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!

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”.

The Coming Unrest

If you think what you’re seeing on television in major cities is bad now, wait till Trump wins the election on November 3rd and the Left doesn’t just refuse to accept the outcome, but puts into effect their plans for escalated violence! It is already plotting to move the riots to the suburbs and their leaders are hell bent on sending their minions out to “resist”. It is NOT hyperbole to suggest that a full scale revolution is brewing, right before our eyes and right here in River City.

Gun sales have soared – no surprise! 9MM and .223/5.56 ammunition are virtually unavailable. Rural America has been armed and ready for years. Suburbia is just catching up. The BIG QUESTION is: “What will you do if and when a mob comes down your street with molotov cocktails in hand, stops in front of your house, and prepares to throw them at you?”

The time is now to think about preparing for this previously unimaginable scenario. And preparation doesn’t just mean stocking up on supplies of basics. It also means preparing contingency plans for family members who may need to escape the violence. It means preparing for widespread power outages, no internet, no cell service.

Are you prepared to take the steps necessary to protect your family and yourself? Do you know what criteria you will apply to make the decision as to whether to shelter in place or bug out? And what if a mob indeed threatens your family or your property? Have you considered under what circumstances you’re prepared to pull the trigger? It’s one thing to arm yourself. It’s another to fire a weapon in self defense. Even showing that you’re prepared to defend yourself can lead to trouble. Just ask the McCloskey’s of St. Louis who are being charged with felonies for daring to do just that!

There are scores of websites dedicated to preparing for the kind of civil unrest that’s happening and accelerating. I urge my readers to spend some time thinking about their unique circumstances, needs and considerations should the disasters we’re seeing in major and now even minor cities come to your doorstep.

A caution. Just as it is with the news, which I’ve urged readers to largely ignore, visiting prepper websites can scare the hell out of you! Just remember that preparing for the worst doesn’t mean it’ll materialize. As one site put it, if nothing terrible happens “chalk up your preparedness efforts to being that much better prepared for future disaster or crisis. But if we do see problems, do you really want to face them blind and unprepared?”

It’s really hard to believe what’s happening in America today, but the Left, ill-defined and chaotic as it may be, is absolutely dedicated to destroying our country and that unifying theme makes them not just a competing ideology anymore, but a “clear and present danger”.

An individual elected or appointed to an office of honor or profit in the civil service or uniformed services, is required by law to take the following oath: “I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

There is no higher responsibility, in my opinion, than the defense of one’s life and that of his or her loved ones. The Left is now precisely the “domestic enemy” cited in the oath. We must be prepared to bear true faith and allegiance to defending our Constitution, and our lives, against them.

May God Bless America in this time of trouble.

I’m At a Loss for Words

Dear Readers and Patrons of Grumps Report,

I truly am at a loss for words. The emotions coursing through me at this moment are so powerful that I expect anything I write might not reflect what I think and feel even a couple of weeks from now. I’ve run out of adjectives and adverbs to describe the emotions: sadness, fear, disgust, hopefulness, resolve, patience and impatience, anger, compassion, hate and love, just to name a few.

Physically, I’m fine. I had a routine medical procedure last week that required me to visit my doctor. I thus had a COVID test and am negative. I don’t know whether I’ve got antibodies. I’ve stopped watching and reading the news on this topic because my economist/banker/businessman’s critical thinking training has me so put off by the so-called experts, even many whom I’ve trusted and relied on in the past, that I’ve shut them all out.

Spiritually and emotionally I’m sickened by what I see happening to our country. Having grown up in the 60’s witnessing all the rebellion and profligacy of that decade, I never saw anything like the soul-crushing necrosis I’m seeing today. I’m of course referring to the rioting, looting and what’s almost worse, the cowardice, demagoguery and genuflection on the part of Leftist politicians to what truly is domestic terrorism. In the 60’s it was easy to write off the chaos and attribute it to fringe lunacy. The great majority of Americans, while silent, appreciated what we had and were mostly bystanders to what was generally accepted to be foolishness or youthful exuberance. The vast majority of us still cherished and appreciated all that was good about America.

Today we’re seeing the fruits of the dark underbelly of the 60’s, amplified and expanded thanks to the internet and decades of indoctrination by the same losers who lacked self-control and self-discipline then. They now populate academia, law, and above all, government. Even the military and law enforcement haven’t been spared. There are neurotic, unproductive or barely productive adult children in virtually all our institutions.

