Tag: truth

“I Was Wrong”: Words You’ll Never Hear From The Left

America, Government, Media, Society & Culture, Values, World Affairs

As fond as Joe Biden is of quoting his father, I thought I’d write about an aphorism MY father taught me. It is: “The hallmark of a powerful man is the ability to admit when he is wrong.” In my opinion, one of the biggest problems the Democrats have is their unwillingness to do just that. That they’re wrong on most everything is undeniable except by die-hard leftist delusionists, pedants and sycophants. The last thing I want to do is give them a formula for righting (.sic) their sinking ship, but how jarring and rejuvenating would it be for the Democratic leadership to come up to the microphone and say the words, “America, we were wrong. We were wrong about the economy, about the border, about COVID, masks, lockdowns, about therapeutics and mandates, about defunding the police, about energy independence, about wokeness in the military, about selective prosecution, about lying for political gain, about the means and methods we used to manufacture and count illegitimate votes during the 2020 elections, about unconscionable gerrymandering, about packing the Supreme Court, about ending the filibuster, about Russian collusion, about the Afghanistan withdrawal, about the sham impeachments, about apologizing for and defending anti-American, antisemitic, anti-Christian bigots, about transgenderism, about deviant behavior (e.g. pedophilia), about critical race theory and the 1619 Project, about kowtowing to the unions, about conflict of interest investing with impunity, about suppression of dissenting views and canceling voices that disagree with us or don’t preach the leftist orthodoxy, about supporting fake news, fake polls and ignoring the will of the Silent Majority, about an ambiguous, flaccid and indefensible foreign policy, about China, about Iran, about North Korea, about Venezuela, about CUBA, about Russia…”

They will of course never admit any of this nor claim to be wrong on anything.

Much as I detest the content of the nonsense that spews forth from the mouth of the White House spokesperson Jen Psaki every day, I have to give her credit for her mastery at the podium. She has that skillful facility to deny, decry, defend, deflect, divert, dissemble, detract, and dismiss. “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is”. Contrast her with two other equally talented spin doctor/press secretaries: Kayleigh McEnany and Dana Perino. The difference between Psaki and the other two is that the former can ONLY use the list of ‘d words’ above while McEnany and Perino had truth, facts and fundamental honesty on their side. They too spun the messaging so as to cast as positive a light on both successes and shed the spotlight on the failures of their administrations. But the successes so far outweighed the failures the preponderance of messaging was straight up truth. By contrast, Psaki has to cover, “circle back”, postpone, attempt to belittle valid questions, launch ad hominem attacks or just outright lie to cover the failures of the Biden administration. And of course, she NEVER admits Democrat wrongdoing.

Over the years I’ve had to admit I was wrong many times. It always stabs me in the gut to do it, but I WILL admit mistakes when I make them. Oh that we had leaders that could and would do so as well.

I’ve been reading Dwight D. Eisenhower’s book written shortly after World War II, “Crusade in Europe.” In it he describes the character attributes that would disqualify potential commanders: “Foremost among these was the one who seemed to be self-seeking in the matter of promotion.” Another was evidence that a man made any effort to ‘pass the buck’. Pessimists were eschewed, as were men who made every decision himself, i.e. who was unable to delegate both authority and responsibility. In the book he recounts numerous incidents when his own estimates or judgments were faulty or just plain wrong. The consensus building, the arbitrating, the therapy he had to administer to get the Allied commands to work together was superb preparation for leadership not just of the military, but of, as it turned out, the Country. Admitting he was wrong when he was garnered deep respect and support from the Allied command.

Lay these attributes up against what we have now. Self-aggrandizement on the part of all politicians is inveterate but the narcissism of the celebrity-addicted Left is manifest and amplified by a makeup-laden media. I’ll posit that the Left’s pre-occupation with celebrity has infected and damaged the two youngest generations to the point where social media (a euphemism to be sure) has created an almost universal self-centeredness among them.

Passing the buck or blaming everyone but oneself is commonplace, a REAL pandemic, but especially among the Left (Did you hear Kamala Harris the other day blame Congress for not fixing the border?!).

