Trumperona Virus

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Oh, some of you are going to go after me for this one. There are a few things I need to cover.

–The ruckus over naming the origin of COVID-19 is so utterly predictable. A viral agent born of circumstances in Wuhan Province in China, and hidden by the Chinese Government for months (our experts were not allowed in the Country to assist and understand the issues at hand) is referred to as the “Chinese Flu” by President Trump. The main stream media is up in arms. Calling this bear of a flu the “Chinese Flu” is RACIST”! Check out this brief exchange between the President and a member of the White House Press Corps. Click here. You see, sorry, but he’s right. Now, go ahead. Fire away. I think his utterly Trumpian response speaks for itself, and as ungodly as it seems, he is right.

–This virus sucks. I take it personally, as I am smack dab in the exposed zone. I also marvel at the lack of data available to the general public. I could drag this blog on for pages with the information I have gleaned. Big deal. The best experts in the world cannot agree on whether the virus thrives only in colder climates, or whether humidity is a factor. No one knows whether we are pulling ourselves out of the dustbin of viral mania in a month or 6 months. There are odds, and there are theories. No one knows.

–We do know that clean hands and social distance matter. For the love of God folks, pay attention to that!

–Our US economy will be crushed. This is going to be a horrible year. Sorry, my friends, but for those of you existing outside the US, if our economy tanks, that doesn’t bode well for you. That also sucks, but the die is cast. Those of us living in oil dependent economies will feel the pain even more. 

–Now enter the conspiracy folks. Soooo, are China and Russia (implicitly, if not more overtly) playing the end game here? Does China give a flip if it takes a short term hit? Historically and culturally, the answer is “no”. In Russia, Putin remains committed to returning to yesteryear’s glory. He will endure short term pain to kill off the private sector driven Permian Basin. So really, is it crazy to ponder whether the Chinese government thinks rather highly of this C-Virus moment? The US economy is bering crushed. Ummmmm……

–Is it possible that the Chinese and Russians have decided perhaps Mr. Trump is not the patsy they had anticipated? Could forces be at work to ensure a Joe Biden victory? You tell me.

–What role has the main stream media (and for once, if not belatedly, I include Fox News in this category) played in “disinforming” on this issue? Well, Vogue, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and others bear responsibility for stirring the proverbial Trump pot so fast and furiously that they have lost sight of the target; namely, to help us reduce the threat of this scourge. Their reporting has been biased and non-fact based. They hate the President, They will stop at nothing to derail his re-election campaign. But to the point, yes, a very strong argument could be made that we were late to prepare for testing. But this argument cannot be made in isolation. One must not lose sight of the fact that this event was covered up for nearly two months. While on the introspection train, let’s also not forget that on January 31, the President imposed travel restrictions for passengers incoming from China. The hue and cry from the left was “RACISM!’

–Poppycock! Thank goodness he took early action. There were still hundreds of thousands who entered in December and January, but that is beyond anyone’s control. I posit for your consideration that he acted faster than any democrat President would have done.

–Is this much ado about nothing? No, it is not. The worst has yet to manifest itself in the US. Anyone over 60 thinks about it every day. Believe me.

–The media hysteria has helped roil the markets. Anyone involved in the equity investments has felt the pain. People are worth 40% less than they were two weeks ago. That hurts. That matters. For those younger followers, this means the same people who are most exposed to COVID-19 are also most sensitive to retirement savings; not a comfortable feeling.

We will survive. We shall endure. But this one is tough. The world order since WWII is being ripped asunder. The threats used to be purely foreign. Now they are as strong within the halls of Congress as they are overseas. It’s mind boggling. It’s absurd. But it is real. No matter what happens between now and November, please think long and hard about what a vote for the left will do to exacerbate this madness. 

Let free markets reign-yes, Trump lovers and haters, I appreciate the irony.  Let freedom ring. 

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The Astros, Trump, and the Media

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Many readers around the country are looking at this blog title, gleefully rubbing their hands together, and thinking ” ahhhh, he’s finally going to tell it like it is.” Well, I am, but I’m afraid it won’t be what you hand-wringers want to hear.

So let’s cut to the chase with today’s pontification. Certain players and a bench coach did some stupid things in 2017. They used a home field technological edge and communicated forthcoming pitches via a most primitive means; a trash can. The manager expressed his displeasure, but did not flat-out stop the chicanery. I have no doubt that the manager rues his having looked the other way and not having taken a stronger position.