I’ve already said too much. I will now go back to my bucket-list pursuit of reading all the Great Books. In them I find refuge, wisdom and truth that transcends all the nonsense bombarding me from all directions every minute of every day (were I to allow it).

Keep your seat belts fastened and your seat backs and tray tables in their full upright position. It’s going to be a bumpy ride for some time to come.

But this too shall pass.

Sheep(le), Wolves and Sheepdogs

If you’re not familiar with the concept of the three types of people: sheep, wolves and sheep dogs, I strongly urge you to read about it in Lt. Col Dave Grossman’s book, “On Combat”. Sometimes it’s not easy to tell which category a person falls into until circumstances or events make it plainly obvious. One of the things the COVID-19 situation has done is make the distinctions more transparent.

Very briefly, and quoting from the book…

“If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen: a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath–a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? Then you are a sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero’s path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.”

The vast majority of people are sheep. This isn’t a pejorative term, unless of course we’re referring to “sheeple”. Sheeple are docile, fearful, easily-led, easily-manipulated, often ego-centric, gullible and seek the approval of others, particularly “expert authorities” and some kind of outside validation for their actions.

The truly evil sociopaths are of course wolves, but we can characterize scammers, demagogues, fearmongers, ‘hypercrits’ (.sic), ‘patronizers’, ‘condescenders’, megalomaniacs, holier-than-thou types, petty bureaucrats and of course, the majority of politicians as wolves too!

FInally, there are among us, thankfully, sheepdogs: combat soldiers, intelligence operators, police, firemen, first responders, much of the medical community, community emergency response teams and myriad volunteers who seek to serve others.

Look around you these days and you’ll clearly see who’s who.

What does this mean for our new lives… our during and post-COVID lives?

If you are a sheep. I strongly urge you to seek out, get to know, listen to and if need be, follow one or more sheepdogs whom you can trust and try to help as they seek to protect and serve others.

If you are sheepdog, I strongly urge you to embrace your role and let people know you care about them, will try to look out for their well-being, will defend them (with violence if necessary!) against evil and will lead from the front, not from your behind (.sic).

A few years ago a regional newspaper run by wolves and staffed by sheeple, in a fit of anti-Second Amendment pique, published an online, interactive map of those of us with concealed carry gun permits. Their attempt was to ostracize and shame us. It backfired.

No less than three of my neighbors, after seeing that I (and no-one else within a radius of about five miles) had a carry permit, quietly told me something to the effect of, “If the s— hits the fan, I’m coming to YOUR house.” Besides offering to mentor them on firearms training and permit acquisition (usually met with a “noooo, I could never do that…”) I reassured them they could indeed rely on me to help them in a dire situation, and if necessary, I’d given them on-the-spot training!

If you are a Sheeple, you’re not reading this but if perchance you do I urge you to wake up, shut up, engage your brain and do something useful instead of whining, weeping, wailing and gnashing your teeth!

Finally, if you’re a wolf, you too are probably not reading this. But I would strongly urge all wolves to be mindful of the rapidly increasing number of sheepdogs who are coming out of their doghouses to confront the evil you represent. We’ve thrown the bulls— flag on the field and while we haven’t seen apocalyptic civil unrest at this time, we’re ready to confront you and will not hesitate to defend our families and our friends from everything from petty unrighteous dominion to violent threat.

This crisis has clearly brought out both the best and worst in people. I have no data to support this, but I would not be surprised if the number of sheepdogs reading these words is greater than for most blogs. Why? Because people who would actually take the time to read the reflections and musings of an old, traditional fart like me probably care deeply about their loved ones, their communities and our nation. I expect many of you are courageous in the face of hardship and would, like a sheepdog, step up when called upon (if you’re not already doing so) to defend the flock.

May God bless the Sheepdogs and the Sheep. May He help the Sheeple and may He render the Wolves impotent…

Grumps’ First Law of Experts as Applied to COVID-19

“On any subject one can find at least twelve world-renowned experts citing documented, empirical, irrefutable evidence to support arguments that are diametrically opposed to one another.” – Grumps

Who you gonna believe? Dr. Anthony Fauci? Dr. Deborah Birx? Dr. Oz? President Trump? Secretary Steve Mnuchin? Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy? Senator Chuck Schumer? Senator Mitch McConnell? Larry Kudlow? Rachel Maddow? Laura Ingraham? Nancy Pelosi? Andrew Cuomo? Chris Cuomo?

