Truth be told, I was NEVER a fan of President Obama. Lately, he has taken to the media to warn that “one side” is going to weaponize the justice system and rig elections. This smacks of a Russian false flag operation where the Russians sabotage X and then blame the west for the sabotage. We are guiltless, we have been wronged, the other side did it!
What Obama is describing is how the left and powerful progressive Democrats have used America’s justice system to go after their political enemies, yet he projects these wrongs on Republicans with his typical smugness and air of superiority. And yes, Joe Biden has torn a page from Obama’s playbook. The only politician worse to listen to is AOC with her own brand of socialist lunacy. Obama is not a 21st century prophet; he is an elitist, and I for one would like to see him thrown off his sanctimonious high horse and relegated to the trash heap of American failed policies.
Rich and Stupid Too…
Not many people can afford to build a $3 million mansion. A person would have to be sitting on a significant pile of assets to afford that. Still, that doesn’t mean the person has any brains outside of the one area that made them rich. For example, assume I am a genius at franchising. Somehow, I was gifted with the superpower of being able to sell franchise units of fast-food places, and I made myself a handsome nest egg in the eight figures.
Let’s further assume that approaching Thanksgiving, I think it would really be kind of neat to fry a turkey, so I make all the arrangements and set it up in my huge garage, far enough away from my Maserati so oil doesn’t splatter on it. You can probably guess where I’m going with this because I picked up the paper recently and read how a $3 million Connecticut mansion was engulfed in flames due to a harebrained scheme to fry a turkey in the garage.
One question: Who’s the turkey?
Save Some Seats on Your Plane
Recent news stories suggest that Democratic megadonor —yes, that’s a real word—Reid Hoffman is mulling (normal folks don’t mull, only rich folks do) leaving the United States after Donald Trump won the November 2024 presidential election. If the name sounds vaguely familiar, Hoffman was the cofounder of LinkedIn.
It seems this multi-zillionaire is embarrassed at wasting millions of dollars on Kamala Harris’s utter failure of a campaign. I would like to suggest that he pack his bags and invite many of his Democratic friends to fill up all those empty seats on his private plane. If asked, I can provide a list of Hollywood “A names” as traveling companions. The more left-leaning Harris groupies who leave the country, the better. Remember, these are the folks who created many of America’s problems over the last four years.
Antisocial Media
I can’t recall who came up with the term social media. Perhaps it was around the birth of Myspace or Facebook. I really don’t care. What I do care about is that it has morphed into antisocial media with malcontents of every persuasion posting mean-spirited ideas that they dare not say in public or face to face with other Americans.
The cloak of Twitter/X and other platforms provides a curtain to hide behind so folks can say any damn thing they please without being hauled off their lawn and called out as an ecoterrorist, a Green New Deal moron, or a Biden wannabe. These platforms, to the best of my knowledge, were created to bring people together, not spew vicious hate memes and threats.
Look, everyone is entitled to say what they please; however, many might want to abide by Rodger’s mother-rule. What’s that? Glad you asked. Before posting spiteful, cruel, and hateful words, consider what your mother would say if you said those words to her face. Would she pat you on the back and call you a sweet ecoterrorist, or would she haul you off to the bathroom and wash your mouth out with soap?
Hopefully, Americans will begin to be more thoughtful in their posts. While speaking their mind, they can be respectful of others and not come across as an unfit baboon ready for the zoo.
An Overpopulated Government
Think back. Have you ever heard anyone mention that the US government is not large enough or that more government workers need to be hired? Well, I can’t remember ever hearing that, and I am looking forward to a ringside seat to watch the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) get up and running and take a scalpel to both the federal head count and the federal budget. Personally, I’m okay with firing the entire U.S. Department of Education and returning all educational responsibilities to the states—where they belong.
Mr. Google tells me that the 4,400 employees of the U.S. Department of Education have a budget of some $68 billion, and yet they are a near-perfect example of the gang that can’t shoot straight! Kamala says that efforts to close the Department of Education would be disastrous for the nation. I beg to differ. The Department has become a lightning rod for everything wrong with bloated government.
Biden’s Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, was quoted as saying, “If you support eliminating the Department of Education, you do not support our students.” That’s like cigarette companies proclaiming that their product doesn’t cause cancer. The only good liberal Democrat politician is an unemployed one.
