Stay at home babies? Not so fast

It’s no surprise that many American kids are part of the “boomerang” generation, moving back in with their parents in their mid to late 20s. Rising housing costs and student debt load, coupled with a low inventory of cheap starter homes makes it hard to make it on your own. Even 18 years ago when I had to find housing on my own for the first time, I purchased a house and had to rent two of the three bedrooms to friends to make it economically feasible.

It’s tempting to say the current generation of 20-somethings is lazy and just doesn’t want to leave, and even more tempting to say it’s an American thing. Too many people just assume that Americans, on average, are lazier and fatter than your average European, Indian, Chinese, or other ethnic population. But I’ve traveled the world quite a bit, and I’ve found that is often not the case.

Let’s look at Italy, where a 75-year-old mother just won a court battle to evict her 40- and 42-year-old sons:

The 75-year-old mother, whose name has not been publicly released, made several unsuccessful attempts to persuade her sons, also unnamed, to move out of her home in Pavia in northern Italy, the news agency reported. Despite having jobs, the men —aged 40 and 42 — refused to find alternative accommodation of their own, ANSA said. They also refused to contribute to household expenses despite having their own incomes and failed to help out with household chores, per ANSA.
Insider.com

I mean, dang…42 years old and has a job? Talk about a freeloader! This article sparked my curiosity on what the average age of moving out in Europe is, which apparently varies widely by country:

The EU average is around 26, and the US average is….24-27, with 78% of kids 27 and older not living in their parents house. The only weird outliers in Europe is Sweden, where it appears to be strongly encouraged to leave the house at 18 no matter what.

Interestingly enough, even when kids in America move back into their parent’s house, it’s not for long, as almost 40% of them moved back and then out again before the age of 27. My guess is for every loser son or daughter that is staying at home and not contributing, there are 10-20 kids simply saving money with the plan to move out, and are grateful for their parents help, and compared to Europe, they are doing slightly better than the European average.

Let’s not jump onto the “American 20-somethings are adult babies” bandwagon…the kids might be alright after all.

Don’t want to hear your whining…

…when you realize you got exactly what you voted for.

This a reference to this article about “progressive” Jews complaining that their “progressive” left-leaning friends are totally, 100% OK with Hamas fighters butchering Jews in Israel. The article is essentially a “we didn’t see that coming” list of complaints.

My first thought was…wah?

Seriously, I’m tired of the “nice person” argument, which goes along the lines of “I voted for/supported these people that I thought were nice, while ignoring all the obvious red flags.”

All the progressive Jews that supported left-leaning losers who are siding with murderous Hamas militants…you got what you voted for.

All the progressive “Christians” who were shocked when the pro-abortion people they supported were totally cool with infanticide and murdering babies in a bucket after birth…you got what you voted for.

All the “mean tweets!” whiners that are now shocked we have two large, open conflicts within a few hundred miles of each other and involving major nation states…you got what you voted for.

You can whine about conservative candidates at the local, state and federal level, and you can vote for the left-leaning candidate because it makes you feel good in the moment…but it has consequences. The conservative politicians might not be polished (or maybe the news media is altering their coverage), and he or she might demand some responsibility in spending or enforcing the law, but we’re seeing what happens when people continually pick the politicians that sound nice on paper. We get murdered babies, both in the womb and out of it. We get wars that we either choose to lose or can’t really win. And we get encouragement towards all our enemies to take actions, whether its kidnapping Americans or shooting missiles at US Navy ships.

Those same people will come back and demand that the responsible politicians fix the mess. And after those people do, the same people will forget and vote again for losers that sound nice on paper.

It’s like the story of the ant and the grasshopper, where the ants stored up food for the winter while the grasshopper played a fiddle and gaffed off, only to then beg the ants feed him in the wintertime. I always hated that story as a kid, because I thought the ants should have let the grasshopper freeze to death. I mean seriously, he’s like 100 times their body weight. He’s gonna eat you out of house and home! Screw that lazy bug, let him die in the cold.

