Don’t Let Them Fool You Again

"You cannot have a free and fair election when the media, the tech companies, and the intelligence community censor information about the foreign business connections of one of the two presidential candidates."

-Joel B. Pollak, Blue State Blues: The 2020 Election* Gets a Giant Asterisk over Hunter Biden Laptop, LINK 

Since 2020 I have been saying that while Joe Biden may have won the actual vote, that vote was not fair because the media suppressed information and distorted facts into a comprehensive narrative that pushed voters away from Donald Trump and toward Joe Biden.  Time magazine, as I have previously pointed out, so much as admitted this “conspiracy” to swing the election and “save the country.” That effort to “save the country” destroyed the very democracy – the freedom of the people to decide – that makes this country what it is.

The Big Lie

But to mention any of this to other than open-eyed conservatives has been to risk being called a crazy conspiracy theorist who has fallen for the Trump and right-wing lies.  But now, perhaps, those name callers will listen.

Now the truth is coming out:  the Russian hoax that consumed the media for the entirety of Trump’s presidency and underlay at least one of the Trump impeachment attempts has been proven to have been manufactured by the Democrats.  

And, now the mainstream media is admitting what they well knew before the election:  that the infamous Hunter Biden laptop which was deemed nothing more than Russian/Trumpian disinformation is in fact real and contains incriminating emails as well as information that implicates his father, then candidate and now President Joe Biden.

It’s interesting that the Left likes to blame Russia when the anti-democratic tactics used by Russia’s government are not that different from those used by the Left here.  Russia has sham elections; those in  power, not the people, decide their results.  We are hearing, and condemning, Putin’s crack down on Russian media as he allows only his story and justification of his invasion of Ukraine to be fed to his people.  But how is that really any different than what we have in this country: a people fed not facts but narrative by an undemocratic power structure that believes it has the right to decide for the people?

Democracy Requires Information

Democracy requires freedom of thought, and freedom of thought requires a free flow of and access to information, for without information upon which to base their own decisions, the people really have no freedom to think or to decide.

In 1780 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in its Declaration of Rights of the Inhabitants stated, “The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a state.”  Similarly, in 1776, North Carolina’s Declaration of Rights stated, “That the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and therefore ought never to be restrained.”

Our Founding Fathers and authors of our Constitution understood that freedom of the press – the right of the people to know the facts (as opposed to a selected narrative) – is an essential underpinning of democracy.  “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost,” wrote Thomas Jefferson. 

John Adams, our country’s second President wrote that “The liberty of the press is essential to the security of the state.” He stated, “But none of the means of information are more sacred, or have been cherished with more tenderness and care by the settlers of America, than the press.” 

Today our Press, along with the rest of our power and information structure has decided that narrative is more important than facts and truth.  When the people lose access to that information, they lose their freedom and their democracy.

The power structure that includes mainstream media decided that they did not want President Trump to have a second term and so they withheld information from the public that would have allowed them to assess both 2020 candidates on an even playing field.  They fed the public false information that was anti-Trump and pro-Biden.  This did not “fix” the election in the traditional understanding of casting fraudulent ballots (although some of that occurred too), but it did “fix” the election in the sense that it left the voters without essential facts and with manufactured/false facts with which to choose for whom to vote. 

The author of the above quote is right:  President Biden should have an asterisk after his name for the rest of history to show that this was not a fair election in the sense of American democracy and the people’s rights to inform themselves of all facts and make their own decision about for whom to vote.  Rather, this election was manipulated by a vast power structure that was anti-Trump and either pro-Biden or more generally pro-Left.

The facts of the Hunter Biden laptop are now slowly being fed to us by the media which has decided they will now admit it exists and selectively feed us its contents.  This week Republican Rep. Gaetz asked that the contents of the Biden laptop (on a flash drive) be placed into the record of the House Judiciary Committee.  Its Democratic Chair, Rep. Nadler objected.  But, after some delay and a letter from Gaetz indicating support for its entry into the record by “majority authority,” the flash drive containing a copy of the contents is now public record.

Of course, that does not stop the attempts to deny and downplay its contents by those who benefited from it being hidden during the election as nothing more than a right wing conspiracy theory.  Indeed, President Biden continues to say it is all a lie.

Would Informed Minds Have Decided Differently?

Might it have made a difference to some voters if they had been given the information that the mainstream media had available but kept hidden that candidate Biden’s son was under investigation for tax evasion, that candidate Biden himself financially benefitted from his son’s questionable foreign dealings with Ukraine and China?

Would it have made a difference if voters had been informed that Vice President Biden was not only aware of, but also intimately involved in a corrupt, multimillion-dollar, international influence-peddling scheme run by Hunter, and Joe’s brother Jim Biden, in the countries for which Joe was point man in the Obama administration, such as Russia, Ukraine and China? 

Would it have mattered to voters that during the last two years of Joe Biden’s vice presidency Hunter in conjunction with “the big guy” Joe Biden, was using the Biden name to open doors and find acquisitions for Chinese energy conglomerate CEFC?   Or that $6 million CEFC wired into the business bank account of trusted Biden family friend Rob Walker, a former Clinton administration official whose wife, Betsy Massey Walker, had been Jill Biden’s assistant when she was Second Lady?

Would it have mattered to voters that SinoHawk Holdings, which was set up on May 15, 2017, for a joint venture between CEFC and Hunter and his business partners, was the deal for which Joe Biden was to get a 10% cut, as cited in an infamous 2017 email on the laptop, “10 [percent] held by H [Hunter] for the big guy [Joe Biden].”?

There is a lot on this laptop.  The laptop that the mainstream media and Leftist power structure asserted did not exist, even while knowing that it did.  Would it have changed some people’s votes if they had been given these hidden facts?  Perhaps.  We will never know. 

Moving Forward With Open Eyes

Along with Joe, many on the Left will continue to assert that there is “nothing to see here, move along.”  But the whole point in a democracy is that it is not for some power structure to make that decision.  It is for the people, who must be given access to ALL the facts which are available, to decide what to make of those facts.  Otherwise, how is this really any different from a state media like Russia where the people are given selective facts and through those selections are manipulated and told what to think and to believe.

Some people realized this sort of thing was going on throughout Donald Trump’s presidency in an effort to inhibit his ability to serve as President and in an effort to deny him reelection.  But, as directed by the mainstream propaganda narrative machine, most people accepted the conspiracy theory label that was attached to this and any other potentially negative publicity about the Left. 

Those who ignored mutterings from the Right can label themselves fooled.  Perhaps they were blinded by Trump’s often acerbic language which was up-played and often distorted by that same propaganda machine while it downplayed or simply failed to report his many successes for this country.  It’s hard to fight the vast power and propaganda machine that currently exists.  It’s hard to find the facts and thus the truth. 

