The Year

OK. Another year is about to expire.

And? What did we learn?

Re politics, we seem stuck in a tiresome film loop with MSNBC, NYT, WaPo, CNN, et al, breathlessly announcing every couple of weeks that President Trump is finished, that a new revelation is about to emerge from the investigation by Don Quixote, er, I mean, Robert Mueller that will put Trump and his supporters in prison for years . . . Yawn! How much more of this nonsense? Time to put up or shut up.

The Dems got back the House, which is very bad news for the possibility of serious government in the coming two years, but they were more than stymied in the Senate, despite some clear voter fraud.  I suppose we're in for two years of non-stop House subpoenas and "investigations," blather about Dreamers, Diversity, the Climate, and, of course, gun control. The GOP House leadership proved, by and large, miserable SOBs, who would rather give control back to the Dems, than further the President's agenda, the agenda for whom the people, defined as American citizens, voted. The failures to scrap Obamacare, and to begin building the much-needed border wall proved simply outrageous and unforgivable.

Brexit continues to be a mess entirely of May's doing. I guess she just wasn't convinced that when the British people said they wanted out, they wanted out. She and her alleged Tories sold out the British position in some absurd negotiations with the EU. The Brits had the upper-hand! They held all the Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, and Jokers! The EU had nuthin'. I hope that Britain can just tell the EU to get stuffed and walk away; forget about May's deal. If the Brits walk, others will soon follow, and that whole absurd house of cards will come crashing down. Good riddance!

The economy? Well, it's doing pretty well, very well, in fact . . . well, as long as we can continue to ignore the looming debt crisis . . . but we've ignored it for 75 years, so here's to another 75! It's clear to me that there are evil political forces, call them Deep State, Globalists, Uniparty, Communists, whatever you want, working to sabotage the economy in the hopes of destroying Trump. Some of the actions by the Fed are inexplicable otherwise.

And, of course, turning the subject to me, I note that my weapon collection grew notably this past year. Glock 17, SiG P320, several new S&W pieces (including the greatest rifle of all time, the AR-15), a Ruger .22 and a .45, a 1900 Portuguese cavalry sword (made in Toledo, Spain) and an 1850 North Carolina Catawba County musket, were among those artifacts joining the Great Diplomad Arsenal of Freedom. At the risk of provoking great wrath and turning this post into a gun debate, I found the Glock and the SiG mildly disappointing. I thought they both had inferior grips to the S&W M&P 2.0, and while their triggers were marginally better than the S&W's that did not compensate for the grip. That S&W M&P 2.0 in 9mm is just about the most accurate gun I have fired in my life. A beautiful piece of work. I took it to the range yesterday and this morning and was knocking the center out of the target consistently at 3, 5, 7, 10,  and 15 yards. OK, enough of that. Did I tell you that I shot my new M&P 2.0 in 9mm? Huh? Oh, sorry. It's the age.

As habitual readers will know, I don't do New Year Resolutions. They are too depressing. I hardly even do New Year. I, however, will engage in my traditional walk onto the driveway and watch my cars depreciate. That's what passes for excitement these days.

Anyhow, Happy New Year to one and all--well, maybe not to Mueller, but everybody else, well maybe not to Pelosi or Schumer, but to everybody else, well, maybe not to . . . . Did I tell you about my M&P?  

Now I know why Santa did not come down our chimney . . .

                                            Talk about the predator's stare!

Merry Christmas and Syria

Flying in the face of Political Correctness and risking offending thousands of cultures and sub-cultures and people who shop at Whole Foods, I wish one and all a Merry Christmas! There, if that doesn't prove I have guts, nothing will.

Christmas, of course, evokes the Middle East.

That little corner of the world has played an outsized, amazing, totally awesome role in the development not just of Western Civilization but of Global Civilization. We all have grown up thinking about the Middle East's good stuff, but also spent many thoughts worrying about how the next world war would start there, the next nuclear apocalypse, etc. We have seen almost non-stop warfare in the Middle East and its environs, and out of that region, of course, has emerged the jihadi challenge which we in the West continue to face some 1400 years after the establishment of Islam.

This is just a humble little blog of opinion so I am not going to provide a history of the past 2000 years in the Middle East. I, however, was struck by the uproar over President Trump's announcement that we are finished or will be finished soon with our military presence in Syria. (Note: For now, let me put aside the issue of Afghanistan which the President also has indicated he will be reviewing.)

Let's state the obvious: None of us knows the details of President Trump's proposal for our new posture re Syria. None of the pundits and other bien pensants prattling on about it knows those details or what exactly the President has or has not worked out in terms of a deal with Russia, Turkey, the Saudis, the Kurds, Israel or anybody else. So we cannot really comment on President Trump's new approach to Syria because we don't know what it is. What we can discuss is the issue of whether we should have a presence in Syria and whether our presence there has, so far, done us good. That's what I will briefly discuss.

I have written a large number of posts (go here, for example) which discuss our involvement in Syria, another muddled Obama foreign policy legacy. You will see that my principal concern about our involvement in Syria was that nobody seemed to know its purpose. What was the end-game? From what I could discern our Syrian "war" under Obama seemed to involve a lot of blather about fighting ISIS without really fighting ISIS--our President declared them the "JV team," let's not forget--and we had some weird White House declarations about "red lines" when it came to the Assad regime, "red lines" which the White House promptly ignored when Assad crossed them. There was sloppy bipartisan rhetoric about getting rid of Assad; the late John McCain seemed to like posing with "Syrian rebels," and pushing to have them get our support. It seemed we wanted a repeat of the Libya fiasco or the almost equal fiasco in Egypt when we pushed for the Islamist thugs of the Muslim Brotherhood to take power there--that was prevented only by swift action by the Egyptian military which ignored Hillary's advice. Anyhow, I have written lots about all that, and I shan't repeat it.

I made my recommendation back in 2016 on our Syrian adventure, and said our policy should involve taking note of the Israeli position on Assad,

I have stressed more than once that when dealing with Syria's Assad one should look at the Israelis. If anybody has a right and a reason to detest the Assad family dictatorship the Israelis do; they, despite having the ability to do so, have never sought to knock out the Assads. They know that in the Arab world the devil you know often times proves much less worse than the one you don't. Keep that in mind.

Furthermore, I wrote that our policy should,

o Back the Israelis, of course, but also support the Kurds; help them establish their own homeland in territory that is now Syria and Iraq. They are the last major group in the Middle East without their own country. They deserve one. We can and should tell the Turks to get stuffed. Now, of course, the Kurds are Muslims, but even El Cid made alliances with Muslim princes to get rid of other Muslim princes. 

o We must continue to seek energy independence, so that the Middle East becomes increasingly less important to us. 

o Stop importing that war and terrorism to our shores via our currently insane politically correct immigration and refugee policies. 

o Smash ISIS to drive home to jihadis around the world, that Islamic war against the West leads only to their defeat (here, here).

With the advent of President Trump, it appears  our policy in Syria became somewhat better defined and went along roughly the lines I recommended. In particular, I note, yet again, that our growing energy independence makes the Middle East increasingly less important to us. It turns out, we can drill our way to energy independence despite what the progs have told us for years and years.

President Trump did take a much harder line on ISIS, and thousands of ISIS lunatics have been turned into glass in the desert sands. He also sent Russia and Assad some harsh messages when, for example, our forces turned a large group of pro-Assad forces and Russian "mercenaries" into dust. OK, but was our policy working? I don't know. It seems that ISIS lost a lot of ground and personnel in both Syria and Iraq and have been much less active in  Europe and elsewhere since President Trump went after their Syrian and Iraqi redoubts. So maybe we have "won" and it's time to leave; I would have to see the intel to be certain. I assume President Trump has seen it, is satisfied that our primary redefined mission to smash ISIS has been sufficiently achieved, and does not want to see a mission creep that will involve us in Somalia-style "nation-building." Are we leaving the Kurds in the lurch? I don't know, although it would seem so. I recognize, of course, that my soft spot for the Kurds is not sufficient reason to continue to put our people's lives at risk and to get us involved in some distant ethnic/civil war.

So, in the end, I give a qualified "yes" to President Trump's apparent decision to begin to wind down our involvement in Syria--if, in fact, that is what we are seeing. I will have to await further details to go beyond that.

I, however, must laugh at the Dems and other lefties now so concerned about our national security that they insist we stay in Syria. These are the same people who won't let us defend our own borders, or let us take effective measures to keep ISIS out of the USA, but want us hanging around in Syria presumably promoting "democracy" among people who have no clue what that is all about. They so hate Trump that they would prefer to support a war in a place far removed from our key national interests. Yes, let's have a Libya repeat by all means . . .

Merry Christmas, once again.

Clawing Back the Night

December 21 is my favorite day of the year.

It is the day we in the northern hemisphere begin to reconquer the daylight stolen from us by the Aussies and their Evil Down Under Allies. "Soon the light will be ours and the darkness yours!" Wonder if I can get that line into the next Lord of Rings or Game of Thrones rubbish? Sir Peter Jackson will work against me, I know . . . he's part of that Down Under conspiracy . . .

Anyhow, not too much of great interest happening except that the GOP is still running from the Wall. OK, the lame duck House has passed a modest budget for the wall, but, according to the press, the bill will die in the Senate despite the GOP majority.

If Mitchell doesn't invoke the Nuclear Option on this item, the GOP is a hopeless bag of blow hards! They screwed up getting rid of Obamacare and have wasted two years on the Wall. Makes me sick. Anybody who votes against the Wall should have to live in a doorless house and welcome anybody and everybody who wanders in and claims squatter rights.

