TheTikTok Dilemma

The whole debate that’s raging now in Washington, DC over whether or not to ban TikTok, the Chinese owned social media platform has me thinking, and wondering whether or not a legal decision, a moral decision can be made on this front.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m not a fan of the platform at all. I’ve never been on it. I never want to get near it. If what all the scuttlebutt is true, and that China can see what you’re visiting as far as websites, look at your keystrokes, follow you around as you wend your way through your day, it becomes a very scary thought. And the thought that they are sending rather inappropriate messages and videos to our kids is equally troubling.

But then on the other hand, we’ve got this whole First Amendment thing. And yes, we believe in free speech. We don’t care what it is you have to say, as long as you’re not yelling fire in a crowded theater, it’s legal. Well, is what TikTok has been alleged to do the equivalent of yelling “FIRE!” in a crowded theater? There’s the rub.

When all of the talk started of banning TikTok back when Trump was president, I was all for it. To me, most of social media is nothing but a large garbage pit. There isn’t much of value with any of the sites. I occasionally will visit Twitter to see what the latest news is coming out of DC, but it’s rare. I’m more apt to go on to slam some Democrat that makes a stupid remark or doesn’t do their homework before going on one of the cable news shows and they make a fool of themselves (I’m looking at you, Marie Harf!).

And then I was reminded that we have this little thing called a First Amendment. It’s the reason why people can burn a flag of the United States and not get beheaded like they could if they burned an Iranian flag in Tehran. It allows for opinions that are downright vile in some cases to see the light of day, even though most people with half a brain in their heads say that it would be considered totally inappropriate behavior.

One of my favorite all-time movies was “First Money In October” with Walter Mattheau and Jill Clayburgh. It dealt with a pornographic movie and whether it should be banned. Mattheau said it shouldn’t because “crap has the right to be crap”, while Clayburgh couldn’t see any reason for it to exist. And so it is with TikTok.

There is a very large part of the argument that says TikTok is helping our enemy gather information on us that they probably shouldn’t be gathering. And I would say that should be enough to liken it to crying FIRE! But is it? I can’t remember another episode in my life where a foreign government had the ability to influence the lives of half of the people living in this country. TikTok currently has about 150 million Americans tuned into it.

What’s also damning is that our kids seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time on their site. They watch video after video of “woke” people screaming how everybody but them is a white supremist. Or, why they are going to change their pronouns to clambake/fish monger today, and tomorrow it will be something totally different. Yes, from time to time, there is something funny on TikTok (I don’t watch the actual site, but a YouTube contributor that makes fun of the site from time to time).

So, is it enough to make a foreign government….check that, an UNFRIENDLY foreign government stop doing what they are doing, even though it may very well violate the most sacred of our Constitutional Amendments? I’m sure that before the whole TikTok thing is settled, the Supreme Court will probably be weighing in on it as well. It will just be interesting to see what it is they have to say about it.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Can We Hire By Experience PLEASE?

You may not have heard that Phil Washington, Joe Biden’s nominee to head up the Federal Aviation Administration has pulled out of the job. He decided after a disastrous confirmation hearing in the Senate, that he probably wouldn’t get the nomination anyway. So, he’s going to go back to the Denver International Airport, where he’s been running it for two years.

And it begs the question, can we PLEASE start hiring people for these governmental positions based on their experience, not because they are persons of color, or differing sexual preferences, or genders?

Why Washington wasn’t confirmed was very easy to see if you watched any of his testimony. First of all, he’s not a pilot or even an aviation fan. He’s this guy that basically got thrown into the job in Denver. Prior to that, he was part of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority. But it had more to do with busses than with airplanes. And yes, Virginia, the two are a little different when it comes to managing them.

