Please California

First, Adam Schiff (D-California), after his party lost control of the House, demanded to be reinstated to a position on the intelligence committee despite his egregious manipulation of intelligence data in the Trump collusion farce. Now he has the, let’s call it hubris, to announce his candidacy for the Senate seat being vacated by the thoroughly ossified Dianne Feinstein. Imagine the damage this partisan hack can do in the Senate. Please, California, it’s time to reassess and just say no. However, from the state that brought us Schiff, in the first place, along with Feinstein, Newsome, and Pelosi, I don’t have high hopes. 

What Am I Missing?

So let me get this straight: we send 31 of our main battle tanks to Ukraine, and we have already sent them a supply of javelin missiles that will take seven years to replenish.  It appears that we are effectively depleting our stockpile of weapons of war. And this after we gifted the Taliban a plethora of small arms, high-tech goodies, and assorted vehicles. Now, if I were China, wouldn't I be emboldened? 

Culture Wars

For a change of pace, let’s wade into the culture wars. Did you see in the news that Jeremy Clarkson’s two shows on Amazon Prime are being canceled (Clarkson’s Farm, Grand Tour) after his scathing, albeit tongue-in-cheek, dressing down of Meghan and Harry in his weekly column in The Sun? Read the column; it’s classic, politically incorrect Clarkson. He refers to Harry as a “glove puppet” and wishes Meghan to be paraded naked through the streets, having “excrement thrown at her,” invoking the shame scene in Game of Thrones. Vicious? Maybe. Tasteless? Perhaps. Amusing?  Most definitely. Hey, he supports the monarchy and finds Harry and Meghan’s dirt-for-cash scheme distasteful, and he is not alone.  Recall Piers Morgan was receiving similar treatment for his opinion of the dysfunctional Windsors. Why is it so? 64% of Brits had an unfavorable view of the former Ms. Markle, and Harry was not far behind at 59%. Broken down by age, older Britons tended to look upon the couple less favorably than their younger counterparts. Not surprising. So Mr. Clarkson is effectively being canceled for the usual accusations of misogyny, sexism, racism, and other -isms the leftist executives at Amazon can think up.  Once again, corporate America leaning left when they suspect the younger generation, those consumers more attuned to wokeness, will be their cash cow. All this despite the popularity of the monarchy and general distaste for Harry and Meghan’s perpetual victimhood displayed in the Oprah interview and detailed ad nauseum in his whiny treatise entitled “Spare.” Really, Harry, the world would be a better place not knowing the details about your frostbitten penis. Apparently, Mr. Clarkson, nor the aforementioned Mr. Morgan for that matter,  cannot express his opinion, regardless of how popular it may be if it butts up against the woke narrative. And in reality, this may be an example of ageism by the network itself, disregarding the older demographic as a shrinking target audience and less likely to complain about social issues compared to our thoroughly indoctrinated youth. Cater to them and ignore “those people,” says the memo. How inclusive. And after the network was criticized, the left started to hedge by claiming that Clarkson’s programs weren’t very popular with American viewers anyway, and opinions expressed on his shows were not politically correct, and his car reviews were critical of some car manufacturers.  Really. How dare a show that critiques performance cars actually does what it’s supposed to do and criticize vehicles that fail to meet their standards? The fact that the three hosts are critical of the cars they review: the Prius (it’s hideous), pick-up trucks (what do you need one of those for anyway), and the original Tesla Roadster (a scathing review that got him sued, a suit that was dismissed) is rather refreshing as opposed to pandering to the industry and kissing up to your sponsors. Face it, kids, you’re not going to be fed opinions you agree with all the time. Clarkson frequently heckles the French, portrays Americans as rednecks, and despises EVs.  Even his co-hosts rarely escape his wrath. James May is the token nerd and is often ridiculed for his love of all things high-tech, especially electric vehicles. Host Richard Hammond, often the butt of jokes for his short stature and penchant for fiery crashes, was roundly criticized for referring to Argentina as “God’s cesspit.” But this was after the show was chased from the country for having a license plate that ended in FKL, which the touchy Argentinians took as a reference to the Falkland Islands. They were even threatened with three years in prison for the offense. Clarkson responded by saying the next time they appear in Argentina; it will be with a plate that reads: W3 WON. The banter between the three hosts is engaging, if not occasionally juvenile, and always irreverent. And some of us find that amusing. You can’t tell me Amazon renewed both Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm last year, and now, after filming has been completed for the new season, they suddenly discovered they aren’t popular. Nonsense. If you don’t like it, don’t tune in. And go ahead, cancel programming if it has lousy ratings, but don’t cancel it because it doesn’t fall in line with your woke agenda. Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan remain outspoken Hollywood darlings, and despite Clarkson issuing an apology of sorts, the professional victims have rebuffed his overtures, continuing to wallow in their victimhood.  And despite public opinion favoring the monarchy, nobody, including the Royals, has leaped to Clarkson’s defense.  The networks have chosen, and apparently, victimhood and appealing to the woke is where the cash is at. 

