Michelle Obama Reveals an Uncomfortable and Inconvenient TRUTH...

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Michelle Obama recently said, "I have been at probably every powerful table that you can think of, I have worked at nonprofits, I have been at foundations, I have worked in corporations, served on corporate boards, I have been at G-summits, I have sat in at the U.N.: They are not that smart." (https://www.newsweek.com/michelle-obama-tells-secret-i-have-been-every-powerful-table-you-can-think-1242695)

I've said the same for decades; that "the elites," are far from a meritocratic elite, they are actually, in most cases, pseudo elites.

Ms. Obama is right that they really aren't that smart at all, in fact, there is a LOT of incompetence among that parochial, insular group, most of whom got there by birth and connections.
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Naill O'Dowd CAN'T Ever Seem to Get on the RIGHT Side of Any Issue...

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Naill O'Dowd is outraged at alleged anti-Celtic bigotry in the U.S.

The Neal Munro tweet is wrong in one respect, it's NOT an Out-Sourcing Bill, it's an In-Sourcing scheme that would allow “about 5,000 more Irish graduates per year to take salaried jobs in the U.S. even though many of those jobs are also sought by debt-burdened US graduates.”

That's NOT good for America.

I respect Naill O'Dowd's defending specifically Irish immigration to Anerica. I AGREE with Naill that it would be far easier and preferable for America to take in and assimilate 5,000 Irish then 5,000 Congolese, or Libyans, for that matter.

HOWEVER, THIS is NOT THAT.

This ISN'T a Bill increasing Irish immigration, just more H-1B Visas that In-Source cheap labor, replacing American workers.

As far as H-1B's go, it doesn't matter where the GUEST WORKER comes from, it STILL takes American jobs through In-Sourcing and that's wrong...just like Naill O'Dowd always is.
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Our Coming Crisis...

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I had a brief communication with a longtime online friend, earlier today, who said;

"Hey, JMK!  I was reading one of your posts and then started thinking about how many years I’ve been reading your writing (FB, the old Bey board, your book, your WC blog, etc.)  Then I started thinking about common themes that threaded through the years. Then it occurred to me that you presaged the Trump phenomenon that “no one saw coming” by what, a dozen years at least?  How does it feel to be so far ahead of the curve?  :-)"

I replied that I didn't think I was prescient, at least, not in terms of my  knowing anything others didn't...nor having any kind of secret information.

I also mentioned that I've never been so pessimistic about individual liberty and "Americanism"/Constitutionalism.

It's true that I don't revile Trump, even though I've never liked him personally. He seems now...a last gasp of traditional Americanism.

I was thinking the other day, how we've shifted Left/Right in the Presidential elections over the past 30 years; Bush Sr....Bill Clinton...GW Bush...Barack Obama...Donald Trump, with each shift getting more extreme. (https://www.cookpolitical.com/analysis/national/national-charts/demographic-trends-should-worry-republicans)

What comes after Trump?

If the trend continues, someone much more extremely Left, then Trump is "Right." Look at the leading Democrats of today, Bill DeBlasio recently spoke about how he sees a strong "Socialist impulse" among New Yorkers, claiming he feels most people want the government to decide how each piece of property is used, whi gets to live there and at what rent (there would be no more "owners"). He's not alone. (https://nypost-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/nypost.com/2017/09/05/a-plea-to-democrats-to-back-anyone-but-de-blasio/amp/?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQECAFYAQ%3D%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fnypost.com%2F2017%2F09%2F05%2Fa-plea-to-democrats-to-back-anyone-but-de-blasio%2F)

Here's the irony. I tend to alienate a lot of people due to a combination of their misunderstanding me and my propensity for hyperbole and being an overall jackass. I don't like my propensity for being a jackass and have tried, with mixed results, at being less of one.

I think what most misunderstand, &/or reject about my views is that the reason I revile Marxism/Socialism is because I'm a pragmatist. I am not now, nor ever have been an idealist like most hardcore Leftists.

They NEED to believe that, "To move forward, we must change human nature from competitive to cooperative and that can only be done by changing government." So, they have to reject the idea...the actual truth, that the people in government, ESPECIALLY the DeBlasio's, the Ocasio-Cortez's are as greedy and misanthropic as they believe those in business are.

Socialism, is NOT Sweden's Nordic Capitalism, it IS the former USSR, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela. It IS authoritarianism because government taking what some have built, in order to redistribute more to all, requires authoritarianism and inevitably violence...always and everywhere.