Weak-kneed positions on crime, on our duty and responsibility to be the beacon of freedom in the world (Nancy Pelosi: “Go compete at the Olympics but be careful not to offend the Chinese.”; “We will boycott the Olympics by not sending any diplomats.”), on supporting not tearing apart the American dream, about the rule of law, about the Constitution itself…the Left and Democrats have deliberately sought to “transform our country” according to a Rules for Radicals (Saul Alinsky), frankly, communist way.

I’ve been encouraged of late that there is more talk among the Republican leadership of fashioning a Contract With America version 2.0. I think they’ve figured out that it is not enough to expose and openly denigrate the idiocies of the Democrat Left. It is imperative that we provide an alternative vision of what America can and should be. Unfortunately, the Democrats have so mucked things up, it will be necessary to enact harsh measures to eradicate the detritus they have scattered across the political, social and economic landscape.

We need to distribute “No More Mr. Nice Guy” coffee cups to every elected or appointed, conservative-minded, constitution-supporting Republican now or prospectively in office. The true fabric of our nation is frayed and, in some cases, hanging by a thread. If we screw up along the way, we need to admit our mistakes and make course corrections that keep us on a path leading up the slippery slope down which we have so lamentably slid.

And by contrast let’s NOT encourage the Left to admit their mistakes. Let’s continue to point out their fallacies and destructiveness while also adhering to Napolean’s maxim: “Never interfere with the enemy when he is in the process of destroying himself.”

And let us fashion a positive, seductive message that begins to restore America to the greatness her people deserve.

Moving Forward Without Moving On

America, Education, Government, Headlines, Media, Morality, Politics, Reason, Religion, Society & Culture, Technology, Values

Many of us are so angry at what has transpired not just in the election, but to our country altogether, that we either quietly or loudly talk about revolution, rebellion, armed insurrection, etc. Many have bought guns, are hoarding ammunition, and above and below ground organizations are springing up discussing what to do about the raping of our country by the Leftist, woke mob.  

Others are complacent, waiting for either the MOAB (the Mother of All Bombs) to drop or some event or action that will save us from this madness.

It’s January 1, 2021. The cavalry may not come, the Senate could fall into Democrat hands, Biden and Harris might actually be inaugurated on January 20th, and America will have not just descended all the way to the bottom of the slippery slope, but have replicated the scene at the bottom of Mt. Sinai when Moses came down with the tablets. The whooping and hollering, the recklessness, the profligacy and debauchery will overshadow the anguish those of us who believe in a traditional America will feel.

I used to think the Silent Majority would speak up and speak out, and believed the majority, albeit a small one, of Americans would reject the stupidity of the Left. I now fear that the dumbing down of two generations behind me, their surrender to peer pressure of social media and the perversion of the “knowledge” that was placed in their heads by too many of the recycled hippie teachers of MY generation, i.e. the brainwashing, has finally caught up with us. The levers of power in all our institutions are now in the hands of the base-of-Mt.Sinai misfits.

What can we do about this? I’ve been wrestling with this question for months as Leftist forces seem to have grown in size and power and the influence of the Right waned.

First, we must not concede defeat. Even if traditionalists are now a minority in our nation, we know our values are right and just and must stick up for them, set an example using them, have courage to defend them in the face of ridicule, condescension, belittlement.

Second, we must not let disappointment and sadness give way to despair. We must become happy rebels. Think of the hedgehog in cartoons that gets slapped hard and is sent flying across the room. He rolls into a ball, comes to a stop and  then with a grin stands up ready to fight again. We’ve got to learn to derive meaning and contentment by fighting back against evil. We must band together under the banners and slogans we all know: “Don’t tread on me”, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself”, “Never give up. Never, never give up”, “The colors of our flag don’t run”, “Land of the Free, Home of the Brave”, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction”, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” and on and on.

Third, we must get fit physically. We need to shed the Covid pounds. We need to MOVE – even if we’re working from home, we need to force ourselves to get out of our chairs regularly and exercise. Just stretching and walking is helpful. We need to make physical activity a habit, not a chore.

Fourth, we must get fit morally. We have to practice Good (a.k.a. righteous) Principles that we know but have allowed to atrophy, starting with the Golden Rule. In our confinement we’ve gotten testy, short, frustrated, easily annoyed. We need to do unto others, starting with our own families, as we would like them to do unto us. And we need to consciously avoid the barrage of “trending” garbage coming at us from social media, television, Hollywood. We need to honor each other, be true and faithful to one another, seek to find the good in others instead of needing to find fault (tough task here!)

