Miscellaneous Musings – February, 2020
Frank Bruni on South
Carolina Debate
I normally eschew Frank Bruni (and some of the other New
York Times opinion columnists) because of their vitriolic ultra-liberal
rhetoric. After a fairly accurate
commentary on last night’s democrat debate and the danger that Bernie Sanders
poses to the party, Bruni just can’t resist denigrating the republican party,
and particularly President Trump, in the closing paragraphs.
His take as an anti-republican ultra-liberal on where the
democrats are in the election process is indicative of the malaise afflicting
them. If even Frank Bruni and the New
York Times, (not to say CNN, MSNBC and the rest of the left-wing mainstream
media), acknowledge the disaster that has become the democrat party, we know
the situation is really, really bad for the democrats.
One thing that could improve democrat chances, whether
Bernie or Bloomberg (or someone else in a negotiated convention), would be if
the markets really tank and we head toward a recession because of this Corona
virus. A strong economy is the lynch pin
for the republicans. A weak economy
could raise democrat hopes.
Conrad Black on Bernie
& Bloomberg
A good, long look at Bernie Sanders by the eminent Conrad
Moffat Black, who is “The Right Honourable Lord Baron Black of Crossharbour,
and Knight Commander with Star of the Order of St Gregory the Great, KCSG”, and
who is a Canadian/British/American member of the House of Lords of Great
Britain".
Conrad Black does not feel that Bernie is a full blown
communist. I still maintain that this is
only because he hasn’t been given a chance to be one. I have no doubt that Bernie would apply all
of Marx’/Engel’s//Lenin’s communist principles if given a chance.
Black’s take on democrat chances in the 2020 election are
interesting: “Obviously, Sanders must lose, if not at the convention, then in
November. If Sanders is nominated, Trump will take about 65 percent of the
vote, the highest percentage for a candidate in a contested U.S. presidential
election in 200 years, and will win every state (including Vermont), and roll
up a margin of about twice Richard Nixon’s outstanding record of 18 million
votes over George McGovern in 1972. In such a tidal wave, Trump’s coattails
would be long and would install a heavy Republican majority in both houses of
Congress. This is why the Democratic elders are frazzled by the prospect of a
Sanders candidacy. Michael Bloomberg, who is not otherwise any more beloved a
candidate to them than Trump was to the Bush-Romney-McCain Republicans four
years ago, is now the anointed savior of some post-electoral standing for the
Democrats. Never in American history has a political leader achieved so swift a
transition from a side-splitting joke to his opponents, as Trump was a little
over three years ago, to the subject of their cold, gripping terror, of such
enormity as only the impending loss of control of a vast apparatus of
government and media influence can induce.
The Democrats now face a choice of sinking with all hands
with Sanders or being badly shot up and limping home, which is the best the
brazen and clumsy Bloomberg takeover can now realistically have as its
objective.”
Bernie Sanders & Communist
Manifesto
Perhaps Bernie Sanders can describe for us how his views
differ from Engels’ “The Principles of Communism” dated 1847, and, Marx’ and
Engels’ “Manifesto of the Communist Party” dated 1848? Bernie does not use dated words like
“proletariat” and “bourgeoise”. He uses
“worker” and “billionaire” instead.
His wealth equalization is straight out of these expositions
of communism, as is his equalization and levelling of society. What he doesn’t say is that when it has been
tried, this equalization was accomplished by use of brutal totalitarian force,
and the equalization actually resulted in a monotonous, boring, poverty
stricken, sameness. Only introducing some
degree of market force and entrepreneurship rescued countries like China,
Vietnam and Cuba from completely destructing from the ill-advised force of
Communism/Socialism.
Las Vegas Debate
Even CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, Washington Post and
other left-wing media agree that the democrats tore themselves up pretty badly
in Las Vegas last night.
Before we make too much of the democrats’ implosion, however,
and particularly, Michael Bloomberg’s poor performance in the debate, I think
that we have to continue to be aware and somewhat fearful of Bloomberg’s money
and resources. As again illustrated
during the debate, Bloomberg has the charisma of a wet dishrag. His disdain for those he considers beneath
him is plainly evident, even on the debate stage.
