Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Sunday, May 15, 2022

Book Review: Everything T***p Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President Ever

 


The subject of the book is evident from the title. It is one of the most accurately titled books ever. Wilson, who was a behind-the-scenes Republican strategist who never got on the t***p train, either at the beginning or after he won the nomination, excoriates everyone involved in the former administration and everyone who supported the prior administration. He goes scorched earth on t***p and anyone who supported him, for whatever reason they did so, and definitely does not wear kid gloves as he criticizes anyone. For the MAGATs out there excoriates basically means to verbally bitch-slap, and verbally means using words. 

There is no doubt about Wilson's feelings toward any person or group of people he discusses in the book. Wilson openly mocks anyone who supported the orange shitgibbon, whether they were the inbred hillbillies with three teeth and even fewer IQ points, the opportunists like Paul Ryan and Bitch McConnell who only supported t***p to get the tax breaks they wanted to pass signed into law and/or to stack the courts with conservative judges, or the evangelicals who actually seem to believe that ol' pussy-grabber is anything close to a good Christian (despite not being able to quote one bible verse or properly pronounce 2 Corinthians). Wilson blends satire in the form of a five-part tragedy of being a White House staffer with comments on real events (like Tillerson calling the orange genital wart a "fucking moron") and uses a lot of snark. And, he backs up his assertions with over 200 footnotes citing different sources.

Wison does not shy away from the fact that he did a lot to stoke the fire under what ultimately became of the t***p base, and fully admits he did a job to make them believe in much of the crazy shit they believe. He also slams the Democrats and their strategists for being so bad at politics as a reason he was able to do what he did as effectively as he did it. He basically says, rightly in my opinion, that Democrats have no idea how to punch back and as a result, the Republicans just roll over them. Refreshingly, he does not try to do some bullshit pandering or mea-culpa trying to claim that he was wrong the entire time, sees the error of his ways, and is now a tree-hugging liberal. He admits that he is still a small-government conservative, and makes no apologies for it. Although he interestingly admits that a lot of the lines and talking points that small-government conservatives have been spewing for decades it total bullshit, so he kinda-sorta admits he was wrong about some things (or just went along with making some shit up). At any rate, he is not exactly a liberal darling and does not want to be one, but he makes no bones about the fact that the Republicans are a threat to democracy. And this was all before the whole January 6th riot and the attempt to steal the election came out. The book was actually released before even the Mueller report was issued. So, hopefully, there will be a follow-up that gets into the even more batshit crazy stuff that came out after this book was released. 

It has a much different tone than other books written about the former administration, but I think that is a good thing because he does not sugarcoat his opinions or try to spare anyone's feelings.

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