Who Are The Organizers

As I pointed out, there is nothing spontaneous and organic about these Palestinian protests. The tents are the same, the posters and signs are all commercially printed…..some deep pockets are obviously funding these protests. These posers sure as hell weren’t up all night printing banners at the local Staples. Sure, there are students in the mix, but not all of the protesters are students at that particular university. There are also some older protesters in the crowd, and it’s alarming how most of them are women. What, no pro-choice rallies this week? And apparently, an Ivy League education nowadays seems to instill some more contemporary skills in these students. Gone is the proficiency in the classics and an appreciation for art and literature, replaced by vulgar, obscenity-laced, anti-Semitic temper tantrums and violence towards police. I long for the days of water cannons, rubber bullets, tear gas, and billy clubs. They need to bust some heads. That would be an education for them. We need more stick and less carrot. As an aside, I recently met a college senior at an extraordinarily liberal northeast college widely known for incessant protests for the cause du jour. I jokingly asked him why he wasn’t out protesting. “I’m a science major,” he said. “We don’t have time for that nonsense. Those are all the liberal arts majors out there who have way too much time on their hands.” All for $80000 a year.  And will the justice department use facial recognition to hunt down the protesters throwing chairs, throwing bottles, and storming police barricades like they did the J6 insurrectionists? Of course not. This is the Democrat base. Like their sign at Columbia proclaimed: we believe that Black Lives Matter and that science is real. Good for you. I hope their parents are pleased with the return on investment. And to all the parents of the students whose campus experience has been ruined by the antics of these miscreants, I suggest you sue the university blind. With their bloated endowments after years of supporting liberal policy, they can afford it.

Woke Awakening

Don’t you just love it when woke corporate America suddenly figures out that the liberal policies they support in principle are affecting their ability to run a profitable business?  Suddenly, Starbucks, champion of all things woke, wages a court battle to defend their firing of a group of Memphis employees who not only attempted to organize a union but allowed media cameras into the place of business after hours in retaliation. They, of course, sued for wrongful termination, and a liberal judge forced Starbucks to reinstate them, only to have Starbucks counter-sue and run it all the way to the Supreme Court. That’s how I want to run a customer service-oriented business: with a team of government-mandated disgruntled employees. Similarly, Google had their offices disrupted by workers protesting the sale of software to Israel, despite the software having nothing to do with the military. Google promptly fired the employees and is now facing criticism from the woke mob. This concept in America that employees should be empowered to run somebody else’s business is preposterous. Sure, laws are in place to keep unscrupulous employers from taking advantage of their employees, but in a capitalist system, if you don’t like the way your employer treats you, or you are unhappy with your salary or your benefits, you have the option to seek alternative employment elsewhere. A business that treats its employees well will have less turnover, happier employees that make the customer experience better and will profit from those policies. A poorly run shop will be unable to compete for employees, will be unable to compete in the marketplace, and will ultimately fail. The government should keep its hands off other than perhaps carefully considering and imposing regulatory laws and should not, as the Biden Administration does, be promoting unionization, which, for the most part, encourages inefficiency, fewer working hours, more pay, more benefits and a higher operating cost for the business which is passed down to the consumer in the form of higher prices for goods and services, yet another driver of inflation.  Thus, we have the American automobile industry and the $80000 pickup truck. Recall union workers collecting a paycheck for playing checkers at the autoworkers union hall during the last recession. Witness the mandated five-man work crews on highway projects doing the work of one man. And soon, in California, we can judge the success of liberal workplace policies in producing the 30-dollar Happy Meal at McDonalds. If you want to run a business, nothing is stopping you from opening your own rather than promoting liberal policy and parasitically feeding off the people who built that business. And the government, populated by people like Joe Biden who have never held a job in the private sector, should just butt out.

Maher And The NPR

Interesting in that Katherine Maher, the CEO of NPR at only 41 years of age, possesses a resume devoid of educational achievement and newsroom experience but chock full political positions. A lackluster BA from NYU was followed by a succession of appointments to positions on the Council of Foreign Relations, UNICEF, the National Democratic Institute, and the US Department of State Foreign Affairs Board. Aside from an alarming amount of hubris, an overwhelming sense of self-importance, a frightening explanation of the concept of truth, and a mother who serves in the Connecticut state assembly, what exactly qualified her for the position of CEO at NPR? Perhaps Uri Berliner was on to something 

Beyond Discouraged

I don't know where to begin. I see where the Biden administration is taking the country and am more than alarmed that we are letting them do it. Our traditional and once sacrosanct rules of governance, explicitly defined in our Constitution, appear to be compromised; we are adrift in a sea of contradictions and confusion. The death toll of our society is ringing loud and clear, yet we can't seem to be able to stem the tide of misfortune. Endless vitriol by talking heads sounding the alarm but seemingly to no avail, at least not to circumstance. The mindset appears to be, wait until November, and our designated White Knight, Donald J Trump, will triumphantly ride in and save the day. To me, such wishful thinking emphasizes we, the people’s hapless impotence, have lost our voice, being strung up on our own democratic petard. Am I to say, alas, poor America, I knew ye well? Wake up, America; we’ve got to revive our once indomitable spirit of independence, one for all and all for one in the pursuit of life and liberty. It may be our last chance as a nation, as a society.

Running On Abortion

According to a Wall Street Journal poll, 39% of suburban women are single-issue voters with abortion their priority. 75% say “the procedure should be legal all or most of the time.” A majority think “Trump’s policies are too restrictive.” Conclusions: 

1. The Democrats are going to make this election a referendum on abortion. They have nothing else. 

2. Abortion is a losing issue for Republicans. Progressive women will not tolerate even a compromise. 

3. Suburban women are either ill-informed regarding gestational biology, under-educated on the topic, or just plain heathens. 

And lastly, 

4.  Gird your loins for another four years of disastrous Biden policies and a likely President Giggles.

 Alas poor America, I knew ye well. 

