Why should Trump sell off his businesses?

In the early days of our country, those who were our leaders had businesses. They weren’t corporations, but they certainly were rather large for the times. George Washington had many businesses, one of which was making whiskey, and Washington made decisions that benefitted his whiskey business by making it hard, almost illegal, for the average person to make whiskey themselves without the government coming after you. This lead to the infamous Whiskey Rebellion. Google it if you're not familiar with it. Does anyone hold this against Washington today? Not one bit. It’s just a footnote in history.

Jefferson had a large plantation and many slaves. It could be said that Jefferson could have favored policy that benefitted his plantation and his slave holdings. Did anyone ask Jefferson to divulge of all of his holdings when he became president? Of course not. That was not how things were understood in early America. In early America, our leaders were meant to be citizens, not career politicians.

Why should Trump sell all of his businesses? If Trump passed legislation that required people to use Trump’s services, or if he used his position to purchase land that would not otherwise be available to him, or if he funneled money through his business (like Hillary has been doing with her foundation), then there would be a conflict of interest. However, if Trump took a pro-business stance that helped all businesses, his included, then what is wrong with that? America elected a businessman.

There are many who think this will place Trump in a constitutional conflict as the constitution has a provision about accepting foreign money. The theory on this is that if Trump accepts any money through his hotels from foreign governments, who I suppose may rent rooms from Trump, that this would throw him into a position rife for impeachment.

The section in question is found in section 9, Article I of the Constitution.

 "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."  

I have read up on this and there’s a good piece in the New York Times about this. You can read about it by clicking HERE. In short, George Washington accepted two gifts from France without consulting Congress and nothing happened to him. It seems the law is on Trump’s side, even if some of our citizens aren’t.

What is truly lacking in this country is a good understanding of the founding of America. A good history of the early years, an understanding of why things were designed the way they were, and just civics in general is sorely lacking in America. When I was younger, I remember arguing with my father about the way things should have been instead of why they were the way they were, and Dad told me that I would have made a good shit-house lawyer, meaning, someone who could argue a point quite well, even if the facts of the matter weren’t on my side. That’s what we see a lot of these days due to our woeful lack of civic understanding.

In short, should Trump not divest all of his business interests, while it may seem inappropriate to those who don’t understand historical precedent, it is not illegal.

 

 

On why Hispanics voted for Trump

A fact of life – those who have an investment in something, take better care of that which they have invested in than those who don’t have an investment.

Case in point; In general, parents who purchase automobiles and other things for their children, find that their kids beat the crap out of those vehicles or other items because the children didn’t have to work or sweat for that car or item.

Generally, children whose parents make them get a job and buy their own car, see their children take care of that car or item because the child knows what it takes to purchase it.

As a parent, I have seen this myself in my own kids. Again, this is pretty much the rule, although I assume there are a few exceptions.

The same holds true for our immigration policy. Those who come here illegally, don’t feel the investment into our country the way someone who has gone through all of the hoops does. How can they? How can they appreciate what it takes and means to become a citizen of the United States? They break our laws right off of the bat. They take away our ability to discern who we let in. I cannot think of any other country that allows unrestricted immigration. In fact, as a disabled man, I could not become a citizen of Canada unless I was very rich. That is a fact! Canada will not take anyone they deem to be a burden on their social services. Look it up if you think I’m kidding.

CNN ran a story tonight wondering why so many Hispanics voted for Trump. The answer they got over and over was that they themselves came here legally, and that they have little sympathy for those who came here illegally. CNN just doesn’t get it. Those who came here legally understand the investment in their citizenship and they scoff at those not willing to make the same investment. It’s like paying for something and watching someone else steal it.

This argument has been terribly twisted by the left. This argument isn’t about immigration as much as it’s about legal immigration. Trump has never said that he would stop legal immigration. Regarding the Syrian situation, Trump has never said that he would never take another Syrian again, but would instead stop it until a system is in place to ensure that only those who will come here and accept our laws and way of life, get in. What’s so wrong about that?

Yes, my family is a family of immigrants, but I can tell you for a fact, as I’ve done the genealogy, my family came here legally, and I would expect all other immigrants to come here legally too.

I should add, the same thing can be said about our veterans. Our veterans have paid the price for the American Flag and this is why you won’t see them out there torching or stomping on the flag. Our veterans have an investment in that flag and they take much better care of it than those who haven’t.

Guaranteed – nearly every person who see burning or stomping on the American Flag have never paid the price for it. That’s why they don’t take care of it.

 

 

 

The Clinton Playbook – “Change the story, polish, minimize, and spin”

Hillary Clinton is sick. Let’s not beat around the bush about it. There have been rumors of her illness for some time, especially since she hit her head and had a concussion in 2012. What happened to her on 9/11/2016 was not a case of simple dehydration or pneumonia as her and her campaign have stated.

Watch the video of her. She is fine, hugging, kissing, and schmoozing people. Then there are photos of her with her doctor or nurse, squeezing fingers and the next thing we see is Clinton standing at the street, waiting for her ride, which is against all Secret Service protocol as it leaves Clinton as a ‘sitting duck’ on the side of the street. All the while, nobody is panicking. This is obviously something that Hillary’s entourage is accustomed to. Even Bill Clinton let it slip to Charlie Rose that this has happened many times. He then back-tracked and CBS edited the interview to take that part out. It is apparent that whatever is wrong with Hillary Clinton is not what we are being told.

Surprise Surprise! This is the Clintons that we’re talking about!

Hillary appeared a couple of hours later, coming out of Chelsea’s apartment, and looked so much better. Pneumonia, really? Pneumonia isn’t something that leaves you fine one moment, on death’s door the next, and then an hour or two later you’re fine.