What I wish is that, as the truth and actual facts begin to come out, that the millions who were fooled will not deny that they were indeed misled.  No one likes to make a mistake, to be made a fool of, but to ignore that it happened, to explain it away, only leaves those who fooled and took advantage of you the ability to do it again.

This country cannot survive without the freedom of information, without the assertion of the populace of their right to know and to decide for themselves.  The physical country might remain as a place on a map, but the democracy that it once was will die.

So, admit you were fooled by a propaganda machine that you once could trust but no more.  Admit that this Leftist machine has an agenda that it is determined to put into place without any real input from the people. 

BIDEN’s WAR

I said this in the days leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and I still believe it today:  President Biden wants a war with Russia.

Why do I say this?  Several reasons. 

First, before the invasion and up to the current moment, Biden seems to be doing everything he can both to not deescalate the situation and to anger Putin so that he becomes ever more aggressive. 

Before the invasion, Biden had sanctions he could have imposed to possibly deter the invasion.  He did not use them until after Putin began dropping bombs on Ukraine.  He then dolled out minor sanctions little by little, sanctions that could no longer be used for deterrence since the assault they might have deterred had already begun.

Long before the invasion, long before Russia began building up troops at the Ukrainian border, Biden had promised Ukraine we had its back.  We didn’t and we don’t.  Once the war began Biden agreed,  then refused to provide necessary air power to Ukraine by way of Poland or otherwise.  He accepted Putin’s threat not to close the air space over Ukraine or risk the possibility of all out war, maybe nuclear.

Yet at the same time we have CIA in Ukraine.  Biden yesterday stated we are helping to train Ukrainian troops.  Biden called for regime change in Russia to remove Putin.  He told a group of our troops they would be going to Ukraine.  Of course, with the help of talking points, written out on cards by his White House handlers, Biden has now denied making all these statements, calling assertions that he did so to be “outright lies.”

Yet, according to world leaders who were there, these “lies” that Biden made while in Europe have undermined peace negotiations and made Putin even more focused in his unrelenting aggression against Ukraine. 

Biden wants to fight Russia.  Or at least he wants to have a proxy war in Ukraine against Russia.  (The only alternative explanation is that he has not a clue what he is doing.)  

The big question is: why does he seem to want this war?

Actually, Biden’s performance regarding Russia-Ukraine is not unlike the rest of his performance as President and indeed throughout his political career.

Biden likes to lead from behind.  In this instance everything he has done that might have prevented or lessened the harm to Ukraine has been too little too late.  But that is not unlike his performance regarding Afghanistan.  It is not unlike his performance in most every crisis where he tends to ignore or deny there is a problem and/or assert that he has it all under control, then, when he cannot deny or ignore any longer pushes a blame story against his political opponents and then uses the damage caused to excuse damage caused by his own policies as well as missteps.

This is nowhere clearer than in regard to inflation, rising gas prices, supply chain issues and food shortages.  All of these problems existed well before Putin began amassing troops at Ukraine’s border.  These issues have come about since Biden’s inauguration as a result of his and his Leftist Congress’s policies.  Yet, Biden is now more than delighted to use Russia as cover for his disastrous presidency.  

We are told it is Putin who causes our gasoline inflation while Biden continues to limit gas production in our own country that would significantly impact and lessen the prices.  We are told that we must be prepared to suffer food and other shortages along with rising prices for most consumer goods due to the Russia war.  Yet, again, these problems were created by Biden and his disastrous domestic policies long before Putin began his move toward the Ukraine.

So, a Russian war provides cover for our President.  But that cannot be the only reason that Biden seems so eager to be at war with Russia.

I am not a psychologist, but my guess is that a psychologist would have a heyday with Biden.  My observations over the years of his political life do lead me to make some observations that may provide some insight. 

I think that Biden thinks he is a lot smarter than he is.  Maybe that is why he is something akin to a pathological liar; why he needs to boast about accomplishments that are not his and make up stories that are not true.

I recall his first act of plagiarism that made the national news:  in the 1980s then Senator Biden admitted he had plagiarized a law review article back in the 60s when he was in law school.  The fact came out because Biden authorized release of his law school file which he said would demonstrate his “honesty and openness.”  The report of his plagiarism was in the file and Biden then covered by saying as a student he just didn’t understand the rules.  Hard to believe since plagiarism is considered a serious sin in every law school in America and from day one students are taught what it is and that is not ethical to do it.  (One would like to assume that most students are already well aware of plagiarism long before they enter law school).

Biden also plagiarized scores of campaign speeches throughout his career.  When caught he always had one of his “C’mon man” excuses.  In 2019 and 2020 his presidential campaign “lifted language without credit” and when caught, Biden placed full blame on his campaign staff. 

He also lies about his political history, claiming to have supported that which he opposed when it is convenient for him to do so.  The most current example is his claims that he has always believed a Black woman should be on the Supreme court, conveniently forgetting his more than 2 year attempts to deny a judgeship to a Black woman, albeit a conservative, whose appointment would have put her on a fast track to SCOTUS.  (He used the filibuster in part to block that nomination; he now asserts that the filibuster should be abolished.)

Biden regularly makes false claims about his personal history from his childhood and lives of his parents, to jobs he claims to have but actually never had, to being arrested during civil rights protests, to visiting our southern border.  He also lies about his family, denying the actual time when his relationship with his current wife began and of course lying about his son Hunter and his foreign interactions that at a minimum implicate Joe himself.

So, Biden is a liar.  Perhaps those lies are all based on insecurity or to fool himself into believing he is the man he would like to think he is.  And perhaps he is angry with those who do not recognize the greatness of that fictional persona. 

That anger would certainly explain his apparent hatred of his political opponents (not a simple difference of political policy, but very real, tangible hatred).  That anger seems to extend to America itself, or at least the core ideals that have made America the great nation that it is and that many of his opponents hold dear.  Meanwhile, he rewards supporters with any number of taxpayer funded programs.   Biden’s domestic actions since becoming President seem to have all been at least in part directed toward destroying and then remaking America into a very different place.

But back to his war with Russia.  These lies that seem to be a core essence of Biden’s character may also be behind his foreign polices.  Again, he wants the world to recognize him as the great leader that he believes that he is but that too few seem to recognize.  A war with Russia would not only give him cover for his disastrous domestic policies, but it would also prove to the world that he is a great leader because of course he believes he will win that war. 

The alternative, of course, is that his war could destroy the world as we know it.  But then, perhaps he would see that as just punishment for all those who failed to believe in his false greatness that he himself sees as real.

Or he could just be so senile that he has no comprehension of what he is saying or doing (although to explain his consistent history of inconsistencies and lies, that senility would have had to have been with him for 50 years at least).  I suspect that whatever senility he has simply exacerbates the problem of his delusional greatness of ability and with it his consistent missteps that are destroying America and now the world.

