Labor Day Lament

Why do we allow people who do not pay taxes, and thus have “no skin in the game,” to vote for candidates who promise them more “freebies” at the expense of people who go to work every day? The argument will be that all Americans pay taxes, be it sales tax, payroll tax, or state and local taxes, but that pales in comparison to the federal tax burden. Like virtually everything in the Constitution, the original intent has been watered down. The Founders originally proposed that only landowners should have the right to vote, and we once had a “poll tax” that was eliminated as well. And if you listen to the democrats, their platform continues to support expanding voting “rights” to include non-citizens and the incarcerated. In a country with the most progressive tax structure in the world, and socialist candidates in the Democrat party screaming for more punitive taxation on success, perhaps it’s time we revisited the issue. But alas, it would require Congress to get onboard and with 37.4 percent of Americans effectively paying no federal income tax…..yes, that’s nearly forty percent that pay no federal income tax or worse yet, receive more money in return than they paid…it would appear that we are well past the tipping point where there are more takers than makers. 

Big Brother Is Watching

Mike Skater on Breitbart was interviewing a tech specialist this morning, discussing the pros and cons of technology, with the cons mostly related to privacy issues. The proliferation of Flock cameras, small automated license plate readers (ALPS), is troubling, as they are widely employed by law enforcement to scan passing vehicles and upload that information to a database. So at any given time, they can access where your vehicle has been and, in real time, where it’s going. Granted, a useful tool if your vehicle has been stolen, or a crime has been committed, and the perpetrator escaped in a vehicle. Unfortunately, the data is also being used to track movement across state lines to buy fireworks or marijuana that is illegal in the state of origin, allowing law enforcement to lie in wait for when the vehicle returns home. Kinda petty.  Unscrupulous law enforcement officers have also used it for personal use, such as tracking ex-spouses or girlfriends. Not cool. The other concern, particularly in anti-Second Amendment states, is that the data can be used to track vehicles that frequent gun stores or gun ranges, essentially providing de facto gun registration in states where it is illegal to keep a database of gun purchases and ownership. Also not cool, as the net is cast so wide that it ensnares significantly more law-abiding folks than the criminal element.  And down the rabbit hole we go: Vehicles present at a Trump rally, vehicles that go back and forth to Republican Party headquarters, vehicles at a Turning Point USA event, vehicles coming and going from a politician’s home or even the politician’s personal vehicle. You get the drift. And who exactly has access to this database? Then there’s human error. In one state, a murder was committed, and the getaway car’s license plate was incorrectly entered into the system. The mistake resulted in an innocent woman being aggressively pursued and stopped on the highway, removed from her vehicle, and arrested at gunpoint. The error was discovered, and she was sent on her way. Oops, sorry about that. But the original error was not corrected in the system, resulting in her being subjected to yet another traumatic traffic stop a week later. Yikes. Orwellian stuff. What could possibly go wrong? For any of you concerned that big brother is coming, fear not. He’s already here.

Welfare Where Art Thou

The WSJ editorial “Why the Welfare Debate Went Silent” is spot on and enough to infuriate all but the most liberal taxpayers. As Rush Limbaugh summed up in a more simplistic manner: “Why don’t we feed the bears?  Because the bears become dependent on us feeding them.” But in searching for that exact quote, I came across an article in the “Religious Dispatch” by some obscure author named Ian Reifowitz, looking to say something profound and outrageous, but ultimately an example of unhinged bias, who opined shortly after Rush’s death that his “race-baiting and gaslighting of Obama paved the way for Trump.” He goes on to theorize that Rush “tribalized” politics and used religion to divide us, suggesting Obama was a Muslim when he was “in fact” a Christian. The only mention of his association with the radical preaching of Reverend Wright was by name, with no explanation, using the association as another example of being a faithful Christian. Only a passing reference to Obama’s Muslim father, his distinctly Muslim name, his Indonesian youth, his practicing Muslim stepfather….all glossed over by the killing of Osama Bin Laden as proof of his allegiance to Christianity. So in essence, the treatise is based on Obama being a Christian with no reference to his politics. Whatever omissions necessary to make your flimsy case. But calling Limbaugh a “hateful… lying gaslighter” is beyond the pale. Just using “gaslighter, a favorite term of the pseudo-intellectual left, suggests which side of the aisle you’re on, and using divisive rhetoric has long been the calling card of the Democrat party. Andrew Breitbart leveled the divisive accusation at democrats years before this twit Reifowitz wrote this fluff piece in an obscure publication. And trashing a deceased conservative pundit who would have eviscerated you in a confrontation reeks of cowardice. An internet search revealed Reifowitz in his burrow, naturally a faculty member at Empire State University in New York, supposedly a professor of historical studies. Yet another example of our biased education system indoctrinating our youth. Apparently, the rest of the media horde was unimpressed… we haven’t heard anything of substance from him since 2021.   