Those of us who did the “uncool” thing and worked responsibly, supporting things like balanced budgets, protecting life and being strong overseas to stop wars, we are tired of bailing you out. Don’t cry to me that “you didn’t know” your left-leaning friends would throw you under the bus. Just like the grasshopper living it up in the good times, you’re only complaining now in hopes of finding a free meal at someone else’s doorstep.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.

Cancel culture comes for beer

*Armed Forces Brewing Company Tap Room, from their website*

I don’t think too much about Civic Leagues, since the one for my neighborhood isn’t very active. I’ve spoken at some before in nearby neighborhoods, and most seem pretty tame, simply trying to connect people with their local officials and help the cops keep better track of crime.

Then there is Norfolk. Because Norfolk always seems to do something stupid, and in this case it was to not recommend that Armed Forces Brewing Company open a taproom in their city.

Was it because AFBC was bringing alcohol to a residential neighborhood? Nope. The location previously hosted O’Connors Brewing.

Was it because AFBC tried to use bad paperwork, bribes and other tactics to flout the rules? Nope. None of those shenanigans seemed to take place.

Civic League people were mad about statements made by AFBC spokesman Rob O’Neill. According to Joe Hamm, the vice president of the League, these were really bad!!!

“So a business that comes in and has insinuations of threats and violence, intimidation through guns in their marketing, does not align with our vision for having a healthy neighborhood and healthy city,” Hamm said.

Threats and Violence!! And using guns in their marketing!?! Better not tell the US Navy to use any guns in its marketing…but I digress. What did Rob say that was so bad?

Well, he was mean to drag queens. From X:

Alright. The U.S. Navy is now using an enlisted sailor Drag Queen as a recruiter. I’m done. China is going to destroy us. YOU GOT THIS NAVY. I can’t believe I fought for this bullshit.

Uhm….sure, you may disagree with his statement, but is it violent? I don’t see Rob calling on people to kill anyone, certainly not any drag queens. I scrolled through Rob’s feed, and while he’s brash and swears a bunch, I didn’t see him once suggesting someone be killed.

Meanwhile, supporting Palestinians and BLM supporters that ACTUALLY hurt and/or killed people is totally fine.

Did people grow up to become huge wimps, or are they calling “violence” on purpose whenever they hear someone say something they don’t like?

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.

Star Wars deserves better: an Ahsoka Analysis

Note: I haven’t watched the Season 1 finale yet.

The latest Star Wars movies and TV shows suck. I watched Episode 7 with my son on opening night, and while I gasped along with everyone when Han Solo died, I was left wanting. At the time, I said “Man, Rey seems a bit overpowered and kinda dull.”

Well, she only got more overpowered and dull as the series went on. The Ahsoka TV series is, sadly, the same way. Now I should mention I love the character of Ahsoka that was built up in the Clone Wars animated series. She started off as a kinda-snotty little kid, and I didn’t care for her attitude, but when she lost a bunch of clone troopers by not following orders, as a military officer, I felt very much in her shoes. She grew on me as the seasons went on, becoming a more interesting character that worked hard to overcome her flaws. When she went on trial and was kicked out of the Jedi Temple, only to be found innocent and eventually offered to be readmitted, I shed a tear when she rejected the offer and walked away. She was a cool character with believable motivations and a character arc I enjoyed following.

I liked her so much I purchased her light saber set while at Disney, and they hang up in my office. So when Disney announced an Ahsoka series, I was thrilled, and quite willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.

And sadly, I wasn’t happy.

Ahsoka is nowhere near as interesting in the TV series as the Clone Wars. By far the best character is Baylan Shen, with Ahsoka a distant second, and almost everyone else far from that.

So I wondered, why is Ahsoka, a character I’m already primed to like, so bad? I think it boils down to two things:

People taking dumb actions
No consequences for the “good guys”
Weak bad guys with poor motivations

Let’s start with dumb actions. The season opens with two dark jedi, Baylan Shen and Shin Hati, requesting to come aboard a New Republic jail vessel. The ships commander thinks their transmitter is fraudulent, so he personally plans to meet the ship with a security detachment and arrest them. Obviously, this goes horribly wrong, and Baylan and Shin lay waste to everyone and rescue a prisoner on the ship.

