The irony that Hillary Rodham was involved with the Watergate Committee that brought down Richard Nixon on charges of Obstruction of Justice over a botched burglary of the DNC is so incredible as to make one believe that God himself is giving us a "clear text message".
Nobody died in Watergate and it had nothing at all to do with National Security. The burglary didn't change anything -- it was stupid, but McGovern wasn't going to win anyway. As anyone who has even looked at the debacle knows, "it was the cover-up" that took down Nixon.
I’d add that this was five months before she feigned ignorance when Fox News’s Ed Henry pressed her on whether she’d “tried to wipe the entire server … so there could be no email – no personal, no official.” Henry finally asked, “Did you wipe the server?” Famously, Clinton scoffed, “Like with a cloth or something?” But we now know, as the FBI notes recount, she had the server purged with a sophisticated software program, BleachBit, which eventually made it extraordinarily difficult for the FBI to recover her emails, several thousand of which were successfully destroyed.
We absolutely know that Hildebeast explicitly ordered evidence destroyed which DID have a direct bearing on National Security, and that the evidence was related to the Benghazi attacks where people, including a US Ambassador, DID DIE!
We've sunk a LONG way baby!
What really took down Nixon is that there were Republicans that still thought that there were things that were "above politics". What paved the way for Slick Willie, BO, Hildebeast, and Trump is that by the time we went through Iran-Contra, plus the Bork and Clarence Thomas confirmations, it was totally clear that in fact NOTHING was above politics for "The Party" (TP-D), so all Tribes followed suit and the way was paved for BOistan.
NO RULES means NO RULES! So the Tribes fight over the declining scraps of the once great nation now a tribal backwater known as BOistan.
The version of this book I re-read was the 2001, golden anniversary edition of this 1951 book written at the same time as Lionel Trilling uttered this:
In the United States at this time Liberalism is not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition. For it is the plain fact that nowadays there are no conservative or reactionary ideas in general circulation. This does not mean, of course, that there is no impulse to conservatism or to reaction. Such impulses are certainly very strong, perhaps even stronger than most of us know. But the conservative impulse and the reactionary impulse do not, with some isolated and some ecclesiastical exceptions, express themselves in ideas but only in action or in irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas.
While "liberals" certainly thought that way, there were a lot of folks that took huge exception to WFB's (SUPER Initials!) assertion that Yale had become essentially atheist and collectivist, rather than Christian and Capitalist, which are the ideals it was founded on.
As WFB put it:
"The duel between Christianity and atheism is the most important in the world, and the struggle between individualism and collectivism is the same struggle reproduced on another level".
He did not write the following himself, but quoted it in his introduction to the 25th anniversary edition and said it would have saved him the trouble of writing the book:
"Unless the great concepts that have been traditional to the western world are rooted in a reasoned view of the universe and man's place in it, and unless this reasoned view contains in it's orbit a place for the spirit, man is left in our day with archaic weapons unsuited for the problems of the present"
In the chapter on "Individualism at Yale", after pointing out how Yale in 1950 believes in socialism, high taxes on business and individuals, 100% inheritance taxes and a host of well known leftist nostrums, he arrives at the following as to the effect that this will likely have on future Yale graduates after they decide it is useless to try to make it in small business:
So he finally decides to go down to Washington and get a job with some government bureau. Or maybe AT&T (his first question to the pension officer at both will be about pension provisions).
And Dean DeVane was astounded, puzzled, and shocked in 1949 when he read that the graduating class seemed more interested in security than in enterprise.
The word "enterprise" was once so revered that US ships and even imaginary starships were christened with the name. Today, maybe "fortress", "lock box", or possibly just "security".
"God And Man At Yale" (Gamay) was the book that launched the modern conservative movement that reached its pinnacle in Reagan and it's 2nd act in Newt Gingrich and the Republican House of '95-2000.
WFB was able to hold the darkness at bay with the power of his ideas and communication skills. Yale and the entire educational system was lost along with law and media, and the federal and state bureaucracies exploded in size and power, but as long as the Constitution and Separation of Powers held, it was still possible to keep the great nation from being completely being destroyed.
"Enterprise" -- "the AMERICAN Enterprise", to honestly believe in the future, in building something to PASS ON to one's own children as an inheritance in a nation assumed to get BETTER from generation to generation. Those dreams were in danger in the '50s, they are dead today.
