My America

I miss my America. It has changed over the years, and not for the better. Love of country is now referred to as "nationalism" and is framed as a bad thing. Christianity is assailed and denigrated. The white population is called "supremacist". Police and military are spat on by those not qualified to shine their boots.

When I started school, WWII was in full swing. Food was rationed. Almost all production went into the war effort. Women who had never worked outside their home went to work in factories doing jobs that only men had done in the past.

In school, we said the Pledge of Allegiance, saluted the flag, and sang patriotic songs. We brought in nickles and dimes to by War Stamps. When we had enough, we traded them in for bonds. Everyone had skin in the game. My uncles served in the military and I was proud of them. Thank God, they all came home.

We learned civics and geography. We learned about the rest of the world in social studies. We learned to read, and most of us learned to love books and the knowledge they contained. We were taught real arithmetic and later, mathematics. Not all of us planned on college. But in those days there were good manufacturing jobs where skills could be learned and hard work and ambition became a ticket up the ladder. Loyalty counted.

Sometime in the sixties, the geniuses that ran our country decided that Americans shouldn't get their hands dirty anymore. Everyone should go to college and work in offices. We no longer needed manufacturing. We could be a service society. Many apprenticeship programs that provided great training for those who couldn't or did not want to go to college just faded away. Manual skills were looked down on.

In those days, our freedoms and our privacy were respected. The government was much smaller and didn't try to control everyone's life. If you did not live in the 30s, 40s, and 50s, I cannot explain to you the sense of freedom that the average American felt. I dearly wish that I could. I really miss my America.

The Hollow People

Recently I used the term "hollow people" in a response to an on-line article. Circumstances cause me to expand on that little piece of snarky name calling.I was referring to highly opinionated, left wing, hot air bags from the entertainment industry.

There are some really smart and informed people in showbiz. They are the exceptions. Most are focused entirely on themselves. They speak other peoples words and sing other peoples songs. The successful ones have entourages where no one dares say "no".

From the time they first showed talent, they have been pampered and coddled. They have personal trainers. They are dressed by someone else. They are made up by someone else. They have managers to handle their business. Security is provided by others. All is artifice. There is no there there. They are hollow people. Their lines, thoughts, and ideas are supplied by others.

Because they are successful and earn huge amounts of money, because those around them tell them how smart they are, because they receive no evidence to the contrary, they wallow in their personal greatness.

In fairness, being a big name in show business is time consuming. You may never appear out of the current style. You must be seen in all the right clubs with the right escorts. You must make the rounds of the right TV shows. You must always be edgy. Sit down and read a whole newspaper, no time for that. Way to busy.

But they are constantly asked to opine about current events that they have only the most shallow knowledge of. Being "big names", they will always state their opinions as if they were chiseled in stone and brought down from the mountain.

Well that's all OK. They have the right to speak their mind. But the under-informed masses glom onto their word and believe. Why Michael Moore, Lena Dunham, and Susan Sarandon get so much influence in the media, I will never understand. After all they are just hollow people.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. I must put the rumor to rest, I did not celebrate my first thanksgiving the year George Washington made it a holiday.

What makes Thanksgiving great is that it is a pure family and/or friends day. No pressure. No presents. Just good food and football. What could be better.

The only pressure is on the person responsible for the meal. I was that one twenty-eight times in a row and I loved it. The secret was, if I cooked, others cleaned up. If you have ever seen a kitchen after I cook a major meal. It is not a pretty sight.

So, give thanks for all that we have that is good. Ignore, for the day, all that we face that is bad. Eat hearty! Enjoy the games and the L=Tryptophan induced nap. 

May you and yours have a wonderful and peaceful Thanksgiving.

From me and all the Cranky clan!

First We Are Americans

One of the major mistakes, and there have been many, that Democrats have made in recent years is that they have put party before country. They have a liberal agenda of globalization. They have ignored their oath of office to preserve, protect and defend in favor of loyalty to George Soros and his billions.

For many years, Mr. Soros was the man behind the curtain. You had to read a lot of news and dig deep before you realized that he was the master puppeteer of left wing politics. To put it in perspective, he could have served as the model for Ernst Stavro Blofeld of the old James Bond movies. All he needed was a white cat.

In the opinion of many, including myself, this loyalty to an anti-American political philosophy has become an existential danger to the Republic. We are at, or very close to, a tipping point from which there will be no return.

But there are still those out there, including the majority of the media, that are clawing and scrambling to negate the results of the last election. A group of famous philosophers once proposed that "you can't always get what you want. But sometimes you get what you need".

Maybe we are getting what we need with Donald Trump. Maybe his "bull in the china shop" "take no prisoners" attitude is what will pull us back from the brink. Statesmanship had its chance. What we got was politically correct gobbledy-gook. 

While Mr. Trump is too brash to be a statesman, he does love his country and he is moving forward appointing smart, experienced, and skilled people who believe in "America first". It will be a battle. But it is a battle worth fighting and a battle we cannot afford for him to lose.

He must protect our borders, protect our people, and,above all, protect our Constitution. Achieve those three things and we and the country will win. Much to do in so little time.

Random Thoughts - Eighty-Nine

In his first four years, Donald Trump will actually serve our country about one year longer than Barack Obama. No twice a week golf. No extended vacations at taxpayer expense. Millions saved and more work done. Good deal.

I have voted in fourteen Presidential elections. I have never seen rioting and destruction due to a Constitutional change of state. Most of these rioters are bought and paid for, apparently by the Globalist cabal lead by George Soros. This is intolerable and un-American. Strong measures, including arrest, trial, and prison must be forthcoming. 