I think Biden is a selfish, self-centered person who cares nothing for those around him other than how they might be useful to him.  He has clearly acted in racist and sexist ways in the past, though now he asserts his support for minority populations.  He has been outspoken against illegal immigration and supported a “very high wall” though now he is for open borders.  He has supported the American dream but now considers it a lie. 

Joe Biden uses those about whom he really has no concern and then tosses them aside when their usefulness to him is over.   He will do whatever is necessary to keep himself in a position of power because that is where he believes he should be.

And now, that power combined with his incompetent belief that he is smarter and more clever than he really is are allowing the destruction of Ukraine and its people.  This because a war with Russia is something that Joe Biden wants, something that he believes is useful to him because it will explain away the crises he has already created and somehow prove to the world his true greatness.

These are dangerous times that we live in.  Senile or not, Joe Biden is a dangerous man.  We all need to see and understand what he is doing.   This is Biden’s war – just the latest fiasco in his history of lies and denials.  But this fiasco is one that is affecting the entire world.

Silence – of the Lemmings

To my friends and others who did not support Donald Trump’s reelection bid and were so vocal until Jan. 20 of this year, but since then have gone silent:  What happened to you?

While Donald Trump was president every day all you could do was make ugly statements about him and his supporters.  You couldn’t wait until Joe Biden and his “unity” took over.  All would be well.  And you all rejoiced when he was sworn in, taking that time to also get in some final digs at President Trump.

Then…..silence.

No daily support for the actions of Biden and his administration like the daily tirades when Trump held the office.  Not even a whisper of support, or of opposition to what he is doing.

Do you know what he is doing?  I realize that the mainstream media (who through the voice of CNN just this week admitted that their goal had been to remove Trump from office but now they have moved on to other targets) has not reported much of anything about what Biden and his administration are doing.  But bits and pieces do come to the surface. 

You were so delighted when he was sworn in.  Are you equally delighted by the border crisis, the record number of daily crossers and the surge that increases daily, or the money such as 60 million per week to house unaccompanied minors that might otherwise be spent on American citizens and legal residents? 

Are you content with the fact that in effect we now have two different justice systems:  one for those favored by the Left and one for those despised by the Left?  Are you delighted by the ongoing riots in Minneapolis and Portland?   And how do you feel about that unity that doesn’t exist and that seems to be defined as simply silencing anyone whom this administration does not like?

Are you delighted by Biden and the Democrats’ tax and spend bills that will put your children and grandchildren in debt forever?  And by the fact that rather than helping legal residents of this country, much of our tax dollars and other resources are going to those here illegally or to strengthen borders of other countries? 

Are you content with cancel culture raging?  With corporations deciding what you should think, and if you don’t behave as they wish (their wishes being the same as those of the Left) they will take action against you.  That action may be cancelling the All-star game to the detriment of a large minority population; it may be requiring you to attend some sort of racial justice training where you must admit your blame for being who you are if you are not among their chosen racial groups. 

Speaking of racial groups, are you OK with benefits, jobs, even medical care being meted out based on race with Whites being summarily excluded?  How about the fact that Disney and other large entertainment providers will now not even consider scripts that do not include the preferred quota of specific ethnic groups?

Are you OK with reparations?  With infrastructure that includes benefits that have nothing to do with the traditional definition of infrastructure?  Are you OK with executive orders that limit your Constitutional rights and freedoms?  What about packing the Supreme Court in order to make it just a political rubber stamp for the Left?

I know that if Donald Trump were doing one iota of what President Biden and the Democrats are doing that you would not be silent, especially because the media would be drilling into you every day how horrid it was and filling you with so much hate that it had to spill over.

So I have to assume that one of two things is true:  either you are perfectly OK with fundamentally transforming America from the Democracy that it is to a Socialist country in which your freedoms will be greatly diminished and the power of the government greatly enlarged, or you simply have no idea of what is going on. 

Alexander Solzhenitsyn in his “Warning to the West”, noted that following turmoil a very dangerous state of mind can arise in which people will give up and give in quickly in the belief that it will bring about national unity. 

Let’s remember that, as some Left-leaning media (including NBC and CNN) are now admitting, they stirred up fear beyond what was necessary.  CNN admits its goal was completely anti-Trump.   So, after four years of fear mongering and of having the media daily drill down on what they decided was crisis after crisis, it may not be a wonder that many of you believed some wonderous unity would appear if you voted against President Trump.

Perhaps what you are thinking is that some sort of blessed silence exists.  Afterall, the media make it seem that there are no problems anywhere, and especially not in the current White House or the policies of the Democrats.  But, in the words of Solzhenitsyn, “I would not wish that kind of blessed silence on my worst enemy.  I would not wish that kind of national unity on my worst enemy.” (Speech to Americans, June 30, 1975).

So, if your silence is because, out of relief from the mostly media manufactured turmoil of the past four years, you are no longer paying attention believing there is some blessed unity and peace, please wake up and pay attention.  Let people know what you think.

If your silence is because you are fully supportive of the Leftist Socialist agenda, then why are you not daily asserting your delight?  I would like to hear you speak out about how and why you find that is something worth supporting.  I cannot understand why anyone who truly understands what socialism is can support it.  I would argue that you may be “woke”, but you are not awake.

The Socialist agenda is being implemented at such an accelerated speed that there is daily less and less hope that America, once the greatest nation and beacon of freedom to the world, will soon be much more than some historical relic that no longer exists. 

You who did not support Trump, your voices were loud and frequent for four years.  But now the cat has your tongue.  And if you don’t speak out soon, the America that allowed you to speak your mind will be gone and you will become nothing more than one of the many lemmings following the Left to the detriment of you and all those you will leave behind as you fall to your death in the sea of despair that is the ultimate result of socialism.  It is those who seek power through this transformation to Socialism who are leading you to your and your nation’s demise.  Please wake up.

Grown-Up Bullies

Today’s Democrats.  What are they?  They are not statesmen.  They are not leaders.  They are certainly not uniters or peacemakers.  I think they are nothing but grown-up bullies.

Consider:  When you disagree with them or don’t do what they want, they call you names – racist, deplorable, bigot, Neanderthal, and any number of others.  They try to stop you from doing what they don’t like by telling you that if you do that you are [and here they will label you with more name-calling].  They intimidate those who might speak out into not doing so because of the verbal and sometimes actual assaults that they may face.

This is bullying.  A bully is “a person who habitually seeks to harm, intimidate, or coerce those whom they perceive as vulnerable.”  Bullying often occurs out of some form of insecurity, envy of those more secure, and a need for recognition and power.

