AN FBI AGENT'S PERSPECTIVE

The big news is the pardon of nut cases like Chelsea (nee Bradley) Manning. The real story came from a friend who is a long-time FBI agent.

Yep, the inmates at Gitmo who once numbered in the 250 range is down to 50. The rest are back in the warm hands of whatever terrorist supporting state would take them. Back in the game.

But the wholesale pardons that have been issuing from the White House in the last days of Obama (that is a nice phrase to write) are scary. According to my friend, he was scanning the list of names a few weeks ago and he spotted a guy who was a really bad actor. Armed robbery, assault, basically a sociopath. Not just drug dealing, but a king pin. Then another, then another.

They were serving time for "minor offenses." Not their real crimes, but the ones they pleaded down to. Our court system does this routinely to put nasty people away from the rest of us but avoiding the expense and time to actually prosecute the worst crime. Did the pardon-makers even look at the history and the facts? Apparently not.

The result, my friends, is that some dangerous people have been put back on the streets.

DEMOCRATS BLAME...

Now NBC has come out with a big story about how the Democrats have lost power, not only at the national level, but the local level. Couple months late? I think most of us knew about this. Some say the Democrats haven't been this ticked off since we took their slaves away. They point to gerrymandering, the big win in California and "not getting their message out there." The one thing you never hear is, "We have been wrong."

I'm amazed at the "fake news" that has been filling CNN, CBS, NBC and ABC along with the tag a longs like Yahoo! since the last election. There is NO journalistic integrity. Frankly, it reminds me of the fringy stuff we heard during the eight long years of Obama. But it came from independent places, one man outfits that were writing stuff to fill the internet.

Putin is having a field day. His last is hilarious--responding to the accusation that Trump "entertained" prostitutes while in Russia, Putin says, "Our sex workers are the best in the world." Do we honestly think that Trump is unaware of Putin's use of prostitutes? Putin came up through a rough and tumble structure that more resembles the Mafia than a political party. Trump has told his associates and employees for years, "There are cameras everywhere." And when Christie told him he was impervious to the bridge scandal--and then it turned out he was complicit--Trump dropped him. Did you see that on the 6 o'clock news?

Oh, the irony that Obama is the best thing that has happened to the Republicans, perhaps ever. The Democrats may never recover. Actually, the thing that may never recover is the "mainstream news" and polling. Notice now when you see a poll that says that everybody agrees with Michelle Obama that all Americans have lost hope, you are skeptical? And then another poll comes out that says what is affirmed by the stock market, etc--Americans have more hope and faith in the future now that Obama is gone.

Obama and Hillary have also been the best thing to happen to the gun industry. Unintended consequences.

Think of the good things that have happened with Trump: no more Kennedys, no more Bush dynasty, exposure of the absurd idea that 97% of scientists could agree on anything let alone the cause of "global warming" as being caused by humans. Potential definition of the radical Muslim threat, potential slow down of government-by-bureaucrats causing tens of thousands of expensive regulations that are some sort of liberal substitute for actual enforcement. The laws are basically there, but Democrats/liberals who can't say no to their kids let alone to law breakers want to layer on more regulations instead of enforcing the law.

And then we come to pardons. Next post, wait for it.

831

I seldom post twice in one day. I am frequently out of touch with what's going on and here's an example.

A term has been "banished" from our vocabulary by Lake Superior State University that has been publishing a banished list for 42 years. One of the terms this year is "831."

OK, I am in agreement, it can be banished since I didn't even know what it meant. Be informed, grasshopper: texting shorthand for I love you. Eight letters, three words, one meaning. The reason for banishment? "Never encrypt or abbreviate one's love."

Now ya know. Be complete, treasured ones.

INAUGURAL ADDRESSES

Initiate (inaugurate?) the new year of 2017 with a serious look at the topics of political language as represented by the addresses given by newly inaugurated Presidents. If I were able, it would be less than the 1,000 words herein, but sorry.

Also gives me a chance to put in another good word for a President who continues to rise in my estimation, James Garfield. Not for his actions as President, though in his short time he did a lot, but because of his lifetime accomplishments.

