Category Archives: Politics 2020

Culture, Family, Governance, Politics 2020, Race

JUSTICE FLAYED

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Hatred, anyone can see, is imPrudent.  In some circumstances one can understand anger, as when a person of color appears to have been mistreated or, God forbid, killed by police for no good reason.  Obviously his or her family has good reason to be angry in such a case.  His or her friends have a “right” to be angry, too, one could allow.  “Justice” is the correct call… in every instance, but lately by some process that translates into destruction of American culture and political existence.  How? Prudence wonders.

It takes a long-term plan, a lot of work… like a political campaign, and money – it takes money.  People are not born haters, we must be carefully taught.  Part of our social troubles… or dissolution, is our tendency to paint with broad, angry brush strokes.  It used to be if an Irishman were inebriated it was because “…those Irish are all drinkers.”

If an Italian pulled a fast one on you, then  “… those Italians are all like the Mafia.”

Frenchmen are all great lovers and they all have mistresses.  Scotsmen are cheap.  Germans are all rigid and militaristic.  Used-car salesmen are all liars.  There are dozens of similar generalizations.  These are prejudices.  They seem not so bad when applied to ethnic or economic distinctions… not nearly as bad as for racial distinctions.

Yet there are people who judge whole “racial” groups based on prejudice from anecdotes and half-truths and expressed hatreds, as well as from official, legal special treatments, real and perceived, based on popularized, but largely meaningless racial victim-hood.  In this sense, government is the worst offender for dividing populations by so-called, “race.”

“Blacks are too stupid to do…” whatever was in question.  “You can’t depend on Chinamen.”  “White people are racist white-supremacists.”  Almost everyone is guilty of some form of “group-think.”  That is, that individuals may be understood by virtue of their “group identity.”  This is diametrically opposed to the ideals of the Constitution.  In the ostensible American system, everyone is equal under the law.  Therefore, laws should be written for individual application, not racially or ethnically or for any other “group” connection.  Color-blindness is a virtue for a free people.

Governments, for the most crass, self-serving (politician) reasons, have proven themselves incapable of resisting group-identity codification.  They attempt, and intend, to garner votes by doing favors legally, legislatively for various groups, undermining the greatest strength of our Constitutional republic.  What a crappy way to damage one’s own nation.

These largely inaccurate distinctions are an easy building-block for generating hatred for groups, and, by natural distillation, for individuals within that group.  Automatically, that hatred is reflected back on the originating group and its individuals.  Great, great restraint and moral strength is needed to resist an easy slide into hatred and prejudice.  Religious teaching helps here, particularly Judeo-Christian teachings and the Bible.  It is instructive that those who would tear down the Constitution and the family-centered culture it protects, are doing their damnedest to dissolve Christianity, too.  Rainbow flags weren’t enough.

Where does the money come from to pay rioters, BLM agitators and Antifa thugs… busing or flying them around the country, covering living expenses and raising funds to bail them out if arrested while looting, committing arson, assaults and an occasional murder?  Is it surprising that, literally, Democrats provide it?  Millions of dollars flow from Democrats and Democrat-supporting corporations like Apple, Amazon, Nike, Microsoft and others who donate multiple millions to various Black Lives Matter-connected foundations and others.  Other Democrats donate and encourage others to donate money to bail criminals out of jail.  Why would people on the Left do such a thing to their own country?

It is what leftists do.  We are no longer contemplating the arguments of left-of-center liberals as to how we can organize America better for everyone.  We are watching socialists and avowed “Marxists” of all colors who are organizing total disruption – first of cities, by rioting and grabbing “reparations” for the “community” by looting and burning, then states by confusing and changing a perfectly good voting system, and ultimately the United States, again by confusing and changing voting procedures to reduce election certainty, and by destroying faith in our system of government by distorting economics and the justice system… possibly by stealing elections.

Back to “justice.”  In MOST instances, the offending police officer or officers are dealt with properly and prosecuted as he or they should be.  Some are in jail.  But not all are appropriately sanctioned, and anger toward a closed, obscured process is well justified.  What should relatives and friends do to seek real justice?  Here’s the list that lately is providing popular choices:

Protest loudly and publicly in large groups, vilifying all police.

Throw stones and bricks at police who are trying to maintain order during the protest.

Burn a police car

Burn a store or restaurant near the site of the use of excess force by the offending officer(s).

Bring in Antifa and BLM to rile up ever larger crowds.

Shoot explosive fireworks at police.

Pull down or deface a statue that honors someone few if any in the crowd know much about.

Assault, or worse, whoever is wearing an article of clothing that offends somebody in the crowd.

Force police from one of their buildings and burn it down.

None of this, obviously, generates “justice” for the victim of a perceived crime, but spreads INjustice across the lives of as many people as possible.  How does this bring even a sense of justice to the family of the original victim?  Maybe our erstwhile leaders could institute something like the following:

First, legislation that requires police agencies to provide a comprehensive, public report no later than 5 days from the date of the questionable incident.  This report could not include any statements of judgment that could distort other legal actions or suits.  The same legislation should include a strict limit of, say 20 or 30 people who are permitted to stage a protest during those 5 days; more than the right number would be apprehended and fined.

Political leaders would call for a 5-day cooling-off period and offer such help as would be accepted to the family of the “victim.”  No public funds could be diverted to any advocacy groups not related directly to the family. This process, however, must be free of admissions of any guilt or responsibility by the municipality or agency before the public report is made.  During the 5-day waiting period groups could apply for permits for demonstrations to follow the waiting period, that may or may not be granted in some form.  Beyond that, demonstrators will be strictly contained and arrested for actions outside of the parameters of issued permits.  Public safety and the civil rights and private property of others are paramount.

Being “really angry” is no excuse for rioting or stealing things or setting fires anywhere.  Municipal leaders: WAKE UP!

Politics 2020, Trump

And on the other hand…

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Prudence has worked for 2 weeks on a response to the Democratic convention.  It is a topic that has piled up words faster and deeper than any other… and it’s not finished.  Whether it’s ever posted is a question.  Who on Earth would read it?

So, a lighter analysis of 2020 politics is in order.  Might be fun.

There are two distinct sets of philosophies vying for power in this presidential year – no news, there.  Summed up, one is generally in favor of our constitutional system of distributed power, installed as governance for the first time in 1789; one is in thrall to ultimate government control over the economy and not just the economy, but control over individuals: how they live, what medicines they are permitted – or MUST – take and how they educate their children and about what.

One recognizes that America succeeds within a culture that is worth strengthening and imparting to succeeding generations; one appears anxious to displace American culture and replace it with race-based socialism.  What has this to do with each of us?  Whichever philosophy wins the 2020 election is going to have a direct impact on the lives of many – not all, but many Americans.  It will also affect the lives of millions of people in other countries.  There aren’t many election decisions when that is true.  Why will it be so?

In the event that Trump is re-elected, and we do, historically, tend to re-elect presidents if they have not failed economically, primarily, but not always… in that event there are significant risks to both our culture and our economy – affecting most of us, but not all.  The forces arrayed to stop Trump in his first term will not have given up.  If anything they will be more sharply aimed with greater destructive intent.  It is sad but Prudent to consider the possibility that he will be assassinated.  His determination to undo the deep state and eventually the economic oligarchy has not abated, and will be sharpened, as well.

The upset to our culture will be significant, much like the Kennedy assassination that began a long process of distrust of government and the decades of sex, drugs… and rock-and-roll, but I repeat myself.  It opened the door to Johnson, the Great Society’s 60-year erosion of our family-centered culture, and led to the Viet-Nam War and to Richard Nixon, whose removal from power changed politics – and the media – forever.  It is impossible to predict the upheavals that would follow an assassination, but none would be positive from a Prudent point of view.

Trump’s re-election is perceived as dangerous by many, and will expose him and his family to danger.

If, on the other hand, Biden is dragged across the finish line in November, there are significant risks to both our culture and our economy – affecting most of us, but not all.  The radically left forces that have grasped the philosophy of the Democrat Party will be vindicated even as they celebrate their relatively cheap victory over tradition and constitutionalism.  Elements of the “Green new Deal” will be proposed for legislation almost immediately, as will proposals on how to pay “reparations” to some amorphous group of non-whites.  Green energy, so called, will be sold as an infrastructure plan; money in the defense budget will be diverted to pay for part of it.  “Climate change is an existential threat.”

Sexual aberration will be further codified and given taxpayer support for any treatments or operations needed.  Laws defending sexual identities and how everyone must accommodate them, will become more strict and widely enforced.  Public safety and policing in general will be softened, and sanctuary status allowed where municipally claimed or, God forbid, state-claimed.  The nullification of federal laws will become rampant.  It is hard to predict whether rioting and anti-capitalist / anti-white destruction of urban centers will continue.  Those who have permitted it in 2020 will also feel vindicated and their anti-Americanism rewarded; it’s possible.

