FEELING PARANOID? YOU HAVE GOOD REASON TO BE!

Image result for spy pictures     The other day I shopped on-line for a specialty dog collar.  I used Amazon and Google.  When I was done I went to the Drudge Report, and low and behold, I was seeing dog collar ads.  I then went to AOL, read an article, and was confronted with more dog collar ads.  Later, using Google for research, more dog collar ads.  Same thing with Facebook, dog collar ads were abundant.  Here, there and everywhere, I was surrounded with ads pressing me to buy a dog collar.

This is not an unusual occurrence. If you use the internet, your being tracked.  Where you go and what you do is being captured, and bought and sold by a variety of different businesses.  It doesn’t matter if your shopping, researching, or having fun with social media, someone or something is tracking every keystroke.  If you use free e-mail, that too is monitored.  Virtually everything you do on the internet is being monitored, with the possible exception of anything purposely encrypted, and there are ways around that too.

Your devices, cellphones, smart TV’s, Alexa, and other common household electronics have the potential to look at you or record whatever is being said in their proximity.  Your laptop’s camera can spy on you when your using it, or in the same room when it is on.  Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and other social media programs can take hold of your devices and watch and hear your activities.  In fact James Comey himself said that he tapes over his laptop camera and the camera on his phone for this very reason.

If you use credit or debit cards, you bank is disseminating your information about your balances, purchases, and your credit worthiness.  Grocery stores have customer loyalty programs that track your purchases, hotels have loyalty programs that track your travels, as do airlines.  Most everything you do in life is being tracked by one organization or another.

The government even spies on you.  The NSA was outed by Edward Snowden, who let us know that they had a bulk storage site full of servers storing cellphone conversations, social media activity, and internet use on virtually every American.  To date the NSA says that they curtailed that program, but who really knows?  A spy organization caught spying, telling us they won’t do it again.  That promise has a credibility issue.

Needless to say this wired society that we live in has its benefits, but many of us do not consider the downsides to this massive intrusion on our privacy.  We are being spied on every minute of every day.  People and organizations now have the ability to profile us in ways that were impossible just a few short years ago.  Our government has been monitoring what we write and say.  In this electronic age, we have nowhere to hide, and we are vulnerable to powers that have the technical means to either make our lives better, or to take control of our lives and make it much worse.

Where did our right to privacy go?  The right to privacy is alluded to in the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, which states, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath …  Are the conduct of internet companies and the government upholding the 4th Amendment, or have we as a society abdicated the right to privacy in order to enjoy the convenience of modern technology?  Is the convenience worth the possible cost?  Time will tell…..

AMERICA’S HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION

Once upon a time we were a fledgling nation, with a population of just a few million people, with 3,200,000 square miles of mostly uninhabited land.  We were desperate for people to help us settle this land, and our borders were open to anyone that wanted to come and work.  People came, mostly from Ireland, Scotland, England, and Western Europe, looking for opportunity that they could not find in their homelands.  Immigration was key to the success of the USA as a nation, and newcomers were embraced.

Immigration continued unabated throughout most of our history, and it had a positive effect on our development.  Major cities were formed, which gave rise to heavy industry and a workforce that could support it.  Immigration was the central reason for our rise as an industrial power, and it was immigration that eventually made us a superpower and the #1 economy in the world.

Let’s take a look at some immigration statistics:

Census Year Total
Population
Increase Increase
%
Urban
%
Rural
%
1790 3,929,214 5.1 94.9
1800 5,308,483 1,379,269 35.1 6.1 93.9
1810 7,239,881 1,931,398 36.4 15.4 92.7
1820 9,638,453 2,398,572 33.1 7.2 92.8
1830 12,860,702 3,222,249 33.4 8.8 91.2
1840 17,063,353 4,202,651 32.7 10.8 89.2
1850 23,191,876 6,128,523 35.9 15.4 84.6
1860 31,443,321 8,251,445 35.6 19.8 80.2
1870 38,558,371 7,115,050 22.6 25.7 74.3
1880 50,189,209 11,630,838 30.2 28.2 71.8
1890 62,979,766 12,790,557 25.5 35.1 64.9
1900 76,212,168 13,232,402 21.0 39.6 60.4
1910 92,228,496 16,016,328 21.0 45.6 54.4
1920 106,021,537 13,793,041 15.0 51.2 48.8
1930 123,202,624 17,181,087 16.2 56.1 43.9
1940 142,164,569 18,961,945 15.4 56.5 43.5
1950 161,325,798 19,161,229 14.5 64.0 36.0
1960 189,323,175 27,997,377 18.5 69.9 30.1
1970 213,302,031 23,978,856 13.4 73.6 26.3
1980 236,542,199 23,240,168 11.4 73.7 26.3
1990 258,709,873 22,167,674 9.8 75.2 24.8
2000 291,421,906 32,712,033 13.2 81.0 19.0

