Thursday, June 20, 2024

Summer Comes with a Serious Look on Its Face

June 21 will be the first day of summer and it is introducing itself in my part of the world with a string of 90 degree-plus days and a dry spell.  We can take the dry spell because of an unusually wet spring, but man…that heat is oppressive.  It is that old, summertime heat…hot sun, high humidity, and not a leave turning anywhere.

 

The planting was delayed by the above-normal rainfall this spring and our row crop folks have been hustling to get the seed in the ground.  May 31 is usually the deadline for corn and soybeans can go up to the first week or two of June, but earlier is always better.  Hay crops were not able to be cut when the crop was right, so most of it is being harvested a little bit past ripe.  That’s OK…we take a hit on the quality but we get a boost on the yield.  And when wintertime comes, the cows will eat what we put out for them.

 

Planting garden this year has been a struggle.  We planted tomato plants late because of the rains.  Typically, we will have ripe tomatoes by July 4, but not this year.  More likely, it will be middle-to-late July for us.  We planted our cowpeas (black-eyed peas) and lima beans three times because of heavy downpours and I believe we have finally got a decent stand.  The cucumbers loved all that spring rain and they are running wide open.  This was our first year to raise a bit of dill seed and it looks like it is going to do just fine.  All things considered…I believe if we get a few showers along the way, we will have a decent garden this year. 

 

The fruit trees and bushes have been peculiar this year; but it seems that has become a pattern.  There is no “normal” year anymore; every one of them seems to have unique aspects to it.  That has always been the case, but now they seem to be “more different” from each other than they have been in the past few decades.  Pears and apples are doing well.  Our peaches and cherries got bit by a late frost and they are a bust this year.  We picked our first blackberries in the middle of June this year; I cannot remember ever picking them that early.  By the way…they made a fine cobbler.  The grapes are doing well.  I am battling the Japanese beetles right now, but I am holding my own…me and the liquid Sevin/hot sauce mixture.

 

All things considered, the Good Lord has blessed us with another year that holds the promise of good things.  I suppose it up to us to take it from there.  I can only hope that omen extends to the national elections coming up in November.  I know that every cycle, there are those who declare that this might be the most monumental, significant, life-changing election that we have ever faced.  We humans have a way of being overly dramatic on a regular basis; but this time around…those declarations might be spot-on. 

 

The comparison of the Donald Trump presidential term to that of Joe Biden paints two clearly distinct and very different approaches to governing.  In my humble opinion, I am greatly disappointed in the candidates chosen by our two national parties for president; they both could have done better.  But the choice is what it is.  And if you are like me and fed up with the woke, autocratic, nanny state aspirations of the liberal/progressive Biden Administration, you are more  than ready to go to the polls and vote for a return to a more constitutional government such as we experienced under Donald Trump.  I feel very secure in stating that if this bunch of fools that populate the Biden Administration are given four more years to run this country, it will at the end of that period be unrecognizable compared to what our Constitution envisioned for this nation.   Think hard before making your choices this fall when you vote.  The future of our nation and your families is truly in the balance.

 

Without a doubt, among the many mismanaged policy areas of the Biden Administration is how they have impacted our economy.  Their “tax and spend” approach to budgeting, their “monopoly money” approach to spending, their “woke agenda influence” on general policy throughout, and their “incredibly stupid and vacuous” approach to foreign policy have placed out nation and its citizens in extreme jeopardy.  All of these things are critical elements of our government’s responsibilities and duties, but the economic area is the one that carries perhaps the largest impact on our daily lives. 

 

https://mrctv.org/blog/craig-bannister/bidenomics-after-40-months-six-charts-media-dont-want-you-see

 

https://mrctv.org/blog/craig-bannister/inflation-least-3-38th-straight-month-may

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/finance-and-economy/3045950/jobs-numbers-overstated-what-to-know-fed-chairman-powell/

 

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/11/business/homeownership-costs-inflation/index.html

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/cbo-raises-2024-deficit-forecast-by-400-billion-to-1-9-trillion/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/06/americas-deficit-disaster-gets-worse/

 

America’s foreign policy and our President have become a global joke.  The status of our nation in the international realm has reached a level of irrelevance.  Decisions by our allies are made independent of American input.  We coddle and appease our enemies, while simultaneously betraying and abandoning our allies (looking at you, Israel).  The economy may hit our pocketbooks…but this foreign policy circus that is being conducted by the Biden Administration can get us killed. 