Should Trump win and survive, there are positive changes he will promulgate, and among these are immigration enforcement and the eradication of “sanctuary” status everywhere.  There is the distinct possibility that riots will continue, but Trump will feel vindicated by re-election, and will more readily impose states of emergency or even martial law to stop them firmly.  This is a danger to everyone should martial law become acceptable for solving policing problems.  At first it will be welcomed, but it is at least extra-legal and a terrible precedent and habit.

The reactions of China, North Korea, Iran and, interestingly, Pakistan to the re-election of Trump, are hard to pin down.  Xi Jinping of China hates Trump for constantly calling out China over the Covid virus release, if not for several other reasons.  His desire is to embarrass Trump so as to put him in his place, as it were.  Xi naturally perceives his China as destined for global hegemony and sees Trump as his biggest impediment.  Trump must lose face for the world to recognize China’s ascendance.  This could take the form of North Korean provocation to near hot war with China’s declaration of support for North Korea including full military force, forcing humiliation on South Korea and the United States.  Many alliances will be strained or broken if Trump backs down or appears to.

Pakistan, particularly with the conclusion of a much anticipated “peace” treaty with the Taliban in Afghanistan, may be encouraged, again by China, to resume clandestine and, perhaps, direct operations against India.  All 3 states are nuclear armed.  China has had hot incidents with India, most recently in 2020.  It could serve China’s interests to see India tied down in the mountains of Kashmir, and to see the United States take India’s side.  This would provide opportunities for China to act aggressively elsewhere.  Whereas Trump has moved from treaty to agreement with abandon, re-making trade and other agreements to benefit the United States as he wished, in his second term he will be severely tested by China.

What would world leaders do with Biden in the White House?  He has shown himself willing to bribe and take bribes from other countries, as has his “buddy,” Obama.  He has supported softening relations with China for decades.  Would he suddenly be tough?  Doubtful.  He has shown himself unwilling to denounce “Black Lives Matter” or the rioting in several cities.  He appears to like top-down directives from government and would lock down the economy a second time if “experts” told him to.  The only bold moves he has described for his administration have concerned climate change and the green new deal… plus raising taxes.  For middle-class Americans, the Biden agenda, distorted by socialists, is unpleasant to contemplate.

As George Soros, evil globalist, recently stated, “The 2020 election will affect the entire world.”  Be Prudent when you vote.

Culture, Economics, Education, Governance, Health Care, Politics 2020

If You Knew Covid…

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YOU DON’T KNOW COVID

Prudence has often commented on the casual mendacity of politicians, and that quality of theirs is troubling enough.  New depths are plumbed, however, when hundreds of appointed, elected and hired “officials” agree to lie together  for some tawdry political purpose.  Many lie without knowing what that purpose even is.  Suffice to say that the greatest power on Earth is unified belief, including evil belief.

Like the man or not, honest observers, liberals included, have to agree that hatred of Donald Trump inspired some of the most virulent and congruent political lying our nation has ever experienced.  Virtually all of the lies have been exposed for what they were.  Dishonest observers retain belief in many of those lies and have convinced themselves that because of what they perceive as true there is no possibility of compromise or even courtesy towards those who believe that the lies were, in fact, falsities.  This mish-mash of lies and truths and the distrust of so many for so many others, provided the perfect breeding ground for the most widespread political lying yet: the Covid-19 pandemic.

It appears that only in the United States, where Donald Trump is running for re-election, has the Covid-19 epidemic played a significant part in the unseating of a government.  Many countries have been hit hard by the initial attacks of the new, somewhat engineered, coronavirus that China spread across the world, but only in the United States has this medical threat been politicized.  At the same time, and again, only in the U. S., leftist thugs have chosen the same moment to riot in dozens of cities.  That resulted from a completely different set of lies from those told about Covid-19, and this isn’t the place to recount them, but the confluence of the two, essentially unique events, is itself unique and conveniently coincident in a political sense.

But “Covid” provided – and provides – a rich harvest of public policies – all left-leaning and largely unconstitutional – that are serving to twist electoral politics and sway votes based – on – half-truths – and outright lies.  Everything from business and religious lockdowns, intrusions into personal properties and lives, and the enforcement of personal actions like mask-wearing, are based on half-truths at best, complete untruths at mid-range, or utter falsehoods at worst.

Americans have been misled.  We hear constantly how many of us have died… DIED, from this awful scourge, now totaling some 169,000… THOUSAND(!) poor souls struck down by a disease that the Trump administration practically spread on purpose because all those people who work for Trump hate the rest of us.  Remove the silliness from that sentence and we’re left with a statistic that is meaningless.  The CDC counts “deaths” as people who died WITH Covid, not FROM Covid.  Why would bureaucrats count such a serious phenomenon in such a flaccid way?  Even people who died in accidents but who happened to test positive for Covid, are counted as Covid deaths.  What good is a “statistic” like this?

Well, this half-truth serves erstwhile dictators who need to induce fear to gain compliance.  There were reasons for fear in late February and March of this year.  First, the virus protein was altered in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, from a corona (shaped) virus that existed in weird, ugly bats!  Few of us know much about bats in the first place, and most of us are a little fearful of them, thanks to various horror movies.  A wonderment for the average person was: “Who the Hell cares what kind of viruses exist in Chinese bats?”  Fair question.  It was totally rational to be afraid of the entry of a bat virus into humans, especially from such ugly creatures as Chinese horseshoe bats.  The researchers who first discovered the bat-source of the SARS-like novel coronavirus, were certainly frightened.

Another reason for fear, then, was China-caused rapid spread of the new virus around the world, especially in the middle East and Europe, areas where China had developed intensive trade relationships and to where Chinese personnel were traveling in large numbers.  Scary numbers of cases.  A third reason for fear… then, was that the U. S. was not sure what to do or how to do it to contain or prevent the disease, and all kinds of directives were being issued and soon abandoned in favor of other directives.  People, officials, with no medical background were creating public policy on the fly upon the advice of medicos who were often wrong.  But recommendations quickly became economic shutdown dictates.  Americans’ private properties were being stripped from them without compensation in the hopes that stopping commerce would stop the virus.

It certainly stopped commerce.

Oddly, maybe, the most Democrat-controlled jurisdictions have imposed the tightest restrictions on business.  Despite improving knowledge from Europe and Scandinavia, governors and mayors insisted on ever-tighter lockdowns.  Amazingly, State and Municipal employees didn’t lose their incomes, nor were they forced onto unemployment or furloughed or, simply, fired.  When a governor said “We’re all in this together,” he was really saying, “YOU’RE all in this together.  I and everyone else who is paid by the state, we’re pretty much divorced from your problems, especially if you lose your business or your job.  We will borrow some money – from YOU – to pretend to care about you today.”

So who is benefitting from tight, anti-business and anti-religious lockdowns?  Certainly not the people who own or work at those businesses, nor the ministers, priests, choir directors or secretaries who work at places of worship, certainly not the believers whose unfettered right to worship has been soundly fettered without debate or legislation, and certainly not all the people who depended upon those shuttered businesses for their daily living, health, recreation, library services or exercise routines.  So, who, exactly?

Is it all to keep healthy people from coming down with Covid?  Maybe… that’s what we are told to justify forcing everyone to wear masks when outdoors at pain of monetary fines and even apprehension should we ‘fail to follow the law.’  Except that it’s not a law, it’s a gubernatorial impulse or, sometimes worse, a mayoral one.  If asked, those worthies would declare adherence to “CDC” advice and the implied fulfillment of “science” because of that connection.  Of course there is no science that informs us of the efficacy of masks or other face coverings, although you’d think there must be because elected officials clearly care so much about saving lives.  Indeed, they care so much that they are willing to implore us to endure the discomfort of masks and, even better, to distrust anyone who isn’t wearing a mask.  In fact, we should no longer trust anyone to not be about to spray us with Covid-laden spittle.

Did you know that hospitals are rewarded, in a sense, by up to $25,000 for treating a Covid-19 patient who dies in the hospital?  That accident victim who died WITH Covid was worth $25 Grand if the right box was checked for C.O.D.  Follow the money for the outrageous total of Covid deaths.  China, our far-eastern friend who blessed the world with Covid-19, has 4.34 times as many people as the United States and about 5 times the population density.  Yet, miracle of miracles, the U.S. has THIRTY-SIX AND A HALF TIMES as many Covid deaths.  Ignorant governors… and malevolent ones, have been making rules to barely live by, based on BS statistics designed to hurt the President of the United States: an odd way to execute public policy.

