AOC and the New Democratic Party

So, a year ago, she was a part-time waitress/bartender and now she’s the star of the Democratic Party? How does that happen? She’s supposedly a brilliant woman with a degree in Economics from a prestigious university, but then she fails to show even a basic understanding of how tax breaks work and costs her state 30,000 new jobs? She’s now an expert apparently on immigration, the economy and especially, the environment? And yet, she sits on panels and asks some of the dumbest questions I’ve ever heard. I wonder if she’s that stupid or are we? And now, she’s mad because the Republicans in the Senate plan to put her New Green Deal to a vote. You know, the one that saves our planet by plunging our country back into the Stone Age.

I wrote a while back about the representative system of government and questioned if we are choosing well the people we send to Washington to represent us. I was sincere in wishing that the new crop of young, idealistic politicians would do well. I hoped that they would listen and learn and truly represent the folks who had elected them. I don’t think this has happened. Instead AOC and her new pals on the Hill seem to be trying to take over and run the show. She herself even made the hilarious comment recently that she was the boss and we should sit down and shut up if we didn’t like it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xo-T65Ioq0

Regardless of how popular she may be, I wonder why such brand new baby representatives are being placed on important committees and given such highly visible platforms. Aren’t there more deserving members of Congress who have actually been in office, paid their dues so to speak, and who might actually know something, as opposed to these grandstanding wannabes who love to listen to themselves talk? I’ve seen several videos of AOC and I must say, she sometimes puts on a good show, but seriously, why is she questioning witnesses and acting like the boss?

I suppose it could be worse. She could be one of those members running around using foul language and disrespecting the President of the United States. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt7pcCn-cDo Or spouting Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqhStfe3MtE  What is wrong with these people? If you are an elected member of Congress and you have no respect for the President or the very office, why are you involved in government at any level? If the President of the entire country cannot be addressed with dignity and respect, maybe you should give up your seat and go back home.

And if you can’t follow basic rules of civility? If you can’t even take the oath of office on a Bible like everyone else. And swear allegiance to THIS country? What kind of example does it set when elected members of Congress publicly trash our country’s allies? Or looking at it in a different way, disrespect persons of a different religion than their own? We’re so busy worrying about Islamophobia that we look the other way when any other group is openly disrespected.

Let’s be real. If a Baptist member of Congress made disparaging remarks about the Catholic Church, how would the media react? Or if a Christian member (or a talk show host) said something ugly about an Islamic Congresswoman? I’m sure the media would cover that in a heartbeat.

But then again, what’s the current purpose of the House anyway, but to investigate the President. Never mind that the Special Prosecutor and his Liberal staff have spent two years and a gazillion dollars and found nothing. Now we apparently have 8 separate House investigations going. What an incredible waste of time! And people wonder why they can’t get a budget passed. I guess with all the impeachment committees and finding ways to legally kill babies, the Dems in the House just don’t have time to actually legislate.

My Thoughts on the Concept of Hate Crimes

So, can someone explain to me the point of hate crimes? I mean, I understand the intent, I suppose, to ensure that everyone can comprehend the seriousness and all, but am I the only one who thinks we are getting a little too close to criminalizing thought? And if so, isn’t that something about which we should all be very concerned?

Let’s take a simple assault case for example. Isn’t assault already a crime? Should the motive somehow make it a more serious offense than it already is? Is the victim somehow harmed more by the reason for the assault than for the assault itself? I don’t get it.

What about murder? Is the victim more or less dead based on the mindset of the killer? In criminal trials, attorneys always say that they don’t have to show the motive, but they usually do, because juries expect it. They want to know why and I can understand that. If I were on a jury, it would certainly help me decide on the person’s innocence or guilt, but on the other hand, it should not necessarily affect the length of the sentence imposed. Should it?

Logically speaking, if someone is guilty of assault or murder or whatever, they should get the appropriate sentence. (Personally, I would hope for the maximum.) To add to that sentence by somehow deciding that the motive was hatred or prejudice or some other rationale seems excessive. Again, the results are the same, the effect on the victim is the same. And the only true difference is in the mind of the guilty party.

