Saturday, April 29, 2023

Electability of Trump in 2024

 Electability of Trump in 2024

 Andrew C. McCarthy is a contributor to National Review. He is a past Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.  He is an astute and well-regarded conservative political observer, commentator and author, who appears frequently on cable TV opinion programs, and whose articles appear in major publications. 

 Andy McCarthy has historically been a backer on President Trump, but has recently interjected some criticisms of Trump into his analyses. This article is a detailed look at the 2024 political scene, with the theme that “Trump cannot win in 2024”.

 Die -hard Trump backers will no doubt disparage this article, which is derogatory of Trump, and consider McCarthy a turncoat and a “rino”.  He pulls no punches about the future and what he deems the non-electability of Donald Trump in 2024.  He is also critical of Joe Biden and the democrats, and is certainly no friend of theirs, but he feels that Trump has run his course, and is saddled by too many legal and personality issues to be a successful candidate.  

 But where have we heard such sentiments before?  And does Andy give sufficient acknowledgement to Trump’s seemingly boundless resilience?  He expounds on it, but concludes that events have overtaken Trump’s populism and ability to influence a majority of voters.

 Trump has faced almost insurmountable difficulties as candidate and president, admittedly, some of his own making.  He has always bounced back and not only exuded enthusiasm to the country, but also instituted peace and prosperity (except for Covid), while he was in office.

 I would not rule Trump out, as Andy McCarthy seems to have done.  Only time (and being alert to the left’s dirty tricks), will tell.

 https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/04/why-trump-cant-win/?bypass_key=VEEyeDJ2R2FBWGF2RzFPcCtQUGJ2QT09OjpNbU5MUmpJeldtUkJkVTlDVm5GQ1NuSTNPR05QUVQwOQ%3D%3D&lctg=583612fccb14900d068b4854&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NR%20Daily%20Saturday%202023-04-29&utm_term=NRDaily-Smart

 Ray Gruszecki
April 29, 2023

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

What is the Truth?

 What is the Truth?

 Is the truth what appears on ABC, CBS, NBC? CNN? MSNBC? The New York Times? The Washington Post? Or the myriad echoes of the biased left?  Or is the real truth from Fox News Corp, Newsmax? OAN? National Review? The Wall Street Journal?  The Victory Channel Christian “Flashpoint”?  Or, other right-oriented sources? 

 Does the truth emanate from the Department of Justice, or the FBI, or the alphabet soup of our government?  Congress? Special Investigations? Surely the truth comes from our court systems.  Fox News Corp and Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch are paying the Dominion election technocrats nearly a billion dollars for the “truth” about the 2020 election as defined by the courts.  Tucker Carlson is looking for a job because of his comments about this “truth”.

 So, the “truth” apparently is not a given as once taught to us by our preachers and teachers.  The “truth” is whatever can be propagandized or bought or vociferously claimed by ersatz “experts” chosen to push this “truth” to a brainwashed and gullible mostly young public.

 It is truly sad that what passes as “truth” in this country has led to two impeachments and a criminal indictment of a President of the country on specious grounds and the persecution of January 6, 2021 demonstrators on similar specious grounds, while the contents of a laptop that expose the Biden crime family’s graft for influence schemes were hidden from the voters prior to the 2020 election, and have remained buried by the corrupt “Justice” Department and FBI for several years.

 Ray Gruszecki
April 26, 2023

The Newscorp – Dominion Settlement

 The Newscorp – Dominion Settlement

 The real costs of the Fox Newscorp settlement with Dominion was not really $787.5 million.  It is most likely somewhat less than $500 million, after tax write-offs and insurance. 

 Robert Willens, a tax professor at the Columbia University School of Business, estimates that after the tax write-off, Fox will incur about three-fourths of the settlement amount, about $590 million.

 Also, insurance is likely to cover some of the settlement. Chad Milton, a partner at Media Risk Consultants, says that a large media company such as Fox could have anywhere between $100 million to $500 million in coverage, including media liability insurance and other types of insurance.

 It is evident that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch and their minions reached a business, and not a political decision.  Hard-ass pro-Trumpers will condemn their decision, but they are not sitting in the Fox media executive seats.  There will be hand-wringing over Tucker and Dan Bongino and possibly others leaving, no matter what excuses Fox comes up with to explain their departures.

