Filed under: Big Tech, Capitalism, Capitalism, China, Conservatism, Cuba, Democrat Corruption, Economics, Economy, Education, Election 2020, European Union, Freedom, History, Immigration, Law, Politics, Progressivism, Socialism, Taxes, The United States, Venezuela | Tags: Electoral "Irregularities", Electoral College, The President Elect
There is, as yet, no President-Elect, nor will there be until December 14, when the Electoral College meets. Al Gore historically had 37 days to challenge the election, and President Trump deserves as much, since there were so many “irregularities” in this one. “Irregularities” is simply a nice word for blatant fraud, massive cheating, and computerized switching of votes. The American people have a right to have confidence in an election.
I want to quote a bit from Paul Mirengoff, one of the attorneys at the Powerline blog. His piece was titled “Biden Deserves Worse During the Transition Than He’s Likely to Get.”
In 2016, Democrats, Obama administration officials and liberal media moved quickly to target President-elect Trump. Over 73 days, there were calls for impeachment, a resistance movement, attempts to infiltrate the Electoral College, false opposition research and FBI surveillance. . . .
Do read the whole thing, I’d forgotten a lot of it, and you probably have too. There was no interest in a peaceful transition, they just wanted to spoil everything about the new administration that they could.
They boycotted the Inauguration, 53 members of Congress refused to attend, accusing Trump of conspiring with Russia to top the election. After 3 years of investigation, there was no such evidence. They organized a resistance movement inside the administration, including the FBI.
Attorney General Barr summarized the Obama administration’s resistance to the president elect:
Immediately after President Trump won election, opponents inaugurated what they called ‘The Resistance,’ and they rallied around an explicit strategy of using every tool and maneuver available to sabotage the functioning of his Administration. Now, ‘resistance’ is the language used to describe insurgency against rule imposed by an occupying military power. It obviously connotes that the government is not legitimate. This is a very dangerous — indeed incendiary — notion to import into the politics of a democratic republic.
This is going way too far with partisanship. The United States of American is a big powerful country, and for that we are widely hated, no matter how kindly our intentions. There are some who want a one world government, want us to be a subsidiary of the more fashionable European Union, some are convinced that the world is in the final days of global warming, and if we don’t fix that right now, we’re done. The earth has been warming and cooling for millions of years, and there is no scientific evidence that it will not continue to do so. Some have the illusion that Socialism or Communism would at last make everybody equal, which is utter nonsense.
And then there is China, and we don’t know what their intentions are, but there is no indication of peaceful friendship. Their treatment of the Uyghurs is very revealing. Chinese of a different religion, millions of them in concentration camps, worked to death and the women used as prostitutes for the Chinese military. Look that up online.
If you find viewpoints troublesome, take the time to study up, so you know what you are talking about, and voting for. How much of the bureaucracy is useful, and how much is just making nice occupations and income for friends and relatives? That’s encompassed in the word bureaucracy. A lot of that obviously goes on. Presidents are just people, and governments are composed of people, and we’re a flawed species. Nobody’s perfect.
I am listening to Joe Biden’s ideas and proposals as we hear them, and I am not looking forward to a Biden administration. Forgiving all student loans? Nice for the young people who face them, but why should the taxpayers pay for their failure to pay them off. Nationalized health care? Britain has had national health care for years, and it is demonstrably not something to be desired. Making Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. into states so the Democrats can maintain control? Increasing the numbers of illegal aliens allowed in the country, because they are likely to vote Democrat? Socialism may look good from the outside, but there’s little difference between Socialism and Communism, and there is a reason why Cubans head for the United States with anything that will float. Listen to the Venezuelans. That used to be a beautiful prosperous country.
We are a most fortunate people. Our founders were aware of trying to make simple rules for a new country, with full recognition of what was wrong with the old one, what the reason was that they had given up on their old home in the search for something unknown, but better. If you do not have a copy of the Constitution, you can get a pocket-sized version for $4.95 from Amazon or the Cato Institute store. Cato has a 10 copy package for $10.00 so you can be sure that each member of your family has one. I’ve had that version in my desk drawer for years, and find that I refer to it more often than the dictionary.
