24 Hour Bad News

I'd like to think I'm not that old but I remember when the news was only on at either 6 o'clock and 10 o'clock. And that was all. Before the news came on, you watched something else. Anything else.

Then in 1980 CNN went on the air as a 24 hour "News" broadcast cable station and now everywhere you look there's "News".

And it's not good news and these days we don't know which of it actually happened or whether most of it is true. Sure, storms really happen. Planes really crash but the other stuff, the subjective stuff, the things that happen in other places, we don't know the half of it and the only word of it we get is through the 24/7/365, never ending news channels.

And we already know they're all full of SHIT.

The local outlets are the worst at trying to fill up their massively expanded schedules. With their vans driving up and down the highways hoping something bad will happen because we all know this "news" has to be BAD.

Bad news is important to the TV executives and it's important to advertisers. The term "If it bleeds, it leads" is now spread across the entire day. If a plane skids off the runway in Singapore or a car hits a tree in Dallas, it's on our local Boston "news", why?

Probably because they have an "insert car crash here every day in this time slot" mandate and if nobody local crashes, they get footage off the wire to fill the spot. I don't really know but I always wonder why I'm hearing about something that happened in California like a car chase or a house fire when they happen on the East coast too but just not that day. There's a lot of time to fill up now so they have to keep the bad "news" coming.

I remember Fox news used to love to broadcast California car chases. That's "news" as entertainment, watching a car chase. Here in New England, car chases suck because there are too many trees to block the camera crew. Car chases happen in Andover, Massachusetts I'm sure, you'll just never see one on television.

Bad News Over and Over

But with all the satellite feeds, the global networks, the broadcasting vans looking for cats caught in the trees, these stations still run out of bad news to hit us over the head with. So what do they do? They REPEAT it over and over, sometimes for three days.

In the Internet world, three days is an eternity to hear the same thing over again. Bad enough you hear it again in an hour but, just in case you somehow missed it, here it is again today. Damn it makes it hard to turn on the radio, I've long ago stopped watching television.

Casting a Pall

What this does, all this bad 'news", is cast bad feelings among the populace. People actually feel the world is going to Hell. The world is not going to Hell. The world is the same as it's ever been. It's always been turning, always there is turmoil somewhere. Just not the same place all the time if you don't count the Middle East. That's a world constant.

But there's always a bad law about to be passed, always a "crisis" to be averted and always someone trying to convince you that unless you go jump through some HOOP, the worst possible outcome will be made real.

But the 24 hour "news" cycle causes preoccupation with what's going on, or at least, what we THINK is going on. I wonder sometimes how information got around back in colonial times. Information traveled slowly and I'm sure was subject to miscommunication and modification.

So the only thing that's changed is the speed of miscommunication and modification.

Why Television Exists

Is it to inform you? It can do that. Is it to educate you? It can do that too. It certainly can entertain you. But the reason it's here is to sell you things.

Beyond all the advertisements, the people who control the media and it's portals want to show you what they want you to see and only what they want you to see. And it's all pretty dumb and contrived. Most of the time, since television was developed, the government and the media were on the same page as to The Message they wanted to send the public. Right now there is a schism and the two are currently split.

Mostly these days the media is selling fear, angst, worry and remorse. Fear of the outside, angst about your well-being and remorse over parts of our history you or your family was never a part of.

It's about "helping" you form ideas and opinions that are of a certain perspective, their perspective. You're told either the truth when if fits, half-truths when it doesn't and outright lies when it suits them. And you have no idea which one you're getting.

Yet people believe it just the same.

Swallowing the Elephant

I never get people who, even though they know that they've been lied to, believe the next thing that the liar says! If someone lies to me once, I tend to have a doubt about the truthfulness of anything they say after that. But that's just me. It's more about how people are inclined to believe "facts" that fit their own opinion about a subject no matter what the source.

We catch a "news" station deliberately distorting the facts and the next day someone says, "Hey, did you hear what's on _____?" Same station. I mean, they're not going to stop broadcasting just because they were caught in a lie.

I don't know if anyone remembers back to 1993 when NBC News, not having success confirming the rumor that the pickup truck GM was making at the time had a problem catching fire in a roll-over accident, actually put a LIGHTED FLAIR on the gas tank and re-did their roll-over test. That worked! The truck finally caught fire.

Of course, the flair showed up rather prominently when General Motors ran the footage in slow-motion.

Oops!

Politics, Politics, Politics

Politics was never far from "news" since the beginning of time. The way certain information is going to be perceived by the Public is always worrisome to those with something to lose.

All news today is political. Why the car crashed, why the storm tore your roof off your house, why your wife left you and why your young kids come home from school and tell you that the number one priority of their lives will be to save the planet.

And whether you think you're a Progressive or a Conservative, you just have to know you're not getting the whole story. The bubble you've built for yourself by only watching certain stations or reading certain publications that back up your thinking to the point where people who risked their very lives to bring you a different sort of news and put it out of reach of the people who don't want you to see it, are ignored.

If the truth should suddenly hit you in the face, would you even know it?

Believe it, don't believe it, that's not the point. The point is that you should have access to it and know it exists.

Something to believe in. 

Can China Oppress Its Way to Prosperity?

Remember Tibet? It used to belong to the Tibetans. Not any more. China took over. The outrage lasted minutes while Chinese policemen kicked protesters to death in the streets.

How about Taiwan. It's a sovereign nation, right? Not to China it isn't and they never stop threatening to take it over. By force, of course.

China's Claims

To determine ownership of a territory, China it seems merely has to claim it. "It's ours by right, stay off!"