Sublime To The Ridiculous

With each passing day, we see more evidence that the republic is crumbling. University of Michigan dropping grades for first-year students to stem their mental health crisis. Sure, let’s pamper them some more; that will definitely help them adjust to the real world. The Washington Post criticizing Trump for using a ruse to conceal his air travel plans returning from Turkey after threats from Iran. Heaven's no, let’s detail our president’s travel itinerary so our enemies know exactly where he can be targeted. Idiots. An actual communist is leading in the polls in Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary after proposing a 17% state income tax, elimination of the right-to-work law, tax deduction on union dues, abolishing the police, abolishing the presidency, government confiscation of private businesses, government running grocery stores, abolishing Congress and opening our borders. All this from a woman who claims to be a chef and drove her Ramen noodle restaurant into bankruptcy. Sure, pick her to run your state. 

DSA Abomination

I can understand the youth vote trending towards the DSA candidates, given the current popularity of the class warfare, pay your fair share, redistribution, give me free stuff mentality that has pervaded the Democrat party messaging. As Andrew Breitbart opined, “they divide, they divide,” separating us into the haves and have-nots in this case, disregarding and minimizing that which we have in common. There has been no better target in the age of social media than disaffected youth feeling as though they have been shut out of the American dream after being promised upward mobility with a six-figure gender studies degree. But what I can’t understand is the embrace of….let’s call it what it is…..communism by the limousine liberals: those older, well-educated, financially secure white progressives that have embraced the radical leftist, anti-American policies of El-Sayed, Piker, Hong and their communist ilk. Do they realize that when these candidates talk about redistribution, government control of personal property, control of housing, and business seizures, they will not be immune to the economic catastrophe just because they virtue-signaled at the ballot box?  Not yet, apparently. But we can only hope that the motivated 20% of registered Democrat voters that cast their votes for this level of insanity do not represent the 80 percent that stayed home.  Polls however tend to show that Democrat voters are considerably more receptive to communist ideals than their conservative counterparts, that leads to a concern that when faced with the option of a Republican candidate, who will undoubtedly be immersed in the perfume of MAGA association by the media, or a Democrat, even one with unhinged socialist policies, anti-constitution rhetoric, anti-semitism and adhering to the communist manifesto, they will reflexively pull the lever without weighing the consequences. This embrace of Communism, and in some cases what could be more appropriately labeled as Islamo-Marxism, is a frightening development, and hopefully a brief fling that will be squashed at the ballot box when cooler heads will prevail this November. But midterm elections have historically been problematic for the party in the White House, and just as the Obama and Biden administrations swung the pendulum hard to the right, the Trump era may have the opposite effect, swinging it dangerously far left. These wild gyrations are not good for the health of the republic, and should the DSA gain a foothold in the midterms, this will not end well. 

Rose By Any Other Name

These new wave DSA lunatics are all cut from the same cloth as Mamdani: privileged children of immigrants, well educated in the liberal arts, well spoken and adept at the coded speech of communism, overwhelming the listener with multi-syllabic word salads. When our default mode, our foundation, is our constitution, shouldn’t we question a wave of political candidates from the left that seek to destroy even the most basic pillars of our government?  Abolishing everything from the office of the president, the Senate, police, and punishment for crimes committed seems less like a remaking of America and more like anarchy. Listen carefully to candidates like Piker, Kiros, Al-Sayed, and, of course, Mamdani. We shouldn’t be dismissing them as simply crazy. We should consider them a viable threat seeking to attack from within. Not to get all biblical, but Thessalonians 2:3-4 speaks of “the man of lawlessness” exalting himself and taking his place in a seat of authority:  “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple proclaiming himself to be God.”I am not much of a theologian, but the parallels are interesting. Isn’t communism a promise that government will replace your family, your God, and supply you with all your needs, cradle to grave. And their first order of business is to destroy anything that competes with government. So the dissolution of the family unit and the abolishing of houses of worship the police and military is part and parcel of their grand Marxist-Socialist movement

