...what, exactly, causes celebrities to think that we, the Proletariat, the "Great Unwashed," the "Little People," give a damn what they think?
And that includes people who are "famous for being famous," like the entire Kardashian family. All of them. Including their, ummm, daddy?
I mean, we often don't care what our own wives or husbands or significant others think. Why should we care what somebody we don't know whose major talent is memorizing and then mouthing the words others, thinks?
When, I'm also wondering, does your average run-of-the-mill celebrity, and DAMN!...if there isn't thousands of them!...decide that he or she or "it," (it's California, doncha' know!) must whip out the old Twitter-er-er and start Tweeting away their advice and counsel to us plebes. Presuming, I guess, that we actually care.
You know, those toothless, redneck, pickup truck-driving, flag waving, beer swilling, cousin-marrying, gun-toting, hot dog-eating, patriotic good ol' 'Murican hillwilliams in "Flyover Country" that the "bubble-dwelling" swells hold in such disdain.
(BTW, I just luuuuuv that sentence!)
And so they feel compelled for some reason to pass along to us unfortunates their advice, it turns out, on damn near everything. Sex and marriage and children and fashion and travel and gastronomy, to be sure. But most particularly on all things political.
Now, I dunno' about you, but I don't need the advice and counsel of a Babs Streisand, or a Bobby DeNiro, or an Alyssa Milano (who is she again?) to get me through the average day. And especially not Cher. No, especially not her.
I actually only turn to these folks when I need to be entertained. A movie, perhaps? Sure. A little song and dance? Maybe. I can use these folks who've mastered the art of memorizing and spewing the writings of others to sometimes help me forget just how intensely polarized our society has now become. Yeah, that's it, a movie!
But then they ruin everything by proclaiming themselves political pundits. They seem to think they know everything about politics and the environment and economics and wealth redistribution and firearms and homosexuality and education, ad infinitum. And they seem to think God put them here to set us straight on all those topics, and then to make sure we obey their wishes.
Oh yeah, except for that percentage of them who don't believe in God. Or in anyone else but themselves.
I first became aware of this strange behavior a couple of decades back. I remember watching the "Pretty Woman" babe on a late night TV talk show. I don't remember the question, but her answer was, "You can find Republicans in the encyclopedia right there between reptile and repulsive." Ummm, yeah. Thanks for that. It got my attention, to be sure.
I thought it strange back then - and still do - that an actor would come out of the closet, so to speak, and express their own political views. They obviously knew, and know, I would hope, that fully half the country won't agree with their politics, no matter the brand. And since they rely on the good will, and patronage of the public for their living, to "make the turn styles turn," so to speak, not alienating half of them would seem to be high on my list of things to do. How about you?
But nooooooooooooo! Her comrades began to join her in their chorus of Leftist views. And presumably their deep-seated, previously-hidden views. And I began to jot down their names in an effort to make sure I didn't contribute a single additional dollar their way. A really cheap hobby that has paid me vast financial dividends.
And this is true in the Age of Trump. The one primary thing that unites these Beverly Hills Bozos is that they all hate Trump. I hate Trump! No, I hate him more than you do! No you don't! I hate him more. Yada, yada, yada...
I'm now up to 345 actors/actresses/comedians/celebrities/ businesses. And I've discovered a couple of really good things about that list.
A. Wanna' save some discretionary income? Don't spend it on people who hate you and hold you in disdain. You'll get a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing you've struck back against those who think you suck. And know the next time Bobby DeNiro rails against Trump at a press conference in Manhattan, at least you didn't help buy his dinner that night.
B. It will keep you busy with a nice, clean, neat little hobby that costs you nothing and makes you feel truly wonderful that you're actually doing something to make the world a better place.
Samuel L. Jackson (drop the middle initial, Sam; it's waaay to pretentious!) proclaimed last week that he'd be just fine with Trump fans never ever seeing another of his movies. Hey Sammy! You got your wish. You're Number 346!
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
My Take...
I remember it like it was yesterday.
It was November 7, 2008. I awakened that morning to find that one Mr. Barack Hussein Obama had won the election to be our next President of the United States.
I was crestfallen. Overwhelmed with dread and foreboding. And fear and anger and disappointment. Having studied this Alinskyite socialist's rise to power, I knew him to be the absolute worst thing that could have happened to America at that time. The very last thing we needed was a race-bating, wealth-redistributing, gun-hating, abortion-loving, wannabe Marxist POTUS then, just as we don't need one now. Nor ever. But we got one, whether we liked it or not.
I didn't like it. Half of America didn't like it either. But we shook it off and went back to work. We had no choice. After all, SOMEBODY has to work so we can pay for all these illegal aliens and welfare recipients and shrimps jogging on treadmills.
Did we riot or march or protest or bitch and moan? No. I frankly don't think we - any of us - would have ever even considered it. It wouldn't have been the right, or righteous thing to do. We took our lumps and moved on, knowing that we'd soon have the chance to right this wrong and put 'Murica back on the right track.
Because that's the American Way.
And we did. We voted in an outsider back in November, 2016 who promised to come to D. C. and "drain the swamp." A blustery orange egomaniac patriot billionaire promised to ride to our rescue and change the many things that needed changing. And the Democrats, Liberals, Progressives, communists, socialists, Marxists, Greenies, witches, LGBTQ's (have they added any more letters lately?) and poverty pimps have done everything they can since that fateful day to invalidate that election by mounting a (thankfully!) failed coup.
Yes, it was a failed coup. That's what it was. Like "Seven Days in May." And I'll hereby make my case...
We all know by now what many of us have believed from the beginning; that the Democrats fielded the wrong candidate for POTUS in 2016, and they came up with perhaps the most ludicrous, outlandish and truly lamest excuse for losing in the history of the entire world! It's being reported as this is written that Hillary and her campaign crew (Podesta and Mook) came up with the lame excuse that Russia had somehow interfered with the election. Within the first 24 hours post-loss. Otherwise, their thinking went, there was NO WAY Clinton could have been defeated. And that would let them maintain some degree of dignity.
I mean, it was HER TURN! She had all the qualifications for the Office she needed. She had been around for a long time, she's a hard-core Progressive, she promised 8 more years of Obama's ruinous economic policies and...she's a woman.
But the other half of America knew her to be a lying, scheming, backstabbing scoundrel. A gold-digger who's exploited every opportunity to enrich herself and her disbarred sexual predator felon husband since arriving on the political scene back in the 1980's. Proof of that is how a smooth-talking southerner and a mean-tempered harpie somehow managed to put together a bank balance of more than $500 Million Dollars on Federal employee pay.
Ummm, yeah. I recall deciding to avoid public service because it didn't pay well enough. Joke's on me, I guess...
But she didn't campaign. She just waited to be inaugurated. Carried up the steps of the Capitol Building on a sedan chair by her adoring sycophants, palm fronds waving, adoring crowds swooning. But a strange thing happened on the way to the White House. She got beat...
Now, let me tell you this: I don't believe for a moment that Trump expected to win. I think it was just a monumental ego trip, and one that he probably thought would enrich the value of his "brand." And then his particular style of "ready, fire, aim" began to ingratiate him to the masses. He says what he thinks, often to his own disadvantage. But to his followers, that's his most endearing quality; straight from the lip.
And those masses consisted of all the people who had been ignored and left behind by those on either coast. The "Bubblers," doncha' know. If you live between the Sierra Nevada and the Hudson River, you've been rude, screwed, triple-tattooed, rammed by the rusty rod of reality and f**ked by the fickle finger of fate. And you looked to Trump to be your standard bearer.
Mook and Podesta contacted their media stooges. They ran their little "blame the Russians" strategy past their useful idiots at CNN and MSNBC and the alphabet broadcast media. These opinion-based outlets were dying a slow death. And they knew it. And so they threw in with the Clinton Blame Deferral Plan, seeing it as a potential windfall! And that's exactly what it's been ever since.
Unlike most partisans, I watch all the news coverage. I check in regularly with those who spew their version of the news, and then make up my own mind as to what's "real." Unfortunately, I don't think most of those in the "bubble" do the same. They just turn on the Progressive media channel of their choice and then sit back and absorb the hate-Trump diatribe. And they've finally been found out.
Rep. Maxine "Mad Max" Waters (D-CA, where else?) called for Trump's impeachment starting the day before he was inaugurated ('Peach Fawty Fie! 'Peach Fawty Fie!). John Brennan, ex-CIA Chief under Obama, and CNN contributor, stated unequivocally that Trump "...is a tool of the Kremlin." James Clapper, ex-NSA Chief under Obama, and CNN contributor, stated that "Trump is a traitor. A pawn of Putin!"
Rep. Al Green (D-GA) and many others went so far as to accuse Trump of being a traitor! Every minute of every day on Left-wing media channels (all but two of them are!) have subjected you to an all-out onslaught of anti-Trump allegations...presented as absolute fact! Rep. Adam Schiff (D-NY), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has stated on hundreds of occasions that he has proof that Trump "...colluded with the Russians." PROOF!
Let's face it, folks; the so-called "MainstreamMedia" in the United States is nothing more nor less than the media arm of the Democrat National Committee. One could reasonably ask how a Republican, ANY Republican could possibly be elected when facing a Party which purports to "lead" by giving other people's stuff away, and a media that holds those Americans in "Flyover Country" in abject disdain.