But folks, the hue and cry from the latter day saints of the media is outrageous and overblown. And therein lies the connection to President Trump. The sports media is fueling a feeding frenzy comparable to MSNBC’s daily treatment of President Trump. To be clear, that isn’t what an objective reporter would want said about his or her work!

Let’s put a few completely unfounded rumors to rest:

–MLB commissioned a detailed, exhaustive review of the alleged “cheating” perpetrated by the Astros. The unequivocal conclusion was that the Astros did indeed use technology to steal signs during various home games during the 2017 season. There is no evidence that this behavior continued beyond the 2017 season. The ongoing media swarm around the rumor hive buzzing about body beepers in 2019 is irresponsible, uncorroborated, and downright lazy journalism. 

–The hue and cry to strip the Astros of their title is growing. (That will not happen, nor should it.) The Astros won 53 games on the road, and 48 at home. The Astros were the best team in baseball. Full stop. Yankees and Red Sox players and fans, get over it. The Astros were the better team. There is not a scintilla of evidence that all the garbage can banging in the world would have changed the outcome of the 2017 baseball season.

–The nattering nabobs have gone as far as to suggest that the 2017 American League MVP should have his crown stripped. Jose Altuve batted .381 on the road, and .311 at home. Jose Altuve has taken the high road and not discussed his role in the 2017 debacle. I say “high road” because it has become abundantly clear that Jose Altuve wanted no part of the can banging scheme, and he made his feelings perfectly clear to his teammates. Ditto for Josh Reddick and (then) rookie Tony Kemp. 

The Astros have paid the price, and are well aware that they will be soundly booed in every stadium they visit this season. It will be a long, painful slog. 

Then there is President Trump. Whereas I very much like my Astros, I continue to find almost nothing to like about President Trump. But my position has not changed. This man and his administration are doing good things for our country. 

The democrats proved nothing during the farce of an impeachment trial. They confirmed what every rational American knows. The President is more than flummoxed by the lack of attention given to the Clinton campaign’s funding of the Steele dossier, and by alleged misdeeds by the Bidens in the Ukraine. The President is mystified by the media’s double standards. He sees a world in which the democrats get a free pass, and he is investigated for breathing. In this context, did he cross a line asking a newly elected Ukraine president to investigate the Bidens? Well, to the extent that former Veep Joe Biden is a competitor in the 2020 election, one can definitely make the case that a line was crossed. But there is not one iota of evidence that the President ever told the Ukraine aid would be withheld until an investigation was conducted. The entire democrat case was a shambles; nothing more than rhetorical poppycock. A line was crossed, but that line came nowhere close to a high crime or misdemeanor necessary for removing a President from office. 

If one only relied on the mainstream media for access to the news, one would likely have drawn a different conclusion. I can see where an American relying on the main stream media to report the news could conclude that President Trump broke laws, is a tyrant, and the GOP hit rock bottom by refusing to convict him. Further, through his deregulation, he is apparently raping American lands, feathering the pockets of big business, enriching himself, and crushing the “little guy”. Sounds horrible, right? Alas, it just isn’t happening. The facts speak for themselves, and the facts drive the democrats crazy. Unemployment is at an all time low. The average middle class family now makes $5,000 more than it did at the end of the Obama reign. Minority joblessness is down more than 25%. There is once again a sense of hope.

So let’s tie it all together, shall we? Some members of the 2017 Astros squad made stupid mistakes in 2017. They have (and will continue to) paid the price. President Trump probably crossed a line in his call with the Ukraine. Lord knows, he has paid a price! But in both cases, the media will not let go. Worse, the media reports innuendo as fact. Objectivity is non-existent. 

Nothing will drive the the media to the brink more than if the Astros win it all in 2020. And nothing will push them over the edge more than a Trump win in November. Ergo, my title! The media has entered its own Brave New World. Lets hope for the sake of good baseball and our country that they will be tested on both fronts later this year!

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Where’s the Beef?

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Some, alas not all, of you will remember the famous Wendy’s ad in the 1980’s, where America’s grandmother (Clara Peller) was seen mocking the diminutive stature of the average fast food burger. If you don’t remember, weren’t alive, or just want to laugh again, here it is..click here

The ad ended up in the political arena when in the democratic primaries Walter Mondale asked Gary Hart about his policies by saying “Where’s the Beef?” In retrospect, it may have been the highlight of Mr. Mondale’s campaign.

Fast forward to present day phantasmagoria, and we have arrived at our own “Where’s the Beef ” moment. 

