or do Anything Racist

It seems the White Supremacist Satan has been abroad throughout the land seducing presumably white proles to release their inner racist demon and go on a frenzied black mass of hanging banners that cause white liberal progressive soyflakes unspeakable levels of butthurt and badfeelz. But fear not, gentle readers, for the Psychic Inquisitors are on the case.

From the 'I don't know how I missed this gem of assholery' files and recorded for all prosperity to be gawped at by the masses by our glorious people's heroes of journalistic labor of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

Bay Ridge unites against white nationalist recruitment written by staff, January 6, 2020

Indeed, a highly diverse group of white people transplanted to Brooklyn from around the United States gathered to gasp in horror before falling into an exaggerated swoon and make angry NPC noises at the display of a banner hung by what they describe as "nazis" with allusions to World War II. It were as if this group, identified as Patriot Front, were capable of time travel, resurrecting a German alt-left socialist party that has been defunct for nearly 75 years and maybe even clone Hitler too! All by the devilish witchcraft of hanging banners. Feel the power of hate, man! Like with the Dark Side of the Force, anything is possible.

As an aside, the rally was organized by Fight Back Bay Ridge with help from the Bay Ridge for Social Justice and, drumroll please....The Democratic Socialists of America, The Arab Association of NY, and The Arab Women's Voice . A strange combination of the first two being white Midwestern regional and ethnic chameleons who usually support illegal immigrant causes because of their phobia of being "othered" and pathological need to be accepted by foreigners. This possibly due to traumatic school experiences of being social rejects and their inability to understand that nobody liked them because they're detestable people. Then the DSA, a veritable circus of degenerate assclowns whose collective psychological abnormalities would fill volumes of the DSM. But the last two? The Arab American Association of NY which had or has Linda Sarsour as a member, which was founded by her father's cousin, Basemah Atweh and seems comfortable with Linda's more colorful comments towards whites, Jews and anyone who asks about Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood or if any politician tries to take away its tax dollar funding. And then The Arab Women's Voice, a political consultant firm. Definitely some big money and political influence backing this little hipster honkfest as AANY not only receives public money from NY but also has the North Star fund which gets funding from old daddy moneybags, Soros.

Strange bedfellows if one were to consider that Muslims tend to view most progressive liberal positions with a jaundiced eye such as gay rights and women's rights. So to find white progressive liberals allied with Muslim groups one must wonder if the progs are simply sanctimonious hypocrites who only seek to destroy their own country and fellow citizens, weapons-grade stupid or some combination of both. End aside.

So in this article we come to find the offending banner had written upon it "Support American workers". The unspired, un-woke dullard might look at this and say "so what?" why should we be against American workers? Isn't the left all about the workers, even the American ones? On the surface, this and the other banners seem like innocuous patriotic platitudes. Just as the Patriot Front website doesn't seem to mention anything about race at all unless I missed the time when 'American' was designated as a race and which I am informed by leftists that race does not exist. A contradiction which only progressive liberals with their highly advanced emotional intelligence can puzzle out. There's not even a mention of the infamous "Jewish Question" or JQ to the cognoscenti. Proof that PF is a racist front?! They don't need no stinking proof!

On the question of Patriot Front being a coven of hateful white supremacists haters there can be no doubt as the Psychic Inquisitors of the ADL and the SPLC were not fooled by the lack of Ku Klux Klan regalia or overt panegyrics to Hitler and Nazism. No sir! Both the ADL and the SPLC had already placed this heinous group of thought criminals in double secret probation.

The Witch Sniffers immediately detected the effluence of hellish sulfur wafting from PF's website, expert cryptographers using special secret decoder rings broke the codes used to disguise their evil plot to do....uh...bad stuff... and the psychic detectives read every member's mind and found them all to be possessed by the daemon Racism.  Furthermore, any lack of racism or denial of racism is proof positive of racism. Elementary. Case closed, QED.

In the end, this demonstration was a complete success as a group of white progressive left people honked and quacked in consternation like a flock of angry geese and ducks, tore down the offending banner and thus prevented white non-Jewish proles from seeing it and magically triggering them to join White Supremacist Satan's unholy legions. Civilization was saved. Forward, comrades, forward!



Donald Cavaioli






Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Random Photo


This RCA 9K3 has been occupying some time in restoration. Chassis is done and the cabinet is in the final stages of refinishing.





Got 2 drafts on other stuff I should get done by tomorrow or the next day. But if anyone needs an old vacuum tube radio restored, you know who to call.




Donald Cavaioli

Monday, February 3, 2020

1940's Surf Avenue colorized

A quick look into a long gone world:


And what's more lost world than the B&QT trolleys?
Here at Surf Avenue and W.37th Street terminal is the old workhorse John Stephenson model 1907 car. The motorman is pulling down and securing the now front trolley pole in preparation of heading back to the opposite terminal stop.