 

That’s not to say that immigration was never an issue.  There was a xenophobic reaction to the mass immigration of Irish, German, and Italian Catholics in the 19th Century.  Native born citizens thought that these new additions would be ruled by the Pope, undermining the society that they had previously built.  The Chinese brought an even more nativist policy, culminating in the Chinese Exclusion Act passed by Congress in 1882.

Throughout most of our history, immigrants contributed to our society with their labor and their ambition.  When they arrived they expected nothing more than the opportunity to succeed and that was all that they got.  They were productive and did not put any burden on our government, and they did not expect to be entitled to anything except for what they could earn legitimately.  Each group coming was expected to assimilate into our “melting pot” and that is what happened, with rich and colorful additions to our society in forms of arts and culture brought from their home countries.  It was in this way that the “melting pot” worked, and it worked well, at least until we became a welfare state.

We now transfer more than 14% of our GDP to individuals.  Part of this transfer now goes to immigrants, both legal and illegal.  Many recent immigrants now do not assimilate, do not work, do not pay taxes, but collect benefits supplied by the taxpayers.  We are now funding shadow cultures with taxpayer dollars, people who are here not to work hard for a better life, but those that believe somehow they are entitled to collect off of the largess of a country that they only marginally participate in.

Most efforts to actually control immigration were half-hearted throughout our history, with laws that were conflicting and sometimes downright idiotic.  To this day we have not put together a comprehensive plan to protect our borders and to control the influx of immigrants.  Because of our lack of focus on this issue, we find ourselves in an illegal immigrant invasion on our southern border, and a wavering polarized congress that is shirking their duty to address this problem with some sort of sensible legal solution.  This problem, combined with being a welfare state that makes it attractive for immigrants to come without embracing the idea of assimilation, make it imperative that we push congress to do their job.  We have to get this under control.  If not eventually it could be the demise of our nation.

We are pressing congress to do their job, and today there will be an effort to vote for a solution in the House of Representatives.  The bill that they are pressing will deal with border protection, DACA, and a sensible way to control immigration with a merit based system.  Virtually every Republican in congress will vote yes on this bill, but it is doubtful that any Democrats will.  Republicans have a majority in congress, but need at least a few Democrat votes to get the bill passed and on to the Senate.  If this happens, it is certain that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will resist having any of his Democrat Senators show support for this bill.

Republican lawmakers see a need to control immigration because we are a welfare state, and we cannot let masses of under skilled uneducated people flood in for a free ride.  We are now populated, and no longer need and unending flow of people to inhabit an unpopulated land.  What we do need are skilled workers and seasonal laborers.  Democrats, on the other hand, see the flood of uneducated masses as new democrat voters that will eventually tip the scales in their favor.  They see our present broken system as a way to perpetuate their power ad infinitum.  This is why we see this polarization, where the two competing parties have widely different interests in the control of immigration, and this is also why we may not see immigration reform for some time to come.

Right now we are focused on family separation at our borders.  Illegal aliens are coming across with their children with the expectation that they can stay.  Until yesterday with the Presidents Executive order, they were then separated from their children. With our zero tolerance policy, now adults are immediately arrested for breaking the law, and if they do not agree to go back to their homeland, they are incarcerated with their children until a judgement is made on their eligibility for amnesty.  If granted they can stay and are relocated to a place in our mainland.  If not, they will be sent home.  It is a messy program that needs to be stopped, but without the support of congress, this broken system will remain in place. The only solution is for congress to do their job, and that seems to be a very tall order in today’s political climate.

 

FREE SPEECH, AND THE DEARTH OF POLITICAL LEADERSHIP

We are truly blessed in the USA!  The First Amendment of the constitution, which precludes the government from inhibiting free speech, gives us the right to say just about anything about any topic without fear of civil repercussion.  Writing this article is protected, as is all other forms of communication, including but not limited to the media.  This is a precious gift that is not duplicated in many other parts of the world, and it is part of what makes us truly free.