 

Not content with having ridiculous foreign policy management, the Administration continues to put Joe Biden in the international spotlight in ways that make him look weak, pathetic, and incompetent.  He appears as a child among serious adults.  Why are they cruelly placing him in this position?  Answer: Because they have no one else that can step in and adequately perform those duties.  The Biden Administration State Department is populated by people who are as incompetent as the president who selected them.  And needless to say, no person in or out of this Administration broaches the notion of sending Vice-President Harris to do the job.  Think hard about that one when considering whether Joe Biden can survive four more years in the presidency.

 

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/china-south-china/2024/06/09/id/1168027/

 

https://www.newsmax.com/world/globaltalk/iran-nuclear-weapons/2024/06/20/id/1169503/

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/beltway-confidential/3045676/biden-care-more-about-ukrainian-lives-than-israeli-ones/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/06/rescuing-hostages-is-good-actually/

 

https://thefederalist.com/2024/06/10/life-hack-if-you-dont-want-to-be-killed-dont-take-hostages/

 

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/06/breaking-netanyahu-calls-out-the-biden-administration.php

 

This man is our President, the leader of our country, and the primary focus of those who consider the significance of our nation…

 

 https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/06/meander-in-chief.php

 

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/06/how-others-see-joe-biden.php

 

https://nypost.com/2024/06/14/opinion/democrats-denialism-of-bidens-cognitive-decline-is-cruel/

 

https://thefederalist.com/2024/06/18/stop-trying-to-convince-me-joe-biden-isnt-a-confused-doddering-old-man/

 

It is difficult to pigeonhole exactly where immigration policy should be placed.  Is it domestic policy or is it national policy?  The reality is that it is both.  The essential surrender of our southern border has allowed a flood of illegal immigrants into America.  Are many of them fleeing an oppressive living environment and seeking a better quality of life for themselves and their families?  Yes, of course…that is how our nation was founded.  Are many of them good people who can contribute skill, labor, and intellectual qualities to our culture and society?  Yes, of course…that is what has made America great in the first place.  Are many of them despicable and evil human beings capable of heinous crimes against each other and American citizenry?  Yes, of course…the records speak for themselves.  Are many of them foreign agents with terroristic or strategic malevolent aims towards our nation?  Yes, of course…we would be fools not to realize this fact. 

 

The bottom line is that our government through the Biden Administration has abdicated its sworn duty and responsibility to maintain a secure American border.  This has permitted the presence of approximately 17 million illegal aliens in our country.  Choose your number…the estimates are all over the board: https://www.fairus.org/issue/how-many-illegal-aliens-are-united-states-2023-update .  But any way you slice it, it is a huge and significant number of undocumented individuals scattered all across America and many of them receiving better treatment and support from our government than some of our tax-paying citizens.

 

We must first secure our southern border.  We must then begin the process of identifying illegal aliens and considering their individual status.  If they are criminals and have broken the law, they should be deported.  This is a no-brainer.  At the other end of the extreme, there will be those who have lived and worked in America for years and have become a productive member of our culture and society.  These folks should receive some type of special consideration as to status.  But once we secure the border, then all of the existing illegal immigrant that are currently residing in our country should be addressed by our Congress and President creating and implementing sweeping, intelligent, compassionate, and effective immigration reform  Our house is burning and our government is content to fiddle.

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/bidens-unbelievable-recklessness-at-the-border/

 

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/06/blood-on-bidens-hands.php

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/06/bidens-lawless-mass-amnesty/

 

Our nation now exists with no credible legal enforcement arm of government.  Our Department of Justice and its progressive allies have become a corrupt, incompetent, and politicized appendage of the Democrat Party.  It is a joke, an abomination, and a stain upon our Constitution.

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2024/06/17/the-corruption-of-merrick-garland/#more-220222

 

https://thefederalist.com/2024/06/12/merrick-garland-thinks-his-justice-department-is-above-criticism/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/doj-wont-prosecute-ag-merrick-garland-for-withholding-biden-hur-interview-audio/

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice/3043962/bragg-usurped-federal-law-to-charge-trump-fec-commissioner-says/

 

https://www.honestlypod.com/podcast/episode/2bb78a5a/bonus-is-the-trump-verdict-a-witch-trial-or-justice

 

Do not believe for one moment that our mainstream media will provide fair or objective coverage of current events, past events, or future possibilities.  They are in the can for the Democrat Party and their progressive/liberal allies and you had better put your bullshit filter on high when you survey their reports.

