A Haunting Premonition

We are seemingly becoming a corrupt socialist bent nation, fostered by the Democrats’ agenda, and not realizing its dire consequences.  Progressive income taxation, sales tax, state tax, property taxes, wealth taxes, licensing fees, payroll taxes, capital gains taxes, cap and trade taxes, whose revenues are doled out without the consent of we the people, disproportionately distributed to government employees and people who game the system, those choosing not to better themselves. The waste is unfathomable. This country was founded on taxation without representation, and yet here we are. If the dye is indeed cast, and this great republic of ours slides into the abyss of socialism, history will view us as spoiled, entitled ingrates that didn't appreciate what we had. It 

What Is Happening To Us

It makes me suicidal. Maybe homicidal is more appropriate. All these Democrat bumper sticker simpletons protesting funding ICE and the war in Iran, and bitching about gas prices when our tax dollars are being vacuumed up by fraud and Democrat programs that amount to nothing more than redistribution. Meanwhile, Blumenthal from Connecticut led the Senate, raking in $80 million in the stock market in just the last year alone on only a relatively handful of trades. He even beat Pelosi’s tally, which ranked 5th. Tell me again why I have to pay taxes to support this level of banana republic shenanigans.

And on the heels of this rant, did you hear out of Chicago, where a Louis Vuitton store was attacked by a vehicle that drove through the front door, criminals looted the store to the tune of $700K in merchandise, and in their escape killed a man on his way to work whose wife gave birth to their first child the next morning. You can’t make this stuff up. The criminal mastermind was a four-time offender with warrants out for his arrest, a former gang member recruited into Chicago’s “peacekeeper program,” where “justice impacted” individuals are paid to be community mediators to reduce crime. This particular “peacekeeper” was being paid $150 a day by the city to fight crime. Uh-huh. But even more egregious was when reporters dug deeper and discovered that this program is a $1 billion enterprise in which non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the number one lobbying group in Chicago, coincidentally, receive government grants to fund these programs. Distributed after they skim a significant percentage, sometimes as much as 90% off the top. As Mike Slater opined, this is not an aberration. This is exactly how the Democrats want these programs to operate. More money is funneled to Democrat donors who kick back money to political campaigns, keeping the Democrat apparatus in power and the money flowing. Everybody gets rich gorging themselves at the taxpayer trough. It’s disgusting. And we wondered why the democrats were so vehemently opposed to Elon Musk and DOGE, and now Vance, with his newly formed department, is to root out fraud and abuse.  Our republic is rotting from within, and it is appalling how many bureaucrats are benefiting from the decay.

Misplaced Partisanship

I read recently that Social Security is expected to be insolvent by 2032, with potential solutions including raising taxes and cutting benefits to seniors. How infuriating is that?  If we eliminated all the entitlement programs for illegal immigrants and eliminated fraud and abuse in government programs, we could pay for Social Security in perpetuity and eliminate our national debt virtually overnight. Aren’t any democrats seniors? You would think not so, judging by the number of unhinged, gray-haired, white folks attending every preposterously moronic No Kings rally.

My Bad

I usually don’t condon body-shaming, intelligence-questioning or harsh language, but

can you believe the beaver-toothed, Botox-filled New York Governor Hochel telling conservatives: “Just jump on a bus and head down to Florida where you belong, okay. Get outta town. You don’t represent our values.” Apparently, their values supposedly are increased taxation, open borders, gender confusion, and an ever-growing welfare state. Conservative New Yorkers apparently didn’t get the memo, but this may be the best advice Governor Hochel has ever offered her Conservative constituents.  Socialism anyone? A real genius public relations ploy, heading into the 2026 elections. Her political chops, let alone her intelligence, have to be questioned.