Let us now summarize: 22 months of investigation. 40 FBI agents. 19 lawyers (mostly Dem-donors). 2,800 subpoenas. 500 warrants. 500 witness interviews. 533,074 media articles. 34 indictments (24 Russians), none for collusion or corruption. 2,284 minutes of broadcast (ABC/NBC/CBS) news reporting, averaging 3 minutes per day average for each network over a period of 791 days! More than 92% of the coverage was negative. More than $25 Million Dollars spent by you and me, the U. S. Taxpayers, to pay for this boondoggle. And for what?
Now you know...
To make Hillary Clinton feel better about losing; to make the Left-wing media (but I repeat myself!) loads of money; to try and invalidate Trump's victory; to try and deflect blame for this corrupt outrage away from the top-tier of the FBI; and to turn America against Trump and the Republican 2016 victory in time to make sure they lose in 2020.
They should all be ashamed of themselves. If they had any shame, that is...
It was November 7, 2008. I awakened that morning to find that one Mr. Barack Hussein Obama had won the election to be our next President of the United States.
I was crestfallen. Overwhelmed with dread and foreboding. And fear and anger and disappointment. Having studied this Alinskyite socialist's rise to power, I knew him to be the absolute worst thing that could have happened to America at that time. The very last thing we needed was a race-bating, wealth-redistributing, gun-hating, abortion-loving, wannabe Marxist POTUS then, just as we don't need one now. Nor ever. But we got one, whether we liked it or not.
I didn't like it. Half of America didn't like it either. But we shook it off and went back to work. We had no choice. After all, SOMEBODY has to work so we can pay for all these illegal aliens and welfare recipients and shrimps jogging on treadmills.
Did we riot or march or protest or bitch and moan? No. I frankly don't think we - any of us - would have ever even considered it. It wouldn't have been the right, or righteous thing to do. We took our lumps and moved on, knowing that we'd soon have the chance to right this wrong and put 'Murica back on the right track.
Because that's the American Way.
And we did. We voted in an outsider back in November, 2016 who promised to come to D. C. and "drain the swamp." A blustery orange egomaniac patriot billionaire promised to ride to our rescue and change the many things that needed changing. And the Democrats, Liberals, Progressives, communists, socialists, Marxists, Greenies, witches, LGBTQ's (have they added any more letters lately?) and poverty pimps have done everything they can since that fateful day to invalidate that election by mounting a (thankfully!) failed coup.
Yes, it was a failed coup. That's what it was. Like "Seven Days in May." And I'll hereby make my case...
We all know by now what many of us have believed from the beginning; that the Democrats fielded the wrong candidate for POTUS in 2016, and they came up with perhaps the most ludicrous, outlandish and truly lamest excuse for losing in the history of the entire world! It's being reported as this is written that Hillary and her campaign crew (Podesta and Mook) came up with the lame excuse that Russia had somehow interfered with the election. Within the first 24 hours post-loss. Otherwise, their thinking went, there was NO WAY Clinton could have been defeated. And that would let them maintain some degree of dignity.
I mean, it was HER TURN! She had all the qualifications for the Office she needed. She had been around for a long time, she's a hard-core Progressive, she promised 8 more years of Obama's ruinous economic policies and...she's a woman.
But the other half of America knew her to be a lying, scheming, backstabbing scoundrel. A gold-digger who's exploited every opportunity to enrich herself and her disbarred sexual predator felon husband since arriving on the political scene back in the 1980's. Proof of that is how a smooth-talking southerner and a mean-tempered harpie somehow managed to put together a bank balance of more than $500 Million Dollars on Federal employee pay.
Ummm, yeah. I recall deciding to avoid public service because it didn't pay well enough. Joke's on me, I guess...
But she didn't campaign. She just waited to be inaugurated. Carried up the steps of the Capitol Building on a sedan chair by her adoring sycophants, palm fronds waving, adoring crowds swooning. But a strange thing happened on the way to the White House. She got beat...
Now, let me tell you this: I don't believe for a moment that Trump expected to win. I think it was just a monumental ego trip, and one that he probably thought would enrich the value of his "brand." And then his particular style of "ready, fire, aim" began to ingratiate him to the masses. He says what he thinks, often to his own disadvantage. But to his followers, that's his most endearing quality; straight from the lip.
And those masses consisted of all the people who had been ignored and left behind by those on either coast. The "Bubblers," doncha' know. If you live between the Sierra Nevada and the Hudson River, you've been rude, screwed, triple-tattooed, rammed by the rusty rod of reality and f**ked by the fickle finger of fate. And you looked to Trump to be your standard bearer.
Mook and Podesta contacted their media stooges. They ran their little "blame the Russians" strategy past their useful idiots at CNN and MSNBC and the alphabet broadcast media. These opinion-based outlets were dying a slow death. And they knew it. And so they threw in with the Clinton Blame Deferral Plan, seeing it as a potential windfall! And that's exactly what it's been ever since.
Unlike most partisans, I watch all the news coverage. I check in regularly with those who spew their version of the news, and then make up my own mind as to what's "real." Unfortunately, I don't think most of those in the "bubble" do the same. They just turn on the Progressive media channel of their choice and then sit back and absorb the hate-Trump diatribe. And they've finally been found out.
Rep. Maxine "Mad Max" Waters (D-CA, where else?) called for Trump's impeachment starting the day before he was inaugurated ('Peach Fawty Fie! 'Peach Fawty Fie!). John Brennan, ex-CIA Chief under Obama, and CNN contributor, stated unequivocally that Trump "...is a tool of the Kremlin." James Clapper, ex-NSA Chief under Obama, and CNN contributor, stated that "Trump is a traitor. A pawn of Putin!"
Rep. Al Green (D-GA) and many others went so far as to accuse Trump of being a traitor! Every minute of every day on Left-wing media channels (all but two of them are!) have subjected you to an all-out onslaught of anti-Trump allegations...presented as absolute fact! Rep. Adam Schiff (D-NY), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has stated on hundreds of occasions that he has proof that Trump "...colluded with the Russians." PROOF!
Let's face it, folks; the so-called "MainstreamMedia" in the United States is nothing more nor less than the media arm of the Democrat National Committee. One could reasonably ask how a Republican, ANY Republican could possibly be elected when facing a Party which purports to "lead" by giving other people's stuff away, and a media that holds those Americans in "Flyover Country" in abject disdain.
Let us now summarize: 22 months of investigation. 40 FBI agents. 19 lawyers (mostly Dem-donors). 2,800 subpoenas. 500 warrants. 500 witness interviews. 533,074 media articles. 34 indictments (24 Russians), none for collusion or corruption. 2,284 minutes of broadcast (ABC/NBC/CBS) news reporting, averaging 3 minutes per day average for each network over a period of 791 days! More than 92% of the coverage was negative. More than $25 Million Dollars spent by you and me, the U. S. Taxpayers, to pay for this boondoggle. And for what?
Now you know...
To make Hillary Clinton feel better about losing; to make the Left-wing media (but I repeat myself!) loads of money; to try and invalidate Trump's victory; to try and deflect blame for this corrupt outrage away from the top-tier of the FBI; and to turn America against Trump and the Republican 2016 victory in time to make sure they lose in 2020.
They should all be ashamed of themselves. If they had any shame, that is...
Friday, March 22, 2019
"Universal" Gun Control?
Do you recall the second thing that happened after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans?
You'll recall the first was the fabled old City nearly being washed away. As in "Biblically." I was there a few months post-storm and can tell you 4/5ths of it was just...gone!
Poof!
The second? Then Sheriff Henry Lee and his goons paddled around in their row boats, house to house, confiscating guns. From ordinary, law-abiding citizens.
Every, single, solitary one of them.
Don't remember that? Another failure of your "MainStreamMedia." Perhaps it would help if you found another source for your news?
A little background: New Orleans has long been plagued with a veritable crime wave on steroids. My research tells me that every Mayor of NOLA and every Governor of LA all the way back to Huey Long in the 1930's have all been Democrats, and they've all wound up in the Gray Bar Hotel for fraud, kickbacks, bribery, theft and other nefarious dealings.
Remember Rep. Joe Jefferson? He's the Loooziana Congressman who got caught with $98,000 (cold hard cash?) in his freezer. He's doing 14 years in a Federal prison.
And so, with a murder rate threatening to eclipse even that of Chicago, the American city with the very strictest anti-gun laws and blood running in the streets (a murder averaging every 12 hours), NOLA's County Sheriff called for NICS (National Instant Criminal System) background check forms to be kept on file forever, rather than destroyed after 30 days. Which was, and is, Federal Law! Oh yeah, CA does this also through its "DEROS" (Dealer Record of Sale) system and has for several years. Big surprise there, right?
(NOTE: The "NICS" System is the background check we've been using for the legal purchase of firearms in America since 1996. The very same one the gun-haters are demanding we inaugurate! Go figure!)
How could they do this? Even though doing so was both illegal and unconstitutional? Easy. They just did it. Remember the old saw: "He who has the gold, rules?" Kind of like when Obama and Holder ran thousands of AR- and AK-style "assault rifles" across our southern border and into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels under the banner of, "Operation Fast and Furious." And this little "program" ran completely under the radar - illegally - until one Brian Terry, a U.S. Border Guard, was murdered by a cartel druggie using one of these illegal rifles. Supplied illegally via the courtesy of the Obama Administration. Annnd, it was you and me, the taxpayers, who bore the freight.
Illegally!