Fifth, we must restore faith. Whether we believe in God or not, we must recommit to believe in the principles of the Judeo-Christian tradition…the principles that have ALWAYS, IN ALL TIMES and ALL GENERATIONS, helped mankind to grow and prosper: Freedom, the tenets enshrined in the Ten Commandments, the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, belief in the dignity of Human Life, the Work Ethic, Meritocracy, common Decency, Self-reliance, Accountability, Kindness and Charity. If we have faith, we need to make it a habit to return to our houses of worship as soon as possible, to gather with others of like mind in fellowship. There is strength in numbers.

Sixth, we need to feed our souls with GOOD food. Uplifting literature, music, film, web destinations. There are many. I’ll devote another post to some we can rely on for inspiration, motivation and positive reinforcement of our principles.

Seventh, we have to keep our eyes and ears open and listen for the call to resist when and where needed. I’m not talking about armed rebellion. As angry as we are, we must stay under control, not give in, not give up, but not lose our cool. We need to “stay frosty” as the special forces and good guys would say.

So, no easy road ahead. But let’s breathe in, breathe out, stiffen our spines, do what’s right and even if we never get this mess turned around and aren’t able to climb out of the hole we’re in and back up the slippery slope, recognize that a journey of striving to promote Good, and Right and Truth will be a meaningful and gratifying one.

Spin vs. Lies

Headlines, Morality, Politics, Religion

As I have often stated, one can find evidence of what I’ll call “bad stuff”: bad rhetoric, bad behavior, on both sides of the political spectrum. However, the AMOUNT of bad stuff rendered by the Left dwarfs by several orders of magnitude the amount from the Right. Often it’s difficult to discern what is “spin” or trying to cast things in the best light, versus falsehood. What’s so extraordinary right now is that the Left doesn’t even try to ‘spin’ anymore. They out and out lie and expect cover from a sycophant main street media.

For instance, let’s take Trump’s spin on not disclosing his income tax returns. Anyone who prepares a long form tax return knows that even if it’s permissible to publish them in the middle of an audit, it’d be completely stupid to do so. Being under audit means there’s a dispute with the IRS and the last thing anyone should do is go public with their numbers…it would obviously prejudice the negotiations against the taxpayer!

Now, could there be other reasons why Trump wouldn’t want to disclose his returns? Yes, because returns require that one disclose assets, under penalty of perjury, and the VALUATION of an asset is always subjective. Trump says he is worth $10 billion. That could be true, if his assets are worth more than the difference between their value and his total debt (that’s the very definition of “worth”). Could the accountants and the IRS disagree on their value? Absolutely, and he may really be worth anywhere from nothing to some amount far greater than $10 billion. It doesn’t matter. He’s obviously rich, made a lot of money as a real estate developer, and paid a LOT in taxes over the years. The $750 canard is an attempt by the Left to suggest he paid little to no tax. Again, anyone with any knowledge of tax return preparation knows that amounts paid and amounts due vary tremendously across multiple years, and it’s entirely possible that Trump would have paid millions one year and not only pay nothing in a subsequent year, but even get a refund! Is he trying to spin this situation to cast things in the best light? Of course he is! But I’ll bet the accountants and tax attorneys working on his returns and negotiating with the IRS are doing everything they can to AVOID taxes, which is perfectly legal and appropriate for ANYONE to do in the U.S., rather than EVADE taxes, which is of course illegal!

Contrast the example of spin, described above, with Biden’s outright lies, which are deliberate falsehoods meant to deceive and deflect from the truth. These have been documented widely. Rather than reproduce them here, I’ll simply point you to the October 23, 2020 National Review article entitled “Biden Lies Again and Again” available here. Note, by the way, that the National Review is no tabloid.

The Left, as I’ve said before, will do ANYTHING, including outright lie, to achieve power. Biden, the consummate career politician, will do and continues to do the same.

