A Critical Look at Critical Race Theory

 A Critical Look at Critical Race Theory

The View from the Middle

 

If you look up the word “theory” in the dictionary, you will find multiple definitions, but there a couple that I think best apply to Critical Race Theory.  One definition states that a theory is “an unproven assumption or conjecture”.  A second suggests that a theory is “an abstract thought or speculation”.  So, before we start teaching this “theory” in our schools, I think it is important for everyone to understand the basic principles and even the many flaws in this theory.

The first and biggest flaw in Critical Race Theory is that it is racist at its core.  It actually turns Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech on its head.  It suggests that EVERYTHING must be viewed through a lens of race.  It insists that white people are racists and bigots and evil because of the color of their skin.  People should not be judged by the content of their character, but simply by the color of their skin.  This theory would take us all back over 200 years and simply switch the race that it deems appropriate to be ridiculed, demeaned and dehumanized.

Critical Race Theory also ignores or denies all the progress that we have made in this country over those last 200 years.  Hiram Rhodes Revels, the first black member of Congress, was elected back in 1870, over 150 years ago (FYI, he was a Republican).  Even in the 1960’s we had only four black members of Congress, but today we have 57 African American members of the House of Representative’s total of 435 members or 13% of that body.  That percentage just happens to perfectly match the African American community’s share of the country’s total population.

In 2008 we elected the first Black President in The United States and Barack Obama was then re-elected for a second term in 2012.  Today, we have our first Black female as Vice President.  I’m sure that all of these members of Congress and Obama received a high percent of the black vote, but none of these people could have been elected without the support of millions of those racist, bigoted, evil white people.

Critical Race Theory also assumes that all Black people are perfect and have never made any poor choices that have resulted in negative consequences in their lives.  Despite the fact that it is illegal to deny anyone an education on the basis of race, young black students are more that 50% more likely to drop out of high school than whites.  Also, across America, almost 40% of our births are out of wedlock.  That is a terrible number for our country, but there are tremendous differences by race.  White births in the US are out of wedlock 28% of the time, which is too high, but young African Americans have children prior to marriage a whopping 69% of the time.  That’s a choice.  There is no gun to the heads of our young people forcing them to have unprotected sex.

The only reason I bring these two stats up is because they are the two most important behaviors that enhance the chances of people ending up living in poverty.  Single parent households, for example are almost six times more likely to live in poverty than two parent households (45% vs 8%), and dropping out of high school only increases that likelihood.  And these two categories represent choices, especially the choice to have children before marriage.  And if you want to argue that public education is systemically racist and put young black children at risk, remember that public schools ARE the government and you should all support “school choice” in education.

The book Cynical Theories points out the flaws of Critical Race Theory this way.  “It is bad psychology to tell people who do not believe that they are racist – who may even actively despise racism – that there is nothing they can do to stop themselves from being racist, and then ask them to help you.”  Prager University points out another flaw with an example – “A man owns a store and two customers come in, one white and one black.  If the store owner addresses the black person first it’s because he doesn’t trust black people in his store, and that’s racist.  If he addresses the white person first it’s because he thinks that black people are second class citizens, and that’s racist.”  That is the definition of a no-win situation and is a very convenient argument for Critical Race Theorists to make.  It is, however, not based on any facts, just emotion.  Abraham Lincoln would put it this way, “If you look for racism in everything you experience, expecting to find it, you surely will.”  Now THAT is a fact, and you will also find racism in some places where it doesn’t even exist.

And now our government is planning to teach this unproven, divisive, destructive “theory” in our schools.  As if our schools aren’t struggling enough already just trying to teach the fundamentals of math and science as we fall further and further behind other countries in the world every year.  Now they intend to turn virtually all students against each other.  Half will be told that they are evil and will never deserve any success they could achieve so they shouldn’t even make the effort.  They will be telling the other half that any negative consequences in their lives are only the result of oppression by the other half whom they will undoubtedly hate.  This train of thought will suggest that they have no personal responsibility for the outcomes in their life.  What all this does is minimize the productivity of every child who will grow up to be equally unproductive adults.

