I have moved my blog to the following address:
themcculloughreport.com. I will not be posting on blogspot any more.
Regards,
George McCullough
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Monday, January 1, 2018
REFLECTIONS ON 2017, AND HOPE FOR THE FUTURE.
Wow! 2017 has come and gone, and what a year it was!
1. Tax reform!
2. Economy killing regulations were eliminated.
3. The economy is growing again!
4. Illegal immigration has been checked.
5. The wall is "in progress".
6. The military is regaining its strength.
7. Our national respect has been renewed.
8. Bad trade deals are being re-negotiated.
9. Bad international agreements are being reviewed for change.
10.The United Nations has been put on notice for their excesses.
11.Our judicial system is being renewed with fresh conservative faces.
12.The "deep state" has been exposed and the "swamp" is slowly being drained.
13.Government is shrinking.
14.Political Correctness is dying, soon to find the "ash heap" of history.
15.Obamacare is on its way out.
16.American malaise is ending, with a fresh new spirit of national pride emerging.
17.Iran and North Korea are being dealt with properly for the first time, with the hope that peace can come to both of these countries.
This all happened with the election of a President that the media and Liberal Progressives hate. Donald Trump has lit the fire of the American Spirit, and we are now on a journey that will lead us to greater heights both economically and as more united nation, in spite of the roadblocks presented to him. The left is slowly but surely losing their battle to take us in another direction. At the end of this year, our President now has favorability polls approaching 50%, better than at any other time in his short Presidency.
How did we get to a point where so much had to be fixed? That is a question that has been bantered around for some time, and with a short examination, the answer will unfold. We start with the election of Barack Hussein Obama. Prior to his election there were a lot of red flags, with a father and mother that were avowed communists, his father a devout muslim, his connections to Acorn, Bill Ayers, Frank Marshall Davis, Saul Alinsky, George Soros, Gus Grissom, the Muslim Brotherhood, Black Panthers, Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan and others, it seems surprising that he wasn't on a FBI watchlist, rather than a Junior Senator running for President. The media acted as his biggest cheerleaders, ignoring these connections and applauding this "up and coming black politician" for being in the race for President. With the exception of Fox News, one would think that this guy was almost as holy as Jesus Christ, rather than a radical muslim communist intent on bringing down the USA.
Obama promised to fundamentally transform the very nature of our country. He promised hope, change and unity, but did not get to involved with what that fundamental transformation would look like. The general population readily embraced this charismatic speaker and bought into the vagaries of his promises, without asking for specifics. He was elected 2 times with people that did not understand that he was in fact a Progressive Liberal Socialist/Communist intent on breaking our economy, military and spirit in order to impose his radical ideology on us. He couldn't do it in 8 years, our economy is too resilient, even with 20 trillion in debt, our military downgraded was still more capable than any other in the world, and Americans were waking up to the fact that they actually elected a bad player, a Manchurian Candidate, rather than a patriot. He put his hopes in the election of Hillary Clinton, assured that 4 or even 8 more years of his policies continued under her reign would be what it would take to complete his promise of "fundamental transformation". Little did he or his supporters understand that an American re-awakening was in progress, and his dream of a socialist America was about to come to an abrupt end with the defeat of Hillary, and the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States of America.
Our President is still under attack from the left, and no one else but he could possibly take the attack, attack back and weather their storm. He, in fact is fundamentally transforming the USA with his "America First" policy, and we are seeing results early in his Presidency. I believe that by the end of 2018, we will see an excellent economy, a return of jobs from overseas, better trade agreements, more people back to work, our borders protected, a sensible immigration policy, restructured health system, and a national renewal in the understanding of why America is Great Again! His battle has just begun, but there is confidence that he will prevail, and so will the American people! MAGA!
1. Tax reform!
2. Economy killing regulations were eliminated.
3. The economy is growing again!
4. Illegal immigration has been checked.
5. The wall is "in progress".
6. The military is regaining its strength.
7. Our national respect has been renewed.
8. Bad trade deals are being re-negotiated.
9. Bad international agreements are being reviewed for change.
10.The United Nations has been put on notice for their excesses.
11.Our judicial system is being renewed with fresh conservative faces.
12.The "deep state" has been exposed and the "swamp" is slowly being drained.
13.Government is shrinking.
14.Political Correctness is dying, soon to find the "ash heap" of history.
15.Obamacare is on its way out.
16.American malaise is ending, with a fresh new spirit of national pride emerging.
17.Iran and North Korea are being dealt with properly for the first time, with the hope that peace can come to both of these countries.
This all happened with the election of a President that the media and Liberal Progressives hate. Donald Trump has lit the fire of the American Spirit, and we are now on a journey that will lead us to greater heights both economically and as more united nation, in spite of the roadblocks presented to him. The left is slowly but surely losing their battle to take us in another direction. At the end of this year, our President now has favorability polls approaching 50%, better than at any other time in his short Presidency.
How did we get to a point where so much had to be fixed? That is a question that has been bantered around for some time, and with a short examination, the answer will unfold. We start with the election of Barack Hussein Obama. Prior to his election there were a lot of red flags, with a father and mother that were avowed communists, his father a devout muslim, his connections to Acorn, Bill Ayers, Frank Marshall Davis, Saul Alinsky, George Soros, Gus Grissom, the Muslim Brotherhood, Black Panthers, Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan and others, it seems surprising that he wasn't on a FBI watchlist, rather than a Junior Senator running for President. The media acted as his biggest cheerleaders, ignoring these connections and applauding this "up and coming black politician" for being in the race for President. With the exception of Fox News, one would think that this guy was almost as holy as Jesus Christ, rather than a radical muslim communist intent on bringing down the USA.
