A Somewhat Saterical Look at 2016

Hillary Clinton. Yes, I’m enormously pleased for the former secretary of state. Were she any sort of honest mortal being who hadn’t exploited her position of public trust to make herself one of the few well-heeled people in the country, she would, in all likelihood be our next president. Had she not been so schizoid that she readily and shamelessly obstructed our nation’s transparency laws, she would, in all likelihood be our next president. Had she not been so haughty in her pending “victory” and campaigned in Wisconsin once, or Michigan more, she would, in all likelihood, be our next president. I’m thankful she wasted time campaigning in Arizona. Had Hillary campaigned like she wanted the position and not like she was predestined for it and had it already in hand, she would, in all likelihood be our next president. She did not and will not be our next President, and for that I and America's basket full of deplorables are forever thankful. 

The media, the fourth estate. Thank you, journalists, for being yourselves. From your bogus “fact checking” to important think-pieces on how the GOP may collapse, you could not have helped more if you were on the payroll. After years of working to keep your agenda-driven bias hidden behind a tinny veneer of credibility, you put a match to the whole damn thing. What a delight it was to watch your faces on election night as reality set in and the tears began to flow. It couldn’t have happened to more deserving group of liberal lapdogs. The thin air inside your elitist New York and Washington bubble led you to think calling half the country racist for eight years and telegraphing your elation over the expectation of calling them sexist for the next eight was a well-thought out plan. On top of all that, I am eternally thankful for your disinclination (or incompetence) to learn from any of this. Please, double down on your arrogance. Continue to talk about anyone who lives in a state that doesn’t have a coastline. And if you happen to find yourself enduring a layover in an airport somewhere between NYC and LA, start calling everyone uneducated and poor. Please, continue making someone like myself happy.

Curses, particularly in sports. Hey, my whole blogging life isn’t politics. I’m a Cubs fan. Do you not think the Cubs  and Indians World Series was amazing? The best part about the World Series this year was no matter which team won, it wasn’t going to be a repeat. The curse of the Billy goat is no more. The best part about sports curses is the emotional investment fans put in them. It’s never that their team was beaten, it was that celestial dynamisms prevented them from victory. There’s something fun about seeing long-suffering Cub fans finally have something to celebrate, especially when they’ve beaten a curse. "Go Cubs Go." There is, of course, much more for which to be thankful this year, but candidly isn’t the fact that Democrats were subdued at the ballot box enough for one year? Even the media’s implosion would have been enough for one year. 

Let 2016 be remembered as the year Bill and Hillary Clinton were sent packing, many in the media were unmasked and were caught with their pants down. Cubs are World Champions. If that isn’t enough to be thankful for, you’re probably a democrat or a member of the left leaning media with your pants down or an Indians fan.

End of Story, Trump is Our Next President

Clinton got "65,844,954" votes to Trump’s "62,979,879." So yes, she won the popular vote. But those are not the only numbers Americans need to know about the heated race that left a leftist movement stunned and disoriented. Clinton won California by “4.2 million votes and New York by 1.6 million,” meaning that across 48 of the 50 states, Trump was the victor by about 3 million votes in the popular vote. Including New York, he was the popular vote winner by more than a million votes. Vice President-elect Pence put it in another perspective, revealing that Trump won “30 out of 50 states, and 2,623 counties, to Clinton’s 20 states or 489 counties.”

The constitutional reality is that the “nation’s founders set up a system where there would be a popular vote, but the actual decision is made by 538 members of the Electoral College, members appointed largely by political parties in the states, with one designated for each congressional district or U.S. Senate seat in Congress.” In many states they are legally obligated to vote the way their state’s voters do. The Electoral College was set up to assure that a handful of population centers across the country cannot in perpetuity control the presidency. That’s well illustrated by the 2016 results, where Trump won vast swaths of America, but still came up short in the popular vote because of the results, essentially, in one state, California. The Electoral College addresses that because the minimum number of states a candidate must win, and these include the large population centers, to win the presidency, is 12 states.

There, Trump won 306 on election night, and ended up with 304 after two, influenced by what has been described as a “coup” attempt trying to prevent him from taking office, voted against the wishes of their states’ voters. Hillary Clinton ended up with 227, having lost five faithless electors of the 232 she won on election night.

There are some in the Democrat party who are simply not going to acclimate to a President Trump. He is, from their standpoint, appalling or ignoble or… They live in a delusional world. Worse yet, many apparently suffer from persecutory delusions. That’s why they lost the election: they decided to join the ranks of the incorrigibility delusional. 

In summation: The Republicans -- that horrid "minority party" that has somehow hijacked the reins of power by exploiting an "arcane framework" (Electoral College) -- will control fully two-thirds of  America's governorships in 2017.  Only "16 of 50" states will have a Democratic chief executive. Unfortunately, North Carolina, my state of residence is one of the 16. And since many liberal pundits choose to cite population percentages to diminish the legitimacy of the Senate, allow me to mention that the "33 states" with Republican leaders represent a large majority of the US population -- nearly "200 million people," in total.  Furthermore, the GOP will hold majorities in a staggering, sweeping "68 of America's 99 state legislative bodies." That all-time high represents complete dominance, left unremarked upon in an extended harangue about minority rule.  Maybe the neo-left ignored these figures because, like many liberals, they are myopically fixated on the power of the federal government.  But our founders vested enormous power in the states, just as they designed a Senate that would serve as a backstop against sheer nationwide majoritarianism (not really a word but you get my point).  It may therefore be worthwhile for left-leaning politicians and pundits alike to spend less time whining about an “arcane framework” and more time examining how Democrats must expand their appeal beyond coastal liberals and urbanites.

Acknowledgement of a Military Leader's Historical Prayer

When President-elect Donald Trump announced General James “Mad Dog” Mattis as his pick for the secretary of defense. Trump told a crowd, “They say that he is the closest thing to Gen. George Patton that we have."

General George Patton looms large over American political history, especially after George C. Scott’s masterful screen performance as the World War II general. Few scenes in American cinematic history are as iconic as Scott, in character, pacing before the American flag and delivering a speech to his men. And yet, for all of Hollywood’s hero-making, the real man was even more of a legend — and this Christmas message proves just that.

