So Many Stories…and Messages for the Kids

After addressing some current events in this piece, I want to close it out with some good music that carries messages for our children.  Perhaps the words in the featured songs might in some way help to prepare our kids for the craziness that is illustrated by the preceding articles.  If ever our youth needed to be clear-headed, it is today.

 

If we are going to mention youth, what better place to begin than education.  The ideological battle continues between those liberal forces that want to program the next generation to become soldiers for their woke causes and their avowed opponents…the teachers, administrators, and parents who are increasingly pushing back against the madness that is pervading our educational system.

 

https://nypost.com/2023/02/22/the-evidence-of-charter-school-success-is-undeniable-why-hold-them-back/

 

https://nypost.com/2023/02/23/charters-succeed-at-teaching-thats-why-their-enemies-hate-them/

 

https://thefederalist.com/2023/02/23/instead-of-getting-nonwhite-students-up-to-speed-for-honors-classes-equity-obsessed-schools-give-up-on-kids-entirely/

 

When we consider what we have witnessed from the Biden Administration thus far, it should be no surprise that the wokeness revolution has seeped into all aspects of our society, culture, and government…including education.  I am still astonished at how liberal Joe Biden has become upon assuming the Presidency.  There was nothing in his past to indicate that he would become the poster child for this wave of liberal lunacy.  The only logical explanation for it is that he is so shallow, so pliant, so untethered by principle or ethics, and of such a malleable character that his handlers have been able to essentially use him as an empty vessel and fill him with the poisonous brew of their radical agenda.  He is the useful idiot who has filled our government with other not-so-useful idiots.

 

https://reason.com/2023/02/22/biden-promised-a-return-to-rule-of-law-governance-his-record-says-differently/

 

https://jewishworldreview.com/0223/shapiro022323.php

 

https://amgreatness.com/2023/02/22/americas-leaders-have-failed-the-country/

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2023/02/23/are-reparations-part-of-the-american-rescue-plan-cities-say-yes-and-plan-to-use-federal-funds-to-support-reparations-efforts/

 

https://reason.com/2023/02/27/now-the-chips-act-is-going-to-subsidize-child-care-too/

 

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/02/27/who-are-the-heroes-in-the-student-loan-cancellation-case/

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/equality-not-elitism/the-most-diverse-cabinet-in-history-is-also-the-most-incompetent

 

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/02/biden-nationalizes-dei.php

 

Here is a prime example of how Biden’s chosen idiots run their respective Departments: https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/why-the-ohio-trail-derailment-is-becoming-a-bigger-story/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2023/02/27/five-ways-the-trainwreck-revealed-the-trainwreck/

 And here is another one: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/impeach-xavier-becerra

And he continues to hire these incompetents: https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-taps-california-official-who-oversaw-billions-in-covid-unemployment-fraud-to-serve-as-labor-secretary

 

When Biden opposed President Trump for the White House, this nation was at a fiscal crossroads.  The free-market policies of Donald Trump had reinvigorated the American economy in a way not seen since President Reagan.  Even after absorbing the dark cloud consequences of the pandemic, Trump had this nation poised to regain its vital economic health and rebound from our national business shutdown.  Incredibly, America was a net energy exporter.  But then Biden was elected.  Since that time, a new brand of economics has ruled our nation.  It has involved many things, but foremost among them is the explosion of federal spending.   In just over two years, the Biden Administration has frittered away all of the significant and impressive economic accomplishments realized under Trump.  It is hard to accept that given two more years of this fiscal tomfoolery, any type of return to common sense economic policies will be a long time off in the future…at best.