Liberal Democrats claim to fame is they are deeply concerned with the welfare of the "common" man. They are kind and loving, by their own admission. But for some reason, they feel that it is acceptable to do a complete and thorough character assassination on anyone who differs from their political opinion. They will destroy you, your family, your business, and anyone who supports you. They will even, lately, hire thugs to go out and assault anyone who takes your side. That is just evil. 

Speaking of evil, the spoutings from Harry Reid's mouth lately are sick and degenerate. Is he still representing Democrat thought, or has he just lost it?

People of the Jewish faith should be aware that there are many Democrats who are pushing for Representative Keith Ellison to be chairman of the Democrat National Committee. Mr. Ellison is an antisemitic Muslim. With the strife in the world today, especially in the Middle East, is this a wise choice?

My Patriots lost Sunday night. I watched most of the game. I admit to finding Pete Carroll very annoying, but the Seahawks played well and played hard. Both are great teams. I guess Seattle just wanted the win more than the Patriots.

Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton should be on TV demanding an end to the violence being carried out in their names. By not doing this they are supporting and encouraging it.

What Dems Must Do To Survive

While so many were predicting the death of the Republican party with a Hillary win, it seems more like the possible death of the Democrat party with a Trump win. The Democrats have done so many things wrong that I thought I would dip an oar in and try to help them out. 

I can remember when there was a conservative branch and a moderate branch in the Democrat party. But around the time of LBJ, they started to veer left. Eight years ago they made a hard left turn into liberal globalist social elitism. That might have played well in the salons of Washington and New York, but not so much in what the social globalist elites call "fly over country"

They must get rid of the disdain that they show for the majority of Americans, referring to them as non-college educated working class. I have known many well educated fools in my life. Most of them could not, in a life time, figure out how to build or repair anything. They create nothing but words and theories. Show respect for those that have capabilities that you, in your fondest dreams, will never have.

Lose the idea that "political correctness" does anything but get in the way of honest communication. Get a sense of humor and realize that not every caricature is an insult and not every taco is stealing someones culture. To paraphrase a famous psychiatrist, sometimes a good taco is just a lunch.

Stop denigrating those who are white and Christian. Truth be told, white folks with a Judeo-Christian ethic got this country free and moving forward and they welcomed others who came to enjoy the freedoms that they fought for. Their record may not be perfect but it is better than any other country on this planet.

Stop blaming any repudiation of your elitist ideas on racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, and any other of your phony excuses. Sometimes you are just out and out wrong.

Finally, get a little humility. It is sadly lacking in your words and deeds.

Prediction

It's four o'clock and I have not been watching the news, just Facebook. I'm saying Trump by four. Actually I said that to my wife yesterday, but I thought I'd go public just for fun.

Cheating

I've never been a big fan of cheating or cheaters. From as far back as I can remember "don't cheat" has been drummed into me by parents, teachers, coaches and who ever. And that is right, cheating is just the same as stealing.

But, once again, if you are a liberal, rules do not apply to you because you are so much better and want to make the whole world better in your image. So, any means to your end, becomes the new rule. 

High Democrat mucky-muck and erstwhile CNN employee Donna Brazile passed debate questions along to the Hillary Clinton campaign, to give the woman who is so prepared to be President that she needs no extra advantage, an extra advantage. In doing this Ms Brazile reduced herself to nothing better than a sneak thief.

Ms. Brazile is now suffering the results of her foray into crime, having lost her employment. I don't know if charges can be brought, but she should also be drummed out of the Democrat corps. (For President Obama, that is pronounced core, like in an apple.) I doubt that this will happen. 

But more to the point, Hillary accepted getting a heads up on the debate questions and used them to prepare. That is just dishonorable. She wants to be President of the greatest country in the world, but has no sense of honor and the public knows this. 

So, her qualification are that she is dishonest, untrustworthy, and she is a woman. That is hardly the proper resume for a job like President of the United States. It seems we have a contest of "how low can you go?" Ms. Clinton has supplied the answer.

Character Counts

To be honest, in this election cycle, the character of both candidates is questionable. I would not want either at my home for a dinner party. They are both loud, boorish, and self-involved. Both are also old, white, and very rich, which makes me surprised that they had enough support to become the candidates. 

So, how did they get so rich? It seems to be true that Donald Trump was jump started by a substantial loan from his father. From that, his riches came from his own efforts in the business arena. Principally from buying, selling, and developing property. That is a tough cutthroat business. You have to be equally tough as well as smart to succeed. There are constant lawsuits, zoning problems, and clashes with contractors. Show weakness and they will run right over you.

Hillary, except for a brief stint at the Rose Law firm, has been involved in government. But through the years she and her husband have parlayed public office into a roughly twenty million dollar fortune. How, one might ask? Why, by accepting contributions from foreign governments and others that need influence in our government. In other words, they sold what was not theirs to sell.

Many voters today, were not politically aware, when Bill was roaming the hallways of the White House with his zipper down, trolling for female interns. The Clintons accepted a large donation from the Chinese government and allowed them to buy some of our latest military technology. Then there was the time that they sold a large chunk of our uranium reserves to Russia. Military fighters to Saudi Arabia? No Problem. The list is endless.

Then there are the non-cash donations to the Clinton Foundation that never got declared as income on tax forms. Need a plane ride to a vacation spot or an exotic location for a high priced speech to Wall Street moguls? Just call any one of a slew of shady business people or some Arabian prince. Done and done.

Then, have one set of positions for the little people and a contrary set of positions for those with the big bucks. Yessir, they have come a long way from their old scam of selling a night over in the Lincoln bedroom.

And just to touch on Benghazi for a minute. There were people ready to go in and save those four brave Americans. They weren't allowed to because Hillary was more concerned with offending the Libyan government. So they were sacrificed.

While Donald Trump may be rude, crude, and socially wayward, I can think of no one in American politics of lower character than Hillary Clinton.