tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19601761639213080272024-03-15T18:11:35.886-07:00Imperfect AmericaImperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.comBlogger429125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-78485431547872076772024-03-05T11:54:00.000-08:002024-03-05T11:54:17.673-08:00The Persecution of Donald Trump Means Turning Ordinary Activities Into Crimes<p>In December 2020 I had to put my home on the market and move
1,000 miles away. Two months before I’d
considered refinancing my mortgage and the bank gave me a valuation of $285,000.
I thought it probably should have been higher but didn’t really feel like
taking the time to look into it because I wasn’t really that worried about
it. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Suddenly in December I was forced to worry about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I reached out to a realtor friend (an
actual realtor, not a guy with a side gig) and asked him to give me an
estimate. He thought it would probably sell for about $305,000, maybe $315,000
tops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again I was skeptical so I started
doing my own research.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I looked at my community,
what was available in my county, what comparable houses were selling for and
taking note of the neighborhoods, roadways, schools etc. After all of that I
estimated my house was worth about $400,000.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I thought it could possibly sell for $415,000 or even a bit more. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We put it on the market at $405,000 and ten days later it
was sold with the buyers offering $395,000 and we eventually settled for
$400,000. I was confident it could have sold for more but exigent circumstances
made the logistics of waiting impossible, which is sad because had I waited 12
months to sell it I would likely have gone for $550,000, almost twice what I’d
been originally offered.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All of this to say that in the world of real estate there
are a million different factors that go into valuing something and based on
those criteria, there are likely countless different values that can be set on
a particular property. What’s more, values can be volatile particularly in the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/31/the-1-billion-price-cut-luxury-real-estate-gets-slashed.html">high
end markets</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Real estate, like most businesses, can be unpredictable,
sometimes very much so. Which makes what NY AG Letitia James has done to Donald
Trump so unconscionable. In the primary element of James’ <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/21/politics/letitia-james-trump-lawsuit-takeaways-what-to-know/index.html">indictment</a>:
“’Trump and his company used “<i>false and misleading</i>” financial
statements, her lawsuit alleged, “<i>repeatedly and persistently to induce
banks to lend money to the Trump Organization on more favorable terms than
would otherwise have been available to the company, to satisfy continuing loan
covenants, and to induce insurers to provide insurance coverage for higher
limits and at lower premiums</i>.’”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One would imagine that some banks or insurance companies lost
money because they loaned money to Trump or trump defaulted on them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They did not. Indeed the loans were all <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-says-he-cant-sued-fraud-paid-money-back-1745614">paid
back, with interest</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were
literally no victims and <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pariah-hardly-banks-are-still-willing-to-lend-to-trump/">banks
still wanted to lend to him</a>!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But that didn’t matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The bottom line is that, according to James, Trump used one set of books
for getting a loan and another set of books for taxes. But that’s not how this
works.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When I was selling my house the county tax collector
assessed my home at around $200,000.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
had been that way for years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed,
it’s very common, particularly in red states where they concern themselves with
controlling taxes, for the government assessment of the value of a property to
be substantially below what it might sell for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That didn’t impact what I might refinance it for or what a buyer might pay
for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In those cases the lender sends
someone out to do an inspection and then comes to its own conclusion as to what
value it would be willing to assign the property for the purposes of a
loan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWqjdjD7n0O0hUTK2e4oo3EC-87chup4rL0880LljWp43zlpvkFXxmB3nBKYF4Qoqx8gbZ15IqUoaOwwM9TJuw040I7O8VlOW34ia7u-NMTiDZHYgAMU_plhJuQf2Gi4rgs2rtq1SpJrNDVqBgk_sD9Cg5b9SxCo9DccmGdy3lwh6HBudT67nPlLQldhU/s475/TrumpLandImage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="475" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWqjdjD7n0O0hUTK2e4oo3EC-87chup4rL0880LljWp43zlpvkFXxmB3nBKYF4Qoqx8gbZ15IqUoaOwwM9TJuw040I7O8VlOW34ia7u-NMTiDZHYgAMU_plhJuQf2Gi4rgs2rtq1SpJrNDVqBgk_sD9Cg5b9SxCo9DccmGdy3lwh6HBudT67nPlLQldhU/s320/TrumpLandImage.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>In the case of Trump, in 2011 the local property assessor in
Palm Beach County had valued his Mar-a-Lago property at <a href="https://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/story/business/real-estate/2024/02/16/trumps-civil-fraud-case-put-mar-a-lagos-value-front-and-center/72633906007/">$18
million</a> then $27.6 million in 2021. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>AJ
James indicted Trump because he valued the property at higher valuations during
this time, up to $739 million for collateral purposes, and therefore using a
fraudulent valuation to obtain loans he wouldn’t otherwise get.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But here’s the thing, according to a banker
involved in the transaction, the bank followed its <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2023-11-28/banker-involved-in-big-loans-to-trumps-company-testifies-for-his-defense-in-civil-fraud-trial">own
guidelines to make the loans</a>, stating “<i>I think we expect
clients-provided information to be accurate. At the same time, it’s not an
industry standard that these statements be audited. They’re largely reliant on
the use of estimates,”</i> so bankers routinely “<i>make some adjustments</i>.”
To highlight the disparity, this past December a high end Palm Beach real
estate broker stated that in 2021 Mar-a-Lago would have been worth slightly
more than $1 billion and likely would have <a href="https://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/story/business/real-estate/2024/02/16/trumps-civil-fraud-case-put-mar-a-lagos-value-front-and-center/72633906007/">valued
it at $655 million in 2011</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The point here is that Trump was simply doing the same thing
that millions of homeowners and businesses do every single day across the
country. They make the best case scenario for the value of their property of
business while knowing that a banker or lender is going to make their own
determinations before deciding how much they will lend.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That’s business. Valuations are just estimates and they can
be all <a href="https://www.factinate.com/things/48-facts-biggest-mistakes-history/">over
the map in business</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2000 Spanish
telephone company Terra bought the search engine Lycos for $12 billion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They unloaded it three years later for $95
million at a loss of 99%! Alternatively, in 1999 founders Larry Page and Sergey
Brin offered to sell Google to Alta Vista for $750,000.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>George Bell the CEO demurred.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The company went public in 2004 with a
valuation of $23 billion and today Google is worth almost $2 trillion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The point is, valuations are guesses, educated or otherwise and
everyone has their own perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
James has taken this ordinary element of business and twisted it to try and
eviscerate the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And she might succeed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>First Judge Arthur Engoron came back with a guilty verdict and last
Friday he fined Trump almost half a billion dollars. And what’s worse, because
of course it’s New York, he may have to <a href="https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2024/02/20/the-fix-is-in-455m-poison-pill-in-trump-judgment-n3783255">put
up the entire amount before he can appeal</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">America’s justice system has been twisted into a hammer with
which to nail enemies of the swamp to the wall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Not only have we seen the laughable <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/live-updates-georgia-grand-jury-014526977.html">election
manipulation case in Georgia</a>, the ludicrous <a href="https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2024/01/26/verdict-reached-in-trump-case-n2634259">defamation
case</a> in New York, and the on hold <a href="https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2024/02/02/breaking-judge-delays-trumps-election-interference-trial-n2634719">federal
election interference case</a>, but we now have the justice system being used
to turn normal, everyday activities that millions of Americans partake in on a
regular basis and turning them into crimes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And what’s worse, the system is set up such that if someone is deemed
guilty they essentially have to <a href="https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2024/02/20/the-fix-is-in-455m-poison-pill-in-trump-judgment-n3783255">bankrupt
themselves in order to be able to seek an appeal</a>. That’s the definition of
unjust. If this stands America as we know it is finished. You can’t unring a
bell and precedent is precedent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If this
works and Trump loses as a result of this judicial interference onslaught then
one would expect recriminations and counter recriminations. And it won’t just be
billionaire ex presidents who’ll be in the crosshairs, it will be <a href="https://ijr.com/illinois-dem-mayor-shutting-businesses-wont-donate-gets-blasted-dressing-like-drug-kingpin/">small
businesses who don’t support local candidates</a>, it will be big businesses
who threaten the elites and it just might be you and me for having written
something critical of some thin skinned politician somewhere or overestimated
the value of our house… None of that is good for a free republic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-91829890205586930652024-02-19T11:42:00.000-08:002024-02-19T11:42:00.129-08:00The Downside of Prosperity - Too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I’ve
always been a fan of the prosperity created by Western civilization in general
and the United States in particular. Indeed, I even created a website
called </span><a href="http://gratitudeforamerica.com/" style="font-size: 14pt;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Gratitude for America,</span></a><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> where I write about
American entrepreneurs who invented things like barbed wire and standardized
shipping containers. But maybe there’s a downside to this prosperity because
we’ve created a class of people (especially in government) completely disconnected
from how the world actually works.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Cyrus
McCormick, who invented the mechanical reaper, is the most important
entrepreneur in human history. He basically untethered mankind from farming,
one of the most dangerous occupations on earth. In 1831, when he invented the
mechanical reaper, approximately 80% of the American population was involved in
agriculture, and, in most places in the world, it was higher—in some cases,
95%.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Back
then, farming’s efficiency hadn’t changed much since the time of the pyramids.
A man, using a scythe, could harvest approximately one acre of grain a day.
Fifty years later, McCormick guaranteed that, by using his machine, a farmer
could harvest 15 acres a day. With today’s machines, a farmer can harvest up to
100 acres in a day. Small wonder that only 3% of the US population today farms.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The
reason McCormick is so important is not because of farming, per se, but because
he freed up most of the population to go out and do other, less dangerous
things. With that shift, <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy"><span style="color: blue;">work-life
expectancies began to skyrocket</span></a> in the latter half of the 19th
century. In 1800, the average life expectancy was approximately 30 years, with
Europe averaging 33 and the US close behind. By 1900, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy"><span style="color: blue;">the
world average</span></a> had increased to 32, but in Europe it had jumped
to 43 and in the US to 47.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY0Uqp6d0ig2wMFcheHSbGlHs5hgSgQpCMpgIjawFwX8cVQix7vD32PRe7YTicXBBN4hSC4f1JC784RzzvgOWuO-Qm8OqAgqS0RuWBeUcZstyCHxcel4mwmUsXqoSPrCo5FlEkepi0nTPUIY83o9I2Pkkq7yAh6uTpmhyK-OQIAHv06L8HRl0hHw3l0ow/s1024/XMcCormick.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY0Uqp6d0ig2wMFcheHSbGlHs5hgSgQpCMpgIjawFwX8cVQix7vD32PRe7YTicXBBN4hSC4f1JC784RzzvgOWuO-Qm8OqAgqS0RuWBeUcZstyCHxcel4mwmUsXqoSPrCo5FlEkepi0nTPUIY83o9I2Pkkq7yAh6uTpmhyK-OQIAHv06L8HRl0hHw3l0ow/s320/XMcCormick.png" width="320" /></a></div>Since
they didn’t have to be on farms, people became inventors, entrepreneurs, and
innovators. During the late 19th century, countless inventions (e.g., usable
electricity, automobiles, and the telegraph) and innovations (e.g., drilling
for oil, railroad expansion, and the widespread adoption of the assembly line)
changed the Western world. Food became more abundant, transportation became
easier and safer, housing became cheaper, and medicine began to improve.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In the
20th century, things really took off. Today, a quarter of the way through the
21st century, world life expectancy is 72 years, while in the US, it’s 78, and
in Western Europe, it’s above 80.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Not only
are we living longer, but we’re also prosperous beyond anything in human
history. Our food is more varied, dependable, and plentiful than ever. We have
transportation, hospitalization, housing, employment, clothing, education,
sanitation, entertainment, and leisure opportunities exponentially beyond
anything in all of human history.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Contrast
all of that with what humanity endured through most of our history. Poverty and
scarcity were the norm. Food availability was always an issue. War was almost
constant. Work was dangerous. Slavery was everywhere. Many worked seven days a
week, changing clothes was rare if at all, people rarely bathed, virtually
everyone was illiterate, plumbing didn’t exist, disease was rampant, shelter
was overcrowded, heating in the winter was from burning wood or dung if either
could be found, infant mortality was stratospheric, and leisure was a luxury
only the elites could afford.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The
average Westerner’s life is far superior to any experienced by 99.999% of the
people who ever lived, but, somehow, everyone today is a victim—and we know
that everyone is a victim because the elites tell us so. Through schools,
media, and government, we’re told that Western culture is racist, sexist,
fascist, or somehow otherwise oppressive. Basically, the better things get, the
worse they get.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">America
today reminds me of a Jetsons episode I saw as a child. George Jetson, the
father of the “Space-aged family,” came home one day exhausted from working at
Spacely Sprockets and said, “Jane, these one-hour-a-week workweeks are brutal.”
No doubt we’d be told he’s still a victim.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The
reason those elites, the ones who seek to manipulate the public, get away with
it is because a significant portion of the population believes them. And they
believe them because of the division of labor-driven prosperity that McCormick
unleashed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Virtually
the entire left in this country has zero connection with anything having to do
with creating anything, growing anything, building anything, or risking
anything. They spend their days pushing paper in offices or selling
cappuccinos, if they work at all. Not only are few of them farmers, but few are
truckers, lumberjacks, steel workers, plumbers, electricians, or entrepreneurs.
Few have ever had to balance paying a credit card bill versus making payroll.
Few ever risked their money and invested sweat equity to start a business.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The left
today is largely government employees, students, college-educated white women
working inside large corporations, Wall Street, academia, the cabal of NGOs,
the media, the 40 million who suckle on the government teat through programs
like SNAP, and the 47% of the country who either pay no tax or get “refundable
tax credits”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Few of
those people do anything remotely productive for the economy. Few understand
that the government doesn’t have money beyond what it takes from taxpayers or
prints via taxpayer IOUs. They have no appreciation for Capitalism, the thing
that gave us our prosperity. They flush the toilets and expect them to work,
flip the light switch and expect the room to illuminate, and go to the store to
pick up a pound of beef without knowing how it gets there. Few of them have any
real connection to the basic functionality of life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The
result of this societal bifurcation is that half of our population has little
understanding of or vested interest in the country’s or the economy’s continued
functioning. More regulations and higher taxes are always the answer because
none of them are affected. Regulations make it harder to open a business or
keep one running, but they’re easy promises for politicians to offer as the
solution to every problem because their voters never pay the price for the
consequences.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">We’re
living in the world Ayn Rand envisioned in <i>Atlas Shrugged</i>.
Everything we see going on in our cities, on our streets, and on our border is
so because the division of labor has allowed so many people to bask in
prosperity without having a clue about how it’s actually created or what’s
necessary to maintain it. Their checks come, their jobs are secure, and they
don’t have to deal with the government’s suffocating regulations, so everything
is good.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Of
course, it’s not good, and things are getting worse. Thomas Jefferson
understood the problem, saying in 1824: “I think we have more machinery of
government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the
industrious.” That is 2024 incarnate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">This
needs to be fixed. How we do that, I’m not quite sure, but, at a minimum, we
need to slash government spending and regulations at every level. Perhaps only
those who pay taxes should vote. Perhaps government employees should not be
allowed to vote. Maybe we make election day the day after Tax Day. Whatever the
solution, until those voting have some vested interest in a well-run government
and a functioning economy, things will only get worse, and they’re already
pretty bad. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-83874768614301511642024-02-14T11:28:00.000-08:002024-02-14T11:28:00.313-08:00Setting Good Money on Fire After Setting Bad Money on Fire in Gaza<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I was
walking down the street yesterday, and suddenly, I heard honking from a bunch
of cars. Not sure what it was, I looked over to see a cavalcade of cars driving
by, waving big Palestinian flags out their windows. This went on for about five
minutes until, eventually, they had all disappeared.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">This
comes on the heels of seeing the Palestinian flag painted on the sides of
buildings or on overpasses or stickers stuck to signs and the windows of
various McDonald’s –and not put there by the store’s owners! Thankfully, there
was no real disturbance other than a bit of annoyance.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">They
are, of course, protesting the alleged “genocide” that’s being carried out in
Gaza by the IDF. We’ve been told that, in the slightly over 100 days since the
beginning of this war, there have been more <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-01-15-2024-966bd5a9375e7439dd3de5fc113a7e7d" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">than 24,000 civilian casualties at the
hands of the IDF</span></a>. Given that that information is coming from
Palestinian “authorities” which, in Gaza is Hamas, that number is likely highly
exaggerated. Even so, if the actual number is 10% of that total, it’s a
tragedy. One civilian death, never mind 2,400 or 24,000, is a tragedy. It’s not
genocide, but it’s a tragedy nonetheless.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Simply,
it’s war, and most wars include civilian deaths, many of them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">And how
did we get to this war? As everyone knows, it started on October 7th when Hamas
sent terrorists (“freedom fighters”) into Israel who raped, tortured, and
murdered some 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, with victims ranging from
10-month-old babies to 80-plus-year-old men and women. And they kidnapped 200
more.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The
depravity of the attacks was extraordinary, something along the lines of Dr.
Mengele or the Rape of Nanking. We’re told, however, that while the events of
Oct 7th were indeed despicable, the Israeli response has been disproportionate
insofar as civilians have died. And as such, we’re also told that Israel needs
to be stopped. And punished.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Solely
for argument’s sake, let’s pretend that there is some moral equivalency here
and agree that the terrorist attack by Hamas and the so-called disproportionate
response from Israel are somehow equal.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Then the
question becomes, how did we get to this place? In November, someone posted a
TikTok video showcasing “<i><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12792527/inside-gaza-israel-hamas-war-video-palestine.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Beautiful Gaza that you never saw
before. Filmed just before Oct 7th, 2023</span></a></i>.” The video shows
bright Mediterranean colors, beautiful smiling faces, and everything from
bustling stores to beach resorts to crowded restaurants and much more. It looks
like a Madison Avenue marketing job seeking to induce the world to spend their
next vacation in Gaza. (See also <a href="https://twitter.com/Jewtastic/status/1747665967587684638"><span style="color: blue;">this tweet describing what soldiers saw</span></a>: wealth
and militarization.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Nevertheless,
we’ve repeatedly been told that Gaza is a modern concentration camp. That’s
why, pro-Hamas factions insist, Hamas was forced to attack Israel in an attempt
to break the Israeli chokehold on the Palestinians.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">But, if
indeed it is true that Israel was turning Gaza into a giant death camp, where
was the rest of the world? Why weren’t they helping? Well, it turns out, the
world was helping… A lot. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/gaza-plagued-poverty-hamas-no-shortage-cash-come-rcna121099" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">And I mean a lot</span></a>!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfF1HgX2K1hyphenhyphenp7fYauocVro19rQGRISFuq-jNfNQ5NYI9exwFS8qXcz3ywTJ_m0DfRN4aWugkMMTkCFbsXdz-KrU_hOx-yAkUQhSqg9kVtyT76F_xW_W3gtAx7ZbU2oUhknZ566OvCww6JlzD9XVCjUNtN3XkggTkNROsn2000wFWBu0rAxMXurlIWeE0/s1015/HamasLeader1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1015" data-original-width="1011" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfF1HgX2K1hyphenhyphenp7fYauocVro19rQGRISFuq-jNfNQ5NYI9exwFS8qXcz3ywTJ_m0DfRN4aWugkMMTkCFbsXdz-KrU_hOx-yAkUQhSqg9kVtyT76F_xW_W3gtAx7ZbU2oUhknZ566OvCww6JlzD9XVCjUNtN3XkggTkNROsn2000wFWBu0rAxMXurlIWeE0/s320/HamasLeader1.jpg" width="319" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Over the
decade-and-a-half since Hamas was elected, Gaza has received approximately $40
billion in support from around the world. </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-middle-east-israel-foreign-aid-gaza-strip-611b2b90c3a211f21185d59f4fae6a90" style="font-size: 14pt;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">That included $5 billion from the
United Nations, almost $2 billion from Qatar, $20 billion from the Palestinian
Authority</span></a><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> (which itself receives billions annually from the
world community), as well as over a billion dollars each from the US, Europe,
and Iran.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The
average works out to about $3 billion annually for a population of
approximately 2.3 million people or about $1,300 per person living in Gaza.
That $1,300 makes up a little less than half of the per capita income of the
average citizen of Gaza. Other sources of income are primarily small businesses
and agriculture.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">We’re
told that the citizens of Gaza live in poverty that Israel imposes upon them.
The approximate $3,000 per capita income of the citizens of Gaza puts them at
about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">165 in the world rankings</span></a>,
ahead of 30 nations, most in Africa.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">However,
the reality is that, if Palestinians live in poverty, it’s the fault of Hamas.
The leaders of Hamas have stolen at least <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/11/07/news/hamas-leaders-worth-11bn-live-luxury-lives-in-qatar/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">$11 billion of the money that was
supposed to go to the citizens of the Gaza Strip</span></a>. They enjoy that
fortune relaxing safely in their multimillion-dollar compounds in Qatar.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">What’s
more, and far more deadly, is that Hamas spends billions of dollars a year on
things that have nothing to do with supporting Gazan citizens. Firstly, they
have spent over <a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/b1xzpxbnt" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">$1 billion</span></a> on a <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/01/16/news/hamas-gaza-tunnels-at-least-350-miles-long-officials/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">350-mile-long</span></a> network
of tunnels under Gaza, a 141-square-mile strip of land. Every mile of those
tunnels represents piping or concrete or steel that could have gone to building
schools, shopping malls, hospitals or anything else that could have positively
affected the lives of Gazans. But they didn’t.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Those
tunnels had to be used for something, of course, and that something was and is
preparing to attack and actually attacking Israel. Of course, to do that, they
need weapons and Hamas has <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/gaza-plagued-poverty-hamas-no-shortage-cash-come-rcna121099" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">spent $5 billion on weapons over the
last decade and a half</span></a>. Everything from small arms to bombs to
missiles.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Together,
the total theft for the tunnels and the military spending equals $17 billion or
42% of the world’s contributions to Gaza over that 15-year period. But here’s
the thing: As bad as it was that Hamas squandered at least 42% of Gaza’s
donations, the reality is that the real damage isn’t the money. The real damage
is that, instead of focusing the people on building a thriving, robust economy,
Hamas instead focused on <a href="https://www.jewishpress.com/news/eye-on-palestine/hamas/idf-faced-with-real-life-results-of-hamas-childhood-terror-training-program-in-gaza/2024/01/03/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">teaching children to hate Israel</span></a> and
launching <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">tens of thousands of rockets into
Israel</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">So,
Hamas pushed the hate narrative and launched missiles into Israel on a regular
basis, actions that would, of course, prompt reprisals, which would, in turn,
reinforce the hate. It was and is a never-ending cycle of victimization, hate,
and poverty. Hamas, not the Gazans, profited from this. Yet, somehow, the money
keeps coming... because most relevant actors don’t care about actual progress
or peace.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Nonetheless,
they say that hindsight is 20/20. That’s true, and so too is the reality that,
had Hamas taken a different path and its leaders pushed for living in peace
with Israel rather than cultivating a perpetual war footing, we wouldn’t be
watching Gaza turned into a parking lot. But they didn’t, and we are.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">This is
simply another example of leaders using their citizens as cannon fodder so that
they can accumulate fortune and power. When the dust settles, one can only hope
the Gazan people look at the difference between their world and the luxury
their leaders enjoy and decide to vote for a different path forward, one that
doesn’t include perpetual war and tragedy. Sadly, I’m not holding my breath.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-60743104958849984232024-02-07T11:21:00.000-08:002024-02-07T11:35:40.000-08:00The Green Energy Cult is Killing the West<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Years
ago, I wrote a post about how </span><a href="http://imperfectamerica.blogspot.com/2017/12/how-did-cheap-airline-travel-to-europe.html" style="font-size: 14pt;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">cheap air travel to Europe was ruining
America</span></a><span style="font-size: 14pt;">. My point was that the Americans visiting Europe were
confusing what they experienced as a tourist with the reality of life in
Europe. These progressive American fans of two-hour lunches and 6 months of
maternal and paternal leave didn’t have a clue about how average Europeans
lived. Indeed, a couple of years later, the Foundation For Economic Education
came out with a study that showed the </span><a href="https://fee.org/articles/the-poorest-20-of-americans-are-richer-than-most-nations-of-europe/" style="font-size: 14pt;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">poorest 20% of Americans were better
off than the average European</span></a><span style="font-size: 14pt;">. Basically, the average European
suffers from high taxes, high prices, tiny homes and cars, and, increasingly,
less freedom. But tourists sipping tea in London or shopping in Paris rarely,
if ever, see this, or understand it if they do.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Nonetheless,
with little understanding of economics or history, they decide that America
must become Europe. Socialism, Obamacare, and gay marriage are just some of
those European imports that Americans have to deal with today.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">We are
seeing something similar play out on a grander, global scale—or at least in the
West, where prosperity has dulled the brains of much of the population.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Naturally,
I’m talking about the green energy hoax. Here in the West, we have people so
spoiled by prosperity that they have the luxury of pining for a time when we
weren’t poisoning our earth with fossil fuels or risking apocalypse with
nuclear power.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">On both
sides of the Atlantic, you have a perfect mix of brain-dead green energy
cultists and fascist elites who seek to harness the power of that cult to
control everyone. That’s a toxic combination because energy controls pretty
much everything.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfnLE5umS0mCnOBOyDBdsqnVEbCLYaOQCnLySe_j5YyqMdslpQ_dXik78jxBOer1q5_rknpP_N7Fj0wv1vPSUE-MJByUiiKuGba8wzXzHATqk_4XbJispcQI5jNNW8bzcNvypclhI-jdO8Xn1XIyeDEbTpOJAV5x-l6uzrxq4xTo5hnfA_hn4cEDs8T1g/s1016/StLouis2.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1013" data-original-width="1016" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfnLE5umS0mCnOBOyDBdsqnVEbCLYaOQCnLySe_j5YyqMdslpQ_dXik78jxBOer1q5_rknpP_N7Fj0wv1vPSUE-MJByUiiKuGba8wzXzHATqk_4XbJispcQI5jNNW8bzcNvypclhI-jdO8Xn1XIyeDEbTpOJAV5x-l6uzrxq4xTo5hnfA_hn4cEDs8T1g/s320/StLouis2.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The
reality is that inexpensive, reliable energy is the single biggest driver of
prosperity in all human history. And it’s not even close. Inexpensive, reliable
energy drives virtually everything that we Westerners enjoy: Our food, iPhones,
transportation, heating and cooling of homes, televisions, hospitals, schools,
movies, plumbing, video games, Starbucks, and the Zambonis at hockey games!
