The Political Slant - Page 3

On Not Taking the Bad With the Good

*Tom was an alcoholic and a smoker.  A master carpenter and sometimes-roofer, he was wiry and tough and a living old-school ad for both Budweiser and Marlboro.

From time to time, usually at the urging of his family, Tom would stop drinking for a while, or stop smoking for a while, or stop both, for a while.  At a point in his late 30s he decided and voiced that he’d rather live a short life with his beer & cigs than live a long life without them.  When he entered the hospital at age 43, his body riddled with cancer, he did not complain or blame or mourn.  He knew why he was there and he was at peace with it.

We all do this to a certain extent: put up with some bad if it is outweighed by some good.  Drinkers put up with hangovers because they enjoy the drunk more than they dislike the hangover.  Pot smokers live with coughing their lungs out when they invariably take too big a hit, but decide it is worth it for the buzz.  Obese people enjoy the third bowl of ice cream and bag of chips more than they dislike buying bigger clothes each year.

And so it goes.

We also do this when we vote.

Keep Reading

Dept. of Veterans Affairs Gets a Reality Check

*As lawmakers on Capitol Hill are taking part in the impeachment process, President Trump is quietly seeking to accomplish reforms at the Department of Veterans Affairs. But realizing this reform requires Assistant VA Secretary, Tamara Bonzanto, in leading accountability efforts.

Tamara Bonzanto
Assistant VA Secretary, Tamara Bonzanto

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the second largest federal agency, and is responsible for taking care of our Veterans. Just a few years ago, it was the most tarnished agency in the nation.

Keep Reading

Qassem Soleimani: Ravaging, Revolutionizing, and Retribution

killing of soleimani

*Richard M. Nixon’s book The Real War has a list of rules for the presidency. Rule number six is: “Never let your adversary underestimate what you would do in response to a challenge. Never tell him in advance what you would not do.”

Just so you understand, invading the embassy of a sovereign nation is the same as invading that nation. The embassy is the soil of that nation. Period. This is why citizens of a foreign nation can seek refuge in an embassy, because wherever that embassy is, whatever nation the embassy resides in, it cannot be violated by the hosting nation. Not that terrorists care anything about international law or have any respect for sovereign nations, mind you.

killing of Soleimani

Iran violated the aforementioned internationally recognized precept on November 4, 1979, lasting until January 20, 1981. Keep Reading

School Prayer – Be Careful What You Ask For

*Here we go again. Every time a member of the GOP starts lagging in the polls they bring up abortion and/or school prayer. Surefire issues that get the blood flowing and the jaws yapping. A way to distract and deflect and rouse the rabble.

That abortion has been and was ever and still is an issue discussed, debated and decided on by a bunch of old white guys that don’t even have a horse in the race, instead of women and their medical professionals, is ludicrous – just nuts!

As for school prayer, be careful what you start advocating for Mr. Trump – you just may get it.

Keep Reading

Iranian Aggression

*We are living in a strange day, age and era in American history, and presidential politics, and it isn’t pretty.  It is the Democratic Party of this modern age that has steadily been bringing us to an eerie, creepy time in our nation’s history, and all good Democrats among us need to revolt against their party leadership.  Also, all good Democrats within the power structure of their party need to start taking action against enemies within their party, and within our country.  What’s happened with Iran, it seems, can be a watershed moment for what the party will be moving forward.  They are at a crossroads, now, and their party’s survival is on the line.  As one of two parties of the two party system of the greatest country in human history, America, patriotic souls, and smarter thinking democrats, have a choice to make, right now.