DEI Obsession
Did you know that Columbia University has a School of Climate—yes, they really do. What do you expect from a Marxist University in New York City? Anyway, they boast their own earth observatory. Their mission, direct from their website, is to seek fundamental knowledge about the origin, evolution, and future of the natural world. Okay, I get that. Then WHY would they have their own Director of DEI (“Divisiveness, Entitlement, and Intimidation”)?
Notice that we are talking about a DEI Director for the observatory, not the school! It seems that a lot of marginalized folks have had it tough when it comes to earth sciences, and the director’s focus is equality for all among the Ivy League reform-minded elitists. Just so it’s not lost on you, I want to include a statement from their website that should provide some insight into these folks’ state of mind.
Statement on Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory’s Commitment to Anti-Racism and Institutional Change—June 2021
Black lives matter.
We the leadership of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences are committed to making Lamont a diverse, nurturing, and vibrant community founded upon the fundamental understanding that all its members deserve dignity and have value. We have failed science and ourselves over the last half century by unintentionally and/or intentionally excluding representative numbers of Black people, and other people of color, from our ranks. A renewed and effective dedication to anti-racist practices is imperative to the operation of a just institution and our ability to undertake the most creative, innovative, salient, and beneficial research.
For the Last Time, the Trump Tax Cut Was NOT Just for the Rich
I have been interviewed a couple of dozen times over the last year, and I take exception when interviewers ask me about how President Trump in his first term gave a tax cut only for the rich. What generally follows is their statement that billionaires pay no taxes at all. Unfortunately for the interviewer, the facts do not support this. The query shows that the questioner has not done their homework because if they had, they wouldn’t have asked the question in the first place.
Let me explain without holding a tax policy class that none of you signed up for. If you look at IRS data for the full year of 2022, you will find that 48% of all federal income tax revenues were paid by the top 1% of American earners. Let that sink in for a moment. One percent paid nearly half of all federal income taxes. Further, the top 10% of American taxpayers ponied up 72% of all federal income tax revenues. If that were not enough, the bottom 50% of taxpaying Americans paid about 3% of total tax revenues collected. How is that for lopsided math?
What follows is a question-and-answer period of how it is impossible to provide tax cuts only for the bottom half. Wouldn’t that be treating the other 50% differently? We are all given equal protection under the law. The IRS or some brain-dead President cannot declare that African American cab drivers in Detroit will receive an income tax holiday for five years, nor can fast- food workers in Mississippi pay a flat 10% tax for ten years. Were this to happen, the federal government would in fact be discriminating against all groups of people who are not fast-food workers in Mississippi or cab drivers in Detroit.
The Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution would invalidate unequal tax rates for different groups of people. By the way, this would also apply to failed candidate Kamala Harris since she wanted to provide cash incentives only to African Americans.
The Media: It’s Not All Black and White
I felt disgusted as I read an article detailing how Harris campaign staffers felt underserved and bypassed leading up to election night. Apparently, “staffers of color” were not provided resources to effectively get their jobs done. The article suggests that they were denied basics such as water, staplers, paper, chairs, and tables. This sounds like an obvious lack of resource planning by campaign leaders. But I found the lack of respect for folks of every color, or any color for that matter, to be disgusting. Such discord in the campaign of a candidate of color smacks of sheer idiocy.
If the last four years of the Biden-Harris Administration have taught me anything, it is that individuals are categorized, labeled, and classified by their skin color rather than their character, integrity, ethics, and abilities. Rarely do I see the media characterize someone as well-rounded and experienced. Instead, they brand people as a Black candidate, a White candidate, or a Latino. I’m told that someone’s skin color is but 1/16 of an inch thick, yet the media chooses to classify people based on something so small and meaningless.
If the mainstream media wishes to classify someone, why not do it based on their character and abilities? Why do they always use the least important characteristic? If someone is to be judged, let them be judged by the sum and substance of their character and their deeds.
Let’s Lock Some People Up!
