Taxation Without an Occupation

 Taxation without an Occupation

The View from the Middle

 

When Ronald Reagan was running for President he made it clear that he was not a fan of big government.  In fact, he famously said that the ten scariest words in the English language were, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.”  He obviously understood the flaws inherent in big, cumbersome, corrupt and inept government.  Personally, I don’t think much has changed since the Reagan era, in fact, things might be getting worse.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s virologist, has now admitted that he intentionally lied to the American people to manipulate us.  Early on, he lied about the effectiveness of masks (I think he is lying now) and more recently he admitted that he lied about herd immunity, again to convince more people to take the vaccine.  Good intentions aside, once you admit that you are willing to lie to get your desired effect on the country, you lose all credibility with me. 

It is clear that Dr. Fauci and the elite lame-stream media clearly want to be the puppeteers of the American people, whether they know what they are doing or not.  They have lied about the danger of sending children to school to placate the teacher’s union.  They were actually anti-science in that area.  Science has proven that children are the least likely to contract this disease and also the least likely to transmit it to others.  If they acquire this disease their symptoms are usually mild and many are even asymptomatic.  Since that is not what they want you to believe, Fauci and the elites spread another lie – that asymptomatic people are virus super-spreaders lurking around the country spewing noxious clouds of viral droplets.  The science actually proves just the opposite, and the negative impact of closing schools will take years to identify and more years to repair.

And let’s not forget Dr. Fauci’s first lie that started this whole government overreach.  He tried to scare the country into submission to his whims when he told us that the mortality rate for Covid-19 would be ten times that of the seasonal flu.  Of course, he could have even stated this exaggeration differently and said that 99% of those who are infected will survive.  But that was not even the truth.  Studies now suggest that the survival rate of this virus is closer to 99.8%, and many believe that it will actually end up being the same as the season flu, or 99.9%.  If Dr. Fauci had not lied, or exaggerated or just plain “got it wrong” back in the beginning, might we as a country have made some very different decisions?  If the point of emphasis had been “99.9% of people infected will survive” would we have shut down our schools and our economy?  I doubt it, but this lie or grievous error was necessary to dupe our entire country into giving up our most fundamental rights and liberties.  

These puppeteers have also lied about the effectiveness of the economic shutdowns.  If these shutdowns worked, why are we in wave three of this virus.  We must also apply the laws of common sense as we create restrictions for our country’s businesses.  Why would we allow thousands of people to pack into Walmart stores like sardines, but shutdown small businesses whose normal customer count might be less than ten people?  Sure, Walmart sells food, which is essential, but they also sell apparel, hardware, toys, etc., etc. which their small business competitors now can’t.

And restaurants might be the most abused and villainized right now.  The latest studies (science, right?) have shown that less than 1.5% of infections come from restaurants yet they have been savaged by governors around the country with restrictive occupancy rules and absolute closures.  Let’s not forget that these callous, mindless, out-of-touch governors and still cashing their hefty monthly checks along with everyone else in government.  Why is that?  It’s because while these government bureaucrats are living large, they continue to tax the very people that they have prevented from making a living.  Imagine being a small business owner who has been shut down for months receiving a property tax bill or a government licensing fee that you are expected to pay – or else!!  That is taxation without an occupation.

This is why Business Insider predicted that as many as 85% of independent restaurants in American could close permanently because of the unnecessary restrictions placed on them by state and local governments.  Unless our governors and mayors get their heads out of their arses, I predict a massive revolt by this unjustly persecuted industry.  There will come a time when all of the restaurant owners across the country will just open and dare the state and local governments to arrest them all.  Then, if the government officials are stupid enough to do that, these eatery owners will come together and initiate a class action lawsuit against them.  Given that these closures and restrictions violate the 1st, 4th and 5th amendments of our Bill of Rights, I can’t imagine restaurant owners losing this argument!!

Maybe the bigger lesson here is that “We the People” need to stop being sheep and challenge government when it steps over the line of proper governance.  If we do not, an Orwellian future will be our fate.  Remember, Big Brother is doing more than just listening.  His intent is to subvert your very will and thus strip away all of your freedoms.  

                                                                                                                                     

*If you have not read the book 1984, by George Orwell, now would be a good time.  It is a classic commentary on the insidious nature of an all-powerful government.                             

The Illusion of Controlling the Coronavirus

 The Illusion of Controlling the Coronavirus

The View from the Middle

 

Before I even get into the message of this article, which is that this virus will run its course whether we like it or not, let me emphasize that I do believe that this virus is serious and that we should take all reasonable precautions to save lives.  We have known, almost from the beginning, who were the most vulnerable and we should have taken steps to protect those people even though in some cases, like in the state of New York, we didn’t.  I mourn all those who have lost loved ones to this virus, but “not living” is not the answer to this or any problem that we face as humans.  

Life will never be risk free.  People are going to die in car accidents every year.  The answer is not to stop driving or to ban cars.  The answer is to manage that risk.  People are going to die of cancer every year.  That doesn’t mean we should all put ourselves in a cryogenic freeze until there is a cure.  The answer is to manage that risk as we live our lives. The same is true for this virus.  We should not have put our trust in unscrupulous politicians or a paranoid media or even pompous scientists who suggest that THEY can save us if we just give up all of our autonomy and do as they say.  Of course, these hypocrites won’t follow their own rules because they want to maintain the freedoms they are denying everyone else.

While the media and politicians will desperately try to hide the facts, it appears that the real cure for this virus will be herd immunity, an idea that was scoffed at when this plague erupted.  Every virus has its own herd immunity level based on its infectious rate, and scientists have now agreed that the Coronavirus herd immunity will be reached when 70 to 75% of our population has contracted this disease and survived or has received a vaccine.  In either case, those people, of which I am one, will be immune and can’t be infected.  In that case, the virus will have nowhere to go and will die out.

The CDC has already estimated that this virus has infected ten times the number of people than have tested positive in this country because they have experienced mild symptoms or have been asymptomatic and thus have not even been tested.  That would suggest that over 170 million Americans (over 50% of our population) have already contracted this virus and survived.  Remember, the survival rate for this disease is currently being estimated at 99.8%.  Most, if not all of these people are now immune and cannot be infected again.  Over the next few months, given the natural infectious progression of this virus and the vaccine, another 80 million people will become immune which will bring our country’s immunity level to over 75%.  This is why even the politicians, media and scientists have agreed that Covid-19 will be gone or under control by May or June.

This would also say that all of the machinations our politician put our country through will not have prevented one person from contracting this disease.  We needed 250 million Americans to survive this virus to reach herd immunity and that is what is going to happen and that is what will end this scourge.  

But when this virus is dead and gone, there will be people who will try to take credit for its demise.  They will claim that the economic shutdowns worked even though they have absolutely no proof that they did.  They will exaggerate the estimated number of deaths that “could have” occurred and say that if they hadn’t put us through this hell of regulations and destroyed millions of small businesses (especially in the restaurant community) that two million people would have died.  Of course, that is impossible to prove and it is equally impossible to prove that every element of their plan was successful.  Did we really need to shut down our restaurants?  Did we really need to close our schools?  Remember, nothing we did saved even one person from contracting this disease (except the vaccine).  

And these “scientists” have used a most unscientific approach to evaluate the effectiveness of their strategies.  In a real scientific world, they would have isolated their tactics and compared them to a control group that would do nothing.  They would, for example, have one group only wear masks, another group would only wash their hands, another would only shut down businesses, etc.  And then they would compare all of these results to the control group that did nothing.  In this case they threw everything at this virus, including the kitchen sink and are now suggesting that everything they did was effective.  In reality, since they didn’t have a control group they have no idea how effective their total efforts were.  We could compare our results to Sweden’s, the country that came the closest to employing a herd immunity strategy.  If we did, we would find that Sweden’s deaths per 100,000 people is almost 20% lower than ours.

