Why I’m Not Watching the Impeachment

I have better things to do with my time than to watch political theater when I’ve already seen the show before and fully understand its underlying themes. 

In this political theater version of The Impeachment Sequel, the Democrats continue to act out their very real mental disturbances caused by Trump Derangement Syndrome.  That, and they try to expel their insecurity-caused fear that Donald Trump may run for office again and so they must forever disqualify him.

In addition to being some sort of attempt at Trump hate catharsis, this Impeachment does serve other purposes such as distracting the populace from the many things that President Biden is doing that are potentially dangerous and harmful to this country.  It also shows us that the Democrats have no intention of losing their narrative method of distorting truth as a way to sway the public to their thinking.

For example, in a high-tech Hollywood-like video in which the Democrats replayed Trump’s words at the protest on Jan. 6, the film included his calls to fight for this country and the Constitution but conveniently left out the most important words in which President Trump called for the march and protest to be and remain peaceful. 

And, of course, there are the individual narratives (some would call them lies).  The now infamous and Hollywood like performance of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez about her “near-death experiences” on Jan. 6.  Or the statements by Maxine Waters (and similarly other Democrats) that she never uttered the words that most have seen or listened to on tape calling for violence against Trump and his supporters.

But then, such misleading presentations are not surprising when you are holding an impeachment that the majority of actual and leading Constitutional Law scholars in this country assert is not constitutional.  It is not surprising when the judge for the “trial” is also a partisan Democrat senator-participant who is firmly on record as believing Trump must be impeached.  

This is nothing more than a show trial.  There is nothing to see here unless your desire is to watch the Democrats display their disrespect for our Constitution, their pathological hate for one man, their hate for American ideals, and their disregard for the actual business of the people that they ought to be conducting.

Instead of the distraction of this political theatrical re-run, try considering some of what it is distracting you from.  There is so much; let me list just a few that you might have missed.

There is the walk-back of the promise of immediate jobs for the tens of thousands of pipeline and oil workers that Biden’s executive orders have put out of work.  When will jobs for these people who need to support themselves and families now become an actuality?  Oh, sometime in the future; no time soon, but it will be worth the wait his press secretary tells us.  Worth it for whom?  The workers’ starving children?  How can this not remind one of Stalin’s five-year plans that repeatedly promised the current sacrifice would be rewarded in the future?

There is the cancelling that continues in all spheres.  People silenced by social media, by their employers, and by new executive orders that are effective not only in current and present silencing, but in creating a fear that essentially works to silence the potential of future speech opposing Left views.  Again, we are reminded of Stalinist Russia where those who spoke out against the Soviet plan were threatened and harassed, sometimes beaten and arrested, expelled or put to death.  While we may not have gone as far as Great Terror Russia, the current silencing/censoring/cancelling from the political Left and its symbiotic partners serves to quash those who might otherwise speak out.

This instilling of fear is further amplified by such things as the recent Bank of America data share in which it provided the government with the names of ANYONE who, from their banking records, showed they were in DC on or around Jan. 6.  When the federal authorities asked, Bank of America turned over the results of its internal scan to federal authorities.  The profile requested and provided included: "1. Customers confirmed as transacting, either through bank account debit card or credit card purchases in Washington, D.C. between 1/5 and 1/6. 2. Purchases made for Hotel/Airbnb RSVPs in DC, VA, and MD after 1/6. 3. Any purchase of weapons or at a weapons-related merchant between 1/7 and their upcoming suspected stay in D.C. area around Inauguration Day. 4. Airline related purchases since 1/6."

That is, if you were visiting your mother and used your BOA card to buy a coffee and bagel on the morning of Jan. 6 you were reported to the feds by BOA, and they felt no restraints about their ability to call you in and question you as if you were a terrorist.   BOA apparently did not notify its customers they were being spied upon.  And indeed, people who had done nothing wrong other than being in DC on the 6^th were called in and interrogated before being cleared. 