Much of this is based on a January 12, 2009 article in The New Yorker magazine by Jill Lepore. You will notice a much more level and less antagonistic political attitude in that 2009 article than we see today, particularly the disdain that is typically leveled at Republicans in general and the "deplorables" in particular. Their apparent audience today seems to be that minority that resides on the coasts and subsists on lattes, kale and free range chicken with a liberal dash of contempt for people who work for a living and live elsewhere. Figures--Obama had just won.

James Garfield was a Republican (gasp) who is praised in Lepore's article (double gasp), born in a log cabin, but not, in the author's opinion, the match for Lincoln, another member of the log cabin fraternity. At least when it came to oratory. Garfield continued as a candidate and as President to further the principles of not only abolishing slavery but achieving full citizenship for Negroes (now known as African Americans…or just Americans?) to the chagrin of Democrats.

Frankly, I am not an expert, but it is difficult to argue about Lincoln's status as the finest speechmaker to occupy the White House, and his inaugural addresses are pretty darn good. For instance, see the suggestion and his rewrite:

Lincoln gave a draft of his first inaugural to his incoming Secretary of State, William Seward, who scribbled out a new ending, offering an olive branch to seceding Southern states:

I close. We are not, we must not be, aliens or enemies, but fellow-countrymen and brethren. Although passion has strained our bonds of affection too hardly, they must not, I am sure they will not, be broken. The mystic chords which, proceeding from so many battlefields and so many patriot graves, pass through all the hearts and all the hearths in this broad continent of ours, will yet harmonize in their ancient music when breathed upon by the guardian angels of the nation.

But it was Lincoln’s revision that made this soar:

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

Today we can't see anything about these addresses without seeing Kennedy's "Ask not…" written for him by fellow Nebraskan, Ted Sorenson. But it wasn't a great address…just pretty good.

One of the stellar points made in the article is that every nineteenth century inaugural except Zachary Taylor's mentions the Constitution, another fact and sentiment noticeably absent in publications like The New Yorker, The New York Times, etc. Listen up when you hear the oath of office--they do not swear to serve the people but to "uphold the Constitution." Thoughtful people have worried that "By appealing to the people, charismatic Chief Executives were bypassing Congress and ignoring the warnings of—and the provisions made by—the Founding Fathers, who considered popular leaders to be demagogues, politicians who appealed to passion rather than to reason". This worry has been extended to the appointments to the Supreme Court which invites disaster.

Another point, similar in tone and potential impact is that the speeches in the twentieth century have become pandering, sloganeering and begging for applause. Part of this is the change in the society and the "American" language, but part of it is, regrettable, the "absence of precision, the paucity of ideas and the evasion of every species of argument." The speeches are mostly written by journalism graduates who have been brought up on Strunk and White's "Elements of Style ("Omit needless words") and Orwell's 1946 essay "Politics and the English Language" ("Never us a long word where a short one will do"). 

At this point, take another look at Lincoln's speeches--I would maintain that he conformed to Elements of Style and Orwell but retained an elegance and grace totally absent in today's speeches.

Back to my man, James Garfield. He was not inaugurated until March, as was the law then, but he worried in his diary about the speech from early after the election, even going so far as to consider scrapping the whole idea. After all, there is no legal reason to make such an address, just the custom established by Washington.

In the end, it was passable:

My countrymen, we do not now differ in our judgment concerning the controversies of past generations, and fifty years hence our children will not be divided in their opinions concerning our controversies. They will surely bless their fathers and their fathers’ God that the Union was preserved, that slavery was overthrown, and that both races were made equal before the law. We may hasten or we may retard, but we can not prevent, the final reconciliation.

"Race relations" would be the current phrase. Worse than they have been in most of our lifetimes. Maybe things will get better, but the divisive attitudes make us worry. My vote was for Trump, but my hope is that his inaugural address will be a bit more than tweets. Let us hope for a map for the future, a guide to actions and activities that can unite this great land. We really need the elites, the press and many celebrities to embrace a society where their views are heard and considered, not just their bile directed at the rest of us. Let's review the lesson as stated by Jefferson in his first inaugural:

If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.