My point is, we are inflicting so much damage on our country in the name of controlling this virus without any proof that these moves are actually working.  We are demanding mask wearing and social distancing when hand washing and staying home when sick may be all we needed.  We know for a fact that we are destroying lives by shutting down businesses (especially restaurants) and setting our students back by closing schools when we have no idea what impact those moves are actually having on this disease.  But we KNOW that these decrees are having a negative effect on our country.

Is the media giving as much attention to suicide rates, increases in domestic violence or drug abuse?  Are they studying depression and the long-term effects of the social separation that Americans are experiencing?

We will face more influenzas, viruses, etc. in the future.  The 1918 influenza was particularly brutal killing 700,000 people in America (I believe that is a very conservative estimate) and up to 100 million people worldwide.  The Asian Flu in 1957 killed almost 120,000 people in the US and the Hong Kong Flu in 1969 killed over 100,000 people here when our population was less than half of what it is today.  Just two years ago, the seasonal Flu may have killed up to 95,000 people in America and if we had used the same methodology and counting practices that we have used for the Coronavirus, these numbers could easily have matched or even surpassed Covid-19.  We didn’t shutdown our economy for any of these pandemics and we actually fought WWI in the middle of the 1918 Spanish Flu.

We can’t and shouldn’t shutdown our economy and our schools every year or every other year or even every 10 years without doing permanent or at least long-term damage to our country.  Disease is part of life and we all need to figure out how to manage the risks that surround it.  We should use science to develop therapeutics and vaccines that treat these diseases.  BTW – kudos to the doctors and scientists who participated in operation Warp Speed to develop the vaccine that is currently being distributed, and those who developed therapeutics to treat those who contracted this virus.  We can and should protect healthcare workers so that they can care for those who do get sick without shaming the rest of the country who just needs to keep living.

The bottom line is that I don’t believe the draconian steps that our government forced upon us has impacted the total number of people infected in this country.  The numbers actually might even have been lower if we hadn’t applied a perverse monetary incentive to declare everything from gunshot deaths and cancer fatalities as Covid casualties.  

Some will declare victory when this is over, and we should fear them most.  For their own benefit they will try to convince us that this handling of the Coronavirus should become the new normal. They will tell us that we should listen to the politicians and the media, the most untrustworthy people on the planet, and give away our freedom of movement, speech and religion and even our freedom to earn a living, at their whim.  If you are unsure of the potential duplicity of the press and politicians in matters like this, just read The Great Influenza by John Barry about the 1918 Spanish Flu.  It will enlighten you.

If we are to retain any of the freedoms that this country was founded on, we must denounce our city, state and federal government’s attempt to shred our Bill of Rights and control every aspect of our lives.  We must reject people in the media and politicians who will deny millions of people the opportunity to make a living while they themselves continue to cash their bloated checks.  It’s easy to ask someone else to pay the price for their oppressive regulations.  If they try to sell this as the new normal, I plan to reject it.  I will use common sense practices to protect myself and others, but will defy any paranoid, controlling, manipulative regulations no matter the consequences!!

Joe Biden's 100 Day Lie

 Joe Biden’s 100 Day Lie

The View from the Middle

 

Joe Biden just put out a statement that says that after his inauguration he is going to ask the country to wear a mask for 100 days, as if that will finally put an end to this dreaded virus.  This is incredibly misleading in a number of ways.  First, this suggests that no one in the United States is wearing a mask today.  Unfortunately for Joe, there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.  According to a UPI article written October, 23^rd, 93% of Americans already wear masks sometimes, often or always.  The same article revealed that 72% of Americans already “always” wear a mask.  Does Joe Biden actually think that he can drive those numbers up just by asking Americans to wear masks?  Of course not.  This is just his attempt to take credit for something that is going to happen anyway.

If you have been following any of the news shows lately, they have been showing that virtually every virologist and doctor on TV has been predicting that this virus will be under control by May or June in the United States.  This is because of a combination of herd immunity and the new vaccine which will begin to be delivered in the United States by the end of December, thanks to President Trump.

So, what is “herd immunity’ anyway? Herd Immunity is when a large part of a country’s population is infected by a disease, such as a virus, and survives it and thus becomes immune to it.  In effect, herd immunity gives a virus nowhere to go.  Everywhere it looks it finds immunity.

Back in June, the CDC said that the actual infection rate for Covid-19 might be 10 times as high as the published infection number because so many people have had mild symptoms or even have been asymptomatic and thus have not even been tested.  If this is true then today over 150 million Americans have already had this virus and survived, meaning that they have the antibodies and are thus immune to it.  That is almost half of the country’s population.  The CDC also suggested that we would reach herd immunity for covid-19 in the US when 70% of our population has had the virus.  We’re not far off that number right now.  

Now, there are two ways to become immune to this virus.  First, you can get it, as I did, and survive.  At that point you have acquired the antibodies and are thus immune to the disease.  The second way to become immune is to get the vaccine, which, in effect does the same thing.  Now, let’s do a little projecting.  If we have roughly 50% herd immunity now, what if we have 50 million more Americans get infected and survive by May? (remember, the survival rate is roughly 99.8%).  Plus, what if we have 30 to 50 million Americans get the vaccine by May, as projected?   That will get us to that 70% to 75% herd immunity number by May or June.

Joe Biden knows that most experts are already projecting a dramatic decrease if not a complete demise of this disease by May or June, which is exactly 100 days after Joe Biden’s inauguration.  His proclamation / recommendation to wear masks will have nothing to do with it.  He might as well ask us to wave dead chickens over our heads for 100 days.  The results are coming (nothing last forever) no matter what Joe says or does, but he will try his very best to take credit for the results.  This is the action of a typical, deceitful politician.  Way to go, Joe.  You’re already showing your true colors.

Hey Joe, why don’t you promise that green leaves will start growing on our trees 100 days after your inauguration if we all wear our masks.  That could (will) happen too!!

Post-Election - Where are We? Really!

 Post-Election – Where Are We?  Really!

The View from the Middle

 

No sooner than the lame-stream media began calling Joe Biden the “President Elect”, the spin (or let’s just call it “lying”) began.  Joe Biden proclaimed that he and Kamala had won a “clear and convincing” victory, but in really that is far from the truth.  For example, Joe told us all that he had set a record for votes captured by any Presidential candidate in history with his 79 million votes.  Good for him, and that was a true statement.  What he left out, however, was that Trump also broke that same record with his 74 million votes.  The reality is, a heck of a lot of Americans voted against Joe Biden.

This man who repeatedly claimed that he would “unite” the country was trying to claim that he had earned some sort of massive mandate for his platform.  If Joe is ever officially dubbed the President of The United States he may trot out the tired old claim that, “elections have consequences”.  This would be an absolute disgrace for a man who dares to talk about unity.  It would be telling 74 million people, who are still American citizens, to drop dead.  

The reality is that without California, the nation’s popular vote is a virtual dead heat, and without California and New York, Trump actually won the popular vote in the remaining 48 states.  There is a clear message here, and that message is that this nation is equally divided and compromise is what is needed to bring us together.  Let’s see if we hear that message from either candidate once the election becomes official.

The absolute dead heat in the swing states is just one more indication of the lack of a clear mandate in this country today.  Before the election there were nine states that were designated as “battle ground” states; North Carolina, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia.  In those states, there were 47 million votes cast for Trump and Biden.  Trump captured 23.4 million of those votes or 49.9%, and Biden secured 23.5 million votes or 50.1%.  This can NOT be described as an overwhelming mandate.  It is, in fact, yet another signal for a need for real negotiations in our government.