I feel like I have to qualify every post these days with the statement that I am not a Donald Trump supporter. I think he diminishes the Office of the President in myriad ways. But that does not make him a crook, and there is absolutely no Beef in this entire impeachment charade. Otherwise rational, smart, thoughtful people detest President Trump to the point where they are completely blinded by the hope that he can be made to disappear via an impeachment process.

News that isn’t news is conveyed daily. Take, for instance, this Business Insider article about salt and pepper shakers! Yes, you read that right, and now you can read the article! This is a perfect example of how all perspective has been thrown overboard. Yes, he has a ridiculous ego. Yes, he can be offensive. Yes, he does things that embarrass you and me. But no, that does not make him guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors!   To date, there is not an iota of evidence that he has done one thing while in office that is actually impeachable! 

I spoke with a well respected constitutional lawyer who has little time for President Trunp’s antics. His take is that even if it were established that there was a quid pro quo regarding the release of aid to Ukraine, it is far from clear that the decision in and of itself rises to the level of impeachment. And let’s be honest, the democrats have not even come close to making their case.

The bigger question is if, in the absence of any beef, this grandstanding by Mr. Schiff, and now Mrs. Pelosi, will end up disadvantaging the democrats? There is a very good possibility their behavior is markedly improving the President’s reelection chances. We are really witnessing real time parallel universes, not only on Capital Hill, but across the country. Lines have been drawn in the sand, and unlike Mr. Obama’s fictional line in Syria, these lines are real. Once again, the 20% in our middle (the independents and actually undecided) will dramatically impact the 2020 election. The outcome will boil down to how things go in states like Ohio, Wisconsin, Colorado, Florida, and Pennsylvania.  

The democrats continue to drift to the left, although the recent entry of Mr. Bloomberg may make things interesting. History tells us he doesn’t have a prayer, and that is before taking into consideration his crime of being an old white rich guy. 

The next few weeks will no doubt be interesting, but let’s not forget the real malfeasance here is that the business of governing has been sidelined. Meaningful legislation such as the United States-Canada-Mexico Trade Agreement sits languishing in the corner because the democrats are too busy trying to crucify the President instead of focusing on bills that will help their constituents. It is unpardonable, inexcusable behavior.

Time will tell, folks, time will tell.

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It’s Not That Simple

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Yes, it’s complicated. You have the Syrian rebels fighting a seemingly endless (and possibly un-winnable) civil war against the wholly corrupt dictator, Bashar al-Assad. Why is that important? Well, we could go back in time, but it probably suffices to simply remember President Obama’s famous “red line” that he drew in 2012. You see, that is when Mr. Obama told the world he would not tolerate the Syrian tyrant’s chemical attacks on his own people. What the O-man also knew that Syria was looking the other way as ISIS built a major power base on the norther border, and threatened the Kurdish people living there. So the President famously drew his red line in the sand, and told the world these aggressions would not stand. This is great stuff, right? The only problem is that these aggressions not only were allowed to stand, but they prospered. 

Two things happened, and we haven’t even begun to determine the long term damage American interests will suffer. First, Bashar al-Assad realized he was dealing with a lightweight, so he immediately doubled down on his flirtation with Vladimir Putin. Mr. Putin gladly responded to Syria’s overtures and moved in to support the Assad regime’s murderous campaign against its own people. There are those who say “so what?”. The United States had enjoyed more than three decades of middle eastern influence without any serious Russian intervention. Waffling on the red line opened the door for the Russians to re-enter the Middle East, and folks, that is a big deal. 

Why did Mr. Obama capitulate? This author is sure there will be countless histories written, but no one will convince me that there was not a direct correlation between this flip-flop and Iran putting pressure on the US. What, say again? Yes, you see this was also the time that the Obama administration desperately sought to achieve a pact with Iran to slow down the prospect of nuclear proliferation. Slow down, mind you; not eliminate. So while also sending billions to Iran, it is entirely conceivable that the White House was also pressured to back off its position regarding the Assad administration. Iran and Syria are allies. Ergo, the second thing that happened, and it is far more insidious. Bingo!

With it being politically expedient to put Syria on the back burner, Americans saw a shift to the growing ISIS threat, and the alliance between our troops and the Kurdish rebels. The Kurds are dissidents from Turkey, who moved into northern Iraq and Syria over the past four decades in an attempt to free themselves from Turkish oppression. Their plight is not much different than that of the Syrian rebels. They have been hunted down and killed by various Turkish leaders since the late 1970’s. The US troops and Kurdish rebels made a formidable team. In the space of five years, they tore the heart out of ISIS and reclaimed lands stolen from previous occupants. The presence of US troops also lent balance to the region. Turkish aggressors did not stray south to kill Kurds, the Russians stayed away, and the Syrian government forces did not venture north to attack Syrian rebels. Our presence was a huge force for stability. The only losers were ISIS. No tears shed there. 