No, pneumonia is a killer. Those afflicted with cancer and AIDS often die from pneumonia. The elderly take pneumonia shots because pneumonia kills so often.

Pneumonia caused by bacteria or virus is contagious. Here Clinton was out hugging and kissing folks. Was she told that her pneumonia was non-contagious or did she not care about spreading it about? The types of non-contagious pneumonia are from inhalants, fungus, and aspiration issues. Is this the type of pneumonia that she had? To be honest, I doubt she has pneumonia. She would have been in terrible shape to begin with if she had. I’m more apt to believe dehydration, but even then, it would be a stretch. It wasn’t that hot. Water is plentiful, and she wasn’t doing anything physically strenuous.

Why the lies? It’s because that’s what the Clintons do. I don’t know why that is. Some people rob banks. Others murder people. Some people just lie because that’s who they are; liars. That’s the Clintons for you.

Bill Clinton was the master at this. Hillary isn’t quite as good, but it isn’t for lack of trying. Below, I have posted a video from 1992. Here, Bill Clinton is facing criticism for his, “I didn’t inhale” comment. The two situations are slightly different, but in both cases, Bill and Hillary use the same tactics. First, they try and restructure the truth into a version that creates a new narrative. They polish this narrative up. It’s a narrative that allows them to minimize what they said. After that, they spin like a crocodile in a death roll.

First, Hillary;

Hillary comes out of Chelsea’s apartment two hours later looking refreshed and claims to the media that she feels fine. She even finds a kid to hug. This changes the narrative from, “Hillary is ill” to “Hillary is not ill”. But, at this point, it may not have been apparent to Hillary that video of the event was captured and then released to the public. At this point, the official story was, “She was dehydrated.” Her appearance on the street reflects this narrative.

Then, as it became apparent that video of the situation was leaked, it then became, “She was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday.” She sure didn’t act like a woman who had pneumonia, but, this allowed Hillary to again change the narrative and make herself look like a warrior, someone who just works and works and works, even when sick with potentially fatal pneumonia! That’s the polish folks. Even Christiane Amanpour used apologetics to explain how great Hillary was when compared to other past American leaders, and then Amanpour retorted, “Can’t a girl have a sick day?” How effective. It makes Clinton look like a victim and in today’s society, we’re all supposed to feel sorry for the victims. Everyone wants to be a victim these days it seems…..

Then, later in the evening, knowing that damage control must be done, she goes on Anderson Cooper and furthers her story stating that as soon as the van doors shut and she got some water, she was perfectly fine. Really? Then why not come back out and greet people some more? Why cancel your trip to California? But, this is part of the minimization tactic on this Clinton play. She even used her husband’s famous phrase, “I didn’t think it was a big deal.” Really? Boy, a female John Wayne we have on our hands here!

Finally, she spins it. She goes into stating that Trump needs to release his health information and that he hasn’t done this or he hasn’t done that. Guess what? It wasn’t Trump who collapsed and then told lies about it! Not once has Trump shown any ill health. But, this is the spin to redirect attention. It’s almost a psychological tactic if you ask me. Don’t look in this hand, look in this other one….

Compare this to her husband’s appearance on Arsenio Hall in 1992. First, Bill tells the story differently than it actually happened. This allows him to put some personal Clinton shine on it and it makes the story capable of handling the bullshit that he’s about to make the story carry.

He then minimized it by using very similar words that Hillary just used the other night, “I didn’t think it was a big deal,” from her to his, “..it is not a big deal.” Then they both spun. First, Hillary spun it into re-directing attention to Trump and claiming that he needed to be scrutinized too. Bill spun and started talking about sending kids to college.

In short, they change the story. They polish it. Then they minimize their part in it, and then they spin. On the video, you'll have to fast forward to the 23:55 mark. Here’s the video below and below that, is the transcript from the pertinent section:

 

Here is a link to the actual time where the transcript below comes from: https://youtu.be/ckHfgqK_hcU?t=23m55s

“Here’s the deal, when a politician says something, if you’re a politician, the cynicism about politicians is so great that people thought, “Well, this guy calculated this whole answer, and he calculated it so that he thought, ‘Well, maybe he won’t burn me quite as bad if I say I didn’t inhale?’.” That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of.

They asked me a question that I didn’t know they were going to ask and I gave an honest answer. And that, “I didn’t inhale.” was a nervous after-thought. I was sort of laughing about it after 22 years. I mean, that’s all that was going on and I was sort of laughing in my mind about it, but I got beat-up about it, ‘cause everybody thought that I calculated this answer.

You know, maybe I should…maybe I should be more calculating than I am? But, you know, if, you folks are never going to get good politicians, uh, really good public officials, if all you want is somebody that calculates every word they say, every deed they do; and their whole life becomes like a robot, or an automaton, you know. I did something when I was younger. I told the truth about it and I made a mess of telling about it because, I guess, I’m still kind of embarrassed about it after all these years.

But it is not a big deal, and it sure…and it was made into a federal case. I got more publicity on that … than my idea about how to send every kid in America to college, who wants to go, which I think is more important to the election and to the future of this country.”

(Applause)

(Smug smirk) (Drink of water)

My advice to Ted Cruz

It is probably too late to change your speech, but if there is time, I make the following suggestions:

1.    You do not have to endorse Donald Trump. You can tell the American public that while you have disagreements with Donald, he is a better alternative than Hillary Clinton.

2.    You should admit that you still have political aspirations. You had a great following who faithfully showed their support for you on the floor of the convention and more. Let your followers know that you still represent their wants, dreams, and hopes.