Obama promised to fundamentally transform the very nature of our country. He promised hope, change and unity, but did not get to involved with what that fundamental transformation would look like. The general population readily embraced this charismatic speaker and bought into the vagaries of his promises, without asking for specifics. He was elected 2 times with people that did not understand that he was in fact a Progressive Liberal Socialist/Communist intent on breaking our economy, military and spirit in order to impose his radical ideology on us. He couldn't do it in 8 years, our economy is too resilient, even with 20 trillion in debt, our military downgraded was still more capable than any other in the world, and Americans were waking up to the fact that they actually elected a bad player, a Manchurian Candidate, rather than a patriot. He put his hopes in the election of Hillary Clinton, assured that 4 or even 8 more years of his policies continued under her reign would be what it would take to complete his promise of "fundamental transformation". Little did he or his supporters understand that an American re-awakening was in progress, and his dream of a socialist America was about to come to an abrupt end with the defeat of Hillary, and the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States of America.
Our President is still under attack from the left, and no one else but he could possibly take the attack, attack back and weather their storm. He, in fact is fundamentally transforming the USA with his "America First" policy, and we are seeing results early in his Presidency. I believe that by the end of 2018, we will see an excellent economy, a return of jobs from overseas, better trade agreements, more people back to work, our borders protected, a sensible immigration policy, restructured health system, and a national renewal in the understanding of why America is Great Again! His battle has just begun, but there is confidence that he will prevail, and so will the American people! MAGA!
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
The Democrat Party has been outed!
Donna Brazile lost her way. She was counting on a cushy job at the White House, and when Hillary lost she had nothing. She searched for another way to find direction, and decided to write a book. Most good writers write about topics they know about, and Donna is no different. She decided to write a book about her experience as temporary head of the DNC.
The book is now out, and although it is a little self-aggrandizing, for the most part it reads like it is a true account of what Donna discovered, and her accounts are damning for the DNC, the Hillary Clinton Campaign, President Obama, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. This would be a great crime novel, but sadly, it is a true story.
We start with Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She resigned her post as head of the DNC due to Hillary's e-mail scandal that indicated some hanky-panky with the DNC and the Hillary campaign. She also had issues with a Pakistani family that she paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to per year for IT security and maintenance, even though some family members never worked at IT and had full-time unrelated jobs elsewhere. In short, she was very corrupt and is now under federal investigation for a variety of crimes.
That led to Donna being anointed temporary DNC chairman. She goes in right after being fired from CNN for giving Hillary debate questions prior to a scheduled debate between her and Donald Trump. She goes in and immediately finds out that the DNC is in big time debt, about $20 million from President Obama's last campaign, a debt that Obama will not pay. On top of that she finds out that there seems to be something fishy going on between the DNC and the Hillary campaign.
She investigates and finds out that 1 year before the primary election, the DNC made an agreement with the Hillary campaign that effectively handed over the DNC to her with the promise that the campaign would gradually pay down the DNC's debt and put the DNC on an subsistance allowance. Apparently this looked good to Debbie at the time, being that she was a terrible manager, corrupt in her own right, and did not see another solution for her dilemma. In addition, the Hillary campaign had negotiated the right to hire or fire any DNC employee, and was the driver for the direction the DNC would go to for the election. In other words, the DNC then was nothing but an extension of the Hillary campaign.
To Donna's credit, she saw this was very bad, even for someone as corrupt as she is, and made a call to Bernie Sanders. She let him know that the deck was stacked against him, and had been for a very long time. Bernie surprisingly took it well, and did not make this public. Instead, he carried on as he always did, and lost the primary to Hillary as he was supposed to. After that, he found money to buy a luxury lake house with cash. Wonder where that money came from? Want to guess?
Now the Democrat Party has a real credibility problem. The Democrats have been outed as being corrupt, an example of exactly what we don't want in our politics. We see them running the election in the same manner as Putin. To make things worse for them, their mantra of Donald Trump colluding with the Russians to steal the election also crashes and burns, with the truth finally coming out. It turns out that it was the Hillary campaign, not the Trump campaign in collusion with the Russians. The Hillary campaign along with their satellite the DNC funded the Trump dossier, which was largely composed by disinformation from the Putin organization. Not even mentioning the Uranium 1 deal, because that too is another story all together!
Can the Democrat Party recover? Only time will tell!
The book is now out, and although it is a little self-aggrandizing, for the most part it reads like it is a true account of what Donna discovered, and her accounts are damning for the DNC, the Hillary Clinton Campaign, President Obama, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. This would be a great crime novel, but sadly, it is a true story.
We start with Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She resigned her post as head of the DNC due to Hillary's e-mail scandal that indicated some hanky-panky with the DNC and the Hillary campaign. She also had issues with a Pakistani family that she paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to per year for IT security and maintenance, even though some family members never worked at IT and had full-time unrelated jobs elsewhere. In short, she was very corrupt and is now under federal investigation for a variety of crimes.
That led to Donna being anointed temporary DNC chairman. She goes in right after being fired from CNN for giving Hillary debate questions prior to a scheduled debate between her and Donald Trump. She goes in and immediately finds out that the DNC is in big time debt, about $20 million from President Obama's last campaign, a debt that Obama will not pay. On top of that she finds out that there seems to be something fishy going on between the DNC and the Hillary campaign.