During the Christmas season of 1944, Gen. Patton’s Third Army was bogged down as he was trying to reach Bastogne, a town in southern Belgium that was held by 15,000 American troops but encircled by over 50,000 Nazi soldiers bearing down on it. Unfortunately, due to the weather, Gen. Patton didn’t have the air cover he needed to relieve the 15,000 brave American troops holding off the Germans.

That’s when he decided to rely on the power of prayer. Patton had Chaplain  James O’Neill compose a card to be distributed to each one of the 250,000 troops under his command, and had all of the men pray this simple prayer:

“Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend,” it read. “Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies, and establish Thy justice among men and nations. Amen.”  On the reverse side of the prayer, Patton wrote, “To each officer and soldier in the Third United States Army, I wish a Merry Christmas. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We march in our might to complete victory. May God’s blessings rest upon each of you on this Christmas Day. – G.S. Patton, Jr., Lt. Gen. Commanding, Third United States Army.”

Freeing Christmas From the Bonds of Secularism

In today’s America, a nation overwhelmingly Christian, truthfully any sign of Christmas in public can now lead to criticisms, legal action, animated remonstrations, intimidations, coercions and hurt feelings… Secular liberals say they’re just protecting the constitutional rights of non-Christians who don’t want to see or hear about Christmas. But what about the constitutional rights of millions of Americans who simply want to celebrate their traditional holiday—without insulting anyone else but also without having to hide behind closed doors?

Freedom of religion is not just the freedom to worship as you please. Freedom allows faiths to freely celebrate their own faith and to acknowledge their place in the mosaic that makes America what it is. Seeing other faiths celebrate their own beliefs openly—from Jews celebrating Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kuppur or Hanukkah, to Muslims celebrating the end of Ramadan—does nothing to diminish my faith in Christ. It reaffirms that a vibrant faith can be a driving force for good in a person’s life.

But with Christmas, the secularists are doing everything they can to take Christ out of the Christian holiday that celebrates the coming of Emmanuel—God with us. Christ did not come to justify Santa Claus or to provide another reason to support American commercialism. He came that through faith people might come to have a relationship with God.

Some have called it a War on Christmas, but it might better be described as a politically correct assault on the very word Christmas. Sure, Christians are still free to worship in their churches, but publicly acknowledging the Christ in Christmas is increasingly avoided for fear of offending.

Even the beloved Hallmark Channel loves to fill the season with emotional, even tear-jerking story lines of Christmas, but the focus is not on Christ, but on the “Spirit of Christmas.” I bet the reader did not realize that. Take it from someone who watches a Hallmark movie a night during the Christmas season - the spotlight is not on Christ. You could be hard pressed to find traditional Christian carols celebrating the coming of the Christ child on FM radio or Sirius stations. Not to be outdone, most public schools now refuse to include any Christmas carol in their holiday programs.

If there is a war on Christmas, where is Christ’s warriors? It appears that most Christians are settling for silence instead of holding up their side of the battle. Maybe we could let a little of Trump’s war on political correctness bring believers out of their trenches or bunkers. It’s time to let Christmas be Christmas. Let Hanukkah be Hanukkah. Let your faith be visible.

The United Nations and Wonder Woman, A Comical Affair

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird. It's a plane. It's .  .  .  the United Nation’s latest Honorary Ambassador – Wonder Woman. As death, destruction and mayhem continue to spread across the globe from Syria to Venezuela, the bureaucracy that is the United Nations has decided the best response to aggressive despots and global terrorism is placing their faith in a fictitious comic book hero. If one needed any further proof the U.N. has been reduced, quite literally, to a farce, this should remove all doubt.

The U.N.’s attempt to appropriate a beloved, albeit somewhat dated comic book protagonist, into yet another superficial, politically-correct campaign, would truly be comical if not for the taxpayer money used to support a bloated bureaucracy that has become no more effective at keeping global order than a social media “slacktivist” campaign. And, that’s when its officials are actually, dedicated to a public good, rather than being busted for corruption or having its “peace-keeping” forces charged with committing atrocities in the Third World countries they are supposed to be helping.

And still, the U.S. government keeps shoveling millions of dollars annually into the global bureaucracy in NYC’s Manhattan borough. Last year alone, American taxpayers subsidized more than "22% of the U.N.’s general budget, and more than 28% for its peacekeeping missions." Now, thanks to the largesse of the American taxpayers, oppressed girls and women in countries that engage in institutional misogyny, including Pakistan, India, and the Congo, can rest easier at night knowing Wonder Woman has their backs.

This is the nature of all government bureaucracies, the U.N. long ago lost sight of its original mission; blinded by its own self-importance as it extends its reach far beyond simply fostering “international peace and security” and “respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples.” And, the U.N.’s politically-correct mentality, reflecting the pacifist worldview of its European members rather than America’s strong spirit of defending liberty, has reduced its efficacy to levels hereto fore unimagined. This may be fine for Democrats who glow warmly at the mention of “international cooperation,” but to those who are concerned about equal rights and self-determination, such actions ring hollow.

If the U.N. were truly committed to empowering women across the world, it would reject countries like Pakistan and Iran, which oppose rights for women, from positions of “leadership” on such issues. And, if the organization truly was committed to the self-determination and freedom of individuals, it would cease embracing its relentless campaign to undermine the concept of an individual right to keep and bear arms. 

As Paul Harvey, would famously say: "And now, for the rest of the story." As is more common than not, the UN has backtracked on another political decision with little to no thought as to what possessed the organization in the first place to do what it did. Less than two months ago, Wonder Woman was awarded a surprising new title. She was appointed a UN ambassador for Gender Equality, and declared by the United Nations to be "the most iconic female superhero of all time"! Her career lasted but a short time, though. In other words her new line of business lasted about as long as the typical UN negotiated truce. December 14th less than two months after appointing her as their ambassador, the United Nations effectively  'fired' Wonder Woman.