Of course, the program was quickly abandoned and the whole sordid mess swept under the carpet once Terry's murder was uncovered, owing to the fact that Eric Holder was the Attorney General. And as A.G. he functioned entirely as the "Consigliere" for his Godfather, protecting Obama from everyone and everything.
Kind of like the opposite of what Trump suffered through with a "recused" Attorney General Jeff Sessions, doncha' know.
So NOLA's Parish Sheriff confiscated all the guns...from honest, law-abiding citizens, preventing them from protecting themselves from the legions of criminals who were looting and stealing and killing unabated. And by the way, many of those same looters were NOLA's own Police! Check out YouTube for the videos showing NOLA Police, in uniform, looting local stores as the Storm was bearing down.
It's also been reported that they - the cops - emptied the local Cadillac dealer's inventory of 98 brand new Caddies and expropriated them for their own personal rides out of town, in Detroit comfort. Houston, here we come! How nice...
On second thought, maybe that's why the Sheriff grabbed the guns; enlightened self-interest?
Let us now turn to the "Universal" background checks the newly-empowered Democrat majority in the House of Reps want to impose. It's exactly like NOLA, circa 2006. "Universal" means keeping the original NICS application made for purchase or transfer of a firearm...FOREVER! Thus, when the time is right, and it's right in some places sooner than others, they'll come for the guns. And they'll know who has them because they'll have squirreled away the data. Illegally. And then they'll use it...
And for those unfamiliar with our laws, the Congressional "Firearms Protection Act" of 1984 established this inviolable rule, which the gun-haters are endeavoring to climb over, around or underneath. In other words, gut.
Why?
There can be only three possible reasons why Democrats are so dead-set on disarming the public:
First, they actually believe that making it damn near impossible for honest, honorable U. S. citizens to "keep and bear arms," will somehow make it more difficult for criminals, thieves, rapists and murderers from getting their hands on guns. Even though a recent Federal Bureau of Investigation study showed conclusively that more than 92% of all currently-incarcerated felons acquired the guns they used illegally. They stole them or bought them in some back alley.
Less than 8% state they bought them legally.
And no guns laws, old or new, would keep this from happening. Yet, somehow gun haters think it just might. There are more than 25,000 anti-gun laws on our books right now. Are they working? Hello! Criminals are well known for not obeying the laws. That's why they're called criminals!
Second, they just don't think you and me and all the other "ordinary" folks are smart enough to be trusted with a firearm. None of us. Nobody but the military, and maybe the cops should have guns. Just "maybe" on the cops, although they're not too happy with them lately, either. Remember, there's a whole bunch on the Left who think cops should all be fired! Face it: They don't think you know what to eat, or how to raise your kids, or what to drive. You really, reeeeely need their professional help. Because you're too damn dumb to be permitted to have access to a gun, and probably sharp implements as well. Remember: They just want to be left alone to live your lives. Deal with it...
Or third, finally, they actually do harbor the nefarious plan to one day come for all the guns. They intend to try, someday, reeeeel soon, to confiscate them. And in order to have that option, they just have to have a list of who has them, and how many.
Now, that's in direct disregard of our 2nd Amendment, which gives all U. S. citizens in good standing the absolute, Supreme Court-decided individual right to "keep and bear arms." Which the Democrat weenies just cannot abide. If people can't be trusted to feed their kids the food approved by their "superiors," or choose their preferred form of transportation, or how to live and vote, then they certainly should not be trusted to actually own a firearm!
They may actually want to unveil and undertake a full-blown confiscation of our more than 325,000,000 guns from their 100+ million owners at some point in the future. And in order to get there, they need to know who's got them, right now! And so, they need "Universal Background Checks."
Didn't know that, did you?
So, I ask you to ask yourselves: Whether you own a gun or not, and more than 43% of American households do, you might wish to someday acquire one, especially if things start to go south all around you. And if you look carefully around you, in many places they already are. Wouldn't you like the chance, the freedom to be able to exercise your Constitutional Rights?
Or are you okay with just leaving your welfare and that of your family and friends to the neighborhood police. I mean, after all, when seconds count the police are only minutes away...
You'll recall the first was the fabled old City nearly being washed away. As in "Biblically." I was there a few months post-storm and can tell you 4/5ths of it was just...gone!
Poof!
The second? Then Sheriff Henry Lee and his goons paddled around in their row boats, house to house, confiscating guns. From ordinary, law-abiding citizens.
Every, single, solitary one of them.
A little background: New Orleans has long been plagued with a veritable crime wave on steroids. My research tells me that every Mayor of NOLA and every Governor of LA all the way back to Huey Long in the 1930's have all been Democrats, and they've all wound up in the Gray Bar Hotel for fraud, kickbacks, bribery, theft and other nefarious dealings.
Remember Rep. Joe Jefferson? He's the Loooziana Congressman who got caught with $98,000 (cold hard cash?) in his freezer. He's doing 14 years in a Federal prison.
And so, with a murder rate threatening to eclipse even that of Chicago, the American city with the very strictest anti-gun laws and blood running in the streets (a murder averaging every 12 hours), NOLA's County Sheriff called for NICS (National Instant Criminal System) background check forms to be kept on file forever, rather than destroyed after 30 days. Which was, and is, Federal Law! Oh yeah, CA does this also through its "DEROS" (Dealer Record of Sale) system and has for several years. Big surprise there, right?
(NOTE: The "NICS" System is the background check we've been using for the legal purchase of firearms in America since 1996. The very same one the gun-haters are demanding we inaugurate! Go figure!)
How could they do this? Even though doing so was both illegal and unconstitutional? Easy. They just did it. Remember the old saw: "He who has the gold, rules?" Kind of like when Obama and Holder ran thousands of AR- and AK-style "assault rifles" across our southern border and into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels under the banner of, "Operation Fast and Furious." And this little "program" ran completely under the radar - illegally - until one Brian Terry, a U.S. Border Guard, was murdered by a cartel druggie using one of these illegal rifles. Supplied illegally via the courtesy of the Obama Administration. Annnd, it was you and me, the taxpayers, who bore the freight.
Illegally!
Of course, the program was quickly abandoned and the whole sordid mess swept under the carpet once Terry's murder was uncovered, owing to the fact that Eric Holder was the Attorney General. And as A.G. he functioned entirely as the "Consigliere" for his Godfather, protecting Obama from everyone and everything.
Kind of like the opposite of what Trump suffered through with a "recused" Attorney General Jeff Sessions, doncha' know.
So NOLA's Parish Sheriff confiscated all the guns...from honest, law-abiding citizens, preventing them from protecting themselves from the legions of criminals who were looting and stealing and killing unabated. And by the way, many of those same looters were NOLA's own Police! Check out YouTube for the videos showing NOLA Police, in uniform, looting local stores as the Storm was bearing down.
It's also been reported that they - the cops - emptied the local Cadillac dealer's inventory of 98 brand new Caddies and expropriated them for their own personal rides out of town, in Detroit comfort. Houston, here we come! How nice...
On second thought, maybe that's why the Sheriff grabbed the guns; enlightened self-interest?
Let us now turn to the "Universal" background checks the newly-empowered Democrat majority in the House of Reps want to impose. It's exactly like NOLA, circa 2006. "Universal" means keeping the original NICS application made for purchase or transfer of a firearm...FOREVER! Thus, when the time is right, and it's right in some places sooner than others, they'll come for the guns. And they'll know who has them because they'll have squirreled away the data. Illegally. And then they'll use it...
And for those unfamiliar with our laws, the Congressional "Firearms Protection Act" of 1984 established this inviolable rule, which the gun-haters are endeavoring to climb over, around or underneath. In other words, gut.
Why?
There can be only three possible reasons why Democrats are so dead-set on disarming the public:
First, they actually believe that making it damn near impossible for honest, honorable U. S. citizens to "keep and bear arms," will somehow make it more difficult for criminals, thieves, rapists and murderers from getting their hands on guns. Even though a recent Federal Bureau of Investigation study showed conclusively that more than 92% of all currently-incarcerated felons acquired the guns they used illegally. They stole them or bought them in some back alley.
Less than 8% state they bought them legally.
And no guns laws, old or new, would keep this from happening. Yet, somehow gun haters think it just might. There are more than 25,000 anti-gun laws on our books right now. Are they working? Hello! Criminals are well known for not obeying the laws. That's why they're called criminals!
Second, they just don't think you and me and all the other "ordinary" folks are smart enough to be trusted with a firearm. None of us. Nobody but the military, and maybe the cops should have guns. Just "maybe" on the cops, although they're not too happy with them lately, either. Remember, there's a whole bunch on the Left who think cops should all be fired! Face it: They don't think you know what to eat, or how to raise your kids, or what to drive. You really, reeeeely need their professional help. Because you're too damn dumb to be permitted to have access to a gun, and probably sharp implements as well. Remember: They just want to be left alone to live your lives. Deal with it...
Or third, finally, they actually do harbor the nefarious plan to one day come for all the guns. They intend to try, someday, reeeeel soon, to confiscate them. And in order to have that option, they just have to have a list of who has them, and how many.
Now, that's in direct disregard of our 2nd Amendment, which gives all U. S. citizens in good standing the absolute, Supreme Court-decided individual right to "keep and bear arms." Which the Democrat weenies just cannot abide. If people can't be trusted to feed their kids the food approved by their "superiors," or choose their preferred form of transportation, or how to live and vote, then they certainly should not be trusted to actually own a firearm!
