The uncomfortable truth about the Epstein victims ...

No one wants to say this out loud.

But as more details come out, it needs to be said.

Many, if not the majority, of alleged Epstein victims initially participated in whatever they did voluntarily. Nobody forced them to become pawns of Epstein. Not Epstein himself, Ghislaine, or those employed by him.

Only after they were already involved with him sexually did they express regrets. And only when they felt they were being pressured to have sex with his pals did they start – and that’s the right word: start – to realize what they’d gotten into.  But even then, many of them didn’t do anything to get out of the mess they were in.

That does not negate, or pardon, the abuse to which they were subjected to later. That was truly awful and certainly illegal.

But it’s important to remember in all this that no one was kidnapped, held hostage, or physically beaten into submission. They were clearly threatened, usually with the loss of whatever they were receiving as pay. 

Which was not always money. And yes, they were all paid in one form or another. Some entered the Epstein web based on promises of modeling jobs, acceptance into places like NYU and Columbia along with help with tuition, and the opportunity to travel in the company of the rich and famous, among other documented perks.  Epstein paid off some of their car loans, credit card debts, and even some college loans, provided free housing, plus  the promise of a glamourous lifestyle, trips on his private jet and more.

That’s how they got sucked in. Not at the barrel of a gun.  But with the smooth pitch of a con man and his associate who knew all the right buttons to push.

It’s the same strategy pimps have employed since the beginning of time. Epstein just had more to offer and didn’t have to resort to violence or drugs to keep his victims in line. Now that years have passed, and there’s unrelenting pressure to release all the Epstein files without redactions, there’s the potential for more examination of precisely how each victim got into the Epstein web in the first place.

If that’s done honestly that’s not going to be pretty. 

However, there may be a lot of money to be paid out to victims. That’s making some victims more willing to come forward. But I suspect most will never tell what their part was in becoming ensnared – what actually lured them in.  And how they were rewarded, which is intentionally the missing element in all this.

There’s little public appetite for blaming anyone but Epstein, his associates, and his rich and powerful friends and clients. That’s easier than addressing the whole truth.  

Were there victims? Of course. Was what happened to them horrifying? Yes.  Should he have gone to prison for life for what he did? Absolutely.

I’m not victim blaming. Or dismissing what happened to them. It was wrong. They didn't deserve what they went through. They were trafficked by a monster. No one deserves that. 

Yet it's also true many of them made a conscious transaction upfront in return for a reward. Did they fully grasp what might happen later? Perhaps not, but they should have been wary.  Still, making that initial transaction voluntarily was the first step.

That’s the uncomfortable truth.

But who will pick our cotton?

That’s what slave-state Democrats said about abolition in the 1800s. Their  whole economy, their way of life, would collapse without slaves.

Of course it didn’t. Disruption, sure. But not collapse.  

Today they’re saying pretty much the same thing about removing illegals.  

Only it’s not slave state Democrats anymore.  It’s Hollywood types, sports celebrities, mainstream media talking heads, farmers, hotel owners,  contractors, and  especially  affluent liberals.  

They are saying  we rely on cheap illegal migrant labor. Our economy, our way of life, our standard of living would suffer without them. Sound familiar?

It’s actually just about money. And profits. And convenience. And control.  Illegals work cheaper and live in fear of being kicked out. That makes them more pliable for the people paying them. It also makes them more vulnerable to pressure. There’s clearly a power imbalance that some employers readily exploit.

In that way it’s akin to modern day slavery, when it comes to control. They aren’t being threatened with physical punishment, that’s true. But they have to live under the possibility that someone, somewhere could easily turn them in or fire them if they step too far out of line, demand too much, or challenge those in charge of them.

It could happen to them for any reason. At any time. Suddenly, without warning, and cast aside on a whim. Then what do they do?     

The people who employ them – whether in construction, as nannies, in meat packing plants, or as gardeners, for example – like that power. Oh, they’re not saying it out loud that way. That would expose to all their selfishness. As well as the fact they are taking advantage of the same illegals they claim to love so much and want to protect from deportation. 

So instead the people and businesses taking advantage of illegals promote a narrative that it’s simply cruel to deport their illegal migrant landscapers, nannies, handymen, dishwashers and others they say are just trying to make a better life.  Even though they know they’re paying them far less than they should. And not always treating them as well as they should, either.

People knowingly employing illegals at their home should be ashamed. Businesses owners that do this should be charged. NGOs profiting off illegals should also be charged.  And Democrats that encouraged mass migration of illegals just to pad their census numbers for redistricting purposes and to get more Federal money, should also pay a heavy price. 

It’s one thing to say deporting illegals is un-American. Or it goes against our values. Or it’s heartless, particularly when someone has been here illegally for years already. But it’s quite another to keep illegals here just for profit and power.

There are those who say many illegals may have started a family here. And that they aren’t really criminals, are they?

Well, except for coming here illegally, stealing and using fake SS numbers, engaging in identity theft to fraudulently collect benefits for our citizens alone, lying about their status and forging documents to get a driver’s license or a bank loan, overburdening our schools and hospitals – okay there’s all that. And more.

But is that really such a big deal?   

Why yes it is. All of that is indeed illegal.

I have sympathy for people coming here for a better life. There are legal ways to do that. It’s not easy, and it can be expensive. I know because I’ve helped some employees through the process to become citizens. Those who do it deserve praise.

But I have nothing but contempt for the politicians pretending their compassion for illegals is the only reason they opened our borders and released millions of people we essentially know nothing about into our country.  

They didn’t do this out of compassion. They did it for money and power, plain and simple. Now that we’re trying to clear out the worst of the worst, it’s becoming clear to many Americans why they’re fighting so hard to stop the deportations.

It’s not about principles. Never has been.

It’s always been about the same two things: profit and power. 

So were they really just acquaintances?

Someone I know once said he had many acquaintances. But far fewer friends.

That made a great deal of sense to me.

We all know a lot of people we like, and enjoy spending time with, but not that many who would be there for us – and we for them – no matter what.

These are acquaintances. Maybe we would be there for them no matter what, but it’s far less certain whether they would be for us.  That doesn’t make you like them less, or think ill of them, but it should lower your expectations of how deep your relationship is.

Think of it this way: you probably know hundreds of people on a first-name basis. You’ve gotten close to a much smaller set – had drinks with them, maybe dinner out, or hung out together. Colloquially, they’d be called “friends” but in reality, they are just people you are friendly with, and they with you. They are, in fact, actually acquaintances.  

Now think of how many people you could really call a friend. Think carefully. Forget whether they could call on you in any emergency, you would pick them up if their car broke down, or you’d give them the safety of your home if they felt threatened.  Or if you’d be willing to put yourself at some risk, financially or otherwise, to help them out of a bad situation with no expectation of something in return.  

In short, don’t use what you think you’d do as the standard for a friend.  We tend to have unrealistically high opinions of ourselves until tested. Even if you’ve already done those things for people you know, don’t expect everyone else to do the same.

Real friends do all that and more if needed, not to earn your friendship or with an expectation of something in return, but simply to help you out. You may never need that help, however you know if they could they’d come through.   

I suspect I may have four or five real friends today.  I’ve probably had many more in my life, who, for whatever reason, are now lost to me, most likely because our lives or careers simply diverged. I still think of many of them fondly and at times wistfully remembering the good times we shared. I hope they feel the same about me. 

So now I’m down to about four.  That’s probably about average for many men if they were honest with themselves.  Of those, almost everyone has been a friend of mine for decades, from college, from work, from a mutual acquaintance, or someplace else. Whatever it was, we’ve always been there for each other.