Washington is just the latest person that Joe Biden has tabbed to be in his administration that has very little to no experience to tackle the job he was going to do. You can look at K-baby Harris as far as a Vice President, who was chosen only because she was “a woman of color”, and not because of anything she could bring to the job. When press secretary, Jen Psaki stepped down to spend more time on TV than with her family by joining MSNBC, the job of addressing the reporters from the press room podium went to Karine Jean-Pierre. Jean-Pierre was the first black and first openly gay press secretary in history. But before that, she had no experience in addressing the press. Her biggest job prior to that was being K-baby Harris’ Chief of Staff during her run for the presidency, which blew up in flames long before the first caucus in Iowa.

And the list goes on and on. Pete Buttigieg had zero experience in the transportation industry. In fact, out of the top 68 positions in the Biden administration, there is an aggregate total of just 161 years of experience. That’s an average of 2.4 years of experience in the job they were nominated for. But it gets worse than that. Of the 68 top positions, 42 of them had zero experience in that area. None. So the Jennifer Granholm’s of the world, while a woman, and a former Governor of Michigan, is only a self-proclaimed expert on “clean energy”.

So, my question is, can we please get back to hiring people not based on quotas and sexual preferences, but on whether or not these folks can actually do the job and are familiar with what it is they are being tabbed for?

Back in the day, you needed experience to get these nominations. Oh, it was different if you wanted to be named Ambassador to some country. I mean, who among us wouldn’t want to be the Ambassador to the Bahama’s, or Bermuda? Wouldn’t you love to be the Ambassador to France or maybe even Japan? That’s where these political types usually end up. But nowadays, we’re letting them run education, and transportation, and energy, and the EPA, and a dozen other agencies, solely based on the color of their skin, who they sleep with, or their gender. That’s no way to pick someone for a job.

Biden needs to get his head screwed on straight. You can’t expect great things out of people that don’t know what they are doing. I would be a terrible person to be put in charge of General Motors. I can’t build a car. I never have. In fact, I don’t care that much about cars…they are simply a means to get from point A to point B in my world. So, why would anyone want to hire me to be in charge of a company that designed and built cars? They wouldn’t unless they wanted to go bankrupt very quickly!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Freebird!

With apologies to Lynyrd Skynyrd!

If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?
For I must be traveling on now
‘Cause there’s too many places I’ve got to see

But, if I stay here with you, girl
Things just couldn’t be the same
‘Cause, I’m as free as a bird now
And this bird you cannot change, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
And the bird you cannot change
And this bird you cannot change
Lord knows I can’t change

While that 1973 classic was written about a girl that the singer was leaving, a lot of it can be applied to Donald Trump these days. He had predicted that he would become the very first former president indicted for crimes and arrested. And he predicted that arrest would have happened yesterday. It still may happen today, but for the moment, as this is being written, he is indeed a free bird.

Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, has a lot to explain one way or another on the whole Grand Jury thing with Trump. He’s been interviewing witnesses regarding Trump’s alleged payout to porn star, Stormy Daniels. If he goes through with the indictment and the arrest, Bragg, a Soros backed DA, will be under intense scrutiny personally and professionally. There are those in his own party that, even though they hate Donald Trump, don’t want to see him indicted. That’s for several reasons.

First of all, there are some very serious charges possibly pending up the road against Trump. There’s the whole January 6th thing that the special committee of the House put together and recommended to the Department of Justice that charges be filed against Donald Trump for enticing rioters to take over the Capitol Building. Then you’ve got the whole FBI Mar-A-Lago raid, though that is seeming less and less probable now that if you charge Trump, you’re going to have to charge Mike Pence (who supposedly didn’t even know he had the documents in the first place), and sitting President Joe Biden for the exact same crime of taking top secret documents.

Then let’s get into the whole statute of limitations things. The alleged payout to Daniels happened back in 2015 or 2016, when Trump was running for president the first time. New York’s Criminal Procedure Law says there is a two year statute of limitations on misdemeanors, and a five year statute of limitations on most felonies except for rape or murder. So, Bragg’s charges and this whole charade may be thrown out of court on day one if Trump is indeed indicted.