Simply put, there are no end of experts, pundits, commentators, ‘contributors’.

Have you ever wondered why these people after being interviewed by some television host most often say “Thank you,” at the end of their segment, right after being thanked by the host? If it were I, my last words would be “you’re welcome”, or “happy to contribute”, or “my pleasure”, or even a simple nod. No, most say “thank you” or “thank you for having me”.

The reason is simple. The media is theater and these people being interviewed are being paid to entertain (.sic…they claim to inform but they’re mostly offering opinion, parroting someone else’s commentary, or simply making up stuff on the fly) so I’ll say entertain rather than inform despite even the best of intentions. If they’re not being paid, they’re hoping to someday be paid. If they’re neither being paid or hoping to be paid they’re desperate for attention and recognition in order to advance their careers, at best, or just their egos, at worst. They got their 15-180 seconds of fame. That’s why they say “thank you”.

I say despite their best intentions because many of the talking heads really do try to present relevant, useful, information and some even say what they really think. And some tell the truth, some omit the truth, some flavor or color the truth, some think they’re saying what’s true, and some disclose that they’re offering their opinions, which many take as truth.

On the other hand, there are many who intentionally deceive, ‘spin’, twist and color truths as well as outright lies to further their agenda. The more outrageous the deception, the better to “make it bleed”, thus “lead”.

And of course, depending upon where one sits on the ideological continuum, lies are truth and vice versa, spin is omnipresent…it’s a question of degree.

So whom to believe?

Ourselves. We went to school and supposedly learned how to think there. Instead of lapping up what the talking heads tell us, we need to think for ourselves. And the thinking needs to be critical. If what we’re hearing is contradictory, obscure, wrapped in gobbledygook or simply sounds like nonsense, it probably is. Doesn’t matter who’s spouting it and it doesn’t matter how much of it is fact, applicable to our own circumstances, or how much is conjecture, fiction, outright falsehood, etc.

We need to believe in our own God-given good judgement and make decisions that are right for us, not just run along with the sheep.

The only expert needed is us.

I CAN’T HEAR YOU!

In a recent post I noted some of the positive things that have or will emerge from the Coronavirus pandemic. One of the MOST positive is the impact that social distancing, closed schools and quarantining is having on COMMUNICATION among family and friends.

While I will admit that I texted my wife the other night while she was sitting in another room in the house instead of getting off my butt and going to speak to her directly, I partially justify this because it’s actually far more efficient.

Let me explain. Were I to wander into the room where she is to ask a question directly, one of two things would occur: either a) I will ask my question and no matter how clearly I do so, she will ask me to repeat it, or b) I will speak loud enough to get her attention so she will hear me the first time immediately to be told, “I’m right here, stop yelling at me!”

This is in GOOD times. Now that we are both stuck at home, essentially quarantined, and have had to figure out how to communicate with one another, we had to have a conversation about YELLING! She thinks raising my voice above normal conversation is yelling. I think anything less than speaking at a normal decibel level when the tv or microwave are on constitutes mumbling under one’s breath. She refuses to “yell” and we both get frustrated having to ask one another to constantly repeat ourselves. Texting, on the other hand, has that blissful silence about it while still getting the  question out and/or the response back! And ALL UPPER CASE is only ‘virtual yelling’, not ‘actual yelling’!

So one of our first conversations as we sat at dinner since being quarantined involved talking about talking. Yes, talking about talking. With no ambient noise except for the dog panting nearby we could actually hear one another, and despite having vastly different definitions of what constitutes communication, yelling, mumbling, etc., we, in fact, actually TALKED to one another! How cool was that?

We agreed to disagree, but when she did start “yelling” at me I COULD HEAR HER! Yay! Now, if she could just take that “I’ll speak up but I’m going to kill you” tone out of her voice, we may be able to avoid texting to one another while in the house altogether!