And that's all their is to it. Tibet...is China's. The South China Sea, well, it has the word China in it, see? Therefore it belongs to China. Nobody else gets to use it. It's China's.

Taiwan is China's. Why? Because China says so!

Taiwan may have something to say about that. "No they don't, it's ours!"

Hong Kong wasn't China's for a long time. China was very different then. Different government, different economy and Hong Kong too is different, like a different country.

But China claims Hong Kong just the same.

Where do China's claims stop?

There's a rumor going around this country that China wants to go to the Moon just to see if the American flag is really there. If it isn't, China will claim the Moon too.

How Will the World React?

Hong Kong is, in my opinion, the last frontier of true economic freedom left in the world. A place where you can rent a storefront, put up a sign and call yourself a business. Very little red tape involved in comparison to say, anywhere in the United States. It's a city just teaming with commerce and ambition. Ambition for success and for something few on mainland China enjoy, Freedom!

But don't worry, China will fix that. They'll eventually kick their way in and crush the local pro-democracy lunatics, killing the most resistant and sending the rest to be re-educated or harvested or both. They'll then look to their European enablers for signs of disapproval.

But they won't see any.

I mean, what nation cut ties with China over Tibet? None. Nobody did. If they do the same thing to Hong Kong, will it score a ripple on China's economic radar screen? Will they pay a price?

Well, perhaps the UK may have had enough and actually speak up about what China is doing given it's past ties to Hong Kong but don't expect France, Spain or Germany to make much of a fuss. They all need the low cost manufacturing they've grown dependent upon. They're tied too tight economically to China to open their cringy yaps and do anything beyond a grandstanding speech or some-such.

To them, Hong Kong is just another Tibet; "Pass the Bearnaise Sauce will you, my Filet Mignon is not as moist as it should be." "Send it back Angela, the cook will make you another!" "Good idea Annegret, I'll send it back."

"Oh, those unfortunate people of Hong Kong." they will say. And that will be the end of it. It will take people marching in the streets of those nations to get a bigger reaction. But since it's only people getting killed and a major global economic engine being silenced and not something REALLY important like "Global Climate Warming Change", will they get much of a turnout?

China Roads

China is good at taking over. They've bought their way into Africa although there are rumblings from South Africa about the deal they've made with the Devil, but they'll all regret taking the money China dangles in front of the impoverished nations of Africa.

Nobody really TRUSTS China. They're serious as a heart attack and as funny as a crutch. They have a chip on their shoulder so big the Iranians can only look on in envy and they are out to pay back ALL the slights of history they feel have been directed at them because they are Chinese.

China now says, "If the world will not love us, by _________, (*whatever Godless Idol Chairman Xi worships) they'll fear us!"

And surely, where ever China goes these days, they make everyone around them nervous.

And they should be.

Tienanmen Square Redux

But China is at it's best at oppressing it's own. From the untold millions who were purged in the days of Mao to the extension of that control to the long segregated Muslim population. The control and subjugation of them and Christians too, is all just by rote these days. Nobody escapes and everybody is subject to social controls. The Muslims just get it worse, of course.

It's all about control. China controls it's population. Telling them what they can see, what they can say, what they can do and where they can go. In this fashion, the government can feel secure that they will not be overthrown. With the country contained, they will feel much more secure as they expand and try to take over the weaker territories nearby and give them the same treatment. And then, they surmise, they will expand from there spreading the subjugation model they've perfected at home.

The Question

Can China's economic business model sustain it's ambitions?

Already being challenged on the economic battlefield, China's weakness is evident. The other major nations of the world must keep buying their cheaper products and feeding the Dragon. If they should decide to go elsewhere, the Chinese Juggernaut could hit the wall.

But that would also help out the United States and President Trump. What to do, what to do?

What will it take for the other nations of the world to decide to stop buying Chinese goods?

If China should decide to go into Hong Kong with guns a-blazing, the reactions or lack thereof of the European nations will tell us a lot.

Baltimore is a Dump!

And for as long as I can remember, Baltimore has had the reputation of being a "bad neighborhood".  I don't drive by the city often but I can't help but see it from Interstate RT-95 when I'm on my way back from somewhere else. I always take a long look at the place.

And I shudder. Who can imagine living there?

Baltimore Maryland is a perpetual welfare city. According to the national census, Maryland is the country's richest state with a median income of $69,272.00 per person so imagine what that means when you factor in the poorest city in the country! 

Did I mention that the current Mayor of Baltimore, Bernard Young, is a Democrat? I think the last Republican to run the city was in 1967. 

The last Mayor of Baltimore, Catherine Pugh, also a Democrat, was forced to resign due to a corruption scandal involving a children's book she 'wrote" and coerced the city school system to purchase. It wasn't much of a book but it was a hell of a crime.

Maryland also has a Democrat for a Governor, Larry Hogan. I don't much about him since, I really don't pay much attention to the state in general since I would never think of setting foot there for any reason. It's just a name on a map to me. Sorta like say, Suriname, a place that might as well be on the moon. The only time you hear of such places is when bad things happen there. 

Way back in the late 1980s I had a co-worker who was originally from North Carolina but he and his young wife moved to Baltimore, to start their life together. He was not familiar with the place but thought, since they were in their early 20s, that the city was a place they could build a life together.

But there was no work. Neither could get a job. Their money quickly ran out and they applied for public assistance. They were assigned an apartment. When they looked at the place, it was filthy, in a run-down building in a seedy area of the city. But they were stuck and had to make the most of it. The place was roach infested. When they started to clean the place up, he told me, there was a taped up cardboard box in a corner of the room. When he picked it up, the bottom fell out and "about 2000 cockroaches" hit the floor and scattered in all directions. He and his wife shared their first Baltimore freak-out during their eventful but short stay in that building. There was more but you get the picture. 