Free speech is also a double edged sword.  People can put a spin on events to their own purpose, and so too can the media.  Global warming can be a hoax, or the biggest threat to humanity, depending on what spin catches your eye.  Fossil fuel can be the driving force for taking much of the planet to prosperity, or it just might be the reason for all environmental ills, depending on who you are listening to.  Barack Obama was either the greatest President or the worst, if your listening to either CNN or FOX.  Free speech, although a blessing, does not guarantee that the truth be told.

There are many truly great leaders in our country.  Mary Barra has done a fantastic job bringing General Motors back from the brink.  Marc Benioff has taken a start-up, SalesForce, from obscurity to #1 in its field.  Warren Buffett, well, I don’t need to say anything more about him!  Ursula Burns was an exceptional CEO for Xerox, and I could go on and on and on….  We don’t have a problem finding leaders for business or other civilian endeavors in our country.  Good people are all around, people that can lead with vision.

Politics, on the other hand, has a big issue with finding qualified visionary leaders.  We tend to attract people that have little skill in this area.  Instead of getting the best, we seem to be left with those that would not be able to successfully lead in any other civilian endeavor.  We get the likes of Bernie Sanders, Keith Ellison, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, Hillary Clinton, Lisa Murkowski, Maxine Waters, Elizabeth Warren, and John McCain.  Not one of these people would be picked to run a legitimate profitable business.  That doesn’t mean that we never get good leadership, but that quality is not the rule in politics.

One big reason for this is our 1st Amendment.  With unfettered free speech, the media and the contestants have turned politics into a blood sport!  Nothing is off limits in a campaign.  Opponents hire search firms to find out everything in their competitors past, and if there is anything that can be spun into a dirty narrative it will be.  Likewise, media will put their best investigative reporters on a mission to find dirt on candidates that do not boost their narrative, and if found will be put on the air nationwide.  Few of us are without sin, and even fewer would want to be put to this kind of scrutiny.  It seems that the 1st Amendment that gives us freedom of speech also guarantees us poor political leadership.  Freedom of speech truly comes at a cost!

ANOTHER SAD DAY FOR THE LIBERAL DREAM OF A “BLUE WAVE”

We are just 2 days away from the historic Singapore summit, where President Trump and Chairman Kim signed an agreement of intention to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.  Since then, there has been sirens on the left attempting to de-legitimize the effort.

Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement on Tuesday that he welcomes efforts to “de-escalate tensions and pursue diplomacy, but proof of success will only come when we see substantive and verifiable evidence that North Korea is eliminating its nuclear arsenal.”

He criticized the declaration reached between Mr. Trump and Kim as being “very light on details” and “is the beginning of a long negotiation process.”

“It is troubling, however, that the Trump administration has given the North Korean regime many sought-after wins up front without getting anything in return,” Biden said.

He added, “Talking to dictators is one thing; embracing them is another. So far, this is not a deal that advantages the United States or makes us safer.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took to the Senate floor to discuss the U.S.-North Korea summit, saying the agreement reached between Mr. Trump and Kim is “short on details” and “vague” on concrete action.

“We must get action not just photo ops,” urged Schumer.

Schumer says the joint agreement views denuclearization as a “far off goal” with no clear pathway on how to achieve it or verify that North Korea has in fact disarmed.

He noted however that it was a “welcomed improvement to see them have a dialogue rather than engaging in name calling,”

“We are all rooting for diplomacy to success, we must be clear-eyed about what a diplomatic success looks like with North Korea.”

“We want to see these efforts succeed and ensure that what has just transpired was not a reality show summit,” Schumer said. “What the United States has gained is vague and unidentifiable at best. What North Korea has gained, however, tangible and lasting.”

He said the U.S. must be “clear-eyed” about what a diplomatic success looks like, but added later he believes Trump has “undercut our foreign policy” by agreeing to freeze joint military exercises with South Korea. He also said that Trump has failed his own standard of a denuclearized North Korea.

“President Trump has not made much progress toward that goal yet and had given up substantial leverage already,” Schumer said. “The leverage of joint military exercises, the leverage of an audience with the president of the United States.”

Nancy Pelosi had this to say: “Nuclear nonproliferation is a pillar of America’s national security. We respect any serious and real diplomatic efforts to achieve that goal on the Korean peninsula. Apparently, the President handed Kim Jong-un concessions in exchange for vague promises that do not approach a clear and comprehensive pathway to denuclearization and non-proliferation.

