Monday, August 26, 2019

The Baltimore Syndrome: When Black Lives Don't Matter

      The city of Baltimore has been in the news lately and has been called a failing city.  It is infested with rats, drugs, and garbage that is strewn everywhere.  Crime and especially murder seem to be the rule of the day.  Sadly the name Baltimore can be interchangeable with nearly all of our major cities, especially those that have been run by Democrats, in what seems like forever.
      Why did this happen, and when did it start?  The roots of this problem go back to the post WW2 period in America.  In 1944 FDR signed into law a bipartisan bill designed to help GIs retuning from WW2 and avoid the despair of veterans after WW1.  Educational and housing benefits are the most important for this discussion.  Many retuning GIs took advantage of the no down payment low interest mortgages and combined with the building of an interstate highway system, allowed white veterans to abandon old urban areas and move almost for free into newly built homes in the suburbs, as the GI Bill of 1944 actually favored new housing. Though there were no discriminatory clauses in the legislation, administration of the GI Bill was handled much differently for African American vets, primarily because it was administered by white officials.  In the New York-New Jersey suburbs approximately 70,000 loans were insured by the GI Bill, but less than 100 were for Blacks.  Also with the bill called for free or subsidized education and many returning vets took advantage of this, so many, that colleges and universities were overwhelmed with applicants.  Even traditional black colleges could not accept all that applied.  In addition, party affiliation or at least voting tendencies changed.  Prior to the Great Depression Blacks who voted or who were allowed to vote, mostly in the North, were solidly Republicans.  After all, Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president and he fought and won the Civil War and freed the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation.  Democrats, especially in the South represented the KKK and Jim Crow laws. (Interestingly many Black Studies programs neglect to mention Lincoln's party affiliation.) The severity of the Great Depression forced many voting groups to seek change and  Black voters were no different.  By 1936 the number of Blacks voting for either party were about equal, but since that time voting has moved strongly and steadily toward the Democrat Party.  This can be reflected by mayoral elections in our major cities. Chicago has not had a Republican Mayor for 90 years, St. Louis 70 years, and Baltimore and Detroit more than 50 years. New York City has had an occasional Republican mayor and that usually has resulted in a decrease in crime and resurgence of the city.
      Ironically, despite growing support by Black Americans,  parts of FDR's new deal were originally meant to keep Black Americans from participating, such as Social Security and Aid to Dependent Children (ADC), originally meant to help white widows. (Social Security still discriminates against Blacks who have a shorter life span that Whites and because Social Security is a general fund, not individual savings, Blacks are actually funding Social Security for whites.)   Post WW2, Blacks were allowed to participate in ADC and this is the major cause of destruction of the Black family as its rules forced the father out of the home and Uncle Sam now became baby daddy with no restrictions on how many children could be covered, although it was apparent that rules were frequently broken as how else could women produce more children without the real baby daddy being present for at least a little while.
      Post WW2 also saw Black Americans being elected to Congress for the first time since  the Reconstruction Era.  With Whites fleeing the cities, large blocks of Blacks were left behind and so it is very reasonable to assume that more and more Blacks would get elected to office.  In the 1950s Adam Clayton Powell from Harlem was one of two  Black congressmen.  Over the next 60-70 years a number of black men and women have been elected to Congress and the Senate, enough to form a Congressional Black Caucus.  This could have been a great thing for Black Americans and our cities, but it wasn't.  Many Blacks took the same road as many whites, and looked at their election as a means to make money and gain power.  In fact some Black elected officials have become among the wealthiest in their congressional district, if they even live there.  They have learned to build powerful political machines that make it extremely difficult if not impossible to challenge them in an election and as long as they go along with the White Democrat leadership, their position will be safe and get good committee appointments as well as money from the DNC for reelection. Scandal and serious corruption seem the most common way for then to loose an election or decide not to run.  Maxine Waters, who doesn't even live in the district she represents,  now heads the Banking Committee, has had numerous run-ins with the ethics committee on banking and campaign financing issues, but the Ethics committee is a joke.