Having said all of that does not denigrate Bloomberg’s
success in life. He came from modest
means and acquired his $65 billion fortune by dint of his own efforts. He owns 88% of Bloomberg LP. He also is the founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies,
which some claim is partly used to fund his political ends.
Michael Bloomberg is the 12th richest person in
the world. His fortune was built by
providing voluminous and impeccably correct data to the financial industry,
primarily via the ubiquitous “Bloomberg Terminals” populating many businesses. He and his companies are masters of data
collection and dissemination.
Bloomberg is said to have spent some $500 million so far,
and has pledged to spend upwards of $2 billion in the 2020 political
campaign. Even if he comes across as an
aristocratic dolt in the debates and primaries, his $2 billion has to be taken
seriously. Because we need to remember
that he is not only pushing his own candidacy, he is also backing democrats in
house and senate races throughout the country.
If we fail to counter this, can we tolerate Nancy Pelosi and Chuck
Schumer as our political leaders in the coming years? We need to ensure a functioning government by
ensuring significant republican majorities in both houses of congress in
addition to a Trump presidency for another four years.
We also need to remember that Bloomberg and his anti-gun
forces literally bought Virginia for the democrats in 2018.
I hope that Trump and the republicans are aware of this
danger, but Trump’s public pronouncements denigrating “Mini Mike”, and such,
sometimes seem to belie Bloomberg’s real danger – his massive fortune, his
media expertise, and his potential impact on congressional races.
Michael Bloomberg Bio
Detractors may call him “Mini Mike” and condemn him for
trying to buy the election, but this guy is no political lightweight. I’m not a big fan of his, but I have to admit
that his bio is pretty impressive:
Michael Bloomberg Quick Bio
Early Life & Education
Bloomberg was born at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, in Brighton,
a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, on February 14, 1942.
Bloomberg attended Johns Hopkins University, where he joined
the fraternity Phi Kappa Psi. He graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science
degree in electrical engineering. In 1966 he graduated from Harvard Business
School with a Master of Business Administration.
He is the founder, CEO and owner of Bloomberg L.P., the
global financial data and media company that bears his name and is notable for
its Bloomberg Terminal, which is widely used by investment professionals around
the world.
Wealth
As of November 2019, Bloomberg was the 12th richest person
in the world, with a net worth estimated at $61.8 billion. In 2013, he owned 13 properties in various
countries around the world.
Personal life
In 1975, Bloomberg married Susan Brown, a woman from
Yorkshire. They had two daughters: Emma and Georgina. Bloomberg divorced Brown in 1993, but he has
said she remains his "best friend.".
In 2010 Bloomberg was living with former New York state banking
superintendent Diana Taylor. Licensed as
a commercial pilot, Bloomberg pilots an AW109 helicopter.
Mayor of New York City
Bloomberg assumed office as the 108th Mayor of New York City
on January 1, 2002. He won re-election in 2005 and again in 2009. Bloomberg ran as a Republican in 2002 and
2005, converted to Independent in 2007, and ran as an Independent in 2009.
Awards and honors
At the 2007 commencement exercises for Tufts University,
Bloomberg delivered the commencement address and was awarded an honorary degree
in Public Service from the university.
In May 2008, Bloomberg was awarded an honorary doctorate of
laws from the University of Pennsylvania, where he delivered the commencement
speech to the class of 2008.
Bloomberg was awarded an honorary doctorate at Fordham
University's 2009 commencement ceremonies.
In 2014, Bloomberg was bestowed the honorary degree of
Doctor of Laws from Harvard University in recognition of his public service and
leadership in the world of business.
On October 6, 2014, Queen Elizabeth II named Bloomberg an
honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his
"prodigious entrepreneurial and philanthropic endeavors, and the many ways
in which they have benefited the United Kingdom and the U.K.-U.S. special
relationship." Since Bloomberg is not a citizen of the United Kingdom, he
cannot use the title "Sir", but Bloomberg may, at his own discretion,
still use the post-nominal letters "KBE".
NYT on Pelosi Tearing up
SOTU Speech
This is excerpted and paraphrased from a typical New York
Times “hate Trump and all he stands for” editorial, which is so common in their
editorial pages. It complains that the democrats are insufficiently organized
to defeat Trump in November.