3.    Explain to the country that while you may disagree with Donald Trump and have political aspirations to be president yourself, that the threat of Hillary Clinton is so great, and your love of country so strong, that you’re willing to concede that Donald Trump would be a better choice for the next 8 years than Hillary Clinton.

4.   You should be a great unifier and ask your supporters to stand behind Trump this election to ensure a brighter future for our children, and the rest of us.

5.    You should end the speech by explaining that you will do your part to help Donald Trump run this country and that you will continue to represent all those who supported you.

If you do this, you have the potential to give one of the greatest speeches given at a convention in a very long time. In doing so, you do not concede anything, yet, you look selfless, as a patriot, putting love of country above your own aspirations. You’re also not knocking Donald Trump, you’re hitting Hillary Clinton, and you’ll be viewed as a great statesman and unifier.

Solution for those who find it hard to support Trump

Can we all agree that Hillary Clinton will be a worse choice than Donald Trump? If you don’t believe that, please consider the situation with the Supreme Court. Can you honestly allow the court to go full progressive liberal? We are only one justice away from losing the court. America will be changed in irreversible ways. We no longer seem to have the nerve to change the constitution when the Supreme Court goes rogue. We sit back and idly allow the Supreme Court to create case law contrary to what many of us believe the laws say. It is imperative that we work together to prevent our losing the court.

I empathize with those who are having a difficult time voting for Trump. He seems to represent the attitude and demeanor that we have long attributed to crazy liberals. What is someone that finds it hard to vote for Trump to do in order to help keep Hillary Clinton out of office?

Pull Republican. That’s right, vote straight party ticket. By doing so, you are voting for the party, not the person. Yes, a straight party ticket is a vote for Trump too, but not explicitly. Pulling the straight party lever allows the voter to claim that they didn’t vote for Trump, but rather the party.

It’s important to do this as there is a lot of worry that down-ballot republicans may be hurt by Trump. If Hillary wins and we manage to keep the Senate and House, we cannot hold off nomination to the court for another 4 years. The liberals win by having a court circumvent Congress by legislating from the bench. If we lose the Senate, it only gets worse and Hillary's progressive agenda will get a better foot-hold. If we lose the House, all bets are off. We need to win the presidency, keep the Senate, and keep the House. We need to install conservative justices in order to protect ourselves from the progressive/socialist agenda. Hillary Clinton for sure will not give us that sort of justice. Donald Trump has said that he would nominate conservative justices. I would rather take my chances with Trump than surely lose with Hillary. Too much is at stake this election. Our country is on the line. Voting straight party helps ensure that we win and keep control of the bodies which will allow us to save the Supreme Court.

So, in short, if you cannot bring yourself to vote explicitly for Trump, vote straight party this election.

 

Keep the House

Keep the Senate

Save the Court

Save America

The system has failed.

This piece is about the recent police shootings in Dallas. This piece will infuriate those who are used to reacting emotionally to things like this instead of using their brain and thinking. I ask that you read this entire piece, then think about what you’ve read. I do not condone what happened in Dallas. You have been warned.

I am a huge proponent of the second amendment. When you ask most ardent gun owners about the purpose of the second amendment, almost every one of them will tell you that our forefathers wanted guns in the hands of the people as a hedge against a tyrannical government. When we look at what happened in Dallas, isn’t that what the shooters are saying was their motivation? To them, the government has gone tyrannical and they are using their guns to fight back.

Black people see a system that has failed them. When police are brought up on charges, many times they are exonerated. In the case of Freddie Gray, the police officers have chosen a bench trial over trial by jury. You know why that is, don’t you? They don’t want their fate to be in the hands of everyday people. They want their fate to be in the hands of someone that they see as being sympathetic to them, the judge. Judges work with these policemen daily and there is a certain chumminess that exists between the two. Police are supposed to represent the administrative branch of our government while the courts represent the judicial branch, but it’s hard to tell that they are two separate branches by the way they work so harmoniously. When black people see police repeatedly “get away” with murder, they no longer have faith in the government.

A white governor in Minnesota has even said that the man shot dead recently in Minnesota probably died because he was black. He said that if that couple had been white, the outcome would have been much different. The black community hears this, but instead of justice, they see a policeman who was comforted by his fellow officers while the victim’s welfare seemed an after-thought. These policemen generally get put on paid administrative leave, only to be returned to work after they get what appears to the black community to be a pass.

We are told that the reason we give such latitude to police officers is because if we held them to the same standards that we hold normal citizens, our police force would not be as effective. We are told that we cannot have police officers constantly second guessing themselves. Tell that to those who have been murdered by police. Who is there to advocate for these victims? We see big fancy funerals for slain officers. Not so much for the citizens who lose their lives to the hands of police officers, no matter how innocent they may have been.

It’s not just black people being killed by errant police. Police routinely raid homes and kill innocent people inside. Police use no knock warrants, sometimes on the wrong homes, and the inhabitants of these homes, not knowing that it’s the police, try defending themselves. They get murdered by the police and the families have to fight in court for any monetary award for their loss, and many times, the police refuse to admit any wrong-doing, so they continue to kill people in this manner. Google the name Jose Guerena as just one example of this happening. In his case, the police officers claimed they were being shot at when the evidence clearly pointed to the contrary. The outcome is maddening because the family had to fight for any monetary award, but in the end, no amount of money can replace this family’s husband and father.

I would be remiss if I didn’t bring up the recent situation with Hillary Clinton. She did things that would put most people in jail. The FBI director admitted as much, but he also said that no prosecutor would pursue the charges against her. What he doesn’t tell you is why that is. There is a double standard in this country and he knows it. Most Americans know it, and the black community knows it.

