The Benefit of Perspective

I'm just about the oldest guy I know.

In fact, I consider myself a 25 year-old fellow held hostage in an octegenarian's body.  Against my will.  And not liking it one little bit, BTW.

Age carries with it a number of negatives.  It's sort of like a 1987 Honda Civic with 198,000 hard miles on the clock.  But it still runs.  The rear mail seal leaks oil all over the driveway, the brakes are shot, the tires are bald, but it still runs.  I'm sorta' like that.  But besides an elephant's memory, it also provides me with one important benefit:  

                      Perspective.

I was born during the Second World War.  And chances are pretty good that you, my loyal readers, know nothing about that experience.  In fact, the median age for Americans is now right about 39.1 years.  Meaning only about half of you know what it means to pay a price for your freedom.  To be forced to don a uniform, pick up a weapon and defend your country.  Against enemies sworn to kill you.  So let me bring you up to speed...

55% of our Country's Gross National Product during WW2 was engaged in fighting that War.  And more than 16% of all our citizens fought in that War at one time or another.  Both men and women.  Nearly 2,000,000 of our young men and women were in uniform, fighting that War at any one time.  And they fought it on two Axis Power fronts; Europe against the Nazis, and in the Pacific against the Japanese.

I recall my Mom staining her legs with lemon juice because she couldn't buy silk stockings.  Silk was reserved by our Government to make parachutes for our soldiers.  For our boys, "over there."

My folks were issued coupons to buy coffee, and flour, and meat, and other common items.  Even tires for the family car were rationed, as we needed all the rubber we could produce to fight the War.  The Ford Motor Company built a village outside of Detroit to make B-25 "Mitchell" bombers.  It was covered by camouflage netting to protect it from being bombed by the enemy.  You might be surprised to learn that they produced a brand new, battle-ready B-25 bomber every hour on the hour, around the clock.  And that most of the people who made those airplanes were American women.

And they produced more than 10,000 of them. 

That's how engaged our private industry was during the Big War.  The Remington typewriter company made some of our very best battle rifles, as an example.  General Motors made thousands of Jeeps.  They were called "General Purpose."  Hence, the nickname, "Gp."

I cannot recall anyone bitching or moaning about the War.  We knew it was a War for survival.  If we lost we knew we'd be speaking German.  Or Japanese.  And likely placed in interment camps.  No one asked when the War would be over.  It would be over when we won.  Or lost.  And it went on for years.  And anyone showing disfavor over the War or its length would be viewed as a potential traitor.  So no one did...

The 2nd World War was our last declared War.  Even though we've had two dozen military actions since then, none have been declared as such.  The Korean "War" was declared a "Police Action."  Viet Nam was declared a "Military Action."  Grenada and Panama and Afghanistan and Iraq were declared "Military Involvements."  Men in suits, sitting around big conference tables, sent our young men and women off to die in far-off places.  Without even a declaration as to why.  

And that's almost criminal in my book.   

Almost none of the people I know were among them.  They've lived in a bubble.  All the people you bump into each day have enjoyed freedom from worry for more than 6 decades.  Freedom bought for them by someone else.  They've lived free without ever having to pay a price for that freedom.  And they've come to expect it. 

I knew a guy named Bob Rosenau back in 1963.  He'd been a part of the original 100 "MAC-V" (Military Advisory Group - Viet Nam) Green Berets sent to Viet Nam in 1961.   They were sent there to train the South Viet Namese army regulars how to fight and win wars.  Apparently our Government failed to learn from the ass whipping France took by the communist North Viet Namese at Dien Bien Phu in 1957.  They were run out of town, butt first.  We thought we knew better.  Our decision makers didn't have the benefit of perspective, it would seem. 

And so from those original 100 advisors, there were 550,000 of our soldiers fighting and dying there by 1965.  You might not know that Prez. Kennedy had decided to pull all our troops out of VN by 1961.  Perhaps that was why he was killed.  Because his successor, LBJ, a tool of the "Military-Industrial Complex," turned VN into a dramatically expanded war.  Half a world away.  Hoping to prove we knew better, and fought better, than the French.

I was pulled into that conflict on Halloween, 1966.  No treat, some trick.  I was forced to do a job I didn't want to do, in a place I didn't want to be, for people I didn't want to work for, aiding no one, and solving no problems.  I was fortunate to return with all my limbs, but not without my contempt for a dumb war and the dumb people who ordered it.  

We lost 55,000 of our best and brightest there, attempting to prove that the French didn't know how to fight.  But that we did.  We had our hands tied behind our backs by our politicians, unable to win, and too dumb to declare victory and come on home.  Some can learn by others' mistakes.  Just not us.  The Viet Nam Memorial is on the Mall in Washington, D.C.  Please visit it the next time you're there.

Perspective.

And we continued to make the same mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Fighting a new kind of "war" with an all-volunteer force.  But not enough of them to actually win.  Just show up, shoot some folks, and get shot in return.  We lost 20,000 in Iraq and 4,500 in Afghanistan.  We sent too few people to actually win, and worse yet, not even knowing it.      