In the lingo of today, comments attributed to the military and police: "I hate what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."

JAPANESE SEX

JAPANESE SEX 
A Japanese couple is arguing about how to perform highly erotic sex. Husband: "Suki taki. Mojitaka!" 
Wife replies: "Kowanini! Mowi janakpa!" Husband says angrily: "Tok a anji rodi roumi yakoo!" Wife, on her knees, literally begging "Mimi Nakoundinda tinkouji!" Husband shouts angrily: "Na miaou kina Tim kouji!" I can't believe you just sat there trying to read this! You don't know any Japanese! You'll read anything as long as it's about sex.... Sometimes I worry about you. You're in need of serious help!

OBAMA'S LEGACY

OK, this is pretty long. The first part isn't, but the part about Detroit drags on.

Sorry. In my experience, those who disagree with my positions described herein will not often respond with factual positions of their own that are contrary. Instead, they attack by name calling. Maybe they just don't have any valid arguments?

OBAMA'S LEGACY

From the Wall Street Journal (delivered to me by Larry):

Something very positive about Obama, who has been obsessed with his legacy.

The real Obama legacy he leaves behind are:

A Republican President

Republican Vice President
Republican control of the Senate
Republican control of the House
Republican control of 31 state houses
A majority of Republican governors - 36 of 50
Republican control of a majority of county governments
Republican control of a majority of city governments

Not to mention his "Affordable Care Act" that is anything but affordable, was never destined to be so due to the rules allowing patients with pre-existing conditions to obtain insurance.

I know of no news media or Democrat who acknowledges the irony of that name, however.

Let's take a look at the last of Obama's dubious accomplishments, the city governments. The ones that are not Republican run are the basket cases, Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, etc. that are run, and have been for decades, by corrupt predominantly black politicians. In the mold of Detroit Mayor Coleman Young who drove that city down further than any could have seen using "tin cup urbanism" (you budget a deficit and run to the feds for funds) and racist techniques (one of his first moves as mayor back in the 1970's was to reduce the police force…by firing the white police officers). Attached below is something I wrote in 2013 about Mayor Young and Detroit.

OK, let's take a look at the ACA. I was recently in Denver, got sick and went to an Urgent Care doctor. "Doc in a Box." The physician was skilled, Jewish, about 50 years old and I asked how long he had done this. "Family practice until 4 years ago. Obamacare ruined medicine, I had to do something else." Nobody seems to acknowledge the flaws of the ACA that have led to this catastrophic impact on medicine.

The handling of pre-existing conditions is tragic. Most of us who claim to be fiscally conservative yet socially liberal support a system that allows people who are sick to get and retain insurance and, thereby, treatment. The old system threw up all kinds of conditions and rules to block such transfer, shifting blame (and dollars) elsewhere. Shifting money is not saving money.

For some reason, I am too busy to extensively research the health care topic, mainly because I have a total lack of fundamental knowledge and that is always a recipe for arriving at the wrong conclusion, much like we see in the media all the time. Hopefully, Trump will select people who have a bit more knowledge than Nancy Pelosi.

Here is the essay from 2013:

COLEMAN YOUNG AND THE DEFEAT OF DETROIT

We are entitled to our own opinions, but not our own facts. I tried to focus on the facts.

George Will:

In response to a comment by MSNBC economic analyst Steve Rattner that the federal government (taxpayers) and the state of Michigan (more taxpayers) should bail out Detroit, Will said:

“Can’t solve the problems, because their problems are cultural. You have a city, 139 square miles; you can graze cattle in vast portions of it, dangerous herds of feral dogs roam in there. 3% of fourth graders reading at the national math standards, 47% of Detroit residents are functionally illiterate, 79% of Detroit children are born to unmarried mothers. They don’t have a fiscal problem, Steve, they have a cultural collapse.”