This brings me to the tragedy that happened in Dallas. The shooter who was blown up told negotiators that he was mad at Black Lives Matter, he was mad at police, and he was mad at white people. He obviously felt that he had no recourse through a failed justice system which historically has let those in power off while trivializing the losses that the American people have suffered at the hands of police.

This isn’t to say that the police who died deserved to die. They didn’t. However, they are the face of the broken system to many who feel like they are being hunted by a police force that is rarely, if ever, held accountable. Those who have been harmed have seen the system fail to bring justice to those in power on so many occasions, so they have turned to their guns and have taken justice into their own hands.

If we want to defuse the situation, we need to admit that the system has failed. We need to start holding all those in public trust accountable for mistakes. Police are human beings. They freely choose their profession, knowing full well the dangers that come with it. They need to be held to a higher standard than the people they protect. The average citizen rarely has the training that a police officer has, or at least, should have. When the untrained citizen is held to a higher standard than the well trained police officer, we have a problem. Police should think about their actions. We see what happens when they aren’t held accountable. Public trust breaks down and we have incidents like we find ourselves in now. It’s not just the police, but every level of public service.

In summary, the system has failed and people are starting to take matters into their own hands. People are angry, and rightfully so. Killing police officers is unacceptable, but so is killing innocent people because of police mistakes. Until public confidence is restored in the justice system, we will continue to see this lashing out against those in power.

God bless those who have lost their lives on both sides of the aisle.

Most God-Awful Show that I’ve Ever Watched

I was sitting here today watching television while I worked. It was Antenna TV, channel 9.3, out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Today, they say they are playing Norman Lear’s favorite episodes. Norman Lear is the fellow who brought us The Jeffersons, Good Times, All in the Family, and Maude, to name a few. Today, the show was Maude and the God-awful episode was called, “Maude’s Dilemma”. It’s a two-part episode, made in 1972, a year before Roe vs. Wade, and the topic was abortion.

In this episode, the title character, Maude (played by ultra-liberal Bea Arthur), finds out that she is pregnant at the age of 47. Her adult daughter finds out and starts spouting out all the reasons to have an abortion. She reminds her mother that she is “too old”, and that having a kid at that age would be an “inconvenience”. She tells her mother that abortion is accepted now, nothing to be ashamed of, and is as simple as going to the dentist. She harps and harps on her mother about having this abortion and at one point, Maude tells her daughter to get off of her back.

Now, the father of the child is Maude’s husband (second husband, not the father of the adult daughter), and he is almost 50 years old himself with no children. He tells Maude that he doesn’t care if she has the child or not, he only wants what she wants, and to ensure that Maude doesn’t get pregnant again, he rushes out and schedules a vasectomy after a round of golf.

I was so appalled at the show, the way they treat having children as such an inconvenience, and with such flippancy towards taking the life of an unborn child, that I couldn’t finish the show. I was hoping that maybe Maude would decide to have the child, but knowing a little bit about the show, I didn’t recall Maude having a young child. I looked it up on Google to find out the resolution and apparently, Maude decides to have the abortion. I couldn’t finish the episode. I had to turn it off.

The episode reeked, and I mean to high Heaven, of Nazi-style propaganda. I couldn’t see much difference between this episode’s treatment of the unborn vs. Hitler’s films about the dirty Jews. They both share a callous indifference towards life and both are masterfully created fictions that tell the audience that it’s okay to kill. They do their best to convince you, their audience, that there are reasons that these people shouldn’t live. It’s horrible.

Now, there are those out there who think there is a difference between killing Jews and killing the unborn, but I don’t. In both cases, you kill somebody. The only difference is that on one hand, you’re killing someone whose scream you can hear, on the other, they are silent.

Abortion is a horrible thing. Never should we allow the killing of the unborn because of inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Allowing this reduces the value we as a society place on life and that is the whole point of the abortion movement, the assisted-suicide movement, and others who treat life the same way they would a wart.

Abortion is a medical procedure that should only be used in the most dire of cases. In any case, it should never be treated as a simple procedure, like going to the dentist. It should also never be done in a case where the child can be saved. Partial birth abortions should be outlawed. Anyone who supports them should be forced to watch an hour worth of video of “doctors” performing the procedure before they can advocate for the procedure. It’s gruesome. It’s not much different than Mengele’s “body-shop” in the concentration camps.

Abortion should only be allowed in the very early stages, preferably before there is a heart-beat. While I don’t believe in abortion at all, I believe this is a fair compromise. I, in opposition to my church, support contraception, but in no case, forced contraception (like the Chinese), in order to prevent pregnancies. This includes the “day-after” pill, if needed. While I would not wish my wife or daughter to use these things, I admit that I might change my mind should my wife or daughter be raped. Therefore, it should be an option.

In the end, this episode of Maude was disgusting. It’s appalling. It’s almost inhuman in how it treats human life. At one point, the daughter starts into an argument for population control (packing people in like sardines). Most people who support abortion love to use population control and “unwanted babies” as an argument for euthanasia. If these people feel the world is so overpopulated, we should designate a cliff for them to do their part by jumping off of it head-first. It’s always okay for them to prescribe death for someone else, just not them.

On Brexit

The British people have narrowly voted to regain their independence. I was surprised that they voted this way. I’m not surprised because I agreed with remaining, but because I have felt that the UK has been a socialist/liberal haven for long enough that their chains of bondage would never be undone. I’m happy to be wrong. Their escape was a narrow one. Future generations should appreciate how lucky they were to get out while they were able to.

Throughout history, there has been a portion of humanity who wishes to have someone lord over them. If this were not the case, we wouldn’t have had such large kingdoms created where a monarch or dictator of one kind or another, has kept a large group of people subservient to them in exchange for a little food and security. A large portion of the Old Testament of the bible is devoted to this. The Israelites doubted God and Moses in the desert and many lamented that they would have been better off in slavery back in Egypt where they at least had a bite to eat. These same Israelites, who after gaining their freedom and having a system of judges, demanded a king, and the Lord warned them. From the book of Samuel;

So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.”