 

https://thefederalist.com/2024/06/13/the-biggest-revisionist-history-about-jan-6-2021-comes-from-democrats-like-nancy-pelosi/

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2024/06/11/i-take-responsibility-pelosi-captured-on-previously-undisclosed-tape-admitting-that-she-was-responsible-for-lack-of-security-precautions-on-january-6th/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2024/06/14/what-trump-and-his-people-need-to-know-about-january-6/

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/3033812/bidens-insufferable-democracy-hypocrisy/

 

https://reason.com/2024/06/13/the-mainstream-media-is-still-in-denial-about-hunter-bidens-laptop/

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2024/06/14/msnbc-legal-analyst-and-law-professor-barbara-mcquade-double-downs-on-laptop-conspiracy-theory/

 

https://nypost.com/2024/06/14/opinion/of-the-51-top-spies-who-smeared-the-post-not-one-has-regrets/

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2024/06/13/bump-is-back-the-washington-post-makes-last-plea-to-keep-the-laptop-conspiracy-theory-alive/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2024/06/13/does-democracy-really-die-in-darkness/

 

If you believe that the upcoming election is going to be fair, transparent, and unfettered by government manipulation and improper political influence…then you are whistling in the dark.

 

https://amgreatness.com/2024/06/11/an-urgent-call-to-action-for-the-2024-elections/

 

https://thefederalist.com/2024/06/14/state-department-wont-say-if-its-colluding-with-big-tech-to-censor-speech-ahead-of-2024-election/

 

https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/top-election-integrity-lawsuits-result-mostly-wins-ahead-november

 

https://thefederalist.com/2024/06/19/democrat-fixer-marc-elias-firm-steps-in-to-stop-disastrous-election-system-fix/

 

https://mrctv.org/blog/craig-bannister/biden-hiding-details-how-his-voter-access-executive-order-influencing-election

 

In spite of widespread, and occasionally effective, pushback against the idiotic woke agenda that is sweeping across our nation, it continues to spread and infect our people, their lives, our schools, their jobs, and their families.  It is present in essentially all aspects of our lives and cannot be underestimated.  The people promoting this cause are smart, well financed, determined, and convinced that they know better what is good for you and yours than you know yourself. 

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-outrage-over-men-in-womens-sports-is-justified/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/a-really-nasty-case-of-the-educations-departments-abuse-of-power/

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2024/06/18/poll-only-28-percent-of-the-public-has-high-confidence-in-higher-education/

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2024/06/20/wisconsin-supreme-court-rules-sidewalks-are-not-pedestrian-ways-to-allow-for-eminent-domain-seizures/#more-220355

 

But hope springs eternal and perhaps somehow…some way…someday…the autocratic abuses by our government will be addressed: https://reason.com/2024/06/20/the-supreme-court-may-be-on-the-brink-of-radically-restricting-bureaucrats-power/

 

And the ingenuity and intelligent application of governmental possibilities will be applied…

 

https://reason.com/2024/06/15/gimme-shelter-2/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/a-reasonable-alternative-to-our-ruinous-student-financial-aid-system/

 

 

Saturday, June 8, 2024

No One is Clean in This Deal

Let us be clear and direct about the inflation problems that are currently roiling the U.S. economy:  BOTH Republicans and Democrats created this problem; both presidents Trump and Biden presided over its genesis.  But the larger issue is this: Once the fire was started, Joe Biden took the easy and irresponsible way out.  Instead of taking difficult, thoughtful, sensible approaches to the glut of bipartisan federal spending that created (and sustains) this problem, he instead started giving away the store in a cheap plea for votes and a transparent catering to the progressive elements of his party.  He has literally poured kerosene on the inflation inferno that is now raging.  And, sad to say, there is absolutely no indication that he intends to change this approach.

 

Neither national party nor the men they have put in the White House have shown any inclination towards seriously addressing our nation’s ongoing and worsening debt problem.  The plain and simple fact is that since the time of the Bill Clinton Administration and a Republican Congress in the mid-90s, no elected official in our government has had both the courage to openly challenge the irresponsible federal spending that is running out of control and the power/influence to initiate real and effective administrative action to mitigate this problem.  Our government has essentially run up the white flag in the challenge of federal spending restraint and has lost all concern about the number of zeros added to right side of spending appropriation figures.  The only real difference between Republicans and Democrats is the areas where they choose to overspend.

