Posse Incitatus

Voting Against the Establishment

Anyone who is remotely in touch with today's political scene understands that the massive support for Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders indicates voter dissatisfaction with business as usual. Voters of all stripes have put the establishment hacks of both the Republican and Democrat parties on notice that they are sick and tired of the incompetence and failure both parties have dumped on us for decades.

And make no mistake, a significant bloc of those disaffected voters have not even participated in the political process for many years because they are utterly disillusioned and cynical. For years, they've felt disenfranchised -- until now. Trump, with his political incorrectness and in-your-face candor that borders on the obnoxiousness of a drunken bar patron, and Sanders with his rants against the wealthy, well-connected and powerful, have resonated.

The establishment operatives inside the Beltway live in a delusional cocoon. Everywhere they look, cranes and adjacent high rises under construction dot the horizon. Mercedes Benz, BMW, Audi, Cadillac and Lincoln luxury vehicles clutter the streets for blocks and blocks. Posh hotels and fine dining establishments are bursting at the seams. Beautiful people in expensive clothing, with world class makeup, haircuts and jewelry, pace about on the sidewalks, absorbed in their iPhones as if their lives depended on it. Life is grand; salaries are fat; opportunities abound.

This is the Alice in Wonderland world of bloated government and the countless leeches who feed off of it, completely oblivious to the wreckage their greed, lust for power and complacency is wreaking out in the hinterlands.

But this is far more than "Rage Against the Machine," to use the name of a vastly overrated rock group -- the machine in this case being the politicians, consultants, pollsters, bureaucrats, lawyers, PR flacks, media and other useless human beings lining their pockets and feathering their nests. No, it turns out that the "establishment" exists in Christianity, too, and the flocks are also not paying much attention to what that too-often self-serving entity has to say.

Anyone who is Roman Catholic (my co-blogger and I are among the ranks) knows that millions of Catholics have scoffed at church doctrine opposing artificial contraception. And anyone who isn't naive realizes that the violation of no sex before marriage is about as common as grains of sand on the beach.

But the millions who see Donald Trump as Jesus overturning the money changers' tables in the temple, or Bernie Sanders as another Robin Hood, have another level of defiance when it comes to church teachings -- Catholic or Protestant. (Granted, a large segment of Sanders supporters are probably agnostic or atheist, but those who are Christians could care less about his advocacy of abortion and gay marriage, or his past history of sucking up to godless communist regimes.)

Many, many evangelicals and Roman Catholics have voted for Trump. This despite he is in his third marriage, has a reputation for being a philanderer, often spouts profanity, and has been a supporter of Planned Parenthood and abortion rights. My guess is these folks realize that, in electing a president, it is unrealistic and wishful thinking to believe that we can elect someone who is a paragon of virtue. That's like a football coach hoping all of his offensive linemen are Boy Scouts and Rhodes Scholars.

Look, I have often thrown up my hands in disgust at the Roman Catholic Church. As I discussed in this post , I shake my head at the stupidity and gullible positions the Church has taken on nuclear disarmament during the 1980s, supporting Obamacare in 2010 (be careful what you wish for), and engaging in left-wing, anti-capitalist bash-the-rich poppycock. I fully understand what it means to put your faith on the back burner when choosing the next leader of the free world.

About 225 years ago, tens of thousands of people lost their lives, and many more were tortured during the French Revolution. Unrest and mayhem ran roughshod over France for a full decade. It won't get that bad here (at least, I HOPE NOT), but things could definitely get ugly.

I suppose the legions of people under the influence of pot, alcohol and SSRI drugs like Paxil and Prozac will prevent any pitchforks or guillotines in 2016 America. But the anger will continue to boil over. The "establishment", be it secular or clerical, has been put on notice.

 

 

 

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all Posse readers. Today is the holiest Christian holiday -- a commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The message of Jesus' triumph over death -- his own death, and the spiritual death of human beings whose sins he atoned for by dying on the cross -- offers hope and comfort. We recognize the light will ultimately win out over the darkness, and that the dramatic, horrifying way in which Jesus suffered and died underscores our Creator's love for us.