She investigates and finds out that 1 year before the primary election, the DNC made an agreement with the Hillary campaign that effectively handed over the DNC to her with the promise that the campaign would gradually pay down the DNC's debt and put the DNC on an subsistance allowance. Apparently this looked good to Debbie at the time, being that she was a terrible manager, corrupt in her own right, and did not see another solution for her dilemma. In addition, the Hillary campaign had negotiated the right to hire or fire any DNC employee, and was the driver for the direction the DNC would go to for the election. In other words, the DNC then was nothing but an extension of the Hillary campaign.
To Donna's credit, she saw this was very bad, even for someone as corrupt as she is, and made a call to Bernie Sanders. She let him know that the deck was stacked against him, and had been for a very long time. Bernie surprisingly took it well, and did not make this public. Instead, he carried on as he always did, and lost the primary to Hillary as he was supposed to. After that, he found money to buy a luxury lake house with cash. Wonder where that money came from? Want to guess?
Now the Democrat Party has a real credibility problem. The Democrats have been outed as being corrupt, an example of exactly what we don't want in our politics. We see them running the election in the same manner as Putin. To make things worse for them, their mantra of Donald Trump colluding with the Russians to steal the election also crashes and burns, with the truth finally coming out. It turns out that it was the Hillary campaign, not the Trump campaign in collusion with the Russians. The Hillary campaign along with their satellite the DNC funded the Trump dossier, which was largely composed by disinformation from the Putin organization. Not even mentioning the Uranium 1 deal, because that too is another story all together!
Can the Democrat Party recover? Only time will tell!
Saturday, October 14, 2017
PRESIDENT TRUMP-TSUNAMI OF CHANGE
Whether you are a supporter or a resister, you have to admit
that this guy is a force to the reckoned with!
I cannot recall a time in my past where a President could take up almost
100% of the airtime on every news channel.
Every day there is an endless parade of Trump stories, Trump speeches,
Trump travels, and depending on the channel either Trump ruining or saving the
country with his actions. Just watching
this Trumpian news fest is exhausting, not to mention the tweets!
The big story on Trump failure has been the lack of progress
with the Obama Care repeal. That didn’t
get done through the Congress as it should have, and that has been the reported
failure of his leadership. That didn’t
stop him, he simply got out his pen and virtually destroyed Obama Care with an
executive order. Now Congress has no
choice but to get the job done, and it also puts pressure on the Democrats to
be part of the process.
An obvious success was appointing Neil Gorsuch to the
Supreme Court, giving the court a conservative majority. What many of us don’t know is that was the
tip of the iceberg! Without any fanfare,
the President has quietly been transforming the entire federal judiciary
system. He has appointed more qualified
conservative federal judges in his first 9 months than President Obama
appointed liberals in his first year in office, and with 168 more vacancies, he
is doubling down on his transformation, insuring that in ensuing decades the
federal court system will be leaning conservative. Why is this important? 99% of all federal court rulings come from
federal district courts, many of which have been leaning left and legislating
from the bench. That trend is over for
the foreseeable future.
He has also come through on his promise to eliminate at
least 80% of Obama era regulations. So
far, he has eliminated over 860 of them, ranging from regulations giving the
EPA overreaching power over the everyday life to business and wall street
regulations that hampered economic growth. He has also instructed the congress
to eliminate 2 regulations for each new one that they put on his desk for
approval. In response the economy is
growing at a 3%+ rate, and Wall Street is turning in unprecedented results,
this year creating over 5 trillion dollars in investment wealth.
Trump is now haggling with Iran and North Korea over nuclear
weapon proliferation. His end game is to
get these two rogue nations back to the negotiation table in order to stop Iran
from gaining nukes and North Korea to give theirs up. This is a work in progress and the jury is
out on whether or not his strong-armed stance will work.
He is also renegotiating trade treaties, on the premise that
they are “bad deals” and favor other nations, not the United States. His “America First” policy makes sense
obviously for the USA, but it is making the worldwide “globalist” movement
crazy! This policy does look like a
long-term win for American interests.
The President also had other challenges, 3 devastating
hurricanes and mass murder in Las Vegas.
His teams responded to each of these challenges with immediacy and with
the full force that they have at their disposal. In addition, the President and his wife
personally visited the devastated areas, and provided hope and comfort for
those affected by these tragedies. He
met all of these challenges with unprecedented attention to detail and with all
the sensitivity of a man who truly cares and loves his fellow citizens.
He has also been pushing for a major overhaul of our tax
system, with the promise of significantly cutting personal and business tax
rates. In addition, part of the plan is
to give American companies the ability to bring back overseas profits without
punitive tax penalties in order to give our economy trillions of dollars in
investment currency that promises to jumpstart job growth by bringing back
production to our country. This
initiative is currently being negotiated in congress, and should be on the
President’s desk for approval by the end of the year.
And yes, he is slowly but surely “draining the swamp”. There is a hiring freeze in Washington DC,
and retirees are not being replaced, with the effect of shrinking the federal
bureaucracy by attrition. He is also
reviewing federal agencies, seeing what can be eliminated or restructured in
order to improve efficiencies. In
addition, he is putting immense pressure on the “Establishment”, both
Republican and Democratic, to change their self-serving ways to get back to the
basics, to start serving those citizens who voted them into office.
History will be the final arbiter of his legacy. One thing for certain, he will not be accused
of doing nothing with his Presidency!
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
DACA IS DEAD, CONGRESS IS CHALLENGED!
Today we found out that the DACA program is now dead, and
that it is the duty of our congress to come up with a legal solution, not only
for the dreamers, but for immigration policy going forward. This is the way it should have been presented
in the beginning. Immigration policy is
to be legislated, not ordered by presidential fiat. Now we have impetus to get the whole damned
thing right!