On a serious note, having families confined to quarters is forcing us to interact beyond email and texting. It’s forcing us to deal with one another in what are now unusual ways. Used to be we talked over dinner routinely, or had one-on-one time with our kids at some point before bedtime. Now we talk in both these cases, and even over breakfast…and sometimes even during the day. What a novel idea!

As for friends and family. We still use email, text and Facetime or something similar, but we do so deliberately: to check in, to coordinate plans, to engage in one-on-ones by phone because we’re really concerned about one another. We’ve always been concerned about one another…but now we mean it!

And that’s a good thing. We’ve relearned that what really matters are family, and friends, and neighbors. We’ve relearned that when we’re all in deep yogurt, we can and need to help one another out. In our community I’m partially surrounded by Leftists who in good times have warped values and moronic ideologies. But today, they’re just neighbors sheepishly venturing out on their front lawns to say hi from afar.

Let’s take this opportunity to get to know one another again. Let’s try to remember that we like one another even when communicating may require us to YELL! And, let’s hope that when this is all over we’ll not forget whom we got to know while we were fighting the virus war together!

Tiggers

The stock market has crashed. Unemployment is skyrocketing. The number of confirmed Wuhan Virus (that’s what I call it) cases is growing exponentially. Grocery store shelves are bare. Gun sales are going through the roof. Office buildings in Manhattan are empty. People are walking around with masks. Schools are cancelled. The internet is bogging down because so many people are home its vaunted capacity (bandwidth) is proving to be inadequate for the demand. California is “locked down”. Hell has broken loose.

However… “The wonderful thing about Tiggers is, tiggers is wonderful things. Their tops are made of rubber, and their tails are made of springs. They’re bouncy, flouncy, trouncy, pouncy, full of fun, fun fun. The wonderful thing about Tiggers is, I’m the only one.” Substitute Americans for tiggers and you’ll have a hint as to why despite the misery and impending doom I’m optimistic for the future.  

My thoughts…

1.            As bad as the pandemic is, it’s not as bad as you think. Simple arithmetic coupled with basic critical thinking points to the conclusion that greater than 99% of everyone who contracts the disease will recover, and we don’t know of course how many people WILL or WILL NOT contract it. Thousands get sick and many die each day from heart disease, cancer, jaywalking, ‘regular’ flu and chronic lung disease from smoking, etc. As of this morning, ~a quarter of a million people WORLDWIDE have been confirmed to have the virus, ~10,000 people WORLDWIDE have died from the virus, and ~86,000 have recovered. These numbers are DWARFED by regular flu.  In the U.S., ~15,000 people have confirmed cases and ~100 people have died. This flu season alone (roughly from October 2019 to the present) 31MM people IN THE UNITED STATES (!) have had the flu. Somewhere around 275,000 give or take have had to be hospitalized, and as many as 30,000 (vs. 100) have died from run-of-the-mill flu! (See  https://www.health.com/condition/cold-flu-sinus/how-many-people-die-of-the-flu-every-year for a plain language discussion.) Translation – this isn’t anywhere near as bad as the media and politicians would have you believe.

2.            Despite what you hear or see, the government is doing the right things. They may not in all cases being doing things right, but the medical, logistical, economic and societal response is “gettin’ ‘er done”. I expect the response is even overdone if you look at the statistics in the previous paragraph. So, for example, NOT EVERYONE NEEDS A TEST! If you get sick, sure, go get a test. But it’s self-centered, selfish and “looking out for number one” just to confirm you’re NOT sick, and may deprive someone who really needs to be tested from getting the help they need. Testing is NOT a cure, and satisfying statistical number crunching is nowhere near as important as preventing and treating the actual disease. Mobilization and coordination among all the health care agencies, departments and the private sector is exactly what is needed, and again, no matter what you hear, there are very competent people who care about others and this country hard at work on the problems. Have some faith in them!

The backstopping of employers in various ways and the anticipated support given to individuals and families is being matched by lenders, landlords, tax collectors… you name it. Everyone’s in this and making accommodations following the lead of the federal, state and local governments.

Just remember that “the government” is made up of people who have the same hopes, dreams, fears, constraints, problems as everyone else in the country. The vast majority are working their asses off to help and do what’s right within their on organizations and spheres of influence. I had to go to the department of motor vehicles the other day. Everyone there had taken a large dose of patience pills and I was both shocked and thrilled to see how both the people behind the counter and in front of it were behaving.

