Governments drumming up business…

I recall when I was a city planner in several local governments how effective the Parks and Recreation departments were in promoting their recreation activities and facilities.  Thousands were spent in advertising to promote park and facility usage to “foster a healthy lifestyle.” 

And then when park and facility usage reached a certain level, that justified spending several million on additional park and facilities development.  And the cycle went on. (Note:  I love parks and recreation facilities when someone else pays for them.)

Translation:  Promote use of government facilities so we can justify additional expansion, bigger budgets and more power over others.

****

The CDC is apparently involved in a similar schtick…

CDC Pushes Teachers to Measure Commitment to ‘LGBTQ Inclusivity’ Instruction

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/12/28/cdc-pushes-teachers-to-measure-commitment-to-lgbtq-inclusivity-instruction/

Silly me.  I thought the CDC’s mission was to reduce disease.

So now they’re promoting inclusivity of the the LGBTQ++++ community - why?  To reduce disease?  Wait! What? 

CDC stands for Centers for Disease Control.  Doing what they’re doing, it needs to be renamed to CDS:  Centers for Disease Spread.

Pervert sex increases and spreads disease, it doesn’t reduce it.

In lieu of discouraging pervert behavior – which is now called “homophobic” - if anything, the CDC ought to put LGBTQ+++++ on their "no sex" list – like a “no fly” list. Have them all “self report” their disease-spreading behavior like some would like us to do for not wearing a COVID mask or not taking the jab. 

That would cut down disease A LOT. But looks instead like the CDC’s priority is drumming up business.  Then they can hire a few more Fauci wanna-be’s.

Wars: Support and Opposition, Then and Now

Why are so many conservatives opposed to the US support of Ukraine in its defense against the Russian invasion and war crimes against Ukraine?

There are a number of reasons:

• Many believe spending 100’s of billions adds to inflation and the national debt;
• Many believe if money is to be spent, a higher priority is securing our own border and solving domestic priorities
• Many believe that Ukraine is as corrupt as Russia and does not deserve our support; they fail to admit to shades of good and evil.
• Many believe the conflict is more akin to a civil war between the Ukraine region as a breakaway province of Russia and should be none of our business
• Many are leery of the US getting involved, spending billions over many years, and then clumsily withdrawing without anything much to show for the effort. This is the most likely outcome in Ukraine, given US policy of the past 70 years.

These concerns boil down to an “America First” preference among most conservatives.

It took the US being attacked at Pearl Harbor for American to become galvanized to the point of officially declaring war, first against Japan on December 8, and then Germany December 11, 1941.

A year prior to declaring war,

the America First Committee (AFC) was the foremost United States isolationist pressure group against American entry into World War II.^[1][2] Launched in September 1940, it surpassed 800,000 members in 450 chapters at its peak.^[3] The AFC principally supported isolationism for its own sake, and its coalition included many Midwesterners, Republicans, conservatives, socialists, students, and leading industrialists, but it was controversial for the anti-Semitic and pro-fascist views of some of its most prominent speakers, leaders, and members.^[4][5][6]

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/America_First_Committee

Today, much the same America First sentiment is common among conservatives and many Republicans. And Democrats and liberals continue to accuse “America First” conservatives of having fascist views.  Not  much has changed.

The Korean War was a UN action after North Korea, along with allies Russia and China, invaded South Korea. The US provided 90% of the military personnel in defense of the south. War was never officially declared by the United States, but at least South Korea prevailed after the attack from the North.

Vietnam was another undeclared war, ending in a hasty retreat, losing to North Vietnam which took over the South, a much worse outcome than the Korean war.

In both the Korean and Vietnam wars, the Democrats (Truman and then Johnson) were involved in the initial troop buildups.

Two things are noteworthy concerning the Vietnam war:

• Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater lost his election bid because he promoted either getting out or being in it to win (an interesting concept that has been ignored for 70 years).  The Democrats accused him of wanting to use nukes to win.
• Leftist groups, not primarily Republicans, were anti-war.   Radicals fostered anti-war protests, many violent, on college campuses throughout the nation.  At the same time many cities burned due to black rioters frustrated by their relative poverty.  Together, these events contributed to a hasty withdrawal that ended in US defeat.

Politicized war policy writers

Conflicts in the Middle East (Iraq and Afghanistan) were initiated as a result of the Islamist attacks of 9-11 during the Bush Republican presidency.  After 20 years, $2 trillion and over 6,000 US service members and US contractors, it too ended in a hasty exit, this time by a Democrat, Joe Biden.  And again, nothing to show for it except a greatly emboldened and strengthen Islamist fighting force.

The US has never lost a “declared” war.  All the other “special operations” (as Russia likes to call their non-declared efforts) have had mostly dismal results. 

In spite of Democrats being most often referred to as “the war party”, Republicans (mostly RINOs?) have had their share of war-mongering.  I suspect much of Republican war motivation is due to influence of the military/industrial lobbyists who join with Democrats in calling America First conservatives “Nazis” because of their desire to build up our own nation rather than meddle in foreign money pits.

Barry Goldwater had it right.  Go in it to win or stay out.

One of my favorite quotes:

“Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.”

Leftists and globalists will continue to attempt to discredit this truth.  Let’s not be “extreme”.  We might win – or even worse, we might offend someone.  Let’s remain “moderate” so we get our ass kicked.

Response to a defender of China…

I received the following comment on my previous “China/Ant” blog from a friend who has been to China many times and believes its culture and form of governance are superior to that in the US.  My reply follows his comment:

Well, the author, having never been to China or lived among the Chinese, has an uneducated view about China in several regards. China’s middle class has continued to grow while ours is shrinking.

The reason is because China does have entrepreneurs just as we do and those that feel more comfortable working in a group have found a home in profitable privately owned enterprises and SOE’s so they aren’t ants. I could easily move to China and get a job as an English teacher, but freedom does not mean I could teach LGBTQ+ sex or how to overthrow the government.

As far as freedom is concerned I’m as free when I have visited and lived in China as I am here so I have no idea what freedom I’m missing.

I will finish by saying people should not comment upon something they have no personal experience with only relying upon the racist words of others, biased media or corrupt politicians.

Yes, China does have a middle class and entrepreneurs - given enough leash by the central government to remain productive - until they have a point of view at odds with the Party.