For many people -- myself included -- religious faith too often represents constraints. You can't do this, you can't do that, you're a sinner, do this, be that, get right with Jesus, etc. But the more mature way of approaching it -- a perception it has taken me years to realize -- is that faith is a rock to stand upon, a source of comfort, and in all truth, a deliverance from the painful consequences of sin and selfishness. It is, paradoxically, freedom, although it certainly is not perceived that way by millions of people.

I am grateful for that, and for the opportunity to rest and spend a great day with my family.

We at the Posse hope that you and yours enjoy a peaceful and restful day, whether or not you're observing Easter.

 

The Beauty of Tranquility

My job these days keeps me away from nighttime TV, and I've decided that's a real blessing.

I used to be an addict of "The O'Reilly Factor" and would also tune in on portions of "Hannity & Colmes" and later "Hannity." Add to that my viewing of the evening network news, and my usual dose of talk radio, Internet blogs and newspapers both online and in dead tree format, and I have been immersed in politics for years. This immersion, unfortunately, has stirred anger and frustration at the abundant stupidity, ignorance and recklessness permeating our culture and society. Not a good frame of mind.

I have been well aware of the media's tendency to lean left (excepting a few commentators such as Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity), but that hasn't stopped me from being a glutton for punishment. Politics is human nature on display, with all of its warts, hypocrisy, absurdity and drama. That's what makes it fascinating and entertaining.

But frankly, of late I have had less and less desire to indulge. That doesn't mean I won't still comment on political developments in Posse blogs, but I feel that paying too much attention to it is bad for my mental and physical health.

I get disgusted with the pettiness and juvenile nature of the Donald Trump/Ted Cruz food fight; Hillary's lies, shrill voice and rotten-to-the-core corruption appall me; I am frustrated with the Republican Party's inability to clearly and concisely castigate the destructive progressive agenda and put forth constructive solutions without wallowing in the weeds. 

But most of all, I become utterly demoralized when I see the damage President Barack Obama has already done to our nation with his autocratic style of governance, and realize that Hillary Clinton getting elected will put the final nails into the coffin.

It goes way beyond the fact that a President Hillary Clinton would be able to appoint far-left Supreme Court justices whose rulings on the First and Second Amendments will run roughshod over gun owners, traditionalists, conservatives and devout Christians. It also means a continuance of the massive, intrusive administrative state -- i.e., the bureaucracy -- in which lifelong left-wing ideologues are installed to promulgate all manner of regulations that inhibit freedom, stifle economic growth, prolong stagnation and foster a corrosive cynicism toward government.

So, staying away from political coverage (or at the very least, limiting my exposure to it), and avoiding discussions with co-workers, relatives and friends are beneficial in that they reduce aggravation, anger and stress.

There is no question that today's caustic, snarky and angry political environment can adversely affect mental health, human relationships and job performance. Physically, they can lead to ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease and other maladies. So stay the hell away. That's what's best.

This time of year, I am enjoying life's simple pleasures. When I take a walk, I enjoy the birds, the spring sunlight, the cool refreshing air and the crocuses and daffodils poking up on front lawns. I thank the Lord every day that I am in good health and get enough to eat; for my family, my job and the blessing of living in the greatest country in the world.

I have resolved not to be one of those tit-for-tat online respondents to news articles or columns, because it is like spinning your wheels and only feeds the rage. When I have free time, I have found that reading a good book or newspaper is much more enjoyable than watching TV or listening to talk radio. I guess I've always known that, but it seems even more true today, in 2016, when political cesspools threaten to drown me.

Silence is golden, as they say. It's also increasingly valuable, albeit difficult to find.

 

 

The Truth About Thuggish Cuban Communists

Editor's Note: The following is a reprint of my post from May 2007, when I was an occasional guest blogger on the Posse (I became a regular contributor in 2009). In light of the huge number of Americans, especially younger people, who have not been told the truth about the evil Castro brothers and the torture, tyranny and repression they represent, I decided to re-post this commentary on one of Fidel's old buddies. Make no mistake, Che Guevara was of the same ilk. The news media is going wild covering President Obama and his family as they visit the island hellhole, but few journalists have the intelligence or gumption to ask the O-man: Just what are WE getting out of this? We lift sanctions, and Cuba continues to spit in our face. Nothing more needs to be said than that neither of the Castro brothers even bothered to show up at the airport to greet the president and his family upon their arrival. Barry's attitude toward the vile Castro brothers: "I'll lift our economic sanctions if you'll allow me to bow down to you."