The government, of course, is damned if they do and damned if they don’t, but on balance, its response to this crisis has been overwhelmingly appropriate and helpful. Its communications, despite the handwringing and teeth-gnashing of a “if it bleeds it leads” media has been solid, optimistic, informative and suitably cautionary as to get virtually the whole nation (except the Florida beach Spring Break party animals) to respond as it should. This all happened in a matter of days, unlike the responses during the H1N1, SARS, MERS and other pandemics.

3.            Gas prices and interest rates are falling. The one commodity everyone needs is fuel, and the stimulating effect of a drop in gas prices to the ~$2.00 – ~$2.50 level is incredibly impactful on regular budgets. This will benefit us all, except of course for oil producers. But Washington is on to the Russian and Saudi’s game to try to destroy our energy-independent status and crush our shale industry, and are NOT going to let them get away with it. Similarly, we’re not standing idly by while China spews its propaganda and stomps its feet and blames our military for what they caused or worse, threatens us with withholding drugs such that we become “awash in a sea of Coronavirus”. We’ve thrown the bull#%*& flag on that already and will continue to rub China’s nose in the mess they’ve created and left on the world’s floor. Xenophobic? No, just highlighting the truth in the face false accusations.

4.            One of the silver linings in this mess is the awakening that has occurred among government, industry and the American people that we must no longer be held hostage by foreign manufacturers and suppliers. The Globalist agenda has been thoroughly trounced by this exposure of its flaws, and bringing our manufacturing and supply chains home may result in higher priced goods, but we’ll all benefit in the long run.

5.            Kids are getting educated again. Home schooling is exposing the inadequacies, biases and absurdities of the current state of our education system. Parents are waking up to what is being taught, and what is NOT being taught to our children. I predict that for whatever time period home-schooling prevails, our kids will get a BETTER education than what they’re getting at school, and teachers will be astonished when students return at how far they’ve advanced. You heard it from me first.

6.            Neighbors are helping neighbors. Our little local email chain is lit up with offers of help and assistance. People are getting outside and checking on each other from afar (i.e. more than six feet). Kids are teaching parents and grandparents about Facetime, Skype and Zoom. And Animal Planet is running shows about carefree kittens and puppies. Come on…how much better is it to watch than the gloom and doom on broadcast tv?

7.            People are learning who their leaders are. Not the ones with the titles, but the ones who are true leaders as opposed to managers and demagogues. True leaders step up in times of crisis and go to the front of the crowd, carry a light and turn back to shout encouragement and instill confidence in others. People who may have labored in the shadows or punched well below their weight are now emerging as the shepherds of our society. This separating of the leaders from the followers can only be a positive development.

8.            The Silent Majority is silent no more. Having to adapt to the situation, conservatives and the Right who normally are head down working and caring for themselves and their families are speaking up and speaking out. They are not just throwing the BS flag on politically correct nonsense, they are ignoring social engineering and all its related evils and practicing true philanthropy and real, beneficial community activism.

9.            Complacency is evaporating. It’s amazing what being forced to rely on fundamentals and things that matter will do to a spoiled and coddled population. In the face of what’s going on, do people really care what the Kardashians think?

10.          Faith is making a comeback. It’s sad but true that there are no atheists in foxholes. We’re rediscovering our faith despite not being able to attend Church. And whether it’s one religion or another, it’s the common principles of right and wrong, goodness versus evil and a belief in a set of universal truths that are moving back into the public consciousness. This is a good thing.

11.          Families are getting to know one another again. Yes, we’re cooped up and hunkered down. And things get testy at times as we bumble around in each other’s way. But for many of us, we’re forced to seek virtue: patience, understanding, caring for one another, and learning anew about each other. It doesn’t take a village, it takes a family, and families are binding together out of necessity and love.

And finally, THE MOST IMPORTANT REASON I’M OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THE FUTURE is that America has the most natural and other resources of any nation on earth. We can produce enough of EVERYTHING to take care of ourselves and help the rest of the world to boot. We have the smartest people. We have a spirit of “can do” that is unparalleled on the planet. Many nations think we’re brash, loud, obnoxious, overly proud and nationalistic and hate us for our bad manners and profligacy. So be it. I’d rather live in the United States than in any other country. We will not only get through this, but emerge stronger than ever and once again, we’ll be the city set on a hill letting our light so shine as to be a beacon of freedom and prosperity to the entire world.