And, folks, I don't want to hear about comprehensive immigration reform as the excuse for not getting us the Wall. You don't need comprehensive criminal justice reform to know to lock your doors. First things, first.

OK, going down to my cave in the basement.

Back from the Imperial Capital

Drove in last night to my beloved North Carolina after a few days in the nation's mighty imperial capital helping the Diplodaughter move into her tiny apartment. It was raining and depressing; everything very wet and gray. It all had the feel of those 1960s, 70s, and 80s movies about spies in Berlin, sans Sir Michael Caine, of course. So glad to be out of there.

Anyhow, I come back and my front door has stickers from UPS for some delivery that didn't get made because it requires an adult signature. I have no idea what it could be. All my ammo orders already have arrived so it can't be anything too good.

I also get back and find--wham!--that a Federal judge in Texas has done what Paul Ryan and the whole Congress could not do: put a major stake into the heart of Obamacare. Now, I am no lawyer--and don't pretend to be--and don't completely understand his ruling declaring the monster unconstitutional, and I am sure this is not the end of the thing, but it's a damn fine start. Let's see if the GOP has the guts to stand by the death of Obamacare, and not try to resuscitate it in some whacky form. Just make buying insurance into a national or even international market, let people buy--or not--what they want from whomever they want. The market will take care of prices and services.

I also see that the ol' USA has become a net exporter of fossil fuels. Who'd a thunk that possible? I mean, besides anybody with just a few functioning brain cells and no "green agenda" to sell . . .  In addition, some huge natural gas finds have been made both in the US and in Australia. Gasoline in parts of Virginia, by the way, was below $2/gallon--I even filled up once at $1.88/gallon. That's pretty cheap. Kinda gives the lie to the narrative about how we couldn't drill our way out of an energy crisis or that WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF OIL!!! Must switch to solar!! GAIA!!!

The border wall still remains unbuilt. It must be built for both practical and symbolic reasons. A proper wall in the right places will work to stem nonsense such as caravans and coyote smuggling ops. It will also reassert, in this time of globalist rubbish such has produced the Migration Compact (see prior post), that we are a sovereign country that can and does uphold its right and obligation to defend our borders. I have in prior postings provided some ideas on how to help fund it: e.g., tax on remittances, border crossing fee, increased fees for non-US citizen services at consulates, higher fees for immigration services in the US, maybe a small fee on foreign passengers arriving by plane or boat or train (could be assessed on their tickets), etc. There are lots of ways. Let's build the thing!

OK. The Diplowife wants to go to McDonalds to get her traditional Diet Coke. I must obey.

Climate Change and Migration Compact: More Prog Destruction

Sitting here in my rural corner of North Carolina watching my beloved canines run and frolic in six to eight inches of global warming pixie dust. You know the stuff that Al Gore long ago told us would be but a memory. Yes, snow. Lots of it. The beasts are having a wonderful time in it, and I dare Gore or the IPCC or any other of those global warmer hoaxers to take it away from them!

Now they are back inside, cold, wet and happy. Just gave them a towel rub down and they have plopped themselves down by the furnace. All is well.

Well . . . not really.

Our Parisian friends have kept up the protest against the loons running and ruining France, Europe and the West. We'll have to wait and see how that turns out. I think something big is brewing in France, and the ruling class is still not fully aware of it. How else could France be a willing participant in the travesty that will take place the next couple of days in my old stomping grounds of Marrakech, Morocco? Yes, I refer to the UN-sponsored Global Compact for Safe Orderly and Regular Migration. If you've absolutely nothing else to do, go and read it. It's another one of those dangerous word salads which appear on first blush harmless, because, "I mean it's non-binding, and all."  Yeah, right. So if it's non-binding why have it at all? Nonsense. These sorts of documents ARE both binding and non-binding. Let me explain.

It's all really very simple. If a country sees it as binding, it is, if it doesn't it's not. Guess which countries will treat it as binding. Guess. Why the main Western countries, of course. Let me explain. These sort of UN documents and their progressive texts will and do work themselves into the social and political debate and the legislation of Western countries. We, for example, will see immigration lawyers and other advocates of mass migration--legal or otherwise--cite this or that paragraph of the Compact, and use it in legal briefs and political debate. Universities will cite it; the media will praise it; and, of course, Hollywood will endorse it. All that stuff about treating migrants with respect and dignity and due process? Can you guess which countries will do that? Which ones don't and won't? Can you guess what the UN solution for migration is? Why it's lots and lots of aid to poor countries and, naturally, to the UN and its various agencies. Of course! Why didn't I think of that?

You'll find big dollops of Orwellian language in the text, with my favorite being Objective 17 (page 24)--I am sure you can and will point out many other examples. Yes, the UN wants your country to have hate speech laws and do so much more, all of which should be called the No Borders and Prog Lawyer and NGO Full Employment Act. Go ahead get a load of this stuff (my bolding),

a) Enact, implement or maintain legislation that penalizes hate crimes and aggravated hate crimes targeting migrants, and train law enforcement and other public officials to identify, prevent and respond to such crimes and other acts of violence that target migrants, as well as to provide medical, legal and psychosocial assistance for victims

b) Empower migrants and communities to denounce any acts of incitement to violence directed towards migrants by informing them of available mechanisms for redress, and ensure that those who actively participate in the commission of a hate crime targeting migrants are held accountable, in accordance with national legislation, while upholding international human rights law, in particular the right to freedom of expression

c) Promote independent, objective and quality reporting of media outlets, including internet- based information, including by sensitizing and educating media professionals on migration-related issues and terminology, investing in ethical reporting standards and advertising, and stopping allocation of public funding or material support to media outlets that systematically promote intolerance, xenophobia, racism and other forms of discrimination towards migrants, in full respect for the freedom of the media

d) Establish mechanisms to prevent, detect and respond to racial, ethnic and religious profiling of migrants by public authorities, as well as systematic instances of intolerance, xenophobia, racism and all other multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination in partnership with National Human Rights Institutions, including by tracking and publishing trends analyses, and ensuring access to effective complaint and redress mechanisms

e) Provide migrants, especially migrant women, with access to national and regional complaint and redress mechanisms with a view to promoting accountability and addressing governmental actions related to discriminatory acts and manifestations carried out against migrants and their families

f) Promote awareness-raising campaigns targeted at communities of origin, transit and destination in order to inform public perceptions regarding the positive contributions of safe, orderly and regular migration, based on evidence and facts, and to end racism, xenophobia and stigmatization against all migrants

g) Engage migrants, political, religious and community leaders, as well as educators and service providers to detect and prevent incidences of intolerance, racism, xenophobia, and other forms of discrimination against migrants and diasporas and support activities in local communities to promote mutual respect, including in the context of electoral campaigns

Ah, yes, the UN wants the press and others only to report positive stories about migration! The UN doesn't want electoral campaigns that raise concerns about migration! We must make no distinction between legal and illegal migrants. Think only positive thoughts! No calls for The Wall, naturally. No discussion of crime by migrants. That is forbidden.

I also like the casual way the Compact throws in climate change as a factor in migration. It does the usual prog tactic of just assuming there is "climate change" and that it is proven. In the old days, we would make fun of the Soviet delegation at UN when one of its members would begin a discussion with, "As is well know . . . " We knew that a big lie would follow. The progs continue with the same tactic.

By the way, there is no mention in the Compact of one proven factor causing migration: Socialism.

It seems that several countries have realized that this thing is another ticking time bomb thrown into the midst of Western Civilization, e.g., Australia, Italy, several Eastern European countries, Israel, and the USA. The problem is that the governments of those nations, including ours, can and will change and we will inevitably get the sort of virtue-signaling prog rulers who will go along with this destructive nonsense.

Total toxic rubbish.

Is Paris Churning?

I have watched with fascination the recent unrest in Paris and other places in the Fifth Republic. Before, however, I make any comments, let me repeat my well-worn mantra that, "I am not an expert on France and don't pretend to be one." If you want expertise, do what I do, and read the excellent NO PASARAN blog.  There you will find spot-on analyses of what is happening in France, and how it is being misreported by the MSM. You might also want to give a read to the always fun and insightful Canadian The Rebel Media. They have posted some terrific raw video of the demonstrations in Paris and provided excellent commentary on what is happening. I will refer back to that video.

These sorts of events prove tough to place in their proper order of historical importance. I want neither to exaggerate nor minimize the impact of the current disturbances in France. Do they rate with those of May 1968? The February and June rebellions of 1848? The Paris Commune of 1871? A re-run of 1789? Perhaps it is just an ordinary, run-of-the mill street riot? I will let others more knowledgable decide, but, naturellement, that won't stop me from opining.

Now, to what I think I know.

France is in real trouble. I mean REAL trouble. That once great country, in fact, is dying. It, along with most of the rest of Europe, has a worthless leadership class that, as we saw at the WWI commemorations, sees nationalism as a bad thing. That leadership argues that true patriotism means going along with the elite's efforts to kill the sense, the very idea of nation; it means allowing one's culture, traditions, and history to be wiped away, and rewritten to justify the on-going social, economic and political destruction. To object, for example, to the importation of hundreds-of-thousands of poor, illiterate and often violent migrants from some of the most failed countries on earth, many espousing an ideology of hatred for all that France and Western Civilization represent, makes you a vile racist and a deplorable, one who should not be heard, a "far right" pariah. In other words, Citizen,  fermé la bouche and let your betters decide for you. Nothing to see, keep moving. Leadership should be left to the professionals; do not attempt decision-making at home . . .

