Goodbye Wall Street Journal

I’ve been a Wall Street Journal subscriber for over fifty (!) years. Today I cancelled my subscription. The paper has been exhibiting increasing left-wing bias for some time now, and today a straw broke the camel’s back. It was a headline that appeared on my iPhone something to the effect of, “Trump moves ahead with transition to Biden after weeks of delay.”

It was that gratuitous, sniveling, “after weeks of delay” that really angered me. Not only was the WSJ among the first to start calling Biden the President Elect, but the editorial content and articles it has published concerning the election have virtually all capitulated to the Leftist, “woke” script. I can’t take it anymore.

The Journal used to be a voice of conservatism and while I understand that the Trump phenomenon has undermined the traditional support of corporate and financial America for the Republican Party, never would I have suspected that the WSJ would abandon the vast Silent Majority in an attempt to keep in the good graces of big business.

Here’s where the GOP rift now occurs. It’s big business against the upper middle, middle and working-modest-means population, what I will call America Firsters , a HUGE swath of our country! The WSJ is betting that it can ignore them while genuflecting in front of the multinational corporations.

I know something about this. I was a multinational and merchant banker for many years. While American based multinational banks and corporations started out as AMERICAN companies stretching their business models abroad, they have become something else. They have become TRANSNATIONAL businesses, with their focus almost exclusively on the top and bottom lines.

The Wall Street Journal has followed suit.

I support big business. Without it we would never have the defense and energy capabilities we now have. But Big Tech, and Big Pharma, and Big Banking…sorry, but you’ve lost me.

I will from this point forth be getting my financial news and data from other sources: the less they are tied to Big (aka Fake News) Media and the more independent they are, the better. These include Newsmax, One America News, Zero Hedge and direct market quotes form the exchanges. I’ll still listen, for the moment, to Maria Bartiromo, Stu Varney, Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, but whether I continue to do so remains to be seen.

May God bless America!

What Now

“It ain’t over till it’s over”. The fireworks and dancing on stage in front of a handful of people after Biden was “projected” to have won the election was meant to create the perception that it’s a fait accompli. The grossly premature announcements by the Biden camp of how he will assemble a COVID task force on Monday, in other words, “get right to work” to be the President of All America is meant to serve the same purpose. Virtually everything saturating the air is just another ploy to demoralize, beat and steamroll us into submission. Difficult as it may be, ignore it!

Like I said, I’m not conceding anything until Trump does. While I am sick to my stomach about how the media, including Fox, are behaving as if this is a fait accompli, I try not to pay attention to them and continue to pray, hope and argue that ultimately the Supreme Court will be called upon to settle the matter, or the House, using the rule one-state-one-vote. If the former, I’ll accept what a conservative majority Court decides. If the latter, Trump will win because red states outnumber blue states.

In my opinion, the only thing the Trump campaign is doing wrong is putting Giuliani and some of these other known commodities out front on this. We need a new spokesman, one respected (at least nominally) by both sides, one who is beyond reproach. Maybe a Jonathan Turley? David Boise also comes to mind. There may be someone better but whomever they pick, part of the strategy needs to be winning the public relations battle, and we need a fresh face to expose the fraud, conduct the recounts and audits and/or lead the petition for a redo of the election. It ain’t over yet, but the Left, including all of its components, are trying to ram this thing down our throats, and I and I’m sure countless others are not buying what they’re selling. I hope the Trump team isn’t either and in addition to the legal efforts, start to counter with statements like the one yesterday:

“We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed. The simple fact is this election is far from over. Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor. In Pennsylvania, for example, our legal observers were not permitted meaningful access to watch the counting process.  Legal votes decide who is president, not the news media.

“Beginning Monday, our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated. The American People are entitled to an honest election: that means counting all legal ballots, and not counting any illegal ballots. This is the only way to ensure the public has full confidence in our election. It remains shocking that the Biden campaign refuses to agree with this basic principle and wants ballots counted even if they are fraudulent, manufactured, or cast by ineligible or deceased voters. Only a party engaged in wrongdoing would unlawfully keep observers out of the count room – and then fight in court to block their access. 

“So what is Biden hiding? I will not rest until the American People have the honest vote count they deserve and that Democracy demands.”

– President Donald J. Trump”

If we can put forth such a spokesman and Trump can stay disciplined long enough to listen to his advisors and not step on his own tongue, letting the legal beagles do their thing, there’s a strong possibility the truth will come out and if, as I believe and 70 million of our fellow citizens also believe, that when all the legal ballots are counted and the illegal ones rejected Trump won, we’ll have our answer. If after exhausting all remedies Trump has lost, he’ll concede, as graciously as Trump can, as will I, and we’ll move to our own honest (not manifestly dishonest) “resistance” against the new administration.