I’m a pragmatist, and I recognize the challenges that lie ahead to recover from this mess. But I believe with every fiber of my being that things are going to be better than ok, and sooner than the so-called experts predict. I’m not suggesting we all go Hakuna Matata on this, but let’s put things in perspective shall we?

May God continue to bless us. And may God continue to bless America.

Guns

In the coming months there’s going to be a lot of talk about the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms, the NRA and “assault rifles”. The limp-wristed Leftists who think a gun magazine is something you read will stomp their feet and gnash their teeth crying “we have to get guns off the streets” and “Republicans want guns so they can kill our kids” and similar nonsense.

The ignorance on the subject of guns is truly astounding. Hollywood has had much to do with creating false perceptions, and hypocritical, power-hungry politicians, many of whom have armed bodyguards, try to use this to their advantage. It’s a subject that can and will be discussed far beyond this election cycle, and there are so many facets to it, from the constitutional to the economic, to the ethical and moral, to the pragmatic…this article is only a tiny toe-in-the-water attempt to dispel some of the more glaring falsehoods and mis-characterizations of both guns and gun owners that permeate the airwaves.

First of all, guns are only one means to either inflict injury or death. In the hands of a determined killer a gun is actually one of the least efficient ways of carrying out an evil act. A bomb or driving a car into a crowd is far more deadly. Just ask Timothy McVeigh or Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Similarly, guns are only one means of self-defense, but they’re an equalizer. A trained, 115 pound gun- wielding mom defending her children against a threatening 250 pound home invader has a far better chance of protecting them with a gun than without one. Yes, locks, alarms, pepper spray, a fireplace poker or baseball bat and “retreating to a safe place” are all possible defensive alternatives, but they’re hardly as effective as a gun against a perpetrator intent on harm.

The constant whining about “assault rifles” is sickening to responsible gun owners and enthusiasts. From Colorado Democrat Representative Diana DeGette’s idiotic statement that if there is a ban on magazines eventually the number of bullets would diminish “because the bullets will have been shot and there won’t be any more available,” to Nancy Pelosi’s bill to ban “assault magazines”, I could go on and on but I’ll simply point you to this article entitled “Top Ten Most Idiotic Anti-Gun Quotes from Politicians”.

For those of you who are NOT knowledgeable about guns, a magazine is the part of the gun that holds the bullets or shells, and is continuously re-used, so banning magazines doesn’t ban or reduce the number of bullets! And, by the way, the difference between bullets and shells is the difference between rifles and handguns and shotguns. Shotguns use shells, the others, bullets. Magazines can hold either but each is specific to the precise ammunition used!

Another common absurdity spewing from the mouths of Leftists is the suggestion that the AR in AR-15 stands for “Assault Rifle”. In fact, it stands for ArmaLite, the company that has been around since 1954 and that designed all kinds of rifles, each named with the prefix AR.

An assault rifle is a weapon that is capable of ‘select’ or in other words, fully-automatic fire…essentially, a machine gun. That’s what the police and soldiers have hanging from the straps around their necks. The Left would have you believe that ANY gun that looks scary, i.e. one that looks like a military rifle such as the AR-15, or the most widely available gun type in the world…the AK-47 and its variants, is an assault weapon. No!  Fully-automatic, true assault rifles are already illegal. The kind of AR-15 or AK-47 that can be bought and used are semi-automatic. The difference is that pressing the trigger of a real assault rifle when in fully-automatic mode will cause it to shoot bullets continuously until the trigger is released. On a semi-automatic rifle such as the kind owned by hundreds of thousands of gun-owners, the trigger must be pressed once for each firing of a bullet. The infamous “bump stock” used by the Las Vegas shooter was a device that allowed a semi-automatic rifle to simulate a fully-automatic one, but such a device could be used on lots of different semi-automatic rifles, including ones that don’t look scary!

Ironically, the M-1 Garand – the principal rifle used by the U.S. military during World War II, seems to be ok with the Left because it doesn’t look like scary but rather more like a classic hunting rifle. However, just ask many a dead German or Japanese soldier whether they considered the M-1 to be an assault weapon!

