Hell No, Beto
The View from the Middle
As you would expect, in last night’s Democrat debate the line of the night came from one of the candidates who is bouncing off the bottom of the primary barrel who was just trying to stay relevant and trying to just get some attention. When asked, “Are you proposing taking away their (Americans) guns”, Robert Francis (Beto) O’Rourke said, “Hell yes, we’re going to take away your AR-15, your AK-47.” I think it is fair to assume that by “we” Mr. O’Rourke meant our federal government.
It is easy, however, to understand why Beto made this ludicrous statement. First, HE…IS…LYING. He has no intention of actually fulfilling this promise, even if all the other Democrat candidates and President Trump died and he was literally the last man standing. And that’s about what it would take for this “1% support” candidate to win. So, we have that going for us, which is nice!!
Second, this kind of confiscation of arms is against our constitution and appears in our 2nd amendment of its Bill of Rights. The second amendment clearly states that, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” The fact that this appears in the 2nd amendment should give us a feel for how important our founders thought this fundamental right is. The first amendment protects our freedom of speech and religion, and the next most important freedom our forefathers thought to protect was the right to bear arms.
So, why would our founders put this particular protection so high up on their list of freedoms to safeguard? The short answer is that they did not trust any large, central government. They were, in fact, separating from England because that national government had seized their property, imprisoned them without just cause and taxed them without representation. They feared the repressive, absolute and selfish power of a central government whom they believed could take away rights that they believed every person on earth was granted by their Creator. They weren’t trying to protect the new American citizens right to hunt. They were trying to protect themselves and even us today from the monster that a dictatorial, authoritarian government can become. And I hope that, given the duplicity and dysfunction we see in Washington today, we can understand the “Orwellian” threat that a too powerful government can be to all of us.
Finally, Beto knows he can’t possibly pull this off, even in the absolutely unlikely event that our government passed such legislation. Think about who he would be trying to take these guns away from! As passionate as he pretends to be on this gun confiscation issue, there are millions of Americans who are just as passionate about protecting their right to “keep and bear arms.” Can you imagine our government sending our law enforcement officers or military door-to-door brandishing their guns to confiscate guns from law abiding citizens?
In its own way, this crazy thought is just like the Green New Deal from Bernie and AOC. They can make all of the crazy, insane, inane suggestions, promises or statements they want. They know they won’t pass any of them. That’s why the AOC New Green Deal did not get a single vote in the Senate. If this sort of “We’re going to take your guns” legislation would ever be proposed, I’m confident it would receive even similar support. So, Beto, your 15 minutes of fame is over. Go back to Texas and just try to take their guns way! Good luck with that!
Friday, September 13, 2019
Thursday, September 12, 2019
Global Warming - Who's in Control?
Global Warming – Who’s in Control?
The View from the Middle
Mankind’s hubris never ceases to amaze me. Politicians are trying to convince us that we have a little steering wheel, gas pedal and brake somewhere along the equator, I suppose, and we are actually driving the earth around the sun. Some would suggest we also have a little thermostat somewhere that we can turn up or down at will. They want you to believe that they are, or could be, in control and would turn down the temperature and push the “no hurricanes” button on their control panel if we only gave them the power. All we have to do is give them all our money and all our freedoms and they will be our global Uber driver and deliver a smooth ride, no warming (unless you want it, of course), no natural disasters and no wars.
The reality is that the world is a huge place with a mind of its own. We are, in fact, a flea on a dog that is suggesting that it controls the dog. Let me give you an idea of just how insignificant we are. The earth has over 500 million square kilometers of surface area and we could fit the entire population of the planet, all 7.7 billion people, within the city limits of Anchorage, Alaska, with room to spare. We truly are just a flea on the back of this planet. We are a passenger on God’s creation and are just along for the ride. Our only hope is to adapt to this ever changing world and be good stewards of the planet God gave us dominion over.
The fact that we (the flea) have noticed that the world is warming is quite the accomplishment, but to suggest that we can control that temperature is just a lie. And to suggest the dog will die and kill all the fleas is just fearmongering. In 1989, the New York Director of the UN Environment Program said that we had 10 years to solve the CO2 problem or the oceans would rise by three feet (36 inches), the polar ice caps would be gone and New York would be under water. Of course, none of that happened, but does any of that sound familiar?
Most scientists believe that the earth has been around for billions of years, and has sustained life on it for over a billion years. During that time temperatures have risen and fallen with no help from mankind. About 56 million years ago average global temperatures were about 15 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than today, and man was not around to cause it. There have also been at least five ice ages according to Climatologist Cliff Harris and Meteorologist Randy Mann. They also identified a period about 460 million years ago, during the Ordovician Period, when CO2 content in the atmosphere was over 10 times higher than today’s levels while temperatures were the same as our current temps.
And many scientists will admit that they aren’t even sure if CO2 is a cause of warming or a result of it. Even if it is a “cause” it is just one, and a relatively small one, when you compare it to the sun, volcanic activity and El Nino events. If the sun decides to have storms or flares or hot periods there is nothing we can do about it. If the earth’s volcanoes decides to erupt on land or below our oceans, we will just be spectators. If we experience a strong El Nino (warming of the ocean’s waters) there is nothing we can do to prevent it. Our politicians know they can’t convince thinking people that they can control any of these things, so they will try to persuade us that they can tinker with CO2 levels and regulate the world’s temperature level as easily as they control their thermostats.
And even if CO2 contributes to global warming, remember two things. First, if all of the commitments of the Paris Accord are recognized, scientists “hope” to prevent a two degree centigrade (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) rise in temperature over the next 100 years. Given the temperature changes the earth has experienced over the last three or four thousand years, it is ludicrous to make that projection with any amount of certainty. Second, I will guarantee that the earth will still be here in 11 years, despite the threats made by that brilliant climatologist and bar tender Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC). I will also guarantee that in 11 years some politician will suggest, once again, that unless we dramatically change our ways by 2040 or 2050, we will be doomed. And on it will go until we figure out that they are Lucy with the football, and we are Charlie Brown.
Finally, we must remember that we are talking about “global” warming, and the world’s worst offender in terms of CO2 emissions is China! In fact, China releases twice the absolute amount of CO2 into the atmosphere as the United States despite having a much smaller economy. Why should the Paris Accord allow China, the worst emitter of CO2 in the world by far, to continue increasing their emissions until 2030? Isn’t that past “the point of no return” according to AOC and Bernie Sanders? And after 2030 do you really believe China will keep their promises? They’ve done so well in the “promise keeping” area for the last 50 years, haven’t they?
