Saturday, January 30, 2021

Cancel Culture Reaches a New Low With the Ignoramuses of the San Francisco Board of Education

Cancel Culture Reaches a New Low With the Ignoramuses on the San Francisco School Board De-fund the police. De-name the schools. The San Francisco Board of Education voted 6:1 to remove, replace, de-name, the names of 44 schools recommended by the School renaming Advisory Committee. Two of the three public schools I attended in San Francisco are on the list: Francis Scott Key Elementary School and Lowell High School are on the list. Somehow, Amedeo Peter Giannini Junior High/Middle School survived. A. P. Giannini was the founder of the bank of America. The School board in a one hour meeting ratified the recommendation of a renaming “blue ribbon” committee created in 2018 to study the names of the district’s schools. The School Board’s Resolution said the 44 schools are named for historical figures who “significantly diminished the opportunities of those amongst us to the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” That statement, of course, is inapplicable to any of the current school board or committee members, who were born long after most the maligned names had passed on. The Board’s resolution also said some of the figures “engaged in the subjugation and enslavement of human beings, or who oppressed women, inhibiting societal progress; or whose actions led to genocide.” That’s a broad statement which sounds good, but is too vague without more precise definitions. The Committee used these guiding principles: Anyone directly involved in the colonization of people; Slave owners or participants in enslavement; Perpetrators of genocide or slavery; Those who exploit workers/people; Those who directly oppressed or abused women, children, queer, or transgender people; Those connected to any human rights or environmental abuses; Those who are known racists and/or white supremacists and/or espoused racist beliefs. A reasonable interpretation of the Commission’s guidelines would include all settlers who moved onto traditional Native American lands; to wit the North American continent. The test for the committee’s recommendation was “Just One Thing.” No balancing allowed. Committee Chair Jeremiah Jeffries is a first grade teacher and activist who grew up poor in Philadelphia. One committee member said the process “seems pretty loosey-goosey.” The Chair was asked if an historian would be brought in to discuss the decisions with the committee. He responded: “Definitely not. What would be the point? History is written and documented pretty well across the board. And so, we don’t need to belabor history in that regard. We’re not debating that. There’s no point in debating history in that regard. Either it happened or it didn’t, as historians have referenced in their own histories. So, I don’t think there’s a discussion about that. And so, based on our criteria, it’s a very straightforward conversation. And so, no need to bring historians forward to say – they either pontificate and list a bunch of reasons why, or (say) they had great qualities. Neither are necessary in this discussion.” Ignorance – Ignoramuses. His statement said it all” “We are unapologetically going after white supremacy, white supremacist symbols, and making these changes people have been demanding for years.” Committee member Mary Travis Allen posited “The names of all the schools in this city should reflect people to be admired.” That is an impossible standard because we are all fallible humans. Background research usually consisted of one board member doing a quick Google search, citing to Wikipedia. A Committee member admitted the research process was “pretty quick with some really casual Google searches.” Defund the police. De-name the schools. Slave owners had to go. So too did colonizers, explorers, and missionaries, whether Spanish or American, and buildings associated with these periods, such as Mission Delores, El Dorado, and Presidio. So much for Alvarado, Balboa, Ortega, Sanchez, Ulloa, and Noriega (Why Noriega? Don’t know). FR. Junipero Serra was clearly de-named. The Alamo can remain in Texas. These are the de-named slave owning Presidents: Washington, Jefferson, and Monroe. Lincoln, who freed many slaves through the Emancipation Proclamation, was hostile to the Native Americans, as was McKinley. President Lincoln approved the Long Walk of the Navajos as they were deported from their lands in Arizona. President Lincoln also signed the Homestead Act and the Transcontinental Railroad Act, both of which resulted in the Native Americans losing their lands. Thus, he had to go. Roosevelt (not sure which one). School Board member Mark Sanchez didn’t know which one, but called the vote a “moral message.” He said “It’s a message to our families, our students and our community. It’s not just symbolic.” Ignorant. Francis Scott Key may have written the national Anthem, but he was a slave owner. Paul Revere may or may not, the Committee wasn’t sure, have led a campaign against the Penobscot Indians. In any event he was a colonizer, and so had to go. Mayor Adolph Sutro build the Sutro Baths. Admission