They could call me up at any time and I’d always be glad to talk for as long as they liked.  I call them every now and then, too, and they give freely of their time as well. We’re never too busy for each other. We laugh, we commiserate, we enjoy each other. Here’s the strange part, and maybe why they are really friends: weeks or even months can pass between calls or emails, yet as soon as we make contact again, it’s like no time has elapsed at all. 

We don’t always agree politically, culturally, or whatever, but we remain friends. Our friendship transcends our differences.   

Think about that. Especially now when politics has divided so many people who always considered others as “friends” can no longer even speak to one another.

Over politics, of all things.

So were they ever really friends? Perhaps not.  

What do you do after you've won ...

 I’ve been pondering this for a while.  

Because it appears to be a very real problem for would-be social justice warriors and assorted activists who can’t seem to grasp that they’ve already won what they were fighting for. 

And almost nobody is trying to take back what they’ve won. I think a lot of us have been wondering for quite some time why they continue fighting ever more vehemently for things they already have. It’s as if they can’t accept a victory on the bigger issues. 

Maybe that’s why they increasingly focus on what to most Americans are relatively meaningless and inconsequential things.  Like issues that affect a minute portion of the population.  Or things most of us really don’t care all that much about. 

Mainly because we realize those things – the bigger things – have already been resolved.  And accepted by most folks. 

I suppose if your entire life is built on being angry about something, anything, it must be difficult to give that up.  If you lose your “cause,” and your righteous indignation, because you’ve won, what do you have left? What gets you up in the morning and makes you feel alive if there’s no longer a purpose for your anger? And there’s really nothing important to be angry about anymore?  

Maybe your anger over your cause was the defining aspect of your life.  You felt like part of something. Part of a larger group. You belonged to a club of other angry people that embraced you. And it felt so virtuous because you deep-down felt you were important. 

As long as whatever you did was for the cause, it was righteous.  Now, that’s gone.  But you really miss the excitement of lashing out against whatever.  You’ve lost a part of your identity. 

This has been a very difficult transition for a lot of people.  

The answer for many has been to invent new and increasingly weird causes to fight for to get that old feeling back.  That fire of anger within. That outrage. That reason to attack anew. 

Consider the plight of some gay rights extremists as an example.  

The gay community fought relentlessly for years against job and housing discrimination, for the right to marry, and for acceptance. They won.  Their basic rights were codified and enforced. That part’s over.  Instead of celebrating their win, a small yet highly vocal group of gays became increasingly provocative over issues most other gays frankly didn’t want to be identified with.  

Issues that in some cases were absolutely repellent to most Americans, including significant segments of the gay community, especially when imposed on children. Like having drag queens perform simulated sex and various suggestive routines in front of children.  Like having naked men, or others flaunting giant prop vaginas, as part of a public “pride” parade attended by families. The gay community has won a lot of well-earned rights. But being an obnoxious asshole for no apparent reason except to shock isn't one of them.

Or encouraging teachers in public schools to present materials to those as young as six to learn about blowjobs, anal sex, masturbation, and the use of sex toys.

I suspect most gays don’t approve of meddling with children, much less experimenting on them or trying to convince kids before they even hit puberty that they are gay or transgendered.  Sure, they’d like to protect gay adolescents from ostracism and bullying, as would any responsible adult.  But they are being overshadowed by a relatively small number of extremists.  

There’s an enormous risk for the overall gay community from the actions of these extremists. They risk losing the acceptance from the public they fought so hard to attain over the decades; the acceptance they have already achieved. 

To be completely frank, today most Americans don’t give a damn whether someone is gay or not.  Nobody cares if gay couples share a room, or show affection in public, or get married.

That’s something I had to impress on a gay couple we went with on their first cruise ever. They were pleasantly surprised to see so many other gay couples together on the ship.  They shouldn’t have been. But they were prepared for the worst from crew and other passengers, because they're historically conditioned to expect discrimination just because they are gay. 

Of course, none of that happened because, again, nobody cares.  

But they were also disappointed that the nightly LGBTQ event the ship held at one of the bars rarely attracted any other gay singles or couples.  Most nights they were the only ones.  

Not that there weren’t any gay and lesbian people, couples, and groups traveling together on board.  There were.  They hung out at the bars like everybody else. They were highly social with everybody at the bars and restaurants. None of them started conversations by telling anyone they were gay, lesbian or whatever, nor did anyone who wasn’t start out by saying they were straight.  

There’s no need for that anymore. Gay people are fully in the mainstream. 

They are largely assimilated.

And maybe that’s what bothers the activists so much.  They’re afraid of losing the feeling of being “special.” Of belonging to a private and exclusive club.  They are no longer entitled to special attention and special treatment.  They’re just like everybody else. 

When you’re like everybody else, broader cultural rules apply.  Most people don’t make a big deal about how they have sex and with who.  Nobody is that interested whether you’re gay, straight, bi, or vegan, (although vegans can be particularly annoying).  

That’s one downside of assimilation. It diminishes the power of dividing people into artificial subgroups simply for political purposes.  So it can break down barriers to getting along, not by ignoring differences, but by embracing the commonalities shared by the larger group.  

That scares a lot of people who have so much invested in belonging to a group or idea they assumed was vital to who they are and how others see them.  

And some will do anything to avoid that.  Even if it doesn’t really matter anymore. 

Republicans: Embrace Make America Great Again ...

 There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make America great again. 

 After the disaster caused by Biden and his cohort of clowns in his administration, it’s something we should all be in favor of.  Yet somehow Democrats have tried to make the desire to make America great again (or “MAGA”) a horrible, loathsome thing.

How strange.  

They usually add “extremists” whenever they use MAGA as an adjective.  

So anybody who supports making America great again must be an extremist.  Are they all part of an insidious plot to trample on the Constitution to seize power? Are they trying to keep political rivals tied up in court? Are these extremists removing opposition candidates from ballots? Or using the FBI, DOJ, CIA, and IRS to harass and intimidate ordinary citizens? Have they co-opted the media to promote false narratives, censor dissent, and hide the truth? 

If so, then they really are dangerous extremists. A danger to our democracy.  

Oh wait. That’s what Biden and the Democrats are doing. Never mind. 

MAGA for Democrats and the media has become their shorthand to imply that anyone who endorses it is essentially evil.  Really evil.  As in bringing back slavery and lynchings, repealing voting rights, persecuting gays, and forcing women to die from back-room abortions. That kind of pure evil.  Not only that, but also white supremacists, bigots, racists, homophobes, xenophobes, and religious fanatics who would replace our Democratic government with an Old Testament Christian theocracy. 

Run, of course, by white men. Think Taliban without the beards.  

And destroy democracy as we know it.  Or as Democrats think it should be which, frankly, has far more in common with classic fascism than they realize.  

The reason they hate the actual words abbreviated by MAGA so much is blindingly obvious. 

Making America great again speaks to what our country once was; a country many of us still remember fondly.  It also speaks to restoring the promise that made it great and attracted legal immigrants from around the world – that America is in fact a land of opportunity where anyone willing to work hard can succeed.  A great melting pot of races and cultures, with freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and most of all, the freedom from government tyranny. 

It's the antithesis of the America many of us feel we have now.  

It’s no longer fashionable to have pride in our country.  Or to think of our country as a discrete nation. The people running things – in education, government, and even the military – are completely out of touch with the citizens they’re supposed to be working for.  They act like an aristocracy above the rest of us, immune from any accountability for their actions. 

If we’re all brutally honest in recent years there’s been a concerted effort to diminish everything good we’ve ever done here and abroad. No other country in the world has done so much to raise people out of poverty, free them from tyranny, improve their lives, and eliminate diseases that shortened their lives. Not just here, but around the world. 