Now the big battle is re-opening schools… because of the need to protect the children, don’t you see?  School-age children, say, 5 to 17 years, are so slightly impacted by Covid that it is nearly impossible to state their Covid death rate in terms of percentage: the decimal point is too many places to the left.  But despite the desire of most teachers to teach, their unions have hamstrung craven politicians into “hybrid” schooling (some education / some goofing off) for the Fall and beyond in some cases, or long delays in re-opening, as if they’d only just heard of Covid-19.  Teachers are all college educated and it would be reasonable to expect them to know and follow the latest approximations of “science” in judging the safety of schools reopening with real teachers and real students.  But, apparently not.

In Montgomery County, Maryland, not only did the teachers’ union force delays in reopening, they forced the county to prevent private schools  from reopening, as well, all of which, essentially, were prepared to open safely.  The county refused to even examine their reopening plans, citing the fact that public schools weren’t going to open, as if it mattered.  Private schools are generally smaller, more lightly staffed and better able to enforce social distancing and other rules, and, it seems, more committed to real education.

The more one sees the tactics of various “public” employee unions – particularly teachers’ unions, one sees that worries about Covid are largely political and financial.  Between home-schooling and private schools, the grand government school monopolies are threatened as never before, as is the hyper-sexualized, white evil oppression, bull-bleep they spend so much class time on as if educating.  The Lord works in mysterious ways.

What will come of nightly riots and mayhem in major cities?  Would the changes demanded by the anarchists and BLM Marxists make America stronger, fairer or more beautiful?  Not a chance.  If police departments closed down, incarcerations ended and white people gave up their homes to black screamers and haters, would the demands for the relinquishing of all white possessions end?  No.  Kow-towing to rioters or other thugs has never ended the thuggery… it simply increases the level of demands and changes the targets.  In fact, changing public policy on the terms of rioters  instead of on society’s carefully considered terms, is the stupidest path any responsible leader could follow.  The stupidest.

How is it that so many people are holding office at this moment whose decisions to respond to public mayhem are all the stupidest of available choices?  Have these mayors and governors always hated the United States or are they mere cowards?  We know how several District Attorneys got elected with the help of socialist money – anti-American money, but are there no “lawmakers” who can craft legislation that will provide for their removal if they fail to prosecute criminals?  Or even laws that require that EVERY case be brought to court even if unenthusiastically?  Or shall public safety and the fulfillment of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments be at the whim of a single person without constraint of law?

What do we actually believe about our civil rights?  It’s silly enough to wear masks outdoors, please don’t put on blinders, too.

Culture, Economics, Education, Governance, Politics 2020, Race, Representation

An American Opportunity

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There is an unusual opportunity presenting if we have but sufficient vision to recognize it; indeed there are dozens of opportunities forced upon us this August of 2020.  The Chinese communists have done their damnedest to destroy the United States both from within and without with their spying, stealing of intellectual property, cyber warfare and financial subversion of political leaders and key administrative personnel, and, now, with the unleashing – carefully leveraged – of the Covid-19 virus strain.  What an odd way to be handed so many opportunities.  Where do we start?

“Covid,” defined as all of the partially wise and partially stupid effects of reactions to it, has stripped away the façade – perhaps “veneer” is more apt – of wisdom and legitimacy claimed by whole swaths of elected leadership.  From Andrew (and Chris) Cuomo, Bill DiBlasio, Phil Murphy, Janet Mills and Muriel Bowser in the East, to Lori Lightfoot and Gretchen Witmer in the upper Midwest, to Jenny Durkan, Ted Wheeler, Gil Garcetti, Gavin Newsom, Kate Brown and Jay Inslee on the left coast, many city and state leaders – people who have real responsibilities to their populations – have exposed themselves as fools and worse, people who believe that criminals are forced into crime by society (which is to say white oppressors) and that it is merely further oppression to arrest and incarcerate them: they’re all innocent.

Police on the other hand, in this (can’t say “school” of thought, maybe cesspool of thought) mindset are all guilty and should be disbanded.  After all, the very existence, never mind presence of police actually causes more crime.  Every one of these elected executive officers swore to uphold their state constitutions and the U. S. Constitution, but they have apparently not read those written formalities.  What they have sworn to ultimately do is tear down the United States and western civilization with them.  This attitude helps them when it’s time to bow down so very, very low to the banner of Black Lives Matter: a communist front group.  Can you say, “treason?”

We’ve spoken of the dangers of unionism in the past, and one of those is the tendency of police unions (call them what you will) virtually universally, to protect their members whenever there are public complaints, or departmental sanctions against them.  Lost in the minutiae of municipal employment contracts are numerous, arcane ways to delay, compromise, trade or plead down reprimands for everything up to and including fatal events.  Defense of members is understandable and a large part of union justification, but it is safe to say that many of the officers sanctioned for the death of an unarmed suspect, regardless of skin color, were sanctioned previously for failing to follow accepted, prescribed “rules of engagement,” as it were… and their unions protected them, keeping them on the job when they should never have access to the official umbrella again.

Unionism for municipal employees, so-called, “public” employees, is a bad idea in general, were it not for so many examples of poor municipal executive management.  Another terrible example is teachers’ unions, poor school department management notwithstanding.  Along with police and fire employment, education employment is where excellence is needed and should be rewarded, and where mediocrity or worse should never be tolerated.  In most cities and towns, even with some mediocre or poor members, police and fire departments have long records of success, often marked by dramatic lifesaving.  Their unions seem to encourage selflessness, even heroism, in service to others.

Education unions, on the other hand, are mere budget manipulators.  Exceptional educational work outside of contracted hours and duties is frowned upon and discouraged, else other teachers may suffer in comparison.  There seems to be little concern for the positive effects on children who are blessed with some of that exceptionalism.  Covid-19 has provided an opportunity for communities to rearrange the nature of education in the face of teachers’ (unions) unwillingness to go back to work after the spring Covid disinformation campaign.  Science makes clear that the risks are minimal for almost all school personnel and for students, while emphasizing the damages done by the absence of daily school attendance.  Doesn’t seem to matter.

Some “School Committee” could have done its actual job and utilized the past 5 months or so to de-certify its local teacher union and replace those who refused to work without a union.  Lots of people would be happy to teach if imparting knowledge were to become the goal of public education.  Each could be interviewed and hired on the basis of their honest appreciation for the United States’ history, the theorems and facts of mathematics, the proper usage of English grammar, the ability and value of proper spelling, the meaning of words and the responsibilities of citizenship.  And some serious science, of course.

Instead these 5 months have been wasted, barely utilized to advance education at all.  In a way, the students have been safe from hyper-sexualized, socialistic content for 5 months.  We should rejoice that so many teachers on the payrolls are so uncaring.  This is an opportunity for parents to do what that hypothetical school committee might have done:  Clean house and return to an education system rather than a propaganda system.  The opportunity is here.

What other opportunities might there be?  Perhaps there is an opportunity to replace political party leadership – both parties.  Clearly both parties need to step back from lies, calumny and focus-grouped accusations.  Clearly, the American people are entitled – ENTITLED – to honesty about our government, budgeting and success rates for a multiplicity of “social” programs.

We are entitled to the defense of our nation, to the clarity and defense of our borders, and to the safety of our streets, properties and persons.  We are entitled to the education of our children in the history, heritage, culture and CITIZENSHIP of OUR COUNTRY.

Are these things too much to ask?

Aren’t we also entitled to honesty about communist, anti-American domestic subversion?  We are in the midst of the greatest opportunity for our nation: to expose the insinuation of communist operatives into key bureaucratic points of power… and into even elected and political positions, including municipal, county, state and federal levels.  Are we not entitled to leadership committed to the strength and defense of our country?  Can there be no test of loyalty and patriotism?  What are we afraid of?

Do American freedom and the Bill of Rights provide a process of cultural suicide?  Doesn’t seem very Prudent.

Culture, Economics, Education, Governance, Politics 2020, Race, Terrorism

BLACK AND WHITE AND RED ALL OVER

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Prudence won’t be watching any Red Sox games in 2020, not because it’s a truncated parody of sport and exemplary of governmental malfeasance and economic ignorance, and not even because the whole team organization besmirched itself by “winning” the World Series by cheating in 2018.  Besides, who the Hell is even playing this year?

No American should watch because of that stomach-turning, obscene “BLACK LIVES MATTER” banner draped above the “Green Monster.”  Please don’t misunderstand: it is perfectly Prudent to appreciate that black lives certainly matter, just as much, in fact as white, tan, beige, medium brown and swarthy skin-toned people’s lives matter – we are equal in the eyes of God.  If that is too scary, consider that we are equal under the law in this country and that anyone who takes away that equality has committed a crime and the law says he or she will be sanctioned appropriately.  To our shame this doesn’t always work equally.