While the rest of the world has increased their emissions by over 60% since 1990, The United States has maintained its emissions at 1990 levels. But Bernie, AOC and the rest of the Democrat party want us to destroy our economy and give up virtually all of our freedoms to get to net zero carbon emissions. This would take us back to the stone ages while China blows past us economically and replaces us as the only Superpower left on the planet. Do we really want to doom our children and grandchildren to a world where China is calling the shots.
Should we be good stewards of our world? Of course we should. Should we encourage other countries to do the same? Of course we should. Should we finance every other country’s efforts and commit economic Hara-kiri in the process? Of course not. But it is amazing what some politicians will promise to get elected today, even if it guarantees national servitude in the future, as long as that future is far enough away for them to be long gone. How many of us will be around in 2100 to measure the actual results vs. the draconian projections?
The View from the Middle
Mankind’s hubris never ceases to amaze me. Politicians are trying to convince us that we have a little steering wheel, gas pedal and brake somewhere along the equator, I suppose, and we are actually driving the earth around the sun. Some would suggest we also have a little thermostat somewhere that we can turn up or down at will. They want you to believe that they are, or could be, in control and would turn down the temperature and push the “no hurricanes” button on their control panel if we only gave them the power. All we have to do is give them all our money and all our freedoms and they will be our global Uber driver and deliver a smooth ride, no warming (unless you want it, of course), no natural disasters and no wars.
The reality is that the world is a huge place with a mind of its own. We are, in fact, a flea on a dog that is suggesting that it controls the dog. Let me give you an idea of just how insignificant we are. The earth has over 500 million square kilometers of surface area and we could fit the entire population of the planet, all 7.7 billion people, within the city limits of Anchorage, Alaska, with room to spare. We truly are just a flea on the back of this planet. We are a passenger on God’s creation and are just along for the ride. Our only hope is to adapt to this ever changing world and be good stewards of the planet God gave us dominion over.
The fact that we (the flea) have noticed that the world is warming is quite the accomplishment, but to suggest that we can control that temperature is just a lie. And to suggest the dog will die and kill all the fleas is just fearmongering. In 1989, the New York Director of the UN Environment Program said that we had 10 years to solve the CO2 problem or the oceans would rise by three feet (36 inches), the polar ice caps would be gone and New York would be under water. Of course, none of that happened, but does any of that sound familiar?
Most scientists believe that the earth has been around for billions of years, and has sustained life on it for over a billion years. During that time temperatures have risen and fallen with no help from mankind. About 56 million years ago average global temperatures were about 15 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than today, and man was not around to cause it. There have also been at least five ice ages according to Climatologist Cliff Harris and Meteorologist Randy Mann. They also identified a period about 460 million years ago, during the Ordovician Period, when CO2 content in the atmosphere was over 10 times higher than today’s levels while temperatures were the same as our current temps.
And many scientists will admit that they aren’t even sure if CO2 is a cause of warming or a result of it. Even if it is a “cause” it is just one, and a relatively small one, when you compare it to the sun, volcanic activity and El Nino events. If the sun decides to have storms or flares or hot periods there is nothing we can do about it. If the earth’s volcanoes decides to erupt on land or below our oceans, we will just be spectators. If we experience a strong El Nino (warming of the ocean’s waters) there is nothing we can do to prevent it. Our politicians know they can’t convince thinking people that they can control any of these things, so they will try to persuade us that they can tinker with CO2 levels and regulate the world’s temperature level as easily as they control their thermostats.
And even if CO2 contributes to global warming, remember two things. First, if all of the commitments of the Paris Accord are recognized, scientists “hope” to prevent a two degree centigrade (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) rise in temperature over the next 100 years. Given the temperature changes the earth has experienced over the last three or four thousand years, it is ludicrous to make that projection with any amount of certainty. Second, I will guarantee that the earth will still be here in 11 years, despite the threats made by that brilliant climatologist and bar tender Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC). I will also guarantee that in 11 years some politician will suggest, once again, that unless we dramatically change our ways by 2040 or 2050, we will be doomed. And on it will go until we figure out that they are Lucy with the football, and we are Charlie Brown.
Finally, we must remember that we are talking about “global” warming, and the world’s worst offender in terms of CO2 emissions is China! In fact, China releases twice the absolute amount of CO2 into the atmosphere as the United States despite having a much smaller economy. Why should the Paris Accord allow China, the worst emitter of CO2 in the world by far, to continue increasing their emissions until 2030? Isn’t that past “the point of no return” according to AOC and Bernie Sanders? And after 2030 do you really believe China will keep their promises? They’ve done so well in the “promise keeping” area for the last 50 years, haven’t they?
While the rest of the world has increased their emissions by over 60% since 1990, The United States has maintained its emissions at 1990 levels. But Bernie, AOC and the rest of the Democrat party want us to destroy our economy and give up virtually all of our freedoms to get to net zero carbon emissions. This would take us back to the stone ages while China blows past us economically and replaces us as the only Superpower left on the planet. Do we really want to doom our children and grandchildren to a world where China is calling the shots.
Should we be good stewards of our world? Of course we should. Should we encourage other countries to do the same? Of course we should. Should we finance every other country’s efforts and commit economic Hara-kiri in the process? Of course not. But it is amazing what some politicians will promise to get elected today, even if it guarantees national servitude in the future, as long as that future is far enough away for them to be long gone. How many of us will be around in 2100 to measure the actual results vs. the draconian projections?
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
"Celebration"
Celebrate Good Times, Come On!!
“Celebration” - Kool & The Gang - 1979
The View from the Middle
This last Saturday night I was watching the Auburn Tigers play the Oregon Ducks in the most important college football game of the day. Oregon was ranked #11 in the country and Auburn was ranked #16. It was a big enough game to be played at a neutral site, Cowboys Stadium in Texas, and at prime time Saturday night. I was expecting a good game and hoping for an Auburn win, and in the end I wasn’t disappointed.
