It is the beginning of another month which means it is again time to review the latest political class insanity from Washington and around the world. Political class insanity takes many forms including the wasting of taxpayer wealth, criminal fraud within government programs, inane and stupid political quotes and actions, the inability to create and implement effective and efficient government programs, stupid and ill performing economic policies and strategies, and other forms of insanity that continue to evolve and surprise and shock us.
Today and for all of the insanity posts this month, let’s start off with a welcome piece of honest political dialog. It comes from a State Department spokesperson. Mark Toner, who is about to start the daily State Department press briefing. In a joking matter, he makes the following quote: "Welcome to the State Department. I think we have some interns in the back. Welcome. Good to see you in this exercise in transparency and democracy."
He then burst out laughing at his own quote, indicating he also knew what a joke the Obama administration has been, especially Mr. Toner’s State Department, when it comes to cover ups, lack of transparency, denial of Freedom of Information Act requests, the prosecution of whistleblowers, etc. But at least it was a little refreshing to finally hear some actual honesty out of Washington as we see from the actual clip of the news conference:
With that context of honesty, let’s see what other insanity has been going down:
1)One of the most important, and few justifiable jobs of government, is to protect the citizenry from either criminals or foreign entities that would do us harm. So it is pretty depressing when a sitting member of Congress does not even recognize that basic responsibility of government.
Such was the case when a current member of the U.S. Senate from California, Kamala Harris stated that she was upset that illegal immigrant criminals were being deported because they were criminals. Huh? Specifically, here comment was: “It’s outrageous the [Trump] administration is saying anyone who might have committed a crime qualifies for deportations.” Would she rather we give them a medal for committing a crime while here illegally? How does one argue with stupid logic like this?
She doubled down on her stupidity with this follow up comment: “They’re [the Trump administration] lowering the bar and in suggesting that anything, even that someone may have committed a crime might qualify for deportation, that’s just extreme and outrageous.” Why wouldn’t any illegal immigrant who committed a crime be the FIRST type of illegal immigrant be deported? Do you want those that have not committed a crime to be the FIRST considered for deportation? Sure, let’s keep the rapists, murderers, and drug runners safe and sound in this country just because they are illegal immigrants.You cannot make this stuff up, simply illogical and out of touch with reality.
2) In this country, there is a Federal/national level of government and state and local levels of government. It is understood that state and local levels of government will comply with Federal Laws unless courts overturn those Federal laws. It is a pretty simple and straightforward process.
But now comes the issue of so-called “sanctuary cities,” cities that have told the Federal government that they have decided not to comply with existing Federal laws when it comes to identifying, detaining, and help deporting illegal immigrants including those that have committed crimes. They seem to think that they have the authority to pick and choose what Federal laws they want to abide by.
Which is not how our republic is supposed to work from a rule of law perspective. If these cities and local citizens do not like an immigration law, then the proper way to deal with it is to repeal the laws that they disagree with via Congress and the President. Otherwise, we end up with anarchy with everyone deciding what laws they like and obey and which ones the do not like and can disobey without consequences.
Which makes this story all that more depressing in that 33 state governments are in the process of passing laws to outlaw “sanctuary cities” within their borders. Yes, we have had to go to the extreme of passing state laws that force local government to comply with Federal laws. Seems like a waste of time and energy given so many other important issues that continue to go unresolved but once the rule of law becomes optional, additional rules and laws are necessary and we end up chasing our tails.
And it's not like the vast majority of Americans support sanctuary cities, reputable national polls show that most Americans recognize the rule of law and the need to orderly change laws to conform to national interests and desires. These polls have consistently shown that in general, around 80% of Americans are against sanctuary cities, illiustrating that they recognize the danger and illegality of such cities. It is just a small minority of local mayors and town councils that think they are above the law which results in more laws and which gets the whole situation more and more insane.
3)What’s a daily update on the latest political insanity without a quote from the most insane politician of all, Nancy Pelosi? Before we get to her latest inane quote, let’s put her career in perspective:
- She has been in Congress for a very long time.
- During that time, the national debt has ballooned out to an unfathomable $20 TRILLION.
- Tax levels have risen.
- Economic growth has been anemic at best.
- The labor participation rate has hit bad levels not seen since the Carter administration.
- The growth in household wages and income has been more or less stagnant.
Thus, she has been at least partly responsible for the lousy economic growth and prospects for working Americans over the past few decades, decades that saw her wealthy skyrocket while the wealth of most American families and workers lag far behind.
Given that context, the following tweet she recently sent out would be hilarious if it was not so ironic and out of touch with reality: “President Trump can’t hide from the fact that his administration has done nothing to help hard-working Americans.” Again, huh?
Trump has been in office less than 100 days. During that time, the stock market has gone way up, unemployment levels have improved, many companies have announced billions of dollars that will be invested in domestic factories and facilities, etc. Trump, who I am not a great fan of, has probably done more good for the American family and worker in less than three months than the carnage that Pelosi oversaw during her tenure in Washington.
This forces us to ask the question of Ms. Pelosi that we have asked many times in this blog: what is the color of the sky in her world since it is obvious she is not living in our world or our reality.
4) As we stated above, one of the few legitimate functions of government is to protect the health and well being of the citizenry from criminals and nasty foreign elements. A function of any level of government in this country should not be to protect us from home baked cookies.
But according to a recent CBS News report, that is exactly what the state of Wisconsin thinks is important:
- In the state of Wisconsin and New Jersey, it is illegal for someone to bake cookies in their own home and then sell them to others.
- The CBS story focused on a lady in Wisconsin who operates a farm and bed and breakfast.
- The problem arises because she not only offers lodging to travelers in her bed and breakfast but she also bakes cookies to sell to those visitors if they want them.
- Which makes her a criminal in the eyes of Wisconsin law and she could face up to six months in jail.
- “Wisconsin is one of only two states (New Jersey being the other one) that ban the sale for profit of home-baked goods,” according to the news report.
- As one would expect, political money and influence are at play here since while the Wisconsin Senate has twice passed bills that would legalize the sale of home baked products, the state Assembly has never voted on those two bills, having been blocked by assembly speaker Robin Vos, who, surprise, surprise, has ties to the Wisconsin Grocers Association, an association that would likely suffer some losses if people could legally sell their own baked goods.
- While Vos would not speak directly to the CBS News reporter, the Wisconsin Grocers Association did speak up, lamely claiming that the law was necessary for public health, “we don’t want to have anybody get sick,” even though the Wisconsin Senate and forty eight other states do not see home baked goods as a vital health issue.
Yes, the state should protect its citizens from grave dangers, e.g. murderers, rapists, robbers, foreign armies. But really, do we really think that state government resources should be expended in enforcing a home baked cookie ban? Let’s give individuals a little respect in their ability to make a decision for themselves, I am pretty sure that most people know the risks from buying home baked goods and should be able to make that decision on their own without a government bureaucracy doing it for them.
Take the money that is being wasted on this law and hire some more teachers, fix some crumbling road and bridges etc., issues that are far more important and dangerous to Wisconsin citizens than whether or not a cookie is healthy. Insanity.
That will do it for today’s insanity, craziness from bed and breakfasts in Wisconsin to idiocy and out of touch politicians in Washington. More to follow.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
www.loathemygovernment.com
It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
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