The New Me is Today's Me

I used to think I was just a regular person, but I was born white, which now - whether I like it or not, makes me a racist and responsible for slavery.

I am a fiscal and moral conservative, which by today's standards, makes me a fascist because I plan and support myself.

I went to High School and have held a job and am here - not because I earned it, but because I was advantaged.

I am heterosexual, which according to some activist gay folks, now makes me a homophobe.

I am non-union, which makes me a traitor to the working class and an ally of big business.

I am not a Muslim, which now labels me as an infidel.

I believe in the 2nd Amendment, which now makes me a member of the vast NRA gun lobby.

I am older and retired, which makes me a useless old person who does not understand Facebook.

I think and I reason, therefore I doubt much that the mainstream media tells me, which must make me a reactionary.

I am proud of my heritage and our inclusive American culture, which makes me a
xenophobe.

I value my safety and that of my family, and I appreciate the police and the legal
system, which makes me a right-wing, cop-loving extremist.

I believe in hard work, fair play, and fair compensation according to each individual's merits, which today makes me an anti-socialist.

I believe that our current system guarantees freedom from effort - not freedom of
outcome or subsidies which must make me a borderline sociopath.

I believe in the defense and protection of the homeland for- and by- all citizens, which now makes me a militant.

I am proud of our flag, what it stands for and the many who died to let it fly, so I
stand and salute during our National Anthem which takes me back to where I started - I must be a racist.

Please help me come to terms with the new me, because I am just not sure who I am anymore!

I would like to thank all my friends for sticking with me through these abrupt, newfound changes in my life and my thinking!

I just cannot imagine or understand what is happened to me so quickly! Funny (or
sadly), it has all taken place over the last 7 or 8 years! And if all this nonsense wasn't enough to deal with. I'm now afraid to go into either restroom!

So Much Ignorance on Display

Are you as tired as I about hearing various celebrities talking about things they know so little about? Take for instance those who lectured Vice President elect, Pence during the musical play “Hamilton.” These clowns in ‘Hamilton’ are playing a role. They have their lines. They sing their lines in songs, and that’s it. And they think they are experts. Here's an eye opener cast: In reality, Alexander Hamilton was very much like President-elect Donald Trump.

You know what the show’s about? I mean, it’s Hamilton. It’s about a vice president who shoots a political rival and gets away with it, Burr, in a duel. Do you know that Alexander Hamilton was an immigration hawk? I wonder if the people in this cast have any idea who they are feting and praising. For that matter the same could be asked of most liberal ideologues. Alexander Hamilton was a nationalist. Alexander Hamilton, he didn’t want anybody getting in the country he didn’t personally approve of.

Alexander Hamilton was a profoundly unique individual, and I don’t think he is at all the kind of guy the people in this cast would celebrate if they literally knew who he was. I think they know their lines and that’s it. They’re dangerous this way. Leftists are dangerous. They’re actors and they portray roles and they learn lines, and they think they are then experts.

Everything these people on stage profess to hate right now, he was there either creating, inventing, or founding. That’s why I say, ‘I don’t think they have the slightest idea who the guy really was,’ and here they are highly acclaimed.

The lecture given to Pence by the Hamilton cast, reference diversity is most amusing, even comical since the presentation has specifically sought “nonwhite” performers for its show. One of the especially hilarious parts of the cast of “Hamilton” lecturing Mike Pence was all their talk of diversity and how scared they are because, you know, they’re all gay or they’re all transgender or they’re all lesbian and Mike Pence and Trump are coming for them and we don’t want to be put in the camps, please don’t put us in the camps! They literally think this because this is how they have been educated, it’s how they’ve been taught. … But not only do they believe it, they think they’re the only ones who know it and that makes them an authority in American history (revised as it is).

Now, their talk of diversity, I don’t know if you’ve heard this about “Hamilton.” Prior to research, this writer had not. The producers of “Hamilton” got into trouble in March because their casting call for an upcoming touring company specifically stated that they were seeking nonwhite performers. They did not want anybody but people of color in the cast in one of the touring companies of this production. What happened to the rules of Actors Equity? What about state and federal law? Has everyone forgotten about that?  Somehow it was never investigated by the Department of Justice, Obama, or anybody else. So much for diversity! So much for equality! So much for manners! And oh, so much ignorance on display.

So She Thinks, Therefore She Must Be

Long before Pelosi began her lifelong career in politics, she was the daughter of a Democratic congressman from Maryland and a mayor of the deeply political city of Baltimore. In other words, she was born into government royalty. Or, so she thinks, therefore she must be.

Pelosi recently excoriated the president-elect’s choice to head HUD, Dr. Ben Carson, as a “disconcerting and disturbingly unqualified choice.” The nation, Pelosi exclaimed, deserves someone with “relevant experience” in the position. Knowing this about Pelosi also makes it easy to understand why she’d say such disparaging things about Dr. Carson. He is, after all, a black man who was able to avoid the poverty cycle in which Democrats love keeping U.S. minorities mired.

Pelosi is more than the face of Democratic denial. She’s the face of the party’s most dastardly deed: Pushing handouts that enable the poverty cycle rather than providing the tools to break it. And that raises another point: Other than keeping people in it to ensure people vote for handouts promised by Democrats, what does Pelosi and her ilk know about poverty that qualifies her to rate candidates to head HUD? After all, it’s probably safe to wager a lower middle class black kid from Detroit knows a little more about beating poverty than a congressman’s wealthy daughter from Baltimore.

This is Reason Enough for Electoral College

From what I understand, they're still counting the votes, going on four weeks after the election, in California (as they have been in Michigan, Wisconsin and may in Pennsylvania). In Brazil, a nation with much more challenging geography, they manage to do it in five hours.

The seemingly endless dawdling of California's (presumably union-represented) public employees has obscured two interesting things about this year's presidential election. The first is that Electoral College loser "Hillary Clinton won a plurality of the popular vote by a considerably wider percentage than her counterparts in the elections of 2000 and 1888, though she apparently won by a slimmer margin than Tilden in 1876." The second is that the most populous state was a political outlier, voting at one extreme in the national political spectrum.