Auburn was starting a true Freshman quarterback and got behind quickly. Oregon was leading at halftime 14-3, and things were looking even worse early in the third quarter when Oregon went up 21-6. But I’ve known Auburn head coach, Gus Malzahn, since 1996 when he was hired as head coach at Shiloh High School here in Arkansas, and I’ve learned to never give up on Gus. He has figured out how to win at every level and under some unbelievable circumstances. He won two state championships with Shiloh and one at Springdale High School in 2005 when many argued that the Bulldogs were the best high school team in the country. Since going to Auburn, Gus is 63-30 in the brutal Western Division of the SEC which includes Alabama, LSU and Texas A&M. I firmly believe that Malzahn will win a national championship at Auburn someday.
And Gus and the Tigers did not disappoint Saturday night. Auburn clawed their way back and shut out the Ducks for the last 24 minutes of the game. And while the defense was blanking the Ducks, the offense was scoring the last 21 consecutive points to put the Tigers up 27 to 21. This is where the problem actually started for me.
The final play of the game for Auburn was a 26 yard touchdown pass from Freshman QB, Bo Nix, to Sophomore wide receiver Seth Williams with just nine seconds to play. This was probably the biggest play in Seth’s young life and as you might imagine, he was excited and he threw the ball down in celebration. Not a windmill spike where the ball bounced twenty feet in the air or even an taunting ball spin followed by Michael Jackson like dance moves. Just a simple toss of the ball down to the ground, for which he and the Tigers were accessed a 15 yard penalty. Really? 15 yards for that?
Let me explain the implications and make some comparisons. First, this meant that Auburn would have to kick off from their own 20 yard line instead of the 35 which is normal. This makes a kickoff for a touchback an impossibility and almost guarantees good field position for the team returning that kickoff. Even an average kickoff return would have given Oregon at least one good shot at the end zone. In this case, Oregon returned the kickoff all the way to the Auburn 35 which gave them a pretty reasonable shot at a last second touchdown. That’s 40 yards closer than a touchback which would have placed the ball on Oregon’s 25.
Did Seth Williams or Auburn really deserve that kind of penalty for a simple celebration like this? Does the punishment fit the crime? Most other 15 yard penalties like spearing, targeting, roughing the passer or throwing a chop block are intended to protect players from serious injury. Does tossing the ball to the ground after an amazing touchdown really belong in the same category as these fouls. Does it even deserve to be penalized at all.
These days it seems like every sack of the quarterback results in a strutting, chest pounding exhibition by the defensive player. In fact, it seems like there isn’t a tackle anywhere on the field that can’t result in a floor show worthy of Vegas. And none of these self-adulating demonstrations calls for a penalty of any kind.
And when do the celebratory violations, like Seth’s, occur? Often they are at the end of very close games after long, and I might add, amazing touchdowns. The Hippocratic oath of officiating is that the referees, “should not determine the outcome of a game.” It should be the athletes on the field that make that determination, and happily in this case the end result was not affected.
But one of these days an excited young ballplayer is going to instinctively throw the ball to the ground or, heaven forbid, into the stands and a 15 yard penalty is going to be accessed. Let’s say that team has only a one or two point lead and the improved field position allows the other team to kick a field goal on the last play of the game to steal a victory from a team that really deserved to win. In a case like that, the referees would have violated their “prime directive”.
Do we have to wait until this shameful circumstance actually occurs, or should the NCAA change this ridiculous rule right now. I say either eliminate the rule altogether right now, or at least change it to a “delay of game” (5 yard) penalty. If you want to discourage the outlandish spectacles of “team bowling pins” or staged “photo shoots”, give referees the flexibility to penalize teams for “excessive” celebration. This would be a judgement call. I’m not sure we can define every possibility, but it’s like pornography, we’ll know it when we see it.
“Celebration” - Kool & The Gang - 1979
The View from the Middle
This last Saturday night I was watching the Auburn Tigers play the Oregon Ducks in the most important college football game of the day. Oregon was ranked #11 in the country and Auburn was ranked #16. It was a big enough game to be played at a neutral site, Cowboys Stadium in Texas, and at prime time Saturday night. I was expecting a good game and hoping for an Auburn win, and in the end I wasn’t disappointed.
Auburn was starting a true Freshman quarterback and got behind quickly. Oregon was leading at halftime 14-3, and things were looking even worse early in the third quarter when Oregon went up 21-6. But I’ve known Auburn head coach, Gus Malzahn, since 1996 when he was hired as head coach at Shiloh High School here in Arkansas, and I’ve learned to never give up on Gus. He has figured out how to win at every level and under some unbelievable circumstances. He won two state championships with Shiloh and one at Springdale High School in 2005 when many argued that the Bulldogs were the best high school team in the country. Since going to Auburn, Gus is 63-30 in the brutal Western Division of the SEC which includes Alabama, LSU and Texas A&M. I firmly believe that Malzahn will win a national championship at Auburn someday.
And Gus and the Tigers did not disappoint Saturday night. Auburn clawed their way back and shut out the Ducks for the last 24 minutes of the game. And while the defense was blanking the Ducks, the offense was scoring the last 21 consecutive points to put the Tigers up 27 to 21. This is where the problem actually started for me.
The final play of the game for Auburn was a 26 yard touchdown pass from Freshman QB, Bo Nix, to Sophomore wide receiver Seth Williams with just nine seconds to play. This was probably the biggest play in Seth’s young life and as you might imagine, he was excited and he threw the ball down in celebration. Not a windmill spike where the ball bounced twenty feet in the air or even an taunting ball spin followed by Michael Jackson like dance moves. Just a simple toss of the ball down to the ground, for which he and the Tigers were accessed a 15 yard penalty. Really? 15 yards for that?
Let me explain the implications and make some comparisons. First, this meant that Auburn would have to kick off from their own 20 yard line instead of the 35 which is normal. This makes a kickoff for a touchback an impossibility and almost guarantees good field position for the team returning that kickoff. Even an average kickoff return would have given Oregon at least one good shot at the end zone. In this case, Oregon returned the kickoff all the way to the Auburn 35 which gave them a pretty reasonable shot at a last second touchdown. That’s 40 yards closer than a touchback which would have placed the ball on Oregon’s 25.
Did Seth Williams or Auburn really deserve that kind of penalty for a simple celebration like this? Does the punishment fit the crime? Most other 15 yard penalties like spearing, targeting, roughing the passer or throwing a chop block are intended to protect players from serious injury. Does tossing the ball to the ground after an amazing touchdown really belong in the same category as these fouls. Does it even deserve to be penalized at all.