Filed under: Capitalism, Capitalism, Democrat Corruption, Economics, Economy, Election 2020, Politics, Taxes | Tags: Election 2020, Federal Government, Reminder
…if so, you need to post a small sign next to wherever you will fill out your ballot. Ideally, nicely framed or embroidered to make it special. It should contain these words.
“The Federal Government Has No Money of It’s Own“
Whoever is promising you new beneficent goodies is attempting to make you think that your beloved federal government will give you something nice if you just elect them to office. The cost of what they promise will come out of your pocketbook because the federal government has no money of its own. Remember the stimulus Nancy Pelosi and Donald Trump are arguing about? They are not raising it out of their own well endowed funds, they will raise your taxes to pay it back.
Every promise will be paid for by the taxpayers. Every bright idea. The only thing that makes your taxes go down is when regulations are eliminated, departments are eliminated, tasks are eliminated to make the government cost less to operate. Donald Trump is dumping regulations as fast as he can. As a successful businessman he is deeply aware of the problem of over-regulation, and once a regulation is on the books, they are hard to get rid of.
Once in office, members start thinking of themselves as “the ruling class”. At first they may feel grateful to you for allowing them to enter the august halls, to assume important elected office, but as time goes on they start feeling entitled, and so very important, and reporting back to you becomes a task, which they promptly push off onto subordinates, and the reports become less frequent as current affairs become more of interest.
America now divides itself ever more sharply into two classes, the smaller of which holds the commanding heights of government, from which it disposes in ever greater detail of America’s economic energies, from which it ordains new ways of living as if it had the right to do so, and from which it asserts that that right is based on the majority class’ stupidity, racism, and violent tendencies. Here I am quoting from Angelo M. Codevilla’s lovely book “The Ruling Class: How they Corrupt America and What We Can Do About It.” It was published in 2010, with an introduction by Rush Limbaugh and is available as an inexpensive paperback at Amazon.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Coronavirus, Democrat Corruption, Domestic Policy, Education, Energy, Environment, History, Junk Science, Law, Media Bias, Police, Politics, Taxes, The United States, Unemployment | Tags: Is Anyone Watching?, Political Ads, The Online Convention
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Capitalism, Coronavirus, Crime, Domestic Policy, Economics, Economy, Education, Free Markets, Free Speech, Freedom, Politics, Progressives, Regulation, Taxes, The Constitution, The United States | Tags: Thought Processes, Useful Words, Vocabulary
You may or may not have noticed my new favorite word: feckless. I probably saw someone else use it, and though I knew (sorta-kinda) the meaning, looked it up to be accurate.
Feckless: lacking initiative or strength of character, irresponsible. synonyms: useless, worthless, incompetent, ineffective, inept, good for nothing, ne’er do well, lazy, idle, slothful, indolent, shiftless, apathetic, aimless, unambitious, unenterprising, no good, no account, lazy.
With elections coming up, it may be a remarkably useful word, at least to tuck in the back of your brain when deciding whether to support a candidate or a city council or not.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Coronavirus, Economics, Economy, Free Markets, Freedom, Politics, Regulation, Taxes, The United States | Tags: Economic Freedom, Innovation, Regulation and Control
Fabulous jobs numbers for June — 4.8 million jobs added for the best monthly employment numbers in history.
That is so encouraging when so many small businesses had to shut down in the Covid epidemic, as small businesses couldn’t cope with the shutdowns. But the country is slowly opening up. People are getting accustomed to wearing masks when necessary. We are learning how to deal with a pandemic, working from home, avoiding large groups, and the numbers of deaths are declining, with a bump up from the protests.
