Saturday, December 23, 2017
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Do you find it difficult to start a conversation with someone you just met?
I do, even though I have been meeting new people on many different occasions for a long, long time.
Today I read an article about questions to ask that may be helpful to start a conversation.
I plan to try using some of these questions for starting conversations with new persons I meet.
The 55 Best Questions To Ask To Break The Ice And Really Get To Know Someone
Sunday, November 26, 2017
Tuesday, November 21, 2017
Identity Politics
The term "identity politics" has been used social and political analyses since the 1970's. Identity politics has been the "oppressed" in the United State to
explain their felt oppression in terms of their own experience.
This identity politics has been, and continues to be, an element in our society that is tearing the "American Dream" apart and is destroying us as a nation. It has became a leftist political weapon to try to gain power in all aspects of our lives.
Identity politics, as a mode of organizing, is closely connected to the idea that some social groups are oppressed, such as women, ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, etc. Such as individuals belonging to those groups are, by virtue of their identity, more vulnerable to forms of oppression such as cultural imperialism, violence, exploitation of labour, marginalization, or powerlessness.
This identity politics has been, and continues to be, an element in our society that is tearing the "American Dream" apart and is destroying us as a nation. It has became a leftist political weapon to try to gain power in all aspects of our lives.
Identity politics, as a mode of organizing, is closely connected to the idea that some social groups are oppressed, such as women, ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, etc. Such as individuals belonging to those groups are, by virtue of their identity, more vulnerable to forms of oppression such as cultural imperialism, violence, exploitation of labour, marginalization, or powerlessness.
Excerpts from The Problem of Identity Politics and Its Solution,Matthew Continetti, Editor-in-Chief, Washington Free Beacon:
"This
year another liberal academic, Columbia humanities professor Mark
Lilla, writes 'was at first about large classes of people . . . seeking
to redress
major historical wrongs by mobilizing and then working through our
political institutions to secure their rights. But by the 1980s, it had
given way to a pseudo-politics of self-regard and increasingly narrow,
and exclusionary self-definition that is now cultivated in our colleges
and universities.'"
Saturday, November 11, 2017
Sunday, October 22, 2017
Immigration in the National Interest
This looks like what we need for immigration reform in the U.S.
https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/immigration-national-interest/?appeal_code=MK1017EM6&utm_campaign=imprimis&utm_source=housefile&utm_medium=email&utm_content=oct_2017_immigration&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_3ttDqfsy4AJE95aCEJrC9Q-JIv2VgVW3fIoeJfzJeq8Z_LLG-SUkLIb1dzP4r0iULFjKCqxJcoFC2eScgE3NwrJ8FdA&_hsmi=57602260
https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/immigration-national-interest/?appeal_code=MK1017EM6&utm_campaign=imprimis&utm_source=housefile&utm_medium=email&utm_content=oct_2017_immigration&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_3ttDqfsy4AJE95aCEJrC9Q-JIv2VgVW3fIoeJfzJeq8Z_LLG-SUkLIb1dzP4r0iULFjKCqxJcoFC2eScgE3NwrJ8FdA&_hsmi=57602260
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
What do we want in the United States of America?
A REPUBLIC, BUT WHO WANTS TO KEEP IT?
By Allen West
It was on September 17, 1787 that our rule of law, the US Constitution was signed in Philadelphia. History tells us of an exchange that occurred outside of Independence Hall between Benjamin Franklin and a Philadelphia socialite, Mrs. Powell. Mrs. Powell inquired of Mr. Franklin, “well, what is it that we have, a monarchy or a republic”? Mr. Franklin replied, famously, “a Republic, if you can keep it”.
That was the challenge of 230 years ago, and now we must ask ourselves, do we truly want to keep this Constitutional Republic. However, there is a greater question, how many people know what it means to live in a Constitutional Republic? America is not a democracy. The means by which we elect our representation is through a democratic process of voting. Therefore we are a representative democracy. Sadly, this was something once taught in High School civics, hardly the case today.
In our governmental structure, as learned by James Madison from Charles Montesquieu, we have three coequal branches of government, kept in alignment by a system of checks and balances. Now, however, that system is totally out of whack, and what we are witnessing is complete breakdown and dysfunction.