Everything.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">It’s not
that energy didn’t exist previously. It did. But the difference is that it was
inefficient, hard to get, and expensive. The first significant source of fuel
for humans was wood. That lasted for tens of thousands of years. Although the
first recorded use of coal was in China between the 4th and 3rd millennia BC,
in Europe, for two thousand years, coal remained an insignificant source of
energy. Change came in the 17th century because England had felled most of the
easily accessible trees and was in need of energy. With the advent of
large-scale mining, coal rapidly became the most significant source of energy
in Europe.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">This
would be the status quo for the next 300 years until the first successful oil
well, drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859. Over the following decades,
tens of thousands of wells would be drilled and, by 1900, the US alone would be
producing 20 million barrels of oil a year. That oil was first used to produce
kerosene for heating and lighting homes, then gasoline for automobiles and,
eventually, powering electricity plants as well, although coal was the dominant
fuel for powering electricity production well into the late 20th century.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In the
latter half of the 20th century, nuclear power emerged as a viable vehicle for
producing electricity and was joined by fracking-driven natural gas early in
the early 21st century.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Of
course, renewables had been around for centuries, first with windmills and
watermills, then hydroelectricity and, eventually, solar. Renewables always
remained a small sliver of the power generation, however, only becoming
slightly material in recent years due to heavy regulation and subsidies.</span><img border="0" height="1" src="file:///C:/Users/HELLOW~1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_4" width="1" /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">But now,
for the first time in human history, we have a segment of the population,
largely Western liberals, who want to restrict the use of inexpensive and
reliable energy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">For the
last 400 years, mankind has been marching forward in the direction of
increasing the amount of energy we consume. <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.3978" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">As a result</span></a>, lifespans have
increased dramatically, prosperity has flourished, technology and sciences have
advanced dramatically, and lives have become exponentially more varied.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Believe
it or not, all of that is held together by a tenuous electricity grid. Not
sure? In 2019 the Air Force said the following <a href="http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2019/ph241/rogers1/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">about an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) attack</span></a>:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: whitesmoke; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><i>A successful EMP attack on the U.S. could lead to a
nationwide blackout of the electric power grid and a shutdown of critical
infrastructure reliant on the grid, including, but not limited to,
communications, transportation, food and water supply, and sanitation. Such a
shutdown could last as long as a year, and without such critical
infrastructure, a large fraction of the America could die from starvation,
disease, or the effects of general societal collapse.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">That
gives some indication of how dependent Americans are on energy. But it’s
probably not going to be an EMP that cripples America and the West. It’s going
to be the fiction of green energy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In 2011,
Angela Merkel announced that Germany would shut down all 17 of its nuclear
reactors. Last year, the last three were shuttered. In 1990 Germany generated
25% of its electricity from nuclear; now it’s finally zero. And it shows.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">While <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/germany-passes-law-make-energy-savings-compulsory-2023-09-21/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">harassing citizens to conserve energy</span></a>,
Germany has gone from a <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/electricity/news/2023-a-bumper-year-for-germanys-renewable-electricity-sector/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">net exporter of energy to a net
importer</span></a>. In addition, <a href="https://countryeconomy.com/gdp?year=2010" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">in 2010, German GDP</span></a> growth was ahead of
every single nation in the EU and double the average. By 2022, it was half the
EU average and, over the next six years, it’s predicted to be <a href="https://countryeconomy.com/gdp?year=2023" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">dead last in the EU and behind only Belarus and war torn
Russia and Ukraine on the continent</span></a>. This is all in pursuit of the
goal of cutting CO2 emissions 65% below the 1990 level by 2030.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">On this
side of the pond, we have California <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/californians-told-not-charge-electric-cars-gas-car-sales-ban-1738398" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">banning the sale of gasoline-powered
cars by 2035</span></a> and a <a href="https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/states-banning-new-gas-powered-cars/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">wave of blue states lining up behind
them</span></a>. This at the same time the state is asking existing electric
car owners not to charge their cars while leaning on fossil fuels to stave off
the return of <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/30/newsom-aliso-canyon-dirty-energy-blackouts-00113534" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">rolling blackouts</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The
reality is that the green energy revolution is a fiction. Green energy is
incapable of providing the energy requirements developed nations require and
the green energy movement is a cult. In fealty to that cult, Western nations
are wasting hundreds of billions of dollars every year on “green energy”
programs—<a href="https://money.cnn.com/2012/10/22/news/economy/obama-energy-bankruptcies/index.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">most of which fail</span></a>. Between
2020 and June of 2023, Western nations spent <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/government-energy-spending-tracker-2" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">$1.34 trillion on green energy
“investments</span></a>“ while private companies spent <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-03/u-s-clean-energy-draws-record-105-billion-private-investment" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">tens of billions more annually</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Basically,
for no discernable benefit, and arguably with <a href="https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/1/30/22249311/why-green-energy-isnt-so-green-and-poses-harm-to-the-environment-hazardous-waste-utah-china-solar" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">many negative consequences</span></a>,
Western nations are setting fire to 2% of their GDP annually and expect to burn
even more going forward. That would essentially mean that GDP would have to
grow at 2% annually just to tread water, an unlikely prospect in the face of
tightening energy supplies and skyrocketing costs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">And this
is all because people with no understanding of science, economics, or history
operate under the illusion that civilization is a virus on the pristine earth.
Western civilization as we know it will not survive the economic suicide of the
green revolution.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Perhaps
that’s why Western elites are inviting into their countries tens of millions of
third-world “migrants” who aren’t familiar with inexpensive and reliable
energy. At some point, those who do remember them will become the minority, and
the elites can finally drop the fiction of concern.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-40161644767037499442024-01-18T20:07:00.000-08:002024-01-18T20:16:52.575-08:00The West Should Stop Being Ashamed of Its Success And Stop Committing Cultural Suicide <p>I used to debate one of my teachers about culture. As a fan of Rome I posited it was the greatest
and most consequential civilization in human history. He queried me about why. It’s laws, its size,
its economy, its longevity? I suggested the clearest proof was the fact that
there may be more Roman ruins remaining than from any ancient civilization in
the world.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He disagreed, believing there were African empires whose
cultures were equal if not superior to Rome's. The grandest of such being the
Mali Empire in West Africa. Lasting from 1226 to 1670, it’s greatest king was Mansa
Musa, who is sometimes said to be the richest man who ever lived.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He pressed me on others, stating that architecture and its
survival might not be the best measure by which to measure a culture’s
greatness.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wondering if he might be right, I looked a bit more into
some of those other societies about which I knew less than Rome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were the Incas, the Aztecs, the
Egyptians, the Qin and Han Chinese, the Mongols, the Abbasid and Umayyad
Caliphates and aforementioned Malian Empire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>All were fascinating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Mongols
had the largest landlocked empire in history, but left very little in the way
of architecture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were the Qun and
Han dynasties who controlled a quarter of the world’s population some 2000 years
ago and built the longest sections of China’s Great Wall. The Abbasid
caliphate, which is considered the Islamic Golden Age, was considered to be the
most advanced society of its time in reference to things like science, astronomy,
math, and medicine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Egyptians not
only left the Pyramids and Abu Simbel, but their papyrus was the earliest known
paper. The Median and Achaemenid Empires of modern day Iran left extraordinary
ruins that go back 500 years before Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Depending on how one wants to characterize them there have
been thousands of cultures and civilizations and dynasties throughout human
history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As much as we might know about them,
it’s likely there are even more about which we know nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which brings me back to my original point…
how does one measure what a great culture is?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Is it the language they left, is it the ruins they left, is it how much
of the earth or her population that it controlled?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It's possible to make an argument for any one of those, but
the reality is that given the differences in time, geography and populations,
it’s impossible to draw a hierarchical chart that defines “Greatness” with
precision, particularly given the differences in what’s left of them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Nonetheless, I stand by the opinion of my 15-year-old self
about Rome being the greatest civilization of the ancient world.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That being said, there’s nothing in the ancient world to
compare with what we have in the 21<sup>st</sup> century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the world of the 21<sup>st</sup> century
was built by Europeans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As much as
Europe is in the midst of committing cultural suicide, it might be helpful to
examine what that European culture has produced.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBsn2QGVgZlQoyo2jfAgdtlzjJzz9tajpXeYTKI1TjgDMK-58d3o6KFPCxmpQebMI9W7arNyQcFSzjHPf8K2BdCeNc4lkBlEMe-EtOF7pQsSDvy-0Y1FvKLm1QLS6HUOcoY7Ehkz_rPxjE7DrrXk8Y1bTJvekCodjaXH9osDwQBJ2WZ4C0hFbUAfrELk/s1024/Shrug1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBsn2QGVgZlQoyo2jfAgdtlzjJzz9tajpXeYTKI1TjgDMK-58d3o6KFPCxmpQebMI9W7arNyQcFSzjHPf8K2BdCeNc4lkBlEMe-EtOF7pQsSDvy-0Y1FvKLm1QLS6HUOcoY7Ehkz_rPxjE7DrrXk8Y1bTJvekCodjaXH9osDwQBJ2WZ4C0hFbUAfrELk/s320/Shrug1.png" width="320" /></a></div>Yes, it has been cruel, barbaric at times, sanctioned
slavery and resulted in bloodshed of native peoples in far off lands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All those things are true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But none of them are unique to Europeans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Depravity is a mark that mankind shares
across civilizations and has been constant from one degree or another across
the space and time of human existence.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With that out of the way, back to western civilization. It’s
brought the world democratic governance. It’s brought the world individual
liberty, individual rights ordained by God, limited government and
capitalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Together those things set
the stage for the greatest advancement in the condition of man in all human
history. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">From the moment most of the people on the planet today wake
up until the moment they lay their heads down at night, almost everything they
do or interact with is a result of western civilization. Here is a short list
of just some of the inventions western civilization has produced:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Automobiles. Telephony. Mobile phones. MRI machines. Plastic.
Nuclear power. Bessemer Process steelmaking. Gasoline. Vulcanized rubber.
Television. Radio. Elevators. Computers. Flight. Rockets. Electric light. Mechanical
reaper. Heart transplants. Vaccines. The Internet. Sewing machines. Skyscrapers.
Railroads. The steam engine. Internal combustion engines. Electric washing
machines. Barbed wire. Air conditioning. Satellites. Movies. Submarines.
Microwaves. Radar. Lasers. Artificial knees and hips. Robots. The movable-type
printing press. Antibiotics. Batteries. Refrigeration. And much more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then there are innovations that western civilization has
produced:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Containerized shipping. DNA
discovery and sequencing. Stock markets. Social media. GPS. Advanced farming. Google
maps. Space travel. Blood transfusion. Constitutional Democracy. Individual
freedom. Limited government. X ray machines. The assembly line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mars landers and solar system probes. And again,
much more.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And then there’s science. Of the approximately 800 Nobel
Prizes that have been handed out since 1901 in fields like Physics, Chemistry,
Economics & Medicine (not including Literature because it’s so subjective
and Peace, which after giving one to Barack Obama, has about as much
credibility as the UN) Europeans and their offshoots have won approximately
750, including 350 for the United States alone. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is the world of the 21<sup>st</sup> century and it’s
been built by the west. Aside from lost tribes or primitive societies who live
like their ancestors did thousands of years ago, there’s virtually not a thing
people around the world do on a daily basis that hasn’t been developed by the
west.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The west won on the field of
battle of ideas and power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To pretend
otherwise is simply fiction.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But that which the west has built is under assault… mostly
from within. From citizens who became fat, dumb and happy during the prosperous
times to the invitation into their nations tens of millions of people who don’t
share their culture, most of whom come from cultures anathema to it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Prosperity is a two edged sword.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the one hand it has created a civilization
greater than anything in history, but the beneficiaries of that prosperity have
lost sight of the hard work, sacrifice, risk and perseverance it takes to create
prosperity or how difficult it is to maintain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As a result, many, if not a majority of western citizens
detest their own culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have
tunnel vision, focused with a modern day perspective on their forefathers’
flaws while creating a fictional nirvana-like perspective on every other
civilization in history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The self
loathing is rampant within the west.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It's one thing to tolerate or even encourage self reflection
in the pursuit of self improvement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
that’s not what the left does. Like a 78 pound college student suffering from
anorexia who looks in the mirror and sees herself as a “fat cow”, western
liberals see the sins of their fathers or focus on the imperfections of their
society and believe it’s evil, and like the anorexic, they engage in self
sabotage, only in this case, it’s the culture they harm.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Culture and civilization are fragile, hard to build and
harder to maintain. It’s particularly difficult when the youth of a nation
despise their birthright, disrespect its legacy and actively undermine its
foundations. Combine that with elites who are the fountainhead from which that
disdain arises, and you have a dire future. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The left accuses Trump and the MAGA adherents of being
racist nationalists. We’re not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Charles
de Gaulle perhaps said it best: “<i>Patriotism is when love of your own people
comes first; nationalism is when hate for people other than your own comes
first.</i>”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>America and the west will
not survive the rest of this century if their citizens don’t become patriots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, Osama bin Laden saw the writing on
the wall:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<i>When people see a strong
horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse.</i>” Self
loathing may communicate many things, but strength is not one of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-44098938529116294432023-12-27T06:19:00.000-08:002023-12-27T06:30:34.969-08:00The Decline of Art in Western Culture Parallels the Decline of Everything Else<p>For most of western history art was used as a way for patrons
to showcase achievements or propagandize citizens or lionize individuals. Maybe the single greatest artist in human
history, Michelangelo, created his greatest works for patrons of various
sorts. David he created for the Florentine
Guild of Wool, the Pieta for the French ambassador to the Holy See and the Sistine
Chapel and St Peter's Basilica for popes. Art was, in one way or another an
homage to something greater than its creator. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Fast-forward about three centuries and the art world begun
to change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Art as an indulgence of
artists, where they would paint whatever they wanted, with or without a desire
that someone would pay for it is largely a child of the late 19<sup>th</sup>
century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s when Impressionism, that
distinctly unconventional, non traditional form or painting emerged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a very short period of time the world of
art went from uber traditional world of <a href="https://www.wikiart.org/en/william-adolphe-bouguereau">Bouguereau</a> to
the anything but world of Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suddenly art was no longer a vehicle for vanity
or the celebration of greatness or storytelling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was something else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In 1917 Marcel Duchamp, a French artist unveiled a urinal on
a wooden box and called it “Fountain”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
hundred years later art had “evolved” so much that a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedian_(artwork)">banana taped to a wall
with duct tape</a> (an actual banana… not plastic or paper mâché) would sell
for $120,000 in 2019…<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is into this universe of art that we find what is
supposed to be cutting edge and courageous, in the form of the <a href="https://www.opindia.com/2023/12/german-trans-artists-video-of-trans-mother-mary-holding-an-adult-tattooed-jesus-draws-online-backlash/">Pietà
by German designer Harald Glööckler</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The revisualization of the classic piece features a tattooed Christ and
a trans Mary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what’s courageous
about this piece?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It stands up to those
vicious, hateful… Christians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the cacophony of 2023, while there are other issues that
are of far more import than this, this one might be a bit illustrative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Having the “courage” to stand up to Christians and defile
Christian traditions and symbols doesn’t actually require any courage… because
there’s no danger of anything bad actually happening besides some chastising
words from a few of the offended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one
is going to issue death threats against you, no one is going to put a bounty on
your head, mobs of people aren’t going to start riots and kill others because
of you, as was shown in 1986 with The Holy Virgin Mary by Chris Ofili and 1987
with Piss Christ, by Andres Serrano. Of course there is another religion where
that’s exactly what happens if one were to criticize it or its symbols… but of
course those “courageous” artists aren’t assailing that religion.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is a symbol of the bizarro world we find ourselves
living in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other things that are counted
as courageous today include a man announcing that he’s a woman, flaunting one’s
morbid obesity in public or wrapping oneself in the flag of victimization for
being black or gay or some other category.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">None of those things takes courage in 2023 America where
being anything but a patriotic heterosexual Christian white male accords hero
worship. It doesn’t take courage to assail someone or something where there is
no threat of consequences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Heterosexual Christian white males built most (but not all) of
the world we live in today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s far
from perfect, but no time or place in history has been perfect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it’s not their DNA that somehow makes
them better citizens or better people. No, it’s the culture they built.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We’re told that somehow western culture is bad because it
was not crafted by a multicultural collective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That makes no sense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Virtually
every culture in human history has been built by members of a single race.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were not a lot of whites helping to
craft the Mali Empire in Africa, there were not a lot of blacks at the center
of the Chinese Middle Kingdom, not a lot of yellow people helping to build the
Inca Empire and there weren’t a lot of brown people helping to build Russia or the
Russian Empire. No, most of human history has been dominated by monochromatic
empires, nations and cultures.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmkoL-ge6uCop0BhjA7HyRTmRHyilmp5fmqpktecWVnaD76PRQvTXSrsgqLZYKn6CkMRk6zdpWjL4ae2Zuc3yjoswoeE3Hrn-nA0A7iTJmrACK45Lk1Ro8M-2q6ttkGTy7DHhaoYHAcZkzc3xwsUfIZ0LRE6rGt1QQXEuxVU7w71JEPSplfGCT-Xvl5vY/s1000/Pieta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="923" data-original-width="1000" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmkoL-ge6uCop0BhjA7HyRTmRHyilmp5fmqpktecWVnaD76PRQvTXSrsgqLZYKn6CkMRk6zdpWjL4ae2Zuc3yjoswoeE3Hrn-nA0A7iTJmrACK45Lk1Ro8M-2q6ttkGTy7DHhaoYHAcZkzc3xwsUfIZ0LRE6rGt1QQXEuxVU7w71JEPSplfGCT-Xvl5vY/s320/Pieta.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>It just happens to be the case that on Earth’s competitive landscape
the culture built and developed by straight, Christian white males is the one
that has generated the greatest increases in freedom, technology and prosperity
in human history. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it’s not even
close.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But because not everyone has
shared equally in the material gains from that culture, it must be destroyed… <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Because that culture largely focuses on meritocracy,
accountability, individual liberty and limited government rather than coercion
from above, people who have yet to achieve their desired goals have the
opportunity to criticize it with impunity, something they cannot do in most
other parts of the world and couldn’t have done throughout most of human
history virtually everywhere. Yet without the threat of consequence they often
call themselves courageous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Western civilization, the driver of said unprecedented
levels of freedom and prosperity and opportunity in all of human history, today
finds itself under attack by those who have migrated to it, have invaded it or
whose ancestors were brought to it, because they’ve not achieved their desired
goals. This, despite the fact that conditions back wherever they or their
ancestors left from are likely far worse than they are anywhere in the
west.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But no matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These “protesters” use the freedoms accorded
by western culture to attack it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s
a problem. No culture can survive if there are no shared values.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No culture can survive if citizens don’t have
at least a common appreciation for the nations’ fundamental culture and assume
it to be a good thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Here at home, if those criticizing America were just a few
outliers there would be no problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
strong nation can withstand critique, even from within, and that’s why we have
a 1<sup>st</sup> Amendment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem
in 2023 however is that fully half of the country has been brainwashed into
believing that the bedrock principles upon which America is based are somehow
evil, corrupt or illegitimate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They got
that way because one of the two main political parties has proffered that lie for
decades and enlisted its fellow fabulists in the media, academia and the
government to reinforce it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That is simply not sustainable. Like the movement of art
from the classical style of Botticelli, Da Vinci, Rembrandt and Rubins to the self
important renderings of Basquiat, Mark Rothco, Robert Mapplethorpe and Glööckler,
the transition from the a nation built on universal God given fundamental
rights to one based on balkanization and subjective grievances based on
“equity” and victimization promises to replace something great with something
absurd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s more, that absurd
subjective culture cannot long stand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Just as we’ve seen with the Democrat party since the beginning of the war
in Gaza, at some point groups joined by victim status can and will splinter as their
various victim classes turn against one another based on the current hierarchy of
victim status.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As we march towards what will be the most consequential presidential
election in American history, we might want to start suggesting to those who
seek to destroy what “white heterosexual Christian males” have built that they take
a look around. They’ll not find a better combination of opportunity, freedom
and real equality anywhere on earth or in history, particularly as it relates
to protecting minorities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They should,
unlike the Gays for Gaza buffoons we see in the streets, consider what happens
to them if they actually get what they wish for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-36688119689318907192023-12-13T07:53:00.000-08:002023-12-13T08:00:01.270-08:00Virginity, Failed Marriages and an Almost Perfect Government<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">How many people marry the first person they
ever kiss or date or even have sex with? Not that many. The average age an
American loses their virginity is 17 while the average age they get married is
27. Nonetheless, despite a decade in the dating pool, experiencing everything
from one night stands to years of living with someone, when people finally take
the plunge, half of all US marriages end up in divorce.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="background: white;">There are lots of things that one might take
from that observation, but the thing that is most compelling is that despite
their best efforts, people are not perfect. They make mistakes. After spending
the first 10 years of their adult lives trying to get it right for what is
arguably the most important decision of their lives, half the population still
gets it wrong and asks for a “do over”. Despite all efforts to make a good
decision, half the time we get it wrong. And that’s with everyone involved
seeking a common goal!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdP3AW3KFDLjLH_K52k2yyv67w1jaA2Ie7dwHtuNV1J7A2Dna66GaVS_7t9_tqzVPRqKynvM2MM9APIFBdlE1VG-9lMfos2EJ26JL5XCvQpXalMun-Zwy4AO2Yo6LFODbZLm6HYDq7Ek-LMFg6Qb21DNDH_noqHCmoJDsnP5IOhS-tMb52Dcvrqdab7M/s1024/Wedding3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdP3AW3KFDLjLH_K52k2yyv67w1jaA2Ie7dwHtuNV1J7A2Dna66GaVS_7t9_tqzVPRqKynvM2MM9APIFBdlE1VG-9lMfos2EJ26JL5XCvQpXalMun-Zwy4AO2Yo6LFODbZLm6HYDq7Ek-LMFg6Qb21DNDH_noqHCmoJDsnP5IOhS-tMb52Dcvrqdab7M/s320/Wedding3.png" width="320" /></a></div>So the question is: If American adults, with
everyone involved seeking to do what’s best, get it wrong half the time, how
does our government, with its myriad players promoting conflicting and even
mutually exclusive positions, get things right almost all the time? <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They don’t, but with the lack of “Do overs” we
get with laws and regulations, you’d think they did. In reality government fails at almost
everything they try, but somehow they almost never step back and
reevaluate. Which makes what we’re
watching with the debate around the </span><a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/03/23/1164724089/in-fight-over-key-surveillance-law-officials-look-to-sway-congressional-skeptics">reauthorization
of Section 702</a> of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which expires
at the end of the year, so compelling. Enacted
in 2008, Section 702 allows the government to collect — without a warrant —
emails, text messages and phone calls of foreigners overseas, even when they're
talking to Americans.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Many in the GOP suggest it should not be reauthorized or
should be neutered as they argue the Justice Department has used it as a fig
leaf from behind which they could spy on Americans. The GOP’s right, but that’s not the point.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Whatever the outcome, this is one of the few times in
history that Congress – or anyone else for that matter – gets an opportunity to
evaluate the efficacy of a piece of legislation and adjust accordingly. That’s because most laws go on the books and
never come off… regardless of how successful they actually are, or more likely,
not. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Take ethanol mandates… the poster child for zombie
government programs that never die - regardless of the damage they do. Since
the Carter administration the government has been diverting tax dollars to put
ethanol into your gas tank. Initially it was intended to be a tool to help America
become energy independent in the face of OPEC embargos, it then morphed into a
tool to help increase gas mileage and later it became a critical element in
fighting “climate change”. Now it doesn’t even do any of those dubious but
theoretically positive, things. It’s simply become another failed government
wealth transfer program.<br />
<br />
Ethanol is an industry that enjoys no natural market. The only reason the
ethanol market exists is because of government mandates. And who are the
beneficiaries of this corporate welfare that is funded out of your pocket? You? Of course not. No, it’s mainly members of the farm / finance
/ producers cabal in the form of the <a href="https://ethanolrfa.org/about/rfa-members" target="_blank">Renewable Fuels
Association</a>. This ethanol <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-08/ethanol-margins-surge-70-in-revival-for-beleaguered-us-industry?leadSource=uverify%20wall#xj4y7vzkg">boondoggle
translated</a> into a $41 billion industry in 2021 and is expected to grow to <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2022/10/11/2532393/0/en/Bioethanol-Market-Size-to-Worth-Around-USD-124-5-Billion-by-2030.html">$124
billion by 2030</a><span class="MsoHyperlink">,</span> money that comes out of
your pocket and could be spent elsewhere if it were not being, literally, set
on fire.<br />
<br />
The worst part of the entire ethanol fiasco is the fact that not only does it
not achieve any of its stated – and oft changing – objectives; it actually
causes a wide array of unintended consequences – none of which are good. Number
one is the fact that it drives up the cost of one of the most important
foodstuffs in the world, corn, the price for which has <a href="https://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=corn&months=240" target="_blank">more than doubled </a>over the last 20 years. That in turn
drives up the price of virtually every other thing in the economy, from food to
transportation to plastics. Then there’s the fact that ethanol <a href="http://www.consumersdigest.com/special-reports/against-the-grain/view-all" target="_blank">damages engines</a> and that the <a href="https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1099149_state-laws-on-ethanol-in-gasoline-only-seven-states-require-e10-blend">patchwork
of ethanol standards</a> across the country causes unnecessary price spikes and
shortages. And if all of that weren’t enough, ethanol <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/sugarcane-threatens-amazon-forest-and-world-climate-brazilian-ethanol-is-not-clean-commentary/">drives
deforestation</a> around the world and it <a href="https://www.heritage.org/energy-economics/commentary/ethanol-policy-threatens-starve-the-world">starves
third world populations</a> and <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/the_case_against_ethanol_bad_for_environment">harms
the environment</a> too! <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But of course there are many other programs that simply
fail, yet never go away. At the top of
the list are the many programs of the War on Poverty. These various programs <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/07/the_war_on_poverty_hasnt_just_failed_its_failed_abysmally.html">did
nothing to solve the actual problem of poverty</a>, but did generate more than
$30 trillion of government spending over a half century and empowered an army of
government bureaucrats while redistributing wealth to <a href="https://cpl.hks.harvard.edu/files/cpl/files/workingpaper_35.pdf">countless
dysfunctional or fraudulent NGOs</a>. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then there’s the plethora of other “green energy” programs besides
ethanol that fail <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2022/01/12/energy-department-billion-dollars-failed-projects-carbon-emissions/">year
in and year out</a> but somehow the Department of Energy <a href="https://www.energy.gov/infrastructure/clean-energy-infrastructure-program-and-funding-announcements">continues
to fund them</a>. There’s Jimmy Carter’s
Department of Education which has been an abysmal failure. Despite spending
tens of billions of dollars annually, American student test scores have <a href="https://blog.prepscholar.com/average-sat-scores-over-time">barely budged</a>
since the department was created in 1980, have been <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/pisa-scores-by-country">stagnant</a>
on the world stage <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_Student_Assessment_(2000_to_2012)">for
decades</a> all while the DOE focuses on
<a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/lgbt.html">resource guides</a>
for LGBTQI+ students. And we can’t forget the Border Patrol, which ostensibly
exists to protect the nation’s borders but today functions more as a collection
of crossing guards for the <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/shocking-number-of-illegal-immigrants-under-biden/ar-AA1jMF9T">millions
of illegals</a> who walk into the country every year. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If there seems to be a theme here, there is. The more government tries to do, the more it
fails. And not only fails, but usually
makes matters worse. And here’s what makes the 702 debate so potentially
intriguing, the potential for Congress to actually do its job, to evaluate how
effectively the Executive Branch is spending the money it allocates, uses the
power it gives them and at the end of the day, achieves the goals it lays
out. <br />
<br />
A MAGA led Congress in 2025 should apply 702’s lessons and across the federal
government. They should propose a
Constitutional Amendment that states that all federal laws have an implicit
sunset provision of 10 years unless it passes each house of Congress by at
least 60%. It would also stipulate that all federal regulations would sunset
after 10 years, regardless of the margin of passage of the underlying law. The
effect of this Amendment would be a greatly diminished the number of zombie
like federal regulations that never die, regardless of their cost, efficacy or
unintended consequences. Each sub 60% law would have to be re-authorized each
decade.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The most obvious impact of this change would be that
politicians and bureaucrats would no longer be able to spin yarns about milk
and honey without any accountability. (Which is why this idea will likely never
see the light of day…) At the time of reconsideration, each sub 60% bill (or
every regulation) would have a decade’s worth of hard data to analyze, making
it far more difficult to hoodwink the public with rosy scenarios that have no
basis in reality. The beauty of this proposal is that it would force legislators
and regulators to defend a law’s actual results rather than opine on its
promised virtues. Given that most government programs cost more than projected,
rarely work as promised, and often have significant unintended consequences, a
decade should be a long enough time to inflict any law or regulation on the
country and her citizens.<br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-23897511251933546392023-11-27T22:43:00.000-08:002023-11-27T22:54:30.647-08:00Western Civilization Hangs in the Balance, and it's Not Looking Good<p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">When he embarked on his journey to discover a path to India
Christopher Columbus’ lead ship was the Santa Maria. Built in 1460 it measured
62 ft with a crew of just 40, the Santa Maria would take Columbus to the New
World and would change the course of human history.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Half a century earlier there was another man who sailed
ships who didn’t change the course of human history. His name was Zheng He and
he commanded the Chinese navy during the early 15</span><sup><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">th</span></sup><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> century.