What better explanation of today’s Democrats?  Consider the current uproar over the Georgia voting law, a law that in reality expands voting rights.  (You can read the full text of the law HERE) 

Despite the reality of the law, the Democrats don’t like it (and apparently then don’t like election integrity) so they seek to punish those who passed it.  First, they call them names:  racist, etc. because they have inaccurately given the law the characterization of Jim Crow.  That not being enough, they move on to boycotts.  The President urges MLB to move the All-star game from Atlanta.  MLB complies. 

But that is not enough.  Now the President and the Democrats urge other large and private entities to threaten boycotts and other actions against other states that are considering similar laws to improve voting security and integrity.  This is nothing more than a bully’s attempt to coerce and intimidate those whose actions the bully does not like.  And those being bullied are indeed vulnerable to the bullying because the threatened actions, just like the MLB cancelling of Atlanta, cost the people of the threatened states millions of dollars in jobs and other income which they need.

This bullying is being used by Democrats as a way to make themselves more powerful, not unlike the schoolyard bully who uses intimidation to rule the playground.

But more frightening than the simple act of bullying that is occurring daily is what it is doing to our country, to our Constitution, and to our Democratic Republic.

Under the Constitution, the federal government has limited power.  Rights are retained to the people and protected from the government.  States have more power than does the federal government and those with the most power are the people themselves.

But look at what is happening.  The Democrats, led by President Biden, are inserting themselves and the federal government into state legislative actions as they attack the legitimate work of the Georgia Legislature and as they intimidate other state legislatures as they try to go about their work.   Democrats work daily to create laws and regulations that will govern every aspect of one’s daily life.  Rather than see themselves as a government of the people with limited power, they try to make themselves into a power structure that creates (and thus has the power to remove) every right and freedom of individuals.

This President and today’s Democrats are turning our country on its head.  They want the federal government (i.e. themselves) to be all powerful, with less power to the states, and virtually no power to the people themselves.  That is not America.

Yes, today’s Democrats are nothing more than schoolyard bullies.  They want to rule.  They want full power – over everyone and everything.  And like a good bully they will intimidate, coerce, and harm anyone that does not cave to their wishes and do what they say.  I do not need to tell you that is not democracy, that is not America.  Most of the migrants crossing our border can tell you what sort of a country that is and why they are fleeing it for America’s dream.  The problem is that the Democrat bullying is making that America truly nothing more than a dream.

We tell children who are bullied to tell an adult.  Well, we are the adults.  It is our job to put a stop to this and save not only our children, but our very country.  We need to no longer tolerate the Democrat bullying.

The Power Hungry Are Never Satisfied

I want to begin by recommending the well written and highly thought-provoking article by Mark T. Mitchell entitled The Death of God and the Death of Higher Education. LINK HERE 

I want to use one paragraph from that article as the jumping off point here.  That paragraph reads:

This quest for power is the characteristic feature of modern “higher” education. Students are taught that the world is divided into various groups whose primary identity is reducible to power differentials. A common pursuit of truth is replaced by overt and covert power struggles. In this new and barren world of power, the pursuit of the good, true, and beautiful is replaced by grievance and accusation. Concerted efforts to locate and correct injustice (a concept derived from a theistic account of the world) have been replaced by sweeping claims of “systemic” injustice, in which the entire civilizational edifice must be destroyed in the name of justice. But justice torn from its theistic grounding is merely a blunt instrument of power disguised in the moral language of a rejected world. Such a notion represents a self-refuting enterprise that will usher in not justice but unrestrained power cloaked in the God-haunted language of equality, social justice, and anti-racism.

I find this to so clearly encapsulate the social culture in which we are living today.  Everywhere one turns it seems to be all about power, with those in charge disguising their hunger for power as some sort of humanitarian and social justice that must be complied with to avoid showing yourself as some sort of anti-humanitarian who must be cancelled from the approved culture.

               Ramping-up Hatred

What are identity groupings about other than to create one group that holds power over another?  Rather than see all humans as one’s brother, identity politics teaches one that they are either a member of a victim group or of an oppressor group.  The oppressors are accused of working to maintain their own power and are encouraged to apologize for and relinquish it, while the victim groups are led to hate and attack their perceived oppressors in an attempt to obtain more power for their own group and then to wield that power over other groups whom they are taught to hate.

The President, who ran on the promise that he would unite us as one, has instead ramped up the identity hatred.  Now we have government programs that specifically exclude one race from their benefits, simply because of that race.  When we did similar things to Blacks a century ago, this country worked in a bipartisan fashion to correct that and treat all people as equals, regardless of race.  But now that those in power can benefit and retain their power by pushing identity hatred, they argue that the same sort of discrimination is OK because they have deemed the White race, against whom these new laws discriminate, to be members of an offensive identity group solely because of their race. That is racism pure and simple, a hatred created to benefit not the oppressed, but those currently in power.

Democrats claim that this discrimination is humanitarian and equitable.  It is anything but.  It is not humanitarian or just, but simply an ugly power grab based on hate.

               Silencing Voices and Facts

Those in power (including government, big tech, and corporate America) can tighten their grip on power if they silence opposing voices.  So we have cancel culture in full force, not based on facts, not based on equity or fairness, not based on humanitarian ideals, but simply on exercising and retaining power.

Consider the Georgia voting law.  It actually increases opportunities to vote, especially for rural and minority voters in that state.  Despite it being the very opposite of Jim Crow, President Biden, most Democrats, most of the mainstream media, many corporations are calling it just that.  Their claims are lies. 

Anyone who does even a cursory reading of the Georgia law will see that, contrary to our President's assertion, the new Georgia voting law does not prohibit giving water to voters waiting in line; rather it requires that poll workers be the ones to distribute it.  It also requires all 159 counties to have at least one vote drop box for mail in ballots.   It expands early voting access for most counties. It does require verification of identity for those requesting and returning mail in ballots which does not deny authorized voters the right to vote but does insure the integrity of their vote.  This is all a far cry from the Jim Crow label that the Democrats including the President and many in the media have placed on it.

But facts do not matter to those who are governed by their own quest for power.  The lies about the Georgia law have been exposed.  Nonetheless, led by the lies of the President and his urging, MLB has pulled the All-Star game from Atlanta.  That of course will hurt the largely Black population there, so the lie-based grab for power is hardly done in the name of standing for minorities or humanitarian efforts in their behalf.  It is simply a show of power and a punishment for passing a law that requires more standards of election integrity than would benefit those seeking to retain and strengthen their power.

The power hungry do not care about facts or about the consistency of their own values.  When it was convenient to attack the Trump administration the Democrats and their cohorts the mainstream media, big tech, big corporations, were all about decrying deplorable conditions at the border.  Now, when the border crisis is over 100% worse than it ever was under Trump (or any other president) these same people don’t even notice.  Trump was bad.  Biden was good.  Only facts supporting that narrative will be acknowledged.