 

https://thefederalist.com/2023/02/22/how-a-texas-lawsuit-over-proxy-voting-could-nuke-bidens-entire-1-7-trillion-spending-spree/

 

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/02/the-price-of-bidenflation.php

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/no-basis-in-mathematical-reality-a951dc2b?st=t1tmaqjwkpk0pfn&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

 

https://thefederalist.com/2023/02/23/biden-shoveled-36-billion-in-taxpayer-funds-to-bail-out-teamsters-for-mismanaged-pensions/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2023/02/23/the-one-sided-debt-ceiling-debate/

 

https://nypost.com/2023/02/23/when-it-comes-to-debt-joe-biden-is-the-six-trillion-dollar-man/

 

Paul Krugman is one of the Democrat’s mouthpieces in the media.   He faithfully carries their water and reflects their “why worry about tomorrow” economic philosophy.  https://reason.com/2023/02/23/paul-krugman-says-social-security-is-sustainable-its-really-not/

 

Let’s give some credit to elected officials who have the courage to address real problems with real solutions: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/senate/bipartisan-senators-consider-raising-retirement-age-for-social-security

 

And how do you suppose all of this Democrat spending will be paid for: https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/biden-taxes/2023/02/28/id/1110516/ .  Yeah sure…he’s only going to tax the billionaires.  Where have we heard that before?

 

When it comes to foreign policy, Biden has clearly reverted back to the spineless and unprincipled leadership demonstrated throughout the Obama Administration years.  He is one colossal blowhard when he’s talking tough about China or Russia; but his actions reveal him to be the wuss that he is.  Somehow…in some way…China owns this man.  America is adrift in the global sea with a clueless captain at the helm.

 

https://cnsnews.com/article/washington/terence-p-jeffrey/us-ran-trade-deficit-russia-29th-straight-year-2022

 

https://reason.com/2023/02/24/the-war-in-ukraine-has-no-end-in-sight/

 

https://jewishworldreview.com/0223/hanson022323.php3

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2023/02/27/the-covid-lab-leak-is-a-scandal-of-media-and-government-censorship/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/the-energy-department-lab-investigating-covid-knows-what-its-talking-about/

 

https://reason.com/2023/02/27/lab-leak-theory-energy-department-coronavirus-covid-origin-china/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/believe-the-hype/

 

The rot that lies within the Biden Family Business cabal continues to fester.  It has seeped into the Department of Justice and shows signs of creeping into other areas of our government.  When one considers the huge amounts of money that flowed from China into Biden family interests, it is hard not to suspect that something was being bought and paid for.  It is not yet clear exactly what that something is.  And…as long as Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Deep State are running interference for the Bidens, things are not going to get much clearer anytime soon. 

 

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/02/china-contributes-contd.php

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/heres-the-question-the-51-spies-who-dismissed-the-hunter-biden-laptop-should-be-asked-under-oath

 

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/hunter-china-urkaine/2023/02/21/id/1109597/

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2023/02/24/the-dark-biden-rises-the-reinvention-of-hunter-in-a-new-and-menacing-image/#more-201070

 

More of this would go a long way towards explaining things: https://nypost.com/2023/02/26/thank-god-for-the-whistleblowers-exposing-the-fbis-blatant-political-bias/

 

The unholy alliance that has formed between Biden’s politicized Department of Justice, the mainstream media, and high tech poses an unprecedented threat to the rights and liberties of America’s citizens.  Story after story after story have been coordinated and calculated to mislead the public and an individual’s ability to exercise legitimate dissent from the “popular opinion” is becoming increasingly marginalized.  The distorted myth of the January 6 protests and the legal fallout from it is a case in point.  The unrestrained quest for power to control news and the free exchange of information by this group continues to expand and with two more years to pursue their goals, our freedoms as individual citizens are endangered as never before.

 

https://thefederalist.com/2023/02/21/the-twitter-files-reveal-big-techs-unholy-alliance-with-the-feds-exists-to-control-you/

 

https://thefederalist.com/2023/02/24/how-trump-derangement-gave-birth-to-the-censorship-industrial-complex/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2023/02/21/anatomy-of-a-cover-up-the-january-6-tapes/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2023/02/24/media-demands-darkness-not-sunlight-on-january-6-tapes/

 

We always welcome a satiric jewel from the Bee: https://babylonbee.com/news/41000-hours-of-january-6-tapes-reveal-aoc-died-13941-times

 

It is difficult not to cast a glance or two at the upcoming elections.  This vein of entertainment promises to be a high-yielding venture over the foreseeable future.

