Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, China, Communism, Economics, Education, Foreign Policy, Free Speech, Freedom, History, Law, Media Bias, Politics, Regulation, The United States | Tags: Communist China, The Territory of Hong Kong, The United States of America
On Thanksgiving evening, Hong Kong Protesters decided to sing the American National Anthem as a gesture of thanks for President Trump signing two bills into law on Wednesday that condemned China. When they finished with the Star Spangled Banner, they chanted “USA, USA, USA.”
Seems to me that we sometimes forget that our USA is about freedom. Perhaps I should capitalize that: Freedom. That plucky bunch who arrived on the Mayflower in 1620 were searching for Freedom. They were followed by the Winthrop Fleet in 1630 who established the Bay Colony.
The early settlers who first pushed out from the coast, and those who were looking for more freedom pushed on across the Alleghenies, and more pushed on and on until they reached the other ocean.
Lewis and Clark, the Homestead Act, farmers taming wild prairie, always a push for more freedom. We accept government gingerly, as a necessary evil, and try to keep it in line. All over the world, the people are pushing back against government and against those who would interfere with their desire to be free. It is simply basic human nature. It’s all very complicated, but if the United States of America stands for anything, it stands for a free people. We might do well to be a little clearer about that, so we weren’t taking other countries by surprise. They would know what to expect from us.
In any case, how can you help but sympathize with the citizens of Hong Kong, and wish them well.
This was intended to be published yesterday, but my computer had an attack of nervous prostration, and blushingly hid it’s face in it’s keyboard and refused to cooperate at all. I hope there will not be a repeat of such intransigence. I assumed, since the hour was late, that the network was engaged in a tidying-up exercise when they thought the world would be asleep.
Filed under: Capitalism, Domestic Policy, Economics, Education, Foreign Polidy, Free Speech, Freedom, History, Immigration, Intelligence, National Security, Politics, The Constitution, The United States | Tags: Free Citizens, Longtime Residents, Nationalism for America
In a speech at Hillsdale College in October, Victor Davis Hanson talks about Nationalism. Is is good or bad — and what are the lessons from history? It’s fairly long, but worth every minute, if you are satiated after turkey and all the fixings, and don’t want to move for a while… or save it for another day, but do watch it when you can. Lots of food for thought. important food for thought.
Filed under: Economics, Education, Environment, Global Warming, Humor, Immigration, Junk Science, Law, Media Bias, Politics, Regulation, Science/Technology, United Nations | Tags: Anthony Watts, Climate Change, Mark Steyn
Mark Steyn has had a court case hanging over him for ages, by the noxious Michael Mann, he of the “hockey-stick graph”, which, of course has no relation to the real world. Interesting conversation. Enjoy.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Domestic Policy, Economics, Economy, Education, Environment, Free Markets, Freedom, Health Care, Humor, Immigration, Liberalism, Media Bias, National Security, News the Media Doesn't Want You to Hear, Progressives, Progressivism, Statism, The United States | Tags: Changing Opinions, Changing Reality, Ideological Extremism
Fascinating article today at The Federalist: “25 Reasons Today’s Left Has Become A Bunch of Ideological Extremists” with the subhead “Anyone who denies the existence of an influential, mainstream, radical left in America today doesn’t have any idea what the word ‘radical’ means.”
They went from, “Ask not what your country can do for you” to demanding a universal basic income provided by your neighbor.
They went from, “I may not agree with what you say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it” to “speech is violence.”
They went from talking about a crisis at the border to saying anyone who believes there is a border crisis is a racist.
It’s 25 reasons, and interesting and unfortunately true. How about “They went from working to get drugs out of schools to working to get drag queens and Planned Parenthood into schools. Do read the whole thing. It’s an eye-opener to see how they are changing our understanding of the way things work. Nobody seems to really care about what is true any more. There is a radical left, and what they do in the guise of being ‘nice: and ‘kind and generous’ isn’t exactly what we had in mind.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Domestic Policy, History, Media Bias, News the Media Doesn't Want You to Hear, Politics, The United States | Tags: Newspapers, Radio, Television, The Internet
Please, to demonstrate your marvelous skills with the English Language, could you try to find some synonyms for “bombshell”? Thank you. We will be grateful.
P.S. “Blockbuster” won’t do either.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Environment, Global Warming, Intelligence, Junk Science, National Security, News, Politics, Science/Technology | Tags: Francis Menton, John Stossel, Who Do You Listen To?
And here is the Manhattan Contrarian answering the question “Who is Winning the Climate Wars?” Do we have to panic in the expectation that in just 12 years it’s all over? Greta Thunberg’s mother says her daughter’s ideas are important because she is able to see the Carbon Dioxide rising out of chimneys and the rising seas.