As to never having been to China, my friend is correct. I have never been to the moon, either, but I understand its atmosphere requires a space suit for human survival.  My comparisons of China with the ant are not out of ignorance of China.

It should be instructive for my friend that among the many issues that breed dissension between the left and right in the US, the same dissension does not exist with regard to China - with the possible exception of the Biden family and his close cohorts who are subject to corrupt Chinese influence peddling.

There is a unifying set of beliefs among both left and right concerning China - to the point of near unanimity - that China is:
* Intolerant of human rights - well known to both sides of our political aisle.
* A top down, authoritarian Communist regime
* Rapidly building its military power and influence in the Pacific to the point of becoming a threat to world shipping in the region and the balance of power in the world
* Growing its trade and economic advantage by relying on espionage or other unethical means of stealing US technology.
* Allied with the "axis of evil" including Iran, North Korea, and supportive of Russia's war crimes in Ukraine.

All of these unanimously held concerns - also held by many foreign affairs experts who have spent many years in China - are carried out under the direction of "the Party"; to preserve and enhance the power of the Party - as unified as an ant colony.

Regarding being unaware of “freedoms being missed” in China, it should be obvious that people who for centuries have been immersed in a culture of "group work" and "group think" will obviously "have no idea what freedom [they are] missing."  The occasional visitor or foreign national, likewise, will be made unaware of missed freedoms to help assure the aura of freedom.

The point of the "ant" comparison was not to disparage a people (ants are spoken of quite highly in the Bible) but to highlight the vast distinction between the culture and forms of government of China versus West.

Note the use of the word "racist", by the commenter,  above. This is used in exactly the same manner as the left in the US brandishes the words “racist”, “bigot” or “-phobe” of every sort against anyone who disagrees with their point of view.  Why can’t we discuss differences between cultures and forms of governance without name calling?

Other comparisons might be simpler and less offensive to those who don't appreciate ants:

• China: Top down; US: Varies between "bottom up" and "consensus."
• China: Much more highly controlled and regimented; the US: Much less so.
• China: Appearance of greater unity (real or "managed"?); US: Appearance of disagreement and great differences (much less "managed" characteristics of a democratic Republic allowing free expression well publicized and out in the open. Chinese cheer leaders consider this a liability.)
• China: Intolerant of any religion or ideology that the Party believes may be a threat. US: Tolerant of dissent to a fault – with the recent exception of collusion between big tech and our government to silence conservative discourse or legitimate medical opinion.
  

One current example of China's outsized authoritarian predisposition is their methods of suppressing COVID. The slightest outbreak leads to locked down apartment buildings and whole cities. I could imagine an ant colony doing something similar to a wayward ant or two.

There are many instances my friend will point to where the productivity of the Chinese system is superior. And he is correct. China has demonstrated the organizational skills that enable it to excel at productivity - just like the ant that carries many times its weight in its genetically-infused tasks. That is a compliment/asset of China but is apparently an insult to China fans.

That productivity is the point of my ant analogy: The culture of a nation, like the genetics of an ant, can be a unifying force for producing great things in great quantity while remaining oblivious to the freedoms being missed.

Ant colonies compared to China’s Government and Culture

I propose that ant colonies operate more like communism than a monarchy. And that China’s society works more like an ant colony than a monarchy.

Others disagree.

Alexander Finnegan, a self-described J.D. Law and Marxist dude, believes that if ants were people, they would NOT be communists, but would instead be monarchists.  That’s why the queen is called “the Queen.”

But digging down further into WHY she is a queen while all others appear to be subservient to the queen is the challenge.

WHY is she the queen?  WHY are all others subservient?

In the case of the ant, the reason for the way ants govern is based on millions of years of genetics.

In the case of China, the form of governance is based on thousands of years of culture.

“Genetics” is the macro view of behavior – a much longer time horizon.  “Culture”, by comparison is the micro view – a much shorter, though still long, time horizon.  But they both have the same effect on the form of governance from the perspective of the much shorter generational view of humans.

Genetics (ants) and culture (China) have similar influences on their respective forms of governance.  Both genetics and culture give the queen and the Party their importance and the workers their role in life – serve the queen/Party. 

But are they serving the queen or are they serving the colony? Are they serving Xi or are they serving the Party?  What happens if the queen dies?  The colony ends with the death of the last few worker ants because no new ants are being produced by the queen.

But…

While the colony ends, that is not the end of ants.  If China’s Xi died, that is not the end of China or the Party.  The only thing that happens is that there are no more Xi followers (maybe a few million worshippers for a time).  Another leader arrives on the scene and the Chinese culture continues – just as other ant colonies continue. 

Compare a Chinese leader to an ant colony queen. The queen is essential to the “colony”  but not essential to ants.  Xi is essential to Xi followers, but not essential to the Chinese Communist Party.  Ants go on.  The party goes on.  The driving force – the force that gives both the ant civilization and Chinese civilization their role in life – their innate, visceral (like an organisms sympathetic nervous system) – is either genetics (ants) or culture (China).

The result?  Both ant workers and China workers act as automatons, providing service to the colony (ants) or to the Party (China).  In each scenario, they both create great civilizations, but at the price of individual autonomy, aka personal freedoms. 

They both reflect the near perfection in working together as a unified force to create marvelous works, maybe even better and more efficiently than individual groups with more independent agendas can do.

Many folks today, like the good commie noted at the beginning, offer up the ant and China as the governance goal human society should aspire to.  They believe it is the preferred direction of human evolution.

The rest of us believe that life is much richer and fulfilling with individual interests, skills, and aspirations tugging and pushing one another to achieve common goals.

What do you wanna bet…

What do you want to bet that…

• The leftist politicians, media and judges will have more pity for the assaulting black shoplifter than for the family of the deceased grandpa.  Progressives (should be called “regressives”) believe that blacks are still oppressed by whitey, they deserve a break, should not be subject to the same laws that were established by “white racists”, and should be excused from their crimes.
• In spite of Home Depot’s condolences to the deceased’s family, they will minimize any payout because the employee did not follow employee shoplifter protocol of letting shoplifters do their thing.

