Election Post Mortem

 

I had planned to write this article last Wednesday, the day after the election, but who would have thought that there would be 12 races still unsettled a week later that could impact the fate of both the House and the Senate.  There is one thing, however, that is VERY clear, and that is that the claim that our Democracy was at risk during this election was pure nonsense and fearmongering.  According to the demonizing rhetoric of the President and Democrats, these unexpectedly poor election results for Republicans should have delivered the very rioting and violence they were promising.  But, the violence never came because the suggestion that half of our country is full of bigoted, racist fascists is simply untrue.  Do you think we will get an apology for that total mischaracterization of the virtue and temperament of our country?  Don’t hold your breath, despite the complete inaccuracy of their promises.

I think Greg Gutfeld, Fox Late Night comedian and political commentator, called this election just about perfectly.  He suggested that both sides had some things to celebrate but also things to regret.  Republicans did not perform as projected.  There was no “Red Tsunami”.  At best it was a red ripple.  The GOP will take the House and had surprising successes in Florida and New York.  In Florida, Ron DeSantis won that governorship by almost 20 points and established himself as a future leader of the Republican party.  In New York, Lee Zeldin lost the governor’s race but came close enough to flip four House seats, which will account for the entire GOP advantage in the House of Representatives in 2023.

Democrats did perform better than expectations, but expectations were pretty low.  They did maintain control of the Senate, and may even pick up a seat, depending on what happens in Georgia between Warnock and Walker.  However, some real Democrat all-stars went down in flames in 2022.  Stacey Abrams lost the governorship of Georgia (again) and lost decisively.  Beto O’Rourke got thumped in Texas as he lost to Greg Abbot, and maybe most shockingly, the DCCC (Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee) Chair Sean Patrick Maloney lost his House seat to Republican Mike Lawler.

There are some more facts that we should all keep in mind.  First, in 2020, Joe Biden won the Presidential election with over 60 million votes compared to only about 75 million for Donald Trump.  In that environment, we should all have expected Democrats to pick up seats in the House.  In Fact, Nancy Pelosi projected that Dems would add 15 seats to their majority, yet Democrats actually LOST 13 seats in the House.  That was a 28-seat difference between expectations in 2020 and the actual results.  Only Nancy Pelosi and Democrats, with the support of the lame stream media, could spin this 26-seat loss in the House over the last two years as a victory.

Also, everyone knew that in 2022 the Senate was going to be difficult for the GOP to defend.  In the Senate, only about a third of the Senate runs every two years because of their six-year terms.  In 2022, there were 35 Senators up for re-election – 21 Republican and only 14 Democrats.  This was a difficult atmosphere for Republicans since they had to defend more incumbent seats.  In 2024, the situation is practically reversed with 23 Democrats defending their seats vs only 10 Republicans.  We will see how well they defend their 23 seats in two years that will, in effect, be in jeopardy.

And now we have a delusional Joe Biden suggesting that these razor thin voting margins and divided government is somehow a mandate for a continuation of his open border, big spending, “no more drilling” policies.  When asked “what he will change” given that 75% of the country believes America is on the “wrong track”, Joe said “NOTHING”!  And this is after he just said that he is willing to work across the aisle with Republicans to find solutions to the country’s problems.  Is he even listening to himself?  He certainly isn’t listening to the people of this country.

In my opinion, this midterm election was a mandate for bipartisanship.  Two years ago, we had a 50-50 Senate and a 12-seat majority for the Democrats in the House.  I suggested then that this was a demand for cooperation and Joe Biden seemed to agree, promising “unity” in his inaugural address.  Unfortunately, he has not delivered on that promise.  In fact, quite the opposite.  Now, we will probably have another 50-50 Senate and an even slimmer majority in the House, but now held by Republicans.  I can only hope that Joe Biden and the Democrats don’t misread the results of this election and fail to make course corrections in their policies.  That kind of blind stubbornness would be a disaster both for the Democrat Party and for our country.

Senator Fetterman - Really?