Consider last week as President Donald Trump signed an executive order on our healthcare system, opening up cross-state competition and ending health insurance company subsidies. There are those who were decrying his use of executive action, yet these were the same folks who said nothing as Barack Obama used executive action some 40 times to amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Obamacare. Any basic high school student would be able to understand that a law cannot be amended by executive action or order, it must be amended by legislative action. That is how it works in a Constitutional Republic where our legislative branch has the most enumerated powers.
But, in the case of Mr. Obama, who had lost the House of Representatives, then later the US Senate, he sought to circumvent our system of governance, and overrule our checks and balances all for his political purposes. And the same can be said about the executive agreements he entered this Nation into with the Paris Climate Accord, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and the Iranian Nuclear agreement. These and many others represent an Executive branch that was seeking to rule by edict, let’s not get started on the plethora of bureaucratic administration rules and regulations of the Obama era as well. Those government agency regulations represented a taxation without representation, you remember that line right? Our Constitution clearly states in the origination clause that all revenue-generating measures must emanate from the US House of Representatives.
If we are to keep this Republic, maybe we should study, and go back to our fundamental principles…then again, Barack Obama did say we were “five days away from fundamentally changing the United States of America”. If there is one thing I admired about Barack Obama, he did tell us who he was and what he wanted to do, he did not want to keep our Republic.
And as for President Trump and his executive actions, well, this is a result of a complete breakdown in the duties and responsibilities of the legislative branch. I understand that President Trump wants to get things done, sadly, he has a legislative branch that seemingly does not. What else can be the reason when you had the entire US Senate taking a Columbus week break, while Americans only got Columbus Day, or as some absurdly call it, Indigenous Peoples Day.
A major threat to the future of our Republic is that we have a dysfunctional legislative branch. Now, I am not one for any semblance of progressivism, statism, Marxism, socialism, or any ideology of governance that places the institution of government over the individual. That is a critical aspect of our Republic, individual sovereignty. However, in examining where our legislative branch has gone it is apparent they are focused on creating more dependency and subservience of the individual to their institution. Look at the massive deficits and debt we have incurred, and the fact that the basic functions of our legislative branch go undone, just wait, there will be another massive Omnibus spending bill because they cannot pass a budget.
This current GOP controlled House and Senate has failed, and guess what, they still left their duty in August for a taxpayer-funded break. And we had to endure the dismissive and obtuse excuse of Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, who told us that, “our expectations were excessive”. When we have a legislative branch that is woefully failing, then the executive branch seeks to take up the slack, or even an activist Judiciary. Legislation, measures, are created and passed in the House and Senate based upon the representation of the people and the consent of the governed…notice I said governed, not ruled. Those bills, measures, legislation are then passed to the Executive branch for signing to become law. And if said law needs amending, it must go back through the legislative process. And the Judicial branch is responsible to ensure we are adhering to our rule of law.
Now we have such a breakdown of what we all learned from watching Schoolhouse Rock on Saturday mornings eating our cereal that our Republic is unrecognizable. I mean even a city, county, or state can now dismiss our rule of law by becoming a sanctuary for illegal immigrants, and certain courts will uphold their illegal action.
What must happen? First of all, the American people must accept Franklin’s challenge and take seriously those whom we elect to public office. Taking the oath of office cannot be seen as some cursory mumbling of words, it is something that must be embraced. True liberty comes when the individual is elevated over the institution of government, our Founding Fathers recognized that premise and created something the world had never known, or seen, but needed. The words of Scottish political philosopher, Alexander Fraser Tytler, were so prescient, and relevant to where we are today in our Constitutional Republic, America.
He said, “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”
Ask yourself today, what are you doing to keep this Republic, that is if you want to? And where in the cycle articulated by Tytler do you see the American Republic…that we are individually responsible to keep.
Monday, October 16, 2017
Death by gun statistics
There are 30,000 gun-related deaths per year by firearms in the U.S.
This number is not disputed. The U.S. population is 324,059,091 as of June 22, 2016. Do the math: 0.000000925% of the population dies from gun related actions each year. Statistically speaking, this is insignificant!
What is never told, however, is a breakdown of those 30,000 deaths, to put them in perspective as compared to other causes of death:
• 65% of those deaths are by suicide, which would never be prevented by gun laws. Let this sink in- - suicide = 20,800; guns = 11,200.
• 15% are by law enforcement in the line of duty and justified (99.999%)
• 17% are through criminal activity, gang and drug related or mentally ill persons – better known as gun violence.
• 3% are accidental discharge deaths.