NORTH CAROLINA

Published December 4, 2022 8:10pm EST

North Carolina Home Depot worker, 83, dies weeks after being shoved during theft; police searching for suspect

The elderly Home Depot worker approached the suspect as he was allegedly stealing three pressure washers

By Paul Best | Fox News

Video

An elderly Home Depot employee died on Thursday from injuries he sustained in October when a theft suspect shoved him while allegedly stealing three pressure washers.

The suspect was leaving the store’s garden area on the morning of Oct. 18 with a shopping cart full of stolen goods when the employee approached him.

Surveillance video released by the Hillsborough Police Department appears to show the suspect shoving the elderly employee to the ground and hurrying out of the store.

The victim died on Dec. 1 due to complications from injuries he sustained during the incident. A medical examiner ruled that his death was a homicide.

The suspect was allegedly stealing three pressure washers when he shoved the elderly worker while leaving the store.  (Hillsborough Police Department)

The Hillsborough Police Department is now searching for the suspect, described as a Black male about 6 feet tall who fled in a white Hyundai Sonata. A temporary North Carolina tag on the vehicle was obscured.

MISSING SOUTH CAROLINA WOMAN'S FAMILY MAKES RENEWED CALL FOR ANSWERS TWO YEARS LATER

Gary Rasor, the employee, celebrated his 83rd birthday while hospitalized for his injuries.

"We are heartbroken by the loss of our associate Gary. He was part of our team for more than 9 years. He was an amazing friend, husband, father and grandfather, always willing to help anyone," a spokesperson for Home Depot told Fox News Digital in a statement.

"Right now, our top concern is supporting his family and our associates during this difficult time."

The elderly worker approached the alleged shoplifted and the suspect shoved him to the ground.  (Hillsborough Police Department)

The victim celebrated his 83rd birthday just weeks before dying from complications with injuries he sustained in the incident.  (Hillsborough Police Department)

His wife previously told WNCN that her husband recognized the suspect.

"He knows the guy is a thief. He’s been there, he’s seen him in the store before," she told the local news outlet. "And what he told me was that sometimes the guy will buy one or two items so he has a receipt, and then he’ll add more stuff to his cart and flash the receipt."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Anyone with information about the suspect can email tips to andrew.jones@hillsboroughnc.gov or call at 919-296-9562.

Tulsa King: How corruption infiltrates and takes over a community

I had high hopes for the Tulsa King tv series with an interesting plot line. It stars Sylvester Stallone a 76 year old New York mobster banished to flyover country in Oklahoma to start a new “enterprise” after a 25 year stint in jail.

I hoped it would focus on comedic struggles of a mobster overwhelmed by the mid-western sensibilities of smallish town America.

But I was wrong.  Instead, it is a graphic lesson of how evil and corruption spreads its tentacles into relatively virgin territory.

Stallone, the ex-prison mobster is banished to Tulsa to do what mobsters need to do to enrich the Don back home in New York.

His first instinct is to seek out the morally marginal business operators, the ones who, due to their tiny moral rudder, will be easy to influence.  He likely considers the tattoo parlors, check cashing stores, and vape shops.  He lands inside a “medical marijuana” business where he flips the staff through violence, attitude, and front money in doing his bidding.

Along the way he finds a clean cut young black dude from a morally upright family to be his chauffer – of course enticing him with an outsized salary paid up front.

By the forth episode, the young man’s dad is also lured into the mobsters corruption to see what his son is up to. By this point the mobster has at least a dozen formerly clean, if marginal, citizens as part of his entourage.

The series has its humorous bits and glimmers of a compassionate attitude from Stallone.  But these tidbits are overwhelmed by the gangster’s smug arrogance, overbearing demeanor, and violence he encourages and dishes out.

The formula:  A famous, popular star, a quirky, sometimes winsome personality, an engaging plot line – and the result is as insidious as the plot the show portrays.

This show is just one of dozens of examples of how not just tv, movies, and “entertainment” gradually corrupt its audience, but how these behaviors, inherited since the stone age, infiltrate and destroy communities and nations.  Human nature on full display.

The very same gradual corruption of our culture by the LGBTQ+++ 3%, enabled by the emotion-driven left, has preempted sexual morality over the past 50 years.

I hoped for the opposite for this show, but was wrong. Silly me.

The vast difference between Patriotism and Fascism

The left, comprised of socialists, communists, and the woke know-nothing-do-gooders, often refer to patriots as “fascist”.

Several reasons can be attributed to their corrupt interpretation:

1. Ignorance
2. Hostility
3. Hatred
4. Purposeful deception to promote their  leftist, big government, globalist, open borders agenda.

So, what are the differences between “patriotism” and “fascism”?

Fascism defined by Merriam-Webster:

a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition

Patriotism defined by Merriam-Webster:

love for or devotion to one's country

Patriots, also identified as “conservatives”, have a love of country in the form it was first conceived and intended: For the purpose of protecting the rights of the individual, being blind to race, and having minimal, decentralized government.  Note that these are all OPPOSITE of the terms defining Fascism.

If anything, the LEFT is promoting Fascism by promoting racial distinctions through public policy like affirmative action, enforcing government power and authority over the individual, and funding an autocratic government structure that suppresses and removes the rights of the opposition.

The left disingenuously misrepresents “devotion to one’s country” as placing the interests of the country ahead of the individual when in fact THEY are the ones doing just that.

The left ignores the founding principles of our nation, that “all men are created equal”, not that government shall force them all to become equal. The left promotes and autocratic federal government headed by a dictatorial executive branch that uses the Department of Justice as their personal fascist gestapo against their opposition.  The left promotes cancelling the rights and reputation of individuals through their alliance with complicit media and large corporations.

So, tell me.  Which group has more Fascist tendencies?

Tough islanders and coastal dwellers…

It’s devastating to lose your home (or second home) and even worse to have loss of life due to a hurricane.  Ian was one of the worst.

But to blame others for their own lack of common sense is just arrogant and stupid.

There are two main categories of islanders and coastal dwellers on Florida’s southwest coast:

• Second home snow birds, usually somewhat wealthy.
• Natives who consider themselves tough guys who know best and no government agency is going to tell them what they should do.

In both cases they live there by choice. In both cases, they either pay through the nose for homeowners insurance or are uninsured. Huge insurance costs should be a dead giveaway about the dangers of living at these locations.