The justification for owning an AR or AK style rifle should not be, as some pro-gun advocates suggest, for hunting. Sure you can hunt with one, and many do, but for pure hunting purposes, a specific hunting rifle like the Winchester Model 70 with a scope on it will likely fill your freezer with venison more efficiently than an AR-15.

No, the justification for owning an AR or AK “assault-style” weapon is that they are dual-purpose – they are effective both for hunting AND self-defense. As the Winchester Model ’94 (the lever-action saddle “Gun that Won the West” featured in Western movies) was the dual-purpose rifle of the late 1800 and early 1900’s, the AR-15 and AK-47 are the dual-purpose rifles of today. Can any of these be used in a mass shooting incident? Yes, and so can a pressure-cooker bomb!

Under the heading PROPAGANDA, you may have seen a spot on television from the Ad Council where a little boy talks to his dad about the handgun hidden under the sweaters in the father’s closet. The clip is intended to shock the viewer into thinking “Oh my God, the child has access to a handgun and could do so much harm to himself or others! We simply have to ban guns.” What’s so ridiculous about this portrayal is that no responsible gun owner leaves a gun in a place accessible to children! And while there may be some irresponsible gun owners who have an easily accessible loaded gun in the house, they take other precautions, of which there are many, to ensure it doesn’t get into the wrong hands.

But this is but one example of the ignorant bias of such “public service” depictions. The barrage is continuous and serves no-one save the felons who would like nothing more than the assurance that they won’t encounter an armed citizen when they perpetrate their crimes.

I once sat at dinner with a conservative Englishman with whom I agreed on just about every topic except guns. “How could you allow so many guns in America and pass legislation supporting their ownership? That’s absurd”, he said. In reply I calmly pointed out, “Let’s say we were instantaneously able to get all 350 million plus guns in the hands of American residents off the streets on a Monday. How many guns do you think there would be on the streets by Friday, and in whose hands would they be?”

The suggestion that all guns are inherently dangerous is analogous to saying that all cars are dangerous! It is a true statement, irrespective of whether it’s uttered by the NRA or an individual gun-owner, that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. And while rarely publicized, the number of times annually that guns in the hands of responsible gun-owners have stopped crimes dwarfs the number of times guns are actually used in the commission of a crime. What is never reported, because it can’t be, is how many times the presence of a good guy with a gun DETERS a crime, or the times a criminal abandons a crime and flees when confronted with the barrel of a gun in the hands of a good guy.

In summary, it is absolutely true that “guns don’t kill people, people do”. In the U.S. there are far more responsible gun owners than criminals with guns, and that in and of itself deters many more crimes than might otherwise occur.

So demagogue politicians can and will denounce guns, and fracking, and cow farts and whatever else comes along that is the “cause du jour”. Their stupid memes and crusades aren’t going to help anyone but those who live off the grant money and donations of people trying to “feel good” about “doing something”. 

There, I feel slightly better now. Someday I’ll tell you how I really feel!

As We Start a New Decade

Where to begin? The last couple of months has been marked by a series of headlines that even Hollywood couldn’t invent. You’d have to be living under a rock not to see or hear what’s been happening in the economy, politics, society, media, technology, defense, even the environment.

In the economy. Forget the statistics – they’re useless in depicting what’s really going on in your wallet. The old adage “Figures lie and liars figure” has never been more true. Depending on how the pundits and so-called “experts” spin them, the only thing that really matters is how we and our families are doing. It’s a good time to ask the question, “Are you better off now than you were three years ago?”

For the vast majority of Americans, the answer is an unequivocal “Yes.” Rising wages, low inflation, increasing productivity, greater convenience and utility provided in part by technology, in part by innovation, systems and processes…all have improved our lives. The stock market at all time highs doesn’t just impact the wealthy. It impacts everyone. Whether or not you have an investment portfolio, economic GROWTH, which the stock market reflects, increases demand for goods and services, including the things made by the companies we work for and the services WE render. That all translates to improvements in our lifestyle.

In politics. The cataclysmic impact of the 2016 election on the status quo, what some call the “Deep State” or the legions of government minions many of whom work hard but produce little of value, has slowed the slide down the slippery slope the Left has had us on for so long. It is a long slog back up, but the shrill, childish and petulant voice and actions of the so-called but misnamed “progressives” have been fully exposed. The cancer has been identified and bit by bit it is being eradicated such that the greatness and “can do” spirit of America has begun to re-emerge.