What that lead to was the two of them frantically calling any relative and extended family member they could recall in the hopes that one of them would let them stay with them for even just a little while. One of them, who worked with me, told them that if they could get there, they could stay with him for as long as it took to get settled. He told me they each packed one bag and went straight to the highway and thumbed the first truck that would take them closer to Massachusetts and farther away from Maryland. 

When the truck driver dropped them off at our towns highway rest-stop on Interstate RT-495, he drove off with their luggage and disappeared into the night. But that incident did not offset the relief they felt for finally getting out of Baltimore. 

Since that time Baltimore has gotten worse. 

Baltimore is a city of stark contrasts, the have's and the have-nots, empty buildings that serve as drug shooting-galleries a block away from a posh neighborhood, poor schools and poor people a block away from good schools and rich neighborhoods. Employment in much of the city is public employment since businesses are reluctant to move in. 

People who live in Baltimore will tell you that there are a lot of great places to go there, museums, restaurants, art centers and other attractions. 

But they will also warn you to be aware of your surroundings when out and not to walk and talk on your cell phone in public since this automatically makes you a target. They will also tell you to simply expect things to be stolen off of your porch and to not leave items visible in your car when you park. They will mention that your home insurance should cover break-ins. Everyone there will acknowledge that the crime rate is very high punctuated by a lot of shootings. 

In 2017, there were a reported 343 murders in Baltimore but the good news is that it dropped in 2018 to 309. 

But that could be anywhere in the country, right? 

Since the Freddy Gray incident, where six Baltimore policemen were put on trial for the negligent homicide of Mr. Gray whom they left unsecured with his hands cuffed behind his back in the police vehicle and who subsequently died as a result of falling against the door handle, arrests have gone down and crime has gone up. 

People there warn you not to come. Don't take my word for it, Google "Moving to Baltimore" and see what that gets you. Oh, there's some fake news out there but you'll know the real stuff when you read it. 

All the money Baltimore gets in Federal Aid doesn't seem to help things. That's because the money isn't there to actually help people, it's good jobs at good wages for the people who dole it all out. Those are the people the money is for.

Nothing seems to get better in Baltimore.  

Joe Lieberman: Hypocrite of School Choice

I can't believe this is still an argument. If it wasn't for the power of the National Teachers Union which is only rivaled by the other two public union powerhouses, The International Brotherhood of Police Officers and The International Association of Fire Fighters, this would have been settled ages ago.

But I was reminded of a bit of hypocrisy just now when I read an article by none other than Former Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman advocating for, of all things, school choice.

And I had to laugh.

NOW, he's the advocate for school choice...

Again!

Oh, old Joe WAS a champion for the school voucher system right up until the moment he was picked to be Al Gore's running mate for the Presidency back in 2000.

Then nothing, not a word about it was mentioned and nobody asked.

But I remembered.

Joe Lieberman remained in the Senate for 14 years after Al Gore's failed run for the presidency but until now we have not heard anything from the former senator advocating for school choice.

Since that time the voucher system was instituted in the District of Columbia and working well until the Teacher's Union finally managed to squash it, forcing the school kids back to their sub-standard district schools. They could have used a champion then. Now , with nothing to lose, nothing on the line and perhaps looking for some sort of relevancy in a new age, good old reliable Joe Lieberman is again advocating school choice.

After 19 years of silence, is anybody going to ask, "Where you been all this time, Joe?"

Fox news won't be asking that question, you can bet on that. They ran the article. What gall this guy has! Even for a former pol and lawyer. This sudden rekindled interest makes me wonder at what angle he's trying to play. Perhaps we'll find out in the near future.

School Choice

This is the system where each family gets a voucher for the money they pay each year towards their school system or per student funds allocated to each child at any rate that then can be put that towards a different school of their choosing. The money follows the child. 

Two-Tiered Education System

It has been argued that the voucher system will create a two-tiered school system and allow the wealthy to pull their kids from public school or that there will be a migration from public schools. 

The wealthy have already pulled their kids out of public school. THEY have the money to pay twice. Once for the sub-standard public school they don't use and again for the private school they actually send their kids to.

It's the poor people who can't afford to send their kids to an alternate or private school who get the short end. They can only afford the sub-standard.

Without a school voucher program to even the field, the people without the means are also without the choice. The lack of school choice hurts THEM, the people who can't afford to send their kids any place else.

The lack of competition for the monopoly of public schools means no challenges and no innovation or improvements. They never have to pay for their mistakes. Only the children will.

So here's hoping Joe sticks with it the second time around since School Choice was and is a good idea. Introducing competition into the educational marketplace will make all the schools stronger. They will either change or be emptied out.

But Joe Lieberman could have been fighting for this change for the last 19 years but abandoned his principles for the chance at glory and fame.

He thinks everybody's forgotten it.

At What Point Do You Stop Listening?

The press just can't get enough of the "feud" between President Trump and The Squad of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib and that overt Jew hater, Ilhan Omar.

It's the media corps that have elbowed Nancy Pelosi to the back of the room and put the spotlight on these four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse and it is they who are the reason that this is all a big deal.

It's not a big deal.

If you're worried that people may be believing all the zany things these people are saying just because they're all over the airwaves, I wouldn't be.

It isn't like the political arena lacks for want of crazy, prescription-drug crazed politicos because there seems to be no short supply.

I don't blame the Socialist Sisters for being camera hogs, I blame the people who are supplying the cameras. It's Fox News and "The World is Coming to an End" Drudge Report that are making the most political hay out of this. Talk about "It's all about the Benjamins".