               Powerful Join Forces Against Individual Rights

There is a frightening coalescence of government with private sector as both seek to cement their hold on power.  For example, President Biden cannot Constitutionally require “Vaccine passports” for internal movement of our citizenry.  But rather than stand for the Constitution and its protections for the people, he instead is urging big business to create such requirements, something that they can and likely will do.  They can withstand those who oppose such curtailment of our rights, and the President and the rest of the Democrats can deny responsibility but retain power.

Similarly, corporations make statements, cancel or refuse to sell certain products including books, make hiring decisions, censor, and take other actions based on the pronouncements of the “woke” Left.  Their actions, many of which would be unconstitutional if done by a governmental entity, are allowed because they are not the government.  Yet their actions are supportive of and fully in sync with those holding office and seeking to keep it and the power that goes with it.

               Equity Is Not Equality

Equity and fairness are not equality.  It is the equality, the extent to which it exists in this country as well as this country’s continued aspiration to ever improve its existence for all, that makes this country what it is.  Being equal, having equal opportunity, does not mean that results will be equal.  It does not mean that life will be fair.  But it does mean that everyone will have a fair shot at being the best they can be.

Equality does not divide people into identity groups, some of whom are given more equality than others.  Today this is being done in the name of things like “systemic racism” or similar perceived systemic injustices.  I have yet to be convinced that such systemic injustice exists, but if it does, it will not be cured by creating new systemic injustices.

               It’s Really All About Power, Not Humanitarian Ideals

I also have yet to be convinced that this president and his progressive administration really give a damn about any of the causes they claim to be pursuing for humanitarian or social justice reasons.  This is the party that created a minority underclass in our cities, dependent on, and therefore voters for, Democrat power. 

This is the party that is creating dangerous and inhumane conditions at our southern border while claiming that opening the borders is somehow humane.  Tell that to the trafficked children, to the Americans who are being displaced from jobs and homes and other due to the influx of illegal migrants that cities and towns simply cannot handle. 

Tell that to the taxpayers and to the next generations of taxpayers who cannot pay for these inhumane policies.  Just as they cannot pay for the trillions of dollars in spending that is supposedly for the good of the populace but in actuality simply furthers the power goals of the progressives.

It is not humanitarian to deny human individuality.  That is what cancelling those who disagree does.  That is what perpetuating lies does.  That is what identity politics does.  And that is what we are teaching our children to do:  deny human individuality, indeed make those who do not somehow benefit you and your power into inhuman caricatures and place them in a group that you can then justify as worthy of inhuman treatment. 

Power is a heady thing, and those who hold it right now seem to be willing to do anything to keep it.

 

Not Really Much Pressing Going On At Today’s Presser

 

Today I watched President Biden’s “press conference” if you could call it that.  This was frightening on so many levels.  Let me touch on a few.

First, it was clear that Biden was not really present, not in the moment and not in the bigger picture of the issues about which he was supposedly talking.  He lost his train of thought too frequently and too often read an answer to a different question than that which was asked.  And yet this man is our president, the leader of the free world.  That should alarm us all.

A commentator before the press conference noted that Biden had been practicing for this event for several days.  Wow.  If he had been practicing the names of those reporters who were listed in his notes to call on, he did not do very well.  If he were practicing the canned answers that he clearly had available in his notes, he did not do very well.  If he were practicing receiving signals from some aide in the room or otherwise connected to him, he did not do very well.  And, on another note, how can one practice answers to what are supposedly spontaneous questions?

The syrupy answers he gave were full of nothing more than campaign talk and promises.  He said he would address and fix any number of things but gave specifics to none – no details about the problem or the nature of the promised fix.  Just promises:  I will get to that, I plan on making progress on that, I will get to all those problems, don’t worry.

He said his focus was on Covid and seemed to tell us that he could only address one issue at a time.  Yet it was not clear what he is actually doing for Covid.  He had no problem taking credit for the number of vaccines given, something that is possible primarily due to the previous administration’s Operation Warp Speed.  The number of vaccines promised by the end of his first hundred days just continues that which Trump began; we should note that administration of the vaccine began prior to when Biden took office.  Yet Biden did not have the common decency to give any credit to his predecessor, even though he kept telling us that he himself is a “nice guy.”

Any actual seemingly factual information that Biden presented was for the most part erroneous.  For example, the surge at the border is not the same as it has been in years prior to his taking office.  Unaccompanied minors have come to the border in far greater numbers than those stated by Biden. According to statistics published by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, authorities encountered 9,457 children without a parent in February, a 61% increase from January, not 28% as Biden stated.  Moreover, while some seasonal trends in migration do exist, migrants interviewed by The Associated Press have expressed their understanding that the country would be more permissive to migrants under Biden than under Trump, and thus they come.

Biden kept telling us that he is such a humanitarian, a good guy.  He seemed to deny that there is any problem at the border.  Yet the cages are overflowing.  Unaccompanied minors are being sent by the thousands to large spaces like convention centers to live in crowded and unhealthy conditions.  Covid positive migrants are being bussed throughout our country.  Illegal immigration is off the charts.  Migrants are being bussed and dumped around the country in cities and towns that do not have the resources to care for them or the issues associated by this sudden influx.  This is not nice, and it is not humanitarian.

In campaign, not presidential, mode Biden made sure to trash the previous administration as well as current Republicans.  His figures about the Trump tax cuts were inaccurate and then he used those misleading figures to make a case against Republicans and their concern for the working class, a class that was in many ways lifted by the Trump administration and a variety of Republican policies.

Similarly, he claimed lack of bipartisanship of the Republicans while admitting that he, by his own choice, is not meeting with them.  He completely distorted the substance of the Voting Bill and what it is that each side is really fighting for.  (The reality is that Democrats would remove all state control and nearly all methods of ensuring only legitimate voters vote, while Republicans would maintain and strengthen a variety of procedures that ensure election integrity.)

Beyond the many misstatements (some would say lies), some of which are noted above, Biden seemed to take credit for what is already going on as if it were some great accomplishment of his own.  I mentioned the vaccines above.  Another example is his promise that he would now require that calls regarding minors at the border would occur within 48 hours.  According to Border officials, that requirement is already in place and was followed throughout the entirety of the prior administration’s control.

Biden wanted to show us he is a nice guy.  In fact, he told he is a nice guy – over and over and over.  That he is not like his predecessor because he is so calm and nice.  Well, great.  But that does not mean that he can lead the country or that he has any clue about what is really going on.

But the press conference is not solely about the president.  It is also about the reporters.  Anyone who watched a Trump presser is aware that the press core would not let him finish a sentence without attacking him with one or another allegation.  There was little if any respect shown for the man or the office.  Despite the press hatred for him, Trump called on reporters from both the Left and the Right, as well as the foreign press.   He answered their questions directly along with their antagonistic follow-ups and was clearly on top of what was going on, whether you liked his answers or not.

