About qezzit

Jan202020

Episode 120 Show Notes – The Gloves are Off!

Impeachment is getting real as Trump gets some high profile names on his legal team. Right before the impeachment trial, Trump gets some more bad news. I guess it’s bad news. A jerk from the NFL acts like a jerk at the NCAA Men’s Football Championship and gets an arrest warrant for his jerkiness. And the Dodger got screwed…twice.

He Knows How to Pick a Dream Team

Trump added some major players to his legal staff. They include:

Kenneth Starr – Was the independant investigator during the Clinton impeachment.
Robert Ray – Replaced Kenneth Starr during the Clinton impeachment and wrote the final report on Clinton.
Alan Dershowitz – Harvard Law professor specializing in Constitutional law and defense attorney for OJ Simpson

Dershowitz is a liberal and voted for Hillary Clinton. He has also been implicated with Jeffry Epstein. Expect to hear his name being trashed by the media.

The three will join White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and Trump’s personal lawyer Jay Sekulow to represent Trump in the trial.

On Thursday, the Government Accountability Office issued its report on the White House temporarily freezing U.S. security aid allocated for Ukraine, concluding that President Trump violated the Impoundment Control Act by “substitut[ing] his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law.” Trump responded Friday morning by tweeting out a quote from Harvard Law’s Alan Dershowitz, who argues that the GAO has it “exactly backwards.”

Trump responded on Twitter:

Essentially, when Congress approves funds, the President must alert Congress and explain why he is withholding those funds. This act was passed in 1974 during the Nixon administration. Nixon was withholding funds that were approved by Congress that did not require the President’s signature. The law is meant to remove the President’s ability to impound funds for programs he did not approve.

Though the Democrats will point this out during the impeachment hearings, this is not an impeachable offense. If Congress discovered that funds they approved were withheld, they would take the President to court to force him to explain why the funds were withheld. So it is not considered a high crime or misdemeanor.

There is thought that, since the President did release the funds to Ukraine, the law does not apply.

There is also a question as to the law’s Constitutionality. It basically removes oversight from the President, especially if it goes against his policy, either foreign or domestic. And example would be if Congress approves from Iran and the President wants to stop it. That’s a loose example but that is the oversight a lot of scholars question and it has not been directly answered by the Supreme Court.

Finally, the “evidence” of Trump’s corruption comes from a guy named Lev Parness. Parness is a Ukrainian with a very checked history. He says that he has evidence, including text messages using WhatsApp with Republican Congressional candidate Robert Hyde

Parness says he worked with Rudy Giuliani and followed U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch because, he says, Trump didn’t like or trust her.

Democrats love him. He has been cruising MSNBC, CNN and other news outlets saying that he should testify in the impeachment hearings because he knows everything. Nancy Pelosi said he could be a very important witness.

Yeah. I think we’ve seen this movie before. This guy has some issues:

He’s under indictment in New York for corruption including forging paperwork.
Ukrainian officials said he is corrupt and no one should trust him.
Robert Hyde said he thought the text messages were a joke and doesn’t understand why they are being take seriously.
President Trump never met or spoke to him and the picture with him and Parness was a photo op.
Parness admits he never talked to Trump. He said he got messages from Giuliani.
His evidence are his own notes and the text messages. That’s it. No phone records or metadata or recordings. Just his notes.

The Democrats seem to always do this. They get the dregs of society like Michael Cohen and Michael Avenatti and parade them around like they have any legitimacy.

And it’s just getting started. Mark my words, this is going to get ugly.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/trumps-impeachment-team-adds-more-big-names-two-from-bill-clinton-report
https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-responds-to-gao-report-saying-he-violated-law-in-withholding-ukraine-aid
https://www.dailywire.com/news/man-at-center-of-new-ukraine-allegations-democrats-have-their-panties-in-a-bunch-over-drunken-jokes-on-whatsapp
https://www.dailywire.com/news/ukraine-opens-investigation-into-surveillance-of-u-s-ambassador-after-dems-release-outrageous-whatsapp-texts

Give the Kid a Break

LSU defeated Clemson on Monday to win the NCAA National Championship in football. And how do champions celebrate their victory? The light up cigars. That’s what they did. Most of them did it.

It’s odd but, OK, I’d do it.

https://youtu.be/XRV9BEDwTy8

You can imagine with everyone smoking cigars, there going to be a heck of a haze in the locker room.

Well, it’s illegal to smoke indoors in Georgia. The police gently warned the players to stop but the players thought the cops were joking.

It took the police threatening to arrest the players if they did not stop smoking. Odell Beckham Jr. smack a cop in the butt because he thought he was kidding.

Come on, man. Give the kids a break. They’re not shooting meth.

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/lsu-tigers-threatened-arrest-smoking-report
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/28496532/new-orleans-police-issue-arrest-warrant-browns-odell-beckham-jr

Dodgers Got Screwed!

Heads are rolling in Major League Baseball. There is a huge cheating scandal that involves the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox.

These teams even cheated in the world series. Here’s a clip from Jomboy Media on YouTube showing how the Astros cheated.

Apparently what these teams did is use a camera in the outfield to steal the signs.There was a small monitor in the dugout. A player would then hit a trash can whenever the pitch was an off-speed pitch, which are harder to hit because of the speed change.

· Manager A.J. Hinch suspended for one year. Hinch was then fired by the Astros.
· GM Jeff Luhnow suspended for one year. Luhnow was then fired by the Astros.
· Former assistant GM Brandon Taubman suspended one year.
· Astros forfeit their first- and second- round draft picks the next two years.
· Astros fined $5 million, the maximum allowed under MLB‘s constitution.
– Alex Cora of the Red Sox has been fired
– Carlos Beltran of the Mets has been fired.

The Dodgers lost to both the Astros and Red Sox in the middle of this scandal.

The MLB has not decided what it is going to do with their world titles.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/houston-astros-cheating-scandal-10-things-we-learned-from-mlbs-nine-page-investigative-report/

There’s Dialog?

https://www.dailywire.com/news/deaf-man-sues-pornhub-for-lack-of-subtitles

Jan172020

Episode 119 – Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!

Who won, who lost and who does CNN like. The Articles of Impeachment are delivered to the Senate and they are wasting no time getting this thing on the road.

So, Who Won?

There were no big winners in last night’s debate and there were not the fireworks I was hoping to see three weeks before the Iowa caucuses.

The winners:

Joe Biden – He still looks old but he didn’t gaff and should not lose any support.
Amy Klobachar – She had strong points and looked like the real moderate.
Bernie Sanders – The old commie just stuck to his guns. He won’t lose any supporters to Warren.
Donald Trump – These guys all look terrible.
Anyone who didn’t watch it – Pretty boring. Not as many fireworks that I hoped there would be.

The losers:

Elizabeth Warren – She really needs to lay the pipe on Sanders and Biden but she always hold back. Probably the Indian thing.
Pete Buttigieg – He failed to answer a few question and was forgettable. I think we might be seeing the beginning of the end for him. Klobachar also exposed his lack of experience.
Tom Steyer – I can’t believe he spent so much money to have 1% and he sounded crazy.

Grag Gutfeld Tweeted right after the debate and it summed it all up:

There were some funny things that happened. Grabian released a montage of Joe Biden stumbling around. It’s pretty funny.

Yep, that’s the leading Democratic Presidential candidate. Trump will eat his lunch for him.

Bernie Sanders turned out to be CNN’s punching bag. Story of the leaked statement.