In either case, I from this day forth will be trying hard to figure out how to hold the media and their institutional accomplices accountable for their supreme dishonesty and lack of integrity. For starters, I personally already left social media (except for Parler) long ago, including: Facebook, Twitter and Linked In, have changed my browser to Firefox and my default search engine to BING from Google. In the coming days I will be doing everything I can to wean off Gmail. Microsoft, while still Left biased, for the moment still seems to be less so than Google. I will also be exploring ways to reduce my reliance on the internet and cable tv for information. For the moment, I still monitor Twitter using the ‘handle’ @GrumpsReport and occasionally “tweet” but I can only take it in very small doses.

I have also started to study the laws surrounding elections in general: local, state and federal to see what can be done with fighting on in THIS election, as well as joining the groundswell of those who will demand our election process be reformed. For starters, I recommend perusing the website: https://ballotpedia.org. It seems to have the least biased reporting on the election and sections on what happens in the future depending on how each domino falls. It also discusses how a REDO petition could be mounted.

Finally, I will continue to speak out on GrumpsReport. Since starting the blog last year, the number of visitors and readership has grown steadily, without any promotion. Judging from the feedback I’ve received, I hope it continues to have a positive impact and contributes something useful to the discourse.

As I’ve been saying for months, barring fraud, Trump would win in a landslide. I stand by that statement. I have to. That half of our voting public could either: a) support Biden and all that his candidacy represented or b) hate Trump so much, is distressing and saddening. If he wins, it will be because the American people will have successfully pushed back an unprecedented onslaught from the Leftist foes and addled, somnolent or deluded lemmings arrayed against us.  If he loses, I for one will ache for what could have been, Trump will have helped stall and reverse our descent down the slippery slope and the America First movement will continue, perhaps more galvanized than ever.

This country was built on traditional values of right and wrong and above-all, freedom. Occasionally, over the years, through self-examination, we corrected wrongs, injustices and mistakes, but it has still done more to lift more people up throughout the world than any other nation in history. It has been grievously wounded by all that has occurred in recent decades, including this disgrace of an election, but it will heal again.

Game Day

First, some context. I live in a solidly blue, suburban town. It is not in a swing state, it’s one of those unquestionably considered Democrat and it has reliably been so for as long as I’ve been around, which is well over half a century. I suspect that most Republican voters cast their ballots not because they believe it will make a difference in the outcome, but out of patriotism and duty.

I’ve just returned from reconning my voting location, a local high school gymnasium. At 20 minutes from the time the polls opened at 6:00 AM there was a line about 50 yards long down the sidewalk emanating from the entrance door. Across from the entrance on a small embankment was a gaggle of Biden-Harris signs. By stark contrast I noted that nowhere to be seen either on that lawn area nor on the way over were there any readily visible Trump-Pence signs. Our local paper and town blogs have had numerous stories about how GOP signs from the top down have been vandalized over the last couple of months. It goes to show just how angry, vile and repugnant the hardened Left is.

The people in line seemed solemn and all were dignified. Strikingly, there was no way to tell who people were going to vote for. No MAGA hats, no bright blue indicators, no pins or descriptors of any kind. There was little animation, little discussion going on…just a quiet, almost reverential queue. Most but not all wore masks, and many of those who did had them down below their noses, their disdain and grudging compliance in full view.

Here’s my take. I surmise that the vast majority of those voters in line were going to vote for Trump-Pence as well as the down-ballot Republicans. And I believe that the number of voters throughout the state who will similarly vote Republican today will be greater than in either 2016 or 2018. It may not make a difference to the outcome for the presidency, but I can’t help but wonder if it will make a difference down-ballot, with gains for the GOP in county-wide and local contests. It just might.

As I turned on the tv upon returning home I was deluged with talking heads, of course, and notably, all commented either directly or indirectly on THE NUMBERS. It struck me that everyone is substantiating their opinion based on reported data of one sort or another. This genuflection to THE NUMBERS is laughable. First, the numbers are frequently, in fact most of the time, WRONG! Sampling is about as inexact a science as there is. It’s based on the faulty and dubious assumption that the sample is representative. Far more often than not, human nature being what it is, it isn’t.

But it sells ad revenue. The more controversy, the more drama, the more conflict, the more blood, the more people are gripped and the more they watch the accident by the side of the road.