Instead of a banner supporting the “BLACK LIVES MATTER” movement and political efforts, the Red Sox might as well have a banner that says, “TEAR DOWN THE UNITED STATES.”  Not many people would put up with that crap, yet that is exactly what Black Lives Matter stands for and is fighting for.  They are Communists.  They hate the United States and everything about it; they hate White people and everything white people have ever done back into history immemorial.  Well that should attract a big audience, John Henry, you idiot.

Black Lives Matter also hates Christianity.  Quite a lot of Red Sox fans and customers actually ARE Christians, so that’s another brightly illuminated marketing ploy, John.  If you put a flashing l.e.d.-lit sign rivaling the “Citgo” sign above the sky-boxes that says, “SATAN CELEBRATED HERE,” you can surely get a lot of Christians to pay outrageous prices to watch your millionaires play ball with the other guy’s millionaires.  What a country.

Maybe the Red Sox organization agrees with the purposes of Black Lives Matter.  For wealthy people these owners don’t seem to be as bright as their prominence would lead one to think.  Most business owners would carefully evaluate any signage, ad messaging, inadvertent imaging – everything.  Just look at how quickly social media slugs will turn on a business and attempt to damage it for any racial slight or perceived hetero-normal bias.  No intelligent business would spend $3,000 or more for a banner that supports the destruction of the nation that made them rich, would it?  Surely not.  They would make sure of what that banner’s message is.  That would be Prudent, at least.

Lots of private homes display the same signage: “BLACK LIVES MATTER.”  They’re very proud of that sign because it shows the less-sensitive population: racists, every one, for sure, that the resident of that house is more loving, sensitive, non-racist and deserving of honor than everyone else who is not awakened to the tragedy of racism in America.  Wow!  That’s a lot to convey in just 3 words.

Actually, these “woke” self-praising superiors are conveying an entirely different message.  They either have no idea what in Hell they are aligning themselves with, at best, or they do know and agree with “BLM” crap, at worst.  For shame either way.

If every ostensible Black Lives Matter “supporter” gave enough of a damn to know what he or she is supporting, then minds might change, one hopes.  The BLM “Manifesto” is as dishonest as the original Communist Manifesto and contains a host of non-truths and deceptions.  Communism, like socialism in lesser forms, cannot be honest about its intentions because it plans to replace human nature and all spiritual values, leaving BLM’s promises doomed to fail without total top-down control by a small group.  It has never been otherwise in every attempt at socialism or Communism.

Still, the BLM Manifesto is nothing if not comprehensive.  It reads like the step by step annihilation of the Constitution that it is and, therefore, of freedom and our entire heritage and founding.  Indeed, the Manifesto’s first section, item D., specifically calls for creation of a 3-year assembly for the express purpose of replacing the U. S. Constitution.  What is worse, if you think about it, is item E., where they demand creation of a committee of “experts” who will control and administer the entire U. S. economy.  More than one of our neighbors proclaims “Black Lives Matter” along with a bunch of other “woke” platitudes.  They seem like nice people and it seems Prudent to assume they haven’t the faintest idea of what they are promoting.  Odd, as they seem intelligent, too.

There are lots of ways to align oneself with the concept of the sanctity of life no matter the color or creed.  Despite our racialist governments and welfare programs, our society, operated ideally, pays no attention to color – everyone is equal under the law.

BLM intends a government very similar to the soviet, Leninist model, with a few exceptions, one of which is power sharing with anyone who wanders across the ostensible borders.  The danger of open borders is that people can escape as easily as others might enter, and that will weaken the power of the central committee of the wokest, so those who swallow that part of the manifesto should be prepared for temporary border closures until the “revolution” is completed and every vestige of white supremacy and racism has been removed from the United States.  Prudence’ readers are well aware that racism cannot be expunged by government and “white supremacy” is simply hatred of white civilization, a condition of shifting definition.

BLM is about creating a black-peoples’ dominated international Communist structure.  To effect it they have recognized and leveraged the failures of American education and the tendency of a people too comfortable, to feel guilty about their comfort in the presence of poverty.  They’ve watched as political America transferred many $trillions through federalized welfare to support restive, non-working blacks in inner-city ghettos.  The failure of these decades-long efforts created a willing army of resentment–filled “protesters” ready to explode upon ignition of the right fuse.

Why are Whites bending the knee before Black Lives Matter?  What are we collectively guilty of?  What have any of us done to deserve the collective hatred of, well… anyone?  Did Andrew Jackson own slaves?  Why, yes he did.  Is there anyone alive today who is actually affected by that fact?  Perhaps if one is determined to hate and to spread hate, he or she is “affected,” but that is a choice made to cause reaction today, which cannot change anything Jackson did, believed or smelled like.  But, that hatred can create division today.  The real question is why are whites falling for it?  Have we “decided” that we have no rights?  No culture of value?  No progress or civilizing improvements, inventions or developments to be proud of?  Progress achieved with the phenomenal contributions of blacks and every other race?  Nothing to take credit for?

What’s the matter with us? Four assholes in Minneapolis murder a black suspect and western civilization is called into question?  Can no one tell the truth anymore?  Can no one call out Antifa or BLM terrorists when they operate inside the United States?  If those terrorists steal the artifice of white-on-black oppression does that turn crime into protest, murder into justice, destruction into positive change?  Does it magically make hatred a basis for something good?

Does anyone besides rabid, committed communists see the destruction of our unique Constitutional system as the path to a “better” future for mankind?

Wake up, America! … all of you!

Culture, Politics 2020, Race, Responsibility, Terrorism

FIELDS OF HONOR

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Forever in a field they wave…  In rows and columns true;
Each soldier’s memory proudly etched – Loyalty, dressed Red, White and Blue.
Deeds of Honor recognized… Of times not long ago;
Field of Flags wave proudly.
History written in hearts aglow…  Offer silent reverence, quiet prayer;
Noble servants rightly praised… On through time pass forever grateful.
Remembered with Flags unfurled and raised.   By Mike Sousa, North Andover

In a summer marred by urban insurrections and variously excessive and unconstitutional, official pandemic fears and dicta, community service clubs, pillars of society, all, “Zoom” notwithstanding, continue their often unheralded works raising money to give away, along with countless hours of volunteer time.  So it is with chapters of the Exchange Clubs of America who “Exchange our Service today to build stronger communities and a better Nation tomorrow.”  This concept would be moribund if Exchange (and Rotary, Kiwanis and others) did not believe in the likelihood of stronger communities and a better Nation tomorrow.  In fact, service clubs’ heartfelt faith in America’s striving for a more perfect Union – and Unity – is so directly opposite, and in opposition to the sea of hatreds that some stoke for anti-American ideologies, that the distinctions are quite sharp in the Summer of 2020.

Exchange in the lower Merrimack River Valley of northeastern Massachusetts is one of those chapters: the Exchange Club of Lawrence and the Andovers, sponsored in 1947 by the Exchange Club of Lowell, Mass., 8 miles up the river, just a few months after the Exchange Club of Haverhill was chartered, 8 miles down the river from Lawrence.  Many Clubs were formed or grew significantly right after World War Two, as Americans returned from battles in terrible places and conditions to recognize how great the promise and premise of the United States of America truly were then and, Exchange members believe, still are today.  Americanism is one of the 4 pillars of Service that define Exchange Clubs of America.

Following the September 11th attacks in 2001, a flag company, at the urging of Exchange members in Sandy, Utah, created the first “Healing Field” of nearly 3,000 flags for those killed in the 9-11 attacks.  The idea became a National Exchange project and over the past 20 years has been a focus for 9-11 and for other events that cry out for attention and memory across the country, promoted by various Exchange Clubs and by many other organizations. 

Despite Covid-19 shutdowns and restrictions, the Town of North Andover, where Exchange did its first local “Field of Honor” in 2019, encouraged us to do a Field in 2020, as well, although without a closing, crowd-attracting ceremony on the Common where 500 flags were displayed.  Local access TV created a video of the many parts of the ceremony that we would have done, and created a You-Tube video for anyone to watch:

The value of the Field of Honor is not mere patriotism, as essential as patriotism certainly is, it is a set of focused remembrances.  Whether “In Memory Of” or “In Honor Of,” the person(s) to whom a flag is dedicated is an important part of who the flag sponsor is, now, today.  The first time our Club installed a “Field of Honor,” we were not ready for the importance  to our “customers” of this simple act of stating – printing out for all to see – the name and “heroic” worth  of their relatives, antecedent or descendant, or even of great, somewhat sacrificial friends, even acquaintances.  In every case, the honoree associated with each flag is important to the flag sponsor and the fact that he or she or they remember  or take note of the honoree and are in some way affirmed  in their own lives by the excellence, value  or sacrifice of the honoree.  It is intensely important that their own lives are acknowledged through the best connections that comprise them.  It’s spiritual.

