Stuff THIS in your Stocking

Do any of you reading this post have children in your life with their faces eternally planted in some type of electronic device?  I expect the answer is yes.  Most kids nowadays have cell phones by age 11 and the obsession with these devices is troubling.  Aside from the physical and emotional consequences that excessive use might entail, the simple fact is that these children are allowing a big slice of real life to simply pass them by unnoticed.  Here is a good article on the subject: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/shocking-number-of-children-show-signs-of-smartphone-addiction .  One of life’s hard lessons is that everything has a cost.  We can only hope that the advanced understanding and motor skills gained by today’s technology will be worth the cost in missed opportunities.

At some point in the future, Americans will marvel at how a large part of our nation’s population was sucked into this whole Trump/Collusion Hoax.  The gross abuse of power by government officials; the abdication of ethics by the mainstream media; the hypocrisy and self-indulgence by the Democratic Party; the pure gullibility of our citizenry…all of these things will be subjects of much discussion for future political analysts.  How in the world did the perpetrators of this charade get by with such a colossal scheme?  How could we have been so utterly clueless?  Here is an article that partially pulls the sheet back on that question: https://apelbaum.wordpress.com/2018/03/17/the-mechanics-of-deception/ .

I am on record (repeatedly) as designating Barack Hussein Obama as the worst President in my lifetime.  His squandering of a rare legislative opportunity in quest of the Obamacare debacle; his shameful approach to race relations that exacerbated the social complexities of this nation; his narcissistic demeanor that cheapened the Chief Executive’s office and poisoned partisan differences; and his aloof and Machiavellian use of federal departments and agencies for political and personal uses…all of these will be indelible stains on his two terms as an American President.  Illustrative of his choice for team members is Samantha Power: https://spectator.org/the-amnesia-of-samantha-power/ .  She is the perfect example of Obama’s arrogant ends justify the means approach to governing and the blind loyalty of the ideologues that served this quest. 

An extension of this same Obama Administration approach to governing is being gloriously executed by U.S. Representative Adam Schiff (D/Cal).  In the footsteps of Lois Lerner politically weaponizing the Internal Revenue Service against conservative non-profits; Eric Holder ignorantly running guns to Mexican cartels in the Fast and Furious scheme; or the entire Department of Justice under Obama using every tool in the chest to investigate first the Trump Campaign and then the Trump Presidency…Schiff has astonishingly obtained through subpoena…and PUBLISHED…private telephone metadata from Rudy Giuliani, the President’s personal attorney.  His published House Intelligence Committee report selectively lists, among others, the metadata of U.S. Representative Devin Nunes (R/Cal) and respected journalist John Solomon.  Just to provide perspective for this action…a Presidential Administration must obtain a court order to execute this type of investigation.  Schiff has done it with no one’s approval but his own.  This is breath-takingly arrogant, brazen, and irresponsible.  Read here for more details about this outrageous action: https://nypost.com/2019/12/07/democrats-have-embraced-the-exact-surveillance-tactics-they-used-to-warn-about/ and also Adam Schiff Has Jumped the Shark | The American Spectator .  The desperation of Congressional Democrats to find the President guilty of something….anything….has truly reached absurd proportions. 

Along with the basic human rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that is gifted to us in our Constitution; another pillar of our nation is the pure authority of the Supreme Court.  It is the linchpin that establishes an ultimate authority for what is legal in this country.  It is the final arbiter of legislative intent, Executive overreach, and essential freedoms for our citizenry.  In the last couple of decades; some of the luster enjoyed by this essential institution has been burnished.  There is a significant school of thought that the SCOTUS has become overtly politicized and several actions to address that perception have been floated to the public.  More than one of the current Democratic Presidential Candidates has endorsed the notion of expanding the membership of the SCOTUS to remedy this issue.  For what is worth (and that is certainly worthy of debate), here is another approach: https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/11/supreme-court-term-limits-have-bipartisan-support/ .

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And finally, we will end on a lighter note.  One of the greatest counteragents we have to the partisan venom and personal certitude that has infused our culture is the fine art of satire.  Our ability to make fun of ourselves and realize that we are all subject to monstrous errors in judgment and deed is a key element to maintaining a firm grasp on reality.  If we can’t laugh at ourselves, we are wound waaaaaay too tight.  The Onion https://www.theonion.com/ and the Babylon Bee https://babylonbee.com/ do a great job of showing us all how completely foolish we can be at times.  There is quite often an extremely fine line between effective satire and irresponsibly cruel or insensitive commentary.  Both of these sites will occasionally cross that line; but I believe it is in error and not intentional.  If you read both on a regular basis, I can assure you that everyone’s ox will be gored at one time or another.  Here is a great example of how the Bee handled the recent Don’t Mess with Nancy moment: https://babylonbee.com/news/pelosi-clarifies-shes-not-one-of-those-anti-baby-murder-catholics .