Our Wayward Young Men And Women

This morning NPR was crowing about Biden’s overwhelming support amongst college-educated white women and his posting a 20% lead in the polls with college-educated white men. They surmised that the reason was abortion, followed by January 6 and, of course, Trump’s abrasive personality. How disappointing…. yet another depressing yet predictable sign of the times. It is generally accepted that women vote with their uterus first and foremost. Go ahead, call me a misogynist, but facts are facts. Witness the demise of the red wave in 2022, largely attributed to the democrats running the tried and true abortion issue up the flagpole shortly before the midterms. And they’re at it again. It’s their only viable game plan. And you continually allow the leftist media to manipulate you. Calm down. Nobody is going to take away your ability to get an abortion in America despite Arizona recently going off the rails. Sure, some states may restrict access, but other blue states may make it even more accessible. That’s up to the voters in those states, as it should be. Roe v Wade was overturned on legal grounds, turning the issue over to the states where it belongs. Hate him all you want, but Trump got that right in his recent comment, the one that gave the media fodder to rile up you mentally deficient liberals once again. And another thing, over 60% of Americans support limiting abortion to 16 weeks. In other words, the first trimester. And why do you think that is?  Because medical science has shown that 16 weeks is when the developing fetus can feel pain. Dismembering a fetus after that is barbaric. Aren’t you the same activists that get upset with force-fed geese, caged chickens, and milk-fed veal? If you aren’t responsible enough to get your act together at three months, you should have your tubes tied, you heathens. Lest you pass on your flawed set of chromosomes to another generation. Even the French understood the 16-week limit and made it law. Mon Dieu. But I digress. What happened to the white college-educated American male that he now votes and presumably thinks like his female counterpart?  That hasn’t ever been a thing. Men were traditionally the breadwinners, concerned about the economy, business, the labor market, and stock market performance. Suddenly, the media is telling us that the educated man is all about abortion rights and upset that Trump posts mean tweets. He’s a sensitive guy in skinny jeans. Really?  And we wonder why sperm counts are at an all-time low amongst white males. Masculinity is becoming a rare commodity, shunned and condemned in polite society. The media has gone so far as to label it “toxic.”  Upwards of 70% of our youth can’t even qualify to serve in the military, unable to pass the entrance exam or meet physical standards for fitness. It’s embarrassing. But there may be more to it than that. College-educated white males are more likely to be cubicle workers, blue-collar workers, workers tied to their computer screens. They are more likely to be higher wage earners living in the city or the suburbs. We’re talking about your BMW-driving yuppie types, more likely to spend a day at the spa or on the golf course rather than brush-hogging the back forty. They’ve been divorced from their hunter-gatherer roles for so long that they’ve morphed into a more feminized version of a man, made soft by being fed a liberal college education, no military service, and a job devoid of manual labor. They are comfortably affluent, so much so that they can afford to support liberal policies that have resulted in historic inflation with painful price increases at the supermarket and the pump. Their privileged upbringing and cushy lifestyle, coupled with the media’s incessant barrage of DEI and the demonization of white men for all our social ills, has led to the development of white guilt, alleviated only through overcompensation by virtue signaling. Thus, the support for all things DEI, and indeed everything these days qualifies. Your very existence is a result of white privilege, your suburban community lacks diversity, your salary is disproportionate to women in similar positions, your business doesn’t employ enough people of color, you consume more fossil fuels than minority communities, you consume climate killing quantities of meat, you drive a gas-guzzling SUV, you take vacations that consume resources and your air travel pollutes the environment from airports that reside in lower-income communities in cities that were built by slave labor in an America built on the backs of people of color, stolen from the indigenous. Yadayada. Demagogue much?  So what’s a man to do other than morph into that shadow of a man that you see frequenting the line at the local Starbucks to buy an iced caramel macchiato on his way to the abortion rights march. My body my choice. Uh-huh. Maybe that’s why Biden opened the southern border.  To get an infusion of machismo into America. We certainly could use it, especially amongst college-educated white men.

Biden Boondoggle

I’m just disgusted with the political smoke and mirrors. To have Biden declare Easter Sunday as transgender awareness day and pronounce that there will be no religious references allowed at the annual White House Easter egg roll is beyond the pale. And this jackass continues to portray himself as a devout Catholic. Bullshit. Only when it suits him for political gain. And then to move on to the “pay your fair share” dialogue when recently released figures clearly show that the top 10 percent of earners are paying 46% of our tax burden is just plain disingenuous. The Biden administration campaigned on transparency and a theme of unity but has done nothing but segregate, demagogue, and serve up lies and subterfuge while his family flouts the rule of law and reaps millions in payoffs from our adversaries for personal gain. It’s disgusting and outrageous, and liberal news media are nothing more than propagandists.

Electorate Complisity

How some incumbent officeholders get re-elected after accomplishing nothing in their tenure is beyond me; Gillibrand and AOC come to mind. The whole so-called “Squad,” for that matter, support all the liberal causes, get their camera time, and run their mouths incessantly, but do absolutely nothing to benefit their constituents, save for those feeding at the government trough. They are forever feathering their nests in the spoils of notoriety. Career politicians posing as public servants.

What Have We Wrought

If you run a successful business, you best gird your loins. The DOJ is now investigating Boeing. It is likely outrageous fines will result. Trump’s businesses and real estate holdings are on the chopping block to pay up on the punitive monetary findings levied against him in the liberal court system in New York. The US Attorney General is suing Apple for anti-trust and monopolistic practices in the smartphone market, apparently never having heard of Samsung. Big Pharma has long suffered at the hands of the government through lawsuits, price controls, or, in the case of COVID-19, by confiscating cutting-edge technology. It appears that lately, the government is using big business as their piggy bank with hoards of attorneys paid for with your tax dollars harvesting greenbacks from wealthy corporations. Granted, there should be regulation and oversight, but the punishment as of late seems out of scale. The message is clear:  do business in America at your own peril. And the result will be as it always is. The middle class will bear the brunt of price increases and loss of access to services as businesses pull back, and we will all suffer the consequences of less innovation in pharmaceutical research. But Leticia James, Merrill Garland, and a host of self-righteous government-sponsored drones will pad their resumes and further their careers while filling the coffers of the voracious, insatiable beast that is government. 

HUD Fudge Lunacy

HUD Secretary Martha Fudge said on NPR this morning that “the solution to homelessness is housing.” Really? Another genius brought to you by the Biden Administration. The secretary’s comments should be alarming to anyone who lives in the ‘burbs. Laura Ingraham beat her to the punch in last night’s segment, warning that the government is coming for the suburbs. Martha Fudge stated that she wants to protect inner-city enclaves from gentrification and seeks to promote affordable, low-income, cheaply constructed apartment complexes….some with bedrooms off of a common area (read dormitories), to provide 3 million units for the “unhoused.”  Because, again, the solution to homelessness is housing. Genius. We are going about housing solutions all wrong, she said. We can’t build small single-family homes anymore. They’re too expensive. And if they aren’t building these multi-family units in the city, where do you think they’re planning on putting them?  That’s right, in your lily-white suburban paradise. I see it happening everywhere. Loose zoning laws and plenty of farmland result in developers getting a greased path from government officials to put up large, cheap complexes with a high percentage of low-income units. It floods the school system with welfare recipients who, of course, require the school lunch program and after-school babysitting services and are disruptive in class. Throw in “English as a second language” programs. So the school budget goes through the roof, the quality of the school system takes a hit when teachers leave, and higher-income students flee to private schools. Taxes go up, and the productive businesses and middle class move out to greener pastures. And all it takes in these small communities is one large complex to tip the scales towards progressive voting, and the town council and the school committee become liberal activists.  Increased traffic, increased crime, less services for the original residents. Congratulations, you’re a city. I wonder if there are any plans for low-income housing in Martha’s Vineyard or Rehoboth Beach?