As we saw in 2016, what matters is the scoreboard at the end of the game. I’ve taken my omeprazole, have had my two cups of coffee, have turned the sound off on my tv, turned on my Parler, stock market and classical music playlist feeds, and settled in for what will be a long day. About 6:00 PM I’ll start my deep breathing exercises and continue my vigil well, I suspect, into the night. This IS the most consequential election of my lifetime, and may very well determine the course our country will take for the next generation. Whether we are led by pragmatic adults or dysfunctional utopian dreamers will be determined. The adults, I maintain, will prevail.

May God bless America and despite our faults and inadequacies, give us the leadership we need.

Mandate

I’ve been saying for some time that the Left will go down in ignominious defeat tomorrow and I stand by that prediction. The American people have had enough of their petulance and histrionics. Social media makes it seem as if the Left represents more of our country than it actually does. Like the screaming and foot-stomping toddler or the obnoxious, rebellious adolescent, the Left begs for attention and ego food.

Have you watched Joe Biden and Kamala Harris at all? Biden is trying to overcome his lack of stamina, energy and mental acuity by yelling, no practically SCREAMING (.sic!) at the cameras in front of him. Wow he’s angry! If that isn’t a reflection of insecurity and resignation I don’t know what is! And Harris’ affected, cackling laugh psychologists will tell you is also a coping method for insecurity and a lack of conviction. That’s not just leading from behind. That’s leading from the behind!

What will the Trump win mean? I believe it will be a final repudiation of the nonsense and drivel that has been coming out of the mouths of the Left for years. It will be nothing less than a MANDATE to reclaim the traditional values and principles upon which this country was founded and built. It will represent the bottom of the slippery slope…the depths to which the Left have dragged us, and the beginning of the long, tough and fraught-with-obstacles climb back up.

For the Left will not die…the main stream media will see to that. They will weep, wail and gnash their teeth, crying foul, repeating their calls for “resistance”. Slowly, but surely, however, when their advertising revenues dwindle to nothing and their wealthy donors decide to stem their losses and start backing the winners, the MSM will retire their puerile talking heads and replace them first, with moderate voices, then patriotic voices as they desperately try to restore their revenues and profits.

We’ve had to endure sharp vicissitudes over the last 100 years: the Great Depression, the encroachment of the government in every aspect of our lives that began with the New Deal, two world wars, fallout from the Civil Rights movement, Watergate, the advent of public sector unions and the impact that had on education and the explosion of the regulatory bureaucracy, the Space Race, the Vietnam War, Rubik’s Cubes and Pacman, Watergate, the Beatles, the Lewinsky affair, 9-11 and the biggest tipping point of all…the advent of the World Wide Web and social media.

What now does this election portend? A new era of stability and prosperity, of peace and self-reliance, an extinguishing of the Leftist flames of hate, violence, division, class warfare, godlessness, nanny-statism, socialist absurdity and globalism…in short, a restoration of Freedom and meritocracy, of TRADITIONALISM!

A “Dark Winter”?? No…

A NEW, BRIGHT DAWN!

Crucial/Supplemental Quotes for the Day

Following are two quotes, one from Mark Levin on the subject of the corrupt media and one, from Tony Bobulinski, the former Biden family corruption enterprise partner that are a must read. They are reproduced, with attribution and credit, in full, below:

“For years the media tried to create a corruption scenario around President Trump and his family and utterly failed.  They lied, spun, deceived, you name it.  A daily drumbeat of propaganda. Now, where there’s a great deal of evidence of corruption developing around Joe, his son Hunter, &other family members, the media are actually defending Biden through various schemes, such as attacking Rudy Giuliani, concocting a “Russian disinformation” campaign& all the rest Never before has our country been confronted with such a corrupt and dishonest media enterprise.” Mark Levin, on Parler, 9:10 AM, October 22, 2020

“My name is Tony Bobulinski. The facts set forth below are true and accurate; they are not any form of domestic or foreign disinformation. Any suggestion to the contrary is false and offensive. I am the recipient of the email published seven days ago by the New York Post which showed a copy to Hunter Biden and Rob Walker. That email is genuine.

This afternoon I received a request from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs and the Senate Committee on Finance requesting all documents relating to my business affairs with the Biden family as well as various foreign entities and individuals. I have extensive relevant records and communications and I intend to produce those items to both Committees in the immediate future.

I am the grandson of a 37 year Army Intelligence officer, the son of a 20+ year career Naval Officer and the brother of a 28 year career Naval Flight Officer. I myself served our country for 4 years and left the Navy as LT Bobulinski. I held a high level security clearance and was an instructor and then CTO for Naval Nuclear Power Training Command. I take great pride in the time my family and I served this country. I am also not a political person. What few campaign contributions I have made in my life were to Democrats.