They may actually want to unveil and undertake a full-blown confiscation of our more than 325,000,000 guns from their 100+ million owners at some point in the future. And in order to get there, they need to know who's got them, right now! And so, they need "Universal Background Checks."
Didn't know that, did you?
So, I ask you to ask yourselves: Whether you own a gun or not, and more than 43% of American households do, you might wish to someday acquire one, especially if things start to go south all around you. And if you look carefully around you, in many places they already are. Wouldn't you like the chance, the freedom to be able to exercise your Constitutional Rights?
Or are you okay with just leaving your welfare and that of your family and friends to the neighborhood police. I mean, after all, when seconds count the police are only minutes away...
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
"Global Warming" for Dummies...
No doubt you've heard all sorts of stuff about "Global Warming" by now. Or "Climate Chaos," or "Climate Change," or whatever they're choosing to call it these days.
I call it "weather," but hey, that's just me.
You've been told that "96% of all climate scientists agree we're all going to roast in a fiery Hell if we don't change our ways! Of course, you may also know that fully 96% of all climate scientists work directly or indirectly for the Federal Government (colleges, universities, think tanks, NOAA, the military, etc.). You think those folks might want their paychecks to continue? Admitting there's no problem would quickly result in their grants and stipends going bye bye.
You've been told also that we need to cease drilling for oil, and driving SUVs, and even eating cheeseburgers. Anything, they say, to forestall the day when The. World. Ends. due to our incessant desire to flood the atmosphere with so-called "greenhouse gasses."
And now, we're even told by several of our Liberal politicians and even a couple of POTUS candidates that we have but 12 years to live before The Earth Comes to an End! Remember when Al Gore guaranteed us that the polar icecap would melt by the year 2000? Yeah, me too...
In short, you've been told that the Sky is Falling, and that only by giving away all the rest of your money to the Government in the form of new and juicy taxes can this catsafterme be sidestepped. And you'd better do it damned quick or we're all doomed!
Hogwash, I say!
I, your humble servant, your Scribe Without Portfolio, your very own Truth Teller to the Masses, was placed here by God to lead you through this minefield of Liberal bovine excrement. And I intend to do so. Ready? Here goes...
* * * * * * *
The United States of America represents approximately 5% of the Earth's population. Yet, we're told we produce some 13% of all atmospheric pollution and greenhouse gasses.
That's bad.
Except for the fact that we're also told we use up some 25% of all the Earth's resources as a society. That's also bad.
Except that by using proactive and efficient environmental anti-pollution standards, the U. S. of A. has lowered its "carbon footprint" more than 14% in the last twenty years (our new cars are more than 1,000 times cleaner than when auto pollution abatement standards began in the early 1970's!). The rest of the countries on the planet, on the other hand, have increased their pollution rate by more than 30% during that same period.
That's very bad.
Assuming this "climate change" thing is real, clearly we're doing pretty much everything right, and all without disrupting normal commerce or peoples' lives.
China and India together, on the other hand, represent about 40% of the Earth's population and produce more than 45% of the Earth's pollution and greenhouse gasses.
That's awful!
If we actually want to "fix" this whole "Global Warming" theory thing, wouldn't it seem reasonable to demand that the two countries producing the lion's share of the pollution get on board with efforts to stop it?
These two countries have each disavowed any, ANY current effort to minimize greenhouse gas production (the "Paris Accord" unsigned, semi-agreement Trump bowed out of did not require either country to do anything to reduce pollution for the next twenty years). And they're each opening new coal-fired electricity generation plants on a weekly basis. Considering this, wouldn't you think these same "eco-warriors" who demand that we devolve back to the 1850's should be requiring the same from the Chinese and the Indians (red dot, not "whoo whoo")?
But no! Crickets! Not a single little word from any of these "climate warriors." Nary a one!
So until or unless the 6 Democrat senators who are running for POTUS, and the 69 Dem members of the House who have also added their names to this effort, and just about ALL the members of the so-called "MainStreamMedia" choose to demand the same brutal, unworkable, self-defeating, laughably expensive and totally unnecessary abatement actions from all countries, then I suggest we just ignore them.
I know I will...
I call it "weather," but hey, that's just me.
You've been told that "96% of all climate scientists agree we're all going to roast in a fiery Hell if we don't change our ways! Of course, you may also know that fully 96% of all climate scientists work directly or indirectly for the Federal Government (colleges, universities, think tanks, NOAA, the military, etc.). You think those folks might want their paychecks to continue? Admitting there's no problem would quickly result in their grants and stipends going bye bye.
You've been told also that we need to cease drilling for oil, and driving SUVs, and even eating cheeseburgers. Anything, they say, to forestall the day when The. World. Ends. due to our incessant desire to flood the atmosphere with so-called "greenhouse gasses."
And now, we're even told by several of our Liberal politicians and even a couple of POTUS candidates that we have but 12 years to live before The Earth Comes to an End! Remember when Al Gore guaranteed us that the polar icecap would melt by the year 2000? Yeah, me too...
In short, you've been told that the Sky is Falling, and that only by giving away all the rest of your money to the Government in the form of new and juicy taxes can this catsafterme be sidestepped. And you'd better do it damned quick or we're all doomed!
Hogwash, I say!
I, your humble servant, your Scribe Without Portfolio, your very own Truth Teller to the Masses, was placed here by God to lead you through this minefield of Liberal bovine excrement. And I intend to do so. Ready? Here goes...
* * * * * * *
The United States of America represents approximately 5% of the Earth's population. Yet, we're told we produce some 13% of all atmospheric pollution and greenhouse gasses.
That's bad.
Except for the fact that we're also told we use up some 25% of all the Earth's resources as a society. That's also bad.
Except that by using proactive and efficient environmental anti-pollution standards, the U. S. of A. has lowered its "carbon footprint" more than 14% in the last twenty years (our new cars are more than 1,000 times cleaner than when auto pollution abatement standards began in the early 1970's!). The rest of the countries on the planet, on the other hand, have increased their pollution rate by more than 30% during that same period.
That's very bad.
Assuming this "climate change" thing is real, clearly we're doing pretty much everything right, and all without disrupting normal commerce or peoples' lives.
China and India together, on the other hand, represent about 40% of the Earth's population and produce more than 45% of the Earth's pollution and greenhouse gasses.
That's awful!
If we actually want to "fix" this whole "Global Warming" theory thing, wouldn't it seem reasonable to demand that the two countries producing the lion's share of the pollution get on board with efforts to stop it?
These two countries have each disavowed any, ANY current effort to minimize greenhouse gas production (the "Paris Accord" unsigned, semi-agreement Trump bowed out of did not require either country to do anything to reduce pollution for the next twenty years). And they're each opening new coal-fired electricity generation plants on a weekly basis. Considering this, wouldn't you think these same "eco-warriors" who demand that we devolve back to the 1850's should be requiring the same from the Chinese and the Indians (red dot, not "whoo whoo")?
But no! Crickets! Not a single little word from any of these "climate warriors." Nary a one!
So until or unless the 6 Democrat senators who are running for POTUS, and the 69 Dem members of the House who have also added their names to this effort, and just about ALL the members of the so-called "MainStreamMedia" choose to demand the same brutal, unworkable, self-defeating, laughably expensive and totally unnecessary abatement actions from all countries, then I suggest we just ignore them.
I know I will...
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Governmental Overreach...
(You'll recall my recent rant about the inherent unfairness in this whole "minimum wage" thing that Governmental meddling and intrusion has visited upon us. And then this little palate cleanser popped over the transom and gave me a new reason to spew some more venom in its direction...)
I just learned that the City Council of Anaheim, California, the home of the "Happiest Place on Earth," just voted to force Disneyland to pay its housekeepers $21.01 per hour...
Housekeepers. Let that sink in. Making more than $40,000 per year!
Hmmmmm...
I'm wondering what gives this body the right, or even the impetus, to decide what a private employer - their PRIMARY private employer - pays its employees? Do they have an ownership interest in this enterprise? No. Are they Board-appointed Officers of the corporation? No. Are they employees of the company? No. Has the company asked them for advice and counsel as to how much they should pay their employees? And unequivocal NO!
Then what on Earth, I ask rhetorically, causes these bureaucrats to somehow think they have any right to dictate employment policy to a public company that's put their little hamlet on the map?
I ask again, by what logic does this political group, or any group, including the Federal Gummint, have the right to insert itself between the folks who hire, and the folks who are hired?
There is no right. But they do. All the time. Without any more rhyme or reason than simple "fairness."
Think about this: If you increase the cost of any product or service an entity provides to its clients, then the cost of that product or service must necessary increase or that entity will face losses. Losses which could force an increase in the sale price of that product or service in order to offset the increased investment, and potentially causing a diminution of the patronage of that entity.
In other words, you hike the prices and some folks are just going to refuse to pay them. Period. Which could - and likely would - reduce revenues, and profits, which could - and likely would - force a reduction or elimination of the product or service being offered.
In other words, these bureaucratic pinhead bozos could kill the Golden Goose.
Do they care? I doubt it. I doubt they're even collectively smart enough to know just how badly they're screwing the pooch. But they're not alone...
Everyday in the Halls of Congress Very. Smart. People. who've been elected to move to the Swamp and make some laws, bring with them to D. C. their own lack of education, knowledge, compassion, empathy and understanding of the basics of economics. And then they prove it by their actions. Unfortunately. And we, the American People are the recipients of that ill-fated effort.