The presidential order that created DACA is flawed and
unconstitutional. If it went back again
to the Supreme Court, it would be defeated by a 5-4 vote. On June 23, 2016 the vote was 4-4, but with
Mr. Gorsuch on duty now a victory would be insured. Something had to be done, and President Trump
has the backbone to do it right, for our citizens, for the dreamers, and for
those who would want to come to our country legally. It is about time!
Protests of his action abound. In front of Trump tower there are protesters
showing support for DACA, in front of the White house there is more protesting,
and we will see more of this in the coming days. There is fear that these people will be sent
back to their original countries. In a
deeper sense, the protests are an extension of an oft used argument that our
defacto open border policy will be ended by this President and Congress, which
is interestingly enough just what the voters in the last election and the
majority of Americans want.
President Trump knows that immigration policy is a “hot
potato” for Congress. He also knows that unless their hands are forced, this
“do nothing” Congress will simply kick the can down the road. Now they are forced to act. For them to act reasonably, and put together
a bill that the President will sign, it is now up to President Trump to give
Congress direction. Without specific
direction from the President, Congress will fail, and none of us, including the
dreamers want that to happen.
Monday, August 21, 2017
The Alt-Right straw man?
In Charlottesville, the leftists greatly outnumbered the "America First" side. In Laguna Beach last night, the "America First" right wing protesters were outnumbered forty to one. With the total estimated headcount for both the protest and counter protest at 2500, that would mean that the "America First" crew would have been approximately 51 individuals. This seems to be what happens with most of these rally's, with the left swarming violently over the opposition.
Who are these Alt-right groups that the left is most concerned about? According to their signs, they are most concerned with the KKK and NAZI's. Doing research, I found that reliable sources estimate that the KKK has between 5000 to 8000 members nationwide, mostly in southern states. By contrast, The Southern Poverty Law Center estimates that there are 99 Neo-Nazi groups nationwide. The biggest is the National Socialist Movement with approximately 400 members in 32 states. The other 98 groups are mostly local in scope and have less than 20 members each. Doing the math, that would give them a maximum total of somewhere between 2,400 and 3,000 individual members nationwide. Given these numbers, combining both these groups at maximum count would give them a reach with 11,000 members nationwide.
Now let's take a look at some of the most prominent protesters on the Alt-Left side. Antifa is a group that we see at all these rallies, and there is no way to discern their numbers, being that they are so secretive that they even cover their faces in public. What has been reported is that they have chapters in every major city in the USA and their numbers are growing. If nothing else, we can guess that they outnumber the combined numbers of Neo-Nazi's and KKK members by a lot.
The next Alt-Left group that is very visible at these rallies are the BLM, or Black Lives Matter group. Pew Research estimates that 41% of blacks strongly support BLM and it's methods. There are approximately 41 million blacks in the USA, so BLM supporters are approximately 16,810,000 BLM supporters nationwide and growing. That means that there are far more Alt-Left members in the country than Alt-Right members!
So why then is there so much press focusing on the KKK and Nazi's? I wonder if it is simply to take our minds off of the rapidly growing far left side of our politics? Maybe we are actually focusing on the wrong set of people? BLM and Antifa are radical, violent groups that are growing and have numbers easily in the millions. Shouldn't that be our focus? Wouldn't they be the ones most likely to have a destructive effect on our society? Is the Alt-Right simply a straw man?
Who are these Alt-right groups that the left is most concerned about? According to their signs, they are most concerned with the KKK and NAZI's. Doing research, I found that reliable sources estimate that the KKK has between 5000 to 8000 members nationwide, mostly in southern states. By contrast, The Southern Poverty Law Center estimates that there are 99 Neo-Nazi groups nationwide. The biggest is the National Socialist Movement with approximately 400 members in 32 states. The other 98 groups are mostly local in scope and have less than 20 members each. Doing the math, that would give them a maximum total of somewhere between 2,400 and 3,000 individual members nationwide. Given these numbers, combining both these groups at maximum count would give them a reach with 11,000 members nationwide.
Now let's take a look at some of the most prominent protesters on the Alt-Left side. Antifa is a group that we see at all these rallies, and there is no way to discern their numbers, being that they are so secretive that they even cover their faces in public. What has been reported is that they have chapters in every major city in the USA and their numbers are growing. If nothing else, we can guess that they outnumber the combined numbers of Neo-Nazi's and KKK members by a lot.
The next Alt-Left group that is very visible at these rallies are the BLM, or Black Lives Matter group. Pew Research estimates that 41% of blacks strongly support BLM and it's methods. There are approximately 41 million blacks in the USA, so BLM supporters are approximately 16,810,000 BLM supporters nationwide and growing. That means that there are far more Alt-Left members in the country than Alt-Right members!
So why then is there so much press focusing on the KKK and Nazi's? I wonder if it is simply to take our minds off of the rapidly growing far left side of our politics? Maybe we are actually focusing on the wrong set of people? BLM and Antifa are radical, violent groups that are growing and have numbers easily in the millions. Shouldn't that be our focus? Wouldn't they be the ones most likely to have a destructive effect on our society? Is the Alt-Right simply a straw man?
Monday, August 14, 2017
From Mammoth to Reno......
RV Adventure-2nd part
 |
| The Carson River flows through Santa Maria Ranch and this will be the view from the back of our house. |
The property we are looking at appears to be better than we remembered. We will be putting an offer in this week, and hopefully we will have a Nevada address in the next few weeks! Pictures of the property can be seen below:
Once again we spent some time in Virginia City, and actually had people at our favorite bar (The Bucket of Blood) decide that they thought we were acceptable neighbors! A couple of years ago when we first started looking, some of the same people labeled us "California Cockroaches"!