So technically,"gun violence" is not 30,000 annually, but drops to 5,100. Still too many?
Now lets look at how those deaths spanned across the nation.
• 480 homicides (9.4%) were in Chicago
• 344 homicides (6.7%) were in Baltimore
• 333 homicides (6.5%) were in Detroit
• 119 homicides (2.3%) were in Washington D.C. (a 54% increase over prior years)
So basically, 25% of all gun crime happens in just 4 cities. All 4 of those cities have strict gun laws, so it is not the lack of law that is the root cause.
This leaves 3,825 for the entire rest of the nation, or about 75 deaths per state. That is an average because some States have much higher rates than others.. For example, California had 1,169 and Alabama had 1.
Now, who has the strictest gun laws by far? California. But understand, It is crime rate spawned by the number of criminal persons residing in those cities and states. If all cities and states are not created equal, then there must be something other than the tool causing the gun deaths.
Are 5,100 deaths per year horrific? How about in comparison to other deaths?
All death is sad and especially so when it is in the commission of a crime but that is the nature of crime. Robbery, death, rape, assault are all done by criminals. It is ludicrous to think that criminals will obey laws. That is why they are called criminals.
What about other deaths each year - to compare and relate?
• 40,000+ die from a drug overdose–THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THAT!
• 36,000 people die per year from the flu, far exceeding the criminal gun deaths.
• 34,000 people die per year in traffic fatalities (exceeding gun deaths even if you include suicide).
Now it gets good:
• 200,000+ people die each year(and growing) from preventable medical errors. Hey, you are safer walking in the worst areas of Chicago than you are when you are in a hospital!
• 710,000 people die per year from heart disease. It’s time to stop the double cheeseburgers!
What is the point?
If liberals and the anti-gun movement focused their attention on heart disease, even a 10% decrease in cardiac deaths would save twice the number of lives annually of all gun-related deaths (including suicide, law enforcement, etc.). A 10% reduction in medical errors would be 66% of the total number of gun deaths or 4 times the number of criminal homicides ................. Simple, easily preventable 10% reductions! So you have to ask yourself, in the grand scheme of things, why the focus on guns?
It's pretty simple:
Taking away guns gives control to governments. The founders of this nation knew that regardless of the form of government, those in power may become corrupt and seek to rule as the British did by trying to disarm the populace of the colonies.. It is not difficult to understand that a disarmed populace is a controlled populace.
Thus, the second amendment was proudly and boldly included in the U.S. Constitution. It must be preserved at all costs. So the next time someone tries to tell you that gun control is about saving lives, look at these facts and remember these words from Noah Webster: "Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed."
P.S. Oh, in case you believe the NRA should be blamed for funding pro-gun candidates for office to protect our right to beararms consider this.
The NRA contributed $3.5 mm to approx. 400 candidates over the past 9 years. However, Planned Parenthood contributed $38 mm to candidates just last year! And, the NRA receives $0 from the federal government. Not so for PP which receives several hundred million in taxpayer funds.
Courtesy of a former high school classmate
This number is not disputed. The U.S. population is 324,059,091 as of June 22, 2016. Do the math: 0.000000925% of the population dies from gun related actions each year. Statistically speaking, this is insignificant!
What is never told, however, is a breakdown of those 30,000 deaths, to put them in perspective as compared to other causes of death:
• 65% of those deaths are by suicide, which would never be prevented by gun laws. Let this sink in- - suicide = 20,800; guns = 11,200.
• 15% are by law enforcement in the line of duty and justified (99.999%)
• 17% are through criminal activity, gang and drug related or mentally ill persons – better known as gun violence.
• 3% are accidental discharge deaths.
So technically,"gun violence" is not 30,000 annually, but drops to 5,100. Still too many?
Now lets look at how those deaths spanned across the nation.
• 480 homicides (9.4%) were in Chicago
• 344 homicides (6.7%) were in Baltimore
• 333 homicides (6.5%) were in Detroit
• 119 homicides (2.3%) were in Washington D.C. (a 54% increase over prior years)
So basically, 25% of all gun crime happens in just 4 cities. All 4 of those cities have strict gun laws, so it is not the lack of law that is the root cause.
This leaves 3,825 for the entire rest of the nation, or about 75 deaths per state. That is an average because some States have much higher rates than others.. For example, California had 1,169 and Alabama had 1.