Look again at this situation: Anaheim's City Counsel is forcing Disneyland to become less profitable. They want Disney to pay the folks who make the beds to earn more than a beginning member of our U. S. Military. They want Disney to pay their maids more than they likely pay their Asst. Night Manager.
So folks, when the kids start clamoring for a visit to Disneyland, and their little day passes have increased in price to the point you need a second mortgage on your home to visit, then perhaps you'll stay home and the Anaheim City Council members will get hounded out of office...
I just learned that the City Council of Anaheim, California, the home of the "Happiest Place on Earth," just voted to force Disneyland to pay its housekeepers $21.01 per hour...
Housekeepers. Let that sink in. Making more than $40,000 per year!
Hmmmmm...
I'm wondering what gives this body the right, or even the impetus, to decide what a private employer - their PRIMARY private employer - pays its employees? Do they have an ownership interest in this enterprise? No. Are they Board-appointed Officers of the corporation? No. Are they employees of the company? No. Has the company asked them for advice and counsel as to how much they should pay their employees? And unequivocal NO!
Then what on Earth, I ask rhetorically, causes these bureaucrats to somehow think they have any right to dictate employment policy to a public company that's put their little hamlet on the map?
I ask again, by what logic does this political group, or any group, including the Federal Gummint, have the right to insert itself between the folks who hire, and the folks who are hired?
There is no right. But they do. All the time. Without any more rhyme or reason than simple "fairness."
Think about this: If you increase the cost of any product or service an entity provides to its clients, then the cost of that product or service must necessary increase or that entity will face losses. Losses which could force an increase in the sale price of that product or service in order to offset the increased investment, and potentially causing a diminution of the patronage of that entity.
In other words, you hike the prices and some folks are just going to refuse to pay them. Period. Which could - and likely would - reduce revenues, and profits, which could - and likely would - force a reduction or elimination of the product or service being offered.
In other words, these bureaucratic pinhead bozos could kill the Golden Goose.
Do they care? I doubt it. I doubt they're even collectively smart enough to know just how badly they're screwing the pooch. But they're not alone...
Everyday in the Halls of Congress Very. Smart. People. who've been elected to move to the Swamp and make some laws, bring with them to D. C. their own lack of education, knowledge, compassion, empathy and understanding of the basics of economics. And then they prove it by their actions. Unfortunately. And we, the American People are the recipients of that ill-fated effort.
Look again at this situation: Anaheim's City Counsel is forcing Disneyland to become less profitable. They want Disney to pay the folks who make the beds to earn more than a beginning member of our U. S. Military. They want Disney to pay their maids more than they likely pay their Asst. Night Manager.
So folks, when the kids start clamoring for a visit to Disneyland, and their little day passes have increased in price to the point you need a second mortgage on your home to visit, then perhaps you'll stay home and the Anaheim City Council members will get hounded out of office...
Friday, March 15, 2019
When's a Good Time to Buy a Tesla?
America has finally, FINALLY succeeded in pumping more than 12,000,000 barrels of oil a day!
(BTW, that's Twelve Million, which is a whole hell of a lot!)
This is a monumental accomplishment for us, the same folks who've been shipping off boatloads of cash in exchange for oil to those nice folks in the Middle East who hate us and want us dead. We've been doing that since the 1950's. In spades (can I still say that?)!
When our oil companies dug the first oil wells in Arabia back in the early 40's, the Arabs were riding camels. Now, their Rolls Royce-ses-ses are gold plated. Their camels are gold plated! Their GOLD is gold plated!
Thanks to Good Ol' 'Murica!
Well, Pilgrim, no longer. Thanks to new and exciting technology by way of which we can reclaim billions of barrels of oil from the vast expanse of Bakken Tar Sands resources in the Pacific Northwest, without proven negative effect, we've now eclipsed all foreign production! We now produce more oil than any other country on the planet!
In fact, we produce so much (how much?) we're now a NET EXPORTER OF OIL AND NATURAL GAS!
Did you know that? If not, why not? Could it be you're gathering up your news from less than reliable sources?
And so what does America's new crop of Leftist "leaders," you know, all those "Progressive" Democrats, want to do now that we've become energy independent? How do they wish us to proceed now that we've solved a stupendous problem that's been plaguing us for 70 years?
They want America to stop drilling for oil, stop making cars, stop flying on airplanes, stop heating and cooling our homes, stop living in the 21st Century! That, folks, is the Democrat's Green New Deal.
Why on Earth would we want to turn back the clock to the 1850's where folks had to be content with horses and buggies for their transportation? That's IF they had a horse and IF they had a buggy.
Well, we wouldn't! But the "more equal than you" want you to walk while they fly private. And they're flying private more than at any other time in history. Joe Biden's 3rd Quarter expense report shows he spent more than $900 Thousand Dollars of his supporters donations flying around on little executive jets in just the past three months. He and the rest of them want you to struggle while they live their tony lives in comfort and privilege. Behind high walls, I might add. They want your insignificant little life to take a backseat to theirs. Because they are the "more equal" than you.
Read "Animal Farm" again if you need a refresher course in what that last term means...
They want you to give them most all your money so they can redistribute it in all those places where it will do the most good. Good for what? To "fix" Global Warming. Or Climate Disruption. Or Climate Chaos. Or Temperature Variation. Or whatever they're calling it now.
Or, as I call it, "weather."
Oh yeah, and insure they continue to stay in control by influencing your future votes, their way.
Since Prez Jimmuh "Peanuts" Carter breathed life into the Department of Energy back in the early 1970's, its job was to make us energy independent. And we funded it to the tune of $Billions a year and staffed it with more than 74,000 current employees, all making $100,000-plus a year, all presumably doing their best to stop importing oil.
It has never even come remotely close to doing so. But via this new "fracking" (hydraulic fracturing) technology, which once again has no proven ill effects on the environment, not that they haven't tried to find some, we can finally say goodbye to oil sheiks and say hello to low-cost energy. And we can create tens of thousands of new, high-paying, UNION jobs in the process! But the Greenies among us don't want low-cost energy. They want high-cost energy; energy bought from windmills and solar panels and other iffy sources of power. They want us to leave oil and natural gas in the ground (Oil bad! Wind good!) and use power that comes from unreliable and outrageously expensive windmills and solar panels.
(NOTE TO GREENIES: The sun doesn't shine at night. Windless days produce powerless evenings, and batteries aren't so good at storing energy for very long. No energy, no lights. No heat. No power.).
So they want us to spend what some have estimated to be $93,000,000,000 (that's Ninety Three Trillion Dollars!) to "fix" our climate. That, by the way, represents spending roughly $630,000 per American family household!
Nowwww, considering that we Americans represent only 5% of the world's population, and 25% of all consumption, but produce only 13% of all atmospheric pollution, that seems like a reasonable goal. Yettttt, China and India together produce more than 50% of all atmospheric pollution, are doing absolutely nothing to reduce or eliminate their "carbon footprints" and are opening coal-fired power plants on a weekly basis! Have you noticed any eco-weenies calling for China or India to reduce their carbon output? Ummmm, no, no you haven't.
The fact that they haven't - and aren't - demanding that China and India start solving their pollution issues, proves that these folks aren't about solving the Earth's pollution problem. No, they seem to be all about ruining America's economy and competitiveness among the world's countries and rendering us, the proletariat, defenseless, powerless and hat-in-hand. THEY want to be in charge of the Country. Of our economy. And of our lives.
I don't want that. Do you?
It was just announced that those of us who live in Taxifornia now face the fallout from years of Democrat mismanagement of our power production and delivery. Our power companies, with PG and E leading the charge, have just announced that they are turning off the power to more than a dozen counties in northern CA. Those counties count more than 800,000 residents. Residents who will have their lights, their A/C, their washer and dryer, and their TVs turned off, because we have the wind blowing more than normal, and the wind might cause a fire, a fire yet to be started, to blow out of control. So for what MIGHT happen, rate-paying residents will be punished. In advance.
And forget washers and dryers, what about those who depend upon dialysis machines and home oxygen generators? Are they to just be left to die?
Think on that for awhile...
BTW, if you plan to acquire one of those Teslas, or any one of those other expensive plug-in electric cars, or you already have one, I'd like to ask just exactly how you intend to escape a high-fire danger when the folks you're buying power from...just gave you the finger? Didn't think about that when you gave Elon Musk all your money, now did you?
I've got some really bad news for Lefties. Electricity does not come from the ether! I know this may be a shock to the system of tree-huggers, but it's true. It first has to be manufactured, most usually from coal- or natural gas-fired generation plants, and then made available to rate-payers via transformers and wires and power poles and the like. It is not free! It has to be purchased before you can use it to make your little electric car go zoom zoom. And when the power company goes down for the count, so will you...
BTW, you might have noticed that the most popular vehicles for sale right now are huge, heavy SUVs that will hold a soccer team and consume vast quantities of now inexpensive gasoline. Inexpensive in all but Taxifornia, however. Here, we must pay a yuuuuuge, $2 a gallon premium for living near the ocean it seems. Those of us who are still here, that is.
But for the rest of you out there in Good Ol' America, let's hear it for internal combustion engines!
(BTW, that's Twelve Million, which is a whole hell of a lot!)