Taxing Us Silly

It is shocking the number of states proposing tax increases… even after posting huge gains over the last few years, with the stock market run and increased tax revenue from rising salaries and property values. And the usual suspects: California, Washington State, New York, and Rhode Island… blue enclaves. And the progressives are good with that?  NY is proposing an increase in its already exorbitant state income tax. This tax-the-rich, Bernie Sanders socialist mantra is gaining traction. It’s class warfare. Not good. Mike Slater opined on Breitbart this morning that we are voting stupid people into office (Spanberger in this case) because we allow stupid people to vote. In days of old, we didn’t allow stupid people to vote; now everyone can vote, he lamented. We have spoken about this innumerable times. The Founding Fathers only wanted landholders to vote because they had skin in the game. Why is a property owner's vote counted equally to that of an unemployed, apartment dweller on welfare?  Two sets of priorities, one based on what they can get from the other man’s labor.

Zelinsky The Ungrateful

“America bombs Iran and Zelinsky suddenly holds aces” reads the headline in the WSJ editorial section. How offensive. The author fawns all over Zelinsky: “ in his eyes that ardent cold flame…..”. And references the infamous Oval Office meeting where he claims that Trump, “that vulgar man”, tried to humiliate our President (Zelinsky). The headline harkens back to when Trump said he held all the cards, and the article implies that, with Trump now needing help with drone warfare, Zelinsky is the one holding them. How short political memory is. So what exactly has America received in return for the $188 Billion sent to Ukraine thus far, not to mention the drain on our own stockpile of weapons?  Nothing but this gamesmanship, apparently. So, in return for our investment, when we need assistance,  in this case drone technology, it is Zelinsky with his hand out once more, demanding compensation? Ah, remember the days when loyalty meant something in Europe? Tell me who’s vulgar.

Patriots Where Art Thou

Isn’t it amazing that the media is frothing at the mouth in an effort to prove that an American missile struck an Iranian school and killed children? Bad America. And of course, just like in Gaza, we are relying on the enemy to show us evidence of atrocities and taking them at their word. In this case, fragments of a Tomahawk missile were displayed on a table at the site of the strike. First of all, Tomahawk missile fragments are probably scattered all over Tehran, so they’re not exactly collector's items. And we can always rely on the Iranians not to lie to us, right? Secondly, the school was located next to a military installation. So the US is expected to launch a missile from somewhere in the Red Sea, some 2000 miles away, and surgically strike a single building in the city without damaging anything else? Control the blast and strike the right structure with precision. Assuming we identified the correct target and our GPS coordinates were correct, the missile’s guidance system operated correctly, the signal wasn’t jammed, the missile wasn’t fired upon, and a myriad of other variables weren’t in play. Why are we expected to have no casualties, no collateral damage, and wage ethical war with precision while the enemy fires missiles and drones indiscriminately at civilian targets? It’s war…stuff happens. And third on the list: who puts a children’s school next to a military installation?  Oh yeah, the Islamists do. Haven’t we seen this before in Gaza?  Weapons stored in hospitals, tunnel entrances in civilians' homes, and using the population as shields. Then use civilian casualties as propaganda. This is starting to look like asymmetrical warfare, the kind we conducted in Vietnam, where we are subjected to a stringent set of rules that don’t apply to the enemy. Just the fact that the enemy is taking photographs and posting them, let alone assembling en masse in the public square to celebrate the appointment of their next tyrant, is evidence that the population has no fear of being targeted and still has available conveniences…… like electricity. We haven’t targeted civilians, and they still have an intact power grid. We are going out of our way not to inconvenience the population at large by targeting only military installations and support systems for the regime. So the media is critical of casualties, collateral damage, and not being able to finish the mission in a timely fashion. That’s nuts. If the goal was simply to defeat the enemy, we could just turn the entire country into a parking lot and call it a day. You barely post-pubescent talking heads in the media, and those with an agenda probably don’t recall Dresden. Yeah, look it up. So enough with the criticism, the complaints, the armchair quarterbacking, the second-guessing, and leave the conduct of war to the professionals, or at least someone with knowledge of what is actually going on. But mostly, rally behind the flag, be skeptical of the media, and never, ever listen to the left, especially when they gloat over our missteps and hope for our failure.