The Democrats should also be concerned about their performance in the minority communities.  Despite a full court press by the lame-stream media to label Trump as a racist for the last four years, Both Zogby and EMI polls are suggesting that Trump captured 14% of the Black vote vs just 8% four years ago.  That’s almost doubling his share of that group.  Clearly, this constituency was attracted by Trump’s policies like the First Step Act, Opportunity Zones and advancing funds for Historically Black Colleges.  Trump also made advances in the Hispanic community capturing 32% of that vote vs just 28% four years ago.  This SHOULD suggest to Joe and the Democrats that there are some conservative policies that these two groups embrace and so should they!

Finally, the “blue wave” did not occur.  In fact, in the House, with seats won and seats where they are winning, Republicans could pick up as many as 11 seats, dramatically reducing the Democrat advantage there to just nine votes.  Considering the current discord within the Democrat caucus, this could / should lead to some real compromise legislation in the House.

In the Senate, the current count is 50 seats secured by Republicans and 46 seats capture by Democrats with two Independent seats who caucus with the Dems, and there are two seats up for runoff elections in January in Georgia.  The whole country should be hoping that Republicans win at least one or both of those seats so that a radical leftist agenda couldn’t possibly be rammed down virtually half of the country’s throats if the Democrats take control there.  But, even if Democrats would somehow take both of those Senate seats (which I think is unlikely) there is still hope for compromise in the Senate, because of a Senator named Joe Manchin (D-WV).

Joe Manchin is a conservative Democrat in a state that voted almost 70% for Trump in this latest election.  Mr. Manchin has already come out in favor of fracking.  He is a free market capitalist, pro-gun and pro-police, anti-green new deal, low corporate tax guy who is also in favor of the tariffs on China.  When you look at his record and position statements, he might even be a candidate to switch parties and become a Republican.  So, even if the Democrats take both Senate seats in Georgia, the most powerful person in the Senate will not be Chuck Schumer, the potential majority leader. It will be Joe Manchin.

The bottom line is that our government is set up for compromise, unless the new President, whoever that might be, tries to advance a radical agenda in either direction.  But even if a radical agenda is pursued by either side, I see it going down in flames, and that’s good for “We the People”.

Boycotting Girl Scott Cookies?

Boycotting Girl Scout Cookies?  Really?

The View from the Middle

 

On October 27^th, Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed by the Senate with a 52 to 48 vote to become an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court replacing Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  Amy graduated #1 in her class at Notre Dame law school and had her academic work published in Columbia, Cornell, University of Virginia, Texas and of course Notre Dame’s Law Reviews.  She would teach at George Washington University, the University of Virginia and finally at Notre Dame.

Ms. Barrett clerked for Supreme Court Justice Anton Scalia for two years after graduation.  Then, after teaching for about 15 years, primarily at Notre Dame, she was nominated by President Trump to the 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017.  She is an extremely competent and well qualified jurist who would have received overwhelming support in the Senate if they were actually performing their role of “advise and consent” to the President. Scalia, for example, received 98 votes in the Senate in ’86 and Ginsburg received 96 votes in ’93 despite their extremely different personal ideologies, because they were, quite simply, well qualified for the court.  In today’s environment, where the minority party believes their role in the confirmation process has changed to “search and destroy”, her 52-48 vote reflects her absolutely superb qualifications.

So, as you might imagine, The Girl Scouts of America sent out a tweet congratulating her on this incredible accomplishment while also recognizing the other four women who have achieved the same position; Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.  For an organization whose purpose is to, “Prepare young girls for a lifetime of Leadership, Success and Adventure” Amy Coney Barrett is a shining example of what a woman can do!  Anything!!

But the vicious, crazy, out-of-touch, Marxist left had to say “how dare you”.  They attacked The Girl Scouts so viciously that they had to take down their tweet and apologize for sending it.  The attacks came from Ayanna Pressley, a sitting Congresswoman and celebrities like Actress Amber Tamblyn and Actor Zach Braff and even included threats to boycott Girl Scout cookies.  Really?  Now the left wants to punish and destroy little girls for having the audacity to congratulate a woman for being confirmed to The Supreme Court?  What’s next, fire-bombing a pro-life lemonade stand for having a different opinion?  

Can we all agree that this attack on The Girl Scouts is crazy and even dangerous?  For these lefties, freedom of thought is now unacceptable.  They now believe that other opinions have to be crushed.  People must be made to feel afraid to have a thought that conflicts with their ideology.  Even though their congratulatory tweet included Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, Obama appointees, it was deemed objectionable because it included the brilliant but originalist Justice, Amy Coney Barrett.  The message is clear, you aren’t a woman unless you are a progressive.  So much for women’s rights.

And one of the claims being made by the left, through their candidate for President, is that they will to “Unite” the country?  Bologna!  For them, unity only comes if all Americans totally submit to their wildly left, Marxist, platform.  For them, unity comes from eliminating freedom of thought and bludgeoning everyone, even little girls, into compliance.  As a country built on liberty and freedom, we must denounce this kind of totalitarian thought control.  If Ronald Reagan were still alive, he would tell The Girl Scouts to, “Put that tweet back up” and tell the hate-mongers that we will not be shaken by their depraved tactics. 

America Needs Unity, Not False Promises

 America Needs Unity, Not False Promises

The View from the Middle

 

The name of this great country was not chosen lightly.  Even before the Revolutionary War, each colony felt very strongly about maintaining its sovereignty as a free and independent “State”.  The founders also felt that it was important to send a message of strength to the world warning that if any country attacked any one state, it would be considered an attack on them all.  Finally, all of the colonies at the time, future states, were bound together by their signing of the Declaration of Independence.  In that document they all embraced the fundamental principles laid out in that proclamation, “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  They knew that statement was true.  They also knew that it wasn’t being delivered at the time, but they were uniting behind the idea that this new nation would deliver that promise over time.  Thus, The United States of America was born.

And the USA has done amazing things when we, its citizens, were united, when we acted as one American people instead of allowing our enemies to slice us up into a hundred disparate and even conflicting pieces.  Even before we were officially The United States, the colonies came together and defeated the most powerful military might in the world at the time, the British Empire.  We saved Europe (and the world) from fascism and Nazism during WWI and WWII.  We, together, developed the greatest economy and military might in the world and our united response to the attack on 9/11 was incredible.  ALL Americans, not just Democrats or not just Republicans, powered by our values of liberty and personal responsibility have made us a singular force for good in the world.  Without us, the world would be a much different and lesser place.

American exceptionalism is driven by the power of the collective efforts of ALL of our people and the values the undergird our labor, but maybe most importantly, by our unity.  President Obama gave a wonderful speech in 2004 where he stated that there were no blue states in America or any red states, but just a United States of America.  This is the kind of attitude that all of our Presidents should have.  He or she should honor and respect all Americans if they are going to lead them.  Unfortunately, President Obama began to show some contempt for Americans who didn’t share his ideology when he suggested that conservatives “cling to their guns and religions.”  Then, after he was elected, he made his famous, “elections have consequences” statement, which is a politician’s way of telling the other side of the aisle to drop dead.  He also said that Republicans could come along for the ride in his administration, but they would “have to sit in the back seat.”  So much for unity and a real respect for All of the people being governed.

Then, there was Hillary’s famous “basket of deplorables” statement, which I believe actually lost her the election of 2016.  How can you possibly expect to lead a people when you despise so many of them?  She was also asked, during one interview in 2016, who her worst enemy was.  Of course, the moderator was expecting to get an answer like Russia, China or Iran, but Hillary said her worst enemy was Republicans.  In other words, she considered almost half of America’s citizens to be her worst enemy.  How could she possibly expect to effectively lead them?

