Prager U: Adam Carolla- 'Who Not to Vote For'

Source:Prager U- comedian Adam Carolla on who not to vote for.

Source:The Daily Review 

"Adam Carolla isn't going to tell you who to vote for. But he is going to tell you who NOT to vote for. And in a time when candidates running for office promise the moon, one of America's funniest comedians shares a few tips about how to spot the candidate that you should run from." 

From Prager U

I agree with Adam Carolla’s point about the politician who says they’ll fight for you, but I think there’s a bigger problem in American politics. Actually its like a huge fast food combo of a problem. Imagine like a 40 ounce soda, a triple cheese burger and enough fries to feed three kids. But its only for one person and it cost around six bucks. Well if you eat this for lunch on a regular basis and you can eat like this at a lot of fast food joints in America, you’ll have a huge problem down the line in expanding body mass.

Well, that is how big my fast food combo problem is when it comes to American politics. Politicians and candidates and who over promise, combined with dumb gullible voters who are dumb and gullible enough to take those political promises at face value. Who if we required citizens to get licensed in order to vote would fail every time the test came up, simply for not doing their homework as American voters.

So don’t vote for people without first doing your homework on them. Listen to their soundbites, go to their rallies, listen to their commercials and interviews on TV. All that stuff is good and a way to become and informed voter. But means nothing if you don’t bother to your homework on them. And check to see if their current rhetoric and positions matches their past record.

The other politicians and candidates who you shouldn’t vote for are people who’ll say they’ll give you free stuff. Unless they’re very rich and know where you live, they’ll won’t be able to give you free anything. If you’re currently paying taxes including payroll taxes. So no such thing as free stuff from government for taxpayers. Even government has to get money from somewhere and sometimes oversees to pay for the public services that it provides. They don’t get their money by being great Wall Street investors or poker players. They don’t use Monopoly money or grow money on their trees in our public parks. They get their money from charging their taxpayers. And what we’re supposed to get in return are public services that they promised us. Including for the people who don’t want them.

Not all politicians are crooks and not all politicians are liars. And some of our politicians are neither, which seems to be shrinking minority today. The politicians and candidates that you should vote for are the people who know what the situation of the country and your community is. Have a realistic solution to solve them based on real evidence, experience and pragmatic policies. Shown they already know how to govern, because of course governing is about choosing and even working with people from the other party from time to time. (A good lesson for the Tea Party) And who doesn’t promise to do this or that, especially promises that just seem impossible for them to accomplish in their first or next term. And who don’t say they’ll give you free stuff. But instead lays out how much their programs are going to cost and then has a realistic and responsible plan to pay for them. 

Washington Examiner: James Antile: 'Did Dumbed-Down Conservatism Lead to Donald Trump?'

Source:The Washington Examiner- The Real Donald J. Trump, unfortunately.

Source:The New Democrat 

"At some point during an interview on a cable news program, I dropped a hint that I perhaps thought a person who aspired to a major party presidential nomination should know more about government policy than Donald Trump." 

From the Washington Examiner 

What I’m about to say here may sound like that I’m at least implying that Donald Trump supporters are a pack of fools who’ll believe a used car salesman who tells them that Ford Escorts are as luxurious as Mercedes. (If the salesman is charming enough) But that is not far off, because we have a reality TV star in a presidential candidate in Donald Trump who claims to be the person who’ll save America. And take America back (as the Tea Party would puts it) and is some hard-core conservative or something, even though there’s nothing in his professional and personal background that suggests he has anything in common with them. 

Donald Trump ideologically, has been a Center-Left Democrat most of his career. His support for women’s rights and civil rights, etc, pro-choice on abortion as late as 2004-05 when he was pushing 60.

But then Barack Obama becomes president and the Tea Party emerges and he believes he needs to change his tune if he wants to have any real influence on the Republican Party. Who doesn’t go Right, but goes Far-Right and doesn’t join the birther movement, but becomes the leader of it. Who claims based on nothing the Muslims were supporting 9-11 in New York and New Jersey. Who now has a base of support whose not interested in one’s record and professional background, but what they’re currently saying. 

When you speak the Far-Right’s politics that Christians should be in charge, Muslims don’t deserve the same constitutional protections as Christians, Latinos are Un-American and so-forth and so on, Barack Obama is destroying America, you play very well with this community. Which might be thirty-five-percent of the Republican Party, which is a sad state of affairs for them, but they represent maybe 15-20 percent of the country as a whole.

Donald Trump didn’t create the Phyllis Schlafly/Pat Buchanan and Donald Trump movement. What he did was own it and be able to speak to it and have the money to organize it to the point where now he’s to the point that he’s the favorite right now to be the next Republican nominee for president and take down the GOP with him in November. Where a lot more Americans will be voting along with Richard Nixon’s Silent Majority. Including women of all ethnic and racial backgrounds and Latinos and others that aren’t part of The Donald’s base. 