These days it seems like every sack of the quarterback results in a strutting, chest pounding exhibition by the defensive player. In fact, it seems like there isn’t a tackle anywhere on the field that can’t result in a floor show worthy of Vegas. And none of these self-adulating demonstrations calls for a penalty of any kind.
And when do the celebratory violations, like Seth’s, occur? Often they are at the end of very close games after long, and I might add, amazing touchdowns. The Hippocratic oath of officiating is that the referees, “should not determine the outcome of a game.” It should be the athletes on the field that make that determination, and happily in this case the end result was not affected.
But one of these days an excited young ballplayer is going to instinctively throw the ball to the ground or, heaven forbid, into the stands and a 15 yard penalty is going to be accessed. Let’s say that team has only a one or two point lead and the improved field position allows the other team to kick a field goal on the last play of the game to steal a victory from a team that really deserved to win. In a case like that, the referees would have violated their “prime directive”.
Do we have to wait until this shameful circumstance actually occurs, or should the NCAA change this ridiculous rule right now. I say either eliminate the rule altogether right now, or at least change it to a “delay of game” (5 yard) penalty. If you want to discourage the outlandish spectacles of “team bowling pins” or staged “photo shoots”, give referees the flexibility to penalize teams for “excessive” celebration. This would be a judgement call. I’m not sure we can define every possibility, but it’s like pornography, we’ll know it when we see it.
Friday, August 30, 2019
Bernie's Green New Deal
Bernie’s Green New Sham
The View from the Middle
Have you read Bernie Sanders’ “Green New Deal” proposal? It’s only 48 pages long and is, if nothing else, entertaining. My first impression was that it is the most blatant and massive vote-buying scheme ever perpetrated on the American public. Imagine the number of votes you could buy with $16.3 Trillion. That’s over $50,000 per person in the United States. Oh, but his real price tag is much higher than that. In his opening paragraph he states that, “we must guarantee health care, housing and a good paying job to every American.” We know that “Medicare for all” will cost the country (us, because the government has no money) $32 Trillion over 10 years. Consequently, we also know that it can’t be included in his $16 Trillion price tag. I tried to add up all the spending in Bernie’s scheme, and after my calculator stopped smoking, I estimated that Bernie’s plan will exceed the $93 Trillion cost of AOC’s fantasyland plan which didn’t receive a single vote in the Senate. Even the Democrat co-sponsor of this bill, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, only voted “present”.
The good news for Bernie is that he will have no problem getting his agenda enacted, because it appears that he is not actually running for President, but King. The words “Bernie will” do this or that appears over 25 times in this document. Congress is only mentioned a few times and only to criticize them, never to suggest that they would actually “do” anything. But being King of The United States is apparently too small of a job for Bernie. His proposal states that, “Bernie will convene global leaders to redirect our priorities to confront our shared enemy: climate change.” The only way that Bernie will “convene” world leaders is to pay them off, which he is totally willing to do.
He will, of course, recommit The United States to the Paris Agreement and a $200 billion contribution to the Green Climate Fund. So far, all other counties combined have only committed to seven billion dollars. Obviously, Bernie has no problem committing and spending our money. If this $200 billion was going to be the total amount given to this fund, America would be providing over 95% of the fund’s resources. However, the Director of that fund has already stated that the fund would quickly require over $450 billion “a year”. That would cost us over $4 Trillion over ten years if America continues to provide over 95% of that fund and I’m betting the Bernie has conveniently left that out of his $16 Trillion tab for you and me (because the government has NO money).
Besides the spending, which should scare us all to death, there are other HUGE problems with Bernie’s delusion. Parts of it are actually unconstitutional. Let’s put the idea that Bernie wants to be king aside. Throughout his “Deal” Bernie says he is going to prioritize all of this spending to “people of color” and native Americans. He doesn’t say that he is going to insure equal access or equal opportunity. This should buy some African American and Native American votes, but when whites and Asians realize that they are being disadvantaged (discriminated against) just because of the color of their skin or national heritage, I envision millions of lawsuits - because that is illegal!
Another major problem with this nightmare New Deal is the amount of control that Bernie wants to give to our already inept, corrupt and convoluted government. A quick perusal reveals that Bernie wants complete government control of our healthcare, energy, agriculture, auto and construction industries. That’s about 50% of our entire economy. And once it controls 50% of our economy it will be a $15 Trillion per year monster, which no one will dare challenge or even question. Do we really want Bernie to tell us what kind of healthcare we can have, or what kind of car we can buy or even what kind of food we can eat? At a time when trust in government is at an all-time low, according to Gallup, do we really want to it this kind of unbridled power?
But there is some good news for Bernie in his New Green Deal. It is so outrageous, so farcical and so impossible to implement, he knows that he will never be held accountable for any of these political promises. Remember, not a single Senator, Republican or Democrat, voted for the AOC Green Deal, and Bernie’s is even more fantastical. Not only will Bernie never get this bill through Congress, I can’t think of a single major plank of his plan that would even be proposed.
I will make a daring prediction right now and suggest that Bernie, with this kind of bizarre thinking, will never become President. He can make all the promises he wants to buy as many votes as he can, but he knows he will never have to fulfill those promises. And even if he were to become President, if all the other candidates and Trump were to pass away between now and November of 2020, he will just blame his broken promises on Congress.
Finally, if you are careful and thoughtful as you read this New Deal sham, you will realize there are no promises of how this will affect the world’s climate. This is because Bernie either doesn’t know or projections are so infinitesimal that even he would be embarrassed to state them.
The View from the Middle
Have you read Bernie Sanders’ “Green New Deal” proposal? It’s only 48 pages long and is, if nothing else, entertaining. My first impression was that it is the most blatant and massive vote-buying scheme ever perpetrated on the American public. Imagine the number of votes you could buy with $16.3 Trillion. That’s over $50,000 per person in the United States. Oh, but his real price tag is much higher than that. In his opening paragraph he states that, “we must guarantee health care, housing and a good paying job to every American.” We know that “Medicare for all” will cost the country (us, because the government has no money) $32 Trillion over 10 years. Consequently, we also know that it can’t be included in his $16 Trillion price tag. I tried to add up all the spending in Bernie’s scheme, and after my calculator stopped smoking, I estimated that Bernie’s plan will exceed the $93 Trillion cost of AOC’s fantasyland plan which didn’t receive a single vote in the Senate. Even the Democrat co-sponsor of this bill, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, only voted “present”.