We have long been one of the most generous and benevolent people.  

That’s who we are as a nation.  You’d never know it from what is taught today in our public schools and our once-elite institutions of higher education.  

What always set us apart from many other countries was that while we may come from different backgrounds, cultures, races, and religions, we somehow shared a broader identity as Americans.  Irish Americans, Polish Americans, Italian Americans, African Americans, whatever, but ultimately Americans.  In times of crisis or war, we stood together. As Americans. 

At least we once did.  

Yet no longer do we seem able or encouraged to bury our differences and come together for the common good.  Instead, we are constantly driven apart by race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and an unending list of evermore infinitesimal traits. 

We’ve never been more divided as a nation since the Civil War in the 1860s.  

By whom is the question, and Democrats are afraid that by now the American people have an excellent grasp of who is responsible. And appear ready to retake the country.  

The motto of our country is out of many, one. We seem to have forgotten that.  Democrats dismiss this because the power to divide is their favorite tool to maintain control.  

Make America Great Again is a call to reassume our traditional role as the greatest nation in the world, politically, economically, and morally.  To our history as a nation of laws, not men.  To stop our infatuation with petty differences and to once more unite as Americans.  

Sadly, Republicans allowed MAGA to become a dirty word. What they need to do is simply to refuse to allow the Democrats and the media to use it as a weapon. So always spell out what MAGA actually stands for: Make America Great Again.  

And fully embrace it.  Wrap your collective arms around Make America Great Again.  Always use the full wording: never the lazy acronym.  Force the media and Democrats to say out loud that they are opposed to Make America Great Again, which they are. Make them admit they don’t think America is that great and can never be again. 

Then use that against them. Broadcast that simple message everywhere. 

The American public is starting to realize how much they are hated and derided by those in power. And they are. Biden and the Democrats – and especially the media – don't care how ordinary Americans live and work, what challenges they face, and how angry they are.  

The reality is that most Americans – particularly those accurately described as the forgotten, by Trump – are embarrassed at the state of our nation, our schools, and our intentional degradation of our status on the international stage. They’d like to see us return to being a reliable ally and a force for good here and abroad, that, in fact, always tried to practice what we preached. 

Most Americans want to feel proud of America again. Proud to be citizens.  

They want to Make America Great Again.  Nothing wrong with that.      

Forget about white supremacists, black privilege is here ...

 After all the years being lectured about the threat from white supremacy and pervasive ills of systemic racism it’s time we all took a breath and understand the reality.

That was all bullshit. 

There’s absolutely no evidence that white supremacists pose any kind of significant threat to minorities, much less American society as a whole today.  First, there aren’t that many of them – maybe a handful here and there in our nation of about 340 million. Nobody takes these crackpots seriously except for those constantly warning of never proven “threats” to minorities and our “democracy” from “white supremacists.” In fact, nobody can even provide tangible proof of how many exist or why we should care.  Not the DOJ, the FBI, or any other government entity. 

The reason is simple: there aren’t enough to count. The magnitude of the threat is completely made up. That’s not to say there aren’t isolated wackos out there who may be dangerous – there always will be – but there aren’t enough to justify mobilizing vast Federal resources, and worse, trampling on our basic rights under the Constitution, ostensibly to “protect” us and our democracy.  

The Feds, politicians on the left, and media types don’t want the public to realize how little we are threatened by such small numbers of loons.  So to keep up the facade everybody in government and the media keeps inferring “white supremacist” movements from unconnected things like NRA membership, support for Trump, opposition to government overreach, parental rights advocacy, pro-life sentiments, living in rural areas, and voting Republican.  

None of these things have anything to do with white supremacy.  Going to church, being politically conservative, and owning a gun shouldn’t make anyone suspect.  

Besides it’s not white supremacists we all see attacking minorities like Asians, Jews, gays, and Hispanic shopkeepers. The attackers are overwhelmingly not white.  And most often the reports of alleged attacks on minorities – especially on blacks – by white supremacists turn out to be hoaxes. Like Jussie Smollett. Like Bubba Wallace. Like so many others.  

Yet, it remains the popular boogey man.  These imaginary white supremacists are supposedly everywhere, according to Democrats and the media.  But nobody knows where they are or how many there are; all we need to know is that – like the demons and witches from the Middle Ages – they are around us all the time and need to be rounded up and exorcised. 

Of course that’s the problem.  You’d have to find them, first.  To do that, you’d have to identify them and in such large numbers we’d all have to accept they’re really a threat. 

That’s never going to happen. Just as the witch hunters never wanted to eliminate all witches. How would a self-respecting witch hunter make a decent living without witches? How would they keep their power to terrify others if they ran out of witches? That’s why they always found more witches (mainly by falsely accusing people they didn’t like).  

Think about that. What would all the DOJ, ATF, and FBI task forces do? What could professional race baiters like Sharpton, AOC, Joy Reid, Whoopi, Marc Lamont Hill, Joy Behar, and all the talking heads on CNN and MSNBC do?  Without the specter of whites targeting and oppressing minorities they really don’t have a lot of other fodder for their shows.  

Still, as fake as the mythical robe-clad white supremacists are, there actually is a threat today from other race-fueled supremacists.  Only this time, they’re black. 

Yes, I am saying out loud what we all know to be happening. 

Ever since a drug-addled, career criminal fat black guy with a bad heart died because a single stupid cop triggered his death, black privilege has taken off. 

Blacks were allowed to burn down cities, attack police, loot, and murder others, because ... well, they had the “right” to do that.  All because of an isolated arrest with tragic results.  

That led would-be black supremacist grifters such as BLM to realize they had now ascended to power they never imagined.  The power to extort payments from corporations for protection. The power to demand and get special treatment by police and the courts. The power to elect representatives to legislatures and even Congress beholden to them, and afraid to cross them. 

Blacks almost overnight became a super class in this country, with special privileges over other citizens.  They had achieved what they always accused whites of having. They had achieved black privilege.  They weren’t held to the same rules. They were excused from responsibility for criminal acts. Their felonies, even for violent crimes, were routinely downgraded to misdemeanors. 

Consequently, with no fear of incarceration or serious punishment, mobs of mostly younger blacks felt entitled to do whatever they wanted, to take whatever they wanted, and to destroy whatever they wanted.  Their mobs rampaged through major cities such as Philadelphia, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and others. 

They’re still doing it. And they’re still not being held accountable. 

So the often violent attacks on Asians, Jews, gays, and other minorities by blacks continue. Storming and looting convenience stores, drugstores, other retailers by mobs of black juveniles remains an everyday thing.  As are their beatdowns of people just waiting for a subway or a bus.  

Blacks are also shooting and killing each other every day in our major cities. It’s not unusual for a city like Chicago to record almost 25 shootings – typically black on black – in an ordinary weekend.  Holidays are even worse.   Black teens are settling scores with other black teens by spraying gunfire indiscriminately at block parties, concerts, festivals, and even birthday parties and funerals. Innocent black kids as young as toddlers are often collateral damage.  

Yet nobody wants to call out what can only be described as systemic violence by blacks. 

Maybe it’s because nobody cares when it’s black on black. Or when a black violently attacks another minority.  Or maybe it’s because blacks now get a pass for just about anything.  

Maybe that’s what their new-found black privilege buys them.     

Sorry, but your kid's probably not really transgendered ...

Having a kid that claims to be trans is the new sign of status. Woke parents are weirdly proud to proclaim publicly that their little Johnny is now a Jessica, and their Suzy is a Sam.
 