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/ron-desantiss-presidential-calculus

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/gop-embraces-major-change-ahead-of-2024-fights

 

Here is one sure fire way to improve government.  Shrink it! https://reason.com/2023/02/20/want-less-corruption-try-having-less-government/

 

As I watch my children raising their children, I am struck by how my approach to counseling my grandchildren differs from how I counseled my children.  Perhaps I have more time now than I did then; I am more patient and reflective.  Perhaps I have learned some things by screwing up so many times.  I think my counsel is somewhat improved over what it was; but the demand for it has decreased significantly.  We want so much for our kids.  We want to shelter them from all the pain and danger.  We want them to succeed and do great things.  But most of all, we want them to be happy…truly happy.  If only words could convey the lessons we have learned by surviving lo these many years on the planet.  But many times…they cannot.  Some things simply have to be lived…to be experienced…in order to appreciate them.  Here is a group of songs with lyrics that don’t just sound nice, they extend important messages to our youth as they grow and mature.  Sometimes the addition of music to the message makes it a bit more effective. 

 

Our hopes and dreams for them are boundless…

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F44nrK0MxEQ

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGB7IWklW3s

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k4ujBGRGf8

 

We try our best to provide a foundation for life and living…

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oni0tO_HN30

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfVrpafcELI

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQan9L3yXjc

 

We try our best to prepare them for the inevitable hurts that lie ahead…

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57YDx0ZMdc4

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6yUY7M9yfw&list=RDgXq-14lV79s&index=28

 

It is so hard…so painful…to come to grips with the fact that dying is part of living…

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SiylvmFI_8&list=RDgXq-14lV79s&index=8

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8TR0NzOFT0

 

Most important of all, they have to remember they can always come home.  They are always loved and our forgiveness is eternal…

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=git6DCXSqjE

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0n-mYqB9WQ

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXq-14lV79s&list=RDgXq-14lV79s&start_radio=1

 

Children…live your lives fully.  Don’t litter your past with regrets along the way.  Celebrate the people you love, the opportunities you meet, and the lives you affect…

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_Jx9nqnxOM

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDKjX7YMJ6w&list=RDgXq-14lV79s&index=21

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZvsGmYKhcU&list=RDgXq-14lV79s&index=3

 

And whether you are a father or a son, husband or wife…tell the ones you love that you love them…don’t wait too long or burn those bridges…

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryo2T1AnBlE

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjfPASXnJEc

 

 

A Wide View of a Few Issues

The weird and wonderful world of education in America…how much more bizarre can it get?  Consider the terrible price our children paid for the covid shutdowns…all under the auspices of those who we entrusted to teach our children in the first place: the teacher’s unions and the liberal members of academia.  School choice is going to present severe challenges to our public-school institutions.  Those chickens were coming home to roost no matter what; the administrators of our children’s education have gotten to the point where they place their concerns, their well-being, and their ideals above those that best serve our kids. 

 

Our nation’s public-school systems are now going into a time period where they will be dysfunctional, highly unpopular, underutilized, strapped for cash, and heading into a very serious episode or two of soul-searching.  They had better wake up, acknowledge their missteps, return to the education basics, reinstitute parental involvement in schools, narrow their focus to the mission assigned to them, and institute a transparent and accountable system that can begin to restore confidence.  The very serious competition they are going to be dealing with from private educators is, in the long run, going to force them to improve.  This is good thing.

 

And government, please…get out of the education business.  Take your wokeness, your politics, your social engineering idealism, your historical revisionism, and your autocratic attitudes and put them where the sun don’t shine.  Let education return to the state and local levels where it can be organized and operated by those closest to the children themselves.