That so many Americans will vote to grant power to the Democrats in this election is evidence of how effective their lying has been and how gullible so many have become. Just about half of the electorate now consists of voters who are either brainwashed, asleep, so anxious to be liked they have become lemmings, following the ‘woke’ celebrities with whom they’d like to identify, or, unfortunately, so lazy they’ll just vote the way they always have, or the way they were raised to vote. Never mind they’re shooting themselves in some vulnerable, private part, it’s more important that they be either anti-Trump or have the same signs as their neighbors than do what’s in their best self-interest, or in the interest of the country.

Optimistically, I don’t think the majority of Americans fall under the above description. Rather, they’re so busy working to take care of themselves and their families they don’t participate in polls, don’t talk about what they think, and don’t care what the ‘woke’ crowd says or does. It’s a small majority, regrettably, but a majority nonetheless. Because of the way the electoral map’s arithmetic works, it’s obvious that having more of the popular vote from New York, California and Illinois can and will still result in a victory for the Right on November 3rd. I’m quietly confident, however, this time the silent majority will speak up and the Right will win the popular vote as well as the electoral vote, resulting in a clear MANDATE (more on this in the future) to continue to reject Leftism.

The Death of Quality

America, Economy, Morality, Reason, Society & Culture, Values

I used to be able to pick up the phone sitting on my desk and 99.9% of the time I’d get a dial tone and be able to call out. Today about three quarters of the time I use my cell phone the call either gets dropped, I can hear him but he can’t hear me (I feel like the guy in the commercial, “Can you hear me now???”), or I get one bar or no bars from the start.

Technology has delivered many conveniences to be sure. But personal attention is certainly not one of them. And reliability (a.k.a. quality) has been a casualty as well. So help me, if I here the words, “It’s software, what do you expect?” one more time I’m liable to scream “arrrrrggggghhhh!” right in the face of whomever uses those words with me!

What happened to craftsmanship? What happened to companies who’d boast about the quality of their products and due to real competition, didn’t charge a highway robber’s take for it?

Technology is what happened. Benefits gave way to features. Reliability gave way to creature comforts. Stuff that would last forever gave way to planned obsolescence. In short, an honest profit gave way to greed and Good Housekeeping seals of approval gave way to “5 Star Comments” on Amazon, honest or not!

I have a personal example. About 30 years ago I bought a Black and Decker Workmate portable workbench. It folds up nicely, flexibly adjusts, and is made of solid steel and wood, the screw mechanism that adjusts the vice having many threads. It still serves me as well today as the day I bought it.

Wandering around Home Depot the other day, I saw my Workmate’s 2020 version. It was, to put it succinctly, a piece of, well you know what, compared to mine and cost in today’s dollars, roughly twice as much.

Another example. Over 40 (yes 40) years ago I bought a fun kid’s sled made by a Norwegian company called a Sno-kart for my own children. It was made of steel tubing and high density polyethylene plastic with strongly welded joints. My grandchildren still gleefully use it today.

I checked, and the company still exists but their sleds now are made of cheap plastic throughout. I can’t imagine they’d survive my grandson’s first run down the hill!

Another thing that technology has caused is a decline in honesty. Doctors will tell you, “Everybody lies about their health.” That may be true, but the phenomenon was, until the last twenty years or so ago, largely restricted to the medical field. Today, it seems everybody lies about everything! I don’t just mean blatant, with a straight face bald-faced lying. I also mean lying by omission, lying by “creative misrepresentation”, or “lying for the greater good.”

In other words, there has been a serious decline in the quality of truthfulness, of probity, of ethics, of morals…one could even say a decline in the quality of reality!

Quality being almost completely dead, a renaissance is needed.

I have re-committed myself to giving 100% to everything I do, of restoring quality to my everyday tasks and professional endeavors. I have also re-committed myself to be not just truthful and honest, but to being forthright as well.

The other side of this coin is that I will continue to throw the yellow or red BS flags on the field whenever I see they’re warranted. I will refuse to abide or tolerate dishonesty of all kinds in my interactions with vendors, agents, advisors and most definitely with politicians!

I sincerely hope and pray I’ll be successful and may be able to influence others to join in the fight to restore quality to everything we have and do.

Globalism

Politics, Society & Culture, Uncategorized

The Left promotes Globalism, along with Multiculturalism, Social and Economic Justice as some sort of enlightened path to Utopia. They condemn sovereignty and patriotism as evils that will bring about an apocalypse. This is a classic case of Projection. Exactly the opposite is true.