And so it is with Iran.  Even though they declared war on us back in 1979, after Prez. Jimmy Carter failed to back up our friend the Shah.  Carter felt he was too tough on his dissenters.  Human rights violations and all that.  Resulting in us pulling our military support.  Which caused him to be deposed by Iran's hardline Islamists.  And even though they've been killing our soldiers and sailors and Marines ever since, we've just sat back and taken it.  

We've had seven Presidents since the Mullahs took over Iran.  And we've done nothing.  We even tried buying them off with $Billions, two planes loaded with cash, hoping they'd stop trying to kill us (thank you, POTUS Obama!).  Even though Iran had killed more than 500 of our citizens, they've paid no price for doing so.  Breaking every promise they made us.  Infuriating folks like me.  

None, until Trump that is.  

Whether you know it or not, we're now engaged in an existential war for our way of life.  For our freedom.  Trump was the first President to stop letting Iran bully us around.  He decided that NOW is the time for them to pay that price.  He's engaged our entire Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps in an all-out War to end their attempt to eradicate us.  They've openly said they'll kill us all if and when they have the means to do so.  Their religion tells them that only by killing us, and Israel, will their 12th Imam return.  He wandered off somewhere 1,100 years ago and they're all about bringing him back ASAP.  Perhaps they're unaware that he's likely dead by now.

Trump knows we have to go all in to defeat an enemy whose religion teaches it's better to die than to live.

They've used their oil revenues to fund not only their proxies, like Hezbollah and the Houthis, but their ongoing attempt to produce nuclear weapons.  And if they get them, they would surely use them.  On Israel first.  And then on us.  Our B-2 strike on them last June should have given them a clue we meant business.  That it was time to mend their ways and join the ranks of civilized countries.  Without success, it appears.

They just proved they have missiles capable of accurately traveling more than 2,500 miles, having just struck our Indian Ocean base in Diego Garcia.  Putting all of Europe and the U.K. in their cross hairs.  And with North Korea's and Russia's help, they would have shortly had the means to hit America.  Putting a nuclear warhead they were week's away from building atop an intercontinental missile.  And we couldn't permit them to do that.  

Trump is all about stopping them.  And restoring our peace and tranquility.

Maybe Trump's critics are unaware that he has no third term.  He isn't running for anything past this one, and knows the Democrats will likely take back the House in November.  And when they do, they'll likely impeach him.  Or at least tie his hands so he'll be unable to use our military.  So all he has is NOW.  He's pulling out all the stops.  And throwing the full weight of our military behind his Iran mission.

Yet, half our Country is asking when all this will end.  Because it costs too much to fill their gas tanks, I guess.  The Democrats in Congress are demanding it to end.  The so-called "Main-Stream Media," water carriers for the Democrats, is calling for this war to end.  They fully intend to stop the funding for it when its sixty-day, Article 2 limit is reached.  In just over a month.  That's the leash Congress has on Trump.  He has 60 days to use our military to defend us, beyond which the Congress can stop all funding.  And I believe they intend to do so.  The Iranians know that.  All they have to do is sit back and wait.  Wait for our MSMedia to erode American support for this military action.  Just like they did in Viet Nam.

They may not have much of a country left when that day is reached, but they would still be in power.  And that's all they require to adhere to their religious dictats; to rebuild and keep on trying to kill us.  So as to bring back that 12th Imam.

The socialists and the communists intend to bury America.  They intend to rot America from within.  It was Alexis Du Toqueville, the famous 18th Century French philosopher and diehard American fan, who opined that America would only be vanquished from within.  We would never be beaten by a foreign power, he wrote, but only by the haters who succeeded in gutting America's power from within.  By helping to erode public opinion.  He was right, I fear.  And our lily-livered enemies are proving it.

I wish they'd been around during the Big War so as to know what it's like to fear for your personal safety.  As did we all back then.  Or the Cold War when we were dueling with the Soviets.  Practicing "duck and cover" drills, getting under our desks in school to save us when nuclear weapons were unleashed.  As if that would have helped.    

Or during the Viet Nam conflict when the talking heads would always end their Alphabet news broadcasts with a live shot from the Air Force base where our dead soldiers were offloaded every evening.  We averaged about 55 dead heroes a day back then, and Walter Cronkite and his competitors were happy to show them.  From their comfortable studio vantage points.  Undercutting our resolve to keep on fighting.  Eroding our Country's will to stay in the game.  Proving that our MSMedia wasn't - and isn't - our friend. 

We were winning that war on the ground.  Ask any old soldier.  We just couldn't win it in the MSMedia. 

These people frankly make me puke.  They would be ashamed of themselves...if they had any shame.  One of the benefits of age is that folks like me won't be around too much longer to see what America will become.  But I'm ashamed for them.  They are breathing the free air our dead soldiers and sailors bought for them.  At a steep price.  With their lives.