Today we suffer the sadness of the predictions of Gamay come true and with the evil kicker of BO taking out the Constitution and Separation of Powers.
If the warning of the book had been heeded, it might be similar to the result if Admiral De Robeck had decided to continue the attack at Gallipoli on March 19th, 1915, rather than withdrawing, WWI would have been over shortly, Eastern Europe would have been stabilized under British power, and Churchill would have continued on to likely become Prime Minister and have thus been in a position of power to stop Hitler before Hitler became anything but a local madman in Germany.
America did not fall because we lacked the information on the danger. No, we fell because we willfully chose the path of sin and "security" over the path of God and enterprise!
I hit "publish" rather than save on this one -- "user error".
The bottom line is (surprise, surprise) is healthcare costs are skyrocketing under BOcare and they did the same last year. He promised to "save" everyone "$2,500 a year" on their healthcare, and in general, they have had to spend many thousands more each year -- which has been our case.
Naturally he also promised that BOcare was a "guaranteed win", since if you didn't like the new cheaper healthcare he was going to give you, you could always "keep what you had". That was a lie as well -- "what you had" was forced to meet the new BOcare requirements for acceptance of existing conditions, what was covered, coverage for kids up to 26, everyone having to pay for pre-natal care, delivery, abortion, birth control, etc, so the "healthcare you had" typically became totally unaffordable.
This tends to be a "minimal news story". You read through this and you get the impression that "it probably doesn't apply to you", but in fact, IT ALREADY HAS. You already pay more, have higher deductibles, co-pays, etc and THEY ARE ALSO GOING UP, although maybe your employer has chosen to pay some, or maybe they "spread the increase". You tend to not lower a higher maximum out of pocket if you are a young healthy person. It doesn't hit you until you get sick ...
Which is the old essence of "Nationalized Medicine" or "Single Payer". It doesn't hit you that it is crap until you get sick. National Health is a lot like paying your brother in law for fire insurance, having a fire, and finding out he was just spending your "premiums" and is dead broke.
BOcare is that kind of VERY expensive fire insurance applied to health -- only the premiums go up WAY more than your brother in law as likely to have raised your fire insurance from year to year, since he wasn't a totalitarian government.
I'm not much of a reader of fiction, nor very interested in teenage angst. The book however ended up lying around the house, so I finally read it. It is famous enough that pretty much everyone kind of thinks they read it in HS or "sometime", but I'm guessing less have read it than think they have.
Everyone knowns "Holden Caulfield" the 16 year old protagonist from whose perspective the book is told from. He is in the process of being kicked out of his 3rd prep academy (Pencey). He has an older brother "DB" who is a writer in Hollywood, a younger sister "old Phoebe", and a deceased younger brother "Allie" that died at 11 from leukemia when Holden was 13 -- Holden damaged his hand "breaking every window in the garage" in anger over the death. This incident provides almost enough sympathy for the protagonist for the reader to care what happens to him.
"The Catcher in the Rye" refers to a fantasy entertained by Holden loosely based on a misquote of a Robert Burns poem, where Holden prevents children playing in a large field of rye from falling over a cliff which symbolizes "loss of innocence". The fantasy is in no way major to the actual content of the book -- it may be an attempt to assert that the book ITSELF carries out the fantasy -- it glorifies teen angst and encourages navel gazing self absorption with no sense of any reason to ever "grow up".
The cynical conservative in me summarizes the work as "Peter Pan with smokes, drinks, sex (or at least leering), a prostitute, suicide, and a possible near homosexual encounter". The suicide is "James Castle" -- who is wearing Holden's borrowed sweater when he dies, leapt from a window because a group of guys did something "unspeakable" to him, and his body is picked up by the suspected homosexual. We could easily mine that for symbolism, but I'll spare you.
Lot's of "goddam", everything is "phony", a little series of "fuck you" being written all over, possibly as an allusion to the corruption of innocence as the young move to adulthood since Holden (the imaginary "catcher in the rye") is trying to rub the words out so his sister will not see.