Every flag is about love and many about the deepest love: respect.  Each tells a story about the sponsor and about the honoree, living or passed.  The Field of Honor is merely a focus for manifested love and remembrance, but oh, so crucial – something the club was not prepared for the first time we installed a Field in 2019.  Even more, we were not prepared for the importance of reading, saying, the dedications out loud.  Spiritual.

For the Town of North Andover and for Andover and Lawrence as well, the Field created a statement of normalcy against a backdrop of Marxist anti-American hatred in the spring and Summer of 2020.  There it was okay to be patriotic, okay to recognize goodness and honor and duty.  There were so many outpourings of gratitude to the Club  when the gratitude belonged to the flag sponsors… at least as the Club members saw it.  Yet there they were, steadily, thanking us  for erecting the Field.  Humbling, spiritual.

For those who don’t share the views of rioters and insurrectionists, the Field is a comfort.  It’s presence is an affirmation of America, of the Constitution, of what we hold dear in our families, and of what we hold dear in our faiths.  The American flag, itself, is simple, by itself… no more complex than any other national flag, and we display it and hundreds of others very simply.  A cheap PVC pipe is the flag-pole, slid over a short piece of steel rebar we try to pound vertically, we hope, into the soil.  Tie-wraps hold the flag in place through holes we drill through the pipe, and a cheap golden bulb is stretched – coaxed – over the top.  The flag is a printed one of decent quality, metal grommets and sewn edging.  We tell sponsors that it will last eleven months and two weeks.

But for patriots the flag is a history, a heritage, a dream and a promise.  Those who dedicate one to an Honoree of their choice, feel all of these aspects of this amazing symbol and yet more – things they can’t put into words.  As we install them, straighten them, put dedication tags on them, and straighten them again, we feel those things, too.  Together, we not only feel that history and heritage, and hear those dreams and promises, we make them, anew.

At the beginning of our You Tube video our senior member, a virtual pillar of these communities – his children following his example – recites a somewhat famous, somewhat poetic statement entitled, “I Am The Flag,” by Howard Schnauber:

I am the flag of the United States of America.

My name is Old Glory.
I fly atop the world’s tallest buildings.
I stand watch in America’s halls of justice.
I fly majestically over institutions of learning.
I stand guard with power in the world.
Look up and see me.

I stand for peace, honor, truth and justice.
I stand for freedom. I am confident.
I am arrogant. I am proud.
When I am flown with my fellow banners,
My head is a little higher,
My colors a little truer.
I bow to no one!
I am recognized all over the world.
I am worshipped – I am saluted.
I am loved – I am revered.
I am respected – I am feared.

I have fought in every battle of every war for more than 200 years.
I was flown at Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Shiloh and Appamatox.
I was there at San Juan Hill, the trenches of France, in the Argonne Forest, Anzio, Rome and the beaches of Normandy.
Guam, Okinawa, Korea, KheSan and Saigon, Vietnam know me.
I was there. I led my troops.
I was dirty, battle-worn and tired,
but my soldiers cheered me and I was proud.

I have been burned, torn and trampled on the streets of countries
I have helped set free. It does not hurt for I am invincible.
I have been soiled upon, burned, torn and trampled in the streets of my country.
And when it’s done by those whom I’ve served in battle – it hurts.
But I shall overcome – for I am strong.
I have slipped the bonds of earth and
stood watch over the uncharted frontiers of space from my vantage point on the moon.
I have born silent witness to all of America’s finest hours.
But my finest hours are yet to come.
When I am torn into strips and used as bandages for my wounded comrades on the battle field,
when I am flown at half mast to honor my soldiers,
or when I lie in the trembling arms of a grieving parent at the grave of their fallen son or daughter,

I am proud.
I am the flag of the United States of America.

Al Torrisi is a natural leader and a forceful speaker at any time.  Yet his voice has a stronger, more commanding timbre (good for the 50-year owner of a large lumber company) than at other times when he recites these words.  Years of patriotism, loyalty and love of country spill forth as he speaks, infecting and affecting his listeners.  Truth is the most spiritual statement of all.  It is the truth of America and of every flag sponsor and honoree, and of the Field, itself.

As this is written the Exchange Club of Needham, Mass. has experienced vandalism of its Field of Honor with some 30 flags being burned.  The empty, sinking feeling a fellow Exchangite and field of Honor afficianado feels is hard to articulate.  Clearly the membrane of civilization is thin and easily sundered for those who cannot judge the presence of hatred for their own country that such an act exposes.  For shame.

Culture, Politics 2020, Race, Representation, Terrorism

Same as the old tyrants

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Black is White, Wrong is Right, Day is Night

Decision-making, whether of voters, politicians, very angry individuals or government types, are made from a mish-mash of facts, opinions, fables, fantasies and other lies.  Within and among all of this slippery, shape-shifting pile of influences, lie words and language: the two building blocks of decisions that ought to be solid and immutable, upon the meanings of which all parties can agree.  One might think that… if one thought.

Since the death/murder/manslaughter of George Floyd, a lot of decisions have been made and the consequences of decisions made long before that death, have played out.  Some decisions were carefully weighed and placed on the shelf of foul opportunity for an, well… opportune time.  Others have been made only in reaction to “riots,” vandalism, assaults, arsons, mobs and public mayhem – some strategic or tactical decisions to retreat, some difficult to comprehend by those who think.  Utterly spontaneous mobs could not share such unity of purpose in 20 or 30 cities, as was evidenced in the first days of the 2020 insurrection.  Those making use of well-calculated, pre-Floyd decisions took and retained the upper hand in city after city, forcing flabbergasted municipal officials to offer varieties of ever-escalating bribes to regain peace.  What a disheartening display of governmental pant-wetting.  Let’s not re-elect any of those dolts.

The organization calling itself “Black Lives Matter” was assigned the “point” position in making demands upon politicians to somehow rectify the centuries of “injustice” that black people have endured.  The problem is, that if every weird change and every financial bribe is delivered (thank God we don’t negotiate with terrorists), none of the fundamentals of the next insurrection will go away.  The existence of America and Americanism is an affront to communists, and until America is destroyed, their hatreds will be unfulfilled.

In other words, BLM is not primarily motivated by tearful concern or anger over the black fatality rate in North America.  What does motivate these avowed – and trained – Marxists, is destruction of “white” culture and power, and destruction of the Constitutional system.  Sadly, ignorant youth, products of incompetent education, march along with professional BLM agitators, demanding the piece-by-piece disassembly of the world’s greatest governing ideas.  Every form of socialism is sold with untruths, starting with the premise that humans will be finer, better, happier people once the shackles of religion, merit and attainment are thrown off – discard human nature and “we” will make a better world.  It’s a clever hoax if enough unhappy people can be identified via groupthink hatreds.

BLM has valid points to make about poor policing standards and practices, some of which result in the death of “unarmed” black suspects and arrestees.  These are crimes when wrong actions are taken, but not always – not even close.  And the frequency of such events has declined markedly since the Ferguson, Missouri riots.  Unfortunately, so has other valid and valuable police work, causing a spike in crimes in inner-city areas, including murder rates: a very costly bargain.  The Ferguson incident is the key example Black Lives Matter cites as proof of police malfeasance.  The facts, even following a biased DOJ investigation by A. G. Eric Holder, show that Darren Wilson was justified in shooting Michael Brown as the teenager attempted to wrest the officer’s firearm from him.  BLM consistently claims alternative “facts” to justify its anger, when it has other examples that are more reasonably real examples of police error.  Constantly citing a false narrative makes it difficult to communicate with those not caught up in the hatred business – like most blacks and most whites and most others.

The actions of rioters that devolve into looting and arson and physical assaults on police, destruction of police equipment and other public properties, are indicative of the most foul hatreds.  Nothing good comes from hatred: nothing of value is built, no advancement of the human condition is effected.

Politicians who believe they are the only people qualified to hold whichever august office they sit in, are virtually helpless in the face of hateful mobs.  Immediately prior to the riot those same politicians thought that nearly everyone loved them – or should – given all the good works and heartfelt pandering each has done for every group he or she could identify.  The knee-jerk or plain-jerk reaction of most elected “leaders” is to pander MORE to meet mob demands, thereby, it is hoped, to buy some sort of mob approval, turning murderous, anti-American hate into positive, America affirming cooperation.

It doesn’t seem to work, even when the big demands of the supposedly aggrieved mob leaders are met.  Those demands have sunk to defunding or abolishing police forces and city leaders are actually agreeing to this!  At the same time they are arranging for private security forces for their own safety.  The vast majority of the citizenry that elected these fools is left out of their calculations.  Normal, law-abiding, non-rioting residents of the jurisdictions of pandering politicians, are made significantly LESS SAFE in order to bow down to mob demands.  A strange political calculation, that.  At least the identity of office holders who should never be elected to anything ever again, is now clear.

