Happy New Year!!!

And It’s Only Year One

                It’s probably not a real shock that I’m accustomed to disagreeing with the left whose agenda makes no sense to me whatsoever unless I accept that their main goal is the destruction of the United States. So it’s no surprise that I am feeling pretty darned good right now about what President Trump and the conservative agenda have been able to accomplish in 2017 in spite of the liberal media’s wailing, teeth gnashing and puzzled wondering about what the left should tell their daughters.

                I choose to feel good about what we’ve accomplished although the media is wearing itself out trying to turn every single positive into a negative because admitting Trump is doing a great job is harder for them than suicide. I’m thinking of Susan Rice being offended by Trump’s desires to Make America Great Again and to put America first.  Oh well. Whose got that kind of energy?

                So in spite of them we’re getting it done although you’d never know it if your primary news sources are CNN, MSN, The Washington Post or The New York Slime.

                Here is an incomplete list of the President’s accomplishments about which I feel terrific. If you disagree, knock yourself out feeling sad and depressed.

                Let’s start with The Tax Cut Bill. The biggest piece of tax legislation since 1986 which also eliminates Obama’s health care mandates and should benefit 85% of the population according to the guys who wrote it.

                Those finding fault in the CNN version of the bill, which predictably focuses on what the bill takes away really need to look at the real version of the bill and consider everything that it gives.

The corporate tax cut alone resulted in bonuses and or raises immediately for employees of Comcast, AT&T, Boeing, Wells Fargo, Fifth Third Bank, Washington Federal, and Sinclair Broadcasting and those are just the guys too big for even the screwed up media to ignore.

                Not everyone was lucky enough to be alive when Reagan was president. This stuff works.

                There’s also the judiciary overhaul, or at least the beginning of it. The appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court was huge but Trump’s first-year, record replacement of 12 appellate court judges may have been bigger. I can see how that much conservatism in the judicial system could be depressing to my liberal friends but I couldn’t be happier.

                Trump’s rollback of nearly 800 Obama-era regulations (800!!!!) resulted in over one million new jobs and is a good start in reducing the size of a government that has overreached into far too much.

                Additionally, the President has stopped the growth of Federal Government by freezing federal hiring and he personally met with several business leaders to encourage them to keep and create jobs in the United States.

                ILLEGAL immigration has been reduced by over 70% in just a year and now stands at a 17-year-low. I do still hope Ann Coulter gets her wall but I’m happy with the progress we’ve made so far.

                By executive order Trump issued a five-year lobbying ban preventing legislators from setting themselves up with private interests in the D.C. swamp should they find themselves term-limited by their voters or lured by the bigger paycheck.

                Maybe you’ve noticed the stock market is at an all time high despite predictions of the imminent and permanent crash if Trump were elected. Experts on the left are dumbfounded.

                That goes hand-in-hand with consumer confidence being at a 16-year high and the unemployement rate at a 16-year low and mortgage applications at a seven-year high.

                There was also Trump’s approval of the Keystone and Dakota pipelines and all the jobs those will create in addition to their contribution to energy independence. I still get a chuckle out the criticism that those are only “temporary jobs” from people who must have never worked a day in contracting or any sort of free enterprise where your success depends on one job or sale or client after another. Well, you know, community organizing or academic or government employment can qualify some people to think they’re economic experts even though they’re often dumbfounded.

                Also don’t forget that Food Stamp recipients are at a seven-year-low.

                President Trump is extracting us from that ill-conceived Paris Climate Accord that would have cost this country trillions of dollars subsidizing countries who continue to pollute and destroy the environment in the name of not polluting and destroying the environment.

                Trump has also gotten us out of the Trans Pacific Partnership and is currently trying to negotiate deals that will be much more favorable to the United States.  I have a lot more faith in his ability to do that than I would have in the community organizer's.

                Likewise, Mexico and Canada are on notice to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement so that it benefits us as well as them or we’re out of that too.

 
               Toss in that the President has cut $600 billion from our UN commitment and has other UN members and NATO members alike starting to pay their fair share of all the fun activities they used to think up at our expense.

                We have rolled back Cuban relations since Obama’s agreement was only benefiting the Cuban regime and establishment and not the people.

                ISIS has been driven from Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria and they are on the run and in hiding from an American president who is more interested in destroying them than laughing them off as the al Qaeda JV team while partying with JayZ and Beyonce.

                And after the last three presidents have promised it, this one has acknowledged that Jerusalem is the rightful capitol of Israel and agreed to move our embassy there in spite of the fact that this will anger groups dedicated to terrorism and the destruction of the Jewish people and cause them to commit acts of terror and try to destroy the Jewish people. (Does anyone on the left listen to themselves?)