Next, you have the charge itself. It’s not illegal, even in New York, to pay hush money to someone. So, even if Trump did it, Bragg is going to have to prove that it’s against the law. He plans to say the money was paid out of campaign donations, not Trump’s personal account. That would also be an easy thing to prove. And apparently, Trump then-attorney, Michael Cohen was the one that paid Daniels, not Trump. Yes, Trump is said to have reimbursed Cohen for the payment, but does that mean he paid him out of campaign funds, or out of his own personal funds. It will make a difference.

Then there is the public’s reaction. Trump is betting on the fact that if he is charged, he can play the victim, and that will spark protests and increase his chances of getting the GOP nod for the presidency. Most pundits feel that he would be in a better position if he were indicted. It would bring out the voters that felt that he got railroaded and we need to do something to curtail the left’s multiple over-reaches since Biden took over as president.

Finally, and I think this is exactly why the Democrats that are not in favor of this one going forward, is it would be yet another chapter in what I refer to as the “Harry Reid Rule”. While Reid was Majority Leader in the Senate, he pulled a lot of strings to allow Bobo Obama’s nominations for federal judges to go through. He got it passed that it only took 51 votes to pass, not the normal 60. That came back to bite Democrats in the backside when Donald Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court, and Mitch McConnell, then Majority Leader got the Reid Rule extended to Supreme Court Justices. It’s also what allowed Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett to get to the high court.

And that is exactly what could happen again. If Bragg goes through with this, what would stop someone else somewhere else from doing the same thing to say, Joe Biden when he leaves office? Or maybe Hillary Clinton? Or Bobo Obama? There is always a quid pro quo possibility in these things.

I think Trump is hopeful that he DOES get indicted and charged. He WANTS to go and have the perp walk, and have his mug shot taken and get finger printed. Nothing would make him happier. It would cause Republicans to rally around him, even as they have started to splinter their support of him. And it would strike fear in the hearts of Democrats who, let’s face it, would rather run against God Himself, then to go up against an angry and vengeful Donald Trump. Oops. Gotta go. My popcorn is done!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Cat Fight!

And you thought nothing of that nature ever happened in Washington, DC! Shame on you! Of course there are cat fights, and it appears we are in the midst of a good old fashioned one dealing with Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren.

In a fight that took two months to reach the press, Warren was being interviewed by a Boston radio station. She was asked a question that is on every reporter’s mind about now…Would the Senator support Kamala Harris for Vice President in 2024? Warren basically said she would defer to Joe Biden’s judgement on that one.

Oops!

It wasn’t long after that Warren realized she had some fence mending to do with the Vice President, so she tried to call her. And didn’t get through. She kept trying to call her. And Harris kept ghosting her. Apparently, it’s now progressed to the point that the Vice President and the Senator from Massachusetts aren’t on speaking terms any longer.

And I have to say, I DO enjoy watching the occasional cat fight. They can be rather humorous at times…but not for the reasons that Seinfeld showed. I really think I’d gag at the thought of these two kissing! Anyway, what I find amusing about it is, here you have two people that are basically viewed by most people as ill able to handle their jobs. They both have some bulldog qualities about them. Harris was known as a bulldog prosecutor in California, sending people to jail for even marijuana possession. And Warren has been brash enough in her career to think she was a Native American, when it turns out that she really wasn’t…or at the very least was like had one person in her family tree some 6-10 generations ago who was a Cherokee.

So, you’ve got two women that have been rather boisterous in the past on certain issues. Both are liberal as the day is long, and both are roundly criticized and have very little credibility with the American people. Harris has been nothing short of a national joke in her current role, something that totally exemplifies the Peter Principle. Warren meanwhile, hasn’t sucked at being a Senator, she’s just lied her way to the top. Time and time again claiming a certain type of status that gave her special privileges. It may have gotten her out of Oklahoma and into a prestigious university (she went to George Washington for her undergraduate degree, and Rutgers for her law degree). And she used “special status” again to get a job once she became a lawyer.