Pretense Of Virtue

The hypocrisy, spin, and doublespeak are in high gear with the liberal media, insensitive to video recall of their past subterfuge. Recently, NPR was praising the Biden administration for another spending spree, this time millions to support research in women’s health, an initiative spearheaded by Doctor Jill Biden. No, not that kind of doctor. She stood at the podium and railed against conventional medical practice that treats men and women the same when, in fact, women are different. Are they now?  What an interesting statement considering the democrat party’s repeated inability to define precisely what a woman is, let alone their insisting that women can become men and vice versa. Perhaps our newest Supreme Court justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, should weigh in on this. Maybe not. Then, in the next segment, we heard about a murderer in Georgia, the perpetrator sentenced to death. Despite unequivocal evidence of guilt in a heinous crime, the accused apparently is mentally deficient and black. Therefore, the left is claiming he is of insufficient intelligence to understand his sentence, and he was inadequately represented by the public defender because…..of course, he is a person of color. But the most amazing statement came from capital punishment activists who, praised by NPR, actually stated that despite committing murder, the accused have “a right to life.”  Really?  Perhaps we should start getting late-term fetuses to commit crimes in the womb, thus giving them a right to life as well. It’s enough to make your head spin.

Preview of Coming Attractions

How interesting. In the formerly prosperous but now socialist disaster known as Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro, in seeking his third term, has seen his opposition party’s candidate, Maria Corina Machado, disqualified by “authorities.”  This after she received over 90% of the vote in her party’s primary election. Meanwhile, in Russia, President Vladimir Putin wins yet another term with 87% of the vote after his opposition party’s de facto leader and anti-corruption activist, Alexei Navalny, was sent to an Arctic gulag where he mysteriously died. So this is how politics is played on the world stage. Is anyone in our media paying attention?

Abortion Distortions

Biden’s SOTU address advised the DNP’s  2024 Campaign cudgel, Abortion.

Even the Wall Street Journal celebrated with a page one photo of exuberant supporters and a headline proclaiming, “France Adds Right to Abortion to Constitution.”  As French president Macron has seen his popularity decline, he took a page from the American democrat playbook and pledged to enshrine abortion as an “irreversible right” in their constitution. This, a couple of days before an angry, if not slightly bewildered, Joe Biden made a show of chastising the Supreme Court Justices for overturning Rowe v Wade in a televised address and threatened them by suggesting the power of the female electorate will come back to bite them, vowing to once again enshrine abortion rights as the law of the land. What tasteless grandstanding from an impotent old man that didn’t belong in a State of the Union address, a performance that amounted to nothing more than a re-election speech chock full of lies and manipulation of the facts. He is supposed to be an elder statesman, not a shell of a man full of bravado and vitriol. And there you have his entire campaign in a nutshell:  abortion rights and Trump is a threat to democracy. Period. Full stop. But I digress. Back to the French, whose prime minister Gabriel Attal referenced the US as well, stating: “The freedom to have an abortion remains under threat; our rights are inherently threatened, inherently fragile. Talk to American women.”  Now, hold on a minute, Gabe. Freedom implies an unfettered ability to do whatever you want, and that’s not what the French have done here. There are restrictions in place much greater than most states in America currently allow. So, referencing America without a footnote describing individual states' rights is disingenuous. We have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but nowhere does there exist a right to kill the unborn. That is an allowance contrived by man not endowed unto us by the creator. So enough of that commandeering of language to make it seem that the righteous are being denied.  The United States is a constitutional Republic, and in our founding, the states were allowed to govern themselves within the framework of the Constitution. Thus, the decision to overturn Rowe was not an abortion ban. Rather, it corrected a flawed legal decision and turned the issue over to the states to enact their laws concerning abortion. Witness the labyrinth of gun laws that differ from state to state even though there exists an amendment to the constitution that should make that much easier to interpret. But no, despite having a concealed carry permit in Pennsylvania, the result will be an arrest for illegally possessing a firearm should the unlucky permit holder take the wrong exit and end up in New Jersey. Such is true for abortion laws as well. And pro-choice women in America continually show their arrogance by seeking access to abortion at any time during the pregnancy, right up to the moment of birth, a barbaric practice that flies in the face of both science and ethics. What difference would it be in development between aborting five minutes before birth versus five minutes after?  Are we not condoning infanticide? The “bundle of cells” argument put forth by the intellectually lazy is simply preposterous as these simpletons chant their bumper sticker slogans and blissfully ignore the facts. And this is supposed to be the party of science.  Only when it suits them. But the French may have gotten this right. Although abortion is now enshrined in their constitution, it is restricted to 14 weeks, a respectable compromise taking into account that studies show the fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks and that a vast majority of the public is most comfortable restricting the procedure to the first trimester. And that includes the US. Although the radical fringe exists on both ends of the spectrum from Ralph Northam’s callous suggestion that as a distressed newborn lies on the table, a discussion may be undertaken on whether to institute life-saving measures…..or not……..to the other end where the religious right believes in the sanctity of life at conception, a view that includes a freezer full of in vitro fertilized ovum, the fact remains that most Americans support abortion restriction at 14-16 weeks. The extremists on both sides will object,  but admittedly, one extreme involves infanticide, while the other is a belief in when life begins. To which extreme would you ethically want your margin of error? The only way forward is compromise. Listen to the majority and avoid the extremes. And with the world in turmoil, let’s not choose a president based on the abortion issue alone.  The Wall Street Journal article was, therefore, disappointing in that it leaned in on the constitutional right to abortion without emphasizing France’s moderation in restricting the procedure to 14 weeks. And that is something we should consider emulating here. The Republicans should support such compromise and remove abortion as a self-destructive campaign issue. The democrat's response will be telling. Will they agree with the majority of Americans and compromise, or will they continue to support the most radical fringe of their party and keep the issue alive as a partisan campaign cudgel?

Unfair Government Meddling

Did you see the article in the WSJ outlining the difficulty parents are having trying to secure a dose of the new RSV immunization for their infant children?  Sanofi apparently underestimated demand for the breakthrough medication that cuts the risk of hospitalization for children contracting the bug by 75%. In addition to a somewhat random distribution, the major impediment to accessing the limited doses available was intervention by, you guessed it, the US government, who added the drug to their “Vaccines for Children” program and gobbled up over half the available drug supply. And where, pray tell, do you think that procurement goes?  This federal program uses its resources for children who are uninsured or on Medicaid, of course. So, in other words, children from low-income households. Hmmm. Just for clarification: a federal program paid for with your tax dollars, having procured more than half the supply of life-saving medication for children, is disproportionately distributing it to families that not only did not pay “their fair share,” to coin a phrase but will not have to pay for the medication at all. Your tax dollars at work…….in the most socialist of fashion. It is an affront to Democracy where the whole of its membership has equal rights granted by that membership itself, not by government bureaucracy.