The only good news in this story is that many, many Black thought leaders like Leo Terrell, Dr. Carol Swain, Larry Elder, Thomas Sowell and Pastor Voddie Baucham are vigorously opposing the basic teachings of Critical Race Theory.  And I also support two modern-day Black philosophers who recently came out against hatred and manipulation, Charles Barkley and Tyler Perry.  Charles said that he believes that most White people and Black people are “awesome” and that our politicians (and the media) are just trying to make us hate each other.  They are trying to divide and conquer us.  Tyler Perry announced at the Oscars the he is tired of the hate and he asked everyone to refuse to hate Hispanics, Blacks, White people, LGBTQ and even the police.  He even gave a plug to this blog when he asked people to meet in “The Middle”, away from the extreme fanatics on both sides of the political spectrum where he said “progress is made”.  I certainly can agree with that!

If you really want to hear the solution to Racial Disparity and Discrimination you should read my post from June of last year called "EFFE".  I will re-release that post later next week.

Sir Charles Nails It

 Sir Charles Nails It

The View from the Middle

 

I have often written about the wonder of our country.  Our founders worked and battled and finally compromised to establish a self-correcting Constitution that would deliver the most powerful and free country in the world.  With five simple words in The Declaration of Independence (all men are created equal) they would begin the eradication of slavery in America and eventually deliver the first black President and Vice President of the United States.

The values and principles in those establishing documents has also delivered an amazing citizenry that has won two world wars, dug the Panama Canal and built the Hoover Dam.  And, despite politicians and the media’s attempts to demonize massive groups of people, America has developed the most giving, tolerant and kind people in the world.  I could write thousands of words laying out the progress we have made as a country and a people, but sometimes it is the simple words of a simple and yet wise man that captures the spirit of my argument.

Below is a direct quote from Charles Barkley, Hall of Fame professional basketball player, who described the current situation in our country in a way that is incredibly wise in its brevity, and with which I totally agree. Volumes of historical proof couldn’t say it any better.  Here are his words,

 

CHARLES BARKLEY: Man, I think most white people and black people are great people. I really believe that in my heart, but I think our system is set up where our politicians (and media), whether they’re Republicans or Democrats, are designed to make us not like each other so they can keep their grasp of money and power. 

They divide and conquer. 

I truly believe in my heart most white people and black people are awesome people, but we’re so stupid following our politicians (and media), whether they’re Republicans or Democrats, and their only job is, ‘Hey, let’s make these people not like each other. We don’t live in their neighborhoods, we all got money, let’s make the whites and blacks not like each other, let’s make rich people and poor people not like each other, let’s scramble the middle class. 

I truly believe that in my heart.

 

To be totally honest, I added the (and media) parentheses above. If you want to actually watch the video, here is a link to the video.  Just copy this link into your browser and see Charles deliver his heartfelt analysis.  I couldn’t have said it better with a million words.  Way to go, Charles.!!

 

https://www.cnsnews.com/index.php/blog/craig-bannister/charles-barkley-most-white-people-and-black-people-are-awesome-people

Joe Biden's First Press Conference

 What the Heck Was That?

The View from the Middle

 

I just finished watching Joe Biden’s first press conference of his Presidency and I’m a little jittery.  I have to admit that I had to drink two cups of coffee and take a NoDoz to stay awake.  Before I get into the substance of the press conference, because there was so little of it, let’s talk a little about the format and process of it.

They created a very sterile and stifling environment where all 30 reporters were seated with perfect posture, at least six feet apart, all politely wearing their masks even when they were asking questions.  I should note here that Joe Biden didn’t wear a mask while speaking and no reporter asked him to put it on as they did to Senator Ted Cruz just yesterday.  But I digress.

It was also obvious that they had preselected the questioners and the questions well before the event.  First of all, all of the questions came from friendly (liberal) sources like the AP, CNN, ABC and the other left leaning networks. There was not one question asked by Fox, Newsmax or The New York Post.  And it was clear that Joe knew the questions beforehand, as he frequently shuffled through papers after each question to get to the right page of notes for his answer.  He would then regularly look down and simply read his answer from his prepared notes. 