 

https://amgreatness.com/2023/02/17/the-perils-of-historical-ignorance/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/behold-the-effects-of-progressive-education/

 

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/02/americas-lost-generation.php

 

Fiscal irresponsibility at the federal level has unfortunately become an accepted truth to the American people.  Both national parties have given up on taking a serious approach to solving the national deficit and debt crisis.  The Democrats have gotten to the point where it is taboo in their lexicon to even mention debt or deficit in a serious way.  They have literally adopted an official party policy that sets forth the premise that all national problems, regardless of their characteristics, can be solved by directing massive federal spending in their directions.  As if there needed to be an apt illustration of these points, just pay close attention to how the approaching debt ceiling debate unfolds.  When it comes to dollars and cents (sense, also), our national leadership in both parties is vacuous.

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-costly-folly-of-student-debt-forgiveness/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/terrible-new-inflation-numbers-nullify-bidens-state-of-the-union-boasts/

 

https://reason.com/2023/02/14/is-inflation-sneakily-starting-to-rise-again/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/under-biden-cbo-deficit-projections-have-increased-by-6-trillion/

 

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/02/17/the-cbo-exposes-bidens-5-45-trillion-lie/

 

https://cnsnews.com/article/washington/terence-p-jeffrey/president-biden-again-falsely-claims-he-cut-debt

 

https://amgreatness.com/2023/02/18/oh-no-republicans-wont-raise-the-debt-ceiling/

 

https://www.dailywire.com/news/sba-wont-even-try-to-collect-on-ppp-loans-that-are-supposed-to-be-paid-back-citing-equity

 

If we are to preserve and continue Social Security and Medicare for future generations, changes will have to be made to both programs.  If these changes are not made, the programs will fail.  They are unsustainable in their current forms: https://reason.com/2023/02/16/social-security-and-medicare-cuts-are-coming-whether-politicians-do-it-or-not/

 

There are some serious people who say that it is time for Social Security to end.  I am not one of them, but here is their argument: https://reason.com/video/2023/02/15/3-reasons-to-abolish-security-now/

 

It is way past time to have a serious debate about if we want these programs and, if so…how do we restructure them to make them sustainable.  It is difficult to see how any serious debate of this type might occur in today’s political climate.  There is no political courage remaining in either national party; they have spines of jelly.

 

The political weaponization of our Department of Justice, several federal judges, and government in general by the Democrat Party has not only destroyed the credibility of these institutions…it has corrupted them to point where some are finding their very need for existing is being questioned.  As it should be.   The Congress of the United States must reestablish its co-equal status in government and begin to bring ideological and rogue bureaucrats to account for their past and ongoing bad behavior; behavior that is unethical, bordering on illegality, and without a doubt…sometimes criminal.

 

https://reason.com/2023/02/20/presidents-day-is-a-good-reminder-to-treat-the-presidency-with-skepticism/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/remember-how-the-left-hated-nixons-imperial-presidency/

 

I love podcasts.  You can stream them on one window, and continue your browsing in another.  You can put them on like the radio and perform other activities while listening.  They are so…non-invasive.  Here is a great one dealing with the RussiaGate debacle foisted upon our nation by the liberal elite, the Democrat Party, the high-tech industry, and the mainstream media.  It is most likely the biggest political scam in history.  Take just a few minutes and listen.  It is difficult to believe that this stuff actually happened…and even more incredible that essentially no one is being held accountable for their part in it: https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/02/a-twitter-files-footnote-10.php

 

Karma is a bitch: https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/02/clappers-claptrap.php

 

https://thefederalist.com/2023/02/14/james-clapper-cant-stop-lying/

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2023/02/16/government-funded-index-of-worst-disinformation-sites-is-entirely-composed-of-conservative-and-libertarian-news-outlets/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2023/02/16/judge-tim-kellys-court-of-contempt/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2023/02/13/did-a-government-intel-asset-plant-key-evidence-in-proud-boys-case/

 

Democrats are still chasing their great…white…whale: https://nypost.com/2023/02/13/since-everyone-had-classified-docs-prosecutors-are-going-after-trump-for-obstruction/

 

Here are a few quick hits on articles that demonstrate the sheer lunacy of our current Administration in WDC and our society/culture in general.  What are we doing to ourselves?