There was also a comical moment when Bernie and Warren. Warren, during a private meeting, said that Bernie Sanders told her a woman cannot win the Presidency.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jeanne-zaino-iowa-democratic-debate-winners-and-losers

Here We Go!

Nancy Pelosi has chosen her managers for the impeachment trial. They include

What a rambling speech. Notice she had to puts in the “impeachment last forever.” That’s because it’s going to lose in the Senate. The only victory she has is the impeachment.

There will be seven managers including Jerry Nadler and Adam Schiff. Adam Schiff will be the lead manager.

But the funniest moment was the Democrats walking the articles to the Senate and the reaction by the media. Grabian has a great montage.

Chances are high that there will be a trial. Republicans just don’t have enough votes to reach an immediate acquittal and I’m happy about that. I want to have a trial and let the dice roll. In fact I think it would be a shame if we never have one.

This is going to be a real hardship for Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobachar because they will need to stay during the trial when they should be on the campaign trail. I real don’t think it is going to make any difference.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pelosi-announces-trump-impeachment-managers

More News

https://www.foxnews.com/science/mystery-of-orb-in-a-record-breaking-leonardo-da-vinci-painting-deepens

Jan132020

Episode 117 – Representative Cardi?

Iran is falling apart. Democrats, searching for a new narrative, are being called out for supporting the despotic regime. This leads us to the big question: How stable is Iran and what does that mean to us? Supposedly, the articles of impeachment should be heading to the Senate but the House still wants to interview John Bolton. Is this garbage ever going to end? And, try this on for size: Rep. Cardi B.

Oh, by the way, Cory Booker just dropped out of the Democratic Presidential race.

It’s Falling Apart in Iran

Let’s see, what has been happening in Iran:

Their economy has been trashed because of sanctions and the proxy wars they are participating in.
They shut off all social media.
They are jailing women who refuse to wear a hijab.
They have killed between 1500-2000 protesters.
There was an earthquake on top of their nuclear facility (which they can’t afford).
The second in charge of the government, Soleimani, was killed in the middle of a terrorist attack against the United States.
They had a weak response against the United States after Soleimani was killed, making them look weak.
More sanctions have been placed on them by the United States.
And they accidentally shoot down a Ukrainian passenger plane with 176 people, mostly Iranian students.

Is it a wonder that the Iranian citizens are getting ticked.

Thousands of protesters, mostly students have taken to the streets. Their messages are not to the liking of the Mullahs. They including:

Shouting “Death to Islamic Republic dictatorship”
Calls for the Ayatollah to resign.
Tearing the pictures honoring Soleimani off the walls.
Women refuse to wear their hijabs
The refusal of Iranians to trample over giant flags of the United States and Israel and booing those who do.

The Iranian government did its best to try to get its unhappy citizens to love them again. By shooting them with tear gas and, allegedly, live rounds. Once again, am Iranian protest will lead to the deaths of its citizens by a brutal dictatorship.

President Trump, who openly supports the protesters, released the following Tweet after it was reported that the conflicts had turned violent:

Then, just to add oil to the fire, the lone female Olympic medalist, Kimia Alizadeh, decided to defect to Europe, protesting the treatment of women by the government.

The 2016 bronze medalist in tae kwon do stated that she hopes to find herself in the United States one day. Ouch!

The Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) are struggling to find a new narrative to make Trump the villain in all this. It’s not going well for them.

Nancy Pelosi, this weekend was asked a simple question about whether or not it was a good thing that protesters were calling for the end of the Mullahs in Iran. She tip-toed around the question like a ballerina. Listen:

Of course, she never answered the question. If she said, “yes,” that would go against the appeasement that the Iranian Nuclear Deal the Obama administration still say is working.

If she said, “no,” she would look like she was supporting a terrorist, oppressive, dictatorial regime. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.

But noticed she almost said what she was thinking: if Soleimani wouldn’t have been killed, tensions wouldn’t have escalated, Iran wouldn’t have needed air defense and that plane wouldn’t have been shot down.

In other words: Orange Man Bad.

Democrats are struggling to find a narrative that makes this a loss for Trump even if it means defending a tyrannical, terrorist regime.

I’m finishing an audio book now called Debunking Howard Zinn by Mary Graber. The book talking about revisionist history and how it is used to change the way people see the United States. We’ll spend a Sunday on that book and how we see history in day-to-day life.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-iranian-protesters-refuse-to-walk-on-u-s-israel-flags-attack-soleimani-posters
https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-pelosi-asked-would-it-be-a-good-thing-if-iranian-protesters-brought-down-regime-after-showdown-with-trump-gets-ripped-for-response
https://www.dailywire.com/news/iran-opens-fire-on-demonstrators-protesters-chant-our-enemy-is-here-they-lie-to-us-that-its-america
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/iran-only-female-olympic-medalist-defect_n_5e1b9593c5b6640ec3d63ea5
https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-muslim-scholar-on-iran-this-regime-for-the-first-time-ever-is-seriously-threatened

Is This Thing Ever Going to Go Away

https://www.dailywire.com/news/pelosi-threatens-to-call-john-bolton-to-testify-in-house-even-as-dems-vote-to-send-impeachment-articles-to-senate

Congresswoman Cardi?

So, last week, after Qessem Soleimani was killed, Cardi B, the former stripper and prostitute, decided to leave this country for Nigeria because Trump is a bad man. They were willing to take her.

She must have heard that Nigeria has high crime, poverty, oppresses women, high pollution and constant war (in other words, it’s a crap hole) decided to step back from leaving the United States.

Instead, she decided that with her vast experience as a stripper, hooker and rapper, she should consider a run for Congress. She Tweeted:

But she does have one problem that she needs to resolve before her run. She Tweeted:

She may be lacking an edu-ma-cation and, like, don’t speak no good, like, but she knows how to ax questions good.

She supports Bernie Sander (what a shock such a mental giant supports him). Of course, Bernie embraced it so much, he held an interview with it:

Unfortunately, she is acting like a typical politician and flip-flopping. Listen to her go off on the government and where her taxes are going:

Genius. And she’s voting for Bernie Sanders who wants to raise taxes from 60% to 90%.

You know what’s sad? After she gets her 8th grade diploma, she’ll run and probably win. She still will be smarter than AOC.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/cardi-b-reverses-course-on-wanting-to-move-to-nigeria-now-wants-to-run-for-congress

Jan102020

Episode 116 Show Notes – RIP Goat

Marianne makes it official and the race will get more boring. President Trump begins to justify the Soleimani killing. The Left doesn’t care and keeps trying to find a narrative to counter Trump’s big win. Wtf is wrong with Gwenyth Paltrow. And we lost a legend today. And I need to wish a farewell to a childhood hero.

Ciao

The cosmic goddess that is Marianne Williamson, the former “Oprah” staple who pledged to defeat President Donald Trump on the battlefield of love, has now officially dropped her bid for the 2020 Democratic Party presidential nomination after several no-shows at the debates.

Don’t worry. If you don’t know who she is it’s because she’s missed the last three debates and is riding a 1%.

“I ran for president to help forge another direction for our country. I wanted to discuss things I felt needed to be discussed that otherwise were not. I feel that we have done that.

“I stayed in the race to take advantage of every possible opportunity to share our message. With caucuses and primaries now about to begin, however, we will not be able to garner enough votes in the election to elevate our conversation any more than it is now. The primaries might be tightly contested among the top contenders, and I don’t want to get in the way of a progressive candidate winning any of them.”

https://www.dailywire.com/news/wellness-queen-marianne-williamson-officially-drops-out-of-2020-race-she-will-be-sorely-missed

Ouch

Trump has hit Iran again. His new round of sanctions hit Iran on Friday.This will cost the Iranian economy billions of dollars.