And now we have Joe Biden claiming to want to unite our country.  Don’t get me wrong, I think that “unity” might be the most important thing our next President will need to deliver to this country.  However, as Joe talks about unity out of one side of his mouth, he supports three of the most divisive policies imaginable out of the other side.  Court Packing (adding four more justices to SCOTUS), Senate packing (gerrymandering on a national scale) and the elimination of the Senate filibuster are designed to crush the conservative voices in this country, not unite us.  Those policies are designed to remove the conservative voice from the political landscape permanently and he would do so with the slimmest of majorities if we give him that opportunity.  He is proposing a one-party system, with one voice, one mind and no competition of ideas.  Sounds a lot like China or Cuba to me.

And, as if those policies aren’t enough to reveal his contempt for half of America, Joe and Hillary have doubled down on Hillary’s “basket of deplorables” statement of 2016.  At one of his rare, recent public events, Joe Biden was confronted by some Trump supporters outside the gates.  In his speech, he talked about being the President of all Americans, “even the chumps” outside.  Is he even listening to himself?  As he talks about uniting America, he reveals his actual disdain for anyone who disagrees with him.  And, of course, Hillary took a last-ditch effort to show her true loathing of the average American as she called Republicans “spineless, cowards”.  The message?  Don’t cross Hillary or the Democrat party or you’ll be labeled a spineless, coward and placed in her basket of deplorables.  How can you possibly expect to lead people you actually hate?

My point is, our country does need unity to make it great.  Joe Biden has ten days to reject his positions on court-packing, Senate-packing and the filibuster and to use some language of real respect for ALL Americans.  If he does not, I predict he will not win, but even if he wins the election, he will be a total failure as a President.  No one can effectively lead a people whom they despise.

Government Run Disney

 Government Run Disney

The View from the Middle

 

My wife and I just returned from a trip to Orlando and I wanted to report what we found. It seems that at Disney, the efficiency and absolute dedication to customer satisfaction has been replaced by social distancing overkill and mask shaming.  It amazed me that Disney could figure out how to only allow 25% of their park’s capacity but still manage to keep the time in line for its customers higher than average.  They were able to accomplish this by redefining social distancing.  Their new definition is, “if six feet is adequate, 20 feet must be better.”  On the Haunted Mansion, where the cars are already nine or ten feet apart and the back of each seat serves as a wall between the riders, they left every other car empty and sometimes put two empty cars between customers.  This made sure that, despite the reduced customer count, the line for the Haunted Mansion was still over an hour long.  Yah, keeping those lines long is part of the experience we all love about Disney.

On the new “Seven Dwarfs Mine Train” they inexplicably allowed cars that normally accommodate 10 to 12 people to go out with just two people in the entire car.  They also made it a habit to send entire cars out with no one in them at all.  As I stood in my 90-minute-long line I noticed multiple times where they sent four consecutive empty cars out that could have accommodated almost 50 people.  Gotta love those lines!

The piece de resistance, however, came on the Jungle Cruise ride.  In the past this ride had always been defined by the humor of your boat’s captain, but today it includes a heavy dose of “mask shaming”.  About half way around our little river cruise, our captain noticed that one of the passenger’s mask had drifted slightly below the tip of her nose, and I guess “mask drifting” is no laughing matter on the new Jungle Cruise these days.  The captain was forced to make an example of her in the middle of his tour down the Nile.  Yah, that’s another thing I used to love about Disney, public ridicule of the paying customers.  What’s next, walking the plank for sneezing?

I did find, however, that I now have a new favorite ride at Disney, and that is the Hall of Presidents.  They have either updated the little historical documentary that goes along with the presentation of the Presidents or I had forgotten how good it was.  It walked the audience through our great history, warts and all.  It talked about the genius of our Constitution and the tragedy of slavery and the civil war.  It took us through the misery of our two world wars and the depression but also through the explosion of our economy that has made us the most powerful and free country on earth.  It allowed the pride that Walt Disney had in this county to shine through and gave us all hope that this great country will continue to get better, stronger and freer tomorrow.  They even did a nice job on Obama and Trump.  With all the bias coverage of our current President, it was nice to see him treated with respect as he gave a short talk that made me feel better about the country.

The other real positive about our trip to Orlando was the short drive we took to see the Kennedy Space Center.  Despite the fact that there were a few exhibits that were closed down, it was an awesome experience.  From John Kennedy’s inspiring goal to send a man to the moon and bring him back safely in the 60’s to the shuttle flights from 1981 to 2011, to a look to the future and the mission to Mars, it was a fascinating tour.  And just when we thought it couldn’t get any better they unveiled the actual Atlantis Shuttle in its spectacular splendor.  It really helped me appreciate all of the hard work and genius that went into those efforts.

The Atlantis exhibit included a nice little review of the qualities it takes to actually become an astronaut.  It included kiosks that talked about the courage, determination, integrity, goal setting and unselfishness it took to become a successful member of this exclusive club.  I did notice, however, that they didn’t have a single kiosk devoted to safe spaces, victimhood or intolerance.  In fact, there was a display of a quote from Ronald Reagan that I had never heard before.  President Reagan said, “The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted (those seeking safe spaces, added by me), it belongs to the brave.”  I believe that Americans will eventually reject today’s call to demonize anyone with a differing opinion and blame anyone else for our own circumstances and return to the spirit of hard work, cooperation and personal responsibility that has made this country the greatest place to live on this earth.  Put me in the Ronald Reagan camp of optimism in America.  We will embrace a love for each other and reject the tactics of hate and continue on the path of success that has delivered us to be this, “Shining city on a hill.”  God bless you all, and God bless America.

The Destruction of Our Republic

The Destruction of Our Republic

The View from the Middle

 

As I have watched the confirmation hearings of the very gifted and qualified Amy Coney Barrett in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, it has reinforced two things to me.  First, this kangaroo court, where the minds of the members were made up before the hearing even began, reminded me of the duplicity, depravity and hypocrisy that runs rampant throughout the people who govern us today.  Second, it confirms to me the wisdom and even genius of our founding documents, The Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.

Every American should study the Constitutional Convention of 1787 to appreciate the very difficult issues those men grappled with and the compromises they all made to protect the individual rights of American citizens.  They had just left a monarchy and they never wanted this new country to return to the tyranny that comes with a too big, too powerful or too one-sided government that could run roughshod over its constituents.  They were worried about “the tyranny of the majority” and concerned about protecting even the minority from the potential abuses of big government.

This is why we have two houses of congress and the electoral college.  Many of the founders were concerned that if we had just one house of congress, the House of Representatives for example, then the big states would overpower and ignore the needs and desires of the rest of the states.  Thus, the Senate was born with equal representation for all states (two Senators per state) and longer terms of office (six years).  Legislation had to pass both houses so, in theory, this protected the interests of the smaller states.  This bicameral congress was designed to encourage and even force compromise.  

The fact that ALL legislation had to pass both Houses of Congress and be signed by the President was a deliberate element in the structure of our government.  It was intended to slow things down, force debate and encourage, even demand, compromise.  And, as if this wasn’t enough to incent accommodation, the Senate used the filibuster as yet another tool to do so.  That rule became official over 100 years ago when the Senate required a 60 vote super-majority to bring cloture (end debate) on any bill.  Compromise and protection of the minority has, until recently, been the expectation of our government.

The separation of powers was another aspect of our Constitutional government whose intent was to protect us all from an overzealous government.  The legislative body has had the duty to create laws, but the executive branch has the power to veto such laws and the duty to enforce them once signed into law.  The judicial branch has the responsibility to interpret those laws and insure that they comply with the constitution.  It is particularly important that all laws comply with The Bill of Rights since it was designed to limit the power of the government and protect the freedoms of the people. 

But all of this wisdom and genius is at risk in this election.  There are questions that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will not answer, because they know that their intent is to violate the very spirit of our Constitutional Republic.  The first question they will not answer is whether they intend to “pack the Supreme Court”.  