You can see this easily if you array the states in order of Democratic percentage. At the top, before any state, was the District of Columbia, where 91 percent of voters chose Clinton. Next, some 5,000 miles away, was Hawaii, which went 63 percent for Clinton. Then came giant California, the nation's most populous state at 62 percent Democratic.

Well, one might say; California has been called the Left Coast for quite a while. Just about everyone in the Silicon Valley and in Hollywood with few exceptions supported Clinton. White middle-class families have been pretty much priced out of the state by high taxes and housing costs, and the Hispanic and Asian immigrants who have replaced them vote far more Democratic. If California continues to occupy one extreme of the national political spectrum, the Democratic Party needs to make a case with more appeal beyond California if it wants to win 270 electoral votes.

All of which prompts renewed arguments about the Electoral College. The case for abolishing it is simple: Every American's vote should count the same. But it won't happen. Two-thirds of each house of Congress and 38 of the 50 state legislatures will never go along.

The case against abolition is one suggested by the Framers' fears that voters in one large but highly atypical state could impose their will on a contrary-minded nation. That largest state in 1787 was Virginia, home of four of the first five presidents. New York, California, and Illinois  by remaining closely in line with national opinion up through 1996, made the issue moot.

California's 21st-century veer to the left makes it a live issue again. In a popular vote system, the voters of this geographically distant and culturally distinct state, whose contempt for heartland Christians resembles imperial London's disdain for the "lesser breeds" it governed, could impose something like colonial rule over the rest of the nation. Sounds exactly like what the Framers strove to prevent.

Millennials, Celebrities and Regular Americans

Have we not in the past few weeks witnessed millennials cry, celebrities write lengthy diatribes about the death of America and regular Americans roll their eyes in disgust at the left’s reaction to President-elect Donald Trump?

Let us look at the hypocrisy of many on the Left. They proclaim that everyone is racist, but they themselves take actions that fit into their definition of what a “racist” really is. How many of these democrats who are now probably “literally shaking” thought they could demonize white America and get away with it. They never imagined that that sort of racist strategy would backfire.

Trump’s election is the apocalypse Scenario for Democrats because they were just on the verge of turning the whole country into California through mass immigration. Democrats have turned into the party of hollow people, and as a result they have lost touch with everyday Americans who just want to afford a pleasant house and send their kids to a nice school.

Trump isn’t the devil-Nazi-fascist-anti-everything person liberals are trying to make him out to be. He’s just a guy who wants to help America become great again and recover from the calamitous eight years we have lived through. If that’s what liberals define as “hate speech,” then they need to go pick up a dictionary, better yet, there's always Wikipedia dictionary.

The Beast is Dead

Ding dong! The beast is dead! Oh, what a day of rejoicing there must have been in “Little Havana” (Miami). Or at least that’s how the families of the 78,000 murdered victims of Fidel Castro, those who fled his dictatorship, and those who love freedom responded when the news of the dictator’s death was reported on Sunday. Castro was a tyrant who imposed communism on Cuba for over 60 years while torturing and killing tens of thousands more who disagreed with him. Under his heavy-handed rule, Cubans were living in abject poverty, an island nearly frozen in time since before Castro assumed power, while he and his brother lived in extreme luxury.Bottom of Form

But as shocking as it might be to believe, there are some—including a handful of world leaders—who are in mourning. One is President Barack Obama who failed to mention any of Castro’s atrocities over the decades, but stated: “History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure …” Former President Jimmy Carter’s statement wasn’t much better: “We fondly remember our visits with him in Cuba and his love of his country.” But the most notably ridiculous statement came from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who called Castro “revolutionary” and a “larger-than-life leader who served his people.” Yes Mr. Trudeau, Fidel Castro served his people on a platter, sprinkled with their blood amid the cries of the bereaved.

History and Rationale of The Electoral College

Weeks after Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in this year’s presidential election, liberal politicians, progressive groups and activists are attempting to undermine/eliminate the results along with fundamental institutions created by the Founding Fathers.

Clinton appears to have won the national popular vote in 2016, primarily fueled by massive landslides in populous Democratic cities/states like LA/California, NYC/New York, and Chicago/Illinois. This has sparked efforts to do away with the state-based Electoral College. Though a huge part of the anti-Electoral College push is sour grapes in the wake of a surprise electoral defeat, it serves the broader interest of the progressive movement’s goal to both delegitimize the incoming administration and subvert the idea of federalism as enshrined in the Constitution.

The Electoral College was carefully designed by the Founders after lengthy deliberation at the 1787 Constitutional Convention. The design is this: Americans don’t cast their vote for president, but instead for electors pledged to their preferred candidate. Each state has a set number of electors based on the total number of representatives and senators. If one is so inclined, you can read about why the Founders created this seemingly complex system via social media or historical text.

Opponents of the Electoral College claim that the institution is fundamentally flawed. This narrative couldn’t be farther from the truth, as the issues surrounding the election prove exactly why the Electoral College is such an excellent system for the United States. What is lost in the Electoral College debate is the underlying attack on America’s cherished and inherited idea of federalism. 

The Founders in their wisdom designed this republic with the intent of checking ambition with ambition, and delegating specific powers to both the national as well as state governments. They created a nation in which states could operate independently, experimenting with different policies and laws to fit their people.

The elimination of the Electoral College would be just another blow to the role of the states in the American system of government. No longer would presidential candidates have to appeal to the farmers of rural North Carolina or Minnesota alongside the bankers of urban New York or the industrialists of Chicago or the moguls of Tinsel town (Hollywood). They would be incentivized to campaign directly to the interests of the largest population centers alone.

Why not Petreaus for Secretary of State

No doubt Rudi Guiliani, a staunch loyalist and the face of our grieving Nation on 9/11, would make an excellent Secretary of State.  Mitt Romney?  Steady mollifier, a proven manager-in-chief, turn-key source for dispassionate counsel. Comes now a new name, General David Petreaus.  Here is a man heavy on leadership skills, if human, failed in the way men can be, burdened with baggage from the Obama years.  But also a man with battle scars.  There is something to be said for battle scars.   