I have been involved in the finance world since 1980. That’s a lot of years. During that time, I witnessed countless cases of corporate executives involved in wrongdoings, and no one was really punished except the shareholders. I think back to the Enron clusterfuck and recall that C- suite execs Skilling, Lay, Causey, and Fastow were imprisoned for their wrongdoings. And by wrongdoings, I mean lying, cheating, stealing, and committing securities fraud. We need to see more of the lock ’em up attitude. I hope that Trump’s SEC and DOJ put the teeth back into the law.
It’s no secret that hundreds of billions of dollars of company stocks are owned in 401(k) and 403(b) employer-sponsored retirement plans. When company shares are flushed down the toilet at the first hint of impropriety, the real losers are the shareholders—the retirement plans for you, me, and our neighbors. While Jeff Skilling, Enron’s former CEO, was charged with oodles of criminal counts, he was only given a 24-year sentence and released after 12 years.
How many people’s lives were destroyed over the Enron debacle? How many retirement plans were decimated? How many college plans went up in smoke due to a C-suite full of lying, cheating thieves?
I say lock ’em up for the rest of their lives with NO possibility of parole. Let it be known in corporate C-suites that all execs will be held responsible for criminal wrongdoings. Their pensions will be cancelled and their benefits will be erased, and they will be imprisoned until they take their last breath. Maybe that will put the right amount of fear in them that they must abide by the letter and spirit of the law.
What do you think, dear readers? Let me know.
Post Script: I read with great satisfaction an article stating that McKinsey & Company, the giant consulting firm, has been ordered to pay $650 million to resolve a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Justice. It seems they advised Purdue Pharma on how best to boost sales of OxyContin, the addictive painkiller that contributed to the US opioid epidemic. A former senior partner has agreed to plead guilty to obstruction of justice.
AND, folks, that ain’t nearly enough.
Obviously, the firm had a flock of people working on how the drug company could significantly boost sales and make more money, while addicting millions more Americans on opioids. I’m pretty certain they didn’t assign the task to one guy. Why not indict a dozen or so marketers and consultants, throw them in jail, forfeit their pensions, and personally fine each of them $250,000. That would send a statement to other consultants that their asses are on the line when they accept work that is unethical.
America Uncancelled
I am grateful that the American people voted to throw off the yoke of Biden-Harris unexceptionalism and their poisonous cancel culture, once again embracing American exceptionalism.
One example of American exceptionalism is in our history of Nobel Prizes. It’s no coincidence that about 71% (420) of all Nobel Prizes have been awarded to Americans. In case you were curious, Venezuela has one, and Iran has two. Russia has 30. America, the freest country in the world, provides more opportunities for intellectual expression, free of repression and the threat of arrest. It’s no wonder the largest companies on earth are predominantly American companies.
The reign of elite globalists with their sacks of Soros-backed billions might be headed for a cliff, if we’re lucky. We will soon have in place a supercharged American government headed by President Trump who is willing to go toe-to-toe with the global players who have occupied powerful seats around the worldwide influence table. The Trump Effect is being felt globally in these weeks before he takes office, relegating Biden to an afterthought. Headline after headline is beginning with one word: Trump. In the coming months and years, we will see if America can shake off the failed policies of Obama and Biden and once again achieve the mantle of the greatest country on the planet.
It’s Target Practice Time
You have probably seen media reports that drones have been spotted in 10 New Jersey counties near military bases and Trump-owned golf courses. I think we need a bunch of folks with 12- gauge shotguns to ready themselves for target practice. A Republican Congressman was quoted as saying about drones, “I’ve heard they taste a whole lot chicken.” He favors shooting them down. I couldn’t agree more. I understand how a Realtor might use a drone to fly over a property for sale to take photos. I understand how kids could enjoy them—with parental supervision—in open spaces. But when they shimmer up to a family’s home or near military bases or sensitive government installations, well, its clobbering time. I support open season on these invasive mechanical spies and would not have a problem with responsible patriotic Americans pulling out their shotguns and having some target practice.
Odds ’n’ Ends
I tend to ignore headlines that begin with Jay-Z, Prince Harry, and P-Diddy. I suggest you do the same.
Reportedly, Cher and Eva Longoria are packed and ready to leave Trump Land. Whoopi is finally packing her bags, and we can all bid on who gets to drive her to the airport. It would be fitting to burn all three of their passports so they can’t return.
While scanning media headlines on my computer, I saw one that referred to a nonbinary influencer. My next action was to close my laptop and continue reading Atlas Shrugged.