One more thing. Turkey is a NATO ally. With Turkey, which has been increasingly hostile to western culture under President Ergodan, we now walk that tightrope trying to coerce them not to slaughter our erstwhile Kurdish allies, while attempting to not push them toward Russia. It is volatile, and it is fraught with peril for American interests. 

In five paragraphs, I have attempted to cut through the layers of complexity and give you a sense for why this region is very important to our interests. It is so easy to take the isolationist view. Clearly Mr. Trump has decided this region does not matter. He looks at it all as just “a lot of sand”, and he appears to have no issue with Russia assisting the Syrians as they look north to land once theirs that no longer has an American presence. Click here to see the President’s take on the situation. 

While I put a lot of the blame on the Obama administration for its feckless foreign policy, I am, in this case, massively disappointed in President Trump. His simple approach to keeping his promise to “end all foreign wars” does a disservice to our reputation with our allies, and it sets the stage for Russia’s re-emergence in a volatile and strategically important part of the world.  We will rue the present state of affairs. I just can’t tell you how or when.

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High Crimes and Poppycock!

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Lest I bore you into a catatonic nap, allow me to say one more time, I do not like Donald Trump. He is a narcissist. He sets a horrible example for our kids. He is not invited to my house for dinner.

OK, are we clear? 

Now, let’s talk about what is happening in the United States House of Representatives. Nancy Pelosi allowed herself to get backed int a corner by her progressives, and Adam Schiff was only too happy to carry the impeachment torch. Folks, it is poppycock. And in case that word is too arcane, here are a few synonyms: balderdash, beans, bilge, blarney, blather, blither, bosh, bull, bunk, claptrap, codswallop, crock, drivel, fiddle-paddle, flapdoodle, folderol, fudge, garbage, hogwash, guff, hockey-pokey, hokum, hooey, humbug, malarkey, nonsense, piffle, rubbish, slush, stupidity, tommyrot, tosh, and twaddle.

Get the point? Have you read the Ukraine call transcript? I have read every word of it; several times. There is NOTHING there. This is a farce! Hah, another synonym! The democrats are literally concocting a fabricated set of circumstances when the exhonorating evidence is already public, and the other person on the phone (that would be Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky) has stated publicly that at no time has President Trump or any of his proxies suggested aid has been or will be withheld pending investigation of Joe Biden or his son. 

I don’t care about Hunter Biden. The talking heads on the right should drop the subject. I do care about the possibility of Ukranian involvement in the 2016 election. Why isn’t that the subject matter at hand?

I know some of my readers hate Donald Trump so much that they will grasp at any straw to validate their feelings. Trump haters, you are being conned. This is politics 101. Don’t be a victim.

We have another 12 1/2 months before the election. If history is a guide, don’t worryTrump bashers, the President will give you plenty more up about which to get riled. In the meantime, do yourselves a favor and focus on playoff baseball. It’s much more interesting, and nobody is conning you.

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Neverland

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Let’s face it; this President is unlike any who have come before him, and, dare I say, anyone to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the future. His election has even further divided a very divided country. Are we in Neverland?

Any long time reader of Pierce Wire will know I am no fan of President Trump. Equally, any long time reader of Pierce Wire will know that I think President Obama and his cronies did more to sow seeds of racial tension and divisiveness in the United States than any President in decades. There are a couple points to make that provide the foundation for today’s blog title, Neverland. 

i) Americans are exposed 24/7 to versions of the “news”. It is impossible to avoid the endless drumbeat of news, such as it is. But today’s news is editorial. There is nowhere to turn for factual reporting of events. Nowhere. So the default for the vast majority of Americans is to the news station that is least offensive and most agreeable. This is natural. If one is going to watch the news, one does not want to feel like vomiting every time one turns on the tv. Thus we have a self-perpetuating conundrum. The left winds itself up on the fodder of CNN and MSNBC, and the right hides behind the safety of the wall built by Fox News. (To be fair, Fox News actually has a few “neutral” broadcasters. One is hard pressed to find anyone close to the middle on CNN or MSNBC.) Long story short, the left and right have become more entrenched and less open to any ideas other than those they embraced decades ago. 