was refused an African American. The discrimination though was by his son, Adolph did not manage the baths. Sutro was Sutro as far as the Committee was concerned. Senator Diane Feinstein The Diane Feinstein Elementary School celebrating the esteemed Senator is headed for the de-naming scrap heap. The Senator has two strikes against her. First was the forcible eviction of the Filipino and Chinese residents in the International Hotel in 1977. The land was scheduled for development. Supervisor Feinstein did not become Mayor of San Francisco until the year after the hotel was demolished, but the facts of history do not matter to the Board. They don’t care about history and facts. Ignorance. The second strike involves the flying of a Confederate Flag. The city had a circle for 14 years of 18 flags in the Pavilion of America Flags. The Confederate Flag was torn apart. She ordered it replaced to complete the display. It was taken down again. Mayor Feinstein this time ordered that it stay down. Lowell High School Lowell High School is in a different situation. It was founded in 1856 as Union Grammar School, becoming a high school by 1860. It was named Boys High in 1864, the first high school west of the Mississippi River. It merged a couple of decades later with Girls High. The Board renamed it Lowell High School in 1894 in honor of James Russell Lowell. The School Board in 1952 designated Lowell as an academic magnet school in todays’ terminology. Competition exists for admissions to Lowell. The admissions process include a standardized test, grades, and an essay. The demographics of Lowell in 2018 were 61%, 18% white, 11% Hispanic and 2% African American. Commissioner Allison Collins with a masters in education said “There is no scientific justification for using standardized tests as a matrix for performance.” She wants to end “racial isolation” at Lowell. Commissioner Mark Sanchez says Lowell’s admissions process perpetuates “systemic racism.” He thinks it violates state law, but it doesn’t. He apparently either did not read or ignores that the statutory qualification that preserves these admissions practices. He mused: “I’m at the point now where I think that we should not have any kind of special requirements” for admission to Lowell. This battle over Lowell reflects a national attempt to eliminate academic public high schools. For example, New York Mayor de Blasio unsuccessfully attempted to change the admissions at eight high schools including the Bronx High School of Science, Stuyvesant, and Brooklyn Technical High School. The “Just One Thing” for Lowell, a prominent abolitionist, was one line, unsupported by any reference in Wikipedia: “Therefore, he did not want Black people to vote.” That was it – ignorance – ignoramuses. Martin Duberman’s biography of James Russell Lowell says “Making the freedman a landholder would not be enough to protect him. He had to be made a voter as well. At a time when even Thaddeus Stevens was hesitant, Lowell unequivocally advocated giving the ballot to the recently freed slaves.” Let’s look at the seven Board members, or commissioners as they call themselves. The Board members , backed by the teachers union, won election in small turnout elections. They are woke social justice warriors. Several were community organizers and activists. The Board is highly diversified with only one white member. Several grew up poor, but rather than appreciating the America which made their success possible, they damn America. They are a board of identity politics. These are the same wokes on the Minneapolis, Portland, and Seattle City Councils. Defund; de-name. Let us note the Committee and Board are not consistent. They refused to apply the “Just one Thing” standard to Malcolm X and Cesar Chavez. Malcolm X was a pimp in his younger days, “directly oppressing or abusing women.” His life story and later actions and life story overcame the “Just One Thing.” They viewed his later acts as “restorative justice.” Cesar Chavez was the charismatic co-founder of the United Farmworkers. I worked on a short project for them in 1990 and think the world of him. He and his co-founder Delores Huerta, deserve all the honors they deserve. The third generation American opposed in his early years illegal Mexican immigration of Mexicans because they would serve as strikebreakers. He later changed his mind, but “Just One Thing” would axe him. The San Francisco Unified School District Board and the School Renaming Advisory Board did not care about historical facts. That would interfere with their narrative. They preferred ignorance. They are zealots. If the citizens of San Francisco want spreading filth and decadence from the homeless, criminals getting out on the street by a feckless District Attorney, and school board members denying America, they deserve it. The San Francisco voters will determine their future. Excising and erasing history does not change history. It just makes us more ignorant. Tearing down statues and monuments, renaming buildings, and gutting successful progams in the name of equality does not make us better or equal; it lowers the quality of life for everyone.