His <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/zheng-hes-treasure-ships-195235" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Treasure Ships</span></a> were
not only larger than the Santa Maria, they were more than six times the size,
measuring 440 feet long with a crew of 600. And Zheng had an armada of them at
his disposal during his seven <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_treasure_voyages" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Treasure Journeys</span></a> between 1405 and 1433 that
took him as far away as the Red Sea and the east coast of Africa.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Zheng’s navy was by far the most powerful the world had
ever seen and he used it to explore and initiate trade and tribute routes. And
what did the Chinese do with this extraordinary power? Nothing. After Zheng’s
death the Treasure Journeys stopped. The Chinese had traditionally been an
inward looking society and after Zheng’s 30 year exploration aberration, the
old tradition returned.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5I81fL5G4-QN_Hbwnj-TdCW1RS3fsAiY1HRzU5I8H7tvjfbfeQuFsMR0KA20wyNAlv6j7V-zc0N1UPm2MFhssyPuWB3GAWBHlKILBebBD_8GEiVKoQZvsJhGXwdxoWjf2vMZDdHqXzJRCF8Yplllm9h_Jnsq5VOTlDLcQY4rZLBqcPS0E6FCKCS9hX5Y/s832/Leonardo_Diffusion_XL_please_create_an_image_that_juxtapositio_2.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="832" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5I81fL5G4-QN_Hbwnj-TdCW1RS3fsAiY1HRzU5I8H7tvjfbfeQuFsMR0KA20wyNAlv6j7V-zc0N1UPm2MFhssyPuWB3GAWBHlKILBebBD_8GEiVKoQZvsJhGXwdxoWjf2vMZDdHqXzJRCF8Yplllm9h_Jnsq5VOTlDLcQY4rZLBqcPS0E6FCKCS9hX5Y/s320/Leonardo_Diffusion_XL_please_create_an_image_that_juxtapositio_2.jpg" width="246" /></a></span></div><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Why are we not speaking Chinese today? Why didn’t the
Chinese conquer the world (or at least try) when they had a navy exponentially
superior to anything else in the world? Why did the kingdom that gave us paper
and gunpowder not go on to dominate the world of commerce or ideas? Because the
Chinese had very little competition in the area of said ideas. Ruled by an
emperor who was all powerful, competition in the realm of ideas was rarely
tolerated in China for most of its history, nevermind flourish. What the
emperor said was gospel. And the emperor said we stay home.<br />
<br />
Similar kingdoms held dominion over wide swaths of land yet had a very limited
impact on the world beyond. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_Empire" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Mongol empire</span></a> comes to mind, which was the
largest contiguous empire in human history or the countless Muslim empires, up
to and including the Ottoman empire. Robust competition of ideas did not exist
in those empires any more than it did in China, and indeed most of us are not
speaking Mongol nor Arabic nor Turkish.<br />
<br />
Now compare that to the west. At one point the British Empire covered a quarter
of the world’s landmass and a quarter of her people. Today <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_number_of_speakers" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">more people speak English than any
other language on the planet</span></a>. There may be a billion people speaking
Chinese, but 95% of them live in China while 95% of the English speakers don’t
live in England. Similarly half a billion people speak Spanish and less than
10% of them live in Spain.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Beyond that, almost every aspect of life for most people
today is the result of western ideas. Cars, phones, planes, elevators,
televisions, cameras, computers, MRI machines, DNA testing, heart transplants,
nuclear power, space travel, fracking, movies, advanced agriculture and much
much more. For all intents and purposes, the west developed the modern world.
And for all of its current deprivation, it is extraordinary.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">So what accounts for the difference of the impact between
what the Chinese accomplished over the last thousand years and what Europe did?
Simple. Competition. And, in particular, the competition of ideas.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Competition, more than any single thing, is responsible for
the advances of the west. Between countries there’s been competition. Within
countries there’s been competition. Within religions there’s been competition
which sometimes split sides across countries and between them. And the
competition was relentless, frequently resulting in bloodshed and oftentimes in
war, sometimes lots of both. In addition, alliances shifted regularly between
countries and within them. There was rivalry, there was espionage and of course
there was betrayal and treachery.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">The real competition that helped to create the world we
live in evolved in the centuries following the collapse of the Roman empire.
What we know of today as France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Britain didn’t exist
then. They formed over hundreds of years of competing tribes, towns and estates
that evolved into domains and then into kingdoms.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Initially chieftains would compete with one another for the
loyalty of local peasants in an effort to increase their power and holdings
using such incentives as more food in exchange for their labor or fealty. Those
chieftains would eventually evolve into local nobility and continue to expand
their lands. Later, particularly in times of more instability dukes or kings
would compete for the allegiance of local nobility by offering lower taxes or
more freedom than their opponents.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The reality of this can be seen in the evolution of
European nations, particularly <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14ynXi9F95k">France</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShIBZ5phm1A">Italy</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N98TfKiiCe8">Germany</a>. The ebb and
flow of borders over the 1500 years since the fall of Rome has been nothing
less than stunning. And each of those nations, plus Britain and Spain were the
core drivers of the evolution of civilization over the last 500 years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">All of that evolution came about because of competition,
whether driven by ideas, religion, or simple power. At different times over
that span the French were fighting against the British, the Spanish, the Papal
States, Austria, the Prussians, the Russians and more. At other times they were
fighting alongside those same nations. Britain and Italy and Germany and the
rest of Europe have similarly chaotic histories.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">And it wasn’t just external fighting. France, like most
western countries, saw vast amounts of internal strive as the landed gentry and
various regions fought one another for dominance or liberation. The same holds
true for religion. While Christianity dominated Europe, the reality is that it
battled with Islam for dominance for centuries and at one point in the 8</span><sup><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">th</span></sup><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> century
only being stopped at Poitiers in France and 900 years later at the gates of
Vienna, Austria. Simultaneously Christianity battled itself bloody for the 500
years following the Reformation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">As if all of that chaos wasn’t enough, sometimes power and
religion made for strange bedfellows such as when Francis I of France <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Ottoman_alliance" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">partnered with the Muslim Ottoman</span></a> sultan
Suleiman the Great in the 16</span><sup><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">th</span></sup><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> century
to fight their fellow Christians the Hapsburgs who controlled much of Europe
beyond France at the time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The most obvious outcome of all of this fighting and the
shifting of alliances was a competition of ideas for everything from developing
improved weapons of war to advances in art and architecture to science and
math. Whether it resulted in competition to build the largest cathedral or the
most luxurious palace, the most accurate painting style or the most efficient
gun barrel, such advances were the fertilizer that fed modern civilization.
It’s no wonder that this is where the Renaissance, the Age of Enlightenment,
the Industrial Revolution and advances such as flight, DNA, computers,
cellphones and the Internet originated. So too freedom of the press, speech,
religion and free markets, resulting in widespread prosperity and freedoms
never before seen in human history.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">All of that hangs in the balance as western nations face
the catastrophic amalgamation of the woefully uninformed left, the rapidly
increasing anti-freedom Muslim populations and increasingly despotic
governments willing to abandon fundamental western principles in their pursuit
of power. The $64,000 question is, how do we maintain those principles while
increasingly those among us detest them and technology makes it easier than
ever to target and marginalize those willing to stand up for them…<o:p></o:p></span></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-5972964850407030952023-11-17T00:06:00.000-08:002023-11-17T00:06:57.074-08:00A Sad Legacy of the Culture of Victimhood and Grift<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">For over a month we’ve seen videos exposing
Hamas’s depravity. Its soldiers’ blatant disregard for human life and the
seeming joy with which they carried out their depravity was disheartening.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Sadly, this kind of depravity can be
found closer to home, too, where videos abound of black crime across America,
with people shot, pushed in front of trains, sucker punched, beaten to a pulp,
and even killed by individuals, gangs, or groups of “teens.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In both cases, the perpetrators have
an ostensible enemy at whom their anger is directed. For Hamas, it’s Jews, and
for blacks, it’s whites. Apologists for both groups claim it’s the actions of
the “oppressor” that caused the “victims” to react. For Hamas, it’s Jews
“stealing” Palestinian lands. For blacks, it’s slavery and Jim Crow. In both
cases, though, the outsized violence against bystanders demonstrates that those
are just convenient justifications for evil people to gain power.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Hamas’s soldiers, while blaming Jews
for everything, often </span><a href="https://nypost.com/2023/10/13/hamas-targeted-bedouins-during-weekend-attack-community-member-says/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">target Muslims as well</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">. They also carelessly target their
weapons, striking their own people, while hiding soldiers and materials behind
women and children in mosques, schools, and </span><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/israel-claims-hamas-operations-base-under-shifa-hospital"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">hospitals</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">. When Israel
retaliates and civilians die, the resulting images make great PR.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In America, even as the grifters at
BLM and Antifa claim that white racism is the cause of virtually every evil,
which inevitably creates black criminals who abuse whites or rob, plunder, and
destroy businesses, the reality is that most of the victims of black criminals
are themselves black. But that doesn’t matter to the race hustlers who use lies
and deception to keep blacks and naive white liberals angry. Democrat race
pimps don’t care that far more black blood is in the street because all they
need is one video of a white person acting or reacting against a black person,
and they’ve won the lottery, as they did with videos of Rodney King and George
Floyd did.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In reality, being an oppressed
minority is not necessarily a recipe for failure, as Thomas Sowell explains
in </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Discrimination-Disparities-Thomas-Sowell-ebook/dp/B07JLS7P8D/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=discrimination+and+disparities+by+thomas+sowell&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Discrimination and Disparities</span></i></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">. He discusses the
relative success of various minorities around the world, including the Chinese
in Southeast Asia, Jews in Eastern Europe, Indians in East Africa, Koreans in
America, the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, and many other groups reviled in
the countries in which they live.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The reality is that American blacks
and the Palestinians have both had many opportunities to achieve success and
usually squandered them away.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">First, the Palestinians. Up until the
mid-20th century, there was no such thing as Arab Palestinians. In the 2,000
years before the pre-Christian era, the one constant in the land was a Jewish
presence, whether as a nation or as a vassal of Babylonians, Persians, Greeks,
and Romans. After the Romans ended the Jewish nation and created a Palestinian
colony, there were the Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Mamluks and, eventually,
the Ottomans, and then the English.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The one constant was the Jews. Aside
from Bedouins and the Druze, who have been there for several hundred years, the
Arabs who identify today as Palestinians </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Ally-Pierre-Van-Paassen-ebook/dp/B01CYO1IUK/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2BCGEIEALLNGJ&keywords=the+forgotten+ally&qid=1698440750&sprefix=the+forgotten+ally%2Caps%2C106&sr=8-4" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">mostly drifted into the land beginning in the 1830s</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">For the century preceding Israel’s
establishment, much of the area was sparsely populated with towns and tribes in
constant battle. In addition, the land was inhospitable, and agriculture
struggled (something that changed only when Zionist Jews brought in modern
farming techniques and hard work).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Jews were </span><a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/population-of-jerusalem-1844-2009" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">a majority of the population of Jerusalem</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> as early as at
least 1875—and in the late 19th century began purchasing land from the Arabs.
By 1948, Jews </span><a href="https://lessons.myjli.com/survival/index.php/2017/03/26/land-ownership-in-palestine-1880-1948/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">owned 8% of the land that would become Israel</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">, while 3.3% was in
Arab hands, and 17% had been abandoned by Arabs planning on returning after
Israel was eliminated. Britain owned the remaining 70%, which it took from the
Ottoman Turks after WWI. The local Arabs never owned it. Thus, it’s a lie that
Israel stole its land from the Arabs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In 1924, Britain split the land in
two, with British-mandate Palestine going to the Jews and Trans-Jordan
(modern-day Jordan) going to the local Arabs. That didn’t stick. In 1948, after
the Arabs had already gotten Trans-Jordan, the UN split British-mandate
Palestine again, creating the State of Israel, which was </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/United-Nations-Resolution-181" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">liberally interspersed with an Arab state</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">. The Arabs
responded by attacking the newly created nation to take it all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In 1999, Bill Clinton negotiated a
treaty between the PLO and Israel that would have given the Palestinians 92% of
the West Bank, all of Gaza, and various concessions within Israel proper. The
Palestinian leader, </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/23/israel3" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Yasser
Arafat, rejected it</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> and instead </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Intifada" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">launched
a war against Israel</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">. In 2005, Israel exited Gaza, removing 5,000 of its own
citizens, and allowed the area to be self-governing. The citizens elected
Hamas.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Since Israel exited Gaza, the world
has donated over </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-middle-east-israel-foreign-aid-gaza-strip-611b2b90c3a211f21185d59f4fae6a90" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">$10 billion there.</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Sadly, instead of spending money
on building up the infrastructure and industry, Hamas put much of that money
into building a “</span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/15/middleeast/hamas-tunnels-gaza-intl/index.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Metro</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">” of tunnels into Israel and buying weapons to attack
Israel. Imagine how different Gaza would be had its leaders spent that money
building schools and viaducts, training entrepreneurs, or enhancing the
agriculture industry.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOIFTXocUjQrxhmA71vp3eJlA6tjG1pRKDV6lnMdCvrNnRmkURG8ptQtWR1dtNaLQhE3Xm0AEjKnLdLj82aNS5pNFqDIxyeIopoJR176T_XVHGvsPcVYVPgCc72dxgxD6cwhu4RGrzWzpNjHT_7jk1YIsRglK8hkn1IBe_EmCpR199MjZlcTfYFT-IFvk/s483/Victimhood.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="483" data-original-width="483" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOIFTXocUjQrxhmA71vp3eJlA6tjG1pRKDV6lnMdCvrNnRmkURG8ptQtWR1dtNaLQhE3Xm0AEjKnLdLj82aNS5pNFqDIxyeIopoJR176T_XVHGvsPcVYVPgCc72dxgxD6cwhu4RGrzWzpNjHT_7jk1YIsRglK8hkn1IBe_EmCpR199MjZlcTfYFT-IFvk/s320/Victimhood.png" width="320" /></a></div>But alas, they didn’t—their leaders
would rather maintain the cult of victimhood as it’s far more profitable. (Just
before his death in 2004, Yassir Arafat was said to have had a personal fortune
of between <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/arafats-billions/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">$1 and $3 billion</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> – stolen from the gullible
Palestinians.) Hamas simply said that Israel was the enemy and was responsible
for the Palestinians’ plight and then focused on war. Of course, it didn’t have
to be that way. Israel built a thriving nation out of the desert. With global
support and money, the Palestinians could have done the same. They chose not
to.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Similarly, in the United States,
slavery ended in 1865, and Jim Crow was gone by 1965, but that didn’t stop the
victim industrial complex from poisoning the minds of many black Americans. For
four decades, the Democrat party, the media, and America’s schools have told
blacks they can’t succeed because of white racism. (This despite the fact that
American blacks have incomes that exceed the </span><a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/03/the_cultural_and_political_forces_driving_violence_in_the_black_community.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">average of almost every country on the planet</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">They’ve told blacks that racist whites
are waiting to lynch blacks. Since at least 2008, they’ve told blacks that,
because of systemic racism, they cannot succeed and aren’t responsible for
their conditions or actions. Along the way, grifters like Patrisse Cullors,
Ibram X. Kendi, and Barack Obama got rich. When Barack Obama was elected race
relations were about the best they’d been in history. </span><a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/1687/Race-Relations.aspx" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Not so
much now</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">…
Imagine what America would be like today had he been a unifier and tried to
empower black entrepreneurship rather than being the race pimp he was.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">At home and in Israel, we’re seeing
the same thing: People greedy for power and wealth tell specific groups they’re
victims incapable of helping themselves, thereby turning them into drones
committed to violent struggle. Then, say their alleged oppressors are subhuman
beings who deserve what they get. Do all of this, and it’s no surprise that
these “victims” embrace a savage mindset without empathy, making them not only
willing but enthusiastic about unimaginable and routine cruelty.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">While the “oppressors” are the
ostensible targets, it doesn’t really matter if innocents get killed, which is
exactly what we see. Hamas is sacrificing Palestinians, and blacks are killing
blacks along with whites and Asians, all because they believe the lie that
they’re victims and their oppressors deserve what they get. Victimhood is a
bloody game but, sadly, a profitable one.<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-25704613855347759072023-10-25T22:04:00.006-07:002023-10-25T22:13:47.753-07:00What We are Seeing in the Streets and on Campuses is not Fringe...<p>Like most Americans, I was of course
shocked by the vicious inhumanity that the coward terrorist group Hamas carried
out in Israel three weeks ago. Unfortunately, organized evil is neither unique
nor surprising. The Nazis were equally evil across Europe, as were the Japanese
at Nanking and Stalin with Ukraine and Mao with his own people. Sadly, evil
happens, devils exist and thankfully they are rarely celebrated.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But rarely doesn’t mean never, and the
most shocking thing was not the evil perpetrated, but rather the extraordinary
support it has received. Not only is Hamas’s evil finding exuberant support in
places like Iran and Qatar where you might expect it, but there were tens of
thousands of Muslims – and their liberal comrades – in places like New York,
Detroit, and Washington out en masse vocally demonstrating their support for
these monsters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it wasn’t just on
the streets, in places like </span><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/education/israel-war-31-harvard-student-groups-blame-israel"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Harvard</span></a><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
and </span><a href="https://nypost.com/2023/10/12/radical-yale-professor-faces-calls-to-be-fired-over-comments-on-hamas-attacks/"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Yale</span></a><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
and </span><a href="https://nypost.com/2023/10/10/nyu-law-school-student-government-president-defends-hamas/"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">NYU</span></a><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
you had students and professors and organizations blaming Israel for Hamas’s
inhumanity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even as the full extent of
the carnage emerged, days after the world was able to see the barbarity of what
the savages carried out, the rallies in support not only didn’t diminish, they
seemed to grow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t help wonder
what that portends for our future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As an American I shook my head, stunned
as I watched the scenes play out. I wondered how so many people, with smiles on
their non hidden faces, could cheer such evil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How supposedly intelligent people could put their names in support of
such barbarism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My reaction to a few
posts on Twitter was “Send them to Gaza”. Not that it was going to happen, but
it’s one thing to cheer the beheading of babies and raping of women from five
thousand miles away, it’s another thing to do so when there’s a realistic
possibility of the IDF ending you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Of course that’s not going to happen,
but then I wondered to myself, what is wrong with these people and why are they
allowed to do this? Before the words even formed in my head I answered my own
question:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Free speech… that extraordinary
thing we have which most Muslim countries don’t.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">All of that led my brain to a quote that is often </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2018/dec/20/blog-posting/meme-incorrectly-attributes-winston-churchill-quot/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">falsely
attributed to Winston Churchill</span></a></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<i>When Muslims are in the minority they are
very concerned with minority rights, when they are in the majority there are no
minority rights.</i>” The British Bulldog may not have said that, but a look at
a map of </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/sharia-law-countries" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">nations with Sharia law</span></a></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> suggests the reality of it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHp-FrFeKDJtHxZ79b2v37w5_heNWk_Tie0KcxoO542hIBy4mjsC0-s3CTOIvgiSIjLMsNnW8n_v3KZrnu9g2ohiGpmTAjKC8q21Ho6Hcxg9ImkxQ59U6BY6muMmHuFBWE7sXvZlzRni-D0Y6qyBmwYXDzqjeKH_zhDXrL116l_pSSivnsmv3RHYM5lb0/s600/Protest3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHp-FrFeKDJtHxZ79b2v37w5_heNWk_Tie0KcxoO542hIBy4mjsC0-s3CTOIvgiSIjLMsNnW8n_v3KZrnu9g2ohiGpmTAjKC8q21Ho6Hcxg9ImkxQ59U6BY6muMmHuFBWE7sXvZlzRni-D0Y6qyBmwYXDzqjeKH_zhDXrL116l_pSSivnsmv3RHYM5lb0/s320/Protest3.png" width="320" /></a></div>“But we don’t live in one of those countries” you might
say, “these people are just fringe wackos.” Not so much. A <span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://centerforsecuritypolicy.org/nationwide-poll-of-us-muslims-shows-thousands-support-shariah-jihad/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">2015
poll of Muslims in America</span></a></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> showed the following: “<i>More
than half (51%) of U.S. Muslims polled also believe either that they should
have the choice of American or shariah courts, or that they should have their
own tribunals to apply shariah. Only 39% of those polled said that Muslims in
the U.S. should be subject to American courts</i>.” It also found “<i>nearly a
quarter of the Muslims polled believed that, ‘It is legitimate to use violence
to punish those who give offense to Islam by, for example, portraying the
prophet Mohammed.</i>’” and “<i>Nearly one-fifth of Muslim respondents said
that the use of violence in the United States is justified in order to make
shariah the law of the land in this country.”</i> Anyone watching the thousands
of protesters in Atlanta, Chicago, and Tampa could easily see that it’s likely
the numbers listed above have only grown worse – from a free republic’s
perspective.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;">Now, support for Sharia doesn’t necessarily equate to
support for the actions Hamas took last week, but a Venn Diagram would likely
demonstrate a great deal of overlap. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">But then you say, “Muslims are barely 1% of the population,
this can’t be a threat.” Maybe, but think about this: trans people are far
fewer yet today we find ourselves in the midst of national fights about
bathrooms, sports and the “medical” butchering of children. Interestingly, most
of the people who support the LBGTQXYZ123 agenda also support “Palestine”,
where many would likely be thrown off the top of buildings were they to
actually go there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">So the question becomes, how does a pluralistic, secular
state that puts value on individual liberty deal with vile ideas that are
repugnant to the basic elements of the culture and those who espouse them? Is
the Constitution a suicide pact that allows those who object to its
foundational principles to use the document’s freedoms to take power in order
to eliminate it?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In his autobiography Malcom X talks about being invited to
speak at Harvard and other prestigious universities, this at the time he was
spewing much of his pre enlightened anti-white racist venom. He marvels that
while he was invited to speak and said things that most of the audience
disagreed with, they were always courteous and usually engaged in a healthy,
respectful dialogue. Contrast that with today’s conservative speakers such as
Heather MacDonald, Ann Coulter or Ben Shapiro who have had events cancelled or
found themselves drowned out and threatened by leftists who equate speech they
don’t like with violence. Not surprisingly, a recent poll showed that </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/overwhelming-majority-of-college-students-say-shouting-down-a-speaker-is-acceptable-survey/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">66% of college students find this acceptable</span></a></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> while another showed that </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2021/08/20/the-new-censors-polls-shows-almost-half-of-americans-favor-the-government-censoring-misinformation/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">65% of Democrats supported censoring “misinformation</span></a></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Now, maybe this vile and public championing of hate will be
a tipping point where the </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://nypost.com/2023/10/12/israeli-billionaire-idan-ofer-quits-harvard-board-in-protest-of-student-letter/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Democrat
coalition fractures</span></a></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> as the various victim
classes it has nurtured twist themselves into pretzels trying to be good team
players. I doubt it, because Democrats in toto hate America, hate freedom and
most of all hate Donald Trump & MAGA and put power above everything else.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Nonetheless, what we saw over the last week causes one to
stand up and take notice about those who would use our freedoms to end them for
everyone else. The adage of “One man, one vote, one time.” refers to the idea
of someone or some group using the democratic norms of a nation to win an election
then use that victory to eviscerate freedom. Think Hitler in Germany, Chavez in
Venezuela, or Erdogan in Turkey. If we’ve learned anything since the reign of Barack
Obama it’s that America is not immune to the danger of political parties