      Obeying the Democrat leadership has led to puzzling support for issues that are in fact opposite of what would be best for their black constituencies.  Immigration stands out of course.  Why would any Black representative support unbridled illegal immigration?  Since many immigrants will work off the books and for lower wages, they represent serious competition for young Blacks, trying to enter the work force at the lowest level for the first time.  Instead the Black and Democrat leadership push welfare and dependency instead of jobs.  Giving welfare, social security, free education,  and Medicaid to illegal aliens and even legal immigrants only hurts the poor including many Black Americans.  One would think that Black politicians would be the strongest supporters to keep illegals out or have them rounded up and deported, but they are not as they obey and follow the white Democrat leadership, well funded by George Soros and his Open Borders Society. The Black Congressional Caucus also follows the Democrat Party leadership in opposing school vouchers, that would allow bright Black students to go to private schools, rather than failing inner city schools. When Obama eliminated school vouchers, several girls who were in his daughters' classes at Sidwell Friends, considered one of the best private schools in the area, had to return to their failing public schools.  They give the Teachers' Unions , a major source of power and money,  preference over their own constituents.  Corruption is not limited to black politicians, they probably learned these schemes from white politicians, but it isn't as obvious to those living in the wealthy white suburbs that are not lacking for thriving public schools and services. Though Baltimore receives $1.8 billion for education and spends $16,000 per student, fourth highest in the country, the money doesn't reflect quality of education.  Instead through patronage and friendship, over a thousand people are each paid more than a $100k per year as consultants, contractors and administrators.  Proficiency in English and math is so dismal that only one student was proficient in math and none in English, yet there is a 70% graduation rate due to social promotion.  Six students were murdered at one high school.  Lacking education, Baltimore's students wind up in prison and on welfare as they do not have the necessary skills to get a job. To compensate Black students for  providing them with failing educational institutions, affirmative action was created in the 1970s, but even with affirmative action and special preadmission tutoring, college studies can be difficult for many Black Students.
      Sadly,  corruption among Black politicians is a real problem.  William Jefferson, former New Orleans congressman, was flagging down military vehicles, that were rescuing those stranded by Hurricane Katrina,  in order to rescue his furniture and belongings.  He was later found with $90k in literally cold cash in his freezer and convicted of accepting and soliciting bribes.  Adam Clayton Powell,  so long a standard for Black politicians, eventually put his mistress, who was living in Bimini on his payroll, though she never worked or spent a day in Washington, DC. Charles Rangel, who replace Powell and due to longevity became head of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, that formulates tax policy, was found to have neglected to pay his own taxes on income derived from rental property in Puerto Rico.  I  find it very interesting that large sums of money have been voted on to rehabilitate our cities, but very little or nothing gets done and the money just seems to disappear.  In NYC,  $850,000,000 handled by Mayor deBalsio's wife is unaccounted for and this is only the tip of the iceberg.  (HUD under Obama and Julian Castro lost $5 billion that has yet to be accounted for and HRC's state department misplaced $6 billion.)   Almost $2 billion of tax payer money has been given to Baltimore with no improvement and no accountability. Two hundred million was earmarked for the environment, what ever that means.  Baltimore has become even more filthy, rat, crime, and drug infested, and filled with abandoned houses and garbage.  A group of volunteers in a twelve hour period removed 12 tons of garbage.  This begs the question, why couldn't the residents do that.  If it is black on black crime or whether corrupt politicians getting wealthier on the backs of their constituents, Black lives don't seem to matter as much in Baltimore and many big cities.  They only matter when a cop shoots a young Black man.  It's hard to blame young Blacks who are frustrated, having been let down by the people who are supposed to be their advocates.