“In his haste to reach an agreement, President Trump elevated North Korea to the level of the United States while preserving the regime’s status quo. The millions of families currently living in fear of nuclear weapons in the region deserve strong and smart leadership built on diplomacy and engagement with our regional partners and allies.

“The President’s marginalization of the vast expertise of the State Department and his habitual disparaging of our allies as demonstrated at the G7 Forum hinders a lasting, stable pathway to peace.”

Maxine Waters said that the Singapore summit was a travesty, and that “its now time to start talking about impeaching this President”.  The drumbeats from the left are deafening, signaling their heartfelt wish that this President fail in the endeavor to bring peace to the Korean peninsula.  The mainstream media is on their same page, bringing in “experts” that nay-say the Presidents efforts and predict a big disappointment rather  than a win for the world.  All this after 1 meeting that actually had positive initial results.

Why the pushback?  Is it a real concern that the President is going down the wrong path for peace, or is it a cynical effort to paint a negative picture in order to undermine public perception in order to somehow elevate their efforts in the 2018 mid-term elections?  Sadly, my opinion is that the latter is the case.  They cannot countenance any win by the President, because it makes their chances of taking over congress and getting rid of the President less likely.

The President and the Conservative movement has been winning.  His approval numbers are higher than either Obama’s or Reagan’s at the same time frame in their Presidencies.  In 1.5 years, he has eliminated all but one last vestige of the Obama legacy, with only Obamacare impeding a total sweep.  We have seen tax reform, shrinking government and our military strengthened.  The economy is buzzing with success after success and our stock market is having steady gains.  Our unemployment rate is at historic lows, and jobs and overseas profits are coming back to us at an unprecedented rate.  Illegal immigration is now finally being properly addressed, and we are sending record numbers of these people back.  Our Supreme Court is now more conservative than in recent history, and it appears that our President will be able to appoint another conservative to the bench in short order.  Lower court appointments are also leaning conservative, balancing out the liberal domination that has been pandemic in recent years.  Add to that the historic Singapore summit for even more “winning”!  America is coming back, and this is not boding well for the Liberal Democratic Party.

The long waited for “Blue Wave” that has buoyed the hopes of every Liberal Progressive Socialist (Democrat) is now more elusive than ever.  The last thing that they want is another win for conservatives, but that is what they are faced with.  Regardless of the cynical statements and reporting by the mainstream media, they cannot drown out the fact that the conservative view of America is back, and it is a positive driving force for us to achieve the goal of “Making America Great Again”!

AS THE OLD WORLD ORDER COLLAPSES, A NEW WORLD ORDER IS EMERGING

At the G7 meeting, some members were ruminating about how Donald Trump may be the single catalyst destroying the world order that Western Powers have enjoyed for 7 decades.  Since the end of WW2, the United States has been the leader of the free world.  The United States historically stopped the Soviet push for world domination during this period and by economic dominance threw them into the ash heap of history.  The USA contained the spread of communism and aggressively promoted democracy worldwide.  Through economic leadership by promoting a free market style hybrid capitalism, the USA brought unprecedented wealth to the free world, and along the way assisted societies like China and Vietnam to achieve unimaginable economic results.  Some G7 members feel that this relationship with the USA is starting to unwind.  Is it, or is this just a symptom of a changing world?

After WW2, most of the world was in various states of destruction.  Western Europe was in ruin, China was battered, Russia suffered unimaginably, Korea was decimated, Japan was even nuked, and literally the last man standing was the USA.  Unlike the aftermath of WW1, when the Europeans at Versailles made it a point to compound Germany’s pain by implementing crushing reparations that ultimately led to another world war, the United States took a different direction.  In a very benevolent fashion, the USA altruistically implemented the Marshall Plan in 1948, investing over 13 billion taxpayer dollars (145 billion in today’s currency) to rebuild Western Europe,  including Germany.  This resulted in a very fast recovery for them, and they also adopted various forms of hybrid capitalism and democracy.  They were now on a road to prosperity that they had never seen before.

Japan also was given favorable treatment by our occupation and investments in their rebuilding efforts.  They also developed a new, democratic form of government and embraced a form of capitalism, resulting in a fast recovery and undreamed of wealth for the average Japanese citizen.  This was all the result of our occupation led by General MacArthur.

