I understand the sense of loss these men convey and I share it. What we may not share is the belief that the loss can be put entirely on our government and those who profit off of it. Damn Nixon for removing us entirely from the gold standard. Damn the Clinton's for their corruption. Damn Bush (the son) for the "war on terror". Damn Obama for the leap towards socialism (now furthered by Biden). I could go on but I'll leave it there. Until we shrink dramatically the federal government, until we live within our means and until the majority of US citizens return again to embracing our Constitutional Republic, Bill of Rights and foundational principals the decline will continue. Lets hope more awake to the evils of big government and socialism.
Not mentioned is the disproportionate and TREASONOUS role our corrupt, communist-owned, reprehensible "media" plays in stoking strife and mandating division.
You gave a great checklist of actions we need to take to save ourselves (if that is still even a possibility.) I would add one more into the first slot -
AMERICA - THROW AWAY YOUR TV AND PUT DOWN YOUR PHONE FOR A WHILE....
Yuri Bezmonev's interview with G.Edward Griffin. He laid out the four stages of subversion by radical Marxist's - demoralization, destabilization, crises, normalization. I personally met people who hold a torch to communism/socialism and believe me its difficult, hoping for a response when talking on the subject matter or worse, speaking to a five year old on the philsophical differences between it, and free markets. Forget about it, its hopeless. Im not sure what the answer is but the pressitutes have a captured audiance and if the whole thing implodes tommorow ?
I mean, look at Convid a run of the mill common cold that literally scared the S..T of people, everyone; young, old, athletes, even doctors!
"We will return to your regular programming after these messages"
Even when its admitted there s an absence of understanding.
I had a very interesting exchange with one of my 32 year old twin sons over the weekend. I wasn't sure I got all the way through their thick skulls as they we growing up. (What can I say, they take after me).
He actually gave me props for "calling it" as he put because in 2010 when he and his brother were in college I tried to explain that all the borrowing and spending was going to result in astronomical tax bills for them when they finished school and got "real jobs", especially if interest rates returned to sane levels. Shockingly, he remembered my sermon almost verbatim and was telling me how we are going to spend more on interest than on the military!
You gotta love these American Marxists (i.e. the Mayor of Phoenix). I keep my cardiologist happy by taking 40 mg of Rosuvastatin, 10 mg of Ezetimibe and I go 4 miles on the treadmill each day. It also helps that my wife threatens me with "getting a boyfriend" if I don't make it to 85 (she will be 80 which means I have to go at least 20 more years). This also enables me to eat all the bacon, rib eye and filet mignon I want and keeps the Barolo, San Genovese and Cabernet flowing freely:)
I don't know what dsouthen is. Don't need to know, methinks. I certainly agree with "AMERICA - THROW AWAY YOUR TV AND PUT DOWN YOUR PHONE FOR A WHILE."
After the Roaring Twenties and the Big Band Era along came the R & B and then Pop Music. The Seventies along came Heavy Metal. That's when the Music Died and the three men headed for the coast. The older generation still likes Classical and Popular Music, I hope. Now it's Hip Hop and Rap. There is very little music to it. That's why they refer to it as 'Sounds'. But, face it, it is the youth and teens that buy music. Or at least it used to be. They probably buy it or Pirate it on their I-Phones now. That is if they can spare some money spent on Piercings and Tatoos.
I speak from experience. My son started singing popular music when he was 12 years. He was great but wouldn't sing for anyone but family. I sent him to an Opera Teacher so he could learn to sing from his diaphragm and not just his vocal cords. After three lessons the teacher told me he wasn't going to take my money because my son was a natural. He did teach him how to sing from his diaphragm. After High School he got in with Ozzie Osbourne and Heavy Metal. At least he didn't get in to biting the heads off bats. Now he is off Drugs and off Heavy Metal and has his own Hip Hop Band. Just Saying! Florida Jimmy..
Great story, but I'm personally perplexed as to how someone (anyone) could pick HipHop over Heavy Metal (or Any Metal!) ;)
dsouthen was a commenter adjacent to yours, but he and his comment have disappeared.
PS - I've been in FLA almost 60 years, living everywhere except the West coast, Panhandle or JAX. Actually spent several months at Camp Blanding in the mid-90's, but that wasn't "living." Started at PAFB and other parts Brevard, long stint in Altamonte Springs/Longwood/Orlando, longer stint in DeLand, now between WPB and Davie for the last 8 years or so, with a freshly-inherited house back beachside in Brevard (Indialantic.) Anyway, we likely have at least passed each other in traffic...
Go figure! Why does anyone do what they do? I don't think Bill has Communist. yearnings as some do. To each his own. I do think he favors Socialism.. But that is his business.
We all live in universes. Probably at least three. Number one is Mother's Universe. She is the god of that Universe. She carries us, nourishes us, etc. from conception until birth. At birth we enter another universe. We become the god of our Universe at birth, but we still live in Mom's Universe at the same time until we exit Mom's Universe. Unfortunately, some never leave Mom's Universe until they 'drop the body': DIE. We all live in the Physical Universe, which is GOD'S Universe until we 'drop the body''. The GOD of the Physical Universe, which is probably in excess of 100 trillion of our years old. He has told us; in the BIBLE we are all gods. Some people live in too many universes, such as Fathers, Grandparents, Adoptive Parents, and Wif(v)es. They can become aberrated (mentally). Fortunately, there is a cure for Aberration. Just Saying! Florida Jimmy.