And a king the Lord gave them, and all the chains that came with it. Obviously, people have changed very little since ancient times. In more modern times, our own country made a choice about whether they wanted a king over them or not. In our case, we had enough of all the chains that came with having a king and we rebelled and cast our chains off and became free.

Very much like the scare-mongers of today in this Brexit vote, during the American Revolution, there were many who wished to remain loyal to the king. I have read before that the colonies were divided three ways. There was about a third who wanted independence. A third didn’t care, and a third wished to remain indentured to the king. Many of the very same arguments were made by those wishing to remain loyal to the crown that have been made by the Remain camp in this referendum. These colonial loyalists thought the world was going to end by our leaving the British Empire. Many of them went back home to England and fled to Canada.

With the benefit of hindsight, we now know that those who stayed did not suffer for long. In fact, America would go on to become the powerhouse that it is today, and it wouldn’t have done that had it remained chained to England. How different history would have been had we not gained independence and showed the world a different way to live.

The same thing will happen with a free United Kingdom. You don’t have to belong to the “global village” in order to be a part of the global community. In the village, you must do as others have decided for you. As an independent member of the community, you retain the freedom to make the correct choices that are best for you.

Who in their right mind would go to a doctor and allow someone else to make medical decisions for them? Who would accept legal counsel based upon what may be best for another party? Why then do we think it’s good to have others decide what’s best for the UK? Shouldn’t the UK be able to decide what’s best for itself?

This brings out the reality of the whole situation. This is all about globalism. This isn’t the sort of globalism where you learn to play nice with your neighbors. This is a form of globalism where you become part of a commune. Others decide what you get and what you give up. Others decide what you shall do and not do, all in the name of unity. How can we teach our daughters to be independent people on one hand, yet be anything but in our own government affairs? The buzz-word for this new form of globalism is called progressivism. It’s like an opium for the masses. Those who subscribe to it are either those who shall become lords over others, or those who are so intoxicated by its effects that they know not their own poor condition, like an opium addict. All these poor souls know is that it feels good. They grow dependent upon the drug of progressivism and get to the point that they can no longer care for themselves. They turn to the leaders to take care of them. All the while, the fruits of their labor are taken from them and their burdens are increased. This must be stopped at all costs.

Freedom comes with great challenges. The first of which is insecurity. In a free society, the people have the opportunity to fail. They also have the opportunity to succeed. This is the beauty of freedom. Under freedom, you have a choice. You have opportunity, real opportunity, to make something of yourself. You don’t need government to give you a hand up. Under freedom, you have the opportunity to do it yourself, and to take pride and profit from the toils of your work. Not everyone succeeds in a free society. What’s important is that there is at least opportunity.

I remember reading books on the Civil War and the freeing of the slaves. Many slaves wandered around after the Civil War, lost, because they didn’t know how to live free. Many of them returned to their masters and continued on as share croppers. Many in the south punished the blacks with unfair Jim Crow laws, and kept the blacks in a new kind of slavery. I read that some slaves, especially those with benevolent masters, thought their life was better off under slavery than it was after they were freed because at least they had a roof over their heads and food on their table. Once they were freed, they no longer had those securities.

This being said, I doubt anyone would publicly declare today that the slaves were better under slavery than they were when freed? Instead, slavery is viewed in the eyes of those slaves who were treated cruelly. Slaves were property and many slaveholders treated their slaves as part of their families. Even in those cases, there are very few who would argue that it was better for these slaves to remain under the control of their masters instead of choosing freedom. Yet, in this Brexit situation, the progressive globalists are claiming that it’s better for the UK to keep their chains on because they have a benevolent master in Brussels. How can this be?

It’s because those who are most vocal about remaining in the EU are the new masters that lord over others. Take yourself back to Civil War America. Can you imagine many masters using the same arguments to discourage turning the slaves free? Many of the same arguments today could just as easily have been made then. Rarely does anyone in a position of lordship over another give it up easily. The Israelites didn’t have it easy leaving Egypt. They turned and went back into servitude and found themselves enslaved many times over the course of history. When we left England, we had to fight for independence not once, but twice. Finally, we are in a world where the progressive globalists have been creating a new world order for themselves as lords over the masses and they are not happy about Britain choosing to rule themselves.

In America, we see this in our own election. Globalists on both sides, democrat and republican are having fits and tantrums, beating the drums of fear, and name-calling, in order to stay in power. Hillary believes it takes a village. What she won’t tell you is that she’ll be it’s queen and you her servant. She will promise you a roof over your head and food on your table, but like the Lord warned Israel, it comes at a price. Several on the Republican side are part of this movement too. This is why we have witnessed so many Republicans appear to cave into the left in this country. It’s because they too wish to lord over others and they want to be rulers too. They scoff at the libertarian wing of the party who ask for the very same thing that our forefathers wanted, and that’s liberty. Britain just chose freedom and we should too.

Food for thought…..

Open border proponents, especially those who enjoy the influx of undocumented workers, like to complain that there are many jobs out there that Americans just won’t do. I call bullshit. The real story is that there may be a lot of jobs out there that Americans just won’t do ----- for the amount of money that the employer is willing to pay. If you pay anyone enough, you can get just about anything done. We have been told that this is how the free market works. These globalists like to tout free markets when it’s in their favor, but believe me, they could care less about it. All they care about is making the most profit that they can, at any price. If that means that American workers are idled and cheap foreign labor is brought in, so be it.