Or when one parent said their preteen was still working their way through something called the “gender spectrum” to decide for themselves what they want to be.  And, of course, what pronouns they will insist on.  For now.
 
So by all means stay tuned while we wait for this breathtaking moment in history.  What will these children with their vast life experience at 6, 10, or 12 choose to be for the rest of their lives?  (Or until they change their mind.)  Will they pick new, liberating names to celebrate their transition?  Or a gender-neutral name like Spider or Mango or Buttercup? 
 
And will he or she become a ze? Or a zie? Or a wa/waz or a fae/faeie? Or whatever? Because, you know, you can’t use the boring old he/she they/them stuff – not if you want to feign outrage when someone meets you for the first time and doesn’t know your pronouns. 
 
The bigger problem is that kid’s probably not transgendered at all.  Certainly not in any biological sense.  Confused, perhaps. Socially awkward, most likely, Desperate for attention, sure.
 
But not really somewhere in between or beyond male or female.  At times a child may feel they are; at other times they may also feel like a an Indian princess, or a Viking, or a dinosaur, for that matter. It’s all make-believe and usually temporary. However, their biological sex hasn’t changed from the time they were born. Nor will it any time soon.  That’s a matter of chromosomes.
 
And as of now, no one can change their chromosomes on demand for whatever reason that make them male or female. That’s the real science.
 
Still, what about gender?  
 
A lot’s been made in recent years that gender has nothing to do with biological sex.  Now gender is supposed to be a fluid thing; it depends solely how someone “feels.” As if gender is just a matter of what clothes and makeup you prefer.  You can change it any time you like. 
 
Redefining gender – and especially coming up with terms like transgender – is another in a long line of sad attempts to change the meaning of a perfectly good word that accurately describes a real thing into something now completely meaningless. Something that can be exploited, too. 
 
Because it’s usually done for profit and power. As this is. 
 
There have always been effeminate boys and masculine girls.  There have always been others who aren’t necessarily more effeminate than other boys, or more masculine than other girls, but are sexually attracted to others of the same sex. Still others are sexually attracted to both sexes.  Those things are real.  It’s not a question of gender but according to a lot of real, objective science, those sexual preferences may result from chromosomes, as well.
 
Because some things are predetermined in some way at the chromosome level, it’s not a matter of choice. It’s something some folks are already hardwired to be. 
 
None of that has anything to do with the transgender movement.  More importantly, even less to do with gender reassignment surgery and hormone therapy now being pushed on children by adults.  I don’t care much what other adults do to themselves, but I do have a problem when adults are making irreversible life-altering decisions for kids. 
 
I think most normal people feel the same.  Why is it suddenly okay – and actually celebrated – to intentionally and permanently surgically disfigure a child, or pump them full of hormones causing long-term physical changes?  All because some activist wannabe school psychologist or teacher thinks your child suffers from something called gender dysphoria.
 
And why is it so prevalent?  Remarkable, isn’t it?  
 
You have to wonder who profits from our society’s new-found obsession with finding, treating, and “protecting the rights” of the suddenly transgendered. Especially children.    
 
I think it’s all so psychologists and pseudo scientists in academia and healthcare can publish papers and books about it and invent profitable “treatments.” So newly-minted “experts” can get lucrative positions and speaking engagements. So “researchers” can tap new sources for grant money to “study.” And to provide an infinitely small number of people a way to claim to have their own interpretation which makes them extra special victims, and worthy of disproportionate power.
 
Honestly, it’s largely a scam. 
 
I have no doubt some people do in fact have mental issues that make them believe they are a sex other than that they were born with.  Just as some people believe they are getting messages from aliens or instructions from God to kill their landlord. It’s a mental illness, not a “condition.”  
 
And last I checked, in the USA we don’t normally treat mental illness with surgery anymore. Therapy and medicine have taken the place of lobotomies and other invasive treatments.   
 
Furthermore, these days we’re talking mostly about children who aren’t really capable of making informed decisions about something as serious and life altering as gender reassignment surgery.  Dressing up and pretending to be something other than what you are is something many kids do before they reach puberty. And even after.  I understand that. 
 
But after then? WTF is wrong with these parents? 
 
Folks, we are allowing parents to let others unnecessarily mutilate and mentally and physically poison their children. Hospitals and doctors are getting rich. Trans activists in schools are acting like feeder channels to deliver kids to this carnage.  And gloating. 
 
And instead of being arrested, parents, the activists in schools, and the participating members of the medical establishment are all being praised for being on the cutting edge – literally – of a revolution in helping children develop. 
 
It’s insane. There’s no other word for it.    

WTF is wrong with us, anyway?

Seriously.
 
Since when did we just sit by and let clearly delusional people intimidate us with their madness?  Or to permit them to try to gaslight us into believing everything we’ve always known to be true suddenly isn’t? That their “reality” is real, while ours is not? 
 
We know that’s what’s actually happening. Why aren’t we trying to stop them? 
 
Staying silent or cowering in the face of their unrelenting assault on reality is a mistake, as we’ve seen. It signals tacit approval which just encourages more insanity. 
 
Too many appear afraid to say what they honestly believe or even joke about the silliness of it all. They claim it’s not worth it.  If they speak out they fear being targeted by a mob of self-appointed scolds who will harass them and their families at home, at school, and even at work. 
 
All of which, sadly, happens too often.   
 
Still others suspend their disbelief and pretend it’s all okay. Yet they know it’s not okay. We all know it’s not okay. Everyone needs to stop pretending.  
 
Most of what the left, activists, and the media promote these days is not just untrue but increasingly dangerous to our country, our young people, and generations to come. When Biden said: “we choose truth over facts” we laughed.  They didn’t; they agreed. Unfortunately, their “truth” often isn’t remotely connected to reality. Perhaps intentionally.     
 
So why don’t we, as rational thoughtful citizens, stand up and fight back?
 
All it takes is for enough of us to refuse to comply.  Just say no thanks.
 
And when they overreact, don’t go straight to outrage, which is what they want.  Instead, publicly ridicule them. Libs of TikTok on Twitter provides a master class in in this.  They repost videos created by loonies on the left describing themselves and their beliefs.   
 
It’s scary at times, yet frequently hilarious to see people passionately expose their stupidity and bizarre ideas out there for all the world to see. The original creators of these posts never intended this to happen; these were only supposed to be seen by zealots just like them. They expected to be praised by their peers who agree trans women can have periods, children should be taught about anal and oral sex in kindergarten, and teachers should be able to coach elementary students into changing gender without ever letting parents know that’s going on. 
 
Suddenly, when they realize ordinary people might see how they are subverting parents’ rights and indoctrinating their kids on the sly, overtly sexualizing children, while bragging about how they get away with it, they are furious. Showing the world what they’ve posted in whole in original context without editing – in short, exactly what they said in their own words – is hateful.  Transphobic. Homophobic. Anti-LGBTQ. And whatever else they can come up with.
 
But it’s their own words. Out of their own mouths. Stuff they intentionally posted. What I think troubles them most, however, is that down deep they know what they claim to be true just isn’t.  There’s no way they can honestly believe that a man who pretends to be a woman can get pregnant, or that a woman who pretends to be a man can produce sperm. Or that using their authority as a teacher to psychologically manipulate kindergarteners or elementary school kids to choose a different gender or sexual orientation is in any way appropriate. They know that's wrong.  

 

In their videos they think they are revealing their soul, their overwrought hand wringing, and their pride in their misdeeds to what they hope are their legions of followers.  But they end up as the object of well-deserved ridicule on Libs of TikTok. That has to sting.  
 