This is a monumental accomplishment for us, the same folks who've been shipping off boatloads of cash in exchange for oil to those nice folks in the Middle East who hate us and want us dead. We've been doing that since the 1950's. In spades (can I still say that?)!
When our oil companies dug the first oil wells in Arabia back in the early 40's, the Arabs were riding camels. Now, their Rolls Royce-ses-ses are gold plated. Their camels are gold plated! Their GOLD is gold plated!
Thanks to Good Ol' 'Murica!
Well, Pilgrim, no longer. Thanks to new and exciting technology by way of which we can reclaim billions of barrels of oil from the vast expanse of Bakken Tar Sands resources in the Pacific Northwest, without proven negative effect, we've now eclipsed all foreign production! We now produce more oil than any other country on the planet!
In fact, we produce so much (how much?) we're now a NET EXPORTER OF OIL AND NATURAL GAS!
Did you know that? If not, why not? Could it be you're gathering up your news from less than reliable sources?
And so what does America's new crop of Leftist "leaders," you know, all those "Progressive" Democrats, want to do now that we've become energy independent? How do they wish us to proceed now that we've solved a stupendous problem that's been plaguing us for 70 years?
They want America to stop drilling for oil, stop making cars, stop flying on airplanes, stop heating and cooling our homes, stop living in the 21st Century! That, folks, is the Democrat's Green New Deal.
Why on Earth would we want to turn back the clock to the 1850's where folks had to be content with horses and buggies for their transportation? That's IF they had a horse and IF they had a buggy.
Well, we wouldn't! But the "more equal than you" want you to walk while they fly private. And they're flying private more than at any other time in history. Joe Biden's 3rd Quarter expense report shows he spent more than $900 Thousand Dollars of his supporters donations flying around on little executive jets in just the past three months. He and the rest of them want you to struggle while they live their tony lives in comfort and privilege. Behind high walls, I might add. They want your insignificant little life to take a backseat to theirs. Because they are the "more equal" than you.
Read "Animal Farm" again if you need a refresher course in what that last term means...
They want you to give them most all your money so they can redistribute it in all those places where it will do the most good. Good for what? To "fix" Global Warming. Or Climate Disruption. Or Climate Chaos. Or Temperature Variation. Or whatever they're calling it now.
Or, as I call it, "weather."
Oh yeah, and insure they continue to stay in control by influencing your future votes, their way.
Since Prez Jimmuh "Peanuts" Carter breathed life into the Department of Energy back in the early 1970's, its job was to make us energy independent. And we funded it to the tune of $Billions a year and staffed it with more than 74,000 current employees, all making $100,000-plus a year, all presumably doing their best to stop importing oil.
It has never even come remotely close to doing so. But via this new "fracking" (hydraulic fracturing) technology, which once again has no proven ill effects on the environment, not that they haven't tried to find some, we can finally say goodbye to oil sheiks and say hello to low-cost energy. And we can create tens of thousands of new, high-paying, UNION jobs in the process! But the Greenies among us don't want low-cost energy. They want high-cost energy; energy bought from windmills and solar panels and other iffy sources of power. They want us to leave oil and natural gas in the ground (Oil bad! Wind good!) and use power that comes from unreliable and outrageously expensive windmills and solar panels.
(NOTE TO GREENIES: The sun doesn't shine at night. Windless days produce powerless evenings, and batteries aren't so good at storing energy for very long. No energy, no lights. No heat. No power.).
So they want us to spend what some have estimated to be $93,000,000,000 (that's Ninety Three Trillion Dollars!) to "fix" our climate. That, by the way, represents spending roughly $630,000 per American family household!
Nowwww, considering that we Americans represent only 5% of the world's population, and 25% of all consumption, but produce only 13% of all atmospheric pollution, that seems like a reasonable goal. Yettttt, China and India together produce more than 50% of all atmospheric pollution, are doing absolutely nothing to reduce or eliminate their "carbon footprints" and are opening coal-fired power plants on a weekly basis! Have you noticed any eco-weenies calling for China or India to reduce their carbon output? Ummmm, no, no you haven't.
The fact that they haven't - and aren't - demanding that China and India start solving their pollution issues, proves that these folks aren't about solving the Earth's pollution problem. No, they seem to be all about ruining America's economy and competitiveness among the world's countries and rendering us, the proletariat, defenseless, powerless and hat-in-hand. THEY want to be in charge of the Country. Of our economy. And of our lives.
I don't want that. Do you?
News Flash!
It was just announced that those of us who live in Taxifornia now face the fallout from years of Democrat mismanagement of our power production and delivery. Our power companies, with PG and E leading the charge, have just announced that they are turning off the power to more than a dozen counties in northern CA. Those counties count more than 800,000 residents. Residents who will have their lights, their A/C, their washer and dryer, and their TVs turned off, because we have the wind blowing more than normal, and the wind might cause a fire, a fire yet to be started, to blow out of control. So for what MIGHT happen, rate-paying residents will be punished. In advance.
And forget washers and dryers, what about those who depend upon dialysis machines and home oxygen generators? Are they to just be left to die?
Think on that for awhile...
BTW, if you plan to acquire one of those Teslas, or any one of those other expensive plug-in electric cars, or you already have one, I'd like to ask just exactly how you intend to escape a high-fire danger when the folks you're buying power from...just gave you the finger? Didn't think about that when you gave Elon Musk all your money, now did you?
I've got some really bad news for Lefties. Electricity does not come from the ether! I know this may be a shock to the system of tree-huggers, but it's true. It first has to be manufactured, most usually from coal- or natural gas-fired generation plants, and then made available to rate-payers via transformers and wires and power poles and the like. It is not free! It has to be purchased before you can use it to make your little electric car go zoom zoom. And when the power company goes down for the count, so will you...
BTW, you might have noticed that the most popular vehicles for sale right now are huge, heavy SUVs that will hold a soccer team and consume vast quantities of now inexpensive gasoline. Inexpensive in all but Taxifornia, however. Here, we must pay a yuuuuuge, $2 a gallon premium for living near the ocean it seems. Those of us who are still here, that is.
But for the rest of you out there in Good Ol' America, let's hear it for internal combustion engines!
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Have You Ever Wondered...
...what the Minimum Wage would be if there were no Minimum Wage?
Think of it: If the Feds didn't stick their gigantic, gaping maw into our daily lives, inserting themselves between us and those we might wish to employ, or employ us, then what might those prospective employers actually be willing to pay us to obtain our labor?
Think a bit further: If this capitalistic, market-based economy in which we're told we live was to actually be operated that way, then employers would compete for our labor! They would pay us what we're worth, not just the minimum they can get away with.
And, conversely, given that we're guaranteed the freedom to "pursue" happiness, not to actually achieve it, perhaps that "what we're worth" number could be quite a bit less than normally expected these days.
As a graduate economist, a guy with a successful bizz career, a guy who has hired and trained and managed hundreds of folks, including many just starting out, I hereby offer up the admittedly-radical theory that the MinWage is a net deterrent to a starting pay that mirrors the applicant's true value.
What is the "Minimum Wage" anyway? It's a "snatched-out-of-the-air" number chosen by politicians to make employers pay their newby employees more than they're actually worth. Remember, they're spending somebody else's money! They're pretty good at that, right?
It was just a few years back that minimum wage jobs...only paid a minimum wage. Little Johnnie needs an after school job so he can earn some money to gas up the Family Truckster and take Cute Suzie to the movies. He knows less than nothing, has almost no skills and is worth farrrrrr less than the MinWage. But the Feds decided that they must place a floor on that number, lest an evil employer try to screw an ignorant employee like Little Johnnie out of his labor.
And that number has been determined by each individual state, with the caveat that they must be equal to or greater than the standard Federal MinWage. Greater's fine, just not less. And that number kept on creeping up, only slightly, as the years wore on, settling at about $7.65 right about now. However, the imposition of that MinWage standard has imposed a deterrent to hiring for decades. If you've got a job to do that's not worth upwards of $10 an hour, which is what the MinWage would cost if grossed-up to cover matching contributions and taxes the employer must pay, then you simply don't hire. Period.
Make it too tough for an employer to hire, he'll not hire. Get in his stuff too deep and he'll just rebel.
Buuuuuuut, states like CA and NY and MD and OR and WA decided somewhere along the line that it's THEIR job to decide how much a Korean grocer, or an Italian restauranteur or a Chinese laundry, or a Mexican gardener should pay its help. Talk about chutzpah (Jewish deli)! And once they got started, and learned they could pander to a whole new group of people looking to trade their vote for "stuff," they kept on increasing the amount of "stuff." In the case of the MinWage, from modest increases in the beginning, it's now almost universally $15.00 an hour over just the past couple of years, with plans to jack it up even further!
You might wish to know this whole "Fight for Fifteen" campaign was financed and has been orchestrated by the unions, who are looking for an entire new flock to fleece, as their membership has dwindled alarmingly over the years. So if they can get the politicians to make the employers pony up $15 an hour, then they can force the newby employees to unionize, and then pay monthly dues. Dues, I might add, that would erase the hourly increase their new members just realized. Yep, the MinWage is becoming the "living wage." Except it never really works that way...
BTW, you might want to also think about the fact that our newly-minted U. S. soldiers and sailors make LESS than $15 an hour...
Sooooo, in this day and age of everyone getting a trophy for just participating, perhaps people don't want to compete for their wages. Perhaps they'd rather just leave the negotiating to the Gummint. I mean, after all, aren't these the very same folks who tax the guy who hired you for hiring you, and you for having taken the job? Should THESE be the folks who are calling the shots as to what everybody makes?