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

"Unity" President Biden's Inaugural Word of the Day - 6 Days Later

“Unity” President Biden’s Word of the Day: How’s That Going Unity Unity Unity Unity Unity Unity Unity Unity Unity Unity Unity There, I said “Unity” 11 times, the same Number as President Biden in his inaugural address Always remember President Nixon’s Attorney General John Mitchell’s classic statement: “Judge us not by what we say, but by what we do.” Saying it doesn’t make it so. Saying “Unity” 11 times doesn’t make it so. “Right now, I’m the Democratic Party”: Vice President Joe Biden September 29, the first Presidential Debate. We know after his first six days in the White House President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party are united – to the left. Part of the Biden Agenda is to excise anything that was Trump, which ties into the left wing of the Democratic Party. President Biden’s on a tear against fossil fuels, stacking the government with climate change advocates, led by his special envoy John Kerry. He created a working group on the social costs of greenhouse gases. Here’s his actions so far: Revoke the permit for the Keystone Pipeline putting 11,000 out of work, including 9,000 union members; Banning oil and gas leases in ANWAR; Reentering the Paris Accords, which penalizes the United States, but gives China another decade to start reducing emissions; and He ordered a ban on future oil and gas leases on federal land. Energy Independence or high gas and other energy prices. President Biden has chosen. You can call it the Biden Plan or the Green New Deal, but it’s the same blow to the consumer. Gas prices were under $3/gallon on Inauguration Day in most states. Let’s see what they are on January 20, 2022. On Friday he restored collective bargaining for federal employees. He understands the power of the public employee unions. And he said: “I Pledge this to you: I will be a President for all of America.” He issued the Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation.” It allows biological boys who self-identify as girls onto girls sports teams or face administrative action by the Department of Education. A president for all Americans? President Biden spoke out against the “uncivil war that pits Red against Blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. Sounds good, but then re reignited the warfare. He said we must confront and defeat “political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism.” But not a peep about the riots, looting, and arson in our cities. He added “Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal, and the harsh, long history of racism.” The New York Times issued the 1619 Project which premised America was based and built on slavery. President Trump created by executive order the 1776 Commission to provide a patriotic education on the “core principles of America’s founding and how these principles may be understood to further enjoyment ‘of the blessings of liberty.’” The Commission issued its report on January 18. He terminated the 1776 Commission on January 20 as one of his first executive orders. His Administration will deliver racial justice. He appointed Susan Rice head of his Domestic Policy Council to lead an effort for all federal agencies to root out systemic racism President Trump issued an executive order prohibiting diversity training that anyone is racist “by virtue of his or her race, sex or national origin.” The training would explore systemic racism and privilege; e.g. White Privilege. President Biden rescinded that order. He announced an end to construction of the Border Wall and a 100 day suspension of deportations. He proposed a path to citizenship for the DACA residents in America and the rest of the undocumented immigrants here before January 1. How do we know when they arrived? Even President Trump wanted path to citizenship for the DACA, but Speaker Pelosi blocked it for political reasons. The DACA resolution should pass Congress easily. As for the rest, the President, who wants to help American workers, is willing to open the borders to a flood of low-cost, unskilled laborers. His plan sounds like a replay of open borders with the promise of citizenship. He rejoined the World Health Organization, which repeated many of the Chinese misrepresentations regarding Covid-19. He rescinded the falsely labeled “Muslim Travel Ban.” The Oval Office reflects the President who controls the objects in it. President Trump placed a portrait of President Andrew Jackson in the Oval Office. President Biden replaced it with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. That’s his choice. President Jackson is anathema to Native Americans because of the Trail of Tears. He also, emulating President Obama, removed the Churchill Bust from the room. The bust had been restored by President Trump. He placed a large bust of Cesar Chavez in the room, a commendable choice. No explanation was given for removing the flags of the military services. He extended the moratorium on evictions and the pause on student loan payments of interest and principle. President Clinton on September 18, 1996 created the Grand Staircase – Grand Escalante National Memorial in Utah under the Antiquities Act. The 1,880,461 acres National Memorial was larger than the State of Delaware. President Trump cut its size 47% to 1,003,863 acres. President Biden is expected to restore the boundaries, but on January 20 ordered a 60 day National Monument Study. Let us not forget the proposed minimum wage of $15/hour. That will be great for those who keep their jobs, but not the unemployed and not the unskilled. Always remember, he said “My whole sole is in this bringing Americans together.” Not much unity in fact! The good news for President Biden is that he probably will not be in office when it all blows up.