There’s a reason why the loons on the left and their suck-up pals in the media and Hollywood hate when the quiet things they say to each other, and nod in agreement, are inadvertently said out loud for all the world to see.  Because most of what they want to hide is crazy.    
 
And frankly, they know it.   
 
Our collective mistake is taking it all too seriously. I stopped doing that a while ago and I’ve felt better ever since.  Calmer. More relaxed. More should try it.  
 
The media and our leaders pound us with lie after lie about the threats to our democracy, or very existence, every day if we don’t take them seriously. And how morally bankrupt we are not to accept and embrace their twisted world view. But really, there’s no reason to.  Most of it is silly and demonstrably false.  
 
That’s why we shouldn’t.  I’m surprised they still do.
 
It amazes me that we’re now supposed to ignore basic biology, human physiology, science, our own history as a nation, the role of the Constitution, and a lot more, most of which we learned in public school and college decades ago. Suddenly, we need to question all we ever learned.      
 
But of course, we’re not allowed to ever question them.   
 
If we dare question anything they say, no matter how ridiculous, we are monsters. Racists. Sexists. Homophobes. Transphobes. Religious fanatics.  Science deniers. Right-wing nutjobs. Bigots. Ignorant hillbillies. And, most recently, and most curiously, fascists.
 
Confronted with facts, they have no valid counter argument, except name calling. 
 
Their core beliefs are so preposterous, and so obviously wrong to anyone who graduated public high school more than 30 years ago.  I’m not talking about kids who took accelerated courses, National Honor Society types, or anybody who went to college. Just ordinary high school students graduating with a passing grade. 
 
For the record, there haven’t been huge breakthroughs in biology or basic science in those past 30 years that would make it true that humans have more than two sexes, biological men can get pregnant, bear children or breast feed, or that that anyone born a biological male who later decides he’s actually a girl can suddenly do any of those.  It’s not physically possible, despite bathing him in puberty blockers at an early age, extensive hormone therapy, doing breast implants, or mutilating his genitals
 
Biologically, he’ll always be a boy, not because of how he feels, but because of his chromosomes.  He can grow his hair long, he can dress up like a girl, he can have doctors cut off his testicles and turn his penis into a vagina, and he may appear to be a girl and live as one, but he won’t be.   Despite what many teachers are instructing students as young as kindergarteners, no one can actually change the biological sex they were born with. 
 
And “feeling” like you might be another sex is a far cry from being one.
 
Which is really the problem here: the crazies want us to accept what they “feel” as real.  They have no facts, just feelings. And they demand we accept their feelings and agree to their completely wacko view of human biology, science, history, and much more. 
 
We really don’t have to. And we shouldn’t. 

The Charlie Brown Party ...

Charles Krauthammer often said the difference between Republicans and Democrats was that Republicans think Democrats are wrong, but Democrats think Republicans are evil.  

I’d like to suggest that Democrats not only think Republicans are evil, but also naïve.  I don’t agree about the evil part, but I believe Democrats are right about the naïve bit.  And Democrats and the media keep displaying the gullibility of Republican legislators at every turn.  

Republicans might as well have Charlie Brown as the symbol of their party.  The Democrats always make promises to Republicans in the House and Senate in exchange for something they want.  Republicans believe Democrats will keep their word. Like Lucy, Democrats never do. 

Yet Republicans keep getting fooled. They keep getting humiliated. They keep letting Democrats push through awful legislation.  

The passage of the “Inflation Reduction Act” is a perfect example. 

Democrats promised they wouldn’t use reconciliation to pass a multi-billion-dollar tax and spend bill if Republicans wouldn’t filibuster the “chips” bill for billions in subsidies to chip manufacturers.  As usual, Republicans upheld their end of the bargain and helped pass the chips bill. 

Democrats didn’t keep their word.  Because they never intended to. 

They outplayed Republicans again. The only reason Democrats didn’t want use reconciliation then was because they can only use it once each fiscal year.  They wanted to save the filibuster-proof reconciliation process for something much bigger with all of their favorite things:  a $700-billion blowout for social spending, climate change activities, environmental “equity,” subsidies for the rich to buy electric cars and appliances, 87,000 new IRS agents to add to the government employee unions, and higher taxes for just about everyone and every small business.  

This is what they always planned. Passing Build Back Better, part by part.  

Shortly after the chips bill passed with Republican help Democrat Schumer started working with Joe Manchin to do precisely what they’d promised not to. And because they’d already gotten what they wanted in the chips bill, they could use reconciliation this time and pass another monstrosity – deceptively named the Inflation Reduction Act – with a straight party-line vote.  

Two wins by deception.  They couldn’t resist gloating.  

Biden did a victory lap when he signed the Inflation Reduction Act and lied about how it would bring down inflation. The media claimed it as a great victory for Biden and signaled a turning point in his popularity.  This would reduce inflation and only tax the rich.  

This, despite their own supporters, and Joe Manchin as well, conceding that this new tax and spend bonanza wouldn’t do anything to reduce inflation. At best, analysts reported, under the very best circumstances it might cut inflation by less than one percent.  Other analysts said it would actually increase oil and gas prices through new taxes on production and increase inflation, as well as raise taxes on everyone, including those making far less than $400,000, by about $20 billion. 

Democrats are not above lying to other Democrats, either.  Including Joe Manchin. Manchin bought in to the Inflation Reduction Act for only one reason: Schumer promised that in return for his vote by the end of September Schumer would introduce a bill to fast track permitting which would let a natural gas pipeline to West Virginia held up for years go ahead. 

Just the other day, progressive Democrats in the House promised to oppose that bill if indeed it’s ever introduced because it would betray their climate change agenda. And since Manchin and Schumer already screwed the Republicans and the progressives, good luck getting the bill ever passed in the House or the Senate. Honestly, I bet Democrats never intended it to pass.  

This would all be moot if Republicans hadn’t gotten suckered in the first place. I have two theories why they got taken on the most recent bill. And will probably get fleeced again soon.   

First, Republican leaders like McCarthy and McConnell are stupid, a distinct possibility given their recent track record.  By now they should know better than to trust Democrats.  

Or, perhaps more likely, Republican leaders today simply don’t care what Democrats do, as long as they can keep raising millions by pretending to fight Democrats. In short, Republican leaders find it more profitable personally and much easier to be in the minority. There’s less pressure to perform.  When you’re in control you actually have to do something other than bitch and whine.  

Right now, most voters – not just Republicans – are appalled at Democrats’ priorities. Inflation is raging hurting the poor and working class most.  Food prices are insanely high.  Gas prices are still high, and high home heating oil and natural gas prices this winter will pummel families even harder.  Diesel prices are driving up shipping and distribution costs that affect everything from produce to construction materials. Our borders are being overrun.  And crime is surging.  

But Democrats keep focusing on climate change, gender identity, trans rights, social justice, abortion rights and promoting critical race theory.  Still, Democrats are climbing in the polls before the midterms and may very well keep control of the Senate, if not the House as well. 

There are several reasons.  

#1: Republicans got lazy believing they had the midterms in hand. They were so sure Democrats would defeat themselves they didn’t bother to tell voters what they would do instead.  

#2: Trump’s personal vendettas over the 2020 election pushed out eminently electable Republican primary candidates and replaced these with nitwits and sometimes whack jobs he selected solely because they echoed his claims about the 2020 election.  

#3: Republican loons in several state legislatures used the overturning of Roe v. Wade to reinstate long-forgotten draconian bans on all abortions passed decades or more than a century ago. Others introduced new laws effectively banning abortions shortly after conception.  

Earlier this year I told a friend to never underestimate Republicans’ ability to screw up a sure win.  They do it all the time. Now is no different. Like Charlie Brown they never learn.   