At the end we find out that the book is being written from some institution or sanitarium where Holden is staying until he returns to schooling the following fall. The entire book itself covers 3-4 days before Christmas as Holden is moving toward home to deal with the fact that he has been thrown out of another school. (all stories are really about going home)
My thoughts on the book:
the adults are presented in very negative lights -- "old", "phony", ugly, either vaguely or actually corrupt, heavy drinkers or drunks, etc
the book is bereft of any religious or philosophical values -- Holden's admittedly juvenile perspective of all the things he "can't stand" or "drive him crazy" is a "stand in" for such lofty concepts. His younger sister Phoebe is "virtue" -- and "virtue and innocence" are essentially the same thing. There is no "mature virtue" presented.
While only 16, Holden is tall and has "gray hair on one side", so he is able to pose as being older "early 20's" -- sometimes, other times he is seen through immediately. The "imposter" theme is woven through the book ("phony"), relative to actors, women, etc.
The portrayal of women is highly sexist / adolescent. If "ugly" they are worthless, if attractive, they "drive him crazy, they really do".
My sense is that published as it was in the 1950's, it was "shocking" and therefore got the "cool, forbidden, sophisticated" aura. It's "message" is a purposeless meandering for potential "pleasure" that never materializes, with no overarching meaning or morality. While some teens may have at some point felt SOMETHING like Holden Caulfield, it seems unlikely that many would want to BE Holden. The only potential "virtue" he portrays is the very thin imaginary one of preventing children from growing up. He doesn't even have a good time.
At it's simplest, "liberalism" or "progressivism" is a life of adolescence extended to death. Responsibility is always avoided and in the hands of others, things are "unfair" due to "others", the individual is convinced of their own goodness or possibly even greatness at some fantasy level, but that is vague and remote -- the immediate motive is always the next smoke, next drink, next sexual conquest, next entertainment, etc.
Perhaps Holden Caulfield is the prototype for the modern life of the perpetual adolescent. I find the idea of giving this book to anyone under the age of 21 to be the spiritual equivalent of handing an 8 year old a .45 and a box of shells and telling them "have a good time".
As an adult, the fact that the book is as famous as it is provides strong evidence that our educational system has failed us -- we REALLY need to understand classic literature, and then realize that this work isn't it.
As an avid listener of MPR, MN is definitely "above average", like ALL the children in Lake Woebegone.
That is certainly the constantly drummed in "perception" -- "Blue" policies are universally helpful and have no downsides -- one would have to be some sort of a "red state neanderthal" to not understand that left wing politics are always beneficial to all groups, health, goodness, general welfare, solvency, good looks, fun and well, EVERYTHING!
Certainly, only the evil or the terminally uninformed would ever consider doing anything as tawdry as an actual comparison. Go and look at the column, but as our long term plan includes leaving the perfect environs of old MN, I found the following chart to be especially appropriate.
What a lovely trend line -- losing high income people to the toon of a billion dollars in a two year period. Why, you would think that people with higher incomes have more choices and they vote with their feet -- but MPR assures us, that CAN'T be true!
A column with a lot of words, but the author at least seems to begin to grasp that the problems suffered by blacks are a bit deeper than the popular labels "racism" and "discrimination", and the "solution" is unlikely to be electing more Democrats .
For so long, as a Black American, I have been told that the problem is Conservative Republicans. While I’ll admit they may have done little to try to improve African-American lives, they also don’t promise to every election season like the liberal elites. Instead we have given our loyalty and votes to Democrats, who paternalistically tell us they want to help us, but we have little to show for it since blacks started voting Democrat back in the 1960’s. I have never lived in a city as an adult that was run by Conservatives or Republicans, but I live in the biggest poor city in the country, Philadelphia. A city, for decades, run by liberal insiders.
Seems like we have a case of a left wing black reaching the same conclusion as Trump in the middle of a left wing media column.
"The problem" here is that "culture" and "policies" matter. Broken homes, failing to graduate from high school, drugs, alcohol and crime do not a successful "culture" make, and that is just as true if you are brown, black, white, yellow or purple. As I've pointed out, as whites have succumbed to "the Democrat way of life", they are suffering as well. Yes, "cultural AIDs" hit blacks first, but it is tearing through the white community now and having the same devastating results.
Thinking like a liberal is fine if you are intelligent, come from a good background, have a great support system of family and community, etc, etc -- it is like "safety first when starting fires with gasoline". The intellectual elite has always been able to thumb their nose at morality, religion, propriety, etc and generally get away with it on a percentage basis.