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Whither Donald Trump

“I shall return” General Douglas MacArthur’s epic statement in escaping the Philippines ahead of the Japanese Army in World War II. “We will be back in some form” President Donald Trump in leaving Washington, D.C. ahead of the Biden Inauguration. Not as stirring as General MacArthur. The former President is facing an unknown future. Not totally unknown! He is facing large legal fees. The House impeachment is hanging over his head in a Senate trial. Then comes Cyrus Vance, Jr., Manhattan District Attorney, and New York Attorney General Letitia James. They want to indict him on tax evasion charges once they get ahold of his New York tax returns. Normally improper deductions will be handled with fines and interest. However, as with Leona Helmsley, the Queen of Mean, prosecutorial discretion can result in criminal prosecutions. She married New York City hotel magnate Harry Helmsley. She could be “frugal” or generous, and mistreated employees. A housekeeper testified Leona said “We don’t pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes.” That quote became her mantra. She served 19 months. Ironies of ironies. The federal prosecutor was Rudy Giuliani, and her attorney on appeal was Alan Dershowitz. Attorney General James wants to indict him om anything. All the while his businesses are hurting with a multi-million dollar debt load coming due. The “Trump” name has little cachet, goodwill or value on buildings today. Existing Trump hotels and golf courses were hemorrhaging money due to Covid lockdowns, like most hotels, restaurants, and golf courses, prior to January 6. Donald Trump has a future; he will be back – once he figures out what it is, especially if exonerated, healthy, financially solvent, and possesses a media outlet for his views. It won’t be running for Congress or the Senate. He’s tasted the White House and bully pulpit. He may run again for President, but his only chance of winning is if the Biden-Harris Presidency screws up, and a young Republican hasn’t learn how to appeal to the Trump constituency without the baggage. President Trump’s rumored to be mulling over establishing a new parry, perhaps the Patriot Party or even the MAGA Party. He would be fooling himself. 74 million Americans voted for him for reelection. They weren’t voting for him personally, but for what he believes and accomplished. Most of his voters held their nose and voted for him. Almost all would jump off the Trump Bus if a reasonable alternative arrives. Donald Trump in 2016 laid out the roadmap for Republican electoral success. A different candidate can win with it in 2024. The Republicans don’t want him back. They know he cost them the Senate. They know, as Senator Mitch McConnell said, he provoked the January 6 riots. They want him gone. The Republicans neither need nor want him. He needs the Republicans. A new minority party would ensure a Democratic victory, just as Theodore Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party in 1912 handed the Presidency to Woodrow Wilson. President Roosevelt was always more popular than President Trump. He has a diehard following, many of whom are facing prosecution for storming the Capitol on January 6. His hardcore followers will not win the primaries for him unlike 2016. Of course, the Democrats can turn Donald Trump into a martyr. The smartest thing they could do is never mention his name again. Deny him any publicity. Keep him off the air. Drop the impeachment. Always remember the classic President Obama opinion of his Vice President Joe Biden: “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to fuck up.” Don’t give ex-President Donald Trump a pulpit when President Biden is mucking up. The people will compare and contrast with a different result than the 2020 election. Remember another General MacArthur momorable quote: OLd soldiers never die; they just fade away." President should just fade away.