After the creation of North and South Korea, US investment in South Korea was massive, and once again with very positive results.  Unlike North Korea, that to this day is one of the poorest and most politically oppressed nations in the world, South Korea is a shining example of what capitalism and democracy can do for a nation.  They are a model of what a 1st world nation looks like, and able to compete with any nation on the face of the planet.

During this post-war rebuilding period, we gave recovering countries free access to our markets, with very little in the way of trade barriers.  Conversely, these same trading partners put up barriers of their own, and we looked the other way.  We were at that time the strongest economy in the world, one that was assisting in rebuilding many nations after the war, and had the insight to know at that time our partners trade barriers were there simply to assist in recovery.

Since the end of WW2, there has been a resurgence in both prosperity and freedom for most of the planet.  Even so called communist states like China have eased up on their absolute control of the individual.  Although regional conflicts still arise from time to time, no major worldwide conflict has reared its ugly head, and this is largely because of the influence of the USA.  The United States still controls the largest and most lethal military in the world, and uses that power to stabilize a world that has a natural proclivity to go out of control.

But the times “they are a changing”!  Russia has come back under the leadership of Vladimir Putin.  Although their economy is relatively small, approximately 10X smaller than USA, Russia is investing a lot of money into military preparedness.  Mr.  Putin is not afraid to use this relatively newfound power, and has recently taken over the Crimea by force from the Ukraine, has invaded Georgia, and has inserted itself in the Libyan conflict.  Putin is causing great concern with former satellite states, with the worry that they may be next.  Russia has made overtures to the Iranians, Pakistani’s, Turkey (a NATO member), North Korea and China, with positive results.

China, largely through the efforts of the USA and the rest of the Western World, has emerged as an economic powerhouse.  In the past 3 decades, much manufacturing has left the Western World and relocated to China in order to enjoy lower prices.  In many cases, the move was forced upon manufacturers by retailers like Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s, etc…, who pushed their vendors into this action through outright threats and intimidation.  China has invested much of their newfound success into their own industries (Steel, Aluminum, Aerospace, Cars, Electronics, etc…).  Further, they have required Western businesses to share technology in order to benefit from China’s low wages, and many businesses have capitulated to that threat, resulting in China having one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

China has also invested heavily in its military, and has built what many claim to be the 2nd most lethal military in the world.  They have also claimed as theirs a major trading route, the South China Sea, and have built islands on top of reefs strategically throughout this maritime region, weaponizing them like stationary aircraft carriers, complete with planes, missiles and other weaponry to head off any interference by foreign (primarily American) Navy’s.  They have become a power to deal with, and they are now heavily aligned with other bad players, including but not limited to Russia and Pakistan.

In addition, China in cooperation with Russia is attempting to create a new “Silk Road” using both ports and railways in order to exploit trade with the European continent.  This is being done by forming relationships with other countries like Pakistan and Sri Lanka for ports, and countries like Myanmar, Cambodia, and Turkey for “right of way” to build a railroad from China to the European Markets.  This is done in part through investments made in infrastructure by China in order to gain influence.  China is also gaining influence in Africa, Central and South America using similar strategies in order to have free access to their raw materials, and to open up new markets for Chinese goods.

Russia and China are cooperating in other areas too!  Militarily, there is a cross-fertilization that assists both players in a “catch up” game with the USA.  Between sharing technologies and hacking American military databases for military technology secrets, they are rapidly coming closer to USA’s capabilities.  China is also dependent on energy purchases from the Russian Regime for their basic energy needs, and Russia is dependent on China for low cost consumer goods.  They truly are partners, and with military and economic moves, along with newly formed alliances, they are together a force to be reckoned with.

There is a new world order in the making, and it appears that Russia and China will be major players in this creation.  The USA and Western Civilization will also be major players, but the game is changing and the play has not yet been set.  In a sense, some G7 members are right, the current world order is going away.  Talk of abandoning the USA because of Donald Trump’s push for open markets, using tariffs as a catalyst is not the reason.  Trump’s push for fair trade is actually a plea to come together, not to come apart.  Tariffs are being used to start a conversation, not to end it.  He is trying to pull nations together that we helped to recreate after WW2.  He is also trying to use tariffs to negotiate with China on leveling the playing field.  Nations no longer need us to give them unfettered access to our markets, whilst they do not reciprocate.  If we are to create a new world order based on our shared values, equitable trading standards are a required first step.