Category: Political Analysis

Culture Is Politics and Vice Versa

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Andrew Breitbart once famously said, “Politics is downstream from culture.”

What Andrew was conveying is the idea that changes manifested in the culture will likely produce parallel changes in politics.

I myself contend that the country has changed so dramatically, the culture is now inseparable from politics and politics is inseparable from the culture. In other words, culture is politics and politics is culture.

There is no place in which the culture has been kept sequestered from the political, and likewise there is no place in which the political has been kept at arm’s length from the culture. In a very real sense it has taken on an eerily seamless quality.

An additional aspect that has affected the political-cultural relationship is the social media. In its advent, social media literally took the nation by storm. People, though, were too busy living through an immersion experience for the records to fully realize the unprecedented phenomenon it truly was.

Then there is the whole notion of search engines. These are the vehicles that enable us to gain access to the storehouses of information contained on the internet.

We all know that the use of digital devices has exploded. To millions of people, it feels as though these mini-computers are extensions of our bodies. If denied them for any length of time, the psyche may operate as though a piece is somehow missing and experience digital deprivation anxiety in the process.

And so it is that we find ourselves racing headlong into a confluence of digital forces. How were we to know that the power to control digital life itself would ultimately be concentrated in the hands of a few select individuals who run the Big Tech companies?

This year COVID lockdowns and woke content altered the way in which Americans consumed their digital amusement. Some eye-opening ratings help to tell the tale.

Recently, The New York Times took a hiatus from attacking the president long enough to notice that a watershed moment was taking place in the viewing habits of a central medium of our age—television.

While under COVID house arrest, the prime-time viewing audience preferred to watch one network over all of the others. The network of choice was none other than the oft-maligned Fox News.

This constituted a major shift of the culture, so much so that even the Times felt compelled to report it.

It is not surprising that Fox News would be on top when compared to other cable news outlets such as CNN and MSNBC. Fox has dominated this space for 18 years running.

But for Fox News to become the preferred prime-time destination over the increasingly woke broadcast and cable entertainment offerings? This was unexpected and turned out to be downright scary for the left.

“In June and July, Fox News was the highest-rated television channel in the prime-time hours of 8 to 11 p.m. Not just on cable. Not just among news networks. All of television. The average live Fox News viewership in those hours outstripped cable rivals like CNN, MSNBC and ESPN, as well as the broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC, according to Nielsen,” the Times reported.

“That three-hour slot is a narrow but significant slice of TV real estate, and it is exceedingly rare for a basic-cable channel to outrank the Big Three broadcasters, which are available in more households and offer a wider variety of programming,” the Times added.

“Even the return of live sports did little to stop the momentum: The Fox News programs hosted by Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity drew more live viewers than competing baseball and basketball games, including a Yankees-Nationals matchup on Opening Day,” the Times said.

Fox News is a place where folks can uniquely experience a pushback against virtually all of the other media outlets. They also get treated to a healthy dose of American exceptionalism.

In the past, the formation of American culture, even when dominated by the left, was still occurring in a free market environment. This is what we know as the American model, the one that allows more innovation and creativity than any other governmental approach ever has.

But now we see signs that our nation is moving towards a new model, one that embraces authoritarianism and seeks to implement a political agenda.

It is an emerging totalitarian model in which elected leaders impose selective lockdowns and arbitrary mandates using public health as a pretext. A model in which the same elected leaders allow, facilitate, and even cheer on criminal, insurrectionist, and terrorist acts. A model that encourages the erasure of national history, heritage, and identity in order to fit a far-left narrative.

Most tragically, it is an emerging totalitarian model that looks more like the Chinese communist system of governance than anything previously associated with the United States of America.

Tables Turn as Bibles Burn

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Good folks all over the place are so tired of being told that what’s been going on in cities like Portland and Seattle are peaceful protests.

Instead of trying to understand the wobbly language that’s being bandied about, the better route is to take a long hard look at what’s actually happening.

For more than two months street thugs armed with rifles, lasers, bombs, flame throwers, swords, spears, and an assorted array of sick weaponry have terrorized to the hilt average everyday people.