The Injustice Of Judge Engoron

I am so disgusted with New York. That 93-page screed by the obviously socialist-leaning, partisan, self-aggrandizing old fool posing as an impartial judge in the Trump trial was not only unnecessary but reeked of vengeance, animosity, and a fulminant case of Trump derangement syndrome. How is it even possible to show remorse in a case where there is no victim? Real estate is a capitalist venture where nothing is given away, where the seller seeks to sell high and the buyer to buy low. Both parties beware. This buffoon in a robe has no functional understanding of how business is done, precisely why the case should never have been adjudicated in his court. Then to have the grandstanding piece of theater by the thoroughly unlikable attorney general Leticia James, who is grabbing her 15 minutes of fame in the hope of performing the democrat’s most predictable modus operandi:  that of furthering one’s own career through political opportunism. Working all day to persecute Trump while she and Alvin Bragg combine forces to allow crime to devolve the city into chaos. Her uncouth, rabid campaign speeches promising to take down the former president played to the underbelly of New York partisan voters where envy, greed, stepping on others to get ahead, and schadenfreude are endemic. Downstate New Yorkers deserve every negative stereotype that has been directed at them from polite society. This has been a stark wake-up call to any conservative who owns a business in New York or is considering opening a business in New York. Run the other way. Disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo said it out loud:  you’re not welcome here. So let’s raise our glasses and toast to New York City suffering a slow and painful demise from poor choices at the voter’s box that installed feckless, unethical politicians into positions of power. 

The Irony of It All

The NDP claims to defend democracy, rail in indignation over Putin’s treatment of dissidents, yet suppress conservative speech and persecute the opposition party. But, as long as they can convince half the country’s voters to support their policies, opposition falls on deaf ears. In reality, If they manage to drag some preposterous charges against Trump into a partisan kangaroo court in time to evoke a conviction and hobble his candidacy, and concurrently use lax voter laws to tolerate more ballot harvesting and possibly allow illegal aliens to vote, stick a fork in us, we’re done-, as a society as a nation. 

Manipulating Public Opinion

 “Russian nukes in space” a news break conveniently timed scam to bolster congressional efforts to funnel more money to Ukraine. Yet another ham-handed attempt by this administration to manipulate public opinion. And they wonder why polling indicates that American trust in government is at an all-time low. Also of interest is the Kansas City Super Bowl celebration shooting where one victim died and 21 were wounded, including 8 children, a story that has virtually vanished from the headlines. Why would that be, you ask?  Because it doesn't fit into the progressive narrative that the perpetrator was a disgruntled white supremacist intent on causing a mass casualty event. Instead, it was merely a day-to-day “private” dispute between “juveniles.”  I read that to be leftspeak for “gangs comprised of people of color.” We shall see how justice is meted out to these poor, underprivileged, misunderstood youth. Meanwhile, you can bet the left uses the tragedy to further their gun control agenda, notwithstanding that innumerable existing yet unenforced laws were already broken. And the media spins on. 

Real Estate Ploy

We are being told we are experiencing an extreme housing shortage. How that happens when we are losing population makes no sense at all to me. Yet the politicians, realtors, and developers are all calling for a building boom. Exacerbating a political ploy, renters are migrating to the suburbs and outlying rural communities. Throw in some Section 8 housing, and you’re on the path to liberal town councils, liberal school committees, and tax increases. And as land prices increase, the farmers are selling out, or the kids inherit the farm and sell off the pieces. Lending more to real estate distortion, sustainable energy incentives are resulting in big business plastering the landscape with solar farms and wind turbines. I heard one rural conservative railing about how easy it is to destroy a small town: Loose zoning laws are taken advantage of, such that a single apartment complex on a couple of acres with a percentage of low-income housing packs in enough liberal voters to nullify the votes of a community of conservative farmers on big acre spreads. You can literally turn a red county blue with one low-income apartment building.  It is glaringly apparent when looking at a map of voting by county, where the entire country appears red except for the island of blue in densely populated cities and urban areas that carry the vote. How preposterous is it that urban and rural apartment dwellers with no skin in the game hold sway over suburban and rural landowners? This is precisely why the Founding Fathers proposed that only property owners should have voting rights, such was their concern about degenerating to “mob rule.”  Benjamin Rush (signer of the Declaration) was most succinct:  A simple democracy…. is one of the greatest of evils.”

Times Square Shooting

How exactly did a 15-year-old Venezuelan sociopathic “migrant” get his hands on a semi-automatic pistol in New York City?  City residents' permits to own a handgun are about as common as unicorn sightings. The bottom line is inviting unvetted migrants into New York by declaring it a “sanctuary city” is perhaps the most profoundly idiotic liberal policy in our nation’s history. And then spending $53 million to give them prepaid debit cards…..$1000 a month……evicting grade school children from their classrooms to house them, and shutting down public services for citizens to fund it all, with next year’s budget promising even more expenditures for their care and feeding, is doubling down on the insanity. Congratulations, New York, you get what you vote for.

What Do They Know That We Do Not

After President Biden's feeble attempt to convince the electorate he is of sound body and mind yet, the Democrat party's steadfast support of his candidacy remains. What are we to expect going forward? We can only surmise as in 2020, their confidence lies in the efficiency of their Democrat vote-gathering tactics to once again win the day, questionable as those tactics might be. Fodder for those tactics: Convict Trump of anything to taint his reputation, game the system and allow massive mail-in voting without signature or address verification,  manufacture some excuse to keep Joe cloistered.  And, in the eleventh hour, roll out the tried and true abortion issue along with the usual race-baiting DEI fandango. Tada!

More Border Bill Lament

Representative Claudia Tenney of NY’s 24 Congressional District said it all in no uncertain terms: the bipartisan border bill was a bad deal from start to finish. Her concern is that the Dems are attempting to codify the current immigration policy….and numbers….into law with an eye on the November election. She went on to point out how the Biden Administration has handcuffed agencies from cross-referencing each other’s records such that the DMV cannot be accessed to determine if indeed a voter registration is valid. And voter registration laws have been loosened to the extent that it is essentially an honor system to register. Many states have allowed illegal aliens to procure driver's licenses that may then act as IDs. Thus, an illegal alien may register to vote using a driver's license, but voter registration cannot cross-check the DMV for citizenship. The Democrats are doing exactly what the Republicans have said they’re doing all along just sending up so much smoke to obscure the truth. An open border is their policy with the intent to turn red states blue and remain in power in perpetuity. It’s devious, and seditious and will be the end of the American experiment.

WSJ Disappoints

I am disappointed that the WSJ chose to endorse the “bipartisan” border deal,  seemingly with the logic that we may never get a better deal than this, and those wiley democrats may withdraw some of their concessions if revisited. The undercurrent seems to be the journal’s persistent ambiguity towards Mr. Trump, remarking that should he be reinstated in the Oval Office, resistance by the opposition will prevent him from negotiating a better deal. Perhaps. Never underestimate the spiteful left. But again, what few concessions they made were all couched in safeguards to prevent arbitration by a neutral party should the Biden administration continue to show that they have no intention of enforcing the law. Catch and release would continue with only the promise of stricter standards on encounters to reduce the numbers. The Journal further suggested that they agree with democrats that republicans are “anti-immigration” as if that’s a bad thing. What they are against is unfettered immigration without vetting, a process that has,  up to now, led to millions of male illegals of mostly military age infiltrating our country, many of whom are from countries of origin who seek to do us harm. This policy has already started to bite us on the backside with street crime and drug trafficking, as these largely unskilled, non-English-speaking trespassers become unwelcome houseguests on the taxpayer's dime. If our goal is to fundamentally change America, our model should not be an anarchic third-world nation.