It was actually kind of amusing at one point when he pulled out a list of infrastructure problems that he said he had his staff prepare.  Of course, he suggested that he didn’t do that in preparation for this press conference, but he just happened to have that list in his coat pocket.  Now, you can believe that he didn’t do this in preparation for today’s press conference if you like, but I don’t.

I would like to see President Biden confront the kind of Press Conferences that President Trump faced on a weekly and sometimes daily basis.  Not only was there not the absolutely rude screaming out of questions (remember Jim Acosta from CNN), but not a single reporter even spoke out of turn.  They weren’t even allowed to raise their hands for fear that Uncle Joe might call on the wrong person and get a question he wasn’t prepared for.  The President suggested at least a couple of times that the battle of the future of the world will be between Democracy and Autocracy (a government of absolute power, like China or Russia), and I agree.  But, it should have occurred to everyone watching this performance that this is exactly the kind of press conference you will find in China or Russia.  No real or difficult questions, no surprises, very little substance and very little truth.

When asked about the filibuster in the Senate, Joe said that it had only been used about 50 times in the first 50 years of its existence.  He then talked about how it had been “abused” just last year over 250 times.  He either forgot or was unaware that the “abuse” he was talking about came from the Democrats, who were the minority party in the Senate last year.  He also didn’t mention that 27 Democrat Senators signed a letter just four years ago suggesting that the elimination of the filibuster would be “the end of Democracy as we know it”.  I agreed with those Democrat Senators then, and now!

He only absolutely lost track of what he was talking about three times during this press conference.  I say “only” because that is probably going to be an acceptable performance for Uncle Joe, while it would have been grounds to invoke the 25^th Amendment for every other President (at least a Republican President).  He also said some absolutely crazy things during this event.  For example, he said that we will need to be building roads three feet higher across the country because of climate change and, I guess, because of the rise of the oceans.  I can’t believe that no one asked a follow-up question to that statement.  Where in the heck did he get that information?  He also said that the vast majority of people at the border were being returned to Mexico right now, while I have it on good authority that 87% are not.  Was that a lie?  Or just another famous Uncle Joe Gaffe?

And as if those crazy statements weren’t enough, he threw in some hyperbolic fearmonger for good measure.  Just minutes after suggesting that he wants to unite the country, Joe suggested that any state that wants to control their own election laws was trying to unleash Jim Crow on steroids, what he called “Jim Eagle” in an attempt to be clever.  Personally, I found this comparison to be pathetic, fraudulent and divisive.  He is suggesting that anyone who disagrees with his definition of election integrity is a racist bigot.  Yah, that kind of rhetoric will bring the country together!

He did, however, manage to improve our rank in the world in regards to infrastructure during his press conference.  When he started talking about infrastructure and was trying to suggest how bad things are here, he stated that the US was ranked 85^th in the world when it comes to infrastructure.  But then two minutes later, when reading his infrastructure cliff notes from his staff, he stated that we were ranked 13^th in the world in that area.  Now THAT is fast work for any President!  Way to go Joe.  We moved up from 85^th to 13^th in two minutes.  How did you do it?

The bottom line is, The United States of America needs and deserves better than this.  The lame-stream media and the Democrat party might allow this President to put training wheels on his press conferences, but Xi Xing Ping, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un will not.  Even his staunchest advocates are calling his performance “fine” and “OK” for a near octogenarian, thus grading him on a curve for his age.  While the media and his party may want to lower the expectations or requirements of our President, the world will not.  Our enemies and even our allies will take advantage of any shortcomings that he exhibits.  Contrary to what Joe thinks, I believe there are 80 million people in this country experiencing buyer’s remorse this morning.

Funity

Funity

The View from the Middle

 

Joe Biden should be very proud.  It isn’t often that Webster’s Dictionary chooses to add a word to their universe of defined terms.  Thanks to Uncle Joe, Webster’s will be adding the word “Funity” to their dictionary (pronounced few-ni-tee).  According to Webster the definition of Funity is “a false promise of Unity” or “a promise made for Unity with no intention of fulfilling that promise.”  At least this is what I’ve heard.  Way to go, Joe.  You are really changing the world, or at least the English language.  Given his refusal or inability to give a press conference (take live questions from reporters) Webster is also looking at adding “Fransparency” to their lexicon.