“It was still disappointing to see House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to tear the SOTU speech to shreds and see her stoop to the kind of stunt the president himself would pull, and, as she certainly knows as well as anyone, a gesture like that won’t defeat the president’s argument.
So what will? Not the incoherent, if not to say chaotic,
display the Democratic Party has mustered to date. A series of overcrowded
debates has failed to clarify the choices confronting voters. The decision to
stage the first vote in monochromatic Iowa was a bad idea even before the Iowa
Democratic Party had a meltdown on live television. A recent poll found that 45
percent of the supporters of the leading progressive candidate, Senator Bernie
Sanders, said they weren’t sure they’d vote for any other Democratic nominee.
Meanwhile, over in the party’s centrist camp, Michael Bloomberg appears to be
trying to buy the nomination.”
This criticism is coming from the ultra-leftist editors of
the New York Times. A more balanced and unbiased look at the democrats cannot
fail to reveal their deficiencies. Bernie has been a borderline communist for
over 50 years. Bloomberg's money is potent and dangerous, but his lack of
charisma and his past denigration of Clinton's "deplorables" makes
him somewhat "deplorable" himself. Will middle America accept
Buttigieg's husband? Warren seems to have pretended herself into a political
non-entity. Klobuchar seems to make the most sense of the democrats, but does
she have the clout outside of the Midwest?
Barring a major war or an economic disaster, the 2020
election is Trump's for the taking, along with both houses of congress by
sizable margins. Other than the inveterate Trump-haters and prosperity deniers,
Americans in all walks of life continue to improve their quality of life under
the Trump administration, and Americans are not stupid. They wil lvote for
continued prosperity.
'Look, Is That Trump Committing An Impeachable Offense?'
Mitch McConnell Says, Distracting Dems While More Conservative Judges Sneak By
Bernie and Communism
Bernie Sanders does not go around quoting from the
“Communist Manifesto”, (maybe just parts of it). He is too smart for that. Bernie calls himself a democratic socialist
and espouses the “socialism” of the Nordic countries. This is anomalous, because the Nordic
countries are strongly capitalist, but with very high taxes and cradle to grave
care, which has worked for them in the past, so long as their populations were
small, diligent and responsible.
Being a smart campaigner, Bernie tones down his past praises
of Soviet and Cuban communism, and Chavez’ and Maduro’s version of “democratic
socialism” in Venezuela. But have no
doubt that Bernie would increasingly impose a form of communism on
America. Bernie says that he does not
want “to nationalize the local grocery store”, but how about our financial
institutions, energy production and delivery, and other major billionaire
industries that he hates so much?
Whether it’s called communism, or socialism, or democratic
socialism, or socialist democracy, Bernie’s vision, like most communists, is to
equalize everyone and everything to sameness; bland, stifling, (but equal),
monotonous sameness. It starts with
wealth equalization and gun confiscation.
This is followed by increasing government control of our infrastructure
and our affairs. In most cases it ends
with an armed totalitarian state which is necessary to sustain the high taxes
and wealth confiscation.
There have been many examples of socialism and communism in
the twentieth century. The obvious
examples are the post war communist countries in Eastern Europe and China, but
it is to be remembered that Nazism stands for “national socialism”. Upwards of 120 million people have lost their
lives because of the communist/socialist scourge of the twentieth century. The youthful followers of Bernie Sanders
being promised “free stuff” need to be reminded of these facts about what communism/socialism
really is, even if it is being called Bernie’s “democratic socialism”, and
promises forgiveness of student debt, free college and other “free stuff”.
Is Bernie a Communist?
Various people including President Trump, and just recently,
ultra-democrat James Carville, have called Bernie Sanders a communist. Is he a communist? I decided to research further. This article does a scientific bayesian rule
of probabilities analysis of Bernie’s track record. Quoting the results of the article, “Plugging
in to Bayes’ Rule, I get 15.8% – a low but hardly negligible risk that Sanders
is a totalitarian hiding in plain sight.”
So irrespective of political bias against him, a scientific
analysis of Bernie Sander’s track record shows a non-negligible risk that
Bernie is indeed a communist totalitarian.
