One Citizen Speaking

BOOKER & HARRIS: PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES PLAY RACE CARD -- UNFIT FOR OFFICE

Two prominent progressive social democrats and declared candidates for the Democrat party nomination for the presidency, couldn’t wait before they jumped the shark and played the race card. Labeling the alleged attack on Empire actor Jussie Smollett as a “modern-day lynching.”

The Tweets, both Cory Booker and Kamala Harris playing the race card …

The facts (he was charged, not convicted) from the Chicago Police Department…

EDDIE JOHNSON, CHICAGO POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: As I look out into the crowd, I just wish that the families of gun violence in this city got this much attention because that’s who really deserves the amount of attention that we are giving to this particular incident. This morning, I come to you not only as the superintendent of the Chicago Police Department but also as a black man who has spent his entire life living in the city of Chicago. I know the racial divide that exists here, I know how hard it has been for our city and our nation to come together. I also know the disparities and I know the history. This announcement today recognizes that 'Empire' actor Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career. I’m left hanging my head and asking why. Why would anyone, especially an African-American man, use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusations? How could someone look at the hatred and suffering associated with that symbol and see an opportunity to manipulate that symbol to further his own public profile? How can an individual who has been embraced by the city of Chicago turn around and slap everyone in this city in the face by making these false claims?  Bogus police reports cause real harm. They do harm to every legitimate victim who is in need of support by police and investigators as well as the citizens of this city. Chicago hosts one of the largest Pride parades in the world, and we’re proud of that as a police department and also as a city. We do not nor do we ever tolerate hate in our city, whether that hate is based on an individual’s sexual orientation, race or anything else. So I’m offended by what has happened and I’m also angry. I love the city of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department, warts and all, but this publicity stunt was a scar that Chicago didn't earn and certainly didn't deserve. To make things worse, accusations within this phony attack received national attention for weeks. Celebrities, news commentators, and even presidential candidates weighed in on something that was choreographed by an actor. First, Smollett attempted to gain attention by sending a false letter that relied on racial, homophobic, and political language. When that didn't work, Smollett paid $3500 to stage this attack and drag Chicago's reputation through the mud in the process. And why? This stunt was orchestrated by Smollett because he was dissatisfied with his salary. So he concocted a story about being attacked. Smollett surrendered to authorities and was arrested in Chicago. He faces one felony count of filing a false police report. He was back on the Fox set of Empire to finish the season’s final episodes.

You will note that the Chicago Police Superintendent, Eddie Johnson, a progressive socialist democrat, is doing more than reciting the allegations and apparent facts from the police viewpoint. He appears to be grandstanding -- especially when surrounded by the other doofuses at the podium -- and convicting Smollett in the court of public opinion although he adds the line "That said, Smollett was treated as a victim throughout this investigation until we received evidence that led detectives in another direction."  By all rights, any expanded statement should have come from the District Attorney's office, not the Police Department. 

Bottom line…

Both Kamala Harris and Cory Booker have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are not qualified for the Presidency of the United States because of the narrow-minded vision of race and the tendency to see everything through the self-serving prism of racial identity.

As for Jussie Smollett, it is the progressive socialist democrats who do not believe in "innocent until proven guilty," but, as we saw in the Kavanaugh hearings, the progressives are quite eager to move directly from allegation to sentencing with nary a heartbeat in between. Except, of course, in the defense of illegal aliens.

Even though he appears guilty, let Smollett experience his constitutional rights of "due process" and his trial and conviction by a judge or jury of his peers.

I am wondering when his stint in rehab will begin and if he has already booked the ministers for his redemption tour? 

We are so screwed.

-- steve

THE REAL PURPOSE OF THE "NEW GREEN DEAL"

Does anyone in their right mind believe that humans can significantly alter the climate or provide a host of social benefits to the entire population in the United States within ten years? Does anyone believe that gross polluters like Russia, China, India, and third-world emerging nations will set aside fossil fuel to their disadvantage while the United States imposes draconian measures on its people?

