Month: May 2021

In Memory Of Those Who Died Serving Our Country

America, History, Society & Culture

This Memorial Day Weekend as I helped plant flags at the graves of veterans I once again reflected on the extremely high price of Freedom. As I pushed a long screwdriver into the soil next to each veteran headstone so as to make the hole into which I placed a fresh, bright flag, I wondered how many had actually died in battle. Some, of course, died after their military service. Some never saw combat, never put their lives directly on the line. Nonetheless, all died having served, and all are worthy of honor and remembrance. I paused and slowly read the name of each next to whom I planted a flag and silently thanked them.

Pondering the question I asked myself about the number of veterans who died in battle, I later found the following infographic which I share as it provides a definitive answer:

As I drove home after participating in the solemn and dignified activity, I thought to myself that there have been many civilians as well, deserving of the honor I had accorded the veterans in that cemetery.

I recalled, for example, my visits over the years to C.I.A. headquarters in Langley, VA. On the north wall of the lobby in the “original” headquarters building are the memorial and iconic stars of those Agency employees who died in the line of service. My understanding is that most were members of the paramilitary arm of the Special Activities Division of the operations directorate (now the National Clandestine Service). When I first visited the Agency in the early 1970’s there were a handful of stars on the wall. Over the years the number kept growing. When I last visited, a couple of years ago, there were over 130. It seemed to me that they too should be listed among the veterans who either died in battle or at a minimum, among those who died while in the service of our country. They too, most certainly, are deserving of the honor and respect we accord to deceased veterans.

And this made me think of the countless other civilians who have taken the oath to defend the Constitution: law enforcement officers, first responders and volunteers of all kinds, and, I regret to have to add, even politicians for whom I have an almost universal disdain.

I wish I could say that ALL who have taken the oath are worthy of the honor we accord veterans on Memorial Day. Many are, but I’m afraid that today there is evidence in plain sight of many who have violated their oath and in my opinion, are guilty of treason. And there are some, never having either served or taken the oath who are worthy not of praise but of the most emphatic scorn. You know who they are.

But back to the honoring of those who DO live up to the oath they’ve taken. Patriots, lovers of freedom, defenders of liberty, in service to their fellow citizens… there a MILLIONS of American civilians who deserve to be honored for their stalwart support of the Constitution. Some have even tragically given their lives in its defense.

Some who valiantly served may not readily be apparent or ever come to mind. For example, there are bankers (yes, bankers) who served by getting involved in financial transactions to facilitate the development of military hardware and services, and businessmen and women who worked with intelligence agencies to provide information useful to counter terrorism or counter espionage activities. There were business executives who never served in uniform but who led or worked for organizations that developed and supplied material and services that gave us a competitive military edge over our adversaries. While it is tempting to assume that these people were simply performing their duties as employees for a paycheck, I know from firsthand experience that many did so with a conscious effort to support our country’s constitution and its defense.

It is to the civilians who have died in the service of our country in addition to the veterans that I extend my gratitude and offer my respect and admiration this Memorial Day.

May God bless them and their families forever.

And may God bless America.

Joe Biden Is Wrong On Everything

America, Economy, Education, Politics, Reason, Society & Culture, Values

The following letter was sent by one of our readers in Pennsylvania to his senator and representative in Congress and is reprinted with permission. It reflects the anger of so many of us and is spot on!

Dear Senator Casey and Representative Houlihan:

What a disaster! Joe Biden continues to be wrong on everything, just like he’s been for 50 years!

He campaigned as a moderate but has ruled as an ultra-liberal. He claimed to be bi-partisan, but has governed by partisan executive order.

He’s wrong on the border and Pennsylvanians are paying for his incompetence with increased crime, depressed wages for legal residents and citizens, increasingly crowded medical care facilities, destruction of our sovereignty.

He is wrong on the Palestinians; they are Iranian backed terrorists and to support them is to support the world’s most prolific sponsor of terror.

He’s wrong on Iran, and he will be responsible when they get a nuclear weapon which doesn’t necessarily mean a nuclear warhead tipped intercontinental ballistic missile! How about a dirty bomb set off at Independence Hall?

He’s wrong on unions- just like the New York Times Op-Ed page being dismissed as passe, so are unions. There is now a government agency for everything they fought for. And they are more corrupt than the government. Either eliminate unions or get rid of all the government agencies doing the unions’ work. This goes particularly for government employee unions. What could be more corrupt than unions bargaining with themselves – that’s what public sector unions do by definition!