It's been said that democracies like ours won't last much past 250 years.  Rome lasted just beyond that, and was deconstructed shortly thereafter.  We're celebrating our 250th year come July.  I fear that it may be our last year of independence.  Of freedom.  That's the perspective I've gained from years of observing.  And of serving.  And learning.  Of using the benefits of perspective.  You should know that freedom isn't free.  It has a price.  We're now paying it.  Or at least some of us are paying it.  The others are "free riders," sitting in the wagon while our patriots are pulling it.  Bitching and moaning and dragging their feet.  The only question is, for how long?  

Look in the mirror.  Are you a Patriot?  Or are you a free-rider?  We are judged not by only by our words, but also by our deeds.  You're not due comfort.  You're not automatically due freedom.  It must be continually bought and paid for.  I beg you to stand up and proudly serve!  And if you can't personally serve, at least stay out of the way while those fighting for you are given the tools to win.  And maybe pick up the phone and call your Congressperson and voice your support for the war we're now fighting.  Only by so doing might we actually win this one.

We'll soon know whether Americans like you choose to do so or not... 

Updating Mark Twain.

I dunno' 'bout you, but it's a surprise to me that any Republican running for a national office ever gets elected.

That's because our news media is unbelievably biased against Republicans, and especially Conservatives.  And that's not a surprise.  Everybody knows that.  Except the voting public, of course...

With exception of low-level, Right-leaning cable channels like OAN (San Diego), NewsNation (Chicago), and NewsMax (Boca Raton, Florida), all of our news media is located within a 10 block radius in Midtown Manhattan.  

As in New York City.

From 59th Street on the North, to 34th Street down South.  And everybody in Manhattan votes Liberal Democrat.  Like 89% of them.  Which is what we call a supermajority.  And that's why Zoran Momdani got elected Mayor, even though he's a Muslim socialist communist fool.  Who promised the uneducated everything for free, and then showed them how much he'd lied within just days of taking office.  

Think about it: all these reporters for ABC, NBC, PBS and NPR shop at the same Whole Foods.  And work out at the same Golds Gym.  And take in movies at the same AMC theater.  And go to the same churches/mosques/synagogues/cathedrals. 

Oh, sorry!  My bad!  They don't believe in God, so they don't go to visit him for dispensation on Sundays.   

But whether they work at one of the Alphabet Media empires today, they might move a few blocks up or down 5th Avenue and start reporting for another of them tomorrow.  And as the Washington Press Corps has told us, some 94% of them proudly voted Democrat in the last Election.  And are a reliable vote in the next one.  They are all Liberals, or even Progressives, so how they report is how they vote.  And the majority of the folks they report to, your neighbors and mine, get their news from one of the Alphabet "free" Networks.  Or even the Internet "news" sources like TikTok, or Facebook, or even Google.  

And their "reporters" are similarly Liberal just like their broadcast brethern.

Example:  While those of us seek out our news from a number of reliable sources, the broadcast folks are refusing to pass along the successes we're enjoying in our little military action against Iran.  They're still talking about Epstein.  Or the increasing price of gasoline.  Or the high price of eggs, even though eggs are now $1.59 a dozen. 

Did you know that our 4th Estate is the only "job" our Constitution references?  And the 4th Estate is journalism.  The Constitution singles them out and gives them special rights so our voting citizens can know what's going on with their Government.  Yet, if our reporters are refusing to report the facts, to let us know the truth, because of their own political biases, we might vote against our own best interests.  As is happening every Election Day. 

Our news media refused to report that our Southern Border was wide open, welcoming in millions and millions of illegal aliens from 159 countries, until the Governor of Texas started sending busloads of them to New York City and they could no longer avoid it.  And only them sporadically.  As in, don't believe your lying eyes.  

They have a special sort of TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) which unfolds every day on their networks.  But they don't have to like our President to report the news.  Reporting straight down the middle, which is their jobs.  But they seem to think that their job is to take sides and show favoritism.  Which makes me sick to my stomach.

Did you ever wonder where all those Summer of Love, Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco hippies went when the Viet Nam "Police Action" was over?  They went off to journalism schools to learn how to advocate for their favored political positions.  And then became journo professors so they could teach thousands of future newbie reporters how to show their bias without showing their bias.

I'm an old guy who won't be around much longer.  Which is okay with me.  One of the things I won't miss is jaded, one-sided, seriously biased news coverage.  And for those of you wondering if this outrage will ever subside, I say no, it won't.  There's always been a "Makers and Takers" mentality among voters, and also among reporters.  Perennially pissed at those who "have," especially if they're Republicans.  And the Liberal Media is full of these Takers.    

Mark Twain famously said, "Don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see."  I say, don't believe anything the Liberal Media reports, ever, whether spoken or viewed.  They force us to break through their advocacy in order to learn the truth.  Do your homework and vote your best interests.  Only by doing so might we finally escape this quagmire...    