All the accusations of "Racist" and constant media deluge of media hate towards the president, the wobbly GOP who would still rather have Hillary Clinton than prosperity and a good economy, the radical leftist states that every day announce another reason for their working citizens to get the hell out of there, it's all for naught. It's just the constant stream of nothingness and minutia that the "News" has become today. Nothing more than an incessant drone of negative energy, causing no good and if you listen too long, will cause mental instability.

In the Oppressive Ogres Corp where I work I share an office with another person. He's a political guy and a Trump supporter and each day he can't help but peruse MSN, CNN, Politico and other such non-sense media sights and read me some of what they say. He gets upset about it. I say, "I don't understand why you do this to yourself, you already know what they're going to say." But he can't help it. He gets even more upset when Fox says the same thing.

"Stop reading that crap!" I insist, "You're going to drive yourself Koo-Koo!"

And here we are.

I've checked out. I don't give a flying Phitt about what any of these people have to say or the so-called "conservative" media outlet that gives them a forum because I know it's all just about ratings and the advertising dollars they bring. Fox isn't in business to "Defend the Republic", they're in business to make a buck and if you're stupid enough to jump through a hoop or run into the streets in outrage every time they come up with a "Crisis' then you have nobody but yourself to blame. It's all just Street Theater for the Rubes.

As my older brother used to say to me all the time...

"Don't be an idiot."

It's not going to make one iota of a difference when it comes time to vote. Nobody is actually picking up what they're putting down and all the dead people in the country won't be able to out-vote the living when the time comes.

Because, quite frankly, even though we are not all "Brothers under the Skin" like most whackos want you to think, we do all want the same basic things.

We all want a roof over our head. We want a good livelihood for ourselves and a future for our children. This includes an acceptable level of education and opportunity for them to pursue their interests when they are old enough to decide and choose.

We all want...stuff! Whether it be a nicer car than most people drive, a boat, a nice house with central air conditioning and nice patio furniture. Oh, and a patio!

And we're all too willing to work for it, to drive great distances daily to get to our chosen places of employment and to withstand most daily torments of American life to get this...stuff!

Now I don't care where you're from originally. If you grew up here, you'r ruined for any place else anyway. Once you are "Americanized" you're screwed. No, we should figure out what to do with the Dreamers because even though your name may be Hernandez and you're parents are from Mexico, you'd be fucking lost in Mexico. I have black friends that went to The Gambia for a visit. They're like, "Wholly shit, I couldn't live there!" Of course not, your a friggin' American. You haven't washed a dish by hand since childhood never mind having to live on rice and beans. They don't even have cable!

So anyway, no matter what your background, if you're working for a living, trying to play by the rules and putting up with hearing all this whacko bullshit on the television and radio, when you finally get to the voting booth this November are you really going to pull the lever for what these nutjobs are trying to sell you?

No, I don't think so.

Like me, you may not have the best setup but it's working. You can go out every so often, have dinner and drinks, maybe once a week, take in a show, go for a hike, hit the gym and have some semblance of a decent career and life. You're hanging in despite the effort. But you know as well as I do that if you let this group of Quarter-Stalins get a hold of the means to your paycheck and livelihood, it could all turn to shit in a hurry.

There'll be no place to go but down...

And everybody knows it.

They're Not "Migrants"

They're being called "Migrants" but they're really not. These people crossing the boarder are the farthest thing from "Migrants" you can get.

A better word would be "Goths" as in "Visigoths", the destroyers of mighty Rome, the most successful Republic before this one. It might as well be old Alaric himself crossing the Rio Grande as far as I'm concerned. These people are no less dangerous as when the Goths crossed the Rhine back in 400 AD. We all know what happened after that.

These "oppressed masses" aren't here for asylum, although they'll take it if we're stupid enough to give it to them. They're economic refugees coming from the Continent of Failure that is South America. And they're here to put their thumb on the scales of our economic future. The nation's prosperity is not a given, it's not assured and there are many burdens on the other side of the equation that aren't as brightly lit when talk of the robust growth of the United States is discussed.

These are the burdens of the Welfare State, the social insurances of Medicaid, Medicare, SSI, Food Stamps and the Affordable Care Act. Then there are the public service pension administrations both federal and state. These are massive programs and all fall on the Accounts Payable side of the ledger.

Now add all these people to the welfare rolls, the food stamps, putting their kids into the public school systems, the hospital emergency rooms and WIC programs. Who will be paying for all this?

Not THEM!

Add to those costs the added price of fighting the diseases, some thought long gone, that have made their dubious return. Afflictions like Whooping Cough, Measles, Mumps and even the Plague. Find a bean-counter to figure that one out.

A Nation of Laws

We have immigration laws and they're pretty much like those of other countries and U.S. Citizenship takes about as long as does most countries: About 7 years.

And it takes a bit of work. You have to know about our system of government, how it works and how the people who run the country get to where they are. This is on the up and up. You have to learn a bit about our democracy and how it works. But the bottom line is...

You can't just walk in and start working. Or at least you shouldn't.

And one of the reasons you shouldn't is because there are thousands of naturalized U.S. citizens here already who played by the rules and waited the time it took and learned the things they needed to become a citizen of these United States.

And why would they do that?

Because they LOVE this country and want to be citizens. Because of that desire, they were willing to do the right thing. They didn't come here to just make a buck to send back to Whereverlahara so they could build a bigger house there. They want to build there house right HERE in the good 'ol US of A.