The irony is that most Leftist idealists would be among the first protest, challenge and fight that violent authoritarianism.

While I vaguely admire that, I would not.

I'm a pragmatist. If I were told to round "dissidents" up in the middle of the night...I'd do it, thinking, "Better them than me." I'm NOT an idealist. I'm a pragmatist, a survivor...and in many ways, a moral coward.

I know myself...for better and for worse. I get the distinct impression that most idealists don't.

I HOPE I'm wrong...very wrong about this future, but I believe the trend is obvious, and it's not a good one for liberty and individualism.

Ironically enough, it's ultimately not a good one for those who'd welcome it, either.
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The Emotional Illogic of Don Lemon

CNN's Don Lemon

ONLY CNN...and ONLY Don Lemon.

WHY is it ALWAYS CNN? (https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2018/10/31/cnn-host-don-lemon-said-white-men-are-biggest-terror-threat-this-country/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7cdd8078ae41)

I actually LOVE this statement; “So, we have to stop demonizing people and realize the biggest terror threat in this country is white men, most of them radicalized to the right, and we have to start doing something about them. There is no travel ban on them. There is no ban — you know, they had the Muslim ban. There is no white-guy ban. So what do we do about that?”

OK, did you get that?

FIRST, he says, “We HAVE TO stop demonizing people.”

THEN he demonizes an entire group of people! “...and realize the biggest terror threat in this country is white men, most of them radicalized to the right, and we have to start doing something about them...”

Now THIS is a perfect example of OPINION (in this case a highly racist opinion) masqueraded as “news.”

It’s AMAZING that 6% of Americans STILL claim to trust this media. (https://www.businessinsider.com/ap-poll-just-6-percent-of-people-say-they-trust-the-media-2016-4)

The job of this media is to manipulate your feelings, warp your thinking and pit people against one another. They’ve done it successfully for half a century now.

Here’s a way to put this into a proper perspective. If Chris Cuomo, Bill O’Reilly, Anderson Cooper, or Tucker Carlson took America’s crime stats, which show that blacks have committed over 50% of the homicides nationwide since 1976, and said, “We HAVE TO stop demonizing people and come to the realization that black Americans are the biggest violent threat in America today.”

Would they be called out?

The answer is absolutely, YES.

WHY not Don Lemon, the nitwit who exposed a CNN cameraman as a fake interviewee on air (https://youtu.be/eOCcRnvMPEU)?

Is it because the bar is set lower for Don?

If so why?

Does CNN think blacks are less competent?

Again, if so, WHY?

AGAIN, ONLY CNN...and ONLY Don Lemon.

G.W. Plunkitt (of Tammany Hall) on Patronage...

George Washington Plunkitt

The great political sage George Washington Plunkitt was a fascinating character and an astute observer of humans and human nature.

Now, I grew up in the days of the Civil Service Merit System and like my late father, I appreciated a system in which anyone could prepare for and take any exam they wanted, regardless of who you knew, how much money your family had, or what political affiliations you shared.

However, even I have to admire the plain-spoken wisdom of this Tammany elder, who reviled the idea of what was then (1903) called "Civil Service Reform." He clearly supported patronage.

I've begun thinking in a like-minded manner since the standards today, are effectively no standards at all and more often than not jobs are doled out by lottery.

Under these conditions, I say, "Why NOT go back to the old patronage system"?

Here's our friend George W Plunkitt's take on it, from a piece entitled, "The Curse of Civil Service Reform"; "This civil service law is the biggest fraud of the age. It is the curse of the nation. There can’t be no real patriotism while it lasts. How are you goin’ to interest our young men in their country if you have no offices to give them when they work for their party? Just look at things in this city today. There are ten thousand good offices, but we can’t get at more than a few hundred of them. How are we goin’ to provide for the thousands of men who worked for the Tammany ticket? It can’t be done. These men were full of patriotism a short time ago. They expected to be servin’ their city, but when we tell them that we can’t place them, do you think their patriotism is goin’ to last? Not much. They say: “What’s the use of workin’ for your country anyhow? There’s nothin’ in the game.” And what can they do? I don’t know, but I’ll tell you what I do know. I know more than one young man in past years who worked for the ticket and was just overflowin’ with patriotism, but when he was knocked out by the civil service humbug he got to hate his country and became an Anarchist.