If the Democrat Party would achieve even the slimmest majority in the Senate or even a 50-50 split with a Biden-Harris Whitehouse (hardly a mandate) they can change the rules of the Senate and pass any legislation they want, as long as they control the House, which they do now, and of course the Whitehouse.  They could pass a law requiring the addition of four new Justices on the Supreme Court. Not because this is right or needed, but because it would allow Joe Biden to select four new liberal judges whose intent is to create law, not interpret it.  They can then confirm all those judges, again with the slimmest of majorities, not because it is right or beneficial to the country, but simply because they can.  They can, and would, tell the minority party (nearly half of the country) to go to hell, pound sand, stick it wherever (You pick the insult).

I suggest, with complete confidence, that there is not a single sitting Justice on the Supreme Court who would agree with such a move.  Even Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg supported a court of nine Justices.  She reminded us all that we have had nine Justices for over 150 years and she felt that was the right number.  She also suggested that adding Justices to the court would only politicize it beyond recognition.  Her exact words were, “If anything would make the Court look partisan, it would be one side saying, ‘We’re in power and we’re going to enlarge the court so that we would have more people who would vote the way we want them to.’”  That is a pretty straight forward statement, and from probably the most liberal Judge on the Court before her recent passing.

Democrats have also suggested that they will try to “pack the Senate” by making Washington DC a state and thus awarding them two Senate seats, which they believe will be reliably Democrat.  They also will try to turn California into four different states or offer statehood to Puerto Rico.  None of these moves are supported by good logic, but by a drive to give them a permanent majority in the Senate, even though it violates the very principles on which our country was founded.  It is gerrymandering on a national scale.

It is amazing to me that Joe Biden could even suggest that he intends to “unite” this country in one breath and then embraces these divisive policies in the next. Unless you want a tyrannical, heartless and ruthless slim majority defying the very principles on which this country was founded, then we must all demand that he and his party reject these divisive, power-hungry tactics.  We cannot accept him saying he’s, “not a fan of court-packing”.  He must REJECT it and explain what that means.  If these policies are ever enacted, we will become just another China, Russia or Cuba.  A one-party system that can ignore the will of the very people they are supposed to represent. 

Blue Tuesdays

It seems that these days the police, who run towards danger as they serve and protect our communities, have been inappropriately savaged by the media and organizations like Antifa.  Given that reality, I and a group of my friends have created an LLC whose sole purpose is to support them financially and visually.

Below is a link to our website where you can purchase “Blue Tuesdays” shirts (one pictured below also) and a hat to help show your support for the Police every week (on Tuesdays of course). I’m hoping you can help us spread our message throughout Northwest Arkansas, where I live, and around the country.  Just click on the link below and order a shirt for you and your significant other, but more importantly, pass this link to all of your many friends and family.

Our profits will be donated to police forces around the country.  Please pray for a blessing on our efforts.  Here’s the link:

https://www.b-unlimited.com/collections/blue-tuesdays 

God Bless!

NFL & NBA Players and Owners are Clueless

NFL & NBA Players and Owners are Clueless

The View from the Middle

 The first NFL game was finally played in Kansas City between the Chiefs and the Texans on Sept. 10th. Before the game even started, the 17,000 fans that were allowed to attend the game booed a moment of silence as the two teams joined arms across the field in what they suggested was a moment of unity. JJ Watt, all-pro defensive end of the Texans, and many other players just couldn’t understand this demonstration of rejection. What they obviously don’t understand is that the NFL and the NBA are sending out many messages to their fan bases as they try to politicize the games that I love. What the players and owners can’t seem to grasp is that it isn’t messages like “It Takes All of Us” or “End Racism” or even the locking of arms that the fans are rejecting. It is all the other racist (yes racist), Marxist and anti-police messages that the fans hate. And the fans are forced to accept and support all of these messages or reject them all. If a person buys a ticket to a game, or watches it on TV, they can’t separate which messages they support and which they reject. It’s all or none. And, as I suggested, there are a lot of unacceptable messages that these teams are spewing.

You may ask, what could be wrong about putting the names of young black men whose lives were ended during a police arrests on the helmets of NFL players? Weren’t their deaths tragic? Certainly. But as Candace Owens points out, many of these men are not exactly role models for the black community. Michael Brown was a thug who had just robbed a drug store and roughed up its frail, aged owner. George Floyd was a repeat felon with a long criminal history. He was a drug addict and dealer who had methamphetamine, cannabinoids and fentanyl in his system at the time of his arrest. In addition, the trial of officer Derek Chauvin, who held Mr. Floyd down with his knee, hasn’t even started yet. What if the courts find that Mr. Floyd died of fentanyl poisoning? The NFL must accept that some people might object to these names being glorified and these men being canonized while other names are forgotten. 

For example, for every George Floyd there are five David Dorns, the retired, black police captain who was murdered as he protected private businesses during the riots in Saint Louis. For every Michael Brown, there are (unfortunately) many Secoriea Turners, the eight-year-old girl who was killed by a rioter in Atlanta. Why isn’t the NFL or the NBA honoring their names on their helmets and jerseys? If the players and owners can’t understand the disappointment that many of their fans might experience from this misplaced focus, then their support will continue to shrink. 

Another message that the NFL and NBA are sending to their audiences is that white people are inherently racists and bigots, just because of the color of their skin. They also suggest that we (white people) should be ashamed of ourselves for sins committed by other people 150+ years ago.  They also suggest that we don’t deserve anything we have or have accomplished because it is only a result of “white privilege”. By the way, JJ, that includes you. Isn’t that the absolute definition of racism? Isn’t that what we have been fighting to abolish for the last 200 years? 

While 70% of your players may be black, 87% of your audience is not, and 60% of your potential viewers are white, according to the Census Bureau. Does it make any sense to spit in the fact of 60% of our audience and then to ask them to support you? And just for the record, I and many white Americans are not only NOT ashamed of our skin color or our country, but we are proud of both. 

Get your history straight. The establishment of The United States of America was not the beginning of slavery in North America. It was the beginning of the end. As the 1619 project points out, slavery in North America began more than 150 years before The United States existed. I’m proud of Thomas Jefferson who knowingly inserted the phase, “all men are created equal” into the Declaration of Independence. He and all 56 signers of that document, all white, knew exactly where that would lead. That phrase was included intentionally and I’m proud of them for injecting it. 

I’m proud of the many white Americans who risked their lives and acted as conductors on the Underground Railroad. I’m proud of Abraham Lincoln who signed the Emancipation Proclamation. I’m proud of the entirely white congress who passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution with mostly Republican support. I’m proud of the 350,000 Northern soldiers who died in the Civil War to eradicate slavery. I’m proud of the virtually all white Congress that passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and I’m even proud of the 23 million white people (45% of the white vote) who voted for Barack Obama in 2008, although, to be truthful, I was not one of them. If professional sports owners and players are looking for me to be ashamed of my race or my country, that is not going to happen.  Consequently, you risk losing me as a customer. If Pete Carroll is ashamed of his race and his accomplishments, he can step down as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks and give that job to a black man (or woman) and he can give ALL of his money to Al Sharpton. Maybe then Al will be able to pay his taxes. 

And finally, there is the support for Black Lives Matter. Or is it black lives matter? I’ve already written an entire article about the confusion between the organization and the concept. Do black lives matter? Of course they do, and virtually all of America agrees with that. However, the BLM organization is a Marxist, anti-police, anti-nuclear family, anti-America coalition. They'll never put this in writing, but I suspect they are also anti-God (as Karl Marx was) and racist (again, as Marx was). No one in the NFL or the NBA has ever clarified their position on this. Do they support the idea that black lives matter, or the organization that is called Black Lives Matter? If they are supporting the anti-family, anti-America, Marxist group called BLM, then they should expect even more fan desertions. And the abandonment will only get worse as fans discover just who this group is and as BLM approval ratings continues to plummet. 