President Trump is working hard at getting rid of unnecessary regulation, which can be a real boon for business. It is always tempting for those in charge to want to control things, but it is a very bad idea. Control what is essential, not everything. And whether you are in government or among the employers, large and small, remember always that the government has no money of its own. None. Every cent comes out of the pocketbooks of the taxpayers. When those in control get too controlling, everything shuts down. The more control, the less innovation. The less innovation —and that’s how it goes. Free markets, free people.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Crime, Democrat Corruption, Domestic Policy, Economy, Education, Freedom, King County Washington State, Law, Police, Politics, Progressivism, Taxes, Terrorism, The United States | Tags: Bellevue Square, Bellevue Washington, Looting and Protesting
The world is changing around us, and we often don’t notice until we are suddenly confronted with the evidence. In this case, I think I mentioned that BLM protesters turned up in downtown Bellevue, doing their protesty thing, fists raised to indicate how serious they were.
The presence of Bellevue Square, the most affluent mall in the Seattle area, brought potential looters up from South Seattle. And they promptly found looting far more interesting than just plain old protesting. The Square had been closed and locked down for Covid-19, but they knew the stores were all there with luxury goods inside.
We could see, online, bystanders watching while looters came out of the square carrying wastebaskets and garbage cans piled high with loot. Today, however, everybody has a camera. And as the looters came out, bystanders were taking their pictures.
Bellevue police have arrested 23 looters identified so far, from the photos taken by bystanders. They have recovered tens of thousands of dollars of merchandise, as well as alcohol, tobacco, weapons and drugs. Gosh, who knew that while you were getting the clothes for the new school year for free, someone was taking your picture. And the Police Chief even spoke to the crowd to express his sympathy for the George Floyd protest. Didn’t impress the protesters at all. Of course the protesters were far more interested in the looting than in the protesting. Do follow the link above for the King 5 coverage.
I’m appalled that it was allowed to go on so much. If you want some kind of change, act like a grownup, express your objective clearly with evidence, to the people who can make the legal changes which you advocate. Running around with fists raised shouting vulgarities is more plain childish than effective. And looting is simply theft and will be punished by law. Hope you all get significant terms in jail.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Democrat Corruption, Economy, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, History, Humor, Immigration, Junk Science, Media Bias, Politics, Taxes, The United States | Tags: Climate Change, Complications of the News, To Blame for Everything
RECENT EARTH CLIMATE HISTORY
600 – 200 B.C.: An Unnamed Cold Period
200 BC to about AD 600: The Roman Warming
600 to 900: The Dark Ages Cold Period
900 to 1300: Medieval Warming
1300 to 1850: The Little Ice Age (two stages)
MODERN CLIMATE HISTORY
1850 – 1940: Especially between 1920-1940: Warming
1940 to 1975: Cooling Trend
1976-1978: Sudden Warming Spurt
1979 to 1998: +1º
1998 to 2011: +1º
The Medieval Warming period led to the Renaissance which began approximately in 1300 and ended approximately in 1700. A bountiful time, wine grapes grew in England, food was plentiful and there was a flowering of learning and art. Think Michelangelo, Raphael, and Copernicus among others. What I’m getting at here, is the idea that if we are facing climate doom, the world is going to die in 10 or 12 years if we don’t save it by stopping “fracking,” using oil and gasoline, and eliminating plastic bags. That’s what you get for listening to “celebrities” instead of studying up on the science.
I was an English Major, which meant that I learned how to read hard stuff, and read a lot. That does not mean that I’m always right, but I do like to think so. Christiana Figueres was quite sure that the object of “climate change” was as a tool to get rid of Capitalism. Leftists do not like capitalism, which seems a bit strange, but economics is not their strong point. Capitalists are business CEOs and owners, and the “Rich:”. The Left is simply entitled to be in charge because they are morally superior.
Conservatives have long sneered at the Left because they were the Southern slave owners in the Civil War, but the Left has ended that accusation by electing the first black president, who served for two terms, which puts them back in the morally superior category. Global Warming, plastic bags, ending fracking, and giving taxpayer money to illegal aliens adds to their superiority.