There is no excuse for their remaining in their high risk area when there is a growing hurricane aimed toward their general vicinity.  For two or three days prior to landfall the National Hurricane Center  (NHC) warned that the storm would likely rapidly intensify.  For two or three days prior to landfall the NHC showed landfall targets varying between the Florida panhandle and south of Tampa.

So what do many “tough” coastal dwellers and islanders do?  They not only remain in place, but then they complain that they were not warned.  They blame “the government” for not doing the thinking that they should be doing.

You can’t be stupid and be a coastal dweller or islander.  The two don’t mix well.

But such has become the mindset of too many Americans.  Rely on government instead of ourselves, our own common sense, to tell us exactly what to do.  And if we fail to do our own thinking, the government is always a handy scapegoat. 

Maybe we ought to hand over another several billion to one or more governmental agencies to solve this “human-caused” climate change thing that some idiots – like FJB - say caused the hurricane.  That will make some tough folks and snow birds feel better.

Legal Affirmative Action for those who commit the most crime…

There are three classes of people who commit the most crime:

• Black people of color (to distinguish from people of other colors),
• Illegal aliens, who by definition, 100% of that class commit crime, not including other crimes they commit once here,
• The most devout Muslims, because they have a radically different legal system from that of the West.

All three classes of people have become eligible for “legal affirmative action” (LAA). LAA (as in laa laa land) can be defined as a much lower standard for a “punishable offense.”  In other words, people NOT in one of those three LAA groups are subject to punishment for many more types of offenses than those in the LAA group.

The left, (aka “democrats”, “socialists”, “communists”, “Antifa”, “Black Lives Matter (most)”, illegal immigrant advocacy groups, organizations like the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and the willfully ignorant (which includes a goodly number of media and academia) have created a different rationale for excusing each group from the laws of the land.

In spite of Blacks constituting 16% of the US population, crimes committed by Blacks were wildly disproportionately higher:

• In 2017, 53.1% of those arrested for manslaughter were black.
• Based on a 2017 FBI crime report, 54% of the people arrested for robbery were black.
• In that same year, blacks made up 51.9% of those charged with illegal gambling.
• They also accounted for 33.5% of offenders charged with aggravated assault and 28.7% of rape arrests.
• In addition, blacks accounted for 29.8% of burglary arrests, and 43.9% of people caught carrying firearms. 

https://comparecamp.com/black-crime-statistics/

Most victims of these crimes are also black, by the way.

But wait. Blacks are discriminated against.  Blacks are disadvantaged. Blacks are poorer.  Blacks are in bad neighborhoods with bad schools.  Give them a break.  They can’t help but commit crimes.

The solution:  Subject this class of people to LAA.  Lower the bar. Create a less demanding set of laws for them. Adjust the criminal justice system so that anything much less than murder will not subject them to jail time or even bail requirements.  Yes, Legal Affirmative Action for these folk. That will even lower the crime rate – fewer will be charged with anything.

Reward bad behavior with a myriad of free passes.  That’ll get them to respect the law.  Sure thing.

Next, we know how to give immigrants a good civics lesson – you know, like when they were required to pass a test at Ellis Island a few years back - as they enter the US:  Reward them for breaking our immigration laws (similar to trespassing and breaking and entering) with free travel, free health care, free education, and various government stipends.  100% of illegal aliens are criminals – but who’s counting and who cares?  And is anyone keeping track of the percent of illegals committing crimes here in their first year of illegal residency? That’s kind of difficult when most large cities have LAA prohibiting law enforcement from asking or determining their immigration status.

Finally we have Muslims subject to LAA.  Why?  Because most don’t care much for the US legal system because they have their own Islamic version:  Sharia. Many Muslim enclaves throughout the nation now have their own “no go zones” declared so local law enforcement won’t hurt themselves. 

We shall not impose our nasty, anti-Islamic Western values and laws on Muslim communities.  We must not discourage the culture, religion, or legal system of Syrian, Iranian, Pakistani, Somalian immigrants or those from the other 45 predominantly Islamic nations.  Allah forbids it. Speaking of Allah, that reminds me.  The pudding on the cake is thou shalt not (from the King James) accuse a Muslim of doing ANYTHING wrong or you will make the headlines on CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Washington Post, New York Times or myriad of local snowflake publications condemning YOU for being an Islamophobe. Thus we have institutionalized LAA for the Muslims of this nation.

These three LAA classes of folk don’t even include those who, until a few years ago were correctly labelled perverts and queers (not in the twisted sense now used by the LGBTQ+++ communities today.)  Anyone who whispers that those folk might be perverts, immoral, or mentally challenged will themselves be charged with a crime.

That is the ultimate Laa Laa Land – lowering the bar to ground level for select violators of laws, civility, and morality, while subjecting the rest of us to the higher standards of “the system.”

These forms of discrimination will destroy our legal system and our nation.

How leftists and conservatives address nations problems

Think about how the left addresses each of the widely discussed and growing problems of this nation.  And then consider the approach of conservatives for each of these issues.  You will notice that the leftist/democrat approach aggravates and worsens the problem while the conservatives approach reduces the problem.

Here are a few examples:

Homelessness

Homeless encampments are mushrooming in many democrat run cities.  The left promotes government programs, policies and handouts to make life for the homeless easier (it’s all about emotional “feel good” policies for leftists).  These are typically comprised of:

• Allowing the homeless use public spaces for their tents and other living arrangements
• Providing food handouts
• Providing drug needles
• Not enforcing vagrancy and loitering laws
• Promoting (advertising) the public policies and programs that attract more homeless and disincentivize employment and independence.

Conservatives tend to do the opposite, primarily:

• Enforcing laws against vagrancy and loitering
• Prohibiting use of public spaces and rights-of-way for homeless camps
• Providing “back to work” incentives
• Not facilitating and enabling drug use

Drug addicts

Drug addiction is a worthwhile behavior for the left.  It gives them more control power and influence.  This is why they:

• Promote open borders to let in the cartels, drug lords and tons of opiates.
• Distribute drug paraphernalia to addicts
• Defund law enforcement
• Have “no bail” provisions (let them out on the street) for various drug-related offenses
•  Promote repealing of drug laws 

Again, conservatives promote the opposite:

• Close the borders and closely vet and monitor those who do cross over legally
• Increase capability to both stop the supply entering the nation and well as the distribution and use through strict enforcement.
• Have stricter incarceration provisions for offenders.