If the media and Big Tech companies had done their jobs over the past several weeks I would be irrelevant in this story. Given my long standing service and devotion to this great country, I could no longer allow my family’s name to be associated or tied to Russian disinformation or implied lies and false narratives dominating the media right now.

After leaving the military I became an institutional investor investing extensively around the world and on every continent. I have traveled to over 50 countries. I believe, hands down, we live in the greatest country in the world.

What I am outlining is fact. I know it is fact because I lived it. I am the CEO of Sinohawk Holdings which was a partnership between the Chinese operating through CEFC/Chairman Ye and the Biden family. I was brought into the company to be the CEO by James Gilliar and Hunter Biden. The reference to “the Big Guy” in the much publicized May 13, 2017 email is in fact a reference to Joe Biden. The other “JB” referenced in that email is Jim Biden, Joe’s brother.

Hunter Biden called his dad “the Big Guy” or “my Chairman,” and frequently referenced asking him for his sign-off or advice on various potential deals that we were discussing. I’ve seen Vice President Biden saying he never talked to Hunter about his business. I’ve seen firsthand that that’s not true, because it wasn’t just Hunter’s business, they said they were putting the Biden family name and its legacy on the line.

I realized the Chinese were not really focused on a healthy financial ROI. They were looking at this as a political or influence investment. Once I realized that Hunter wanted to use the company as his personal piggy bank by just taking money out of it as soon as it came from the Chinese, I took steps to prevent that from happening.

The Johnson Report connected some dots in a way that shocked me — it made me realize the Bidens had gone behind my back and gotten paid millions of dollars by the Chinese, even though they told me they hadn’t and wouldn’t do that to their partners.

I would ask the Biden family to address the American people and outline the facts so I can go back to being irrelevant — and so I am not put in a position to have to answer those questions for them.

I don’t have a political ax to grind; I just saw behind the Biden curtain and I grew concerned with what I saw. The Biden family aggressively leveraged the Biden family name to make millions of dollars from foreign entities even though some were from communist controlled China.

God bless America.”

Tony Bobulinski, NY Post, October 22, 2020, Full text of statement extracted from “Hunter biz partner confirms email, details Joe Biden’s push to make millions from China: Goodwin”

Trump vs. Biden

Today I’m pleased to share the thoughts of one of our readers who, in response to a friend who is rabidly anti-Trump, outlined the contrast between the two (quoted verbatim and in full with Editor’s additional notes italicized):

“I prefer “You are what you do, not what you say” so this is an abbreviated list of what Trump and Biden have done in public life:

Trump in 48 months:

  • Seated 150+ conservative judges as well as 2 and probably 3 Supreme Court Justices who are devotedly pro-life (Editor’s note: and adherents of the Constitution as written, not as the Left would like it to “evolve”.)
  • Best economy pre-covid, especially for blacks, Hispanics and women (Editor’s note: historically greater gains for low income earners than the wealthy)
  • Passed “Right to try” legislation for terminal patients
  • Passed tax reform (Editor’s note: directly impacting middle income families and causing economic growth to soar compared to anemic recovery under Obama/Biden.)
  • Criminal justice reform and enterprise zones and financial assistance to black colleges
  • Defeated ISIS (Editor’s note: killed its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi)
  • (Editor’s note: killed the most dangerous terrorist in the world, Iran’s Qasem Soleimani)
  • Brokered a peace accord in the Middle East which continues to expand
  • Moved US embassy to Jerusalem
  • (Editor’s note: removed us from the absurd and dangerous Iran Nuclear Deal)
  • (Editor’s note: removed us from the extremely unfavorable Trans Pacific Partnership)
  • (Editor’s note: removed us from the ridiculous and punitive Paris Climate Accord)
  • Enhanced veterans benefits and strengthened the VA
  • Rebuilt our military (decimated by 8 years of Obama/Biden)
  • Created Space Force, the new arm of the military
  • Signed trade deals with Mex./Can, Korea, China, Japan
  • Protected our border from ILLEGAL immigration
  • Created operation warp speed to bring vaccines/therapeutics to treat covid to market as quickly as possible.
  • Donated Presidential salary to charity
  • (Editor’s note: achieved U.S. energy independence with attendant benefits for ALL Americans)

(Editor’s note: and accomplished all of the above while under direct and vicious serial attacks by the Left.)