But let’s be fair.  Uncle Joe richly deserves credit for inspiring these two new words.  As of today, he has only been in office for 49 days, but he is smashing records left and right.  He has yet to give a press conference where he actually answers questions that he hasn’t heard of in advance.  That is a modern-day record.  Way to go, Joe.  Between this and his habit of sleeping in, taking daily naps and his early bed times, Joe is the least transparent and least accessible President in my lifetime.  Say what you will about Donald Trump, he constantly took questions from a hostile press corp.  President Biden (he is still President, right?), you are setting a new low standard for transparency, or “fransparency” in your case.

And his fransparency is nothing compared to his “Funity”.  Candidate Biden didn’t run on closing the Keystone Pipeline, bailing our blue states with your money or sending money for abortions to other countries, but he has done all of those things.  He DID run on a promise to deliver unity to the country, which he immediately broke. 

In his first 49 days he has set another record for signing Executive orders, and this is a record for all past Presidents back to George Washington.  In his first 49 days, he has written 59 Executive Orders.  Now, let’s be clear, signing an Executive order requires zero support from Republicans in office, and I’m sure that’s what he would get if any Republicans were even asked if they supported them.  Let’s also be clear that signing Executive Orders is the opposite of unity.  If fact, signing EO’s is more like the actions of a dictator than a President, and Joe Biden even said so back in October of 2020.  His exact words were, “Things you can't do by executive order unless you're a dictator. We're a democracy. We need consensus."  Joe obviously doesn’t know or has forgotten what the definition of “consensus” is.

Joe has allowed major legislation pass without a single Republican vote.  He met with 10 Republican Senators concerning the $1.9 TRILLION Covid-19 relief package, but Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have passed that bill today without a single Republican vote.  Joe, I know you’re only the President of the United States, but couldn’t you come out and send a message to Nancy and Chuck that there might be some good ideas from Republicans that could have been worked into this bill?  Do you mean to tell me that you couldn’t put something in this bill (or take something out) that would get the support of Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski or Mitt Romney.  To quote you, Joe, “Come on Man!”

And then we have HR1, a bill that will rewrite and federalize election laws across the country.  This bill will make permanent the changes made to accommodate people during the pandemic.  Yes, we set a record for the number of votes cast for both Presidential candidates, but what we did in 2020 was less than perfect.  Should we send out unsolicited ballots to everyone in the United States, which opens the door for ballot harvesting and fraud?  Should we eliminate signature verification?  Of course, we want to maximize participation, but we must also protect the integrity of our elections.  HR1, again, did not get a single Republican vote.  Are there some conservative ideas that could have been added to that bill to get at least some Republican support?  Absolutely!  But maybe Joe has forgotten his promise to deliver unity.  Side note, HR1 will certainly get challenged in the Supreme Court and I predict it will be overthrown.

And, as if signing EO’s and passing legislation without any Republican support isn’t enough, Joe has stooped to using Hillary’s tactic of “character assassination”.  Hillary Clinton put anyone who disagreed with her in her “basket of deplorables” and now Joe has followed her lead just changing her characterization to “Neanderthal”.  This is a small thing and I only bring it up because it absolutely flies in the face of his promise of unity.  

So, whether it is his avalanche of Executive Orders or the totally partisan legislation that is being passed or his disdain for roughly half of America, Joe is failing in his promise to bring this country together, which is a big disappointment to me.  To call out our President with one of his own favorite and really clever quips, “Come on Man”.  Joe you can do better!!

Springsteen's "Meet in the Middle" Message

         Bruce Springsteen has taken a fair amount of criticism for the ad he starred in during the Super Bowl.  The message was that Americans need to, “meet in the middle”.  The commercial was filmed in Lebanon, Kansas, the absolute middle of The United States, and featured a chapel that is open to all Americans all day and every day of the year.  The message is NOT that we should all meet in Kansas and work out our differences.  He is suggesting that we should meet in the center of America’s ideological spectrum, which is certainly in line with The View From the Middle’s message.