  

I've Got the ACLU on Speed Dial!.

So I became so excited when our new Administration took office and began closing down our previously wide open Border!

The Biden Administration had opened it wide, permitting somewhere around 20 million folks from any of 158 countries to satchey in during their 4 years.

                     Wide open.  

As in, welcome, traveler!  How about a nice apartment overlooking the park?  And a doctor to take care of you and your kids?  And some nice, crisp, freshly-printed greenbacks to help you settle in?  And a Left-leaning lawyer to help you get a green card?  And all the food you and your family can eat, for free!  And your choice of a plane, train or bus ticket to take you anywhere you'd like to go?  We're here to help, stranger!  We're like today's "Welcome Wagon!"  

              Welcome to America!

However, all that was illegal.  It's illegal to wander in, between ports of entry, uninvited, and help yourself to our largesse.  It's a misdemeanor punishable by up to six (6) months in the county hoosegow and a $1,000 fine.  Did you know that?  Apparently neither did anybody else... 

But that didn't stop Sleepy Joe and his staff.  They were doing their best to pad the voter rolls with brand new 'Muricans.  And if Mzzzz. Kamala had somehow won, her handlers would have turned all those illegals into voters and we'd have Democrats in power for the next 50 years.  The very thought makes me shivver.  

But that didn't happen.  And Trump decided to clamp that Border down tight.  It took less than a month to do so, even though Joe and his cronies said it would take an Act of Congress.  Of course he was lying.  He was good at that.  He should be.  He's been doing it, on our dime, for more than 50 years.

So now there's been ZERO new illegal arrivals since The Donald took over.  Just the normal flow of people arriving at any of our 26 Border entry points.  Waiting in line, ready to meet that all important Border guard.  

I'm so impressed I decided I'd like to be a Border guard, too!  

Yes, I'm retired.  But I'd like to become a Border guard.  I'd be happy to sit in a chair with one of those little fans blowing on me and welcome each car as it drives up.  Saying, "Welcome, stranger!  Are you a U.S. citizen?  Anything to report?  No drugs or firearms or RPG's in the car today, right?  Thanks, enchoi your visit to 'Murica and have a nice day!"

Oh yeah, the job starts at $51,039 a year, which is more than enough down there in Northern Meheeeeko.  Plus a yuuuge signing bonus, and your own drug sniffing dog.  I like dogs.  I've already got a Maltese who thinks he's a German Shepard, so he'd have some company for a change.

I could do that job.  And would.  Excepppppt, there are two main problems.  One, I'm a bit ancient.  As in, older than dirt.  And the Border rules state that new applicants must be one day short of their 40th birthday.  Buuutt, our Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, just stated that, if an applicant is a veteran, like moi, those limitations are lifted.  And no upper limit on age has been written into law as of this date.  So far, so good.

Annnnd, Number Two, since most of the folks headed to the Border down south don't speak English, and I don't speak Hispanic, they wouldn't want to hire me.  They do say they'll take applicants who aren't Latino speakers, so long as they can blather the lingo the day they leave the Academy.  They have to learn Spanish to be hired.  And to me, that's an outrage!  Imagine an American Federal job, paid for by our taxes, requiring a citizen applicant to speak a foreign language to be hired?    

Now, you should know that fully 60% of all Border guards are Hispanic, and that's okay for them.  Many of them are clawing their way out of poverty and using our tax money to do it.  They already sprechen the lingo.  But I'd say those wishing to visit 'Murica should learn English to be admitted.  Agree?  That would solve the problem.  How hard is it to learn how to answer a question like, "Are you a citizen?"  Why should we have to learn how to speak their language in order to get hired?  

I think it's Elder Abuse!  And I intend to contact the ACLU and get them to sue!  They're so damnable Left-Wing, they'd probably take the case in a minute, and for free!  Anything to try and screw up The Donald and his efforts to restore 'Murica's greatness!

And secondly, being a Veteran, who's fought and nearly died for his Country (paper cut infection went systemic), I believe I ought to get any job I apply for.  And if they don't offer it, that's an "Americans With Disabilities Act" of 1990 violation!  I even use a wheelchair when I think it might garner some sympathy.     

So, in summation, I want to sit on a comfy chair in a little shack in 100 degree heat and ask visitors from Meheeeeko if they're trying to bring in some meth.  And do so in English.  And if they don't answer promptly and legibly, I'll call in the Company Beagle.  He'll sniff the heck out of their cars until he/she/it (can dogs be transgender?) finds some contraband.  I've been watching that show on the History Channel and it looks like fun.  And I'll get the commies at the ACLU to sue the Feds if they don't agree with my convoluted interpretation of our hiring laws.  

Stay tuned, Fellow 'Muricans.  I'll keep you briefed...

Cognitive Overload

When I was younger, much younger, life was a whole lot simpler.   