By the way, Little Johnnie, no gas for you and Suzie. Tough noogies...
Think of it: If the Feds didn't stick their gigantic, gaping maw into our daily lives, inserting themselves between us and those we might wish to employ, or employ us, then what might those prospective employers actually be willing to pay us to obtain our labor?
Think a bit further: If this capitalistic, market-based economy in which we're told we live was to actually be operated that way, then employers would compete for our labor! They would pay us what we're worth, not just the minimum they can get away with.
And, conversely, given that we're guaranteed the freedom to "pursue" happiness, not to actually achieve it, perhaps that "what we're worth" number could be quite a bit less than normally expected these days.
As a graduate economist, a guy with a successful bizz career, a guy who has hired and trained and managed hundreds of folks, including many just starting out, I hereby offer up the admittedly-radical theory that the MinWage is a net deterrent to a starting pay that mirrors the applicant's true value.
What is the "Minimum Wage" anyway? It's a "snatched-out-of-the-air" number chosen by politicians to make employers pay their newby employees more than they're actually worth. Remember, they're spending somebody else's money! They're pretty good at that, right?
It was just a few years back that minimum wage jobs...only paid a minimum wage. Little Johnnie needs an after school job so he can earn some money to gas up the Family Truckster and take Cute Suzie to the movies. He knows less than nothing, has almost no skills and is worth farrrrrr less than the MinWage. But the Feds decided that they must place a floor on that number, lest an evil employer try to screw an ignorant employee like Little Johnnie out of his labor.
And that number has been determined by each individual state, with the caveat that they must be equal to or greater than the standard Federal MinWage. Greater's fine, just not less. And that number kept on creeping up, only slightly, as the years wore on, settling at about $7.65 right about now. However, the imposition of that MinWage standard has imposed a deterrent to hiring for decades. If you've got a job to do that's not worth upwards of $10 an hour, which is what the MinWage would cost if grossed-up to cover matching contributions and taxes the employer must pay, then you simply don't hire. Period.
Make it too tough for an employer to hire, he'll not hire. Get in his stuff too deep and he'll just rebel.
Buuuuuuut, states like CA and NY and MD and OR and WA decided somewhere along the line that it's THEIR job to decide how much a Korean grocer, or an Italian restauranteur or a Chinese laundry, or a Mexican gardener should pay its help. Talk about chutzpah (Jewish deli)! And once they got started, and learned they could pander to a whole new group of people looking to trade their vote for "stuff," they kept on increasing the amount of "stuff." In the case of the MinWage, from modest increases in the beginning, it's now almost universally $15.00 an hour over just the past couple of years, with plans to jack it up even further!
You might wish to know this whole "Fight for Fifteen" campaign was financed and has been orchestrated by the unions, who are looking for an entire new flock to fleece, as their membership has dwindled alarmingly over the years. So if they can get the politicians to make the employers pony up $15 an hour, then they can force the newby employees to unionize, and then pay monthly dues. Dues, I might add, that would erase the hourly increase their new members just realized. Yep, the MinWage is becoming the "living wage." Except it never really works that way...
BTW, you might want to also think about the fact that our newly-minted U. S. soldiers and sailors make LESS than $15 an hour...
Sooooo, in this day and age of everyone getting a trophy for just participating, perhaps people don't want to compete for their wages. Perhaps they'd rather just leave the negotiating to the Gummint. I mean, after all, aren't these the very same folks who tax the guy who hired you for hiring you, and you for having taken the job? Should THESE be the folks who are calling the shots as to what everybody makes?
By the way, Little Johnnie, no gas for you and Suzie. Tough noogies...
Saturday, March 9, 2019
228/197...
The Democrats tell us they're all for "securing our border."
They want lots of new judges, and border guards, and lasers, and drones, and x-rays, and unicorn farts and all sorts of other stuff to "secure" the border.
What they don't want is a wall/fence/barrier/impediment of any kind. Why? Because that might actually keep illegal aliens out...
Whoa! What's the disconnect here? They say they want "border security," yet they do everything in their power to keep it from happening. Perhaps, just perhaps, they really don't want the border secure? Could it be they have some nefarious reason for choosing to give away our national sovereignty without so much as a whimper?
Yes, Pilgrim, they do...
They're looking for a whole bunch of brand-new voters! There. I said it. They want these hoards of new "arrivals," as San Fran Nan Pelosi, newly-enshrined Speaker of the House just called them, to become the Dems' brand-new voting bloc. They want to welcome them with open arms, giving them food and shelter and clothing and drivers' licenses and everything else they need to become new "Americans," without first requiring they come here legally. And without first insuring our citizenry, including our Vets and the homeless, are taken care of. By doing so they would insure they remain in control of both The House and states like CA and NY and MD and IL and OR and WA in perpetuity.
Think I've been smoking some of those anti-God cigarettes so much in favor out here in the once-Golden State? Wrongo, oh Conservative breath! They're already voting in San Francisco's municipal elections! Legally! And they're quietly voting in NY and NJ and WA and OR an so many other Lefty states that "putting this toothpaste back in the tube" will likely prove impossible.
So what's that number at the top of this little rant actually mean? The House voted yesterday on its signature piece of legislation. They called it "HR-1," meaning it's the single most important Bill they wished to pass. And what is HR-1? It completely reorganizes campaign finance laws and regulations, as well as how Congressional Districts are drawn. And oh yeah, it seems to indicate that new "arrivals," Dem-speak for illegal aliens, would be welcomed at the polls.
Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) noticed this little "error." So he put forth a "Motion to Recommit," as it's called, which was an effort to revise the HR-1 language to state, clearly, that illegals may not vote legally. Just as our Constitution clearly states. What did the Democrats do?
They voted 228 to 197 against the motion. And that 227 included 41 Democrats! Every Republican save one voted for the measure. And that one, Justin Amash (R-MI), was the "Republican" (in name only) who voted against our Constitution. (NOTE: This guy Amash is reported to be ready to jump into the 2020 race against Trump! Stalking horse Democrat?)
Think of that, my fellow 'Muricans: 41 House Democrats voted to make voting by illegals...LEGAL!
So now, when you hear a Democrat, especially one who's running for POTUS, tell us they're all for "border security," be it known that every single one of the announced Dem candidates for POTUS is against border security and for illegal immigrant voting.
Surprised? You shouldn't be. This is not your Grandfather's Democrat Party...
They want lots of new judges, and border guards, and lasers, and drones, and x-rays, and unicorn farts and all sorts of other stuff to "secure" the border.
What they don't want is a wall/fence/barrier/impediment of any kind. Why? Because that might actually keep illegal aliens out...
Whoa! What's the disconnect here? They say they want "border security," yet they do everything in their power to keep it from happening. Perhaps, just perhaps, they really don't want the border secure? Could it be they have some nefarious reason for choosing to give away our national sovereignty without so much as a whimper?
Yes, Pilgrim, they do...
They're looking for a whole bunch of brand-new voters! There. I said it. They want these hoards of new "arrivals," as San Fran Nan Pelosi, newly-enshrined Speaker of the House just called them, to become the Dems' brand-new voting bloc. They want to welcome them with open arms, giving them food and shelter and clothing and drivers' licenses and everything else they need to become new "Americans," without first requiring they come here legally. And without first insuring our citizenry, including our Vets and the homeless, are taken care of. By doing so they would insure they remain in control of both The House and states like CA and NY and MD and IL and OR and WA in perpetuity.
Think I've been smoking some of those anti-God cigarettes so much in favor out here in the once-Golden State? Wrongo, oh Conservative breath! They're already voting in San Francisco's municipal elections! Legally! And they're quietly voting in NY and NJ and WA and OR an so many other Lefty states that "putting this toothpaste back in the tube" will likely prove impossible.
So what's that number at the top of this little rant actually mean? The House voted yesterday on its signature piece of legislation. They called it "HR-1," meaning it's the single most important Bill they wished to pass. And what is HR-1? It completely reorganizes campaign finance laws and regulations, as well as how Congressional Districts are drawn. And oh yeah, it seems to indicate that new "arrivals," Dem-speak for illegal aliens, would be welcomed at the polls.
Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) noticed this little "error." So he put forth a "Motion to Recommit," as it's called, which was an effort to revise the HR-1 language to state, clearly, that illegals may not vote legally. Just as our Constitution clearly states. What did the Democrats do?
They voted 228 to 197 against the motion. And that 227 included 41 Democrats! Every Republican save one voted for the measure. And that one, Justin Amash (R-MI), was the "Republican" (in name only) who voted against our Constitution. (NOTE: This guy Amash is reported to be ready to jump into the 2020 race against Trump! Stalking horse Democrat?)
Think of that, my fellow 'Muricans: 41 House Democrats voted to make voting by illegals...LEGAL!
So now, when you hear a Democrat, especially one who's running for POTUS, tell us they're all for "border security," be it known that every single one of the announced Dem candidates for POTUS is against border security and for illegal immigrant voting.
Surprised? You shouldn't be. This is not your Grandfather's Democrat Party...
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Reparations!
Although the more honest of the Progressive Liberal Communist Marxist Socialist Redistributionist Pinko Weenies among us have long been calling for reparations to be paid to African-Americans for the wrongs done their ancestors by our ancestors some 400 years ago, no one in the mainstream of American politics has been even remotely serious about the proposition.