It is the "average and below average" that it is positively deadly for -- and that is a color blind statement, with predictably color blind results.
I have a rule that the only "morons" in existence are those who use the word to name others. If you had any knowledge of the art of persuasion, would you really call those that you ostensively claim to be persuading "morons" as a way to convince them? My case rests.
The long list of supposed qualifications reminds me of a person I once knew that had a LONG list of supposed "qualifications" at the end of their e-mails -- this and that certification, this and that position, which included "Notary Public". The longer the list, the less impressive.
If a "qualification" as anything to do with "Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, or any of the bottom 20 states, it isn't a "qualification" for a national position -- if anything, it is a mark against you. You are small time -- not because you may have hailed from the small and insignificant, but because you you have failed to realize that nobody likes long boring lists and you don't list Aaron Rodgers pee wee league football honors at his Hall of Fame induction. Everyone came from the minor leagues, but nobody cares what you did there.
Long lists are BAD, long lists that are done chronologically rather than by importance of accomplishment are REALLY bad. "Commencement speaker"? SERIOUSLY? Tell me how important the commencement speech at your High School or College was to your life. Giving a commencement speech is a qualification for nothing -- listing it tells says "unqualified person" for ANY job, let alone a high one.
Everyone knows the only "accomplishment" that counts. She is a woman, and a woman that was to assist in establishing that personal character is no longer a requirement for a president. Had she not played a major in establishing this, both she and her opponent would be disqualified. It is "historical" I guess, she was the major player in making it possible for us to end up having the choice between her and Trump. Had she said "as a woman, I can not continue to be married to a serial abuser of my sisters, I am divorcing him and calling for his impeachment", we would live in another country. As it is, she can be looked at as the "Founding Mutha" of BOistan.
She also ran the first (that we know of) Pay for Play State Department where access and favors were traded for cash to the "Clinton Fund" (Funds, for Clintons) under the first president with no experience or other qualifications to be president. BO established that your list of applicable experience can be "nada" and you can still be president. It turns out, not of the US, but of BOistan, but at this point that is all we have left.
By the "BO standard", BOTH Hildebeast and Donald are eminently qualified to be president. She has run a large money laundering organization and he has been a CEO -- that beats "Junior Senator Seat gained by using legal system to unseal opponents private divorce records against BOTH the wishes of the candidate and his ex-wife". (Jack Ryan would have beaten him if they didn't destroy him)
You really ought to go over and take the time to read the list, it is a HOOT ... a sad one, but funny just the same.
"Successfully sought to increase research funding for prostate cancer and childhood asthma at the National Institutes of Health."
World leaders quake in anticipation of working with such a specimen!
Multi-millionaire soon to be out of football for lack of skill Collin Kaepernick will not stand for the old Star Spangled Banner and Stars and Stripes. "America is racist". (I'm sure he means America WAS)
So what the hell does that have to do with life in BOistan? BOistan needs a new flag and a new anthem, because it CERTAINLY isn't a nation "under God", nor would it fight for it's existence with "bombs bursting in air". It also isn't the "land of the free and the home of the brave".
Perhaps a flag of a used tampon to show our enlightened feminist nature and bold embrace of the more gritty truth of our existence? Hildebeast would be the perfect leader to institute this as ostensively the first "female" president (if you interpret that term permissively).
The "rainbow flag" -- showing that we are unsure our sexuality and gender, but seriously proud, even though we want to be fully defended from "triggers" and "hate speech".
I like the idea of the white flag indicating surrender -- to whomever shows up. Because we abhor violence and have total faith in the morality of all mankind. After destroying the old racist, sexist, violent nation that was America, BOistan is happy to accommodate anything.
America was bad, we are good, what more can we say? We are environmentally friendly, non-competitive, amoral, unsure of all knowledge. We have no culture -- we are but vessels awaiting the brilliance of bold new myth-makers to give us purpose and meaning for our tired existence.
I think Kaepernick is on to something. Why is that that we are actually still flying the flag of a dead nation and dead ideals over BOistan?
The title drew me in, but I'm not very impressed with the article in general. The problem isn't just "liberals", it is ALL OF US!
Human nature is to believe that we are ALL "above average" ... drivers, intelligence, goodness, spouses, friends, parents, etc. Basic statistics would tell us that isn't reality, but we FEEL like it is, and in general, feeling that way is actually good for our mental health! If you don't feel that way at least most of the time, you are nearly certain to be depressed.