 

If you don’t know that name, you should learn all you can about it.  John Fetterman is the current Lieutenant Governor of the state of Pennsylvania.  His previous political experience was being mayor of the tiny hamlet of Braddock, Pennsylvania, which boasts a total population of about 1,600 people.  That ranks Braddock as the 12,065^th largest city in the United States.  And his stint as mayor there can hardly be described as a rousing success since the population of Braddock showed a steady decline in population during his tenure.  Braddock was a dying town when he became mayor and Mr. Fetterman did nothing to reverse that trend.

This same John Fetterman is now running for the US Senate seat, being vacated by Republican Pat Toomey, against TV personality, Dr. Mehmet Oz.  This is a hugely important seat in the US Senate since it would represent a pick-up for Democrats in a year when they will be struggling to keep control of that chamber in November.  Oh, just another small detail, John Fetterman suffered a stroke just five days before the end of primary elections in PA in May, but still managed to win that primary.  Since that stroke, John Fetterman has displayed many of the classic symptoms that the Johns Hopkins Medical Center suggests are common after a stroke, such as:

-Problems with speech or understanding language (this is called “aphasia)

-Impaired ability to do math or organize, reason and analyze things.

-Impaired ability to read, write and learn new information and memory problems.

 

While I am sympathetic to John and hope that he someday recovers and lives a long life, he clearly has not recovered yet and that was painfully evident in his one-and-only debate with Dr. Oz on Oct. 25^th.  Many commentators, even on the Democrat side, described Fetterman’s performance as painful to watch, horrific and even disastrous. He began the debate by saying “Goodnight” to the viewers and his answers only went south from there.  About halfway through the debate, one of the moderators asked Mr. Fetterman to explain his contradictory statements on fracking, a huge industry in Pennsylvania.  During this campaign, Fetterman said, “I have always supported fracking” yet in a 2018 interview he had said, “I don’t support fracking at all, and I never have.”  

When asked to explain this obvious contradiction, Fetterman first paused for an awkward amount of time and then stammered, “I’ve always supported fracking.  I do support fracking.  I do support fracking and I don’t, I don’t.  I support fracking.  I stand and I do support fracking.”  Now, before you think that was a huge series of typos, that is an exact quote and a demonstration of Fetterman’s inability to either grasp the meaning of the question or to communicate an appropriate answer.  And this is just one of many examples of his poor comprehension and communication skills that he demonstrated during the debate.  Don’t take my word for it.  I’ve attached a link to the entire debate at the bottom of this article.  Just copy the link into your browser and watch for yourself.

The point is, this man should not be in the US Senate.  He is incapable of performing the duties of that job.  A member of this, most deliberative body of our Congress, must be able to understand complex issues and have the skill to debate, defend and negotiate complicated solutions to our nation’s most difficult challenges.  There are only 100 people in our country that have gone through the rigors of statewide campaigns and proven themselves proficient enough to perform the duties of a US Senator.  John Fetterman should not be one of them, yet it is possible that he will be elected.  Why?

First, the Democrat Party hid John Fetterman from public scrutiny as best they could for this entire campaign.  Fetterman did only four national interviews during his campaign and all were done on the friendly airwaves of MSNBC.  Also, Fetterman only begrudgingly agreed to one debate on Oct. 25^th, almost a month after early mail-in voting began.  Sadly, over 700,000 votes have already been cast before this one-and-only debate took place.  

The Democrat Party, however, does not care if John Fetterman can understand the issues or communicate effectively.  They simply want Fetterman to vote as he is told and then fade away into oblivion. If he is elected, I predict that he will not serve his full six-year term.  Dems are hoping that the probable new Democrat Governor, Josh Shapiro, will be able to appoint his replacement.  And first in line for that appointment is John Fetterman’s wife, which explains why she was willing to put John through the torture of this campaign and the embarrassment of last week’s debate.

The good news is that 82% of the people who watched this debate agreed that Mehmet Oz won.  My question is, who are the 18% who can’t admit the obvious.  And now the lamestream media is accusing anyone who suggests that John Fetterman is not qualified to perform the Senatorial duties of being “ableists” (prejudice against people with disabilities).  This, of course, is not “ableism”.  It is merely “realism”.  If Pennsylvanians send John Fetterman to the US Senate, they will be doing Pennsylvania and the entire country a huge disservice.  We need bright, capable, honest people in the Senate and John Fetterman is none of those things.