      This now brings us to Elijah Cummings who has been in Congress forever and represents the most squalid areas of Baltimore.  Through longevity, he now heads the powerful House Oversight Committee and like many congressmen has become very wealthy.  He is also corrupt.  His wife, Maya Rockeymoore, has set up a charity, Center for Global Policy Solutions that sits in he same office as her for profit consulting firm, Global Policy Solutions, LLC and even uses the same phone number and almost the same name. The charity has garnered at least $6.5 million in donations from corporations and self interest groups that have had business before her husband's Oversight Committee such as Google, JP Morgan, and Prudential.  In addition, her for profit was paid $250K in consulting fees from the charity, and that is illegal. and violates tax law  (Maybe she learned this little trick from the Clintons, who use the Clinton Foundation as their own private charity on a much grander scale.)  Meanwhile while Cummings is getting richer, his district is getting poorer.
      What I call the Baltimore Syndrome is infecting many of our great cities, that are failing their citizenry in favor of corrupt politicians and their benefactors. Whether he can turn things around in the face of so much corruption, President Trump deserves a chance.  I wouldn't bet against him.

Friday, August 9, 2019

Michelle Obama Should be the Nominee

      I don't usually agree with Michael Moore about anything, but I have to agree with his most recent out burst, that Michelle Obama should be the Democrat nominee for President of the United States.  After painfully watching two pair of debates, it is hard to find a single candidate that stands out among the two dozen or so that claim to be running.  The main policy that almost all have in common is free stuff, that of course is not really free.  The only difference seems to be who wants to give away more and destroy America.  Now I know that for the primaries and caucuses, candidates have to impress their base, but it seems that it might be difficult for any of them to be able to back track for the presidential election after sticking their necks out so far.  It is also notable how far left the Democrat Party base has come. I think we can thank George Soros and his money for that.
      Currently the leader seems to be former Obama Vice President, Joe Biden, who is one of the oldest and whitest candidates beside Bernie Sanders, who is a little bit older and maybe even whiter.  That the color of their skin.  Bernie is otherwise very very red. Biden has tried to freshen up his appearance with a recent facelift.  The hair plugs have been there for a while. Biden is a life long politician and never ever had a job outside of government and politics. Despite his lengthy political career, he has generally been on the wrong side of almost every issue. His career goes back so far that he can recall working with southern Democrat senators, all of whom were racists.  As the polling leader,  as expected, he has taken the most criticism from other candidates during the debates and this even includes attacking the Obama regime, something that many loyal Democrats could consider heresy.  Biden has always been a master of the gaff and he continues to make them with regularity. He also seems to pause in the middle of a sentence as if he doesn't remember what he wants to say.
      At this point, Biden's chief rival, as far as polling goes, is Bernie Sanders, at 77 the oldest man in the race.  Bernie claims to be a Democrat Socialist and wants free medical care, free education, and just about free everything else plus open borders. His medical care for all naturally includes illegal aliens who he thinks should also get social security.  He also wants criminals in prison to vote.  Imagine a small town located in the same voting district as a large prison and after the votes are tallied, they find that prisoners are the new mayor,  city council, sheriff,  maybe even representative to the state house and one prisoner has gotten more write in votes than any of the candidates on the ballot. (Actually we have a lot of criminals in those offices now.  They are just not in prison yet.)  He has no realistic way of paying for all of his largess, but who cares.  His mantra of tax the rich and corporations isn't going to work, even at 100% tax rate.  Bernie seems to come off as an angry old man, howling at the moon.
      The next level of hopefuls, who are ready to replace Joe or Bernie,  have all been the flavor of the month or day depending on how the MSM wants to support them, only to drop back in the polls after their names, faces, and political agendas have become more well known. They have at least got some colorful nicknames, like Pocahontas, Spartacus, Beto, Mayor Pete (his last name is a tongue twister), and the woman who moaned her way up the ladder.  There is even Sister Moonbeam running as well.  Her mantra is love will solve everything. With more and more states legalizing marijuana, she has a kind of sixties vibe of "turn on, tune in and drop out." Sadly she seems to make the most sense at times.  All believe that apocalyptic anthropogenic global warming is real and that unless we destroy our economy and go back to living as cave men, we are doomed.  There is even a third tier of candidates.  One, a tech entrepreneur wants to give every American $1000 a month whether they work or not, and another, a former Obama cabinet officer,  has a more modest proposal of only $500 per month.  Turn on the printing presses, if either gets elected. Heck turn on the printing presses, if any of them get elected. We would then see the return of the $1,000 and $10,000 bills.  You might need one just to buy groceries.  (It would then be very appropriate for Barack Hussien Obama to replace Woodrow Wilson on the $10,000 bill.) Finally, there is even a fourth tier of candidates, those polling less than 1%. whose careers are washed up, unless they get something out of running for office, like a job on CNN.  I can't remember their names or specific agendas except for one who is the worst mayor in the country, the mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, who seems to be more for helping illegal aliens in NYC rather than American citizens.