Is The Apocalypse Upon Us?

When did we decide to normalize “recreational drug use?”  A WSJ headline screamed from page three: “More Partiers Testing Drugs For Fentanyl.”  Carry “the basics,” they advise, “wallet, keys-and fentanyl test strips.” Makes you long for the decadent 80s when condoms were de rigeur and the only thing tainting cocaine was corn starch. The article even solicits advise from a San Francisco drag queen: “you shower, you’re getting cute, you put on your makeup, you’re putting on your outfit, you test your drugs…..as a normal part of your routine.”  Normal?  Really, Wall Street, when did you decide to be so socially progressive by even reporting this nonsense? But suggesting that testing your drugs should be a routine part of your night out is suggesting that drugs are a routine part of your life. Not cool. Sure, we can acknowledge that drug use is endemic in this country, but we shouldn’t normalize it.  To suggest that there is a difference between recreational drug use and drug abuse is disingenuous at best. And to go one step further and suggest that there are good recreational drugs that are being tainted by bad drugs is blurring the line. Blame marijuana for this morass. Despite a lack of evidence concluding marijuana is safe for chronic and long-term use, we plowed ahead and legalized the stuff anyway. On the contrary, there is a significant body of evidence that suggests it may alter brain chemistry, especially in youth, leading to incidents of schizophrenia and bizarre behavior. It also appears that, despite arguments from contrarians on the left, it is more of a gateway drug than initially suspected. Has anyone watched the news recently?  Perhaps that can explain the sudden legion of the mentally ill and the criminal element roaming our streets. Fox News, typically a bastion of conservative thought, interviewed the father of an overdose victim seeking to shine a light on the fentanyl crisis.  Apparently, the young man was recovering from an injury and elected to purchase what he thought was Percocet on the street, only to succumb to a drug that was laced with fentanyl. Uh-huh. I’m sorry for your loss, but who with a legitimate injury seeks the services of a drug dealer rather than a physician?  Percocet is a compounded drug with oxycodone, a potent and addictive opioid used for moderate to severe pain.  It’s also very popular on the street, and the street is not your source for the treatment of legitimate pain. But in this day and age, it seems that every 20-something knows where to score their drug of choice to “take the edge off.”  And this comes from a generation where 9% of teens have been medicated with some mood-altering drug under the direction of a physician. Additionally, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused an estimated 25% increase in anxiety and depression worldwide, disproportionately affecting women and adolescents. It would appear that our youth is receiving mixed messages, bombarded with critical race theory, gender ambiguity, a medical community quick to prescribe mood-altering pharmaceuticals, and above all, readily available recreational drugs. And this occurring in conjunction with Covid lockdowns that disrupted their education and social development. Compound all this with a disturbing media trend to reinforce gender identity as a choice, and engage in demagoguery of virtually all traditional institutions as racist, while they continue to promote and glorify drug use and violence. A progressive dumbing down of admissions policies in education and employment in the name of social justice and equity coupled with bail reform amounting to unequal justice under the rarely enforced law have all resulted in social upheaval. We have hobbled our youth and have failed to protect them from society’s ills, and have not been good stewards, failing to provide necessary guidance in an increasingly confusing world.  We have cooked up a toxic social stew laced with readily available recreational drugs……and it’s a recipe for disaster. 