Here they are:

Authorizes the imposition of additional sanctions against any individual owning, operating, trading with, or assisting sectors of the Iranian economy, including construction, manufacturing, textiles, and mining.
There will be 17 specific sanctions against Iran’s largest steel and iron manufacturers, three Seychelles-based entities, and a vessel involved in the transfer of products.
We will be taking action against eight senior Iranian officials who advanced the regime’s destabilizing activity and were involved in Tuesday’s ballistic missile strike. These people include the Ayatollah’s inner circle, the head of Iran’s “brute squad” who was directly responsible for the deaths of Iranian protesters.

Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said:

“The goal of our campaign is to deny the regime the resources to conduct its destructive foreign policy. We want Iran to simply behave like a normal nation. We believe the sanctions that we impose today further that strategic objective,” Pompeo continued. “Our campaign is composed of diplomatic, economic components that have deprived the regime of billions in revenue the regime has used to fuel death and destruction across the Middle East and all across the world.”

Ouch.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-administration-launches-crushing-new-sanctions-against-iran

More News Coming Out of the Iran Conflict

Apparently, the killing of Soleimani was only part of the goal that night.

The U.S. military launched a secret operation to kill a second high-ranking Iranian terrorist last week on the same day that President Donald Trump authorized a drone strike that killed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Forces (IRGC-QF) Commander Qassem Soleimani.

The unsuccessful airstrike in Yemen was aimed at Abdul Reza Shahlai, an official with Iran’s Quds Force, a potent paramilitary organization. He was known as a key financier for Iran’s proxy wars.

This is a big guy and still might be a target for the future.

He, too, was involved in several terrorist attacks that spanned all the way back to the Iraqi war.

President Trump also said that Soleimani had plans to bomb four embassies including the one in Iraq. He did not have the exact moment they were going to attack Soleimani and he believes that is why Democrats are throwing a fit about being notified.

Pompeo said on Friday that he did alert Congress before the attack but he could not give them exact details simply because he did not have any. That’s a little tidbit we never heard before.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-u-s-launched-secret-operation-to-kill-second-top-iranian-terrorist-on-same-day-as-soleimani
https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-pompeo-release-details-on-terror-attack-soleimani-planned

Gosh, Do They Ever Stop?!

The media and Democrats, but I repeat myself, are doing a stellar job reporting the news in an unbiased fashion.

On Tuesday, while Iran was bombing dirt in Iraq, a Ukrainian jet crashed.

Iran collected the jet wreckage, which had a debris field of twelve miles, confiscated the black box and wouldn’t release it and would not allow anyone to investigate the crash.

Turns out iPhones and satellites won’t help Iran. Several reported that the jet was hit by an Iranian missile which Iran denied. They said there was an accident but it was not an Iranian missile.

What it looks like now is that this crash was caused by a Russian anti-aircraft missile system that Iran bought that was shot by accident. Oops.

Ok, fine. This crap does happen. It was an accident that killed 172 people and, because it was a Ukrainian plane that carried a bunch of Canadians, it is going to be an international incident. But the truth will set you free.

The U.S. downed an Iranian plane in 1988. We took responsibility and we survived without war. But things are a little tougher for Iran.

But the U.S. press and Pete Buttigieg decided it was the President’s fault.

The press and the Democrats continue to act like conflict with Iran started when Soleimani was killed.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-democrats-and-the-media-are-blaming-america-because-iran-shot-down-a-passenger-plane-this-is-beyond-despicable
https://www.dailywire.com/news/pro-trump-rep-matt-gaetz-joins-dems-on-war-powers-resolution-heres-his-explanation

Probably Will Pass on This

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow is selling a candle that smells like her vagina at $75 a pop for her lifestyle and wellness company Goop. The name of the candle is none other than, you guessed it, “This Smells Like My Vagina.”

What’s weird is it sold out on a test run.

“This candle started as a joke between perfumer Douglas Little and GP — the two were working on a fragrance, and she blurted out, ‘Uhhh … this smells like a vagina.”

The smell then “evolved into a funny, gorgeous, sexy, and beautifully unexpected scent.”

“That turned out to be perfect as a candle — we did a test run … and it sold out within hours. It’s a blend of geranium, citrusy bergamot, and cedar absolutes juxtaposed with Damask rose and ambrette seed that puts us in mind of fantasy, seduction, and a sophisticated warmth.”

This broad obviously has a high opinion of her vag.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/gywneth-paltro-is-selling-a-candle-that-smells-like-her-vagina

RIP, Goat

Neal Peart, the drummer from RUSH dies of brain cancer.

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/neil-peart-rush-drummer-dead

Jan102020

Episode 115 Show Notes – Looking Like a Genius

Iran has finally struck back against The United States for the killing of Qessem Soleimani. Sort of. Trump confirms that World War III has ended in about 72 hours, but it this really the end? Democrats continue to doom-say. And the media is doing yeoman’s work covering this and for making Iran and Soleimani look like heroes. .

Revenge?

Last night, Iran launched 22 ballistic missiles aimed at Iraqi bases holding American soldiers. Trump gathered his security council and watched for reports. He said he would address the nation after reports came in.

What was different about this attack was the missiles originated from Iran and they weren’t just rockets.

In total, eighteen missiles landed, four never detonated and there were casualties reported.

As the hours passed, there were no American casualties and reports stated there may not be any Iraqi casualties. Trump cancels his address to the nation. Instead, he Tweeted:

The Iranian ambassador also made announcement, again, via Twitter:

Then there was the Ayatollah:

This is why I wait 24 hours.

The next morning, we find that there were no casualties and the missiles did not hit any populated bases.

We also find out the Iran contacted Iraq and warned them that there was going to be an attack. Iraq contacted the United States and cleared the bases under attack.

Iran reported that 30 people were killed. The United States and reported that there were no casualties.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/irans-foreign-minister-we-do-not-seek-escalation-or-war-irans-supreme-leader-military-actions-not-enough
https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-iran-releases-statement-claiming-responsibility-for-attacks
https://www.foxnews.com/world/us-military-iran-iraq-missile-attack-warning-officials

Genius?

Trump made the following ten minute speech on Wednesday. Everyone could not wait:

There are a few things to look at with this speech.

We will remain strong and retaliate if Iran or any of its proxies kill Americans. This is huge.

The United States will place more sanctions on Iran for their attacks.

He has offered an olive branch and hopes for their success.

Trump did not tear Iran up or say how this was a set up or they were incompetent. This is big because Trump will give Iran the chance to save face.

Trump wants the rest of the world to realize that Iran is a menace.

Finally, World War III is over and Trump will deescalate.

This was one of his most important speeches in his Presidency and he hit it out of the park.

But is Iran now the eunuch we have always wanted them? Not at all. Here are some issues:

This could be a head-fake by Iran as pointed out by Dan Bongino. This could be to give Iran time to plan something big.
Iran will continue to poke at the United States with attacks. Trump has drawn a red line and he must make sure there will be consequences.
We need to monitor their nuclear program. It could be they are waiting to develop a nuclear bomb, creating a mutual assured destruction scenario (Dan Bongino).

I think the second scenario is most likely. I think this was an effort to save face. I also don’t think we’ve heard the end of them. I’m sure they will continue with their activities but distance themselves. These activities will avoid Americans and be smash-and-grab operations.