Will the two ever get back together and be on the same side? I mean, I’m sure to be honest, that Warren only said what most Democrats are thinking…Kamala Harris isn’t fit or qualified to be Vice President, and doesn’t do anything to help Joe Biden. She has failed at every single job he has given her from the border to talking to NATO allies, to helping out in Ukraine. Other than that, she has been in attendance for the first two years of the Biden administration, at the Senate whenever they were taking a vote. That’s because as Vice President, and the Senate split 50/50, she was the tie-breaker, which she did 19 times. So, looking at her resume as the country’s number two, I can understand Warren’s hesitancy to want to firmly endorse her for a second term. In fact, most Americans don’t want to see her on the ticket.

Meanwhile, Harris has problems of her own. She has had a terrible time keeping her staff together. There have been at least 25 resignations from her team since she became VP, and that’s high in any administration! She has been roundly criticized by her critics and friends alike for her inability to get things done. So, yeah, I’d probably side with Warren on her ability to be in the number two seat.

But Warren certainly isn’t anyone to talk. As Bernie Sanders’ wingman for socialism, Warren’s approval rating at Politico was just 36% recently. Harris’ is 41%. Neither are what I’d call shining stars for their political party, and both ran unsuccessfully for the top job in 2020.

Cat fights are fun to watch. And this one won’t be any different. I’d just like to make sure it’s all done in the open, so we can all enjoy another bowl of popcorn!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

The “New” Joe Manchin?

No, it’s not the Senator from West Virginia I’m talking about here. It’s actually another Democrat from a red and turning redder state that is going to be on the ballot in 2024. I’m talking about Jon Tester (D-MT) from Montana.

Tester is emerging according to The Hill, as the new Joe Manchin. Well, they didn’t put it that way, I did. They say he’s going to be the key vote coming up for most of Biden’s agenda for the second half. He’s been voting more and more with Republicans, Just recently, he voted to block a Biden administration’s EPA rule that would give more federal jurisdiction to the government over streams and wetlands. If you’ll remember, Obama tried the same thing, going so far as to declare mud puddles as “wetlands”. Tester also voted against Biden’s move to tell financial planners that they could go ahead and use environmental, social, and governmental factors in deciding where to invest YOUR money. Currently, most financial planners are “fiduciaries” and they have to do what’s best for the investor, regardless what it does to the environment, society, or the government. The investor comes first. Biden wants to change that.

So, why is Jon Tester moving right so quickly? Pretty simple really. Montana has taken a rather hard turn to the right in the last election. Jon Tester, as a Democrat, needs to be able to show Montanans that he is conservative enough to represent them in the US Senate. He’s done a pretty fair job at winning reelection so far, seeing how he’s now the 25th Senator in terms of seniority. And he’s currently chairing a couple of rather important committees, which gives him a mouthpiece to speak on the issues.

Tester’s last election was a 15,000 vote romp over Montana State Auditor, Matt Rosendale. In fact, it was the first time in three elections for the US Senate that Tester crossed the 50% threshold. This in spite of the fact that during Trump’s term in office, Tester was known to vote against Trump appointees include Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court. However, Tester announced back in late February that he would be seeking a fourth term, and knew that he had better start positioning himself more to the center. That’s exactly what he had been doing over the last year, becoming a more centrist Democrat with Manchin and then Democrat Kyrsten Sinema.

Whether or not the Democrats are going to be able to hold the Senate in 2024 is going to be centered around Tester’s ability to win reelection. Republicans have targeted Tester, Sinema, and Manchin, knowing that if they could flip all three seats, and win the White House, they would most likely be in charge of the federal government’s three branches, Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary. That is a rare occasion and has only happened five times since the beginning of the 20th century for either party. The last time it happened was 2004 to 2007 during George W. Bush’s reign as president. Prior to that you have to go back to the 1960’s when Democrats held all three branches throughout most of the decade (until Richard Nixon’s election in 1968).