      Why would Michelle Obama want to join this motley crew of candidates?  She doesn't, she doesn't need to, and she won't.  Instead she will continue running her shadow campaign,  making appearance and speeches everywhere, including magazine covers and establishing an agenda similar, but just to the left of her husband's.  As the results of the primaries and caucuses come in, she will hope that no one candidate gets a majority of delegate votes and that enough candidates have the resolve, the money, and resources to stay in the race.  This means a brokered convention and she, of course, will be prominently waiting in the wings as a compromise nominee.  She will undoubtedly be on the convention program to make a speech before the voting takes place. And of all people, the Democrats at the convention will think she has the best chance of pulling off a miracle by defeating Donald Trump.  She fulfills almost all the necessary categories for Democrats.  She's not old, not white, a socialist, a woman (some think she is a transgender and that wouldn't hurt her in the Democrat crowd), and although some of Barack's legacy is starting to tarnish. he is still the most beloved president by Democrats ever, even more than FDR and JFK who are barely memories to the current crop of Democrats. The question then becomes who would she pick as her VP?  My guess is Tulsi Gabbard, who also fills in many of the necessary slots the Democrats prefer. She's mixed race, young, a woman, and not a Christian, but a practicing Hindu (Muslim would be better). HRC is also hoping for the same course to be the nominee, but she is through as she no longer has the physical or mental fitness for the ruff and tumble primaries and general election campaign, so all but the most hardened Democrat criminals know she's done (stick a pitch fork in her).




Thursday, August 1, 2019

My Take on Corruption and theSo Called Mueller Investigsation

      Though the Mueller investigation is over and found that there was nothing that could tie President Trump and his campaign to colluding with the Russian government nor a reason to recommend indictment for obstruction of justice, the Democrats continue to beat a dead horse, hoping this will carry on for at least another 16 months to the 2020 elections.  As usual, this will backfire on them as their agenda seems to primarily be hurting the American people by not passing and contributing to any beneficial legislation.  My own analysis of the investigation is that it was begun to obscure the Democrats own collusion with Russia.  This is a tactic often used by the Democrats
The Democrats are pulverizing a dead horse
      The Democrat  collusion actually began while HRC was Secretary State and allowed the Uranium One deal to go through giving Putin and Russia 20% control of our uranium through a wholly owned Canadian subsidiary of the Russian state owned nuclear company Rosatom.  The Clintons claimed it was just a coincidence that Bill was given a $500K speaking fee to address a group in Moscow and that Russian oligarchs, all of whom made up the BOD of Rosatom, out of the goodness of their heart, gave $145 million to the crooked Clinton Foundation.  In addition HRC and the DNC paid Christopher Steele for a Russian generated dossier claiming all sorts of allegations about Trump in Russia, saying that Putin could use these to bribe and extort President Trump to do his bidding.  This of course begs the question that no one has asked or answered.  If Putin was able to bribe HRC and then allow the salacious Steele dossier to be given to the DNC and HRC via Fusion GPS, a Democrat research resource, and through Marc Elias, an attorney of the Perkins Coie Law Firm, with HRC being a known quantity that would do anything, if the bribe was large enough, why would they want to help Trump, an unknown quantity, win?  It just doesn't make sense.  Although Mueller found Russian interference in the 2016 election process, it had nothing to do with President Trump.  A number of people were indicted, including Russians, none of whom will ever be extradited to the United States for trial, and Gen. Michael Flynn for lying about Turkish representation and George Papadopolus, who was set up by a Russian agent from Malta with the slimmest of a case.  The Russians also paid APCO Worldwide, a lobbying firm, $3 million to lobby CFIUS (Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States) on its behalf to approve the Uranium One deal.  