Republicans in Disarray

Republicans are such an embarrassment. Having trouble with the definition of cohesion, are we? Meanwhile, the democrats continue to blatantly lie to the American public and march in lockstep to further their political agenda. And isn't it interesting that, on the one hand, they claim that the border crisis….and indeed, they are now calling it a crisis…..is a result of Republican policies and Trump directives, despite obvious facts that show it is the Biden administration’s reversal of Trump era executive orders that opened our border to mass illegal immigration, yet on the other hand they defend Mayorkas against impeachment as not being about a failure to perform his solemn duty to protect our territory, but is merely a disagreement over policy and therefore not subject to impeachment. Wait, what? So let me get this straight: in effect, the democrats are defending Marorkas for merely carrying out the Biden Administration “policy” to open our borders to allow an invasion. Isn’t that a contradiction to what President Squinty Mumbles just told us yesterday in a barely coherent address? So there you have it, buried within the lie that Republicans have somehow blocked border reform: the truth is that it is Biden's Administrative policy to open our borders. Period!

Border Legislation

The proposed border legislation, where its arbitration is left to Mayorkas, the liberal DC circuit courts, and the Biden administration, is a farce, diabolical partisan deception at its worst. But the media is lining up to support it, and you know those shills never read it; just continue parroting Democrat talking points. The fact of the matter is they should accept NO deal that doesn’t close the border. Period. The bill gives the Democrats everything they want for protecting other countries' borders but gives the Republicans nothing on protecting ours. What a sham. 

How Can This Be?

It has been well documented that Nancy Pelosi has a net worth of some $125Million, but her comrade in arms, the late Senator Dianne Feinstein must have been taking notes as she had managed to accumulate a net worth of over $69.4 million at the time of her death. And like Pelosi, the left attributes those staggering figures to the astute investing of her husband, who like Paulie P, just happened to own an investment firm. Uh-huh. Just the Feinstein real estate portfolio alone is jaw-dropping: a Washington DC home at $7.4Million, a SanFrancisco home at $21Million, a Hawaii condo at $5Million, a beach house in Marin County at $7.5Million, an Aspen estate on 36 acres at $25Million and a Lake Tahoe spread at $36Million. And she flitted between them in style aboard her $ 61 million Gulfstream. Remind me again how these two California public servants represented “we the people” while lavishly feathering their own nests. And on a salary that never exceeded $175000 a year.  Astute investors…..sure they were. It would appear to the objective observer that these democrats and their complicit spouses learned how to game the system.  That used to be called insider trading. Ask Martha Stewart how that works out for anyone outside the Beltway elite. Once again we should think twice when choosing between candidates who made their money before becoming politicians as opposed to those who became politicians to make their money.

NPR Irritant

As you have no doubt gathered, NPR drives me around the bend. A resent Marketplace segment interviewed an economic pundit, asking her to explain how, despite the Feds seeking to squelch economic growth and stem inflation with increased interest rates, the economy posted gains in excess of 3% in the last quarter. Why are consumers continuing to engage in exuberant optimism and spending away in the face of high Inflation, high-interest rates, and a dour mood on the economy? It sure isn’t being driven by the housing market, which is posting sales at historic lows with limited inventory. Adding further to this quandary, the pundit had previously, like so many of her ilk, predicted a “soft landing” rather than a precipitous fall into recession. In other words, there is no full-blown recession, instead a gentle dip in economic results. So, with no landing at all and so many indicators pointing towards a downturn, what happened?  Her conclusion?  Immigration. Yep, you heard me correctly. Immigration, according to this expert, saved our economy.  “I didn’t factor in an increase in immigration,” she declared, “and immigrants spend money.”  Really?  She also slipped in the fact that municipalities are ramping up spending; in other words, the government, flush with your tax dollars, is opening their checkbooks. And I don’t know about you, but the immigrants I see crossing the border….and let’s stop putting lipstick on that pig…..these aren’t immigrants or asylum seekers at all, these are illegal economic invaders seeking free stuff and American jobs……they don’t look to be flush with cash. What they are flush with are cellphones, clothing, and $2000 a week courtesy of the government. And where does the government get their money?  Now you’re catching on. These immigrants aren’t working and aren’t contributing to our tax base. But through the generosity of Uncle Sam, they are producing economic activity in a twisted feedback loop where their spending on food, clothing, and, disturbingly, medical care as they flood our hospitals and military base clinics is all being supported by your tax dollars. And what really gets my knickers in a twist is when that same government announces that social security faces insolvency by 2033, where beneficiaries, many of whom have worked their entire lives and paid into the system, face upwards of a 20% cut in their social security checks.  This administration’s handling of the budget is like handing the kids your checkbook. There is no accountability, and the future of American citizens is being sold out to foreign invaders and the elite class, the only two groups that benefit from their upside-down policies.

The Irony Of It All

Trump’s skills vs his demeanor. I know all the pundits are trying to spin the polls, but the one that reported 42% of actual Trump voters would deem him unfit for office if convicted on one of the 91 counts against him, I find disturbing. I’m sure the democrat apparatus is also watching these polls and would have to conclude that a conviction is their ticket to four more years of Biden in the Oval Office. Even more diabolical would be the timing of a conviction. Allow Trump to win the nomination, slow walk the trials, and convict him so far into the election cycle that it would throw the Republican party into disarray as they scramble to replace him with a less luminary candidate. With Trump demonstrating repeatedly that he is his own worst enemy, I would find it unlikely that in the event of a conviction, he would step aside and allow what is hopefully an acceptable running mate to assume the nomination. Although he remains the most popular candidate amongst the Republican base, a result of his past record on the economy, a term without war, his combativeness against entrenched government, and his uncanny ability to endure chaos and resist what is clearly a weaponized DOJ against him, he continues to be the most effective tool the left has to rally their base. 

Child Care Subterfuge

This new childcare tax credit proposal is yet another step closer to a Democrat goal of guaranteed income. And the Republicans are onboard, feeling as though they are losing the public relations battle with Democrats by not appearing to be doing enough for the middle class. Really. By eliminating a work requirement? This is more than bribery, pandering for votes with a cash payment, a wealth transfer, redistribution, however you slice it. This is not exactly what the Founding Fathers had in mind. With an ever-growing segment of Americans who own nothing, pay no property taxes, pay no income tax, send their progeny to public schools where they are fed and brainwashed by the left on somebody else’s tax dime. Why is their vote equal to that of a small business owner besieged with a tax burden on their income and assets and toiling long hours to build their business?  To vote on monetary policies how your tax money is spent, shouldn’t those decisions be made by the actual taxpayers and not the beneficiaries of government-sponsored programs?  As is often attributed, perhaps incorrectly, to Ben Franklin: Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. 