MAY 07, 2007 

CliCHE Guevara

You've seen them before: The far left rabble-rousers marching at immigration rallies, waving pickets bearing Spanish slogans, flying Mexican flags, and demanding citizenship for the millions of illegal aliens who live in the United States.  They opposePROTECTINGour borders, cracking down on businesses that hire illegals, and requiring the illegals to "earn" their citizenship in any way, shape, or form.

What do many of these protestors have in common with your average extremist La Raza types and also with no small number of naive Caucasian college students?  They regard Che Guevara as some kind of virtuous revolutionary icon, as evidenced by his ubiquitous face -- on T-shirts, bumper stickers and posters tacked to dorm room walls nationwide.  There's even Che "wallpaper" forPC screens.  That's why I call him "CliCHE Guevara."

No one ever maintained that young people possess a great deal of maturity or discernment, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist (or much research) to learn that Che Guevara was, to put it mildly, a major scumbag and thug.  The sad thing is, not everyone wearing a Che T-shirt is young.  Some of them are just blindly anti-American and in denial about their hero.

It's been said you can judge people by the company they keep.  And as even your average college freshman knows, Che was a good buddy of Infidel Castro.  The two were partners in repression, intolerance, torture and random killing -- regrettably, maladies that persist to this day in Cuba, long after Guevara's death.

Peruvian-born author Alvaro Vargas Lloysa exposed Guevara for the paranoid, merciless tyrant he was in his recent book, "The Che Guevara Myth."

The book describes an entry in Guevara's diary from 1957 revealing his cavalier attitude toward using violence and murder to deal with those he perceived as a threat to the revolution.  Guevara shot Eutimio Guerra because he suspected him of passing on information: "I ended the problem with a .32 pistol, in the right side of his brain...His belongings were now mine."

Llosa writes, "At every stage of his adult life, his megalomania manifested itself in the predatory urge to take over other people's lives and property, and to abolish their free will."

Che was the architect of Cuba's forced labor camps and concentration camps, where Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals and other Cubans suffered and died.

Guevara is suspected of executing hundreds of innocents in the 1950s and 1960s before firing squads, some for simply refusing to give up their belief in democracy.  And there was no death bed confession or remorse with this evil man.  In his will he praised "the extremely useful hatred that turns men into effective, violent, merciless and cold killing machines."

Gee, what a swell guy! Where can I get a T-shirt?

You've seen them before: The far left rabble-rousers marching at immigration rallies, waving pickets bearing Spanish slogans, flying Mexican flags, and demanding citizenship for the millions of illegal aliens who live in the United States.  They opposePROTECTINGour borders, cracking down on businesses that hire illegals, and requiring the illegals to "earn" their citizenship in any way, shape, or form.

What do many of these protestors have in common with your average extremist La Raza types and also with no small number of naive Caucasian college students?  They regard Che Guevara as some kind of virtuous revolutionary icon, as evidenced by his ubiquitous face -- on T-shirts, bumper stickers and posters tacked to dorm room walls nationwide.  There's even Che "wallpaper" forPC screens.  That's why I call him "CliCHE Guevara."

No one ever maintained that young people possess a great deal of maturity or discernment, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist (or much research) to learn that Che Guevara was, to put it mildly, a major scumbag and thug.  The sad thing is, not everyone wearing a Che T-shirt is young.  Some of them are just blindly anti-American and in denial about their hero.

It's been said you can judge people by the company they keep.  And as even your average college freshman knows, Che was a good buddy of Infidel Castro.  The two were partners in repression, intolerance, torture and random killing -- regrettably, maladies that persist to this day in Cuba, long after Guevara's death.

Peruvian-born author Alvaro Vargas Lloysa exposed Guevara for the paranoid, merciless tyrant he was in his recent book, "The Che Guevara Myth."