Now, who has the strictest gun laws by far? California. But understand, It is crime rate spawned by the number of criminal persons residing in those cities and states. If all cities and states are not created equal, then there must be something other than the tool causing the gun deaths.
Are 5,100 deaths per year horrific? How about in comparison to other deaths?
All death is sad and especially so when it is in the commission of a crime but that is the nature of crime. Robbery, death, rape, assault are all done by criminals. It is ludicrous to think that criminals will obey laws. That is why they are called criminals.
What about other deaths each year - to compare and relate?
• 40,000+ die from a drug overdose–THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THAT!
• 36,000 people die per year from the flu, far exceeding the criminal gun deaths.
• 34,000 people die per year in traffic fatalities (exceeding gun deaths even if you include suicide).
Now it gets good:
• 200,000+ people die each year(and growing) from preventable medical errors. Hey, you are safer walking in the worst areas of Chicago than you are when you are in a hospital!
• 710,000 people die per year from heart disease. It’s time to stop the double cheeseburgers!
What is the point?
If liberals and the anti-gun movement focused their attention on heart disease, even a 10% decrease in cardiac deaths would save twice the number of lives annually of all gun-related deaths (including suicide, law enforcement, etc.). A 10% reduction in medical errors would be 66% of the total number of gun deaths or 4 times the number of criminal homicides ................. Simple, easily preventable 10% reductions! So you have to ask yourself, in the grand scheme of things, why the focus on guns?
It's pretty simple:
Taking away guns gives control to governments. The founders of this nation knew that regardless of the form of government, those in power may become corrupt and seek to rule as the British did by trying to disarm the populace of the colonies.. It is not difficult to understand that a disarmed populace is a controlled populace.
Thus, the second amendment was proudly and boldly included in the U.S. Constitution. It must be preserved at all costs. So the next time someone tries to tell you that gun control is about saving lives, look at these facts and remember these words from Noah Webster: "Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed."
P.S. Oh, in case you believe the NRA should be blamed for funding pro-gun candidates for office to protect our right to beararms consider this.
The NRA contributed $3.5 mm to approx. 400 candidates over the past 9 years. However, Planned Parenthood contributed $38 mm to candidates just last year! And, the NRA receives $0 from the federal government. Not so for PP which receives several hundred million in taxpayer funds.
Courtesy of a former high school classmate
An interesting observation by my cousin, Jack
A recent post I saw that I liked, but couldn't share. Cut and pasted here.
Don't you love how the Liberal's insist on proving President Trump accurate most all the time. Heck, DJT speaks of an observation that many women will easily lift their skirts for a man with wealth & power. Many of the women pictured here knitted up pink pussy hats and screamed what a pig Donald is. While they suffered actual sexual abuse and kept quiet allowing hundreds of women to suffer the same fate??? Boy this is over the top horrible. Sadly, even Hollywood can't live up to their own narrative. What a bunch of phonies. What is it called when your silence about real abuse is rewarded with a role on TV or the movies?....... are you a whore.... or just acting like one?
Saturday, September 16, 2017
Diez y Seis de Septiembre
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Monday, July 17, 2017
A learned comment
From Ricardo Gray, Returned Peace Corps Volunteer and former State Department official, about the viability of the United States Constitution
(regarding a New Times article about the children of presidents: http://time.com/4854905/donald-trump-jr-presidential-kids-trouble/?xid=newsletter-history)
"The reason why we can hope our constitution will work effectively is well illustrated by this situation, among so many others. Human nature is greedy and particularly short-sighted in seeing one's own faults and ethical lapses. The system of checks and balances along with numerous other separating conditions has been constructed to prevent long-term self interest and political enrichment.
"The founders did not add every condition to assure civilian government of elites who were not professional politicians. The powers reserved to the states and to the people are designed to hem in the broad and powerful obligations and rights of the executive and the legislature. Even the judicial system was set up to be put in place and have an overall structure determined by the executive, but to be relatively free of subservience by the Supreme Courts unlimited terms and distinct freedom from executive whim and goals.
"There are loads of incidents, especially I think now in modern times, of both legislators and executive members (including ex-presidents) sliding through an open door to greater wealth in jobs and actions intended to influence their old colleagues and especially the so-called deep state of permanent government professionals.
"A particular example is the determined ultimate control of the armed forces by the president, the only nationally elected executive official."