So, what does all of this mean for the rest of this year and next year? I think it means that you’re probably going to see Kyrsten Sinema, Joe Manchin, and Jon Tester all deciding their votes on a case by case basis. All three are going to have to rely on Republicans to win their reelection in 2024. West Virginia Representative, Alex Mooney has already said he’d be taking on Manchin for his job. In Arizona, Ruben Gallego, currently a Representative in the House, has announced he will try and keep Sinema’s seat in Democrat hands as she runs for reelection as an independent. Interestingly enough in Arizona, there are far more Republicans than Democrats still today. And there are more Independents than Democrats as well. So, Sinema may just be able to swing enough from the GOP to win reelection.

And in Montana, Rosendale, who now is in the House, and Representative Ryan Zinke are toying with the idea of taking on Tester, though neither has committed to it at this point. Tester is the only announced candidate for US Senate in Montana as of today.

Any way you look at it, the three “democrats/independents” in Tester, Manchin, and Sinema could make this an interesting run up to not just the Senate elections, but the presidential run up as well!

Carry on world….you’re dismissed!

Can ChatGPT Be The Answer?

ChatGPT has been in the news a lot lately. In case you haven’t heard ChatGPT is a “chat bot” that basically is being used by students, and basically anyone that wants to write an essay or report to do so without much input from the person. It’s been blamed for being a mechanism for cheating, and there is no doubt that it is skirting the rules. After all, students are supposed to write their own essays and show their own research and ideas. ChatGPT basically takes that away from them and looks at things through whatever eyes it has and is programmed to do through it’s algorithms.

Want to see proof of what ChatGPT can do? I asked it to write a short essay on The Lone Cactus blog. I told it that the blog dealt with politics and the media. The rest was up to ChatGPT. Here’s what it came up with:

The Lone Cactus is a popular blog that discusses a wide range of political issues and topics related to the media. The author of the blog, who remains anonymous, offers a unique perspective on current events and challenges the mainstream narrative on a regular basis. This essay will explore the themes and messages conveyed through The Lone Cactus and examine how the blog contributes to our understanding of politics and the media.

One of the central themes of The Lone Cactus is the notion that the mainstream media is biased and often operates with a specific agenda. The author argues that many media outlets are no longer focused on providing objective news and analysis but are instead motivated by political ideology or financial gain. This idea is reflected in many of the blog’s posts, which often critique the media’s coverage of current events and highlight instances of media bias.

For example, in one recent post, the author criticizes the media’s coverage of the January 6th Capitol riot, arguing that the coverage was unfairly one-sided and focused too heavily on demonizing the protesters. The author suggests that this type of coverage is an example of the media pushing a specific narrative rather than providing objective news.

Another theme that emerges throughout The Lone Cactus is the idea that political correctness and cancel culture are stifling free speech and the exchange of ideas. The author often criticizes the left-wing media and social justice activists for promoting a culture of intolerance and for attempting to silence dissenting voices.

In one post, the author argues that the cancel culture movement is dangerous and undermines the principles of free speech and open debate. The author suggests that this movement is motivated by a desire to silence those with different views rather than engaging in honest dialogue and debate.

Overall, The Lone Cactus provides a thought-provoking and often controversial perspective on politics and the media. While some readers may disagree with the author’s views, the blog serves as an important reminder of the importance of critical thinking and independent analysis in today’s media landscape. By challenging the mainstream narrative and highlighting instances of media bias, The Lone Cactus encourages readers to question the information they receive and to seek out alternative viewpoints and sources of information.

In conclusion, The Lone Cactus is a valuable resource for anyone interested in politics and the media. While the blog may not always provide a balanced or objective perspective, it offers a unique and thought-provoking take on current events that challenges readers to think critically and engage in open debate. By shining a light on media bias and promoting free speech and open dialogue, The Lone Cactus serves as an important voice in today’s political and media landscape.

It comes close, but I wouldn’t say it’s spot on when it comes right to the point. It’s interesting to say the least but I don’t think I ever would have risked a grade in college on what this machine and algorithms would say!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Tired Of The Lies!