 A $400-500 million settlement is still a lot on money, but obviously is the result of a business decision, taken after a cost-benefits analysis, and in context of Newscorp’s world-wide earnings.  It also includes the proviso that Fox is not publicly admitting any wrong doing as part of the process.

 “Fox has said it doesn’t expect the settlement to affect its operations.”  Newscorp revenues were #10.39 billion, and net income was $760 million in 2022.

 Ray Gruszecki
April 26, 2023

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Cities in Ruin

Cities in Ruin

 I have made a search to answer an important sociological and political question.  Why do most American cities keep electing democrats when their left-wing policies lead to urban decay, high crime and societal chaos?

 What I found is that most left-leaning commentators do not even acknowledge the above connection.  They cite the fact that city dwellers tend to be educated, diverse and progressive, and consequently automatically gravitate toward the democrats.  Which, of course, leads to the question, if city dwellers are that intellectually and culturally advanced, why can they not see the cause and effect connection of democrat policies, like “defund the police”, to crime and the deterioration of their cities?

 It is increasingly evident from my little survey, that the current democrat party is a perversion of the party of Jefferson, FDR, MLK, Truman, and other seminal democrats, and has become the party of Soros, Trotsky and Marx.  It seems more intent on tearing down the pillars of our western heritage than properly governing the country.  Unfortunately, the extreme leftist democrat voters, (I call them MAWA, with the “W” for “Weak”), have been brain washed in our schools and universities, and voters are continually bombarded with left-wing propaganda by our biased media.

 And what are the pressure points at election time?  The democrats will seize upon an issue like abortion and distort it.  They have made abortion a “constitutional right for women’s health”, rather than acknowledging the aberration of the constitution that Roe vs Wade actually was.  They will make an unconstitutional promise of tuition reparation to con young voters.  They, and their media and big tech collaborators will hide and bury and disparage important news, like the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop, to impact the election.  And on and on and on.

 So, its not only propaganda.  It’s also whatever dirty tricks this unscrupulous democrat party can scrape up.  There is literally nothing that they will stop at to win or steal an election.

And where are the republicans?  Why, talking up their disapproval and threatening dire action, but mostly talking.  They are the “nice guys”, you see.  They vocalize, but don’t seem to capitalize on anything. 

 Soros funded democrats keep getting elected to govern our cities.  Instead, they distort the laws and fire cops.  People like Alvin Bragg and Letitia James in New York, and newly elected far left mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois State Attorney Kim Foxx in Chicago make a mockery of lawful government claiming “social justice” and “political correctness” while anarchy reigns in the streets.

 And the “educated, diverse, progressive and intellectual” urban voters elect and install the tools of their own demise.

 Ray Gruszecki
April 18, 2023

Monday, April 17, 2023

Real Numbers and Statistics

 Real Numbers and Statistics

 Our country has, from early days, been a melting pot for people from all over the world.  Some did not melt too readily, such as the dark Africans brought here as slaves in the first centuries of our existence. It took a civil war and the loss of nearly 700,000 mostly Caucasian Americans to ameliorate the wrongs of slavery and accept these African-Americans as full citizens.  Pockets of bigotry still remain against our black citizens, but nowhere near the “systemic racism” claimed as endemic by some rabid activists for our whole country.

 We lived through a civil rights movement in the 1960’s that made equality for black Americans real, in everyday life, rather than just codified in various laws without the strength of public opinion.  Martin Luther King Jr. and most of his followers applied Mahatma Gandhi’s principles of non-violence to gain wide-spread acceptance of American blacks into the mainstream of society.  To be noted is that the awakening of American society needed to be accomplished by a national movement to gain full rights for the 10% of black Americans comprising America (at that time).

 Growing on the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, various other societal groups have sought recognition and more special rights, rather than equal rights in society.  These groups claim that since they have been discriminated against in the past, they now should have special recognition and privileges to redress past ills. Our current “woke” movement has particularly identified the LGBTQ+++ and trans folks for redress and special privilege.

 There are 334.4 million American citizens in the U.S., of various racial and ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientations.  All of these many and varied peoples have all of the rights and privileges and responsibilities of full citizenship.  There should be no discrimination because of the backgrounds and beliefs of these varied citizens. There are about 13 million legal permanent residents or green card holders who have many of the same rights as full citizens, except that they can’t vote. There are also about another 15 million people who reside in the country illegally, that do not have citizenship rights.