The book describes an entry in Guevara's diary from 1957 revealing his cavalier attitude toward using violence and murder to deal with those he perceived as a threat to the revolution.  Guevara shot Eutimio Guerra because he suspected him of passing on information: "I ended the problem with a .32 pistol, in the right side of his brain...His belongings were now mine."

Llosa writes, "At every stage of his adult life, his megalomania manifested itself in the predatory urge to take over other people's lives and property, and to abolish their free will."

Che was the architect of Cuba's forced labor camps and concentration camps, where Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals and other Cubans suffered and died.

Guevara is suspected of executing hundreds of innocents in the 1950s and 1960s before firing squads, some for simply refusing to give up their belief in democracy.  And there was no death bed confession or remorse with this evil man.  In his will he praised "the extremely useful hatred that turns men into effective, violent, merciless and cold killing machines."

Gee, what a swell guy! Where can I get a T-shirt?

CliCHE Guevara

You've seen them before: The far left rabble-rousers marching at immigration rallies, waving pickets bearing Spanish slogans, flying Mexican flags, and demanding citizenship for the millions of illegal aliens who live in the United States.  They opposePROTECTINGour borders, cracking down on businesses that hire illegals, and requiring the illegals to "earn" their citizenship in any way, shape, or form.

What do many of these protestors have in common with your average extremist La Raza types and also with no small number of naive Caucasian college students?  They regard Che Guevara as some kind of virtuous revolutionary icon, as evidenced by his ubiquitous face -- on T-shirts, bumper stickers and posters tacked to dorm room walls nationwide.  There's even Che "wallpaper" forPC screens.  That's why I call him "CliCHE Guevara."

No one ever maintained that young people possess a great deal of maturity or discernment, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist (or much research) to learn that Che Guevara was, to put it mildly, a major scumbag and thug.  The sad thing is, not everyone wearing a Che T-shirt is young.  Some of them are just blindly anti-American and in denial about their hero.

It's been said you can judge people by the company they keep.  And as even your average college freshman knows, Che was a good buddy of Infidel Castro.  The two were partners in repression, intolerance, torture and random killing -- regrettably, maladies that persist to this day in Cuba, long after Guevara's death.

Peruvian-born author Alvaro Vargas Lloysa exposed Guevara for the paranoid, merciless tyrant he was in his recent book, "The Che Guevara Myth."

The book describes an entry in Guevara's diary from 1957 revealing his cavalier attitude toward using violence and murder to deal with those he perceived as a threat to the revolution.  Guevara shot Eutimio Guerra because he suspected him of passing on information: "I ended the problem with a .32 pistol, in the right side of his brain...His belongings were now mine."

Llosa writes, "At every stage of his adult life, his megalomania manifested itself in the predatory urge to take over other people's lives and property, and to abolish their free will."

Che was the architect of Cuba's forced labor camps and concentration camps, where Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals and other Cubans suffered and died.

Guevara is suspected of executing hundreds of innocents in the 1950s and 1960s before firing squads, some for simply refusing to give up their belief in democracy.  And there was no death bed confession or remorse with this evil man.  In his will he praised "the extremely useful hatred that turns men into effective, violent, merciless and cold killing machines."

Gee, what a swell guy! Where can I get a T-shirt?

Shadows and Tall Trees

A few thoughts have been bouncing around in my head the past few days -- NO, correction: blowing with the force of a sirocco -- and I am going to touch on them here. 

First, I have to comment on Michigan State University's ignominious defeat to Middle Tennessee State University in the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament. The Spartans were favored by Las Vegas oddsmakers and many ESPN sportscasters to win the national championship. But the Blue Raiders didn't get the memo. They defeated MSU, 90-81, simply by outplaying and out-hustling their more prominent foes.