Of course, ABC This Week resident liberal panelist Kristina Vanden Heuvel was (pretend) outraged over Will’s honest – and correct – assessment:

“I find that really insulting to the people of Detroit. I think there is a serious discussion about the future of cities in a time of deindustrialization. But in many ways, Detroit has been a victim of market forces, and I think that what Steve said is so critical; that retirees and workers should not bear this. And this story should not be hijacked as one of about greedy, fiscal, public unions.”

REGRESS TO A THIRD-WORLD LEVEL, OR WORSE

I recently saw a picture of current-day Hiroshima alongside a picture taken of modern-day Detroit. Shameful, but shows what the human spirit can do if given the right set of tools and the right mind set and culture.

In 1960, Detroit had the highest per capita income in the nation. In 1962, Democrats took over. Facts about current Detroit in addition to those noted by George Will:

·         Less than half the residents over 16 are employed.

·         About one third of the ambulances are functional and the average 911 call response time is 48 minutes

·         Sixty percent of Detroit children live in poverty

·         Forty percent of the streetlights do not work

·         Two thirds of the parks have been closed since 2008

·         Fewer than 10% of Detroit crimes are solved

Coleman Young presided over the crushing defeat of a once-great city, Detroit.

Young was elected on a platform of "A People's Police Department' in 1972. For an unprecedented five terms, 20 years, his aimless, racist platform guided the city to the payday, bankruptcy. But his political course, seemingly without much more sense than an abiding confidence that racism was the cause of all the ills, not only set the stage for the 2013 collapse, but insured that there would be no way to avoid catastrophe.

In his autobiography, Mayor Young (whose last days in office were consumed with defending himself and his administration from charges of corruption, fraud and embezzlement) places the blame on:

·         Federal policy

·         Superhighway construction

·         Blockbusting

·         White racism.

WHITE FLIGHT AND VIOLENCE

Detroit's population fell from 1.84 million in 1950 to less than 700,000, currently. Moves such as the use of eminent domain to eliminate a predominantly white, middle class neighborhood, Poletown, lack of and inconsistent law enforcement plus the desegregation of the schools created "white flight" to the suburbs along with middle-class blacks.

It is and has been one of America's most dangerous cities, joining its neighbor, Flint, Michigan to take the top two spots.

"TIN CUP URBANISM"

Mayor Young, a radical trade unionist with an anti-establishment policy, reached out to black voters with no plan except a demand that the Federal Government save it with subsidies, an entitlement attitude that came to be known as "tin-cup urbanism." By the late 1970's, federal subsidies and grants paid the salaries of 1/3 of Detroit's workforce. Not just city employees, THE WORKFORCE!

He maintained a divisive attitude, starting with the layoffs of 1,000 police soon after election. The layoffs were drawn from separate lists, black and white. When gangs attacked theater goers in 1972, it took twenty minutes to respond due to the lack of manpower.

WIPE OUT WHITES

General Motors was enlisted to build a new plant in Detroit, and the area chosen was not one of the severely depressed areas with high vacancy but a predominantly white, Polish community known as Poletown. Destruction of Poletown by Young and GM has been cited as one of the flagrant abuses of eminent domain powers and ended up at the Supreme Court.

At the same time, the Coleman Young Foundation claims that he "increased the awarding of minority contracts an astounding seven thousand fold, spurring an African-American entrepreneurship that continues to transform the city."

Don't know what kind of transformation they are referring to, but it isn't very good. Sounds more like the governments of Robert Mugabe, or more likely, the thieving government of Equatorial Guinea.

POLICE

He and his ally, Police Chief William Hart made it clear that "...too many arrests or citations in the black community would not be tolerated." His goal was to have a "black-run city," and he achieved it as white and middle-class black residents left the city rapidly. When residents complained about the lack of enforcement, Young and Hart blamed the complaints on "racism and sour grapes."

The LA Times reported that Hart's daughter received a house in Beverly Hills paid for by funds from Young's secret gold-trading company.