Here, we had very few reporters called on, and apparently someone (Biden or his handlers) had listed the names of whom would be called.  They were on one of the papers on Biden’s podium.  Whether these reporters’ questions had been vetted beforehand we will likely never know. 

What we do know is that the reporters were not the same attack dogs that attended Trump pressers.  Where was the Jim Acosta style reporter to harass and interrupt before the president could get a word out?  Indeed, where were any interruptions or meaningful follow ups?  Today’s “reporters” allowed the President to ramble for as long as he wanted, even if what he was rambling about had absolutely nothing to do with the question asked.  And those questions – could they have been any more friendly and soft?  Perhaps the press lost its ability be assertive in its questioning when faced with this clearly fragile and perhaps senile old man. 

In the end, this presser was about what I expected it would be – a big lot of nothing.  Biden knew nothing.  Biden said nothing – nothing that was true or specific or more than a fluffy promise.  The reporters asked nothing.  It was to some extent (how much we will never know) rehearsed.  Just a big lot of political show.

Which brings me to perhaps the most frightening thing of all:  why don’t the people see what is going on?  Why don’t they see this presidency for what it is?  Do they really fall for Biden’s syrupy smooth talk and his promises that he will make us all happy?  C’mon Man!  Wake up.  Biden is cluelessly destroying America but we the people are allowing him to do it.  And no one seems to notice or to care. That is terrifying.

 

The First Nine Days

It’s been barely over a week since Biden took office and he has already signed over 40 executive orders and actions. It is stunning how quickly America is being dismantled.   

                Gutting America’s Core

President Biden begins by forgetting that we have three branches of government: the Presidency is not a dictatorship.  But, when one rules by executive order, bypassing the other branches and hence the representatives and voice of the people, what can one call it but a dictatorship?

Now, to be fair, House Speaker Pelosi applauds this dictatorial bypassing of the legislature; she supports Biden’s “transformative executive actions.”  Those words should place fear in all of us as we ask “to what are these executive actions intent on transforming?”

The President is also supporting assault on the judicial branch and its independence.  He has appointed a “commission” to study the possibility of reforming the courts beginning with packing the Supreme Court so as to make it nothing more than a political arm of his party.

President Biden’s refusal to address the ongoing and escalating censorship of opposing or unapproved ideas is another assault on one of our most cherished freedoms:  the freedom to speak and believe unpopular views.  Biden’s Department of Justice has even begun prosecuting people for memes used during the 2016 election. 

               Where is the Transparency and Accountability?

Biden, along with his press secretary, seems to be adept at avoiding answering any controversial questions.  Of course, such avoidance is easier when you have a friendly press that will not push for answers to difficult questions or even avoid those that have the potential of putting Biden in a bad light.

Biden has failed to speak about the continuing violent protests (riots) on the West Coast.  He has failed to speak out on the GameStop affair, including saying nothing about his Treasury Secretary being paid by a fund linked to the scandal.   The administration simply says they are “monitoring” the situation.

However, as part of this Administration’s “transparency initiative,” Press Secretary Psaki did inform us that the President’s favorite snack is ice cream, and his favorite flavor is chocolate chip.  Ahh, such important news they deign to share with us common people.

Military State

We have troops quartered in our nation’s capital.  Our symbols of freedom are surrounded with razor wire to keep the people out.  

Bringing the National Guard to DC for Jan. 6 and its immediate aftermath may have made sense, but now the Biden Administration has extended their presence there for months.  The excuse is the possibility of threats to Congress, but they point to no such viable threats.  Instead, this looks like the fortification that one used to see only in countries ruled by dictators paranoid about losing their power.

In a similar vein, again looking like those paranoid leaders of totalitarian regimes, President Biden fully backs not only the impeachment of the former President, but also purging any and all who are not fully on board with the Left agenda.  People like the head of Voice of America or the National Security Agency general counsel who had previously been vetted through a bipartisan process.

Not only is there a purge of former officials.  The “purge” goes forward toward any and all who might raise a dissident voice.  Former Democratic Presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard put it this way (in response to a statement by John Brennon):

Brennan says: “Members of the Biden team who have been nominated or appointed are now moving in laser-like fashion to try to uncover as much as they can about what looks very similar to insurgency movements they’ve seen overseas where they germinate in different parts of the country and gain strength and bring together an unholy alliance, frequently of religious extremists, authoritarians, fascist bigots, racist, nativist, and even libertarians.” This is the extent that they are going to try to undermine the rights and freedoms that are guaranteed to every one of us, and it is incredibly dangerous.

A good example of where this sort of purging leads is playing out in Russia right now with the imprisonment of opposition leader Navalny and his supporters.  Indeed, the attitude of this administration smells of the fear of opposition that one usually sees in a totalitarian leadership obsessed only with retaining its own power.

               The Policies Belie Unity and Healing

Unless you are blind, stupid, or ignorant, it has become fairly clear that Biden’s “unity” is nothing more than a move to force all to march in lock step to this administration and party’s approved beliefs.  That is not a democratic unity but a unity of oppression.

The Left’s preferred method of achieving this uniformity seems to be via identity politics.  Biden’s policies and executive actions thus far seem to signal that he will use his polices to maintain if not accelerate the identity wars against social enemies.  Why else, by fiat alone would Biden using executive orders essentially not only reverse policies on immigration and climate, but things like abortion, LGBT and Transgender issues, including creating athletic policies that are unfair and biased against women, reinstating the debunked and biased Critical Race Theory indoctrination while cancelling the 1776 project, and other hot button social issues.  

These are issues that require dialog, objective input, and understanding.  Instead, President Biden is stoking the fires of identity hatred in hopes of furthering a Leftist agenda.

Not a Moderate

Biden told us he was a moderate when he ran for President.  If that is so, that he underwent a major transformation once he took the oath of office.  His environmental actions, while doing nothing to actually help the environment, are costing tens of thousands of jobs and costing states millions in lost revenue.  His sudden embrace of increasing the minimum wage can and likely will be devastating to already struggling small businesses. 

 And, like the rest of the Leftists, Biden seems to loathe America and all she stands for.  Without discussion he accepts and promotes the view that America is built upon and still is plagued by “systemic racism.” He called the 1776 report “offensive” and “counter-factual”; apparently he disagrees with statements therein such as “The bedrock upon which the American political system is built is the rule of law. The vast difference between tyranny and the rule of law is a central theme of political thinkers back to classical antiquity.” 

President Biden stated that America has never lived up to her promise, yet, despite the fact that America has had and probably always will have its flaws, “America’s history has always been a relationship between those principles and a nation trying, aspiring to uphold those principles.”  The abolitionist movement began here.