Perplexed

Can you fault old fumbling, stumbling, whispering Joe for carrying on as if everything is just fine with him and country? Why shouldn’t he? Although accusations of his improprieties, acumen, and statesmanship swirl about him, he remains unscathed, unrepentant, and unabated. His basement refuge, his guardian angels, the media, the DNP, and the deep state seemingly provide him with an impenetrable shield of protection and support. The hue and cry of the emperor as no clothes falls on deaf ears!

Environmental Hypocrisy

It’s so interesting to witness activists and environmental protection agencies vanish from sight when a liberal agenda butts up against their mission statement. “Save the whales” has long been the raison d’etre of Greenpeace as they risk life and limb harassing foreign commercial whaling operations at sea. But survey the ocean floor with sonar for a proposed wind farm off the coast of New Jersey, and they are nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, whale carcasses continue to litter the beaches. Yet not even a rubber dinghy sporting their trademark banner. The Audubon Society lobbies to protect our endangered bird species and their habitat, the bald eagle being one of their more notable success stories. Yet wind turbines, whose blade tips reach speeds of 100 miles per hour, are destroying birds by the thousands, recently making news by slicing a wing off a bald eagle. Migratory birds are particularly at risk. Where have they been?  Not even a chirp. The western sage grouse hasn’t attained endangered species status yet but has seen alarming reductions in their numbers. As solar panels blanket their habitat, requiring clearance of brush, including the sagebrush in which they nest, we are literally removing the habitat for which they’re named. Does the EPA raise a fuss? How about US Fish and Wildlife Service or the USDA? Sierra Club or the Audubon folks protest? Nope. Catch a guy in camo with a shotgun, and they’re all over restrictions on hunting. Logging operations which have effectively managed forests for decades are now taboo, the preference apparently being raging forest fires. Maine lobsterman recently were accused of killing whales with their antiquated lobster pots and buoys, despite no evidence to suggest it poses any threat at all. That scandal surfaced ironically while Biden treated foreign dignitaries to a lobster dinner at the White House. But the construction of wind farms and blanketing the earth with solar panels makes it appear that these environmental stalwarts are willing to trade the politics of green energy for ecological havoc. And where does all the funding go for these organizations anyway? But alas, perhaps I am tilting at windmills. The EPA is probably too busy considering banning gas stoves in residential kitchens. 

Huffington Post Irritant

I tend to use the comments on AOL in response to articles by their news source, the Huffington Post, as a barometer for public sentiment……and it’s predicting stormy weather. The number of comments that follow the mainstream narrative and accuse Republicans, and I mean ALL Republicans, of everything from destroying democracy to having no moral compass, is astounding.  An article attacking Santos, and rightfully so, for telling tall tales in his successful campaign to win a House seat produced the occasional non-partisan comment that all politicians are liars on both sides of the aisle. A couple of entries pointed out Biden’s tall tales of academic excellence and scholarship awards as an example. Liz Warren’s claims of Native American heritage being another. The level of vitriol that followed those posts was remarkable. Apparently, the public believes Warren is indeed Native American and frequent posts defended her as having testing that verified the fact. Uh, 1/10/24, to be precise. All the Democrat distortions, from combat service to helicopters coming under fire to having been to the border, were all defended with the usual claims of right-wing distortions and misinformation. Meanwhile, the Republicans were painted with a broad brush as willing to do anything to stay in power, their lies far worse and more repugnant than anything the democrats could ever conjure up. The blind rage, and vicious attacks, spewing the party line were like a mob out of control. And exactly who are these people with so much time on their hands to surf the net on a weekday and post their opinions? Unlikely a majority of them are retirees. Workers slacking on the job, or the 38% of able-bodied Americans who choose not to work, perhaps?  Government employees come to mind. There’s a demographic I would like to examine. Apparently, America has reached the tipping point where partisans are so entrenched, indoctrinated, and manipulated by algorithms feeding them propaganda, that I fear there is no common ground. And this phenomenon appears to be internet driven. But what will it take to pull this country back together?  Some cataclysmic event? A World War?  An alien invasion, perhaps?  Or maybe just pulling the plug.