SUCCESSORS

Young opposed his successor, Supreme Court Justice Dennis Archer, and his allies blocked Archer's agenda including efforts to reduce patronage in the city government. (I am reminded of President Garfield's elimination of patronage in the Federal government...in 1880, one hundred years before!) Then came Kwame Kilpatrick. Convicted of 24 Federal counts, including mail fraud and racketeering and currently serving prison time.

When Dave Bing, a professional basketball star with the Detroit Pistons took over, he could see that Detroit was bankrupt on several levels, socially and fiscally. No hope.

BLACK-GOVERNED DETROIT

Young claimed that "...black-governed Detroit reached a level of autonomy...no other city can match." He was obviously delusional, but then he had made people believe false claims for more than twenty years.

He was not totally responsible for the union pension fiasco. Detroit apparently now has obligations exceeding $5 billion. The pensions are in jeopardy, and with Young's militant trade unionism, those pensions got out of control in his twenty years.

THE PRISM OF RACISM

Young stated that, "The victim of racism is in a much better position to tell you whether or not you're a racist than you are." No doubt black people have been the victims of racism in the United States, but I wonder if anyone listened to the white victims of racism in Detroit.

I used the phrase "looking at the world through a prism of racism" the other day. Whether Young actually believed his hype or just used racism as a vehicle to attain political power, persistent racism on his part, viewing the world through a prism that perceived white racism against blacks at every turn, was a fact in "black-governed Detroit."

Despite racism, in one aspect, numbers, the black population has fared better than the rest. The black population has grown faster than the total population of the nation. In 1930, blacks accounted for 9.7% of the total US population and today the 45 million African Americans are 14.1% of the total US population. Big enough to control the vote in many cities, maybe the nation.

Detroit is a failure. Is that what we have to look forward to in the rest of the country?

ADVERTISING

The polls got it wrong.

I'm writing about something that is not in my store of knowledge (huge storehouse of non-knowledge!!), but I'm just wondering how much else is misjudged by the experts and the elite.

For instance, the NFL. Advertisers spend a pretty huge chunk of change to support things like the $61 million guarantee for a certain part-time quarterback in San Francisco. Wonder if they are upset with the fact that the NFL ratings are in the tank? Like down 15% in some numbers I saw a while ago?

If political polls were inaccurate where I would think the candidates expect accuracy, not pandering, how about the "analysis" that is worth zillions of dollars, like the analysis of TV audiences?

Jon Stewart and his descendants have turned the late night landscape into unabashed liberal advocacy with the exception of Jimmy Fallon. Fallon, of course, was subjected to his own ridicule by the other late night hosts when he had Trump on and treated him like a human. I think the "flyover" states and the people who go to work every day are a bit tired of being bullied and treated as imbeciles, told what to think and how to act by the Stewarts, the Kardashians and the elites in general.

The elites in Hollywood and TV have tried desperately to sway opinion, and have made a huge impact. Do you wonder what Whoopi's agenda might be? She is all in favor of considering her viewers as "deplorables," but what if you are an advertiser on that show. You would be subject to the usual racist, misogynist, etc., labels if you were to pull your advertising, but when it comes down to dollars, can you afford to advertise when nobody watches? Or if the analysis of the audiences is flawed the way the political polls were flawed? That is what happens when your base of citizens who are polled don't match the ones who will actually vote. Or, in the case of the NFL, watch and buy the products.

I have yet to see any knowledgeable discourse on this. Jon Stewart nearly single handedly caused the show "Crossfire"--where thoughtful guests with differing opinions were able to debate-- to be run off the air. http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/12/opinion/begala-stewart-blew-up-crossfire/

Then he created the "comedy" of hate, scorn, mockery, one-sided bullying, ridicule and cruel cheap shots. He got away with calling it "comedy"! Now, remember, only what he considered to be conservatives and Republicans were accorded this treatment. If you can scare up an episode where Obama, the Clintons or any of his minions were attacked, I'd like to see it. Wonder if anybody is thinking "This isn't resonating the way we thought it used to."

Will keep researching this, but I think you may see the people with money begin to think a bit harder about where they put their money.