Link to debate: https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/pennsylvania-u-s-senate-debate-between-mehmet-oz-and-john-fetterman-transcript?fbclid=IwAR2zPTY4vbPS6UVaPnUG772MJVYFil9eLZt6-9_a41Cx42AaTqpHgFhJe6o

Don't Be a Buzzkill

 

From the beginning of our Republic, politics has been a rough-and-tumble business.  Adams and Jefferson were bitter enemies as they vied for their Presidencies way back in 1797 and 1801.  While they became friends in later life, they viciously attacked one another during their campaigns.  Jefferson’s camp accused Adams of having a “hideous hermaphroditical character (possessing both male and female characteristics) which has neither the firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”  In return, Adams men called Jefferson “a mean-spirited, low lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian Squaw” which was an insult at the time.  As the slurs piled up, Adams was labeled a fool, a hypocrite, a criminal and a tyrant while Jefferson was branded a weakling, an atheist and a coward.  This was pretty brutal stuff at the turn of the 18^th century.

At the beginning of the 20^th century, Teddy Roosevelt and William Taft were best of friends.  Taft was actually Roosevelt’s hand-picked replacement for President when he decided not to run in 1908.  But in 1912 when Roosevelt decided to create the Bull Moose party and run for President again, he and Taft famously went after each other.  Taft called Roosevelt unethical and egotistical to which Roosevelt responded by calling Taft a fraud and disloyal.  In 1964 Lyndon Johnson portrayed his opponent for President, Barry Goldwater, as an out of control warmonger with his finger on the nuclear bomb button.  No facts.  All emotion.  But LBJ won the election.

Most of us remember the relationship between President Reagan and Democrat Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill back in the 1980’s as cordial and maybe even productive.  But when they were at odds, the political gloves came off.  Tip O’Neill thought that President Reagan didn’t possess a sufficient understanding of the legislative process and called him the most ignorant man to ever occupy the White House.  In return, Reagan once compared Tip O’Neill to a Pac-Man because he was a round thing that just gobbled up money.

But what do all of these political attacks of the past have in common?  They all featured candidates or rivals attacking each other.  That practice changed however for the first time in 2016 when Hillary Clinton decided to attack not only her opponent but even American citizens who dared to vote for that candidate.  In her notorious “Basket of Deplorables” statement, Hillary attacked tens of millions of her own constituents and called them “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic (and) Islamophobic”.  These were the very people that Hillary hoped to represent as President.  She obviously doesn’t even like many or arguably most of the American people.  This statement not only lost her the election (in my opinion) but also paved the way for today’s fiercely divided country.

Sadly, Joe Biden has decided to continue this new tradition of attacking and demeaning the very people he represents.  First, he stated that “white supremacists are the greatest terror threat in America”.  Of course, he never explains how he and his national security operation came to that conclusion or exactly how many of these “white supremacists” there are out there.  This allows every person of color to suspect every white person (especially conservatives) of this pathetic mindset and further divide the country, which I believe is his real motive.  Since he made that statement I have seen no evidence that this group, which I believe is a tiny sliver of the American populous, is a threat to our country.  In fact, during the “summer of love” in 2020, dozens of people were killed and billions of dollars in damages were inflicted on cities across the country in riots instigated by Antifa and BLM.  You would think he and his security experts might show some interest in those groups, but no.  

Then, Joe turned his scorn onto the Trump voters, or the entire Republican Party.  He accused all MAGA supporters of being “semi-fascists”.  First of all, what the heck is a “semi-fascist”.  It doesn’t really matter.  Once you attach the word “fascist” to anything it conjures up visions of Hitler and Mussolini from WWII.  Then he made it clear, “It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy”.  So, anyone who believes we should be trying to make America great again is a fascist?  Does Joe even know what fascism is?  Fascism is an authoritarian government, headed by a dictator that forcibly suppresses its opposition.  That sounds more like the Democrat Party today, but even I won’t go so far as to suggest that all Democrats want Hitler or Mussolini running our country today.  Comparing tens of millions of Americans to fascists is both dangerous and reckless, unless your goal is to turn Americans against each other.