The good news for Bernie is that he will have no problem getting his agenda enacted, because it appears that he is not actually running for President, but King. The words “Bernie will” do this or that appears over 25 times in this document. Congress is only mentioned a few times and only to criticize them, never to suggest that they would actually “do” anything. But being King of The United States is apparently too small of a job for Bernie. His proposal states that, “Bernie will convene global leaders to redirect our priorities to confront our shared enemy: climate change.” The only way that Bernie will “convene” world leaders is to pay them off, which he is totally willing to do.
He will, of course, recommit The United States to the Paris Agreement and a $200 billion contribution to the Green Climate Fund. So far, all other counties combined have only committed to seven billion dollars. Obviously, Bernie has no problem committing and spending our money. If this $200 billion was going to be the total amount given to this fund, America would be providing over 95% of the fund’s resources. However, the Director of that fund has already stated that the fund would quickly require over $450 billion “a year”. That would cost us over $4 Trillion over ten years if America continues to provide over 95% of that fund and I’m betting the Bernie has conveniently left that out of his $16 Trillion tab for you and me (because the government has NO money).
Besides the spending, which should scare us all to death, there are other HUGE problems with Bernie’s delusion. Parts of it are actually unconstitutional. Let’s put the idea that Bernie wants to be king aside. Throughout his “Deal” Bernie says he is going to prioritize all of this spending to “people of color” and native Americans. He doesn’t say that he is going to insure equal access or equal opportunity. This should buy some African American and Native American votes, but when whites and Asians realize that they are being disadvantaged (discriminated against) just because of the color of their skin or national heritage, I envision millions of lawsuits - because that is illegal!
Another major problem with this nightmare New Deal is the amount of control that Bernie wants to give to our already inept, corrupt and convoluted government. A quick perusal reveals that Bernie wants complete government control of our healthcare, energy, agriculture, auto and construction industries. That’s about 50% of our entire economy. And once it controls 50% of our economy it will be a $15 Trillion per year monster, which no one will dare challenge or even question. Do we really want Bernie to tell us what kind of healthcare we can have, or what kind of car we can buy or even what kind of food we can eat? At a time when trust in government is at an all-time low, according to Gallup, do we really want to it this kind of unbridled power?
But there is some good news for Bernie in his New Green Deal. It is so outrageous, so farcical and so impossible to implement, he knows that he will never be held accountable for any of these political promises. Remember, not a single Senator, Republican or Democrat, voted for the AOC Green Deal, and Bernie’s is even more fantastical. Not only will Bernie never get this bill through Congress, I can’t think of a single major plank of his plan that would even be proposed.
I will make a daring prediction right now and suggest that Bernie, with this kind of bizarre thinking, will never become President. He can make all the promises he wants to buy as many votes as he can, but he knows he will never have to fulfill those promises. And even if he were to become President, if all the other candidates and Trump were to pass away between now and November of 2020, he will just blame his broken promises on Congress.
Finally, if you are careful and thoughtful as you read this New Deal sham, you will realize there are no promises of how this will affect the world’s climate. This is because Bernie either doesn’t know or projections are so infinitesimal that even he would be embarrassed to state them.
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Note to AOC and the Squad - America IS Great
Note to AOC and The Squad – America is Great!
The View from the Middle
One of my favorite Presidents, Abraham Lincoln, famously said, “If you look for the bad in people, expecting to find it, you surely will.” And the same can be said for countries. No country is perfect. In fact, every country has blemishes throughout their histories that have delivered them to their current state. And, if you focused only on their flaws, no country would seem worthy of existence today. Somalia, which Ilhan Omar left to come to the United States, has plenty of warts in its history and even current state, lest Ms. Omar would not have left there to come here. Puerto Rico, home of AOC’s parents, certainly doesn’t boast of a perfect history and is not flawless today, otherwise they would have stayed there. Finally, the Palestinians, whom Rashida Tlaib defends, support the likes of Hamas who celebrates suicide bombers and lobs Scud missiles into Israeli neighborhoods.
Yet these three, plus Ayanna Pressley, which make up “the squad”, constantly tear down The United States by focusing only on and even exaggerating our imperfections. So, today I offer some balance to their false argument by shining the light of truth on America’s rich history.
No matter what the New York Times tries to tell you, this country, this Republic did not even begin to form until Thomas Jefferson composed The Declaration of Independence which informed King George III of our intent to separate from the Great Britain and launch a new nation. I believe that Jefferson knew exactly what he was saying when he wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”. He knew this was not even true in this new country at the time, but he also knew that these words would someday demand the abolition of slavery here. And, this was just the beginning of America's great history.
In 1861 our country entered into a Civil War which had the elimination of slavery in our Republic at its heart. Hundreds of thousands of men and women, both black and white lost their lives to make this new “free” country a reality. Both The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, and the 13th Amendment to our constitution, which was written in 1864 were products of this epic conflict. You can argue that all of this was just the first step in a realization of the true meaning of Jefferson’s words.
Over the next 100 years, as we struggled as a nation to refine the true intent of America’s promise, we defeated the likes of Jim Crow and prejudice as we marched on a continuing path towards real freedom and equal opportunity for all. And exactly 100 years after the 13th Amendment was passed, our Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This was not the end of our journey, but just another step in the direction of true liberty for all of our citizens. This relentless pursuit of freedom for all is just another reason why this country is so great.
And while we were pursuing a more perfect realization of our founding values, we were using our free people and free markets to establish the greatest economy the world has ever known. Today, for example, our annual economy exceeds $20 Trillion or over 24% of the world’s GDP while our population represents only 4% of the world’s 7.7 billion people. And it is our value of “liberty for all” that has unleashed the drive and ingenuity of our people to deliver these results. Let’s be honest. This is a great country.
Of course we should not forget the accomplishments of our armed forces. From the very beginning our military has performed amazingly. In our Revolutionary War and in the war of 1812, the plucky US Army defeated the most powerful military power in the world. During World War I and II we saved Europe and the world from the tyranny of Fascism. Today we have the most powerful and advanced armed forces in the world with more resources than the next nine countries combined. Not too shabby!
On top of all of these social, industrial and military Accomplishments, Americans are also the most compassionate and giving people on earth. We give about $400 billion a year to charities. That’s three and a half times per capita as much as the French, seven times more than the Germans and 14 times more than the Italians and maybe 100 times more generous than the Chinese (do they care about anyone but themselves?). On top of this, our government gives $40 billion to over 100 countries in our names (the government actually has NO money). I’m really proud of how Americans share their prosperity.