                There are so many other things that my space and your willingness to keep reading prohibit me from listing but I have to mention Trump’s support of The Women in Entrepreneurship Act, resanctioning Iran over their missile program so we don’t create another even more dangerous N. Korea, and beginning to fix the VA.

And one of the President’s acts I will always be most grateful for is his executive order to protect and support police officers as opposed to inviting #onlyblacklivesmatter leaders to the White House and going before a microphone to announce, “Until the police accept responsibility for their discriminatory behavior toward people of color, there can be no peace.”

                That’s was as close to a declaration of war on police as I ever care to hear and I am grateful to President Trump for restating the government’s position as one of support of law enforcement instead of antagonism.       

                According to Rasmussen, Obama had an approval rating of 46% with 53% disapproving on 12/29/09. Rasmussen says Trump has an approval rating of 45% with 53% disapproving on 12/28/17. Of course, the media is losing their minds over the obviously biased polling of Rasmussen since they only poll likely voters, pointing to #’s from Politico, Newsweak, The Washington Post, and New York Times as being much more supportive of their view of President Trump’s first year in office because their polling demographic doesn’t vote.

                Do I need to remind anybody which polls said HRC was going to win the presidential election by an unprecedented landslide?

                I think this is a very, very Happy New Year.

The End of The World As We Know It (Not Really)

 

                As a political venue Facebook seems designed to mostly foster an environment of “let’s you and him or her fight.”  Most of it should be beneath commenting on although 90% of the time I can’t help myself. But honestly, I generally could care less what Chelsea Handler or some other alcoholic, shallow, lonely, insecure, neurotic, Hollywood “icon” who couldn’t form a sustainable relationship if you held a gun to their head has to say about much of anything.

                Occasionally someone will post a political video of some relevance. I, of course, love the ones I agree with and it has become something of a hobby to deconstruct the ones put up by those loving, progressive, forward-thinking, large-brained souls on the left with whom I strongly disagree.

                This week I saw a youtube video of a young gentleman named Carlos Maza, whom, it seems, fancies himself a scholar at whatever tender age he has achieved. His theory is that the end of democracy will not come in a loud and menacing fashion like a military coup or declaration of martial law, but rather that it will come in a manner so subtle we might not even notice it happening until it’s too late.

                He cautions against a series of discreet legal changes and an attack on America’s institutions that he calls “democratic backsliding.” Actually, he credits University of Chicago Professor Aziz Huq, who must be something near a father figure for Maza since he is the only source he acknowledges and he seems to accept every word Huq utters as pure truth.

                According to Maza (parroting what Huq says), the end will come through an accumulation of those subtle changes to the law as well as attacks by the country’s leaders on our courts, our press, and our watchdog agencies.

                I actually agree with his premise wholeheartedly. Where we part ways in a hurry is on who to blame.

                You’ve already guessed that Maza lays the blame for the end of the world as he sees it at the feet of that evil, old, bad guy, Donald Trump. In an ironic twist that fairly baffles the imagination Maza puts forth Hugo Chavez, the one-time hero of the left—“the greatest leader in the world,” according to Sean Penn, that iconic, high-school-educated, brilliant Rhodes political scholar from Hollywood—as an example of how to ruin a wonderful country and tries to create parallels between Chavez’ behavior and Trump’s.

                Chavez fired and defied Venezuelan judges, tried to silence the press through anti-defamation laws and by calling the media the “enemy of the people” every single time he got in front of a camera. Chavez even had his own CNN apparently, called Globovision.

                Maza asserts that Trump firing Comey may have been legal, but c’mon, everyone on the left knows it was obstruction of justice. He criticizes Trump’s repeated use of the phrase “witch hunt,” to describe the year-long “Russian collusion” investigation that has not yielded a single, solitary fact linking Trump to any effort by the Russians to help elect a man they respect and fear rather than four more years of them having their way with the world.

                Maza cites Trump’s use of the phrase “judicial overreach” as an attack on one of our most sacred institutions. And let me help poor Maza out here, he failed to mention Trump has replaced 12 district court judges in his first year, which if it isn’t a record, gets at least a silver medal.

                And, of course, the left’s favorite bone to pick, that Trump dares to call the leftwing dominated lamestream media what it is: Fake News. Trump also called mainstream journalists “the enemy of the people,” and his constant sparring with CNN is legendary.

                Thanks for laying out the framework for the argument, Maza, but you picked the wrong target.

                First in October, 2008, Obama takes one of his first shots at Fox News with, “If Fox News didn’t exist I would be polling three points higher.”

                October 2010: “Fox News has a destructive viewpoint…a point of view destructive to the long term growth I am building for this country.”

                December 2010: Obama declared Fox News was responsible for him “losing white males” because of people turning in to hear “Obama is a Muslim, 24/7.”  For me that is one of he all-time knee-slappers of Obama soundbytes because of his frustration level and everyone knows us white males always believe and do what Fox News says.