Middle Tennessee started out the game by physically dominating the taller, bigger Spartans en route to a 15-2 early lead. It was as if a bar room bouncer (MSU) thought he could intimidate a small unruly patron (Middle Tennessee) by simply verbally threatening him. But the little guy, it turns out, was a former high school wrestler and Golden Gloves boxer. And he was not in the mood for being bullied. He suddenly went ape-shit, and the big lout didn't know what hit him. MSU, sadly, played the role of the cocky, arrogant "big lout" -- ambushed and coldcocked like no one's business. It's on the players and it's on head coach Tom Izzo that the Spartans didn't come out angry, aggressive, focused and hungry.

The Blue Raiders shot an impressive 58 percent from 3-point range, and held their own in the rebounding category (MSU won by a modest 30-28 margin, but that's poor when you consider the Spartans were ranked No. 1 in the country with an average 11.4-per-game rebounding margin.)

In the aftermath, I was depressed and disgusted, but didn't take it nearly as hard as I did the infamous 1995 defeat by 15 seed Weber State against No. 3 seed Michigan State (the final game for legendary Spartans head coach Jud Heathcoate). Consider that I was 35 then; I am 56 now. The older I get, the less emotion I have about sports -- even games involving my beloved alma mater.

It's like this: I've been around for quite a while. I realize that there are far more years BEHIND me than AHEAD of me. And the serious issues in our 2016 world weigh heavy on my mind. I am deeply concerned about the fate of our nation and our world, so sports, music, movies and other components of the Bread & Circuses realm simply don't register with as much gravity. Not to mention, life in the temporal world and thoughts of the afterlife take on heavier significance during and after middle age!

So the Spartans disappointed. It also happened back on Dec. 31, 2015, when the Alabama Crimson Tide pummeled Michigan State, 38-0 in the Cotton Bowl. The football Spartans and the hoops Spartans have taken it on the chin. So what do we do? That's easy: We count our blessings, and have faith that next season will be better, and "life goes on," as they say. Semper Fi.

BELATED RIP -- In the past couple of years, I have thought about posting on the deaths of prominent entertainers such as comedian Robin Williams, who committed suicide in 2014, and actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died of a heroin overdose the same year. But often, I figure, what's the use? Our readers can peruse massive coverage on Hollywood stars and celebrities at myriad other web sites. However, I would like to give a brief hat-tip to one of my favorites, actor George Kennedy, who died Feb. 28 at age 91. While many movie goers recall him for his roles in "The Naked Gun" series and the "Airport" film series in the 1970s, I admire him most for his portrayal of Dragline in the legendary 1967 flick "Cool Hand Luke." If you haven't seen this movie, which also starred Paul Newman, do check it out. It's well worth your time. R.I.P., George.

STEM SCAM -- For quite a few years, our government and institutes of higher education have been shoving B.S. down our throats about how the American economy has a shortage of graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). There has been a push to enroll more students in these challenging disciplines (in truth, to fill the coffers of the ever-voracious world of higher-ed). At the same time, the federal government has been generous in bestowing H1-B visas to non-immigrants who are guest workers for U.S. corporations. The bottom line: The American companies want to pay lower wages to foreign workers, and they don't give a rat's ass about American graduates who worked and studied hard, and spent tens of thousands of dollars -- typically money obtained from student loans). It is the same mentality that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has about open borders: Let the Mexicans and Central Americans flood our nation. Drive that hourly wage down, down, down! ANYTHING to line the pockets of our clients. 

This Wall Street Journal piece points out how wrong-headed our government has been. Each year, there are far more STEM graduates from American universities than are hired in STEM occupations. Selling out the American worker seems to be the M.O. of big government and big business. It's sick, isn't it?

SECOND THOUGHTS ON KASICH -- Back in June 2015, I posted my belief that Ohio Gov. John Kasich would be the best GOP presidential nominee. While in Congress in the 1990s, Kasich helped House Speaker Newt Gingrich and President Bill Clinton balance the federal budget, and played a key role in implementation of badly needed welfare reform. He has also spearheaded the revival of Ohio's economy, and was so successful, voters re-elected him in 2014 by a whopping 63-32 percent margin -- despite the state's large population of Democrats.

