The “Gang of Eight”

The "GANG of Eight"

It’s very hard for me to understand what “Establishment” Republicans “DON’T GET” about the anger of their own base.

I DO! I “get it,” perfectly.

Of course, I’ve ALWAYS said that, “The Republicans Party is a very poor vehicle for Conservatism,” at least the Conservatism of Southern whites and Northern ethnic Catholics, mostly pro-Union workers. I stand by that.

One of the BIG issues facing American workers over the past 40+ years has been IN-Sourcing – the importing of cheap migrant labor to do jobs that Americans WON’T do for less than $15/hour.

So, HOW did our “Republican Congress" respond to American worker’s demands for LESS In-Sourcing and MORE expenditures on education and re-training?

Yep, with the vaunted “Gang of Eight.” A gang tasked with pushing for and rationalizing even MORE In-Sourcing!

And what a “gang” it was, eight Corporatists, eight anti-American worker pseudo-elitists, eight socially liberal dipshits.

BOTH Parties have sold out their constituencies on this issue. Democrats KNOW that once Hispanics gain citizenship they (1) retain their devoutly religious stands and (2) begin to vote, as most ethnic Catholics do, more conservatively, while Republicans make no bones about their corporate shilling for cheap labor for their corporate masters.

In-Sourcing cheap labor hurts ALL U.S. workers by lowering the wage floor. Americans largely set up the 3rd World education systems that are now producing the engineers and physicians we employ with all those H-1B Visas, proving that they COULD DO the SAME THING right here at home...if they wanted to and if they wanted to pay American workers a decent wage!

The Senate’s vaunted “Gang of Eight” was an utterly bi-Partisan affair, albeit entirely Corporatist collective in its makeup.

The four Democrats were;

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-CO

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-IL

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-NJ

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY

Yes, four very Left-wing Democrats ALL apparently willing to welcome in a huge wave of ethnic Catholics virtually guaranteed to become regular Conservative voters once established here. Sure, both Schumer and Durbin envision a “permanent Hispanic underclass” mired on welfare and attached to the “Democratic Plantation” – NOT gonna happen...and being completely honest, they KNOW it!

As for the “Republicans.” Well, their resumes speak for themselves;

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-AZ – A guy about whom, Dave Weigel of Bloomberg Politics, once tweeted an ironic story with Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina calling Senator Flake the “RINO of the year.” Enough said!

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC – A certified liberal Democrat “dressed up” as a Republican.

Sen. John McCain, R-AZ – A “Born Again” Corporatist (the very worst kind) who reviles Conservatives of every stripe. A man who disgraced himself and his Party by running a veritable Vaudeville campaign back in 2008 during which he quipped the immortal line, “I don’t know much about the economy.” WHAT is he STILL doing on the Senate?! Oh yeah, same thing Lindsey Graham is, screwing over American workers.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL – At least Rubio shills for ever more GOP support from this new wave of ethnic Catholics, nothing wrong with that EXCEPT that it ignores the economic bomb called In-Sourcing!

See?

THIS is the exactly what’s made the Conservative/Libertarian base of the GOP so angry with the Bush-Boehner-Graham-McCain wing of the GOP...and rightly so.

THIS is WHY I Continue to Find Myself Unable to Vote for Any Democrat for National Office....Hillary's and Bernie's Base and Disingenuous Pandering

Hillary Clinton - BLM Panderer

I wish it weren't so...but sadly it is.

On February 12th, Christopher Marquez, a decorated war hero, recipient of the Bronze Star, was attacked by a group of Black Lives Matter (BLM) supporters and advocates. Incidents like this kind of make the point I've been making for the past two years, that the BLM movement is, in actuality, a "Thug's Union." (SEE: http://theconservativetreehouse.com/…/black-lives-matter-g…/).

Meanwhile, in that very same month, Vincent Broughten was caught red-handed putting up racist flyers in an obvious racial hoax incident (See:http://theblacksphere.net/…/culprit-caught-putting-up-raci…/), similar to another hoax, allegedly perpetrated by Gary Nathaniel Moore (SEE:http://www.breitbart.com/…/muslim-accused-burning-houston-…/) who is charged with arson in the buring of a Houston Mosque he attended...and to yet another racial hoax allegedly perpetrated by a Kean University student Kayla-Simone McKelvey (http://www.nj.com/…/12/arrest_made_in_kean_twitter_threat.h…) last November!

Nor are such hoaxes at all rare (http://www.fakehatecrimes.org/fakes?page=1).

There's certainly a major problem with racial bigotry and intolerance in this country, just NOT the one that Hillary Clinton and the BLM crew fantasize about...

REAL CHRISTIANITY is HARD!....