Bruce is being criticized because he has been a partisan supporter of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden whose followers boldly claimed to be part of “the resistance” to the Trump administration before he even took office.   The hypocrisy is thick.  Four years ago, their motto was “Resist, Divide and Demonize”, but now those very same people are calling for unity!  And it seems that the message from the Biden administration is not consistent with Mr. Springsteen’s.  It seems clear to me that Biden’s definition of “unity” is that conservatives need to abandon their principles and core beliefs and embrace the ideology of the far left, then we can have unity.  

After running on a “unity” platform, I have seen no sign that President Biden actually plans to deliver on that promise.  His first move was to sign more executive orders in his first two weeks in office than any other President in our country’s history.  This is the opposite of reaching out to the other side of the aisle.  It is the action of an out-of-touch partisan at best or a dictator at the worst.  Next, he could have signaled an attempt at unifying the country by suggesting that the House and Senate drop the unconstitutional and meaningless impeachment of President Trump, but he didn’t.  And now he seems more concerned about allowing transgender boys to play girls’ sports than he does about jobs in the very “middle America” that Mr. Springsteen was talking about, the promised land for our political discourse.

But the final and biggest abandonment of his “unity” promise might be yet to come.  Many of us were encouraged when President Biden met with 10 Republican Senators to discuss the Democrat 1.9 Trillion-dollar Coronavirus relief bill.  There are actually some legitimate concerns about the size and scope of this bill that could and even should be addressed.  For example, Republicans would like the $1,400 stimulus checks to go to a smaller but needier group of citizens, say those individuals making $50,000 a year or couples making $100,000.  This would borrow less money and will reduce the future burden we are piling on our children and grandchildren.  This is NOT a crazy thought and should become part of the compromise bill if uncle Joe actually wants to unite anyone!

Second, this relief bill includes $350 billion to be paid to cities and states across the country.  This is way more than is needed to compensate these localities for the costs of fighting the pandemic.  Everyone knows that this is simply a move to force states like Arkansas and Kansas (the middle of the country) to pay for the fiscally irresponsible states like New York and California.  Again, this is NOT a crazy idea and at a minimum that $350 billion should be reduced if President Biden is serious about seeking bi-partisan solutions.  And finally, there are some serious concerns on both sides of the political aisle that this amount of stimulus will lead to hyper-inflation for the country.  That would hurt low-income and middle-income Americans the most.  Again, this is not a crazy concern.

But the word on the streets of Washington now it that this 1.9 Trillion-dollar bill will be passed without any changes and without a single Republican vote in either house of congress.  If this bill passes with a 51 to 50 vote in the Senate and no change in the 1.9 Trillion-dollar price tag, it will be a slap in the face of every conservative in this country.  The very people he promised to reach out to and to represent.  What part of “unity” does Joe Biden not understand?

But, of course, I still support the message that “The Boss” Bruce Springsteen delivered on Super Bowl Sunday.  I think Republicans are willing to work with Democrats to create compromise, bi-partisan legislation.  Democrats, however, need to stop demonizing everyone who has a different opinion and actually listen to them.  This whole “unity” message may have been a sham from the beginning just to get elected.  But, let’s hope not.

A Glimmer of Hope

 A Glimmer of Hope

The View from the Middle

 

Welcome to the 2021 version of Bizarro world where up is down, wrong is right and division is unity.  We now have a President who spent his entire campaign in his basement bunker and no one knew exactly what he was running on other than the fact that he hated Trump and (supposedly) he wanted to “Unify” the country.  He also suggested that President Trump was acting like a “Dictator” four years ago for signing too many executive orders.  Yet this President has signed more executive orders in one week than any other President in our country’s history.  His 33 executive orders in one week is also more than President Trump signed in his first four months.  It is also more than half of the 55 executive orders Trump signed in his entire first year.

I’m not shocked by any of Biden’s early moves, but then again, I’m kind of a political junkie.  I’m not happy with them, but I’m not shocked.  I was totally surprised, however, by his executive order to shut down the Keystone Pipeline, as was Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. And I was caught a little off guard by his raise of the minimum wage.  Both moves will hurt our economy at a time when we need a boost.  But my biggest disappointment is that this President who ran on “Unity” has gone out of his way to divide this country even more than it already is.