"This ain’t no exaggeration. I have good reason for sayin’ that most of the Anarchists in this city today are men who ran up against civil service examinations. Isn’t it enough to make a man sour on his country when he wants to serve it and won’t be allowed unless he answers a lot of fool questions about the number of cubic inches of water in the Atlantic and the quality of sand in the Sahara desert? There was once a bright young man in my district who tackled one of these examinations.

"The next I heard of him he had settled down in Herr Most’s saloon smokin’ and drinkin’ beer and talkin’ socialism all day. Before that time he had never drank anything but whisky. I knew what was comin’ when a young Irishman drops whisky and takes to beer and long pipes in a German saloon. That young man is today one of the wildest Anarchists in town. And just to think! He might be a patriot but for that cussed civil service." (https://glc.yale.edu/curse-civil-service-reform)

It should be known, that by "patriotism," Mr. Plunkitt really meant, "devotion to Party," his being the Tammany Democrats.

Unlike today's milqtoasts, George W. was an unabashed supporter of what he saw as best for Tammany, best for NY and best for the Country; "When the people elected Tammany, they knew just what they were doin’. We didn’t put up any false pretenses. We didn’t go in for humbug civil service and all that rot. We stood as we have always stood, for rewardin’ the men that won the victory. They call that the spoils system. All right; Tammany is for the spoils system, and when we go in we fire every anti-Tammany man form office that can be fired under the law. It’s an elastic sort of law and you can bet it will be stretched to the limit. Of course, the Republican State Civil Service Board will stand in the way of our local Civil Service Commission all it can; but say! - suppose we carry the State sometime, won’t we fire the upstate Board all right? Or we’ll make it work in harmony with the local board, and that means that Tammany will get everything in sight. I know that the civil service humbug is stuck into the constitution, too, but, as Tim Campbell said: “What’s the constitution among friends?”

Indeed...what is a little old Constitution among friends?"

Hell, today you hardly ever hear about that old document. Politicians themselves, just flat out ignore it. At least old Plunkitt acknowledged it.

"And he was not without evidence to back up his claims neither, "I have studied politics and men for forty-five years, and I see how things are driftin’. Sad indeed is the change that has come over the young men, even in my district, where I try to keep up the fire of patriotism by getting’ a lot of jobs for my constituents, whether Tammany is in our out. The boys and men don’t get excited any more when they see a United States flag or hear “The Star-Spangled Banner.” They don’t care no more for firecrackers on the Fourth of July. And why should they? What is there in it for them? They know that no matter how hard they work for their country in a campaign, the jobs will go to fellows who can tell about the mummies and the bird steppin’ on the iron. Are you surprised then that the young men of the country are beginnin’ to look coldly on the flag and don’t care to put up a nickel for firecrackers?

"Say, let me tell of one case. After the battle of San Juan Hill, the Americans found a dead man with a light complexion, red hair and blue eyes. They could see he wasn’t a Spaniard, although he had on a Spanish uniform. Several officers looked him over, and then a private of the Seventy-first Regiment saw him and yelled, “Good Lord, that is Flaherty!” That man grew up in my district, and he was once the most patriotic American boy on the West Side. He couldn’t see a flag without yellin’ himself hoarse.

"Now, how did he come to be lying dead with a Spanish uniform on? I found out all about it, and I’ll vouch for the story. Well, in the municipal campaign of 1897, that young man, chockful of patriotism, worked day and night for the Tammany ticket. Tammany won, and the young man determined to devote his life to the service of the city. He picked out a place that would suit him, and sent in his application to the head of department. He got a reply that he must take a civil service examination to get the place. He didn’t know what these examinations were, so he went, all lighthearted, to the Civil Service Board. He read the questions about the mummies, the bird on the iron, and all the other fool questions-and he left that office an enemy of the country that he had loved so well. The mummies and the bird blasted his patriotism. He went to Cuba, enlisted in the Spanish army at the breakin’ out of the war, and died fightin’ his country.

"That is but one victim of the infamous civil service. If that young man had not run up against the civil examination, but had been allowed to serve his country as he wished, he would be in a good office today, drawin’ a good salary. Ah, how many young men have had their patriotism blasted in the same way!"

It's sad that George Washington Plunkitt is a largely forgotten man in America, today, which, sad to say, is a very different country than the one GW stomped around in...and I don't just mean "simpler times," but a freer, more optimistic nation.

