Despicable Them

Morality, Politics

With apologies to the producers and directors of the cartoon movie hit “Despicable Me”, the label “Despicable Them” aptly applies to politicians in general, but to Leftist politicians in particular. As always, it’s a question of degree. The degree to which the Democrat leadership (note I say leadership, not ALL Democrats) exhibits despicable behavior and spews despicable rhetoric dwarfs, as Jupiter dwarfs the Earth, anything the Republican leadership has done or said.

Examples abound but probably the best one is that of Nancy Pelosi ceremoniously ripping the State of the Union speech in half and claiming it was all lies. As regards despicable rhetoric: Chuck Schumer, Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler, Bill deBlasio, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Maxine Waters, Sheila Jackson Lee, Louis Farrakhan, Al Sharpton, Linda Sarsour…the list of those with verbal diarrhea goes on and on. Every time any of these people open their mouths, nothing but despicable falsehoods and bile emerge.

How do they get away with this? Edmund Burke had the answer: The Fourth Estate. In Thomas Carlyle’s book On Heroes and Hero Worship he attributes to Burke: “Burke said there were Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters’ Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more important far than they all.”[i] He was of course referring to the Press, or in today’s language, the “Media”.

The term “fourth estate” and “fourth branch” are both used to describe what used to be journalism, which clearly doesn’t exist anymore. Someone I know with a degree in Journalism from Columbia University, arguably the pre-eminent journalism school in the country, grudgingly admits that the principles taught there are violated continuously.

Fourth Estate as a term is meant to emphasize the independence of the Media, while the related term “Fourth Branch” suggests the Media is an extension of the government. In my opinion, it’s hardly the latter, but the Media’s ability to influence (i.e. brainwash) inattentive or non-critical-thinking minds is obvious. Abandonment of journalistic principles such as three-source corroboration or the vetting of sources to ensure reliability, coupled with the power of the internet to broadcast the most salacious lies and twisted arguments, has fostered an environment where despicable behavior and rhetoric thrives.

Given that the professional Media is predominantly Leftist, as are the indolent with too much time on their hands to do anything productive but tweet and post (I hasten to defend that the reason I have the time is that I’m retired after working hard for fifty years), the Left are provided with overwhelming covering fire. The saturated with Leftist garbage airwaves thus leave little room for any reasonable debate or reflection. That same cover gives impunity to the most despicable, even immoral Leftist behavior in both the commercial as well as political realms.

The Left is guilty too of what I think is one of the most despicable behaviors: Projection. Albeit in its weak-mindedness much of the Left doesn’t even see it, or its hypocrisy, it’s axiomatic that if they are whining about something, accusing the Right of something, falsely claiming credit for or denying culpability for something, it is precisely what they are guilty of. Just today Chuck Schumer sent a letter decrying Attorney General William Barr’s throwing of the BS flag on the Roger Stone sentencing. Said the spotlight-hog/grandstander/demagogue Schumer: “This situation has all the indicia of improper political interference in a criminal prosecution.” Sure, and the Left has NEVER improperly interfered in a criminal prosecution…Schumer’s statement is stupid as the President and Attorney General are empowered to intervene ex officio, and the public knows damn well the prosecutors are piling on a Trump ally. (But put a microphone and a spotlight within a hundred miles of Schumer and he will RUN to it!).

Projection.

Thank God we now have pro-justice leaders like Barr who are willing to wade into the Swamp with a flame-thrower to destroy the truly despicable, poisonous rot of the Left that has festered for so many years.  

[i] Wikipedia: article – “Fourth Estate”

Perception

America, Politics, Society & Culture, Values

I’ve written about this before, but it’s plain to see that two halves of our population can look at the exact same set of facts and firmly believe positions that are 180 degrees apart. But it is astounding that ANYONE in this country can look at the Democrats’ impeachment antics as credible, or the horrifying (to those of us with brains who are paying attention) stupidity coming out of the mouths of the Democrat candidates for President as believable, yet there are many, even if not 50% of the population, who do. THAT’s what’s scary about what we’re witnessing…that ostensibly ‘normal’ people could buy the nonsense the Left is peddling.

Don’t they get it? How is it that they can’t see how perniciously calculating, conniving, dishonest and hypocritical the Left is?