weaponizing government for their own purposes. Given that the people cheering
on the butchers of Hamas are a core part of the Democrat coalition, we should
not be too quick to dismiss them as fringe… we could all live to regret it.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-80208425950596672022023-10-03T23:36:00.001-07:002023-10-03T23:36:12.769-07:00The Democrats Broke the Constitution - If We Don't Use that Opening to Fix Things, The Republic is Lost<p>I spent much of the two months following the 2020 election
arguing with Democrats who pretended that Joe Biden actually won. Their line was: “Prove it was
fraudulent”. I couldn’t. “There was no fraud” we were told by the
media, every branch of government, academics, Democrats and the TDS afflicted
GOP establishment types. That fiction
continues to this day, and the truth is, they have a point. As of today, there is not a single court case
that has established any significant coordinated effort to steal the
election. Every single case brought by
Donald Trump and his compatriots either <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-campaign-lawsuits-election-results-2020-11?op=1">failed</a>
in court or failed to be considered by courts because of “standing” or some
other technicality.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Now, however, three years later, with everything from Molly Ball’s TIME
magazine boast to Mollie Hemingway’s brilliant Rigged to the poorly made but
tantalizing 2000 Mules to the Twitter files, it’s as clear as day to anyone
with a functioning brain that the Democrats conspired with the rest of
America’s elite leftist cabal to steal the election, and succeeded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One might think that the clear theft of an election of the
most powerful office in the world would be enough to cause a revolution in the
streets, but that didn’t happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed,
when a few thousand unarmed patriots sought to force the government to at least
examine the questions about said election on January 6<sup>th</sup> 2021, many ended
up in gulags with their lives destroyed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even years later when it was clear to anyone with a pulse that
elites manipulated every element of our voting system and stole the election,
nothing happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only did no one go
to jail for that treachery, but they were allowed to do the exact same thing
two years later in Arizona, an ostensibly red state.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Arizona essentially watched in real time as its election was
manipulated and the office of Governor was stolen from Kari Lake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But here we are 11 months later and Katie
Hobbs is still sitting in the Governor’s office and Kari Lake is still <a href="https://www.azmirror.com/2023/09/19/kari-lake-appeals-again-accuses-maricopa-county-of-engineered-election-day-chaos/">fighting
in the courts</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Just to the East, Tucker Carlson just <a href="https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1704665052031172641">interviewed
Texas AG Ken Paxton</a>, who was just acquitted of corruption charges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paxton discussed the problems afflicting what’s
supposed to be blood red Texas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
talked about the Speaker of a GOP dominated House being elected by Democrats,
and even more treacherously, about the state’s highest criminal court –
populated by Republicans – taking away his ability to investigate voter fraud,
thereby leaving it to George Soros backed local AGs to do, which is scheduled to
happen the day after Hell freezes over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga8L0_m6WrF_WSuizLk3Dp-3O5dn2nzs38f0SS9CVPQrosZbVPnSz73jGsCD6N_NQzpvu5xLIdYuKzo8K5dh1xXiSSUTy13dd9iVD9fYyrCkj3q-KKHltSyR8BKwhNkZkKcadKXBkJeaRrkfAiDlvWzrNF_aPoCSMOmEuUgZZxYzrG-n52T2U7ms9_TCE/s960/tornconstitution960.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="543" data-original-width="960" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga8L0_m6WrF_WSuizLk3Dp-3O5dn2nzs38f0SS9CVPQrosZbVPnSz73jGsCD6N_NQzpvu5xLIdYuKzo8K5dh1xXiSSUTy13dd9iVD9fYyrCkj3q-KKHltSyR8BKwhNkZkKcadKXBkJeaRrkfAiDlvWzrNF_aPoCSMOmEuUgZZxYzrG-n52T2U7ms9_TCE/s320/tornconstitution960.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>All of which brings us to 2024.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s true that there have been no court cases
that have determined that the 2020 election was stolen, but just as every
American knows that OJ was guilty, every American knows that the 2020 election
was stolen, even if they refuse to admit it. The problem is, corruption is
designed to be hard to see and much of the government, both the investigative
and judicial arms are part of the swamp that wants to keep the fraud
hidden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Proving it takes far longer than
the period of time between the election and the inauguration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Just like the Russian collusion hoax and the Hunter Biden
laptop story however, eventually the media will come around to admitting that
which we all know already, that the 2020 presidential election was indeed
stolen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But just like the two
aforementioned stories, the truth will not emerge until long after its release would
be helpful to the American people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The question is, what are freedom loving, Constitution
loving Americans supposed to do in a situation where the theft is happening
right in front of them in real time and they’re told that what they’re seeing
isn’t what’s actually going on?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Between
early voting, absentee voting, vote harvesting and computer voting, America’s
voting system is simply broken. Not only is it broken, but the courts, filled
with activist, partisan judges offer little or no outlet to address the
problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, even the Supreme Court
offers no opportunity for fixing the problem as can be seen by its allowing <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/10/supreme-court-pennsylvania-election-law-order.html">Pennsylvania’s
courts to change the state’s voting laws</a> in clear violation of the US Constitution
then by refusing Texas’s case based on the ludicrous grounds of “<a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/12/justices-throw-out-texas-lawsuit-that-sought-to-block-election-outcome/">Standing</a>”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Today, we are faced with the fact that regardless of what a
Constitutional majority of Americans vote for, the outcome of the presidential
and other elections is not up to them. America is not only no longer a
Republic, we’re not even a democracy in the loose sense of the word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>America is no longer a democratic nation at
all, it’s a nation managed and manipulated by a cabal of elites.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If things like what happened nationally in
2020 and in 2022 in Arizona continue, there will eventually be a civil
war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s only a question of time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In 247 years ago 55 men, propelled by a tyrannical
government in which they had no say but which demanded their fealty and taxed
them at will, signed a document that would change the course of human
history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today Americans find themselves
with even less control than the Founding Fathers did, beholden to a tyrannical leviathan
like government run by an elitist cabal that manufactures the outcomes it
desires.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Power almost never gives up power willingly, but the
possibility still exists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If Americans,
win or lose can once again feel confident that their votes count and that
success is based on the number of votes cast and not the number of ballots
manufactured, we might be able to avert another conflagration.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How might that happen?.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Here are five simple changes that would fix this problem, but they’ll
never see the light of day as Democrats have no incentive to fix the current
system.<br /></p><div style="text-indent: 0px;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />1) Make election day a national holiday.<br /></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">2) Eliminate early voting.<br /></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">3) Eliminate absentee ballots for anyone other than
persons provably outside of their registered state on election day.<br /></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">4) Eliminate electronic voting.<br /></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">5) Implement universal Voter ID.</span></div><p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Every state should be forced to comply, regardless of what
the Constitution says.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Why that’s
tyranny!!!” you say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe, but the
reality is, the Constitution was already shredded by Democrats via the manufactured
hysteria over Covid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were told that the
“emergency” was sufficient to disregard the Constitution. I’d suggest that if
what was basically a bad case of the flu can be considered an emergency
sufficient to go ignore the Constitution, then averting a bloody civil war is
at least as much of an emergency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unlike
what we were told about the Covid threat, a civil war would actually result in
the loss of millions of lives and would leave devastation in its wake like
Americans have never seen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Of course, using the same rationale, environmentalist fascists
might eventually argue that “Climate Change” is an emergency too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They could and would make the argument and
try and use it to eviscerate what’s left of the Constitution. Admittedly it’s a
slippery slope, but that’s where Democrats have put us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As they learned when Harry Reid tried a “limited”
overturning of the filibuster, once something is broken, there is no such thing
as “limited”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Democrats broke our Constitution
to steal an election. If we don’t do something, we will eventually become a
nation of serfs in the service of lords in Washington, New York and Silicon
Valley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If ignoring that broken
Constitution is what’s necessary to give citizens’ back control over their
government and avert a civil war, it might be worth considering. Our Republic
is already gone, the question is, can we put it back together?<o:p></o:p></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-841504275270116922023-09-20T04:13:00.005-07:002023-09-20T04:17:03.405-07:00You Should Listen To The Elites Because They're Smarter Than You... Obviously<p class="MsoNormal">I’m a pretty average guy. My SAT was 1010, I earned a 2.7
GPA as an undergraduate and 3.0 for my MBA. Since college I’ve launched half a
dozen startups, none of which, made it very far… An objective assessment might
suggest my intelligence is slightly above average and my entrepreneurial
capabilities somewhat below. When all is said and done, I probably balance out as
basically average.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">That’s troubled me for years…but probably not in the way you
think. I’m not troubled that I’m basically average, I’m troubled by what I must
be getting wrong vis-à-vis the world around me.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I say wrong because there’s an entire universe out there of
people who are by every objective measure exponentially smarter than I am, but
who think exactly the opposite of the way I do on practically every single
issue. Guys like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Reid Hoffman, Pierre
Omidyar, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Craig Newmark and so many more.<o:p></o:p></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal">These guys have more money than God. They all probably
scored perfect or close to it on the SATs. They’ve created companies that
employ hundreds of thousands of people and generate hundreds of billions of
dollars a year in revenue. They’re showcased in magazines like Forbes and
Fortune, lionized on TV and are the subjects of books and movies and of course,
success memes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij0ysNmYEFPayMxTLvVSAG_nHtbutPLLpYhJF8U7VIdAASqA6Cm3xKkbHCU32GztT-YGf1KTiU_CKwcuYS9_nKrOV6Ed7Nt_xca74flQchxNfcEnT4UWaOlZOp06XvA0dm7tpb2kWXmZ42J29naoi2IScMGLgB4ASAEnRSIBhlKRhNIIperC5xmq9f6Ns/s483/Elites2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="483" data-original-width="483" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij0ysNmYEFPayMxTLvVSAG_nHtbutPLLpYhJF8U7VIdAASqA6Cm3xKkbHCU32GztT-YGf1KTiU_CKwcuYS9_nKrOV6Ed7Nt_xca74flQchxNfcEnT4UWaOlZOp06XvA0dm7tpb2kWXmZ42J29naoi2IScMGLgB4ASAEnRSIBhlKRhNIIperC5xmq9f6Ns/s320/Elites2.png" width="320" /></a></div>But somehow these guys and most like them are generally
hardcore leftists. They’re animated by and put their money behind things like
“Climate Change,” “DEI,” and open borders. Most supported the BLM scam and many
of their companies regularly censor speech of conservatives. They support
things like the Paris Climate Accords, the WHO, and were largely all in on the
COVID scam. Most of all, they support Democrats who push for higher taxes,
defunding the police and more government regulations, particularly on businesses.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is where the trouble comes in. These guys are really
smart. They’ve succeeded in ways few human beings ever have. They’ve become
rich and powerful beyond belief. And they all did it in the United States…yet
they support policies that are not only antithetical to traditional American
values, but they also actively subvert the framework that allowed them to
succeed in the first place.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">America may be a flawed place, but it is the place where
Microsoft, Google, Amazon, LinkedIn, eBay, Craigslist and countless others were
founded and found success. Interestingly, most of them employ large numbers of
immigrants, despite their success being rooted in America, not in India, China,
or Europe.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Their success was not because of government programs,
regulations, or largesse. They succeeded in America because government
regulation was relatively low for startups. They succeeded in America because
that’s where capital came to find attractive returns. They succeeded in America
because of well-trained STEM graduates who brought them a unique set of skills
and experiences they couldn’t find elsewhere, because our market is the most
dynamic on the planet and the most open to new ideas. And perhaps most of all,
they succeeded in America because of our fundamental constitutional rights
protecting private property—including intellectual property—and free speech,
which foster the exchange of ideas, and because of our fundamental notion of
entrepreneurship where anyone can start a business and succeed by creating
something sufficiently compelling to entice consumers to freely to pay for it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These factors don’t exist anywhere else in the world and, as
a result, for 100 years, America has created more prosperity and increased the
worldwide standard of living more than any nation in all of human history…and
it’s not even close. And these mavens all pretend to support increasing
prosperity and decreasing poverty.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">However, now that they’ve found success beyond imagination
thanks to the American system, they’ve decided that the fundamental rules that
allowed them to prosper should no longer apply. So-called emergencies like
“Climate Change,” “Institutional Racism,” “Gender Equity,” and “Global
Inequality” supersede the 18th century anachronisms of the American
Constitution and individual rights.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">No longer can Americans be allowed to decide how to heat
their homes, fuel their cars, or protect their property. No longer can they be
allowed to enjoy an American-centric foreign policy or manage America’s economy
in a way that empowers Americans. No longer will common miscreants be held
responsible for their actions, even as those who challenge mandates are
crushed. No longer will students learn objective facts or study the Western
canon, but they’ll be taught to change their gender on a whim. Whether it’s
algorithms controlling what Americans can say or see, regulations about what
they can or must do, or what products or services they are allowed to purchase,
these enlightened elites graciously inform us they are applying their
intellectual brilliance to make our lives better, and so too the rest of the
world. And they should know what’s best because look at how smart and
successful they are.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">However, these “One World” billionaires’ alleged compassion
for the world’s less fortunate is pure fiction. How can you tell? Because their
solutions for worldwide inequalities isn’t to encourage struggling nations to
adopt the freedoms, protections, and systems that led to their success in
America. Instead, they push to erase American borders while championing the
policies of Communist China and the increasingly despotic EU while encouraging
us to adopt edicts from tyrannical organizations like the UN and the WHO and
proffered by Bond villains like Klaus Schwab at the WEF.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And thus my conundrum. If I, with my relatively limited
intellectual capacity, can see as clear as day that it was America and her
Constitution that drove prosperity’s march for a century and allowed these
intellectual giants to succeed in spectacular fashion, how is it that most of
them are hardcore leftists whose policies will kill the goose that laid the
golden egg? What am I missing? Am I really that dense?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Maybe, but a better explanation might be that these guys
believe themselves to be the self-anointed leaders of a new cult. This cult,
which replaces traditional religion, has as its God the fiction of Nirvana on
earth, which can only be accomplished through the policies of the enlightened
elites from Silicon Valley, Wall Street, and Washington. They know more than
you do, have done more than you have, and achieved more than you have and,
therefore, are much better equipped to make important decisions for the “less
fortunate.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Naturally, they may not live by or be constrained by the
commandments their new religion dictates, but that’s because, while they were
smart enough to navigate and survive a world fraught with free-thinking
individuals and potential catastrophic failures, you’re not. You’re too busy
with your “God, guns and family” to be equipped to see the big picture.
Individual freedom makes for bad collective decisions they’d say, but from the
elevated perspectives their intelligence and success allows, they can help you
people make better decisions and avoid mistakes…<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Nevermind that it’s the lessons learned from failures that
often lead men to success, or that it’s often after hitting rock bottom that
individuals reach their highest peaks. No, none of that matters because they
know best, just ask them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At the end of the day my SAT scores and bank account may
suggest that I’m not quite as smart as those guys, but at least now I
understand why…I’m a mere mortal, they’re demigods.<o:p></o:p></p><br /><p></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-44195656425520162982023-09-12T03:41:00.000-07:002023-09-12T03:41:02.228-07:00Donald Trump’s Mugshot and the Berlin Wall of Democrat Propaganda<p><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;">The
Democrats are making a final push against Donald Trump, the culmination of
their </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">unrelenting</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;">
efforts since 2016. But is their propaganda becoming so obvious that, rather
than persuading voters, it finally opens their eyes to reality? The Soviet
Union stands as an example of how “propaganda collapse” plays out and how that
might happen here, too.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">I went
to college back in the 1980s, when Communism was still perceived by most
Americans as a bad thing—although not one of my political philosophy
professors. He proudly characterized himself as “Somewhere to the left of
Lenin.” When professing his love and respect for the Soviets—but not enough to
leave Florida and move to Moscow— <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">he</span> often tried to square the circle of their military prowess
and the reports in American media about their economic failings.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Thus, he
pointed out that the Soviets built rockets sending men into space, built weapon
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">systems the</span> Pentagon
told us could obliterate the West, dominated Eastern Europe, and were the power
behind the Vietnamese who defeated both the French and the Americans. Given all
the Soviet’s demonstrated military and technological prowess, he asked, how was
it even remotely possible that they could not build washing machines or cars on
par with anything produced in the West? Given that they controlled one of the
greatest breadbaskets in the world, Ukraine, how could it be true that there
was rampant starvation?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">The
professor had a ready answer: The stories about the Soviet’s economic failures
were lies—propaganda produced by the CIA and <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">segments of</span> the capitalist American media.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixgh6UlfwsV0nuDUc_dcVnpgcLVEBu4JLIrTrtvU7Mo19eG7CBq4Nwokl9LU_YV11jiu3bRnY9sjXEHShPBPI_YepfvNyvQdVDst2cg05O5IRkWOWtGHCw058KOZGNnqw5bhrI6GN3quYWCbiA2trU9b8NEO3N0hJhgH3mSUG7ZfIt1LZWa72l5Y5XkCg/s1024/TrumpMugshotMid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixgh6UlfwsV0nuDUc_dcVnpgcLVEBu4JLIrTrtvU7Mo19eG7CBq4Nwokl9LU_YV11jiu3bRnY9sjXEHShPBPI_YepfvNyvQdVDst2cg05O5IRkWOWtGHCw058KOZGNnqw5bhrI6GN3quYWCbiA2trU9b8NEO3N0hJhgH3mSUG7ZfIt1LZWa72l5Y5XkCg/s320/TrumpMugshotMid.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>And it
wasn’t just economics. It was politics as well. The Soviet Union had one of the
most <span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Constitution_of_the_Soviet_Union" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">robust constitutions in the world</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">, he
insisted, with an array of guarantees that any citizen in the West would feel
comfortable with: Freedom of speech, the press, right of assembly, worship etc.
The gulags of Siberia were simply more Western propaganda.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Eventually
the professor’s fiction about the communist nirvana could be sustained no
longer, but by that time I had graduated and was stationed in West Germany.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall, the reality of the desolation of the East
started to become clear. Indeed, the juxtaposition of the abject economic
failure of the East with the prosperity of the west put the lie to everything
my communist championing professor and his favorite newspaper, the NY Times,
had tried to drill into our heads for years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">The fall
of the Berlin Wall wasn’t the end of communism, nor even the Soviet Union,
which would stand for an additional two years. But when it comes to discussing
the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism in Eastern Europe, that fall is
the thing that most people remember.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">I’d
posit that we witnessed a similarly epoch-defining event <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">recently:</span> Donald Trump’s
mugshot. There’s nothing extraordinary about the mugshot itself, but sometimes
an image is much more than <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">just</span>
the pixels it’s made up of. What this particular image really depicts is the
culmination of eight years of lies and propaganda from Democrats and the Swamp.
In one picture, Americans understand exactly what has been going on for the
last eight years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">With
that mugshot, even people who hate Donald Trump will recognize that America is
evolving into a tyranny, like Venezuela with Chavez or Turkey with Erdogan, a
place where laws don’t matter other than as tools to crush opponents. They see
that the apparatus of the state is simply a vehicle for distributing power
among your friends and punishing your enemies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">And in
an echo of the 1930s, when Stalin was starving millions of Ukrainians to death
and the New York Times was </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/08/1097097620/new-york-times-pulitzer-ukraine-walter-duranty" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">telling us fairy tales</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">,
today’s media are telling us that Trump is indeed </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-crime-investigations/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">a criminal</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">, the charges are damning,
and that Americans are finally coming to </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-michael-cohen-poll-stormy-daniels-russia-mueller-a8809606.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">recognize him as one</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The
difference is that it took half a century for the truth about the evil of the
Soviets to finally find the light of day, while the truth about the evil of the
Democrats and their Swamp comrades has taken just a few years… Indeed, you
could make the argument that it’s taken </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/indictments-of-Donald-Trump-2229401" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">less than six months</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Trump’s
first indictment, this past March, accuses him of using his own money, rather
than donors’ money to pay hush money, suggesting that election law required him
to use campaign contributions to keep hidden a sordid story about sex. His
second indictment, in June, accuses him of mishandling documents,
something </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/05/17/not-just-trump-and-biden-every-administration-since-reagan-mishandled-classified-records-national-archives-finds/?sh=36a6e65718b9" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">every president has done</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">, but no
others were indicted for. (And, of course, </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/06/trump_did_not_violate_the_law_because_he_could_not_violate_the_law.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Trump did not mishandle the documents</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">.) His
third indictment, on August <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">1st</span>,
was for attempting to overturn the 2020 election results, this after he’s on
video telling his followers to “</span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4Bq6ADEaBk" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">peacefully and patriotically</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">” make
their way to the Capitol. His last (so far) indictment was issued on August <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">14th</span>, and accused him
of </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-indicted-georgia-racketeering-rcna74912" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">seeking to interfere with the 2020 election</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> by
falsely claiming he wanted the </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/03/politics/trump-brad-raffensperger-phone-call-transcript/index.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Secretary of State to manufacture votes</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In less
than six months, the Democrats have indicted Donald Trump four times, with the
cases scheduled to run through at least the spring of 2024, right into the
heart of primary season. Aside from the absurdity of the indictments
themselves, this is easily the most blatant example of election interference
the United States has ever seen. Indeed it’s so blatant that even a majority of
Democrats who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/democrat-voters-think-donald-trump-arrest-election-interference-1822667" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">think it’s interference</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">To make
matters worse for Democrats, in his interview with Tucker Carlson, Trump looked
and sounded as presidential as he ever has. While his outlandish personality
serves him well at rallies filled with supporters, his presidential decorum,
command of the facts, and his clear confidence while speaking with Tucker are
exactly what appeals to those voters put off by doddering Joe Biden’s inability
to put an intelligent thought into words or walk up a flight of stairs. While a
good interview alone won’t get the job done, for those who are looking around
wondering what the hell the Democrats are doing, it likely opens a door for
him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">As with
most things in life, timing is everything, and the Democrats may have hit the
sweet spot…for Donald Trump. While Biden has been less than lucid for most of
his presidency, today he more often looks like an escaped Alzheimer’s patient
than he does a president. The longer Democrats allow Joe to run with the
fiction that he is going to be on the ticket in November, the stronger the
contrast becomes with the robust, energized, and cogent Trump. At the same
time, every day seems to bring more proof to light that Biden is not only a
liar, but he’s been on the take from America’s enemies for years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Many
Democrats would no doubt vote for a fence post so long as it was running
against Donald Trump, but there are likely a significant number with
functioning brains who recognize that regardless of how much they dislike
Trump, he’s a far better choice than Joe Biden.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">Of
course, Democrats could ditch Biden for Harris, Newsom or, God forbid, Michelle
Obama, but that doesn’t solve the problem they’ve created with the trials.