Friday, June 16, 2017
The Most Evil Men in History
The Most Evil Men in History
When we attempt to think of the most evil man to have ever lived most people tend to jump to one person, that being Adolf Hitler. However, throughout the ages there have been many men who could be considered to have been just as evil as Hitler, some perhaps were even worse.
Attila The Hun: Attila was Khan of the Huns. He is remembered as the epitome of cruelty and rapacity.
Bad King John: He murdered his nephew, inspired the legend of Robin Hood and caused the creation of Magna Carta.
Caligula: The Roman emperor’s reign is a legendary frenzy of lunacy, murder, and perverse sexuality.
Francisco Pizarro: Francisco Pizarro was one of the European explorers who went to South America to colonize it and had natives murdered so he could plunder their gold and silver.
Hitler: Adolf Hitler tried to mold Germany and a large portion of the 20th century into his own twisted design. Luckily for posterity he failed but not before destroying the lives of millions of people.
Idi Amin: Idi Amin rose to become a brutal and utterly ruthless dictator who committed atrocities on his people.
Ivan the Terrible: Ivan IV of Russia, also know as Ivan the Terrible, was the Grand Duke of Muscovy from 1533 to 1547 and was the first ruler of Russia to assume the title of Tsar. He was also a devout theist.
Joseph Stalin: Perhaps 7 million or more people were shot with a total suppression of about 50 million under uncle Joe Stalin. One of the great tyrant’s of the 20th century and indeed any century.
Nero: He brought the entire Roman Empire to the brink of collapse with his legendary excesses and cruelty.
Pol Pot: Responsible for the Killing Fields and Year Zero Pol Pot waged a gruesome war on his own population.
Rasputin: He was an uneducated peasant who gained a reputation as a faith healer. His strange behaviour and incredible influence over the imperial family made him notorious and his death made him a legend.
Torquemada: Torquemada tortured and burned thousands of innocent Spaniards and expelled Spains Jewish population. Thomas De Torquemada was head of the Spanish inquisition and was renowned for his cruelty.
Vlad the Impaler: Vlad is best known for the legends of the exceedingly cruel punishments he imposed during his reign and for serving as the primary inspiration for the vampire main character in popular Dracula novel.
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
Panama Drinks the Chinese Kool-Aid:
Panama has cut long-standing diplomatic ties with Taiwan and established relations with China instead. David Lee, Taiwan's foreign minister, said Panama “yielded to Beijing because of economic benefits, did a diplomatic turn in a very unfriendly way and deceived the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) until the last minute."
Ouch. Lee added that Taiwan was also cutting diplomatic ties with Panama to safeguard Taiwan’s “sovereignty and dignity." It was exactly one year ago that Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen visited Panama on her first overseas trip as president. Now just 20 countries around the world maintain full diplomatic ties with Taipei instead of Beijing, and Panama is the latest to have switched sides.
China has intensified its economic investment in Panama, which is of course, home to the economically vital Panama Canal. Given China's rapid growth as an economic and political superpower, it has been increasingly easy for Beijing to throw around its diplomatic weight.
Panama did not say why it changed its diplomatic allegiance, but it has been increasing its economic cooperation with China in recent years. The Panama Canal is a vital shipping route, and access to the eastern coasts of both South America and the US is essential for China’s global trade ambitions, including its One Belt One Road initiative.
THE DAILY PNUT
Thursday, June 8, 2017
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
In case your drawers are in a twist about the U.S. subs around Korea:
http://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2017/05/24/buzzfeed-reuters-get-a-reality-check-after-their-anti-trump-pieces-on-trump-duterte-call-fall-flat/
http://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2017/05/24/buzzfeed-reuters-get-a-reality-check-after-their-anti-trump-pieces-on-trump-duterte-call-fall-flat/
Monday, May 15, 2017
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Sunday, May 7, 2017
Friday, May 5, 2017
Being Special Isn't So Special
The expections of society
Do we really think "I’m special. I’m unique. I’m doing something different. Look at me. I’m different, right?"
"Some people are wired to be loners and eccentrics (That's me).
And others are wired for routine. Some enjoy taking risks. Some like stability."
In the United States today the expectations that we get an education, get a "good" job, advance in our careers, make good income or become rich, ad infinitum, has raised stress and unhappiness levels.
"The implication is always the same: What have YOU done lately?"
"The implication is always the same: What have YOU done lately?"
"You don’t have to prove anything to anybody, including yourself."
This article helps provide insight into this dilemma.
Being Special Isn't So Special
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