I have a theory. It goes back to the basic principle that our perception is based on our experience (see my post (https://grumpsreport.com/?s=Briggs). In my opinion, the experiences of half the country have consisted of Leftist indoctrination, read brainwashing.

The Left is brilliant at manipulation, false-impression-creation, misrepresentation, and above all, in knowing how to play on human emotions. They cannot appeal to peoples’ left brains so they go after the right hemisphere and heart strings. Play the right music in the background and a horror film becomes a comedy. Set the lights just right and the ugly can appear beautiful. Put just the right amount of quiver in your voice and twist the story line and you can make anyone a victim. Celebrating losers and victims is their stock-in-trade. Disagree with that and you’re a racist, bigot, heartless, entitled, privileged old white person the product of a discriminatory society bent on crushing the less fortunate.  

Hollywood is of course the crucible in which all the leftist soup is created. The world’s greatest experts in deception and heart-string manipulation, Hollywood has fed generation after generation since the Greatest Generation with emotional drivel which, while entertaining, is taken as reality. It is THIS emotional drivel that has been the diet of those, in my opinion, who believe what the Left is saying and doing.

It’s no wonder therefore that the EXPERIENCE of half the country…the half that have swallowed the drivel with little to no critical thinking, are empty vessels into which the current Leftist nonsense can be easily poured. It fills their souls with emotional satisfaction to hear concepts like “Medicare for All” and Welcoming (i.e. ‘Open’) Borders. And it’s what allows them to believe the lies about children in cages and every other lie put forth by the Left.

It’s not FAKE NEWS, it’s blatant indoctrination, messaging with an agenda, subjective twisting of facts, figures, data to push a narrative that anyone with a functional LEFT brain sees as destructive to mankind and the world. The “Media” is just a court jester, pandering to whomever will buy their verbal diarrhea for the highest amount.

Follow the money. Always. The self-righteous and hyper-hypocritical Left will do whatever maximizes the cash in their pockets, and the quickest way to undeservedly do so is to amass and exercise POWER.

To be fair, there are plenty on the RIGHT who subscribe to this strategy and who take advantage of it. But like so many other things, IT’S A QUESTION OF DEGREE. The Left is guilty of lying, cheating, and indiscriminately acting in ways that benefit themselves thousands of times more frequently than the Right.

Not until the weak-minded and gullible face REAL reality ( I can’t believe I’ve had to use such a term ) or have their heart strings pulled by Goodness, Grace, God or the Holy Spirit, or whatever universal positive Force you subscribe to, or, alternatively, have an experience or experiences that wake them up to the real world, will they make their way back to the realm of the grounded human race with traditional values and practices, and will our Country revert to its position as Light Shining on the Hill.

On the Success of the Trump Presidency

America, Government, Politics

The constantly self-promoting Narcissist-in-Chief of our country is a classic New York real-estate thug. There’s a reason they’re called moguls and if you’ve ever had the experience of dealing with any of them closely, you’ll find they’re woven from similar cloth. They’re all arrogant, self-absorbed, tyrannical, conniving, ruthless, calculating, sly, dictatorial at times and obsequious at others. Nevertheless, they succeed because these are the qualities necessary to deal with the myriad forces that make the real estate business so difficult, particularly in cities like New York. But one of Trump’s other characteristics is that he believes what he says about making the U.S. great again, and he does and has done what he says.

It’s evidence of how bad things really were…how far down the slippery slope our society had traveled, that a man who can’t string two English sentences together without repeating himself five times while patting himself on the back could both become President of the United States and do so much good in three years as he has done. And what he’s done primarily is reverse the rampant encroachment of the “State” (i.e. government at all levels) by throwing the BS flag at every opportunity, wielding the awesome power of the Presidency to blast 40 years of necrotic, liberal/collectivist nonsense whenever possible.

His methodology is antithetical to the political status quo. It’s precisely because he is NOT a politician but a tyrannical, ass-kicking and name-taking business thug that he has succeeded.  He has sufficient “FU Money” that he truly doesn’t care what people think of him, and throughout his life he has taken every advantage our great country has to offer to further his wealth and power, thus understanding what opportunity means, and how to seize it.