Sophia Andrade and Glenn Williams



That's probably why there are so few of them.

Sophia Andrade a single mother of three won $200 on a scratch off game, then took the homeless Glenn Williams for coffee, then used much of the rest of her winnings paying for a hotel room for the guy, saying, “I knew that the money never really belonged to me,”

I know there are two ways to look at this, some will argue that her first priority SHOULD'VE been her own family, her children, while others will applaud her magnanimous generosity to a total stranger.

While I can see both sides of that, I am always humbled by such acts of personal sacrifice, by the reaching out by people, who are often in significant distress themselves.

How can you not be impressed by this?

My fervent hope is that Glenn Williams, to borrow a phrase from the end of "Private Ryan," moves ahead and "EARNS this." That would amount to his overcoming his own demons to become a productive and self sufficient citizen, so that he might one day be able to "pay this forward."

But there's no denying that Sophia Andrade is a true Christian...in the best possible sense of that word.

The ANTI-Free Speech Left

Incredibly enough, from the looks of the aftermath of Milo Yiannopoulos’ visit to Rutgers University, it was a resounding success! After all, the students who so vigorously protested his right to speak sought “group therapy” sessions in the wake of that speech (SEE: http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/02/18/rutgers-students-hold-group-therapy-session-after-milo-yiannopoulos-visit/)

When Breitbart Tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos visited Rutgers University recently, his visit was greeted by fascistic protests that sought to silence him, as they have at other locales. (SEE: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/02/19/student-protests-and-university-cancellations-follow-milo-yiannopoulos-speaking-tour)

What a far cry from the late 1960s Leftist movements that defended, among other things, "Free speech for fascists."

YES, every view has an innate "right to be heard."

In disagreement, we can only offer up more and different information....NEVER seeking to suppress information. For instance, Communism has correctly been defined as "economic terrorism," but that DOESN'T justify the silencing of Communists.

Breitbart reports, “One student at the event told the Targum that they “broke down crying” after the event, while another reported that he felt “scared to walk around campus the next day.” According to the report, “many others” said they felt “unsafe” at the event and on campus afterwards.

“It is upsetting that my mental health is not cared about by the University,” said one student at the event. “I do not know what else to do for us to be heard for us to be cared about. I deserve an apology, everyone in this room deserves an apology.”

A number of organizations were at the event to offer support to the poor, traumatized students. These included Psychiatric Services, the Office for Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance, and the Rutgers University Police. However, as far as we know, none of the protesting students were institutionalized, arrested for vandalism, or for assaulting the peaceful attendees of Milo’s talk with red paint. 

In the past, Leftists actually physically fought for their warped, twisted views, I think it’s progress that the very best this new generation can seem to do is cry over them.

From here, that appears to be a good thing.

When Dumb Journalists Attack....

Sean McElwee                                 Jason McDaniel

Recently the online Magazine Vox published a piece entitled “There’s Powerful Evidence that Racial Attitudes Drive Tea Party Support” (http://www.vox.com/2016/2/10/10943196/trump-racial-resentment-vs-economic-anxiety) that would lead a reader to believe that (1) there is significant and reliable data about the motives (thought processes of various voters) and (2) that journalists (English Majors) actually understand math and statistics...MOST DON’T! Neither do most Poli Sci professors...sorry.

The primary problem with the piece in question is that there’s NO reliable MATH, which means there’s NO “reliable evidence” that much Tea Party support is driven by racial animus, at least no more so than that of most “paternalistic white Leftists.”

There are no studies, nor even enough anecdotal evidence to support the view that, “The Tea Party is racist," or, in any way, motivated by race. I made a similar mistake a few years ago writing about various signage at some Tea Party rallies. Various Tea Party groups claimed that those signs were "plants" from outside groups...and well, in the end, that simply couldn't be proven otherwise.

Worse yet, in a number of cases, well-meaning Left-of-Center advocates DID admit to bringing nazi signs, etc. to such rallies...an epically DUMB idea. It would've been far better to focus on what I did (I'm an engineer, NOT an English Lit major) and that was on the numerous absurdities and incongruities of many of the real Tea Partiers, people with slogans like, "Get the government out of my Social Security," etc.

Moreover, it turns out that the majority of those who support Trump are NOT Tea Party people, NOT even Conservative, they are mostly Independents and disaffected Democrats, more angry at the innate unfairness of today's Corporatism, also called "Crony Capitalism" (when government seeks to help certain favored, "socially conscious" companies. Yes, an increasing amount of the American people are angered by that. This refusal to acknowledge what's really going on by largely unqualified "journalists" is a huge problem today. You really need a heavy math background to write effectively about politics and economics, because those subjects always come down to quadratic equations with multiple variables.