Gun violence

The left prefers eliminating the 2nd amendment.  Short of that they promote making various types of guns illegal (they believe the gun has a mind of its own when it decides to shoot people), limiting magazine capacity, imposing exorbitant taxes on guns and ammo, requiring a centralized nationwide permit system, requiring onerous liability requirements for firearm manufacturers, creating a “social credit” system for the right to bear arms, and prohibit the carry of guns in dozens of public venues.  The left fails to acknowledge that the places with the strictest gun laws have the most gun violence.

Conservatives believe that if guns were more freely carried by the general population in more places, unlawful shootings would be discouraged. More importantly, if existing laws were more effectively enforced, prosecuted, with offenders incarcerated for appropriate durations – not as nicey nice rehab, but as punishment, gun violence would be reduced.  And finally, conservatives have much greater respect not only for the rule of law, but for the essential role of the family and religion in our culture.  The left opposes these things.

Illegal immigrants

The left believes in a global authority, disdains nationhood – especially that of the United States, and thus believes in open borders and free entry of people from any and all nations.  They do not believe that a national identity and culture is worth preserving.  They believe “diversity is our strength” as opposed to our “outdated” national motto of “out of many, one.”  Their quest for diversity denies the reality of “in unity there is strength.”  And they blame the other side for our nation’s divisiveness.

Conservatives want strong borders so that only those who respect our culture and laws and who would add to our nations success and prosperity would be allowed entry.  It used to be that way.  Conservatives respect the concept of “nation” and believe the US has a history and identity worth preserving, although many are beginning to have doubts.

Inflation

The left prefers passing laws, enlarging the federal government, creating more programs and spending hundreds of billions falsely believing that those actions will reduce inflation.  They gut the fossil fuel industry through taxation, withholding permits, and halting pipeline construction.  All of that eliminates our energy independence and dramatically raises energy costs for agriculture, transportation, electricity, and manufacturing while becoming more dependent on enemy nations for that resource.

Conservatives would reduce the size of the federal government, reduce taxes, eliminate many cost-increasing federal regulations, and increase domestic fossil fuel production.

Energy

The lefts policies have eliminated the major sources of domestic energy production causing us to rely on undependable foreign sources. The left promotes the myth of “human-caused global warming”, especially the “evil” US-caused global warming.  This half-baked science causes the left to invoke half-baked policies of “green energy” which is several decades ahead of feasibility.  In the meantime – meantime being the next several decades – the US will be forced into an energy deficit and much much higher energy prices.  As Biden’s protégé, Barack Hussein Obama, famously said, “Under my Plan … Electricity Rates Would Necessarily Skyrocket”.  All the while the mining of “green energy” battery components and use of windmills are raping the landscape and killing wildlife.

Conservatives would assure the US once again becomes and remains energy independent.  We would continue the robust development of fossil fuels while incentivizing the development of alternative energy sources, including nuclear.

Which side of these issues would you feel most comfortable on?

No bias, no conflict of interest…sure thing…

This afternoon Attorney General Merrick Garland declared that he personally approved the decision for the search warrant for Donald Trump’s home.  He did not announce why.

Except most can guess, and the optics smell really foul.

As many might recall, Garland is one and the same Garland who sought a post on the US Supreme Court, but was stymied by the Trump administration.  Retributional conflict of interest much?  Then in his next breath during his remarkably brief press conference he pleads with the public to not have any ill will toward the Department of Justice.

What, me persecute?

The other foul smelling thing is the Florida judge who approved the Mar-a-Lago raid was Bruce Reinhart.  Bruce helped Jeffrey Epstein through his pedophilia and sex trafficking troubles.   He was also a large contributor to the 2008 Obama campaign.

There are so many foul smelling aspects to this ongoing persecution.  More than enough to cause one to think that they are doing all they can to assure Trump doesn’t run for President again.

Trouble is, anyone who is as effective at promoting and implement similar policies as Trump will most likely receive the same treatment.

Nation under siege from within!

Any Way the Wind Blows…

Feathers and Sails.

Many of our nation’s leaders have the moral conviction of a feather.  Along comes a new amoral fad and they follow it like a feather in the wind.  Why?  Because it’s cool.  It’s popular. It gets votes from the “folks” and buyers from the fad driven marketplace. 

Do our leaders direct our ship of state?  Hardly.  Again, the “wind” is our perverse pop culture. Our ship of state is rudderless – driven and directed only by the wind.  The “sails” are our “leaders”, both corporate and governmental.  These “leaders” take the entire ship of state any way the wind blows.

We have few real leaders.  Mostly sails and feathers.

One among hundreds of examples:  The Pennsylvania governor champions their gay pride event where children are taught to pole dance.

“A [gay/pervert] pride event in Pennsylvania that reportedly taught children how to pole dance received a $10,000 grant championed by Gov. Tom Wolf’s (D) administration.”

Pride Event in Pennsylvania Taught Children How to Pole Dance (breitbart.com)

Corporations are not any better. Disney in Florida fights governor DeSantis tooth and nail to promote their gay-pervert agenda.  Yet in Muslim countries they tow the moral line.

“After picking a political fight with Florida over the state’s Parental Rights in Education Law, and declaring itself an LGBTQ ally to boot, Disney is reportedly censoring gay and transgender content on the version of the Disney+ streaming service that it launched in the [Middle East Muslim] region in June.”

Disney Won't Say Gay in Middle East: Censors LGBTQ Content in Gulf Countries While Fighting Florida Law (breitbart.com)

Even parents, whether dedicated, moral and upstanding or drug addicted derelicts, will support and defend the criminal or perverted behaviors of their offspring.  “He’s a good kid” they exclaim of their drug addict, shoplifting, or transvestite child.  They jettison any moral conviction they might have held to pander to their kin.

Other family members behave the same.  Dick Chaney’s daughters are one example. Daughter Mary is a lesbian. Daughter Liz is a RINO.  Liz supports gays to defend her sister.  How noble.

‘The View’ Host Joy Behar Says Liz Cheney Only Supports Gay Marriage Because it Affects Her Family: ‘Typical Republican Move’ (yahoo.com)

How shallow our “Christian” beliefs have been.  How fickle our moral actions really are.

Sails and feathers. Any way the wind blows.