Biden in 47 years

  • Wrong on every foreign policy decision as VP (per Gates the Sec of DOD during his tenure) (Editor’s note: including opposing going after Bin Laden)
  • Started the partisan rancor over supreme court nominees with his trashing of Robert Bork
  • Sponsored the most discriminatory crime bills in history
  • Chose the most liberal senator (even left of Bernie Sanders) as a running mate
  • Gives cover to Antifa and BLM, left wing anarchist organizations 
  • Sets his son up for influence peddling with Ukraine, China and Russia while responsible for relations with these countries and taking a cut of it
  • (Editor’s note: has flip-flopped for political expediency on the single most critical component of U.S. energy independence: fracking)

Not much positive to add here. 

The democratic party is not the party you knew 20 years ago and has only gotten worse. Remember Ronald Reagan’s famous line “I didn’t leave the democratic party, it left me”. It’s done the same to lots of former democrats.

So on the merits I’ll take a man of action (albeit one who should keep his mouth shut more often). This country can’t afford any further slide to socialism.”

(Editor’s note: Thank you Bob! I’ll add that if ever there were a case of words versus action on display, Trump vs. Biden is it! Biden has run his mouth off for years and years promising everything and accomplishing little to nothing. Trump has run his mouth off for four years, accomplishing much more than he promised, all of it beneficial for the entire nation!)

Some Random Thoughts for the Day – October 15, 2020

There is so much to analyze, so much to comment on, so much to write about, I think today I’ll just list bullet points. Please click below to read them…

  • The chaos being sewn by both parties, but particularly and obviously that by the Left, is deliberate. It makes it difficult for many to sort fact from fiction, to sort honesty from dishonesty. Only clear-headed Americans with open minds and critical thinking skills will be able to discern truth from lies.
  • The Left, and I’ve said this before, will stop at NOTHING to defeat Donald Trump and the Republicans this election cycle. Couched in a wide range of statesman-like rhetoric (e.g. Dick Durbin) to outright obnoxious, poisonous and odious verbal diarrhea (e.g. Kamala Harris) the Left is throwing anything and everything at the wall in hopes something will stick.
  • If you look up “unhinged” in the dictionary, Nancy Pelosi’s picture should be next to the definition. Her performance with Wolf Blitzer on CNN simply says it all. You can’t make this stuff up.
  • As evidence of how on the one hand our country is innovative as hell, and on the other how crazy it’s becoming, I offer the fact that Hormel is now offering face masks with the scent of bacon. ‘Nuff said.
  • New bumper sticker: “My expert/scientist is bigger than your expert/scientist”.
  • Seen on a trail in the middle of nowhere in the High Peaks Wilderness of the Adirondacks a couple of weeks ago: a family, all wearing masks, including the family dog!
  • I predict the barons of Wall Street, in a final attempt to knock Trump down, will tank the market just before the election.
  • There is corruption on both sides of the political swamp, but the Clintons, Bidens, and their ilk truly are the varsity, All-American champions. Tell me how a so-called public servant his entire life, Joe Biden, is fabulously wealthy (and don’t say because Jill Biden is a physician… she didn’t make THAT much over the years). Don’t even try to justify the Biden family’s “business interests” that were implicitly, if not explicitly tied to his government positions as less than major conflicts of interest, whether ‘legal’ or not! As for the Clintons…the $100,000 commodities trading scandal was nothing compared to what they extracted and continue to extract from the Clinton Foundation into which influence buyers poured tens of millions of dollars! Again, legal or not, it stinks to high heaven!
  • Amy Comey Barrett is a superstar, and it’s not because of her technically perfect performance before the Senate Judiciary Committee. It’s because she acts, behaves and speaks like a NORMAL PERSON with solid traditional values – a role model if ever there was one.
  • Anybody with half a brain knows how corrupt and biased the so-called mainstream media is. The Twitter and Facebook censorship of the NY Post article on Hunter Biden that was published yesterday underscores just how corrupt and biased Silicon Valley is as well.
  • How any self-respecting citizen of our country could believe the Left’s lies, distortions, deflections, dissembling, denigrating, deceit, whining and histrionics is truly a sad commentary on our society.
  • The Republican outcry against the already evident problems with this election’s ballots may be enough to scare or at least influence ballot counters, poll watchers and voters to be vigilant. Contrary to what’s being trumpeted, I think there’s a good chance we WILL know the outcome of the election the night of November 3rd. The lawsuits and s#$%-show that will inevitably continue (they’ve already started) post November 3rd will not change a clear outcome.
  • Yogi Berra where are you when we need you. Your sayings, “It’s like “déjà vu all over again” and “It ain’t over till it’s over” have never been more apt.
  • Conservatives and Republicans don’t participate in polls and don’t put lawn signs up in Blue and Purple States.
  • “My Doctor is Bigger than Your Doctor” too!
  • School age kids are suffering. The Left doesn’t give a damn…they just want to use their new teaching platform to indoctrinate them through the medium they’re most used to. Teaching has now become a “social media” activity…
  • If you don’t want to be shot by a citizen defending himself or herself or by a law enforcement officer, it’s simple… don’t: a) hang out with the wrong people at the wrong times in the wrong places, b) strictly obey law enforcement’s commands, c) don’t threaten in an attempt to be macho, d) don’t be insolent, condescending…show respect for law enforcement, e) don’t do things that are, simply, ILLEGAL, e.g. riot, loot, destroy property, trespass, physically assault others, carry an unlicensed firearm or other deadly force object and misuse it, etc. etc.!
  • Life begins at conception, period. If you don’t want to have a baby, practice contraception, not infanticide.
  • Labels like socialism, marxism, white supremacy, ‘Karen’, oppressed, victim, racism, white privilege, etc. etc. are empty when not properly and adequately defined and explained. They’re just labels intended to incite positive or negative ‘feelings’ and simply should be ignored!
  • The lines will be long on election day. Try not to be too impatient and plan on going early and staying as long as you have to to make your vote count!