Maybe that’s why more people are trying to immigrate to this country, both legally and illegally, than any other country in the world. If the United States of America was so terrible, why would millions of people literally risk their lives to come here every year? Why did Ilhan Omar come here? Why did AOC’s parents come here? Why is Rashida Tlaib here? I believe that America is the most wonderful country in the world, and I’m glad that I was fortunate enough to be born here. It is not perfect, but we have made great strides in our first 243 years and I have faith that we will continue to get better as we strive to create a country in which, “All men are created equal, (and) that they are endowed by (our) Creator with certain unalienable rights, (and) that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
The View from the Middle
One of my favorite Presidents, Abraham Lincoln, famously said, “If you look for the bad in people, expecting to find it, you surely will.” And the same can be said for countries. No country is perfect. In fact, every country has blemishes throughout their histories that have delivered them to their current state. And, if you focused only on their flaws, no country would seem worthy of existence today. Somalia, which Ilhan Omar left to come to the United States, has plenty of warts in its history and even current state, lest Ms. Omar would not have left there to come here. Puerto Rico, home of AOC’s parents, certainly doesn’t boast of a perfect history and is not flawless today, otherwise they would have stayed there. Finally, the Palestinians, whom Rashida Tlaib defends, support the likes of Hamas who celebrates suicide bombers and lobs Scud missiles into Israeli neighborhoods.
Yet these three, plus Ayanna Pressley, which make up “the squad”, constantly tear down The United States by focusing only on and even exaggerating our imperfections. So, today I offer some balance to their false argument by shining the light of truth on America’s rich history.
No matter what the New York Times tries to tell you, this country, this Republic did not even begin to form until Thomas Jefferson composed The Declaration of Independence which informed King George III of our intent to separate from the Great Britain and launch a new nation. I believe that Jefferson knew exactly what he was saying when he wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”. He knew this was not even true in this new country at the time, but he also knew that these words would someday demand the abolition of slavery here. And, this was just the beginning of America's great history.
In 1861 our country entered into a Civil War which had the elimination of slavery in our Republic at its heart. Hundreds of thousands of men and women, both black and white lost their lives to make this new “free” country a reality. Both The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, and the 13th Amendment to our constitution, which was written in 1864 were products of this epic conflict. You can argue that all of this was just the first step in a realization of the true meaning of Jefferson’s words.
Over the next 100 years, as we struggled as a nation to refine the true intent of America’s promise, we defeated the likes of Jim Crow and prejudice as we marched on a continuing path towards real freedom and equal opportunity for all. And exactly 100 years after the 13th Amendment was passed, our Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This was not the end of our journey, but just another step in the direction of true liberty for all of our citizens. This relentless pursuit of freedom for all is just another reason why this country is so great.
And while we were pursuing a more perfect realization of our founding values, we were using our free people and free markets to establish the greatest economy the world has ever known. Today, for example, our annual economy exceeds $20 Trillion or over 24% of the world’s GDP while our population represents only 4% of the world’s 7.7 billion people. And it is our value of “liberty for all” that has unleashed the drive and ingenuity of our people to deliver these results. Let’s be honest. This is a great country.
Of course we should not forget the accomplishments of our armed forces. From the very beginning our military has performed amazingly. In our Revolutionary War and in the war of 1812, the plucky US Army defeated the most powerful military power in the world. During World War I and II we saved Europe and the world from the tyranny of Fascism. Today we have the most powerful and advanced armed forces in the world with more resources than the next nine countries combined. Not too shabby!
On top of all of these social, industrial and military Accomplishments, Americans are also the most compassionate and giving people on earth. We give about $400 billion a year to charities. That’s three and a half times per capita as much as the French, seven times more than the Germans and 14 times more than the Italians and maybe 100 times more generous than the Chinese (do they care about anyone but themselves?). On top of this, our government gives $40 billion to over 100 countries in our names (the government actually has NO money). I’m really proud of how Americans share their prosperity.
Maybe that’s why more people are trying to immigrate to this country, both legally and illegally, than any other country in the world. If the United States of America was so terrible, why would millions of people literally risk their lives to come here every year? Why did Ilhan Omar come here? Why did AOC’s parents come here? Why is Rashida Tlaib here? I believe that America is the most wonderful country in the world, and I’m glad that I was fortunate enough to be born here. It is not perfect, but we have made great strides in our first 243 years and I have faith that we will continue to get better as we strive to create a country in which, “All men are created equal, (and) that they are endowed by (our) Creator with certain unalienable rights, (and) that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
Friday, August 9, 2019
The Dems Great Miscalculation
The Dems Great Miscalculation
The View from the Middle
It all started on September 10th, 2016 at a fundraiser in New York City. Hillary Clinton stated that you could put half of Donald Trump’s supporters into what she called a “basket of deplorables”. She called his backers racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and Islamaphobic. Since she knew that there was no way to know which half any Trump voter was in, she was, in effect, insulting every Trump supporter with her elitist, multi-syllabic slurs. She either felt that she didn’t need their votes so she spewed this toxic, filthy, disgusting rhetoric to inflame her base. OR, she actually believed she could spit in people’s faces one day and convince them to vote for her the next. Either way, her official campaign strategy became the disparagement of Donald Trump and half of America. She was accusing over 60 million people of the most despicable behavior on earth and of having a fundamental lack of humanity. Good strategy!
I think I can speak for every person put in that basket of deplorables when I say that I was insulted, saddened and even shocked that a person who was running for President of all of the people of America could have so little regard for so many of us. In fact, wasn’t she modeling the exact behavior that she was accusing Trump of exhibiting? Certainly not. That would be hypocritical, and we know that type of behavior doesn’t exist in Washington.
But what is even sadder is that virtually every Democrat and the mainstream media (but, I repeat myself) has embraced this strategy. Don Lemon, supposedly a news person at CNN, said that “anyone who supports Donald Trump is complicit in racism”. Joe Scarborough, also of CNN, went through a long and torturous explanation of why Donald Trump is a racist and every Trump supporter must also be one. And, as you might guess, MSNBC is replete with hosts, like Chris Hayes, and guests, like Tiffany Cross who demagogue with the same story line. It never ceases to amaze me that these people can denounce hatred and bigotry while exhibiting that exact same behavior.