Midterm Mania

Yikes, ahead of the midterms, the media is ramping up the anti-Trump rhetoric to record highs. An AOL/HuffPo piece on “precautions Americans need to take when traveling abroad” provided clickbait for the TDS-afflicted, prompting a vociferous response in the comments, blaming Trump and his “illegal war” in Iran for putting Americans at risk. Without an original thought, it’s amusing to see the simpletons on the left parrot the media talking points like good little comrades. Possessing absolutely no geopolitical acumen and perhaps having had democratic socialist fever dreams to tear down Western culture, these lefties long for the good old days of appeasement and kicking the can down the road so the next generation can deal with a weakened America and a nuclear Iran wielding a bigger stick to control the world energy supply and manipulate global markets and all the while throlling their neighbors and funding proxies intent on destroying Israel. Exactly how big does the body count have to get after 47 years of malicious behavior by a doomsday theocracy for the world to take notice and do something about it? 

Such Disrespect

Classless response to Lindsey Graham's passing. The Portland Tribune, an online adventure in leftist ranting, not that the first word “Portland” would have given you a clue, ran with “Good Riddance” as a parting gesture to an Air Force veteran who raised and cared for his young sister after his parents' demise. Not nice. And the first comment after a Washington Post article on how Graham's absence will “complicate” the Republican agenda was “whatever it takes to end the Republican grip,” followed by a slew of comments blaming Trump for the rise of socialism. So let me get this straight, to all of you apparently educated by the teachers' union: your response to conservatives and a return to constitutional rule of law is to embrace the most destructive, oppressive form of government ever devised, with no examples of prosperity in history?  With an estimated 85 percent of 18-to-34-year-olds choosing to get their news from TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, rating patriotism and pride in America at under 29 percent, and being the recipients of substandard public school education, is it any wonder that we find ourselves at this juncture?  We have failed our youth and allowed them to be swayed by a leftist media empowered by the internet and the promise of free stuff without the inconvenience of work. 

America Under Siege

This wave of democratic socialists winning primaries in deep blue districts, and thus assured of winning in the general election, is almost as alarming as the complacency and willingness of the centrist bulk of the Democrat party to move farther left in an attempt to save their own skins rather than rebuke the candidates for their anti-American, communist rants. Jeffries and Schumer are hearing footsteps. And isn’t it ironic that this wave of socialists, many of whom are well-off children of immigrants, are going to prompt an immigration of their own: an exodus of businesses, the wealthy, and middle-class taxpayers to more tax-friendly locales, presumably in the South. Their destructive policies will inevitably result in increased crime, higher taxes, punitive financial burdens on success, and a net migration out of the cities. Of course the resulting fiscal shortfall after the cities lose their tax base will result in a trickle down affect of increased taxation into lower earnings thresholds and taxpayers statewide picking up the tab, a phenomenon we are seeing play out in New York already where governor Hochul, another vintage Democrat in survival mode, has committed state funds to Mamdani’s utopian disaster unfolding in New York City. When suburban and rural taxpayers inevitably rebel against funding city policies, if they can’t overcome the population advantage the city has at the ballot box, they have no other alternative than to get out. Property values fall, the tax base erodes, and the tax-and-spend cycle bankrupts the state. Services are prioritized, and program budgets are slashed. The first victims will be those who are politically unpopular with the socialists.  Law enforcement is always the first to go with these leftists. Exactly how abolishing prisons, laughably explained because they shouldn’t have been sentenced in the first place, in conjunction with decreased police presence on the street, sounds like a vacuum destined to be filled with drug use, theft, and gang violence. Good luck with that. So is this actually a movement to provide equity and affordability to the masses, or is it actually a step to destroy Western culture, or in this case, destroy America? Listening to Darializa Chevalier, the unhinged winner of New York’s 13th district congressional primary, might make you think so. She has called for the abolition of ICE, the minimal threshold for a DSA candidate of course, but also referred to the US as “a f—-ing disgrace” and claimed she would wipe her dirty hands on the American flag. She also stated that Israel “doesn’t exist” and naturally calls for support for Hamas and a world without borders, prisons or police. She even called Joe Biden, senile perhaps but staunchly positioned on the left, a “rapist” and a “war criminal.”  Seriously, they need to start doing mental health assessments on these DEI lunatics. AOC and the Squad may have started the pendulum swinging, and Barack Obama set the stage with his promise to “fundamentally change America,” but I don’t think any one of them thought the pendulum would swing quite this far. Gird your lions, America; it’s going to be a bumpy ride to socialism. If we even make it there intact. 