He knows combat operations, policy making, academics, and has an intuition for diplomacy, a formidable foundation. More smooth and polished than constructively disruptive and Trump-like, Petreaus can speak the bureaucratic language, even as he unmakes a bureaucracy.  He thinks big, often outside the box, even though he came from it – understands the chain of command, box of sand, four corners of cut orders.  His biggest weakness?  Ego, audacity, unforced errors, supreme self-assurance, with a weakness for press – although these can be advantages, and have been tempered by recent events.  Biggest strength?  Ego, can-do, a never say die attitude until job is done, which helped us win in Iraq, until the Obama White House reversed the win.

Progressive Left's Politics of Detestation

Are we a deeply divided nation? Maybe. But if we are divided the cause of that division comes squarely from the left, not the right. In virtually every case, the people who are cancelling reunions and refusing to talk to their friends and family members are Hillary supporters. The Times reported not a single instance of a Trump voter shun. What’s the cause of all this? I think it is identity politics.

Remember, the two candidates ran completely different campaigns. Trump’s campaign was an issues campaign, mainly economic issues. In every speech he gave, he complained about abandoned factories, lost jobs and low wages. Even if he was completely wrong about the cause of those problems (bad trade deals), his was still campaigning on issues. 

Hillary Clinton, by contrast, ran a largely issueless campaign. Do you know what her position was on international trade? Of course not. What she said in private was the opposite of what she said in public. On the Pacific trade deal, as a candidate she contradicted everything she said while she was Secretary of State. Her confidants quietly advised worried Wall Street backers that they could safely ignore what was being said publicly on the campaign trail. But none of that matters because Hillary wasn’t asking people to vote for her because of differences with Donald Trump over trade policy anyway. Or on corporate tax reform. Or school choice. Or safe neighborhoods. Or environmental policy. Or any other policy. 

Hillary’ s entire campaign, and the Democratic Party’s approach to elections in general, is based on appeals to people as members of racial, ethnic and sociological groups. Since the days of Franklin Roosevelt, the Democratic Party has approached people as groups, pitted group against group, and promised each to protect them from outsiders. In the Roosevelt era, the appeal was almost exclusively to economic groups. 

Today the Democratic party has largely abandoned economic appeals in favor of identity politics. For example, they ask blacks to vote for them because they are black, not because of any policy differences they have with their opponents. And their appeals carry with them an assault on the opposition, either express or implied: The Republican candidate is anti-black. The same approach is used with Hispanics, women, the LGBT community, etc.  

For example, here is Michelle Obama telling a black audience they had a duty to vote Democrat, no matter who is on the ticket. (And by implication, no matter what the candidate stands for or what he or she would do once in office.) Her husband was even worse. But you can check it out for yourself. Just Google the words “Obama” and “race baiting” and see how many links pop up.  

Now if the election were covered fairly, it would be obvious that one side is talking about issues and the other is not. Even the mainstream media viewed the entire election the same way Hillary Clinton did. Even the “Fair and Balanced” Fox News spent almost the entirety of election night talking about how many blacks were voting versus whites, or women versus men – as if demography were destiny at the polls.  

Identity politics works on some voters. I have heard stories, seen on news broadcasts, and were told by readers of my blog that women were actually breaking down crying at the mere mention of the election results. Are they crying because NAFTA may be renegotiated? Or the pipeline may be built? Of course not. If elections are about identity, then elections are about you in a very personal way. If the other candidate wins, you have been personally rejected. I would probably cry too if I were naïve enough to believe all that. As I have stated in past posts, Donald Trump uttered not one word during the election that was anti-black, anti-Semitic or anti-gay. Although he may have been insensitive, he really never said anything that was anti-Hispanic. In fact, it’s just the opposite. 

Constabulary of Yesterday and Today in America

Almost four centuries ago, the Pilgrims at the Plymouth colony published the 1636 Book of Laws and authorized the local militia to enforce that criminal code creating, essentially, the first police department in America. Times were simpler then. The "laws in old Plymouth town combined church dicta and English common law to combat, mostly, crimes of moral turpitude like public intoxication, gambling and fornication." Offenses like drive-by shootings and position with intent to sell meth, crack cocaine and other sundry illegal drugs were considerably less common. Whatever the crime, the punishment was swift and certain – and exacting.

Crimes like arson, rape and even "smiting your parent were punishable by death." The settlement’s general court enacted the laws, passed judgment and carried out the punishment. More than just judge, jury and executioner, they were also the legislative body for the colony. Plymouth’s fledgling government was ardently devoted to law and order and to those who enforced it.

Candidates for the general court of Plymouth likely ran on a “tough on crime” platform. It would’ve been highly irregular for a candidate to side with a young Pilgrim who turned deadly violence against a militiaman. Certainly, the convening of a candidate’s political supporters at the town lodge wouldn’t have embraced the criminal element by featuring the mothers of would-be constable (cop) killers. You see, in pre-colonial days, those who kept the peace were held in high regard, and those who disrupted it found their way to the blocks, jail house or the hangman’s noose.

Nearly four centuries later, the criminals are better armed, greater in number and more violent than ever. More and more frequently, that violence is aimed toward the keepers of the peace, the modern-day militiamen and militiawomen who labor to keep our post-colonial communities safe.

Death by gunfire for police officers is up by record numbers this year, and death by ambush is up more than double. Still, some abnegate the existence of the war on police with the same confounding vigor as Holocaust deniers. Those soulless empty-minded instead glorify the desperate criminals who try to kill police officers when the cop is lucky enough to get the drop on his cowardly attacker. The reality is, American police officers are constantly on the receiving end of deadly violence today. Sometimes they subdue their attacker with appropriate force, sometimes – too frequently – it’s the cop who lay bleeding on the street.

During this Thanksgiving season– the tradition handed down to us by those very same early Americans who gave us our first laws and our first law enforcement officers – I am eminently thankful for the heroes that toil to keep our America safe. It is no small task in this expansive, violent nation that has evolved from that small settlement at Plymouth.