However, Kasich seems to be weak on immigration. He has expressed sentimental views about the importance of "keeping families together" -- i.e., condoning lawlessness for the sake of family unity (tantamount to the longtime liberal line, "It's for the children"). Furthermore, Kasich is open to the so-called "pathway to citizenship" for the millions of lawbreakers who live illegally in this country. There is no room for wishy-washy permissiveness on this issue. It only encourages a climate of lawlessness and disrespect for our national borders and sovereignty.

One other concern about Kasich: He did not disavow or refuse financial support from Scott Bessent, affiliated with far-left extremist George Soros. Bessent contributed $200,000 to the Kasich political action committee (PAC) New Day For America. C'mon, John. Isn't this beyond the pale?

 

 

Do women clergy destroy the faith?

Wikipedia is a great time-waster.  You start looking up one thing and then click on a link and the next thing you know, hours have passed.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been venturing far down into the rabbit holes of the theology, particularly the various Christian heresies.

This got me thinking about the current state of Christianity, particularly the familiar liberal calls for the Catholic Church to stop being Catholic but instead become like the Methodists, Anglicans, etc.

One the one hand, the Protestants have been doing this for, gosh, 499 years.  Next year it will be half a millennium.  Despite all that time (and not a few wars) there are still people who think that somehow their blog post or article will be the one that brings Rome to its senses.

As they say in the South:  “Bless their hearts.”

Anyhow, one of the things that these appeals always seem to ignore is that the denominations that seem to adhere most closely to the liberal “wish list” for the Catholic Church are also the ones most riven by faction and rapidly losing members.

How odd.

I’ve hit on this before, but it never ceases to amaze me that people keep insisting that if the Church wants to grow and flourish, it needs to adopt the practices that have all but wrecked every other denomination that has adopted them.

Let’s take a simple example:  Women clergy.

It seems to me that there’s an iron law about ordaining female clergy.  If a church ordains women, no matter what their theology, sooner or later they will become wholly owned by the progressive left, which will then require them to dump their existing doctrine and (as a result) lose a lot of their membership.

I’m trying to think of a case where this hasn’t happened.  Perhaps in the comments someone can enlighten me.

The examples of it happening are many.  The United Methodists are a prime example.  Recall that these were once some of the most upright denominations out there.  I mean, the followers of Wesley were all about holiness and clean living (not to mention sobriety).

Almost all Protestant branches emphasize the primacy of scripture and the importance of its study, and yet after the Methodists started creating female ministers, things headed south.  They got soft on abortion and the next thing you know, they were performing gay marriages.

Oh, it wasn’t immediate, nor should one expect it to be.  It takes time for a critical mass of ‘new thinkers’ to emerge within the hierarchy of the organization.  But that’s what happened.

The Presbyterians are in a similar situation.  I recall attending a wedding where the presider was a rather attractive middle-aged woman who wore an above-the-knee skirt and black hose.  Okay, it was in Ann Arbor, but it still struck me as odd for a minister of Christ to be showing some leg for the service.  I mean, I wouldn’t expect a male minister to be in a shirt tailored to show up his biceps.

I’ve already documented the madness that has settled over the Anglican Communion.  It should be noted that priestesses (you know, the correct term for a “woman priest”) are permitted on a region-by-region basis. 

Funny, those areas that have them (like the US) are the farthest off the theological reservation.  A schism seems inevitable.  Heck, the Lutherans already had one.

Correlation is not causation, but when you keep noticing the same effect following the same action, it’s hard to write off as coincidence.

It seems to me that at this point the relationship is clear:  ordain women and basically turn into MoveOn.org at prayer.

The GOP embraces total war - against its voters

For years the GOP has fought its election at a significant disadvantage.  Instead of engaging the Democrats, they preferred to be virtuous losers.

The Dems proceeded to stuff the ballot box, flood the country with illegal aliens, use street mobs to suppress speech and use the IRS to audit political opponents on the road to banning firearms and outlawing religion.

And the GOP basically did nothing because they are the Law and Order party.  They Play by the Rules.

Until now.

Now that Trump is threatening their hold on the party levers of power, suddenly the GOP establishment has dug out a copy of Machiavelli and wants to change the convention rules.

This election has been marvelous for many reasons, not the least of which is showing just how much the GOP establishment hates, absolutely hates its voters.  Heck, National Review wants certain parts of it to die.  As in drop dead.  Seriously.

