May, 2017, Part 7, Political Class Insanity: Bad Chicago Priorities and The Height Hypocrisy In California

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:

http://www.againstcronycapitalism.org/2016/08/when-even-the-state-department-spokesperson-cant-keep-a-straight-face-about-things-anymore-video/

With that context of honesty, let’s see what other insanity has been going down:

1) Political class insanity is not restricted to Washington politicians. Local politicians can also be insane, idiotic, and have wacked out priorities. Such is the case in Chicago and their mayor, Rahm Emanuel. 

Apparently, several pages were recently removed from the EPA’s website that were related to climate change. This is obviously the prerogative of the Trump administration after their election victory last year and the fact that many, many Americans, including myself, are global warming doubters and believers in science. We do want to have unproven theories shoved down our throat when those that advocate for manmade global warming and climate change only consider science, research, and statistics that favor their position, ignoring all information and science to the contrary.

But according to a recent report on the Independent Journal Review website written by Mike Miller, the good mayor of Chicago took it upon himself to resurrect those deleted website pages of the EPA website and reinstate them on the Chicago city website. Now, this is certainly his prerogative to do so, being elected by the good people of Chicago but one has to question his priorities. Given the horrendous crime and violence conditions in his city, shouldn’t the good mayor be focused on the day to day conditions that affect his citizens that he is supposed to represent rather than spending time and city resources on a climate theory that gets weaker and weaker as more and more science shows that massive man made global warming and climate change is closer to a myth than a reality? 

The reaction to this misplaced set of priorities was swift and ruthless onTwitter: 

• Vinnie Nilsen reminded Emanuel that in 2016 that Chicago had 3,550 shootings, 4,331 shooting victims, and 726 murders and that “2017 isn’t looking any better.”
• ABC News in Chicago reminded the mayor that in April, 2017 alone there were 45 killed in Chicago.
• The Chicago Sun Times reminded the mayor that 4 residents were killed and 17 wounded during just a single recent weekend.
• “Jack” reminded the mayor that there have been over 200 murders in Chicago already this year.
• Actor James Woods sarcastically asked if the new climate change web pages were listed before the Chicago murder rate page?
• Duckwacker also got sarcastic and claimed that people are killed by global warming in Chicago every day.
• Chuck Flynn suggested that “Maybe Rahm should change the climate of The Southside of Chicago. Maybe he'd see a reduction in murders.”
• According to the Hey Jackass website, in a recent weekend 38 Chicago residents were shot, three were killed and as of the first week in May, the year-to-date carnage has been 195 people killed and 907 wounded in the city.

Does anyone really think that the majority of Chicago residents, if asked, would approve of the mayor using his time and city resources worrying about global warming and climate change when they themselves and their kids are in such mortal danger every single day of their lives? This is nothing more than the rearranging of the chairs on the Titanic syndrome. The mayor is in his second term and if anything, the murder rate, crime, and violence has gotten worse as his administration has progressed.

Obviously, he has no clue on how to fix the real, immediate problems of the city so he wastes his time and attention span on a silly website and climate statement, actions that will not protect the next set of hundreds of Chicago residents that will die at the hand of gun violence in the remainder of the year. In this case, the political class insanity is fatal and dangerous for an entire city of people.

2) Let’s move from local political class insanity to state level political class insanity in California. It is no secret that the current governor and most of the current state politicians in California are so upset because Trump is enforcing existing immigration laws relative to illegal immigrants, a group of people that California politicians seem to idolize and coddle, often at the expense of the welfare and taxpayer dollars of tax paying California residents.

They certainly object to the fact that Trump promised to build a wall to restrict illegal immigration, and a lot of the crime that comes with it, and putting in place temporary travel bans on people traveling from a few terrorist infected countries, ticking off the California political class to no end. As with Rahm Emanuel in Chicago, that is certainly the prerogative of California politicians since they are duly elected representatives of the citizens of that state.