Iranian Aggression - Tulsi Gabbard
Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)

Keep Reading

Amy Chua: Equality, Elitism, Ethics and the New American Elite

*In a June 13, 2019 article in the Financial Times (headquartered in London, England) journalist Edward Luce reported on Amy Chua’s “shrewd string-pulling” to get her daughter a position as a clerk for recently-appointed Supreme Court judge Brett Kavanaugh. To quote Mr. Luce: “This week Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, Ms. Chua’s daughter, was hired as a Supreme Court clerk by Brett Kavanaugh — the judge for whom her mother vouched during his stormy Senate hearings last autumn. Ms. Chua is a shrewd string-puller. A Supreme Court clerkship sets up a young lawyer for life. Whether she is enjoying the publicity is another matter. Overnight the Chuas have turned into emblems of what Americans distrust about their meritocracy.”Was what Ms. Chua did a “quid quo pro?” And if so, how many quid quo pros are out there? The reality is that many myths and legends exceed their grandiose depictions. Keep Reading

Choosing Sides

*Brit Hume, former Washington Bureau Chief for Fox News Network, once said that it’s no longer a simple matter of our country being divided, but it is now more that each side sees the other side as something that is evil, that must be stopped. If you were to repeat this assessment to a good handful of people you will find that most all of them will 100% agree with it. That is saying a whole lot.

It is of paramount importance, then, that we find determinants as to which side is, in fact, the evil side, which side has among them the malevolent and nefarious forces among all of us. To that end, we must expose some cold, hard, ugly truths. And let’s be clear, it’s not that all people on any side are of evil, very surely not, and so those who are not bad actors will feel angry that the sinister people within their ideological leanings are revealed.

Rather than feeling anger, though, it’s preferable that such real truths be understood for what they are, and to also understand that a visceral negative reaction to truth is unhealthy, and on the wrong side.

Truth is truth. Keep Reading

Androgyny’s Abrogation

/

*Here’s the call:

Dispatcher: 911 what is your emergency?

Caller: I think we have a heart attack victim.

Dispatcher: OK please tell me the age and sex of the victim.

Caller: I can’t.

Dispatcher: You can’t tell me the age and sex of the victim?

Caller: About 40 years old, I guess, but I don’t know the sex.

Dispatcher: You don’t know the sex?

Caller: They’re androgynous. Keep Reading

Bogus Blaming of Baby Boomers

/

*One Lyman Stone, in The Atlantic of June 24, 2019, blames the Baby Boomers for many of the problems in America, in an article titled “The Boomers Ruined Everything.” According to Stone, the younger Americans (Gen X, Millennials) are having a hard time, economically and otherwise, because of the acts and behavior of the Baby Boomers. The Baby Boomers ruined everything about America? Hardly. Stone’s universal generalization is the first key flaw in his argument. But let’s take a look.

To start off with, Stone begins with this gem: “The average U.S. state constitution is more than 100 years old. We are in the third-longest period without a constitutional amendment in American history: The longest such period ended in the Civil War.” What about our treasured Constitution needs to be changed? He offers no suggestions, so allow me to suggest one. Keep Reading

Wild Turkeys – Anti-Trumpers’ Syrian Hypocrisy

*During the time that Barack H. Obama was the sitting US President, the Middle East region underwent a fundamental transformation, one in which millions of people were slaughtered in the streets of Arab cities, including many Kurds.  Millions more people were running for their lives in all directions and there occurred an epic scale human refuge crises, which slammed smack into Europe.  Havoc in many European cities ensued and there continues a great deal of strife in that part of the world today, caused by such massive influx, yellow jackets and all.

The trouble began in the summer of 2009. Iranian citizens rose up in Tehran against the dictatorship of the Mullahs of Iran.  The revolution was put down.  President Barack Obama said and did exactly nothing. Keep Reading

Federal Government Fails to Properly Vet Candidates

/

*The efficiency of government depends on human capital and that means hiring the right people. The federal hiring process is lengthy, and while background checks and steps in the hiring process currently in place seem to be sufficient, bad actors still get through.

Modernizing the hiring process to include more nascent, emerging, credential verification technologies is needed. This is not just to prevent wasted resources spent on hiring the wrong candidates, but can prevent national security threats by instituting modern credential verification processes. Modern technologies can go a long way to protect our country from bad actors, while saving the federal government a lot of money by preventing bad hires.