The Big Don (of New York Yankee City) has almost nothing in common with his voters five years ago before the birtherism and now is so loved by them that he’s getting KKK endorsements. But his voters don’t care about records and what people have done in the past. Just what they’re saying now. And the candidate who speaks to them is all they’re interested in. 

Skep Torr: The Dark Side Of Political Correctness

Source:Skep Torr-

Source:The Daily Review

The dark side of political correctness, where should I start? The two most offensive aspects I find about it are the hypocrisy and the pure fascism of it. Apparently in PC World minorities are entitled not to be offended even if the critic is correct with everything they’re saying. But majorities are essentially free speech targets. In PC World you would almost be expected to make fun of criticize Caucasians, especially if they’re on the right. What the New-Left calls white people or the man. But even if you’re correct in how you criticize anyone else you’re somehow a bigot. Someone is bigoted to point out the horrible human rights record of Saudi Arabia when it comes to women especially. Because Saudis are Arab and Muslim. Even though they have a horrible human rights record.

But if you make fun of and criticize Southern Anglo-Saxon Protestants when they make bigoted statements towards women and gays, you’re somehow progressive, because you’re speaking the truth. Even though SASP’s are no more bigoted towards gays and women as Islamists. And then the fascist element if it. This idea that you can’t say something, because it might offend someone else even if you’re correct in what you’re saying and you especially can’t do this in college. Perhaps the first place where you want free expression and ideas to be heard so people can learn about them and learn how to think for themselves. I mean where do political correctness warriors think they live? It can’t be Communist Cuba where they wouldn’t be allowed to hold these PC rallies without government permission. They live in America where we all have a guaranteed right to free speech.

The alternative to political correctness is education and I mean real education. Not someone standing up in front of a class and telling people how to think, but instead sharing actual facts and real information and different philosophies out there and then letting the students figure out what this all means and what’s good and bad based on what they have learned. And instead of banning language because it might offend someone you use criticism that is correct to improve yourself. And use language and thought that’s simply wrong as an opportunity to point out how ignorant the commentator is. Instead of trying to shut someone up simply for being stupid and expressing themselves. Instead educate them on their own stupidity and see if they’re smart enough to learn and improve themselves. But fascism is never the answer in a liberal democratic free society.

The Boston Globe: Jeff Jacoby: 'If Supreme Court Had Term Limits, Confirmations Wouldn't be So Bloody'

Source: The Boston Globe-

Source:The New Democrat

For the life of me I don’t understand why two of the most important jobs in America which is being a U.S. Justice and public school teacher, don’t have to deal with the same accountability and in some cases no accountability as everyone else in America. Why is it that U.S. Justice’s and public school teachers don’t have to prove they deserve to keep their jobs and are doing a good job. And have to make a case to their superior that they should continue working in that same position. With their superior saying that they either deserve to keep their job, or perhaps should be released, be promoted, given a raise, or a pay cut.

But that is how the U.S. Supreme Court and the broader Federal judiciary operates. They’re given lifetime appointments and once appointed they can only be removed through impeachment and conviction by Congress. And only through serious ethical and criminal violations. Not for simply doing a bad job. And where I agree with Jeff Jacoby (for perhaps the first time in my life) is that is a big problem. And why Congress is so partisan right now, especially in the Senate where the two parties have to work together just to run the place properly. Because the Supreme Court and judiciary is always in play every two years during the Congressional elections with both parties fighting to win back or keep control of the Senate. To appoint or block Federal judicial appointments.

My other issue with the U.S. Supreme Court is the simple size of it. We’re a huge country of three-hundred and twenty-million people, with fifty states and some states that would make big countries. Like Alaska, California, Texas and Montana. And yet we only have nine U.S. Justice’s including the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. And they have all of this power and can literally throw out laws passed by Congress and executive orders from the President with their judicial review that has become very political. And in many cases looks like laws get thrown out, because 5-9 Justice’s disagree with the laws. Instead of ruling on the constitutionality of them. Even though the Supreme Court has no one to answer to and has practically hundred-percent job security. Short of committing ethical or criminal violations.

Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress gets regulate the size and scope of the Supreme Court and broader judiciary. There’s no set limits for how large or small the court should be. You don’t need a constitutional amendment to reform the court. We need to start holding U.S. Justice’s accountable for their decisions. I’m not talking about making it democratic, but simply accountable. We need to end lifetime appointments and have Justice’s come up for renomination after their terms are up. And let the President decide if that Justice should be reappointed or not. With the Senate deciding on that reconfirmation. Or weighing in on a new appointment for that seat from a new nominee. And then expand the court to 50-52. One Justice for each state so the whole country can be represented on it.