ii) Remember when politics used to be about the art of compromise? What happened? The edges are so sharp now. It’s all about the kill. In today’s environment, there is no place for a John F Kennedy in the Democratic nominating process, and certainly no place for a George H. W. Bush in the GOP’s.   What a shame. The extremes have taken over. To remind yourself how wacky the left has become, you can re-read my last blog here. But let’s be real. I could have written just as harsh a blog about the Republicans. Before you cringe, I ask you to ask yourselves, “what happened to the party of fiscal conservatism? Where is the big tent; that platform that embraced all comers to this country (albeit through legal means) because we recognized what has made us the single most noble and successful experiment in human history is the infusion of different cultures starting in the seventeenth century and never ending. Everyone from the 1600’s came here to pursue freedom and opportunity. Over time, they also came to be part of what we know as the United States of America. Yes, they had their ties to Poland, or Italy, or Ireland, (the list is endless) but they also immediately embraced the uniqueness and majesty of our American experiment. What happened to free trade as a cornerstone of the GOP’s philosophy? Since when did free trade somehow get wrapped up with insidious words such as ‘multiculturalism’ or ‘globalism’? What happened?

Well, Donald Trump is what happened. He fired up his base by throwing the Bushes, Romneys and McCains under the bus, and actually equated them to the worst the left has to offer. This is balderdash, but it worked, and it continues to work with his base. 

I write as Mr. Trump is at the G7, ramping up his tariff rhetoric against China, but simultaneously achieving a trade agreement with Japan, and appearing to be close to doing the same with a post-Brexit United Kingdom. This is where we get to Peter Pan land. The man continues to boggle the mind. Before leaving for the G7, he cancelled a meeting with Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen because she had the gall to suggest that Greenland is not for sale! Folks, you can’t make this stuff up! His tweets continue unabated, and leave most world leaders scratching their heads. And yet, the work of his government is making our economy stronger, and positioning us for future growth. I think he is dead wrong on his relentless attack on the Fed regarding interest rates, and I pray he actually has an end game on all these tariffs. Tariifs have never worked. They will only hurt the US economy in the long run. But if his playing “hardball” with China and others makes us stronger, I am willing to give him a little more time and rope.

It is hard to take him seriously, and yet he is real, he is our President, and (big gulp) I am voting for him again. The democrats simply leave us no alternative. They are bound and determined to destroy this country, in all their self righteous, angry, race-baiting glory. 

Lest you are not riled up enough, allow me to leave you with this. President Trump is NOT a racist. Show me one instance of racism. This entire issue is the result of the mainstream media and democratic strategists having decided they need to brand him a racist to ensure the American people do not re-elect him. It is a complete fabrication. It is shameful. It’s the worst case of subliminable strategery (sorry, I couldn’t resist) I have seen in the political arena. Seriously, shame on all of those who keep playing the race card. Enough!

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Wackos!

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How wonderful would it be if we could put AOC and her “Squad” in a room with Jack Webb? A review of this 1965 Dragnet clip (click here) will remind you that the US has dealt with wackos forever. Of course, now that you have watched Jack Webb in action, you are probably marveling that Hollywood could ever have aired a show where the lead actor spoke with such common sense!

I have been writing this blog for over ten years. I started out of a sense of frustration over how far left our country was leaning. The leftward lean over the past decade is not without precedent. In the late 19th century, we had Samuel Gompers and William Jennings Bryan radically trying to  push us left. Even though FDR was an aristocrat, he began the now nearly century long tradition of limousine liberals in power. Another way of saying that is that we have been hammered for nearly a hundred years by wealthy liberals who have enough money to not worry about the devastating impact their own policies would have on themselves!

What we have witnessed over the past decade is new to the extent that academics,  people of color, and others with varying  cultural and religious backgrounds have been elected to office and are using the bully pulpit to sow seeds of discontent. I don’t doubt that Barack and Michelle Obama believe there continues to be racial injustice in the United States. And I don’t doubt that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Congresswoman Ilhan Omar believe everything they say. The problem is not Donald Trump. (Well, he may have problems but we are not here to discuss them in the context of this blog.) The problem lies with what is manifesting itself as a detestation of all things American. 

The red meat rhetoric of the Trump rallies doesn’t help anyone. “Send her back” makes no sense. Back to where? Michigan? The Bronx? These elected officials are Americans. What we should be discussing is how have we arrived at a place where these same elected officials do not like our country, and are dead-set on changing it forever. To this end, President Trump has every right to challenge them. Leave the personal attacks out of it. The 2020 election should be about the contrasting (and competing) visions for the future of the United States. Let there be no mistake. The stakes could not be any bigger.