So it really didn’t take all that much to produce the positive results he’s produced over the last three years. An iron will, an “I don’t care what they say or think” attitude, a horde of advisors and handlers that, notwithstanding the revolving door they go through, have helped him navigate the D.C. minefields that he couldn’t blast his way through, and a fundamental and underlying “America First” approach to “managing his portfolio”…these and no doubt God-given tireless energy are what has turned the slide down the slippery slope around.

At the core, what he did was unleash the true American Spirit, create by example an atmosphere which permitted the unmuzzling of the Silent Majority, and thus unlocked the pent-up anger of millions who could no longer abide the sniveling, arrogant, loser-celebrating, hyper-hypocritical megalomania and condescension of the Leftists who sought to “fundamentally change” America over the previous eight years.

Having grown up overseas and travelled extensively, am I embarrassed by his lack of civility, decorum, inarticulate speech and un-presidential demeanor? Often, but the alternative was and is unacceptable, and the substance rather than the form is what matters.

Rogue, buffoon, narcissist…call him what you will, thank God there was someone who could apply the brakes to the Leftist hydra that was dragging us further and further into the globalist, statist abyss, (and which is today writhing in an attempt to restore its power and control).

He has pointed our faces back up the hill to the sunlight.

Now we must take it upon ourselves to help each other up the slope.

As We Start a New Decade

America, Economy, Entertainment, Family, Finance and Investments, Government, Politics, Science, Society & Culture, Technology

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.

Fake (Medical) News

Health Care

Should I or shouldn’t I get a PSA test? Should my wife get a mammogram or not? Is coffee bad for me, or good? Will I die sooner if I eat bacon and eggs? What about red wine? One day the gurus pronounce one thing. The next it’s 180 degrees the opposite. Can we trust ANY experts in medicine?

My kids used to tease me, chanting in unison “Gingko” whenever I exhibited a brain cramp. Gingko, a few years ago, was supposed to improve mental acuity. Now it’s apoaequorin (the stuff “originally found in jellyfish”). Since no one knows how to pronounce apoaequorin everyone just says “Prevagen”!

Resveratrol (in red wine) is another of these miracle supplements. It falls under the category “anti-oxidants”. These are supposed to purge those free radicals from our bodies and help us resist all kinds of nasty things like cancer and heart disease. (I wish there was resveratrol for free-radical LEFTISTS)!

I moved a few years ago and changed doctors. One insisted at my age getting a PSA test for prostate cancer was useless. “What would you do if you it came out positive? Prostate cancer is so slow growing that you’re likely to be gone before it does you any harm,” he said. My current doctor says, “If it were me, I’d want to know and go ahead and treat it!” Who’s right?

As with most things, we have to make our own decisions. For my part, I go to the Mayo Clinic website and WebMD. If what they say about one thing or other is consistent, I figure it’s pretty good advice. If they conflict, I keep on researching until I either get frustrated or bored, then usually make a non-decision or flip a coin.

But it’s confusing, and if you really need medical advice and want to do some homework on your own, you have to really really use critical thinking and good judgment before coming to any conclusions.

Bear in mind that many physicians and health care professionals have gone from Hippocrates (.sic) to Hypocrites (.sic). Follow the money. Physicians have been forced to practice not just defensive medicine, but also profitable medicine. Even solo practitioners can’t survive unless they PRACTICE so as not to lose money!

One of the unique features of medicine is that physicians and other health care professionals can prescribe demand for their own services. “Take two aspirin and come back to me in a week. Sally, please make a follow up appointment for Mr. Smith for next week.” What are you going to do? Say, “No doc, I don’t want to have to pay another out-of-pocket co-pay in a week. I’ll call you if I need you.” Well, some might say that, but the majority of patients do not.

Doctors used to plan on 20 minute time slots per patient. That then went to 15 minutes. At 10 minutes the doctor shuffles between examination rooms and you can see he or she is rushed. At 8 minutes you’ve come to understand the meaning of one of my favorite terms: “Mis-managed care.”

The layering of regulation, bureaucracy, profit motive, misleading, false or downright harmful information in social media or on quack websites have all contributed to a general decline, in my opinion, of our health care system. The Left, of course, to which is attributable most of the destruction, is trying to capitalize on the deteriorating system as they usually do, by claiming that if they control the system (i.e. universal or single-payer government health care) they will take care of all of us.

