Polarization of America

    Many people notice and comment on the polarization of our country.  It is real and it is everywhere, but it is not all people.  I believe it started with the Bush v Gore lawsuit over the Florida recount in the 2000 election.  It may have started sooner for some, but it became a national phenomenon after the hanging chads.
    Last night the Senate voted to pass the new tax cuts bill which has been debated for weeks if not longer.  House Minority Leader Pelosi called the bill "Armageddon".  Really?  End of the world?  Kill all humans?  And that brings me to the real problem with polarization.
    It seems to me that liberals, progressives and democrats (not all) cannot argue their political points of view logically, and resort to insults and name calling.  I've mentioned this in earlier blog entries, but here are a few examples.
 - If you disagree with abortion, then you hate women.
 - If you disagree with tax cuts, you hate the poor.
 - If you disagree with allowing transgenders into the opposite sex locker room, you hate the LGBTQ community.
 - If you think we should build a wall, you hate Mexicans specifically, and immigrants in general.
 - If you think we should vet Muslim refugees before allowing them into the country, you hate Muslims.
    I could go on, but I think you get my point.  Once one side of the debate goes into this 'you're a hater mode', the debate ends without any real resolution.  As I see it, the political left does not want to actually debate issues thoroughly, but rather wants to rule as they see fit without debate.  For there is no quicker method to ending debate than resorting to name calling and insults.  For how can anyone argue that they don’t actually hate any of those groups above, or countless others?
    I ask my friends on the left to consider this, and try to refrain from this dialogue killing action.

Protests or Riots?

   Ever since the shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson, MO, there have been many protests which have turned into, or have been coopted, into riots.  Violence begot damaged or destroyed property, injuries, deaths, but very few arrests.  Few arrests due to police standing by watching in many cases.  Standing by in some cases because they were ordered to do so.
   Regardless of what events led to the protests, riots are and should be illegal.  Protests are protected free speech, but riots are an assault on civility and civilians.
   Not only did authorities not stop the riots, but the media refused to call them what they were.  Instead they referred to rioters as activists.
   A few groups have been born during this period.  The Black Lives Matter movement is a response to police shootings of unarmed black men, but has also led to the killing of police officers by BLM supporters.  The Antifa (short for anti fascist) group is much more violent, often piggy-backing on other groups protests to turn them violent.  The Antifa folks are actually anarchists.
   Antifa has been successful is stopping others, mainly conservatives, from speaking on college campuses, most famously Cal Berkeley.  They threaten the college with protests, which evolve into burning, looting, rock throwing, and general rioting.
   The BLM movement concerns itself with all things deemed racist, which now includes anything on display related to the Confederacy, including the flag and statues and monuments.  Many of these people think  it appropriate to remove all these things since they are "offensive to blacks", who generations ago suffered under the slavery of the confederates.  Apparently, any reminder of slavery is to be removed.
   One wonders what they will want to remove after all flags and monuments are torn down.  Books?  Historic places such as Gettysburg?, Antietam?  How about the historic homes of founding fathers like Monticello or Mt. Vernon?
   The time has arrived when we should say enough is enough.  The police need to become actively involved in preventing protests from turning into riots, and arresting any and all rioters.  The media needs to accurately report on what activity is taking place and by whom, using the accurate descriptors for those events and people.  And citizens need to educate themselves about history, current events, and understand who is doing what to whom.

It Has Been a While

I have not posted to this blog in quite some time.  In November 2016 I was given early retirement, and closely following that my wife's mother passed away after a battle with lung cancer.  The holidays were busy, the things got crazy in 2017.
In January I slipped and fell hitting my head on a cement floor.  Several weeks later my wife and I decided to move to Louisville, and purchased a condominium that is under construction.  We then sold our home in Newport, and moved into temporary housing while construction is completed.
In March I developed stroke like symptoms resulting from my fall, and over the next 60 days I underwent two craniotomies for bleeding on the brain, a couple weeks of therapy, and home recovery.
During these 8 months I had no desire or time to write on my blog.  Today I decided to resume blogging.