Miscellaneous Tom Foolery by the left and their ignorant, amoral followers…

Everything from releasing criminals, to excusing “mental illness”, to open borders, to endless genders reflect the mindset of leftists and their brainless, amoral followers.

New York leftists adopted a law that caused the release of an attempted assassin of a political candidate on his own recognizance – justified by being suspected of being “mentally ill.”  “Mental illness” is our new “get out of jail free” card.  The major problem with that approach is that every deviant, hostile, criminal behavior has a term developed by the psychiatric profession that classifies that behavior as a “mental illness” – the get out of jail free” card.

California, Washington, Oregon, New York and most large cities have District Attorneys who love releasing known felons into the wild, mental illness or not.

Oh, and defund or just don’t support the actions of police.  That is one other method to allow the lawless to do their thing without consequences. You might as well be a cop in Tehran with a Christian cross on your cap than to be a cop in any large American city.

A nation with borders?  That’s too much to ask of leftists and their brain dead followers.  Borders are too mean.  Anyone who likes national borders is called a bigoted nationalist.  Heck, if you promote the success of your own nation you must be a Nazi Fascist.

Next in my litany of absurdities is gender confusion.  Just yesterday I filled out a medical form that had the following options for “gender”:

• Male
• Female
• Male identifies as female
• Female identifies as male
• Queer+
• Bi-sexual
• Other
• Choose not to answer

So, there you have it.  Given a few more minutes a few more absurdities could be listed.  You can easily think of others. Reversing energy independence is one, but that’s too easy.

The common denominators of all the above are:

• Rebellion against traditional morality
• Pandering to the lowest common denominator in society
• Believing in a utopian society via promotion of globalism – belief that we can all be kumbaya (naïve idealism and a sort of precious, touchy-feely, hand-holding spirit of rosy-eyed unity) and ignore human nature – the genesis of open borders and abhorring nationalism.

The dissolution of a commonly held Judeo-Christian morality is at the heart of these trends.  Diversity is now superior to unity – as long as your diversity is amoral and anti-American.

It’s a strange strange world we live in, Master Brandon.

Can we have anarchy and fascism at the same time?

Our public officials and media don't want to know or admit to the cause of violence in our streets, schools and cities.  Instead they blame it on the gun, the cops, the pressure cooker, or the errant car driven into the crowd.

Instead of identifying the root causes, they broad brush their response and take rights and freedoms away from EVERYONE. Take away the gun, the bullets, the magazines.  Subject everyone to the draconian measures airport body searches because of 19 Muslims.

Meanwhile we ignore the root causes because we might offend someone.

Aberrant behavior, whether extremist religion, extremist political ideology, lack of moral teaching at home and at school, disrespect for the rule of law at all levels of government and society, and ultimately, disregard for a consensus belief in a just God and a generally agreed upon set of behaviors that are a part of that belief:  These are all part of our nation's steep slide.

We've normalized every perverse belief and behavior and can't agree on a common code anymore.  It’s now not only OK to be a pervert, but God help the person who is critical of perversion.

It’s now mainstream to promote vile rap music lyrics – the lyrics the promote cop killing and have “f---“ multiple times in every verse - because we don’t want to offend the black “artists” who write and speak  it and the huge drug imbued fan base that eats it up.

And whatever else we do, don’t offend the Muslim who believes in the only religion on the planet that coerces unbelievers to follow their ideology through threat, intimidation and terror.

We believe in “diversity” more than “unity.”  What else should we expect from that flipped switch except what we got?

Searching the web for a photo that would match this topic I Googled “anarchy” and came upon dozens of books on Amazon on this topic.  Among them was this: “ABC’s of Anarchy” promoting anarchy to toddlers.  Here is a quote:

“I want to tell you about anarchism because anarchism is the only thing that can give you liberty and well-being and bring peace and joy to the world.”

The book earned 4.3 stars.  Seeing this I felt like I was in the twilight zone.

A consensus belief in a common morality is now considered too restrictive and confining for many.  And most of the rest of the population believe that is A-ok. Most don’t agree in a common or traditional morality anymore. Perversion and violence are accepted norms to allow everyone to express themselves.  And those who don’t accept this new “tolerance” are called “bigots.”  And many formerly faithful churches are “going along to get along.”

Those who believe as I do, that there are God-given norms of behavior that society and governments should promote, are now in a small and shrinking minority.

Our nation is headed into an anarchist and fascist direction.  By that I mean that anything goes and the rule of law is selectively enforced against those who object to this new “standard.”  

I didn’t know it was possible to have anarchy and fascism at the same time, but we are headed in that direction.

Broad brushing law enforcement misses the mark…

Remember your days in school when someone in class was acting up?  Teachers had various methods of restoring order.  Sometimes she wasn’t quite sure who it was, or didn’t want to call out the actual offender – but instead punished the whole class hoping to apply some form of “peer pressure.”

News flash!  That technique might have worked on a group of 5th graders but it is NOT an appropriate method to apply to the US population at large.

Yet that “broad brush” approach to solving a behavioral problem among a few individuals misses the mark in two ways:

1) It unfairly punishes the vast majority of citizens who follow the rules, and

2) It does not focus on those few (in the case of the US population fewer than 0.1% of the total population) who are the offenders in the examples provided below.

The elementary school disciplinary technique of punishing the whole class while ignoring the perps does not work when applied to a whole nation.

Three examples come to mind:  Airport security, school security and flying flags. 

In the case of airport security, we understood which tiny segment of our population was involved in hijacking aircraft.  We knew the personalities and predispositions of those who actually hijacked aircraft.  They were those who practiced the fundamentalist Islamic faith, they were of Middle Eastern decent, and they were typically males between 18 and 40 years of age. 

Yet what did we do?  We subjected EVERYONE who flew in planes to be subject to invasive body searches.  ENVERYONE! It’s as if everyone who used a plane for transportation was a threat, fully ignoring those who we knew actually were a threat.  Why?

In the case of school security, we understand which tiny segment of our population is involved in school shootings.  We know personalities and predispositions of those who actually carried out school shootings.  They were those less than 18 years of age, male, troubled, posting threatening messages on social media, often bullied, and from broken or abusive homes.  How difficult is it for individuals fitting that profile to be tagged, monitored and denied the sale of weapons?