As I often find, someone has said it better than I ever could. The following is extracted from an article written in February, 2018 by Vic Biorseth to whom credit is unequivocally due. In his article, he uses the term Marxists. I have interchanged that label with my preferred one: Leftists.

 “Globalism is about removing distinctions. Modern American Leftists simply don’t know right from wrong. It’s been indoctrinated and propagandized out of them. If their formative education was in public (i.e., government) schools, and if all of their advanced education was in the best Ivy League Universities, and if all of their current news sources are restricted to Mainstream News Media sources only, then just about everything they “know” is wrong.”

“They firmly believe in Climate Change, for instance, and a Population Problem, and an Unsustainable Planet, and a future of cultural break-down and Mad-Max imagery of post-civilization dystopia.”

“And they believe that the horrible future of this unsustainable planet may only be delayed for a time by voting for the Democrat Party and supporting the move toward a giant Global Government, because these problems are too big for nations to solve.”

“If you want to see real evidence of real dystopia brought on by the Left, visit San Francisco, one of the most openly Leftist cities on earth. But before you go, you had better examine the new San Francisco Poop Map well ahead of time, to avoid stepping in anything or encountering horrific and potentially infectious noxious odors.”

San Francisco Poop Map

“The map is put out there to allow tourists to avoid the crappier areas of the once beautiful city. It is loaded down with little poop emojis, to show where all the homeless and the illegals are encamping and dumping in public, which are also the most likely places any tourist might be accosted or assaulted. As a Sanctuary City, San Francisco protects the criminals and the illegal aliens from the federal government, and tries very hard to remove all distinctions between them and the regular American citizenry, at least in the minds of the public. And, as good Leftists, they are determined to do it at all costs.”

“Nancy Pelosi was among the Leftists who attacked the President for using the term “Sh*t Hole Countries” referring to all the countries in which the Leftists are encouraging, luring, attracting and perhaps bribing people to illegally migrate here from.”

“As Rush Limbaugh asked recently, what kind of hole would you call San Francisco?”

“Nancy Pelosi’s 12th District appears on the map as a giant pile of poop.”

“The city is experiencing a roaring hepatitis epidemic. Lamp posts, sign posts and buildings are stained, corroded and eroded from human urine. Human feces is common everywhere, and in some places, the smell is simply overwhelming. The transportation authority has stopped video recording of crimes on city transportation, because watching the videos might make people start to “discriminate” against the illegals and the races of the perpetrators. Can’t have that.”

“San Francisco is one of the highest taxed cities on earth. It is a perfect example of actual  Leftist Dystopia portrayed as Utopia.”

“The Leftists,, the UN, the EU, and, believe it or not, Pope Francis, would like to take this sort of thing to the Global Level. They are going all in on the supposed socio-economic Justice of Leftism and Globalism.”

“It is like a cancer. There are no symptoms at first… Cultural Leftism may be the greatest deceptive device ever incorporated by the Leftist drive to world revolution.”

“The threats against freedom are huge. Cultural Leftism comes at us from all angles. It dominates elite thought today. That’s why we, in the hinterlands, the common people who make their way in the world by practicality and common sense, always appear to be in the minority.”  

“Common sense and practicality have a close relationship to Truth.”

“The abandonment of Truth means the acceptance of Nonsense.”

Wow. Wish I could have said it like that.

Some have suggested that we resign from the United Nations and form a new organization of Democracies. The time has come. Globalism is just another meme for the Leftist Utopian fantasies that fail to acknowledge differences, along with cultures, preferences, heritage and so many other distinctions that make up the world, and that have and always will exist.

Truth Matters

Reason, Society & Culture

In 2016 the Oxford English Dictionary’s “Word of the Year” was post-truth, suggesting that truth is dead, and objective facts no longer have any meaning. Really? Have we become so poisoned with relativism that standards no longer exist and the individual is the sole arbiter of right and wrong, fact and fiction, truth or lies and, by way of conclusion, “anything goes?”

“What is truth?” is one of the central questions of philosophy. Is Corey Booker correct to suggest that we must all live “our truth”? Plato, Aristotle, Socrates and Corey Booker can debate the answer. Here’s one truth, however, that should but probably won’t be universally accepted. It is that there is a difference between truth and belief.