And it appears the Joe Biden, currently the Democrats’ leading Presidential candidate, is also adopting this same strategy. Back in 2012, Biden told a largely black audience that Republicans wanted to “put y’all back in chains”. That statement is beyond mere exaggeration. It is specious, malicious and inflammatory, and Joe knows it. More recently Joe claimed that Republicans wanted to, “bring back Jim Crow.” It is astonishing that Joe could say this, while at the same time accusing Republicans of fearmongering. Isn’t that the very definition of hypocrisy? Certainly not, right?
And finally, to put the icing on this disgusting, slanderous cake, I give you Joaquin Castro. Joaquin is the twin brother and campaign manager for Julian Castro who is a Democrat candidate for President and past mayor of San Antonio. Joaquin listed the names and work places of forty-four Trump contributors putting them at risk of financial and even physical harm. And Julian wants to be President of all the people of this great country? He, and his party, preach tolerance and condemn hatred in one breath and spew bigotry and hostility in the next.
The Democrat Party miscalculation is twofold. First, they have abandoned all realistic policy positions and embraced delusional, utopian policies like guaranteed incomes, free everything and fantasies like the green new deal. Second, they seem to believe that they can attract voters by insulting them. This is not a winning strategy. Even if you love the Democrat Party, the party of my father and John Kennedy, the only way to save it is to reject its platform of hatred, hypocrisy and a two-tiered system of justice. I believe we are seeing signs of that rejection right now. If Trump is re-elected in 2020, Democrats will have no one to blame but themselves.
The View from the Middle
It all started on September 10th, 2016 at a fundraiser in New York City. Hillary Clinton stated that you could put half of Donald Trump’s supporters into what she called a “basket of deplorables”. She called his backers racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and Islamaphobic. Since she knew that there was no way to know which half any Trump voter was in, she was, in effect, insulting every Trump supporter with her elitist, multi-syllabic slurs. She either felt that she didn’t need their votes so she spewed this toxic, filthy, disgusting rhetoric to inflame her base. OR, she actually believed she could spit in people’s faces one day and convince them to vote for her the next. Either way, her official campaign strategy became the disparagement of Donald Trump and half of America. She was accusing over 60 million people of the most despicable behavior on earth and of having a fundamental lack of humanity. Good strategy!
I think I can speak for every person put in that basket of deplorables when I say that I was insulted, saddened and even shocked that a person who was running for President of all of the people of America could have so little regard for so many of us. In fact, wasn’t she modeling the exact behavior that she was accusing Trump of exhibiting? Certainly not. That would be hypocritical, and we know that type of behavior doesn’t exist in Washington.
But what is even sadder is that virtually every Democrat and the mainstream media (but, I repeat myself) has embraced this strategy. Don Lemon, supposedly a news person at CNN, said that “anyone who supports Donald Trump is complicit in racism”. Joe Scarborough, also of CNN, went through a long and torturous explanation of why Donald Trump is a racist and every Trump supporter must also be one. And, as you might guess, MSNBC is replete with hosts, like Chris Hayes, and guests, like Tiffany Cross who demagogue with the same story line. It never ceases to amaze me that these people can denounce hatred and bigotry while exhibiting that exact same behavior.
And it appears the Joe Biden, currently the Democrats’ leading Presidential candidate, is also adopting this same strategy. Back in 2012, Biden told a largely black audience that Republicans wanted to “put y’all back in chains”. That statement is beyond mere exaggeration. It is specious, malicious and inflammatory, and Joe knows it. More recently Joe claimed that Republicans wanted to, “bring back Jim Crow.” It is astonishing that Joe could say this, while at the same time accusing Republicans of fearmongering. Isn’t that the very definition of hypocrisy? Certainly not, right?
And finally, to put the icing on this disgusting, slanderous cake, I give you Joaquin Castro. Joaquin is the twin brother and campaign manager for Julian Castro who is a Democrat candidate for President and past mayor of San Antonio. Joaquin listed the names and work places of forty-four Trump contributors putting them at risk of financial and even physical harm. And Julian wants to be President of all the people of this great country? He, and his party, preach tolerance and condemn hatred in one breath and spew bigotry and hostility in the next.
The Democrat Party miscalculation is twofold. First, they have abandoned all realistic policy positions and embraced delusional, utopian policies like guaranteed incomes, free everything and fantasies like the green new deal. Second, they seem to believe that they can attract voters by insulting them. This is not a winning strategy. Even if you love the Democrat Party, the party of my father and John Kennedy, the only way to save it is to reject its platform of hatred, hypocrisy and a two-tiered system of justice. I believe we are seeing signs of that rejection right now. If Trump is re-elected in 2020, Democrats will have no one to blame but themselves.
Thursday, August 1, 2019
AOC's Big Lie
AOC and Her “Big Lie”
The View from the Middle
During WWII, Adolph Hitler appointed a man named Joseph Goebbels to the position of Minister of Propaganda. His job was to convince German citizens and then the world that the actions of the Nazi party were noble and the real enemy was the Jews. Goebbels invented a new and very effective strategy called “the big lie”. According to Goebbels, “if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually believe it.” This despicable technique was and is so effective that some unscrupulous people still use it today.
I think the best example of a “big lie” today is when Alexandria Ocasio Cortez equates the detention centers on our southern border to concentration camps in (ironically) Nazi Germany. Ted Koppel, hardly a right-wing journalist, recently wrote a column politely criticizing AOC’s equation. He called her comparison of the US detention facilities on our southern border to concentration camps in Nazi Germany a “facile (shallow) analogy” and added that he believed they were rash and overheated. I’ll go a step further. I’ll call her comparisons an intentional lie. I will suggest that even she, a pampered 29-year-old, knows the real difference and if she doesn’t she just needs to read a book or look at a few pictures of emaciated prisoners from the second world war to understand.
Most of us have seen the pictures of the actual living conditions in the detainment facilities in Texas, Arizona and California and we’ve seen pictures and even some videos of the deplorable conditions in Auschwitz, Dachau and Treblinka, the most infamous of the Nazi death camps. I’m going to go a step farther than Ted Koppel and call her comparisons ridiculous, irresponsible and even dangerous.
I’ve searched the archives of the Nazi concentration camps and didn’t find a single reference of these facilities having big screen TV’s for their prisoners to watch. Yet, I have seen repeated reports of the detainees on our southern border watching the latest soccer matches and playing video games on bigger and nicer TV’s than the average American can afford.