Yet what do we do?  Many propose to subject EVERYONE who owns a gun or thinking of owning a gun to gun ownership and gun use prohibitions.  EVERYONE!  It’s as if everyone who owns a gun for protection or sport or hobby is a threat, fully ignoring those who we know actually ARE a threat.  Why?

Why?  Why, in these two examples, do politicians choose the broad brush approach, painting EVERYONE as potential hijackers or school shooters instead of identifying those who actually are?

This third example might provide a clue.

In the case of homeowners flying flags in local communities, the legal right to fly a flag offers some peculiar and unpleasant realities.  The examples provided apply only to those situations tested by the law.  Of course one could fly anything in a homeowners association if no one complains.

So here is the example: 

Flags are a form of speech subject to the first amendment.  So basically a flag depicting ANYTHING, a sports team, ISIS, the CRIPS, any nation, as well as the US flag, are all theoretically allowed under the law.  But HOA’s typically limit formal written permission of flags to the US flag only.  But we know other flags are flown without those “rules” being enforced.  Why?  Because if they were enforced the association would probably lose in court. 

Why would the association lose?  Because such enforcement would discriminate against a class of people and abridge their free speech.  You can’t discriminate against Satanists who might want their own flag.

You can’t “profile” and discriminate against a person who practices a fundamentalist Islamic faith from a Middle Eastern country who is male between 18 and 40 years of age.

Does this same “excuse” apply to refusal to “profile “ kids less than 18 years of age,  male, troubled, posting threatening messages on social media, often bullied, and from broken or abusive homes?  Would that be considered discrimination against a “class” of people who fit that profile?  After all, most troubled kids would probably not even consider shooting up their school.

So instead of assuring that kids who fit that profile are denied weapons and referred to a barely existing mental health system, we have those who insist on applying the “broad brush” and prohibit everyone from possessing weapons.

That, in a nutshell, is another terrible excuse to apply the “broad brush” that considers every evil to be entitled to first amendment protections.  That is the area where more thinking and refinement of the limits of the first amendment is appropriate. 

Just overly simplistically banning guns is another mindless, poorly consider approach to addressing school shootings that “misses the mark.”

Rationally and logically, keeping guns in the hands of those who are intent on SAVING LIVES to defend against those with guns who are intent on  TAKING LIVES is much preferred over making those intent on saving lives defenseless. 

Those intent on taking lives do not care if the weapon, whatever it is, was obtained legally or illegally or if a sign is posted prohibiting weapons on school property.

Government controlled redistribution…

Whether it’s “government-controlled redistribution of wealth” or “government controlled redistribution of goods”, it is wrong and counterproductive.

Government controlled redistribution of baby formula is even worse.

To what extent is the governments redistribution of pallets of baby formula to illegal immigrants at least a partial contributor to the baby formula shortage in the US?

More HERE.

GOP rep says illegal migrants sent ‘pallets’ of hard-to-find baby formula

GOP rep says illegal migrants sent ‘pallets’ of hard-to-find baby formula | Fox News

Rails to Trails: The sweetener on top of a dying nation

In small towns and large cities across the nation city planners have been touting their “great successes” in converting abandoned rail lines to recreational trails. That appears to be a great thing to do – make good use of miles of unused right of way for walking and bicycling.  Great!  Let’s recreate!

But on the other and, this is like making a BBQ pit from the leftover bricks from your bombed out house.  Sad, really.

No! Neither trails nor BBQ pits make things better – not compared to what was given up. They are both a misleading salve over a bad situation – the urban planning version of making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.  But the poor pig is dead!  Like the violin music that helps lift the spirits just before the Titanic goes down.

And no, abandoned rail lines are not the result of advances in transportation or advances in technology. They are a sign of our economic decline.  We don’t yet have transponders that send kilotons of dry goods from point A to point B. Trucking is not the most cost effective mode of transportation for things we don’t produce anymore.

That’s the problem:  Things we don’t produce anymore.

With Nixon’s trip to China in 1972, we began to offshore production to reduce costs to American consumers. That was the beginning of the US transition from a producer nation to a consumer nation.  From a productive nation to a recreating nation – getting fatter, happier, and lazier as a result.

We thought that was great for over 50 years.  Cheaper stuff:  Yaaa!  More recreation:  Yippee! Fatter and happier:  You betcha!

But we were like the proverbial frog in the pot…the water temperature has risen.  And now we find ourselves beholden to nations we are beginning to fear for essential goods, from pharmaceuticals to electronic components. and a thousand other things most are yet unaware of.

So what happens when most of the products we depend on come from a nation we begin to fear and becomes one of our top three enemies? Is it too late to wean our way off our dependence on those wonderful lower prices and fill the void of strategically important components?

Rails to trails:  A symbol of a nation that got itself into an economic death spiral.

________________________

[A little levity:  Is it possible that the the 1961 song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” was prescient, giving a coded economic/fiscal message with the lyric “Wimoweh” really meaning“wean our way” while the Lion sleeps. It was sung by The Tokens after all.  OK, very little.]

The argument for doing A LOT more in Ukraine

Up till now, the US, NATO and all the nations of Europe have been intimidated by Russia from taking effective military action to help defend Ukraine. The West’s excuse to stand down:  “Oh, but Russia has nukes.”  So, when do we hand over the keys to our spooked and intimidate house? This is Russian nuclear blackmail.

Sure, allies have provided humanitarian assistance to refugees and belated shipments of armaments are being sent to Ukraine.  We have imposed “sanctions” against various aspects of Russia’s economy – which by the way – our government admitted could take months to have any significant impact. And even with that tepid response, Putin has declared these sanctions to be a “declaration of war.”

So, if these actions are already considered by Russia “a declaration of war”, while doing little to slow Russia’s advance, shouldn’t we do a hell of a lot more?

Yes.  Russia has nukes.  Does that give the West an excuse to ignore Russia’s killing of thousands in their reign of destruction upon innocent nations? How long will the West dally? Is the West to lay down and become militarily comatose?  It has become obvious to most who are paying attention that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a continuation of their advance toward their former USSR glory days.  Russia has already taken Georgia and a southern chunk of Ukraine (Crimea).  There are many more sovereign nations in Russia’s sights:  Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Romania, and Finland.

So, are there any good reasons to call Russia’s bluff, get a spine and militarily join the fight?