How can these players and owners be so oblivious to their own mixed messaging? Actually, that’s easy. They are all multi-millionaires who live in a bubble of pampered narcissism. If they don’t wake up, they could permanently damage two brands that I have long enjoyed (the NFL and the NBA) and will destroy two sports that I have forever loved. To all of them, I have but one message. Take two smart pills and call me in the morning. Seriously! Wake up, you idiots!

Assault on our Police

The Assault on our Police
The View from the Middle

Police officers in our country have been under assault rhetorically and literally for the past three months, and most of that criticism has no merit. Abraham Lincoln once said, “if you look for the bad in people, expecting to find it, you surely will” and that mindset is what our law enforcement officers are facing today. They are the target of a relentless attack by the media and by left-leaning politicians that focuses only on negative stories and are often exaggerated or even totally false. As usual, false stories get headlines. Retractions are buried below the obituaries. I’ve never understood the symbolism of that practice until just now.

The Fayetteville City Council, in what can only be described as a politically correct move, voted to kill funding for two additional School Resource Officers and for the 4th District Drug Task Force. They also are working to stop construction of the new Police Headquarters. I can only describe this as short-term, politically correct, reactionary thinking. What the Fayetteville City Council members need is some actual data that tells the real story of what the police really do for the communities they serve.

One piece of data that was shared during their meeting is that young unarmed black men are disproportionately killed by the police. When you stretch that statement to say that they are twice as likely to be killed by police than their white counterparts, that’s when this charge veers into dishonesty. And when they suggest that these kinds of results are “epidemic” they are being hyperbolic.

In 2019, according to the Washington Post database June update, there were 55 shootings of unarmed men in the entire United States that resulted in death. Of that total, 25 were white, 14 were black and 16 were Hispanic or other. So, the truth is that young white men were nearly twice as likely to be shot than blacks. That is just a fact. It is also true, however, that African Americans represent 13% of the country’s population, but in these unarmed shooting deaths they represent 25% of the total. That is nearly twice their “fair share” so to speak. The media also won’t tell you that the trend for these kinds of tragedies have been going down since 2015 when the total tragic, unarmed, shootings of black men was about 40. From 40 to 14 in five years. We would love that to be zero, but you must admit the progress and hope for even more.

Is this an epidemic? People, who want you to think this is a plague, won’t tell you the raw numbers. While 14 young, unarmed black men lost their lives in police shootings, that number pales in comparison to the 8,000 young black men who killed each other in 2019. Now THAT’s an epidemic. And while Blacks represent only 13% of the population, they represent almost half (46%) of all murder victims. And finally, these murders are committed by other African Americans 94% of the time. Of course, this is true for all races. Whites kill whites, Hispanics kill Hispanics and Blacks kill other African Americans.

While there are things that white people can do to help reduce these numbers, even the brilliant economist and philosopher, Thomas Sowell, would suggest there is much that the Black community can and should do to help itself. In his book “Discrimination and Disparities”, Sowell strongly suggests that improved family structure and education are keys to addressing this epidemic. Never in his book did Sowell suggest that a reduction in the size of our police forces was any kind of a solution to this problem.

The other piece that is missing from this discussion is the enormity of the challenge that the police face. The total of 55 unarmed fatal shootings by police has to be put into perspective. Last year, the police had over 50 million interactions with the public and over 10 million arrests. And as you can imagine, the target of these arrests can be belligerent or on drugs or just plain abusive. The reality is, these 55 tragic results represent only .00055% of arrests that end up with this extremely regrettable result.

We need to keep the difficulty of their task in mind. Enforcing the law and having to arrest people who break that law is a difficult job. These are people that we ask to run towards the shooting and violence while the rest of us get to run away. We need to remember that these were the same people who ran towards the Twin Towers where 60 of them lost their lives that day and almost 250 more since from the poisons they inhaled as they did their work. They are the ones that ran towards the Pulse nightclub in Florida when the mass shooter took over 60 lives, and they are the ones that will run towards every school shooting, if our City Council will give them that chance. If the City Council and all of us don’t support our police today, I predict we will regret it in the future.

Are they perfect? No. Are there bad police officers? Sure. But there are bad people in every profession on earth. Are there bad, selfish CEO’s? Sure. Are there bad sales people (that’s what I did)? Yes. Are there bad, narcissistic, dishonest and even evil politicians? Absolutely. In fact, I’m going to suggest that we have a higher percentage of good, solid, admirable police officers than we have politicians of that same character in Washington DC.

Finally, there will be thousands of openings in police departments across this country this year because of the unwarranted abuse that we, the public, have been heaping on them over the last few months. Imagine a “peaceful protester” screaming insults at you just inches from your face. You know what they make. You know how difficult their job is! Are any of you willing to take their place?

Divided We Fall

Divided We Fall
The View from the Middle

I’m 68 years old, but believe it or not, I still play basketball a couple days a week, or at least I will when we get passed the coronavirus. My skills are a shadow of what they were 45+ years ago but I’ve been playing so long that I usually know what I’m supposed to do or where I’m supposed to be so that I don’t penalize my team too much. I don’t play because of the amazing athletic feats I can perform any more. I play for the exercise for sure, but I also play because I really enjoy the camaraderie. I actually like the guys I play with. I enjoy the teamwork on the court and the conversations between games.

It dawned on me the other day, however, that our politicians really want me to hate at least half of these very men that I enjoy so much. While we all share the love of the game, our political philosophies range from the far right to the far left, and of course I profess to be right in the middle. When we disagree, we debate the subject, but we don’t lose respect for the person. According to our politicians, however, if I disagree with President Obama on anything, I’m a racist. If I disagree with Nancy Pelosi or AOC, I’m a misogynist. These extreme descriptions are designed to divide us by making us question the motives of anyone with whom we disagree.

Is it possible for a person to be in favor of border security and improved legal immigration laws and not be a xenophobe? From the White House to your house we all build walls and fences to keep people from damaging our property or threatening our lives. Do we as a country want “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free”? Absolutely! However, does anyone want criminals and terrorists to come to America? No. Can we work together to accomplish both? Of course!

Is it possible for a person to be pro-life and not be a misogynist? Consider that half of the million babies being aborted every year in the United States are female. Realize also that even a successful abortion surgery has a tremendously negative impact on the mothers of these children. Understand that only 50% of women in America are pro-choice. Are the other 50% of our women misogynists? Is that even possible? Can we protect women and the unborn at the same time? Yes, and I believe that’s what most Americans want.

Is it possible for a person who is in favor of charter schools and a voucher system for education not to be a racist? Did you know that members of Congress are four times more likely to send their children to private schools? Is it wrong to give that same choice to every family in America? My children have been out of college for almost 20 years now. I would recognize no personal gain from vouchers or charter schools. I just want more people to have the same choices I had when I sent my girls to private schools all those years ago.

Is it possible for a person who believes in traditional marriage, not to be a homophobe? Do you remember the mass shooting in 2016 that left 49 dead at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando? Do you remember the lines of people waiting to give blood for the victims of that horrible terrorist attack? You must remember that most of these people were heterosexual, because of the restrictions placed on gays for giving blood. We can debate those restrictions later, but the reality is that many “straight” people were giving blood in an attempt to support the gay victims of that tragedy. Are these the “homophobic” people our politicians are talking about?

It sickens me to watch politicians try to turn Americans against each other for political gain. Do you really think that the majority of Americans are misogynistic, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, Islamophobic bigots? I don’t. In fact, I believe that most Americans on both sides of the political spectrums are decent, hard-working, caring people who just want to pass a better America on to their children. But that positive image will not drum up the hatred necessary to divide us into the ideological camps that they think is required to win elections. I think that creating unity in America is a far more powerful political force, and I’ll give some evidence of that in my next article.