The Migrants Pay Taxes Myth

If you're working under the table and doing your shopping at flea markets, how much in the way of taxes are you paying? And if you're collecting housing benefits and going to the emergency room for free treatments, how much are you taking in exchange? Plenty. Add your non-English speaking children to the local public schools in enough numbers that there won't be much learning going on for anyone as schools scramble to not only teach the subjects but to bring up the language skills of these kids so that they can be taught at all. And who'll pay for that?

Not THEM!

It's you, the legal, working American working stiff, the taxpayer who'll get the bill. I'm sure you'd rather have the money to put your own kids through school but heck, these people need it more than you do you rich, white sons-of-bitches! And so what if the rising costs and deductibles of healthcare under the ACA make you think twice before you get that lump on your side checked out, these people have a RIGHT to HEALTHCARE! Yeah, so they can't pay for it, now sit down and shut up, you racist bastard!

Crashing the Welfare State

With all these illiterate, indigent masses crashing the gates of the kingdom, we will reach a tipping point in the costs of taking care of there "essential needs", meaning the people footing the bill will either get irate enough to rebel or the welfare systems will just go broke.

In the Theory of Anarchism, this is a desired result of the political Left. I don't see how anyone will escape the pain to follow should this be allowed to happen but Anarchists don't really think about the future in those terms. They only wish for the downfall. What happens after that is not important.

As a Libertarian, I too would like to see the end of the Welfare State as we see it today but would rather avoid an economic reenactment of the Hindenburg.

Trump Represents American Success

You wonder why all the vitriol, hatred and bizarre contrarianism the Political Left has directed towards President Trump and every move he makes. He tries to cut taxes and they try to block it, he tries to secure the border with Mexico and they block him. He tries to make a trade deal with China and the European Union and he's immediately branded a failure. For an American president acting in the best interests of the United States and it's citizenry, it's all seems so upside down.

Why?

Because the President was a successful businessman prior to the presidency, remains a successful person in the White House and the United States is a successful country full of people working and striving to get the things they want in this life. They have goals they want to reach and are willing to put in the work to get them, the right way.

Everyday we see Americans, from the newly naturalized to those here for generations, working, paying taxes, contributing to society and playing by the rules.

And the Socialist Democrats HATE that.

And they hate you.

My Message to Kelly Anne Conway

The first time I laid eyes on Kelly Anne Conway was she was on one of the Leftist Sunday morning political programs, I believe it was 'Disgrace the Nation" or something like that. I was hanging at the counter of the my breakfast place which always had the one little TV on for our Sunday morning entertainment. The morning political shows were always a catalyst for lively debate amongst the morning rabble.

Well the show had the political hit squad on board and Kelly Anne lit into them like Grant at the battle of Richmond! She was so quick, articulate, factual and she remembered everything these people had said in the past and was using their own words to hit them over the head with and proving they were all hypocrites.

 

She left them literally stuttering. They looked lost and grasping for something more to say.

 

And I was like, "Who IS this person?"

 

I knew she was on Donald Trumps campaign staff but I've never heard a Republican liaison speak like that to the opposition, ever.

 

I mean, aren't Republicans supposed to just apologize for the accusations the media makes? They aren't supposed to fight back. I mean, they never did before. Not since Ronald Reagan.

 

This sort of offense was long over do.

Kelly Anne was so brave and fearless. She didn't care who she was talking to, she would blast them...with facts. That overstuffed Wolf Blitzer...she shredded him. No matter who went after her, she had something particular to say back to them. I can't imagine they would think it wise to keep coming at her but we all know by now that the political Left takes no backwards steps, feels no remorse or shame and will just come back day after day even when they know they're just taking a beating. If they can only convert but one soul to the dark side of human existence, then it will all be worth it to them.  

 

There was another time they had some insolent Lefty chic have a go and the results were the same. They couldn't beat her. She was the smartest person in the room. And she would just wait, smiling, for the next question.

 

There is not doubt in my mind that Kelly Anne Conway was the juggernaut that lead the Trump Team to victory. The long-marginalized voting taxpayer finally had something to cheer about.

So Kelly Anne, If you read this, don't worry. This Hatch Act baloney is just more Never-Trumper hatred. You're doing an incredible job!

But now, while I'm at it, there's something more I'd like to say to you...

Time to Dump George!

Really, don't you think it's time you leave this guy? This guy is your husband?

How can this even be?

I mean, when was the last time you even saw each other? I'm sure he's not allowed to visit you at the White House. I'm sure the guards don't even recognize him. If it wasn't for Fox News Channel putting up his picture ever time he opens his mouth, who would?. I never even heard of this guy!

But anyway, what I'm saying is, you need a man in your life. Not a whiny, jealous of your success, more than half-crazed individual that keeps trying to publicly undermine your career. There are better men out there. Men who won't try to pull themselves up by pulling others down, especially their wife!

You deserve better.

 

And just what is up with this George Conway anyway?

 

Thanks to Fox News and the Doom & Gloom Drudge Report, I can never escape the reports of George Coming out with the latest "Trump Revelation". The so-called Conservative Press reports every crazy thing he says. His vocabulary must be quite limited since he only ever says the same thing over and over again. "Trump Unhinged, Trump Unstable" Blah, blah, blah. I've already heard it from him more than once. No use hearing it again...and again.

I'm minding my own business and look up and there's old nobody George again, blathering the same sad "warnings". I guess there's no cure for Trump Derangement Syndrome.

And what kind of news station would devote so much time to an obviously sick man?

Fox New will! Good ol' Fox "click bait" news.

So what do you two even have in common? I don't see the attraction. Was it an arranged marriage back when you were both kids or something? That's ok, people make mistakes Kelly Anne but it's time you correct this one. Time to give big boy the royal shove.

You'll be better off and hopefully George will get the help he needs down the road. But that will no longer be your problem!