 An honest look at racial background and sexual orientation of Americans shows that the numbers of various groups comprising the U.S. population are out of proportion to the political disruption and noise made on their behalf.  One would think that our country is one-third black, one-quarter gay, and 10% transgender.

 Per the 2020 census, we are actually 12.4% black, 3% gay or bi-sexual and 0.58% transgender.  This is not trivial.  These percentages correspond to over 41 million black Americans, over 10 million gay or bi Americans, and nearly 2 million transgender Americans.  None of these Americans should be discriminated against and should be accepted on the basis of the “content of their character”.  But neither should they be the dominant factor in the lives of the 324+ million straight Americans and 206+ million white Americans comprising the majority of our population.

 Ray Gruszecki
April 17, 2023  (Written Earlier)

Saturday, April 15, 2023

Bigotry is Alive and Well

 Bigotry is Alive and Well

 IMHO, all Americans have equal rights and should be accepted within our society on that basis.  Ideally, there should be no discrimination or prejudicial action either against, or on behalf of, any ethnic or other societal sub group.  Being human, and being political, that ideal is virtually never met, even though three-quarters of a million Americans died in our civil war, ostensibly to guarantee that right to Black Americans.

 From “no Irish need apply”, to the southern white supremacists’ lynchings of Black Americans, to the condemnation and derision of the LGBTQ++++ community and any others different from the main, active bigotry has always been part of the fabric of America, notwithstanding our pontifications about democracy and freedom.

 Something needed to be done to guarantee equal rights and an end to overt discrimination, first against Black Americans, then by association, discrimination against other groups and sub groups.  The road was long and complex, and some say has never ended.  This link gives some of the history of the civil rights movement.

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement

 Then, somewhere along the way, “the tail started wagging the dog”.

What were once negative discriminatory practices against minorities were turned into codified privileges ingrained in our laws and societal practices, primarily by our left-wing politicians.  The “woke”, “social justice”, “identity politics”, “intersectionality”, “equity” revolution has arrived, ostensibly attempting to erase years of ingrained bigotry, but instead instituting another form of reverse leftist bigotry.

 Abuses of this extant “social justice” bigotry are as dire as its predecessors.  Some examples are cries for “reparations” and special privileges by some activist Black Americans some 200 years after the fact, gender modification of children, teaching racist and LGBTQ+++ curricula in public schools, and attempting to marginalize any and all things considered “traditional” or “patriotic”.

 As a long time observer of trends in our country, the pendulum will hopefully swing away from the activist extremist left-wing to something more moderate, and bring with it some benefits of the extremist experimentation with “equity”, “wokeness”, and the like.

 Ray Gruszecki
April 15, 2023

State Secrets

 State Secrets

 After the blatant, duplicitous COA coverage of Biden’s deep state and their media lackeys, on the one hand, and the scathing right wing coverage by Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, on the other hand, I went out of my way to find reasonably balanced coverage of the recent intelligence leaks that exposed some of the truth of what’s happening with U.S. involvement in Ukraine.

 I found the USA Today coverage to be balanced, truthful, and pretty much apolitical.  The link below and sub-links within the article present a pretty accurate picture of the ramification of the leaks, and don’t only concentrate on Airman Jack Teixeira’s love of shooting guns, like some of the mainstream media does.

 What’s rocking the almost amateurish Biden administration and defense departments is the fact that in spite of the billions that we are dribbling into Ukraine, they seem to be losing the war to the Russians.  Just opposite of what the extant Biden propaganda would have us believe.  The other eye-opener is that in spite of the propaganda, there are U.S. troops on the ground in Ukraine involved in the war against a nuclear rattling Russia.

 Of course, we will never see any of this in our biased media.  What we will see is how the young airman’s braggadocio with the purloined secrets was really a dastardly criminal plot to steal state secrets, and God forbid, embarrass the doddering old fool, Joe Biden and his unspeakably incompetent minions.

 And, unfortunately, our young voters will watch ABC or CBS or NBC, and bleat baa__aa, and lap it up.

 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/04/13/dod-leaked-documents-pentagon-military-secrets/11648829002/

 Ray Gruszecki
April 13, 2023