Trump will be sitting in courtrooms during critical periods of the campaign,
but that doesn’t mean he’ll lose support as a result. Indeed, just the opposite
is likely to happen as he has countless surrogates who will use the fact that
he couldn’t be there because of the Democrats’ treachery to excite a crowd and
grow support.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 14pt;">In
addition, the trials will offer daily opportunities to remind voters of the
Democrats’ hypocrisy and mendacity as they manipulate the justice system to
crucify Trump while the Bidens, Hillary, and virtually every swamp dweller gets
off scot-free.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: white;">It would
be the ultimate irony if the indictments that Democrats hoped to use to finally
defeat Donald Trump were the vehicles through which America finally came to see
their mendacity and propelled their worst nightmare back into office.</span><span style="background-color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-88413191490801031682023-09-06T05:21:00.000-07:002023-09-06T05:21:11.836-07:00Can Democrats Constitutionally End Trump’s Campaign?<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">We all know what an October Surprise is. It’s when a rival
campaign or supporter releases information about an opponent at a point in
October. The idea is to release the skeleton or some other damaging information
at a point when it’s too late for the opposing candidate to recover, giving the
candidate whose team released the information a clear path to victory. Always
feared, </span><a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3678755-five-october-surprises-that-shook-recent-us-elections/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">As the number of inane indictments of Trump demonstrates,
the Democrats will do virtually anything to keep Donald Trump from ever again
occupying the White House and threatening the Swamp’s grip on the throats of
the American people.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">I don’t, however, think a traditional October Surprise is
much of a danger in this election. Why would Democrats wait until the last
minute to release some exquisite horror that will send Trump packing? They
wouldn’t. The fact that they haven’t released such a campaign-killing bit of
information already means that they simply don’t have one.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">As such, the Democrats are in trouble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Between having a guy who electrifies crowds
like no one in American history on the other side and their presumptive nominee
being a doddering Alzheimer’s patient they really have two problems to solve,
not one.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">One wonders if there is not some constitutional answer to
their quandary… I think there is.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Now, I can’t suggest this would be successful, but I can
guarantee that it would set the political universe of the “</span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqSA-SY5Hro"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Rich Men North of Richmond</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">,” on their
heads.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The solution for the Democrats lies in the 22nd Amendment.
Here is the relevant language: “<i>No person shall be elected to the office of
the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of
President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which
some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the
President more than once.</i>”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">This language offers Democrats the opportunity to eliminate
both of their problems at the same time. Now, of course, it has risks, may be
legally or constitutionally impossible, and has the potential to send the
nation into chaos or a civil war, but as we’ve seen, none of those things is a
barrier to Democrats doing anything, legal, illegal or unconscionable in order
to win.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">So how does the 22nd Amendment offer the Democrats a way
out of the morass they find themselves in? Simple: Make Donald Trump president
again. Essentially this would involve Democrats revealing (admitting, really)
that, after an unprecedented national investigation of the 2020 election, it
turns out that, shockingly, Donald Trump was right and the election was
tainted. He did, in fact, win the 2020 election.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Check out the language of the Amendment. It says: “<i>No
person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice</i>…” It
doesn’t require that the person has actually served as president for two terms.
It literally only states that a person cannot be elected more than twice,
without regard for whether he served in the position.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWWaGjE0InFQeliNlz2mQpZtXKDMcJKBF3byEeIPPSaWTaf3aGNvPxPx9IPcMXHcTn0WLGFJKbZ8a6lzQf6SS1KZB9YS7B7vE7iX9Aak0NQhwNA29ENqaS8cJXjbo71R3oJ4W7vCPSYpqDiEjcvH_B-7q_IaBlh9J0LGMXjyadJLs5U5h07N3jDDV-ao4/s600/ConstitutionImage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="401" data-original-width="600" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWWaGjE0InFQeliNlz2mQpZtXKDMcJKBF3byEeIPPSaWTaf3aGNvPxPx9IPcMXHcTn0WLGFJKbZ8a6lzQf6SS1KZB9YS7B7vE7iX9Aak0NQhwNA29ENqaS8cJXjbo71R3oJ4W7vCPSYpqDiEjcvH_B-7q_IaBlh9J0LGMXjyadJLs5U5h07N3jDDV-ao4/s320/ConstitutionImage.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>So, in one action, Democrats can eliminate both of their
problems. The first and most consequential is to keep the feared Donald Trump
from running again. The second is to send Brandon to the sidelines, having
undermined the only reason he’s even thought of by a single American, which is
that he sits in the Oval Office.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">But, you say, “That’s crazy! That’s impossible. There’s
nothing in the Constitution that would allow such a thing!” True, but then
there’s nothing in it to prohibit it, either. And as we know, the Democrats are
willing to do anything, constitutional or otherwise, if it will bring them
power. This is particularly true with a Supreme Court led by the lion from the
Wizard of Oz.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Proof of such is legion. Think how the IRS and DOJ
eviscerated the First Amendment, the government obliterated </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124217356836613091" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Chrysler
creditors’ contract rights</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> during the last
financial meltdown, and the DOJ being weaponized against private citizens.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">There are cultural attacks, too. For more than 2,000 years
of Western civilization, marriage was one man and one woman. Thanks to the
Democrats, that’s no longer true. There’s dude in a dress, </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/rachel-levine"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">“Rachel” Levine</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">, who’s
the Assistant Secretary for Health. He insists that he’s a woman, and the
government agrees with him, while anyone who points out the obvious is
castigated. Today, governments across the country are not only allowing
prepubescent children to be butchered by predatory doctors and rapacious
hospitals, but some are </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://townhall.com/tipsheet/briannaheldt/2018/09/27/new-california-law-allows-children-to-get-transgender-treatments-without-parental-consent-n2522928" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">paying for it and doing it without parental consent</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">There’s literally nothing the Democrats wouldn’t do for
power…<br />
<br />
Now the question is, how and when would the Democrats put forward this
innovative plan? Perhaps they’ll act as Americans are basking in the relative
quiet of summer, when they can enjoy the last bit of peace before the cacophony
of election propaganda ramps up its around-the-clock assault on their senses.
Or they could wait until October to spring it on the American people…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The first approach would have the advantage of allowing them
to find a suitable candidate for November and begin marketing him or her as the
savior of “Democracy.” The downside of that timing would be that after swearing
in Trump, he’d be in control of the bureaucracy for about half a year. But the
truth is, given the resulting chaos of the move and the depth of the Swamp,
what he might accomplish, even with an ostensible GOP majority in the House,
would be very limited. The second approach has the benefit of having Trump in
the White House for just a couple of months as a lame duck.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Now, both of these assume that Trump would acquiesce and
allow himself to be sworn in… which he’d never do. But here’s where it gets
interesting. If Trump saw the sham for what it was and refused to participate,
then it would fall to Mike Pence to be sworn in and take over the Executive
Office, and don’t for a second think that he wouldn’t do it, because he would.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">This of course sounds absurd, and it is, but so too did the
idea of gay marriage for all human history except for a nanosecond. That
doesn’t mean that Democrats won’t consider it. Once they accept that their
comical indictments of Trump are not only not scaring off his supporters, but
are actually strengthening his position, they’ll begin to feel like cornered
animals willing to do anything to escape.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Somewhere in the Democrat brain trust (sic) the people who
decided that it was a good idea to put an Alzheimer’s patient in charge of the
nuclear football are going to realize that Donald Trump, if he’s on the ballot
in November, will win the election. So, whether it takes the form of an October
Surprise or July Fireworks, don’t be surprised if the Democrats risk civil war
to stay in power. After all, they did once before…<o:p></o:p></span></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-49246459721569995642023-08-23T05:17:00.004-07:002023-08-23T05:28:44.106-07:00Just Living Your Life... Under the Watchful Eyes of the Swamp<p> <span style="font-size: 14pt;">“A ship is safe in
harbor, but that's not what ships are for.”</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Writing in 1928, John Shedd wasn’t really talking about ships. He was
talking about life.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Years ago, my girlfriend
and I went to see a movie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What we saw, I’ve
no idea, but I do know we had a terrible time, and it had nothing to do with
what was on the screen and everything to do with what was going on in the
theater. People were yelling at the screen, talking to each other, and smoking.
My girlfriend mentioned the smoking, and I said that if that was the only
problem we encountered, we’d be lucky, as I’d recently witnessed a bloody knife
fight between two girls over a baby-daddy in a nearby theater.<br />
<br />
I mention this because when you think your life may be in jeopardy, it’s hard
to enjoy entertainment, and enjoyment is the whole point of movies. Movies
require your buy-in for success, you must turn off reality and connect with the
characters. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you can’t do that,
you can’t enjoy the movie. If you’re worried that someone’s going to pull a gun
or set the place on fire, you’re going to be too busy scanning for danger to
become engaged with what’s on the screen. You’d end up doing little more than
wasting your time and money.<br />
<br />
Just as movies require your buy-in and focus for success, so too does life. And
that’s a problem with 21st-century America and the always-on-everywhere swamp.
The danger is not so much that Big Brother is watching and trying to control
our every move. He/it doesn’t have to. Our knowing that the state could be
watching or listening is enough. It’s called the “</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilling_effect" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Chilling Effect</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">”, basically the
government doing something that chills citizens’ willingness to exercise their
constitutional rights for fear of reprisals.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Think about it this way:
If you think it’s tough to enjoy a movie when you’re worried about what’s going
on in the theater, imagine how difficult it would be to write a compelling,
engaging movie with a critic holding a club looking over your shoulder the
entire time. Well, that’s you trying to live your life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How different would the
script of your life be if you knew your every word might end up as part of some
government dossier? How much could you embrace freedom and focus on having fun,
sowing your wild oats, finding your passion, or risking failure to pursue some
crazy dream if you were constantly wondering what some government bureaucrat
with the power to throw you in prison or destroy your business or take away your
kids might think? And that’s true </span><a href="https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15997/michael-flynn-innocent" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">even if you didn’t do
anything illegal</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-SJLDH1wd3tPnfcI37HmLoJ-uzRCL-fe9FrOGUu_6Rwxf4LCMkAg-p0VkB4nWUWfeXgxNH0UkPgw_OjkItEdobx-CkIY1Zi9PDiF3Hi1ZGBYyEHUVfdYUQarfFK8_z5j21TzZcMmrRVxwhqq94Kwszj-eAXghzrfjTdY5hezfOyAJxNjkFuRZEkTe8m4/s1024/BigBrother4.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-SJLDH1wd3tPnfcI37HmLoJ-uzRCL-fe9FrOGUu_6Rwxf4LCMkAg-p0VkB4nWUWfeXgxNH0UkPgw_OjkItEdobx-CkIY1Zi9PDiF3Hi1ZGBYyEHUVfdYUQarfFK8_z5j21TzZcMmrRVxwhqq94Kwszj-eAXghzrfjTdY5hezfOyAJxNjkFuRZEkTe8m4/s320/BigBrother4.png" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And that’s the problem. Since
2013’s </span><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/edward-snowden-interview/edward-snowden-timeline-n114871" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Snowden revelations</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">,
we’ve known the government is actively collecting reams of data on virtually
all of us. Back then, even the NY Times called it a “</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/opinion/surveillance-a-threat-to-democracy.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Threat to Democracy</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.”
The government, against virtually the entire Bill of Rights, has and currently
is looking at everything Americans do. (Want to see how much data they collect?
</span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/snowden-nsa-files-surveillance-revelations-decoded#section/1" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Click here</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.)<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Knowing our government
is actively looking at emails, phone calls (or </span><a href="https://www.law.nyu.edu/centers/ili/metadataproject" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“just” our metadata</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, as we were assured),
as well as our online surfing and purchasing habits, sends a chill down your
spine. With 350 million people in the country, they’re probably not looking at
you…but they might be.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And it’s not just the
government. While, yes, it is the FBI, NSA, IRS, and other agencies in the
alphabet soup of the state, it’s also Facebook, Google, Apple, and AT&T.
It’s also the banks. Maybe the most relevant example of the banks is JP Morgan
Chase—a company that recently </span><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jpmorgan-chase-reaches-settlement-jeffrey-epstein-victim-rcna88807" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">paid $290 million to
victims of Jeffry Epstein</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> for empowering the
pedophile—recently </span><a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/chase-closes-prominent-vaccine-skeptics-business-account-and-executives-personal-bank-accounts/ar-AA1eowSC" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">closing down the
accounts of a prominent vaccine skeptic</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> after </span><a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/chase-bank-allegedly-shutters-bank-account-religious-freedom-nonprofit-demands-donor-list" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">closing the account of
a religious freedom nonprofit</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> last year. This follows
a since derailed plan by MasterCard and Visa to </span><a href="https://americanmilitarynews.com/2022/09/visa-mastercard-to-track-all-gun-store-sales-nationwide/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">track gun and
ammunition purchases</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“But they’re private
companies!” That’s technically true, but also false. They may be private but
they’re often </span><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-biden-administrations-assault-on-free-speech-first-amendment-soical-media-platform-meta-facebook-twitter-files-99101669" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">coerced by the
government to do its bidding</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. What’s more, there’s
often a </span><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11562433/Facebook-riddled-ex-CIA-agents-ex-FBI-agents-work-Twitter.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">revolving door with
government officials</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> that makes explicit coercion unnecessary
and government service </span><a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/120967/wall-street-pays-bankers-work-government-and-wants-it-secret" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">quite lucrative for
potential regulators</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And so back to the life
you’re living…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How comfortable are you
going to be doing or saying anything that might cause the federal government
(or </span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/colorado-baker-loses-appeal-over-refusal-make-gender-transition-cake-2023-01-26/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">state</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> or </span><a href="https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/megan-fox/2021/05/17/missouri-family-court-corruption-investigation-complete-catalog-n1447471" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">local</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">)
to put you on some watchlist? You ask yourself “Should I wear this MAGA hat to
that school board meeting, or should I wait until my building permit is
approved?” “Should I write that blog critical of my senator, or should I wait
until my nonprofit application is approved?” “Should I post pictures of my kids
at the range, or should I wait until my bank approves my mortgage application?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The reality is, citizens
silencing themselves is a far bigger problem than the government censoring
them. (Just think how unfunny “comedy” is today with the censorious woke
scrutinizing every joke.) How many journalists or bloggers have avoided writing
something or “toned it down” because they were worried they’d pay some price
for offending the wrong bureaucrat?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s not just the words
not spoken or the stands not taken that are the problem. It’s the fact that
energy must be spent considering them in the first place. Living a successful
life is challenging in the best of circumstances. Getting everything from an education
to a job, starting a company or finding the perfect spouse and raising good
kids. All take a lot of effort to do successfully, but the question is, how
much harder would they be if you had to divert X% of your focus to constantly
wondering what the consequences on them be if you exercised your First or
Second Amendment rights?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sure, you could simply
keep your head down and not bother, but as we know from </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fahrenheit-451-Ray-Bradbury/dp/1451673310" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fahrenheit 451</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">,
that actually harms society. And, even if you tried to keep your head down and
go about your way, there’s no guarantee you aren’t going to end up on the wrong
side of a government vaccine policy or tripped up by a school board’s
constantly evolving “pronoun” policy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At the end of the day,
living a good life takes work and can be challenging, that’s particularly so in
a free society. But it’s the freedom of ideas that the advancements of society,
whether advocating for a legislative check on a monarch’s power, proffering a
sun-centered system, or filibustering for a Bill of Rights. There’s a reason
the US and the West have led the world in the growth of prosperity and advances
in science and mathematics, and that reason is the freedom to exchange ideas,
good and bad and otherwise.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Getting the most out of
life, like enjoying a movie, depends on the ability to focus on the task at
hand without fear for your safety as you do so. As the surveillance and control
leviathan of the swamp grows, doing so becomes ever more difficult. Now might
be a good time to start supporting candidates who vow to dismantle it before it
dismantles what’s left of our freedoms.</span></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-58002822430406137702023-08-17T07:43:00.000-07:002023-08-17T07:43:14.571-07:00The Cost of Prosperity - Distraction From What Really Counts<p>Americans are busy people—but the real risk in the lead-up
to 2024 is that we may be too busy to pay attention to our last chance to
preserve our liberties.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In one respect we’re no different than any other people on
the planet given that our primary needs are food, water and shelter. Beyond
that however, Americans enjoy a life of leisure opportunities that virtually no
one else on the planet enjoys. Not leisure that’s measured in hours
worked as in France or Germany. Workers in most developed
countries <a href="https://everhour.com/blog/average-working-hours/#Breaking_it_down_work_hours_in_a_year_in_North_America_Europe_Asia" target="_blank">work fewer hours per year than Americans do</a>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">No, what’s different is that Americans have so many ways to
spend their leisure time: Motocross. Shopping. Video games. Countless cable
channels. Amusement parks. Golf. Swimming. Skiing. Football. Baseball. Golf.
Putt putt golf. Pickleball. Off-track betting. Gymnastics. Theater. Karate.
Star Trek conventions. Habitat for Humanity. Cornhole. BBQ competitions.
Quilting competitions. Beauty pageants for kids. These are only a tiny fraction
of the myriad options Americans have at their disposal to entertain themselves
or spend their leisure time watching or participating in.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc8C5M49XS6u8roODwnGOvO5kqKqjy0ZwGKi4B2KfeYsKtXpI7C_QeBYHSnBSLl1WoQNCoknXOQ_HFe05BKhhrHRoD6DhYvLzCNcAMEb7XETPaZyAT3z-yvXsNWHoshPaFeoiksq8BIznJMxXsqgE6tJCuWFujQQ6pmgrnc6qpqjslw7jE6sqX-ORtu70/s800/Fun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc8C5M49XS6u8roODwnGOvO5kqKqjy0ZwGKi4B2KfeYsKtXpI7C_QeBYHSnBSLl1WoQNCoknXOQ_HFe05BKhhrHRoD6DhYvLzCNcAMEb7XETPaZyAT3z-yvXsNWHoshPaFeoiksq8BIznJMxXsqgE6tJCuWFujQQ6pmgrnc6qpqjslw7jE6sqX-ORtu70/s320/Fun.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>If one were to compare the spectrum of activities available
to the average American with the equivalent spectrum for any other country on
the planet, it wouldn’t take long to see an enormous difference. Many countries
share some of our pursuits, but the depth and breadth available to Americans is
unparalleled. None of this came about by accident. The reason Americans have
dozens of sports and thousands of activities to participate in, from grade
school to the senior center, is because the nation has been so prosperous for
so long, and the nation has exemplified creativity for things both
consequential and not. The result is a nation where most people have available
a level of entertainment and leisure unparalleled in history.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One consequence of such is that Americans are busy. So busy,
in fact, that they forget to pay attention to some things that really
matter—specifically, government. In a perfect world, no one would have to pay
much attention to the government because it would be run like a well-oiled
machine in the background that wouldn’t cause any trouble. But that’s not how
governments work. Our Founding Fathers knew that, which is why they gave us a
government of separated powers with staggered terms for those responsible for
exercising them. But even such a near-perfect document cannot stand forever in
the face of avarice and the lust for power.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That greed and lust for power is the defining
characteristic of what we call the Swamp. And it was enabled by a plethora of
acts that strengthened and emboldened the apparatchiks who man it. These
included Executive Orders by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_10988" target="_blank">JFK</a> and <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-11491-labor-management-relations-the-federal-service" target="_blank">Nixon</a> giving federal employees powers or “protections”
they’d never previously had, as well as a 1984 <a href="https://www.conservapedia.com/Chevron_U.S.A.,_Inc._v._Natural_Resources_Defense_Council,_Inc." target="_blank">Supreme Court case</a> that required courts to defer to
federal agencies as it relates to rule-making when there is ambiguity in the
legislation.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Together, these and other acts made the Swamp possible. They
built a federal government where it’s almost impossible to fire anyone, and
agencies essentially get to decide who and what they regulate while those
affected have limited redress. So basically, we have agencies that decide what
laws they want to write staffed by people who can’t be fired regardless of
their failure, incompetence, or criminality.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Of course, every two years, the cacophony that is American
life is made that much more dissonant by elections. Most Americans, however,
unfortunately, spend less time learning what’s really at stake in those
elections than they do selecting teams for their March Madness brackets or
wondering what’s going on in the dysfunctional Kardashian universe. The reality
of this disaster was demonstrated <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm1KOBMg1Y8" target="_blank">15 years ago
by John Ziegler</a>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This situation might have been acceptable 100 years ago when
the federal government was relatively small and had little discernible impact
on most American lives. Today, however, when the leviathan of the federal
government seeks to control virtually every aspect of our lives, it’s simply
not. There’s a tipping point in every endeavor in life, and the lifecycle of a
Republic is no exception. Leaving the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin
Franklin was asked: “Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?” He
responded: “A Republic, if you can keep it.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Two hundred and thirty years later we are on the verge of
losing it. The problem is that too many Americans have no idea what the danger
is and have little interest in finding out. They’ve spent so much of their
lives enjoying the leisure and entertainment our Republic has made possible
that they’ve forgotten that the foundation of freedom and prosperity upon which
those conditions are built are not ordained by God, not set in stone, and not
guaranteed. The conditions underlying Americans’ freedoms and prosperity are
far more fragile than most recognize but, like frogs in a pot of slowly warming
water, they’re succumbing to the creeping threat. Indeed, there’s an inverse
relationship between government micromanagement and citizens’ freedom.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In what might be the single most crystallizing example of
government micromanagement of Americans’ everyday lives since Barack
Obama’s <a href="https://nypost.com/2016/05/08/obamas-last-act-is-to-force-suburbs-to-be-less-white-and-less-wealthy/" target="_blank">attempts to destroy the suburbs</a>, the Biden Administration
is considering banning gas stoves and a plethora of other items <a href="https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2023/07/18/new-biden-rules-dont-stop-at-your-gas-stove-n2625878" target="_blank">Americans use in the normal routine of their daily lives</a>.
Think about that…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Natural gas has been a key element of cooking in America for
centuries. It’s a clean-burning fuel, cheap and plentiful, with a variety of
sources, <a href="https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/natural-gas/where-our-natural-gas-comes-from.php" target="_blank">mostly in red states</a>, which makes it hard to control. So,
if Democrats can’t control the supply of something, they simply take control of
the demand. Doing so in this case has the twin virtues of harming the economies
of red states while forcing Americans to buy new, “green lobby approved”—read:
dysfunctional and expensive—appliances. All, of course, in the name of the
“Climate Change” hoax.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These and literally <a href="https://cei.org/publication/tens-of-thousands-of-pages-and-rules-in-the-federal-register-2/" target="_blank">tens of thousands</a> of other federal regulations are
the <a href="https://www.mercatus.org/research/working-papers/cumulative-cost-regulations" target="_blank">cost to Americans</a> of not paying attention, summed up
by the notion that politics is downstream from culture. Hollywood and the media
destroyed American culture, which made turning Washington’s alphabet departments,
agencies, and bureaus into tools of tyranny easy.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The question is, can anyone shake the American people out of
this political stupor long enough for them to recognize the danger they face?