If this does not give you the sense of some sort of a police state, then let me suggest that you also look at the militarized encampment that our capitol has become; an encampment not to protect the people, but to keep them from their government.

There are of course the many international proclamations and orders that have been made by President Biden, all with little thought or even time for consideration.  They are either simply a spiteful reversal of Trump policies, regardless of the pros or cons of those policies, or they are a response to Leftist demands that must be met immediately because they address some alleged “crisis” either of environment or immigration.  Yet even a cursory review of many of these actions by independent experts reveal that their long-term effects will be anything but good.

And, finally, let me mention the Time article that sets forth the collusion between politicians, big Tech and big Corporations to ensure the outcome of the election to be against Trump.  The article brags that this action was heroic because these people took it upon themselves to adjust the will of the people to ensure an outcome that they, not necessarily the people, favored.  And let me just suggest that any dictator similarly sees as heroic any actions that ensure his retention of power regardless of their suppression of the will of the people.

So, no, I am not watching the political theater.  I am hoping that it may finally assuage the irrational if not psychotic Trump-hatred, but I am pretty sure it will not.  I would rather reflect upon the above and many similar activities that the Left engages in right before our eyes.  My reflections include not only how they are destroying the good of this country, but also how to open the eyes of my fellow citizens to what is going on in this comedy that is really a tragedy for America.

The Inconvenient Truth Regarding Climate Change Hysteria

Today young people are “on strike” to prevent climate change.   Good for them for caring about their future and the future of the planet.  But, let me make a few observations and suggestions.

First, let’s not call it a protest against climate change.  Climate change is inevitable.  While we as humans do have some effect on it, the world’s climate has changed before humans ever existed and will continue to do so after we are long gone.

Second, what exactly are the protesters striking?  These school students are “walking out of class” in protest.   Not much of a sacrifice when most of the schools are giving them the day off in order to do so.  Sounds like a great way to get out of school for a day without any negative consequences.  How about if they protested after school when it might actually interfere with something and they could show us that they themselves made a sacrifice of some sort to protest because that issue is so important to them? 

This is not a strike; it is a school sanctioned event.  Yet rather than send students out into the streets with placards of soundbites, teachers would do better to educate their students about the complex facts, issues, and science that underlie the questions and concerns about our climate and its inevitable change. 

Subjects of discussion could include what we can do to modify negative effects we may be having on the climate, ways to educate both our and other countries about what effects their people and their way of life are having on the environment, and, perhaps most importantly, how can we be flexible and adapt to changing climates while maintaining certain aspects of life that have become in effect essential in the twenty-first century.

Of course, this takes serious study, thought, and open-minded discussion.   It demands movement beyond the politicization of the issue.   Let’s take for example renewable energy.  Solar panels sound terrific – free energy from the sun, no carbon footprint.  But wait.  The same folks who are advocating for solar power are often also advocating for animal rights and protections of endangered species.  Solar collector fields disorient migrating birds and, in many cases, essentially fry the birds until they fall dead from the sky.  Wind turbines also disrupt migratory patterns. 

Quick solutions may sound great, until one considers the ramifications and intertwining aspects of life on this complex planet. There are many things to consider, each on their own and then in combination with one another.  Is one willing to accept the possible extinction of one or another bird species in order to have solar power?  If not, then one must be willing to take the time to discover ways to avoid the problem of frying those birds.  In the meantime, one must consider what other forms of energy one is willing to accept.  That means considering all energy sources and weighing one against the other, including non-renewable and nuclear power as well as renewables.

Solar energy cannot effectively be stored, yet energy is needed in this day and age when the sun is not shining.  Are you willing to wait until morning to have your emergency heart surgery because the solar powered hospital is not allowed to use generators that do not run on renewable sources?  Similarly, when non-renewables are banned, one must consider the effect that will have on the world economy and on the many individuals whose living depends on that industry in one form or another.  The problems of climate change are far more complex that simply banning plastic straws.