Here are the consequences of the West remaining unengaged militarily in Ukraine:

• Russia continues its blitz, its bombardment, its killing and destruction of Ukraine.
• The humanitarian crises worsens.
• Russia is emboldened, knowing the West will do little to defend itself.
• Russia continues on its trek to invade and consume other neighbor nations.
• Seeing the West’s lack of resolve, China is emboldened to take over Taiwan and further advance in the Pacific.
• The West endorses its own moral failure to defend other peaceful nations against unprovoked attack. We become complicit in our passivity.

Yes, NATO needs to establish a “no fly zone” over Ukraine.  Yes, NATO needs to destroy Russian columns threatening Ukraine’s cities.  Yes, the West needs to prepare for various counter attacks from Russia.

How about we stop being merely observers and commentators as if we were watching a bunch of Christians in the Roman Coliseum being slaughtered for sport.

Remaining passive during this sort of unprovoked attack on a peaceful neighbor is both a moral lapse and a precursor to Western suicide.

Post script:

There are those who are simply “hand-ringing”, asking “what can we really do? We can’t really do anything.”

There are those who are doing “as much as they can do” without “poking the bear”, meaning doing as little as possible while being substantially ineffective.

There are those who urge us to stay out of it, warning it is none of our business.

And there is a growing number saying we MUST act militarily, Russian intimidation be damned.

Which of these do I believe the Biden administration will follow?  All but the last.  They are too invested in the US becoming a 2nd world nation via their emphasis on “climate change”, killing fossil fuel production, promoting multiple genders, and open borders.

Ukraine: Moral Imperative Denied

Imagine, if you will, this neighborhood scenario:

A good friend of the neighborhood, but not a member of the neighborhood “Club” begins being pulverized by a thug from the adjacent neighborhood.

The neighborhood, in forming their “Club”, agreed that they would defend from outside bullies ONLY those who are in the club.  Since the “good friend” is not in the “club” the neighborhood merely stands by, watching, as they exchange predictions of how badly the thug will pulverize their “friend.”

Does it seem clear to you that, in spite of the fact that the good friend of the neighborhood is not in their “Club”, that the neighborhood has a moral obligation to defend their friend?

Is the neighborhood using the lack of club membership as an excuse to avoid confrontation with the bully?

If the neighborhood has that much fear of the bully, it makes you wonder if they would act even if a member of their own club was being pulverized.

This is the situation with NATO, the US, Ukraine, and Russia.

I have to ask:   Is NATO using Ukraine’s lack of membership in their “Club” as an excuse to deny their moral imperative to help a “friend” who is being pulverized?

If there was no NATO, would they feel more compelled to help their friend?

If NATO denies the clear [to me] moral imperative to help their “friend” because he is not a member, you have to be concerned about their resolve to help each other if one of their own was being pulverized.  This is especially true if their reason for not defending Ukraine is because of their fear of the bully – which is undeniably the case here.

If they are willing to sacrifice their non-member friend because of their fear of the bully, there is a good chance they would not defend one another due to the same fear.

Or is NATO a mere “protection racket”, the likes of an urban mafia that only protects the merchants that paid their protection money?

Here is the kicker to me:

The United States spent untold billions of dollars and untold thousands of lives over a 20-year period in Afghanistan training, defending, funding, equipping and fighting for a nation who’s people had a radically different culture, that didn’t really want us there, that disdained the values of the West, and which had no motivation to defend themselves, just going half-heartedly through deceptive motions, and whose leaders fled their nation days before its rapid fall.

Then we have Ukraine:  A friend, having as many shared values as any ally we have, an enemy of our enemy, having an uncanny will to fight to defend their freedoms and begging for our help while being pummeled by the overpowering bully next door.

And what does NATO do? Nothing.

What does the United States of freakin’ freedom loving ‘merica do? Not much.

Ukraine isn’t part of the “Club.”

The perfect excuse to pretend the “moral imperative” doesn’t exit.

The history books won’t treat these actions kindly – if freedom loving countries are even around to write them.

Russian government promotes “traditional values”; warns against immorality from the West

Who would have thunk it?

Most conservatives in the United States are, at this point in time, more likely to support Russian government policy rather than US government policy when it comes to culture and traditional values.

Here is the latest national policy coming out of Russia:

The draft text defines “traditional values” as “moral guidelines that form Russian citizens’ worldview, transferring from generation to generation, guaranteeing civil unity, forming the base of Russian civilizational identity and the nation’s unified cultural space, and manifesting uniquely and distinctly in the spiritual, historical, and cultural development of the multiethnic people of Russia.”

Wow!  What a concept.  Promoting “civil unity” over “diversity.”

Additional examples include

“…“life, dignity, human rights and freedom, patriotism, civic consciousness, service to the Fatherland and responsibility for its fate, high moral ideals, a strong family, creative work, prioritizing the spiritual over the material, humanism, charity, justice, collectivism, mutual support and respect, historical memory and continuity between generations, and the unity of the peoples of Russia.”

Why is Russia declaring these standards?  They are defending against the immoral filth from the West.  Here is more from their policy statement:

“The report claims, however, that these values are under threat from outside forces including terrorist and extremist organizations, multinational corporations, NGOs, and the US and its allies. Among the foreign ideas said to be invading Russia, the authors name egoism, permissiveness, “amorality,” and the refusal to grant Russia a positive place in history and culture.”

US conservatives have become subject to a government that does just the opposite of what Russia’s policy promotes.  Here is a list of what the US government has been promoting: 

• Gender confusion and LGBTQP interests
• Suppression of religious freedoms and traditional morality
• Racist discrimination against the founders and our founding principles
• Suppression of law enforcement; allowing lawlessness
• Racism in the selection of government officials, e.g. Biden mandate that excludes all but blacks from Supreme Court consideration
• Facilitation of unbridled, unvetted immigration by those who couldn’t care less about our founding principles
• Erasing, ignoring or rewriting civics and US history in public education
• Considering “patriots” a greater threat than illegal immigrants and others who have little regard for our nation.

My prediction:  Over the coming years, US government policy will, if it continues on its current course, result in less prosperity, influence, power and respect among nations than that of either China or Russia.  We are rushing into 2nd, and perhaps 3rd world status.

Our freedoms degrading into anarchy. Our history transformed into evil. Our morality morphing into irrelevance.

https://www.rt.com/russia/547437-traditional-values-foreign-amorality/