Iran has way too much to lose:

Iran’s army and revolutionary guard are huge. But that matters only in a ground war. Trump does not want a ground war.
Iran’s air force and navy are almost non-existent. It won’t take much to knock their military into the stone age.
Iran’s ballistic missiles are mobile and hard to hit, but their air defenses are way out of date.
Iran’s nuclear program may be a target. Our bunker buster bombs including the MOAB (Massive Ordinance Air Blast bomb) have proven extremely effective.
If we hit only a couple of Iran’s oil refineries, Iran’s economy would be toast.

Iran cannot have a relationship with the United States. I love Trump’s reaching out but it won’t happen.

Who’s Side Are You On, Anyway?

The press has been a disaster in this whole thing. Listen to this montage by Grabian actually mourning the loss of Qessem Soleimani:

When Soleimani was killed, we heard what kind of hero was killed and how Trump destabilized the Middle East and how they now hate us. Please.

When Iran made threats, they said that Trump is starting World War III. No, he was setting a precedence of deterrence.

Now that World War III is not happening, after a day, they are saying it was because of the reasonable leadership in Iran that countered our insane orange man.

Ugh. These guys are pushing propaganda.

Jan072020

Episode 114 – You Go, Ricky!

Fallout from the Soleimani killing continues. Trumps bans certain forms of vape products. The Democratic Presidential field is shrinking. It is looking more and more like Jeffry Epstein didn’t kill himself. And Ricky Gervais might have saved the Golden Globes.

The Saga Continues

The war of words continues between Iran and the United States.

The President of Iran responded:

So there you have it. The saber-rattling has begun

Do you remember when leaders of countries used to yell at each over the media? Now, they just Tweet at each other.

There have been some attacks. There were a missile attacks today. One in Nigeria or Yemen, one of the two, that killed an American and one at the Baghdad airport. No one is really sure if Iran is involved but you can bet they are.

By the way, this is the kind of attacks you can expect from Iran. I don’t think we should expect a huge terrorist attack. But you better believe that if another American dies, Trump is going to do something about it.

The pro-Iranian parliment voted to kick out the 5000 American troops from Iraq. This is a non-binding resolution and does not mean much at this moment because their Prime Minister has resigned. Of course the media is making a big stink out of this, but it’s not.

Pelosi is trying to limit Trump’s power when dealing with Iran. She’s ticked Trump didn’t report to Congress even if he had no legal reason to do so. She said in a letter to the House and Senate:

“This week, the House will introduce and vote on a War Powers Resolution to limit the President’s military actions regarding Iran. It reasserts Congress’s long-established oversight responsibilities by mandating that if no further Congressional action is taken, the Administration’s military hostilities with regard to Iran cease within 30 days.”

Trump, being a smart ass sent a Tweet stating that he warned Iran and Congress with this post on Sunday:

This isn’t over by a long shot. I will place bets right now another article of impeachment is in the works.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pelosi-moves-to-limit-trumps-actions-in-iran-with-war-powers-resolution-vote

Banning of Vape Products

Trump has decided to temporarily ban certain flavored juices for vape products. It is believed that the flavored oils are what is attracting our children to going out and vaping. Right now, only menthol and tobacco flavored oils are allowed.

This is in response to respiratory failure of around 100 children, leading to the deaths of almost twenty deaths.Vaping is illegal for anyone under the age of 21 and a lot of the illnesses have been linked, not to retail oils, but to black market counterfeit oils and THC products.

President Trump said last week:

This is a failure.

Though illegal, kids are still using it. A lot getting it from the black market. This will only increase dependency on the black market. This does not solve the problem.
Children who cannot get the oils will just start smoking cigarettes. The reality is that children are going to get what they want. They always have.
Again, it takes away a less unhealthy alternative to smoking. I’ve been vaping on-and-off for years. I have never had a problem. Why should kids doing something illegal affect me?

I just think it’s a bad idea to take away the freedom of the many because a few, that are doing it illegally, get hurt. You’re punishing me because some snot-nosed 16-year-old is acting like a snot-nosed 16-year-old. And a couple of hundred getting sick is not justification for the millions that have no other issues.

Oh, yeah. Nothing is going to get fixed by this

https://apnews.com/d22aed5d39273150d640e02ef89823cd

Only 47 Left

Julian Castro has suspended his campaign sighting financial issues. He also bases the problem on the DNC’s rules for candidates including the ones that determine who is allowed on the stage during debates. He believes these rules prevent diversity within the Democratic field. You knew he would bring up the race card.

What Julian forgets is he has been riding 1% since he started. He never had a chance. I guess those trans women are going to have to wait until 2024 to have those abortions.

Marianne Williamson has just fired her entire campaign staff. That’s too bad. She’s so much fun.

The Democratic candidates have announced their fundraising totals for the fourth quarter of 2019. The big winner: Donald Trump. For the Democrats:

Bernie Sanders – $34.5 million
Pete Buttigieg – $24.7 million
Joe Biden – $22.7 million
Elizabeth Warren – $21.2 million
Andrew Yang – $16.5 million
Amy Klobuchar – $11.4 million
Cory Booker – $6.6 million
Tulsi Gabbard – $3.4 million
Donald Trump – $46 million

Many Democrats dismiss Trump’s massive haul stating that, when the Democrats totals are combined, it far exceeds Trumps totals.

This assumes that people voting Democrat will vote Democrat no matter who is the nominee. That’s just not the case.

This also assumes Trump has received donations from big donors as Sanders and Warren suggest. This is also not the case.

What we can assume is that Gabbard and Booker will be the next to go and will probably miss the debate stage again.

https://www.npr.org/2020/01/02/793134302/juli-n-castro-suspends-2020-campaign-as-others-announce-fundraising-numbers
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bernie-sanders-tops-democratic-field-massive-345-million/story?id=68000913

This Just Keeps Getting Weirder

Photos were released of the Jeffry Epstein crime scene including autopsy photos of Epstein’s neck and pictures of two of the nooses made out of bed sheets.

Viewing the photos, it looks less likely Epstein killed himself and more likely he was strangled. But the whole circumstance is weird. I don’t talk about Epstein much so lets go over the facts.

Jeff Epstein is a pedophile and human trafficker. Hosted parties with huge figures such as Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew.

He was arrested and jailed. While in jail, he was housed with another inmate and on suicide watch. For some reason, his inmate was removed and he was taken off suicide watch. That night, he supposedly hung himself from his bed post with torn up sheets.

Here is what is weird:

He was suppose to be checked on every 15 minutes. Both guards on duty fell asleep, didn’t check on him for two hours and falsified records. Both are pending trial.
The ligature marks on his neck are inconsistent with hanging. He has broken bones around his adam’s apple which are inconsistent with hanging and consistent with strangulation.
Epstein was facing life in jail and was willing to cooperate with police. That puts a lot of people in the cross hairs of the police.
The cameras in the jail were not working. There were two of them. There was some video found though but it is unclear what that video shows.
The video that was found was lost and then found again.
The suicide note said to be found was not a suicide not.
There were two separate nooses found. Though the ligature marks were violent, no blood was found on either noose.
Dr. Michael Baden says that there are several irregularities including:
- The ligature markings don’t match the noose and,
- The body and evidence was collected incorrectly.

This case just keeps getting weirder. I am not a conspiracy guy but I think this guys was murdered and someone ain’t saying something. I hope this story doesn’t get lost because I bet there is a lot there.

The pictures that I did not show on the video cast are below. Viewer discretion is advised.