On the road from Virginia City to Dayton, there is an unincorporated area called Gold Hill. This is where gold was mined in the last century, and the major business there now is the Gold Hill Hotel and Saloon.
We stopped in for a drink and dinner, but the restaurant was full, so we settled on a glass of wine. The bar service was excellent, and we met a nice couple at the bar from New Zealand who were current guests at the hotel.
 |
| This hotel is the oldest in Nevada, opened in 1861. |
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| These are still a few of the many remnants of abandoned mines all over the area. |
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| New Zealand couple with Becky one of the locals on the left. |
The hotel is managed by 2 men from California that have permanently relocated to Gold Hill. They live right across the street from the hotel. They are doing a great job, with the hotel booked solid and the restaurant and bar continuously crowded. Both locals and tourists have embraced this place, and it looks like they have given this old hotel a new lease on life! We wish them luck with their business.
 |
| A wonderful couple we met, Kevin and Becky who live nearby and gave us a lot of great advice about living in Nevada. |
A few of the many reasons we fell in love with the area is the eclectic combination of modern and preservation of the history. On Main Street you feel like you've stepped back in time with buildings just begging to be brought back to life and restored to their former glory. One such place is J's Bistro owned by Jerry Massad. He's there most nights to make sure everyone feels welcome. One step inside and you are greeted by one of the friendliest faces in Dayton, Debbie.
She'll make you a drink and remember your name and before you know you're hooked! The food is world class and it is clearly a place where you can feel like you are home. The other old buildings there are waiting for the same kind of renewal.
Aside from all this history there is also world class golf course to enjoy. With a community built on it. Dayton is growing in leaps and bounds, our only fear is that it will lose its charm along the way.
 |
| Debbie at J's Bistro |
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| The Union Hotel at 75 W. Main Street was built circa 1870. It is now a private residence. |
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| Dayton Courthouse |
Aside from all this history there is also world class golf course to enjoy. With a community built on it. Dayton is growing in leaps and bounds, our only fear is that it will lose its charm along the way.
We reluctantly left Dayton Nevada Saturday and drove home to the hustle and bustle of Southern California, dreaming of the day we will become permanent citizens of the Dayton community...
An evening with Dinesh D'Souza and Larry Elder!
THE BIG LIE
This event was on the evening of August 13th, and the reason for the event was to introduce another new book from Dinesh D'Souza called THE BIG LIE, exposing the Nazi roots of the American left. Larry Elder, a local Los Angeles talk show host, hosted a Q&A between himself and Dinesh. The questions and answers revolved around the general topic of the book, and as usual, Dinesh does a great job of sorting out leftist propaganda to show what really is going on and why.
He highlights how the left, supported by the Democratic Party, paints of picture of Donald Trump as the reincarnation of Hitler. They also are attempting to paint the Republican Party as the new incarnation of the Nazi Party. This is done so that they have a chance to destroy our President and to intimidate conservatives and Republicans into renouncing our President for fear of being painted with the same brush. Nazism is considered the ultimate form of hate, embracing it is the ultimate hate crime, and the strategy is that no one would want to be associated with Nazism.
In the spirit of Joseph Goebbels, the left has constructed a twisted version of reality, painting themselves as the anti-fascists, and conservatives and Republicans as the real fascists. In fact, this could not be further from the truth, but the lie is repeated over and over again. In the spirit of George Orwell's book 1984, they use a process of double speak to make their points. Using double speak, political correctness obfuscates the issue and they twist it to their own ends. In actuality, the left practises the politics of hate, hiding behind lies and language. They paint the opposite side as fascist, and they as the warriors against this hate, when in fact they are endeavoring to practice an evil inversion of the truth. They blame conservatives and Republicans, victims of their lies, for being and doing what they in fact are perpetrating on them. Dinesh makes it clear that the left are the true fascists, and that their lies are transparent when held under the scrutiny of the light of truth.
I'm looking forward to reading this book!
The President got it right!
Equivocation
The President came out after the riotous demonstration in Charlottesville stating that hate groups on all sides of the spectrum cannot be tolerated. He hit the nail on the head with that statement, even though the mainstream media is now vilifying him for not specifically identifying the KKK, Alt-Right, and White Nationalists as the root of the problem. That could not be further from the truth, but it fits a dialogue that the left has been trying to push, that these particular groups are all Trump supporters and the reason for his victory. They want to paint conservatives, Republicans, and Trump supporters with this brush in order to neuter our President and take away recently gained power that the Republican Party has garnered over the last few years. It is a lie, but as Herman Goebbels said in WWII, “The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.” In other words, a lie if told often enough becomes the truth!!
The fact is White Nationalists, KKK, and Alt-Right groups are hate groups. They hate anything that is not the same as they are. They support big government that would coerce all people to do their bidding, and they have no problem with using violence as a means to their ends. They are dangerous and they are counterproductive to mending our society. They should be pushed out of the mainstream and jailed when caught doing evil. There is no place for them in our civil society.
What was not lost on the President is that Black Lives Matter, ANTIFA, and other select left wing groups are also hate groups. They hate anything that is not the same as they are. They support big government that would coerce all people to do their bidding, and have no problem with using violence as a means to their ends. They are dangerous and are counterproductive to mending our society. They should be pushed out of the mainstream and jailed when caught doing evil. There is no place for them in our civil society.
President Trump in effect called out all of these groups as 2 sides to the same coin. He did so because it is the truth. He also did so because he understands that doing anything less would fall into the leftist trap, painting the Republican Party as the problem, as opposed to actually identifying the problem as it really is. The fact is that after years of divisive identity politics on the left, these groups sprouted up initially for disparate reasons, but at the end of the day, their reasons mirror one another. Each of these groups want big government, socialism, and most of all, want their way imposed on everyone. Their "own ways" are different, but the way to get it done is walking down the same path, which ultimately would lead to the destruction of our way of life. President Trump knows this, and took pains not to give the left's propagandists fuel for their fire.