He’s wrong on the economy! We don’t need any more stimulus. We haven’t even spent what has been approved, and more money will just further stoke inflation. Unless you’re blind, just look at the price signs on gas stations and the cost of a half gallon of milk! I remember paying 12% for a mortgage – when the Fed runs out of options, we’ll be paying that and more for money!

He’s wrong on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Russia can have pipelines to our allies increasing their influence if not outright making Europe further beholden to them, but we can’t have the Keystone XL pipeline?

He’s wrong on fracking. So much for helping Pennsylvanians.

He’s wrong on electric vehicles, just like Obama was wrong on solar. Funny, he was always “Amtrak Joe” until he wanted to curry favor with the auto unions, now he’s a car guy??? What a hypocrite!

When are you going to stand up for the people you represent and who PAY YOUR SALARIES? You do not work for Pelosi or Schumer! You work for us! Now represent us, not your corrupt, power-hungry left-wing cabal in Washington!

With contempt (yes…contempt),

Bob

A Trip Through The Heartland

America, Morality, Politics, Reason, Society & Culture, Technology, Values

I’ve just returned from a week-long road trip through Virginia and North Carolina. Getting out of the Northeast for a few days was like surfacing after holding my breath under water. People in the Shenandoah Valley, in the mountains of western North Carolina and the Outer Banks were, in a word, NORMAL. They were friendly, focused on their jobs, families and communities, and with rare exception, vocally angry about what the Left is attempting to do to our country.

I’d estimate people were split 50-50 on wearing masks indoors. Outdoors, few people wore them.

In bars and restaurants, behind hotel lobby counters, hardworking managers and staff were scrambling to meet the needs of patrons. Universally, the latter were patient and understanding.

Spring had sprung. The farms on each side of the highways were green, calves nuzzled their mothers, corn and other fields were plowed ready for planting. We had great weather and the open, blue skies, the clean air, cool mornings and evenings and warm days were a balm.

As we drove, we kept tabs on the news on SiriusXM. Same old, same old. The (expletive deleted) Left continued to pursue their utopian dream of permanent power, the politicians preened for the cameras and microphones proving, once again, that “all the world’s a stage”, and the media, ALL media, in unison jawboned about whatever was bleeding at the moment (“if it bleeds, it leads”). We frequently turned it off after hearing the “headlines”, so jarring was the contrast between the idyllic countryside through our windshield and the drivel emanating from Washington, New York and other major cities.

I couldn’t help sighing to myself, “What will become of this wonderful country?” I thought of my children and grandchildren…what their lives have been like over the last year, and what they might become like in the future. I spent a good deal of time thinking about one topic in particular…the effect “tech” has and will have on our lives.

Remember when word processing was supposed to make life better? And email? Ask yourself, “Has it really done so?”

What about the Internet in general? Has it really brought the world’s knowledge to our fingertips and made life better for all, or has it done more harm than good? 

Again I ask, “Has tech improved society and the world, or made it worse?”

It depends, of course, on what we value. If we value instant gratification, search engines and overnight delivery have certainly changed things for the better. But if we value faith and family and the rewards of applying the Golden Rule, tech has, in my humble opinion (IMHO, .sic) been tremendously deleterious.

As I drove, I alternated between hope and despair. There is a war on, similar in some ways but different in others from any that has been fought before. It is, IMHO, an existential fight for the soul of western civilization. As I have suggested many times over the years, the United States, and by extension, the western democracies who follow the Judeo-Christian ethics and traditions are either going to follow the path to extinction that other great civilizations have followed or arrest the rapid decline we are witnessing and restore sanity and reliance on the immutable principles and traditions that have brought the greatest good to mankind through all generations.

You may scoff at such a sweeping and draconian encapsulation of our times, but when one is driving for hours and hours a day one has time to step back and view the environment differently than one does when faced with the daily grind.

The fight is exhausting. I’d like nothing more than to put on some classical music, wade into my library, curl up in my easy chair, and escape. Even as I write this, I’d rather be pursuing some of my many hobbies.

But I must continue to speak out, warning and goading and cajoling in hopes that others with youth and greater energy can and will take up arms in this fight and turn back this onslaught of Leftist cancer… by supporting those who are on our side, by leaving our comfort zones and entering the political arena (such as running for school boards), by speaking not in hushed tones but boldly against the garbage spewing forth from corrupt politicians, corrupt media and brainwashed sheep, by countering the misinformation and outright lies being taught to our children (Critical Race Theory, 1619 Project, transgenderism, etc.) with family sit-downs in which parents demonstrate to their children that they, in fact, know far more than their teachers do about the real world and instruct them accordingly.