First, he could have signaled to the Majority Leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, to abandon the unconstitutional, extremely divisive and useless impeachment of a President who has already left office.  There were actually no hearings or evidence presented in The House, and Joe could have reached out to the almost 75 million people who voted for Donald Trump and said, “Let’s move forward”, but he chose not to.  Instead he chose to spit in the faces of all of those American citizens whom he says he wants to represent.  This was a real lost opportunity, but there is hope on this front which I will talk about later.

Next, the President could have shut down the move to remove the filibuster in the Senate, where he spent 36 years of his political career.  The filibuster rule requires 60 votes in the Senate to move a bill out of debate and up for a vote.  This is called cloture.  It is a rule that has been in place for over 100 years and is designed to force the Senate to work together to create compromise solutions.  It gives the minority party, whoever that may be, some leverage and allows our country to avoid an “elective despotism” as Thomas Jefferson feared could develop here.  Yes, Joe could have made that unifying gesture, but he didn’t.

But there is a glimmer of hope that we can come together as a people and accomplish great things.  Unfortunately, that glimmer didn’t come from the President who promised unity.  It came from the most unlikely of places – Congress.

First, Rand Paul (R-KY) lead a group of 45 Republican Senators to vote against even having an impeachment trial in the Senate.  This vote failed to pass, of course, but sent a clear signal that the trial of President Trump is Dead on Arrival in the Senate.  Whether these Senators voted to dispose of the trial because it is unconstitutional or because it would be meaningless is irrelevant.  Their vote was in favor of uniting the country and moving us forward.  Kudos to Rand Paul and those Republican Senators.

And hope for unity and sanity was not limited to the Republican side of the aisle. There were two Democrats who stood up and literally called “bullshit” to some of the divisive actions being considered by Chuck Schumer.  When asked about the Democrat Party’s push to eliminate the filibuster, Joe Manchin (D-WV) said, “That’s bullshit”.  He added that, “the whole intention of Congress is…to have a little bit of compromise with the other side.  Our job is to find common and cooling ground…to make something that makes sense.”  Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) joined Senator Manchin in opposition to the elimination of the filibuster, which has put an end to this absolutely divisive action of the authoritarian, socialist left wing of the Democrat Party.

I was heartened by these moves this week and this gives me hope that moderate Democrats and Republicans will also reject the packing of the Supreme Court and statehood for Washington DC.  These proposals are also divisive, partisan ideas that would only be embraced by the “elective despotism” that Jefferson warned of.  Hopefully we are bouncing on the bottom of the partisan, biased, hate-filled barrel and our country can begin its swing back to the unity that has made America the greatest country on earth. 

Judgement Day

The View from the Middle

 

Historians will judge this country’s leaders for years to come.  As George W. Bush often points out, historians are still judging George Washington’s administration as well as his, which actually seems to be viewed more favorably as time goes on.  History will also judge Donald Trump’s Presidency for years to come.  They will consider his accomplishments on the economy, his handling of China and the development of the coronavirus vaccine through Operation Warp Speed.  They will balance that with the stumbles in his rhetoric, his indelicate handling of criticism and his lack of a political countenance.  In 10, 20 or 30 years we will get an idea of where historians will rank this President against his peers outside of the emotional fog of today’s fractured society.

But Donald Trump will not be the only person being judged by history.  Nancy Pelosi will also be analyzed.  Nancy will be remembered as the Impeachment queen for her weaponization and trivialization of that process.  Her abuse of that provision would have James Madison (the Father of our Constitution) rolling over in his grave.  Her members began talking about the impeachment of Donald Trump even before he was inaugurated.  Before she started her first impeachment against the President she boldly stated that she was against impeachment, “unless there’s something so compelling and bipartisan” because it is so divisive to the country.  Yet, that impeachment vote was totally partisan with the exception that two Democrats voted with the Republicans against her articles.

But Nancy wanted the record, so she rammed through another impeachment in just seven days.  She didn’t have time for silly things like witnesses and evidence and investigations or even due process for the President.  What we got instead was one day of emotionally charged and highly partisan rhetoric on both sides of the aisle, which is the perfect environment for irrational thinking and poor decisions.  In fact, since the impeachment vote, evidence has surfaced that suggests that these riots were planned days before the President’s speech, thus were not inspired by it.  There is also evidence that the Capitol Building was ill prepared for this event despite the warnings.  But of course, Nancy didn’t have time and didn’t want actual evidence to be introduced to clear up the fog of anger and hate.  And now she is going to ask the Senate to have a trial to remove a man from office who will already be gone.  Certainly, this all plays well into Joe Biden’s inaugural slogan – America United.  I hope you know when I’m being facetious.