They hate the base so much that they are trying to figure out ways to simply throw out the primary results. 

So the party of Law and Order, the party that Plays by the Rules finally found a case where that no longer applies.

Good to know.

Memo to the Solons in charge:  You had your chance and you blew it.  You had months to rally around your conservative of choice and get all those contending egos into a room to stop Trump.  If you refuse to come together now, it isn’t out of principle, it’s pursuit of power.  The time for principles was when the polls were open, not after they closed.

It was all fine and good to rip on Trump over the summer and fall, but now that he’s won, you want to change the rules.

And this makes you different from the Democrats...how?

THE ESTABLISHMENT ISN’T UNPOPULAR, ITS APPEAL IS MORE SELECTIVE:  This brings me to another point of irritation.  I keep seeing GOP thinkers arguing that the problem with Trump’s supporters is that they are too simple, too primal to follow the sophisticated and nuanced arguments of the other candidates.

According to these geniuses, Trump is ahead because he spoke using simple words and didn’t confuse the numb-skulls.

Yet if that’s the case, why didn’t any of the other candidates unlock this large pool of easy votes? 

We saw this same nonsense with the “low-information voters” who helped Obama win.  Gosh, you mean there isn’t an IQ test to get a ballot?  Hmmm, a smart campaign might tailor some of its messages to those people.

Then again, no one ever accused the GOP of being the smart party.

Your Tax Dollars at Work

"Your tax dollars at work" is a sarcastic expression used to mock wasteful, inefficient government and shine the light derisively on bad laws, policies and regulations. I've used it often myself, astounded at the stupidity and absurdity of so much of what government does.

But today, I want to give credit where credit is due. And believe it or not, I am going to praise a couple of important figures from the world of academia, which normally incurs my wrath and scorn.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a Flint pediatrician who also serves as a professor in the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, and Virginia Tech Engineering Professor Marc Edwards deserve kudos for breaking the Flint water crisis wide open when government officials tried to pooh-pooh their efforts.

Both of these individuals undoubtedly have a lot on their plate. But working long hours, being tired or feeling overwhelmed obviously were not factors dissuading them from investigating when they suspected things weren't right in Flint. After the city of Flint switched its drinking water source from Lake Huron (via the Detroit Water and Sewerage Authority) to the Flint River, residents immediately began complaining about the taste, odor and color of the water.

In 2015, Dr. Edwards took it upon himself to test Flint water, and learned it was 19 times more corrosive than Detroit water. He challenged state officials, who claimed that repeated testing at Flint's water treatment plant had detected no lead and testing in homes had registered lead at acceptable levels. Earlier this week, during congressional testimony, Dr. Edwards slammed the EPA for its role in the crisis.

Last fall, Dr. Hanna-Attisha began sorting through whatever data she could obtain from local and state government and from Hurley Medical Center, where she serves as director for the pediatric residency program. She crunched numbers zealously, and found elevated levels of lead in Flint children, due to improper treatment of Flint River water leaching lead from old pipelines. The state of Michigan obstinately denied her findings, and even went so far as to imply she was irresponsible. (Pot, meet kettle.)

Ultimately, she was vindicated. Along with Professor Edwards, Dr. Hanna-Attisha was a "canary in the coal mine" whose actions probably have spared thousands of children from bleak futures due to brain damage, behavioral problems and various other health maladies that drinking lead-contaminated water can cause.

It is heartening to realize that there are competent, dedicated public servants who truly care about other people and who go above and beyond the call of duty. I try to keep this in mind when cynicism overwhelms me during these difficult times. 

MSU SPARTANS UPDATE - I have not talked much about this year's basketball Spartans. But here's a quick update: On Sunday, the squad won its fifth Big Ten Tournament championship (more than any other conference team since the post-season tournament began in 1998). They incredibly were seeded No. 2 (many experts believe they deserved a No. 1 seed) in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament and begin play on Friday against Middle Tennessee State University. This is the best 3-point shooting team in MSU history, and is near the top nationwide in 3-point accuracy and assists. Plus, the Spartans are a solid defensive and reboounding team. All of these attributes bode well for tournament play. There are no dominant teams this year as there were in 2015 (Duke, Kentucky, Wisconsin). This tournament is wide open, and I like the Spartans' chances. It's an exciting time of year for those of us in Spartan Nation!