The immediate cause of the disturbances in France is, of course, the "green tax" that the government sought to impose on French people. In the name of protecting Gaia, the already sky-high fuel prices in France were to be hit with additional taxes. That, however, is only the tip of the iceberg. The foolish economic and social policies of France (and the EU) are making average French people into poor people. To an even greater extent than we have seen on these shores, the middle class is being eliminated, ground into dust. I read some interesting stats on France which now I can't find that showed that the average French citizen is out of money by the 20th of the month. Of course, it's all very different if you have a senior government or EU job. As one of the Diplosons commented to me the other day, "What does a young Frenchman do to accumulate wealth?" Most avenues to potential wealth are heavily taxed, regulated, or otherwise controlled and put out of the reach of the average person. The French education system is a leftist disaster--Perhaps even worse than ours? Hard to believe--and produces the usual crop of highly credentialed and useless morons now standard fare in the West. On top of it all, the chocolate on the soufflé, France continues to support the immigration of other countries' poor. What possibly could go wrong? Rhetorical question, folks, the list of answers is too long . . .

Back to the riots. One thing that struck me was some Rebel Media video in which you can see, through the swirling clouds of tear gas, demonstrators waving the Tricolor and hear them--gasp!-- singing La Marseillaise, arguably the most stirring national anthem in the world. I am not French and don't pretend to be, but that gave me goose-bumps. It, more importantly, also showed that these are not your run-of-the-mill Antifa-type thugs on the street. We might be seeing the rise of militant nationalism in revolt against the elitist globalism that has ruled and ruined the West for the past fifty or so years. De Gaulle would have been proud . . .

France's absurd President Macron has backed off for now on the new taxes--Gaia can wait, I guess. I don't think, however, that he and his fellow "leaders" have gotten the message. Perhaps France needs a President Trump to drive home that it's time to Make France Great Again? I also wonder how a Frexit vote would look? Fat chance that will be allowed . . . so, France continues to churn.

California should emulate the French citizens in the street. Right.

Bush 41

President Bush the senior has died. There are many tributes to him and examinations of his life and legacy out there by people who write much better than I, so I will keep my observations short and, hopefully, not too shallow.

It is easy to be conflicted in an analysis of the achievements of George H. W. Bush. Let me start by saying that I consider him to have been a patriot and a decent person. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, at the age of 18, despite being from a privileged family, he enlisted in the Navy, and become one of it youngest aviators. He flew 58 combat missions, was shot down on one of them, returned to action after being rescued by a submarine, and subsequently received the Distinguished Flying Cross, among other awards for his war-time actions. He became a successful businessman, Congressman, Ambassador to the UN, head of the CIA, Vice President and then President. Not too shabby. Quite a life.

I met him briefly once back in the mid-1980s when he was VP and I was a lowly State Department Pakistan desk officer. I had been tasked with writing some talking points for the Vice President for a meeting with the Pakistani Foreign Minister re our displeasure over Pakistan's continued covert efforts to develop a nuclear weapon. For what it was worth, Bush hit the FM hard and showed he could deliver a tough message face-to-face. The Pakistanis, however, kept working on the bomb, knowing that we needed them to make life hell for the Soviets in Afghanistan.

I know from my time working with Maureen Reagan, President Reagan's daughter, while Reagan and Bush got along well enough on a personal level, there was no love lost between the Reagan people and the Bush people. Reagan had "taken" the Presidency from the man most had considered the front-runner for the GOP nomination, Bush. When Bush won the presidency in the 1988 elections against the absurd and execrable Michael Dukakis, his people wasted no time in flushing most of the Reagan staff out of the government. In fact, a little Diplomad aside, I was called by an outraged and tearful Maureen, who had been unceremoniously thrown out of her office at the RNC within a few days of Bush's inauguration. She had been the Co-Chair of the party and went to her office only to find locks changed and her stuff in the hallway. I was already in Guatemala, and could not fly up to DC to help Maureen move her stuff out. When a year later or so she came to visit my wife and me in Guatemala, she refused to meet the Ambassador, who had been a close friend of Bush at Yale. It was awkward.

Bush had a tumultuous four-year term on the foreign scene: The overthrow of the thuggish Noriega in Panama; the first Gulf War; the death of the USSR; NAFTA; invasion of Somalia. Bush showed that he was not reluctant to pull the trigger and use American power. He, however, did not show that he fully understood the consequences of the use of that power, and we saw a half-finished war in Iraq and the set up for a disaster in Somalia. In Bush's defense re Somalia, however, he did use overwhelming power for limited objectives unlike his successor who flipped that formula and gave us "Blackhawk Down." Re the USSR, neither he nor his successor ever developed a cogent policy for handling Russia and the instability that followed the collapse of the Soviet empire. He showed himself as a tone deaf elitist on NAFTA and allowed Ross Perot to cost him the 1992 elections. He was unable to fathom the revolt that was beginning to brew in the American hinterland. Neither he nor his sons ever understood the Trump phenomenon and found themselves on the wrong side of history on that one.

Anyhow, President Bush, rest in peace.

A Repost on Cultural Appropriation of the Worst Kind

Below is my traditional repost on Thanksgiving. I know my long-suffering six readers will find it a bore, but I have a house full of relatives and dogs, and I have been put in charge of the Thanksgiving meal. I am not a good cook, at all. So this is going to be a challenge. In the past we did as the Pilgrims did, have dinner at an Indian casino (That is what they did, right?) but, despite my being in the land of the great and much persecuted and maligned Cherokee, there isn't one nearby, so . . . . Turkey cooking bag here I come! Deep political thoughts will have to wait.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and belated Happy Thanksgiving to Canada.

Feathers 

Yes, feathers. Not the figurative kind that fill leftoid heads, but the real kind that cover birds. We are going light today. Our topic is feathers and how they nearly produced a civil war in the Diplomad clan, and how echoes of that strife apparently will reverberate on the 4th of July.

As the six regular readers of this blog are painfully aware, during the Reagan years I served for a time at the UN in New York. We loved New York City, even with all its inconveniences especially with two rambunctious boys. Schooling was a problem as the local PS was, well, pretty bad. When two of the vastly overpaid teachers at the school told us that they would never send their own kids there, we decided to yank our boys out and send them--at considerable cost to the Diplomad bottom line--to private schools. One went to a school run by Irish Catholic nuns, who wanted no parental involvement, "Thank you very much, but we know how to do this." The older son went to one run by strangely liberal, yet oddly conservative Jews who wanted lots of parental involvement in the school as long as the parents did what the school wanted. Hey, it's New York. Live with it.

Well, as it does every year, the Thanksgiving holiday rolled around. You must understand we had spent most of our lives overseas. The boys had been born in Spain, and hardly had been in the US. Educated abroad, they--God help me--had grown to love soccer football soccer with both of them becoming (and remaining to this day) rabid fans of Spain's La Furia Roja. Their grip on Americana was a bit weak. Please remember that as this saga proceeds.

Another piece of background you will need. My Spanish wife hates, detests, abhors, loathes, etc, feathers and any creature sporting them. She shows a special wrath for chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese. She cannot stand the thought of fowl on the meal plate. I have seen her blanche and break out into a cold sweat at fancy diplo dinners when served quail, duck or some other feather-bearing beast. It is not funny; better said, she has no sense of humor about this matter. My efforts to convince her that chicken tastes just like iguana have had no positive effect. Whenever we go to a restaurant, regardless of what she orders, she insists on, ahem, grilling the waiter on whether any foul fowl was involved in the making of her pending meal, "Uh, no ma'am, our salmon is, uh, salmon. It's a fish, not a bird." "Yes, yes, but the rice and the vegetables, were they cooked with chicken?" I am used to it by now.

Thanksgiving Day in New York, 1985. My older son, then about six was in a bad mood. I asked what was wrong, "You have no school today. Mom is making a nice Thanksgiving meal. What's wrong?" He glared at me, "The Pilgrims did not eat paella! They ate turkey!"

Explanation. Given the Diplowife's aversion to feathery creatures, our overseas Thanksgiving Day meals consisted of seafood paella. My wife had, ahem, implied in some way . . . oh, heck, she flat out told the kids that the Pilgrims ate paella with the Indians. Maybe she was thinking about Cortez and Pizarro, I don't know, but anyhow the kids had gotten into their heads that paella was the meal on Thanksgiving. Now in NY, the older boy had been asked the previous day to make a presentation at school on Thanksgiving. He, of course, reported that the English Pilgrims sat down and shared paella with the Native Americans. This caused a bit of a commotion and, I guess, led to some considerable ridicule, or what the politically correct nanny-staters now would label "bullying."

He was furious with us. He refused to eat paella and demanded a turkey. Even my wife was shocked into submission by the uncompromising fury coming from the tyke. It was Thanksgiving Day. I had to find a turkey in Manhattan! I dashed out of our building on the upper east side. All of the supermarkets were closed. A turkey! My kingdom for a turkey! I wandered the cold, darkling desolate concrete canyons, my despair growing and threatening to overwhelm me. I had let down my kids! The wages of sin, the consequences of falsehoods! God give me a sign that You will allow me to redeem myself . . . Wait! A deli! Still open but about to close! I ran in! Turkey sandwiches! They must have a turkey somewhere! A bizarre negotiation followed in which I finally convinced the suspicious Pakistani owner of the "Jewish" deli to sell me a whole kosher turkey at the price per pound of the sliced sandwich meat. I paid him a fortune--in cash--for a small bird about the size of a Chihuahua, and ran like the Grinch with my turkey under my arm.

My kids had turkey that day, and every other Thanksgiving since then has featured a big bird on the table. My wife refuses to sit anywhere near it, and has her own separate fish-based meal.