We got our local news from the radios in our cars.  The national news came from one of the 3 alphabet TV networks at 5:30 p.m.  Their programs lasted only 30 minutes, and only 22 of those minutes were some talking heads reading us the news.  The other 8 minutes were advertising.  Some company or other trying to sell us something and paying the networks for the time to do so.    

I can't tell you for sure, but I think we all actually watched those ads.  Mainly because there were so few of them and we had no other choice.

Later, when I had finally fought in the war and graduated from college, with a double major, psychology and economics, I got a job in marketing and sales.  I'd always wanted to know why people did what they did (psychology), and how they went about paying for it (economics).  

It wasn't long before I'd worked my way up to management.  And gotten promoted to where I was actually controlling the marketing and sales of a succession of companies.  And even wound up running my own company later on.  So successfully marketing its offerings became a matter of whether or not I'd eat.  And eating was a habit I'd formed and didn't wish to break...

I used to pore over the Harvard Business Review.  It was a valued resource I used to help guide my professional decisions.  And I recall an article about how many times a day the average citizen received marketing and/or sales messages back then.  As I recall, it was from 400 to 1,600 times a day.  From all sources.  TV, radio, blimp, park benches, buses, magazines, etc.  And avoiding those messages wasn't something we conciously chose to avoid.  

Yes, they were annoying, but no, they didn't make us crazy.  That was then, this is now...

Today, right here in River City, the average American is beseached with somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 ad messages a day!  And thanks to cable, there's 500 TV channels to help deliver them.  And we have almost exactly twice the number of citizens to avertise to as in my day.    

Many more places to advertise, much more sophistocated advertisers, an Internet to blast us with ads, twice the people, and 15 or so TV news channels we must watch if we wish to stay informed.  It didn't get better.  And I'd say it's resulted in TMI:  

Too Much Information.

From my professional prospective, I'd say we've reached Cognitive Overload.  Too many advertisers, too many platforms on which to advertise, much more aggressive advertising, and a public who's gotten really good at ignoring them.  Because they must; otherwise they'd go nuts.  

Our brains are like super sophistocated computers.  They receive all those messages and then do a quick dump of those their owner doesn't need to function.  That's why those advertisers have become superb at fighting their way through our brain's host defenses.  They know that only 1% of the public is in a buying mood at any given time.  The other 99% of us must simply unhear and unsee those  messages in order to get to the news or information we want to receive.

Have you noticed that looking in your phone for a restaurant, or a place to get your oil changed, or the directions to a particular business, exposes you to "Banner Blindness?"  An annoying succession of 5 and 7 and 15 and 30 second and 1 minute ads you much see or intentionally "unsee" in order to get the answers you seek?  And then the algorythim exposes you to ads about the question you asked for the next 2 or 3 days?  

Ask Google about a brand of car and you'll receive ads for all kinds of cars all day long.  You won't be able to cruise through the Net without ads about cars.  New cars, used cars, guys who paint cars, floor mats for cars, car covers, etc.  So much so that you'll want to throw your phone in the trash.  But you won't.  Because you've become expert in dancing around those efforts with aplomb.  You won't even notice them.  Because you've trained yourself to do so.  They made us do that.  The bastards!

Your brain protects you, and you protect your brain.  Think about TV ads.  Many of them are for medications you don't need for ailments you don't have.  Ailments you've never heard of and cannot even pronouce.  One minute ads that tell you in the first 15 seconds what they're for, and then use the next 45 seconds to tell you that they'll make your hair fall out, give you diseases you don't want, and cause you to go insane.  Maybe even die.  The FDA makes them do that.  But reaching the tiny percentage of the public with those particular diseases and then convincing them to make their doctors prescribe them is their only goal.  

Think about this:  Bristol Meyers Squibb advertises for Eliquis.  It's a drug for Arterial Fibrilation.  They spent $257 million dollars last year on TV advertising.  Because that drug costs us $700 a month.  And once they've got you, considering it's a maintenance drug, they've got you.  

Ozempic, the latest craze, features a fat chick in a blue pantsuit, backed by 30 singers and dancers, along with an original jingle and 24-piece orchestra, commands a minute of your TV screen to try and get you to lose weight.  Their way.  They spent $310 million last year on TV advertising.  To force you to inject yourself with a drug that makes the fat molecules in what you eat so large they can't be absorbed by your digestive tract.  You pay for the food, you eat it, and then it goes straight through and out the poop chute.  For only $2,100 a month.  Of course, their package insert says in order to make their drug work as intended you need to exercize and eat less.   Or, you could exercize and eat less and lose weight without spending the $2,100 a month.  But that's advertising.  Doing what they want you to do the way they want you to do it, even if you can do it without them.  

And writing big checks all the while... 

It's an implied contract.  They spend $Millions to bring you new TV programming, and you watch their advertisements.  Except somebody changed the game by creating 500 channels ands inventing "fast forward."  Now folks record their programs and watch them later.  They can then click a button and jump 30 seconds ahead.  Jumping past all those pricey ads.  That must really grate on all those marketing and advertising folks who pay $Jillions of Dollars to produce those programs.  Too bad, so sad.  10,000 ads a day can made you go mad.