Unfortunately, I do not see an actual uniting figure on either side of the political spectrum today. So, if we can’t depend on our politicians to unite us, we’re going to have to do it ourselves. Understanding the true, positive character of the vast majority of the American public will bring us together. Then, unity and tolerance will drive the compromise that is necessary to produce the change and progress needed to really make this country great again. When we hear these extreme descriptions, recognize them for what they are, a selfish attempt to deceive and divide us. We need to punish these selfish, narcissistic, egotistical, smug, vain, pompous, prideful frauds (exaggeration intended) by voting them out of office for they do NOT represent America.

9% of America has Already Died from Covid-19?

9% of America Has Already Died of Covid-19?
The View from the Middle

Would it surprise you if I told you that, according to Gallup, the credibility of all media outlets has been plunging since 2016? As Trump Derangement Syndrome poisons the coverage of the Liberal media, the credibility of the once “north star” of print media (the NY Times) has slipped to just 29% amongst Republicans. CNN and MSNBC have fallen even further as only about one in four (27%) Republicans find them believable. Among all adults, trust in the media has fallen about ten percentage points in just three short years. These are disastrous numbers for an industry whose stock-in-trade is trust. There are two storylines that the media have absolutely blown in 2020 that have only exacerbated their fall from grace – the economy and Covid-19.

Back in May, the media projected that America would lose nine million jobs and that our unemployment rate would go up to 19.0%. Instead, our economy created 2.5 million new jobs and the unemployment rate went down to 13.3%. The media, however, hardly covered these spectacular numbers and totally ignored the massive miss that their projections represented. They missed again in June and you would think they would have learned their lesson, but apparently not. Just recently, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced the July results, and wouldn’t you know it, the media underestimated the strength of our economy again. The US created 300,000 more jobs than predicted and our unemployment rate fell to just 10.2%, a full point lower than the June numbers and half a percent point lower than the projections. These consistent misjudgments are the kinds of things that destroy the media’s reliability and any appearance of objectivity.

Who is telling the story about these amazing jobs results, especially compared to expectations and in light of our attempted self-destruction of our economy. The media is certainly not covering it, so you’ll probably only hear this storyline here at the VFM.

However, in my opinion, the media’s coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic has bordered on journalistic malfeasance. While I have already admitted that this virus is a serious matter for America and the world, the media has reported on this disease in a way that has totally misled the American people. In a July 27th publication, the Covid-19 Opinion Tracker reported that the average American believes that nine percent of the US population has already succumbed to this virus. NINE PERCENT!!! That would represent over 30 MILLION deaths in the US when we have actually lost about 150,000. Now, 150,000 is a lot of deaths, but 30 million is 200 times the reality. The fact that the American public is that confused about the mortality rate of this disease is an indictment of the media’s slanted, sloppy and even dishonest coverage.

The media has convinced the American people that getting the coronavirus is a death sentence, when the truth is that somewhere between 99.5 and 99.9% of the people who actually get infected by this disease will survive. If this had been the storyline from the beginning of this pandemic, our country would have responded very differently and our results would also have been different, maybe better.

And, of course, the media is not even considering the long-term implications of the paranoid behavior they are inspiring. Brenda and I just got back from a week in Florida. Yes, Florida, and we’re still alive. We followed the rules and wore masks when appropriate and sometimes just to be polite to more concerned vacationers, but it was a very pleasant stay. On the way there, however, we saw some very disturbing behavior that will affect our young people for years to come.

At the airport in Northwest Arkansas, there are rules in place for adults and children over 10 to wear masks, and as I suggested earlier, Brenda and I complied with that rule. We did see a family, however, with three children, all under 10, who were all wearing masks, AND goggles AND face shields attached to giant hats to accommodate the face shields. What kind of story do you have to tell three children under 10 to get them to dress up in these “near hazmat” outfits. Certainly not the truth, which is that it is very unlikely for them to transmit this disease and, even according to virologists and pediatricians, it is extremely unlikely for them to suffer serious symptoms. Fatalities are almost non-existent. From February 1st through July 8th only 30 children under age 15 have died of Covid-19 in the entire United States. While this group represents almost 20% of the US population, these 30 deaths represent only .02% (that’s two hundreds of one percent) of coronavirus fatalities. Said another way, children under 15 are a thousand times less likely to die from the coronavirus than the general public.

What media outlet is telling the true story about the mortality rate of this disease, especially in children? What investigative reporter is exploring the long-term emotional, educational and even financial damage being done to our society by short-sighted, unscrupulous politicians and a misguided media, hellbent on panicking everyone in this country? Well, you’ve at least heard about these stories here at the VFM.

God Bless The USA

God Bless The USA
The View from the Middle

Over the past few months we have all been bombarded with claims of how terrible this country is. This country that millions of people risk their lives to get into each year. Some of these claims are absolute lies. Some are exaggerations and some are even true. No person or country is perfect. But what the media and most politicians leave out are the great stories of sacrifice and freedom and accomplishment and acceptance that are an integral part of our history and national legacy. It is what makes this country great and attractive to all of those millions who want to get here.

So, if you only focus on the negative and ignore all the positive you can make even the greatest country in the world sound terrible. Today, however, I received a couple of emails that reminded me of how great we’ve got it in the USA and what a bright future we have. And we have that bright future because of the of the fundamental goodness of our people, the self-correcting system of government our founders put in place and the freedom it guarantees even to those who would protest against it (not those who assault police, destroy property and even murder innocents). Try that in China and see what happens to you!

One email I received was about “The Doolittle Raiders”. This was a group of 80 men who flew 16 planes over Tokyo during WWII. Their original daring plan was to bomb Tokyo and then land in China, because they didn’t have enough fuel to make it back to their aircraft carriers, but that plan was thwarted and they had to take off from even farther out. This made landing in China unlikely, if not impossible. These 80 brave men took off anyway knowing that after their mission was complete they were going to have to fend for themselves in hostile territory. Four planes crash landed; 11 more crews bailed out, and three Raiders died. Eight more were captured; and three were executed. Another died of starvation in a Japanese prison camp. One crew made it to Russia. What an amazing story!! Add to this the thousands of stories and hundreds of books about the bravery and selflessness of Americans on Iwo Jima, at the Battle of the Bulge or on “D-day”. It reminded me of how proud I am of the men and women who fought and died to save Europe and the world from fascism and the brutality of Nazi Germany.

The next email I received was a video of Lee Greenwood and an array of American soldiers. Even with the backdrop of protestors, rioters, looters, arsonists and yes even murderers in the streets of America, it reminded me of how great this country is because it stands for freedom for everyone who lives here. Please read the words to this great song below, and I’ve also supplied a link you can copy and paste into your browser to actually hear Lee and his troupe perform. You will NOT regret listening.

"God Bless The USA"

If tomorrow all the things were gone I'd worked for all my life
And I had to start again with just my children and my wife
I'd thank my lucky stars to be livin' here today
'Cause the flag still stands for freedom and they can't take that away

And I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me
And I'd gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God bless the USA

From the lakes of Minnesota, to the hills of Tennessee
Across the plains of Texas, from sea to shining sea
From Detroit down to Houston and New York to LA
Well, there's pride in every American heart
And it's time we stand and say

That I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me
And I'd gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God bless the USA

And I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me
And I'd gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God bless the USA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Japc8M8RQw

THIS is what America needs to hear today! God bless you and God Bless the USA.