I’ve seen the examples of the good hygiene welcome packages that internees on our southern border receive. They contain toothpaste, a toothbrush, soap and shampoo. I’ve even seen videos of these detainees being checked by dentists and doctors. I’m pretty sure the inhabitants of Treblinka didn’t receive such welcome packets. In fact I cringe at the absurdity of that remark. If there were doctors at Dachau they weren’t there with the well-being of the prisoners in mind. Doctors like Josef Mengele performed experiments on the Jews, Catholics, Gypsies and homosexual occupants of Auschwitz.
And, of course, we must remember that the people who were eventually imprisoned at Treblinka, Auschwitz and Dachau were not trying to get into Germany or Poland or other Nazi occupied territories. If anything, they were trying to get out!! The people on our southern border are trying to sneak in to this country and flee the poverty, violence and oppression of their home countries. For most, if not all of these people who are illegally crossing our borders, these facilities with three meals a day, exercise yards and protection from the elements must look like an oasis compared to the conditions they left or the dangers of the treacherous journey they had to make to get here.
Finally, to compare the guards and other workers at the US detention facilities to the guards at Treblinka, Auschwitz and Dachau is also absurd. The watchmen in these camps were famous for their cruel, inhumane and even sadistic treatment of their prisoners. The stories are so horrific, I won’t even give examples here to save my reading audience from the revulsion they would experience. The US guards are doing the very best they can with the limited funds they have, and working in facilities that were not designed to handle the number of people who are now flooding over our border.
Tragically, there have been some deaths on our southern border. A young girl drowned as she and her father tried to cross the Rio Grande. Since 2003 there have been 188 deaths and each one is tragic. However, in the Nazi concentration camps there were 11 million people systematically exterminated in just the seven years between 1938 and 1945. These people didn’t die from “poor treatment” or “spotty oversight”. Any comparison of these two realities is just preposterous.
These facilities are not like staying at The Ritz, but to compare them to concentration camps is ludicrous. There are two things we should do to AOC and the like. First, the mainstream media should send a strong message to these people that comments to this effect are inaccurate, reprehensible and even dangerous. Second, we all need to demand that these people do their jobs and change the laws that are encouraging the deluge of illegal entries at our southern border and to properly fund the facilities and workforce that must deal with this humanitarian crisis. If we do not call out the “big lie”, as Joseph Goebbels said, “people will eventually come to believe it.”
The View from the Middle
During WWII, Adolph Hitler appointed a man named Joseph Goebbels to the position of Minister of Propaganda. His job was to convince German citizens and then the world that the actions of the Nazi party were noble and the real enemy was the Jews. Goebbels invented a new and very effective strategy called “the big lie”. According to Goebbels, “if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually believe it.” This despicable technique was and is so effective that some unscrupulous people still use it today.
I think the best example of a “big lie” today is when Alexandria Ocasio Cortez equates the detention centers on our southern border to concentration camps in (ironically) Nazi Germany. Ted Koppel, hardly a right-wing journalist, recently wrote a column politely criticizing AOC’s equation. He called her comparison of the US detention facilities on our southern border to concentration camps in Nazi Germany a “facile (shallow) analogy” and added that he believed they were rash and overheated. I’ll go a step further. I’ll call her comparisons an intentional lie. I will suggest that even she, a pampered 29-year-old, knows the real difference and if she doesn’t she just needs to read a book or look at a few pictures of emaciated prisoners from the second world war to understand.
Most of us have seen the pictures of the actual living conditions in the detainment facilities in Texas, Arizona and California and we’ve seen pictures and even some videos of the deplorable conditions in Auschwitz, Dachau and Treblinka, the most infamous of the Nazi death camps. I’m going to go a step farther than Ted Koppel and call her comparisons ridiculous, irresponsible and even dangerous.
I’ve searched the archives of the Nazi concentration camps and didn’t find a single reference of these facilities having big screen TV’s for their prisoners to watch. Yet, I have seen repeated reports of the detainees on our southern border watching the latest soccer matches and playing video games on bigger and nicer TV’s than the average American can afford.
I’ve seen the examples of the good hygiene welcome packages that internees on our southern border receive. They contain toothpaste, a toothbrush, soap and shampoo. I’ve even seen videos of these detainees being checked by dentists and doctors. I’m pretty sure the inhabitants of Treblinka didn’t receive such welcome packets. In fact I cringe at the absurdity of that remark. If there were doctors at Dachau they weren’t there with the well-being of the prisoners in mind. Doctors like Josef Mengele performed experiments on the Jews, Catholics, Gypsies and homosexual occupants of Auschwitz.
And, of course, we must remember that the people who were eventually imprisoned at Treblinka, Auschwitz and Dachau were not trying to get into Germany or Poland or other Nazi occupied territories. If anything, they were trying to get out!! The people on our southern border are trying to sneak in to this country and flee the poverty, violence and oppression of their home countries. For most, if not all of these people who are illegally crossing our borders, these facilities with three meals a day, exercise yards and protection from the elements must look like an oasis compared to the conditions they left or the dangers of the treacherous journey they had to make to get here.
Finally, to compare the guards and other workers at the US detention facilities to the guards at Treblinka, Auschwitz and Dachau is also absurd. The watchmen in these camps were famous for their cruel, inhumane and even sadistic treatment of their prisoners. The stories are so horrific, I won’t even give examples here to save my reading audience from the revulsion they would experience. The US guards are doing the very best they can with the limited funds they have, and working in facilities that were not designed to handle the number of people who are now flooding over our border.
Tragically, there have been some deaths on our southern border. A young girl drowned as she and her father tried to cross the Rio Grande. Since 2003 there have been 188 deaths and each one is tragic. However, in the Nazi concentration camps there were 11 million people systematically exterminated in just the seven years between 1938 and 1945. These people didn’t die from “poor treatment” or “spotty oversight”. Any comparison of these two realities is just preposterous.
These facilities are not like staying at The Ritz, but to compare them to concentration camps is ludicrous. There are two things we should do to AOC and the like. First, the mainstream media should send a strong message to these people that comments to this effect are inaccurate, reprehensible and even dangerous. Second, we all need to demand that these people do their jobs and change the laws that are encouraging the deluge of illegal entries at our southern border and to properly fund the facilities and workforce that must deal with this humanitarian crisis. If we do not call out the “big lie”, as Joseph Goebbels said, “people will eventually come to believe it.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)