This will be an issue on the Fourth of July. The Thanksgiving paella got moved to Independence Day. The kids, now grown, of course, alas, are starting to make noises of impending rebellion against paella and in favor of hot dogs and other beast meat. The Diplowife mistrusts hotdogs, even the kosher all-beef ones, as stealth chicken missiles. She does not want anything with the potential of bearing fowl touching our BBQ grill or being anywhere near anything else that might be cooking. It appears that we might have a split Fourth meal. One side of the family eating chicken wings and hotdogs, and the other with the paella. Now that I think about it, this seems an appropriate metaphor for what is happening to our country.

The Progs Vs. Democracy, Part Million of a Zillion

I have prattled on at some length and frequency about the danger posed by the progs to our Republic and to Western civilization. I don't want to be a one-note musician but . . . . . .

The midterms. They are history now. The results as reported officially were a mild set-back for the Republicans and a mild set-back for the progs. Neither side got what they wanted.Note, however, that the prog side did what it always does: it sought to cast into question the verdict of the voters. First, of course, as we have discussed many times, they have arranged it so that we don't really know who is voting, where, and how often. How nice. They reject any talk of fraud and refuse to allow any meaningful investigations into the fraud that is so clearly going on. To ask that the voting system be protected and be a valid conduit for American citizens' views, gets you labelled a racist and a vote-suppressor. The progs roundly reject calls for voter id, and even where it does exist, they issue drivers' licenses and other official ids to non-citizens anyhow. But even that is not enough. The expansion of early and absentee voting has opened even more avenues for prog fraud.

The great failing of the Republicans and conservatives, in general, is that they have lost control of local institutions such as universities, schools, courts, and, more to the point of this little essay, local government most notably election boards. Hence, we see the immediate and loud calls for recounts and other such measures to overturn the announced results when all the other instruments of prog fraud have failed to produce the "proper" electoral winners and losers. The most dramatic example in the USA in recent times was the instant rejection of Donald Trump's electoral victory in November 2016. We saw the usual calls for the abolition of the electoral college, but beyond that calls for recount in those states where Trump was not supposed to win (the bricks in "the Blue Wall"), demands that duly elected electors of the Electoral College refuse to vote for Trump, and even before he had taken office, calls (which continue) for his impeachment, and/or the invoking of section four of the 25th amendment to the Constitution. Other progs have called for a military coup, and, of course, we have seen the mayhem on our streets by the Antifa thugs of progdom. It seems that only those elections which produce the right result are legitimate.

But, alas, it is not only in the USA where we see this prog adversity to elections that produce the wrong result. The ongoing Brexit mess in the UK is another prime example of how the progs and their global elite buddies seek to pervert the will of the voters. In a stunning victory for the principle of freedom and national determination, in June 2016, British voters decided they wanted their country back and expressed their clear will to leave the smothering EU. As noted in my post of June 27, 2016,  the opponents of the will of the people wasted no time in launching a counterattack. The vote barely had been tabulated when prog calls went out for a new referendum because the voters were too stupid to understand what they had just voted for. We saw all sorts of stories in prog media of how British voters didn't even know what the EU was, and on and on.

As predicted by this humble blog, that was only the beginning of the counterattack. The UK's PM, the inept and duplicitious Theresa May, never favored Brexit, as befits a member of the pampered elite, and engaged in obvious foot-dragging and desultory negotiations with the EU Mandarins. Instead of keeping it all simple, to wit, the UK had the upper hand, the May government did what prog elites always do in these cases, they made Bexit into a complicated mess, something which the great unwashed would never be able to understand.

The negotiations with the EU have produced a 550 page monstrosity of a potential agreement. We, in effect, see that Britain must seek the permission of the EU to leave. It must pay billions of pounds, comply with all sorts of EU norms, apparently surrender its border with Ireland, have no say in EU decisions, etcetera, etcetera. We'll see how the Leavers respond, but unless the Leavers can do something, this stinking turd of fake Brexit will be presented to the Parliament and probably to the people. It will be defeated, I think, and then . . . . well, "Blimey! We stay in the EU!"

Democratic norms are such a bore . . .

A Variety of Things, Good, Bad, Embarrassing, and Awesome

It is, of course, November 11, and the one hundredth anniversary of the end of the war to end war.  Here in the USA we now call November 11, Veterans' Day, and try to honor the service of all our veterans in our way too many wars and quasi-wars.

President Trump is in Paris for the commemorations and, according to the press, had to sit through some pompous exposition by Macron on the evils of nationalism. Macron might do well to reflect that France would not be in quite the mess it now finds itself as home to thousands of jihadis and other malcontents, if France's ruling elites had shown a little more concern for nationalism. He tried to make "nationalism" sound evil and to make some sort of distinction between it and patriotism. All that rings hollow coming from the "Euroelite" that has caused so much devastation at home and abroad, and which threatens to put a stake into the heart of the Old World. Macron, of course, also has returned to the old subject of an EU army. I have written a great deal, in the Old Diplomad 1.0, about the insanity of an EU army when the Europeans won't even pay for NATO. It's just another fevered dream of the Euroelite. All this drives home the long-standing Diplomad dictum, "Never listen to the Europeans." To listen to them will bring you Libya and other insanities.

Here at home, there can be no longer ANY doubt, if any existed, that the Democrat Party, the world's oldest continuously operating party, is nothing but a power-mad and criminal organization. The party of slavery, Jacksonian genocide, civil war, Jim Crow, the KKK, treason, and lynch mobs, continues its traditions. Once again, we see the vast resources of the Criminal Party marshaled to steal an election or two. Once again, we see the calls for endless recounts, the sudden apparition of "lost" boxes of ballots, the "accidental" destruction of records, and the insistence on non-citizen votes being counted. It is not enough to have the foreign and the dead vote, and living Americans vote more than once. No, we have to keep counting and counting until the sum is the "right" one, i.e., the Criminal Party wins. This has got to stop. As I have noted repeatedly, I have a lot of experience as an election monitor and could never certify our elections as clean and fair. It's a national embarrassment.

On the good news front, I got in a lot of range time this week.

I took my Spanish sister-in-law to the Triangle Shooting Academy in Raleigh, and, after the appropriate safety briefings from the terrific staff there, let her blast away. She went from visibly shaking when I pulled out my S&W MP AR-15 ("I have never seen that type of gun!") to shouting with delight as she put an enormous amount of expensive .223/5.56 ammo downrange. We had to go shooting two days in a row, as she, who had never held, much less fired a gun in her life, noted, "It is addictive!" She also got to shoot my .22 Ruger target pistol, my new Sig P320 9mm, my two S&W MP 2.0 one chambered in .40 and  the other in .45, one of my beloved Colt Government Model 1911s in.45, and two of my revolvers, the S&W .357 mag and "Dirty Harry's gun," the magnificent S&W .44 mag. Her favorites? The AR-15 and the S&W .45--she was actually very good with that one. She bemoaned how in Spain it is virtually impossible for a law abiding citizen to own a handgun, "You have to be a criminal or a terrorist to have one." She carefully wrapped up her targets and had me write on each the date, the make of the gun, the caliber, and the range distance (most of the hand guns at 5 meters, the AR-15 at 20 meters). I got her on video just in case the Guardia Civil needs it. I also spent this morning cleaning the guns, and ordering more ammo. She and the Diplowife are in New York City today and will be watching the Veterans' Day parade.

OK. Off to walk the dogs and reflect on the perfidy of the so-called Democrats.

Thank you veterans!

And . . .We Have Barney!

As this little post is being drafted it appears that the Blue Dems will take control of the House of Reps and are going to gain over 30 seats, maybe 35. The Red Reps will keep the Senate and expand their margin by (it seems) three seats. So, in my most humble opinion, we saw neither a Blue wave nor a Red tide; we got us a Purple Barney.

Under normal circumstances, yesterday's results are OK for everybody. We have split government of a sort that the Founders seemed to prefer. Nobody has too much power, and everybody has to make deals to get half of a loaf.

Not bad, except . . . these are NOT normal times. There is an element of craziness and mob rule in the Democratic party that is (understatement) troubling for the future of our country. The first order of business will be to put an end to uncovering the scandals of the FBI, CIA and DOJ. We will see an attempt to revive the dying Russia! probe. We will see lots of loose talk about impeachment of Trump and Kavanaugh and anybody else they don't like, and endless impeachment investigations. We will see an end to legislated border security and efforts to put an end to election fraud. Forget coming up with a reasonable federal budget, and there will be an effort to cut the military. I have no idea what will happen with the new NAFTA deal which requires House approval.

On the good news side: If you had to pick one chamber to control, the Senate is the one. The GOP has that and more comfortably than the numbers alone would indicate. There are no McCains or Flakes unless newly elected Senator Mitt Romney decides to take on the "maverick" role. That means the effort to transform the judiciary into protectors of the Constitution can continue. That's a good thing. It also means no impeachment effort will prosper, also a good thing.

So let's see how President Trump handles Barney, a creature naturally disposed to primeval swamps.

My suggestion? Not that anybody is asking or that President Trump needs my advice, but I would call Congress into session today. Ram as much of my agenda through the lame duck session as is possible. Hope that Paul Ryan, perhaps one of the biological fathers of the GOP loss in the House, doesn't come up with some reason to stall and muddy as he did on health care.

To bed.

A Little Lightness

No politics. I can't stand watching the commentators on what might or could or will or would happen in next Tuesday's midterms. All the speculation about which voter base is more motivated and what it all means, is just flat boring and tiring. We'll see what happens; we'll see if we have blue wave, a red tide, or something Barney purple, instead.