In society. Some are content to let the next couple of generations have the world they’re making. I am not. I believe it is still my duty as a parent and as a concerned citizen to impart traditional values and traditional norms to my children and grandchildren. Basics like manners, virtues such as thrift and hard work, meritocracy, courage, self-reliance, communication and interpersonal relation skills in the face of technological isolation (a subject for another time), the importance of family, charity, trustworthiness, and on and on. These are things that I’m afraid the next two generations don’t fully understand, appreciate or possess as much as they should.

In media. As I have stated often, the impact of the “one-to-many” amplification provided by the Internet has allowed the most fringe-lunatic, caustic voices to reach and influence many. We used to say that PowerPoint made everyone a graphic artist. Similarly, Social Media has made everyone and anyone a journalist or pundit (present company included). The firehose of data not all of which is actual information but all of which is biased and deceptive in one form or another has created a distorted reality…in fact, it has changed reality and societal norms, not always for the better. Character assassination, taunting and hazing, for example, are facilitated and empowered with the new media. And like the accident by the side of the road, it is the macabre, shocking and emotion and nerve-tingling input we receive that we pay the most attention to and are most influenced by. Never has the need for critical thinking been greater. And never has it been found more wanting.

In technology. Rapid advances in technology are proving to be be both good and bad. This is a subject which we’ll touch on more and more as robotics, artificial intelligence and quantum computing impact our society and livelihood more and more, and at an accelerating rate. My wife received an umbrella from the firm she works for recently. Nice umbrella, but would you believe it came with an APP!!!! Yes, an umbrella with an App! For those of you who are blissfully unaware of what an APP is…it’s just a software program dedicated to doing a limited set of tasks on your desktop, laptop, tablet or phone like report the weather or control your whole house! I mean really…an umbrella with an APP???!!!!

In defense. Envy is one of the seven deadly sins for a reason. It spawns evil leaders and causes even whole nations (or quasi-nations) to seek power and dominance at the expense of others. Rodney King had it right when he said, “Can we all get along?” The answer is “no”, not until a perfect, benevolent leader (e.g. Jesus Christ) comes along who can inspire men with free will to follow Him so as to eschew and eliminate evil. In the meantime, the United States, despite all its imperfections, is still the best surrogate or substitute because our form of government vests power (nominally) in the people, i.e. spread across everyone rather than a single benevolent, charismatic leader. Our constitutional republic or representative democracy has been the greatest catalyst to human advancement in the history of the world, despite its faults. It is not just worth defending…it MUST be defended against those who seek to destroy it out of envy and a thirst for power. Wilsonian appeasement of evil cannot and must not be tolerated. Might doesn’t make Right, but adults (the U.S. at its best) must stop and modify the aberrant behavior of petulant and in some cases violently misbehaving children (Iran, NOKO, Venezuela, Russia, China). As arrogant as that sounds, it is, in my opinion, an apt characterization of the current world stage and depiction of our responsibility as a nation.

In the environment. I’m not running for office so I’ll state it plainly. Climate change is real – it changes all the time. And man has little to nothing to do with it. The famous George Carlin routine says it best where he humorously but acerbically rants at environmentalists while pointing out how insignificant mankind is when compared to the history of the earth and concludes, “The planet is fine. The people are f****d!” The wildfires in Australia? No, not global warming…man-kindled by a bunch of malcontent Leftists as it turns out. Bears floating on minuscule ice packs? Nonsense…they swam several miles out there to hang out and fish! Follow the money! If there’s a tree-hugging environmentalist/alarmist out there, there are grant dollars nearby. “Please pass the offering plate…”

Are there Rightist sins? Of course! But in the grand scheme of things, the principles of the Right are, in fact, RIGHT! Evil exists over here as well – crony capitalism comes to mind. But for my money, Winston Churchill was also right (.sic): “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms which have been tried…” and by extension…conservative/Right principles are the worst form of societal norms except for all those other forms (socialism, communism, democratic socialism, etc.) that have been tried.

And America still stands as the light shining on the hill. God Bless Her! Happy New Year and Happy New Decade.