Will Americans rise to the occasion in 2024, or will they instead continue to
eat the fruit from the tree of liberty, oblivious to the rot of its roots?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Perhaps a paraphrasing of Martin Niemöller might help:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">First, they raised the minimum wage, and I cheered because I
had a job.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then, they destroyed public education, and I didn’t act
because I sent my kid to private school.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Next, they limited cable rates, and I applauded because I
saved $20 a month.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When they came for my light bulbs, I didn’t react because it
made me feel good to help the environment.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One day, they said ethnicity was more important than ability
for college acceptance, but I said nothing because I’d already graduated.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They increased taxes on the rich, and I didn’t care because
I wasn’t rich.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then they came for my gun, my car, my job, and eventually
everything I hold dear, but there was no one left to stand with me because no
one remembered what real liberty was or how it was supposed to be protected in
the first place.</p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-4079404830925605782023-08-07T00:22:00.005-07:002023-08-07T00:43:08.362-07:00Not news - nor a surprise: The Government Lost the War on Poverty<p>Recently the Supreme Court put an <a href="https://www.heritage.org/courts/commentary/supreme-court-student-loan-decision-will-keep-tuition-prices-soaring-still-higher">end
to Joe Biden’s efforts to gift erstwhile college students almost a trillion dollars
in “debt relief”</a>. That’s a lot of
money… but in reality that’s a tiny fraction of the money the government has
wasted on redistribution, AKA social programs over the last six decades.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Next year the United States will commemorate the 60th
anniversary of the <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/poverty-awareness-month.html">War
on Poverty</a>, initiated by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. The War’s
programs initially started on a modest scale but have <a href="https://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/~/media/infographics/2014/09/bg2955/bg-war-on-poverty-50-years-chart-2-825.jpg">expanded
almost <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">parabolically</span> since</a>. At
the 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the launch the government had spent <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/louiswoodhill/2014/03/19/the-war-on-poverty-wasnt-a-failure-it-was-a-catastrophe/?sh=3db5fcca6f49">more
than $22 trillion</a> on various welfare and redistribution programs and today
spends <a href="https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/welfare_spending">$1
trillion a year</a> on said programs… not including various “targeted”
expenditures under Social Security or Medicare, which make the <a href="https://www.heritage.org/welfare/report/understanding-the-hidden-11-trillion-welfare-system-and-how-reform-it">true
total simply unknowable</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To put that
in perspective, $1 trillion is greater than the GDP of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)">194 of
the world’s 213 countries</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Is this massive expenditure justified by the results of the
War on Poverty? Initially one might suggest the results say yes. As of 2021,
poverty in the United States hovered at approximately 11.6%, down from the approximately
<a href="https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/visualizations/2022/demo/p60-277/figure1.pdf">18%
rate in 1964 when the War on Poverty began</a>. That’s a reduction of 6.6%, or
almost one third.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrWJy5l7BGzuVjsZ5C23tPVvguPZFQ4UDLX5sSxGnF39abI5oJWPmvKmYrygOCsziK-X3BnOyhbXRG9CWfXdo54uMiIx1du8iHYLDKTQ6RvPh1-Zg-OdKYuwugxB6G1LZYTf62EYnh4xtQFQHFyQQIwCrGR3x7IUcusubUnmkXXJWCXz-LMKNIdH1RifM/s744/PovertyLine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="744" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrWJy5l7BGzuVjsZ5C23tPVvguPZFQ4UDLX5sSxGnF39abI5oJWPmvKmYrygOCsziK-X3BnOyhbXRG9CWfXdo54uMiIx1du8iHYLDKTQ6RvPh1-Zg-OdKYuwugxB6G1LZYTf62EYnh4xtQFQHFyQQIwCrGR3x7IUcusubUnmkXXJWCXz-LMKNIdH1RifM/w508-h375/PovertyLine.jpg" width="508" /></a></div><br />A closer look however reveals that that 6.6% reduction after
an expenditure of $30 trillion seems underwhelming to say the least.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To see the full picture of the failed War on
Poverty one need only look at the poverty rate over the 15 years prior to its
beginning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1949 the poverty rate in
the United States stood at 34%, fully one third of the nation’s
population.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over the next 15 years,
without significant government redistribution programs, indeed, without the War
on Poverty, the poverty rate fell almost by half, falling from 34% to 18%, a
reduction of a full 16 percentage points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So, without government spending significant money poverty fell 16% in a
period of 15 years, or 1.08% per year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
with government spending more than $30 trillion over the next 55 years it fell
by a total of just 6.4%, or .12% per year! That essentially means that without
government intervention the poverty rate was falling 10 times faster than it
did once government programs kicked in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And that 11.6% itself deserves a closer look.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2014, when the <a href="https://www.heritage.org/poverty-and-inequality/report/the-war-poverty-after-50-years">War
on Poverty turned 50</a>, the American poverty rate was still at 15%. That
means that after spending $20 trillion over the previous half century the
government had successfully reduced poverty by a mere 3%. When Barack Obama he entered
the White House in 2008 the poverty rate stood at 12.5%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It jumped up to 15% for four years before dropping
back to 12.5% by the end of his presidency and where it was when Donald Trump
took the White House. A mere three years later Trump’s economic renaissance had
reduced poverty by 2%, bringing it to its lowest level in history, 10.5%,
before the Covid scam derailed the prosperity engine. To put that in
perspective, Donald Trump’s economy brought poverty down by 2% in 3 years,
fully half as much as government spending did in the 53 years between 1964 and
2016.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And of course the income numbers only tell part of the
story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sadly, there is much more to
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">An unintended consequence of the War on Poverty appears to
have been a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_parents_in_the_United_States">skyrocketing
of single-parent households</a>, which is a <a href="https://www.investors.com/politics/columnists/single-parenthood-and-poverty-the-undeniable-connection/">significant
driver of poverty</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1964, around
4% of American children were born to unwed mothers. By 2021, this percentage
increased a full ten <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/276025/us-percentage-of-births-to-unmarried-women/">times
to 40%.</a> Under the heading of Unintended Consequences one could observe that
the welfare programs intended to save children from poverty, have, by making it
economically and socially viable for single-parent households to exist<a href="https://medium.com/2016-index-of-culture-and-opportunity/attacking-the-roots-of-child-poverty-7f31a724d8d8">,
in fact stranded many children in poverty and worse</a>, inflicting on them the
coincident pathologies of poor education and crime, not coincidentally, both
also being consequences of government failure.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">From another perspective, let’s draw a comparison between
the effects of government spending and the impact of private-sector
investments. Let’s take just three companies, <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AAPL/financials?p=AAPL">Apple</a>, <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AMZN/financials?p=AMZN">Amazon</a>, and <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/UPS/financials?p=UPS">UPS</a> who
together had about $1 trillion in revenue in 2022, approximately the same
amount the government spent on welfare that same year. These companies – and
many others like them – revolutionized industries, drove many trillions of
dollars of business for customers and vendors and affiliates; directly and
indirectly employ millions of Americans who are breadwinners for their families,
and at the same time generated trillions of dollars of wealth for
investors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One can only wonder what might have happened if the more
than $30 trillion the government wasted on its failed War on Poverty had instead
been invested in startups similar to Apple and Amazon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not that we want the government taking our
money and investing it – <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2012/10/18/president-obamas-taxpayer-backed-green-energy-failures/">WE
DON’T</a> – but imagine the impact that money might have had had it somehow been
targeted towards entrepreneurship and economic development. The 2% reduction in
poverty during Trump’s first three years demonstrated with crystal clarity that
market driven prosperity is a far more efficient vehicle for reducing poverty
than government spending of any form. At a minimum, a market driven solution would
likely have fostered a far more empowered, economically vibrant and dramatically
more prosperous population than the <a href="https://docs.iza.org/dp10942.pdf">generational
dependency</a> created by the government with its alphabet of aid
programs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Benjamin Franklin understood this more clearly than
virtually any politician in America today, having commented: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“I am for doing good to the poor, but I
differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor,
is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In
my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more
public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for
themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done
for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Whether it’s student debt or the federal and state welfare
perpetuation machines, America would be better off looking to the Founding
Fathers for guidance than the grifters at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue… </p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-83688870330996739242023-07-18T03:15:00.006-07:002023-07-18T03:46:00.456-07:00White Pride... Is that a thing?<p>Although the first
person killed in the American Revolution was a black man with native American
blood – <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crispus_Attucks">Crispus Attucks</a>
– the reality is, every man who <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signing_of_the_United_States_Declaration_of_Independence#List_of_signers">signed
the Declaration of Independence</a> and was involved with the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/founding-fathers">crafting of the
Constitution</a> was white. Simply put,
there would be no United States without white men.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After almost 250 years however the life of the average
American is not directly impacted by what those white men did in Philadelphia. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indirectly however, we experience the world
build upon their foundations every day… and most of that world was the result
of the inventions and innovations of other white men.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If you woke up this morning and did anything other than work
on a farm, you can thank <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/mccormick_hi.html">Cyrus
McCormick</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he invented the
mechanical reaper in 1831 farming hadn’t changed in a thousand years, where one
man with a scythe and two helpers could harvest two acres of grain a day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>McCormick’s early reaper allowed a man to double
that and his later reapers multiplied that many times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His introduction of payment plans made his
machines the workhorses of a dramatic increase in efficiencies in farming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the time of his invention <a href="https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=11&psid=3837">80%
of America’s population was either directly or indirectly involved in farming</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today that number is closer to 2%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So in essence Cyrus McCormick freed up almost
80% of the population to go out and do pretty much anything… from becoming
entrepreneurs, to florists to baseball players to scientists, to plumbers to
Instagram models and, yes, sadly, professional race grifters and activists.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbcszjbyQqVDUm56Xvosd6qAbmJSZI25X2dE-zeEcvGPrQ8qTHeHVj3_9mgRdvv4iZBh-n8m-JWoPzz4-rHB54l1Oa7IogG3QEMmbl0iHYEoQdEdF5M7PJFIm7djcuLP5DTi8ar2OeUf00PYvDUAKhrlByD60ppIPHukpTa2n6e6zQxz5WDrlEs0b0zXI/s1029/McCormick3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1029" data-original-width="1018" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbcszjbyQqVDUm56Xvosd6qAbmJSZI25X2dE-zeEcvGPrQ8qTHeHVj3_9mgRdvv4iZBh-n8m-JWoPzz4-rHB54l1Oa7IogG3QEMmbl0iHYEoQdEdF5M7PJFIm7djcuLP5DTi8ar2OeUf00PYvDUAKhrlByD60ppIPHukpTa2n6e6zQxz5WDrlEs0b0zXI/s320/McCormick3.png" width="317" /></a></div>Another white guy who had an extraordinary impact on America
today was Henry Ford.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many people think
Ford invented the automobile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/motor-vehicles-aeronautics-astronautics/item/who-invented-the-automobile/">He
didn’t</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But his auto manufacturing production
line brought the car from a luxury item only the rich could afford to a product
tens of millions and eventually billions of people around the world could
afford.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With that unprecedented access
to cars the universe opened up for Americans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Transportation limits on where they could work, live or go to school
evaporated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suddenly they could drive
anywhere they wanted, not limited to where public transport went or how far
their horse could travel in a day or how far they could walk. Today 250 million
Americans drive three trillion miles a year, six times the distance the earth
travels around the sun!<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There’s also Willis Carrier, the man who invented modern air
conditioning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every summer as temperatures
soar across the country, scorching everything in their path, most Americans can
retreat to their homes and relax in air conditioned comfort or enjoy a movie
theater or restaurant that would otherwise feel like a sweatshop. The degree to
which the air office spaces changed the face of America is hard to
exaggerate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While manufacturing steel or
working on a farm might not be impacted greatly by the invention of air
conditioning, many of the things Americans do for work would be much more
difficult if not impossible without it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Things like medical research and high tech manufacturing or more mundane
things like computer programming or working in a superstore or busy restaurant.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then there is Elisha Otis, inventor of the safety
elevator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take a look at the skyline of
any American city and you’ll see buildings that stack 30 or 50 or even 100
floors high.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of the tallest, skyscrapers
of 40 or more floors, New York City alone has 250, and there are almost a <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/us-cities-with-the-most-skyscrapers.html">thousand
across the country</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of those,
or even the tens of thousands of buildings of just 10 or 20 stories high wouldn’t
be possible without Otis’s safety elevator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisha_Otis">His presentation at
the 1853 New York World's Fair</a> helped usher in the advent of skyscrapers by
giving much of the public the confidence to ride in elevators.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And there are countless more including George Eastman, the
personal camera innovator, Charles Goodyear who put tires on our cars, the
Wright Brothers and their airplane, Samuel Colt and his guns, Isaac Singer the
sewing machine magnate, Levi Strauss and his jeans, Leo Baekeland who brought
us plastic, and thousands of others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To
those historic figures you can add (for better or worse) contemporary white men
Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Michael Dell, Mark Zuckerberg, Mark
Andreessen and in reality, millions of others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The fact of the matter is that these white men built much of
the world we live in today. There’s no group of people in human history who
have had a greater impact on mankind than white males in general, and American
white males in particular.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The world
they created may not be perfect, but measured against virtually every culture
that came before them the level of freedom and prosperity isn’t even close.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As such, we should celebrate White Male Pride!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yay!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But here’s the thing, although these white men may have
accomplished much, white men have also done extraordinarily bad things… from
Jack the Ripper to Hitler to Stalin to Teds Kaczynski and Bundy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We can’t celebrate white male pride because white men are
not monolithic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some white men are great
and others despicable human beings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
thing that made America great wasn’t the fact that her Founding Fathers were
white, but rather it was the ideas they had and the framework they put in
place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The notion of white pride is simply absurd. But the truth
is, so too is black pride and gay pride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>George Washington was no more of a representative of all white males than
was Stephen Paddock, the Las Vegas shooter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Equally, MLK was no more a representative of all black males than was
Samuel Little, the nation’s deadliest serial killer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And while celebrating white males is absurd, we should nonetheless
be grateful for the things that some of them bequeathed to us that have allowed
Americans to live lives that kings couldn’t have imagined just a century
ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And that legacy isn’t due to skin color, it’s due to a
culture that developed individual rights, freedom and representative government
over more than two millennia, and happened nowhere else on earth. Those basic
elements, when combined with free markets and limited government, found their
apex in the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today the nation built on those foundations is
the most robust and prosperous in history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But that prosperity can only survive if the fundamental
tenants of its culture remain strong. Sadly they’re not, and that’s why America
is fraying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Democrats’ balkanization
of Americans by race and sex have taken Americans’ focus off of creating more
prosperity and instead put the focus tribalization and redistributing wealth,
with the full weight of the government, media and academia driving the transition.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">No nation in history has prospered by redistributing wealth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s against human nature and a recipe for
tyranny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The key to prosperity is
creating more wealth and the Democrats have undermined that as they vilify
whites, both past and present, for the crime of being white.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The truth is, we don’t need black or gay or
white pride. What we do need however is pride in the successes America has
achieved and the building blocks of freedom that made that success
possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Just as comparison and envy are the roots of evil, gratitude
and conscientiousness are the fount of prosperity. Although it’s verboten to
mention in woke 2023, the reality is that white men built much of the world we
live in today. We can be grateful for their efforts without making them gods or
denigrating anyone else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The beauty of
America, particularly in the 21<sup>st</sup> century is that anyone can
succeed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We should look to history with
curiosity seeking to find inspiration in what those men (most of whom happened
to be white) accomplished, not with scorn and disdain for their sin of being men
of their times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Follow me on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/ImperfectUSA" target="_blank">ImperfectUSA</a></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-24609139551900948672023-07-07T00:26:00.007-07:002023-07-07T00:34:25.304-07:00Code Red: Life Lessons from Colonel Jessup and Donald Trump<p>Movies can sometimes be something of a Rorschach test in
terms of how one views the world. Like Rorschach tests, they can sometimes
leave an observer scratching their heads. As an example, my top 10 movies are
probably, in no particular order, Gladiator, Tombstone, Braveheart, LA
Confidential, Valley Girl (<i>The original masterpiece with Deborah Foreman and Nicolas Cage, not that terrible remake!</i>), Lost in Translation, Galaxy Quest, Trading Places,
Love Actually and maybe Titanic.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’m not sure what that list says about me, particularly the
inclusion of Valley Girl, but I’m sure some psychiatrist somewhere could say
there’s something to be taken from it. The one thing I can observe from my list
is that most of my movies have a good guy vs. bad guy conflict, which is of
course not a surprise coming from a guy who writes a lot about politics.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sometimes however in movies, as in life, who is the good guy
and who is the bad guy isn’t quite clear. For example, there is A Few Good Men,
set in Guantanamo Bay, near the end of the Cold War. The bad guy in the movie
is Jack Nicholson’s Colonel Jessup, and the good guy is Tom Cruise’s Lieutenant
Kaffee. For those unfamiliar with the 30 year old movie, basically a Marine
dies in his bed after being abused by his fellow Marines under indirect orders
from Colonel Jessup. Two Marines are charged with his murder and the courtroom
drama plays out demonstrating that Colonel Jessup was actually the guilty
party.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For those unfamiliar with Guantanamo other than as a
political football, it’s an American base on the south eastern end of Cuba.
It’s been a permanent American base since the end of the Spanish American war
in 1903. It’s about 50 square miles of concrete and mostly brown grass sitting
on two sides of a bay and surrounded by a ring of mountains. Christopher
Columbus actually spent the night there! I grew up there and it was a
spectacular place to be a teenager, with beaches, a golf course, year round
baseball, outdoor movie theaters and spectacular scuba diving, all under the
glow of perfect weather almost every day.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Of course the resort like experience I had as a kid was
ancillary to the actual function of the base itself. The base was surrounded by
a fence separating it from Cuba proper. The fence was buttressed by a zone of
land mines, with ubiquitous red and yellow triangles warning of the danger of
passing a certain point. When I lived there, and the period covered by A Few
Good Men, America was in the midst of the Cold War, with Cuba being essentially
the front lines, with occasional shots being fired across the no man’s land and
the fences being peppered with watchtowers on both sides.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While Guantanamo wasn’t West Berlin, it was always
theoretically under threat, and as such the Marines prepared to defend it if
necessary. A Few Good Men deals with Marines training to defend the base, and
one of those marines was the late PFC Santiago. Apparently PFC Santiago was a
subpar Marine who the Colonel felt needed some encouragement from his fellow
soldiers to become a better Marine. In this case that encouragement involved
what they call a “code red” which is essentially a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanket_party" target="_blank">blanket
party</a>, a form of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrajudicial_punishment" target="_blank">extrajudicial
punishment</a> meted out by fellow soldiers / Marines etc. when one of
their number is negatively impacting the group.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Usually such punishment is not fatal, but in the case of PFC
Santiago, it was. Two privates were charged for the murder but Tom Cruise’s Lt.
Caffery is called upon to defend them and eventually places blame on the
shoulders of Jack Nicholson’s COL Jessup.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What makes this movie so remarkable is the speech that COL
Jessup gives while on the witness stand:<br />
<br />
<i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLyb-zTsXEgAPzJ2QNppPYEoHzzGBjnvRLwaHIhrWuYKHveXAri8vAKo-5aNhiqqtZLw6vAE7csYWMm0t7hbvtFt3cMIsHjWUVHvCtWd2pbU_jl0s7dai6u9F3PMOPyXEOQxdiA9CmJxxgQME-NoUofyQ49pVXvXk4365I8cxHB7yzpK5BvPdmk7zNJgo/s275/Jessup.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLyb-zTsXEgAPzJ2QNppPYEoHzzGBjnvRLwaHIhrWuYKHveXAri8vAKo-5aNhiqqtZLw6vAE7csYWMm0t7hbvtFt3cMIsHjWUVHvCtWd2pbU_jl0s7dai6u9F3PMOPyXEOQxdiA9CmJxxgQME-NoUofyQ49pVXvXk4365I8cxHB7yzpK5BvPdmk7zNJgo/s1600/Jessup.jpg" width="275" /></a></i></div><i>"Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded
by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lieutenant Weinberg? I have a
greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and
you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing
what I know -- that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives; and
my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives.</i><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>You don't want the truth because deep down in places you
don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall -- you need me on that
wall.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>We use words like "honor," "code,"
"loyalty." We use these words as the backbone of a life spent
defending something. You use them as a punch line.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain
myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that
I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>I would rather that you just said "thank you"
and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand the
post. Either way, I don't give a DAMN what you think you're entitled to!”</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One can’t help but see the seething rage coming from the
despicable Jessup. You can’t help but feel the disdain he had for Santiago and
Cruz’s Caffery. He’s a dinosaur from a forgotten age.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now, most certainly, Jessup is a son of a bitch for throwing
those two young Marines under the bus, but on the bigger picture he’s 100%
right. While Santiago’s death was a tragedy, it probably would have saved
lives. America needs warriors on walls, America needs men who are willing and
able to pick up guns and fight and kill to protect the nation, and often that
is a dirty, messy business, including the training that goes into making doing
so successfully possible.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When you reread that speech it appears that Jessup could be
talking to every snowflake, every Democrat, every Antifa coward and every BLM
mark in America circa 2023! In the movie of course he’s not interested in
Kaffery or anyone else thinks of him. He’s not interested in getting invited to
their cocktail parties. He doesn’t care that their noses are turned up at him.
He’s interested in one thing, protecting the country. Sound familiar?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Donald Trump can be a son of a bitch. But unlike almost
every other politician in America, he understands that the country is stricken
with a cancer of wokeness and is paralyzed by a bloated bureaucracy staffed by
self important and avaricious apparatchiks. And how did he come to understand
this? He lived it. Like Jessup, Trump was responsible for actually doing
things, building things, getting things accomplished, and he didn’t have the
luxury of pontificating and making idle promises about fixing things. What’s
more, he cut his teeth in the rough and tumble world of New York real estate,
one inhabited by pernicious unions, predatory mafia and political kingpins wielding
confiscatory regulations, yet somehow he turned his father’s millions
into a multibillion empire.</p>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Donald Trump is far from perfect, particularly
as it relates to personnel, but at a moment in time when half the politicians
in the country want to destroy the Republic and the other half promise to fix
it, only to punt when they get the opportunity – i.e. ending Obamacare,
building a wall, cutting spending, etc. – the country needs a leader willing
and enthusiastic about tearing asunder the Swamp that is destroying America.
The country needs a revolution to stop the collapse into tyranny and it would
be far better to have someone from the inside take a wrecking ball to the
fascist state the Uniparty has built than from the outside. The first will result
in lots of hurt feelings and lighter pocketbooks on the part of thousands of
functionaries while the second will turn the country into a war zone. I’d
prefer lots of unemployed apparatchiks to American cities looking like Beirut.<br />
<br />
Trump, like Jessup, may be a grotesque figure to many, but there are times when
that which makes one grotesque to the people in charge is exactly what is
necessary to protect a nation. This is one of those times. <br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></span>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-85780836425348517722023-06-26T04:58:00.000-07:002023-06-26T04:58:02.917-07:00Even if he's guilty, even if he's convicted, if Donald Trump is on the ballot, I'm voting for him<p>Donald Trump <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-strong-indictment-but-is-it-strong-enough-jack-smith-classified-docs-public-opinion-trump-80cd7480?mod=opinion_lead_pos6">may
indeed be guilty</a> of the charges for which he was indicted a couple of weeks ago… <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/06/trump_did_not_violate_the_law_because_he_could_not_violate_the_law.html">or
maybe not</a>. He may even end up being convicted. Regardless, assuming he’s on the ballot, I’ll
be voting for him, even if he’s dressed in stripes sitting in a jail cell. </p>
<p>Why? Not because I don’t take seriously the handling of classified records
or trying to “obstruct” the Justice Department.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Indeed both are serious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But even
if Trump were guilty of both, even if he violated the letter and the spirit of
the law, those violations are nothing when compared to the weaponization of the
federal government we’ve observed over the last decade and a half. </p>
<p>The Democrat party has spent much of the last fifteen years turning the
federal government into an American Stasi to be used against their political
opponents in a manner unprecedented in American history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p>Barack Obama took aim at the Constitution early on when in 2010 his Justice
Department targeted the press under the guise of “national security”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They seized records from FOX News reporter
James Rosen and accused him of “<a href="https://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-admin-spied-fox-news-reporter-james-rosen-134204299.html">Espionage</a>”
for his reporting on American policy towards North Korea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three years later they used similar tactics
against the <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/benghazi-irs-tea-party-probe-govt-seized-ap-221531096.html">Associated
Press</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p>Not content to eviscerate the freedom of the press, Obama next set his
sights on freedom of speech, this time harnessing the IRS to undermine the
Constitution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p>Other presidents have been accused of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_allegations_of_misuse_of_the_Internal_Revenue_Service">using
the IRS against opponents</a>, but they were pikers when compared to Obama’s war
on speech in which the IRS sought to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/10/27/560308997/irs-apologizes-for-aggressive-scrutiny-of-conservative-groups">smother
hundreds of grass roots Tea Party organizations in their bassinets</a>, before
they could even crawl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The likely result
of that “mistreatment” of grassroots opponents was that Barack Obama won
reelection despite having 5 million fewer votes than he did in 2008. Contrast
that with Donald Trump, who grew his vote total by 12 million in 2020 but
somehow “lost” his reelection bid.<br />
<br />
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgktqn80Iz-1qsUOK8bImz48L11snW6rNffm_5jDCw1FwhtmNIzs2AZEneuMYWdFOp0n-eiZt9-Clo7DpE0WZC20JM3cec4OcssMTVHjfWRPmQcpsXTbfh_6L5se4dnE8IzMhuQUWTbdWNY4iZHHKSYJ7_NyKqEiK_PldX2h4rSTC-QiJPM8iJs6yOIlOk/s586/OrangeTrump.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="586" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgktqn80Iz-1qsUOK8bImz48L11snW6rNffm_5jDCw1FwhtmNIzs2AZEneuMYWdFOp0n-eiZt9-Clo7DpE0WZC20JM3cec4OcssMTVHjfWRPmQcpsXTbfh_6L5se4dnE8IzMhuQUWTbdWNY4iZHHKSYJ7_NyKqEiK_PldX2h4rSTC-QiJPM8iJs6yOIlOk/s320/OrangeTrump.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Then came the coronation of Hillary Clinton, which had to be guaranteed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the vehicle for that guarantee was the Russia
collusion hoax which Hillary Clinton started and <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/durham-reports-shows-biden-obama-knew-truth-trump-collusion-hoax-kept-silent">Obama
knew about</a>. The Durham Report lays out in black and white exactly how much
the Department of Justice has been politicized.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The FBI not only <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/05/15/durham-report-fbi-should-never-have-begun-russia-collusion-investigation/">should
have never investigated Trump for Russia collusion</a> in the first place, but over
the course of years various <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2019/03/27/61-hacks-peddled-russian-collusion-never-trusted/">FBI
and other officials</a> fabricated evidence, lied to judges, lied to Congress, ignored
exculpatory evidence, and sought to entrap people in Trump’s coterie then <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/06/the_doj_allegedly_used_coercion_against_an_attorney_working_for_a_trump_defendant.html">coerce
them into testifying against him</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><p></p>
<p>As a result of the Justice Department’s persecution of Donald Trump, not
only was his term hobbled by investigations, but at the same time he had to survive
attacks from virtually every corner, including legislators <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paul-ryan-breaks-with-trump-on-spygate-claim/">allegedly
on his side</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps most perniciously,
largely because of their weaponization of the Justice Department, more than half
the country doesn’t trust the “premier” law enforcement agency in the nation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2023 fully <a href="https://unherd.com/thepost/majority-of-americans-dont-trust-the-fbi/">70%
of the American people feel like our elections may be compromised by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To
put that in perspective, after decades of the media propaganda machine lying about
police hunting black men, black Americans still have <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/two-thirds-of-black-americans-dont-trust-the-police-to-treat-them-equally-most-white-americans-do">a
higher opinion of local police</a> than Americans in general do of the FBI.</p>
<p>By 2020 the apparatchiks in the Justice Department had decided that they
were America’s white knights and were going to save the country from having to endure
another term of Donald Trump as president.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As the election was wrapping up the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/10/14/email-reveals-how-hunter-biden-introduced-ukrainian-biz-man-to-dad/">ran
a story about a laptop owned by Joe Biden’s son Hunter</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The laptop was full of information about drugs
and prostitution and various other illegal activities that the younger Biden
participated in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More proe problematic however
were the emails and other information that implicated Joe Biden in various
schemes whereby his son and brother were handsomely paid by various foreign
entities for his (Biden’s) influencing American policy while Vice President.