I am in DC right now, having driven up from NC; sitting in my hotel room while the Diplowife and her sister visiting from Spain raid a nearby TJ Maxx. We will be seeing the two DC kids in a couple of hours. The Diplodaughter just snagged a pretty good gig at the White House working on foreign aid issues. She's waiting on her security clearances; I suggested she just go get the ones pulled from Hillary . . . guess it doesn't work that way.

Anyhow, we spent several very nice days at our little house in Wilmington. We have pretty much repaired it and it's almost back to its glory days.

Wilmington, NC is a perfectly delightful town.  It has a lot of old Southern charm which still resists the invasion of university students, a growing film industry, and expats from around the USA and the world.  The Diplowife, Diplosisinlaw, and I took the two Diplodogs to the beach. These big bad boys, although born in California, had never seen the ocean much less been on a beach. It was pure joy to watch them react to the waves as they went from terrified to being in love with plunging into the somewhat frigid waters.

Here we see the Diplowife auditioning for a role in "Beastmaster, Mistress of the Waves and Wags."

As noted, it was a relaxing non-political joy to watch these guys racing up and down the beach in their duel with the waves. Dogs are the best.

Anyhow, that's it for today.

Signing off from the Great Imperial Capital.

Brazil

I am not an expert on Brazil and don't pretend to be. It, frankly, has been several years since I followed developments in that country very closely. My once pretty good Portuguese has morphed into a sloppy mix of Spanish and Portuguese, what Latin Americans call portuñol.

I am, furthermore, not an expert on Brazil's president-elect Jair Bolsonaro. I look forward to comments from people who know more than I do on Brazil and Bolsonaro.

I am, however, pretty good at reading through media hit jobs. Bolsonaro has the international media, political, and academic elite in a mad spin. We see the usual labels trotted out, "authoritarian," "far right," hater of the Amazonian Indians, lethal for the environment, etc. My favorite, of course, is "fringe" politician. Interesting how a fringe politician can get 56% of the popular vote. I guess 56% of Brazilian voters are on the fringe--helluva fringe, that . . . seems, in fact, more akin to a majority, but then I've never been good at math.

The absolute worst thing about Bolsonaro, of course, is that he is suspicious of China and Iran, and--WORSE!--seems to like and admire both the United States and--HORRORS!--Donald Trump! Yes, that very same anti-semitic Trump who moved the US embassy to Jerusalem; that same racist  and misogynist Trump who has created the best job market for blacks, Latinos, and women in our history! How could he like somebody who does those horrid things?

Bolsonaro wants to put Brazil first! Shame! Shame!

As noted above, I am not keenly familiar with Brazil's politics. I do know, however, that preceding years of corruptocrat leftism have been disastrous for Brazil. The country's economy is in a mess and poverty is growing. I also think I know that Bolsonaro is going to have a a very tough time getting his agenda of privatization and deregulation through. Turning that Brazilian ship around is a massive undertaking and he will be resisted every step of the way. If you think we have a Deep State here, you need to check out Brazil.

In my many years in the Foreign Service I had the opportunity to encounter Brazil's diplomats. They are very well trained, speak many languages, and know their way around and through international organizations better than Bill Clinton does interns. They are also exceedingly anti-American, pro-socialist, and seek to undermine the West's positions wherever they can. The arrogance and smugness of Brazilian diplomats is hard to match. At both the UN and the OAS, they were among our toughest opponents, missing no opportunity to undermine us. They were totally unscrupulous, in other words they openly lied to get what they wanted. You could not trust them at all. The Brazilain Itamaraty  (foreign ministry) is a hive of old Third World think. Cleaning that out will prove a task bigger than Hercules' assignment to cleanse the Aegean Stables. You need to run the Amazon through it. I can only imagine what Bolsonaro will run into with the nationalized industries and the huge bureaucracy that chokes the life out of what should be one of the world's richest countries.

Anyhow, I wish President-elect Bolsonaro all the best. Brazil needs a genuine patriot who will get Brazil's house in order before it tries playing global superpower. I hope that he and Trump can establish a good relationship.

Gaza South: The Central American Caravan

I have written with some frequency and length about the existential threat the USA faces on its southern border. I see that the caravan stunt of last March-April has been renewed with great vigor. I noted at the time that,

this little stunt is outrageous as it is being, as noted, aided by a nominally "friendly" country, Mexico (see my take on Mexico's friendliness here and here). Not only that, but legally the marchers have no case. If they are fleeing Honduras, they can seek asylum in Mexico, the first stop in their "escape." Mexico has the responsibility to grant them asylum, turn them over to the UN, or return them to their country of origin.

That remains true today, of course. It is a hostile act, an overtly hostile act, by the governments of Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. The so-called march northward is clearly funded by somebody with deep pockets and good organizational skills, and abetted by officials in those countries. The immediate victims, of course, are thousands of poor people being lied to, exploited, and put in great physical danger.  We see pictures of marchers painting swastikas on American flags and then burning them, and waving flags of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador at the head of long columns of marchers. These people apparently so hate racist, xenophobic America, and feel so patriotic about their home countries, that they are putting their lives at risk to head for the USA and get away from their non-sh*thole countries.

The usual morons in the media are having a field day trying to blame these marches on Trump. I guess, in a way, Trump is to blame as under him the US economy rockets along and generates new jobs and rising wages for our workers, all of which serves as a magnet for the poor of the world. We should ask President Trump to stop winning for the USA, and that would, I assume, slow down the rate of marching. Right.

In other words, elect the Democrats and that will make the USA a much less attractive place to live for everybody. We could do that . . . or we could do what we should have done long ago: build the wall; change the immigration laws so that you can't come here to mooch or work illegally; and punish the traffickers. By traffickers, by the way, I include the governments of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, and the funders of these marches. Do what I long ago suggested, that until these countries begin to act as "friends," use our military and other elements of national power to shut the border to all traffic in goods and people; suspend issuance of visas to nationals of those countries; and, of course, drastically reduce those nations' diplomatic and consular presence in the USA. Yank us out of NAFTA, and tell those American companies who build their factories in Mexico, that doing so is a bad bet on the future. Prosecute any American individuals or organizations involved in funding, organizing, or leading these marches.

The President has said that he thinks there are probably MS-13 and Middle Eastern terrorists among the marchers. The media, of course, sent a couple of reporters down to Mexico and could not find any such creatures. We, of course, all know that if we ask an MS-13 or ISIS member trying to sneak into the US, whether he is one of those, they will answer truthfully. Right.

You know, I don't care if there is or these isn't a member of the MS-13 or ISIS in these marches. The marches themselves are a threat to the US. If they are allowed to get away with the insertion of thousands of people across our border, we have stopped being a nation. The Israelis understand that and haven't fallen for the same stunt when it has occurred along their border with Gaza. The left want images akin to those in Gaza along our border. The marches must be stopped.

Voting Early (and Often?)

I am not a great fan of the spreading contagion of early voting. In them-thar olden days, you voted on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and that was basically it--except, of course, for  absentee ballots generally reserved for military serving overseas or people in hospitals or with other medical excuses. No more. Early and absentee voting have been dramatically loosened, and one needs have no particular excuse for either. One can also register and vote on the same day--that's made for abuse.

OK. Despite my antipathy to it, I took advantage of early voting here in North Carolina. It began on Wednesday, October 17 and will run through Saturday, November 3.

I showed up before 8 am on the 17th, and was surprised to find a considerable crowd. I was also surprised to find lots of campaigning right up next to the voting station--this despite signs prohibiting such beyond a certain point. To get into the building, one had to run a gauntlet of people handing you  filled-out recommended ballots, a variety of materials on one or another ballot proposal, and information on candidates for a variety of jobs. Everybody, I want to note, was friendly, and I felt no intimidation. I, however, noticed that ALL of this campaigning was coming from the Democrat side. There was none, not one, pamphleteer supporting Republican or conservative candidates and issues. The ballot itself, I quickly saw, also reflected a lack of Republican ground game. Many slots for local positions, including judges (voting for judges, I find an odd thing) had only a Democrat candidate. Even the sheriff slot had only one candidate, a Democrat. On one judge slot there was one Democrat and two Republicans running--nice way to split the vote, fellows.

To cut this boring story short, I voted only Republican, leaving "D Only" slots blank, and voted exactly opposite of the recommendations for other issues that the pamphleteers had made. One pamphlet had been specially designed to "trigger" me: it was labelled, "For a Progressive North Carolina Vote . . . " and then the recommendations.

As an old election observer, with many elections around the world under my belt, there is no way I could certify our election process as free, fair, and open. Inside, for example, the voting office I was never asked for an ID of any kind--it's expressly prohibited--and merely had to state my name and address, and sign an affidavit that I was who I said I was. The clerk checked my name against the address I gave, and handed me a ballot. That was it.  When I got home, I had in my mailbox an absentee ballot from my old address in California; I added that document to one I had gotten a couple of days earlier from my old address in Virginia, and a voting reminder notice I got last week from my old address in Florida. I did not avail myself of these ballots.

This system is broken, and badly so. It clearly comes from an earlier age when we all knew our neighbors and didn't move so much. It is clearly early 20th century at best. As noted above, it's made for abuse.

Mobs and Tribes

What a weird week. I know that phrase is getting used a lot lately, but still.

Well, I am so glad that the rest of the world has caught up with the Diplomad in my long-time description of the Democrat Party as the party of the lynch mob. If you have absolutely nothing else to do, feel free to go through posts over several years, and you will find my description of the world's oldest political party as the party of the lynch mob.