Is it another coincidence that Mueller happened to be head of the FBI at the time and was charged by DOJ attorney Rod Rosenstein to look into the deal? An FBI informant William Campbell, testified before Congress that the Russians wanted to bribe HRC and had tapes to prove it, but then I guess $145.5 million isn't much of a bribe. (Recall that Bill allowed his pal Bernie Schwartz, CEO of Lorel Aerospace, to sell missile guidance technology to the Red Chineses Army in 1996 for only $20 million in illegal campaign contributions.)  In addition the Obama administration were well aware of Russia's attempts to interfere with our elections well before 2016, but did nothing to inform candidate Trump and his team.  Could this be part of a set up?  Then when the DNC was hacked, they blamed it on the Russians and Trump, when everyone knows that a disillusioned Seth Rich downloaded the files onto a thumb drive, sent them to Wikileaks, and was then murdered as a result.  The FBI never examined the Democrat server, but instead relied on the DNC's tech support company Crowd Strike.  Everyone knows that the FBI has the best equipment to check for hacking.
     When Mueller recently testified before Congressional committees on July 24, it was obvious that he served mainly as a figurehead as he sat in on few if any interviews and probably allowed defamed attorney Andrew Weissmann to pick an investigative team nearly all of whom contributed to the Clinton campaign, including Jeannie Rhee who represented the Clinton Foundation.  In fact Mueller showed up at the Congressional hearings with Aaron Zebley, an attorney who represented Justin Cooper, the IT aide who set up and maintained the illegal Clinton server. (You just can't make this up.)  Weissmann may have even made most of the decisions. Mueller shocked us with how little he knew about his team and said that he never heard of Fusion GPS, the research company that obtained the Steele dossier that served as the basis for all of this hogwash and the fraudulently obtained FISA warrants on Carter Page in the first place.  He failed to answer many questions and didn't always know what was in his report.
The Mueller report down in flames 
Has Mueller switched parties?
Has he gone deaf, dumb and blind?
     Knowing before hand that there was really no there there, why did so many put their careers in jeopardy and even risk treason?  There were several reason.  First and foremost HRC and her cronies including Obama, who had much to risk if HRC didn't get elected, feared a Trump presidency.  As an outsider,  he might uncover and wish to investigate and prosecute all of their corruption.  Higher ups in the FBI and NSA also hoped to get jobs, if they helped Clinton, especially Comey.  The corruption was so deep within the DOJ, that it was now learned that they never intended to prosecute HRC.  Comey wrote his July speech, even before she had been interrogated.  Unheard of immunity deals were given to HRC's aides, Cheryl Mills and Helen Samuelson, who were allow to lie and destroy important government property in violation of the Espionage Act and should have negated any immunity deal. Once Trump won, there was no going back.  Reports are soon due from Horwitz the Inspector General of the DOJ and Durham looking into malfeasance by the Obama adminstration as to the origin of the investigation including the dossier and FISA warrants.  A lot of people including Obama, Susan Rice, Valerie Jarrett, Samantha Power, Comey, Lynch, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Brennan and Clapper could be indicted on many charges up to and including treason.
      Of course, the final reason for beating the dead horse even after the report and testimony, was that Democrats and HRC supporters wanted this to serve as a diversion from HRC's and Obama's crimes and corruption. That is the main reason why the Democrats won't accept the obvious continuing to lie and harass the President, hoping for a win in 2020 that would make all of this go away. Unfortunately the Democrats have brought out a circus of candidates, much like the little car that enters the center ring and unloads several dozen clowns.  If the Republicans can reverse the House and build in the Senate, it will be great for the American people.
No milk from a dead cow.
only a few of the clowns