Nancy has also demonstrated that she is absolutely oblivious to the real condition of average Americans and even has disdain for them.  Who can forget her “freezers full of ultra-premium ice cream” as a solution to the problems caused by the economic shutdowns across the country.  When people are struggling to put bread on the table, her solution is “Let them eat ice cream”.  Her disdain for her common man manifested itself in the political games she played with the Coronavirus relief bill.  She delayed that badly needed assistance for over six months because (as she admitted later) she didn’t want to give President Trump a political victory.  Her elitist mindset and contempt for the common person in America will certainly have a negative impact on her legacy.

The media has its own historians who have already labeled our current version the most corrupt and or inept in our history.  I will admit that Donald Trump deserved some criticism during his Presidency, and I have given it to him when appropriate.  Whether you like Donald Trump or not, however, you must admit that he did some very positive things.  His administration delivered a roaring economy growing at levels the previous administration said was impossible without a “magic wand”.  That economy delivered historic low levels of unemployment, especially for minorities and women, and real wage growth for the first time in over ten years.  How could a President delivering those results receive 93% negative reporting from what I have called the lame-stream media.

Also, in 1918, the media under reported and even lied about the severity of the Spanish Flu that lead to about 700,000 deaths in America, the equivalent of over two million deaths today, as historian John Barry points out in his book The Great Influenza.  Today’s media coverage of the coronavirus pandemic errors in the opposite direction but will lead to equally catastrophic results.  A poll done in late July of this year found that Americans believed that 9% of our citizenry had already died of Covid-19.  That would be 30 MILLION deaths, and I lay this misperception at the foot of a bias, incurious and even corrupt media.  The negative long-term effects of our mitigation efforts are becoming clear, and as a result, mayors and governors around the country are now, suddenly, wanting to open up their economies.  At the absolute height of infection rates and deaths in this country Governor Cuomo is now desperate to open up New York’s businesses.  Lori Lightfoot, mayor of Chicago, is following Cuomo’s lead and now wants to open up the bars and restaurants in her city.  She in fact says, “They are going to be one of the safer places” to be.  

There is much evidence now that this pandemic has been poorly covered by the press.  Death rates were exaggerated by Dr. Fauci from the very beginning.  The actual death count has been bloated, according to Dr. Deborah Birx, by a faulty methodology that includes a gunshot to the head as a Covid death if the victim tests positive in the morgue.  But is the Media diving into these stories?  No!  Is it bias or ineptitude?  I guess it really doesn’t matter.  Both answers are an indictment of our lame-stream media.  

I’ve never said that this pandemic is not serious.  I have said, however, that our arrogant belief that we could totally control it was always an illusion.  We should have taken common sense precautions to mitigate its spread (like washing your hands and staying home when you are sick) but we should not have shut down our country since that will have a devastating impact on our nation’s economy and education system for years to come.  The prejudice and or incompetence of our media has aided in this deception.  Their dishonesty or ineptitude has truly made the cure worse than the disease.

Finally, Big Tech will be judged.  The bible says, “The last shall be first”, and so it is with Big Tech.  While they are the last to be mentioned in this article and maybe the last to show their Orwellian faces, they will be the first to be judged.  Their targeted blocking of Conservative voices is a clear violation of our first amendment and their brazen collusion against their competitors is an obvious violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.  

These tech giants have been using Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to shield themselves from litigation.  What they will find is that Congress cannot create any law that enables them or any of their users to violate the Constitutional rights of any citizen in this country.  I don’t know if it will be Donald Trump or Parler, the new competitor to Twitter, or one of the thousands of conservative voices currently being silenced by Jack Dorsey (Twitter), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), and Sundar Pichai (Google), but one of these cases will make its way to the Supreme Court and I see no defense for Big Tech’s actions.