For obvious reasons.
No American alive today has owned slaves, despite what they'd like you to believe.
And no American alive today has been owned, regardless of what hip hop artists and Lefty politicians and Hollywood "stars" tell us.
And no one alive today has been directly harmed by those who in the past owned slaves. So, this topic has only been embraced by the absolute fringe elements within the Democrat Party, and then only to raucous guffaws and belly laughs.
That, by the way, would be the Party that helped create and protect the Ku Klux Klan, the Party that voted in lock-step against the 15th Amendment (Voting Rights Act), and the Party that voted to a man against the Civil Rights Act.
(Look it up, all you naysayers!)
So, like I said, universally rejected by all with more than a room temperature-I.Q. Until now, that is...
Now, finally, due in no small part to the many and varied contributions of race-bating Blacks like the Reverend Al and Cory and Kamala and "Mad Max," the call for "reparations" have finally gone mainstream...
In just the past week African-American Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Jamaican-Indian Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) have given their full-throated endorsements to formal reparations. To Blacks only, I presume. Even though there must have been many more identity groups over the years that we Americans have sorely pissed off, these Black Senators called for payments only to Blacks.
Isn't that racist?
Kind of interesting, don't you think? Especially as Booker's folks were both Wall Street bankers who put him through school at Stanford, Yale and Harvard. And Harris, who, with a Jamaican dad whose family had owned slaves, he says, and an Indian ("red dot," not "whoo whoo") momma, who likely has less African blood in her than does The Donald.
And not to be outdone, our own Oklahoma "Native American" of the High Cheekbones Tribe, and recently-announced POTUS candidate Senator Elizabeth ("Fauxchahontas") Warren (D-MA) has done them one better by calling for reparations for Native Americans, also. Lemme' see here, I guess it's one of those, "If you can't join them, why not try to beat them?"
Well, I dunno' about you, but I'M DAMNED HAPPY ABOUT THIS! Yesireeeee Bob, even if your name isn't Bob, I'm picking up what these pandering bozo miscreants are putting down. Why?
Because I, The Chuckmeister, self-identify as Black, I want "my people" to have their/our stain of slavery washed away! And only bushels of cash, preferably from the pockets of some Liberal billionaire, can make that happen. Pluuuus, as luck would have it, I ALSO self-identify as a Native American! That's kinda' like hitting a double without ever going to bat!
And only a Big Pile of Benjamins can do the washing!
And don't tell me this can't work. Remember Rachel Dolezol? She's the White babe who got her hair frizzed, slathered on loads of (wo)Man Tan and "self-identified" as a Black. So good was she at it that she was elected the President of her region's NAACP chapter in Oregon! Damn! Think of that; a White woman preaching to a room full of Black women about...the evils of White privilege. Just makes you want to puke, don't it?
However, as luck would have it, this is me hitting the Lotto! Imagine, being both Black and an "Indigenous People," I stand to reap some big-time reward if these folks were to ever get elected POTUS. They'd pay back their adoring voters, like me, with oodles of somebody-else's cash, which I'd gladly take, since mine has been scooped up and redistributed by these same bozos to others so many times before.
Annnd, it could only get better! Let's assume others of the Pandering Posse realize there's an Identity Group that's been left out. And so they gladly include them. Can't you see it? How about Eskimos need some extra cash due to "climate change." It's too damn cold to get a decent meal of sushi up there, so somebody must pay!
How about some money for the Chinese for being forced to build the railroads back in the 1850's? Jews? Ummm, The Holocaust? Hello! Don't the Jewish People deserve some of them there reparations? I would think so! How about the Irish? Back in the late Nineteenth Century a "Mick" couldn't even get a job in New York City!
(By the way, I also "self-identify" as Irish, which...I am. So that makes it quite a bit easier.)
And by God, don't even try to accuse me of trying to get over by claiming to be something I'm not. If I'm accused of this, I'll just mention that I also "self-identify" as transgender, and so anyone who gives me grief will wind up getting slapped with a hate crime!
You like it? I thought you would...
Now, we've already taken care of the American-Indians. We've gave them an arm lock on casinos in perpetuity back in 2000. So it's High Time we reward our other put-upon peoples while there's still some of somebody else's money to pay for it.
And God knows we've got to hurry. Remember what that conservative icon Margaret Thatcher once said: "Socialism's fine until you run out of somebody else's money!"
So I say let's hand out some freebies to the disaffected among us. Let's give our favored few some crumbs so they'll vote the "right way." Of course, once the "rich" find out we're picking them clean they'll just up and leave. They'll be on their way to the nearest airport to board their Gulfstream 5 and head off to friendlier parts.
And then, like I've oft said, there won't be anyone left out here in the Peoples' Republic of California except sign twirlers and Starbucks baristas...
For obvious reasons.
No American alive today has owned slaves, despite what they'd like you to believe.
And no American alive today has been owned, regardless of what hip hop artists and Lefty politicians and Hollywood "stars" tell us.
And no one alive today has been directly harmed by those who in the past owned slaves. So, this topic has only been embraced by the absolute fringe elements within the Democrat Party, and then only to raucous guffaws and belly laughs.
That, by the way, would be the Party that helped create and protect the Ku Klux Klan, the Party that voted in lock-step against the 15th Amendment (Voting Rights Act), and the Party that voted to a man against the Civil Rights Act.
(Look it up, all you naysayers!)
So, like I said, universally rejected by all with more than a room temperature-I.Q. Until now, that is...
Now, finally, due in no small part to the many and varied contributions of race-bating Blacks like the Reverend Al and Cory and Kamala and "Mad Max," the call for "reparations" have finally gone mainstream...
In just the past week African-American Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Jamaican-Indian Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) have given their full-throated endorsements to formal reparations. To Blacks only, I presume. Even though there must have been many more identity groups over the years that we Americans have sorely pissed off, these Black Senators called for payments only to Blacks.
Isn't that racist?
Kind of interesting, don't you think? Especially as Booker's folks were both Wall Street bankers who put him through school at Stanford, Yale and Harvard. And Harris, who, with a Jamaican dad whose family had owned slaves, he says, and an Indian ("red dot," not "whoo whoo") momma, who likely has less African blood in her than does The Donald.
And not to be outdone, our own Oklahoma "Native American" of the High Cheekbones Tribe, and recently-announced POTUS candidate Senator Elizabeth ("Fauxchahontas") Warren (D-MA) has done them one better by calling for reparations for Native Americans, also. Lemme' see here, I guess it's one of those, "If you can't join them, why not try to beat them?"
Well, I dunno' about you, but I'M DAMNED HAPPY ABOUT THIS! Yesireeeee Bob, even if your name isn't Bob, I'm picking up what these pandering bozo miscreants are putting down. Why?
Because I, The Chuckmeister, self-identify as Black, I want "my people" to have their/our stain of slavery washed away! And only bushels of cash, preferably from the pockets of some Liberal billionaire, can make that happen. Pluuuus, as luck would have it, I ALSO self-identify as a Native American! That's kinda' like hitting a double without ever going to bat!
And only a Big Pile of Benjamins can do the washing!
And don't tell me this can't work. Remember Rachel Dolezol? She's the White babe who got her hair frizzed, slathered on loads of (wo)Man Tan and "self-identified" as a Black. So good was she at it that she was elected the President of her region's NAACP chapter in Oregon! Damn! Think of that; a White woman preaching to a room full of Black women about...the evils of White privilege. Just makes you want to puke, don't it?
However, as luck would have it, this is me hitting the Lotto! Imagine, being both Black and an "Indigenous People," I stand to reap some big-time reward if these folks were to ever get elected POTUS. They'd pay back their adoring voters, like me, with oodles of somebody-else's cash, which I'd gladly take, since mine has been scooped up and redistributed by these same bozos to others so many times before.
Annnd, it could only get better! Let's assume others of the Pandering Posse realize there's an Identity Group that's been left out. And so they gladly include them. Can't you see it? How about Eskimos need some extra cash due to "climate change." It's too damn cold to get a decent meal of sushi up there, so somebody must pay!
How about some money for the Chinese for being forced to build the railroads back in the 1850's? Jews? Ummm, The Holocaust? Hello! Don't the Jewish People deserve some of them there reparations? I would think so! How about the Irish? Back in the late Nineteenth Century a "Mick" couldn't even get a job in New York City!
(By the way, I also "self-identify" as Irish, which...I am. So that makes it quite a bit easier.)
And by God, don't even try to accuse me of trying to get over by claiming to be something I'm not. If I'm accused of this, I'll just mention that I also "self-identify" as transgender, and so anyone who gives me grief will wind up getting slapped with a hate crime!
You like it? I thought you would...
Now, we've already taken care of the American-Indians. We've gave them an arm lock on casinos in perpetuity back in 2000. So it's High Time we reward our other put-upon peoples while there's still some of somebody else's money to pay for it.
And God knows we've got to hurry. Remember what that conservative icon Margaret Thatcher once said: "Socialism's fine until you run out of somebody else's money!"
So I say let's hand out some freebies to the disaffected among us. Let's give our favored few some crumbs so they'll vote the "right way." Of course, once the "rich" find out we're picking them clean they'll just up and leave. They'll be on their way to the nearest airport to board their Gulfstream 5 and head off to friendlier parts.
And then, like I've oft said, there won't be anyone left out here in the Peoples' Republic of California except sign twirlers and Starbucks baristas...
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