So, if not even the authors of this socialist wish list believe that we will have unicorns and self-licking lollipops in ten years, why did they propose this non-binding resolution and why are they crying foul now that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to bring it up for a vote in the Senate – forcing Senators to record their position for posterity?

Why?

On its face, the legislation titled “Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal,” is not only unrealistic, impossible to fund, but un-American in its impositions which deeply impact the freedoms of all Americans. But, no matter, its real purpose is not to immediately change the environment and culture of the United States, its purpose is to shift the Overton Window leftward.

Subjects, like the replacement of our capitalist system with socialism, which were once unthinkable in normal conversations, are now becoming topics of discussion in the mainstream media. Just a decade ago, almost no one in the general population, outside of radical activists, would have suggested that some version of socialism is an acceptable moral or economic equivalent of capitalism.

It’s not "that" socialism…

The younger generation has little familiarity with socialism other than what they have been taught, or should I say indoctrinated, in school by progressive instructors. They create semantic excuses for the name, pointing out that we are talking about “economic socialism” or "democratic" not Marxist socialism – the kind that leads to totalitarian governments, mass misery, death, decay, and the destruction of societies. Certainly not the type of Venezuelan socialism that saw one of the world’s most vibrant economies decimated in less than a decade in the name of “the people.” Certainly not the type of socialism that saw the Castro brothers execute or imprison dissidents while the country continued to decay into a previous century, These are the same people who tell you that the government is not going to seize the means of production and private property, never mentioning the de facto takeover with rules, regulations, and confiscatory taxation. You may own something, but effectively you will be renting your assets from the government and producing what is required by the latest centrally-planned economy.

But the truth is that socialism is socialism. With socialism, the endpoint is more socialism or communism to the point where the government must implement stricter and stricter rules and regulations at the point of a gun to prevent the eventual revolutionary overthrow that is certain to come in an uncertain future when everyone is equally miserable. With capitalism, at least the endpoint is more capitalism and more freedom.

What is it really?

Explain to me what you would call a system where the government controls the economy through a demonstrably phony need to save the planet from an emergency nobody can detect without phony computer models? Or controls individuals through the provision, denial, or delay of their healthcare? Or manages the population’s behavior and food intake for the health of the system? If that is not socialism, where the needs of the collective outweigh the needs of the individual, what might it be?

Max Planck, the eminent Nobel Prize Laureate and physicist maintained that “A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.” It is the same thing with socialism.

It has been decades since those who have directly experienced the ravages of communism have died off or aged out of the power structure. The newer generations having no direct experience with the past horrors and are inclined to believe the revisionist history taught by “trusted” teachers who themselves are inexperienced or ignorant of the very political systems they teach.

One might consider that the political puppet-masters are capitalizing on human nature and selling socialism to the youth of America as the cool way of rebelling against their parent’s generation in a way that provides them with peer acceptance and social opportunities. Ask most any young person to define capitalism, socialism, and communism – and the results will amaze you. They will deride capitalism and describe socialism in terms of its benevolent effects on society – that is, they will describe the promises of socialism and ignore the historic reality of death, destruction, and near-universal misery. They cannot explain how it is that the leadership of socialist and communist countries become billionaires and live like royalty while people starve outside their gates and high walls.

Bottom line…

One need only look at California to see that its citizens suffer confiscatory taxes and pay more for everything that is labeled "green"– and yet the only thing that appears to have changed is the number of illegal aliens who are said to become future democrats. People are leaving the state and eroding the tax base – leaving the remaining citizens to support the importation of more people in need of housing, employment, medical care, and education. It is not a sustainable system. So where will you go when the entire United States is run like California.

Claim that it will never happen. Think again – that’s exactly what most Californian’s believed a few decades ago. Want to see it for yourself? Just read any of the current high school history texts to see a version of history that is unbelievable. A history where the Founders of this nation are slave-owning misogynists steeped in patriarchal white privilege. You will hardly recognize your country.

We are so screwed.

-- steve