Sorry to say, I told you so.  

It's time for Trump to move on ...

I think he did a lot of good things as President. 

I’ll always appreciate the good he accomplished.  Plus, he had a unique ability – much to my everlasting joy – to mock and humiliate the know-it-all blowhards in the DC establishment and the media. He exposed them for what they really were – a bunch of whiney, self-righteous, over-educated hypocrites who openly despised ordinary working-class Americans.   

He was the antithesis of political correctness.  My anti-establishment hero.  Those who opposed him called him a fascist.  But in reality, they were the fascists working hand in hand with big corporations and tech monopolies, and violent mobs, to crush any dissent and opposition. 

He angered a lot of people. Justifiably so, at times. And, let’s face it, he was exhausting; you never knew what ill-conceived tweet he sent out at 3 AM while in a fit of pique.  

I voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020.  Still, I wasn’t completely surprised he didn’t get re-elected. He’d been under assault by the Feds, DC establishment types, and the media for four years.  

I am surprised Biden got 80-some million votes because he is and always has been a weasel, a liar, and a moron, essentially on the wrong side of nearly every important issue in his less-than-stellar 40-plus-year career. Yet I suppose the hatred for Trump, coupled with America’s exhaustion with some of his antics, and the nonstop pounding against Trump by the media, helped Biden hit those numbers.  

The loss was bad enough for Trump’s supporters but what he did next was worse. He became a sore loser who refused to accept the results.  Just like Hillary. He blamed everybody else but himself for his loss. He insisted, as Hillary did, that the election was stolen.  

It might very well have been rigged. Ballot box stuffing happened for sure. But it wasn’t stolen.  No one took votes from Trump, except Trump.  

He can’t get over it.  To this day he hasn’t moved on. He’s still settling scores with those who didn’t support his attempts to overturn the results. It’s sad. It’s also causing damage.  

He blamed the governor and secretary of state of Georgia for his loss there. Mostly because, after a few recounts affirmed the vote totals and his loss, they said there was no basis to overturn the results. In his anger, he encouraged Georgia Republicans not to vote in a runoff and a special election which in turn cost Republicans two Senate seats they should have won easily.  

Which gave Democrats effective control of a 50-50 Senate, where VP Harris can break ties. 

He’s still meddling. He’s still causing damage. Because of his hatred for Kemp, Republican Governor of Georgia, he engaged in unrelenting attacks on him during and even after the gubernatorial primaries. Kemp won in spite of Trump’s vitriol. But the damage was done: Trump’s opened the door to handing Kemp’s job to Democrat Stacey Abrams in 2022. 

That would be a disaster. 

In another special election to take on the full Senate term against Democrat Ralph Warnock, he helped his friend Herschel Walker overcome a better and more attractive Republican candidate to face off against Warnock.  Walker has no political experience and may have won a Heisman at UGA, but he also has a history of mental illness, domestic abuse charges, and other baggage.  

But he loves Trump. And supports Trump’s claim that the last election was stolen.  

The Republican he beat in the primaries didn’t and would have had a better shot.  Especially with moderates who would rather have hot pokers stuck in their eyes than vote for Trump.  

The common denominator for Trump’s support clearly is not electability. It’s whether a candidate buys into Trump’s belief that he – not Biden – actually won the last Presidential election. 

Nothing else matters to Trump.  Nothing. Not past racist statements.  Not sexual harassment charges. Not criminal investigations into sketchy business dealings. Not domestic abuse allegations. Not a history of saying nutty things about QAnon and other "conspiracies." Not documented mental health and addiction issues.  

All the things that would otherwise disqualify someone in the eyes of normal everyday voters simply don’t matter to Trump when he endorses a candidate. Just that one thing.  

He continues to rail against anybody who won’t follow him blindly.  He disparages otherwise good Republican candidates just because they don’t pass his litmus test; candidates who could win seats from Democrats and help Republicans take back the House and Senate.  

He’s had some success in a few races so far.  But he’s also had some embarrassing losses by backing candidates that love him but were unelectable from the start.    

So why does he keep going on the same path?  Ego? Anger? Craving for attention? Whatever.  He’s never going to overturn the 2020 election.  Why he persists is unfathomable.  He knows he can’t.  Everyone knows he can’t.  Even his supporters know he can’t. 

Sadly, the memories of the good he accomplished as President are being eroded day by day as he keeps trying to relitigate something that happened almost two years ago.  

He still puts on a great live show, nonetheless.  His rallies still attract thousands. But most are there primarily to be entertained, and to continue to give a middle finger to the DC elites and the political establishment.   

As he did, and still does.  As they always did, too, when they voted for him.    

But the bottom line remains unchanged: the 2020 election is over. He lost.  

That ship has sailed. He should get on board and enjoy the ride. Yet there’s a rumor he might run again in 2024. Please don’t. His base may still love him. And because Democrats and Biden have done such a terrible job Republicans should run the table in 2022 and 2024. 

The only thing that could stop Republicans now is Trump.  That's why the only people seriously promoting the idea that he'll run again are the media and Democrats.  

One way to reduce mass shootings by young males ...

Hold their parents responsible.  Simple as that.  

I’m not saying it would end mass shootings – most of which are by mentally ill young males still living at home. But at least the parents of these shooters would have some skin in the game; maybe if they shared responsibility, they’d be more likely to intervene earlier.  

Maybe they’d get off their asses and report their demon spawn to authorities and get junior committed and off the streets before he committed a horrific crime. 

Call it the “we’ll lose the house” threat parents used years ago to keep their kids from even thinking about doing bad stuff in their community.  Only now step it up to “you’ll also go to prison and perhaps get the death penalty, too” idea.  

I am simply so tired of hearing parents claim, after their kid or young adult still living with them murders innocent people, that they “had no idea,” saw no red flags, and had no warning signs of what their monster was planning to do.  They are as “shocked” and surprised as anyone else.  

Oh, and how sorry they are now.  A little too late for the victims, you lying bastards.  

You knew.  You enabled your monster. 

You may have even helped him get the weapons he ultimately used. As was the case in the Sandy Hook, Parkland, and now the Highland Park July 4th massacres among others. 

What the hell were you thinking?    

You may have already covered for him when he exhibited early signs of sociopathic behavior.  Like torturing and killing small animals for fun.  Like the pictures he drew of him shooting people or blowing up things.  Like the posters in his room celebrating mass murderers. Like his obsession with suicide.  Like his social media posts about an act no one would ever forget. And about settling scores with neighbors, classmates, teachers, and anybody else he thought had offended or bullied him.     

You saw all this. 

And for whatever reason – fear of embarrassment, foolish hope he would grow out of it, thinking it was “just a phase,” fear of saddling him with the stigma of mental illness – whatever, you saw plenty of signs something was desperately wrong with your kid. Your kid was telling you he was about to do something terrible. You consciously ignored it all. You did nothing to stop him.  

So spare me and the victims’ families your self-righteous bullshit that you had no idea what he was up to.  You could have stopped him. Because you didn’t, he killed innocent people.  Their blood is on your hands. Their pain is not lessened by your “prayers for the families.” Their loved ones are dead because of you and your indifference or temerity.  

I hold you equally responsible. You should go to prison.  

I would like to see a law that would make parents of children still under their roof fully liable for the actions of those offspring. If they are still under their roof, the parents are responsible for everything they do. If you can keep your kids on your insurance until they’re 26, then you can also be responsible for all the bad things they might do. 