Meanwhile Democratic Party hacks and their media toadies give attaboys to the perpetrators. They insist that there’s no violence going on anywhere. They while away their leisure lockdown hours plotting ways in which they can torment their political enemies. And cruelest of all, they turn a deaf ear to folks who cry in the dark for help that never comes.

Here’s a little animal tale to ponder.

Early in June while on a walk through the park some Portland police came across a pig that had fallen asleep on the ground. The officers took to Twitter to see if the pig’s owner could be located. A photo of the little guy was displayed on the official police page along with a phone number and message that encouraged a happy reunion.

The presence of the animal in the park would be an eerie foreshadowing of something insidious that would take place about a month and a half later.

Last week rioters sent yet another symbolic message of the appalling kind. They set a pig’s head on fire. Atop the animal’s head was a police hat. An American flag completed the smoldering scene.

As if an incinerated pig’s head in police attire and a torched American flag didn’t assault the psyche enough, footage of another ugly event was posted on the internet. It showed participants, who were wielding Black Lives Matter signs and being cheered on by bystanders, happily hurling stacks of Bibles onto a blazing bonfire.

Providentially, Twitter user Ian Miles Cheong would catch the whole thing on tape.

Burning books is very much a specialty of fascists. The Nazis did it in the 1930s. But burning the Holy Bible? Even in fallen away corners this is not going to sit well.

Guess it should have been apparent though, considering the recent comments made by BLM activist Shaun King, who used a series of Twitter posts to urge the destruction of images and statues of Jesus Christ, his Blessed Mother Mary, and other figures from scripture.

“Yes I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down. They are a form of white supremacy,” King tweeted.

King also posted that “white Jesus is a lie” and is a “tool of white supremacy,” which in King’s words was created to help white people use Christianity as a “tool of oppression.”

King then wrote that all of the Christian imagery should be taken down, including “murals and stained glass windows of white Jesus, and his European mother, and their white friends.”

It was inevitable, being the Marxist-based global organizations they are, that BLM, Antifa, and like-minded radicals would attempt to defile, denigrate, and destroy the biblical message and its mystical messengers. After all, Judeo-Christian scriptures hold within them the very ideas upon which America in particular, and the whole of Western civilization in general, are built.

The Bible has often been viewed by the left with contempt, and for good reason. A government based on the Rule of Law, which sprang forth from laws transcribed by Moses and enshrined in the Ten Commandments, frequently prompts negative reactions on the part of those who are threatened by absolutes.

Donald Trump Jr. used his Twitter account to comment on the recent Bible burning.

“Now we move to the book burning phase. I’m pretty sure ANTIFA doesn’t actually stand for what they say it stands for. Maybe just remove the anti part of [its] name and it’s perfect,” Trump Jr. posted.

Organizations lurking behind the aforementioned street thugs are hell-bent on destruction.

Like all of the committed Marxists before them, the “utopian” world they seek can only exist when freedom dies.

The Bible is Truth. Truth will set you free. Freedom is forever.

Time to Make Up Your Mind — It’s One or the Other

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When it comes to picking a president this time around, there’s no middle of the road, no complaining about the choices available, and no leaving blank spots on ballots.

Each and every voter has a decision to make that involves a critical choice between two rival political parties, two 2020 presidential candidates, and two polar opposite futures for America.

Below is a summary of the two options that each and every voter has to ponder, pray about, and in the end, pick one or the other.

Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden

In an apparent attempt to unify his party, Biden is using a document created by a task force that he set up along with Socialist U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. The document addresses six policy issue categories that include so-called climate change, health care, and immigration.

Biden refers to these issue areas as comprising a “bold, transformative platform.”

“Transformative” is the cryptic word here. Among other things, his proposed agenda includes the following:

–The repeal of travel bans currently imposed on dangerous terrorist countries, the opening of the borders to any foreigner who claims asylum, amnesty for those who are in the country illegally, and a 100-day moratorium on all deportations.

–Federal funding to create a “civilian corps” of unarmed first responders, which will include social workers. This will evidently go hand-in-hand with the Democrats expressed desire to de-fund or even abolish the police.