That is what Democrats and their acolytes do: they create, lead, and participate in lynch mob justice. Just about any issue they adopt quickly becomes fodder for that mob. It is time for the Democratic Party to go away, and completely restructure itself into something other than what it is now. Time, in that old post WWII phrase, for the Democrats to "demob." Battering cars, flinging yourselves at doors, forming cry circles, chasing people out of restaurants, and threatening anybody who disagrees with you with acts of "incivility" is not the way to go.

To add just another touch of weirdness, we have Senator Elizabeth Warren proudly announcing DNA results that "PROVE" she's a Native American. She fell right into Trump's trap. She had made a nice career for herself in Harvard and other "elite" institutions by claiming to be a Native American woman of color. Trump promptly labelled her Pocahontas and made her a laughing stock. She couldn't leave it alone and doubled down, taking Trump's DNA test challenge. She produced a weird video in which some geneticist whom she hired says she definitely has Native American "markers" in her DNA. You can read up on this weirdness but I must just point out that she has a tiny fraction of "Native American" DNA, which folks have been quick to point out is well below that which average Americans have. What has not been too widely noted has been that these DNA testing services have little if any Native American DNA samples from North America as most of the tribal nations have refused to participate in providing samples. The testing company's "Native American" DNA samples actually come from Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia. So if the test has "proved" anything, it has "proved" that Warren might be 1/1024 part hispanic Aztec, Mayan, or Inca. Wow! The clown of Mass has beclowned herself further. Trump wins again.

Before I have to return to my hurricane damage duties and working on my father's estate, let me make this vow before my six readers: I take the pledge never to vote for any Democrat or Democrat-backed policy ever in my life.

Let's make the mid-terms memorable. I want to see more prog crying circles, and more progs flinging themselves against giant locked doors . . . it brings me great pleasure in my old age.

"Survivor"

Over five years ago, I wrote a little piece on how progs transform the meaning of words. I noted that the old Soviets had been masters at this transformation of words. That skill, however, did not die with the much unlamented Soviet Bloc, as is well know. I followed that piece up a few months later with another, in which I noted that,

Words have meaning, and the left is very good at ever so subtly altering the meaning of words so that over time those words no longer mean what they meant. Words, of course, are the bullets of intellectual debate. If you allow your opponent to select your ammo for you, well, let's just say you are at a disadvantage.

In other posts and reader comments here, we have discussed a range of words which have become transformed into things far removed from their original meanings: gay and liberal, of course, are two words which come immediately to mind. There are many more, of course, as the progs try to make 1984 into a how-to manual. Let me bring up another perfectly good and evocative word now heading for the freak show booth, "survivor."

Survivor: A great and strong word, and once one easy to understand.

If you sailed on the Titanic, or the Lusitania, or the Hood, or the Yamato, or the Indianapolis, or the Andrea Doria, and made it home, you are a survivor. If you were a Jew, a Gypsie, or a Jehovah's Witness in Nazi Germany and made it through the horrors of the holocaust, you are a survivor. If you made it through a fiery plane crash, or a horrid car wreck, or a massive train derailment, well, you are a survivor. If you were at. the facility in Benghazi when it was attacked by the jihadis and Obama/Clinton/Rice did nothing except lie and you came through, you are a survivor. If you were brutally attacked, beaten, and raped, and lived to tell, you are a survivor.

If you had your bottom pinched, or underwent some catcalls, or got groped on a date, or had to put up with a "hostile work environment," you are, well, let's just say "survivor" is not the label for you, anymore than it would be if you had your pocket picked or your car burgled. Depending on the example you pick, you are a victim of perhaps of a crime, or most certainly the sort of rudeness and crudeness which perhaps should have provoked a slap across the face, or a swift kick to the nether regions, or--how about this?--a complaint to the appropriate authorities.

Victim does not equal survivor.

The word "survivor" is now quite easily thrown about by anybody who claims to have suffered a "sexual assault." The problem, of course, is that "sexual assault" has been steadily redefined and watered down so that just about any action can be labelled a "sexual assault." Now it can be a boorish comment, a leer, or a gesture. To claim that as a "sexual assault" insults those who have suffered and survived real sexual assault.

Let's be a bit more judicious in the use of the label "survivor" for the sake of the real survivors.

Justice

With a vote of 50-48, Judge Kavanaugh will become Justice Kavanaugh.  As you all know--so, of course, I will repeat it--Kavanaugh had to endure a thoroughly disgusting gauntlet to become a Justice. One thing is to have open political and ideological differences and disagreements on legal interpretations, those are legitimate issues to explore and discuss--Have at it!--it's another thing to try to destroy a person's reputation and career, and put him and his family in physical danger. The loons in the Democratic Party aided by the media echo-chamber and the cesspool that our academic institutions have become tried to do precisely that.

Let's be up front: Dr. Ford lied.

She lied. She became a tool for the loons, and was willing to lie to stop Kavanaugh. Why has she, according to her lefty lawyers, now decided not to pursue the accusations against Kavanaugh? Why did she only pursue them once Kavanaugh become Trump's choice for a seat on the Supreme Court? Why doesn't she go to the police in Maryland, where there is no statute of limitations on sexual assault, and make a formal presentation of what she says happened to her in Maryland however many years ago she decides it happened? Because . . . drum roll . . . it's not true. I really hope her perjury is not simply forgotten; she needs to pay for it. She, at least, should be sued for every penny she has made in her GOFUNDME effort. The loons must know there is a cost to being a loon, to being an instigator of a lynch mob. No more lynch mobs, please.

Bottom line: Trump wins; Kavanaugh wins; justice wins; America, a bit battered, also wins.

Just in: My son and his wife went to the protests in front of the Supreme Court today. Here's a thoughtful protestor reacting to the singing of "God Bess America" by some folks celebrating Kavanaugh's win.

Notice the wit and intelligence on display

Sick of "Compelling"

This past week of American politics has to have been one of the most wretched in my lifetime. The ceaseless and unwarranted attacks on Judge Kavanaugh have exposed the evil lynch mob that lives within and controls the modern Democrat party. A couple of years ago I wrote about how the Democrat party is increasingly appealing to its whackier elements; that seems to hold true. Even longer ago, in 2014, I wrote, "The Democrats have been organizing and leading lynch mobs for 150 years." I also noted, in 2015, that, "In the old days, Democrat-led lynch mobs terrorized the rural South; today, Democrat-led lynch mobs terrorize all of urban America." This week's Senate hearings bear that out

The Kavanaugh hearings are a disgrace.

The majority of the Democrat contingent in the Senate is completely deranged. I find, however, even more deranged the prog media-echo chamber and the so-called pundits. Don't know about you, but I am sick and very tired of hearing about how Ford's testimony was "compelling." Who cares? Have we become such a Hollywood nation that we rate the believability of accusations on whether they are put forward in a "compelling" manner? Including, I would note, in a weird sort of 13-year old's squeaky voice which cannot be Dr. Ford's natural voice.

I am not concerned whether an accuser cries and whimpers at the right time; I want evidence.

Where's the evidence in all of this? None. Zip. Nada. What evidence does Dr. Ford and her well-funded backers have to support her somewhat weird and gap-filled account of a supposed sexual assault some 36 years ago? Certainly no forensic evidence; no police or medical reports from that era; no precise date; no identified crime scene; and, of course, not one witness who will corroborate her account. It is a drive-by character assassination pure and simple.

Now, thanks to some GOP fecklessness, we have a new FBI "investigation" that is SUPPOSED to last one week. An investigation of what, exactly? Let's start with the obvious: who in their right mind would trust today's FBI to conduct a politically charged "investigation" in a fair-and-balanced manner? Moving on from that, in the best of cases, the FBI "investigation" will consist of interviews of the same people that the Senate Committee has interviewed and a report that will lay out what each said; we already know what they said, unless the Dems start to "find" new witnesses. Then what? Who wants to bet that the Dems will demand several more days to evaluate the FBI investigation. In the meantime, of course, more false accusers will come forth.

This is a disaster for our Republic. This is not McCarthyism--McCarthy had evidence--this is the Salem Witch Trials, mass hysteria; this is what the Dems have always been good at . . . a lynch mob.

Killing Atticus Finch

Hard to keep up with the Progs. They are so clever and slippery! "We have always been at war with Eastasia," and all that.

To Kill A Mockingbird.  In my youth we all had to read Harper Lee's novel about the town of Macomb, Alabama circa 1932 and, of course, its prominent lawyer, Atticus Finch. Unlike a lot of stuff we had to read, this was actually pretty good; in fact, I'd say that Lee's 1960 novel is probably one of the great American novels of the post-WWII period. No matter what your politics, or your view of the American South, Jim Crow, and the civil rights movement, I hope you would agree that it is a beautifully written book, full of characters that we care about.

I, furthermore, would add that the 1962 film, directed by the late Robert Mulligan, is probably at least equal to the novel, and one of the best films ever made. Sure, it came out of the prevailing liberal ethos of the time, but it is a powerful story about family values, prejudice, and courage, especially that of Atticus Finch who takes on the unenviable task of defending a black farm worker against the charge that he raped a white woman. The novel, at least partly inspired by the real-life 1931 Scottsboro Boys case, looks at how justice gets perverted and an obviously innocent man gets convicted and sent to jail, where he subsequently dies "trying to escape."