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

President Biden Seeks Unity, Unity and Unity; So He says

The theme of the 2021 Biden inauguration is America Unity. President Biden, the Democrats, and Unification? The Capitol Mall is a Sea of American Flags. We are unified as Americans with the peaceful exchange of power. President Biden wants to unify the country. We are all Americans So he says. Let us remember President Lincoln’s second inaugural address: “With malice toward none; with charity for all.” That was 156 years ago. Certainly not in today’s Democratic Party and their supporters. Here’s how not to bring the sides together. Democratic Senators Sherrod Brown, Chris Coons, Patty Murray, and Shelton Whitehouse want Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Chris Harley expelled from the Senate for objecting to and voting against electors. Self-labeled moderate Democrat Senator Joe Manchin thinks they may have violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment: “No person shall be a Representative or Senator … who … shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion ….” Similarly in the House Representative Bill Pascrell (D. N.J.) wants action taken by Speaker Pelosi against the 126 Republicans who joined lawsuits contesting the election results. Advise Congress to chill out. You will have to work together. Ask Speaker Pelosi to call off the Senate Impeachment trial. It will just be a distraction during your 10 day sprint and 100 day marathon, and turn the ex-President into a martyr. President Trump won 74 million votes, mostly from Americans who supported his policies, but not necessarily the President. President Biden won a record 81.2 million votes, 7 million more than the incumbent. We know a large percent of his votes were anti-Trump votes. Not that it matters. He won. The Democrats control the Presidency and both houses of Congress. They can ignore the Republicans as they did in President Obama’s first two years. How did that work out in the midterm elections? The God of the Torah recognized humans are fallible, but forgivable. God provides for forgiveness, atonement, and repentance. The other great religions of Buddhism, Christianity Hinduism, and Islam also provide for forgiveness. Not today’s intolerant woke, cancel culture generation. No forgiveness exists for a mistake 20 years ago. No balancing exists taking into account fallibility. Reaffirm traditional American values while acknowledging a changing America, Speak out against the Cancel Culture. President Trump could be more than abrasive. You can be conciliatory. Tomorrow is your best chance to introduce yourself to the American people. They got to know little of you in your basement campaign. Be Good Old Joe comforting the American people. You can extend your goodwill period through grace. Tell Hollywood to tone down the rhetoric. Remind your partisans that the 74 million voters for President Trump are Americans; stop he talk about deprogramming them. Remind Americans that that we can civilly disagree. Give President Trump credit for a few matters, such as Operation Warp Speed to get the vaccine out. Don’t worry, the media will credit you with success after the mass vaccination campaign. You have the opportunity to comfort America. They will decide later if they approve of your Administration. CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times will carry water for you, at least for now until it’s Kamala time.