So what if the price of a cheeseburger goes up? Again, that’s the free market. Pay people a living wage and maybe they can afford that more expensive hamburger? I have never understood how American business leaders can justify paying so little to the American worker and expect them to have the ability to purchase their products? It seems to me that Americans are currently at a terrible disadvantage in the manufacturing sector. In China and Mexico, companies can utilize essentially a slave labor force. These companies like to tout how they pay more than what these employees made formerly, yet it’s still a substandard wage. All the while, these corporate titans and their financiers are living like kings and queens. If you were to take a third of their wealth and distribute it to the employees, especially those at the bottom, you’d raise their standard of living a lot, while allowing those at the top to remain filthy rich. How is this accomplished in a free market society?

As much as I hate to say it, you either regulate these companies or you don’t allow them to exist in the first place.  I am not a fan of corporate capitalism. I am all for small businesses. I’m all for anyone building their business as large as they personally can handle. I am not for corporations, which are so large that even government has a hard time regulating them. In fact, these corporations are so large that they can manipulate the government to the point that it no longer cares about it’s citizens because legislators are effectively being bought and sold. Just do a Google search for how many former legislators are now in the lobbying business. Hiring former politicians as lobbyists is just one way that these giant corporations control them. Paying gigantic speaking fees to politicians, publishing, then purchasing large quantities of a politician’s book is another. Most politicians write a book, get paid large money for it, and corporations purchase large lots of these books and then warehouse or destroy them. It’s modern day money laundering. It’s corruption at the highest level. If we didn’t allow corporations to exist, this sort of corruption wouldn’t be so rampant.

Socialism, which normally leads to communism, is not the answer either. In most socialist and communist societies, the people are not as free as they would be in an open capitalistic society, and they would not have as much incentive to work as hard as they could. I’m all for taking care of those who cannot take care of themselves. It should be the civic duty of a compassionate society. I’m also for us as a society to come together and provide for ourselves a common defense to threats, at home and abroad, education, legal matters, and healthcare. We should also provide for a common retirement fund for those who are elderly (Social Security) and means test it. Not everyone will have built a tidy nest egg for themselves, for whatever reason. Not everyone who fails to build wealth in life is in that position because they were lazy. Some yes, but luck plays a large part in doing well in life too.

There should be basic services, such as medical, legal, and education, and social insurance that prevents the elderly and disabled from destitution. In no way should this help be more than what someone could build for themselves working hard, but it should allow for basic living expenses with a little cushion.

There are two camps that are coming out of the political fog right now. It used to be a fight between the left and the right, conservatism and liberalism, but those battle lines hardly exist anymore. Now, mainly because of corporate corruption, we are seeing a great divide between globalists and nationalist. Yes, there are differences between left and right still, but both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump illustrated the nationalist movement that is starting to swell in America, nay, the world. Globalists on both the left and the right have been in lockstep, moving the world into a borderless planet, where the rich are rich and the poor are poor. The globalists can move their money around the planet with ease, exploit resources abroad without hindrance, and ultimately, rule the world.

The wealth and power hungry wolves will stop at nothing to create this new world order that they’ve sought since the end of WWII. The taste of blood is upon their lips and they have grown ravenous. They find it hard to hide their agenda anymore. Anyone who stands in their way is liable to be mowed down. They have purchased the world’s media to push their agenda and propaganda. They have created a society that is destitute, and dependent upon them for survival, even those who work hard. Hard work rarely gets you ahead in this world any longer, and that is due to the globalists who have made it so. They have heaped heavy burdens upon the backs of the middle class, creating enmity between the lower and middle classes while those at the top pay very little and watch Rome burn while they fiddle.

We are at a crossroads in this country. We are at a crossroads in the world. It’s one thing if globalism would have brought prosperity to the citizens of the world, but it hasn’t. It has spread pollution, destitution, and is a cancer on the whole world.

We must defeat the globalists now or forever be indentured to them. Technology is getting to be enough that the elite can watch and control every aspect of a person’s life from abroad. They can use drones, cameras, data tracking, and computers to keep people in line and in check. By removing money and making it electronic, they can control your access to food and other necessities. A cancer is something that keeps growing and running amok. This is globalism. Like a snake, it’s head must be severed.

A perfect world is one where there are multiple governments, people all over the world, free and governing themselves. Each country ought to take care of itself first, then share it’s excesses with the rest of the world. The world ought to keep other countries in check and agree to remain separate from one another. Think of AT&T or Standard Oil. It’s the same thing. Teddy Roosevelt busted them up as he saw the benefit of many smaller entities instead of one large one. That should be the approach the world takes to government. Checks and balances. You lose those checks and balances in a one world government.

 

 

 

Lest we forget....

For over two centuries, immigrants from all over the world have come to this country, escaping tyranny and poverty in their home countries. They came here, to America, the land of the free and they have prospered. Why then, do these descendants of those immigrants, want America to emulate those very countries that our ancestors left? Why do we turn to Europe and feel the need to be like them? Are we not better than that? Countless immigrants would have said yes, but sadly, this has been lost upon their children and successive generations.

Thoughts on open borders.

I would like someone to explain to me the rationale behind open borders? Why is it that as a country, we should allow people to come and go as they please? The world is full of people who hate us and wish to do us harm. The world also is full of people who want to come here and be a productive part of our society.  An open border does not allow us to discern between the two. Donald Trump speaks of a wall that needs to be built, but a wall is generally impermeable, although, Trump has metaphorically described a big beautiful gate. I would like to think of the border more as a filter. A filter keeps the dirt out. This is what we need. Having an open border is like having a hole in a filter. A lot of good that does! You also can’t have just a portion of the border filtered as those who don’t respect our laws will just go for the holes. The entire border needs to be secured.