On that I throw the BS flag. Competition, rewards for practicing medicine based not on effort or cost but on OUTCOMES is what’s needed. Transparency and understandable-to-the-layman report cards and performance indicators will make that possible, not “Medicare for All”.

Keep dreaming and lying and pushing your utopian nonsense Leftists…I’ll do everything I can to take care of myself, take aspirin, put on a sweater like my mother taught me, and tune out all the fads and above all the FAKE MEDICAL NEWS.

Be well.

This Thanksgiving

America, Family, Society & Culture

A week from today our family will be gathered together at our house to celebrate Thanksgiving. In chaotic times such as these there are two ways the gathering can go: either we’ll all use the occasion to whine and vent our frustrations or we’ll compartmentalize them out and reflect on the half-full cup. I’m hoping the latter will prevail.

Today’s Wall Street Journal had an article that I’ve clipped and will share with our family this year, and every year going forward. It’s entitled “When the Next Generation Has to Step Up on Thanksgiving”. It focuses on the baton-handoff that must occur as the family patriarch and matriarch age and are unable to host and manage the mayhem that always attends the holiday. But it also offers wisdom for every Thanksgiving. If followed, the chances of having the half-full cup scenario has a good chance of materializing. I highly recommend the article.

As for giving thanks and gratitude. Today I’m going to share a personal anecdote describing a seminal moment in my upbringing.  It informs what Thanksgiving means to me.

THE CAIRO INCIDENT

In 1967 (I was 15) my Mom and Dad and I took a trip to Greece and the Middle East. It was on our stop in Cairo that I had an experience that was one of those “I’ll never forget” moments that shapes a life.

We were walking out of the Nile Hilton hotel where we were staying. As we exited the doors onto the sidewalk a group of kids, 5 or 6 as I recall, came up to us begging for food or money. Ragtag, dirty, with pleading eyes, the group included a couple of teenagers.

This was the first time in my life I had ever been solicited by someone my own age. I had seen plenty of panhandlers before in Paris, in New York and elsewhere, and groups of little kids swarming around tourists, but never before had I experienced direct eye contact with kids my own size and age.

I expected my father, a veteran traveler and tourist who had been subjected to similar circumstances countless times during his worldwide travels, to simply keep walking. Instead, he turned back to the doorman of the hotel, handed him some money and asked him to personally ensure that these kids were fed a proper meal. The doorman, shocked and hesitant, reluctantly promised he would. As my dad turned to the group he pointed to the doorman, who explained to them what he was going to do. One of the teenage boys then turned not to my father, but to me, clasped his hands in prayer-like fashion, nodded his head and uttered in Arabic “Shukran” or “Thank You”, then put his arm around his little brother, who did the same. Later when we returned the doorman recounted how he had sent to the hotel kitchen for “guest lunchboxes” and distributed them to the children.

Irrespective of whether or not these kids were putting on an act, I was so taken aback and moved by the incredibly sharp contrast between my life and theirs that I vowed never again to complain about the food on my plate or the comforts I enjoy.

And so to this day, and for the rest of my life, I will be grateful for the privilege and opportunity of living in freedom in this greatest of all countries and for the incredible wealth we have: to include the feast of food, family and friends at Thanksgiving.

Techno-Intrusion

Religion, Society & Culture, Technology

The intrusion of technology in our lives is rapidly becoming domination. The abrogation of humanity to artificial intelligence (emphasis on “artificial”) is real and advancing rapidly.

It is alarming how much our society has become enslaved by the little screen in our hands. And I do mean enslaved. It’s no longer FOMO (the Fear of Missing Out). It’s that for some, even many, every moment of every day is monitored, organized (or disorganized), influenced or controlled by technology. It’s as if we’ve outsourced our critical thinking abilities, self-control, conduct governors, interpersonal communications, hell, our consciousness. It’s not much of an exaggeration to say that some have outsourced their SOULS.

I don’t need an “app” to monitor how much I sleep at night. I don’t need to be fed “relevant” advertising when I visit a website. I don’t want “free” stuff. The price of “free” is relinquishing personal data to an amorphous algorithm that creates a digital profile of me. That profile is used (and manipulated) in all sorts of ways, the vast majority of which are driven by the pecuniary interests of the technology company that conjured up, sorted and sold my profile to anyone who would pay for it.