To me the whole idea is an extension of the stupidity that results from the obsession some have with political correctness. Free speech is now being severely limited by the victim mentality that has created the horrible crimes of hate speech. If I offend you, somehow I’m now a criminal? Again, are we criminalizing thoughts and beliefs? Or should crimes be based on actions, not their motives.

I understand where some of the reasoning comes from. I understand trying to protect minorities from discrimination based on race or sexual orientation or whatever, but again, at the risk of sounding repetitious, how does the motive behind the crime have any more impact on the victim than before? And what about the average white guy? Don’t I deserve to be protected from assault or murder just as much as the next person? (When’s the last time the media screamed hate crime when some white kid in a MAGA hat was assaulted?) I know it’s not as newsworthy, but it’s still a crime, right?

And why do we have to always assume that hate is the motive anyway. If an LGBTQ person gets attacked, is it always a hate crime? What if the person is just a jerk? And when are we ever going to reach a point in this country where everything doesn’t have to be about race for God’s sake! If a person of color gets attacked shouldn’t we be more concerned with the victim than the skin color of the perpetrator? Again, maybe the motive is something totally unrelated to the victim’s race. Maybe it was a crime of opportunity. Maybe the attacker was just waiting for the next person to walk down that particular street. Why do we always jump to the conclusion that it’s about race. Probably because we have swallowed all the lies from the Left who still believe we live in a horrible racist country where no one is safe anymore. And that’s just sad.

But let me get back to my real point, are we criminalizing thought? In the classic novel, 1984, one of the great fears of the people is being targeting by the Thought Police for thoughtcrime. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_Police In many ways, we are seeing some of the terrifying future predictions from this book already showing up today. And make no mistake, this is a big one. If the government can come and get you and prosecute you just for thinking things that they disapprove, what kind of society have we become? And aren’t hate crimes the same thing? At what point will we decide that hateful thoughts are a crime even without the accompanying criminal actions? Aren’t we already condemning people (in the media) for the thoughts and beliefs they have that come in conflict with the accepted and approved rules of society? It’s a slippery slope and I fear that too few people even realize how close we are to the edge.

Let’s not fail to protect our citizens and let’s be vigilant in our efforts, but let’s be sure that we are prosecuting the crimes committed and not just punishing people for the thoughts that may have provoked the actions in the first place.

(FYI - In addition to federal law, currently, 45 states and the District of Columbia have statutes criminalizing various types of bias-motivated violence or intimidation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_crime_laws_in_the_United_States)

Top Ten Presidential Lies of All Time

Let me state a clear and obvious fact.

Even Presidents lie. Now, just to be clear, being wrong about the details, or misremembering something is not necessarily the same as lying (by my definition anyway). I tend to think of lies as being deliberate attempts to deceive, or stating something that the speaker knows full well is not true. So with those criteria in mind, here is my list of the biggest presidential lies of all time.

10. Donald Trump and a multitude of exaggerations. So, I’m already going against my original definition, but if I don’t put him on the list the Liberals will cry foul. Although the mainstream media (and a ton of Democrats) call him a liar on a daily basis, rarely do they make any attempt to provide any specific examples. When they do, the so-called lies are often nothing more than ego-driven bragging and less actual lies. Insisting that the crowd at his inauguration was the largest ever may not be factually correct, but it’s hardly a deliberate attempt to deceive (again, bragging to make himself look good). Every speech he delivers is followed by a list of alleged lies told, but many of the fact-checkers on TV could use a refresher course on the difference between FACT and OPINION. Often the lies reported are nothing more than differing political viewpoints. If the President says there is a crisis on the border and you disagree, that doesn’t make the statement a lie. (Just makes you wrong IMHO, but oh well.)