But consider what the governor and others in California are doing against their own citizens and then try to convince me that they are not hypocrites, taking the same type of actions that Trump is taking but perpetrating them on their own citizens and Americans:

• According to a recent article on the American Daily Patriot website, California is imposing its own travel ban on its own citizens.
• According to Samantha Roberts, writing on May 1, 2017, a new state law bans universities from sending students to states that oppose gay rights including California university students who travel to such states to present their research or participate in athletic contests.
• Specifically, “The athletes have been told not to be too excited about competitions with teams from states like Kansas, Tennessee or North Carolina.”
• The law applies to all California university students and staff regardless of their personalities or beliefs on gay rights.
• “The LA Times reported that the new the new California law bans state-funded travel specifically to any state that the California attorney general lists as discriminating against the LGBT community.”
• The law, for instance, has already scuttled the plans for the UC Berkeley and University of Kansas men's basketball teams to meet in a series of basketball games in future seasons.

Insanity? Has does punishing current California students and faculty in academics and athletics open up adult, mature conversations about the issues of our times? Do California politicians actually think that other states are going to change their laws and attitudes because a California professor cannot present his findings and research or an athletic team is banned from traveling to that state? 

How is this not the height of hypocrisy, complaining about a temporary travel ban that Trump might place on the travel of non-citizens from a few countries that have known terrorist ties to a permanent law that bans innocent Americans from enriching themselves and others with travels to other states simply because those states and the residents of those states have a different opinion that an California politicians? 

Disgusting and repugnant to affect innocent researchers, professors, and student athletes in a futile attempt to be holier than thou.

That will do it for today’s insanity but we still have a lot more to get through for this month’s dose of insanity over the next week or so so stay tuned.

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:

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No Politics Today, Just Some Worthy Thoughts And Deeds For 2012

This week starts, what is hopefully, a better year than what most Americans struggled through in 2011. Many of the things that affected us and our families in 2011 were out of our control.

Unfortunately, those people in the country that had some control and power to positively affect our lives, failed miserably again to do so in 2011. From botched economic policies and programs to sky high national debt to an inconsistent and ineffective foreign policy to selfish and corruptible politicians, our political class continued to under perform but over enrich themselves in 2011.

But there are some positive things that each of us can do in our own, local lives, in 2012 independent of the corruption and incompetency in Washington and the state capitals around the country. These actions would likely make 2012 a better year and improve the lives of people around us. I realized this was possible when I read an article from the December 9, 2011 issue of The Week magazine.

The article highlighted excerpts from a book by Joseph Galliano, "Dear Me - A Letter To My 16 Year Old Self." The author asked famous people to write a letter that would be addressed to themselves at the age of 16. Interesting concept and very interesting reading. The article contained the letters written by Stephen King, Suze Orman, Alice Cooper, and others.

However, the best advice was in a letter actor James Woods wrote to his 16 year old self. I present it here and ask you to imagine how much better 2012 can be if we all took his advice:

Treat everyone with respect and demand it of them as well. If someone abuses you more than once, you deserve it.

Call someone in your family every day of your life. You may think it is tedious to do so, but a time will come when you would give your life to make that call one more time.

Hug your mother often and tell her how much you love her.

Do good work and do it because it is a gift to the world. No matter how inconsequential others may feel about the value of your contribution, it is the giving that matters. The surprise here will be that the beneficiary who gains the most when you give is you.

Be proud but humble. Be strong but caring. Listen more than you may be inclined to do. Talk less.

It is okay to fall, but not okay to stay on the ground.

Cherish the dead you once loved so carelessly. They still live in your heart.

Make the world a better place for those around you in 2012. Be tolerant of those around you that have a different opinion, they have a right to their opinion regardless of what our politicians tell you. If we all you do these few simple things, listen, be tolerant, shut up, be caring, hug our moms, work hard, fight through adversity, we all win in 2012 in spite of the politicians.