                And in December 2013 Obama claims that, “People who watch Fox News don’t know anything about the health care bill.” I suppose in contrast to the good folks Nancy Pelosi was appealing to when she said, “We must pass this bill to see what is in it!”

                And there are so, so many other examples of Obama’s running feud with Fox News. I had to limit it to my favorites so that you might take the time to read this.    

                So let’s move on to Maza’s assertion that President Trump criticizing the judiciary is more than our system will be able to bear and compare Obama’s relationship with the law.

                On February 16, 2015, a Texas Federal District Court Judge, Andrew Hanen, issued an injunction against Obama’s amnesty plan for illegal aliens. Obama ignored it and instructed Homeland Security officials to do the same and follow his orders, not the court’s. They would be protected by the DOJ’s appeals and interpretations.

                On April 7, 2015, Judge Hanen issued an order to the DOJ to quit lying and “stop misrepresenting the facts to the court (and to) act in a forthright manner and not hide behind deceptive representations and half-truths.”

                Hanen cited evidence that Obama himself had made statements that there “would be consequences for any Homeland Security employee” who did not follow his amnesty plan and instead honored the injunction of a sitting Federal Judge. Obama’s statements were verified by Sara Saldana, then Director of ICE. Google it.

                On May 12, 2015, after issuing a six-figured number of three-year deferrals to illegal immigrants, the Obama administration finally admitted to violating Judge Hanen’s injunction and in predictable fashion, the DOJ declined the opportunity to investigate themselves or their master.

                 Perhaps you can see how this was bothersome to the country that lies between both coasts where open borders alarm us.

                Well, ok, but Trump is destroying America’s institutions.

                By repopularizing Merry Christmas?

                In December of 2013, Obama gave what I have always considered the most frightening speech he ever gave as president in which he said “(Capitalism) doesn’t work. It has never worked in over 200 years.”

                And while the left lapped up his sage words like heavy cream, many of us were left scratching our heads wondering how in the world his team thought we became, the mightiest, most prosperous nation the planet has ever seen and the most desirable place to live for most people without a hole in their head. (And by the way, you are free to leave. Well, if the country you aspire to will let you in, that is.)

                And let’s not forget the July 13, 2012, campaign speech in which Obama admonished business owners with “You didn’t build that…”  Not a particularly encouraging thing to say to the potential investors and rebuilders of a stagnant economy, but ok, Trump is the institution assassin.

I will also never forget Obama’s super positive support of the law enforcement arm of this country when after entertaining the most racist, violent, hate group in the country--#onlyblacklivesmatter—at the White House he said, “Until the police accept responsibility for their discriminatory behavior toward people of color, there can be no peace.”

                That made all our nation’s cops feel super safe about going to work. Well, that and the random cop murders that started occurring as a result.

                So I do agree with Maza that the end of democracy will come subtly and quietly as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. That is why I am so thankful Obama has been cast to the gutter and HRC was rejected by the electoral college our founding fathers put in place to save us from this very thing. I am thankful Donald Trump is president and at least has a chance to reverse many of the sick and destructive things Obama was trying to do to our country.

                Whether he can pull that off over the roar of the press or not is a coin toss but I am hopeful.

                Eric Bolling of Fox News has said that Trump is still very popular with people outside of D.C., New York City and California. He asserts that the two most important factors in grading a presidency are the economy and national security and in “both of those areas Trump has far surpassed his predecessor.”

                Hey, don’t listen to Eric and me, and for God’s sake don’t listen to CNN. Look at the DOW Jones outer space levels, your own 401k, the people in your community that are back at work, the consumer confidence index, etc., etc.  Use your own heads and decide if what you see is more believable than what you’re told.

Serious Stuff

                Almost daily it seems like there is new evidence that this country is losing its collective mind. For several weeks it seems like there was a deranged mass shooter on every corner and then suddenly we are focused on over a dozen sex scandals that all seemed to come to light in the same week.

                Not to mention the acquittal of five-time deportee Jose Garcia-Zarate, the murderer of Kate Steinle in San Francisco in 2015, strictly because a jury made up of California’s finest citizens, no doubt, wanted to flip off President Trump for wanting to end sanctuary cities, which are the craziest phenomenon of all in this country right now and one of California’s favorite symbols of defiance.

                What was a seven-time convicted felon doing with a gun anyway? California, normally feverish about anyone possessing a firearm, was strangely content that this poor (illegal) immigrant just looking to better his life was playing with a gun that “accidently” went off and shot Steinle squarely in the face.

                Fortunately, the Department of Justice seems concerned about that minor oversight and it also seems Zarate may find himself on trial again for the illegal possession of a firearm in a new and improved venue.

                This is serious stuff, murder and rape. It shouldn’t be ignored. But how is it the news we receive seems to be theme-based from week to week? Anyone else find that odd? Are editors and reporters currently sitting in a room (imagine the stench) planning next week’s daily news diet?