The old concept of "culture" involved a "higher power". Usually God, but stand-ins included the king, duke, earl, etc.. You could be "above average" for your class, rank, etc, but in the overall scheme of things, you "knew your place". That is a dirty concept in todays supposedly classless society where having equal OPPORTUNITY has been confused with equal RESULT. A quick glance NFL QB's, Olympic athletes, supermodels and even the checkout line at WalMart shows the fallacy of "we are all equal", but the force of coercion to lie about what we see is STRONG in BOistan.
Equal in the sight of God, but not equal in the sight of each other, and CERTAINLY not in the sight of the IRS "progressive" income tax!
The key to the current subjugation of BOistan is that everyone is at least fully AWARE of what reality they are SUPPOSED to subscribe to. As per the article, those that are not "liberals in good standing" are at least totally aware of what they are SUPPOSED to think. "Liberals" are pretty much covered by the following ...
“Imagine the average day for liberals,” political columnist John Hawkins says. “They get up and read their local newspaper. It has a liberal viewpoint. They take their kids to school, where the teachers are liberal. Then they go to work, listen to NPR which has a liberal viewpoint on the way home, and then turn on the nightly news which also skews leftward.” It’s a terrifying reality that we now live in a society where only one side of the political spectrum is allowed to speak without being attacked.
As Hawkins notes, “Unless liberals actively seek out conservative viewpoints, which is unlikely, the only conservative arguments they're probably going to hear are going to be through the heavily distorted, poorly translated, deeply skeptical lens of other liberals.” And it’s all rooted in a hatred of free speech."
It's really much worse than that. Asking a typical liberal to understand the viewpoint of a conservative is like asking a fish to explain "dryness". Conservatives are so used to being "attacked", the column author mistakes that for how discussion ought to occur in a free society. "We should ATTACK each other more"!
Humans, ALL OF US, are extremely poor at handling "reality" or "the truth". That starts with death, pain and the instant fragility of life. All we know and love can be physically gone in the next instant. Beyond this, without God, what existence we have has been adjudged meaningless by pretty much all philosophers -- some, like Nietzsche think we ought to set up "supermen" to provide us with "new myths" to provide that meaning, but like Hitler, and Jack below, such "supermen" have a remarkable tendency to be psychopathic.
Given our condition, the godless choice is submission to state power or war-- a position very well stated by Islam, whose name means "submission", which is the only godless way to peace, as is found in socialism, communism and all forms of statism. The godless choice is "control vs chaos", left vs right.
"Peace" is gained by destroying your adversaries or at least forcing them to shut up if there are no transcendent values -- which is what the "left" (Satan) is always busy doing. The MEANS of achieving control is unimportant, as long as control is achieved -- violence is common, but sometimes people can be made to submit by mere propaganda, or even by making the act of "submission" seem like a "religion".
Western Civilization, and eventually the old United States was founded on the Christian difference, where Christ, and his Grace, Love and Forgiveness transcended the human condition and allowed a nation where both freedom and peace could be maintained as long as the nation predominately followed Christ.
John 8:31-32 So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. 32 Then you will know truth, and the truth will set you free."
Truth, Freedom and Peace -- not PERFECT truth, freedom and peace in this world, but pretty amazing never the less. Standards of living undreamed of for thousands of years of human history, life expectancies doubled and tripled, travel, rapid communication, literacy being common -- we went to the MOON!
However, "the cost" of the "old order" was the acceptance that "man was not the measure of all things". God, history, love, truth, etc were all part of that "bargain", and it was more than the left could stand. For them, "utopia" was entirely measured in human terms, which they were CERTAIN were the way to unlimited good, since their faith decreed that man had been created by randomness to be "good" (an abstract concept their science had no definition for beyond "works as specified")
Any case, what he was was "unlimited" -- "freedom" was "the absence of limits", so we began our brave new world founded on science where each man's "truth" is as good as all others and all are declared to be "equal" -- as long as they follow the rules that the dominant political party decrees.
Following these rules is "freedom", since these rules are made by man for man, they MUST be "good".
We abandoned THE TRUTH which is Christ, and arrived at "the truth of The Party" -- TP (D).