–The establishment of what is described as a “public option plan” of government health care; additionally, there is a proposed extension of coverage to illegal immigrants.

–With regard to the life issue, Biden recently commented on a Supreme Court decision concerning state restrictions on abortion. He described the right to end the life of a baby in the womb as a “constitutional right to choice under any circumstance.”

Presumptive Republican nominee President Donald Trump

Trump recently made an inspiring speech at Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. In his speech, he presented a platform of his own. Among other things, his dreams for America encompass the following:

–The recognition of “the solemn right and moral duty of every nation to secure its borders” and the obligation of our country to “care for its own citizens first.”

–The importance of safeguarding the First Amendment and encouraging a healthy exchange of ideas and an ongoing “free and open debate.”

–The need to “support the courageous men and women of law enforcement” and strengthen our commitment to “never abolish our police or our great Second Amendment.”

–The rekindling of the American spirit that encourages us to “teach our children to know that they live in a land of legends, that nothing can stop them, and that no one can hold them down.”

–The instilling of the confidence to believe that we “can do anything,” “be anything,” and that working with one another “we can achieve anything.”

–With regard to the life issue, Trump said, “Every child, of every color, born and unborn, is made in the holy image of God.”

During the imposed “lockdown” of our country, the Democrats gave us a preview of what the future will look like if they are in charge, unrestrained and able to fully implement their socialist wish list.

The contrast between the two choices presented above is clear as can be.

But here’s the most important thing for each and every voter to consider—the candidates’ visions for the future.

Ask yourself, What is my own personal vision for my children, my grandchildren, and for America?

And then ask yourself, Which candidate is going to help make my own personal vision become a reality?

Choose like it really matters, because it really does.

An Election Worth Fighting For

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It was a troubled time in history.

New York City was a mess. The streets of the Big Apple were plagued with crime, and folks felt anxious and downhearted.

Then along came Rudy Giuliani. He had made a run for mayor in 1989, but it wasn’t his time.

After having lost that election round, he stepped up a few short years later for a 1993 electoral re-match with then-NYC Mayor David Dinkins.

Law and order was the big issue on voters’ minds. This time Rudy would take the trophy. He became New York City’s official mayor and went on to make the city safe again.

New Yorkers would thank him with a second term, which would be monumental in its import and in its place in history as on one fateful day in September 2001, Rudy would rise to become “America’s Mayor.”

Fast forward to the Summer of 2020.

We sit in shock as in real time we watch a string of crimes play out on our television screens, tablets, and cell phones.

We gaze in horror as we witness the destruction of our shops, restaurants, and even our police stations.

Our hearts break as we see neighbors being beaten with fists, bricks, clubs, and skateboards.

We witness smashing, looting, burning, and unvarnished hatred unlike anything we have ever experienced before.

And we weep to the depths of our souls.

We learn a whole lot in the weeks to come, and the knowledge arrives in the form of revelations.

We hear about current Democrat state governors, including those in New York, California, Michigan, and Washington, and sitting Democrat city mayors in New York City, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Seattle, among others, who allow and even encourage outright lawlessness.

We see elected Democrat leaders violate their oaths to protect lives and property and give carte blanche to terrorists.

We hear Democrat city mayors order police officers to stand down as cities are overtaken, livelihoods are demolished, and dreams of everyday folks go up in flames.

We recoil from the blows of vandals, who strike our own bodies as they deface cherished monuments and topple statues of heroes past.

We listen to Democrat state governors and Democrat city mayors order law enforcement to refrain from exercising their sworn duties.

We smell the stench of anarchy as we stare at city blocks, which are cordoned off in a neighborhood that many used to call work or home, the new area being proclaimed a “sovereign nation.”

We cry alongside a father, who is forced to bury his own son at a time that the Seattle Democrat mayor dubbed a “summer of love.”

We taste the bitter fear on our tongues—fear for ourselves, our families, our friends, and our neighbors—as Democrat officeholders de-fund our police departments.

We stop in our tracks for a moment to remember what happened just before the protests and riots.