Epstein’s Jail Cell

Torn Up Sheets

The “suicide note” that really wasn’t.

One of the nooses.

Autopsy photo of the ligature mark.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/michael-baden-jeffrey-epstein-autopsy-graphic-photos-cell

Right on the Head

Best Golden Globes in a long time.

Nuff said.

Jan072020

Episode 113 Show Notes – Ding, Dong! The Devil is Dead!

President ordered the killing of Qessem Soleimani. And everyone is going nuts. I guess they forgot that Soleimani was a mass murderer and stuff.

Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead!

The saga continues.

While the U.S. was monitoring the attack on the U.S. embassy in Iraq, they caught something interesting. They saw the Iranian Major General and terrorist Qassem Soleimani. This guy was involved in the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of Americans.

Why is an Iranian general who is known to work directly with Hezbollah while a sect of Hezbollah is attacking the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Iraq? Hmm…

So the U.S. intelligence followed him and asked Trump what should happen. Trump authorized the killing of this animal. They sent a drone and…poof…Soleimani is in a thousand pieces.

Trump responded on Twitter:

But the best Tweet came this morning:

https://www.foxnews.com/media/mike-pompeo-qassem-soleimani-strike-iran-trump

Middle East Reaction

Iran had the expected response:

Who cares about if nations like Iran hate us. In a video a little later, you will see a video of a nation that doesn’t hate us: Iraq.

Also, we did do something: We killed one of Iran’s chief terrorists. But this wasn’t the only response:

So the threats are out there and Iran will retaliate. How much so is yet to be seen. I have a feeling that and attacks will be much of what Iran has been doing. Terrorist activities that involve Saudi Arabia, the Strait of Hormuz and more attacks on Israel. I doubt much will be seen against the United States directly since the United States has shown the we have met our tipping point.

The last thing the Mullahs of Iran want is to go too far and have the United States go after them. And, with the killing of such a high-impact target, they have to be weary of what the next move of the United States would be

Speaking of nations that hate us, there is one in the Middle East that is thrilled to see Soleimani dead. That is the people of Iraq. It wasn’t just the Americans that had to worry. The Iraqi people, most of whom hate Iran, were thrilled to hear about his death and spent the night celebrating. Thanks to Ruptly of YouTube for the footage:

For the United States, the celebration was cut short. Americans were warned to get out of Iraq or risk being targets of attacks.

The United States has made a stand and Americans abroad need to be aware.

Today, in his first press conference since the killing, Trump said:

https://www.foxnews.com/world/iran-promises-harsh-retaliation-after-us-airstrike-kills-iranian-gen-qassem-soleimani

Of Course, The Talking Heads Have Their Opinions

I don’t think much of the Left. There is no way that anyone could see that it was a bad think that this piece of human debris was dead. Well, hatred for the bad orange man and the United States does exceed the hatred of a mass murderer and terrorist organization.

The United Nations had the typical response when the United States does something on their own without asking their permission. U.N. reporter, Agnes Callamard Tweeted:

Um, no. This was a terrorist and, because of that, this does not violate any laws. And the fact that Soleimani was at the riots at the U.S. embassy and was involved with the terrorist attacks last week that killed an American defense contractor shows that this guy was not a real activist for human rights. I’m not even bringing up all the stuff he has done over the last ten years including the killing of hundreds of Iranian protesters over the last few months. This is a bad guy.

And when did the U.N. become the bastion of human rights unless it was an action the United States took?

What about the sweat shops and illegal arrests in China and their oppression of Hong Kong?
What about the dictatorship in Venezuela and their people who are starving?
What about the human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan and Iran?

Fr Christ’s sake, the U.N. put Iran, notorious for human rights violations, on the human rights council. I don’t really care for the U.N. and I think the property they are taking up in New York would be great for a Starbucks and Dominos Pizza.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/qassem-soleimani-strike-violated-international-human-rights-law-un-official

Of course, comrades Schiff and Pelosi had comments about this. Like why wasn’t the House notified so they could give the thumb’s up for the operation. Schiff Tweeted:

Congress also didn’t authorize the killing of Bin Laden. You know why? Because the killing of a terrorist doesn’t require Congressional approval.

This was also an opportunity for the country. They knew where this guy was. He would have been gone. So what? We wait for him to kill more people so we could find him again?

Anyway, Trump didn’t inform Schiff because it would end up on the front page of the New York Times by morning.

Pelosi released a statement:

Let’s see: Iran killed an American contractor last week, they blew up a Saudi oil field, they are dropping bombs on Israel through their actions in “Palestine,” they shot down one of our drones, attacked our embassy in Iraq and have killed close to 2000 people in their own country.

They already are threatening our citizens. Even giving them a pallet of cash, as Obama did, doesn’t seem to be slowing them down. Maybe it is time for our foreign policy goes in a different direction.

Again, Congress does not need to be “consulted.” Just as Congress wasn’t “consulted” during the Bin Laden Killing. Hey, at leas, maybe, they have another reason to impeach Trump.

But this isn’t the only one. Ilhan Omar said:

Stop him for what? Maybe this Soleimani was another brother she was married to at one point.

Rashida Tlaib Tweeted:

If we killed a Jew, Tlaib wouldn’t say a word. Last I checked, killing a terrorist is not declaring war. God, she’s stupid.

But we still have the genius of the group and she was eerily quiet on Twitter. I guess she had to break out the thesaurus to find new words since her Tweets have been getting a little dry lately. Here’s AOC:

The over-dramatization is awesome. No wonder she took so long to release this Tweet.

Soleimani was in Iraq committing a terrorist act against the U.S. embassy. So this is just killing a terrorist which isn’t an act of war.
Iran doesn’t want a war and, if there was one, millions wouldn’t die. That conflict would be done in three weeks.
Her last lines assume we are at war. That’s just stupid. Do you know what would have prevented war in 2003? The killing of Osama Bin Laden in 2002.

The comparison of the Iraq was in 2003 and this is a real stretch and just kind of dumb.

What About Our Presidential Candidates

Our Presidential candidates had a lot to say. They are all in front of cameras bitching about this but their Tweets are telling enough. Let’s go from the top down. Let’s start with Joe Biden.

This is why Biden can’t be President. He’s scared of these people and only think appeasement is the way to deal with them. Let’s not forget: He was Vice President when the Iran Nuclear Deal was signed. That didn’t stop Iran from doing anything.

Let’s look at Bernie:

Bernie was kicked out of a commune and was caught singing the Soviet national anthem, shirtless during his honeymoon. Pretty sure that’s going to come up if he wins the nomination.

But, one other thing: when did Bernie care about spending trillions?

Yeah, Mayor Pete is in third. I’m not going to use his last name because “butt” always seems to be a thing. Couple of issues with his statement:

He admits that this guy was bad.
He brings up that he was in the military…again.
Finally, he assumes he can stablize something that has never been stable.

Hey, Pete? How? More well-sculpted rhetoric.

What does Chief Warren have to say:

Again, same thing. No ideas. Do you see the pattern here?

Let’s see what Mean Girl Klobachar has to say:

Yes, she’s still a candidate so I have to include her but do you notice something? No solutions.

The Clinton and Bush administrations tried to ignore them. Nothing happened. They continued to be terrorists and started trying to build a nuclear bomb.

We have spent the entire Obama administration placating to these people. We gave them over a billion dollars in cash on pallets. Yet Iran kept on with their BS.

Actually punching them in the mouth seems to be the only thing we haven’t tried.