NPR Propagandist

How many of us are being duped by the NPR? Who of late has been running a full frontal assault on DeSantis in support of a  Black Caucus candidate running for office in Jacksonville, Fla. Flat out accused him of trying to erase Black history, banning books that benefit minorities and the LBGQ movement, and when he declared Florida is where woke comes to die, they accused him of using the term “woke” to essentially mean the black community. After complaining, “woke” is a black term that describes someone who is aware but has been co-opted and redefined by conservatives into a negative connotation. The first thing a Republican president should do is defund these NPR radicals. Talk about disseminating disinformation.

Societal Expectations

When a country’s societal concerns are those of the individual over those of the collective, the productive strength of nationalism’s cohesiveness and pride is diminished. Individualism and Globalism movements have detracted from once-dominant nationalism worldwide, not for the better. A nation's sovereignty, defined in the character, accomplishments,  and rule of law of its society, made it unique, separate, and apart in the community of nations but common in national identification. Progressive Democrat governance here in the U.S. has promoted individualism to the extreme, fracturing our collective national pride, our very sovereignty, turning our once most ethnic, racial homogenized nation into a quagmire of partisan separatism. Others have described it as tribalism. Separatism, defined as separating a group of people from a larger body of people on the basis of ethnicity, race, religion, or gender for the purpose of fostering dissension, better describes the movement.  It confounds me why it is not so evident to everyone that we don't rise en mass to root out its perpetrators. But then again, our unassailable freedom of speech hoists us up on our own petard. 

Foreboding Premonition

Recently, listening to Nancy Pelosi, interviewed by George Stephanopoulos, railing about Trump and the threat to democracy. Advising the Republican party is the only actual threat to our democracy. How can she, while the Democrats demonstrate impotence and complacency in dealing with both foreign and domestic issues and obviously would not be up to the task of defending this country if our adversaries, if unabated, decided the time is right to attack us in mass, as they surely would. Ukraine and Israel are dissipating our weapons stockpiles, and we are shooting down the Houthi’s WalMart drones with million-dollar missiles. If a foreign entity ever was waiting for an opportunity to do us harm, they have two options to pursue: attack before Biden leaves office or assure that Biden and the Democrats remain in power, and we will destroy ourselves from within. One can easily postulate that another five years of Biden, followed by the potential of eight years of Kamala or Newsom, would undoubtedly result in the demise of the United States as we know it. 

Concluding My ‘23 Diatribe

Wallowing in my aforementioned morass. The most glaring illustration of how racially hypocritical the Progressives have become appeared when the Presidents of Harvard, MIT, and UPenn appeared before Congress to justify their mishandling of anti-Semitism on campus.  The left is now trying to regroup after UPenn President Liz Magill stepped down, as did Harvard’s Claudine Gay, although they remain faculty members.  But not before they were thoroughly exposed as incompetent in trying to instill a culture of DEI at their institutions.  The left claims that Elise Stefanik “laid a trap” when Gay responded to her question on “whether calls for the genocide of Jews constituted harassment under university policy.”  Her answer, no doubt after having been prepped by her attorneys, was “depends on the context.”  And there you have it; everything depends on the context, and that context is whether a politically favored minority group is involved.  But with that preposterous answer came scrutiny of her academic record.  And why not?  Wouldn’t you expect the President of one of the world’s most prestigious institutions to have a resume replete with publications and original research?  Certainly to a standard demonstrating an intellect sufficient to hold off questioning from a member of Congress, even though Ms. Stefanik is a Harvard graduate herself.  But no.  Gay’s curriculum vitae was glaringly thin, and most notably, her work, including her doctoral thesis, was found to have over 40 examples of plagiarism.  A couple of missed references are forgiven.  But 40 examples are indicative of a pattern of intellectual deceit.  And let’s definitely not resort to the Biden standard, where serial plagiarist Joe claimed that his plagiarism was so “blatant” that it “had to be accidental.”  Sure. But the Harvard Corporation leaped to her defense, reviewing the accusations and dismissing the plagiarism as being merely ”improper citations.” Most leftist academics from whom she pilfered material fell in line and decided that the offenses were insignificant. Even attorney Randall Kennedy, Professor of Law at Harvard University, waved off the improper citations as simply “sloppiness.” Seriously? The president of Harvard is academically sloppy, and that’s something we choose to dismiss.  And the WSJ pointed out that Gay chose to go back and correct her citations, somehow suggesting that she was righting the wrong and having the chutzpah to call it “proactive.”  Sorry sweetie, but you are even having difficulty with basic definitions.  Proactive means you were out in front of the issue rather than waiting until after it happened.  The word you were looking for is retroactive.  You got caught, then you went back and made the corrections and tried to convince all of us that you did it of your own volition, despite having already reaped the rewards of the subterfuge and becoming ensconced in the president’s office with an $870000 salary.  And in truly disappointing fashion, in her own defense, she resorted to the tried and true tactic of calling the scandal an example of “racial animus.” Yet the Harvard Black Student Association and black members of the faculty predictably rallied to her defense as well claiming that “Gay’s ouster reflects a system that wasn’t built for them”.  Oh please, cry me a river.  This is wrong on so many levels; I don’t know where to start.  First off, why is there a Black Student Association anyway?  Is there a White Student Association? The entire concept of an association based on race seems just a tad racially divisive at an institution that had, past tense, a president whose scholarly pursuits were in the field of African-American Studies and who was herself a Black female.  The whole Martin Luther King concept of colorblindness appears to have been thoroughly abandoned to the extent that seeing color distinctions is now necessary, lest you be called a racist.  Recall the “judged not by the color of your skin but by the content of your character” argument.  That is apparently passé in this age of racial preference over meritocracy.  And the left is remarkably selective with their definitions.  I can choose to be one of the aforementioned 100 genders, in complete violation of my biological blueprint, but it appears to be impossible for me to identify as another race.  Why is that?  It would seem that morphing into another race would be significantly easier and, indeed, far less painful than gender reassignment surgery.  I would reference John Howard Griffin, but those blackface shenanigans would not be acceptable in today’s racially charged environment, and more recently, the case of racial appropriation didn’t end well for Rachel Dolezal. But the hypocritical power of the left says no, you can’t do that, which is indeed unfortunate as I would really like to get a piece of this reparations action making its way through legislation in California and New York. Again, I digress.  Regarding the statement that the system wasn’t built for them:  Bingo.  It wasn’t.  Nor should it be. It’s not built for the benefit of any racial group unless you ascribe to that nonsense that mathematics, the English language, and virtually any other measure of academic achievement is somehow an example of White Supremacy. The system was built for academic excellence, to nurture intellectual curiosity, and to mold students into the people who will inherit the world from their teachers for the betterment of humankind.  At least that’s what it used to say in those pamphlets when you took the college campus tour. And to do that, we reward merit, hard work, and academic achievement.  We don’t do what has become vogue in academic circles as of late, most horrifyingly in medical schools and pilot training courses.  We don’t banish standardized testing as a yardstick, we don’t dumb down entrance exams, we don’t grade on racial standards, and we most definitely don’t choose our students, our administrators, our faculty, or even the cafeteria lady in our academic institutions based on some arbitrary racial quota.  That is the walking definition of racism. Yet Harvard has made a statement.  Diversity, equity, and inclusion, the dreaded DEI, are more important to them than merit.  And here we are.  An unqualified University President resigns in disgrace with lines drawn not on the facts but on race alone.  Facts speak for themselves, and to disregard the evidence while viewing the proceedings through “pick-your-race” colored glasses is by definition, racism.  An astute WSJ respondent recently referenced conservative columnist George Will, who said, “On Oct. 3, 1974, Frank Robinson was hired by the Cleveland Indians as the major leagues’ first Black manager.  But an even more important milestone of progress occurred on June 19, 1977, when the Indians fired him.  That was true equality.”  In yet another post from 2012, the prescient Mr. Will also wrote: “Perhaps a pleasant paradox defines this political season.”  He was talking about Obama’s race as a factor in his re-election bid, but just substituting race in general for “Obama” illustrates a point, as race “may be important, but in a way quite unlike that darkly suggested by, for example, MSNBC’s excitable boys and girls with their (at most) one track minds and exquisitely sensitive olfactory receptors, sniff racism in any criticism of their pin-up.  Instead, the nation, which is generally reluctant to declare a president a failure—thereby admitting that it made a mistake in choosing him [or her in this case] –seems especially reluctant not to give up on the first African-American president.  [It] speaks well of the nation’s heart, if not its head.” We would do well to heed his words.