The old phrase ‘power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely’, could have been written for the U.S. Supreme Court. This is too important of an institution for it to be unaccountable in a country this large, free, democratic and important. U.S. Justice’s and Judges in general, should have to prove their qualifications and job performance on their job just like most if not all Americans. (Except for public employees. Ha, ha!) And you do this by holding them accountable for their judgment and expanding the court so more Americans are represented there. Not with a vote, but knowing that someone who comes from their state is up there representing them and defending the U.S. Constitution. And will need to do a good job in order to keep it.
Source:Seeker Daily

Prager U: George Will- 'A Progressive's Guide to Political Correctness'

Source:Prager U- not very progressive.

Source:The Daily Review 

"Is there a point where the "P.C. Police" are satisfied? Are there ever "enough" rules governing the jokes we tell, the mascots of sports teams, or the symbols on city seals? Or should we want a society as non-offensive as the American college campus? George Will, Washington Post Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, imagines what an idyllic politically correct universe would look like." 

From Prager U 

I’m glad George Will didn’t use the word Liberal when talking about political correctness and blaming Liberals for political correctness. When the fact is it’s actually been real Liberals such as myself and many others, who have bashed political correctness and pounding social justice warriors with humor and obvious facts. That these social justice warriors couldn’t see if they were pounded in their face with a hammer.

I also don’t know of one damn thing that I disagree with Will in his video here. Political correctness is so much fun and easy to make fun, because it’s so stupid. Very similar to Sarah Palin. It’s almost too easy, but at the same time you can’t layoff on it, because of how creative it makes you when critiquing it and putting it down. It’s just another sign of our failing education system and the lack of intelligence with our young people and that they just go to college to become the next Che Guevara. Or whatever Far-Leftist is considered ‘like totally awesome’ at the time.

One way that I look at political correctness is that it makes everyone whose against it and in favor of free speech, but who isn’t a bigot, a comedian. Because again of how stupid it is. The idea that in a liberal democracy and perhaps the only pure liberal democracy with all the guaranteed individual rights that all Americans have including free speech, that people can’t say something, because someone might be offended by it.

In PC World, which is about the size of an ant on a football field as far as the support it has, the truth is not important. Meaning PC World and Congress, have a hell of a lot in common and party with each other every Saturday night. What’s important in PC World is people’s feelings. You can’t tell someone whose failing that they’re, well failing, because it might hurt their feelings. Even if it’s in their best interest to know they’re simply not up to the task at hand.

And the other angle that I’ve mentioned before is the pure hypocrisy of it. In PC World only minorities are entitled to not be offended. Redneck jokes are considered progressive, because if those rednecks are Caucasian, male, Christian and Anglo. But African-American ghetto jokes even if they’re not about African-Americans in general, but just people from those ghettos, are considered racist. Jokes about men, are considered progressive. Unless those men are on the Left and are minorities.

But jokes against women, unless again they’re minorities and are on the Left, are considered sexist. Unless those jokes are about female right-wingers like Sarah Palin. I’m not even sure political correctness is the right term. How about the Communist Speech Control Police instead? I think that would be more accurate since we’re not talking about offensive speech, but speech that offends the Far-Left. Speech that offends New York City and San Francisco primarily.

I’m going to try to finish this on a more positive note or at least a constructive critical note. Free speech, does anyone really not know what that means? How about free expression? Any explanation needed there? The truth? Any questions on that one? Since when did these things become negative and things to look down upon? When did San Francisco and NYC get to decide what the other 290 million people in America get to say and get to think? Why should Americans fear the truth? If we don’t know where we come up short then how can we ever improve. No person is perfect and we all have things we need to improve on. And we can’t do that until we know where we come up short.

The truth should never be considered the enemy especially when it’s negative. Because it’s an opportunity for one to self-improve. And speech especially when it’s wrong is an opportunity to inform people about their ignorance and tell then what is right. Which is what would be my message to so-called political correctness warriors. What I at least call Communist speech patrol persons. I can’t say patrolman, because that might offend female PC warriors.

The Film Archives: 'Karl Marx: Quotes, Theory, Communist Manifesto, Sociology, Biography, Economics (2000)'

Source:CSPAN- Brian Lamb, interviewing Frances Wheen in 2000.

Source:The New Democrat

"Karl Marx (5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. About the book:Amazon."

I agree with Frances Wheen about Marxism and Communism and I would put it this way. It depends on what form of Marxism and Communism that you’re talking about. Because the Soviet Union of Russia defined itself as a Marxist-Communist state where the state-owned the means of production in society with no private economy and private sector. But in actuality it was a Leninist state that went much further than that and instead outlawed not just private ownership and individuality and individual freedom all together. 