Finally, let’s read what Maryianne Williamson had to say:

I know: she’s not important and I didn’t read this before I put this in so I decided to include it. It also shows how dumb she is.

First, this is not a declaration so she wrong like every other Democrat.

What’s funny is she actually defends Trump with her second sentence. She’s right! Trump does have the authority to fight terrorism. Good for you, Marianne! Maybe you should run as a Republican in 2014!

https://www.foxnews.com/world/adam-schiff-says-americans-dont-want-war-with-iran-after-airstrike-that-killed-iranian-general
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2020-democrats-qassem-soleimani-trump-airstrike-congress-biden-warren-bernie-sanders
https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-ilhan-omar-attacks-trump-for-killing-top-iranian-terrorist-promotes-conspiracy-theory

But What Do Our Celebrates Think?

Anthony Hopkins, the guy who played Hannibel Lector in Silence of the Lambs, was asked why he never talked about politics. Hopkins, always a class act, said actors should stick with what they know and avoid politics because, “Actors are pretty stupid.”

Good thing for us they are so stupid, they don’t know how stupid they are or sound. That’s entertainment. It’s better than most of the movies they make.

First, John Cusak:

This is, by the way, why most actors don’t write. This whole post makes no sense. It also shows he has no idea what’s going on in the country or the world.

But that wasn’t the dumbass of the week. Enter Rose McGowen:

I don’t think 52% of Democrats feel bad for a country that exploits its people, oppresses women, executes gays, supports proxy wars throughout the Middle East to gain power, wants to destroy Israel and supports terror activities that has killed tens of thousands.

This idiotic Tweet started the #MoveToIran tag where she was lambasted. Even by the Left.

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/rose-mcgowan-twitter-apology-iran-killing-suleimani-usa-held-hostage-terrorist-regime
https://www.dailywire.com/news/anthony-hopkins-avoids-talking-politics-actors-are-pretty-stupid

Final Thoughts

I think Lindsey Graham said it best during a Fox News interview:

“All the thing Soleimani had done in the past were real, but he’s not dead today because of what he did in the past. He’s dead today because he miscalculated what President Trump would do regarding future attacks.”

This hits it on the head and why the Left is missing this. That’s why their rhetoric keeps losing them elections.

They have the Stuart Smalley philosophy on foreign policy. You remember Stuart Smalley? The SNL character played by Al Franken? Here’s a clip that will jog your memory:

Here’s the problem the Left has.

Conservatives already know we are good enough. We can tell the differences between evil and good. We can tell who wants to hurt us. Our actions are only about the good for us and the rest of the world.
Conservatives already know we are smart enough. We created the Internet, the best economy in human history and the strongest defense.
Conservatives don’t give a damn if anyone likes us. They just need to respect us an, in the case of countries like Iran, fear us.
The Left has always thought our country was bad. We are all racist, sexist, bigoted homophobes. And anything we do should be questioned.
The Left doesn’t think we are smart enough. The country wasn’t built on ingenuity but of the backs of slaves and oppression of the poor. We didn’t invent anything, the oppressed did. They do believe this.
The Left are globalists. They need the rest of the world to like us. We need to be kind to everyone. And this attitude is a recipe for disaster.

Here’s the story:

This guy was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people on, at least, two continents. He needed to die. The only tragedy here is he didn’t suffer.
Appeasement doesn’t work. Clinton and Bush ignored Iran and it didn’t slow them down. Obama appeased Iran and it didn’t slow them down. Trump just punched them in the mouth. Bet it works.
Soleimani was in Iraq, watching the attack on the U.S. embassy. Why was he there? He had no fear of appraisal. Well, they will now.
Everyone breath and mellow out. We aren’t going to war. We don’t want it. Iran definitely doesn’t want it. Relax.
There will be attacks. Iran must save face. These attacks will probably be in Saudi Arabia, Europe, the Strait of Hormuz and Israel where they will face little American payback (though Israel may be an issue for them). My guess they will attack assets more than people.

By the way, I just got an alert from Fox News stating that the United States had another airstrike in Northern Baghdad, killing five more Iran-backed militia. Wow.

Dec292019

Book Review: The Diversity Delusion

I love Fox News. Not because I am wildly entertained or believe in everything they tout. Tucker Carlson, who I religiously watch, is full of crap half the time. I watch them because I always great books to read. And I have just finished one on Audible. The book is The Diversity Delusion by Heather MacDonald.

In a nutshell, the book is about how our education system sacrificed education of our youth for the need to put diversity into the curriculem. Instead of making a priority of Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Dante, the Bible, St. Thomas Aquines, Freud, Chaucer, Bronte amongst thousands of others, our schools have decided to that the need for diversity (between races, religions and gender identity) far outweighs the need for art, especially when it comes to the promotion of Western Civilization.

This book really had an impact on me. Not because of the the seven hours of information (I knew a lot of that already) but because of the thirty minutes of analysis.

The book was broken into three parts. The first part was about how are students are behaving today. This goes over the snowflake generation. How our youth, especially the millineals and later generations, fight the discussions over anything they decide not to believe in. It starts with what happen right after my generation was in college and high school. Though the education system was alreay liberal, I could still argue with my instructors when I did not agree (though, being immature, I lost mostof the time) without any fear of repracussions. But, as the teachers got older and were replaced with far more radical teachers and as the lower grade levels were being indoctrinated into the school system, the conservative or inquisitive began to suffer retaliation.

This part goes through some extreme examples of the snowflakes fighting “the man.” It shows how nothing was off the table, how careers of great teachers were ruined and how our children just became more demanding and never learned how to deal with life. It also showed how diversity manipulated major do that something like Lesbian Dance Theory would become a legitimate major as opposed to math and science.

The second part of the book dealt with how the colleges dealt with this metamorphisis with the new generations of the college students.

They didn’t. In fact, they enabled behavior.

Teachers, who had become a minority compared to most administrations, were disciplined, fired or force to quit whenever they said something that offended the snowflakes. Students would protest and even become violent when conservative speakers would show up to campus. Faculty was required to go the diversity and implicit bias training.

The final part of the book dealt with the ever-expanding administations which required diversity committees, investigative committees searching and investigating bias, racism and sexual harassment and assault (I always thought the last was suppose to involve law enforcement but nope). The additional administration for these useless departments cost the state billions of dollars they did not have.

And with all this waste, who suffered? Teachers must now measure their curriculum for fear of hurting feelings. The students lose the education they need to have a critical mind that will give them the ability to see many points of view and question the reasons for those view .

But the worst loss for the students is the hiding of art because it may make some students uncomfortable or the artist might be the wrong race or gender. Artists like Plato, Aristotle, Twain, Mozart and Beethoven are rejected because of their race and are replaced African American history, gender studies and diversity education. The history of Western Civilization and being replaced and forgotten with our students learning how bad it is. Is it a wonder most Harvard students can’t pass the standard citizen test or recite the Pledge of Allegiance?

But, worse, it is not only the soft sciences that are being attacked but the hard sciences such as math, biology, chemistry and physics. The hard sciences require aptitude. I can never be a mathematician because I am just not good enough in math. There’s nothing wrong with it, I’m just nut great in math. The problem the social justice warriors are seeing is there are not enough blacks, women and transgenders in the hard sciences. So, the colleges, in order to be diverse, are lowering their standards for minorities so that more of them can be in these programs. Forget that most who are accepted based on these lower standards usually do not make it through the programs and that another minority, Asians, are losing spots to other minorities. Forget that some of the hard sciences, like medicine, require the competition for the best because these people will be operating on people in the future.