And wokism is the exact same philosophy executed by the general public.  If anyone disagrees with you, they must be demeaned, ridiculed and crushed (canceled).  They certainly can’t be listened to.  But the good news is that it appears the entire country is getting weary of these tactics in politics and in everyday life.  Even Barack Obama suggested that Democrats can sometimes be “a buzzkill”.  He added that people in America don’t want to have to walk around “on eggshells” in fear that they might say something that a Democrat might disagree with (or a Republican).  In fact, I enjoy a good debate and have many friends who are willing to have those debates with me without questioning my patriotism, sanity or the content of my character.

If you agree with Barack Obama and me, the solution to eliminating this new phenomenon of selective character assassination is simple.  In politics, don’t vote for these self-serving narcissists.  If you hear a politician demeaning or attacking huge swathes or even undefined numbers of American citizens, don’t vote for them.  I can assure you that their accusations are unfounded.  My opinion of the average American is pretty high.  It is only the extreme elements of both parties (maybe a total of 10% of the country) who bash our citizens relentlessly for their own political gains.

Finally, we must ignore the wokists out there who cannot tolerate opinions different than their own.  Since this intolerance of opposing opinions is being taught throughout our college campuses these days, this will be a challenge.  But if we all continue to point out the hypocrisy and intolerance of their behavior, we will eventually set them straight, for as the Bible says in John 8:32, (they) shall know the truth and the truth shall set (them) free!

Why Dems Will NOT Codify Roe v Wade

 

There are two huge reasons why Democrats will not pass legislation to codify Roe v Wade at a national level as they are promising.  First, even the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg believed that Roe v Wade was bad law from the beginning. That idea was echoed by Justice Samuel Alito in the Dobbs decision which struck down Roe.  Justice Ginsburg was a true supporter of a woman’s right to choose, but said that in the case of Roe, the court should have simply struck down the Texas law (the most limiting in the country) as unconstitutional, “and then put down its pen”.  She believed that the job of setting restrictions on abortions rests in the hands of “the people”, or in other words, in the hands of the state legislators.  And, with the Dobbs decision, that is exactly where that decision lies today.

So, to be clear, the Dobbs decision does not make abortion illegal across the country as many people erroneously believe.  It simply returns the limitations on abortion rights back to the states, a fact the Democrats are fighting hard to obscure.  The state of California, for example, has much more liberal (lenient) restrictions on abortion than the state of Mississippi and “the people” in those states and every other state will decide what qualifications they want to make on abortion through the election of their state legislators.  

However, maybe the biggest reason that Roe will not be codified by the Democrats, as they are promising for the 2022 midterms, is that their position of abortion on demand is not popular around the country.  In fact, 90% of Americans oppose the Democrat position of abortion at any time, even up to the moment of birth, for any reason, like the mother decides she doesn’t want the gender of the baby in her womb.  This position, which may someday be found to be unconstitutional, is being hidden by the Democrat Party because it is so incredibly unpopular throughout the country.

Democrats may be successful at hiding their intentions on abortion until after the midterms (yes, this is a pathetic, short-term effort) but even if they were to keep both the House and the Senate in 2022, which is unlikely, they will not pass legislation that would legalize abortion on demand through the ninth month because they won’t even be able to get their own members to support it.  

That’s the good news and the bad news.  The good news is that Roe will not be codified at a national level, because the law now places that power in the hands of state legislatures across the country where it belongs.  The bad news is that, with the help of the lame-stream media, millions of deceived people will be voting in the fall with a complete misunderstanding of the abortion issue.  Hopefully, my readers will at least be able to make an informed decision in November with a full understanding of the abortion issue in this country.

Projection, The Latest Democrat Tactic

 

As I watched Joe Biden the other night giving his “Speech From the Gates of Hell” shaking his fist, with a grimaced face and using an often-growling voice, I thought to myself, “Is he actually listening to himself”.  Here he was acting so angry that he could spit, accusing his political opponents of spreading anger.  Here he was calling 10’s of millions of Americans fascists and traitors and putting targets on their backs for government condoned violence while condemning THEM of encouraging violence. Chuck Schumer did the same thing to Justice Kavanaugh when he gave his “Reap the Whirlwind” speech on the steps of the Supreme court.  Are we surprised that there was an assassination attempt against Brett Kavanaugh and his family even before the Dobbs v Jackson decision?  