Culture, Economics, Education, Politics 2020, Race, Representation, Responsibility, Terrorism

Brown Injustice

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America is confused.  It seems a sudden event, this confusion, but it has been a long time coming.  Rational patriots hope only that the radical leftist and fascist forces have sprung their trap at the wrong time, thinking that Americans, particularly white Americans, have finally grown so soft that we’ll all just roll over and wash the feet of black people for the sheer joy and justice of fawning over a brown-skinned person.

Once we’ve reached that level of automatic love and justice, we can readily let brown-skinned criminals out of jail regardless of their offenses, because someone’s great, great grandfather was a slave, known or unknown.  Just being brown is close enough.  All of our successes and failures are contained in simple formulae: more whites are better off than the average black person, therefore whites, as a group, are ALL guilty of something that has negatively impacted brown-skinned people… as a group, you understand.

Now, black people are pretty smart.  Most have larger cranial volume than most whites; they are physically stronger in most cases, and, as a group derive from dozens of tribal heritages – racial types you might say – but now that they are in the United States they are all one race, one tribe, one aggrieved group, one voting bloc, one drug-dealing, white-hating, criminal-minded, low mentality group – easily led to welfare and other addictions… if you don’t look too closely.  If you do look at blacks and other brown people, really look at them, you’ll find that they are as diverse as white people, Asian people, Indian people, Arabic people and so on, and on and on.

Most black people work for a living.  Doesn’t seem like it, but most are competent and responsible and trustworthy.  But not all.  There are problems, not all of their own making… if you really look at how blacks are marginalized by governments and weak-minded whites, among others.  Among those others are black racial leaders.  No one has marginalized blacks more effectively than purported leaders who gain both influence and wealth by placing black individuals into a group, contravening the real American Dream.

Like any American citizen, any black is an individual, and equally treated (by law) under the law.  Any black or brown citizen should have the same opportunities to “get ahead” in society and status and wealth, based on that individual’s  own strengths, attitudes, education and will to succeed.  The “government” cannot give an individual higher status or a higher level of attainment, although it can give him or her money in various forms.  He or she knows deep down, that he or she has not earned  the money/support just received.  Black racial leaders, on the other hand, make a living by making blacks believe that they are owed that money or support.  Whites have treated blacks so badly in the past that they have taken away blacks’ opportunities in this racist society, and simple fairness requires reparations.  Thanks to us, your black leaders, here they are.

Except, they aren’t.  No, no.  Welfare is separate.  Money transfers up until now are barely just, though vital and seriously demeaning.  They don’t “count” toward reparations.  Real reparations involve big, large, grandiose, unheard-of and astronomical numbers of dollars.  We’re talking about multiple TRILLIONS  of dollars.  Welfare, free health care, Head Start and WIC, AFDC and a dozen other transfers, are mere window-dressings, drops in very, very deep buckets.  Once the “reparations discussion” gets serious, the real price tag and the breadth of beneficiaries will take shape.  Suffice to say that a starting point for said “discussions” could be every black person of unspecified fraction of black ancestry, is deserving of a share.  We’ll get to the size of the fraction when discussions get serious.

Barack Hussein Obama, for example, was born to a white mother and a dark-skinned Kenyan about 100 years after slavery ended with the capitulation of the Confederacy.  He claimed more than once that he was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia, but everyone else who would benefit from denying that claim finally convinced him that he was wrong, after all, and was born in Hawaii.  Maybe.  Still his family had no connection to slavery, including the Arabic part of his father’s ancestry, and no connection to segregation and Jim Crow laws in the South after the Civil War.  He appears to have lived a highly privileged life, in fact, even becoming President – a quite corrupt one it turns out, not in terms of money but of process, intent and belief.

Would he be “entitled” to reparations?  Would his children, who are “blacker” than he is?  If so, paid by whom?  Taxpayers, obviously, particularly white ones.  But what about the millions of brown and black taxpayers?  What is their “debt” to black people?  Prudence indicates that there isn’t one, so a lot of people would have to be excluded from the special reparations levy  on white people.

There are millions of whites who emigrated to the United States since, say, 1870.  Do they somehow share this unprecedented burden?  Well, say BLM balloonists, “they” all were prejudiced against blacks, so they owe us, too.  And Chinese indentured laborers – most of them weren’t willing immigrants; what do they owe? Nothing, seems Prudent.

And all of the immigrants over the past 60 or 70 years… or since World War II, let’s say, carry no burden of making black Americans richer because of slavery in previous centuries.

Then, we’ll have to exempt people related to courageous abolitionists who fought slavery their whole lives.  There wouldn’t be a “Juneteenth” without them.  Add in descendents of soldiers who fought in the Civil War to end the Confederacy, particularly of those who died – hundreds of thousands of them – and there are relatively few people: descendants of slave owners, who might be connected tenuously to the institution of slavery.

There are descendants of people who fought for the Confederacy, who might be prime targets of this scheme, except many of them were fighting for their states, not for slavery, per se, and many, like Robert E. Lee, who was very opposed to slavery, itself, were complex patriots, many, many of whom died.  What more do they owe?  If we isolate blacks who can trace their genealogy to slaves, do we then separate out those who are doing very well in America?  Shouldn’t we look only at those who are still suffering from the effects of slavery?  Or, from the effects of severe prejudice?  How do we distinguish between racial prejudice and anti-social acts that would keep anyone from wanting to hire or help, or even be within the field of vision of the individual committing them?

Prudence knows who should be compensated:  Native Americans.  None of them emigrated since any time in American history.  Their history and treatment is far worse than that of any other group, and they are a group that is identifiable.

Do you know who is enslaving blacks today?  Mostly other blacks in the welfare-industrial complex.  And they do so with the best of intentions; they hired on to federal and state welfare programs to help less fortunate black and brown people.  Welfare is the second most corrosive acid ever concocted, exceeded only by other liberal-leftists, some of them, black, who make a living keeping hatreds raw.  Shame on them.  The continued failure of many blacks to advance economically and educationally, keeps those foul dragons powerful.  Many actually fight against better educational opportunities for the very people they claim to share the suffering of.  For shame.

There is a speech that a wise president ought to deliver – none has, so far: 

“Ladies and gentlemen, Americans of all heritages, welcome!  America does welcome you, it is our exceptional opportunity to do so.  There are times in the life of every nation when its citizens must be reminded of their purpose and mission among the family of nations.  None is quite like that of the United States of America.  Our first Civil War was our separation from the Kingdom of England, of which we all were subjects.  We paid mightily in blood and deprivation and with acts of heroism rarely seen even in war. 

The United States were sorely tested on moral and Constitutional grounds in our second, ‘THE’ Civil War as we call it.  By the numbers of participants on both sides, it was the bloodiest, most fatal war we’ve ever fought.  At a time when medical practice was ignorant of germs, antiseptic conditions or instruments – often bone saws – or of anesthesia, patriots on both sides risked everything for their beliefs.  Yes, Confederate soldiers were also patriots.  Many cared not a whit for slavery, but they risked, and gave all for their state and their new country, not so many years – just ‘four score and seven’ – after the United States was itself brand new.  The civil War of 1861 was a terrible purging of a nation’s soul.  Work barely begun in the Constitutional Convention in 1787, was finally completed in the destruction of ‘the South.’  From the thousands of funerals on both sides sprang the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to our founding Covenant.  When the Declaration of Independence declared it self-evident that all men are created equal, it did not clarify that non-whites were also men, and created equal too.  Finally, that was rectified by the Fourteenth Amendment, and strengthened in terms of voting by the Fifteenth: the first voting rights ‘act.’

It took nearly 100 years more to rid our many states of ‘Jim Crow’ laws and codified segregation.  But black people are amazingly strong and resolute, stoic and faithful.  They are incredibly talented and beautifully expressive.  For hundreds of years and in dozens of countries, whites and many other “non-black” people have tried to keep black people down, or separate.  For shame.  But they keep rising up!

Blacks constantly show their intelligence, creativity, skills and abilities in virtually every field of study, science, invention and strength.  And as they rise up and excel in their professions, they lift up all of us.  There are so many examples of excellence, duty, honor, fealty and faith among black men, why aren’t the loudest black politicians holding them up for young black men to follow?  Is there no political power there?  Is political power found only in marshalling hatred?

We have recently seen the harvest that hatred brings.  Along with statues of Jefferson and Washington being torn down by ignorant, hate-filled rioters, a statue of John Greenleaf Whittier was vandalized, despite his outspoken abolitionism and calls for total emancipation.  Yet even this was excused by one black apologist bemoaning the fact that black poets and writers of the same era did not receive enough attention.  Perhaps this ignorant, stupid act of vandalism will ‘fix’ what didn’t happen in the 1800’s, but that is unlikely.  What fools rioters and vandals and their apologists are.

Such acts of destruction and blind hatred must not be excused no matter how angry or hate-filled someone is.  They must not be rewarded by venal politicians hoping to buy kindness from hate-filled gangs.