Their Real Strategy

Been away for a week hiking in the mountains. With a fresh head I’ve returned home and caught up on all the latest Leftist shenanigans. I am increasingly convinced their strategy of fomenting as much chaos as possible in connection with both the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court as well as the election is deliberate and calculated.

I believe what the Left really wants is to create so much doubt about the results that either: a) should Biden miraculously win on election night, they will immediately stop counting votes and declare him the winner or b) when he gets shellacked on election night, they will declare Biden victorious anyway, ensure that additional ballots miraculously materialize to make it so, and in the meantime start promoting a Biden 100 days plan, publicize his cabinet picks, etc. so as to make it seem a fait accompli.

The whole process now already stinks and the BS flag needs to be thrown well in advance of November 3rd. What the Supreme Court should REALLY do is rule that citizens must show up at a polling place on election day, or submit an AUTHENTICATED election ballot well in advance such that it arrives by election day. NO OTHER BALLOTS should be permitted, except, perhaps, for legitimate and authenticated ballots submitted by U.S. Military personnel or expatriates serving abroad.

Aside from the occasional moron wearing a mask on the trail (I even saw a dog with a mask…maybe it was a fashion statement?), the leaves were turning, the air was cool, clear and pure and there was no cell or internet service so I guess I missed some events in the continuing soap opera. But even though every election is billed as “the most consequential in our lifetime”, this upcoming one is certainly a notch above the last one, and THAT one took the prize!

In just a few weeks Americans will have the chance to either vote for what is Right, or what is Left. Left no longer means liberal – there’s nothing wrong with true liberals. Today’s Left, however, is so antithetical to everything that made America the greatest nation in the history of the world, no self-respecting, self-reliant, self-determinant, self-responsible citizen of our nation should even consider voting for Leftists in November. Say what you will about Trump and the Republican Party, at least they’re not completely insane like the woke, defund-the-police, anti-Christian/Religion, let-the-government-solve-all-my-problems, hyper-hypocritical, projecting Leftist idiots also on the ballot!

Now ask me how I REALLY feel about the new Democrat party.

Yard Sign Pollution

Is any one else as disgusted by the virtue-signalling lawn signs that pollute my neighborhood as I am? The self-righteousness that drips off these eyesores actually angers me. It makes me want to rub the noses of these bleeding-heart hypocrites into these signs like a puppy dog’s into the mess on the living room rug!

Sometimes others say it so well that it’s just best to bring their writing to the attention of our readers giving them full credit and applause. Such is the case with this topic and the work of Christopher Skeet, whose September 8th article in American Thinker entitled “Ascent of the Yard Sign Prophets” is spot on.

Here are, however, some choice excerpts:

“Shortly after Trump was elected president, “HATE HAS NO HOME HERE” (HHNHH) yard signs began adorning the minority-manicured lawns of white-collar, white-skinned liberals.  You’ve seen the sign.  Its message is translated into multiple languages, which is meant to broadcast a globalist diversity of sorts by those who speak not only just English, but that sniffy dialect molded within the narrow confines of a university pedigree loftier than junior college but conspicuously short of Ivy League.  You can all but hear them finish their Starbucks order with that irritating raised inflection on the last syllable.”