As stated in the preamble to the Constitution, our mission is “to form a more perfect Union.”  Perfection may not be achievable in this world, but there is nothing wrong with continuing to aspire toward it.  And our Constitution and our core democratic principles are our roadmap for that quest.

We have always been the shining light of freedom and democracy.  Yet, if these first nine days are any indication, that is about to change because what we are seeing are the first steps in a march toward dictatorship.

Everything Is an Emergency – Except Freedom and Equality

Someone noted that the buzzwords of this administration are “crisis, decisive action, urgency, equity.” These are the words that are used to justify almost everything that Biden has done since his inauguration.  This crisis, this emergency mode allows this administration to impose its dictates without time for thought or proper legislative action; those dictates are always in accord with the socialist drive for equity (not to be confused with equality).  

It seemed President Biden was in a race against time to sign as many executive orders as he could before putting what he called a “lid” on the day and going home.  There was an urgency to reverse every action President Trump had taken, without any thought or real consideration of whether or not it had been good for the country.  The urgency was to revoke a policy that was not Leftist. 

Monday Sen. Schumer suggested that Biden declare a “climate emergency.”  "He can do many, many things under the emergency powers ... that he could do without legislation," Schumer asserted; that is, he can bypass legislative debate and use executive power to ignore the voice of the people.  Biden has already used his executive power for a number of environmental measures including rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement which many argue does little for the climate and is harmful to US interests, and has rescinded the Keystone XL pipeline permit without consideration of the tens of thousands of jobs that will be lost as a result and the fact, again, that this will do little if anything to reduce the use of non-renewable energy.

Democrats have also indicated their intent to use Reconciliation to pass Left programs.  Reconciliation provides a process to prevent the use of the filibuster and thereby allow the passage of a bill with simple majority support in the Senate.  This denies an effective voice to the minority.  

Equity is a part of the flurry of administrative dictates.  These dictates further a Left agenda, but not an American sense of equality of all.  Allowing biological males to compete as women effectively denies women a fair and equal venue for competition.  Immediately ordering a lifting of the military ban on transgenders without a real study of the reasonable arguments both for and against, serves the Left buzzword of equity, but may not serve our military and hence our national security.  Biden has embraced the not only debunked but actually harmful Critical Race Theory and has chosen to allow its previously prohibited training for federal workers and contractors.  ICE agents have been ordered to free all illegal aliens in custody – no consideration or study of whether some should perhaps not be freed.

Actually, there are some real crises that Biden seems able to ignore.  Not only does he violate his own Covid mandates, but he now admits that he never had a plan (as he asserted from his campaign basement) to end the pandemic, but rather now tells us the disease will just run its course.  Meanwhile, he installs health advisors (paid by taxpayers) who will I guess give him cover as he uses the crisis of Covid to implement other Left agenda items without input from Congress or the people.

And the big crisis, the one that he now supports impeachment over, the Capitol “insurrection,” allows this administration to not only go after Trump and his supporters, but to justify their attempts to completely silence not only Trump, but all conservatives and Republicans, and virtually all who do not support this new Left regime.   

Meanwhile, Biden ignores a real crisis on the West Coast in cities like Tacoma, Seattle, and Portland, where real and violent anti-America riots occur daily.  The press tries to ignore this, but the people in those cities cannot.  But apparently that is not a crisis because there is no way to make executive action against it serve the Left agenda.   Instead, Biden will keep DC militarized with razor wire around our symbols of freedom, implying there is a crisis in DC and hence he must urgently issue orders which we should blindly follow.

These are all examples of what we have:  an administration making decisions not based on real urgency or crisis but on its desire to quickly implement its Leftist regime.  These dictates come from the Oval Office without listening to the voice of the people.  They bypass the Legislature, which is intended to serve as a check on Presidential power.  The people are not only left out of this administration’s government but are also silenced when they dissent; as such, Biden’s presidency becomes far more a totalitarian government than a democracy.  That is an urgent crisis that we all should be concerned about.

And So It Continues – (in circles?)

It was exactly 4 years ago tomorrow that I began this blog.  Donald Trump had just been inaugurated and the Democrats and the Left were exceedingly angry.  The ability to have civil conversations was already falling apart and this seemed a good place to present my viewpoint without the childish games of Facebook and other social media.  (see my first post HERE)  

So, today I want to look both back and forward. 

As part of my introductory post 4 years ago, I wrote:

I am not an ideologue.  I do not belong to any political party and am happy to vote for Democrats, Republicans, or others depending on whom I believe will be best for the country as a whole.  My political leanings probably identify most with what were once called the “blue-collar lunch bucket Democrats” – a group that really doesn’t exist anymore.  In the 60s I was a self-styled “hippie” and antiwar protester.  I put myself through college and law school and practiced law before becoming a professor.  I have always been deeply committed to the Constitution and to the equal treatment of all along with the concept of individual responsibility and a “no excuses” approach to life.  I have always believed in America.  I have voted in every election since I became eligible, and as to presidential elections, I have voted for slightly more Democrats than Republicans.  In 2016 I voted for Donald Trump.  I do not think he is a perfect person, nor do I agree with all his policies, but I do believe that he was not only the best candidate but indeed a good candidate who believes in America and its promise.  I also believe that now that he is president, if we will allow him to govern and put our interests in what is best for the country as a whole, that we really will see a better and stronger America.  I hope to explain my reasons behind these statements in upcoming posts.

               Looking Back

What I said 4 years ago holds true today.  Yet in that 4 years the country has been through a lot.  The liberal Democrat party has become extreme progressive Left.  The Democrats never were able to accept Donald Trump as president and instead tried to block his every action whether good for the country or not.  Unable to get over their anger they allowed it to evolve into an intense, vitriolic, and irrational hatred for not only Donald Trump, but anyone connected with him including those who simply voted for him. 

Meanwhile, despite being under attack 24/7 by not only the Left but its handmaiden the media as well, President Trump indeed accomplished a lot for America.  Some of his accomplishments furthered policies that the Democrats opposed, but others did for America what Democrats themselves had been promising for years but unable to deliver. 

Most important to me was that he tried to counter the identity politics that for the previous at least 8 years had been used by the Left to tear this country apart.  Instead of identifying Americans as members of this or that victim or oppressor group, he simply furthered policies that treated all Americans the same – in the spirit of our Constitutional belief and aspiration that we all are equal.  And, despite some programs being identity blind, those whom the Democrats regularly identify as victim groups actually benefited the most – take for example jobs and the economy and the effect it had on the Black community, or Trump’s prison and criminal justice reforms.

The implementation of many of the Trump policies led Americans to once again have hope and a belief in the promise of this country.  For years prior to his election we had been led to believe that America was not a good country and it was our duty to feel guilty and apologize, both to those within our country who had been convinced they were victims with no hope as well as to the rest of the world.  President Trump put his and our country first and allowed Americans to be proud of who and what they are.