Without a strong math background it’s impossible to determine what motivates people who are viscerally opposed to affirmative action’s race/gender preferences. The math tells us that the vast majority of those people oppose it because they DO NOT want to see various ethnic groups marginalized and handicapped by such preferences and many argue that our standards across the board are already too low. The math seems to agree, but it is not as yet conclusive on that last point. Certain fields of endeavor have maintained standards better than others.

The problem with pieces like this is that they cheer up ONLY those already in the choir, while they not only further anger the swelling opposition, but alienate Independents as well.

WHY do that?

I believe it comes down, once again, to NOT understanding the math involved.

PATHETIC....

Hillary Clinton

This is the kind of pandering that endangers law enforcement and emboldens violent thugs. (http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/…/hillary-clinton-black-ki…/)

But it WORKS!

Polarizing people and dividing the electorate always works.

How well does it work?

In the wake of a huge New Hampshire Primary win last night, Bernie Sanders is meeting with...Al Sharpton's Action Network, today.

WHY?

Because Democratic politicians steadfastly believe that polarizing figures, like Sharpton, backed by a friendly, overwhelmingly liberal/Democrat media (over 85% of the people in America's national media are registered Democrats) will reliably "deliver the votes," even when the panderer, has no intention of doing anything substantive for those voters. They rarely do.

The Clinton's have a dicey history surrounding women's issues (Bill Clinton's predatory ways, aided and abetted by Hillary) and racial issues - Bill Clinton's singular achievement on the "race front," during his Presidency was pushing a Bill that resulted in an explosion of mass incarceration. A Bill supported by the Congressional Black Caucus at the time.

What's worse this time around is the legitimizing of a veritable Thug's Union (the "Black Lives Matter movement) by allegedly mainstream politicians, Left and Right.

For many people, voting is a purely emotional act and that's why such emotional appeals tend to work.

But make no mistake, the are inciteful and very dangerous to the nation's law enforcement. 

THIS is What Got Gaddafi Killed

Muammar Gaddafi

According to Reuters sources have said that "Iran wants payment for oil in Euros, NOT U.S. dollars.

For anyone wondering about the odd timing of our 2011 Libyan invasion and Muammar Gaddafi's subsequent death (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8wtW4Z5d8U), after he'd become an informant for the West and cooperated with the U.S. & UK in the wake of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan; It had nothing to do with him being a "bad guy" (he'd have been attacked much earlier if that was the case), nor for his UN speech implying that JFK's inspections of the Israeli Dimona Nuclear reactor to make sure it didn't create weapons grade materials (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmNzEpbkftU) was the cause of JFK's assassination, what sealed Gaddafi's fate was a 2011 OPEC speech in which he suggested that OPEC stop accepting U.S. dollars (USD) as the reserve currency for oil and switch to the Gold-backed African Dinar (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O8vM0-6EEE).

Now, apparently Iran is looking to replace the USD with the Euro. (http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0VE21S)

Will that be more palatable?

In 2000, Saddam Hussein unilaterally declared that going forward, Iraqi oil would be traded in Euros, not USD. Economic sanctions immediately followed and when the opportunity presented itself after 9/11, Iraq was invaded shortly after the Afghan invasion.

What would happen if the USD were to be replaced with another currency? For one thing, it would effectively end the U.S. Government's ability to keep borrowing and printing massive amounts of money...money that's been needed to expand and maintain our entitlement programs, support our Military, in effect, run our entire economy!

Over the last 6 years alone, America has created more than $4 TRILLION out of thin air...backed by nothing but the people's faith in that paper.

Should the USD be replaced with another global currency, America would be plunged into a massive banking, stock market and currency collapse. The basic commodities our economy relies upon would become too expensive to buy overnight. Hyper-inflation would become the order of the day.

This would be especially disastrous for senior citizens, those on fixed incomes and those relying on money from the government (in the form of social programs, government payrolls and, of course, public pensions).

In many respects what's been going on across the world, especially within the Middle East over the past few decades has been part of a much larger currency war, with the U.S. looking to shore up the USD as the default global currency, against an increasing number of entities that want to move to another default currency.

If you don't think that that's a WAR, then just ponder how warlike those dependent upon social security, various welfare programs and public pensions would feel, should they wake up one day to find those things being effectively worthless.

This global currency war is very, VERY personal.

REAL Populism COULD Offer Real Solutions

IF I were to make a Populist argument, THIS would be it:

While it’s long been mathematically proven that the Command Economy CANNOT work (1974) and today, Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti and Zimbabwe are testaments to that fact, the unbridled market doesn’t work either.

Just as the Command Economy discounts the most critical aspect of an economy – the CONSUMER and slavishly catering to delivering what the consumer WANTS, the market economy doesn’t understand who its primary investors are.