Sit back and let this tsunami of Leftist rot wash over and consume us and our civilization will indeed be destroyed and displaced by other intending hegemons (e.g. China). Fight now, each and every day, and we can turn back the tide and restore it to one which will allow our posterity to thrive in peace.

So, Was the Election Stolen?

America, History, Media, Politics, Society & Culture

As we pass the 100 day milestone of the Puppet Presidency, and our worst fears of the damage the Left would do materialize into an almost daily atrocity, I am saddened to hear and see a level of acceptance on the part of some on the Right that what happened in the November 2020 presidential and January 2021 Georgia Senate runoff elections was NOT due to fraud and cheating. I’m distressed that solidly conservative individuals whom I respect and admire attribute the losses to a multiplicity of factors, among them Donald Trump’s rhetoric and personality, and dismiss election fraud as a determining factor. I find it very unsettling that any suggestion today that fraud caused the outcome is poo-poohed by some smart conservatives as the product of mindless, knuckle-dragger conspiracy nonsense. Even Right-leaning journals and media outlets have adopted this attitude either implicitly or explicitly.

Over the last several months I have read and studied countless articles and watched countless videos on the subject examining both Left and Right arguments. There is no point in trying to rehash the case for fraud here. Others far more articulate and smarter than I have already done so. I want to appeal, however, to my conservative/traditional friends who are willing to let bygones be bygones to revisit their views.

I want to share just one example of what the Left offers as an answer to the question of whether the presidential election was stolen or not. It is a quote from Herman Wallace, former Electrician, Foreman, Gen Foremen, & Superintendent at International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union:

“Nope, they (the Democrats) took the Presidency the old fashioned way.

They ran a much better candidate.

They worked much harder.

They spoke to the issues that matter to the people.

The Democratic candidate got 7 million more votes.

The Democratic candidate won the Electoral College with 306 votes (A landslide according to Donald Trump).

On the other side of the ledger:

Trump was a remarkably flawed candidate and got worse as the campaign went on.

Besides his frothing-at-the-mouth campaign rallies and throwing red meat to his base; Trump was a lazy candidate.

Trump’s “issues” were the same old lies from his first 3 years.

Trump lost the popular vote by twice as much as before.

The 5th bullet point speaks for itself.

There was something STOLEN in this election, it was the trust, of a segment of the people, in the basic function of their government. Trump not only stole it, he decimated it without cause or remorse.”

Leaves me breathless and fuming…I can’t even begin to respond to such rabid BS.

Yet, there are Republicans, conservatives and Traditionalists who echo many if not all of the same delusions!

Again, this post is an appeal to those who are willing to let the water keep flowing under the bridge and over the dam to ask you to revisit your conclusions about the legitimacy of the elections. I urge you to find sources that YOU believe to be credible. For my part, I rely on thinkers/writers/institutions whose comments on the election are available from the following links like Jonathan Turley, Alan Dershowitz, The Heritage Foundation (see section on Election Integrity).

However, the most sober, thoughtful and objective discussion of voter fraud in the presidential election and by extension the Georgia runoff elections I’ve discovered amidst all my research was that provided by Professor John Eastman, scholar of Constitutional law and Senior Fellow at the Claremont Institute in an interview at the Steamboat Institute on April 10, 2021. The full interview can be found here. It is 53 minutes long, and while my attention span is very limited, I watched all of it with rapt attention. He addresses ALL the things that we’ve heard about from the shrill Left and the angry Right: vote spikes, unilateral changes to the election laws by other than the state legislatures, the rejection by the courts of the many challenges on procedural grounds, the Supreme Court’s unwillingness to intervene, Dominion voting machine issues, etc.

If you my readers after viewing the above-mentioned video have any doubt that the “election was stolen” I have a bridge I’d like to sell you, or some Game Stop stock.

Finally, for those of you who still question whether there is evidence…no, let me rephrase that…SUFFICIENT evidence to challenge the legitimacy of the elections, I call your attention to this reference. One might not be happy with all the citations, nor the impact of bias on the sources, but taken as a whole, in my opinion it DOES provide more than ample documented, empirical evidence of fraud and a stolen election.

Now we have to hope and pray that more honest people will take hold of the levers of power and make the changes necessary before the 2022 election.  If we can take back the House and Senate in November 2022, we just may be able to halt this lurch to the extreme Left and maybe even get rid of some of the cancerous rot perpetrated by this illegitimate and toxic administration.

And for my part, I STILL want to see the forensic audit results of the November 3, 2020 and January 5, 2021 elections! Only then will we have the ammunition required to correct the historical record and judge what happened in 2020 fairly.

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