Technology has permeated, or infected, virtually every form of human communication. People facing one another, looking into each other’s eyes, interpreting body language, noting inflection, giving and taking non-verbal cues, interacting with one another in the moment…are behaviors increasingly, frighteningly, diminishing. And since communication, whether incoming or outgoing, is what I would call a basic component of humanity, we are as a result becoming less and less human.

What matters is increasingly lost. Virtue is not even a word or concept in the social vocabulary – it’s an anachronism, out-of-place with life at the speed of text or email traffic. Home and hearth are Hallmark Channel themes. The importance of Family, of doing what’s right, of eschewing wrong, of telling the truth, of adhering to your word, of working hard for an honest day’s wage, of being kind, of self-discipline, of moderation, of humility, of courage, of what used to be common morality…all are for the most part either banned from the new social ether or are relegated to being quaint ideas from the past.

God doesn’t use an iPhone. Many who are tethered to them don’t believe in God anyway. Faith, a moral compass, yardsticks of right and wrong…all have succumbed to technology. Religion is thus also a casualty of technological so-called “progress”.

I admit that I too have been caught by the groundswell. Rather than stick my head out the door to decide what jacket or coat I’ll wear today, I quickly tap my Accuweather app to learn what the temperature is and whether it’ll become warmer or colder. Rather than pick up the phone and call my daughter to ask about some detail of the upcoming grandchild’s birthday party, I send her a text.

Some courageous (and seemingly more happy and content) members of my generation have deliberately eschewed technology. One of my oldest friends still uses a flip phone, and he leaves it on his dresser with a dead battery most of the time. The guy who installed the sprinkler system on our lawn 35 years ago and still services it today doesn’t use email. He carries a cell phone but never answers it. I leave him voicemails but he doesn’t listen to them…he just calls me back when it’s convenient for him to do so.

At first I was annoyed that I couldn’t reach people who had largely disconnected from The Grid, but now I’m starting to appreciate the benefits of lowered blood pressure and appreciation of what IS important that accompanies doing so.

Little by little I hope the pendulum swing towards increasing technological domination of our lives and away from humanity will swing back. It’s happened before in world history. I can hope it will happen again and we’ll all be the better for it.

P.S. I just realized how hypocritical I am for using an iPad to write this post and throwing THESE thoughts out into the social ether as well. Sigh…

Nationalism vs. Globalism

America, Politics, Society & Culture, Values

On a Sunday morning sipping coffee and listening to some peaceful music rather than a blaring shout show on tv, I reflected on the Left’s banal vituperations against ‘nationalists’ and ‘nationalism’. As usual, they have hijacked words and language to warp meaning and seek to paint Traditionalists as negatively as possible.

Thomas Madison, in an article penned yesterday describing the interaction between presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard and ignorant hyper-hag Joy Behar on “The View”, described how Gabbard schooled Behar “on the definition of “nationalist,” a word synonymous with “patriot.”

Madison explained, “The term “white nationalist” has been hijacked by liberal Democrats, beginning in Charlottesville, where the anti-American left began its campaign to make the term synonymous with “white supremacist,” made clear by their continued talking point, citing “white nationalist” and “white supremacist,” in the same sentence. The narrative has been pushed by liberal liars from Barack Hussein to congressional Democrats to the partisan talking heads in the liberal mainstream media, so that today all leftists believe that a “white nationalist” is a “white supremacist” when actually, a white nationalist is a patriot who happens to be white. There are white nationalists, black nationalists, Asian nationalists, and Latino nationalists, American patriots all. But, let’s not allow the truth to interfere with a good liberal smear narrative.”

Nationalism, above all, refers to a belief that individuals and their communities, as well as the nation as a whole, must have sovereignty.[1] I often point out that one of the big differences between the people of England and the people of America is that in England The People are SUBJECTS. In America, The People are CITIZENS. Nationalism is a belief in self-governance by CITIZENS. It is a belief in freedom to set policies and enact laws for ourselves, not subject ourselves to laws made by elitist, often unelected bureaucrats in another country (e.g. Brussels and the European “Union”). The latter is a philosophy of the “Globalists”, an insidious scheme to force winners to provide for losers, to advance the Marxist philosophy: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”

Nationalists oppose policies such as open borders, mass migration, and forming international organizations that have as their end goal one-world government. Nationalists thus also support policies such as building border walls and maintaining border security.