A well written column that covers the facts of sexuality and gender very succinctly and accurately based on the latest science. To refresh what has been covered in this blog many times:
Non-breeding sexual deviations are not adaptive. If it doesn't breed, it doesn't lead to a future in the world of biology. (apparently a lot of the modern left missed that class in HS biology)
Lots of things have "genetic roots" ... alcoholism, obesity, anxiety, depression, pedophilia, cancer, intelligence, athletic ability -- and on and on. In every case but sexuality, the assumption is that parenting, education, training, medicine, behavior modification, etc, etc can have an impact to channel the innate characteristic in a positive way. Except for sexual preference and gender according to the sexual preference and gender lobby.
A stable marriage and solid family life show up as cornerstones of a healthy life in every statistic in existence -- happiness, longevity, health, wealth and meaning in life. That is why the left attempts at every point to destroy marriage and family -- broken people are more likely to seek the assistance of the state and begin a permanent cycle of despair and dependency, which plays directl into the hands of the ruling political party (The Party-TP D)
WaPo attempts to make the case that the Democratic Plantation has been very good for blacks ... so Trump's "what the hell do you have to lose" doesn't make sense. Tears would seem to be the right response to charts that show white males average income DROPPING from $56K to $52K since 1974, and black men (who have jobs) "improving" from $38K to $41K. White men lost $4K in 40 years and black men gained $3K -- so why isn't everyone HAPPY!
Oh, the "gains" were all in the '80s, it has been pretty much flatline since them!
But wait, some blacks ARE happier! In the SOUTH!
"Stevenson and Wolfers found that the improvement was greatest in the South, where African Americans now report being no less happy, on average, than their white neighbors."
Uh, wain a minute. The SOUTH is all nasty "red country", home of the Republican "southern strategy". You mean to say that blacks are doing BETTER in the states that are slogging along under regressive REPUBLICAN rule?
Yup, that is what they say ... only they don't say it. They want to claim it is due to ...
Aggressive federal enforcement of civil-rights laws in that part of the country might have contributed to the shift for black Southerners.
Sure it did! Blacks are dying in droves in the big northern cities that are all under total Democrat control. I'm sure thousands of young black men shooting each other in the streets is a sign of their "happiness". Why, maybe even "Black Lives Matter" is a testament to the "progressive" policies in all these fully Democrat controlled African American utopias?
If you believe something like that, you must be a Democrat.
I've commented before that if Hildebeast is actually a human female, she would NEVER dress as she does. There are only two possible explanations that I can see:
1). She is NOT a human female.
2). She is showing us that she is not only above the law, she is above all sense of humanity and femaleness -- she is "Herself", a new creation, steeped in corruption who will do WHATEVER she wants WHENEVER she wants and we better bow down and worship whatever she is or does!
I tend to go with #2, and in fact I really think that is her designation ... we have had BO, now we are due to ruled by "#2"!
Primarily I'm jealous of the title ... Hillary's right hand acolyte is Huma Abedin, a practicing Muslim, so therefore a believer in Shariah Law as the proper law for all to live under to be at "peace" (submission).
Her name sounds very much like "abetting", ( "abettin") thus the play on words.
Any sentient person knows that the purpose of the "Clinton Fund" is political prostitution -- buying access and favors by "pay for play". They don't even really try to hide it, which is part of their power play. They are above the law, they have proven they are above the law, now all that remains is for the rest of us to agree with that or SHUT UP!
The article gives a lot of evidence, but once someone is established as a prostitute, it is very tiresome to go into the details of each of her many "tricks". I'll leave you with this:
Many of these recent revelations have come despite efforts by Clinton defenders to keep them from the public. The FBI last week turned over to the State Department nearly 15,000 emails it recovered during its investigation of Clinton's private server. Many of them—"thousands," according to FBI director James Comey—were "work-related" emails that Clinton claimed she had turned over to the State Department. On August 8, 2015, Clinton signed a declaration submitted to the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., swearing "under penalty of perjury" that she'd directed all emails that "were or potentially were" work-related turned over to the State Department.
We now know they were not, but nobody is prosecuting her for perjury because SHE IS ABOVE THE LAW!
For years a factory worker pushes a wheelbarrow full of straw past a security guard on his way out. Suspicious that the guy is stealing something, the guard looks in the straw but can’t find anything. Finally, when the worker is retiring, the guard asks, “I know you’ve been stealing something — can you tell me what it is? The guy smiles and says, “Wheelbarrows.”