As Jack Webb says in what is now a fifty year old video, “Don’t try to build a new country. Make the old one work. It has for over 400 years.” Folks, therein lies the difference. The progressive left sees nothing redeeming in our history. The United States is the greatest, most successful social and government experiment in human history. Warts and all, we have demonstrated for centuries that rising tides really do lift all boats. Free markets, entrepreneurs, and minimal government interference breed and compound success. Yet the left will not grant an iota of recognition to the facts staring it in the face. The new left sees absolutely nothing redeeming about our amazing history. Thus the insidious efforts to revise our history books and teach our children a US history built on guilt. Thus the destruction and removal of countless statues remembering and documenting our past. Thus poor ole Uncle Joe Biden groveling uncomfortably in this fiasco that is the nascent democrat primary campaign. The list goes on. 

I do hold the main stream media partially responsible for the drivel with which we are confronted on a daily basis. All we see, courtesy of the main stream media, is drivel! Shame on them. But more to the point, how did so many media become so liberal? Well, let’s not forget that our schools and universities have been dominated by the left for over 50 years. Absent strong influences outside of school, it does not require a major in rocket science to understand why so many academics graduate with strong progressive political views. 

It seems every four years we find ourselves at a crossroads; where the outcome of an election is paramount. 2020 will be no different. We are faced with the likely prospect that a democrat favoring socialism will be running against President Trump. Good Lord! How did we get here? Did you ever think in your lifetime you would be confronted with a choice for President between a socialist or an ass? Sorry, folks, but the ass gets my vote. I simply refuse to see 400 years of history washed down the drain as the progressive left destroys everything that has made this country great. You see, our history is not a zero sum game. You can’t wipe it out because parts of our evolution do not conform to today’s politically correct narrative. That is not the real world. 

There are so many things to not like about President Trump. But life is about compromise. I put my country and its future ahead of a temporal moment. President Trump is a blip on the American radar. The noble experiment must survive, and the risk of its destruction is far greater if people who eschew everything about our country are allowed to impose their will. 

As this election season unfolds, don’t allow yourself to be pulled into the quagmire and vitriol of personal attack. Keep your eyes on the prize; a United States with an amazing history, and one that can be sustained, if we continue to elect people who embrace freedom and capitalism. As Jack Webb would have said, “Just the facts!” 

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Remember Me?

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I used to write a blog with some regularity. Well, things got busy and, oh yeah, my company was purchased. But as with any good poltergeist, I’m back!

Where to start? The whole Mueller thing is, frankly, boring. The President’s behavior is beneath the office, and the democrats’ steadfast denial of reality is beyond the pale. The dems will try to keep the obstruction farce front and center until the 2020 elections. I think they are deluded and will only hurt themselves. The President hardly looks great in the Mueller report. He is small and petty. But does that surprise anyone? His staff probably saved him from doing something stupid, but the bottom line is he didn’t do anything wrong! The dems just can’t let it go. 

I want to focus on our new best friend Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). I truly would like to give this young lady some credit She hustled and ousted a seasoned, high ranking democrat from his chair. Ok, street cred to her. She majored in International Relations and Economics at Boston University. Sounds pretty plugged in, right? So what happened?

Did you ever imagine you would wake up to an America where every day someone in a position of power is seriously attacking capitalism as a scourge, and promoting progressive socialist ideas as the solution for our perceived ills? Say what?! I mean, first of all, Americans need to take a step back and recognize that deregulation and tax cuts for the middle class and corporations have supercharged our economy. Yet the only thing you hear from the left is how they want to reverse those tax cuts. It’s crazy! Who are these people?

Let’s just ponder a few statements from AOC.

–She almost single-handedly killed the Amazon move next to her district in NYC. She thought subsidies to Amazon in exchange for the creation of 25,000-40,000 new jobs in Long Island City were a bad deal.”We were subsidizing those jobs,” she said. “Frankly, if we were willing to give away $3 billion for this deal, we could invest those $3 billion in our district, ourselves, if we wanted to. We could hire out more teachers. We can fix our subways. We can put a lot of people to work for that amount of money if we wanted to.” Ummmmm…AOC, you see, that is not how that works. Those new jobs generate tax revenues and improve livelihoods. They raise the standard of living in the entire district. The subsidy/enticement is a drop in the bucket. Wait, you majored in economics? Really? Shame on Boston University.

–“And so I do think that right now we have this no-holds-barred, Wild West hyper-capitalism. What that means is profit at any cost. Capitalism has not always existed in the world, and it will not always exist in the world. When this country started, we were not a capitalist [nation], we did not operate on a capitalist economy.” This is just balderdash. Good Lord! We are the singularly most successful experiment in freedom and wealth creation in the history of mankind. Socialists are barking up the wrong tree. Didn’t anyone ever tell AOC not to bite the hand that feeds?