9. Barack Obama blames Bush for the Fast and Furious scandal. On repeated occasions, the President either implied or stated directly that the operation that cost the lives of several Americans was begun under the previous administration. In truth, the Bush administration had nothing to do with the plan developed and put in place by Eric Holder, Obama’s Attorney General (and apparently approved by FBI Director Robert Mueller). Actually, this entire list could be filled by the numerous attempts to blame the economy, foreign policy, and a variety of major scandals on the previous administration. And efforts to take credit for the accomplishments of the current administration. (Sorry, Barry, you didn’t build that.)

8. James Polk (1845), William McKinley (1898), Franklin Roosevelt (1940), Lyndon Johnson (1964) – All of these Presidents lied about going into various wars. Polk provoked a skirmish on the border, claimed Mexico started it, and got us into the Mexican-American War as a way to grab some land, California and New Mexico to be exact. McKinley blamed the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine on Spain causing the Spanish-American War. Later investigations showed that the explosion that sank the ship was caused by an accidental fire. FDR was actively campaigning for a third term while telling the American people, "Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars." Most believe he was already planning our entry into WWII. Johnson announced to the American people that two U.S. ships had been attacked in Vietnam’s Gulf of Tonkin and promised a swift and aggressive response. In reality, LBJ had been planning to invade North Vietnam all along. The unprovoked attack on the U.S. ships never happened. (Many would include George W. Bush’s reports of Saddam Hussein and his WMDs here, but truthfully, chemical weapons were eventually found in Iraq, so not exactly a lie after all.)

7. Hillary Clinton (the People’s President) – Take your pick! Seriously almost anything in response to her email controversy would work here. I’m particularly appalled by her casual relationship with the truth when it comes to her answer about wiping the hard drive on her server (after it had been subpoenaed). “Like with a cloth?” Seriously? Of course, she told repeated lies about the content of the emails as well, claiming there were no classified materials (and claiming not to know or understand how such documents were marked). And who knows what was in the deleted emails that she and her staff determined were just personal stuff. Nothing to see here, folks, move along.

More outrageous by far were the lies told by Hillary, Obama, and others in his administration who lied repeatedly about the causes of the Benghazi attack that resulted in the deaths of four Americans. Despite clear (and early) evidence that it was a planned terrorist attack, they continued to state publically that it was a spontaneous reaction to a YouTube video.

6. Barack Obama – When asked in a televised interview when he learned about Hillary Clinton’s use of an unsecured email server, the President said, “The same time everybody else learned it, through news reports.” Later, the Inspector general’s report showed that he had been one of the 13 top government officials who had communicated with her through this private email server. Apparently, he had even used an alias to disguise himself. So much for the lie that he was not aware all along that she was using something other than the official email for her position.

5. Ronald Reagan, "We did not, I repeat, did not trade weapons or anything else (to Iran) for hostages, nor will we." It was later determined that we had indeed made such arrangements. You can debate all you want about ethical considerations, but in hindsight, we clearly made a deal to free our people and apparently, everyone involved knew we were doing exactly what we had said we wouldn't do. Still my favorite President of all time, Reagan was an effective leader who accomplished great things while in office, but this lie was a big one.

4. George H. W. Bush, “Read my lips. No new taxes.” And yet, he eventually signed bills that raised taxes. Imagine that! In all fairness, at the time of the statement, he may have been as honest as he could be regarding his intentions. Nevertheless, when you proclaim something so clearly and directly, (and probably get elected because of the promise), not following through makes the statement sound like a huge lie. It also made it virtually impossible to win re-election. If you don’t care for the Clinton Crime Family, it is generally conceded that the effect of this big lie, led directly to the election of Bill as President.

3. Richard Nixon, “I am not a crook.” For many years, I held a great fascination with all things related to the Watergate scandal. While I have never believed that he knew about the specific acts beforehand, I have no doubts that the President was actively involved in the cover-up. You can argue about the use of the term crook and whether or not it applies in this case, but he more than likely broke a few laws in the process, and he certainly knew what he had done when he made the public statement declaring himself to be innocent.