I spied a GREAT airport sign online: “Movie stars leaving the country – this way.”
You Don’t Create Electricity by Rubbing Two Sticks Together
America doesn’t run on Dunkin’. It runs on energy. I feel right at home among the climate crazies, the Texas oil patch folks, and the solar and windmill crowd because I’m happy with a diversity of energy sources, namely:
- Oil
- Natural gas
- Solar
- Coal
- Wind
- Nuclear
- Hydroelectric
As long as I can flick a switch and the light bulb goes on, I’m happy. But it seems there are a whole bunch of people in charge of America who have it out for nuclear energy. Why do I say that? Well, I studied some recent research that detailed the number of nuclear plants being built around the world. Frankly, I was shocked by what I read.
China is actually constructing 31 nuclear power plants. Europe is building four, and exactly ZERO are being built in the United States. We have all seen the headlines that AI and data centers will need astronomical amounts of electricity. The problem is that hardly anything is being built in developed economies, although the Chinese communists are doing an admirable job.
The United Kingdom is actually working on a nuclear plant (Hinkley Point C Project), the first one in 30 years. The problem is that it won’t be online until 2030. Worse yet, the budget has exploded threefold, now coming in at $58 billion US.
So if you’re intent on getting an electric car, it’s best you hope for drill baby drill because cloudy days ain’t a friend of solar, and nobody wants a 400-foot-tall bird-killing windmill in their backyard. And in case you forgot, we don’t mine electricity. We have to create it by spinning turbines and such from energy sources like those listed above.
Personally, I’m happy with big- ass natural gas pipelines drawing natural gas from Texas’ Permian Basin or Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale. The wells are already in place, and they can pump enough natural gas for another 100 years, no matter rain or clouds.
The War Is Over – and Character Lost
In years past, I admired a great many in government for their intellect, ethics, patriotism, and character. The last four years, not so much. It seems there was a war on character, and it lay there defeated, ripped open by a roadside IED on the battlefield of partisanship, Green New Deal ideology, wokeness, CRT, DEI, Marxism, and progressive liberalism. Those shouting the loudest were of the least character—Adam Schiff, Hakeem Jeffries, AOC, Omar of Minnesota, Pressley of Massachusetts, Tlaib of Michigan, and lest we forget, Tim Waltz and Gretchen Whitmer. All would have failed a ninth grade high school ethics class.
And yet I see a glimmer of hope with selected giants of character, forceful intellects, and an ability to get their ideas across to large groups of Americans. Yes, I’m speaking of Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, Senators Rand Paul and Tom Cotton, along with Congressmen Comer and Jordan. There are many others—too many to mention here. On the battlefield of ideas, their voices resonate with reasoned truths, something that has lately been kicked to the gutter. Yet I am optimistic that the new Trump Administration will revive much of the character that has been lost in government. I am heartened by his Cabinet selections— Americans of abilities and success who want to be part of the solution of raising America from life support to abundant vitality.
Decrying Is All the Rage
Almost daily I spy a media story about a Sheriff, Congressperson, Senator, or some appointed official decrying something. Just today I read of an Oregon Sheriff decrying attempts by locals to write down license plate numbers of illegal alien felons. Apparently, only journalists are permitted to use the word and only when describing an act by an appointed or elected official. I can’t remember a time when my sixth grade home room teacher, Mrs. Baker, decried anything.
Although with three dozen kids in her class, I’m sure she had plenty of opportunities. Ditto for my mom, dad, sisters, and brothers. None. Nada. Zip. No decrying going on there. In the media/political complex, there are dozens of headlines using that magic word. For example:
- S. Election officials decry Trump’s threat to jail them if… (Reuters)
- Huffman leads lawmakers decrying FCC commissioner… (Huffman’s office)
- Oregon leaders pen open letter decrying ‘political violence’ (YouTube)
- After years of decrying mail-in ballots, GOP showing signs… (WUNC)
You get my point. Folks like you and me, we don’t decry anything. I’m sure that the mothers of decrying word-using journalists are so happy with their children’s success that they choose not to decry about it at weekly card games at the senior center.
So I ask you—and be honest—when was the last time you decried anything?
You will find many of my interviews on my website at EOCritic.com.
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