We were, and still are, a nation in the grip of lockdown brought about by state and local officials who implemented harsh, and in many cases, illegal exercises of power.

We notice that the emergence of the coronavirus had handed governors, mayors, and myriad local officials the power of their wildest dreams, and the heightened profile that goes along with it.

Those who understand the allure of fame know how intoxicating it can be if gone unchecked. It is oftentimes checked by the virtue of humility, but we’re not seeing much of that in the current crop of Democrat gubernatorial and mayoral newfound “stars.”

Why does it matter?

Because power has been placed in the hands of individuals who appear to be overwhelmed by the high it provides and who likely find themselves craving it all the more.

Consequently, it is highly unlikely that they will ever want to hand that power back, in this case, back to the American people.

In 1993 New Yorkers were in a similar situation. The city’s high crime rate was making ordinary life anything but ordinary.

Here are some quotes that appeared in the New York Times in December of 1990, which divided NYC crime into two categories:

The first category had to do with “the large number of shootings of bystanders, whose victims were often children — crimes that frightened by their casualness and unpredictability.”

The second category had to do with “crime that seemed to follow a pattern…”

As the Times went on to explain, “The second sort led to a growing sense of chaos in the city as the criminals eluded capture. But the first kind gave many residents a more unsettling feeling: that anyone, at any time, could become a victim.”

After what our country has witnessed of late in the Democrat-run cities and states referenced above, these categories of crime may have a great deal of relevance to the upcoming elections.

In 1993 New Yorkers were not about to become victims, and this led to an unexpected, and very much welcomed, victory for Rudy.

We are about to find out in four months if Americans in 2020 are in the same New York state of mind.

May this be the election that proves the America that we know and love is so worth fighting for.

President Trump Emphasizes Reopening the U.S.

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As a nation we are all sacrificing to achieve a victory over the invisible enemy. However, we have another threat to with which to deal that involves an essential part of the American fabric, gainful employment.

President Donald Trump touched upon our need for honest and productive work in a recent briefing when he spoke about the importance of restarting the U.S. economic engine.

“Let me be extremely clear about one point. We will move Heaven and Earth to safeguard our great American citizens,” the president said. “We will continue to use every power, every authority, every single resource we’ve got to keep our people healthy, safe, secure and to get this thing over with.”

“We want to finish this war. We have to get back to work.”

This is a message we have heard from the president before. Rightly so because a shut down nation is not only unsustainable but actually poses a clear and present danger to all of us. The reality is that financial health has a great deal to do with the physical and psychological well being of the nation. For those who understand the risks economic damage is posing via a self induced-economic sleep, especially President Trump, the objective of getting the economy up and running as soon as possible is paramount.

The president indicated he had hoped to open up businesses by Easter, April 12, but he made an adjustment to the original time frame, extending our national social distancing effort to the end of April on the advice of his task force members.

President Trump also said he’s “thinking about” forming a panel to examine how best to restart the country’s economy, which he called a “good idea.”

“I’m thinking about it,” President Trump said at a White House Press briefing. “I continue to say, the cure cannot be worse than the problem itself.”

The president tweeted an endorsement of a such a plan offered by Dana Perino, former press secretary to President George W. Bush, and now a commentator on Fox News, among other public figures.

She had suggested putting together a group of experts well suited to advise the president about dealing with the economic ramifications resulting from the economic shutdown created by the coronavirus pandemic.

Perino said this group would complement the team led by Vice President Mike Pence, “Let 1st task force focus on crisis at the moment,” Perino tweeted.

Reopening the businesses of the country would be the focus of such a task force. As the president has emphasized the shutdown of our enterprises goes against our nature. “The U.S. economy wasn’t meant to be closed as it is…We’re not going to have separation for the rest of our time on the planet,” he said.

President Trump hinted only a couple of weeks ago that he was thinking about balancing public-health restrictions with economic concerns.

“WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF,” he tweeted and was predictably attacked by the media and craven politicians for the idea.

It is clear that the cure has already cost millions of Americans their jobs. The leisure and hospitality sectors have been decimated.