How Can I Lie to Thee, Let Me Count the Ways

How Can I Lie to Thee, Let Me Count the Ways
The View from the Middle

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article entitled “Lies of Omission” where I talked about how the press can mislead us all in more ways than straight out lies. They can just not cover or under report very important stories and I gave examples of where they did just that. One example I gave was the reporting on the May jobs numbers. The “experts” had suggested that we would lose nine million jobs in May and the unemployment rate would go UP to 19.0%. In actuality, we created 2.5 million new jobs and the unemployment rate went DOWN to 13.3%. These results were amazing, but the real story was the gargantuan miss by the so-called experts. CNN literally devoted five seconds to this story and didn’t even mention the vast gap between the projections and the actual results. So, what had to be the biggest story of the day was given five seconds from a network that is devoted to the news 24 hours a day. Really?

Of course, the media can just lie right to our faces also, and they have. Remember the story that President Trump had removed the bust of Martin Luther King from the Oval office. This, of course, was proof positive that Trump was a racist. When it was discovered that this was a lie, all we got was an “Ooops” from NBC that no one even heard. Then there was the claim that Trump said that, “all Mexicans are rapists”. When that turned out not to be true, the story just faded to black. Everyone heard the claim and no one heard any retraction or correction. Finally, Trump was called a traitor and a Russian asset for years by morally suspect John Brennan and James Clapper, but when the Mueller report came out and debunked that claim, there were no apologies or retractions for that either. Yes, the media has lied right to our faces!!

Then there is the deception of the double standard or what I will call “double vision”. It appears that President Trump can perform the exact same action as other Presidents or even candidates, but the reporting of those actions is twisted into a negative light. That happened most recently when President Trump gave a speech in front of Mount Rushmore. I actually watched that speech and found it to be one of Trump’s better moments as he honored Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt with an accurate historical tribute.

In 2008, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama visited Mount Rushmore and both CBS and CNN not only found the visits appropriate but asked both candidates if they pictured themselves joining the Presidential quartet on the Mount someday. For Obama’s visit, the media described the massive sculpture as “quite a sight” and “majestic”. In 2016 candidate Bernie Sanders visited the Mount and said of it, “This is our country at its very best”. He added that it was, “and incredible achievement” and that, “it really does make one proud to be an American.”

But, of course, all this must be changed by the lame-stream media if President Trump should dare to visit this incredible and legendary site. They must twist and contort this marvel of history and art into something disgusting and even reprehensible. So, as President Trump prepared to give his speech in front of Mount Rushmore, as 16 other Presidents have done, CNN decided that the Mount was no longer majestic or incredible or a source of pride, but now, because Trump was there, it was a, “monument to two slave owners, and on land that was wrestled away from Native Americans.” Wow, it’s amazing how blatant theirs bias has become.

And just so my readers understand, this article is not about President Trump. It is about a media that has abandoned their role as arbiters of truth. They have committed to an agenda and they will twist every story they find by making bold-faced lies, lies of omission and using the deception of their double standard to mislead you at every possible opportunity. And this is just the main-stream media. If you are using Facebook or Twitter as your source of news, the dishonesty is only magnified through the use of selective censorship or robotic manipulation which accounts for over half of their traffic and messaging. You must be diligent in your search for truth. You will have to find new sources of the news because the established media is committing journalistic malfeasance on a daily basis. This, unfortunately is our task, lest we become 2020’s version of George Orwell’s “1984”. And if you haven’t read that great book, you should do so now so you know what’s at stake.

Black Lives Matter, The Organization vs the Idea

Black Lives Matter, The Organization vs the Idea
The View from the Middle

Have you ever noticed that organizations and legislators use names to make their groups or legislation sound better? The people who fight to make abortions easier to access, for example, don’t call themselves “Pro-Abortion”. They call themselves “Pro-Choice”. They do that because they know that people understand that abortion is a bloody, destructive and dangerous act and they don’t want people associating their cause with that ugly picture. Would you support them if they were called the “We Rip Babies from Mothers’ Wombs” movement?

The same goes for the “Black Lives Matter” organization. Do Black lives matter? Of course, they do! Who is suggesting otherwise? It is a safe name because virtually everyone in this country agrees with the sentiment expressed in that name. They might as well have called it the “We Love Puppies” organization. Everyone in America supports puppies, but is that what this organization is all about? Is this organization really about saving Black lives?

Many Black leaders have questioned why BLM has not expressed more outrage over the deaths of Black police officers, like David Dorn, or young black children, like Secoriea Turner who were actually shot by Black Lives Matter protestors. Or how about the slaughter of young Black men in Chicago, Baltimore and New York that occurs every week. If Black lives matter, don’t they also matter. The reality is that Black lives are a side issue at best to these violent, terroristic mobs that are mostly made up of pampered, indoctrinated white millennials these days.

There’s an old saying that suggests that when people tell you who they are or what their intent is, you should believe them. So, when the mullahs in Iran shout, “death to America”. I believe that is what they want. When Russia says, “We will bury you”, I believe them and when China says they want to replace America as the one and only superpower in the world, I believe them too. So, when Patrisse Collurs, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, says that she is a trained Marxist, we should believe her also. So, who is Karl Marx and why does Patrisse worship him?

Karl Marx was a German philosopher born more than 200 years ago and is the father of socialism and arguably, Communism. After all, one of his most famous writings was The Communist Manifesto. His utopian ideas of an incorruptible, benevolent, thoroughly efficient government that runs everything may be great fodder for dorm room “dream-speak”, but you can ask the people of Cuba, Venezuela, China and Russia how all of that is working out. What it has proven in the real world is that government is corrupt, inept and deceitful above all things, and the big losers in his experiment are common people.

Black Lives Matter is a great slogan and a true statement, but it’s a poor name for this group. Marxism is what Patrisse and the BLM organization actually believe in. They believe in the destruction of capitalism, which has liberated more people from oppression than any other system in the world, and the elimination of the nuclear family, which is the foundation of every civil society. Many Black leaders and athletes have denounced the organization for those very positions, including journalist Jason Whitlock and retired all-pro defensive end Marcellus Wiley. BLM has openly said that they will burn down this country if they don’t get what they want, which doesn’t sound democratic, or tolerant or even sane to me. So, let’s take a look at what exactly this violent, radical group wants to burn down!

America is arguably the greatest country in the world today and possibly the greatest country this world has ever seen. America’s $20+ trillion economy is the largest in the world. Our economy, in fact, represents 24% of the world’s economy while accounting for only 4% of its population. We have the world’s most powerful military and we have the planet’s most generous people. The people in the US give over $400 billion to charity each year and our government adds another $35 billion in aid to other countries.

The United States regularly ranks in the top 10 countries in the world in terms of standard of living and has also ranked high in terms of the freedom our country offers our citizens. I think, however, that immigration is the most important measure of how great our country is. America allows over a million legal immigrants into our country every year and millions more risk their lives to come here illegally. There are over 50 million immigrants living in our country today which ranks us #1 in that category and that is four times the #2 country’s total. That 50 million represents over 15% of our population, another top number. And do you know what countries don’t even make it into the top 50 in terms of people wanting to immigrate there? China, Russia, Cuba and Venezuela, and why? Because their socialist/communistic systems have led to poverty, violence, misery, massive inequity and, in China’s case, even slavery.

Yet THIS, the greatest country in the world, is what BLM wants to burn down. Is America perfect? No, but neither is any other country on the planet. We do, however, offer one more thing that everyone loves about America. We have a constitution that not only puts human rights above governmental rights but is also self-correcting. It has taken us from zero Black men or women in government in 1789 (Washington’s first year in office) to our first Black President in 2009 and 58 members of Congress today. Will we get even better? Yes, unless we let the Marxist mobs in our midst burn this great country down.

So, don’t let this Marxist group trick you into supporting them. They will say that if you don’t support the Black Lives Matter organization, then you are against the “idea” that Black lives matter. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, I would suggest that if you really believe that Black lives matter, you must denounce the organization that has hijacked such a righteous banner.