It’s just disgusting.

The last two chapters in the book I have mentioned already. They had the most impact and were also the shortest.

All the arguments McDonald made I have heard before. But her last argument was the best. Our student lose. Our young people, the ones who are going to lead our country will know nothing about it. They won’t know about the telios of Greek reason. They will not know about the moral purpose of Judeo Christian philosophy. They will not know the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas that brought the two philosophies together. They will not be able to critically read Neitsche, Marx, the Constitution or The Federalist Papers. They won’t know the beauty of Bach, The Beatles, Elvis, DaVinci, Picaso or Van Gogh because they are white and not worth celebrating.

It’s sad. It’s also reason we need to be far more involved in our children’s educations. We cannot trust the government to raise our kids for us not matter how convenient it will be.

Criticism

I have read several books about how the minds of our children are being molded because parents have entrusted the public school system to teach their children. This book should be the second in a two volume series.

There is a book called The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff. This book, though not as entertaining as McDonald’s book, shows the economic motivations of colleges. They believe colleges have become nothing more than for-profit corporations and students have become customers. And, you know what corporations say about the customers: the customer is always right. Behavior like this is, not only acceptable, but encouraged and seen as a growing, independent mind. Watch:

This amazing scene at at Yale University and the professor being threatened and yelled at is a tenured professor who has dozens of published studies. And this renowned Sociology professor, along with his wife who is also a teacher at Yale, are being threatened and yelled at by these snot-nosed teenagers because he sent an E-mail to the students stating that the students should be able to wear any Halloween costume that they want.

Let me repeat this: These are Yale students yelling at a tenured Yale professor because he sent an E-mail saying students should wear whatever Halloween costume they want!

Not only were these students not disciplined, the professors were threatened and almost forced to quit. It was only because of the publicity that this show got that gave the professors the bravery to continue on. Even the Left thought that this was a really poor and immature showing by the children. Bill Mahr, far from a Conservative, blasted these kids.

But this is what the system has supported and tolerates. Schools do not discipline their students anymore whether it be for disciplinary problems or bad grades. It is not not “if” I get my degree, it’s “when.” There are no articles of decorum. Do you think I would be able to talk to one of my professors like that at Cal State Northridge?

Anyway, back to The Diversity Dellusion. MacDonald’s book is far more entertaining and, honestly, sad than The Coddling of the American Mind. Unlike the former, Coddling rips on the structure and greed of the universities. It really does a good job analyzing how universities have changed and the expectation of the students that attend them. But it does not really do a deep dive on how the students are permanently affected.

MAcDonald’s book goes at the actions the universities execute and how our children are affected. MacDonald’s book is also written by a journalist not academics. So the writing, though less informational, is far more compelling and readable.

Both books are valuable to understanding the educational system and should be read together. The books together will give the readers a great look at the state of our universities.

Dec192019

Plato’s Republic Book I

Book I Summary

In this book, Socrates is in a small town outside of Athens for a religious festival. Just as the festival is concluding and he is about to leave, he is stopped by the sons of an acquaintance of Socrates. As they are traveling the subject of justice came up.

This turns out to be what the entire chapter is about. Each person gives their opinion on what justice is. In this chapter, Socrates does not actually define what justice is. He just argues against the other opinions of what justice and injustice is. One thing I want to point out is that I will not use names or summarize the chapter. I won’t mention that Cephalus thinks one thing and Polemarchus want to beat Socrates up. The reason is because trying to grasp 2400-year-old Greek names is difficult and the actual story is irrelevant to the ideas though it is interesting to see that people get pissed off when they lose an argument.

The first idea is that justice is one who follows his legal obligations, pays his debts and is honest. So if you owe a man money, it is just to pay the money back and injustice not to do so. But Socrates thinks this is wrong. He points out that some men are fools and will waste what he gets. Sometimes it might be better to keep the money until he is better able to deal with it. Another example would be borrowing a weapon from an insane man. Would it be prudent and just to give a mad man a weapon? Because it would endanger the lives of others, it would not be justice to return the weapon to its rightful owner.

Let’s say my friend loans me a shotgun so I can go hunting. I come back from my trip and find out he had a horrible fight with his girlfriend and they break up. When I talk to him, I find that he is angry, hurt and depressed. Would it be a good idea that I give him his shotgun back when he is in such a fragile state? Because I would be giving him a tool that could hurt him, his girlfriend or both, Socrates says it would be unjust to give him his property.

The second attempt at defining justice is from a young man (the son of Socrates’ friend). Justice is bringing friends help and causing harm to enemies. This argument shows the differences between the generations which is the goal of Plato. Though the two arguments may seem completely different, they aren’t. The first argument is made my an old, established and successful man. It is passive. This argument is made by a younger man who is trying to establish himself and is preparing for conflict. The younger man’s response is more aggressive.

Socrates has little problem blowing this argument out of the water. He says that human beings are not infallible. We may befriend bad people and have enemies that are virtuous. It is not just by helping a person without virtue yet attack those that are virtuous. He also says that friends and enemies change. Socrates also points out that it is hard to seeing causing harm, no matter to who, is justice in any way.

Then the discussion gets interesting. Enter Thrasymachus. Thrasymachus is a Sophist. A Sophist is a Greek teacher in philosophy. They are known to embrace human reason and be very skeptical of any moral standards, including that of justice.

Thrasymachus angrily enters the conversation. He states that justice is nothing more than the advantage of the strong. Thrasymachus doesn’t believe in moral concepts like justice and doesn’t really define it so much as he is delegitimizes it. He believes that concepts like justice are imposed on society by the strong and the desire to be just is unnatural. He believes it restrains us and we should ignore it entirely.

Life just got tough for Socrates. Before, all the discussions involved finding a definition for justice. Now he has to show that it has value and do it in front of someone who is hostile enough to want to fight him. This is the long part of the chapter.

The first thing Socrates does is to force Thrasymachus is to admit that he is promoting injustice as a virtue, not justice. He does this by pointing out that the only point, according to him, to life is to gather as much money and power as possible. The person with the most is considered the most virtuous. Socrates points out that injustice cannot be a virtue because it counters wisdom. The example he uses is one who has a skill that is virtuous like medicine, art and mathematics. The artist create art for the art itself and does not try to compete with other artists. For that, he’s paid for his art. A doctor does not compete with other doctors. He uses his wisdom for the benefit of the of the patient’s well-being and does not compete with any other doctors.

In short, justice is selfless and injustice is selfish.

Socrates points out that justice must exist even by the unjust. He uses the example of a gang of thieves. There must be justice, even among thieves, because if they followed Thrasymachus’ theory, the thieves would constantly be stealing from themselves and no one would trust or work with each other.

Thrasymachus is thoroughly beaten and knows it. The last point that Socrates bring is that justice is important to the health of the soul. Thrasymachus believed that justice is unnecessary and serves no point. Socrates points out that wisdom is a virtue of the soul. Since wisdom and justice are interrelated, justice must also be a virtue of the soul. Like good food and medicine makes a healthy body, virtues like wisdom and justice make for a healthy soul.

What Did We Learn

This chapter was just introducing us to justice and the subject. It also looked at the base philosophies on what justice is from the Hesiodic and the Sophist philosophy. Hesiodic philosophy studies a wide variety of philosophies from nature to divine justice. Unlike Sophist philosophy, morality and justice are embraced and debated. Plato’s goal was to have Socrates destroy the different takes on justice so that a new definition can be defined. Though justice is never defined in this first book, we see the direction Socrates is heading.