Nationalism, or Patriotism therefore, is a sense of pride in one’s country. It’s the father of the phrases “My country do or die” or “America: Love it or Leave It”. It’s what’s behind the chants of “U.S.A., U.S.A.” at rallies. It’s about citizens all over the country flying American flags on their houses. Of course the Left, wanting to “fundamentally transform” America, condemns these expressions and actions as sinister: xenophobic, racist, etc.

Globalism, on the other hand, refers to the authoritarian desire for a “one world” view that rejects the role of sovereign nations in protecting distinctive national values. Globalism is anti-American in encouraging Americans to adopt a “world view” rather than an “American view.” The ultimate goal of globalism is the eventual unification of humanity under a one-world government.

Globalists oppose nationalism, national sovereignty, and self-governance. Instead, they favor open borders, free trade, H-1B visas, interventionism, foreign aid, and changing the U.S. Constitution. They oppose strong border security and the building of border walls.

Leftists support globalism because it leads to centralized power, thereby providing them with an easier way to gain control. Leftists can more easily persuade a handful of people in centralized government to rule in their favor than convince everyone of their agenda in a decentralized form of government.

I recall saying to myself just before the 2016 election when I like so many other traditionalists expected Hillary to win, “Only a cataclysmic event like another 9-11 or a world war, God forbid, will force America to halt its slide down the slippery slope to ruin and turn back to traditional values that would allow us to begin the long and difficult climb back up”. The jury is still out but Trump may have been that cataclysmic event. His views on Nationalism and Patriotism, while crassly rather than inspiringly articulated, reflect what the majority of Americans, I believe, feel and believe about our country.

The shrill and cackling voice of the Left (e.g. Joy Behar) has so polluted the airwaves that it’s sometimes difficult to see the forest, but in my more hopeful moments I sense we might be nearing the bottom of the slippery slope and are poised to start the long climb back up.

[1] This discussion borrows heavily from https://www.conservapedia.com/Nationalism_vs._globalism

Would That Be So Bad?

America, Economy, Family, History, Morality, Politics, Reason, Religion, Society & Culture, Values

With the world falling apart in front of us and Leftists assaulting every sacred and historically treasured traditional value while asserting that the dismantling of our culture is “progressive”, what if we challenged the notion that “there’s no going back”?

What if we were to withdraw our troops from all of our foreign bases and let Russia and China fight it out for hegemony and see what it’s like to be the world’s policeman, getting bogged down in endless wars and, unlike us out of largesse, squandering their resources on attempted world domination?

What if we were to perfect Reagan’s original Star Wars Strategic Defense Initiative, i.e. reproducing the Enterprise’s “shields up”- and photon torpedoes capabilities so as to negate or obliterate anything our adversaries could throw at us?

What if we were to withdraw to secure borders and become completely self-reliant and self-sufficient as we have with oil? Suppress the horror and revulsion that leaps to mind when a 55” flat screen television suddenly but temporarily costs $3,000 again instead of $500. Instead, imagine “Made in the U.S.A.” instead of “China” or “Mexico” on just about everything we buy and consume. And Bass Weejuns were once again made in Maine.

What if we were to withdraw from the United Nations and establish a new organization of free, democratic countries and emerging nations that subscribe to our federalist-constitutional-‘meritocratic’  approach to government and society?

What if we were to roll back the welfare/nanny state and restore an “everybody needs to pull their weight” culture? What if we were to dismantle the safety nets and nanny protections that have made all of us soft-in-the-belly and turned Millennials and Gen Z into snowflakes? How bad would it be if they had to actually work hard and produce things of real value?

What if we were to reduce the size of the Federal government by half? Would we miss having six different departments massaging the same numbers and producing meaningless (and misleading) reports that cast them in 6 x 6 different ways?

What if we were to eliminate abortion-on-demand, restore marriage to what it is and has been for thousands of years, and truly “eliminate welfare as we know it”? Would families matter again? Would “taking care of one’s own” be so bad as they, and their communities, came together to help one another out of necessity because the government handout offices would be closed?

What if continence and self-control, a restored respect for one another in male-female relationships were restored. What if the natural consequences, including stigma attached to divorce, abortion, broken families, of immorality were to come back? Would these constraints on our “anything goes so long as it feels good or doesn’t interfere with what I want at the moment” approach toward life be destructive or beneficial?