Having a child should be like signing up for liability for as long as they live with you.  They’re in your house. They’re eating your food. They’re living off you, which comes with certain rights and obligations for you. You get to make the rules. If they don’t like your rules, they need to leave.  

But as long as they are under your roof, you’re responsible. Period.  

If a law like this passed, I believe it would reduce the number not only of mass shootings by single deranged young males through earlier intervention, but probably reduce crime by young males overall.  If you as a parent know your kid’s about to commit a crime that could put him and you in prison, you’ll probably think twice before ignoring it.  

Until parents share full legal responsibility for the actions of their kids still living with them, there’s no incentive for parents of would-be monsters to step up and make sure they don’t harm others. They’ll just keep saying they had no idea, no signs, no warning what was about to happen.  

I’m not buying it.  They knew. And they always did. That makes them responsible.  If not for the final act itself, then at least as an accomplice who helped make it happen. 

They may not have personally pulled the trigger, but they did nothing to prevent it.  

And they could have. They're just as guilty.     

Democrats and the left are hurting us on purpose ...

For a long time, Democrats and the left dismissed us as nothing more than rubes. 

People not as smart or as enlightened as them, and worse yet still clinging to foolish traditions and ideas.  Like standing for the national anthem, respecting our flag, believing that all men and women were created equal, that everyone was entitled to equal justice under the law, and that people should be judged only by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. 

That this was still the land of opportunity where anyone of any race, color, ethnicity, or religion could succeed.  And most of all that America and its people were inherently good.   

They sneered at all that. They mocked us at every turn as hopelessly naïve. In fact, they said, America was a terrible place. A racist, sexist, xenophobic and homophobic country. An oppressor of minorities everywhere. A greedy pig sucking up the world’s resources and destroying the planet in the process just to make a handful of capitalists richer on the backs of the poor. 

And we were just too stupid to see it.  But they did. So they constantly lectured us.    

The condescension toward us was annoying.  Yet also hilarious at times because they were clearly ignorant of basic biology, science, economics, and especially history.  Some of the stuff they sprouted was so ridiculous and downright silly it made us laugh out loud. 

Like claiming men could get pregnant, have periods, and breast feed their babies.  Like fervently arguing there were more than two human genders – in fact more than 100 – and anyone, anytime, at any age, could change their gender at will.  Like insisting millions of toddlers and prepubescent adolescents suddenly had “gender dysphoria” that required radical hormone therapy and perhaps gender-reassignment surgery.  

Outrageous stuff. Often funny stuff. At least to us.   

They can’t stand being mocked.  And when Trump won in 2016  largely by rejecting political correctness and this type of silly nonsense from the left, they went into a rage. 

Now they openly hate us.

But that’s not enough for them. They want to hurt us.  They want to inflict as much pain as possible on us, perhaps to teach us a lesson for putting Trump in office.  Or maybe they just enjoy tearing apart the things we treasure like a kid in a tantrum ripping the heads off his sister’s favorite dolls.   

Since Trump’s election and more aggressively under Biden, they’ve done everything possible to attack and destroy our institutions. Especially the ones we’ve traditionally trusted most.

The military.  Law enforcement. The Supreme Court.  The Constitution and Bill of Rights.  Our public education system.  And so much more; not because there was anything wrong with these, but because they want to knock out any pillar that made us feel safe.

They’ve politicized our military. They’ve put radicals in charge to hollow it out from within and demoralize the rank and file, through purges of the unvaccinated, and of supposed “white supremacists.” They’ve changed one of our most outstanding examples of pure meritocracy by now placing a higher emphasis on diversity than merit for promotions. 

The same military wokesters embarrassed us to our allies by allowing Biden to leave Afghanistan on short notice, sacrificing the lives of our own troops to a suicide bomber as we retreated, and leaving our Afghani allies and translators and their families unprotected from Taliban reprisals. And also leaving the Taliban about $85 billion of our military gear, making an army of former goatherders one of the most militarily advanced and best equipped in the Middle East. 

Here, they’ve worked to gut police forces nationwide. They’ve elected pro-criminal DAs with the help of billionaire anarchists like George Soros to stop prosecuting crime in our cities, causing crime to surge. They’ve never prosecuted rioters and looters who engaged in months-long rampages in our cities costing innocent lives and billions in Federal and private property damage.

But when pro-Trump protestors entered the US Capitol for about three hours on January 6, often escorted by Capitol Police, causing minimal damage and no deaths, this was deemed an insurrection and attempt to overthrow the government.  The FBI quickly found these "criminals" and prosecuted more than 800 of them, many of whom remain in solitary confinement to this day. 

They’ve cancelled any further construction on a border wall and left billions in already ordered and delivered materials for that wall to rust unused.  They’ve deliberately opened our border to unprecedented levels of illegal migrants from all over the world, and then given those same illegals and their families benefits – like baby formula in short supply – at the expense of American citizens and their families.  They’ve flooded our cities with illegals brought there on chartered busses and planes paid for with taxpayer dollars, laundered through NGOs to hide the source of funding. 

At the same time, they’ve attacked Border Patrol and ICE agents as racists merely for doing the job Congress tasked them with.

But the worst is what they’ve done to destroy the robust economy they inherited from Trump. 

Prior to Biden we were energy independent. But on his first day Biden shut down the Keystone Pipeline designed to bring Canadian crude in the US, canceled drilling leases in the US, increased EPA regulations and declared war on our energy industry.  Immediately, fuel prices started to rise dramatically. Because everything is affected by rising fuel costs either in manufacturing or transportation, the price of everything at the grocery store, restaurants, and everywhere else is soaring.   

Now inflation is 8.6% – the highest in four decades; gas, diesel, home heating oil, and jet fuel are at all-time highs, crushing families and small businesses.  And by juicing the economy through dumping too much money into the system as “Covid recovery” every dollar is now worth less. 

Through vax mandates a lot of people who should be working either have given up or decided they don’t need or want to anymore.  That’s caused labor shortages that affect not just small businesses like restaurants but our entire transportation system, which in turn cause supply-chain disruptions.  These disruptions are resulting in shortages, forcing prices even higher.  Wages are up practically everywhere to attract workers, but inflation is outpacing the higher wages.     

In 18 short months Biden and the left have managed to weaken our faith in the integrity of our institutions and inflict unprecedented pain on most Americans. They’ve used the power of virtually every branch of the administrative state – including the FBI and DOJ – against the very citizens our elected leaders have sworn an oath to protect and defend under the Constitution. 

They should be ashamed. But of course, they are not.  They are proud. 

As one of them made the mistake of saying the quiet stuff out loud the other day, we’ll all just have to get used to this as part of the new “liberal world order.”  

The fact that most Americans are suffering greatly doesn’t bother them at all.  

Because they believe we deserve it.    

For the love of God, please stop ...

Stop. Please stop.

We’re all full up on crazy. Enough is enough.

It started in the Obama years.  Things went spinning out of control. 

Democrats and the left felt emboldened to promote the most insane and asinine ideas, and the media acted as if there was nothing wrong. In fact, the media tried to make these absolutely nutso ideas appear to reflect the desires of ordinary Americans, which none of these did. Things got so astonishingly crazy that voters put Donald Trump – a political novice – in office. 

Trump called out the obvious insanity taking hold. He refused to get sucked into the vortex of political correctness.  He ignored the baseless allegations he was a racist, a bigot, an antisemite, or a white supremacist; these were so patently absurd that he simply refused to address them, much less apologize. He called most of the media fake news, which was largely correct.  He met the media head on, didn’t flinch, never ever hid from them, or refused taking their questions.  And he treated them with the same lack of respect they accorded him.  