One of the best reasons to actually read the text as opposed to reading external resources suck as Spark Notes is to read how Socrates argues. He does not put words into the mouths of those he debates. He picks at their argument until the conclusion is undoubtedly what Socrates wants.

Because of some of the complicated explanations and lack of punctuation (quotes are not used) reading and understanding the debates can be very challenging. I had to read chapter 1 twice with outside resources. I am happy to say that chapter 2 is a lot easier to read and the the discoveries are really interesting.

What is really great is watching how Socrates debates. He doesn’t try to convince anyone of anything but uses the words of his adversary against him. He uses reason and his opponents own words against the argument. I have found that I have always done the same thing when I debate. I learned how to do this in a college speech and debate class. Now I know where the style came from.

And that is Book I of Plato’s Republic in a nutshell.

Dec192019

Episode 105 – Big Week for the President

We are so busy watching this stupid impeachment thing, we are ignoring all of President Trump’s accomplishments. Let’s go over them.

Great News, I Guess

I think this is good news!

Nancy Pelosi, about an hour after presenting articles of impeach the President, announced that an agreement on a trade agreement has been made between the United States, Canada and Mexico has been approved by the House. Nice.

I haven’t read it. I got a lot of this from the Daily Wire, which discussed who benefited, who lost and who won’t see anything. Let’s go over that.

Who Won

President Trump won. This was a deal he wanted and ran on. The Democrats, stuck in an unpopular impeachment, gave in. This is his huge victory though it doesn’t sound like the USMCA is too much better than NAFTA.

Nancy Pelosi won. Great political move. No matter how much she tried to make it about the House and not Trump, it was still started by Trump but this looks like Democrats can deal with Trump.

The unions won. There is not a minimum wage set for certain manufacturing jobs such as car parts. Also, an American car will have to have a certain percentage of parts

Canada won. They gave little and got a little more. They have to open their dairy trade a little more but they are looking at a major boost in manufacturing.

Who Lost

Mexico lost big. The raising of wages is going to kill them because American companies won’t be jumping to Mexico for cheap labor. They also took a big agricultural hit.

The American consumer gained nothing and maybe lost. The provision in this whole thing is that other countries needed to raise their minimum wage. With that, it doesn’t look like consumer goods will get cheaper.

China lost. We are dealing with other countries. What do we need them for?

Overall?

This USMCA has been estimated to be about 15-20% better than NAFTA. Which is good.

The difficulty, especially now, is hard to go extreme because of the economic levels of the other countries. But, I think, we can chip away and possibly make those other countries stronger. What do I mean by this?

I haven’t read the USMCA but I think it should be renegotiated every ten years. It shouldn’t be something that sticks around for decades until a President wants to get rid of it. Economies change but these trade deals stay stagnant.

Phase 1 of the New Chinese Trade Deal

Donald Trump had some great news today:

Phase One includes an agreement from China to buy $50 billion worth of U.S. agricultural products, President Trump said during a Friday press briefing. But other sources say the number could be lower at around $32 billion over two years.

$160 Billion in tariffs were planned to take hold this Sunday on clothing. But that has been tabled because of the progress being made during trade negotiations.

Some negative effects of the tariffs include:

Job growth in manufacturing went down significantly.
Agriculture, especially the soy bean industry took a huge hit since China buys tons of agriculture from the United States.
Consumer prices, especially on cars, has risen dramatically.

Both the agriculture and manufacturing industries are working with the President to weather this storm. That’s because they know things could be a lot better. The Chinese have not been very cooperative with the United States for decades.

We are in a $419 billion trade deficit because China refuses some U.S. exports or lays heavy restrictions.
There is a huge problem with the Chinese stealing our intellectual property. The new wireless technology, 5G is an example.
We can’t compete with their manufacturing. China runs sweatshops that allows their citizens to earn slave wages. That’s why companies like Apple and Nike have factories in China.

Trump says that Phase 1 of the deal will be signed in January and negotiations for Phase 2 will begin immediately.

Of course, the Democrats can’t give Trump a win (well, they already did that a couple of times this week). Here’s what Chuck Schumer had to say in a Tweet:

Whatever. What do you expect from a pig but a grunt.

Here’s my thoughts:

I hate tariffs but something had to be done.
The President should have been more forward about the effects of the tariffs and trade war.
Trump was right. China is not that economically strong. They caved.

This needed to happen. Someone was going to suffer eventually. But no President had the guts to fight this trade war. He did and he’s winning.

Stock Market and Jobs Report

Since the announcement of the trade deals, the stock market has been booming and is at record highs. We expect this to continue because, as negotiations continue and the Christmas season sees less problems because of the tariffs, confidence will rise. That’s awesome.

The Jobs Report for November was over-the-top.

The projections said 180,000 jobs would be created. It turned out there were 266,000 jobs created.

The jobless rate dropped to 3.4%!

The average hourly raise rose 7 cent or 3.1% to $28.29 per hour. The average work week increased to 34.4 hours.

I want you to remember that last stats. Because somebody is not telling the truth.

Ahh, I won’t keep you in suspense. AoC is lying to you. Bernie Sanders is lying to you. Elizabeth Warren is lying to you. Ilhan Omar is lying to you. In fact, every Democrat who claims there is a wage disparity is a liar.

There are 327 million people and the average hourly wage is over $28 an hour? Does it sound like most people are suffering?

The average work week is almost 35 hours a week? How many people who are working 35 hours a week are working three jobs?

What’s really weird is, with all these economic successes, the Democratic candidates want to change change all this. They want to:

Raise taxes. Up to 90% for “rich” people.
Create nanny state programs like college for all and crap like that.
They want to allow felons and children to vote, allow voting with no IDs and even allow immigrants to vote.
Take away heath insurance for millions and give it to everyone, including illegal aliens.
Allow abortion up to birth and beyond.
Forget the men are men and women are women. Allowing boys to walk into a girls restroom because they “feel” they are girls.
Legalizing drugs.
Add more regulations including for Rights that are in the Constitution.

I won’t even go into the climate crap.

Does this sound like good, solid policy?

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

Parallels

The road that Great Britain takes is never far from the road the United States takes.

Last week, the leader of the Conservative Party received a mandate during their elections. Johnson will remain the Prime Minister and the Conservative Party will remain in power, soundly defeating the communist anti-Semite Jeremy Corbyn and the Left wing Labour Party.

The defeat of labour was such a blood bath that Jeremy Corbyn, a piece of garbage of a human being, resigned from his position in the Labour party.

This victory has some real heavy affects both on Great Britain and the United States”

It is the second election that mandates Brexit. That is Great Britain leaving the European Union. By the end of January, Great Britain will be an independent country again.
It puts the socialists on blast. The Left is being rejected by the moderates.
The U.S. elections seem to trend the way Great Britain’s election trend and vice versa. This is awesome news especially since the Left in Britain mimic that of the United States. And we’ve always said the Left was not in line with the typical American.

This is going to be a huge call for the Left and the Democrats. Especially the way the Left responded after the election.

Antifa threw a fit again. There were a ton of protests thrown after the Conservative party won. Antifa started breaking windows, over turning cars and whining with their little chants.

I guess the people who vote in England are also sick and tired of lesbian dance theory majors, who don’t hold jobs, coming out of their parents’ basement and bitching they didn’t get their way.

I am so excited for November 2020.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/corbyns-bloodbath-defeat-in-uk-election-sends-warning-to-2020-democrats