President Trump just spoke again about Charlottesville. In that speech, he indicated that hate groups will not be tolerated, and those that engage in violence will be prosecuted. He stated strongly that all of us need to embrace love for their fellow citizens, and that all in our country should be free to pursue happiness and success. It was a speech of unity, which is exactly what our country needs today. It is also a stark contrast to the messaging brought to us by the previous administration.
President Trump just spoke again about Charlottesville. In that speech, he indicated that hate groups will not be tolerated, and those that engage in violence will be prosecuted. He stated strongly that all of us need to embrace love for their fellow citizens, and that all in our country should be free to pursue happiness and success. It was a speech of unity, which is exactly what our country needs today. It is also a stark contrast to the messaging brought to us by the previous administration.
Thursday, August 10, 2017
North Korea - The tail wagging the lion!
NORTH KOREA - BASKET CASE
Kim Jon Un's country is a real basket case. Without support from China and blackmailed concessions from the USA, Japan, and South Korea, the country would dissolve. Since the Korean war, North Korea has been on the precipice, only surviving due to it's insane intransigence and belligerence, which by the way suit's China's need to keep other powers occupied (We will get into that a little later).
Let's compare some statistics on North Korea VS. the USA:
1. North Korea's annual revenue = $28 billion in USD. USA's annual revenue = $19 trillion.
2. North Korea's per person GDP = $1,700.00 in USD. USA's per person GDP = $59,000.00
3. North Korea's economy is 1/50th the size of South Korea's economy.
4. North Korea's nuclear warheads estimate = 60. USA's nuclear warheads estimate = 7,000
5. North Korea's military = 945,000 active. USA's military = 2,363,675 active/ready reserve
6. North Korea's aircraft strength = 944/all types avg. age 43 years. USA's aircraft strength = 14,000+/all types avg. age 17 years.
7. North Korea's tanks = 5,025/avg. age 47 years. USA's tanks = 6,000/state of the art.
8. North Korea's armored fighting vehicles = 4,100/avg. age 47 years. USA's armored fighting vehicles = 41,000/state of the art.
9. North Korea's artillery = 6,500 USA's artillery = 3,200
10.North Korea's rocket projectors = 2,400 USA's rocket projectors = 1,300/state of the art.
11.North Korea's aircraft carriers = 0 USA's aircraft carriers/all types = 19
12.North Korea's frigates = 11/avg. age 40 years USA's frigates = 8/state of the art.
13.North Korea's corvettes = 2/avg. age 32 years. USA's corvettes = 0
14.North Korea's destroyers = 0 USA's destroyers = 63/state of the art.
15.North Korea's submarines = 76/avg. age 44 years old USA's submarines = 70/state of the art.
16.North Korea's small patrol boats = 450 USA's small patrol boats = 13/state of the art.
17.North Korea's unemployment rate = 26% USA's unemployment rate = 4.3%
It's easy to see that North Korea is no match either economically or militarily with the United States. Why then are they causing such a ruckus? Their leader, Kim Jon Un now definitely has nukes and a way to deliver them. In his mind he is in a much better position to blackmail the USA, South Korea, Japan, and others in the region. His father and grandfather were successful blackmailers in their time, just threatening war and nuclear development. Now he has in his own mind a hand full of aces to play poker with these same nations, and those aces are miniature nukes and ICBM's.
How did it come to this? The real reinforcement to the blackmail strategy came in 1994 with the Clinton North Korea deal. The Clinton administration negotiated a great deal with North Korea. In return for $4,000,000,000 in concessions from us, the North Korean government agreed to stop their nuclear weaponization program, and only pursue the use of nuclear power for electricity generation. On the surface the deal was brilliant, with just one fault. Clinton was dealing with a rogue regime, that did not have any intention of living up to the bargain. After the concessions were collected, North Korea was back to their bad behavior. In effect, we paid a dear price for nothing. Subsequently, the Obama administration made no effort to stop North Korea from nuclear weapon development, giving Kim Jon Un the impression that the USA is weak and will do nothing.
The lesson is that one should never negotiate in good faith with a rogue regime, especially one like North Korea. Kim Jon Un's biggest fear is regime change, and he knows that the USA is capable of pressing for that. Now that he can threaten the USA with nuclear destruction, he believes that he has us over a barrel, and his threats are not so gentle reminders that he is willing and capable of pulling the nuclear trigger if he so desires. Sad to say, but the way we have handled North Korea over the years has created this situation. Regime change should have happened a half century ago, and now we have a monster on our hands.
China has also used North Korea as a buffer zone to insure that the USA did not have an ally bordered on Chinese soil. One of China's nightmares is just that, a unified Korean peninsula that leans toward western values and democracy. They like it just the way it is, with Kim Jon Un firmly ensconced as dictator. They control his food supply, his economy, and he in turn has allegiance to the Chinese leadership. That relationship is strained right now, and even China, North Korea's only ally, is considering an alternative to Kim Jon Un.
China sees that Kim has become uncontrollable. China does not want to see a war, and Kim's behavior is pushing that scenario to reality. The last thing China wants is millions of North Koreans fleeing over the Chinese border, creating chaos and economic uncertainty. China also values her relationship with the USA. Even though in many ways China and the USA are rivals, economically they feed off each other. China exports $1.5 trillion in goods to the USA every year, with 90% of these goods actually being American branded goods that otherwise would have been made in America. That is roughly 1/20th of their entire economy, and they can't afford to lose that, and that gives us leverage with them. In addition, the USA has China as their largest creditor, with China holding about 1.268 trillion in US treasury notes financing our looming debt, which gives them leverage with us.