What fools these blind, empty-headed politicians are.

There is so much good that black and brown people are responsible for; there is so much good to build upon.  Who among us truly believes that anything good will be built on utter, blind hatred?

My fellow Americans, it is time, indeed it is our duty to learn and grasp our own history, our own heritage, and the exceptional engine of freedom that our Constitution is.  The mantle of American citizenship includes the defense of freedom and the inalienable rights that flow from it.  If we don’t do so; if we let this fragile gift slip from our hearts, there is no one to our west who will save this, the last great hope of mankind.”

Culture, Education, Family, Governance, Politics 2020, Race, Responsibility, Terrorism

Kneel Down, KNEEL DOWN

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How to lead by falling line...

For those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, the waves crashing against the shores of America’s understanding ought to be exposing to the wise some of the great fallacies of our corrupt and feckless political power structure.  First, a crucial point: government  cannot “fix” racism, but it does make it worse.  Government… and politicians, can’t even describe what racism is and as a consequence, they attempt to fix something else, leaving no question as to why they have failed so miserably.

Racism is not the government’s business at any level; injustice is.  That is, how individuals ACT against the rights or property of another individual are the only matters that may be adjudicated, for only they may be placed in evidence at trial.  How someone feels  about another individual is inadmissible since it is not provable.  Often it is self-declared or, at least, a matter of others’ feelings.  Brought forth through testimony today, an individual’s feelings may be different tomorrow, if not within the hour.  This is the problem with so-called “hate crimes” and with the laws that purport to make the underlying, adjudicable crime worse in the presence of hate, than otherwise, such as in the presence of neutrality, one supposes.

Our Constitution protects every person under its lawful jurisdiction by the principle of “equal justice under the law.”  Any individual  who interferes with that principle deserves appropriate sanction under the law.  Any individuals of a group who interfere with it to the detriment or damage to any individual or individuals, each deserve equal sanction.  Aside from some sort of executive or threatening force applied to cause an individual to abrogate the rights, freedom, or property of another individual or individuals, the individual perpetrator is responsible for the consequences for his or her actions.  He or she is not absolved of that responsibility by virtue of others also being prosecutable for the same actions.

Our various governments manipulate racial groups and their designations in order to both control “groups” and to acquire their political favor.  In other words, local, state and federal governments constantly distinguish among groups in terms of legislation, special benefits that result, and differential legal sanctions, both good and bad.  That is, equal application of the laws is out the window if there is racially-based political advantage to be gained.  The ideal of a color-blind society is most undercut by the very governments formed in its shadow.  Prudence wouldn’t mind defunding that.

One of the worst consequences of the multi-city insurrection we have endured in late May and early June of 2020, is the obsequious surrenders of mayors, governors and federal politicians, to the well-coordinated mobs that have committed thousands of crimes across the country.  These include murder, assault, arson, theft, insurrection, destruction of public property, incitement to riot and public mayhem.  Yet public officials, sworn to uphold the law, public safety, state’s and our federal Constitutions, have decided to ignore most of it because “people are really angry.”  This philosophy deserves some analysis.

Two weeks ago soft-headed, stiff-necked governors, and mayors, were threatening to fine, if not arrest, law-abiding citizens who dared – dared – to open a barbershop or 20-seat restaurant in the face of the Covid-19 scourge of the century and the requisite lock-down and social-distancing dictates.  “We’re following this week’s CDC recommendations.”  None of the orders were strictly legal but lots of ‘woke’ people were and are afraid to not wear a mask outside.  Some mayors say they,ll fine you up to $300 for not wearing a mask!  Burning out someone’s business should be fined at least $350 by that measure.

Protesters who are upset (as is everyone else) about the excessive force in the arrest of Saint George Floyd, somehow conflate every white person’s white skin with the causes of Floyd’s death.  Guilt by skin color.  People with white skin may say they are glad the police officers involved have been arrested and charged, but it doesn’t count: their skin’s the wrong color.  People who own businesses or private property or both, are guilty of Floyd’s death, too, making the needed “justice” for George Floyd fall upon them, and burning and looting in the wake of George Floyd’s unjust death at the hands of 4 individuals in Minneapolis, can barely begin to balance the scales of racism since time immemorial.  Besides, looters apparently believe, the only way white people are going to respect black people is if they are deathly afraid of them… that part of the plan is working.

They can show respect only by kneeling and apologizing for being white.  Anyone who kneels for that is an idiot… they’re out there.

Lost in all of the riots – as clearly distinguished from “protests” – are the rights of individuals supposedly guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States which every elected official and police officer is sworn to uphold.  These same rights protected  George Floyd throughout his long criminal career and involvements with police, courts, judges, public defenders and prisons.  What are police, mayors and individual, terminally guilty white kids being ”forced” to kneel for?  Being white?  Being elected and somehow responsible for George Floyd’s death – when they clearly aren’t?

Are they being made to kneel before the “Black Lives Matter” organization/movement?  “BLM” is based itself on lies that they repeat over and over.  Every wrongful death is tragic, although not always a crime, per se.  In many cases they occur as a result of a series of grievous errors, not always only by the police personnel in question.    But police are the ones who must operate at a higher level of professionalism.  They can’t react from fear or confusion, else they must be accountable.

The “justice” that legitimate protesters seek has been remarkably swift in the Floyd case –rapid.  That’s justice.  First fired in one day and charged criminally about 2 days later.  A couple of days after that, the other 3 police officers present were also charged in Floyd’s death.  Very swift.  Two autopsies had been performed before the smoke cleared from the first riots.  A go-fund-me operation had raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Floyd’s family before the funeral services had been scheduled.  That’s a lot of justice.  Derek Chauvin, the officer whose knee caused the death of George Floyd, was served with divorce papers as he sat in jail under suicide watch.  How much more “justice” can the protesters obtain?

None, that’s how much.  So why keep protesting?

The actual protesters are a minority of those marching in the streets.  Indeed, if one were able to interview every “protester,” the majority of them would be hard-pressed to explain what they are actually protesting.  Are they protesting the death of George Floyd?  Well, pretty good, so does every Prudent person.  What do they hope will be the result of their protest?  Better police?  Cool, me too.  The elimination of police?  We part ways on that one because doing the ultimate stupid act isn’t Prudent at all.  Is that really what protesters think they’re doing?  Doubtful.

Rioters, though, are a different group, literally paid to agitate.  They are where most of “Black Lives Matter” personnel are – coordinating riots.  If that means looting, arson and beatings, that’s okay, in their eyes, because justice for George Floyd is not their purpose.  If they cared about black people they’d be agitating to get rid of welfare or, possibly, they’d be protesting the 6,000+ deaths ANNUALLY, of blacks killed by other blacks.  But they seem mainly to be concerned, upset really, about police and police departments.  Regardless of color, black activists want to get rid of police.  This is not a solution to problems shared by all Americans; police, law and order are a problem only for those attempting to destroy belief in our Judeo-Christian mores and America, itself.

“BLM” believes very different philosophies than you or I do, or do the vast majority of Americans.  Their own statement of beliefs is in opposition to the norms of American, Judeo-Christian culture.  In effect, every “victim” class they can identify, including all variants of sexual identity and “trans” sexuality, most particularly non-white, are claimed as equal-status members of the Black global movement.  In this they are largely in opposition to the norms of a majority of American blacks who desire to live far more conservatively.  Like most Christian or Christian-influenced people, Americans are tolerant of the need for political expression and of the redress of grievances, Prudence included of course.  BLM is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, however.

BLM is purely racist.  There is no pejoration in that description.  Blacks, evidently can demand “black-only” this or that, whether a congressional caucus or a college graduation; whites, not so much.  One of the lies that undergirds Black Lives Matter is that only whites can be racist.  That is utter nonsense, of course.  And racism per se, is neither evil nor negative… it is normal.  Only under a regime of group identities and its hand-maiden, socialism, is “racism” a weapon.  Americans are sadly in error, literally in denial of our heritage, if we accept group guilt for “racism.”  Our nation and its founding is based on individual responsibility, not group responsibility.  Every individual could be “racist” in the sense that he or she is uncomfortable with members of another race.  It takes time and education to overcome that uncomfortability, even fear.  But only a handful of individuals will act uncivilly or in a hateful manner toward members of the other “race.”  That action is the only legitimate area of action for government.  Bad actions may be sanctioned under the law, bad thoughts may not be.

Another aspect of what BLM “believes,” is that the “Western” nuclear family model must be undone (that is, thousands of years of Judeo-Christian family structure must be undone).  BLM global wants “village” child-rearing, which is to say, some sort of government child-rearing.  We’ve been drifting toward this model to our social detriment, for 60 years.  As the federal government federalized welfare, removing all moral or any other judgment in the disbursal of “benefits,” black families disintegrated to such a degree that over 60% of black children are born to and raised by a single mother, which means that Headstart, Pre-K and numerous other social support programs often have more time with a child than its mother, let alone its father.