The Pilgrims who forged this nation would be appalled (as this writer is) by our propensity as a nation to devalue the lives of peace keepers and celebrate the lives of those who threaten the peace. The Pilgrims were smart enough to value those who enforced their early code of laws and they were devout enough to give thanks for their many blessings. Law Enforcement Officers are a blessing to those who uphold the law. Just maybe, we in America might want to re-visit the Pilgrims "Book of Laws."

My Thanksgiving Day Prayer

Thank You, Lord, for allowing us to live in the greatest country in the world – one where we as citizens are permitted to live in freedom, to speak our minds, to debate the great issues of the day openly and without fear and, most of all, to worship You and to tell others about You and Your Gospel of saving grace and redemption. And forgive those of us who take all this for granted too often.

Yet, from the earliest commemorations of Thanksgiving here in America, this was the common denominator that brought people of the New World together. I’m so thankful to be part of a country where worshiping You is not a crime – yet. I’m thankful we have the opportunity to tell others about You. I’m thankful You have blessed this land in so many ways.

I’m thankful for Your patience with us, who, despite our countless blessings, do not often recognize from where they come. I’m thankful we have abundant food today – that we get to celebrate this solemn occasion in the warmth of our homes, with our families and friends. I’m thankful we have such abundance that we can share it with those less fortunate, not just here in our homeland, but around the world.

Suck It Up Snowflake

Academia’s activists today are clear-cutting vast swaths of civil society to make room for "reason-free zones" where feelings outrank facts -- they call them "safe spaces", more recently “cry zones” and if they had their predilections, the entirety of the continent, if not the earth itself, would be one beach lounge chair-strewn and beer cooler realm of hugging and unapologetic whining. How do we stop such nonsense that is now permeating our universities and its staffs and student snowflakes? We begin by recognizing that there's a certain breed of guilty white liberals (academia) who actually enjoy being called racist, confessing their racial sins and denouncing less advanced white people. The hot new term for this is "virtue signaling" -- a way of communicating how enlightened you are. And the buttercups through their own ignorance become no more than lemmings running to their own ruination.

How about this proposal by our local state and national legislators: "Suck it up, Wallflower" bill to punish all state and private post-secondary schools who receive state and federal funding that responded to the election of President-elect Donald Trump by coddling their students like a bunch of overindulged brats. Are not our representatives seeing what you and I are seeing? Are these universities not using tax payer dollars to set up "cry zones" so people can talk about their feelings and how sensitive they are? So why not take action to recoup taxpayer money? Sounds legitimate to me.

Here is a suggestion on dealing with the problem of misusing taxpayers money: Find out how many taxpayers dollars are being used for these "cry zones" and for all these different "safe spaces"  about so you can talk individual hurt feelings, and take whatever that number is and arbitrarily double, triple, even quadruple it and cut it from the university tax dollar spigot (budget). Does this not sound like a terrific plan, for the notion of publicly funded universities wasting taxpayer dollars to essentially powder their students' sensitive little baby butts? Which is the most absurd, my suggestion or tax payers dollars being wasted on university "hurt feeling zones"?

The Candidates Were Choices We Gave Ourselves

Over the past many weeks, old friends – some I’ve known for years have all but “unfriended” me because I supported Trump over Hillary. Does it dampen the spirit? That would be an affirmative. Who tosses away a friendship over an election? Are these friends turning into those mind-numbingly arrogant celebrities who threaten to move to another country if their candidate doesn’t win? Are these friends now convinced that people they’ve known for years who happen to disagree with them politically are not merely misguided – but malevolent, and no longer worthy of their friendship?

For what it’s worth, I don’t think Donald Trump won by tapping into America’s racist underside and I don’t think Hillary lost because she’s a woman. In my opinion, the majority of people who voted in this election did so in spite of their many misgivings about the character of both candidates. That’s why it’s awfully perilous to argue that Clinton supporters condone lying under oath and obstructing justice. Just as it’s equally perilous to suggest a Trump supporter condones gross generalizations about foreigners and women.

These two candidates were the choices we gave ourselves, and each came with a boatload of vulgarity and impropriety. Yeah, it was a campaign filled with acrimony for sure, but the winner was not decided by a racist and cowardly nation – it was decided by millions of appalled Americans desperate for real change. The people did not want a politician. The people wanted to be seen. Donald Trump convinced those people that he could see them. Hillary Clinton did not.

Hasta la Vista, Ciao, Cheerio, Tata, Adieu, Goodbye

Prior to President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in this year’s presidential election, numerous arrogant liberal elitists threatened to leave the United States were he to win.

The election has passed, and the America people gave the spoiled celebrities of Hollywood a-kick-in-the-rear. Despite all their earnest You Tube diatribes and pro-Hillary concerts and campaign appearances, the next president is Donald Trump. Little did they realize that many in the public are finished with these multi-millionaires positing themselves as champions of the working class, or even more remarkable, the downtrodden. Well, the story line is written, the reviews in. The script is now on the cutting room floor. They themselves are no longer chic.

Included among this cadre of pompous nitwits was every type of liberal imaginable — liberal actors, liberal filmmakers, liberal models, liberal singers, liberal TV hosts and, of course, liberal comedians like Jon Stewart. Known for hosting “The Daily Caller” on Comedy Central for nearly two decades, Stewart was an especially nasty liberal who spent much of the election season besmirching Trump and his supporters as racists, sexists, bigots and whatever else. Luckily for him, interplanetary travel does not yet exist, meaning he can stay.

The same cannot be said for the likes of Lena Dunham, a foul-mouth feminist who hates all men, but especially so white men. “I know a lot of people have been threatening to do this, but I really will,” she said last April at an awards ceremony held by the Association for Women in Communications. “I know a lovely place in Vancouver, and I can get my work done from there.” Ta-ta, Lena. And auf wiedershen sweetheart, as well to actress Whoopi Goldberg, and genuinely repugnant pop star Miley Cyrus, whose entire adult career has revolved around teaching young boys and girls how to be promiscuous philanderers and Jezebels without regard for love or family. She supposedly said “My heart is broken into a million pieces.” In that case, au revoir. And then let us not forget the irredeemable race hustler, “little Al” Sharpton. Prior to President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in this year’s presidential election, Sharpton was among numerous arrogant liberal elitists who threatened to leave the United States were he to win.