Our country is in a quandary. We have “advanced” to the point where we are so far beyond where the Founding Fathers ever thought we’d end up, that we are off any page of any book by now. And there is one problem that is exacerbating the whole situation more than any other.

Lies.

When you look at it, the government has been lying to the American people for a very long period of time. I’m not talking just Democrats here, I’m talking the whole government. And the issues that we’ve been lied to about, are numerous. It’s not just one thing. There are a myriad of topics that government “spins” to give us their best view.

When you look at polls, I was amazed to believe that 61% of all Americans believe that government agents helped provoke the January 6th riots at the Capitol. And what that means is basically that most Americans feel that there were elements of the government that were undercover agents that spawned the riot at the Capitol building. The question is why? Were they Trump supporters that were upset over the election results? Were they leftists trying to get something to pin on Trump as he was ready to leave office? No one knows at this point.

Look at the lies Joe Biden has told us. My Lord, if you just take the lies that the guy has told over the last three years since he was running for president, about his own personal life, it’s staggering. Look at the lies that came out of Adam Schiff’s House Intelligence Committee as they discussed behind closed doors impeaching Donald Trump a second time because of the Capitol riots. And what about the former Obama administration officials that lied to the American people saying they had proof that Donald Trump was a “Russian agent”, when they totally changed their tune in testifying before Congress on the subject.

Look at the lies we hear about in the media. How many stories has the three major cable news networks fabricated to get their ideology across, just in the last 10 years? You know, when our country was founded, the media was supposed to be the check on government. They were to be the spotlight that showed where the roaches were, so we could fumigate the place. That’s tough to do when they are lying to you and making up news stories that just aren’t true. Think about the journalists at the New York Times, and Washington Post, as well as CNN and MSNBC that have been fired for lying. I can count ten very easily, and they span Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. The names are as household as IBM, Microsoft, and McDonalds. And these are the spotlights of truth?

You know, my mother always told me that she could tell when I was lying as a child because I had a white ring around my mouth. I don’t know where she came up with that, but it worked. I realized at a very young age that lying was difficult. It fought the truth, which always seemed to come out. You ended up not just lying once, but you ended up spinning a whole web of deceit to cover the one lie you told. I’ve seen it happen thousands of times. And it’s usually not the first lie that catches the liar, it’s the subsequent mis-truths.

I’ve often said that the breakdown of the family, and the loss of religion in our society has been the root cause of the decline of America, and I still believe that. But one of the large by-products of that are the lies being told. How many times did Nancy Pelosi tell lies about bills that were being debated and passed in the House of Representatives? How many times did she lie about what happened to her husband, Paul, when he got beat up in his own home? Or how many lies were told about his car crash and subsequent DUI? The truth always comes out, and when it does, it’s always worse than if someone had told the truth.

I’m just tired of the lies we are hearing from a government that is supposed to serve and protect us. I can’t count on anyone in government to give me the truth. Hell, they can’t give each other the truth. Did COVID come from a lab in Wuhan or a wet market because of bats? They say they don’t have consensus because they don’t want the truth to be known. The question you have to ask is, why are you covering this up? What is it that you really don’t want us to know? And what will be our reaction up the road when we find out the truth to all of this? Will we accept it because they’re all just politicians? Or will we hold them accountable for their lies. It’s sickening.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Biden Snubs His Own

Joe Biden probably never realized what it was he was doing. He thought jetting off to Poland, taking a 10 hour rail trip to Kyiv, and meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and promising another half billion dollars to fight the Russians would show the world he still has “it” by going into a war zone.

What he most assuredly didn’t realize was that there was a little town in eastern Ohio, that noticed all right. They were incensed to the point that he chose, on Presidents’ Day of all days, to visit Ukraine instead of going to see East Palestine, Ohio, where residents are still wondering if they are even going to be able to live a normal life or not after a train derailed there will ten carloads of toxicity in the air and seeping into the ground.