Black Lives matter is a fraud on America, since its concern is not helping black people, but rather the unseating of our nation and constitution.  To communists, which they are, freedom is an affront.  Any politician who accedes to BLM demands, kneels for their blessing or grovels in other ways, is presenting him or herself as the person to vote against in the next election… while elections that so many have died for, are still free.

Culture, Economics, Family, Governance, Health Care, Politics 2020, Representation, Responsibility

So, is the cat dead?

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Even when the Governor escapes he won't know if he's dead or alive...

Every cloud has a silver lining, we tell ourselves.  We believe, or hope at least, that no matter how grim conditions may be, we will emerge from them to a new level of happiness, love or accomplishment.  We know – or believe – enough to sacrifice today and in this lifetime, to receive the rewards of a better life before we die… or afterwards.

So it must be with this God-forsaken imposition of leftist tyranny that politicians are blaming on “the coronavirus.”   Most of us have quickly, aggressively, agreed to forego our “unalienable rights” to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Most of us have agreed to be frightened by the dire descriptions of what is happening to a fast-shifting number or percentage of COVID-19-infected fellow citizens and to denizens of foreign countries.  In the span of 3 weeks or so Americans watched China (until the news was clamped down) Italy and Iran erupt with thousands of deaths from COVID-19.  Suddenly in early March, politicians and medical bureaucrats who days earlier had been telling Americans that they would not be very much impacted by the new coronavirus, were grimly commanding us to stay at home, stop intermingling with others, stop working or playing, and to obey, obey, obey in order to “flatten curves” and “save lives.”

It might have.  There really is no way to precisely state whether the curves “flattened” because of the lockdown.  It’s possible that the course of the infection rate (which is still not fully known) would have been about the same if people were given good advice and masks and told to stay out of work if exposed or symptomatic.  Unfortunately, locking down a whole city or state is something the true government types have dreamt of: stopping people from enjoying life unfairly, and enforcing the stoppage with police powers.  Oh! My! Gawd!  “I never realized how good this would truly feel,” hundreds of mayors and governors (may) have been overheard to say.  “My Poli-Sci professor tried to tell us but who could have imagined the glow?”

There are several collateral injuries that result from any brutal attack and the requisite stern defenses governments must mount on our behalf.  Businesses close down, for one, but, when you think about it, most of those were unfairly profitable, especially for the owners.  Lots of people lose their jobs, for another, but, when you think about it, a lot of them are church-goers and even Christians, so the damage isn’t as bad as it could have been.  If we put a stop to church-going altogether, no one will feel unfairly repressed.  There are more reports of domestic violence, but that’s a problem of degree, only.  Child abuse is also up, according to agencies that watch those things, but those kids were going to be abused at some point, anyway.  Let’s get the federal government to send out checks to everybody and they’ll all put up with the house-arrest that is so obviously necessary.

Still, we can’t let people stew over conditions for long periods.  We’ll have to add new policies and closures here and there to keep lock-down opponents off-balance.  We are saving lives, after all.

There are several silver linings, though, despite the multi-trillion-dollar costs (so far) and building conflict with Red China.  For one big thing, the utter inability for state governments in “progressive” states to do the right thing for even a large fraction of their populations, has been made glaringly clear.  Their citizens, tenuously holding the power of voting idiots out of office, should take note: big opportunity ahead.

The purposes of those at the federal level, both elected and appointed, come in two sets: elected and deep-state.  Elected officials have two goals: re-election and avoiding responsibility.  Deep state denizens have only one: staying in power.  Everything else is subordinate.  This should help explain why change can be excruciatingly slow or, about as often, way off-target… not off any target, just off our, citizens’  target.  Whatever politicians do is hitting, first, their personal targets as they become wealthy in office.

Power and re-election are drivers for state pols, too.  The most common end of legislative service is retirement at age.  Citizen-legislator is a mythical being from a long-ago time; today we have the inside-government “us” and the lesser, civilian “them.”  In any case, once a sweeping declaration of change is made, it must be defended and justified as the very best, life-saving decision that could have been made due to forces over which the deciding politician had no control.  Then, when the consequences appear to be going sideways, the same politician will defend and reinforce the underlying, out-of-control circumstances that forced the original decision.

In effect, then, regarding current political fears, it is Prudent to describe the problem as one of politicians building a box from which they cannot escape.  With haphazard statistics peppering them during January, February and into March, everyone in a decision-making position – president on down – was afraid to not shut things down.  “We must flatten the curve,” said the medical experts, “for if we don’t our hospitals will be overwhelmed and people will needlessly die… die…die.”  OMG!  The possibilities of politicians being blamed for something – being forced to take responsibility for something, anything – were growing to be a real crisis.

As each day passed and unfortunately ill-suited supply chains drew unending accusations, the future looked bleak.  Hot spots seemed to be simply precursors of what was waiting around the corner for every city and state.  Stormy skies for the Republic were forecast, minute by minute, to finally fall on our heads the day after tomorrow.  Things were worse than we thought and getting worse than that.

Quickly, private enterprise shifted manufacturing and supply chains to fill the gaps in equipment and personal protective equipment.  Hospital ships were deployed; ventilators found, refitted or newly manufactured.  Less than 3 weeks later there were too many ventilators and the emergency hospitals and ships were largely unused.  We’re told those successes are all due to stay-at-home orders and strictures on groups as small as, well, one.

The work of the healthcare “system” was and is remarkable as it dealt with an infectious disease not fully understood.  But understanding has developed quickly, as have testings that seek current infections, and past infections, more interestingly.  The folly of many policies and mandates intended to slow the infection rate, is becoming stark.

All incidents are anecdotes until they are added up.  People, especially blame-shedding politicians, can adhere to the “science” of mathematics while ducking responsibility simply by adding up certain incidents and not others.  Every “covid” death was not a covid death; every shutdown business was not about to cause increased infection if not shut down.  School-age children were neither at risk nor a risk for others.  Even public transportation turned out to not be a major source of cross-infections.

Still, shutdowns were not relaxed and even enhanced to varying degrees.  Governors and mayors were just beginning to flex their dictatorial muscles when pesky statistics began to intrude into the shutdown model.  Two things were never going to happen as a result: 1) Those elected executives would change their shutdown tactics to accommodate new facts; or, 2) Those same would admit they had been wrong about some of their policies.

In some states shutdown rules became ever stricter despite evidence they need never have been strict at all.  Besieged governors and even judges, appear to have reacted arbitrarily and personally to citizens demanding that the shutdowns be lifted, including arrests, lifting of licenses, incarceration and harassment.  Essentially none of those instances involved any provable health risk… not even suspected  health risk, the ostensible basis for the “rules.”  Americans should be alert to and instructed by these and hundreds of other examples: Our nation is no longer a nation of laws, but a serfdom of rules.  Rather than “We the people” ratifying shared moral codes of rights and wrongs, set in law, there are now, literally, tens of thousands of rules for what we sovereign citizens are allowed to do.  The solemn advisories that cause small and large “g” governors to promulgate their new rules do not come from US, but from unelected “experts” who self-declare their predictive expertise and carry impressive resume’s.

Some are, perhaps, experts in a field of study, even epidemiology, even in studies of contagions and how they spread in past, somewhat similar environments.  Our newest adversary, coronavirus-19, is not the same as earlier epidemics, it was not spread around the world in the same way, it has not mutated the same way, it has different symptoms, different impacts on different demographics, different gestation periods and different sensitivities to drugs and anti-viral chemicals.  But, they knew exactly what to do before all the statistics were collected and studies were underway.  Presumably these “scientists” would be poised to alter their predictions upon receipt of new facts and observations.  Oddly, however, in direct contravention of scientific method, they have tended to “double down” (a popular gambling term) on their first predictions, making ever more draconian recommendations DESPITE new data.  It is at this point that medical science became medical politics, or ideology.  Like true ideologues they had staked out their beliefs, not their science, and those positions would be defended… economies and lives be damned.

Dr. Fauci appears to be in this class of dictators.  In the span of a few days he switched from reassuring the public that the new coronavirus was not a major concern for Americans, to advising that the economy be shut down, gatherings prohibited and healthy citizens be confined.  Only he can tell us if any science was behind his first views of COVID-19; only he can tell us if any science is behind his current views.  Anyone, however, can tell that there is no science or even judgment behind his praise of W.H.O. director, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a politician willing to cooperate with or promote some very sketchy other politicians in matters of public health – including those tied to the Chinese Communist Party.  Ol’ Tedros’ communist-inspired lying can be thanked for many thousands of deaths in the U. S. and around the world.