What is or should be of great concern is how falsehood, what a business school course once called “creative misrepresentation” and fiction are used to persuade or judge everyday matters. And of paramount concern is how lies have been weaponized so as to cause belief to be to pushed and accepted as truth. By way of example, that the Benghazi disaster was the result of an anti-muslim video was proclaimed so loudly and assertively, it brainwashed many.

It’s also true that not everything is black or white. Grey is the predominant color in debate. But has the questioning of norms and rules gone so far overboard that it attacks the very idea of having any rules at all as Victor Davis Hanson suggested in his 2014 essay “The Poison of Postmodern Lying“? As he so starkly points out, “Without notions of objective truth, there can never be lies, just competing narratives and discourses. Stories that supposedly serve the noble majority are true; those that supposedly don’t become lies — the facts are irrelevant.”

So it seems nowadays that truth is in the hands of he or she who has the bigger megaphone, or who can more cleverly devise a phrase or seven second soundbite that tugs at a heartstring or “sounds right.”

The antidote?

Critical Thinking…something that is sorely lacking in our population today. Or, how about, at least, healthy skepticism?

Not all news is fake news, but a lot of it consists of selective truth, or facts taken out of context. Not all advertising is nonsense, though healthy skepticism should cause us to consider whether ground-up peach pits will cure cancer, or whether an actress’s proclamation that vaccinations cause autism should be accepted as truth.

If you hear a talking head say, “Let me be clear,” or “Make no mistake”, or “The truth of the matter is”, or, my favorite…”It goes without saying,” immediately turn on your skeptic’s filter.

Separating fact from fiction, truth from lies, involves work. It is the work of seeking out, validating and judging evidence. In an era of information overload, (I like the analogy of trying to take a drink from a firehose), sounding plausible or looking, in the case of websites or television, as if it’s plausible does not mean it’s true. We used to say, “Don’t believe everything your read.” Now we have to add “hear” and “see” to the list. Today you can’t even believe your own eyes thanks to the wonders of PhotoShop.

Besides applying the principle of critical thinking we can resolve to tell the truth ourselves, teach our children and grandchildren the difference between truth and a lie (remember George Washington and the cherry tree?) and remind ourselves not to be swayed by the herd, by popular opinion, by peer pressure and by what tugs at the heart while bypassing our brains.

The truth matters.

Stuff That Matters

Economy, Entertainment, Family, Finance and Investments, General, Health Care, Politics, Society & Culture

With a salute and due credit to Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) whose book Things that Matter (New York: Crown Publishing, 2013 available from Amazon here) was the capstone of his exemplary life and the inspiration of this and future related posts, I’ve begun my own list.

New items come to mind daily so it is a work in progress. They’re in no particular order, although Truth, God and Right would be right up there at the top of any ordered list. From time to time I’m going to address these topics in more detail but to get started, here’s a first stab.

Truth matters.

God matters.

Right and Wrong Matter.

Our word matters.

How we think matters.

People matter.

What we teach our children matters.

What we do as a family matters.

Helping others matters.

Being friendly matters.

Courtesy matters.

Being considerate matters.

Our reputation matters.

Loyalty matters.

Being kind to animals matters.

Conservation matters.

Courage matters.

Catching someone doing something right matters.

Thrift matters.

Obeying/Respecting our parents matters.

Respecting our elders matters.

Respecting authority matters.

Saying what we mean and meaning what we say matters.

Words matter. What we say and how we say it matters.

Listening matters.

Perseverance and determination matter.

The choices we make matter.

Temperance matters.

Anticipation and thinking ahead matters.

Knowing ourselves matters.

Our health matters.

Controlling ourselves matters.

Deferred gratification matters.

Grooming matters.

Situational awareness matters.

Whom we choose as friends matters.

What we read matters.

What we watch on television matters.

What we tweet/post/email matters.

What we eat matters.

Our morning routine matters.

How we spend our non-working time matters.

Hard work matters.

Honoring our spouses matters.

Standing up for what we believe in matters.

How we treat those above us and how we treat those below us matters.

What we value and how we spend our money matters.

Where we live matters.

What we don’t say matters.

Please send us your additions to this list by email to admin@grumpsreport.com !

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