You've grown beyond him now. Way beyond. You are two people on opposite trajectories.

You are on the ascension!

And George is, as President Trump might put it, "Definitely not ascending"

And he just can't take it that his wife has done so much better than he ever did. This jealous outrage will only get worse.

So do the best thing you can do for yourself and send this loser packing.

The sooner the better so don't wait too long.

And when you do dump him, look, me up.

I'll be looking for your reply.

Don't Bomb Iran!

At least not yet anyway.

It's pretty clear the Iranian totalitarian regime is looking to goad the U.S. into a first bloody strike.

Shooting down the drone was a brilliant move since there won't be any grieving families on the television. Nobody got hurt. Then, by muddying the waters over the location of the drone when it was shot down, there will be uncertainty over which party is telling the truth. Is this a case of the "Bully of the World", the United States, looking for an excuse to attack Iranian or is it a war-like Iran attempting to start an international military conflict by shooting down a U.S. drone in international airspace?

The world will ponder since both sides are keeping a straight face.

On the U.S. side, there are calls for reprisal but extreme caution should be observed if past experience will be given attention. If the U.S. should actually fire missiles into Iran or Iranian targets, you know the pictures coming back will be those of civilian casualties and the hurt looks of Iranian diplomats.

Even if we should hit nothing but sand.

It's a miracle of nature that the U.S. can't seem to hit anything but civilians in these Middle Eastern countries. We bomb a military installation and the pictures come back as women and children. In a past experience we bombed a toxic gas manufacturing facility in Iraq and, surprise, it was a children's formula processing plant! Amazing how, with the most advanced tracking systems in the world to date, we can barely hit a terrorist.

But subsequently, the pictures aren't going to look good if we don't wait for further escalation from the ancient brain-trust of the Mullahs.

And wait we should.

We could send them the bill for $ 130 million, the cost of the drone. Then we could threaten to seize Iranian assets if they don't remit the balance within 90 days. That would be the businessman's answer.

Besides, what's one lost drone to the Pentagon? It's a drop in the bucket in their massive secret budget which is most likely larger than 90% of the world's economies.

They'll just order another dozen.

War Mongers to the Front

I'm starting to see the roll a person like John Bolton plays in the Trump administration. With a guy like him always calling for the destruction of "Name-Your-Adversary", if I was sitting in Iran, I could never be sure if the President would be seriously listening to him or not. It would be hard to think he would but there he is chanting "kill, kill, kill" all the time. And President Trump is saying "I don't know how long I can hold this guy back." It makes one wonder if it's a tactic.

Would that it were but it's a deadly game both the U.S. and Iran are playing and it reminds me very much like what happened at Fort Sumter back in 1860 to bring the North and South to begin the American Civil War.

It was important to Abraham Lincoln for the South to fire the first shot in the war. You know, that's important in politics so he decides to just send an unarmed supply ship since North Carolina, having already seceded from the Union, had stopped suppling the fort which was on an island in the harbor. So the southern garrison on the shore, seeing the ship, launched an attack on Fort Sumter and the result was the "War of Southern Aggression" with just about every adult male alive at the time ending up dead.

Iran Becomes North Korea

We know the sanctions are killing the Iranian economy, for what it is, and if we want to pursue any kind of retaliation, the U.S. would do well to keep it economic. The Iran government is trying to find a way to break out of this blockade and save face while doing it. A tall task. So they are rattling away and causing, in reality, minor destruction.

Planting mines above the waterline of a ship tells me they didn't want to actually sink it. They wanted a good fire but again, nobody got killed. I don't think anybody even got hurt unless they fell off of a ladder or something. The ships are insured for this sort of thing. Even the Japanese are downplaying the whole affair since the ship was bound for Japan. So this sort of non-aggressive aggression is mostly designed to bring attention to Iran's 'plight". Not enough there to start a fight.

Plus, it was not an American ship so just leave it to the insurance company accountants.

What to Do

It's pretty obvious. With the pundits all describing Iran as playing a "Long Game", that should also be our strategy as well. The North Korean playbook as been to do just enough to make people nervous and Iran is making people nervous alright but that in itself does not constitute grounds for war. Also, just like North Korea, Iran has threatened destruction of the economic means of their neighbors should the United States intervene militarily. In the case of the Middle East, that's the oil fields.

So standing back and waiting to see just how far Iran is willing to go in this game of chicken will serve the United States interests. Meanwhile it's Iran's economic issues that will continue to work against them. They've squandered their meager GDP over the years on guns for the military and not butter for the people. And now it's come to bite them in the ass. Mullahs and Economics don't mix.

I don't see any other nations stepping up and offering any support for an armed solution to Iranian skullduggery so instead of putting on our "Defenders of the World" hats yet again, we should just wait until Iran does something to piss SOMEONE ELSE off.

Until a major country like France, Japan or Spain steps up and says "Something should be done" about Iran, we should just keep working on closing our southern boarder. It isn't like we've got nothing better to do.

So until Iran decides to definitively fire the first bloody shot at the United States, we should wait it out. But if they do decide to pull the trigger first...

That will spell the end for them.

A Most Unusual Tribute to President Trump

"There's no such thing as bad publicity" - Phineas  T. Barnum


Rather than finding the Trump Baby balloon offensive, I think it's great. What a tribute to President Trump!

These people are going well out of their way. That balloon took a lot of time and money to make. And imagine also the time and money it takes to store, transport and maintain this thing never mind buying the helium to blow it up. It has to be blown up, manned by a crew of "Baby Sitters" and there's probably a permit to be paid for involved. Then it has to be deflated, carefully inspected, folded and loaded into a van and taken to a storage area...every time.