The joke is actually misleading, the Clinton Foundation is WAY more obvious than the guy stealing wheelbarrows -- at least the idea there MIGHT be something in the wheelbarrow is some indirection. With the Clinton Foundation there is none -- it is totally in the open!
But even when they DO get "good ratings", these are people who can have sex with employees at work and treat top secret documents with "extreme carelessness" and get off. Anything can be bought in a corrupt society -- and the Clintons are proof of that! Their "foundation" is proof that the corruption is so great they don't even have to pretend to hide it!
I'm reminded of a Seinfeld where George has a fake charity, "The Human Fund -- Money, for people".
Why not just call it "The Clinton Fund" -- Funds, for Clintons? Everyone certainly knows this to be the case, but at the level of corruption the US is at, apparently close to half the people simply don't care. They assume that Hildebeast will punish the "other tribe" (Republicans, the productive, Christians, etc) and reward their tribe, and in a corrupt tribal culture like BOistan, the only "value" is "just win baby". Take from the other tribe, look out for #1.
I can't believe that anyone with an IQ over 100 actually in any way "believes" the Clintons at this point. How much howling have we heard about "Citizens United" and the evils of money in politics from the left, and now their candidate is the doyen of the "Clinton Fund"? "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing". In BOistan, the good have to avert their eyes from the level of insane corruption that is in operation in plain view. Evil has completely triumphed.
OF COURSE they are selling influence!!! -- and anything else they can sell including the scraps left of America, and no doubt future claims on our children and grandchildren.
Listening to a politician complain about the price of anything isn't on my list of things to do. Has anyone ever been in any sort of actual distress and asked "is there a politician in the house"? Of course not.
There was a time when we had a Constitution, Separation of Powers and LIMITED government when there were actually such things as "public servants". No more -- it is just a question of how deep the corruption.
Public Enemy No. 1 in Democratic circles today is Heather Bresch, CEO of the company that makes the EpiPen, a super-convenient epinephrine auto-injection device used to treat anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction that can be caused by anything from a bee sting to a bag of peanuts. At its worst, anaphylaxis is bad news of the kill-you-dead variety, which makes having an EpiPen or two around very handy indeed. Bresch’s company, Mylan, recently raised prices on the EpiPen and several other treatments they sell. An EpiPen dose might cost as much as $600, which is . . . about half of what the typical American family spends on cable TV in a year. Yeah, sure, little Bobby’s face is swelling up like a North Korean dictator’s and his kidneys are about to fail — but there’s two episodes left on Game of Thrones this season! And Daenerys is naked in both of them!
Spare me.
Why is it that cable TV, cell phones, restaurant meals, travel, movie tickets and certainly ANYTHING related to medicine in any way at all rises like a rocket (insurance, deductibles, co-pays, etc.
So why IS it that an EpiPen ought to cost less than six months of cable tv? My last pair of GLASSES cost $500! I tried hearing aids that cost $6K for the pair.
Thought experiment: Your child is dying. Who do you go to for help? Sanders? Clinton? Or one of the research scientists who made the EpiPen possible?
Yes, Mylan raised the price of an EpiPen. You know who else raised the price on EpiPens? Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, that’s who, and Joe Manchin, too. You thought Obamacare meant free goodies for you paid for by wicked rich people and evil corporations, right, Sunshine? Remember that medical-device tax? An EpiPen is a medical device. You think the politicians don’t have any self-interest there?
I have no idea if the cost of EpiPen is reasonable, inflated by the company, inflated by the cost of lawsuits and government regulation, purely for the profit of Mylan, if the government is looking the other way because Joe Manchin is a member in good standing of "The Party" - D, etc, etc.
The point is, unlike the emanations from Sanders, Hidebeast, etc, the EpiPen HAS VALUE -- it saves lives. Even six months of cable tv has some value -- I don't happen to have it, but there is a market for it and plenty of people DO have it.
Do some companies "gouge"? Certainly -- but unless the market is so regulated and controlled that competition can't enter it (and it may be in this case), then "gouging" is certain to bring competitors and the price will drop.
We need to find a way to get rid of the vermin we have in the political class today and bring back some "public servants". I see no way that can happen without LOTS of work making sure that government and the power of those that are supposed to SERVE returns to being LIMITED!