The FBI worked back channels with America’s modern public squares, <a href="https://www.westernjournal.com/can-read-twitter-files-right/">Twitter</a>,
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgRqxZBmRLY">Facebook</a> and other
media outlets to both censor the story and suggest that it was Russian
disinformation at the same time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p>The FBI white nights succeeded in their quest to save the nation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In an election that turned on less than <a href="https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2021/02/10/wapo-the-gop-came-within-90000-votes-of-controlling-congress-and-keeping-the-white-house-n2584521">100,000
votes</a>, fully 13 million Americans (<a href="https://thepostmillennial.com/flashback-16-of-biden-voters">16% of
Biden’s “84 million” voters</a>) said they would have changed their vote had
they known about the laptop story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
is what you call a coup d'état.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as
it was the Democrats and the Justice Department leadership running the coup, there
was no problem.<br />
<br />
Once in office Biden lost no time in seeking to weaponize the DOJ against Trump
supporters, including hundreds of Jan 6 protesters<a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/walkaway-campaign-founder-feds-tried-to-destroy-me-over-jan-6">,
some of whom never even entered the Capitol</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the 29<sup>th</sup> of January, 2021, a
mere 9 days after taking office, <a href="https://aflegal.org/america-first-legal-releases-new-internal-dhs-documents-revealing-the-government-is-funding-trainings-intended-to-target-conservative-americans/">the
administration set about plans to target conservatives</a> by gaming out
scenarios about vulnerable citizens facing “radicalization” by pro-life
advocates and small government proponents. The following year the Justice
Department would target as “domestic terrorists” <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2021/11/16/doj-whistleblower-documents-suggest-merrick-garland-lied-about-the-targeting-of-parents-as-domestic-terrorists/">parents
concerned about what was being taught to their children in public schools</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later FBI management would be accused of <a href="https://www.westernjournal.com/agent-reveals-fbis-really-white-supremacists-played/">forcing
agents to fabricate “extremist” and “white supremacist” cases</a> because “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The demand for white supremacy vastly
outstrips the supply of white supremacy</i>”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And just to put a fine point on it, in April Biden blasted “<a href="https://nypost.com/2023/04/29/biden-blasts-maga-republicans-as-the-real-problem/">Those
MAGA Republicans</a>” as the real problem America faces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p>Which brings us back to Donald Trump and last week’s indictment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reality is, there’s likely not a single
voter in America who is going to be swayed one way or another based on the
outcome of that case. If elections were about the candidate, last year
Pennsylvania Democrats wouldn’t have elected to represent them as Senator a guy
who would have trouble completing a kindergarten art project over an erudite,
if slightly odd, cardiothoracic surgeon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Americans of every stripe understand what the choice is in 2024.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most certainly there are voters who are
turned off by some of Trump’s antics and statements, but the reality is anyone
who says they would be willing to vote for Ron DeSantis but not Donald Trump is
lying… either to themselves or to you. They’re simply looking for a fig leaf to
cover their consciences so they can vote for a Democrat. </p>
<p>While at the end of the day the choice may ostensibly come down to a
doddering Alzheimer’s patient vs. a convicted ex president, or even a “<a href="https://calmatters.org/politics/2018/10/gavin-newsom-profile-california-governor-election/">vapid
pander bear</a>” vs. the “<a href="https://people.com/denee-benton-calls-ron-desantis-grand-wizard-tonys-speech-7511007">Grand
Wizard</a>” of the KKK, the reality is the choice on the ballot next November
is stark: The continued weaponization of government against the citizens or a
resurgence of the freedom and limited government that are at the foundation of
America’s greatness. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Democrat Party
and the rest of its swamp cabal have clearly demonstrated they are more than willing
to ignore the Constitution and use the police power of government to coerce,
control, and if necessary crucify anyone not willing to go along with their
cancerous progressive agenda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Donald
Trump doesn’t want to let them do that.</p>
<p>Trump may be a highly flawed man, but as the nation watches its government
being transformed into a repressive, progressive Borg, who better to lead the
charge to destroy it than the man who has weathered its slings and arrows for
the last 8 years?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More than perhaps
anyone in America, Trump understands the threat because he’s experienced firsthand
the danger it poses. And unlike most, he recognizes who the real target is,
something he pointed out to supporters in 2019:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1207508280207011841">In
reality they’re not after me, they’re after you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m just in the way</a>.”</p>
<p>Sitting in a jail cell or out on the campaign trail, Donald Trump is the
touchstone of the Republic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We either go
forward as a nation of laws limited by the Constitution or we transform into a
nation of men governed only by coercion and brute force.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no middle ground. Given that I’ll
take the guy in stripes every time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-31379849307606331072023-06-14T19:38:00.001-07:002023-06-14T19:54:53.347-07:00It's Not Reparations, It's Revenge...<p>Democrats frequently talk about reparations for black
Americans, compensation for slavery and Jim Crow. Indeed, House member Cori Bush recently
proposed <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/03/the_cultural_and_political_forces_driving_violence_in_the_black_community.html">$14
trillion as a good place to start</a>.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Any reparations plan would be extraordinarily complex. First, if reparations are
to be paid, to whom would they be paid?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To
every one of America’s 45 million blacks? (<a href="https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2010s-national-detail.html">2020
Census</a>) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Including the 4.5 million
blacks who immigrated after Jim Crow was gone?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Should the 33 million black Americans aged 50 or below who have only
lived after passage of the Voting and Civil Rights Acts?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How about black families whose ancestors lived
in northern states where slavery was largely outlawed before America was a nation
and Jim Crow never existed?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How about
blacks from states like California and Idaho who had neither slavery nor Jim
Crow?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or those of mixed origins with one
black parent?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is one black grandparent
sufficient or would it have to be at least 2 of 4?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do black families who earn $200,000 a year
still qualify for reparations?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How about
America’s <a href="https://www.zippia.com/advice/millionaire-statistics/">1.5
million black millionaires</a>?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The next question is, if indeed reparations were to be paid,
who would pay them? America has approximately 250 million white people. Would all
of them have to pay? Even those whose ancestors arrived after passage of the
Civil and Voting Rights Acts or whose ancestors arrived after the Civil War, as
many Italians and Irish did? Do the 155 million or so who are 50 or younger and
were born after Jim Crow was history? How about those descended from one of the
360,000 white Northern soldiers who lost their lives fighting to end slavery?
Or those who live in states that never had slavery or Jim Crow? Do the whites
of Wyoming, where the black population is 0.9% pay the same as Louisiana where
it’s 31%?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Once we’ve nailed down who’s going to get reparations and
who’s going to pay them, then we have to figure out how much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the sake of argument, let’s take Bush’s
$14 trillion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That works out to $311,000
to every black American. Again, for argument’s sake, let’s say that all 250
million of the whites would be responsible for making the reparation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If required to make that payment, that would
involve every single white person (including babies and retirees) to write a
check for about $56,000.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s unlikely
to be feasible given that the average median white <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">household</i> income in the <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/203277/median-income-of-white-households-in-the-us/">US
is $78,000</a>.<br />
<br />
So, if writing a check is out of the question, maybe setting up a payment plan,
sort of like a mortgage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Spreading the $56,0600
out over 15 years at today’s 6.7% interest rate would make for a monthly
payment of $494 per white person. That doesn’t seem too unreasonable, but what
about unemployed whites or those on government assistance?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do they pay?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What about white kids too young to work?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Do they pay or do their obligations accrue until they turn 18 or get
their first job?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then of course, who do
they make those checks out to?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do the
white people get to choose which black people they pay?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or do they make the payment to a pool to be
distributed by some upstanding organization that represents black people like
the NAACP or BLM or the National Action Network? Are the payments tax
deductable? Maybe let the IRS collect the money and have the government
distribute it. Would the government need to set up a Department of Reparations
to keep the money separate from the rest of the government’s funds? Or maybe
the government can pay the whole sum up front and bill the white people. Would
individual black people have claim on individual white people’s property if
they didn’t or couldn’t pay?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would jails
become debtor’s prisons full of people who can’t pay?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Assuming all of that gets figured out, are new black babies
entitled to reparations?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If yes, for how
long? Will black babies born in 2075 still be eligible for payments and white ones
still obligated to pay? Is it in perpetuity or will it only last 100
years?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If new black babies are not
eligible, how would mom explain to junior that he doesn’t get the $311,000 his
brother did just because he was born 12 months later?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If a black woman is pregnant when the
agreement is made, does she collect for only herself or for her baby too?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguBWNv8sxK_VSl4EehCJWFLknQZud6dUKbE19QPLOFUMJtUelTO9p7heOksoRTbqYaQp33Zpewy469XFEhLUJQ_sjRK6LW9-0PkLEZQA61_vwZp9iyn1xQvr7bGnQ19v_cXhDGPg1IuEROmbXJ8bY21-3NJnRjkQbYxUB_9cgTWERhJ_nOK5e4A23S/s360/Revenge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="360" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguBWNv8sxK_VSl4EehCJWFLknQZud6dUKbE19QPLOFUMJtUelTO9p7heOksoRTbqYaQp33Zpewy469XFEhLUJQ_sjRK6LW9-0PkLEZQA61_vwZp9iyn1xQvr7bGnQ19v_cXhDGPg1IuEROmbXJ8bY21-3NJnRjkQbYxUB_9cgTWERhJ_nOK5e4A23S/s320/Revenge.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>At the end of the day reparations are made for some wrong
done… but what if the result of that wrong left the progeny of the person
wronged better off than had the wrong not been done in the first place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it possible that reparations aren’t really
due?<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/how-many-slaves-landed-in-the-us/">Approximately
400,000 blacks</a> were brought to the United States as slaves. We assume that
had they not been sold into slavery they would likely have stayed where they
lived. So, one might ask, would the progeny of those slaves have been better
off in those home countries than they are here as a result of their ancestors
being sold into slavery?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, let’s
look at incomes. We’ll look at the <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/median-income-by-country">per
person median income</a> (PPMI) in the top 10 modern nations <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/ancestral-homelands-of-slaves-in-the-united-states.html">encompassing
the places from which those blacks were taken</a>. (see nearby chart)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The average among those 10 nations is $950 per year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This compares to a median income for black
Americans of $13,108 per person. ($<a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/median-income-by-country">19,306</a>
average American <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2021/demo/p60-273.html">X .67</a>)
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But of course money isn’t everything, right? How about life
expectancy?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In those same 10 nations the
<a href="https://www.humanprogress.org/dataset/u-s-life-expectancy-at-birth-by-race/">life
expectancies</a> average 61.6, compared to the United States where the average <a href="https://www.humanprogress.org/dataset/u-s-life-expectancy-at-birth-by-race/">life
expectancy of black Americans</a> is 75.1 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 4.8pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 478px;">
<tbody><tr style="height: 16.2pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 16.2pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 127pt;" valign="bottom" width="212">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 16.2pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 70pt;" valign="bottom" width="117">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">PPMI<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 16.2pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.25in;" valign="bottom" width="150">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Life Expt.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.6pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 127pt;" valign="bottom" width="212">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Angola: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 70pt;" valign="bottom" width="117">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">$665 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.25in;" valign="bottom" width="150">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">62.3<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.6pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 127pt;" valign="bottom" width="212">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Congo (DR): <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 70pt;" valign="bottom" width="117">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">$392 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.25in;" valign="bottom" width="150">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">62.4<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.6pt; mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 127pt;" valign="bottom" width="212">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cameroon: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 70pt;" valign="bottom" width="117">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">$1,245 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.25in;" valign="bottom" width="150">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">60.9<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.6pt; mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 127pt;" valign="bottom" width="212">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nigeria: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 70pt;" valign="bottom" width="117">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">$825 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.25in;" valign="bottom" width="150">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">52.9<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.6pt; mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 127pt;" valign="bottom" width="212">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Guinea: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 70pt;" valign="bottom" width="117">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">$876 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.25in;" valign="bottom" width="150">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">60.7<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.6pt; mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 127pt;" valign="bottom" width="212">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sierra Leone: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 70pt;" valign="bottom" width="117">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">$765 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.25in;" valign="bottom" width="150">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">60.1<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.6pt; mso-yfti-irow: 7;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 127pt;" valign="bottom" width="212">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Gambia: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 70pt;" valign="bottom" width="117">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">$1,383 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.25in;" valign="bottom" width="150">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">63.8<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.6pt; mso-yfti-irow: 8;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 127pt;" valign="bottom" width="212">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Liberia: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 70pt;" valign="bottom" width="117">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">$753 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.25in;" valign="bottom" width="150">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">61.1<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.6pt; mso-yfti-irow: 9;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 127pt;" valign="bottom" width="212">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mauritania: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 70pt;" valign="bottom" width="117">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1,760<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.6pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.25in;" valign="bottom" width="150">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">64.5<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 16.2pt; mso-yfti-irow: 10;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 16.2pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 127pt;" valign="bottom" width="212">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Senegal: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 16.2pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 70pt;" valign="bottom" width="117">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">$844 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 16.2pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.25in;" valign="bottom" width="150">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">67.6<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 16.2pt; mso-yfti-irow: 11;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 16.2pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 127pt;" valign="bottom" width="212">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Average: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 16.2pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 70pt;" valign="bottom" width="117">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">$950.80 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: yellow; border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 16.2pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.25in;" valign="bottom" width="150">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">61.6<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 16.2pt; mso-yfti-irow: 12; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td nowrap="" style="background: rgb(216, 216, 216); border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: 1pt solid windowtext; border-right: none; border-top: none; height: 16.2pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 127pt;" valign="bottom" width="212">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Black Americans<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: rgb(216, 216, 216); border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 16.2pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 70pt;" valign="bottom" width="117">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">$13,108<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="background: rgb(216, 216, 216); border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 16.2pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.25in;" valign="bottom" width="150">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">75.1<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<p class="MsoNormal">So black Americans have incomes that are 13 times higher than
individuals living in the nations from which slaves were brought to America.
They also have life expectancies that are 14 years, or 22% longer. What’s more,
Americans have freedoms found in none of those countries; they also have levels
of entertainment, transportation, food, shelter, leisure, medicines, job
opportunities and democracy that citizens of those nations can only dream
of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As such, it appears that black American descendants of
slaves are actually far better off because their ancestors left Africa in
bondage and landed in the United States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Indeed, had their ancestors been taken to <a href="https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/teacher-resources/historical-context-facts-about-slave-trade-and-slavery">Brazil</a>,
where the <a href="https://www.brightworkresearch.com/african-slaves-come-form-go/">largest
number of blacks landed</a>, they might not have survived to procreate because
death rates were staggeringly high, or to the middle east where the <a href="https://adarapress.com/2016/09/14/comparing-the-islamic-slave-to-the-american-slave-trade-the-legacy-of-arab-islam-in-africa-dr-john-azumah-video/">men
were castrated and babies born to black slaves were killed at birth</a>, which
explains a dearth of blacks in the middle east despite importing more slaves
than the Americas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But the relevant progeny for this discussion were brought to
the United States, and it appears that they are much better off than the
descendents of those who were left behind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If that were not the case, one would expect that blacks unhappy with
America would willingly emigrate to the nations from which their ancestors
came. But that never quite happens does it? Which begs the question, given that
no one alive today was either a slave or owned slaves and most of the progeny of
slaves are exponentially better off than they would have been had their
ancestors not been taken to America in the first place, exactly why are
reparations warranted? </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In fact, they’re not, and that’s the point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not reparations that are being demanded,
it’s revenge, which is a completely different thing altogether…</p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-12019927286209568512023-06-07T06:39:00.006-07:002023-06-07T07:20:18.284-07:00If You're Black, I Don't Care: I Care About Character, Not DNA<p> If you’re reading this and you’re black, I don’t care. Yellow
or brown, I still don’t care. If you’re
gay, ditto. If you’re family is from
Mexico or China, still don’t care. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Basically, if you’re reading this, while I certainly
appreciate your doing so, I don’t care about all of those things about you over
which you have no control… and that includes whether you’re a man or a woman, incidentally,
a duality that is not changeable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Why? Do I hate minorities or people different than me? No. I
don’t care because none of those things make you special.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No more than me being a white, heterosexual
male make me special.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DNA doesn’t define
us. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There’s never been a society in human history that has
thrived based on any of those things. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Never.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Not once. Europe hasn’t dominated the world for the last 500 years
because of them. South America hasn’t been an economic basket case for a century
because of any of them. China isn’t transforming into the world’s premier
economic and military power because of any of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, none of those things matter.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That doesn’t mean they are in and of themselves
inconsequential.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They aren’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They exist, and people respond to them. In Ralph
Ellison’s seminal work, 1952’s Invisible Man a black man goes through life
feeling essentially invisible as society doesn’t see him as the man he is, but
rather sees in him their perceptions based on their own prejudices,
preconceived ideas or experiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What Ellison was assailing was stereotyping, which, although
it has a negative connotation today, was a <a href="https://evolutioncounseling.com/fear-of-the-other/">critical element of
the human experience</a> throughout most of our existence. Stereotypes
originated as a way for humans to quickly make sense of the world around them.
They’re a kind of mental shortcut, reducing complex realities into simplified
categorizations as it relates to others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was particularly important when violence was a normal part of everyday
life and seconds or minutes mattered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Recognizing someone as your enemy or your friend (stereotyping) in a
fraction of a second and acting accordingly (discrimination) could mean the
difference between life and death, and eyes are the fastest receptors of
information humans have. It was at those times when someone’s skin color, hair
color or the <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-how-the-human-face-evolved-to-look-the-way-it-does">shape
of their face</a> were proxies for the friend / enemy dichotomy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZqumT1YQyUwvQ1QOVnGmesa_r31WLUs3rhoJO2b1v2GU0IlhVy0XBXfVohch5uswfNqJ2SUqodZ3gC039jM4X71Tl0gH1Bqz7GJK3ELyinAkeLWVfuHZf_CSWvH-vjpBHqHMfAE07Q3dmfiRpEXK4mqFS-LNhrfBcU40URjsrjwj_cpULjB7joKmG/s960/MLK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZqumT1YQyUwvQ1QOVnGmesa_r31WLUs3rhoJO2b1v2GU0IlhVy0XBXfVohch5uswfNqJ2SUqodZ3gC039jM4X71Tl0gH1Bqz7GJK3ELyinAkeLWVfuHZf_CSWvH-vjpBHqHMfAE07Q3dmfiRpEXK4mqFS-LNhrfBcU40URjsrjwj_cpULjB7joKmG/s320/MLK.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>At the end of the day, stereotyping is the inverse of being
informed. Human evolution and the advancement of civilization have given us far
more information than we’ve ever had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And with more information we often discover that what we thought was
true, isn’t or might not be. As such, stereotypes become far less important in
decision making.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The result is that we now know that there are many factors
more useful in the friend / enemy dichotomy than race. Things like how someone
comports themselves, how they speak, what they say and even facial
expressions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, unlike much of
human history, most of us have the good fortune to not live in situations where
we have to make that friend / enemy distinction in a fraction of a second or we
lose our lives.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Nonetheless, stereotypes endure, and not always without
reason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For years after college I worked
as a waiter in restaurants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
common knowledge everywhere that on average black patrons tended to tip less
than white patrons. That was and is <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-behind-racial-differences-in-restaurant-tipping-35889">demonstrably
true</a>. Some waiters acted accordingly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I didn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I approached every
table the same way. Usually the tips comported with the stereotype, but
sometimes they didn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, the best
% tip I ever received, $20 on a $40 bill, was from a black man dining
alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The point is, although constantly diminishing, some
stereotypes persist, and until human brains have as much data as ChatGPT to
draw upon, they’re likely to continue. But that doesn’t mean they have to be
the criteria we use to impel our actions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thankfully Americans have been moving away from discrimination based on stereotyping
for most of our history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the Civil
War to Women’s Suffrage to MLK’s “Content of their character” to the election
of a black President, Americans have been seeking to diminish the influence of
innate characteristics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we’ve largely
succeeded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While some differences persist between races or between
sexes, the reality is, Americans of all stripes have more opportunity than
virtually any place on the planet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Indeed, black median household income in the United States <a href="https://dqydj.com/income-by-race/">($38,800)</a> is higher than that of every
country <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_income">in the world but
four</a>, while at the same time, <a href="https://fee.org/articles/the-poorest-20-of-americans-are-richer-than-most-nations-of-europe/">the
poorest 20% of Americans are richer on average than most Europeans</a>. And the
“<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303532704579483752909957472">gender
wage gap</a>” is gone, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s more,
advancement is alive and well, demonstrated by the fact that 20% of America’s
richest citizens are self made, starting their lives in poor households. The
fact that <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2021/10/05/the-forbes-400-self-made-score-2021-from-silver-spooners-to-bootstrappers/?sh=2dd02cb630c2">60%
of are self made</a> from the middle class or below shows exactly how much
opportunity there is in America.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But a funny thing happened on the way to a society leaving
stereotypes and its discrimination behind and focusing on content of character;
the nation was hijacked by the party of the KKK and Jim Crow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suddenly, at the very moment when America had
achieved something very close to a true meritocracy, the Democrat put is only
vehicle to power, the <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/03/the_cultural_and_political_forces_driving_violence_in_the_black_community.html">Victim
Industrial Complex</a>, into overdrive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Every single aspect of America was now divisive, and
anything that didn’t genuflect at the <a href="https://pjmedia.com/columns/kevindowneyjr/2023/05/23/the-truth-about-diversity-and-the-terrifying-reason-the-commie-left-is-pushing-it-n1697094" target="_blank">cancerous altar of diversity</a> was racist, sexist or
homophobic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Founding Fathers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Boy Scouts. Football. Pancake Syrup. Healthy
diets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Math. Punctuality. The justice
system. Halloween costumes. Beer. Capitalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Free speech. Private Property. The military.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The 2<sup>nd</sup> Amendment… Basically anything
associated with the creation of the greatest engine of prosperity and freedom
in world history was suddenly verboten, particularly if it had to do with
Christian, heterosexual white males.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
the words of one of the gurus of this cult of division, Ibram Kendi, “<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-the-cure-for-racism-really-more-racism-11602535839?st=iuq62xt7x8peoy9&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink">The
only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy
to present discrimination is future discrimination.</a>”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So much for content of character…<br />
<br />
Kindi, in speaking for Democrats, thinks that the way forward for the most
successful, most diverse nation to ever exist, the one with more opportunity
for more people than any in history, is to eviscerate the meritocracy that
largely created it and replace achievement as the defining characteristic with
skin color. Others in the party want it replaced with sexual orientation,
gender, or the mental affliction of gender confusion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They want to change the criteria for who can
become a brain surgeon, nuclear scientist or architect from merit to skin color
or gender…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The only reason these buffoons proffer such inane ideas is
that they’ve had the luxury of developing them while living in an ecosystem of security,
prosperity, and indulgence created by the very culture they seek to undermine. The
absurdity of their position is the fact that 99% of the humans who have ever
lived cannot even imagine the prosperity, luxury, security and freedom these
snowflakes denigrate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Which brings us back full circle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No society was ever successful based on race
or sex or gender “fluidity”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such things
are tangential at best and virtually inconsequential in modern America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the clowns on the left seek to aggrandize
them and turn back the clock on freedom, meritocracy, and equality, they should
be careful what they wish for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the
rule of law is replaced by the rule of man, it’s brute power that makes the
rules, and history shows that rarely do minorities thrive in such
circumstances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-39871637987175608442023-05-29T08:43:00.003-07:002023-05-29T08:43:44.536-07:00The Party of Science Ignores... Data<p>About 20 years ago I read a piece about the North Miami
police department <a href="https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2004/05/03/police-drop-swimming-prerequisite/">eliminating
the swimming requirement for the police</a>.
