The Pander Bears: The Dem Candidates

I wasn't going to write about the horrid Dem debate, but . . . taking a small break from dog tending and identity theft resolution, I couldn't resist adding my two cents of commentary.

The two-day extravaganza of these 20 clowns was, well, a clown extravaganza. Who won the debate? Who lost it? Your guess is as good as mine, although in this case I tend to go with the conventional wisdom, with a bit of a tweak.

The biggest loser wasn't even on the stage. He was Obama. This crowd, except for Biden, seems to want nothing to do with Obama and his "accomplishments." He is totally forgotten.

Of those on stage, Biden was the loser. He proved, again, a hopeless doddering fool. As I noted back in April, "if Biden ever had a 'best-if-used-by' date he appears to have passed it".

He seemed incapable of finishing a coherent sentence, appeared caught off guard by the highly predictable attacks on him, and just looked tired, very tired, and confused, very confused. He, so far, stands for nothing except for name recognition. Biden has a long record of almost no accomplishment, and what there is of it, is woefully out of line with the high-energy, far-left lemmings who now dominate the world's oldest political party. He doesn't realize that the ground has shifted on him, and doesn't know how to gain a footing, at least, not yet. Biden's blather about being "blue-collar Joe" and the labor unions is all very old-fashioned. None of the other Dems is blue collar, has ever worked a blue-collar job, probably doesn't know any blue-collar folk, and is positively bored with real economics. They want to pander to illegal aliens--Beto breaking into execrable Spanish for no reason--pay homage to the LGBTQXYZKD, whatever, crowd--Julian Castro proclaiming that biological men have the right to public-funded abortion--and, above all, to utter fatuous Marxist slogans about WALL STREET! Biden can't keep up, as revealed by the tentative way in which he raised his hand in accord with the others that we should provide "free" medical care for illegal aliens. At times, Biden reminded me of Ted Kennedy when asked why he wanted to become President and couldn't say.

I say all that about Biden while acknowledging that he's the best of the Dem bunch--kinda like when I declare American universities junk but the world's best . . . junk. The others range from absolute delusional morons to crazy Communists. Any one of them would make Carter and Obama look like  great and patriotic presidents. Biden, at least, doesn't seem to hate the country: A low bar, but one that the other candidates can't seem to clear--they seem auditioning for the CPUSA Chairmanship.

The winner?

Don't ask me that, but now that "you" have, I would have to say it was Kamala Harris. Her demagogic assault on Biden, essentially calling him a racist, and her expert telling of a semi-true story about her childhood, catapulted her into the top ranks of this score of lunatic candidates. She is a liar, but a good one, and can probably count on the media burying the many unsavory aspects of her career as a public official in California, and her quite comfortable, even privileged, upper-middle class background.

Meanwhile, Trump? He's out saving the world from nuclear war and negotiating a trade deal with the PRC.

I am voting Trump. Need I say more? No, but I will . . .

Iran and Things

Had a nearly complete digital meltdown. I had an identity theft issue whereby some clowns were out trying to get credit cards and phone service using my name and data. USAA and Experian were big helps in getting that under control--at least for now. In addition, or part of the same, all my emails disappeared, along with my ability to send any new ones; that crisis is slowly being resolved. So, as you can see, I was cut off from the WORLD! FROM THE WORLD!

In my digital absence, of course, the Iranians took advantage of the power vacuum, and pulled one of their classic stunts: shooting down an unarmed US drone flying over international waters in international airspace. Outrageous crap from the Delusional Ayatollahs and their Iran Revolutionary Guard clowns. I see they and their protectors are already putting out the usual nonsense that maybe the missile that downed the drone was fired by some "rogue" element not under Teheran's control. Yes, yes. We've seen this before: remember the "students" who seized the Embassy? The Houthis who bombed an airfield? Mysterious others who fired missiles into Israel or put limpet mines on tankers? The Iranian regime is composed of cowards who want their cake, and have it enriched, too. They must sorely miss Obama.

I don't advocate for a war with Iran because we don't need one to keep these SOBs under control. In addition, of course, as we become ever more energy independent--All Praise to the Frackers!--we need the Middle East less and less. A sharp, painful response, however, is required just to let the Ayatollahs know we aren't buying their nonsense, and we aren't going to let them imperil our people at no risk: Sink their fleet in their harbor; knock out some important economic target; hit their missile batteries, are among the many possibilities. The President should take his time and come up with something appropriate. The Dems would be wise to knock off their impeach nonsense for just a bit, and give the White House room to maneuver.

Now we can go back to worrying about the impending doom from global warming cooling change whatever, that means we will have less more snow, fewer more hurricanes wetter drier winters,  whatever, etc.

Back at the Keyboard

Lots of doings in the Diplo household.

Diplowife has decided that all the furniture in House A in Wilmington must be switched with the all the furniture in House B in Wilmington. In addition, and with the Diplowife there is always an "in addition," she has placed our house in Durham for sale and begun a hunt for one in Raleigh which she claims is "closer." I am never clear as to "closer" to what, but I don't question anything anymore in the Diplo household. I thought the house in Durham was fantastic, but I am not the Charge of this Mission at all, so we compromise, AKA, I go along with whatever she says. I also had some health issues which needed attending, and I have done so thanks to Big Pharma.

I also have been forced to lose some 15 pounds and instructed to lose more just so that I can be considered merely fat. No respect for my body shape choices.