Any entity's primary investors are also its “TALENT,” that is, its WORKERS.

Take, for instance, Uber. A great idea, sketched out by its so-called “founders,” but shaped, molded and made workable by its primary investors, or workers.

What Uber has successfully, albeit accidentally highlighted is the pernicious effects of PUBLIC SECTOR GREED. Cities, like New York sell “Taxi Medallions,” for huge sums of money and then allow the owners to fashion abusive contracts with its workers.

A person spends $500,000 on a New York City Taxi Medallion and they want/require a return, so maybe they “rent out” their cab with that Medallion for what amounts to 60%, 70% or more of a driver’s take during a 12-hour period.

That is wrong on every level.

Taxi Medallions MUST come with strict rules about driver/owner splits (something along the lines of a minimum 60% to the driver). YES, that would greatly reduce the value of such Medallions and drive the market price for them down, perhaps way down to $25,000 to $30,000...or less.

Likewise, Uber’s “founders” don’t seem to understand whom their primary investors and co-creators are. Bottom line, Uber, like ALL other such entities, was granted access to the people’s marketplace by its representatives in government. You can’t have drivers earning $60,000/year when “founders” are raking in BILLIONS.

That money simply doesn’t belong to those organizers/managers.

So, what should be done?

The overwhelming bulk of those profits should go to pay for shoring up and greatly improving Social Security, expanding Medicare & Medicaid programs, thereby improving the lives and health of ALL citizens.

You may well ask, "Under WHAT premise exactly, do we take such freely earned profits and make them a public trust?"

The answer, is that in truth BOTH the so-called "owners"/founders are co-creators of this entity and as such BOTH hold inviolate property rights to those profits. The workers/primary investors have agreed to a limited, or set amount of compensation for their services/work...and so must the "owners"/managers. The rest must be entrusted to "The people's pottage."

The canard is often repeated that, “Absent these unbridled profits producers won’t produce, innovators won’t innovate.” That’s a flat out LIE.

Such people aren’t motivated primarily by money, but the NEED to create...they’ll innovate, create and produce anyway, even if the bulk of those BILLIONS go into a public trough.

That leaves the question of “ownership,” or PROPERTY RIGHTS.

Doesn’t the basic idea of Uber belong to Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp?

No, not when you consider that it is the workers (drivers) who’ve perfected the idea and made it workable. It’s the workers/drivers who breathe life into those ideas and make the entity work. Those workers are Uber’s PRIMARY investors. In a very real sense, they too hold viable PROPERTY RIGHTS over this idea.

So, just as the workers/drivers agree to take a set amount of compensation for their work, so must its managers and/or “owners.” Of course that would require capping ALL such compensation (in ALL forms) to ALL CEOs, COOs and CFOs. That wouldn’t be a bad thing at all, in fact, it would be a HUGE improvement all around.

Executive pay SHOULD be directly tied to how well a company does during the tenure of those executives...yes, theoretically, an Executive Team COULD owe money should they preside over a catastrophic failure of an outfit. As draconian as that might sound, AGAIN, some of the very best, will always rise to the challenge, even when the stakes are so high. The primary motivator is the CHALLENGE and NOT the COMPENSATION, which would STILL remain quite high for successful “owners”/managers.

Once that is established, the only question left is, “What to do with bulk of those profits.”

The answer SHOULD BE, “Invest them back into the people,” in the form of increased Social Security benefits, into Medicare, Medicaid, shoring up worker pension programs, etc. so that more people will have access to better lives and truly viable health care.

This form of populism is neither Capitalist, nor Socialist. It is a true hybrid. It’s sad that today’s populists, like Bernie Sanders seem unable to articulate this at all, probably because such people foolishly refuse to accept that PROPERTY RIGHTS are inviolate and that ONLY the market can work. That’s a HUGE problem for them.

On the other side, those like Ted Cruz, even Ben Carson and Donald Trump just don’t seem to believe in the limits of ownership. They don’t seem to understand that the innovators, or “founders” are NOT the only ones with viable property rights over an entity. Especially when those entities were primarily created by their primary investors/WORKERS.

There is a path from where we are, to where we want to go, but it requires greater connectivity and inter-dependence between worker/investors and owner/managers and BOTH their dependence upon the proper role of government...which is NOT merely protecting one side’s short-sighted “property rights,” while ignoring those of the primary investors/workers.

The PROBLEM with this is that we can no more trust government to, "Do the right thing," any more than we can trust Corporate entities to do the same. Human nature makes clear that humans ALWAYS press their advantage when they have one...ALL humans. Worse still, generally, it's the weakest and most pathological humans who are drawn into government. Just an inconvenient fact.