How many ways is this wrong? First, if you suspect a ship has ill intentions, why don’t you BLOW IT AWAY AT A DISTANCE??? Nobody, and I mean nobody, in the military wants to get close to the enemy if they have a safe way of killing them at a distance. This decision makes no sense and we’re only 10 minutes into the episode.

Then the captain brings a security detail with no armor and light weapons, which they don’t even have pointed at the ship. Baylan walks right up and gets within arms length of the captain, and nobody thinks this is a bad idea?? If you were to walk up to a military gate looking even remotely suspicious, you’d have at least one pistol trained on you. How are the guards not nervous and on-edge? Why would they let a potentially dangerous person, or at least a person that they don’t know anything about, get within choking distance of their captain?

None of this makes sense. It’s totally illogical and used to drive the plot forward. It would be more believable if Baylan snuck onboard, or boarded stealthily, or hired a band of pirates to hijack the ship. You’d still get a cool fight scene, and it would make far more sense. We get illogical decisions all throughout Ahsoka: stormtroopers don’t shoot at Ezra on site, robots trying to steal a map decide to try and blow it up instead, etc. etc. etc. None of these actions make sense, and it makes the show feel cheap.

There are never consequences for the good guys. Sabine runs off with the mystical map and eventually takes a lightsaber to the gut, but then she’s fine at the beginning of the next episode. Somehow a magic laser sword that CUTS THROUGH HARDENED STEEL only leave a tiny mark when its rammed into your stomach. Like, really? I don’t believe that at all.

Protagonists have to suffer consequences or else the audience doesn’t get invested in them. Look at Tony Stark in Iron Man. He’s a playboy millionaire in the beginning of the movie, banging hot chicks while riding around in limousines. And then in the first half hour of the movie, he gets captured, tortured, hooked up to a battery, and has to build his way out of a mess. Along the way, he loses a friend that is a far more ethical and moral person than him, all because Tony wasn’t strong or fast enough to save him. It’s heart wrenching. We got from thinking Tony’s a total loser to rooting for the guy to punch terrorists on his way out of a cave.

More importantly, consequences have to be permanent. Tony Stark has metal shards that must be held outside of his heart. He turns this otherwise bad turn of events into a power source for a suit to do good. He uses his bad consequences to grow and become a better person in the end. But Sabine, Ahsoka and Ezra never do. Nothing is permanent. Lightsaber gut stabs, isolation in another galaxy, getting knocked off a cliff…nothing permanently damages our heroes. They are never in danger, and thus they never need a reason to grow.

Lastly, our bad guys are weak. Grand Admiral Thrawn in the Timothy Zahn books is amazing. He’s cunning and smart. He takes over planets through trickery. He rebuilds the Empire. He defeats enemies by studying their art and understanding them as a person. Thrawn always has a plan B. He’s like Bismark, always scheming, always taking advantage of the situation, always one step ahead.

Thrawn in Ahsoka? Not imposing at all. Why even be scared of him? He lays mines for space whales…that fail. He uses some mystical Night Sister magic to try and ambush Ahsoka…which fails. He sends his troops to kill Sabine Wren and Ezra…fails (why didn’t he kill Ezra earlier, btw??). He’s not imposing. None of this plans come off.

In less than 15 minutes in Star Wars: A New Hope, Darth Vader lifts a dude in the air and chokes him to death. He is imposing and downright frightening. He never loses his cool, and he ALWAYS wins, right up till his last fight with Luke and the Emperor. He’s imposing, intimidating, and when he is finally defeated, we all sigh in relief at how HARD he was.

Thrawn in Ahsoka? Or even Thrawn in Rebels? Lame. It’s not significant when our heroes beat him because he’s just not imposing.

I wish Disney would stop focusing on “ooooo oooo we’ve got a female character!!” and instead build us cool protagonists and scary villains that interact in a cool setting with an intriguing story. That’s what we need now more than ever.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.