 

An honest discussion of inflation demands that blame be assessed to both parties when we consider the cause of inflation…i.e. profligate federal spending.  It is inherently a Congressional problem more than an Executive problem.  But when we move the discussion to the management of inflation and its consequences, there is little doubt that the empirical evidence available tells us that the Republican Party and Donald Trump have done a far better job keeping inflation at tolerable levels than have the Democrat Party and Joe Biden.  If we broaden out that discussion to general domestic economic policy, Trump’s record of performance is far preferable to that of Biden.  You do not have to think about this or check the history records; simply reflect on your economic health during Donald Trump’s recent presidential term and compare that to your economic health today under President Biden.

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-inescapability-of-inflation/

 

https://jewishworldreview.com/0624/zito060424.php

 

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/06/the-daily-chart-the-two-doom-loops-for-america.php

 

https://reason.com/2024/06/05/the-national-debt-is-making-us-poorer/


https://mrctv.org/blog/craig-bannister/bea-even-weak-gdp-growth-we-previously-reported-q1-was-too-positive

 

https://mrctv.org/blog/craig-bannister/unemployment-rate-hits-highest-level-january-2022-may

 

Once again I make the point: The issue is not how much tax revenue the federal government is receiving; tax revenues are at historical highs. The problem is how much money the federal government is spending.

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/finance-and-economy/3017101/wealthiest-pay-highest-taxes-despite-claims-to-contrary-congressional-analysis/

 

Unfortunately, gross mismanagement is a disease and not a symptom of the Biden Administration.  The damage associated with this performance in the domestic area of policy is terribly consequential: it directly affects a citizen’s quality of life.  However, when this inherent mismanagement extends itself into the area of foreign policy, it threatens the citizens’ very lives themselves.

 

https://asiatimes.com/2024/06/nato-flirting-with-war-and-extinction-in-ukraine/

 

https://nypost.com/2024/06/07/world-news/nato-preparing-for-potential-ground-war-with-russia-including-plans-for-us-troop-involvement/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2024/06/08/natos-hairline-fissures-part-2-the-use-of-western-weapons-inside-russia/

 

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/nukes/2024/06/07/id/1167901/

 

https://www.newsmax.com/world/globaltalk/vladimir-putin-russia-europe/2024/06/08/id/1167960/

 

This is the way it once was and the way it could be again: https://amgreatness.com/2024/06/02/the-foreign-policy-of-trumps-second-term-america-first-means-a-stable-world/

 

Governmental mismanagement has been and continues to be the hallmark of the Biden Administration.  I view the Biden Administration as quite simply the third Obama Administration...with one very important difference.  Obama filled his two administrations with bad policy-makers; but they were intelligent (in the main).  Biden's people are not just promoting bad policies; they are also idiots.  Obama's group pushed the envelope to new limits, but there was always a red line of reason that kept them from going over the cliff.  There is no such restraint...no red line...for the Biden group.  


Biden is clearly incapable and incompetent to serve as president and the lackeys who are actually running our government are naïve, egotistical fools who are emboldened by the fact that they are truly unaccountable for their actions.  Their actions hide behind the skirts of President Biden and they escape attention through cover conferred upon them by the mainstream media.

 

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/energy/release-gasoline-reserve-raises-doubts-biden-will-replenish-strategic

 

https://www.dailywire.com/news/buttigieg-grilled-over-biden-admins-push-for-electric-vehicles-failure-to-build-charging-network?topStoryPosition=1

 

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/06/insane-asylum.php

 

https://nypost.com/2024/06/07/us-news/migrants-pour-across-border-undeterred-by-biden-crackdown/

 

https://justthenews.com/government/congress/congress-report-finds-half-all-new-jobs-are-going-immigrants

 

But keep the faith; there are some signs of pushback against this type of Democrat-administered progressive madness…

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/finally-transgender-sports-rules-that-make-sense/

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2024/06/04/lets-not-sugarcoat-it-people-are-not-reading-your-stuff-post-reporters-outraged-after-publisher-drops-truth-bomb/#more-219651

 