In spite of all the panic, the rising of the seas seems to take place in millimeters rather than feet. There are roughly 25 millimeters to an inch, so you can see the rise of the oceans are possibly not what some assume. I thought you would fine these two pieces interesting in the wake of the sainted Greta’s visit to the U.S, the UN and Hollywood.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Crime, Democrat Corruption, Domestic Policy, Energy, Free Speech, Freedom, History, Humor, Immigration, Law, Media Bias, National Security, Politics, Taxes, The United States, Unemployment | Tags: Russia, Ukraine, What Are the Grounds?
What I am failing to understand, and you probably are too, is that The House of Representatives of the United States Congress has it all backwards, and we’re letting them get away with it.
The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives has decided that the President of the United States must be impeached. They don’t like him. They remain furious that he won control of the government away from them, because they are morally superior. They care about the poor and unfortunate, the downtrodden, the frightened illegals, the homeless, the fugitives from climate change, and so on, and nasty Republicans just don’t.
They made a decision. Donald Trump is an illegal president and he must be impeached. The problem has been to find what it is that he must be impeached for. Classic example of cart before horse! Now that they have decided that he must be impeached, they have to find something that will qualify as an impeachable offense. Not what the founders had in mind. They thought that if a sitting president betrays his office, or betrays the country, Congress should be able to act to remove him from office. Article II, Section 4.
I am certainly not an attorney, but the House of Representatives clearly has it all backwards. They have decided that he must be impeached before the next election, so they are determinedly searching for the awful thing for which he must be impeached. Once they get rid of him then as the morally superior beings they by nature are, they will be back in full charge, and won’t have to bother with this phony booming economy and phony thriving business, and phony people getting off food stamps and especially the phony increase in the average family’s take-home pay. The problem is finding the charge that will accomplish all that. Has to be a biggie. Section 4 says clearly: The President, Vice President, and all Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
That’s why Nancy Pelosi came up with “Bribery” a couple of days ago. Couldn’t find any Treason that they could make stick, and the other high Crimes part was not very clear or specific, but “Bribery” sounded good. Adam Schiff is working desperately on that one. They can surely find a bribe somewhere in returning aid to Ukraine, can’t they?
I found this pertinent cartoon at Powerline in Steven Hayward’s Week in Pictures. Don’t know who devised it, but it is appropriate. If you are alternately appalled and annoyed by this impeachment inquiry, Don’t miss Victor Davis Hanson’s piece at National Review.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Canada, Capitalism, China, Cuba, Domestic Policy, Economics, Education, Europe, European Union, Islam, Israel, Latin America, Law, National Security, South America, The United States, United Kingdom | Tags: A Government That Works, Between Angry and Bloody, The Americas
Politics. Many of our friendly nations are currently embroiled in politics. Our Democrats are trying for a do-over of the previous election, because they simply cannot get over the fact that they lost the 2016 election to the hated Trump. Just why they hate President Trump so much remains a mystery, because he is doing a remarkable job of getting the economy back on track, which is what we elected him to do.
Canada is not entirely happy with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but he is going to keep his job and form a minority government. His Liberals are again the largest party, but have lost their parliamentary majority.
The British have a Prime Minister in Boris Johnson, but are embroiled in Brexit. From what I can tell, the people want out of the European Union, but the Parliament does not. The battle goes on, and on. Back in 2007, Valery Giscard d’Estaing was writing a Constitution for the European Union, and briefly looked at the American Constitution, but couldn’t handle all those freedoms, and rejected it outright as an example. Unfortunate.
The Israelis are having a crisis of sorts because Prime Minister Netanyahu could not form a government because of the (weird to Americans) way the Israeli government is formed. The Prime Minister gets elected, I think, and then has to create a government by getting all the other parties to agree to what he comes up with, or something like that. We all get accustomed to our own form of government and do not understand any other countries’ politics, which usually is just as complex as ours, and often more so.
South America is a mess, but since we don’t speak their languages, we don’t pay all that much attention. Odd, but I don’t know how many Americans could name the countries of South America on an unlabeled map. And of course, we always call ourselves “Americans” which undoubtedly annoys the citizens of Central and South, who are just as much “Americans” as we are.
Hong Kong and China are getting bloody. China is Communist, which works only for those at the top, and until they are overthrown. We have enough world history about what works and what does not to teach us all – how to go about doing government. The most passionate are always the least-informed, and sure that they have a better idea.
Apparently our colleges and universities are graduating a new class, sure that the answer to the problem of the rich is Socialism or Communism. They are, of course, tutored by professors who discover that there are successful entrepreneurs who without the qualification of a PhD in something or other receive enormous salaries and benefits for keeping a corporation healthy and thriving. No Fair! If you wondered why a college education costs so much today, there you go.