When I blog about leftist political correctness, I throw out terms like Marxist-Fascists and Marxist-Communists to describe fascism from the Far-Left. When I probably should replace Marxist, with Leninist or Castro, to describe political correctness followers on the Far-Left.

We are now down to one Leninist society in the world today. Which would be the Communist Republic of Korea, which would be North Korea and that is a good thing for the rest of the world not including North Korea. 

You could argue that we’ve never had a Marxist State in the world, at least not as far as a major country. China, really is the People’s Republic of China. They don’t have political freedom and free speech, but they have a fairly open economy with socialist principles when it comes to the welfare state. And people there own their own property and can start business’s and move in and out of the country somewhat freely. 

Whatever people think of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Russians now have similar freedoms as the Chinese, but perhaps more individual freedom when it comes to things like religion.

Karl Marx with the Communist Manifesto, was arguing for a classless society and where there weren’t any rich people or poor people. That people were just people and not rich or poor. Which are goals that Social Democrats/Democratic Socialists in social democracies and here in America with Bernie Sanders and his supporters, push for all the time. But through a private enterprise economy and free society where people can live their own lives and live freely. But where they’re highly taxed and where business’s are highly regulated to ensure economic equality for all. So there aren’t any poor people in society. 

Most socialist states now operate whether its Scandinavia, Britain, France, Greece, etc as social democracies. And we can argue about how successful those economic systems are. But that is how they operate. Instead of having the central government trying to run the whole economy and society.

Arthur Brooks: 'Narcissism is Increasing. So You're Not so Special'

Source:AEI- Arthur Brooks with a humorous look at narcissism.

Source:The Daily Review

"My teenage son recently informed me that there is an Internet quiz to test oneself for narcissism. His friend had just taken it. “How did it turn out?” I asked. “He says he did great!” my son responded. “He got the maximum score!”

When I was a child, no one outside the mental health profession talked about narcissism; people were more concerned with inadequate self-esteem, which at the time was believed to lurk behind nearly every difficulty. Like so many excesses of the 1970s, the self-love cult spun out of control and is now rampaging through our culture like Godzilla through Tokyo."

From AEI

The internet and even the social media revolution by in large have been great things. I’m not a blogger without it, but with every new way of people expressing themselves comes more ways of people showing more of themselves than others would like to see. And to think more of themselves than they actually are. With social media and internet wave has also come with an increase in how others live and how they present themselves. And of course I’m talking celebrity culture and tabloid news. Or what I like to call tabloid TV which is called reality TV. But anyone who is actually familiar with so-called reality TV and how it operates knows that there isn’t much that is real about. Participants are actually encouraged to act out, not be themselves which if different.

We now live in a world where not everybody, but everyone who thinks they’re awesome or whatever and with pop culture has to have whatever is new and has to have it as soon as it’s new. Because if they don’t, they believe they’re so not awesome or hot or whatever. Because even though they just got a new i-phone (to use as an example) it’s not the latest i-phone. And their friends who perhaps they just met on Facebook will think they so yesterday or whatever. So we have a culture that is now dominated by celebrities and new technology and a young generation that for the most part is only interested in those things. When they’re not protesting against the Washington Redskins or what people wear for Halloween or whatever the latest political correctness fad is.

We live in a world where people want to be like whoever their latest favorite celebrity is, who also happens to be a narcissist in many cases. And they think they’re as awesome as that celebrity and live their lives as if they’re trying out for the latest reality/tabloid TV show. So of course they’re going to live like the whole world revolves around them with a giant size mirror for walls in their parent’s basement where they currently live. And that is another thing. We have a generation of narcissists who aren’t do very well economically right now and they present themselves as if they’re the hottest celebrity in Hollywood. Even if they’re currently living in their parent’s basement in Canton, Ohio. (No offense to Canton) With a college degree worth nothing, or having to drop out of college, because they could no longer afford their student loans.

Once someone thinks they’re the center of the world, they lose touch with reality and Planet Earth. And are so far out-of-touch that they couldn’t get back in touch with a Star Trek cell phone. The most important tool that Americans will ever have in life is the truth. Especially about themselves and always know exactly who you are. Your weakness’ and yes your strengths. So you know where you’re solid and where you need self-improvement. So you never are out-of-touch with reality. And you take things for what they are. You don’t view reaching a thousand followers on Twitter or Instagram as a major life achievement. Especially if you’re currently unemployed or can’t pay your own bills. Which might be why you have so many social media followers, because you have too much free time. Self-confidence generally speaking is a good thing. But only when it’s justified.