How Can This Happen

These three Mamdani-endorsed Democratic Socialist candidates in NYC not only won their primaries but also unseated Democratic incumbents, including Dan Goldman, a leading voice in the Trump impeachment movement. Their laundry list of campaign promises reads like the communist manifesto. Medicare for all, free childcare, guaranteed basic income, a 32-hour work week with no reduction in pay or benefits, rent and utility freezes, wealth tax, open borders, no deportations, abolish ICE, no support for Israel, yadayadayada. In other words, free stuff for everyone and the destruction of the work ethic and New York’s economy. But what exactly did you expect in a city where 42% of the population are Medicaid recipients? Our Founders anticipated this, and the farther we deviate from the Constitution, is this what we have to look forward to on our 250th Birthday

California Adrift

No surprise in California: As the votes trickle in and the counting is dragged out, the Republican candidates, Pratt for Mayor of LA and Hilton in the governor's race, are falling in the standings to qualify for the two-candidate runoff. And we are just supposed to swallow the explanation that democrats are more likely to vote late and use mail-in ballots. Sure. Or maybe Californians just like watching their state burn, their tax dollars squandered, and paying a dollar more for gas than the rest of the country. Or maybe the state is just irredeemably corrupt.

Jefferson’s Prophesy

Another Democrat-appointed federal judge, this time from Providence, RI, shot down yet another Trump Administration policy on immigration. Why do we bother to go through the hassle of electing a President when their policies are subject to the political whims of judges appointed by Presidents long gone from office?  The left bemoans the lifetime appointments of Supreme Court justices, and there are only nine of them. And they’re all in Washington. Meanwhile, there are some 700 federal judges spread across the country, requiring plaintiffs to merely shop around for one who will place partisan politics above the law in deciding cases. Jefferson warned us that it would come to this. 

New York Blues

Tax depression this morning. A frantic New York acquaintance of mine, nearing retirement, advised: "I stumbled across a couple of articles detailing the tax burden I am subjected to in NY as compared to other states." He was plunged into deep despair. Between state income and property taxes, he can't see how he can afford to stay in upstate New York in retirement. He plugged numbers into a state-by-state comparison based on his current salary and property valuation, and claims the difference is staggering. Given the same value home, he could be saving $15K a year on property taxes compared to states like SC, FL, or TN. Income tax is even more egregious, especially compared to no-tax states, with those figures reaching another $50-60K on top. Even with projected income reductions in retirement, he projected a total of $30K in savings in more tax-friendly locales. In retirement, that is real money! He angsts over leaving his hard-earned family homestead, his dispersed children and friends in the vicinity, but New York makes it difficult to stay.

His plight rings true for all of us who live in Blue States, who are similarly taxed to the point of considering migration.

Are You Listening America

Democrat preview of coming attractions: Packing SCOTUS, adding DC and PR as states, punishing officials for not telling their version of the truth, keeping red states in check, coming from none other than Kamala Harris, the self-appointed defender of our democracy. She of consummate inadequacy, delusional, posturing intellectually superior, worthy of holding court to express her opinions on the governing of our republic, but what is most frightening is that she is leading in the polls to be the Democrats' 2028 candidate for the presidency.

SCOTUS Got It Right

Listening to the media pundits calling the Supreme Court decision against racial gerrymandering an “apocalyptic event” is just preposterous. In 1965, when the Voting Rights Act was proposed, the nation was 85% white. It is now 59% and falling. Carving out racially “equitable” congressional districts is absurd and blatantly unconstitutional. Where do we draw the line?  Does every minority group require its own congressional district to assure one of its own is elected?  Well, isn’t that happening naturally?  How is it possible that obviously unqualified, but candidates socially and politically representative of their constituency, like AOC, Omar, Tlaib, and DeLauro, get elected? Progressive Latina, Somali, Muslim, and just plain stupid appear to be adequately represented on the left. And, coincidentally, why is it that the law overwhelmingly tipped the scales towards Democratic candidates?  And shame on the Wall Street Journal for printing an article claiming that the democrats are finally standing up for themselves with their recent gerrymandering push in states like Virginia and California, claiming that the Republicans started the whole brouhaha in Texas. Uh, no. The Democrats have been at this for decades, unreported by the media, with the most egregious offenses in blue states like Massachusetts, Illinois, and California in particular, who responded to the issue by doubling down and making their gerrymandering worse, disenfranchising rural voters entirely. And Texas didn’t start the war; they were responding to New York’s redistricting efforts that eliminated Republican seats. Spin, spin, and more spin. And this doesn’t even take into account the fact that the apportionment of seats should be reflective of the population, which was ignored during the Biden administration when the census reported a population shift to red states and disputed figures regarding the inclusion of illegal immigrants were in the tallies. The democrats were seeking to bludgeon traditionally red districts with an influx of illegal immigrants. Recall the distribution of where the immigrants were being “relocated” under the Biden Administration and the scuffle that ensued when Texas Governor Abbott shipped them to Obama’s neighborhood on Martha’s Vineyard.  This is nothing but a multi-pronged power grab initiated by the democrats with the strategy to boost their representation in Congress with a campaign to vilify the Trump Administration, support illegal immigration and open border policies, promote amnesty for illegal immigrants, flood Republican strongholds with democrat voters, gerrymander states under democrat rule, and dilute voter registration requirements. And all of this with the unwavering support of the leftist media. Diabolical. But with some Republicans finally recognizing what’s at stake,  the democrats may have started a war that they can’t win. 