President Trump is beginning to move governmental agencies out of the “swamp” and closer to the people they are supposed to be serving. Thus the Farm Bureau is moving to farming country which is excellent, but those who are being moved from cosmopolitan D.C. to farm country are not happy. I think it’s a great idea.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Crime, Democrat Corruption, Domestic Policy, Economy, Media Bias, Politics, Taxes, Unemployment
The Democrats had another Debate last night, and I declined. Not up for another one. Rachel Maddow was host and proclaimed that ambassador Sondlund had buttressed the case for impeachment with his “bombshell” testimony. (Probably the number one reason why everyone is beginning to really hate the media is their inability to avoid using the word “bombshell”.) Maddow wanted to know if the candidates would vote for impeachment?
“Of course I will,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who urged viewers to “read the Mueller report” about all that obstruction of justice. Why, president Trump “broke the law again and again.”
Amy Klobuchar cited Trump’s “impeachable conduct” and how he is “sucking up to Vladimir Putin every minute of the day” and “leaving the Kurds for slaughter.” But it’s all “really about our Democracy.”
“Sadly we have president who is a pathological liar,” said Bernie Sanders, adding that Trump was the “most corrupt” president of all. But then, Sanders added, the whole political system was corrupt and the economy “rigged” for billionaires and such.
A rather shaky Joe Biden said “Trump doesn’t want me to be the nominee” and “Vladimir Putin doesn’t want me to be president,” which seemed to work for the studio audience.
Utter brilliance. Democrats were so sure that it was Russia that was trying to steal the election that they haven’t learned anything since.
Nancy Pelosi’s key word was “imposter.” She told CBS that “I think he knows full well that he’s in that office way over his head. And so he has to diminish everyone else.”
Um, booming economy, extremely low unemployment, thriving business, world’s leading exporter of oil and natural gas, lowest unemployment for Blacks since we started keeping unemployment statistics. So he’s an imposter? It was Barack Obama who insisted that it was impossible in these days to get the economy to grow over 2%. It is not an accident, just what Dems are worried that the people will find out.
In the meantime, Lindsey Graham announced that the DOJ Inspector General’s report on Obama administration FISA abuse during the 2016 election will be released December 9. He said” I think this is going to be stunning. I think it is going to be damning. I think it’s going to prove that the system got off the rails and we need corrective action.” US Attorney John Durham’s criminal probe into Justice Department misconduct during the election will soon get its time in the spotlight. That may be fun.
Filed under: Blogging, Cool Site of the Day, Domestic Policy, History, Humor, Intelligence, Law, The Constitution, The United States | Tags: Ranking Member Devin Nunes, The Tiresome Schiff Sideshow, Waiting for a "Bombshell"
Devin Nunes is now the Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee, superseded by current Chair Adam Schiff. Congressman Nunes has been invaluable in the current miasma in that committee, and in Congress. Mr. Schiff continues to be an embarrassment as he strives ever more valiantly to find something, anything, for which to impeach President Trump. It provides daily entertainment for those with strong stomachs. Or at least it would if you could tolerate it. Do watch the whole thing, It’s not Long. Devin Nunes is very good!
From Scott Johnson at the powerline blog: Quotable quote: “They got caught trying to obtain nude photos of President Trump from Russian pranksters pretending to be Ukrainians….That is the Democrats’ pitiful legacy in recent years: they got caught.”
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Democrat Corruption, Domestic Policy, Economics, Economy, Education, Election 2016, Freedom, History, Immigration, Law, National Security, Politics, Taxes, The Constitution, The United States, Unemployment | Tags: Entitled to Be in Charge, Morally Superior, Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Politics is mostly an unpleasant subject wherever and whenever it is practiced. Making informed choices about matters of importance for the city or nation soon gets left in the dust as opinions become bandied about.
Then it gets down to who likes who and why and how dare you disagree with me. Passions are aroused. Demonstrations take place, and first thing you know fights break out, the police are called and so on and so forth.
We had an election in 2016. The Republican candidate was Donald J. Trump. The Democrat candidate was Hillary Clinton. Democrats were confident that Hillary would win easily. They were unaware that many people just did not like Hillary Clinton, and thought it was unlikely that she would do an acceptable job as president. She lost. Trump won. This has resulted in an enraged Democrat Party apparently loathing President Trump and vowing to do everything and anything to bring him down.
He supposedly has a Queens accent. His father was a builder, and sent him out early to work with construction crews, on building sites. To this day he is apt to stop and talk to construction workers on the street, and apparently likes them. This is unacceptable in other areas of New York? Dunno. I’m a Westerner. This, surely is not the cause of all the vile commentary out there. It is a puzzlement.