I was asking myself, what is it called when someone accuses someone else of doing exactly what they are doing? It is call projection, and the Democrats have turned it into an artform.  The technical definition of Projection is, “unconsciously taking unwanted emotions or traits that you don’t like about yourself and attributing them to someone else.”  This fits perfectly with the Democrat strategy with the exception that it is not “unconscious”.  It is intentional, which makes it even more pathetic and sinister.

Another example of political projection is the “defund the police” movement.  The list of Democrats who called for defunding the police or defunding ICE is long and distinguished and includes the likes of Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Bernie Sanders, Kirsten Gillibrand, Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush and AOC.  And until recently, Kamala Harris and Joe Biden were so weak in their support we can call it nonexistent.  Kamala even helped raise money to post bail for criminal rioters in the summer of 2020.  But now, since the defund the police idea has revealed itself to be a complete failure, they are suggesting that it was the Republicans who initiated and drove that campaign despite the fact that they can’t find a single Republican who actually spoke those words.

And then, as if their intentional projection isn’t bad enough, Democrats combine their projection with a magician’s technique called “misdirection”.  They suggest that Republicans support defunding the police because they all voted against the American Rescue Plan and the $350 billion earmarked for state and local governments.  What they will not tell you is that, not only did that bill not require those funds to be used to fund local police departments, but the words “police” or “law enforcement” do not even appear in the text.  Republicans voted against The American Rescue Plan because they thought the $1.9 Trillion price tag was too large and would only drive inflation higher.  They also feared that those funds would be used to bail out long-mismanaged state and local governments.  Not a single Republican said that they voted against this bill because they did not want the funds to be used for local law enforcement.  Do not be deceived by their projection or their misdirection.  Defunding the Police is a Democrat position and doctrine.

Democrats also suggest that many Republicans believe that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump because of voter fraud.  That claim is true.  Many Republicans do question the 2020 election results.  But the problem with their criticism is that they make that suggestion while claiming some sort of imaginary moral high ground for themselves in this area.  Hillary Clinton, while conceding to Donald Trump the day after the 2016 election, changed course almost immediately to suggest that the election was stolen from her.  Stacey Abrams still thinks she is governor of Georgia and Maxine Waters demanded Trump’s impeachment before he even took office.  

And Democrat hypocrisy runs even deeper in the area of questioning elections. A third of Democrats in Congress refused to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration and former Democrat President Jimmy Carter declared that Trump was not the legitimate winner of the 2016 election.  Jamie Raskin, Congressman from Maryland and member of the January 6^thcommittee, challenged Florida’s delegates in the 2016 election.  Maybe he should have recused himself from Jan 6^th committee and investigation.  Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, tweeted at the time that Trump stole the 2016 election AND Brian Kemp stole the Georgia Governor’s election from Stacey Abrams.  

Democrats have questioned elections even more broadly as a party.  The Washington Post did a survey in 2021 and found that 29% of respondents said that Joe Biden was not the legitimate President of the United States.  That’s terrible, you say.  But the Washington Post did the same survey in 2017 and found that 42% of respondents claimed that Donald Trump was illegitimate.  Both parties were represented in both polls, but who do you think was calling Donald Trump illegitimate.  I’ll leave that judgement to you.

The point is, despite Democrats’ suggesting that they are pure in this area, they are not.  The 2020 election was extraordinary in many ways due to the pandemic.  Election laws were changed and 24-7 unmonitored lock boxes were used to accommodate voters.  Was there fraud?  Of course there was.  Was there enough to change the election?  Bill Barr, Trump’s Attorney General, doesn’t think there was.  The reality is that there is no going back at this time.  Joe Biden is our President and all we can do in the future is to ensure that our voting laws walk that fine line between ease of access and voter integrity.

Just remember, however, as you listen to Democrats accuse Republicans of doing terrible things, it is usually something they are doing.  While they have one finger pointing at Republicans, they have three fingers pointing back at themselves.  Also, remember the old joke (or maybe it’s an axiom) – How do you know when politicians are lying?  When their lips are moving!