Now, being a former Ohioan for some 30 years, I can tell you flat out. East Palestine, Ohio is not your typical Ohio town. It’s like a lot of other towns in that part of the state. They have relied heavily on the auto industry, which shut down one of the larger auto plants in the country a few years back, and they really don’t have a lot going for it. The people are hard working, scrappy folks that are about as blue collar as they come. And they are rock-ribbed when it comes to believing in God, and America. Financially, it couldn’t have hit a worse town in the state.

And I have to sit here, some 2,400 miles away from East Palestine, and wonder why in the world Joe Biden chose to snub this town after telling them that anything they needed would be delivered (before FEMA denied them relief), and then jet half a world away to meet with Zelenskyy. Why couldn’t he have stopped off in Ohio first? It would have added about three hours to his entire trip.

It probably wouldn’t have garnered him many votes though. Those people were wondering why it was Pete Buttigieg hadn’t shown up there. Instead, they got the head of the EPA to show up for an hour. He had no answers. He had no suggestions. He told them he was sorry for their plight, and moved on. No Biden. No Harris. No Buttigieg. And no answers.

Even Donald Trump had scheduled a trip into the community. Of course, this IS Trump Country. Most of the eastern part of the state is very conservative, and they probably would love to see The Donald far more than seeing Biden in the first place. I saw a clip where the Mayor of East Palestine was being interviewed and was absolutely livid that Biden would choose to go to Poland and Ukraine rather than come to Ohio. And don’t think it won’t come back to bite the president in the rear end. It most certainly will.

What’s happening in Ukraine is indeed monumental on a world stage. We’re going to get into that more tomorrow. But when you compare what happened in Ohio and the thousands of lives that have been uprooted, (population 4,761), you have to wonder why Biden would snub this community? If an area gets hit by a tornado, or a flood ravages a community, he’s quick to drop whatever it is he does, and get over there to give them whatever it is that they need. When a train derails threatening thousands of lives with toxins, does he send anyone? Just a lacky from the EPA. He’s too busy to worry about East Palestine. Probably because he got his ass whooped there in 2020.

The simple question is, is Joe Biden president of Ukraine, or Poland? Or is he the president of the United States? If he believes he is indeed the president of this country, he needs to start acting like it. Or his first term in office, will be his last. Then again, we can only hope that’s true right away!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Rick Scott Just Drilled Joe Biden

It was a thing of beauty actually. Rick Scott (R-FL), who doesn’t like it when you don’t play nice in politics, decided that it was time to get this Social Security and Medicare monkey off his back. So, he went to work and created a new bill. He’s calling it the Protect Our Seniors Act.

And it’s a doosey!

It adds $80 billion to the Social Security and Medicare programs to help keep them alive longer. The bill takes the $80 billion off the table from the Inflation Reduction Act that was supposed to go to hiring 87,000 IRS agents, and gives it to the Medicare and Social Security programs. It also requires that any cuts to either of those programs in the future be passed by a two-thirds majority in Congress. That means 292 House members have to vote to cut the program, and so do 67 Senators. That’s a tall order in this partisan era.

What makes this bill so particularly sweet is that even though Joe Biden actually is on videotape back in his Senate days saying he was for cutting Social Security, he is on the trail still today after the GOP has said they wouldn’t touch either program with cuts. Biden went out on the stump the day after the State of the Union speech and told crowds in Florida and Wisconsin, both battleground states, that the Republicans were trying to take away Social Security and Medicare…that was a blantent lie. So, Scott decided he’d put his money where his mouth was. And he did it in a very creative way.

Think of the outcome here for a minute. If you vote for this bill, you’re going to be voting to save Social Security and Medicare (something the Democrats are screaming about constantly), and you’re also going against Biden’s bid to increase the power of the IRS by denying them 87,000 new agents. If you vote against the bill to save the IRS agents, you’re basically saying the IRS is more important than senior citizens. How do you think that is going to play out when you go up for reelection next time?