The fact is that we can plan for our nation to go back to work and we can do it while simultaneously protecting those most likely to harmed by exposure to coronavirus infection, those immunologically compromised, those with chronic diseases, and the elderly.

Younger people without complicating medical conditions who have recovered from the virus and have demonstrable immunity could be allowed to return to work.

At an appropriate time, we also can reopen businesses with social distancing limitations and restart a significant part of our economic engine.

Retailers that have been allowed to operate because they sell groceries have already shown the way by establishing new procedures to sanitize shelves and shopping carts, and regulate the number of shoppers present in the store aisles.

A host of retail uses such as clothing, furniture, and jewelry, etc. should be allowed to innovate and reopen following the same kinds of safeguards that grocery and drug chains have implemented. If Walmart, Target, and CVS can be open during a pandemic so can a long list of other retail chains and small shops.

Two sectors that employ even more people in the nation than leisure and hospitality are manufacturing and construction.

Workers in these sectors do not normally interface with the general public and could be allowed to start again with safe operating practices and with workers practicing social distancing.

Getting factories and construction sites back online would bring back needed jobs and move the country further along the road toward a total economic restart.

Seeing these sectors open up again would remove some of the uncertainty, instill hope, and allow a significant number of Americans to engage in gainful employment, the productive pastime our people love.

How Trump’s Impeachment Record Can Be Wiped Clean

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An idea has been floated by Republican leaders to pass a resolution that would fundamentally alter the impeachment record of President Donald Trump.

The means that would be used to bring about the auspicious outcome is a legislative approach commonly known as expungement. When finalized, the “impeached” label would be amended in the record books, as would the “forever” characterization attached to it by the House Speaker.

More than merely a sound idea, expungement is a necessary one because of the fatally flawed process that the House of Representatives used to pursue the impeachment of the president in the first place.

The impeachment inquiry began without a vote. The hearings featured secret witness “auditions.” The evidence produced was largely inadmissible hearsay and opinion. And rules that were imposed during the process prevented the accused from mounting a defense.

The above mentioned, as well as other defects in due process, make it imperative for the GOP to re-take the House of Representatives and for the new leaders to expunge the impeachment of the president, which will thereby restore integrity to the record.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is on record as being in support of this concept.

“This is the fastest, weakest, most political impeachment in history,” McCarthy told the New York Post. “I don’t think it should stay on the books.”

In addition to McCarthy, influential GOP members of the House, including Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), Rep Lee Zeldin, (R-N.Y.), and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.), have all voiced approval of the idea.

So has President Trump. When asked by a reporter whether he believed the House should expunge his impeachment from the congressional record, the president responded, “They should because it was a hoax. It was a total political hoax.”

Expungement of a presidential impeachment remains the subject of debate by legal scholars. In my personal legal opinion, though, it clearly can be done.

If we take a look back at the seventh U.S. president, Andrew Jackson, we see where the precedent for an expungement was set

In 1832 President Jackson, a Democrat, ran for re-election. His opponent was National Republican Party candidate Henry Clay. Jackson won.

However, Clay’s party took control of the Senate. Under Clay’s leadership, the Senate demanded the delivery of documents from the Jackson cabinet related to a dispute over a presidential veto. After President Jackson refused to release the documents, Clay introduced a resolution to censure him, and after weeks of debate the resolution was passed.

Then in 1837 the Democrats regained the majority in the Senate. They proceeded to have President Jackson’s censure expunged from the record.

If a federal legislative body has the power to expunge a resolution that censures the president, I contend that it likewise has the ability to expunge an impeachment.

Some cable news experts have argued that if the House could expunge an impeachment, it would have done so with President Bill Clinton. Interestingly, this is precisely what Democrats tried to do.

The year was 2010. A dozen years had passed since the impeachment of President Clinton had taken place for misconduct relating to an affair with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky.

Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) introduced legislation to expunge the Clinton impeachment. He was unsuccessful in his effort, and later he himself wound up in prison for bribery, money laundering, and fraud.

A Republican House can and should work to expunge from the record the impeachment of President Trump. A GOP-controlled House would not be bound by an impeachment resolution passed by a previous House.