The Cost of Fraud

In just the recent history, the 2019 college admissions scandal, nicknamed Operation Varsity Blues, rocked the nation when it exposed a criminal conspiracy to influence admissions decisions at several top American universities. It was disclosed on March 12, 2019, by US federal prosecutors. At least 51 people are alleged to have been part of the scandal for paying more than $25 million over several years to bribe college officials, fraudulently inflating entrance exam test scores, athletic abilities and so forth. Keep Reading

El Paso, Discrimination, & America – Sam I Am

*I am Sam Martinez, born a U.S. citizen of Mexican descent in El Paso, Texas. My father and mother were born in New Mexico and California, respectively in the 1920s. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed in 1848, moved the U.S. border from as far north as Wyoming and Oregon, as far east as a portion of present-day Kansas, down to the Rio Grande, making tens of thousands of Mexicans into U.S. citizens.

Five generations on my father’s side were born in the New Mexico area once Mexico. My DNA indicates I am 70% of the Iberian Peninsula and Native American. The remaining percentage reflects nomadic survival from Africa, Europe, Polynesia, and Asia. The soup de jour resulted in brown skin I wear proudly.
Keep Reading

The ‘N’ Word

*Not so long ago ‘bash’ meant a big party, ‘boss’ meant great and ‘a gas’ was a real fun time!  Calling someone a ‘queer’ was tantamount to uttering other hurtful and hurting terms such as ‘homo’ and ‘fag’.  At some point in time that probably coincides with folk at Gay Pride rallies declaring, “We’re here and we’re queer”, it magically became OK for gay or straight people to use the word ‘queer’ … kinda stylish.

‘Oriental’, on the other hand, is very much not in vogue.  It was taught as both a term of respect and a geographical reference point indicating the easternmost part of Asia, its ancient culture and the people that live there.

the 'n' word

‘Oriental’ is much more specific as an identifier than ’Asian’ as it indicates a specific part of Asia and people with recognizable physical traits, such as almond-shaped eyes, and does not include those from Georgia or Kazakhstan who are as Asian as anyone from China but do not ‘look Asian’.  Why the term ‘Oriental’ offends is baffling – perhaps we take ourselves a bit too seriously?

Baby boomers growing up in the 50s and 60s were often taught that blacks were to be called ‘Negros’ in polite company, or (often in the south) ‘Colored’.  At some point in time that probably coincides with folk at Black Pride rallies declaring “Black Power”, ‘Negro’ gave way to ‘black’ as the new polite term, and things were simple.  Then came the ‘politically correct’ and factually inaccurate do-goodnics who saddled us with the ridiculous ‘African American’, making race about a continent – like ‘Asian’ – and avoiding the issue completely.
Keep Reading

The “Squad’s” Squalid Statements

*Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is offering a lot of people hope. Hope for a new beginning, hope for a new life, hope for peace and prosperity. The U.S. government is supposed to wave its magic wand and grant all of those things to people from other nations who are innocent and only want the aforementioned. The pursuit of these goals is being vociferously advocated by citizens calling themselves “global citizens” a group of Americans who do not understand citizenship.

Did I mention that they themselves are hoping for a great deal number of people who will vote for them?

Keep Reading

I Nor Anyone Else Is Your Self, I Am Self

*Reading the article titled, “A Message to Mayor Pete from a Latina Mama: “Don’t Force Your Sexual Ideology on Me and My Children,” by Ana Samuel created this response.

I was a bigot against LGBTQ persons to the point of being critical, being disgusted, and being angered. My being came from family, friends, religion, and readings. Now, I am embarrassed at myself for not following the Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent God of love. Believing LGBTQ is a choice, proves wrong scientifically or from the power, thought, and presence of God.

Why limit oneself to believe LGBTQ is a choice and not a choice of children born healthy, lacking body activity, having health conditions, developed mental issues, or missing body parts or functions? How was it my choice to be born with cells of what is considered normal or the choice of hermaphrodites to be born as they are? At conception, neither I nor anyone else had the opportunity to choose mental or physical capacity.