The guy that gets ahead these days is the one who figures out how to break through the host defenses we've mounted to try and avoid watching and listening to those ads.  And if you don't know how that works, just think about the last time your wife unloaded on you with a bunch of "honey do's."  Your eyes go out of focus and you start thinking about fishing.  Yeah, like that.  

Of course, you could always sign up for those terribly expensive "streaming" services that pipe ad-free content directly into your home.  And then instead of waiting for a commercial to go to the bathroom, like we used to do, you can just click on the "pause" button.  

It'll surely make your bladder gladder. 

The Dreaded Minimum Wage.

Everytime the Gubmint spends too much of our money on unnecessary crap, like the $9 Trillion in extra dollars spent during the Biden Adminisitration, the cost of living goes up.  That's because they're in competition with the taxpayers, i.e. you and me, for the goods and services they must buy, and that we must buy.  The very same goods and services. 

And they can print money!  You and I cannot.

And the next thing that will surely happen is that same Gubmint will hike the Minimum Wage to force employers to pay their employees more.  So as to offset the heightened cost of living they're responsible for increasing.  

And as absolute, incontrovertible proof of the legitimacy of my accusation, we're now more than $38 TRILLION DOLLARS IN DEBT!  It was $9 TRILLION the day Barry Obama took office.  And that wasn't so very long ago!

This all started with one Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the aftermath of the Second World War.  He spent so much borrowed money that the cost of living went through the roof.  To help with the problem he created the "Fair Labor Standards Act" of 1938.  It demanded that employers pay their employees at least $0.25 cents per hour.  And back then, a $Quarter an hour could enable one to live quite nicely.  

But there's a better question that must necessarily follow:  Why does the Gubmint get a say in how much an employer pays his employees?  Isn't the deal between the employer and the employee a private contract matter?  A civil matter?  

Through the years that same Gubmint has required, under the force of statute, i.e., "LAW," to pay his or her (or its...California, doncha' know) employees an ever higher Minimum Wage.  From that $Quarter an hour it went to a $Dollar, then $Two, and up to the now Federal Standard of $7.25 cents an hour.  

Yet, several of our states discovered that they, too, could get in on the folly of telling employers within their borders how much they had to pay.  California, as an eggregious example, has now mandated a MinWage of $20.00 an hour, or even more in some cases.  They are, in essence, forcing their businesses to spend money.  For every time they force a MinWage increase, those same businesses must increase the price of their goods and services to stay solvent.  Like stairsteps, the MinWage goes up, the prices go up.  And the populace suffers.  Those who have to buy that coffee, or those cookies, or that lawnmower must then pay more due to the heavy hand of their Gubmint.  And the cost of living goes up in lockstep.

Now, Lost Angeles' mayor has just signed into law a new mandate forcing that those hotels and restaurants within her city pay $30.00 an hour.  It was $10.00 an hour just 4 years ago.  These, the folks who make the beds at the Motel 6, if fully employed, are now making $60,000 a year!  Perhaps substantially more than those who are frequenting those same motels.

Apparently destroying what was once a beautiful city by attending a cocktail party in Uganda while her town burned down wasn't enough.  Leaving the reservoir empty and telling the fire department to stand down wasn't enough, either.  Then watching by long distance 16,000 dwellings burn and dozens killed.  Now she's going to finish off what's left by forcing her businesses into backruptcy.  What did they ever do to her?

BoyGuv ("Hairgod") Newsom unilaterally hiked the pay last year of those folks who ask "Would you like fries with that" to $20.00 an hour.  Not seeming to care if such a monumental increase in the pay of workers in fast food joints would pose a detriment to owners of those businesses, he went ahead and did it anyway.  I used to constult with owners of MickeyD's franchises, and I can tell you this increase costs the average 24-hour restaurant about $250,000 a year.  Or about the total profits of a MickeyD's.  Rendering the value of their stores to just about zero (businesses like those are valued at their ability to produce profits.  No profits, nobody to buy them). 

Or, to hike the price of a Big Mac meal to $12 or $13, rendering it out of the price range for the average wage earner.  The guy for whom it was originally created.  MickeyD's is now "fine dining."     

Now that Mayor Bass, a person who's only mayor because she's both Black and a woman, and of sub-average I.Q., has increased the wages of hotel and restaurant workers to $30.00 an hour, those same hotels and restaurants must now increase their prices by 15% or even more.  And if they do not, they'll go tits up just in time for the Olympics.  Of course, Bass doesn't care about that.  Or perhaps isn't even smart enough to have considered it.  Or even to know she should have considered it! 