“The underlying message of the HHNHH yard sign is two-fold.  First, it’s virtue signaling in its most tawdry form.  Yard signs announcing “POVERTY IS BAD” and “I SUPPORT CURING CANCER” would ring just as hollow.  Sorry, but you don’t get a cookie for broadcasting to the world that you oppose hate.  Most people do, and their daily actions are sufficient proof thereof.  A lion doesn’t need to convince people it’s a lion.”

“Second, the HHNHH yard sign alludes that a home which opposes President Trump is axiomatically hate-free, and, by deductive logic, a home which supports President Trump categorically welcomes hate with open arms.  The sign smugly implies, “I’m a good person, and it’s a shame that you’re not.”  This insinuation might not rise to the level of hate, but it certainly sinks to the level of arrogance, condescension, and sweeping judgment.”

“But over time the HHNHH yard signs faded along with the “I’m With Her” bumper stickers.  The yard sign prophets needed something new, something snarkier, with which to impress their woke comrades and irritate the handyman who lives on the street’s only single story home.  So a new yard sign was handed out that reads like a manifesto.”  

“They really upped the ante, didn’t they? The first thought conservatives have looking at this sign is that they agree with every statement on it.  But the purpose of the sign is not to find common ground across the political spectrum, but to further drive a wedge.  The purpose of the sign is to insist that these statements are true only within the narrow ideological limits of the sign owner’s worldview.  If you disagree with the yard sign prophets on any policy point, then, in their minds, you disagree with the statements themselves.”

“Like its HHNHH predecessor, the WE BELIEVE yard sign isn’t an argument, an ideology, or a philosophy.  It isn’t a set of principles or tenets of a faith.  It has no depth, no complexity, and no animation.  It’s a regurgitation of drive-by gotcha-isms, dutifully parroted with overconfident arrogance and unearned righteousness by those who haven’t thought to the next sentence.”

“The WE BELIEVE statements are easily dissectible, and should never be allowed to fester unchallenged for the sake of avoiding unpleasant conversation.  The yard sign is designed to elicit shame in its opponents, but there is nothing shameful and everything noble in resisting what Solzhenitsyn called “the mechanical propaganda of dead ideas”.  You won’t make a dent, but they should know that neither did they.”

Thank you Mr. Skeet…could not have said it better myself!

 

I Have a Dream

With credit and apologies to Martin Luther King, I have my own dream of what could be. In a sense, what follows is MY version of a Utopian society…not the Dystopian society the Left is pushing.

I dream of an America that stands together, (including for our National Anthem!) as it once did during the Second World War. People from all walks of life, from every background, color, creed, faith, national origin are ALL proud to be American, grateful for the opportunity and freedom we have, bonded together through citizenship in a democratic republic we all believe in and cherish, and where educated, grammatically proper and syntactically correct American English is the national language.

I watched the movie “Miracle” the other night, the story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team’s beating of the unbeatable Russian hockey team and our gold medal win. The period leading up to that triumph was a time of great trouble: the winding up of the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Iranian hostage crisis, the welfare state was growing like gangbusters, the rapid breakdown of traditional families and a continuation of what occurred in the 60’s – a growing fracture between Left and Right.

At that moment, in that hockey rink in Lake Placid, NY, all of America was united irrespective of where we stood on the ideological, political, or societal spectra. Oh that we could bottle and distribute that patriotism and pride today! The same pride we all felt as we heard the words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

I dream of an America with leaders who uplift, who inspire, who seek the betterment of all our citizens and who assert with dignity and nobility America’s rightful role in the world as the “beacon on the hill”. In my lifetime, I’ve watched and listened to a slew of presidents, political, religious, academic, military and business “leaders” pontificate and (with apologies now to Shakespeare) “strut and fret their hour upon the stage” telling tales like idiots, “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Sometimes the rhetoric resonated with enough people that it became, (to use a modern term), a “meme”, and our nation’s course was altered accordingly. Sometimes it just drifted away on the wind and was “heard no more.” Today our politics is more than ever gutter politics. Both the Left and the Right are talking down and at one another rather than with one another. The public, at least those who bother, are watching this “s-show” and shaking their heads, rolling their eyes and asking themselves, “can’t we do better than this?” I hasten to add, as I often do, however, that while both sides participate in these deplorable political antics, you’d have to be willfully blind or just plain stupid to not see that the Left has deepened and putrefied the gutter beyond anything the Right or any grade-school educated person could ever have imagined!