Well, I guess we poor benighted conservatives who favored the civil rights movement, admired Martin Luther King, Jr., and felt that lynchings were wrong, well, we were wrong. You see the Progs have now Awoken us to the fact that we "must believe all women." So I guess the Scottsboro Boys were guilty, after all, as were the scores of black men who were hanged from trees by mobs enraged by stories of rape or of "disrespect" towards white women, including, of course, 14 year-old Emmet Till lynched in 1955 for offending a white woman in Mississippi.

It's time to remove To Kill a Mockingbird from bookstores, libraries, movie theaters, and streaming services. Harper Lee's name--a woman no less!--must be erased from our history for portraying sympathetically a white patriarch who defended a rapist and cast doubt on a woman's accusations.

Atticus Finch, R.I.P.

High Water and Low Blows

Well, so far, we have survived Hurricane Florence.

We got a lot of rain, some wind, downed trees, but, at least in my corner of Durham, we kept our power and water services. In fact, my automatic lawn sprinklers came on during the height of the downpour--first world country problems, I guess. Had to keep a wary and worried eye, however, on the normally little creek that marks the boundary between my property and my neighbor's. This usually placid and bucolic runnel, did its best to impersonate a raging river. About eight to ten feet wide, with banks about three to four feet high, or so, it filled to the brim and for several hours threatened to spill over. In its fury, it washed away a neat little foot bridge. How will I ever be able to visit my neighbor again? The horror! This morning it has resumed its placid, post Xanax ways, but now my trust is broken. Gone. I have seen its Mr. Hyde face.

The house in Wilmington? Well, I don't think the news will be as good. My neighbor there reports that our garage has flooded--which, probably, means that so has the basement--and the place is without power. Lots of downed trees, and the highway there is still impassable. Whatever losses I might have suffered, however, pale into nothingness compared to what other folks in this beautiful state have. Gaia is a killer. I am sure that had we stayed with the Paris Climate Accord none of this would have happened.

Since we have had power here, I have been able to spend hours watching and reading the news, generally, an awful exercise and waste of time. The one thing I learned, yet again, is that our prog "friends" will stoop to anything to destroy a rival. The last-minute stunt they have pulled with Judge Kavanaugh is beyond reprehensible, probably even worse than what they did to Clarence Thomas. They have dug up some ultra-prog professor of psychology from, of course, northern California to allege that some time, somewhere, perhaps 35 years ago or so, in a place not fully established, at a party or gathering in an uncertain place on an uncertain date with an uncertain number of attendees, Kavanaugh, then either 16 or 17 years old, proved himself an archetypical, white patriarchal straight male and groped or tried to grope the then also 16 or 17 year old future professor.

How can one defend himself against this type of accusation? Pretty damn hard in our new era where the accused must prove beyond a shadow of a doubt--and without insulting or offending his accuser--that perhaps, maybe, the accuser has it wrong. This is beyond outrageous. No matter what happens, and I don't believe the accuser's story from what I have heard so far, Kavanaugh's life will be permanently altered; he will become the punchline for every prog comedian and politician, will be harassed on the street, and will constantly have to worry about the safety and security of his wife and daughters. Talk about the politics of personal destruction.

A little update: One of my sons is betting that the Dems have more women accusers lined up. They will "Roy Moore" him, he says, with a barrage of accusations. Gloria Allred call your office!

Just before the hurricane, a friend warned me about snakes getting flushed out by the rising waters. Naive me. I thought he meant on my property in North Carolina. Turns out the snakes are a bit further north . . . in Washington DC.

Anonymous Post on Sweden

It seems that writing anonymous pieces is all the rage in the Prog media, so no wanting to be left out, I will post these thoughts anonymously; let's say they are the thoughts of the Resistance! within the Diplomad's patriarchal, mysogynist, and all around evil empire. Let it be known to readers far and wide that there are adults in the room, who fight to contain the worst impulses of the Diplomad. We brave few, we band of gender neutral siblings will do our best to halt the Diplomad. We won't always succeed but, well, here let us show you a sample of something he tried to post but which we stopped, just for you.

Begin text of banned post:

My three sons, who take an amazing interest in global politics, have been following the political cycles in Sweden and Germany with great care. They are much more knowledgable than I about events, but they seemed quite pleased with the election results in Sweden, as the "right-wing" Sweden Democrats (love placing the words "right wing" before the the word "Democrats") take close to 18% of the vote, up from just under 13% in the previous elections. I don't pretend to understand the ins-and-outs of Swedish politics, but it seems the country is in for some political uncertainty and very difficult horse-trading as it struggles to put together a parliamentary coalition that can govern. One of the joys of the parliamentary system.

Whatever the outcome of that negotiation, I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing the left in Europe, in America, and elsewhere lose what's left of its mind after political events in Australia, Brexit, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and, oh yes, here in the USA. The rise of the "right" in Sweden is particularly delicious for those of us with an evil, pro-Western bent, as Sweden is invariably singled out as the model for what a modern society should look like. We, in particular, are lectured incessantly about the need to adopt Swedish policies in the fields of health care and, of course, immigration, and told that Sweden, and the rest of Scandinavia, to a somewhat lesser extent, are what SOCIALISM is all about!! Malmo is our future and we should embrace it! Well, maybe not, huh?

I love the media's labelling of the Sweden Democrats as right-wing AND Neo-Nazi. Nazis are right-wing? Who knew?

More important, however, we must ask  when is defending your culture and traditions from foreign onslaught a right-wing phenomenon exclusively? Didn't we all grow up admiring the brave Marxist liberation movements in the Third World that fought colonialism and Western economic, political, and--yes--cultural imperialism? Was Uncle Ho a right-winger, after all? Lumumba? Nkrumah? Castro? Allende? Just wondering . . . when is it allowed to defend your culture and traditions and when isn't it? I rely on the progs to keep me informed . .  . they're letting me down.

By the way, next time you hear somebody refer to the Sweden Democrats as neo-Nazis or some such, ask the accuser to look up who was governing Sweden when the real Nazis were conquering Europe and slaughtering millions of human beings. Ask them who exported critical iron ore and ball bearings from Sweden to the German war machine? A clue: it wasn't the Sweden Democrats. As in the USA, when you hear our Democrats, who now proclaim themselves Socialists or Social Democrats, talk about racism, slavery, segregation, voter suppression, etc., ask them which party was in power during the worst of it. End text.

See. This is the kind of crap the Diplomad wanted to post. We in the Resistance! have stopped him! Rest easy Amerika.

Winning and Silliness

Can't stay away. This won't be long. Just a few thoughts as I watch developments this past week or so.

On trade, Trump is doing some amazing things. You can agree or disagree with what he's doing but he's upending the existing world trade order. Back in 1999, we saw riots in the streets of Seattle over a meeting in that city by the World Trade Organization (WTO). Tens-of-thousands of people marched, looted and fought in protest over the WTO and its "globalization" of trade. It seems to me, those very same people ought now to be all for Trump. He is dismantling the world trade institution that has done so much harm to US and other Western economies, especially the workers. It has helped the stock market as companies feel ever more free to move their operations in pursuit of lower wages and lax labor codes. It has played havoc with traditional industrial cities in the US, UK, and Europe. It has created a massive bureaucratic monster which now "regulates free trade." Trump is slashing away at it.

The deal with Mexico APPEARS to be a first step in that assault on the globalist economy. We haven't seen all the details so we don't know for sure. What has come out, however, would seem to be a big plus for US and Mexican industrial workers. We'll see, but it sounds promising.

Canada, of course, fell victim to the false prog vision of President Trump. Canada's silly PM missed the boat and lost Canada a chance to exert some influence in the Trump battle to scrap and replace NAFTA. The Canadian government wasted their time,

Canada’s foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, spent most of her time on visits to the U.S. lobbying governors and congressmen rather than talking seriously to our trade negotiators. Her boss, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, even thought it was a good idea to antagonize Trump at his failed G7 summit in June. 

Canada must now return, hat in hand, for a deal. If not, Trump will advance the deal with Mexico and leave Canada behind. Today he again vowed to raise car tariffs on Canada if it refuses to revise unfair levies of nearly 300 percent on some American goods, among other unfair practices.

Never underestimate Trump--just ask Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Hillary Clinton for starters. Trudeau is going to have to do some serious catch up. He might want to read Art of the Deal.

The Europeans and the Chinese, I predict, will soon have to make some serious concessions to Trump on trade. Trump understands something a lot of other politicians seemed incapable of doing. The US is by far the world's biggest economy and market, and, still, the most innovative--fracking, anybody? You can't just ignore it, or get into a trade war with it. You will lose.

While Trump is winning, we see a lot of silliness from others. The McCain funerals were absurd, demeaning, and damaged the reputation of McCain. The gathering of the establishment elites, the phony speeches, the attacks on Trump, and the attempt to rewrite history by the "fake news" media were just too much to take, and underscored the revolutionary nature of the Trump administration. Read the hagiographies now being written by the MSM about McCain and then read what the WaPo said back in 2008 when their voice might have counted,

the stress of a campaign can reveal some essential truths, and the picture of Mr. McCain that emerged this year is far from reassuring. To pass his party's tax-cut litmus test, he jettisoned his commitment to balanced budgets. He hasn't come up with a coherent agenda, and at times he has seemed rash and impulsive. And we find no way to square his professed passion for America's national security with his choice of a running mate who, no matter what her other strengths, is not prepared to be commander in chief.

Or, of course, the NY Times back in 2008,

Senator John McCain of Arizona has retreated farther and farther to the fringe of American politics, running a campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism. His policies and worldview are mired in the past. His choice of a running mate so evidently unfit for the office was a final act of opportunism and bad judgment that eclipsed the accomplishments of 26 years in Congress.

Righto.