Keep Reading

Obama 2020……………. Michelle?

*A few weeks ago Bill Maher tried to explain to the panelists on his HBO program why it will take someone already famous and popular and charismatic to defeat Trump in 2020, and suggested that one of the few people in that category is Oprah.

Not surprisingly the politicians on the panel belittled that idea as quickly and harshly as possible, not wanting to acknowledge that it could be necessary to call upon a non-politician to do a politician’s job; protective of their jobs and situation in the uneasy manner contractors display when homeowners suggest doing their own repairs instead of calling upon the contractor’s expertise.  Of course Mr. Maher could not have been more correct or insightful.

Much of Trump’s initial support was a result of him being a TV personality.  Had it not been for his established fame not only would he not have been elected president … he would never even have been invited to the debates or received the nomination.  He certainly wasn’t a credible politician – or even a credible human being.

Keep Reading

Prisons ↑ Crimes ↓ – America 2019

*The crime rate in the U.S. has been going down since 1993. There are several explanations for the decline in crime, some of my favorites being that cell phones and the internet have lowered the crime rate. The folks that suggest that crime is going down have their favorite theories, and tend to insist that crime has gone down because of whatever cause for which they are currently stumping. I would like to consider a few reasons other than cell phones and the internet.

In a more expansive viewpoint, I would suggest that there are several factors that have caused the crime rate of the U.S. to decline. Of course, Chicago and several other cities have yet to witness any decline in crime, so obviously the decline has not touched those places; nonetheless, crime in the U.S. has declined since 1994. Every announcement of the continuing crime wave sweeping over Chicago is met with deep disdain and helplessness, as the futile efforts of the authorities seem unable to lessen the out-of-control violent crime, even for a county with some very strict firearm regulations. Keep Reading

Father May I? Old White Men and Abortion

*Here’s the thing about abortion: it is murder just the same as stabbing someone in an alley and just the same as sending young people into combat.

It isn’t about how many weeks or how many centimeters or how many heartbeats because you can’t have a person without that zygote and so you can’t say the zygote is not alive, or a being.  Cells that are reproducing and growing as rapidly as the zygotes are, more than qualify anything – plant or animal – to be ‘alive’.

No, it is about 1) who gets to murder legally and 2) who gets to decide who gets to murder legally.  The answer to both – generally speaking, in dangerous generalizations – is old white guys.  Politicians, influential businessmen, henchmen and cronies that think in grandiose terms, where lost lives are anticipated, computed and accepted as part of the game; the price of doing business.

abortion and old white men

Who doesn’t get to murder legally is everyone else, and the guys running the show will do anything to keep it that way, lashing out at the very idea of what and who they fear most: empowered women. Keep Reading

Trump’s Tirade at the Coup

*The media of today (2019) are so incredibly inaccurate and uneducated that it is difficult to understand how they were hired as reporters or commentators. Zack Ford, on the website Thinkprogress thinks he can correct the president on the use of a political term that he doesn’t think is appropriately used. Mr. Ford, and many of his co-conspirators in the media, think that Mr. Trump is incorrect when he uses the term “coup d’etat” for the Mueller investigation. As one member of the media stated on one of the Sunday discussions, they insisted that President Trump was in error because “coup d’etat” means military overthrow of the government. Keep Reading

Conway’s Folly    

*Given the clamoring among political insiders about aspects of the Mueller Report that they see as problematic for President Trump, and the effects that can have on the American voting public, it would behoove us all to get straight to the bottom of what this probe’s findings really mean to our nation.  It’s not so terribly hard to do.  A quintessential example of how wrong any calls for impeachment, or further investigation of our 45th US President, are, is a Washington Post oped piece written by a top presidential aid’s spouse.

If George T Conway III thinks he can get away with such a lambasting of this president, on this issue, seen in the second highest circulated US newspaper, without it being properly dissected, he’s got another thing coming.   Keep Reading

1 2 3 4 5 … 7