I dream of an America where children are once again taught about its greatness, about its Judeo-Christian roots and underpinnings, about the sacrifices and struggles of those who, imperfect though they were, united together to build this nation and establish it as the greatest engine of freedom, peace and prosperity the world has ever known. Those lessons we learned in grade school about the founding and early history of America, about 2+2 being 4, not 5 (“but Johnny, that was a good try and I’m so glad you feel empowered to give that answer”), those trophies that we received because we WON, not because we showed up, are not QUAINT! They’re an accounting of what made America great (.sic) not to be trampled upon with New Math, 1619 projects, multicultural and globalist, anti-national revisions to history, and poisonous, Leftist, “nobody should have any more than anyone else”, dystopian idiocy.

I dream of an America where traditional views of right and wrong are once again firmly established in our practices, laws, regulations and politics, where principles of equal opportunity rather than equal outcomes are engendered and manifest, where we don’t compromise, alter or eliminate these principles and harm and offend the vast majority of our people because some minority professes to be victimized by their application. One can argue that there is no black and white, but the Leftists would have you believe that there are no standards…that each and every one of us ought to be the arbiter of what is good, what is evil, what is right and what is wrong. Peaceful marches and protests (ones that don’t disrupt commerce, travel and the lives of those who are not involved) are RIGHT. Riots, looting, assault, battery, disturbance of the peace even… are WRONG. The taking of responsibility, restraint and continence are RIGHT. Infanticide and abortion as contraception is WRONG! Practicing and exhibiting manners is RIGHT. Anything goes is WRONG.

I dream of an America where our legal system is purged of distortion and justice is meted out with equanimity and without political bias, where laws are respected, and people understand and expect to abide by them not from fear of judgement and penalty, but because they’re just and benefit all of us. We were taught as kids to respect police officers, firemen, heck, even “our elders”! Today the Left wishes to destroy respect for just about anything! Weaponized law, weaponized politics, weaponized regulations…all these were started and have been fomented by the “it’s all about me” Leftists who were the hippies of the 60’s, the losers who sought to “tune in, turn on and drop out” and who now form the core of what is known as “the Deep State”. How could the Left use the law to persecute (some might say destroy the lives of) its opponents while allowing its own scandalous, obvious and disgusting violations of law go unpunished?

I dream of an America:

                Where the rights and thoughtful, not shrill views of all are tolerated but where unlawful and aberrant behavior is not!

                Where ALL lives matter!

                Where faith is restored in FAITH!

                Where we can earn an honest day’s wage for an honest day’s work.

                Where government isn’t the source of philanthropy but individuals, families and communities look after one another.

                Where technology, systems and artificial intelligence don’t substitute for people communicating directly with one another, where human beings answer the customer service 800 number, speak English and are empowered to solve problems rather than belch canned scripts like “I’m sorry you’re having a problem with…I’m here to help with that.” And where REAL intelligence in REAL humans deliver REAL results, and where parents “just say no” to 10 year olds demanding their own iPhones.

                Where drugs, alcohol, pornography, social media and other addictions are dealt with head-on, not excused, tolerated and talked about endlessly.

                Where the real racism and bias inherent in the hypocritical Left’s actions are exposed and expunged so that real fairness of opportunity can prevail.

                Where men can once again be men and are not automatically accused of being misogynists; where women don’t feel they have to act like men (and behave like misandrists!) and where it’s ok for traditional roles of bread-winning and child-rearing to prevail again.

                Where shame is felt for shameful behavior.

                Where government no longer tries to engineer social justice through housing mandates, but allows communities to form freely and the pick-winners-and-losers-robin-hood-taking-from-Peter-to-buy-the-vote-of-Paul no longer takes place.

                Where the rights of those who seek to obey the laws, focus on caring for themselves and their families, and work hard to be contributing members of society are not permitted to be trampled by the obnoxious, repugnant behavior or those who break the laws and seek to impinge on or take from others what is not rightfully theirs, and who do so with impunity.

                Where honest capitalism is not denigrated but celebrated, but where crony capitalism is rooted out, exposed and eliminated.

                Where limousine liberals and people who have no idea of what real suffering is remove their hypocritical, self-righteous, virtue-signaling signs from their lawns and instead, take a weed whacker to the overgrown grass and mess by the side of the road.

                Where our schools teach kids reading, writing and arithmetic again instead of indoctrinating them in multicultural, gender-confused, anti-American drivel.

                Where the term “marriage” is returned to its religious definition, but where the ability of same-sex partners to enjoy the same legal rights as married couples is codified in our laws and where LGBTQ militants no longer try to shove their preferences and ideology down others’ throats.

                Where our military and law enforcement, as well as all other public service occupations are purged of incompetents and bad apples, our churches and the Boy Scouts are purged of pedophiles, our colleges are purged of socialists and marxists.

                Where we can calm down, lower the speed and decibel level of our lives, aspire to be good and do good, do what is right, and actually “all get along”.