Rex Tillerson knows that the USA and China can fix this mess, and both countries have a big interest in the fix. Regime change is most likely the only real solution to the Kim Jon Un issue, and we will wait and see how this plays out. The last thing that China, the USA, South Korea, and local allies need is a shooting war, and that should be avoided at all costs.
Friday, August 4, 2017
Another RV adventure
McGee Creek RV Park
in Mammoth Lakes California
 |
| Welcoming Entry to the Park Grounds |
We are on
another adventure with our 5th Wheel this week! First stop was McGee Creek RV Park, and I
have to say it is one of the best parks we have ever stayed at.
 |
| The office has charm as well as the staff. |
The staff
was very friendly and helpful. Since
they did not have any pull-through sites as requested, they gave us a large
site Creekside. I’m not the best at
backing up a 36-foot RV, so one of the owners, Steve came down and assisted me
with this task. We were parked in record
time and set-up for our stay.
 |
| Steve is the man, always helpful! |
Right behind
our RV was McGee Creek. Since snow is
still melting, the creek was running like a river. Too fast for fishing but it actually took the
weather down about 10 degrees for us because the water was in the 30’s, and at
our site the temperature never got above 80F even though the higher ground was
at least 90 degrees F+.
 |
| McGee Creek |
We spent a
lot of time talking to fellow campers.
It seems that this type of camping has its own subculture. Everyone was very friendly and we felt the camaraderie
right away. We spent time at neighbor’s
camps as they did at ours, and our stay was most enjoyable because of that.
We went the
second day to Convict Lak, about 10 miles north of our camp to hike and take
pictures. This lake and its subsequent
surroundings are so majestic that it feels like a testimonial to our
creator! Many families were fishing
there, some on shore and some in boats, and catching rainbow and brown
trout. Others were hiking around the
lake and taking pictures. If you ever
get the chance, go to this lake and see for yourself the natural beauty and
magnificence of the scenery!
 |
| Our campsite was number 20 with a full view of the creek. |
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| Leaving with a great feeling and we will be back!! |
Saturday, July 22, 2017
DUNKIRK-A MOVIE WORTH SEEING, BUT DID IT MISS THE MARK?
Jenny and I went to see Dunkirk yesterday. The movie was powerful, and did a more than adequate job of depicting how Britain came together to rescue their stranded troops at the port of Dunkirk. The timeframe was the beginning of June 1940. Hitler's Germany had recently invaded and subjugated Poland, with France and Great Britain declaring war on Germany on September 3rd, 1939. Great Britain had sent over a large expeditionary force of almost 200,000 men and equipment to bolster France's resistance to the Nazi push to take over all of Europe.
The new war technique of Blitzkrieg implemented by German commanders beat the French and the English back to the sea. By the middle of May 400,000 French and English troops had their backs against the sea at the French port of Dunkirk, completely surrounded by 800,000 Germans, with their artillery and tank regiments at the ready. It appeared that the entire Franko-English army was going to be wiped out!
Hitler did not think it wise to send tanks and heavy artillery into the marshes of Dunkirk. He was of the opinion that he would lose too much equipment using that strategy. Instead, he took the advice of Marshall Goering, and let his Luftwaffe destroy the trapped army. Goering convinced Hitler that his Air Force would do the job in no time at all. They did not count on the motivated and feisty English Royal Air Force!
The British people have not yet been told that the situation in Dunkirk is hopeless, but their new Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, is well aware that the war now could be lost! He has tasked the Royal Navy to rescue as many of their soldiers as they could, and privately thought that if they could get 30,000 of them home they would have done a good job. He also has tasked the Royal Air Force to back up the effort with as many planes as possible, knowing that the Luftwaffe would be running bombing sorties both on the rescue ships and the men on the beaches of Dunkirk.
By the last week of May 1940, it looked hopeless. Winston Churchill put out an order to civilians. The order was that their country needed their boats. Fishing boats, yachts, coastal runners, anything that floats is needed now to evacuate the troops out of Dunkirk. Now, the cat is out of the bag, and everyone knows that there is major trouble ahead.
People with their boats came to the rescue, some 700 boats of all kinds in all. Some making multiple trips to and from Dunkirk to rescue, braving torpedoes and attacks from the sky. Ships were sunk, lives were lost, but this ragtag fleet got 330,000 soldiers back on English soil by June 4th, 1940. This ragtag fleet, along with the brave pilots of the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy, saved Great Britain from total defeat!
This was a great story, and for the most part the movie did an excellent depiction of how Britain came together, and everyday civilians risked life, limb and treasure to come to the rescue. It also depicted the selflessness of the English sailors and flyers in their efforts to get their soldiers out of Dunkirk. An amazing effort that anyone watching this movie will be astounded by.
On June 4th, the morale of the British people was in the gutter. The general population was happy to get their boys back, but the thought was that they were no match for Germany, and that invasion would be coming soon. A dark malaise descended over the country, and it appeared that their worst fears would soon be realized.
The movie did not focus much on what happened next. What happened next was incredible! Their new Prime Minister, Winston Churchill rallied his people with an incredible speech! The speech put iron in the backbones of every Britain, and rallied them to fight on. In fact, the speech was most probably the saving grace not only for Great Britain, but for the whole of the Western World! The movie, on the other hand, did not focus on this turning point, but instead had a rescued soldier grab a paper and read a headline about the speech. For this reason, I give this movie a B-.