One would have to be pretty damn dumb to open a business in a state that's proven itself willing to mess with a business owners' finances by unilaterlly hiking their employees' pay.  Imagine waking up one morning and finding out your cost of doing business just went up by 15% or 20%, or even more.*  How would you react?  Remember, 75% of all American businesses are 50 employees or less.  And owned by families just like yours.  It's like having the State stick a gun in your face and asking for protection money.  The Mafia learned how to do business from watching our Gubmint!  Do yourself a favor, become a painter, or a writer, or a shoer of horses.  That way you don't need employees.  And the state cannot screw you to the wall on a whim like they're now doing.  

When I come back next go around I want to be both Black and a woman.  Or maybe just a guy like I am but identify as Black and a woman (the Democrats have told us "identifying" is all that's necessary).  Plus gay and transgender and "two-spirit."  Whatever that means.  I'll surely be the King of America... 

*   My sainted wife and I ran a small medical services company for 39 years here in Taxifornia.  We had at our peak 50 nurses working for us.  And we not only had to compete with other providers, we had to compete with Sacramento!  You know the old saying, "You can't fight City Hall?"  Yeah, etch it in concrete.  

So What Do We Get Out Of It?

The guy who wins the pool game is the one who plays several shots ahead.

I know a little bit about that wonderful game as I used to play it professionally.  And well.  So what's that got to do with our military actions in Iran?  A lot, as you'll soon see.

It's like playing three dimensional chess.  You've seen that, right?  Three chess boards, one on top of the other.  It's hard, very hard.  And winning requires one to play several moves ahead, and on multiple levels.  And we're playing several moves ahead with our actions in Iran.  How?  China, as everyone knows, is one of our two major competitors.  And some say, enemies.  The other is Russia.  But Russia's involved in a forever war with Ukraine, so we don't have to worry too much about them right now.  Maybe later, but not now.  However, we can make it more difficult for them to move their oil on the international stage.  

But China?  They want to bury us.  They want to chew us up and spit us out.  We know that.  They've told us so.  And they know we know that.  But we cannot simply bomb China like we're bombing Iran.  They could lose a couple of million people, or even a couple of hundred million people, and be better off.  They wouldn't have to feed them, which would be a benefit.  And they would respond, strike for strike, and likely kill half of us.  Or maybe all of us.  A problem.

So if we can't fight them, and beat them, what does America do to weaken China so much they no longer pose a threat?  They have one major weakness.  They have no oil.  And they need petroleum to fuel their industries.  And their military.  In fact, they import 10,000,000 barrels of crude oil per day.  Ten Million!  And up to now they've been getting all that oil from two places; Venezuela and Iran.  They've invested $Billions in shoring up their relationships with both countries.  Secure in the thought they'd guaranteed a forever supply of crude.  

But a couple of months ago we grabbed Venezuela's Marxist Prez Maduro, China's friend and oil supplier.  We turned Venezuela into a friend of America, whether they liked it or not.  We now direct Venezuela's oil to where we want it to go.  And one of those places isn't China.  In fact, we've taken some 80 million barrels of their oil directly to America at no cost to us whatsoever.  And we've siezed a dozen of their illegal shadow oil tankers on the open ocean, and taken that oil directly to Louisiana.  For refining into gasoline.  That's oil that would have gone to China.

You should know that 90% of Iran's oil has been going to China.  90%!  Iran's been selling that oil to China at a discount.  To fuel its war machine.  To pay off the Houtis and Hezbollah to threaten Israel, and to make missiles and drones.  It's not going there now.  

In addition to eliminating the Ayatollah and his henchmen, and giving the Iranians their one chance to overthrow their hard-line Muslim mullahs, we've sunk their navy, bombed their air defenses into oblivion, and stopped the flow of oil to China.  We even sunk their most valuable warship yesterday with a torpedo from one of our submarines.  The first time since the Second World War!  We'll likely wind up controlling where that oil goes as well, or at least making sure China gets no more of it.  Or if they do, they'll be paying market rates for it, a 40% increase over what they've been paying.  This puts a damper on their foreign currency stores, makes it much more costly to run their country, and renders them less capable of harming us or our friends.

And next, we will no doubt continue this chess game by negotiating the overthrow of Cuba and its communist leadership's 70 year stranglehold over its freedom-loving citizens.  After China, Venezuela's second biggest customer was Cuba.  It had been supplying them with cheap, wholesale oil.  Fueling Cuba's ability to govern their people with an iron fist.  Now?  We're making sure they get no more Venezuelan oil.  Recent news states their planes can't fly and their tourism industry, their major source of income, is collapsing.  Interesting, don't you think?  

In one quick but well reasoned chess move, Trump has defanged China, hampered Russia's ability to ship its oil, cut off Cuba's oil supply, and reduced our enemies to paper tigers.  Or in Venezuela's case, our vassal.  Three dimensional chess.  Trump and his advisors have been playing it.  His global competitors, haven't...     

It's About Damn Time!

One of the (few) benefits of age is we get to sometimes see both the beginning, and the end, of momentous events.  This is one such time.  

In my case I got to see the beginning and end of the Korean conflict.  And the Viet Nam Police Action.  And the Panama armed intervention.  And so with the Grenada assault.  And many others as well.  In fact, there have been 212 armed conflicts the United States has entered into in its almost 250 years.  12 of them major.  