Below is a list, though not exhaustive, of celebrities, excluding the aforementioned, who promised to leave:

Breaking Bad” star Bryan Cranston;  Actor Samuel Jackson;  “House of Cards” actress Neve Campbell;  “Orange is the New Black” actress Natasha Lyonne;  Cher ; Singer Ne-Yo (like so many others, plans to bug out to nearby Canada); Comedian Amy Schumer; Comedian George Lopez who claims he is moving south;  Ali Wentworth, wife of ABC newsman George Stephanopoulous; Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (she’s already back peddled and apologized); Former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Taran Kellam exemplified the entertainment elites on Twitter: Rural = so stupid.” You can taste the smugness in that one. Or there’s Linsay Lohan, who tweeted, ”Retweet if you want a recount.” “Retweet if you think Lohan makes sense…ever.’’

Of course I would be remiss if I forgot those celebs who have threatened to leave the country before past elections but little ever came of it. America has been waiting years for Alec Baldwin to keep his “unequivocal” promise to leave. Rocker Eddie Vedder, actor Matt Damon, director Robert Altman and the irrepressible Spike Lee were supposed to depart on the same boat, but they stayed. There's Michael Moore who talks about leaving but always falls short in doing so. Then again, it takes brain cells for one to speak, while any simpleton can talk. Need I say more about Moore? Besides there are few boats big enough to carry his load.

Barbra Streisand holds the record for entertainers-in-exile-who-are-still-here. Her promise to leave dates back to the Clinton-Bush Sr. campaign of 1992. She’s still here and, it is unlikely, she and others listed above will depart our shores.

Final Countdown to The Media's Kismet

With the clock ticking on Election Day, the mainstream media seems intent on committing ritual suicide by eviscerating the tattered remnants of its credibility. See, there’s some good news out there if you just look for it.

At this writing, it still looks like Felonious Anomalous Hillary will convince enough morons to vote for her to defeat Donald Trump, but who the hell knows? The polls are tightening, my past posts remain eerily prescient, and in Hades they are getting out the mittens. So, what’s next from our disgraced media drones as they face the possible repudiation of every libfascist thing they believe in? More covering up, to be sure. By the time this post is posted, it could be revealed that Hillary tried to auction off Gary, Indiana to a yet unknown Emir in return for a $1,000,000 donation to her slush fund. But then her organ grinder monkeys in the mainstream media would respond to this news by claiming that that this is all Russian lies, the notarized videotape of her explaining that Gary alone is worth $1,000,000 notwithstanding, or by claiming that these allegations are racist against foreign royalty. You get the point do you not?

Then again, the media would eagerly aid and abet any fresh opportunity dump on Donald Trump in hopes of turning everything around. The media drools at the possibility of obtaining the much-gossiped about KGB sex tape, though its delight seems to rely on the dubious notion that people would think less of him. Then again, most members of the media have never met an actual male. The media would love to obtain a new tax return showing that Trump didn’t pay taxes on money he didn’t make – remember, stolen stuff is fine unless it hurts liberals, and then it’s bad. We’ve already seen some remarkable things in the last week, have we not? It’s no shock that Hillary Clinton does not believe that the American people should go into the voting booth armed with the knowledge that one of the two major party candidates is under investigation for multiple felonies by the FBI. She and her liberal pals believe in the mushroom theory of voter information – keep them in the dark and feed them…manure.

What’s remarkable is the reaction of the press, the Fourth Estate, the ink stained wretches who afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted, those proud defenders of the People’s right to know, the guys and gals who published the classified Pentagon Papers because of transparency, damn it. These heroes likewise do not believe that the American people should go into the voting booth armed with the knowledge that one of the two major party candidates is under investigation for multiple felonies by the FBI. Regardless, welcome to the countdown to the final doom of the media as we know and hate it. 

The Wonderful World of Freedom and it's Sacrifices

My friend Betsy is remarkable in her conservatism, words, faith and memory. I will share a few of her thoughts as it pertains to America today and Americans of distinction past and present. She tells me that another memory makes for these thoughts today, November 6 after reports came on TV November 5, 2016 that Trump was rushed off stage by security at a rally – CNN reports “the man arrested for trying to disarm a police officer inside a Donald Trump rally in Las Vegas Saturday told authorities he intended to use the gun “to kill Trump.” According to a new criminal complaint.” 

Now back to June 8, 1968. That was the date Betsy was to give an outgoing speech as President of the Junior Woman’s Club for which she had served the previous year.  The theme throughout the year had been “Born Free”.  She had her speech prepared for delivery. At the last minute, however, Betsy completely rewrote what she would say because Robert F. Kennedy had been assassinated and June 8, was the day of his burial. This evening we will read a few lines from this speech in this post. “Mourning is not enough.  When men give their lives in an effort for you and me to live in a democracy, it seems a little hypocritical to me to only mourn – and then hope it will not happen again. When a man gives his life for freedom’s sake, then men and women who want this freedom must take up the fight – or with his death so dies our freedom….In a free society we protect minority groups….but unless the minority is willing to let the majority, through vote at the ballot box, decide the destiny of our country, without continuing violence then we must insist the laws that govern free people be enforced….Through sorrow a family grows closer – so let it be at this time that our fellow brothers and sisters throughout all our fifty states unite to condemn the violence – but support peaceful protests.” 

Other assassinations or attempted assassinations of American Leaders that have occurred before or since that speech. On June 12, 1963, Medgar Evers was killed. In the driveway outside his home in Jackson, Mississippi, African American civil rights leader. Shortly after noon on November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motor cade through Daily Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas. At 6:05 P.M. on Thursday April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King was shot dead while standing on a balcony outside his second-floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The attempted assassination of United States President Ronald Reagan occurred on March 30, 1981, 69 days into his presidency. And now, November 5, 2016 another threat – our Republican Presidential Candidate, Donald Trump, just three days before ballots were cast to decide the next president of the United States, was rushed off stage by Secret Service because of a threat to him.