The new war technique of Blitzkrieg implemented by German commanders beat the French and the English back to the sea. By the middle of May 400,000 French and English troops had their backs against the sea at the French port of Dunkirk, completely surrounded by 800,000 Germans, with their artillery and tank regiments at the ready. It appeared that the entire Franko-English army was going to be wiped out!
Hitler did not think it wise to send tanks and heavy artillery into the marshes of Dunkirk. He was of the opinion that he would lose too much equipment using that strategy. Instead, he took the advice of Marshall Goering, and let his Luftwaffe destroy the trapped army. Goering convinced Hitler that his Air Force would do the job in no time at all. They did not count on the motivated and feisty English Royal Air Force!
The British people have not yet been told that the situation in Dunkirk is hopeless, but their new Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, is well aware that the war now could be lost! He has tasked the Royal Navy to rescue as many of their soldiers as they could, and privately thought that if they could get 30,000 of them home they would have done a good job. He also has tasked the Royal Air Force to back up the effort with as many planes as possible, knowing that the Luftwaffe would be running bombing sorties both on the rescue ships and the men on the beaches of Dunkirk.
By the last week of May 1940, it looked hopeless. Winston Churchill put out an order to civilians. The order was that their country needed their boats. Fishing boats, yachts, coastal runners, anything that floats is needed now to evacuate the troops out of Dunkirk. Now, the cat is out of the bag, and everyone knows that there is major trouble ahead.
People with their boats came to the rescue, some 700 boats of all kinds in all. Some making multiple trips to and from Dunkirk to rescue, braving torpedoes and attacks from the sky. Ships were sunk, lives were lost, but this ragtag fleet got 330,000 soldiers back on English soil by June 4th, 1940. This ragtag fleet, along with the brave pilots of the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy, saved Great Britain from total defeat!
This was a great story, and for the most part the movie did an excellent depiction of how Britain came together, and everyday civilians risked life, limb and treasure to come to the rescue. It also depicted the selflessness of the English sailors and flyers in their efforts to get their soldiers out of Dunkirk. An amazing effort that anyone watching this movie will be astounded by.
On June 4th, the morale of the British people was in the gutter. The general population was happy to get their boys back, but the thought was that they were no match for Germany, and that invasion would be coming soon. A dark malaise descended over the country, and it appeared that their worst fears would soon be realized.
The movie did not focus much on what happened next. What happened next was incredible! Their new Prime Minister, Winston Churchill rallied his people with an incredible speech! The speech put iron in the backbones of every Britain, and rallied them to fight on. In fact, the speech was most probably the saving grace not only for Great Britain, but for the whole of the Western World! The movie, on the other hand, did not focus on this turning point, but instead had a rescued soldier grab a paper and read a headline about the speech. For this reason, I give this movie a B-.
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
PROFILES IN COWARDICE
Frankly we all should be disgusted with the present congress. They do not have the backbone to get anything substantial done. The Democrats are in "Resist" mode, refusing to cooperate in any productive way. In fact, they purposely stand in the way of many productive initiatives for no other reason than resisting the leadership of the President.
Republicans, on the other hand, cannot agree on anything substantial. Health Care is now dead, tax reform is foundering, and regulations imposed on the economy by the previous regime are still in place. They seem not to understand that voters gave them a majority in the house, senate, and the Executive Branch because they wanted Health Care reform, tax reform, and toxic regulations eliminated so that the economy can grow. They seem to be backing off all their promises in fear that if they actually did what they promised, that they might alienate future voters.
There is another reason why congress can get nothing done. It is the way the institution has morphed from a body representing constituents, to a body raising money for their respective parties. Freshman congressmen are told that their primary job is to insure that they raise at least $18,000 per day for their party. In short, they have little time to represent the voters that put them in office. Instead they are professional fundraisers. They need to raise money to insure that they continue to have their job after the next election cycle. $174,000 per year and their perks are more important than representing their constituents!
There are a few that actually show the courage of their convictions. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Ron Johnson, Andy Biggs, and Mike Coffman are some of the senators and congressmen that stick by their principles and vote their conscience. Most of the rest are just too busy trying to get reelected.
As voters, we need to get rid of this system that ignores our better interests. We need to vote these "Do Nothing" representatives out of office and replace them with people of moral substance. At the end of the day it is us, the voters that have actually let these elected officials run amok, and only we can stop this insanity.
Republicans, on the other hand, cannot agree on anything substantial. Health Care is now dead, tax reform is foundering, and regulations imposed on the economy by the previous regime are still in place. They seem not to understand that voters gave them a majority in the house, senate, and the Executive Branch because they wanted Health Care reform, tax reform, and toxic regulations eliminated so that the economy can grow. They seem to be backing off all their promises in fear that if they actually did what they promised, that they might alienate future voters.
There is another reason why congress can get nothing done. It is the way the institution has morphed from a body representing constituents, to a body raising money for their respective parties. Freshman congressmen are told that their primary job is to insure that they raise at least $18,000 per day for their party. In short, they have little time to represent the voters that put them in office. Instead they are professional fundraisers. They need to raise money to insure that they continue to have their job after the next election cycle. $174,000 per year and their perks are more important than representing their constituents!
There are a few that actually show the courage of their convictions. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Ron Johnson, Andy Biggs, and Mike Coffman are some of the senators and congressmen that stick by their principles and vote their conscience. Most of the rest are just too busy trying to get reelected.
As voters, we need to get rid of this system that ignores our better interests. We need to vote these "Do Nothing" representatives out of office and replace them with people of moral substance. At the end of the day it is us, the voters that have actually let these elected officials run amok, and only we can stop this insanity.
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