Biden's Illegal Vote Buying Scheme

 

Before I even get into the absurdity of President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, let me dispel the White House’s pathetic and deceptive answer as to how they plan to pay for this scheme.  They suggest that, “the work (they) have done to reduce the deficit” is what is going to pay for this vote-buying boondoggle.  That is an utterly false statement.  In the first three years (pre-pandemic) of the Trump administration, America’s budget deficits averaged about $800 billion.  In 2020, due to the additional programs to confront the pandemic (PPP, FPUC, LWA, Warp Speed, etc.) our deficit exploded to over $3 TRILLION.  Even in 2021 our deficit was still about $3 TRILLION. 

As the expenses for fighting the Pandemic go away, of course our deficits were going to go down no matter who was President.  We ran huge deficits, for example during World War II.  In 1943 through 1945 our deficits were 10 times the pre-war amounts, but by 1947 (after the war) our deficits were actually below pre-war levels.  Did Truman run a campaign of smaller government and reduced deficits?  No.  The expenses of the war (building ships and planes and an army) simply went away.  The same thing has happened with Joe Biden.  He has done nothing to reduce our deficits.  The costs of fighting the pandemic have simply gone away, yet Biden continually tries to take credit for that inevitability.  In fact, in 2023 our deficit is projected to be over $1.2 TRILLION, an amount greater than any Trump year, and that projection does not include the Student Loan Forgiveness plan or the Inflation Reduction Act.  So, here’s the truth – Biden is not cutting the size or cost of the federal government.  Pandemic costs are simply ceasing.  In fact, he is actually increasing our deficits and debt well above pre-pandemic rates just as interest rates are increasing.  Not a good idea.

Side note – I didn’t like the deficits under Trump either and I wrote about it, but I felt I had to reveal the truth about Biden’s misleading deficit reduction claims so that you, my readers, could at least know the truth.

Now that we know that this plan is NOT paid for, we can discuss the mountain of flaws in this it.  First, notice that I didn’t call this an Act or law passed by Congress.  It is a “plan” hatched by one man.  President Biden is using a law passed to protect our service men and women from the extra pressure of student loan debt while they were deployed.  He knows he can’t get it passed through Congress because there is too much resistance even in his own party, so he is acting like a king or monarch or dictator and spending hundreds of billions if not a TRILLION dollars on his sole authority.  It’s the Nancy Pelosi approach to spending - pass it and then find out later what it costs.  Our Founders would be rolling over in their graves.

Next, this is a targeted vote-buying scheme aimed at a group of people Biden is having a particular problem with.  New polls have indicated that only 21% of young adults 18-34 approve of the President’s performance.  So, this narcissistic, short-term thinker, has decided to spend up to a TRILLION dollars of your money to buy those votes.  Who needs a campaign fund when you can just spend hardworking Americans’ money at your personal discretion.  That’s pathetic, King Biden.

This “plan” also punishes 85% of Americans who don’t have student loan debt.  Almost 60% of Americans have decided not to even go to college.  Then there are millions more who worked through college or whose parents sacrificed to send them through college without incurring any debt.  Then there are those who used student loans to get through college, but have since worked hard and pinched pennies to pay off those loans.  Where are their checks? This “plan” punishes the hard working and diligent by taking their money to forgive debt legally and knowingly incurred.

And what message are we sending to colleges and universities in America?  This is a green light to continue to raise prices, which is the real problem we are facing.  According to InflationData.com, the cost of attending college since 1980 has grown at a rate four times faster than general inflation in this country.  And the easy access to money through the student loan program has been a major factor in these excessive cost increases.

But the biggest question we should be asking is this – Is this even legal?  Just a year ago, Nancy Pelosi said, “People think that the President of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness.  He does NOT.”  She added, “That has to be an act of Congress.”  I don’t agree with Nancy on much, but I do agree with her on this.  Or at least I agree with the Nancy Pelosi of one year ago.  Today, she is supporting Biden’s plan.  Maybe she just forgot her earlier statement.  She is 82.  Maybe it’s time for her to go home and take some memory classes.

And finally, this could be the death knell for the entire student loan program.  What idiot would ever pay back their student loan in the future?  Debt forgiveness will become the expectation, not the exception. 

 

PS – Colleges like Harvard, which has an endowment of over $50 Billion, should be ashamed to have any student endure more than five years of repayment of student loan debt before THEY cancel it.  That would elevate the value of their degrees and begin to change their reputations as loathsome, elitist institutions.