Bernie & Bloomberg’s
Money
Wouldn’t it be great to see a presidential race between
Bernie, an avowed Marxist and communist, and Trump, the ultra-capitalist? We can dream, can’t we?
A more likely match-up is Bloomberg, or Bloomberg’s money
against Trump. Remember, Bloomberg has
a personal fortune of $70 billion. His
putting as much as $2 billion into the presidential race is chump change to
him. Bloomberg not only has unlimited funds. He is media-smart and knows how to use the
money effectively. Also remember that
Bloomberg bought Virginia for the democrats in the mid-terms, which allowed
them to keep a black face tainted Governor Northam, and accused rapist Lieutenant
Governor Fairfax in office, and also allowed a wholesale attack on gun rights
and other liberties in Virginia.
Bernie and some of the other democrat candidates may be
making a lot of Iowa and New Hampshire noise, but they can’t hold a candle to
Bloomberg’s money, which is what we really have to follow.
Rush Limbaugh
I don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh as often as I once did
because I’m retired, and I don’t drive with his program on the car radio as
many times in the in the past. After reading Professor Hanson’s paean to Rush
though, I couldn’t help thinking how much Rush's broadcasts and his books
crystallized my own thinking, and my own conservatism/libertarianism.
I had considered myself pretty much conservative and against
the creeping lawless, secular progressivism that was afflicting our country
before Rush, but Rush’s cogent interpretations of the political scene provided
a rational explanation and exposition of what was happening. One has to
remember that Rush was a lone voice back in 1988 when his broadcast first
entered national syndication, and as the article says, he was the leader that
gave a counterpoint to the leftist propaganda that was increasingly
masquerading as news. Others followed, like Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Network, but
Rush was first, and he set the tone.
Rush Limbaugh and those that followed him provided breaths
of fresh air through the Clinton and Obama years, and he did not spare his
criticism of the Bushes and other republicans, when he felt it was deserved.
I applaud President Trump for awarding Rush the Medal of
Freedom at the State of the Union Address, even if was a direct affront to the
rude and silent democrats who wasted so much of America’s energy trying to
impeach the president, and to Nancy Pelosi, who petulantly ripped up the SOTU
speech.
Rush conquered deafness with technology. Let’s hope that he
can do the same with cancer.
Trump NH
One thing about Trump, there is never a dull moment. Now he’s going into Manchester, New Hampshire
with one of his massive MAGA, KAG shows the day before the confused democrats
hold their first primary.
And we can expect more.
Trump is pissed at what the democrats have done in the last three years
with FISA, Mueller, Kavanaugh, Antifa, Impeachment, and on and on against him
and his family. He has come out of all
of it legally clean, and he will go after the fragmented democrats with an
unabashed passion. Trump is a fighter,
and although we may not always like his methods, the unbelievable attacks that
he has endured would have brought down a lesser person. Not this Queens/Manhattan brawler. He gives as much as he gets, and just becomes
stronger.
Democrats beware!
Trump will give you back all the crap you threw against him in double
doses. It should be an interesting nine
months until the election in November.
LGBTQA+
Activists and members of the queer community have come
together to form the current acronym, "LGBTQIA+." This denotation
includes space for those identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
queer (and in some cases, "questioning"), intersex, asexual (and
sometimes "ally"), and the "+" is for a plethora of other
orientations and identities.
As a straight male, I am personally emotionally turned off
by a lifestyle referred to as “queer”.
Intellectually, however, I consider myself open-mind enough to accept
all people, regardless of their sexual orientation and what they do in their
bedrooms. I don’t think that the "LGBTQIA+."
community evokes any special privileges from society, but I do not think that
they should be denigrated or reviled in any way either. I feel the same way about other segments of
society. All American citizens should
have equal rights, but not special privileges, regardless of race, religion,
ethnic background or sexual orientation.
Having said all of that, bigotry is alive and well in our
society, and not only bigotry, but social sensibilities in much of the country,
are probably not ready to easily accept a gay president, and married males in
the White House. Those in the coastal
and urban large population centers, who consider themselves “woke” may be ready
to accept a very bright and articulate gay president. I suspect that most of the rest of the
country is not.
Ray Gruszecki
February 26, 2020