“I will add to the speech of years ago: We have mourned, remembered and gone on with our daily lives.  Now, I fear, not only to individuals, but threats to our country are possible.  It is for this reason that the vote on November 8 is so very important.” Peaceful demonstrations, which I support, should be just that -- peaceful.  At demonstrations, if and when a crime occurs, in my opinion, the event changes from a demonstration and turns into a crime scene and must be dealt with promptly and effectively.  Demonstrators committing these crimes should be treated as criminals – not demonstrators.  All law enforcement officers from the military to the patrol officers from the precinct should have the full authority and the backing of the United States Government to arrest the criminals, thus doing their sworn duty to protect the lives and property of law abiding citizens.  Charges should be made and the Judicial System determine what/or if punishment of the accused.” 

While accepting the Republican nomination for the Presidency Donald Trump told the crowd gathered at the convention in Cleveland, Ohio -- that his administration would be focused on law and order.

My vote on November 8 will be for Mr. Trump – the outsider, who has no obligation to lobbyist, political friends or financial donors from America or Foreign Countries.  I want the corruption cleared out of Washington, DC and the United States of America put back into the hands of American Citizens.

Betsy closed her 1968 speech with this poem. The words are just as important and meaningful today as in 1968: 

When God began to make His plan For man to live on every land I’m so glad he chose for me America – a land that’s  free.

I am an American who’s proud To raise our flag and shout aloud You represent God’s gift to me A country where we are “Born Free.”

I’m glad our flag waves overhead Above brave men who have said, I’ll give my life, if that need be That al American’s will be “Born Free’.”

And for all people everywhere I’ll say a very special prayer That someday soon, you too will be Where all your children can be “Born Free”.

Betsy’s closing sentence:

And if and when our prayers are come to pass – then justly we will have earned our right to say we belong to “The Wonderful World of Freedom”.

It's America or Her

Thanks to WikiLeaks and a small number of reporters who do real investigative journalism, the mask has been lifted and we are finally learning how deep and far the corruption goes in Washington with Hillary Clinton at the helm. Now let us take an imaginary journey to see what a Clinton presidency as opposed to a Trump presidency will look like:

Globalism versus nationalism: Clinton stated in one of her private speeches that she dreams of “open borders”. She also wants to increase the intake of Syrian refugees by “550% and give amnesty to illegal aliens.” What the mainstream media has not reported is that all the countries in Europe who have brought in refugees are in total chaos and destruction. Refugees are committing all kinds of crimes and terrorist attacks, on almost a daily basis, in European countries such as Germany, Belgium, France, England, Greece, Denmark and Sweden to name a few. 

Their goal is to spread Islam and inculcate Sharia Law around the world. The refugee program is funded by one of Hillary’s biggest donors, George Soros. It’s no secret his goal is to destroy sovereign nations by opening their borders and causing chaos by flooding their welfare systems to bankrupt each country in order to advance the New World Order strategy for a one world government. The intentions behind Soros and the globalists are outright malicious. Under a Trump presidency, he will close America’s borders and stop the influx of illegals into this country especially the criminals and refugees who can’t be properly vetted – which the FBI admitted publicly and even Clinton wrote in a leaked email – to weed out jihadists. In effect, this country will be safer, there will be less terror attacks and there will be more money saved that can be used to help our own citizens such as our beloved veterans and our homeless.

Establishment versus anti-establishment: We now know that Clinton used her position of power not to serve the best interest of this country but to line her own pockets with the Clinton Foundation as a front. As Secretary of State, she made decisions not based on what was best for this country; she made decisions based on who would donate the most money to the Clinton Foundation and pay her and her husband the most amount of money for speeches in exchange for favors. Is this not why Hillary Clinton set up her private server and destroyed 33,000 e-mails? Hillary knew she’d be conducting illegal activity and she put our national security at risk in doing so. This corruption will continue under a Clinton presidency further putting our country at risk and her needs before what’s best for Americans. Also, we now know that due to Clinton’s reckless behavior, her servers were hacked numerous times by foreign intelligence agencies. This means if she’s elected, our enemies could use those hacked e-mails to blackmail her. Clinton claims Trump can’t be trusted with the nuclear codes; yet, it’s been proven she can’t be trusted with even low-level classified information. Like it or not, treason is heavier than “Miss Piggy.” Trump intends to stop the rampant corruption in Washington and he’s laid out a plan to drain the swamp. He will push for a Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits for members of Congress. Trump would also institute a 5-year ban on administration officials lobbying the government after they leave their positions. He would also ask Congress to institute its own 5-year lobbying ban on former congressmen and congressional staff. This may be why so many Republicans do not support Trump. They know that if Trump is elected, all the perks and the shady backroom deals they make to further themselves without their constituent’s best interests at heart will cease. 

I always suspected the Clintons were corrupt. With minimal research, I learned how corrupt the Clintons were and the amount of scandals they have been involved in. Unlike other writers covering the Clinton ignominies who have dealt with threats, harassment and at times even felt that their lives were in danger, I being a mere “no name” blogger, have dealt with nothing more than insults and belittling comments from Hillary minions and “pie-in-the sky” liberals. It’s no secret that anyone who dares to expose the Clintons get threatened, vandalized, their pets killed, their houses burned down and dozens have died in mysterious accidents. Just on this information alone, it boggles my mind that anyone could vote for someone so wicked to the core. When Trump says she’s a nasty woman and she has evil in her heart, he couldn’t be more right. On the other hand, despite the lies the mainstream media tells about Trump, personal testimony and collaboration reveals the opposite. From what I have heard, Trump and his family are wonderful good-hearted people who have throughout the years done so much to help so many.  Trump’s a billionaire who does not need to run for president and he’s risking his life and taken incredible abuse by doing so.

You may not like Trump, but he’s right to say that this election is bigger than him: it’s a movement. The people are sick of government corruption and good everyday hardworking Americans want to take their country back. There’s only one candidate who will make America great again and that candidate is not under multiple FBI investigations. It’s America or Her. I’m with America.