 

https://amgreatness.com/2023/02/15/destroying-meritocracy-is-deadly/

 

https://thefederalist.com/2023/02/15/8-places-to-start-for-the-children-first-agenda-we-desperately-need/

 

https://www.dailywire.com/news/covid-vaccine-brings-higher-heart-risk-little-benefit-to-young-men-medical-expert-warns

 

https://amgreatness.com/2023/02/19/the-covid-lockdown-disaster-three-years-later/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2023/02/19/the-toxic-racialist-obsessions-of-joe-biden/

 

In many American cities, crime is running rampant and criminals are running free.  In my humble opinion, here is an idea that is long overdue: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/senate/mike-braun-leads-bill-to-increase-penalties-for-killing-or-targeting-police-officers

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-weekend-jolt/the-ufo-shoot-downs-still-dont-make-sense/

 

Speaking of the “UFO business”,  file this one away in the satirical “reality bites” category: https://babylonbee.com/news/ok-take-us-to-a-different-leader-say-exasperated-aliens-after-trying-to-communicate-with-joe-biden

 

Taking a sweep across the political landscape…the race for 2024 is on and we all need to be paying attention.  The next presidential choice we make will be extremely consequential.

 

https://freebeacon.com/politics/make-or-break-for-the-senate-gop/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2023/02/16/democrats-have-no-good-option-for-2024/

 

https://nypost.com/2023/02/14/its-time-for-biden-to-go-even-democrats-think-so/

 

Is there any chance at all that this type of strategy still works? https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/its-trumps-fault-fast-becoming-favorite-line-biden-admin-amid-myriad-scandals

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/the-desantis-they-know

 

Nikki Haley has created quite a stir with her presidential bid announcement.  Some like her, some don’t…judge for yourself:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARWLEPf5iaw

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/give-nikki-haley-a-chance/

 

https://reason.com/2023/02/14/nikki-haleys-presidential-bid-is-an-unappealing-mix-of-maga-and-rino/

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/nikki-haley-will-not-be-the-next-president-our-columnists-weigh-in/ar-AA17vt8l?ocid=mailsignout&pc=U591&cvid=b327f8ee473a4f2598c23b235d676d7f

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/haley-trump-and-a-gop-race-like-no-other

 

I spend a lot of time heaping well-deserved derision on Joe Biden and his Administration.  I stand by every word I have written.  But on those rare occasions when Biden deserves credit, I want to step up and give it to him.  Here is one of those times.  If you want to take a broad view and not dig too deep beneath the surface, I support this Administration’s support for Ukraine in their war against Russian aggression.  It has always been, and remains, my position that when free nations are attacked by aggressors, America should support them in their struggle for freedom and liberty.  That support should of a material and geo-political nature; not in the sense of shipping American troops to the battlefield. 

 

Even though Biden has been mealy-mouthed and foolish in his rhetoric involving Ukraine support and much of that material support has been delayed for no good reason, the United States has belatedly stepped up and given Ukraine all the support it could expect from us.  Now Biden has performed a meaningful act that is long overdue; he has personally visited Ukraine and has visually demonstrated for the world that America stands behind them.  Kudos to Joe Biden for athis courageous act.  This is a fine demonstration of leadership.  We can only hope that Biden allows this act to speak for itself on the merits and doesn’t wring all the juice from it by using it as a political prop for self-advancement. 

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/biden-makes-surprise-visit-to-ukraine-on-anniversary-of-russian-invasion/

 

And a good way to close out this piece is some commentary by Jim Geraghty on Biden’s Ukraine trip and John Fetterman’s bizarre Senate experience.  Common sense paired with high intelligence is a rare commodity these days in the journalistic community; Geraghty has a plentiful supply of both.

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/zelensky-really-needs-ammunition-not-a-visit/