Original B&W photo, as usual for trains and trolleys is from NYC Subway.org


Donald Cavaioli

Saturday, February 1, 2020

Modern American Expectations of Political Candidates

“It was inevitable under a monarchy, however benevolent the monarch. The old virtues disappear. Independence and frankness are at a discount. Complacent anticipation of the monarch's wishes is then the greatest of all virtues. One must either be a good monarch like yourself, or a good courtier like myself—either an Emperor or an idiot.”
― Robert Graves, Claudius the God and His Wife Messalina


I read this article in Crisis Magazine, President, for Life by Austin Ruse regarding a colleague and friend, Jonathan Last, executive editor of Bulwark, views on President Trump as a pro-life supporter. Long story short, Ruse feels Last's never-Trumper attitude colors his perception about the depth and sincerity of Trump's pro-life stance that in fact Trump is not pro-life insofar as Last's "seamless garment" all or nothing political interpretation would have it.

The article itself is good and in a way depicts the typical political never-Trumper view that Trump is the Orange Satan from whom absolutely nothing good comes. But what caught my attention more is the reactions in the comments section. Forget the never-Trumpers and the disdain of the mainstream moderate liberals but what I found interesting was the reaction of the moderate to moderate conservative normies. Many of them mostly support Trump but they find him to be coarse and uncouth which seems to weigh more heavily on them than Trump's competence or accomplishments.
This, I believe, is something I would call the television commercial effect.

As the prevalence of television in the American home increased since the 1950's and 60's, the method of advertisers changed from simply touting the superiority of a product as in radio to a more visual appeal. Form over function, style and slick, glossy image over the dry technical points. The look, optics and visual appeal also took root in advertising political candidates when not engaged in mud-slinging against their opponent. Kennedy was thought to have won a debate with Nixon simply because he looked more telegenic than a Nixon who was still recovering from an illness and looked pale. What viewer would have remembered the dry details of Soviet ICBMs versus U.S. ICBM's or how Castro's Cuba affects U.S. national security or which candidate was a stronger opponent of Soviet communist expansionism. John Lindsay was elected mayor of New York City in 1966 on the strength of his movie star good looks and re-elected on the same even if he was an incompetent mayor.

Gradually, the Madison Avenue Admen began marketing politicians as if they were advertising lite beer- weak, watery and flavorless. Even the mud-slinging began to be more moderated. Political candidates are now expected to be as watery and flavorless as lite beer, giving carefully worded speeches tailored to the audience's political preferences. If not answering direct questions with a yes, no and but on the other hand, politicians will either tell a particular group what they want to hear or keep the speech vague enough so like a blank screen, the audience will project their own desires onto it. Then came Donald J. Trump with  his direct, in-your-face, pull no punches style more typical of Queens, NY natives than the usual polished milquetoast politician.

Now of course, there are exceptions to the rule that pop-culture views as acceptable. People of color candidates and honorary people of color such as homosexuals and Jewish candidates are permitted to be bombastic or obnoxious and make some outrageous statements because they are considered "victims" and have the right to "fight back" against their perceived oppressors. But of course not straight, white Christian males and absolutely not ever Republicans of any type. Republicans are not permitted to even respond to any Democrat's most outrageous attacks. Nor is it ever acceptable for any politician to criticize the mainstream media. This is what television has taught generations of Americans to expect as normal and proper political debate and discourse. This is the only acceptable way for politicians to behave. And Trump breaks every one of these rules and a few more unwritten rules besides. This flummoxes the normies and puts Trump beyond the pale of civilization itself.

Normie is aghast that Trump hits back when hit, uses twitter to do an end-run around of the mainstream media and contradicts and talks back to the talking heads on the TV news. But normie is not historically aware enough to understand that in the bygone age before TV, politicians were expected to answer questions directly, explain their platform plainly and in detail, to be forthright and to stand up for himself when criticized or in debate.  And perhaps what would be considered today to be the worst sin of all, to be an unabashed nationalist and patriot supporting American interests over all others. Even up through the 1980's, giving vague yes, no and maybe answers and flip-flopping on issues was considered disingenuous and a sign of bad character. Nowadays, it's considered de rigueur for uniparty candidates and viewed as "nuanced" and somehow smart and "wonkish" by normies.

The worst part of this is that the average American is not even aware of how their perceptions of what constitutes a proper politician have been altered to suit the needs of the managerial state and to bow before the altar of globalism. All along, a slave's collar was fastened around their neck and they've been lead down the garden path into a system that works to their detriment that they're beginning to notice. For all his brashness and crudeness, Trump is the right man in the right place to break this illusion if he does nothing else. Now, if only normie would fully wake up.



Donald Cavaioli

Fear Response

On the internet, there is no end to conspiracy theories on any topic imaginable and there is no serious or concerted attempt made to censor ...