-“I think that politically, this upper-middle class is probably more moderate, but that upper-middle class doesn’t exist anymore in America, and thanks to the continued deregulation of Wall Street, thanks to the continued gutting of working- and middle-class people, we need stronger champions.”

Check out the Urban Institute, and the American Enterprise Institute articles which debunk this absurd assertion that the upper middle class doesn’t exist anymore. It is growing!

–When asked how we would fund a single payer government run health care system, AOC said “People often say, how are you gonna pay for it? And I find the question so puzzling because, how do you pay for something that’s more affordable? How do you pay for cheaper rent? How do you pay for—you just pay for it.” Huh? Come again! This is the stuff of progressive legend? Is she serious? Alas, methinks she is.

–When announcing her “Green New Deal”, she said the world as we know it will not exist in 12 years. AOC says the threat to our existence is as grave as it was when we fought Nazi Germany. “What we had was an existential threat in the context of a war. We had a direct existential threat with another nation, this time it was Nazi Germany, and the Axis, who explicitly made the United States as an enemy, as an enemy. And what we did was that we chose to mobilize our entire economy and industrialized our entire economy and we put hundreds if not millions of people to work in defending our shores and defending this country. We have to do the same thing in order to get us to 100 percent renewable energy, and that’s just the truth of it.” No, AOC, that simply is not the truth of it. That is actually just plain nuts.

Can you imagine Nancy Pelosi waking up every morning to more insanity from AOC and the other freshmen progressives? It almost makes one feel sorry for Nancy. Almost. 

There are at least twenty democrats who have declared their candidacy for President. Most of them are attacking capitalism, entrepreneurism, and low taxes. They are going to chase each other to the left in order to curry favor with the party faithful. All of a sudden, democrats such as Joe Biden seem boringly mainstream. Folks, the democrats are all bark, no bite. They are alarmingly out of touch with the mainstream. Fasten your seatbelts. It is going to be an interesting 18 months.

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Are These People Serious?

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My last post was upbeat. It honored the life of a great public servant, George H. W. Bush. Alas, we have ushered in a new year, and a new Congress. And no new Congressperson more personifies the bizarre machinations of the left than does Alexandria Octavio-Cortez, a NYC born Latino. One of two things are happening here. She either really does not like anything about what has made the United States the singularly most successful experiment in freedom and upward mobility over the course of recorded history, or is she just another progressive leftist spouting populist drivel to incite the dreamers and free-lunchers to revolt? I don’t know.

Her Green New Deal is the most confounding document bandied about in Washington for a long time. Do these people understand that money is generated by the private sector? Sometimes I think they actually believe the Government makes the money we spend. Well, I guess, given our $22,000,000,000,000 deficit, one could argue the Government has done a pretty good job spending money it does not have, but that is another topic for another day. Let’s just dwell a moment on how downright crazy her Green New Deal actually is. I was pleased to see that potential independent candidate for President Howard Schultz was in Houston today, and called the Green New Deal “not realistic” and “immoral”. Run, Howard, run! Click here to read more about his comments in Houston. By the way, while all the focus is on climate change in this drivel, there are other lofty pro-growth goals stipulated. One that grabbed my attention is the that the Deal would provide “economic security to all who are unable or unwilling to work”. UNWILLING TO WORK! I rest my case on this one. Well, not quite….

I mean, these people don’t actually believe this stuff, do they?! When you read this palaver, do you find yourself wondering if the progressives actually have no idea what fuels the entire world economy? Do they think plastic grows on trees? Do they see planes, rockets, missiles, trains, and automobiles powered by solar energy? Is the next trip to the moon going to be wind powered? Americans are ready to tear down all inefficient buildings and houses, right? Maybe its time to invest again in buggy whips, because when the progressive luddites (that should be an oxymoron) finally take over, horse and wagon transportation will be in vogue! 

But seriously folks, I cannot figure out whether this is all a power ploy; something sweeping and grand to capture the imagination of the dreamers and mentally challenged. Surely the end game is about seizing control. Surely they do not actually believe what they purport to espouse!

I took some heart today in a Fox News poll which shows overwhelming support for capitalism over socialism. Click here to read this poll. It is comprehensive and no matter on what side of the aisle you may sit, it is worth your time.