I'm sorry to have subjected you to this purging of my spleen if, indeed, you had waded through this rant in its entirety. 2023’s affront to my sensibilities had to be vented, or it surely would have been injurious to my health. Mea Culpa.

My 2023 Years-End Rant (Cont)

This is a continuation of part of my Lanquage comments yesterday as it relates to the concepts of sex and gender. What a morass we find ourselves in when Biden’s newest appointment to the Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson, cannot define the term “woman.” Her answer, “I am not a biologist,” should have disqualified her from appointment immediately. She was obviously pandering to the left, offering up a politically correct answer, something that a Supreme Court justice should never do.  The left has separated gender from sex and is unable to define either one.  Unfortunately, they expect the rest of us to go along with their delusions.  SanFrancisco, for example, offers up more than 100 different options for gender on their guaranteed income program application, and Facebook recently added more than 50 gender options, bringing the total choices to 58 for those who don’t identify as male or female. Twenty-five of those descriptors are related to “trans”-something or other.  Other terms like Gender Outlaw, Kathoey, and Waria just defy rational explanation. They’ve even gone in search of other culture’s gender-bending references to add to the list.  How ridiculous. This madness has to stop.  Be yourself, by all means, even if that means calling yourself some preposterous made-up gender that makes you happy in your neurosis, but leave the rest of us out of it.  Gender is now being defined as a social construct; thus, you can be whatever you want to be, according to the new age pundits, and sometimes that can change from day to day.  But alas, there’s that pesky thing called biology that assigns you a sex at birth.  You may not choose to identify as your biological sex, but like it or not, you are what you are.  DNA determines that.  And regardless of what you choose to cut off or stitch on, your cells know better.  Of course, leftist scientists leaped to Jackson’s defense and are now claiming biological sex is difficult to assign based on variables like expression of chromosomes, gonads, genitals, internal reproductive structures, hormone ratios, and secondary sex characteristics. Come on, man.  DNA is rarely ambiguous, and although it can occur in mutation, rarely, gonads, genitals, internal reproductive structures, and secondary sexual characteristics differ markedly from the assignment of sex based on chromosomes.  Hormones do indeed show variability but fall within a range, and like it or not, anything that deviates from these parameters is abnormal and does not occur with significant frequency.  This sudden appearance of 100 genders is nothing more than a psychological construct and perhaps even a fad, as evidenced by all the females in a California grade school suddenly announcing that they identify as male.  Statistically impossible. So, let’s put a stop to the practice of confusing our youth with a multiple-choice question on what gender they want to be that day.  It’s not an option and certainly not one that should be discussed without parental consent by some community college-educated elementary school teachers.  Or Harvard, for that matter.  Instructing children that they can miraculously change their sex through pharmacology and irreversible surgical procedures is nothing short of madness, especially when we are allowing children who are too young to drive, purchase alcohol, purchase a firearm, or even sign their own medical consent forms to make these life-altering decisions. And Ohio governor Mike DeWine vetoing measures to prevent “gender-affirming care” in children and banning biological males from competing in women’s sports is an absolute travesty.  He claims that after speaking with parents of trans-children, many claimed that if not for the ability to transition, their children would likely be dead.  How dramatic. However, European studies are clear that this is simply not the case, and there is no statistical difference in suicide between those who chose to transition and those who did not.  Mental illness is hereditary as well, and just like the rest of their chromosomes, these kids likely inherited the same trait for crazy that afflicts their parents. Further, the term “gender-affirming care” is yet another exercise in co-opting language.  If we were truly affirming their gender, efforts would be made to ensure that their gender coincided with their biological sex, not some made-up social construct that is suddenly fashionable.  So let’s get all the sane adults in the room to agree:  Little Johnny can wear a dress and call himself Suzy all he wants.  But you have been assigned both testicles and a male gender at birth, and you’re stuck with it until your frontal lobe gets a clue.  Boy’s bathrooms and boy’s sports, pal.  After the age of 18, although all you educators keep telling us that Johnny’s brain is still mush until his early twenties, you can have at it, cut it off, add them on, and take hormones of your choice.  By then, you won’t be a confusing distraction for all the rest of the fourth grade. 

Know,  I’m not yet through with this ‘23 diatribe, I plan to rant on tomorrow morning, stay tuned