Democrat Agenda

The Democrats' long-game agenda takes precedence over any obvious benefit to America. It seems apparent that they want to destroy America as we know it and remake it into a European-style welfare state. Trump sees them for what they are and is a major impediment to their polices, thus the vitriol. I note 40% of children in Vienna public schools are Muslim. We are witnessing the death of European culture in real time. Is that where we are headed? Like the SPLC, are they cheering for the demise of Christianity, the Caucasian majority in this country? 

SCOTUS Diluted

How the Democrats have diluted the Supreme Court’s intelligence through DEI practices is truly deplorable. I’m not a huge fan of Coney-Barrett and and I will even give Kagan a pass, partisan as she is, I think she has a functioning cortex. And, Roberts recent interpretations of the Constitution gives one pause. Jackson and Sotomayor have no business being there. Intellectual lightweights blinded by partisanship

Please Leo Relent

Christianity is being attacked all over the world. The number of practicing Catholics has been falling precipitously in traditionally Christian European countries and the United States for decades. Yet, Pope Leo decides to criticize Trump for his incursion into the Middle East?  Turning the other cheek and preaching pacifism are grand ideals. Still, with Islam on the march and oppressive regimes seeking to expand their spheres of influence, your time would be better served addressing the China-Russia-North Korea-Iran axis, rather than criticizing America, which seeks to police the world’s bad actors as opposed to being on the march for territorial domination. And who are the world’s leading sponsors of terrorism?  And who has a history of abusing basic human rights and the oppression of their civilian populations?  

The Opaque Verses The Transparent

The Democrats are always screaming about wanting a transparent administration, but never deliver when they have one of their own in the White House; they couldn’t be more opaque. Yet here they have the most transparent, communicative, accessible president in our history, and they can’t stand it. Forever finding fault with his every legislation,  executive order, and diplomatic effort. TDS inflection has permeated every segment of the NDP. Twice impeached and always threatened for yet further prosecution. But The Donald persists, with nearly daily exposure to their wrath, Q&Aing with the Press and the public at the drop of a hat, always candid, vulnerable to misinterpretation in his spontaneity, but never any doubt of how he stands on any issue or relationship. Yes, he sometimes comes across as insensitive, brash, and arrogant, but always sincere in what he feels is best for our country, for we the people.

Bankrupt Media

After I nearly punched the radio yesterday, listening to some supercilious European bureaucrat pontificate on his definition of what constitutes Trump’s war crimes, while totally ignoring Iran’s haphazard discharge of missiles into civilian populations and using women and children as human shields. Please, spare me.  It is a no-win proposition for Trump. If Iran fails to cut a deal, and Trump follows through with his threats, he is a war criminal. If he backs off, the media will spin it into their TACO narrative: Trump always chickens out. The media is either working for Iran or, in their fever dream stupor from advanced TDS, believes that opposing all things Trump will return their progressive candidates to office, which is somehow better for the country. As if they can rationalize protecting the enemy’s interests in a war as a morally superior position when, in fact, the underlying goal is to impair the political opposition to support the opinion that we need to continue our inexorable slide into socialism by electing leftist candidates. Yeah, there’s that. Look at them trumpet their win in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, as well as promote their performance in a Georgia special election race where a Democrat cut Trump’s margin in “the state's reddest district”…despite still losing. That’s right, the democrat lost the race, but Politico is spinning it as a win because he didn’t lose by as much. I had to read it twice after the headline praised the results as a “wow” moment. Wow, indeed. As in wow, I can’t believe our media is so blatantly biased.