With a working knowledge of geography and having visited Miami many
times, I thought this was a bit odd and kind of a bad idea. After all, North Miami has <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/story/police-dept-drops-swim-test-to-recruit-minorities">hundreds
of miles of canals, lakes and beaches</a>. Predictably, the reason the
requirement was being dropped was because “<i>blacks
are less likely than whites to know how to swim because of economic disparities
between the groups</i>…” Basically
because not enough blacks were qualifying to become police.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That was long before the cancer of wokeness had taken hold
of much of America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
dumbfounded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nobody with a functioning
brain would have looked at that situation and said we have to eliminate a key
element of the job requirements so we can let more members of X group
join.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that’s what the people in
charge decided.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If someone with a
functioning brain were actually in charge they would have said something like,
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">If our goal is to have a more diverse
workforce…</i>” a questionable assertion in the first place “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and not enough otherwise qualified black
candidates can pass the swim test, maybe we should simply take those candidates
who meet the other requirements and teach them how to swim</i>.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But that’s not what they did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that is just another demonstration that
Democrats aren’t actually serious people seeking to help the communities they
represent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, their goal was to cater
to the “equity” crowd, even before it had a name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they have continued to do so for the last
two decades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Take gun control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
have been gun grabbing for decades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
use every mass shooting as a lever to try and wrest guns out of the hands of
Americans and eviscerate the 2<sup>nd</sup> Amendment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While it is certainly the case that gun
violence is a problem in America, the reality is, it’s not the guns, it’s the
criminals and the Democrats who pamper them. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There are 350 million people in the United States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of those there are 280 million adults, 90
million of whom say they own at least one of America’s 400 million guns, with an
average of almost 5 guns each.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And how frequently
do those 90 million gun owners commit crimes with those guns?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4279137">Not very
often</a>. <br />
<br />
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgMC2ngxxCF3NBBXzFXt8Xuls8EnVAU7FpsBl-9rVgWWD307LBHvq6ys6MnP7LRp24l22uBmnQj-C15Ls7svpMHq2DD8zvx320igzVRmEIigHRTzmY-9gm66gLdgy2na-QMxzkaEn7WX80hvaUxX4Kvk9R0vOOlMyY0sVtdMUvf_xkIG6FVxE0VkZS/s287/GuyWithGun2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="209" data-original-width="287" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgMC2ngxxCF3NBBXzFXt8Xuls8EnVAU7FpsBl-9rVgWWD307LBHvq6ys6MnP7LRp24l22uBmnQj-C15Ls7svpMHq2DD8zvx320igzVRmEIigHRTzmY-9gm66gLdgy2na-QMxzkaEn7WX80hvaUxX4Kvk9R0vOOlMyY0sVtdMUvf_xkIG6FVxE0VkZS/s1600/GuyWithGun2.jpg" width="287" /></a></div>It’s estimated that more than 80% of gun crimes are committed by people who <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/study-vast-majority-gun-crime-isnt-committed-lawful-gun-owners/">came
into possession of their weapons illegally</a>, which means that conservatively
20% of gun crimes were perpetrated by legal gun owners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are almost <a href="https://www.rd.com/article/gun-violence-statistics/">100,000 shootings in
the United States each year</a> (not counting suicides). If we assume that 20%
of those shootings were by legal gun owners, that would be 20,000
shootings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To put that in perspective,
that would mean that .0002% of legal gun owners commit crimes with their
weapons, or conversely, 99.9998% of legal gun owners never use their guns in
crimes… As a matter of fact, despite what the Democrat <a href="https://time.com/6182970/good-guys-guns-mass-shootings-uvalde/">media
tell you</a>, “Good guys with guns” help stop <a href="https://crimeresearch.org/2022/10/massive-errors-in-fbis-active-shooting-reports-regarding-cases-where-civilians-stop-attacks-instead-of-4-4-the-correct-number-is-at-least-34-4-in-2021-it-is-at-least-49-1-excluding-gun-free-zon/">between
1/3 and ½ of all active shooter incidents</a> nationwide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Democrats work continuously to take guns
away from all of those apparently violence eschewing citizens while at the same
time seeking to <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/01/23/soft-on-crime_liberals_are_ruining_americas_greatest_cities_142209.html#!">free
actual violent criminals from jail or prison</a> or not send them there in the
first place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they are the ones who
actually <a href="https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/rprts05p0510.pdf">commit
most of the crimes</a> and <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/08/06/why-a-small-number-of-criminals-perpetrate-the-worst-crimes-in-america/">the
worst crimes</a>, and <a href="https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/arrest-history-persons-admitted-state-prison-2009-and-2014">it’s
not even close</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Making matters
worse, Democrats rarely seek to focus on the strong <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mad-in-america/201101/psychiatric-drugs-and-violence-review-fda-data-finds-link">correlation
between anti-depressants and violence</a>, particularly <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/abcs-child-psychiatry/201509/antidepressants-and-violence-link-in-search-cause">with
young people</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They would rather
preen in front of cameras and accuse Republicans of having blood on their hands
than actually focus on the real issues that spill so much blood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
And there is indeed much blood on the hands of Democrats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In what must seem counterintuitive to them, more
gun control results in more mass shooting deaths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>California is a perfect example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As it’s become <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2021/0528/California-has-the-most-gun-control-laws-in-US.-Do-they-work">more
difficult for law abiding Californians to legally obtain guns</a> over the decades,
to the point where it’s <a href="https://californiaglobe.com/articles/la-county-board-of-supervisors-passes-package-of-new-firearm-ordinances/">almost
impossible to actually exercise the right</a>, the rate at which the state
exceeds the rest of the country <a href="https://crimeresearch.org/2023/01/californias-mass-public-shooting-rate-is-much-higher-than-texas-or-the-rest-of-the-united-states/">has
skyrocketed</a>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">From 2010 on, California’s per capita rate of mass public shootings was
43% higher than the rate in Texas and 29% higher than in the rest of the United
States. Since 2020, the rate in California is 276% higher than in Texas and
100% higher than in the rest of the U.S.</i>” That is partially because there
are fewer of those “Good guys with guns”… In LA Country where one mass shooting
took place this year there is one gun permit for every 5,660 adults and in San
Mateo County, where another took place, there is one permit for every 24,630
adults. By comparison, there is one permit holder for every nine people in the
43 right-to-carry states. <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Whether it’s murder on a small scale or a large, this data
would only be of interest if someone were actually interested in solving the
problem and reducing the amount of bloodshed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Needless to say, Democrats rarely look at the data and conclude that making
it easier to allow law abiding citizens to own weapons might actually help
reduce said bloodshed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then there’s the border.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Democrat Party, led by Liar in Chief Joe Biden, tells us that the
American border is secure while Americans watch thousands of illegal immigrants
stream across the border every single day. Those poor “asylum seekers” are <a href="https://abcnews4.com/news/nation-world/costly-failure-biden-admin-gave-300k-smartphones-to-migrants-costs-over-360k-a-day-cell-phone-alternatives-detention-program-ice-customs-immigration-illegal-president-white-house-joe-mexico-border">given
phones</a>, have to promise to return to court to have their cases adjudicated
– <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/immigrants-receive-court-dates-up-to-10-years-after-crossing-the-border-illegally/ar-AA1bc8Md">sometimes
in 5 or 10 years</a> – and are sent on their merry ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course many of those <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/75-of-illegal-immigrants-skip-deportation-hearings-hiding-out-in-us">never
even bother to show up for court</a>. And hundreds of thousands more are simply
released <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/nearly-600000-migrants-crossed-border-released-inside-us-rcna68687">without
even being given a court date</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To
make things even more ridiculous, while they’re busy gaslighting the entire
country, Democrats are <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2023/05/12/chicago-residents-migrants-resources">shivving</a>
their single most solid constituency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Of course the border is not a new problem. In 1986 Ronald
Reagan signed the Simpson-Mazzoli Act which granted asylum to 2.7 million
illegal aliens in return for securing the border.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Democrats <a href="https://religiopoliticaltalk.com/reagan-regretted-trusting-democrats-regarding-amnesty/">took
the asylum and screwed Reagan</a> and the nation on securing the border.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since then no president other than Trump has
had any interest in securing the border, and he was stymied at every single
turn by Democrats and leftist judges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The result is that today there are upwards of <a href="https://thehill.com/latino/407848-yale-mit-study-22-million-not-11-million-undocumented-immigrants-in-us/">40
million illegal aliens</a> in the country with millions more crossing the
border every year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Like the gun data, the data on illegal aliens isn’t hard to
understand. It’s pretty simple math.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
phones alone the Biden administration gives to illegals cost <a href="https://abcnews4.com/news/nation-world/costly-failure-biden-admin-gave-300k-smartphones-to-migrants-costs-over-360k-a-day-cell-phone-alternatives-detention-program-ice-customs-immigration-illegal-president-white-house-joe-mexico-border">$360,000
every day</a> while in aggregate illegal aliens cost Americans <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/cost-of-illegal-immigration-by-state">$250
billion PER YEAR</a>. To put that in perspective, the wall Trump wanted to
build was estimated to have a price tag of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-wall-exclusive-idUSKBN15O2ZN">under
$25 billion</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And now, it’s only
going to get worse with Biden ending the Trump era Title 42 which was the
equivalent of trying to stop your car by dragging your feet on the ground, a-la
Fred Flintstone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But now that that’s
gone Biden is sending 1,500 Army troops to help… <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12087863/US-Army-soldier-opens-gate-let-huge-horde-migrants-PRIVATE-Texas-property.html">let
even more illegals in</a>!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Whether it’s standing on shore as victims drown in Miami, not
allowing armed citizens to protect themselves and their communities or simply ignoring
the costs associated with illegal immigration, it’s clear that Democrats aren’t
serious people and don’t care about the average American. Given that Democrats
demonstrate their disdain for citizens every single day one wonders why anyone
votes for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stockholm Syndrome,
anyone?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Follow me on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/ImperfectUSA">ImperfectUSA</a></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-23388791547356179002023-05-04T01:10:00.003-07:002023-05-04T01:10:47.615-07:00Democrats are the Nigerian Prince Scammers of American Politics, and their Voters are the Dupes<p> According to the American Heritage dictionary, this is the <a href="https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=STUPID">definition of
Stupid</a>: </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Slow to learn or
understand; obtuse.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tending to make
poor decisions or careless mistakes.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Marked by a lack
of intelligence or care; foolish or careless.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That applies to a lot of Americans… Democrat voters in
general and in particular a <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-so-many-black-voters-are-democrats-even-when-they-arent-liberal/">majority
of blacks</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/04/politics/exit-polls-2020-update/index.html">college
students</a> and <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2022/04/12/while-everyone-else-is-kicking-themselves-for-voting-for-biden-college-educated-women-are-doubling-down/">white
college educated women</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Notice I said Democrat voters, not Democrat
politicians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Democrat politicians may be
many things, hypocrites, liars, traitors and more, but they’re not stupid as
defined above. Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because they do
exactly what they need to do in order to win and gain power and fortune.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There’s perhaps no better example than Joe Biden… the man is
a <a href="https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2022/06/02/joe-bidens-weirdest-lies-n2608069">congenital
liar</a> .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plagiarism has been a problem
since he was in college and was actually the reason he <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/plagiarism-scandal-joe-biden-first-presidential-run-1988-2019-3?op=1">withdrew
from his first presidential campaign</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Indeed, Biden is a<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p94O1wp19g">
lying machine!</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He claimed to have
gone to college on a full scholarship, earned three degrees and graduated in
the top of his class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All lies</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Biden’s career of lies only become more consequential and
destructive as he ran for president in 2020.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Every campaign is full of hyperbole like “I’m going to cut taxes” or “I’ll
be the education president”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But with
Biden the lies went far beyond white lies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He told the American people the story of his son Hunter’s laptop was <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/joe-biden-says-hunter-biden-laptop-story-is-russian-plan-despite-lack-of-evidence">Russian
propaganda</a>, that he <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/04/05/joe-biden-claims-he-and-son-hunter-biden-never-talked-foreign-business/">never
discussed business with his son</a> and perhaps most depressingly of all, once
he became president he went on TV and told the country that “White
supremacists” are the <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-supremacy-lethal-threat-american-homeland-biden">most
dangerous threat to the nation</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All
lies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRC5aKOz6l79iMzPaZcmuP7cuPu_up8z7F9t8IVdp_bHbHB1ZT_wiVLYh_5627iM56lFmpGSxjytNTxZrY_afiXEMGjVwilQ-OQnVes_NjPGNsmf3CBMPvYvGAn_KyCo8Vpy7Uqq89feW9UhZkS3Jtk1T1iSMyyDbYlzWeCNmDtKF5rQkDbjyUjFGw/s1020/NigerianBiden2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1020" data-original-width="1017" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRC5aKOz6l79iMzPaZcmuP7cuPu_up8z7F9t8IVdp_bHbHB1ZT_wiVLYh_5627iM56lFmpGSxjytNTxZrY_afiXEMGjVwilQ-OQnVes_NjPGNsmf3CBMPvYvGAn_KyCo8Vpy7Uqq89feW9UhZkS3Jtk1T1iSMyyDbYlzWeCNmDtKF5rQkDbjyUjFGw/s320/NigerianBiden2.jpg" width="319" /></a></div>But Joe Biden is not stupid, although even before dementia
began to set in he probably wouldn’t have qualified for Mensa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He may have never been the brightest bulb,
but he was and is smart like a fox when it comes to accumulating money and power.
<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Not that there’s anything wrong with accumulating money and power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most Americans would like to be financially
secure and have the power to improve the lives of those around them and perhaps
beyond. But there’s a difference between grifting for a living and doing an
honest day’s work. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The question is however, how does one guy of marginal
intelligence get “elected” to the most powerful job in the world? Easy,
Democrats are the Nigerian Princes of American politics.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We’re all familiar with the Nigerian Prince schemes. You get
an email telling you that some prince has millions of dollars tied up in an
American bank but they can’t get the money without paying some fee or tax,
which, because of some visa application hiccup they can’t pay. If however
you’ll just pay the $10,000 tax for them they can get their money and will send
you millions. Seems legit…<br />
<br />
Any normal person would read the email, often filled with misspellings and outlandish
claims, and delete it as an obvious scam. But there are a certain number of
people who will take the bait and don’t quite figure out that it’s a scam until
their bank accounts are empty<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443931404577548813973954518.html?reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink">,
or worse</a>!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But here’s the thing, those misspellings and grammatical
mistakes and outlandish claims aren’t a bug, <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2012/09/04/dear-sir-i-am-nigerian-prince-if-you-believe-that-theres-bridge-id-like-to-sell-you/">they’re
a feature</a>! The whole point of the exercise isn’t to garner responses from
millions of people who will do even a minimal amount of due diligence and
discover the obvious fraud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would
waste the culprit’s time and make the whole endeavor too time consuming to be
profitable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, they make the email and
the claims so obviously ludicrous that the only people who respond are those <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-nigerian-prince-scams-continue-to-dupe-us-98232">sufficiently
gullible</a> to end up forking over tens of thousands of dollars. The victims
of these schemes may be rather dim, but the thieves are anything but.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re highly sophisticated in understanding
how the human mind works and they are experts at manipulating it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If they weren’t, the scam never would have
taken off and tens of thousands of victims around the world wouldn’t be out of
millions of dollars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now replace the Nigerian Prince scam with Democrat party
propaganda and you begin to see exactly what is going on. The Democrat party,
along with their comrades in the media and academia and the regulatory state
are the grifters sitting behind the computer screen spamming America with
outlandish claims and promises of fortune, knowing that a certain element of
the population are sufficiently gullible to believe them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For fifty years Democrats told American women that men were
superfluous to raising children but now that’s moot because men can have
babies, genetic men are real women and prepubescent children are mature enough
to consent to sex change operations. They tell us with a straight face that the
“Woman of the Year” is a guy who used to be a mediocre men’s swimmer but who
dominates when competing against real women.<br />
<br />
For decades they told black Americans Democrats were their champions when even
a modicum of research would reveal that it was the Democrats who started a war
to keep blacks in chains, fought the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, started the KKK, wrote Jim Crow laws, and filibustered the Civil Rights
Act. It was the Democrats whose policies destroyed the nuclear black family and
eviscerated cities like Detroit, Chicago and others that were once engines of
black advancement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the Democrats
who called for defunding the police and for “equity” in the justice system,
severing the connection between actions and consequences and leaving the blood
of thousands of black Americans on streets across the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And perhaps most treacherously of all, it was
Democrats who told blacks that America is a systemically racist nation where
they had no chance for success, sparking the worst racial tension in America in
two generations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And proving they
disdain black voters, they tell black Americans their <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/04/26/medias-existing-while-black-coverage-of-crime-twists-facts-worsens-racial-divide-in-us/">lives
are at risk because of racist whites</a> when every black person in America
knows they have far more to fear from black males, and it’s not even
close.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Democrats constantly tell the middle class they’re being
shafted because the rich didn’t pay their fair share, in reality the top 10% of
income earners pay <a href="https://www.heritage.org/taxes/commentary/1-chart-how-much-the-rich-pay-taxes">71%
of all federal income taxes</a> while the bottom 50% pay a mere 3%.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They also tell us the border is secure while we <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/07/13/video-shows-massive-group-of-migrants-crossing-texas-border/">watch
thousands of people simply walk</a> into the country and call anyone who
notices a racist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Finally, in 2020 when Americans went to bed with Donald Trump
ahead in the polls in states like Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan only to
wake up the next morning to find that Democrat run cities had stopped counting
the votes and then magically when they restarted Biden was ahead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, with straight faces they tell us a guy
who couldn’t fill a phone booth for his rallies beat a guy whose supporters
overflowed football stadiums across the country and the guys we see on video
walking around with flags inside the Capitol on Jan 6<sup>th</sup> represent the
biggest attack on America since 9/11.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Nigerian Price scammers are pikers when compared to the
Democrats. All they want is empty someone’s bank account.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Democrats want total control over everyone’s
lives. <br />
<br />
When the gullible give their money to the Nigerian Prince scammers it’s only
their bank accounts that are being emptied, but when gullible and stupid voters
give their votes to Democrats they’re undermining the Republic for the entire
population.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The difference is, most of
the marks who fall for the Prince scam learn their lessons and rarely make the
same mistake twice while the marks who vote for Democrats continue to do it
regardless of the damage they do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s
a word for that.</p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960176163921308027.post-91539124551731380502023-04-19T05:15:00.004-07:002023-04-19T06:12:45.790-07:00Donald Trump, Tiberius Gracchus and a Canary in a Coalmine...<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span face="Arial, verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">Donald Trump’s indictment makes one wonder if the members of the Democrat party have ever picked up a history book, walked by one in a library, or accidentally heard an episode of the History of Rome podcast. I doubt it because if they had, they’d know that Rome didn’t transition from a republic to an empire overnight, and they’d be familiar with the modern iteration of the George Santayana adage: </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it</em><span face="Arial, verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">By the time Caesar became dictator in 49 BC, the Republic was already gone in everything but name only. The Republic’s collapse had been put in motion 80 years before with the murder of Tiberius Gracchus.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Gracchus was a populist Plebeian tribune, essentially the equivalent of being a member of our House of Representatives. Citizens loved him, and the aristocratic Senate hated him. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gracchi_brothers#Aftermath" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: blue; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">His assassination</a> points the way to Caesar:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">"[T]he oligarchy had introduced violence into the political system with the murder of Tiberius Gracchus and over the years the use of violence became increasingly acceptable as various political disputes in Rome led to more and more bloody discord."</span></em></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box;">With Gracchus’s death, violence became an increasingly common political weapon in Rome,</span> with Sulla’s purges early in the 1st century BC as the clearest example. Sulla executed 9,000 rival Marian partisan supporters, without regard for age or sex.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdCav6OcnCuledyB3YwilloRXuTOEfIjfCrb7XflAMurompakVIqkvdXnMR3R8KF7tIcUl4qT5zWKyd5WkbbkMLsGiY4Q48wxUkbX_mH7StFZklG3Rn22tzu927HwS2nM5Ol2T5ISn9LqFuuFgs7VvxbU-onQCBe7rRpf5YC3-mvMAaxauH9bhU_pQ/s960/Death%20of%20Tiberius%20Gracchus.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdCav6OcnCuledyB3YwilloRXuTOEfIjfCrb7XflAMurompakVIqkvdXnMR3R8KF7tIcUl4qT5zWKyd5WkbbkMLsGiY4Q48wxUkbX_mH7StFZklG3Rn22tzu927HwS2nM5Ol2T5ISn9LqFuuFgs7VvxbU-onQCBe7rRpf5YC3-mvMAaxauH9bhU_pQ/s320/Death%20of%20Tiberius%20Gracchus.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Three decades later, Caesar would take control, only to lose his life at the hands of a cabal of his establishment rivals. This widespread political violence only came to an end (temporary as it might be) when his adopted son, Augustus, become emperor. Tellingly, however, Augustus achieved that peace only after executing thousands of his political enemies.</span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Rome devolved from a republic in which domestic politics were decided mostly by words and relatively objective laws, to a dictatorship where laws were anything but objective, and the emperor could take life and property on a whim.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The late Roman Republic had the equivalent of our “Swamp,” which it called the Senate. While ostensibly there were balancing powers of influence, such as the assemblies, two Consuls (a split executive office with a term of one year) and, occasionally, the appointment of a temporary Dictator, the reality is that the Senate, made up of the richest and most powerful citizens, ran the Republic. Even when one of the assemblies or one of the Consuls seemed to be ascendant, it was the senators calling most of the shots through their relationships with the state officials, familial connections to this or that general, and their control of the purse strings.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">So, you have a body of rich and powerful citizens having <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box;">ostensibly limited power</span> through the visible levers of government, but actually exercising real power through the connections, relationships, and shared ideology of the apparatchiks in the bureaucracy, the opinion makers, and those who indoctrinate the youth who always act as the frontline shock troops. Sound familiar?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Things have changed a lot in 2,000 years, but the nature of man…not so much. <a href="https://www.acton.org/research/lord-acton-quote-archive" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: blue; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely</a>. As with most things today, political changes happen faster than they did in the past.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It took 100 years—from Gracchus’s emergence on the Roman stage until Augustus’s ascendance—for Rome to transform from a republic to an empire. It has taken less than 20 years since Barack Obama promised to “fundamentally transform” America for the country to change from a functioning but imperfect republic into a farce of a country characterized by a banana-republic-level tyranny.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">With a complicit bureaucracy, Obama used the IRS to target political opponents, the Justice Department to coerce banks into <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/17/trump-reverses-obama-operation-chokepoint-241767" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: blue; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">blacklisting businesses</a> he didn’t like, and Obamacare to give government unprecedented control over Americans’ health decisions while <a href="https://www.heritage.org/health-care-reform/report/obamacare-has-doubled-the-cost-individual-health-insurance" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: blue; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">doubling the cost</a>. He <a href="https://www.heritage.org/immigration/commentary/daca-unconstitutional-obama-admitted" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: blue; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">unconstitutionally opened the immigration spigot</a> that has now become a <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/04/12/bidens-welcome-program-for-illegal-immigrants/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: blue; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">torrent</a>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Within six months of taking office, Obama would <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-cops-acted-stupidly-in-professors-arrest/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: blue; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">set the tone</a> for an administration that would <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/1687/Race-Relations.aspx" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: blue; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">set race relations back 50 years</a>. His “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/evolution-obamas-stance-gay-marriage-flna763350" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: blue; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">evolution</a>“ on gay marriage would give cover to the spineless Supreme Court to impose that travesty on the country and lay the ground for the fascist LBTQ hellscape America endures today. And finally, he weakened two of the most foundational elements of American society: <a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/12/12_27_2019_16_54.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: blue; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">The military</a> and <a href="https://nypost.com/2016/05/08/obamas-last-act-is-to-force-suburbs-to-be-less-white-and-less-wealthy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: blue; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">residential communities</a>.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;">Obama set in motion a new set of rules in America, and Trump’s indictment, the Soviet </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: white; box-sizing: border-box;">style</span><span style="background-color: white;"> attack on J6 attendees, and the </span><a href="https://dailycaller.com/2023/02/13/legal-experts-disinformation-court-case-douglass-mackey/" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: blue; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">prosecution</a><span style="background-color: white;"> of </span><a href="https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-nyc-jury-finds-douglass-mackey-guilty-in-first-ever-meme-trial-after-making-memes-that-disparaged-hillary-clinton-in-the-2016-election" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: blue; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">Douglass Mackey</a><span style="background-color: white;"> combine to demonstrate exactly what those new rules are: Thou shalt not oppose the Democrat party, thou shalt not speak badly of or mock the Democrat party or its minions, thou shalt not push back against the regulatory state, and thou shalt not express traditional American values.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">These sham “prosecutions” are really persecution. They are nothing more than the Democrats’ regulatory state wrapping itself around American citizens’ necks like the Burmese Pythons <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/06/us/florida-python-challenge-everglades/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: blue; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">killing most native species in the Everglades</a>. The indictment of a former president and current presidential candidate on such a weak and <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/trump-indictment-case-looks-like-weak-exercise-creative-prosecution-opinion-1791833" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: blue; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">preposterous theory</a> as this one puts the lie to the idea that the Constitution limits our government. This is nothing less than the established “swamp” inventing new legal theories while ignoring existing law to crush a political opponent. That foretells the end of the Republic.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Our Republic has survived for 230 years because most Americans believe in our Constitution and respect the laws that emanate from it. But the Constitution is nothing more than a piece of paper… it’s not a gun, it’s not an army, it’s not police state stormtroopers. It’s a piece of paper that states how the government should operate, limits that government’s power, and guarantees the citizens’ various inherent liberties and freedoms.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">For most of our history, the Constitution’s words guided how our nation operated. Citizens had two ways to change the way the country was governed: voting and amending the Constitution. Today, however, neither works. The former has been undermined by a Democrat party that steals elections under the cover of night and calls you a conspiracy nut when you notice. The latter isn’t even a consideration because the Democrat party and the apparatchiks running the regulatory and security states are no longer constrained by its words.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">America has become a tyranny where the people in power no longer feel the need to seek validation from the citizens. They decide on the outcome and manipulate the numbers to produce the result without even a fig leaf hiding their disdain for citizens. Whether it was Bernie Sanders in 2016, Donald Trump in 2020, or Kari Lake in 2022, the Democrat party and its entrenched government comrades have decided they no longer need to subject themselves to the will of the citizenry and, if anyone objects, they use the judiciary to crush that person.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">America has been loosed from the anchor of the Constitution and the rule of law that kept our citizens free for two centuries. While the blood of the regime’s enemies may not yet be flowing in the streets, history very clearly tells us that, unless we change what’s happening, it will be. The question is, are there enough Americans who are familiar with history and willing to pull us out of our national death spiral before that terrible end is upon us? How Americans respond to Donald Trump’s persecution is the canary in the coal mine that will likely answer that question.<br /></span><br /></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Follow me on Twitter at: </span><a href="https://twitter.com/ImperfectUSA" style="font-family: Arial, verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">ImperfectUSA</a></span></div><p></p>Imperfect Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059054555424114343noreply@blogger.com0