Reading that passage in my youth would've riled me to disgust against Plunkitt's support of the political patronage he called "Tammanyism," devoted as I was to the Civil Service Merit System, he referred to as "humbug," BUT today, seeing clearly, that there is no longer any real "merit" in the Merit System, why not return to patronage, where the Party in power rewards those who toiled for it with Police, Fire, Building Inspection jobs and all the other positions available?

It DOES indeed keep up Party loyalty ("patriotism") and puts all involved in the position of having some "political skin in the game."

What some might say is, "What once was old, seems new again," or, "the wheel is round." Both are true enough. I'd prefer a return to the traditional merit based Merit System...short of that, even the spoils system Plunkitt espoused is better than what we have now.

Anyone really interested in the political ideas that forged a bygone age and STILL influence our own, should read George Washington Plunkitt's, "Plunkitt of Tammany Hall" (https://www.amazon.com/…/0…/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_MKqRBbAWKCQ43), it's an excellent read.

Is Russell Brand a Nationalist Convert?

I doubt it.

The members of this political-media class KNOW the truth that he states in his recent video, "These people, of the former British colonies, the British people themselves were sucked into an idea (Anglo-American Globalism) 50, 60 years ago and now that they're no longer needed, they're being done away with and that breeds resentment and hostility..." and they've KNOWN it for a long time.

He's correct that "You can't have nation states without Nationalism," but what is this? Some new, conciliatory, "I feel your pain strategy," an ideological Hospice for the Nation State...the world we've all known?

Interesting video...nonetheless.

ONE Year...For Using the Criminal Justice System as a Weapon?

Nikki Yovino

No...that's a paltry sentence.

We treat such women far too chivalrously. The sentence should be commensurate with the false charge. If a sexual assault gets you 10 to 15, so should a false charge.

These women no more represent the vast majority of women, any more than Jeffrey Dahmer represents the vast majority of men.

We should punish criminals, make/female, rich/poor, etc. EXACTLY alike.

Those Duke LaCrosse players, Brian Banks...now these two Sacred Heart football players! As the great comic Bill Burr says, "We have an epidemic of gold-digging whores!" (https://youtu.be/x0gaYyNk7QA)

Seriously, there really has been something of a false rape charge epidemic lately.

Put a Rope Round His Neck...

Frederick Hopkins

THIS is the scumbag who killed one Officer (Sgt. Terrence Carraway, just shy of 31 years on the Force) and wounded 6 others in an ambush on Police serving a warrant for his 50-something son on child sex charges.

His name is Frederick Hopkins, age 74...and a Vietnam Vet.

Some may say, I'm not giving My Hopkins enough respect for his wartime service. I DO respect his service and acknowledge that he may have suffered some traumatic damage there.

STILL...father of an alleged pedophile and now...a cop killer.

I say Fred Hopkins deserves our respect, as well as a 1st class trial...followed by a 1st class hanging.

Phillip Mamouf-Wifarts 2016

The Funniest Thing About This "Political Ad" is...

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It's HONESTY!

Funny, yet sadly TRUE.

GREAT comedic piece! Could fit any career politician.

America's Self Destructive Left...

Adam-Troy Castro

I've said this for ages, the greatest gift to the Right, is the Left's inability to make actual affirmative arguments for their causes (the Adam-Troy Castro piece https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10217323838830541&id=1310152014 ISN'T one) and their intolerance based on a false presumption of moral superiority.

The Democrats SHOULD BE able to appeal to someone like myself.

I am pro abortion (at least until the child can survive outside the womb), in fact I support MANDATED birth control and when necessary, abortion for all dependent poor.

I support gay rights.

I support gun rights.

I support the Surveillance State and Capital Punishment.

I support a balance between Supply and DEMAND side economics. ANY worker (ESPECIALLY management and professional employees) working over 40 hours/week should get time and a half. Higher wages translates into higher demand.

I am not religious.

I DO support business owners being able to act on deeply held beliefs, which is why, along with two lesbian bakers from NJ, I supported Jack Phillips.

A ruling against Phillips would mean those two lesbian bakers could be forced to bake a cake adorned with anti gay slurs (which Phillips would also refuse to bake), a Jewish baker could be forced to bake a cake for Hitler's birthday, adorned with swastikas, a Muslim baker could be forced to bake a cake with Mohammed's image on it. ALL of those are no less protected than sexual preference.

