The Pope is Broke

 Looks like paying all those child molestation settlements has finally caught up to the Vatican. 

"The Vatican warned that it has nearly depleted its financial reserves from past donations to cover budget deficits over recent years, as it urged continued giving from the faithful to keep the Holy See afloat and Pope Francis' ministry going." (Full story here.)

Here's a radical idea. How about stop protecting priests that molest children to start. That will save millions in legal fees and damage claims. Then maybe have a garage sale to raise money. There is plenty of valuable stuff in Vatican City that can be sold instead of shaking down struggling parishioners for more cash. 

Fact Checkers

"Owens alleged that the fact-checkers are "activists for the left that shut down your speech if they don't like it." The conservative firebrand claimed her Facebook page was unfairly demonetized, and was she was suing the fact-checkers for defamation."

See the complete story on The Blaze.

Doomed Patrol

 

Social Media and Censorship

If you happen to be hiding under a rock, it may come as news to you that President Donald J. Trump was kicked off of Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, as well as had his accounts at Snap, Shopify, Twitch, and Spotify deleted. (Spotify? SPOTIFY??? Are they afraid he's going to make a Rick Roll playlist? Go on a Twisted Sister bender? Seriously! What the hell???)

It's evident that if you do not tow the leftist "woke" ideology line, Big Tech wants you eliminated. I've had my own issues with Instagram when I complained about someone trying to clone my account and using my personal photos. Their reaction was to delete the fake account AND my account. No attempts to find out why I, the victim, was being punished were answered. Then there is Facebook. If you follow my Linda Out Loud account on Facebook, you know my personal account was deleted. Why? I was never told. No warning. No "Facebook jail". My account was just gone one day. If I had to guess why, It's because I had been posting in support of Kyle Rittenhouse, the young man who was attacked in Kenosha, WI, and ended up killing some of his attackers. The only reason the Linda Out Loud page still exists is that my husband and my son are listed as page admins. Even with my page continuing, I've been hit with leftist "fact check" after "fact check", and now I am seriously limited on how many times I can post. 

Even before the sitting president was kicked off of social media, a fact that should outrage anyone, I had been dabbling with alternatives. I saw the writing on the wall and knew it was only a matter of time before independent, libertarian, free-market ideas would be unwelcomed on the popular platforms. I thought I had found a home on Parler, but now they are offline because Amazon kicked them off their servers. I do have a Gab account, and Gab's owner had the foresight to make sure he owned his own servers and did not have to rely on someone else to host his site. However, with the new influx of digital refugees, Gab has been unusable. While it will be better as new servers are added, it does show that relying on one or two communication channels, whether for business or personal use, is a danger. 

So now what? I am currently testing out other social media options. I have accounts on several platforms and will be seeing where my style of humor and commentary can get a foothold. I've followed some of my favorite Tweeters and Vloggers around the internet and I'm trying to find sites that promote free speech as well as work with my tech, and my aging brain. (I'll list my accounts at the end of this post.)  

I still have this website, but will work on getting it off of Blogger ASAP since it's a Google product and they are part of the Big Tech cabal. Once I find a social media platform where I feel comfortable, I'll post where you can find me most often on this website. Until then, take a moment and explore outside your comfort zone and try some different sites yourself. Finding a new digital home is difficult, but it's imperative. If you don't, it's too easy for Big Tech to take you out on a whim. 

For now, find Linda Out Loud on...

Gab: LindaOutLoud

Minds: LindaOutLoud

Clouthub: LindaOutLoud

MeWe: LindaDuffy

Twitter: LindaOutLoudLOL *

* I will be dropping Twitter as soon as I find a new "home"

Happy Easter!

United we fall

United airlines is learning some important lessons about customer service and the effectiveness of social media. After "re-accommodating" as passenger chosen by computer to lose his seat when the flight was "overbooked". (Re-accomodating meaning smashing his face in to an arm rest and then dragging him off the plane and overbooking meaning wanting to put 4 United employees on the flight so they kicked off paying passengers that had already been boarded).

It didn't take long for video taken by people on the plane to hit Twitter and Facebook, resulting in much discussion about airline policies, passenger rights, and the actions of the authorities who roughed up the disgruntled flyer.

Instead of continuing to offer higher compensation to passengers in an attempt to get someone to give up their seat, they instead are facing a $1.4 BILLION dollar loss in value as the market reacted. Making the decision to stop at $800 as their top offer to get someone to take a different flight seems pretty foolish now.

The Flying Games?

Voters, Schmoters!

Found in this article on GoldSeek.com

Corporate Welfare

I have friends who lean so far Progressive, I suspect they may have a picture of Woodrow Wilson tucked under their pillows. The most common type of meme they appear to post on Facebook concerns corporate welfare. Setting aside the debate about whether or not a company keeping some of the money it earned is actually "welfare", Progressives get upset that corporations receive federal money at the same time Conservatives complain about individuals receiving federal money in the form of welfare, food stamps (EBT), etc... Ok. For today, I will set aside my questions about whether a tax break is actually the same as welfare and agree with them. Giving federal money to a private corporation is welfare. So, why are they defending the government's giving money to Planned Parenthood? Planned Parenthood is a private corporation who's income exceeds their expenses by over $90 million dollars per year. Want to end corporate welfare? Let's start with them.