The quick solution sound bites allow the politicians to virtue signal that they care about the planet more than their opponents do.   But do they really?    They give the protesters something to put on their cardboard signs and to yell in the streets.  But beyond those sound bite assertions, how much do the protesters really understand about climate change and how much do they really care?

NBC has a web page that allows one to make “climate confessions” about what they are doing or not doing to save the environment and the planet.LINK (I would, as an aside, note that that the whole issue of climate change is often conflated with pollution and environmental problems, all of which are actually separate though related issues.)   I prepared six thoughtful responses to each of NBC’s six “confession” categories (Plastic, Meat, Energy, Transportation, Paper, Food Waste;).  When I went to input these responses, I learned that one is limited to 130 characters including spaces.  So much for my responses.  Obviously, NBC doesn’t really want a thoughtful dialog about environmental issues but rather is looking for sound bites and a way to make people feel guilty for the simple and inevitable fact of climate change.

“Confessions” under plastic have many people expressing their guilt about the use of plastic straws and plastic bags.  Banning these will not save the environment.  I’ve been using cloth bags for 40 years  - so what?  Plastic is not going away any time soon in any really significant way.  It’s just a great political talking point that keeps us from addressing real problems.

The request for confessions is nothing more than a way to create an undeserved guilt that can be used to impose a variety of demands and requirements on people.  The page has people seeking absolution for things like sneaking a piece of chicken into their otherwise vegan diet or reading a paper book rather than using their Kindle (never mind that using the e-book would require energy; of course there is a separate category where they can confess their energy sins).  Let’s face it, we are not going back to a horse and buggy and not everyone can ride a bike, yet here are people confessing their necessary commute to work.

The comments also include the virtue signalers, those who post comments to let us know that they are superior to the guilty ones.  They do not use plastic straws, or do not eat meat, or use cloth not paper napkins, and use public transportation.  Yet, I wonder how many of these, along with those who invented and encourage such confessions like many of the climate protest activists and doomsayers, are fliting around the globe in their high energy, high carbon footprint jets, drinking coffee using Keurig cups, eating meals that rather than using locally sourced food use energy to fly or truck in exotic and out of season fruits, vegetables, etc.  We all live our lives, none are perfect, and we all affect the environment in our own ways. 

The mere existence of the human race affects the environment and the climate, and we cannot fully eliminate our contribution to climate change without first eliminating the human race.  And even then, climate change itself would still occur.

The virtue signalers, the ones who want to control your lives, have latched onto climate change as another way to gain power and take control.  They will tell you what to eat, they will tell you what energy use is good or bad and condemn you if you do not comply, they will make you responsible for the climate and its change.  And in so doing they will make you a bad person, a person who needs them to run your life for you. 

The real inconvenient truth of climate change is that the subject is far more complex than the media and sound-bite mentality and the Left would make it.  It is indeed something to be concerned about, but instead of hysterically suggesting that the world will end unless we all go back to living live cavemen, we would do better to learn about the climate change phenomenon, its history as well as scientifically valid predictions of its future.  We would do better to understand the many and intertwining ramifications of various human and non-human activities and how these play into the ever-changing climate.  We would then do better to understand what we can and cannot live with and without,  understand in what ways the climate is likely to change, and then determine what alterations in our lives may be necessary under that scenario – things like how to adjust to differing crop growth patterns or alterations in some habitats, etc. 

Hysteria is the tool of politicians; it is useful to them in their quest for power.  It does not solve problems.  But, if you are lost in your hysteria rather than educating yourself about a problem, then you are more likely to turn your power to solve that problem over to politicians who only seek power over you, and who use climate hysteria as one of many ways to seize it.

“There are no problems—only opportunities to be creative.” (Dorye Roettger).  Rather than wring our hands that the world is ending and it is all our fault, we would do better to seize the opportunity to find creative solutions to the inevitable changes in our lives that the phenomenon of climate change will create.  The need to look deeply and objectively at the problem, without politicizing it, and to then work creatively within the reality of its existence, will do far more than hysteria to create a better future for our children and our world.