I have been following what there is of news from a slight distance. I notice that Speaker Pelosi looks increasingly deranged. She hates Trump so much that her already somewhat addled brain seems about to explode any minute. She openly accuses the President of engaging in some unspecified criminal cover-up and conspiracy and calls for his imprisonment. No evidence of any sort of such conduct has been presented much less processed through the legal system. It's just mad talk prompted, I am sure, by fear of what the ongoing investigations into the origins of the Russian hoax will reveal, i.e., an attempted coup against Trump headed by Obama/Biden/Clinton/DNC and key elements of the US (and possibly British) intelligence agencies and senior members of Congressional staff, the FBI, the DOJ, the NSA, the CIA, the NSC, and, it seems, State. This could get real ugly. I hope it does. People must be held accountable for this assault on the Constitution.

The once Great but now Lame State of California continues it Thelma & Louise getaway from reality. The legislature passed and the governor signed a spending bill which contains, among other doozies, free medical care for certain illegal aliens. Folks, we are now well past the beginning of the end here. The only I can say with satisfaction is that none of my dollars go any longer to the insane bureaucrats and representatives of California. American citizens will now be taxed even more to pay for illegal aliens to get free health care. Oh yes, that will solve California's growing litany of problems not to mention that will solve the illegal alien problem. Insanity. Step on the accelerator that cliff is coming up.

Off to walk the dogs. They at least make sense.

Week-end Musings

At one of the Wilmington houses waiting for the Diplowife and Diplodaughter to return from a yogurt run. Here with the dogs after another lengthy tour at the dog park. They are beat.

The news?

Well, some of it is interesting, some not.

I think the President had a good European visit. As per the cliche, the Brits do state visits better than anybody else, and they were up to their usual standards. Trump obviously had a good time with the Queen and she seemed to be enjoying the visit. The woman's in her 90s and she just plods ahead! Amazing. While I am not a fan of monarchs, in general, I think QEII is a great one. She has, despite a rather odd family, constantly exhibited a sense of duty, sacrifice, and patriotism that we all could emulate. I hope she stays there for a long time to come.

The D-Day ceremonies were very well done. Tasteful and full of rightful praise for the boys who landed on the beaches 75 years ago. We owe them a debt we can never pay. Even Macron was OK. Trump gave the best speech of the day, and even the left-wing crazies at home had a hard time criticizing him--although they still tried.

At home, it seems, it seems, the President might have won a battle with Mexico over the border. We'll see, of course, but given the Mexican track record in honoring deals such as this one, well, don't hold your breath. I still think, as I have been pushing for nearly three years, that we should create a "Border Security" fee assessed on all non-US citizen consular transactions, including visas and on crossing the border or landing at an airport or sea port. In addition, we should impose a "fee" on dollar remittances abroad. Those funds would go to help secure our border. It's a way to have Mexico help pay for the wall.

As usual, the Dems and some spineless GOPers were apoplectic over a possible tariff on Mexican goods. WHAT ABOUT THE AVOCADOS! These are people who have never met a tax they didn't like, and could not bring themselves to support a small tax, aka a tariff, on Mexican exports to help ensure greater security at our border and on our streets. The Chamber of Commerce Republicans were crying about how this tariff would cost American jobs because US factories depend on components now made in Mexico. Well then don't make them in Mexico; make them here. These people are hopeless.

OK, off to watch "90 Day Fiancé; Happily Ever After?" with my wife and my daughter. We relive our consular days.

The New Mexican War, Revisted

Some time back, February 11, 2017, to be precise, I wrote a post about the Mexican threat to the United States. I stated that,

Much has been written, including in this blog, of the threat to America posed by radical Islamic terrorism. Not so much has been written about another threat, perhaps an even greater one. I refer to the threat posed by Mexico to the United States; it is multi-faceted and persistent, and forms a long established core component of Mexico's foreign policy.

Prior to that post, I wrote another (December 17, 2016) that discussed the topic of foreign interference in our elections which stated,

Is there foreign interference in our elections? You bet. 

The biggest offender? Not Russia, but Mexico. Mexican officials publicly called on Mexicans in the US to oppose Trump; Mexico's over fifty--yes, fifty--consulates in the US (here) are hot beds of political activity and activism. Millions of illegal and legal aliens largely from Mexico and Central America vote, yes vote. We need to have an in-depth investigation into Mexico's interference in our elections, an interference that goes well beyond revealing embarrassing DNC texts. 

There. That's an investigation the GOP should endorse, and the new SecState should take up the issue of Mexican interference in our elections.

The two biggest foreign national security threats to the United States are China and Mexico. Each poses a different kind of threat, but both could prove deadly.

I have recently written another post about China , so let me turn for a second to Mexico, again.

The essence of Mexico's foreign and domestic policy is virulent opposition to the United States. Mexico's intellectuals, universities, press, and political parties are overwhelming anti-US (much like the Democratic party here at home). They put out a constant tattoo of victimhood and of entitlement to what is in the USA. As a now departed Foreign Service friend of mine used to say, "They view the US treasury as the common inheritance of all mankind."

I was heartened to see President Trump begin to hit back at the Mexican government's aiding and abetting of the violation of our border. I had long ago recommended hitting Mexico with "border fees" and taxes on the billions of dollars in remittances sent from the USA as a way to build the wall. The President has gone a slightly different way by imposing tariffs on Mexican goods until such time as we see serious action by the Mexican authorities to stop promoting illegal migration and to get the border under control. We also need, as stated before, to start shutting down some of Mexico's 52 consular and diplomatic missions in the US. They are centers of political activism and blatant interference in our domestic affairs.

I hope the President hangs tough on this and doesn't accept mere words from Mexico as substitute for action.