It is quite clear that he is doing a good job for the country. Obama told us firmly that the economy would never again get over 2% growth, it was just no longer in the cards. Trump cut taxes, cut some government costs (but not enough) and has begun to move some large agencies out of Washington DC and closer to the areas they are supposed to serve, which has caused consternation among those who like living in Washington DC. The economy is booming, unemployment has reached historic lows. Manufacturing is increasing. Growth is well over 3%, and more and more people are dropping off food stamps.
Some are finding fault with his campaign promises, for example, he said that he would build a wall on the Southern border and Mexico would help pay for it. With Congressional intransigence, the wall building goes slowly, and spokesmen can’t seem to see that Mexico is helping. They are turning people back at their Southern Border and also further along, offering less assistance to migrants. Did you expect Mexico to send President Trump a check? They did not do that.
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has issued (twice) a demand: “Mr. President, You need to prove your innocence!” Um, Fifth Amendment? No person…shall be compelled to be a witness against himself?” And innocence of just what? You are having an enormous problem deciding what it is you think the President is guilty of, other than winning an election.
“If the president has something that is exculpatory — Mr. President, that means you have anything that shows your innocence — then he should make that known and that’s part of the inquiry,” Pelosi said, as The Week noted. “And so far, we haven’t seen that. But we welcome it.”
Pelosi then went on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday and told host Margaret Brennan that if Trump had “information that is exculpatory — that means ex, taking away, culpable, blame — then we look forward to seeing it.”
Sorry, Nancy, that’s not how we do it in a free American society. In her world, it’s Trump who must prove innocence, not Democrats who must find guilt.
Most, but not all, Americans were born in a neighborhood, usually among people very much like themselves, and they are surprised to learn that there are others who have different customs and beliefs.
Democrats believe firmly that they are morally superior. They believe that they are morally superior because they care — and Republicans don’t. They care about those who want to cross our borders illegally, and those who are hiding from ICE, those who are living here and working here illegally. Now they are campaigning to get those who are fleeing from climate change admitted legally as “refugees”, not to protect them from the ravages of climate change, but to count them in the next census and get their votes in the next election. The Left’s aims are not pure. They simply believe that they are entitled to be in charge, and they cannot stand being deprived.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Domestic Policy, Economics, Economy, Energy, Immigration, Law, National Security, Taxes, The United States, Unemployment | Tags: Chosing the Right Attack, Focus Tests to Decide, Lies and Misrepresentation
The language of impeachment keeps shifting around, as Nancy Pelosi’s Democrats focus-test the best wording to influence voters in the 2020 election. Which words to use as the reason to impeach this duly elected president?
It may be somewhat helpful to recognize just how stupid the Democrats believe Trump supporters are. We have heard ourselves described as a “cult”, and frequently in words describing varying amounts of a lack of intelligence. The chosen accusation seems to be “bribery“, which apparently sounds worse to the panel than other words that they might use like “lying” or “cheating”.
President Trump just gave a speech at the Economic Club of New York, and he made it clear just why the Democrats are so desperate to avoid talking about the economy.
Trump began by resetting the clock back to 2016 when, as we’ve pointed out in this space many times, the economic forecast was grim.
“The so-called experts said Americans had no choice but to accept stagnation, decay, and a shrinking middle class as the new normal,” Trump said. “In short, the American people were told to sit back and accept a slow, inevitable decline.”
The Congressional Budget Office, he said, projected that the number of jobs would increase by just 2 million from January 2017 through the end of this year. The unemployment rate wasn’t supposed to get below 4.4% and was slated to start rising again in 2019.
The CBO said quarterly GDP growth over Trump’s first three years would never top 2.6% and would average 2%.
• The unemployment rate is the lowest it has been since the 1960s.
• The unemployment rate for women has not been this low since the 1940s.
• For minorities, it’s lower than any time since the government started keeping track.
• Real wages are up more than 3%.
• Seven million people no longer need food stamps.
• 10,000 new factories have opened (compared with a loss of nearly 60,000 in the previous 16 years.
• Major stock indexes are up between 45% and 60%.
• The U.S is now a net exporter of oil and natural gas.
President Trump also mentioned that “everything we have achieved is under threat from the left-wing ideology that demands absolute conformity, relentless regulation, and a top-down control of the entire U.S. economy.”
“Far-left politicians in our nation’s capital want a massive government takeover of health care; they want to give government bureaucrats domination over every aspect of your business and your life; they want to eliminate American oil and natural gas; they want to enlist us in global projects designed to redistribute American wealth and kill American jobs all over our nation.
“Washington’s Democrats and their radical agenda of socialism would demolish our economy, reinstate the avalanche of regulations that I have already ended, decimate the middle class, and totally bankrupt our nation. As long as I’m president, America will never be a socialist country.”
Take that, Speaker Pelosi.
American Elephants 