Thursday, January 7, 2021

President Donald James Trump Is A Living Greek Tragedy

First the Gods build you up, then they strike you down. The protagonist in a Greek tragedy rises and then fails through a combination of external circumstances and self-frailties. The protagonist in a Greek Tragedy succeeds by his strengths, and then self-destructs by the same frailties which are his strengths. Donald Trump won election four years ago because he was a fighter, a boisterous, in your face, insulting, shoot from the hip, non-politician who doesn’t watch carefully the nuance of every word. Nothing polished, subtle or nuanced about Donald Trump. He said “I love to counterpunch.” He doesn’t know when not to counter punch, temper the counterpunch, or stop counterpunching. He also sulks. His inner Trump cost the Republicans two Senate seats in Georgia and control of the Senate. He identified the complaints of ordinary Americans, who have been left behind by globalization, the Americans in flyover country between the two coasts. MAGA, Make America Great Again - a phrase derided by the elites, but well understood by Americans. Donald Trump calls it as he sees it. He is quick with an often derogatory insult. We were cautioned by a law professor at the University of San Francisco (1967-1970) that you don’t run against a sitting judge unless you expect to win. Judges are a “fraternity.” (there were very few women judges 5 decades ago). If you lose then the judiciary will consistently rule against you. Candidate Trump in 2016 trashed federal District Judge Gonzalo Curiel because he was a Mexican American, or simply a Mexican. Judge Curiel was sitting on cases involving Trump University, not one of Trump’s best investments. He said “We have a very hostile judge because he “had an absolute conflict” in the litigation because he is “of Mexican heritage” and a member of a Latino lawyers association. The alleged conflict was the President pushing construction of a wall on the Mexican border to stop illegal immigration. Judge Curiel was born in Indiana to naturalized Mexican Americans. He is a citizen and his parents are citizens justifiably proud of their son’s success in the United States. Federal district judges, especially in the Ninth Circuit started enjoining many of his administrations acts always on the merits but also in solidarity with Judge Curiel. The external circumstance for Trump’s Greek Tragedy is the coronavirus. He acted early and decisively, cutting off air travel from China. Speaker Pelosi pushed impeachment at the time. Vice President Biden said the China travel ban was “xenophobic.” Yet the President told Bob Woodward that he wanted to avoid panic by downplaying the virus’ threat. Covid-19 was raging through America on November 3. He did not lose reelection on November 3, 2020. He lost reelection on September 29, 2020, the first of the Presidential Debates. The American public was deeply concerned about Covid and the economic collapse. They needed solutions and reassurance. President Trump could have assuaged many Americans. Instead when he realized moderator Chris Wallace, a never-Trumper at Fox, was joining Vice President Biden in attacking him, he resorted to his inner Trump, the aggressive, bullying, braggadocio, defensive Trump. His bluster was self-destructive. Even his supporters were stunned by his performance. He lost that night. Then he cancelled the second debate. Another rule of life is be nice to those you pass on the way up; you may see them again on the way down. People in politics should not be thin skinned. Donald Trump is thin skinned. He cannot take criticism without striking back, sometimes very petulantly and petty. President Trump has been in two long-running feuds with Senators Mitt Romney and the late John McCain. The McCain-Trump has been damaging to the country. The Senator sent an aide to London to retrieve the Steele Dossier. He looked at it, and then turned it over to FBI Director James Comey, setting off the bogus Russia conspiracy and the two year Mueller Investigation. The Steele Dossier was an unpardonable sin to President Trump. He could never forgive Senator McCain. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was terminated because he had recused himself, thereby letting Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein appoint Robert Mueller as Special Counsel. Attorney General William Barr restored justice to the Justice Department, but he would not back the President on the fraudulent voting charges. He resigned on December 23 on his terms after several negative comments by President Trump. Real Estate Developer Donald Trump could summarily fire employees who crossed him or didn’t carry out his wishes. He could rant and rave and fire. The President of the United States needed friends, not enemies, in seeking reelection. He called Senator McCain a “loser,” saying “I like people who weren’t captured.” The Republican Congress was in the process of honoring its campaign pledge to repeal ObamaCare. The House had already acted. The failing Senator McCain flew in from Arizona to heroically cast the deciding vote to repeal the act. He promise to vote to repeal in his reelection campaign. He dramatically walked into the Senate and shockingly voted against repeal. Repeal was dead. ObamaCare survived. The Republicans were in bad shape going into the 2018 elections. Senator McCain’s vote was an in your face statement to President Trump. The Senator’s anger for the President trumped his view on the merits. A profile in courage it was not. President Trump did not learn from the vote. He could not control his rage. He still cannot control his rage He cannot control his rage, striking out at Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senators John Thune and John Cornyn. He needs them; they don’t need him. He suggested South Dakota Governor Kristi Noemrun against Senator Thune. He called Secretary Raffensperger “a child,” “a schmuck’” and “either dishonest or incompetent.” He then asked the Secretary to find 11,780 votes to change the Georgia election result! Not going to happen. He called General Jim Mattis the “world’s most overrated general.” The General said after yesterday’s storming of Capitol: “Today’s violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by President Trump. His use of the Presidency to destroy trust in our election and to poison our respect for fellow citizens has been enabled by pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice.” Attorney General William Barr left office on December 23 after receiving verbal abuse from the President. AG’s Barr was to dispute President Trump’s claims of voter fraud. AG Barr today said President Trump was a “betrayal of his office and supporters” by “orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable.” President Trump called Senator Romney a “pompous ass.” The Senator voted to convict the President on one of the two impeachment counts. The Senator yesterday wants President Trump removed from office for inciting an insurrection: “What happened today was an insurrection, incited by the President of the United States.” Representative Maxime Walters wanted to impeach President trump from Day One. The President called her “an exceptionally low IQ person.” She wants to impeach him again. Some of President Trump’s other remarks were calling Dr. Fauci a “disaster,” and broadcaster Hugh Hewitt “a third-rate radio announcer.” The President is a narcissistic egotist. So is President Obama. The media covered up for President Obama. The President is slammed for excessive golfing. His predecessor was an avid golfer. ISIS beheaded American journalist James Foley, and then posted on August 19, 2014 a video of the murder. President Obama delivered a few remarks, saying he was “heartbroken” and vowed to be relentless. He then rushed to his favorite golf course on Martha’s Vineyard and proceeded to golf the rest of the day. Choosing the most outrageous insult by President Trump is difficult. High up on the list is this comment about then Fox News broadcaster Megyn Kelley in 2016: “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her whatever.” White suburban women were repulsed by his vulgarity and misogamy, tilting suburbs to Vice President Biden. Braggadocio Trump and Covid-19: A Greek Tragedy.

Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Reflections on Today's Surreal Attack on the Capitol

A crazed, frustrated mob attacked the nation's Capitol today. This was not the storming of the Bastille. It is hopefully not an echo of the final years of the Weimar Republic when the Communists and Nazis formed competing street mobs. America has been descending into mob violence the past year starting with the murder of George Floyd by Officer Derek Chauvin. Riots, looting, arson, attacks on police went unpunished with police officers ordered to stand by and even vacate their station. Prosecutors dropped charges while cities entered into a frenzy of defunding the police. Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Seattle, not to mention Atlanta, Kenosha and Louisville exploded. Americans watched the great American cities of Portland and Seattle destroyed while hapless public officials failed their responsibilities. The nation watched has public officials permitted the defacing, destruction and removal of the nation’s monuments, the destruction of the country’s culture and heritage. Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson trashed. Violence and lawlessness were tolerated. Frustration grew. Vigilante justice starts to take over when the law fails. Minneapolis was not the beginning of the break down in the American polity. Democrats four years ago accused Donald Trump of being an illegitimate president having colluded with the Russians to win the election. They pursued a bogus impeachment against President Trump with no grounds. The media joined them daily with a torrent of anti-Trump bile. Then came the November 5 election. President Trump lost, but several irregularities occurred. The President believes the election was stolen from him in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. He believes it, but no proof satisfactory to scores of state and federal judges surfaced. Suspicion Yes. Proof No. He wouldn’t quit. He was playing with fire, agitating his supporters to fight the stolen election. The Democrats have been playing with fire the past four years, trying to destroy a duly elected president by any means possible and attacking the American polity. Something bad was going to happen. Nothing of this account justifies today’s storming of the Capitol by a crazed mob of misguided, inflamed Americans. What were they thinking? Mobs often aren’t thinking. Many of their faces are captured on videos. The Biden Administration will track them down. Vice President Joe Biden was going to be inaugurated President on January 20. The electors met and cast their ballots. Congress will accept the ballots and the count today. The mob was not going to stop Congress from performing its constitutional duty. President Trump’s exhortations were not going to stop either Congress or Vice President Mike Pence from performing their constitutional duties. Some media called today’s acts an ‘Insurrection,” as if attacking police stations and court houses by a woke mob is not also an insurrection. Senator Mitt Romney, fervent Trump hater, said “What happened today was an insurrection, incited by the President of the United States.” Today is a warning to partisans on both sides to cool it. Some Democrats are calling for Trump’s impeachment. Today is not the first defilement of the Capitol. Four Puerto Rican nationalist terrorists on March 1, 1954 entered the Visitor’s Gallery of the Capitol and proceeded to file down onto the Chamber’s floor. Five Representatives were wounded. President Trump’s presidency ended today through self-destruction. He can still issue orders and pardons, but he is Dead President Walking for the next two weeks. He might as well resign.