America is a nation of immigrants, as you know, which leads them to believe that immigrants are special, and just because they can’t be bothered to enter the country the legal way, shouldn’t keep them from sharing in the bounty of America. So Leftists care about illegal immigrants, which means hating I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and making sure that illegal immigrants get stimulus money. It is that mindset that makes them believe that if little immigrant children were kept in cages, it was obviously done by conservatives, contrary to the actual actions of the Obama administration. Once you get the “entitled to be in charge because they are morally superior” theme firmly in mind, it makes understanding all the other stuff simple. Or at least it helps.
Then there’s this: From Climate Realism and Climate Depot:
Among the top articles in a May 19 Google News search for “climate change” were a slew of articles claiming climate change causes cancer. CNBC and several other major news outlets published the claims, citing American Cancer Society (ACS) activists making the assertion. The line of reasoning is preposterous. And even if the ACS line of reasoning were sound, the line of reasoning would indicate that climate change is reducing cancer incidence and mortality.
The CNBC article is titled “Climate change is fueling extreme weather that lowers cancer survival rate and threatens prevention.” The article points out ACS line of reasoning as “[1] Climate change has triggered more frequent weather disasters like hurricanes and wildfires that [2] release deadly carcinogens into communities and [3] delay access to cancer treatment.” Each of the three prongs of the argument is ridiculous, and the three in combination give new meaning to the term “far-fetched.”
That’s a pretty good indication into how the news gets so weird, and wrong ideas seem to prevail. The fact that it is an election year means that politics rears its ugly head, and before you know it, all is confusion. Fight back.
Filed under: Capitalism, Freedom, History, Taxes, The Constitution, The United States | Tags: A Nation's Beginning, Just 34 Years, Some dates to Remember
1765: The British Parliament passed the Stamp Act, a tax on American colonists.
1767: Parliament wanted more money from the pesky colonists, and passed the Townshend Acts, This one included everything from china to tea, and you know where that led.
1770: The Boston Massacre. Crispus Atticus, a stevedore of African and Native American lineage, was killed, the first victim of the American Revolution.
1773: The Boston Tea Party: Taxing tea was not a good idea. Coffee wasn’t discovered yet.
1774: The 1st Continental Congress, and the Intolerable Acts.
1775: Rhode Island abolished slavery. Paul Revere Rode on the 18th of April to Lexington and Concord. Bunker Hill.
1776: The Declaration of Independence, The Battle of Long Island, (August) Dec, 16: Washington Crosses the Delaware (You are familiar with the painting) December 25: The Battle of Trenton.
1777: Battle of Princeton, January 3. Burgoyne captures Fort Ticonderoga, Saratoga: September 19 to October 7.
1779: John Paul Jones on the Bonhomme Richard defeats Serapis.
1780: Charleston Falls. Kings Mountain 7 Oct. Camden Aug. 16, Cowpens: Jan. 17.
1781: Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown, October 19
1789: George Washington chosen as president.
1799: George Washington dies of strep throat.
There’s a quickie. You can fill in the blanks. You’ll find it rewarding. There’s a new history out by Wilfred McClay: Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story, which has received outstanding reviews. I believe that Hillsdale College is offering a free course.
Filed under: Capitalism, Economy, Election 2020, Free Markets, Politics, Progressivism, Taxes | Tags: Green New Deal, Medicare for All, Spending, Tax Cuts
You see it again in the current political campaign. Democrats want to buy your votes, with, say, “Medicare for All”, or “The Green New Deal.” The basic problem with this is not just that such programs would be absurdly costly. The problem is that the federal government has no money of it’s own, and can only “give” you these wonderful benefits by raising your taxes. Of course they say — not yours, just the taxes on the very wealthy, Big Business, rich people. Part of the problem is that Big Business and those who run those big businesses are those who create and fill good jobs.