Democrats Made This Stuff Up

    It is often said, "You can't make this stuff up".  In this election year it is heard more frequently than ever as it pertains to the two candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.  There are many reasons why voters may not vote for either candidate in particular, or for any of them in general.  Mrs. Clinton, however, has the most reasons by far, and they are of her own doing.
    Mrs Clinton is a notorious liar.  She has been a proven liar in matters involving the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi on September 11, 2011, and concerning her use of a private email server.
    She has also be involved in many scandals going back to her days as a young attorney, wife of a governor, First Lady of the USA, Secretary of State, and now, nominee for President.  If elected, given her propensity for lying, the lengthy list of scandals would surely continue to grow.
    All of the email related lies and scandal could have been avoided if she had simply followed the law and used a government provided and supported email server.  But even using the private server, she could have avoided this if she had complied with FOIA requests and subpoenas by turning over the server and contents.  Why would you not do those things?   We'll find out what was being hidden from view eventually.  And by the surprising lengths she went to in order to avoid exposure, it is more likely than not criminal in nature, and also likely to place national security at risk.
    I include Democrats in this brew for the following reasons.
    First, the Department of Justice, with AG Loretta Lynch in control, has provided at least an appearance of impropriety, by meeting with former President Clinton, husband of the candidate under investigation at the time.  That meeting at an airport in Arizona raised suspicion since it came shortly before FBI Director Comey presented his case at a press conference.  During the presser he basically indicted Mrs. Clinton for several violations of national security law, then said he would not recommend indictment.  That was a total miscarriage of justice.
    Second, now that another stash of an estimated 650,000 email messages have been found on the personal computer of Clinton aide Huma Abedin, AG Lynch refuses to allow the FBI to read through those and determine if they present any legal problems for the previously closed investigation concerning Mrs. Clinton's email issues.
    Third, many Democrat operatives and politicians are now making the news show circuit to explain away Mrs. Clinton's problems with email in a not so transparent way.  When the FBI Directory told us he would not recommend indictment after providing multiple reasons to indict, these Democrats praised the director and claimed he exonerated her.  Now they are accusing the same director of a political hit job on her.  You can't have it both ways.
    Fourth, the way Democrats join ranks to protect their candidate is especially troubling.  It creates a closed minded, group think, go along to get along, mentality.  It makes one wonder if they all really believe what they are saying, or are they that much afraid to be different and stand on principle.
    While Donald Trump is a flawed candidate personally, he does not present the kind of risk that having Hillary Clinton as our president would.  Neither candidate is especially highly thought of,  but only one carries the scandalous baggage that could truly be harmful to the country.
    You can't make this stuff up.  Can't say that anymore.

Without Evidence

The Left and the Masses: Part I, Part II, Part III
    Dr. Thomas Sowell, PhD. Economics, wrote a series of columns explaining that those on the left claim to have great compassion for the poor and downtrodden, have implemented policies and programs to deal with that, but fail to deliver.  A good summary quote from those columns would be as follows:
"The political left in general has been able to claim that they have more compassion for the less     fortunate, and to depict their opponents as lacking in compassion for others. For none of these assertions have they felt a need to offer hard evidence."
    The left is quick to claim their good intentions as justification fro all sorts of government intervention into our daily lives, but those polices simply fail to deliver on those intentions.  And if you dispute the need for or benefits of such policies and programs, then you are a hater.

Rule of Law Cannot Survive Hillary

Rule of Law Cannot Survive Hillary
    The rule of law no longer exists when people are not held to the law.  When some are and some are not, the rules fail us even more.  Hillary Clinton has demonstrated she is above the law by repeatedly breaking laws, and the people in government responsible for enforcement do nothing.
    Matt Walsh covers this in his article linked above. 

Collusion, Corruption and Lies, Oh My!

    The Democrat National Committee and the Democrat Party have lost it all.  By their unwavering support of Hillary Clinton for President, they have allowed the end to justify the means.

    We have seen all of the following from democrats during this election cycle:

• Collusion with the press
• Collusion between super pacs, the DNC, and the Hillary campaign
• Contracting for violence at Trump political rallies
• Collusion between the State Department, the Department of Justice, the FBI Director, and the Hillary campaign concerning the investigation of her email server and classified information
• Lies about the emails
• Destruction of evidence in that investigation
• Destruction of documents under subpoena by the US Congress
• Obfuscation by blaming the revelations in WikiLeaks on the Russians

    It has reached a point of willful ignorance and disbelief, to accept this series of events as anything other than illegal, immoral, unethical and criminal.
    Is this really what Americans want for the next 4 years minimum?  A vote for Hillary will dump this on America and scandal after scandal will ensue.