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?

From Mammoth to Reno......

RV Adventure-2nd part

We stayed in Mammoth for 2 days, and now we have relocated to a new RV park in Verdi, Nevada. Our intention is to finalize a decision on property in Dayton Nevada where we want to build our dream home.  We are looking at lot 126 in the Santa Maria Ranch.  The draw for us is where this lot is, right on the Carson river.  Great location with a view of the river, and no neighbors in back to obstruct our sight!

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.

This hotel is the oldest in Nevada, opened in 1861.

These are still a few of the many remnants of abandoned mines all over the area.  

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.

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.

Debbie at J's Bistro

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.

The Union Hotel at 75 W. Main Street was built circa 1870.  It is now a private residence.

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.  

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.  

Another RV adventure

McGee Creek RV Park in Mammoth Lakes California

Welcoming Entry to the Park Grounds

We are on another adventure with our 5^th 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.

I’ll be back soon to report on the next part of the adventure.  We are now in the Reno, Nevada area camping and looking at properties that we just might buy this trip. 

Leaving with a great feeling and we will be back!!