Most of my stands are compatible with many on the Left, certainly many of them are far less popular on the Right, BUT I can't support the American Left...American "Progressives," largely because they either can't, or won't make arguments for what they believe and even more so because of their self destructive intolerance.

HOWEVER, I'm also a Nationalist...so that's a deal breaker with our entire political-media class. I've shorted the Euro for a very long time...my hope is that it is eradicated when the EU inevitably crumbles. I'm a Bannon, Haider, LePen, Kurz, Conte, Orban supporter.

Yes, there's money at stake, but that's NOT the primary issue for me.

BUT....even on that score, no one can make actual arguments against my Nationalist position. "We all need international trade and the ability of people to migrate and assimilate into other cultures"...are arguments FOR Nationalism and AGAINST Globalism.

At any rate, since I DO NOT like the Left...I DESPISE Antifa and BLM, and I reject the idea of "white privilege," "male privilege," etc., OR the inane idea that the patriarchal nuclear family, the alleged "cornerstone of capitalism" is evil, I WANT the Left to continue on its current path, with its current approach.
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Another anguished post from a Trump supporter: "Why do liberals think Trump supporters are stupid?"

The serious answer.

Sigh; we do sometimes fall into that rhetorical trap, out of frustration, but if we were to be 100% honest with you we would admit that we find quite a few people on our own side stupid as well, mostly people who have boiled all the complicated issues into slogans and really don't comprehend what they're saying. I think you guys probably look at the dumber of your compatriots and think, "Jesus, this guy's barely rubbing his brain cells together, but at least he can wave a sign."

No, this is what we really think about Trump supporters, the rich, the poor, the malignant and the innocently well-meaning, the ones who think and the ones who don't.

That when you saw a man who had owned a fraudulent University, intent on scamming poor people, you thought "Fine."

That when you saw a man who had made it his business practice to stiff his creditors, you said, "Okay."

That when you heard him proudly brag about his own history of sexual abuse, you said, "No problem."

That when he made up stories about seeing muslim-Americans in the thousands cheering the destruction of the World Trade Center, you said, "Not an issue."

That when you saw him brag that he could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and you wouldn't care, you chirped, "He sure knows me."

That when you heard him illustrate his own character by telling that cute story about the elderly guest bleeding on the floor at his country club, the story about how he turned his back and how it was all an imposition on him, you said, "That's cool!"

That when you saw him mock the disabled, you thought it was the funniest thing you ever saw.

That when you heard him brag that he doesn't read books, you said, "Well, who has time?"

That when the Central Park Five were compensated as innocent men convicted of a crime they didn't commit, and he angrily said that they should still be in prison, you said, "That makes sense."

That when you heard him tell his supporters to beat up protesters and that he would hire attorneys, you thought, "Yes!"

That when you heard him tell one rally to confiscate a man's coat before throwing him out into the freezing cold, you said, "What a great guy!"

That you have watched the parade of neo-Nazis and white supremacists with whom he curries favor, while refusing to condemn outright Nazis, and you have said, "Thumbs up!"

That you hear him unable to talk to foreign dignitaries without insulting their countries and demanding that they praise his electoral win, you said, "That's the way I want my President to be."

That you have watched him remove expertise from all layers of government in favor of people who make money off of eliminating protections in the industries they're supposed to be regulating and you have said, "What a genius!"

That you have heard him continue to profit from his businesses, in part by leveraging his position as President, to the point of overcharging the Secret Service for space in the properties he owns, and you have said, "That's smart!"

That you have heard him say that it was difficult to help Puerto Rico because it was the middle of water and you have said, "That makes sense."

That you have seen him start fights with every country from Canada to New Zealand while praising Russia and quote, "falling in love" with the dictator of North Korea, and you have said, "That's statesmanship!"

That you have witnessed all the thousand and one other manifestations of corruption and low moral character and outright animalistic rudeness and contempt for you, the working American voter, and you still show up grinning and wearing your MAGA hats and threatening to beat up anybody who says otherwise.

What you don't get, Trump supporters in 2018, is that succumbing to frustration and thinking of you as stupid may be wrong and unhelpful, but it's also...hear me...charitable.

Because if you're NOT stupid, we must turn to other explanations, and most of them are *less* flattering. (Adam-Troy Castro)