He certainly was not without faults. But he often articulated – out loud – what many ordinary Americans felt but were too afraid to say. So for the first time in years, a lot of people were happy to hear someone in power state what was clearly obvious to them.  

Of course, the media, Democrats, the left and their allies in big tech were horrified to have their lunacy openly ridiculed, especially by Trump.  They decided he had to be destroyed. They censored anything positive about Trump and anything negative about Biden.  That included suppressing revelations by Biden’s son Hunter, documented on his abandoned laptops, about influence peddling and payments he solicited for access to then VP Biden.   

Without actually campaigning or answering tough questions from the media  Biden got elected, even though everyone knew he was senile.  And I do mean everyone – Democrat leaders, the left, the media, his wife and the people who voted for him. His inability to perform even simple tasks, think rationally, and speak coherently was no secret to anyone. He got lost in his own thoughts. He lost track of what he was saying. He couldn’t remember where he was or who he was talking to.  But he wasn’t Trump; apparently that was enough. 

Ever since then, we ‘ve been spiraling into ever greater episodes of weirdness.  We’ve been humiliated time and again on the world stage politically and militarily.  That’s happened primarily because Biden and the Democrats have put the categorically dumbest, most incompetent, and most inept people in positions for power in the administration, chosen more for their skin color, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation than anything else.

It's almost as if to prove Biden isn’t really that bad, he and his advisors have chosen a cast of clowns who are perhaps even dumber and more incompetent than him. 

There’s the treasonous chairman of the Joint Chiefs who secretly called his counterpart in Russia to assure him he’d personally let him know in advance if then President Trump was planning any military actions against them. This same military bureaucrat – and his equally incompetent Secretary of Defense, who, what a surprise, was chosen because he is a person of color – supported a “purge” of extremists and supposed white supremacists in our armed services, and the forced vaccination or dismissal of individual service members. He also said the military needs to be more diverse and ”woke.”

There’s Xavier Becerra, a former California Attorney General, and more importantly a Latino, who now heads up the Health and Human Services Department. He was most notable before getting this job for trying to force pro-life pregnancy crisis centers in his state to promote abortions over adoptions.  And during the most recent Omicron outbreak, Becerra essentially disappeared from public view for almost 2 months, strange for a guy running a health agency.   

Biden swung for the fences by appointing the first transgender Health Secretary. He also made this once married man with two children who now identifies as a woman a four-star admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Another box checked, and a most curious choice. He effectively rewarded a guy who sent Covid-positive patients into nursing homes in Pennsylvania killing thousands of seniors while spiriting his own mother into a private facility to avoid the same fate. Once again, gender – or in this case transgender – was more important than qualifications. 

Nonetheless, the media applauded this bold choice by Biden. And then just to reinforce how crazy things have become, this biological man who thinks he’s a woman was just named one of the Women of the Year by USA Today. Can’t make this up.     

After shutting down the Keystone Pipeline, idling about 10,000 workers and screwing our largest trading partner Canada in the process, Biden closed new oil production on Federal lands. Then he appointed a former governor of Michigan with zero energy experience to be Secretary of Energy, but she was, by all accounts, actually a woman which I suppose was a plus.  However, she did confess to reporters she didn’t really know how much oil the US produced, how much we used every day, or much about energy in general, but she was sure US policy should be to eliminate fossil fuels altogether.

By simultaneously cutting supplies and increasing regulations on the oil industry, making it harder to get domestically produced product to market economically and efficiently, gasoline prices soared (now almost twice as high as in the Trump years). But Biden had a ready answer.  Instead of encouraging more domestic production to increase supply, Biden first looted our strategic petroleum reserve for 50 million barrels which promptly went to foreign buyers. Of course that had no effect on gas prices here, so he started asking the dictators in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Venezuela to produce more oil for us, all of whom turned him down.  Go figure. 

Now his administration and Democrats are floating the idea of adding more taxes on oil companies and then sending out a new set of checks to everyone to help offset higher gas prices. This will drive prices even higher when oil companies pass through their new tax.

He appointed a small-town mayor with no transportation experience to be in charge of the Department of Transportation and its billions of budget dollars; the same mayor and his husband promptly took paternity leave to care for their adopted babies in the midst of a crippling supply-chain crisis. (They even posted a cute pix of themselves in a hospital birthing bed to announce their new family.) Then as gas prices soared and oil on the international market soared to over $100 a barrel, the very same former mayor issued a statement that to avoid high gas prices people should buy electric cars. 

Biden’s also nominated a Marxist to the Fed. He named as Secretary of State a failed foreign policy bureaucrat who oversaw the debacles in Libya, Russia’s invasion and annexation of the Crimea, and the collapse of Afghanistan, among others. He brought back John Kerry, who secretly and illegally conducted meetings with Iranian officials undercutting a sitting President during the Trump years, to bring back the Paris climate deal and the Iran Nuclear Deal.   

He appointed Deb Haaland, a former governor of New Mexico to head of the Department of the Interior because, well, she’s Native American. Enough said. Check.  She also has a JD in Indian law (who knew there was such a thing) and wore tribal gear when she was sworn into Congress.  And that’s why, my friends, she’s qualified to head up the Interior Department, okay?   

Biden’s most recent nominee to the Supreme Court continues his box-checking trend of race and gender over qualifications.  His nominee is a black woman, a former public defender, who has only been on the Federal bench for about a year.  She’s a hard-core progressive otherwise notorious for defending reduced sentences for collectors and distributors of child pornography.

But her most memorable moment recently came after stating she was proud to be nominated to be the first black woman on the Court. And then, in the same hearing when asked how she defines a woman said she couldn’t define what a woman was, because she’s “not a biologist.”

That’s exactly what she said. But the best part is that she caught hell from other progressives in Congress and the media because she implied that defining a woman is a matter of biology, not simply a personal choice to choose whatever gender you like, any time.  For whatever reason. 

While the physical differences between males and females are obvious to anyone who played doctor as a child, somehow no one is now allowed to point out that. Nor is anyone allowed to question anyone’s decision – or motive – for deciding to be a different gender than their chromosomes dictate.     

So a college-age male swimmer ranked nationally in the 400s among other male swimmers can just decide to become a “woman” to compete against biological women instead of other men. And then crush his female competitors and set new women’s records because, hey, he’s a biological guy, and they’re not. 

But he “identifies” as a woman. That makes it okay, we’re supposed to believe.    

That’s nuts, but at the same time this stirs up a lot of consistency issues. Like if there’s no difference between a biological male and a biological female, then why did the US military just lower the physical standards for female recruits? Know why? Because biological males were far more likely to pass all the physical standards – like pushups, sit-ups, running, lifting weights, etc. – than biological females. 

In short, the US military recognizes there are physical differences between men and women; biological males are typically stronger, have more muscle mass and greater lung capacity than biological females, among other things. No one should be surprised.  The US military isn't.  

Turns out your chromosomes really do decide what sex you are, not your personal whims or whatever hormones you've been prescribed, or how you dress. That's probably a shock to a lot of activists, gender-studies majors and media bozos, but chromosomes can't be changed.              

And suddenly, the same people who lectured us about “following the science” they made up for two years, have decided the actual proven science of biology doesn’t matter anymore. 

We have at least three more years of this collective craziness to endure with Biden and his administration. The media weasels covering for Biden and the lunatic progressives will still probably be working diligently to convince us that everything is completely normal.

Still, Biden, the Democrats, the left and their pals in media and big tech can’t keep a lid on this insanity forever. But they’ll keep trying until they are forced to stop. 

None of this is normal. None of this is okay. And we all know it.   

They just haven’t realized yet that a majority of Americans already know how crazy all this is.