2. Barack Obama, "If you like your doctor, you'll be able to keep your doctor, if you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan." Based on multiple sources, including one of the original architects of the Affordable Care Act, the President and pretty much everyone else in the administration knew all along that many people would be forced to change their plan and lose their doctor. (A separate, but related lie was the insistence that health insurance premiums would be lowered.) Despite the obvious facts, the President repeated this huge lie over and over again while attempting to sell his plan to the American people.

And the biggest lie ever told by a US President -

1. Bill Clinton, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” When a sitting US President goes on national TV, looks directly into the camera, and makes a bold, declarative statement such as this, it is pretty disconcerting to find out later that he was lying through his teeth. For those of us who saw this performance live, he was fairly convincing. Whether you believed him or not, he was very direct and didn’t dance around the issue, like later when he tried to say it depended on the definition of the word is. Of course, by this point in his political career, he had spent decades perfecting his denials of sexual encounters. Even if you don’t believe the matter was an important one, this one still tops my list for sheer gall on display. And I’m sorry, but it still offends me that the President was carrying on his affairs in the Oval Office!

A Personal Update – The New Job

I started a new job this week and I am exhausted! For most of my adult life, I have worked full-time, and unless my memory is faulty (which is always possible, these days), this is my first part-time position. After retiring a few years ago, and pursuing this writing thing, I decided to supplement my income and began looking for something that would involve 3-4 days a week and not more than 20-25 hours.

The job search itself was much harder than I thought it would be. There weren’t a lot of jobs posted and quite a few of the so-called part-time jobs wanted someone to work up to 39 hours a week. Sorry, but that doesn’t sound like part-time to me. I applied for a few local retail positions only to discover that apparently I have no relevant skills or experience. (When I mentioned looking for a job, a friend asked what I could do and I was stuck for an answer. Anything? Nothing?) Between college and my first teaching job, about a hundred years ago, I worked for several months at The House of Jeans in the mall. You may not remember The House of Jeans, but surely you remember shopping malls. (If not, go back and watch Dawn of the Dead.) Anyway, that would be the extent of my retail experience!

In my naïve state, I didn’t really see this as a problem. I have a Master’s Degree, so surely I can be taught how to sell paint, or boots and western wear. Maybe not. Most of the places I applied did not respond at all, which was very frustrating. If I spend an hour filling out your stupid online application, surely you can take two minutes to send me a generic email thanking me for my interest. Right?

Anyway, I do have skills. I can teach and supervise, administrate, that kind of stuff. Seriously though, I do have some skills that should be helpful in any number of jobs. I have computer skills. I have communication skills. I have people skills. I’ve worked in the public school system, so I can deal with kids, and teachers, and a multitude of angry parents who storm through the doors demanding immediate attention. That counts as customer service doesn’t it?

And I know I’m old, but just because I have one foot in the grave already doesn’t mean I can’t still handle a part-time job. At least I can put down my phone long enough to look up and answer a direct question. So, anyway, my persistence paid off and I finally found someone who could appreciate that my experience in education could translate into other fields. He could also appreciate that my age could be an asset rather than a liability, and so he hired me. Yay! I am now working at the front desk of a local hotel. And now for the catch – I’m working the night shift, as in 11:00 PM to 7:00 AM. The dreaded graveyard shift, appropriate considering my previous comment about my age.

Which brings me to my exhaustion. I have never worked through the night before. It is definitely a different experience. Learning the computer program is just a matter of taking the time and eventually, it will become routine, so that part is not too hard. I’ve never handled cash much, but these days, most people use cards, so that’s not too bad. Inventory and managing the physical facilities is a familiar task in many ways. Cooking breakfast for a large group is something I have never done before, but I’m learning, and I can handle that as well. But, doing any or all of those things in the middle of the night while my brain thinks I should be sound asleep? That can be exhausting.

Anyway, the good news is that I have a new job! And I am thankful. So wish me luck and say a prayer that my internal clock will make the necessary adjustments to my new schedule and help me beat back the inevitable exhaustion! God bless and have a great week!