We live in strange times. The left detests President Trump so much they will say and do anything to obstruct him. As I have said myriad times, I am no fan of Donald Trump. But I am 100% supportive of what the administration has done to support our middle class, and, in turn, the US economy. When I count the good things that have happened in the past two years compared to some decisions with which I disagree, the good things win! This country is so much better off than it would have been under four more years of democrat regulations and taxation. The numbers speak for themselves. And while we are on the numbers, can you tell me that you weren’t just a little agitated  during the State of the Nation address, when the “women in white” were so visibly angry at Donald Trump that their detestation of him blinded them from realizing how ridiculous it looked to not applaud the lowest white, black, and hispanic unemployment in US history? C’mon! Facts may be inconvenient truths for the left, but when one is on national tv, one should be somewhat sensitive to looking like an idiot.

How about those who have declared for the race to be the Democrat nominee? So far, the run should be called the “let’s see who can turn left and run as fast as possible into the abyss” race! Surely sane-minded democrats must be apoplectic at what they are witnessing. Don’t they see that the Democrats’ best shot is to nominate a moderate who can swing the independent vote? Alas, I am a Republican, so all I can implore them all to do is “keep running to the left”!

Lastly, and mostly as an aside, can you imagine the conversations Nancy Pelosi is having behind closed doors?  She is the Speaker. She wants to be the face of the party. But every day, one freshman congresswoman or another is stealing the limelight, and those lights do not reflect well on the Democrats. Poor Nancy. 

The gloves are off. I can’t wait to see the likes of Booker, Harris, and Warren pummel each other in their efforts to prove how much more socialist each one is compared to the other.

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Grace, Dignity, and Humility

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The body of George H. W. Bush now lies between those of Barbara, his wife of 73 years, and their young daughter Robin, lost way too early to Leukemia. It is as it should be. If you don’t believe the three of them are back together, well, too bad. They are. Good for them. They deserve all the happiness the next world will provide.

After the last several days, is there anything more to be said? Maybe not, but I am going to give it a shot. George Bush was an amazing man. It is a shame it took his leaving us for some members of the media to finally step up and acknowledge his earthly accomplishments. Jon Meacham, the historian and Presidential biographer, spoke eloquently at Barbara Bush’s funeral and then this week at President Bush’s service at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C.. During his eulogy on Wednesday, he referred to GHWB as a “founding father of the 20th century”. How perfect. We stand in awe of the contributions to our beginnings as a democratic republic made by the likes of Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton, Washington and others. (The list is longer, but the more I go on, the better the chance of missing out on someone, and then that person’s fan club will take umbrage!) I, for one, stand equally in awe of what George Bush, this kinder, gentler man,  did for his country over the span of more than 70 years. He remains the single most qualified man to ever be President. Ever. 

What I will not do is repeat the list of his contributions to our great country. If you do not by now know them, you have been hiding in Siberia! What I will do is share how I have tried to reduce his life to something manageable. In today’s parlance, we would call it a soundbite. George Bush believed in winning with humility and losing with grace. George Bush never forgot his priorities. His family came first, and his friends came very closely behind. I remember decades ago when he was taking shots for keeping Dan Quayle on the ticket for his 1992 re-election campaign. He looked at a mob of reporters, and was clearly weary of answering the same old questions. Finally, he simply said, “Loyalty is not a character flaw”. Perfect. Beautiful. Succinct. True. To those who did not understand why loyalty is not a character flaw, he did not try to explain. It was their loss. 

George Bush imbued senses of loyalty, love, compassion, humility, dignity, and grace in his children. The close of George W. Bush’s eulogy this week is all you need to see to comprehend the deep love he and his siblings had for their dad. Click here to review this short clip. And my reference to the close friends not being far behind the President’s family? Well, take a look at former Secretary of State Jim Baker’s words spoken yesterday in Houston. Click here for that. This is his entire 10 minute eulogy. If you watched yesterday, do yourself a favor and just fast forward to the last 40 seconds. It is all you need to know about the love between these two great friends. if you did not see Secretary Baker’s comments, I suggest you take a 10 minute break, watch him, and then return to finish this article.

For just a few days, America came together to remember a great man. It begets the question, will we ever, ever see another person of George Bush’s character and capability enter the fray and serve our country? In short, I do not know. We have become a fractured people. There are millions of Americans who do not appear to value the very characteristics I am extolling today. That is a shame, and it is risk to our country. 

Let us rejoice in this wonderful man’s life, and let us pray we find a way through these dark, partisan times, and recommit ourselves to supporting true public servants. Let us celebrate grace, dignity, and humility. 

Rest in peace, George H. W. Bush. You were a great man.

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