And it’s going to take away a long-time Democrat campaign issue. It’ll shut Joe Biden up on the campaign trail. He won’t be able to say with any shred of credibility, that the GOP is ready to push grandma over the cliff in her wheel chair. At the same time, it gives the GOP an issue to talk about. They’ve just become the party that wants to save grandma from going over the cliff…while Democrats would rather push her over using an army of new IRS agents to do the job. That my friends, is sheer brilliance!

This is more of the type of thinking that the Republican Party needs. I’ve been waiting for this type of “gotcha” for a good long while now, and I give a big thank you to Senator Scott for seeing it through. There’s no way that the Democrats can spin this except to say that yes, we ought to go along with it!

In a nutshell, that is the type of politics that the American people will love. Who could be against senior citizens at the expense of hiring more IRS agents? Who is that stupid? It’s a well thought out move, and one that is going to not only get Biden off of Scott’s back, but kick him in the teeth as well. Now, if only the Senate would dare take up the bill and pass it…but if they don’t, more fodder for the GOP!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

How Did We Get Here?

There was an interesting thread between one of our beloved and intelligent readers, who’s blog I most certainly recommend to all of you. He goes by Mustang, and writes “Fix Bayonets”. Highly recommend it. The man knows what he talks about! Anyway, he posted on Saturday about how in the world did we get here, and it got me to thinking… how DID we get here?

Think of this for a minute. I don’t care what party you are from or where on the left/right pendulum you are situated, do you think that Dwight D. Eisenhower, or Harry S. Truman would take a look at the stuff going on in our country right now and think all is OK? Would Truman actually say that the buck is stopping with Biden? Or would he say, as Bill Clinton liked to say, “The buck never got here!”

I look at the way our government treats itself, treats the citizens, and treats our non-citizens, and wonder where we took that decided whacked turn off of the golden path of democracy? Would past presidents have gone along with an open border on the south? Would they have welcomed millions of illegals into the country without so much as batting an eyelash? And when they are called on it, they answer that the southern border is “secure”? Who does that?

And I look at the crime. How did we get to a place where five black police officers beat up a guy that ends up dying (he’s also black), and it’s blamed on racism (Thanks, CNN!)? Can someone please tell me what is racist about this incident? Everyone involved was of the same race…I mean, EVERYONE! And how do we get to the point where it’s also blamed on “white supremacy” when no one that was a part of it was white. In fact, the only white people that were involved were the people that actually charged the cops with second degree murder?

How do we get to a point where more emphasis and dollars are given to some crock about climate change, and let the people living on the streets of our cities go hungry, unhoused, uncared for? When did Greta Thunberg become so important that she trumps those millions of people living on our streets? Back in the day, those folks weren’t allowed to live on the streets. They were basically kept in asylums. At least they were until the leftists deemed it “cruel and unusual punishment” that they be kept there against their will. So, they were released, with no where to go, and no one to look out after them. The result is what you see today.

And how do we get to the point where presidents, former presidents, and vice presidents are allowed to take classified and top secret documents with them after they leave office? And the folks in Congress are shaking their heads wondering how it is that the current president was able, as a Senator, to go into a skiff, which is supposed to be secured, and heist a top secret document. Not just one mind you, but several…over a long period of time. What ever happened to that place being secure?

I have often looked around at our mess of a country and realized that we are indeed living in the decline of what can be called the greatest country in the world. No longer are we the best educated. No longer are we the richest. No longer are we the breadbasket of the world. Instead, we’re becoming (if we haven’t already become) second rate. Our students get out of high school with no idea how many states there are. They can’t read at a 12th grade level, and math? Forget about it. If they didn’t have a calculator with them, they couldn’t do simple addition and subtraction. How did they ever get passed from one grade to another? And when did critical race theory replace the three R’s when it comes to education? Who in the world is to blame for that one?

In case you missed it, the answer to that last question is the same for each of the instances above. The left is responsible. And actually, the right is responsible for allowing it to happen because they were afraid of being cancelled, or not being in the “in crowd” or some stupid thing like that. And both sides are guilty as sin. Both needs to be charged with ruining what was the greatest country in the history of the world.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!