John McCain, RIP

I was saddened to hear of the death of Senator John McCain. Having had a close cousin die of the same form of cancer (Glioblastoma) that killed the Senator, I think I know what a horrible way to go that is. He deserved better.

I don't want to get too political when we should be honoring a man who served his country for some 60 years, but . . . .

He came from a line of US Navy officers, and seemed fated to make the Navy his career. War, however, had other things for him. He, as we all know, was shot down over North Vietnam and underwent nearly six years of brutal treatment at the hands of the Vietnamese. I think few persons could have withstood the torture which he--and the other POWs--endured. When the Vietnamese discovered that his father was an Admiral, they turned the screws even harder. His captors later sought to give him special treatment, i.e., early release, if he would denounce the US effort. McCain to his credit refused early release; he would stay in the Hanoi Hilton. He emerged physically broken and his Navy career was over. He divorced the woman who had faithfully waited for him all those years, and married a younger and very wealthy one. He was elected to the Senate five times and was quite a media darling for most of that time--the exception being the Keating Five Scandal. He sought to portray himself as a "Straight Talker" and a "Maverick." I have my own views on those two labels, but I will leave it at that.

He ran for President twice, losing the first time in the GOP primaries to George Bush. He seemed to take the loss personally, remained bitter, and proved a reluctant supporter of Bush's campaigns. He, of course, ran again in 2008, won the primary, and faced fellow Senator Obama in the general election. That, in my view, was an election he could have won. He did one good thing right off, which was to pick Alaska Governor Plain as his running mate. That clinched it for me; I would vote for McCain instead of sitting it out. He, or the people, around him, however, soon began to undermine Palin; it was as though he envied her star power and ability to draw crowds. The sabotage was quite palpable during the campaign. You all know the details as well as I.

He ran an odd campaign. Not only was he sabotaging his running mate, but when the Wall Street crash happened, he suspended the campaign and returned to Washington to "deal with the economy." Those of us who were supporting him, were confused by this tactic, but assumed that he must have some plan to "deal with the economy." Well, he didn't. He just went to DC and spent valuable campaign time talking with Bush and members of Congress along the lines of, "Well what do we do?" Nobody knew what to do, and Obama kept campaigning, implying that he knew what to do. McCain eventually returned to the campaign, but whatever wind it had had in its sails, was now gone. Obama won handily. I leave to others whether it is fair to say McCain "gave" us Obama.

After that loss, McCain returned to the Senate, and, I hate to speak ill of the dead, but didn't really do much. For some thirty years in the Senate, not a whole lot of legislation or legacy, except that the establishment liked him, he was their favorite "Maverick." Enough said on that.

McCain always seemed a bit confused about American politics and the disadvantages that a conservative has in running for national office. He spent a lot of time trying to get cozy with the likes of the Washington Post and the New York Times, and he got not much for it except what Tom Bethell called that "strange new respect." As I have discussed before, trying to get that "respect" from the progs, is the road to political death for a conservative. McCain was the Democrats favorite "Republican." He made no secret of his hatred for Trump, a man who succeeded where he had failed. Enough said on that, too, you all know that story.

Anyhow, the man is dead. We can agree or disagree about his politics, but he was one of those fellows who suits up and goes to war at the command of his country. He proved brave in that endeavor and nobody can take that away from him. The rest of his legacy? We'll have to wait and see.

John McCain, Rest in Peace.

On Security Clearances

Sorry. I know I had vowed to stay away a couple of months (or so) while I dealt with the new house in Wilmington and a variety of issues with my late father's estate. Lots of travel and stress! But, as at least one reader predicted, I couldn't stay away too long.

The issue of Brennan's revoked security clearance has driven me back to the keyboard. What a load of utter nonsense! I have pored through the Constitution to find the part where people are guaranteed a security clearance and I can't find it! The President has removed former CIA Director (and Communist voter) John Brennan's security clearance, citing his "reckless" and "erratic" behavior. Let's be clear. The President doesn't have to cite a reason. He has absolute power over these clearances. He can take them away with no explanation needed. It has nothing to do with the First Amendment or any other civil rights that Brennan might enjoy as a US citizen.

Security clearances have become a scam. I recently read (can't find it) that some 1.3 million people have security clearances of some sort or another. I don't know how many have the top level ones, but I am sure it's in the tens-of-thousands, at least. That's absurd. What's even more absurd is that former Feds (such as yours truly) get to keep their clearances when they leave government service. Within days of my leaving the Foreign Service, I got five or six generous offers of employment with various contractors looking for people with security clearances--I, however, wanted out of DC! Security clearances can become quite profitable and certain employers (e.g., CNN) will pay handsomely to get people with them. It's absurd. The logic behind letting people keep their clearances until they expire is that they might need to be called back, and get read in on some or another classified program on an emergency basis, or that their advice is urgently needed by the President. How often does that happen? If it does, they can be issued temporary clearances.

Something that's being lost in all the uproar over Brennan's clearance is the principle of "a need to know." It's not enough, in other words, to have a top level clearance, you must have "a need to know" certain information for the benefit of the mission given you by the government. What's Brennan's need to know? None.

All ex-Federal employees should lose their clearances the minute they walk out the door. Not having a clearance is an aid to free speech. When I worked in the government I always had to be VERY careful what I said and wrote for fear I might have learned that bit of knowledge from a classified source. My clearance expired a couple of years ago, and that's fine.

Brennan's freedom to speak has been enhanced. He should thank the President.

Back to my self-imposed exile . . . I'll be back in another couple of months . . . or so.

Race, the World's Most Boring Subject

This is going to be my last post for a couple months or so. I am simply overwhelmed with all sorts of stuff not worth going into and boring you. Suffice it to say that I am finding it ever harder to fulfill my duties as a responsible blogger, so I have to stop for a couple of months until I get all my life issues straight.

I was at my local Home Depot hardware store (maybe it was Lowe's, I don't know, I can't tell them apart) a couple of days ago. As always, when I come out one of those SUPERSTORES, I can never find my car. Regardless of where I parked, when I emerge, the car is on the other side of the lot. Anyhow, it was a hot, sticky day, I was suffering from mosquito bites, and I was in a foul mood desiring only to return to my quasi-baronial estate and its blasting air conditioning.

As I approached my Chevy Silverado pick-up, I notice a white lady, about my age or so, staring at the front of the truck. I walked to my truck, and started to open the door, when the lady said, "Is this your truck?" I felt like answering, "No, I am stealing it," but instead said, "Yes." She then pointed at the front of the truck and said, "Why do you have a Confederate flag on the bumper? Don't you think some might find that offensive?" I lamely replied, "What?" I dumped my purchases in the front seat and came to the front of the truck where she had her accusatory finger aimed at the front plate. "That's not a Confederate flag, that's the flag of North Carolina," I said with considerable exasperation, "It's the flag of this state!" She gave me a furious look and walked off. My son and I later laughed about this nonsense, but it struck me how bizarre and tense life has become for some people in our beloved Republic, and how they seek to make it so for all of us.

As we see in the news, and in the Home Depot/Lowe's parking lot, there seem to be herds of people just out looking for offense. They are like squirrels or foxes with their ears up, their whiskers atwitter, sensing, sensing, feeling, feeling, searching, searching for the tell-tale signs of offensive speech, display, or conduct. Their senses are tuned to the highest possible sensitivity (Number 11). Nothing is too innocent to give offense. It is no surprise that these folks, who dominate the media, the education and the entertainment businesses, and, increasingly, our political discourse, want to censor, silence, and kill any speech or perceived thought jarring to their finely tuned sensitivity meters. They've already just about killed off comedy, for example. Have you tried to watch almost any of the latest HBO or Netflix stand-up comedy "specials"? Is there anything remotely funny about them? We are only allowed to laugh/sneer at President Trump and his supporters.

It's not just comedy being killed. Have you, for example, tried watching the new cop shows, especially from the UK? OMG! Political correctness run amok and amuck. Are all police detectives in the UK single women with gay or minority men deputies? Are all criminals straight white wealthy Tory males? It's unwatchable garbage.

We are constantly harangued about race. Well, I know this is not "scientific"--what in the world is today?--but I don't see average people much concerned about race or other identities. Everywhere I have travelled the last few days in North Carolina, Virginia, DC, I see white, black, brown people getting along just fine with each other. I don't sense any racial tensions. My son lives in a very integrated neighborhood, and all the neighbors are very friendly and helpful. No problems.

I have written before that I find discussions of race to be among the most boring and potentially lethal conversations one can have. There is little to be gained, and much to be lost. What is the point about going on about race? I find racists and talk about race to be dull and dangerous, and fundamentally anti-American and anti-Western. I say this about racists regardless  of their own race, creed, color, etc.

The charge, again, for example, that President Trump is a racist, is made repeatedly and without any facts in support. This President promised to help create an environment where people of all races could get jobs and better wages, and, behold, he's done it. Black and hispanic Americans are "suffering" the lowest unemployment rates in history. He is the only political leader who seems to want to address the ongoing carnage in Chicago which is costing the lives of dozens of our black citizens every week. Trump is the one who wants to crush the MS-13 and the other lethal gangs coming into our country and terrorizing, primarily, hispanic neighborhoods. The xenophobic Trump is married to a foreigner. The anti-semitic Trump has a Jewish daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren, and is the best friend Israel has had in the White House since Richard Nixon, another one accused of anti-semitism (He saved Israel and had a Jewish Secretary of State, but never mind). The anti-Muslim Trump has excellent relations with the Saudis.

Enough with the race card. Put that deck away. It seems to be all Jokers.

See you in a couple of months . . . or so.