A new cast member?

Find out why Hillary needs an orange pant suit here.

Hey, ladies!

With the current controversy about Planned Parenthood, birth control in general is once again a topic of contentious conversation. Setting aside my opinions for a minute about government involvement in birth control and abortion, I would like to toss this thought out to all the young women.

If a guy can't scrape together enough change to get a condom at a gas station to at least make some small effort to protect you from disease and a possible pregnancy, you need to pick another guy.

Someone needs a dictionary

Despite President Obama embracing the name "Obamacare" for the Affordable Care Act, Nancy Pelosi seems rabidly upset people aren't using it's proper name.

The problem with her insistence on using the official title of the Affordable Care Act is it is anything but affordable for many Americans. Emphasizing the name affordable will not make cash suddenly appear in people's pockets and create even more resentment for the law than already exists. Good luck with that Nancy!

About those Russians....

When Sara Palin pointed out that Russia was still a threat to the USA in 2008, she was mocked incessantly. Turns out she was right all along. 

“After the Russian Army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama’s reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence, the kind of response that would only encourage Russia’s Putin to invade Ukraine next,” Palin told Foreign Policy in 2008. (more here)

House of WHAT?

Liberal Paradise

Skiing the Tropics

If you've seen stories about a lack of snow in Sochi and how skiers demand action on global climate change, there is something you should keep in mind. SOCHI IS A SUBTROPICAL AREA. It isn't SUPPOSED to be full of snow.

The idiot political leaders who want to take over and destroy the economy in the name of climate change are the same type of idiots involved in picking a town for the WINTER Olympics in an area with a day time temperature that NEVER DROPS BELOW FREEZING AT ANY POINT IN THE YEAR!

Read more about it here.

A thought on the great debate

I caught part of the debate last night between scientist Bill Nye and creationist Ken Ham. I intend to catch the whole debate later, but a thought popped in to my mind as Bill Nye was speaking on the live Youtube feed. It's actually a big question for both "teams" involved here.

How come Bill Nye the Science Guy is smart enough to recognize that nature doesn't work as a top down structure, but doesn't understand that markets and governments don't work as top down structures? And conversely, Conservatives understand that economics and governments work best from the bottom up but reject the idea of natural selection?

I ran that piece of profoundness past my husband and he replied, "Hmmmmfffppfmmm." 

I guess I shouldn't try to be all brilliant and philosophical when he is eating pork rinds with cheese dip. 

Escape from New York

New York Governor Cuomo publicly trashed conservatives recently, branding them as "right to life, pro-assault weapons, anti-gay" and let them know they were no longer welcomed in the state.

"...they have no place in the state of New York because that’s not who New Yorkers are.”

This prompted right to life and gun advocate talk show host Sean Hannity to announce an upcoming move. "Now I want to tell you something – I was born and raised in New York,” Hannity said. “I want you to know that and I can’t wait to get out of here. I really can’t. I don’t want to pay their 10-percent state tax anymore. I live in the second-highest property taxed county in the entire country in Nassau County. I can’t wait to sell my house to somebody who wants it. I can’t wait to pay no state income tax down in Florida or Texas."

 

A single talk show host leaving the state is not a big deal. People move all the time. But Sean isn't just some guy who tapes random conversations on a hand-held tape recorder. He has a radio and TV show. He has employees. He is a COMPANY. He is leaving New York and taking the jobs and money he generates with him. 

“Gov. Cuomo, I’m going to leave and I’m taking all of my money with me – every single solitary penny,” he added. “And by the way governor, because I work here – there’s a whole bunch of people that work for me and benefit because I do two shows. And I guess maybe some of them will be out of work, governor. I’m sure you’ll take care of them.” (more)

As the progressive Cuomo administration continues their tax and trash campaign against productive people who actually understand the constitution, more will get tired of the hostile business climate, the political climate, the crappy climate climate and move to sunnier, more conservative-friendly regions. 

Of course, once the employers leave, that means the employees will also leave to follow the jobs.  This will result in population mix of the over-privileged and government-dependent once the entrepreneurial class and middle class are chased away. New York will quickly return to the pre-Giuliani days of high murder rates and rampant squeegee people. I suggest any conservatives and libertarians who understand economics and actually embrace freedom of thought might want to 'pull a Plissken' and Escape from New York.

6.7%? Try 24+%!

The government says the unemployment rate is now 6.7%, which should be a good thing. The problem is the number only appears to be low because the labor participation rate has dropped again. When people give up their job search because they can't find work, the government no longer considers them unemployed. If you count the people who dropped out of the work force, the unemployment picture is quite different. Using the old 1994 formula which includes disenfranchised workers, the REAL unemployment number is rapidly approaching 25%.

To get the REAL unemployment, inflation, and GDP numbers, be sure to stop by www.shadowstats.com.

Someone needs a dictionary!

See then entire episode and the other guest cracking up at Juan's moment of total delusion here.

One ringy dingy....