One thing that always needs to be kept in mind though is that a border designed to keep people out also keeps people in. Should we ever find ourselves in the grips of a tyrannical ruler, much like the communist countries of Europe and Asia, borders can force people to remain and not leave. The Berlin Wall comes to mind. This is why it is important that our constitution allows for anyone to be able to freely leave this country unless they are under indictment for a crime.

Trump is not a racist and is not sexist.

Donald Trump is taking a lot of heat lately for questioning a judge’s impartiality. People wonder how Trump can be so dumb as to walk into such a political quagmire. People say he should know better, but he doesn’t. Why is that?

His opponents would have us believe that Trump is a racist, and that’s why he says these things. Trump is actually the opposite of a racist. Trump actually sees others as being racist and he calls them out on it.

You see, Trump treats everyone the same. Look at Trump’s organization. He hires everyone. He does business with everyone. He’s supported everyone. Trump only sees one color, and that’s green. If Trump were a true racist, it would have come out long before he decided to run for president.

Trump doesn’t care if someone is Mexican, black, Asian, etc. He doesn’t care if they are male or female. Donald Trump is critical of everyone. EVERYBODY! When Trump refuses to use kid gloves on women or minorities, he is labeled a racist, but I have to ask you, isn’t it more racist to treat a minority differently because of said race? Wouldn’t it be more sexist if Trump treated women differently than men? I thought we were supposed to treat everyone the same? In reality, we are being told that treating minorities and women with preferential treatment is true equality. I took math. When you treat one side differently than the other, it is not equal. Equal means equal. That’s what Trump is doing, and now he’s taking heat for it.

There are a lot of other areas to pick bones with Trump. This whole racist and sexist argument doesn’t hold water with anyone who actually thinks about it. As far as deporting Mexicans, Trump will deport anyone here illegally, that means anyone, regardless of race. He pointed out Mexico because it’s that border where most illegals are pouring in. There is nothing wrong with protecting the border. If Canadians were entering our county en masse, I’m sure he would call them out too. One thing I’m sure of with Trump – he’s an equal opportunist. He calls it like he sees it and that doesn’t set well with his opponents – those who have made this country very unequal, all in the name of equality. Yes, he has opponents in the Republican party too, mainly because both parties are part of the problem. This isn’t a left vs. right thing as much as it’s an establishment vs. grass roots divide that exists today.

Trump is not sexist and he is not a racist.

Sad Truth……..

I was always taught that if you work hard, you can do anything in life.

That isn’t the case. If working hard really equated to wealth, happiness, and prosperity, there are a lot of people out there who should be wealthy, happy, and prosperous. In fact, a lot of hard working people out there are dirt poor and miserable.

On the other hand, there are a lot of lucky people out there who have worked very little and are wealthy, happy, and prosperous.

Moral of the story, you have to have luck on your side if you wish to get ahead in this world. Hard work alone doesn’t guarantee success.

We Europeans are still trying to force others to live our way.

Since Europeans started interacting with other societies, we’ve tried to force others to live our way. Those who didn’t live like us were considered savages. Look what we’ve done to China and Japan. Look at what the Spaniards did to South America? Look what we did with the American Indian. Yes, the European has a long history of trying to force others to live their way. It has caused some of the largest wars known to the history of mankind.

We’re still doing it today. While the European and American liberals decry the treatment of American Indians and others who have historically been oppressed, they themselves are trying to export their way of life on others who live differently.

They are trying to force atheism and secularism down the throats of those who prefer to live in theocracies. This has put us at odds with the Muslim faith more than anyone else at this point. Muslims see us as a threat to a way of life that they have known for nearly 1500 years.

I have seen television shows that have shown white women going into Indian and African communities, telling women that they don’t have to tolerate their husbands anymore, and these white women are loaning money to these black and Indian women so that they no longer need to depend on their husbands. Yes, we are breaking up families overseas in order to make these old fashioned, traditional societies more in the image of our modern society where it’s less about families, and more about individualism within the confines of socialism. Is it any wonder that we are hated in many parts of the world?

Why is it that we feel the need to go into traditional societies and play a hand in changing them into a society that resembles our own? Why do we think our problems are any better than the problems that they face under their current system? Who are we to judge which is better? In many Muslim countries, the focus in on God and the family. There is nothing wrong with this.

This is a very complicated issue, worthy of highly educated postulations by better educated men than me. The gist of my post here is that we ought to leave others alone and focus on our own problems. We should allow others to live differently from us, even if we don’t agree with it. That is their right. What we’re doing around the world today isn’t really all that much different than what Europeans have done to others for centuries. Live and let live.

A Dangerous Divide is Brewing.......

The last time America was this polarized, we were fighting over whether or not to allow slavery. The debate had to be settled by a civil war.

Now we are facing the same type of divide, over several issues. Should we be a socialist or free country? Do we allow abortion or not? Do we allow a death penalty or not? There are several other issues, and the divide between the two sides continues to grow.

I’m not advocating for another civil war, but it appears that anything short of war, we’re not going to resolve our issues and the divide will tear us apart. It already is.

My Advice to Trump

Now that you’re the presumptive Republican nominee, it’s time to unite the party. Not only do you need to unite the party, but you need to work on getting enough votes to win.

Even that isn’t enough. You will need a congress that will work with you. All you need to do is look at the rough time that Jessie Ventura had in Minnesota as governor. He fought the legislature all the time because they weren’t for him. You may run into some of the same problems.

That being said, what you need to do is tell your supporters that not only do they need to support you, but they need to support the down-ballot candidates too. They cannot expect anything to get done if they elect you to the presidency, but put Harry Reid and the democrats back in charge of the Senate. This is key. You need to support the down-ballot candidates whether they want your support or not because you are going to NEED them.