Say what will you will about the obvious flaws of Donald Trump; the simple fact is that unlike his opponent Joe Biden, he does possess the physical and mental competence to serve as Commander in Chief.  Joe Biden does not.  Watching the Biden Administration, and their partners in the progressive mainstream media, attempt to hide Biden’s pathetic incompetence is both a sad and comical affair.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/behind-closed-doors-biden-shows-signs-of-slipping/ar-BB1nDMKT

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/06/biden-slip-slidin-away/

 

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/06/quotations-from-chairman-joe-6.php

 

https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/justice-department-has-concerns-about-releasing-biden-hur-audio-due

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/justice-department-uses-executive-privilege-artificial-intelligence-fears-to-fight-lawsuit-for-biden-hur-interview-audio/

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2024/06/02/the-deepfake-privilege-the-justice-department-makes-startling-claim-to-withhold-the-biden-hur-audiotape/#more-219613

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/3032288/biden-is-dazed-and-confused/

 

https://freebeacon.com/author/stiles/biden-administration/biden-threatens-to-beat-up-journalist-and-other-highlights-from-time-magazine-interview/

 

There can be no doubt that given a choice between Joe Biden and Donald Trump as our next president, the clear and better choice is Donald Trump.

 

https://amgreatness.com/2024/05/27/its-time-for-the-republican-party-to-unite-behind-trump-now/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2024/05/27/fear-trump-or-bust/

 

If anyone doubts the fact that the Biden Administration has corrupted our government, they need look no further than what has occurred in the Department of Justice.  Take note that the Department of Justice is NOT an independent federal department.  It exists under the purview of the Executive Branch.  Its head, the Attorney General, is a patronage appointment of the president.  True oversight of the Executive Branch lies with the Legislative Branch in the political sense and the Supreme Court of the United States in the legal sense.

 

To clarify this corruption and the dual justice system it is administering, simply compare how it has handled the lawfare strategy against Donald Trump with the way it has handled the legal issues surrounding Biden’s son, Hunter.  It goes without saying that the biased and partisan coverage of these issues by the mainstream media has significantly deepened their damaging effects on our government’s chief law enforcement entity, and the entire government by extension.

 

Consider the handling and coverage of Trump’s legal problems…

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2024/06/05/report-j6-committee-delayed-secret-service-driver-from-refuting-false-limo-story-of-cassidy-hutchinson/#more-219725

 

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/house-gop-merrick-garland/2024/06/04/id/1167382/

 

https://reason.com/2024/06/07/laurence-tribe-bizarrely-claims-trump-won-the-2016-election-by-falsifying-business-records-in-2017/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/all-about-the-trump-trial/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2024/06/06/the-myth-that-biden-had-nothing-to-do-with-the-prosecutions-of-trump/

 

https://thefederalist.com/2024/06/03/joe-bidens-fingerprints-are-all-over-the-criminal-prosecutions-of-trump/

 

https://reason.com/2024/05/31/the-prosecutions-story-about-trump-featured-several-logically-impossible-claims/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2024/06/04/trumps-conviction-signals-new-political-era/

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/magazine-features/3029959/whats-next-in-the-lawfare-campaign-against-trump/

 

https://jewishworldreview.com/0624/hammer060724.php

 

Now consider the handling and coverage of Hunter Biden’s legal problems…

 

https://nypost.com/2024/06/04/opinion/hunter-bidens-laptop-from-hell-serving-as-evidence-in-his-trial-is-pure-poetic-justice/

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2024/06/07/laptop-deniers-in-delaware-the-media-shrugs-as-the-biden-laptop-is-authenticated-in-federal-court/#more-219818

 

This short video does an excellent job of illustrating the simple fact that the mainstream media has become an appendage of the Democrat Party: https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/06/whats-too-painful-to-remember.php

 

Check the source and date on this article; the past does come back to haunt us…and holds us accountable: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/19/hunter-biden-story-russian-disinfo-430276

 

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/06/john-brennan-could-not-be-reached-for-comment.php

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2024/05/26/the-laptop-is-real-justice-department-denounces-claims-of-russian-disinformation-a-biden-conspiracy-theory/

 

https://thefederalist.com/2024/06/04/heres-everything-you-need-to-know-about-hunter-bidens-criminal-gun-trial/

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2024/06/06/garlands-moment-of-truth-with-the-perjury-referral-the-attorney-general-faces-a-clear-choice-between-principle-and-politics/

 

 

Summer Comes with a Serious Look on Its Face

June 21 will be the first day of summer and it is introducing itself in my part of the world with a string of 90 degree-plus days and a dry ...