               Yet the Hatred – when and how did it begin?

Yet, along with the many positives that were accomplished by the Trump administration (but seldom reported by media), the anger level of the country reached the red zone.  This anger is expressing itself daily as pure hatred.  Many assert that it is traceable to the election of Donald Trump.  I disagree.

I saw hate grow for at least the 8 years prior to Trump’s presidency.  During that time we had a president and a progressive party who played group against group in an attempt to further their own power agenda. 

To grasp at an understanding of “why?” we must go back far more than 4 years, probably to the founding of this country or before.  Books could be (and have been) written.  There are many events and examples that have contributed to various degrees of anger and its cohorts fear and hatred. 

Let’s consider slavery as an example.  When the world came to realize that slavery was wrong, it ended it in a variety of ways.  In America, with no class or caste system, it was actually possible for former slaves and their descendants to rise to positions of wealth and power; some did.

But not all with a history of slavery did well.  There remained discrimination which came to a head in the 50s and early 60s.  While some Blacks had found a way to be successful before Civil Rights, the legislation of the 60s gave hope to all that they would truly have a better life.  And most were motivated to do the work necessary to personally succeed as they chose.

But, enter a series of programs, sparked at least in part by a desire to help but also, I believe, by a more sinister and racist belief that Blacks were/are not capable of succeeding on their own.  This, of course, completely contradicts the American belief/ideal that all humans are equal.   Nonetheless, a series of social programs, mostly created by the Left, created a dependent underclass of dissatisfied Americans.

Never ones to let discontent go to waste, the Left reminded those dissatisfied of their victim class.  We saw identity groups develop into battling warriors of us versus them.  The victims vs. the victimizers.  Blacks vs. Whites; Poor vs. Rich; Women vs. Men; Gay vs. Straight.  Intersectionality developed, giving us a framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege.  It became all about that – discriminated victim or privileged oppressor – rather than about the individual and that individual’s substantive character.  Individual substance has no place in a world governed by identity politics.

The anger of the oppressed was cultivated.  Those assigned the oppressor status felt unjustly accused and began to hate back.  And that is where we were when Donald Trump became President Trump.  And, despite his hope to see all of America thrive as one, he was thwarted repeatedly by the Left who ramped up their fomentation of hate among their malicious identity group creations. 

As President Trump’s 4 years progressed, the Left seemed completely unable to see people as people; rather, they were simply representatives of a particular identity group.  Conservatives and whites were deemed evil and essentially inhuman, thus not only justifying, but necessitating hatred and violence toward them.  Meanwhile, every member of designated victim identity groups was to be honored and always believed: almost superhumans capable of no wrong.

               The Election and January 6

The election had irregularities.  Many believe there was widespread fraud.  This came to a head on Jan. 6, the date the votes of the Electors were counted.  As was their right, some Congress people planned to object to those votes.  As was their right many Americans gathered near the Capitol to protest the counting and to support the objections.  As was his right, the President spoke to his supporters.  And as often happens when there are actions and protests that are highly charged, a small percentage of those present turned violent; those few misguided individuals illegally stormed the Capital.

What is now called the “insurrection” by the media and Democrats has given the Left an excuse to continue to promulgate their hatred against not only President Trump but anyone who does not fall into lockstep with the Left’s positions.  We now see calls to “cleanse” the Republican Party, blacklisting of Trump supporters, silencing and cancelling of all opposing views, and a general litany of threats toward anyone who is not on board with Leftist policies, all under the guise of “healing.”

It also gave us a militarized capital that looked more like what one sees when a dictator (always in fear of being unseated) takes over.  These were troops that the Democrats demanded be vetted as not anti-Biden before they could take their posts.  This look of a police state is something that America should never become desensitized to.

               Looking ahead to the Biden presidency (or is it looking back?)

So here we are.  We have just experienced the inauguration of a new president.  What are my thoughts now?

I fear that we are actually circling back to the era immediately preceding President Trump.  We see already President Biden’s litany of signing executive orders to cancel former President Trump’s accomplishments. 

We see a clear return, actually mandate, of identity politics as Biden proudly proclaims not the qualifications of his various appointees but their superficial identity instead: “We'll have a Cabinet of barrier breakers, a Cabinet of firsts” he said.   And so we will have the first woman of color VP, first transgender person as Assistant Secretary of Health, first Native American Secretary of Interior, first openly gay Secretary of Transportation, First Black Defense Secretary, first Latino to head Department of Homeland Security, first woman of color to head Office of Management and Budget, first woman Director of National Intelligence.  The list goes on and on.  (Those appointments that are not “firsts” seem to be mostly retreads from the Obama years.)

I have nothing against people of diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and beliefs holding these positions; in fact, such diversity is generally a good thing.  But what I object to is the bias inherent in picking individuals specifically for those qualities.  Such bias by necessity excludes a number of qualified individuals from even being considered.  It is racist, sexist, and otherwise discriminatory.  That is not American where a core principle is equal opportunity for all, not just for members of specific identity groups.

This dividing of Americans into groups also counters President Biden’s words calling for “unity.”  Group identity does nothing but divide us.   It is becoming more and more clear that the “unity” that the President and his party are calling for is simply a silencing of all opposing views.  Without any dissent we may have the illusion of peace and unity, but we will have lost America. 

A unity born of silencing also requires elevating narrative over truth.  We saw during the campaign that candidate Biden had no qualms about repeating by then disproven allegations against President Trump.  We see the same disregard for the truth in the first presentation of President Biden’s press secretary.  Jen Psaki vowed to “combat misinformation” while during the same press conference proclaiming that Biden had issued an executive order ending Trump’s “Muslim ban.”  That misnomer was proven false at the time the ban was issued and again last year when Biden used it on the campaign trail.   (What Democrats call a “Muslim ban” was an executive order issued on January 27, 2017, that barred tourism and immigration from seven countries previously identified by the Obama-Biden administration as being particularly vulnerable to terrorism, partly because their internal record-keeping was substandard. These seven nations happened to be Muslim-majority countries, but there was no blanket ban on Muslims from other Middle Eastern countries or the two largest Muslim countries, India and Indonesia.)

The Press Secretary also made it clear that hypocrisy is alive and well in the Biden administration.  She informed us that it was perfectly OK that President Biden violated his own mask mandate because he has “bigger issues to worry about.”  Apparently, the American people are not one of those issues.

So, without a respect for facts, without a respect for all Americans or a belief in the equality of all, without a true respect for America and its citizens, I am concerned when I look at what the next 4 years may bring.  In many respects it is not forward, but a circling back to the often anti-American policies of the Obama years. 

The Biden Administration will not give us the utopia that many dreamed.  I believe that it will, however, give me much to write about as this blog continues.