What a homage that is. 

So let's think about this for a minute.

They didn't think to make a giant "President Hillary Clinton" balloon to badger Mr. Trump as a protest. They didn't think to make a big ol' "Bring Back Obama" balloon to badger him either. I would see both as antagonistic. Imagine looking out and seeing a big balloon of the person they think should have been president. But this didn't enter their heads apparently.

Nope! They instead make a Trump Baby? That's a protest? It's a bit too good natured to matter much as a protest. Sort of a tongue-in-cheek type of a protest. More of a begrudging show of respect which stands in stark contrast to the Left's harsh rhetoric.

Similarly, and quite telling in fact, there isn't a "Putin Baby" balloon and most certainly isn't a "Xi Jinping Baby" In fact, when the Communist leader visited England, there were no protests at all. And although he has a popular T-shirt, the long dead Cuban revolutionary Che Graviera never got a balloon.

But of course we know that neither Russia, China or Cuba has a right to free speech or a right to protest and none of these country's "Presidents" are known to possess a sense of humor about such things.

If you should decide to fly a similar balloon in, for example, China, it seems highly likely you will soon find yourself bound, gagged and having all your organs aggressively harvested while still conscious in one of Xi Jinping's not-so-well-hidden Re-education Camps.

That is the antithesis of freedom.

If anything, the Trump Baby balloon represents a symbol of reverence. It's a symbol of freedom to express one's point of view and it's been done very well. It looks just like him. It's a great, floating work of art and it's creation, love him or hate him, was spurred by a great force in humankind today.

And regardless of it's theme, the Trump Baby represents by it's mere existence the ideas held by a higher First World society based on rule of law and human rights. The rules are the rules and whether President Trump likes it or not, there it is. To his credit he hasn't said a thing about it yeah or nay. He probably likes it too.

After all, President Trump has a sense of humor.

Unlike London's lurking and spiteful Mayor Sadiq Khan, who's first instinct upon receiving bad press was to declare that there should be CURBS upon what can be said about him in the media.

There have been other polarizing leaders in America before and throughout world history but in this age of instant media and the current deep divides in our society, President Trump has become the biggest focus of just about everybody on the face of the earth with a radio or television. He's a man you may admire or he's the man you hate or rather, LOVE to HATE.

But you definitely have a strong opinion one way or another and regardless of which one motivates you, you are still motivated.

It's the push/pull of a living breathing process of a society's constant fight for freedom and progress that still stands as a beacon to be seen by the world.

It's a beautiful thing.

 

Facebook Owes You Nothing!

Why all the outrage?

You have no preponderance of privacy or right to free speech on Facebook.

Why?

Because you don't OWN it!

You are allowed onto Facebook at the behest and good graces of Facebook owner and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

And whether he invented it himself or, as some have accused, swindled some other egocentric grifters out of it, Mark Zuckerberg is the person who can say who is allowed on HIS social media giant and who is not. It's HIS site and his marketplace. He is the arbiter of who has access. He does not owe you or anyone else a forum for anything you have to say to the people who are logged into his social media world.

You don't like it?

Then by all means get your own website or better yet, start your own social media company.

Alex Jones has his own websites. He, at least, has spent some time and money developing his own outlets for his wacky bullshit. That is his right and he's taken advantage of it. Being taken off of Facebook is a hit to fan access but he's not shut off since he controls his own media sites. You want to listen to his claptrap, you know where to find him. You are free to do so at your leisure and there will be no one to stand in your way.

Never heard of Laura Loomer but she has a website too. I can't speak to whether she's whacky or not since I can't be bothered but at least you can go find out for yourself without the "help" of Facebook.

Milo Yiannopoulos and Luis Farrakhan, those cheapskates, don't have websites. They rely on free access to Facebook and that other Zuckerberg controlled social media entity, Twitter, for an audience for their frenetic rants and streams of unconsciousness.

As for the impact to the owner of Facebook, it's a given that all these self-promoting radical high-wire acts are starting to become a major liability and a world-class pain-in-the-ass. The leaders of all the major nations are on Zuckerg's case in a vociferous and litigious fashion about the media mogul's site content and he no longer seems inclined to want to put up with it.

I can't say I blame him.

If I owned Facebook, I wouldn't want to hear it either. I wouldn't have put up with that self-absorbed bluthering lunatic Jones on MY social media site either. I can think of no other person who personifies the reason we should bring back Mental Institutions in this country than Alex Jones.

The Right Wing media is using the action Facebook is taking to generate sponsor revenue and whip up angry phone callers about how anti-free speech it is in regards to banning certain people and groups from Social Media. It may certainly be but it's not unlawful. Facebook is not publicly funded and is not bound by rules of public access rights. The US taxpayer isn't paying the bills.

It may not be fair but it doesn't have to be fair either. It can, and is, totally arbitrary. The "reasons" are equally dubious. That other extremist group, Media Matters, which seems under the rules ok to stay on Facebook, is essentially accusing Jones and Yianopoulas of complicity in mass murder since this Left Wing group has taken to branding Conservative groups as White Supremacists.

I wouldn't have Media Matters on my site either. Get off you Left Wing agitators!

While I find all these people yappy and annoying, they are no more or less dangerous than those yoyos who try to get people to eat Tide Pods or do death defying daredevil stunts that have lead to their less talented imitators not managing to actually defy death at all.

But those are ok, right?

But in reality a good reason isn't needed. Facebook is only using "Hate Speech" as a show. They have to say something for public consumption and since it's the catchword of the decade, it's very convenient. We all know there is no such thing as hate speech.