What if were to eliminate tenure and “retire-after-twenty-years-with-rest-of-life pensions-and-100%-healthcare-benefits-coverage” and restore the teaching profession to the noble one it once was? What if we taught kids to read using common sense phonics instead of “whole word” recognition. What if we went back to teaching arithmetic and insist there are right and wrong answers rather than “good tries”? What if we only gave real winners trophies? And what if we could once again celebrate victories instead of falling over backwards to ensure that losers’ feelings weren’t hurt? What if we were to show the movie “Rudy” to kids instead of some documentary on turning algae into fuel?

What if we once again started the school day with the Pledge of Allegiance, and allowed assemblies and the start of sporting events to be opened with prayer? And allowed the Star Spangled Banner to be sung at public events?

What if we didn’t reprimand kids for sitting “indian style” on the floor instead of “criss cross applesauce”?

What if we were to celebrate nuclear families again instead of “non-traditional” families? And what if we were to put the “boys” and “girls” or “men” and “women” signs back on bathroom doors?

Would that be so bad?

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts numerous times, our society seems so hell bent on meeting the needs of the few that we overlook, neglect and harm the many.

Real Men Don’t Eat Kale

Family, Society & Culture

As the barbs, insults, name-calling and bitter incivility continue to spiral out of control today, I continue to predict that ultimately the conflict will not be between Left and Right, not between Liberals and Conservatives, not between Democrats and Republicans, not even between Secular Progressives and Traditionalists, but between Mars and Venus, i.e. men and women.

With apologies to Bruce Feirstein, whose 1982 best selling book, “Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche” sold several million copies, I submit an update…

I can’t pinpoint when it all started, but I think it was about the time that men started wearing cologne. Not Old Spice after shave, mind you, but Hai Karate, Brut, English Leather and other scents to cover up how we smell. Gone was spray Right Guard; in came a million varieties of anti-perspirant/odor eliminating sprays, gels, powders, roll-ons…all guaranteed to turn the armpits of your white tee-shirts into a brownish/aluminum-ish mess. I guess that was back in the late 50’s or early 60’s.

Today, there are men who actually utter the words “duvet”. No self-respecting man should EVER use that word!

And no Real Man eats avocado toast…

Or kale…no kale…

Or orders vegetables on his pizza, except bell peppers, onions or garlic.

Or drinks blush/rosé wine…

And Real Men don’t get caught dead buying scented soap in a dispenser! Give me a bar of LAVA or lye soap I can roll around in my hands!

Navy blue sweaters are ok. So help me…if I hear a man say he has bought or says he’s wearing a periwinkle sweater, I’ll barf.

Real men actually set the thermostats in their homes using the interval timers. Women, whose body thermostats are fundamentally deficient, must have up or down control…

Real Men grill, they do not sautée.

Real men eat steak, burgers, fries, and drink beer. Fine wine, red or white, bourbon or scotch whether single malt or blends are just fine. Real Men do NOT drink apple-tinis!

Real men do not drive hybrids or all-electric cars.

Real men do not own dogs that hop when they bark (those aren’t dogs, they’re hors d-oeuvres). Real men own Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, Labradors, Bernese Mountain Dogs, German Shorthairs… and for Pete’s sake, Real Men refuse to acquire or own designer dogs (which are basically mutts) like Maltie Poos, and Lhasa Poos, Sheltie Poos…as far as I’m concerned, they’re all poo!

And real men support the 2nd Amendment whether or not they own guns themselves.

There’s only one convention of modern man that I’ll allow…it’s ok to put the toilet seat back down in a public, (say restaurant) restroom if it’s also used by women. But if it’s a guys only toilet (to the extent they still exist..groan…), leave the damn seat up ok?

All that said, there’s nothing wrong with being a GENTLEMAN. Be prepared to be scowled at if you hold a door open for a femi-nazi, but do it anyway. And yes, you should give up your seat to an elderly man or woman on the bus. You know, all the rules we were taught growing up. Real Men still follow them.

One of the best quotes I’ve ever read on manhood comes from Garrett J. White:

“A man who is more concerned with being a good man than being good at being a man makes a very well behaved slave!”

Fist bump Garrett…

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