Exist Strategy

Before being shown the door, this democrat-controlled congress sunk to new lows in hypocrisy and cynicism. Why release Trump’s tax returns to the public a scant four days before losing their majority?  Yes, in an unprecedented move, the House Ways and Means Committee released six years of now-private citizen Donald Trump’s tax returns for public scrutiny. The findings?  Nothing of note. He did what most wealthy taxpayers do; he hired a veritable hoard of tax attorneys to take advantage of every single tax loophole possible, a move that every American would do if they had the opportunity. Who exactly pays more taxes than necessary? This is how the 1% dances around the tax code. If you don’t like it, then change the damn code. Recall Warren Buffet not too long ago, conveniently sounding like a liberal, complaining that he was paying fewer taxes than his secretary. And isn’t it interesting that Hollywood is unscathed in this conversation? I wonder how much write-off Tom Cruise will claim on his taxes when his vintage $2 million dollar P-51 Mustang appeared in his latest installment of the Top Gun franchise? And the Kardashians have managed to meld their private lives with their businesses, promoting societal decay and moral turpitude. Wouldn’t it be interesting to examine the contortions their tax attorneys have engaged in? But no, that will never happen. And we know why. Either through well-placed donations or simply that rarified air of wealth making them untouchable or at the least inconvenient targets, it is unlikely that any democrat-affiliated taxpayer will feel the weight of government scrutiny to the extent that Mr. Trump has endured. But hypocrisy aside, with the government exposing your tax records and the compliant media digging into your past, who will be willing to subject themselves to this level of public scrutiny? The Republicans were widely criticized for proffering flawed candidates in the midterm elections, but again, a double standard exists. Why would a successful Republican businessman, or woman, subject themselves to being laid bare to public scrutiny, knowing their equally and perhaps more flawed democrat opponents get a pass? The point is the process will result in more public officials who don’t represent success in the private sector, who don’t represent their constituents, rather we will see more professional politicians, groomed for public office from day one, with no wealth to scrutinize and no footprint on the ladder to success. Whether it’s the mounting evidence that Joe Biden has engaged in pay-to-play schemes for his entire career, the media ignoring Fetterman’s privileged upbringing, instead promoting his man-of-the-people hoody masquerade, buying into the Ocasio-Cortez bartender narrative while she burnishes her brand to feather her nest, Eric Swalwell’s dalliance with a known Chinese spy, we can then contrast all that to the level of scrutiny Republican candidates and appointees receive, the gauntlet they have to run to successfully win a seat. Can anyone recall scrutiny and government intrusion into the lives of democrats that even remotely compares to what Trump, his appointees, his supporters, and his associates have had to endure?  Ask Trump himself, or Giuliani, Kavanaugh, Oz, Coney-Barrett, Herschel Walker, or anyone who even attended the January 6 rally.  They may soon find out. What we seek are quality candidates, representatives of the people who are noteworthy for their achievements as citizens, not for their desire to gain power and wealth through positions in government. Term limits would be a simple solution, one reflecting the Founders’ desire to make government reflective of we, the people. Recall the adage: which would you rather have in office, a candidate who made his fortune and chose to serve or the candidate who chose to serve to make his fortune?