My 2023 Years-End Rant

Bear with me. We stand at the precipice of another year of global and political chaos, so I pause to reflect. First up: regarding Climate Change. Stop it. Just shut up. I’m mostly talking to you, NPR. You can’t go five minutes without one of your supercilious, self-absorbed, talking heads droning on about “insert-your-adjective-here” climate change. At the rate they’re going, it will require an entire segment just to say it. Existential climate change. Man-made climate change.  Climate change caused by human activity. Climate change linked to the burning of fossil fuels. Severe weather events caused by climate change.  Enough already. Apparently, everything is a result of climate change including my expletive-ridden tirades directed at my radio. As in Alexa, for [expletive deleted] sake tune the station to anything but NPR. Or MSNBC.  Or CNN. Or anybody playing Taylor Swift. But I digress, only after clarifying that Alexa does not, nor ever will, live in my house. If severe weather events are all caused by man-made climate change then someone has to explain to me how the dustbowl occurred in 1930-1936 when the population of the entire country was 130 million, roughly one-third of what it is today with only a fraction of it industrialized or driving automobiles. Or perhaps clue me in on the ice age when man barely existed at all. And I’m talking about both ends of the ice age. It had to get really cold, then it had to get really warm again.  How exactly did that happen without human intervention? And don’t tell me it was Mammoth flatulence. Seeing as man has been around for some 6 million years of the 4.5 billion years that the earth has been in existence, perhaps we are on a cycle with a timetable that we can’t comprehend. Especially considering we have only been recording weather-related data since 1880, a mere 143 years. Does anyone take college courses in statistics anymore? Further, it may be an existential crisis for us, but the earth will be just fine. As comedian George Carlin once remarked when plastic was considered to be the planet’s most existential threat: we will be long gone and it will just be “the earth plus plastic.” Like the dinosaurs before us, perhaps we are just being spit out or shaken off like fleas. And the solutions to all this climate hysteria are equally preposterous. Banning the burning of fossil fuels for example.  Now don’t get me wrong, if humankind were all on the same page and we were all willing to revert back to a stone age lifestyle, then perhaps we could mitigate or slow down whatever it is that is causing the extreme weather events that we are witnessing. Perhaps.  But while the Western world considers banning gas stoves, fossil fuel burning furnaces and internal combustion engines, not to mention demonizing the consumption of meat and dairy products in the name of eliminating cow farts, a large segment of the population of the third world continues to cook over open air wood fires, Brazil torches hectares of rain forest to make way for agriculture and China opens a new coal-fired power plant every week which makes the whole exercise nothing short of ridiculous. The concept of keeping our own backyard squeaky clean at great monetary expense, stifling our industrial and agricultural productivity while allowing the rest of the world to expel greenhouse gases unfettered implies that somehow we aren’t sharing the same planet. Isn’t it a rather hypocritical worldview after years of enduring the “party of science” explaining to us that if a butterfly flaps its wings in the South Pacific it will somehow affect our weather patterns on the East Coast of the United States? What changed? It’s all climate theater. Arctic wobble, atmospheric rivers, bomb cyclones, heat domes, tornadic waterspouts, thundersnow, and El Nino. Hmmm. So mining rare earth minerals in China with little environmental regulation, only to ship them to a manufacturing facility most likely also located somewhere in China also with no environmental regulation, who in turn ships the batteries to Germany to build electric vehicles that no one wants, that are then shipped to America where the batteries will most likely end up in a landfill is supposed to be an example of responsible climate policy? This is why automobile writer Jeremy Clarkson “reserves a special hatred for the Toyota Prius” calling it a “cynical marketing exercise for the gullible and stupid.” Furthermore, if we are in a climate crisis and the Amazon rain forest is indeed the planet’s “lungs” and we are so concerned about its destruction, then why don’t we just buy it? Surely if we can print enough money to send $113 billion to Ukraine to perpetuate a war that is hardly climate-friendly, we can certainly fire up the presses, print some more cash, and buy the whole damn thing. Maybe some other climate gas-bags like King Charles, Bill Gates, Justin Trudeau, and Emmanuel Macron can chip in a few shekels. I would imagine that the Western world can offer more per acre than some poverty-stricken Brazilian farmer burning down trees to clear the land for farming. And most often it will become grazing land for cattle. And that means more flatulence. Sounds like a win-win. But no, that’s not going to happen.  The climate change czars would rather fly around the globe on their Gulfstream G800s, descending on trendy vacation spots like Davos or Dubai to dine on caviar and Wagyu beef so they can lecture the rest of the world on austerity measures to prevent sea level rise before jetting back home to their oceanfront estates. Pffft. John Kerry could probably buy the entire rainforest with the spare change found in his sofa cushions. So perhaps we should just ban the term “climate change” altogether until the entire world is on the same page, suffers austerity in equal measure, and our elected officials and their media lapdogs appear to be taking the issue seriously instead of manipulating a manufactured crisis to make a buck, or spoon feed the donor class with subsidies. Solar panels, wind farms, and EVs. Uh-huh.  Besides, aren’t you dopes all about equity? You are? Then you go first.  

Hold, I'm not finished venting my spleen. Next up: Language. I’m not talking about foreign language or foul language.  I’m talking about the left co-opting language for their convenience, warping definitions, confusing the voting public, or generally putting forth a word salad designed to provide a smoke and mirror-show to hide their true intent, to engage in obfuscation. Saul Alinsky, he of the famous Rules for Radicals playbook, said it best: “He who controls the language, controls the masses. “ Joe Biden may occasionally engage in word salad accidentally because the synapses are just not there anymore, but Kamala Harris does it regularly and she is supposed to be in possession of all her marbles. Either her speechwriters are idiots, or maybe she is, for actually reading that nonsense in public. But perhaps clarity is not the goal.  Confusion, blurring the lines, remaining noncommittal, or presenting a narrative that can be neither agreed upon nor refuted may be the point of the exercise. Whatever happened to “say what you mean and mean what you say?” And there are subdivisions under this language heading related to race, gender, crime, and border security. Let’s start with the border.  Mayorkas: The border is closed.  Harris: The border is closed.  Biden: The border is closed.  Yet it is well documented that in excess of 1.4 million immigrants have entered this country under the Biden Administration.  And they keep coming in waves. Like a tree falling in the forest, just because the mainstream media doesn’t show it, that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. FOX shows it every day and Border Patrol statistics verify what we’re seeing.  The border is wide open and we are being invaded.  And I have to blame this partly on Bill Clinton.  He started all this “depends on what the definition of is is” gobbledygook and we’ve been stumbling over language ever since.  So must we define what open and closed means? This sort of thing used to be called lying. And any sentence that starts with “look”, “let me be clear” or incorporates the term “root cause” is a dead giveaway that they’re engaging in the dissemination of untruths. Ironic in that Trump is generally lambasted in the press, not to mention by Robert DeNiro, for being a serial liar when in fact the Biden Administration has made it an Olympic-level sport.  And while on the subject, the left has co-opted the term “immigrant” to supplant what used to be called an “illegal alien.” Hold on. My grandparents were immigrants.  They filled out the paperwork, they stood in line, they waited their turn and they were processed through Ellis Island. Legally. These foreign invaders are not immigrants. They have broken the law by setting foot on American soil, they have cut the line, shoving their way in front of those who seek to immigrate into the country legally, especially white Europeans. And like everything else in this country, meritocracy has been cast aside in favor of race. We no longer accept immigrants based on skills that they can provide to better the country. They have used the loophole of asylum to gain entry when in fact they are seeking nothing more than monetary gain. Be it government handouts or actually seeking employment, they are in it for socioeconomic reasons only. And I don’t blame them for that, but let’s not sugarcoat the fact that they’re here illegally. They are not vetted, their caravans harbor criminals and possibly terrorists in their midst that seek to do us harm. It is a coordinated attack on our sovereignty, a violation of our borders and it has been perpetrated by this Administration. Just ask the invaders why they’ve come. The universal answer: Joe Biden invited us. Why? remains the biggest question.  Is it to supply workers to take menial jobs, labor that Americans will no longer do? Or more cynically is it an effort to turn traditionally red border states blue and win those close races to keep Democrats in power? As 2024 progresses, it will be interesting to see if the Democrats seek to get a return on their investment and attempt to allow these immigrants to vote.

Let me pause here and allow you to digest this years-end rant of mine and I’ll have at it again tomorrow morning………