Although it is unlikely that some of the more vocal opponents would be silenced, an investigation by a GOP-controlled House may have an effect on the way in which history would be interpreted.

House Republicans plan to investigate lead impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and/or his staff’s potential connections to the so-called whistleblower. There is an origin story to the manner in which the whistleblower’s information came to light and the reason why it conflicted with the actual transcript of the president’s telephone call.

The withholding of the 179-page transcript of testimony given by the eighteenth witness, a.k.a., the inspector general of the intelligence community, will be one of the first documents a future Republican House will want to see.

Supporters of President Trump and many independent voters observed how the House hearings were conducted and largely concluded that the impeachment process was unfair to the president.

Increasing public awareness of the potentiality for an expungement will have a ripple effect in the political world and may ultimately boost an already high GOP enthusiasm level, which will assist Republicans in flipping the 18 seats needed to regain control of the House.

Expungement just may be right around the 2020 corner.

Democrats Try to Undermine a Trump Acquittal

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As the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump comes to a close, Democrat resistors are having a hard time coming to grips with an impending acquittal.

Perturbed members of the opposition party have now chosen to engage in a smear campaign that characterizes the Senate proceedings as illegitimate.

Using a worn-out playbook from past attacks, some of the more spiteful Dems are trying to massage the minds of a would-be unsuspecting public that the acquittal of President Trump somehow lacks legitimacy because of a supposed deficiency of witnesses or documents.

In an appearance on Bill Maher’s HBO show on January 17, 2020, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the following: “You are impeached forever,” punctuating her comment with the line, “No matter what the Senate does, it [impeachment] can never be erased.”

On January 30, 2020, the day before the Senate voted against subpoenaing additional witnesses or documents, Pelosi said to a reporter, “You cannot be acquitted if you don’t have a trial. You don’t have a trial if you don’t have witnesses and documentation and all of that.”

The very next morning, which was also prior to the pivotal Senate vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “The president’s acquittal will be meaningless, because it will be the result of a sham trial. If there are no witnesses, no documents in this trial, there will be a permanent asterisk next to the acquittal of President Trump written in permanent ink.”

Other Democrats joined in with the spin, as did most of their willing media accomplices.

Many will recall when the Democrats flooded the media with a similar set of talking points at the conclusion of the confirmation process for then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Some of the more spiteful Dems contended that the process would be unfair and tainted if there was not a delay for an FBI investigation.

After the president and the GOP relented to a week-long FBI investigation, certain Democrat office-holders ran to the microphones to assert that the investigation was insufficient and the confirmation process flawed.

Once again, it really would not have mattered how the GOP senators had proceeded with the impeachment trial. If the trial did not match the outcome that the removal-oriented Democrats wanted, they would have followed up with a coordinated negative message anyway.

The Constitution grants the Senate the sole power to try all impeachments. The Speaker of the House has no real role in an impeachment trial. However, as Pelosi did when she conditioned the delivery of the Articles of Impeachment, the House speaker is attempting to exercise influence and exert control over the Senate impeachment function.

In stark contrast to the way in which the House hearings unfolded, the Senate conducted the impeachment trial process in a fair and dignified manner. While carrying out its constitutional duty, the Senate received and considered a record produced by the House of Representatives. Seventeen of the 18 witnesses from whom the House obtained testimony had their transcripts released. Noticeably absent was the transcript of Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, who gave testimony that is widely believed would have been helpful to the president’s case.

During the Senate trial, members of the Senate, acting as a jury, listened to more than 190 portions of testimony from 13 of the House witnesses, and additionally had access to almost 29,000 documents.

It was the House Democrats who made the decision to disallow any witnesses that would support the president’s case. It was also the House Democrats who chose not to subpoena other witnesses, because they apparently did not wish to take the time to allow the judicial branch to do its job; that is, the job of dealing with the important constitutional issue of executive privilege.

Some of the more spiteful Dems seem to enjoy projecting the image of wrapping themselves in the Constitution, while they slice it to ribbons with deceitful words and duplicitous conduct.