But you don't have a right to free speech on Facebook and you never did. They tell you that when you sigh up but nobody ever reads the agreement. Whether you read it or not, you're still bound by it. and with mounting pressure on the boy genius, it's going to be enforced more and more and the people and groups that they pick aren't going to like it. But they didn't build Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg did.

And what he says,goes.

Venezuelans Continue to Suffer

And they should. They deserve it.

"Oh!" You may say, "Wal Man, you're so heartless and cruel. Don't you have any sympathy for the poor people of Venezuela who have suffered under the Socialist Dictatorship of Nicolas' Maduro?"

Nope.

As I recall, Hugo Chavez didn't just materialize as the Dictator of Venezuela. The people VOTED him in on more than one occasion. They even came out into the streets to protect him when they thought he was going to be overthrown. All these people, they WANTED Hugo Chavez.

Any Why?

He promised them everything they wanted. They were poor. He promised them money and things like appliances, free healthcare and free schooling for their kids. They were jealous of those who had more. He promised to bring them down. Chavez promised to make them pay. They wanted security. He promised them the security of the State. Venezuela under Chavez will take care of all their needs.

And they all went and pulled the lever for Chavez.

And he did what he said he was going to do. He gave them stuff. He punished those who had more. He took away the businesses of the successful and nationalized foreign manufacturing plants as he took total control of the country, it's means of production and it's economy.

This is what the people of Venezuela wanted and they were happy...for awhile.

The funny thing about the motivation to bring down others. When people covet the possessions of others, they are looking up. They only see what lay just above their reach. What they don't think about and therefore do not see are the other people. The people below, looking up at them.

The people who vote for a totalitarian strongman do so in the expectation that it will be they who will be part of the controllers, that they will be a taker under the protection of the king. But as they reached up for what they felt was theirs, the people below reached for them for what they also felt now belonged to them.

And chaos ensued.

And here we are.

So now the people are fleeing the country they made. They are crossing over into Columbia but Columbia doesn't want them. I would have thought Columbia would do something to change things but they haven't and perhaps they feel it's not up to them to fix what the Venezuelan people themselves have broken...namely their Morality.

And although they lament their fate, you won't hear a word against Hugo Chavez, the architect fo the nation's downfall. They have no idea how things got this way and point to Maduro, Chavez's hand-picked replacement, as the source of all their ills. They maintain they are blameless and make no apologies.

But if Venezuelans want to right the wrong they've done to themselves and try to keep this from happening again, they can start by taking responsibility for their roll in their predicament. A lesson can be clearly drawn from all this.

The people wanted to rob from the rich and give to...well, themselves. They wanted something for nothing. They wanted what someone else had taken risks and worked to have that they did not.

They were trying to bring themselves up by bringing others down.

Now they have succeeded, in a way. They have achieved the ultimate in equality:

Everybody has nothing.

They should be celebrating their Socialist achievement for this has always been the result of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."

They got the government they deserved. 

Never Forget

They were so colossal that they didn't even seem real. When seen from New Jersey, they were striking for their shear size and how they stood alone above everything else in a city of tall buildings. They were just big and square blocks but they were beautiful.

Just like all the souls that perished when they were destroyed.

When I see those images today, I feel exactly the same today as the day it happened.

I want to kill them all.

And we did that first time in Afghanistan. We killed plenty in a wide variety of ways. Then more came and we killed them too. And then they made more and we've been killing them ever since. The targets become more elusive and we become more adept at finding them. It's an ongoing battle that has changed the United States from a freewheeling democracy interested in personal freedom and how far an individual can go in life, into an armed camp brimming with costly defenses and increasing the misery index of every American. Such is our modern world of constant surveillance, wide-spread tracking and endless regulations. We used to lament that there were cameras everywhere and now we look for them everywhere to give us a sense of safety. Good luck with that.

The Twin Towers were attacked because they were the symbol of American commerce, American achievement and the freedom or our marketplace. That they were in New York City was fitting because NYC represents everything the country has to offer. And for the most part you can walk to it.

So after the Towers were destroyed by Muslim Terrorists, what does that self-absorbed lame-brain New York Mayor Micheal Bloomberg do? He turns their replacement into a stupid design contest. And the building that went up, The "Freedom Tower" looks absurd at best. It's shit.

And it only took 11 years to put it up! That's a year longer than it took to complete both of the Twin Towers.

They should have gone to city hall, gotten the old plans out of the basement and put the towers back the way they were in the same amount of time to put up.

THAT would have shown the people around the world who hate the United States for being the United States exactly how futile their efforts to destroy us was. But it didn't happen.

They did destroy us.

Now we have representatives in the United States Congress like Ilhan Omar, the US House of Representative's Jew-hating official from Minnesota who, for the life of them, will not mention what happened on 9/11 and by whom it came about. They will not acknowledge that so many people died who had nothing to do with their killer's zealous self-righteousness Islamic judgment.

And when they exhibit their callousness and disgust with the country they represent what happens? Why they are surprised by the fact that few Americans agree with them! Then they openly lament that it is THEY who are the victim of a terrible religious hatred. The majority of the people who agree with Representative Omar are the racist bastards who live in the 5th district in Minnesota and who voted her into office.

And the rest of them live in Washington DC.

We shall never accept such judgment or cynicism from anybody. Not from the former crazed mayor of New York City Micheal Bloomberg, not from the racist and America hating Rep. Omar and not from the Political Left in this country who would rather see our cities and towns over-run with the world's great unwashed than to see our own hard working, tax paying people who are not THEM succeed.

For all it's faults, the United States is still the most giving and benevolent society on the face of the Earth.

But you won't hear that from Representative Ilhan Omar or her ilk.