                I don’t have an answer. I just think it’s weird.

                This latest rash of sexual assault scandals has to make everyone’s heads spin. They weren’t all last week, of course, but that seems like when the media chose to make it the daily headline. What I will call the “current” media feed of allegations actually began back in October with Harvey Weinstein followed shortly thereafter by Roy Moore.

                Since then the list of accused offenders trumpeted daily in the press includes but is far from limited to comedian Louis C.K., Ben Affleck, Dustin Hoffman, Al Franken, Garrison Keilor, music mogul Russell Simmons, Kevin Spacey, Nick Carter (Back Street Boys), Congressman Blake Farenthold (R-TX), Senator John Conyers (D-MI), NYT White House Reporter Glenn Thrush, Disney Animation Director John Lassiter (Disney!!!) and more. So many more. I’m sorry if I missed your personal favorite villain.

                Bill Clinton even has four NEW accusers that we have never heard from before.

                Massage Envy, operating 1100 locations with over 1.5 million clients, is currently under investigation for 180 separate sexual assaults.

                And perhaps the most alarming revelation in a fire-hose stream of alarming revelations is that, according to the Office of Congressional Compliance, $17 million tax dollars have been paid out in the last 10-15 years to settle 260 sexual harassment suits brought against the men (almost exclusively, I think) we freely elect to represent us in our Federal Government.

                Those funds are paid out of a special treasury fund actually created by the Congressional Accountability Act (let the irony of that sink in for a second) just to deal with “unanticipated expenses on a case-by-case basis.”  We will likely never know the details of those assaults or harassments because all 260 checks were issued in exchange for signed non-disclosure agreements.

                And those are just the ones we know about (well, now we know) because the monies came out of an official fund that has some accountability and the OCC guys had to come clean when asked.  How many other settlements have there been paid out of individual legislator’s office budgets like the $27,000 settlement paid in “salary” over three months by Senator Conyers?

                Seems he failed to get a signed nondisclosure agreement.

                Whatever is going on has apparently been going on for a long, long, long time, even though it seems like ground-breaking work by our esteemed (steaming) media unprofessionals. And thank goodness it has come to light in a big way. This is horrible. In addition to seeking solutions to the problem, however, my other concern is will the spotlight stay on the issue long enough to change some things or will the media be off slaying new dragons next week?

                Additionally, we could use some clarification of the issues and we need some discussion of the topic(s). Some of these situations involve rape or other serious physical sexual assault. Some were disgusting occurrences of putting people (I guess not all the victims were women) in horribly uncomfortable situations. Some may have been what we used to call “innocent flirting,” and we need to decide if we’re going to continue to call it innocent. And I’m afraid some of the charges may have been completely made up—hold on to your horses, I’m not looking to give anyone a free pass here.

                I am sorry I don’t remember who said it and all I can find online is that an estimated 120,000 innocent people are in prison and there are a bunch of songs about “innocence,” but last week a feminist spokesperson said something along the lines of “It doesn’t matter if some innocent men go to jail, these women need to be believed and taken seriously.”

                I couldn’t agree more that any woman brave enough to come forward and tell her story needs to be taken seriously but I can’t go along with imprisoning innocent men just because they are accused. Imagine the Salem Witch Hunt environment that could create if disgruntled employees or gold diggers too lazy to even do the digging merely had to make an accusation to get a check or send whomever they were angry at to jail?

                Nope. If we are serious about curtailing an abhorrent situation for many women in this country we need to brace ourselves for the long, messy and expensive process of adjudicating every case. That’s the process we have always used—innocent until proven guilty, even when it’s obvious. I think we make a mistake if we let the current emotional frenzy over so much sudden information dictate a shortcut of our justice system.

                Indeed, should there not also be stiff penalties for false accusations? If for no other reason than to take the “witch hunt” factor out of it?  I think so. I don’t think or intend for that suggestion to discourage women from coming forward. Just because a man may not be convicted doesn’t mean the woman should be.

                But remember the Duke Lacrosse Team? How many young men’s lives were changed if not ruined by fabricated charges and overzealous prosecution. Please. We need to be wary of letting the pendulum swing too far the other way.

                And we need to keep noise out of the process as much as we can. If hoaxes and fabrications become as numerous as genuine crimes it will make it all the more difficult to try and curb what is a legitimate, horrible and serious problem.  And the resulting cynicism will make it more difficult for women to come forward and less likely there will be support for an ultimate solution.

                The abundance of current information, no matter how old, is nauseating. So often we believe that merely bringing attention to an issue in this nation leads to solutions through raising awareness and much of the time we are right. I am the absolute last person to give today’s media credit for anything other than sucking but if they have at least accomplished that much in this case: well played for once.