Republicans want to cut taxes, not just on the rich as Democrats pretend, but on everybody, because that allows businesses to grow and expand, offer new products, and gives those who want to start businesses a little extra to do it with. And that is a very good thing. It allows people, the unemployed, to rise. The February Jobs report showed the economy’s payrolls soaring by 273,000 new jobs. And many more want to hire. Congress is talking about adding more visas for temporary workers. If the unemployed want jobs, they can probably get one. Average hourly earnings increased by 0.3%. Looks like a good climate for graduating seniors.
I think that because Democrats see themselves as morally superior, and the Republicans as lesser beings, giving stuff is seen as the way to garner votes. I think that people would rather have a good job than be given stuff, they want to provide for their families themselves, and they want to work hard and advance. And the gifts Democrats want to give people end up costing far more than was planned and everybody has to pay.
Filed under: Capitalism, Democrat Corruption, Domestic Policy, Economics, Economy, Election 2016, Environment, Free Markets, Freedom, Immigration, Law, National Security, News the Media Doesn't Want You to Hear, Politics, Progressives, Taxes | Tags: Donald J. Trump, The Rage of the Democrats, Victor Davis Hanson
This interview from the Hoover Institution was recorded on April 1, 2019. when Victor Davis Hanson’s book The Case for Trump came out. It holds up remarkably well. I’m a great admirer of Dr. Hanson. How did blue collar voters connect with a millionaire builder from Queens? Possibly because, contrary to Democrat shrieks, Donald Trump is authentic, exactly who he says he is. The people like that.
The February Jobs Report: Payrolls soared by 273,000. Might have something to do with current approval.
Maggie’s Farm blog called my attention to this post.
Matt Margolis at pjmedia points out that “We Can Thank Trump for the United States Having Such a Low Per Capita Infection Rate of Coronavirus.”
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Capitalism, Democrat Corruption, Domestic Policy, Economics, Economy, Education, Election 2020, Free Markets, Free Speech, Freedom, History, Socialism, Taxes, The United States, Unemployment | Tags: Giving Presents or Giving Hope, Political Campaigns, Trump's Economic Boom
Bernie seems to be the leading Democrat candidate at present, and the Democrats are horrified. The object of the entire Democrat campaign is to get rid of Donald Trump, and they don’t think Bernie has much of a chance to defeat him. The Democrats really, really hate Donald Trump. But the commentary out there is interesting.
The Manhattan Contrarian said flatly:”If You Can’t Articulate A Limiting Principle On Government Expansion, You Get Bernie Sanders.” That was his headline, and he added:
Well, if you’re the party of free stuff, why shouldn’t the guy who offers the most free stuff win? Bernie is clearly willing to outbid all of his rivals in the free stuff auction. What makes you think anybody can beat him by just bidding less?
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced her endorsement for the 2020 presidential election. She called for “publicly owned and run health care and education so that we have more freedom over our lives than the private sector provides.”
Brian Riedl, writing in City Journal on October 15, 2019 commiserated with Bernie’s heart attack, and said as long as he remains in the race, it’s worth taking his policy ideas seriously, since he has unveiled expensive new spending proposals on a near-weekly basis. All told, Sanders’s current plans would cost as much as $97.5 trillion over the next decade, and total government spending at all levels would surge to as high as 70 percent of gross domestic product. Approximately half of the American workforce would be employed by the government. The ten-year budget deficit would approach $90 trillion, with average annual deficits exceeding 30 percent of GDP.
And Victor Davis Hanson said yesterday, “Universities Breed Anger, Ignorance, and Ingratitude” “In turning out woke and broke graduates, they have a lot to answer for.”
When you get history and economics all mixed up with “social justice”, you are creating a major problem. I reject the idea that there is any such thing as “social justice” and if you go off chasing it, you are never going to arrive at a destination. It’s nice to dream of a world where nobody is poor, everybody has what they want and need, but that’s not how it works. Life is hard, bad stuff happens, there are accidents, illness, deaths, wars, family troubles, and you have to learn to cope. You don’t succeed by waiting for somebody else to fix things for you. The joy and the pride of arriving at a goal make the coping all worthwhile. We currently have an economy where most anyone that wants a job can find one. The rising is up to you.
American Elephants 