In fact, there has not been a military action since the Second World War proclaimed by Congress as a "war."  We weren't smart enough to learn from the French when they got their ass handed to them in Viet Nam with their involvement at Dien Bien Phu (look it up).  So we invaded.  And lost 55,000 of our finest.  

We've had the Iraq invasion.  And 20 years of the Afghanistan debacle, costing us 4,000 soldiers and airmen.  Still no "war."  It seems we've used our military on a whim.  And depending upon which party's in power, whether outrage follows, or quiet acceptance.

And as someone who's worn the uniform of our Great Country, that pisses me off.  We've often sent our young men and women off to foreign wars to fight and die without knowing whether their impending sacrifices were warranted.  Or justified.  And that pisses me off.

However, every now and again there's a need so great that our military intervention is demanded.  Nay required.  So much so that we must gather ourselves up and bite the bullet.  Literally.  The events and circumstances over the past few days are one such need.

I'm blessed with a great memory.  Or plagued, perhaps.  I recall vividly when Jimmy Carter decided that the perceived human rights of foreigners was more important to him than our National Security.  In fact, I believe he put it above our national interests.  And if you're a part of the half of America that wasn't alive when all this unfolded, sit back and let me take you on a quick memory tour.

Raza Pahlevi, the Shah of Iran, was a fully westernized Middle Eastern leader, and one of few we could call a friend in that most dangerous part of the world.  Although a Suni Muslim, he led a secular government.  Women were fully integrated in their society, and equal.  They wore the latest Paris fashions and modern hairstyles, and paraded them openly on Tehran's streets.  His military was powerful.  We made it so.  In fact, at one time he owned 120 F-4 Phantom jet fighters he'd bought from us.  Second only to our own force.    

This angered his more hard-line religious leaders and their followers.  They openly protested, and he quickly imprisoned them.  This caused newly installed President Carter to object.  Strenously.  So much so that he refused to support the Shah with our full might.  And he was overthrown as a result.

That occurred in Early 1979.  Just as quickly the Ahatollah Khomeini left his palatial apartment on Paris' Champs Elysee and flew to Tehran.  And into the leadership of when then became a theocratic, American-hating dictatorship.  Thank you Jimmy Carter.

Soon, the Ahatollah's followers attacked our embassey.  They quickly took 66 hostages and held them for 444 days.  Thank you Jimmy Carter.  Carter tried to retrieve them, but the two planes he sent crashed into each other in a desert sandstorm and 17 of our soldiers and airmen were killed.  Another black eye.  

And then unfolded what became years of attacks on us and our friend Israel.  They blew up Saudi Arabia's Kobar Towers, killing 18 of our soldiers.  They shot a 737 out of the sky killing 200-plus Americans and Israelis.  Their proxies shot down a Pan-Am jet, killing more than 280 souls.  It went on.  And on.

In short, Iran and it's proxies, later funded by some $8.7 Billion Dollars of our money, gifted by B. Hussein Obama, proceeded to kill our soldiers and airmen.  This continued over a 47 year period.  

Reagan tried to talk them out of their goals.  So did Carter.  And Obama.  And even Trump in his first term.  It didn't work.  Death to America, the Big Satan, and Israel, the Little Satan, was their only goal.  And they funded those efforts by selling oil to our enemies at wholesale prices.  Many of us wondered when somebody, ANYBODY, would do somthing about it.  I had given up.  I was sure I'd die before I saw an end to this outrage.  I was wrong.  Somebody did something.  His name is Donald J. Trump.

Trump just unleashed the full fury of our military on Iran.  He assembled the largest armada of ships since the beginning of the Iraq conflict.  More than 200 war planes were sent to blow the crap out of Iran on Saturday morning.  F-15's.  And F-18's.  And F-22's.  And F-35's.  And A-10's.  And B-1's and B-2's.  And more than 60 refueling planes to keep them fighting.  And bombing.

This operation started on Israel's Sabath.  And in the daylight.  Iran's leaders weren't expecting that.  That's why we did it.  And we blew the Ayatollah and 46 of his henchmen our of their sandals in one swell foop.  And I jumped up and down.  No, actually, I can't jump up and down.  But I raised my fist in the air and yelled my support.  So did all my fellow Americans who knew enough to know this was the right thing to do.  And the right time to do it.

A succession of U. S. Presidents have tried to use words to change Iran's mind.  We talked.  And met.  And talked some more.  These efforts were unsuccessful.  Even though we bombed their nuclear fuel enrichment efforts last June, they hadn't learned.  Sometimes only bombs and bullets will work.  This was one such time.  No matter how this ends up, I say it's about damed time.

This unassuming little blog enables me to vent my overly large spleen.  I have.  I trust you'll agree with my views on the matter.  Not everybody's lived long enough or knows enough to support America in this effort.  I trust this little missive has changed a few minds...