The Holy Trinity as I understand it.

I have felt like the Holy Spirit has been with me all of my life. I believe the Holy Spirit to be the “working arm” of God the Father, and His son, Jesus.

We are told that the Father and the Son are one. Later, we are told that the Holy Spirit is in unity with the Father and Son. Three distinct entities, one God.

This baffles many, but it doesn’t baffle me. The bible also speaks about a husband and wife becoming one. The marriage between a husband and wife therefore is akin to the relationship that exists between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This doesn’t mean that a sexual relationship exists. That’s not what they mean by being “one”. Think of a child who asks her mother if she can have candy before supper. The mother says, “No”, and the child goes to her father. The father normally doesn’t care, but knowing the mother said no, he too says no. The father and mother are one.

In the case of the trinity, the three entities, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are in unity with one another. They are, however, three separate entities.

PFBA – Judicial Trickery

There are several ways that the judicial system has circumvented the double jeopardy provision of our constitution. One way they do it is by having multiple jurisdictions drag you through court for essentially the same law, but under different jurisdictions. For instance, the state may charge the defendant and lose, to only be followed by the charging the defendant for similar crimes under federal charges. The government does it in such a way that it comes across as being separate charges when in fact they are essentially the same. Someone arrested for disturbing the peace on state charges may be charged with federal terrorism charges. This is an extreme case, but is indicative of current procedure for our judicial system.

Another way the judicial system likes to play games is by drawing out charges and bringing them separately at trial. The government may choose to pursue a handful of charges against the defendant, only to withhold some should the defendant prevail in court. This way, the government can bring the defendant into court again on more charges connected to the same event.

The way to solve this is to force all jurisdictions into one court system. To be honest, a citizen should rarely, if ever, face a federal court. The federal system should operate through the state court systems for cases against individuals.

There should also be a “snapshot in time” rule that forces prosecutors to bring all charges against the defendant at once, or forever forfeit the right to do so down the road. This prevents the government from dragging things out in court and getting multiple shots at a conviction.

PFBA - Privatized Incarceration

No civilized society ought to allow for it’s penal system to be privatized. All jails and prisons should be owned and operated by government itself. Allowing privatization of jails and prisons means that a business is created and that business then becomes in the business of profiteering on the backs of prisoners. It creates a system that needs prisoners in order to be profitable and therefore, this privatized system should not be allowed.

No inmate should be forced to pay for their room and board. This again creates a system which requires inmates in order to generate a profit. If the citizenry cannot afford to house it’s prisoners, it needs to adjust it’s system in order to house only dangerous criminals.

America incarcerates more of it’s population by percentage than nearly any other country in the civilized world. The system of profiteering on the backs of inmates should be banned.

 

 

Man’s Worst Trait

Man’s worst trait is the inner need to have others agree with him. Think about that for a moment. How many times in America have you seen people get in heated arguments over Ford vs. Chevy, or Coke vs. Pepsi? How many times have friends or family tried convincing you to do something that they did because they like it? What is this inner need to have others be convinced that the world looks like it does to you?

This is man’s worst trait. It leads to arguments and in many cases, war. How many have died in the course of human history because someone in power insists that everyone else be like them and think like them?

The Passing of Time with Things….

In the Christmas Carol, there is a scene where Scrooge witnesses those pilfering and selling his possessions after his death. One of those who do so was his housekeeper. She steals his sheets and sells them, all the while, she has nothing good to say about him.

Estate sales remind me of this scene. Despite the fact that the items aren’t stolen, there is something personal about a man’s possessions, and when that man dies, his items are sold to the living, for the highest bid. What that man once gathered into his possession is once again scattered to the four winds, generally while his old friends and family look on, possibly bidding on a few items themselves.

KinDee was up at Gary Voshell’s estate sale today. It’s not the first estate sale that we’ve ever attended, but this one feels different. Maybe it’s because this man was from my town of Wadena? It might be because my uncle Mike Durnan told me that he went to school with Gary? Maybe it’s because Gary’s death was a sad one? Maybe it’s because some of these things that we bought were his tools, items that he used personally and that he knew personally? These are tools that in his head, he knew where he got them, where they were on his property, and he used them for work or pleasure. They were his possessions. They are now mine. I bought them and now I have a piece of Gary with me. I never knew the man.

It could also be because KinDee bought a few items that Gary built himself. A man seems most proud of those items that he took the time to think out, design, and create. They say more about a man that a screwdriver that he chooses from the hardware store, although that too says something about the man. All of this man’s earthly possessions were gone through and coldly sold. KinDee even said there was a junk pile where a lot of items, still in their wrappers with tags on them, had been thrown. Someone gave her permission to take what she wanted from the pile and she pulled out quite a bit. I wonder what Gary would have thought about these things that he purchased, being tossed into the trash. He had them for a reason.

Maybe it shouldn’t bother me; this has been the way things work for as long as I can remember. As a wee boy, I would accompany my father to estate sales. I’d usually go sit on the lawnmowers and pretend to drive them until the auctioneer got there to sell them. Even then, I got to experience someone else’s possessions for a little while. The people who died seemed really old to me. Maybe what bothers me about these sales is that the people that are dying are getting younger and younger, or maybe, if I’m not afraid to admit it, I’m getting older.

It’s a reminder that we cannot take it with us. In the end, possessions are possessions. Someday, someone may just toss them in the trash. It’s a reminder for us to build treasure in heaven where God assures us that neither thief nor moth can destroy it. Go ahead and enjoy your possessions while you’re here on earth, but realize, when you die, it’ll all be scattered to the four winds once again.