 

 

Is National Review gone yet?

It’s been a few weeks since I clicked over to National Reivew’s web site and I wondered if they had gotten over their frankly boring Trump obsession.

Nope.

 

National Review reminds me of the villains in the old Superman TV show that would empty their gun at the hero and then throw it in frustration – all to no effect.

National Review used to be interesting and I’d suggest that if they want to survive, they might want to write about someone else for a change.

Seriously.

All-Trump-All-The-Time gets dull, even for people who like the guy.  The Donald ought to pay them rent for all the space in their minds he is taking up.

Not only that, but now the writers are turning their knives on each other over who is going soft on NR’s Public Enemy Number One.

Seriously?

This is what a magazine on the brink of irrelevance looks like.  Anyone not sharing their Trump obsession has zero reason to read their site.

His Initials Are "BS"

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has attracted quite a following, and it is not at all shocking that he defeated Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's Michigan Democrat primary election. Not only is Hillary a corrupt liar with a disastrous track record as Secretary of State, she is a thoroughly unlikeable person with a grating personality and a severe disingenuous streak.

Sanders is truly a parody of a flaming liberal. With righteous indignation, he rails against the wealthy, calling for confiscatory tax rates to slam them (or so he thinks, apparently oblivious to obvious and common forms of avoidance such as tax shelters, shell companies, offshore accounts and the like). If you want to take hundreds of billions out of the legitimate economy -- to prevent it from being saved, spent and invested -- impose drastically higher tax rates on upper incomes. (How's that working out in leftist paradises such as Venezuela and Bolivia?)

As it stands, the top 1 percent of income earners already pay about 45 percent of Uncle Sam's tax revenues. You could confiscate 100 percent of their incomes and not have a fraction of the amount of money you would need to fund Sanders' pie-in-the-sky dreams.

Sanders advocates free college (just what we need, more do-nothing 20-somethings living in their parents' basement, leeching off the government, hanging out, and stretching their college years into a decade-long haze of sex-n-drugs-n-rock-n-roll-n-hey-dude-skateboard-protest-Subaru-tie-died-hookah lounge-Twitter-fed-secular/progressive-laid-back-drunken-bull session-lesson in nihilism and slacking...). As if we didn't have enough giveaways now, and as if universities and colleges didn't already make a killing raking in millions of taxpayer dollars while providing worthless degrees that relegate recipients to part-time jobs in coffee shops and big box stores.

The Vermont lefty is full of the usual liberal bromides: single payer healthcare (the holy grail of liberalism), abortion on demand, gay rights trumping religious (First Amendment) rights, dreamy environmental schemes such as renewable energy mandates, green this/sustainable that...blah blah blah. And he's one of those know-nothings stupid enough to believe that Hillary's egregious email transgressions are simply a political football for Republican blowhards. The high likelihood that she breached state secrets, Americans have been tortured and/or executed because of her recklessness, and Russian and Chinese hackers have had a field day, zooms right over his airhead.

Earlier tonight, when Republican front-runner Donald Trump planned a campaign rally in Chicago, thousands of leftist riff-raff --- probably egged on by militant progressives such as the moveon.org crowd -- staged a violent rally in protest. Realizing that Chicago Police may not have been able to keep order and protect attendees at his rally, Trump canceled the event.

The shrill and infantile lefties out raising holy hell are of the same ilk as Sanders: If someone takes a hard line and refuses to suck up with politically correct pablum, he's a "hater," "mean spiritied," a "bigot" and guilty of perpetrating "hate speech." WAH! The founding fathers would turn over in their graves if they could see what lily-livered wimps our pathetic K-12 and higher ed systems have produced.

Bernie Sanders is, as Michael Savage aptly described, no different than a 1930s communist street agitator. It's no surprise that his initials are "BS." But it is highly disheartening that millions of ignorant, naive Americans fall for his snake oil.