Don't Be Deceived

 

It saddens me that I have to continue to remind my readers about the duplicitous nature of our government and its leaders and the media.  About two years ago, I wrote an article entitle “How Can I Lie to Thee, Let Me Count the Ways”.  It was about how politicians and journalists (so called) can distort the truth through lies of omission, exaggeration and even “in your face” boldface lies.  Well, last week there a couple of whoppers that you need to be informed about.

First, Joe Biden got on national TV and tried to tell the country that there was “Zero” inflation in July.  For the naysayers, let me quote him exactly.  He said, “I just want to say a number: Zero.  Today, we received news that our economy had 0% inflation in the month of July.”  That, of course was not true.  Just a few minutes before, it was announced that we experienced 8.5% inflation in July.  But then Joe confused his audience even further by trying to explain his claim.  He went on to say, “Here’s what that means.  While the price of some things went up, the prices of others things went down by the same amount.  The result?  Zero inflation last month.” 

What he didn’t tell you was that was a month to month comparison, and that is NOT how economists measure inflation.  Inflation is measured by comparing the current month’s prices to the same month in the previous year.  And THAT number was 8.5%, another almost 40 year high.  He also didn’t tell you that if you had done the same month-to-month comparison in June, you would have found a 17.2% increase.  I don’t remember him touting that number last month.  Plus, after a huge month-to-month gain like that, is it right to be bragging about a monthly result that was just as bad?  Either Joe doesn’t understand the fundamentals of our economy or he is trying to deceive a small number of people who will hear his claim of ZERO inflation and not question it.  Either way, it speaks poorly of the President’s grasp of the issue or his honesty.

Joe does, however, seem to have an affinity for the word Zero.  Remember, last year he claimed that his $3.5 Trillion Build Back Better bill would cost us “Zero”.  Unfortunately for Joe, the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) and fact checkers found that claim to be totally false.  Not only would it have to be paid for by increasing taxes, but it would also add hundreds of billions of dollars to our nation’s debt.  Beware of politicians who suggest that their programs won’t cost you anything.

The other “whopper” of the week was told by our Attorney General, Merrick Garland.  When speaking of the raid on Donald Trump’s home at Mar-A-Lago, Garland said that he and the FBI do not make decisions like this lightly, and that, “where possible, it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative to a search, and to narrowly scope any search that is undertaken.”  Now, what he said might be true, and by making that statement he is suggesting that is exactly what he and the FBI did in this particular case, but that is not at all true.

First of all, he could have just attained a subpoena for the materials that he wanted.  That would have been “less intrusive”, but that is not what he did.  He obtained a search warrant, which was very public, with lights flashing and 30 armed FBI agents in the pitch darkness of the early morning in Florida.  Second, the warrant, which we have now seen, was not “narrowly scoped”.  This warrant allowed FBI agents to search any room in his home not occupied by other people and to take “any governmental and / or Presidential records created between January 20/2017 (Trump’s inauguration day) and January 20/2021 (Biden’s Inauguration day).  This allowed 30 agents to search every room or other buildings for eight hours (a total of 240 man-hours).  This search allowed them to forage through his safe and Melania’s closet.  It also, somehow, included taking his passports.  I would not describe this as a “narrow scope”.  You can decide.  Don’t take Merrick Garland’s word for it.  Use your own judgement.

There have also been a couple more attempts at misdirection by this administration.  They just passed the “Inflation Reduction Act” by twisting arms in their own party and without a single Republican vote.  What an achievement!  (that is sarcasm) According to the CBO and many Democrats, including Bernie Sanders, this act will not have any impact on inflation.  In fact, there are hundreds of conservative economists who predict that this law will actually make inflation worse.  Don’t be deceived by the name.

Finally, Democrats will tell you that last night’s drubbing of Liz Cheney in the Wyoming primaries is a sign that democracy is under assault.  Actually, that is a sign that our democracy can work as designed.  The people of Wyoming voted her out of office because she is engaged in an obsession with Donald Trump and not working on the needs and desires of the Wyoming citizens.  Don’t believe the misdirection.  This is exactly how our democracy is supposed to work.  The power is in the hands of the people, not the press or the politicians.  Watch out for the deception as it will come in many forms from both DC and the media!!