Could there be less incarceration in China and Russia because they “disappear” the dissidents and criminals?
I am nearly 75 yrs old and grew up in the gray times your anecdotes described. Such a full life and full of optimism! Now I do believe that America is done - and I am not sure why. What do the people trying to ruin the best country in the world hope to accomplish? If it is power and control, the shorter lifespans and lower birth rates will give them a lot less of us to control and fewer people to produce the foods and services that enable a good life.
Quite depressing! My father fought in WWII to stop exactly what is being done in our country. He is rolling over on his grave.
Hmmmm. "Homogeneous", "indoctrinated", "parade formation", "pressure to conform", "strictly enforced." Sounds like a great time to be had by all -- or else.
Funny, but if I didn't KNOW better (through study and HISTORY), I'd swear you're trying to sell us on how superior communism is...
*eye roll
PS - Surely all that severe devotion wouldn't have anything to do with not being able to BUY FOOD, TRAVEL, BANK or COMMUNICATE if you say, post or think something the "government" (read TYRANTS) don't like...
Exactly how I feel. As a Canadian growing up close to the border I spent a lot of time in the USA. I don't recognize the USA now. It's populated by two armed camps who hate each other. Since 2016 we have actively avoided travel in the USA which is truly unfortunate because many of the most beautiful places on earth are there. Whatever happened to civility? Whatever happened to live and let live. I sincerely hope that America can find its way. It won't do so at gunpoint.
Arrived in California in 1967 at the start of my career. So exciting to be in sunny Golden California. It was a feeling so full of promise and excitement. Now when I visit family still there I can’t wait to get back home. It has lost what it once was. Unfortunately much of the USA Urban centers have also. That’s why I like living in a rural area now.
Freedom is what people want. Capitalism is what is symbiotic with Freedom. California used to be great. Now the people are not having such a great time. But still, apparently, they vote for Democrat- Socialists. Deep State prison cities are depressing. One reason however that China has fewer people in prison, if you don’t count the million plus Uyghurs in concentration camps, is because they kill a lot of their inmates. That’s a deterrent.
The leviathan government in the USA has become a metastatic cancer. We are destroying ourselves through a thousand cuts by bureaucracy and very few benefit. It’s not sustainable. If we can’t fix it, it will fix itself, but with a lot more collateral damage.
Yes, America is in decline, but this quote from Bill's column today is almost laughable:
"China and Russia, said to be ‘repressive’ regimes, actually leave many more of their citizens at liberty than the US. China has more than three times as many people as the US, but only half as many behind bars."
Yes, I must have missed the transition as Russia and China are now bastions of liberty because their prison populations are lower than in the USA. Just ignore the fact that China was sealing its citizens in their apartments during COVID. And, of course, both countries have a free press and allow their citizens freedom of opinion without any interference from the government. Bill, did you ever think that both countries are just large prisons where their citizens can wander about in the prison yard as long as they don't criticize the "guards"? You see, it's the threat of being jailed for speaking your mind that keeps the number of citizens incarcerated low in Russia and China. Or maybe they are just terminated rather than incarcerated. Not that the Progressive/Fascist/Nihilists don't want the USA to head in that direction, but at least we have a vocal opposition who can speak out without being jailed. This is what happens when you look at one tiny part of the big picture and ignore the context.
Make America Great Again! The fight against the USSR, ok, but when that ended so too should have USA "world policeman" and those peace dividends gone back home. But not to be. Also, it made some sense during the cold war to allow nations like Germany, Korea, Japan and Canada to eat some of the USAs lunch by way of advantageous trade to them. But then comes China and combined with massive unfair, unethical trade practices,that tipped the scale and witness rapid USA decline in their industries. People went from designing, engineering and making things in America to "made in China" with the associated destruction of communities left with no means for it's citizens to earn a decent living. Unless of course you had a government job, or even better a job connected to the military machine on one side or the "climate change" mandarins on the other spectrum. Now America is still number one...tech, innovation, Universities, but it CAN'T pay for both "guns and butter" without either big cuts or massive tax raises. The US Congress, Senate and executive branch need to actually face this reality and fix the nation. Otherwise the rich poor divide will get much worse and the Republic will exist in name only.
A 10 day fly in Fly out to Clearwater FLA late July to spend family time. Fifth time in country since 1986. Yes have been around different parts over the years, it’s a hell of a great country & I’ve met great folks white, black & brindle (fellow ex West Indians!)
DallasFW, entry hub after direct 15 hrs from Melbourne Aust.
- Queues 45 minutes long, Immigration & then 45 again customs.
- No one bitching or carrying on, just getting on with it - we were all moving along coz lots of folks were traveling.
- Same when leaving Tampa >Dallas to Sydney. Couple of delays but fixed without too much fighting.
Florida places, shops, walking streets was great where I was, folks polite, good and friendly.
Guess I must’ve been lucky, just in a regular dude suburb not McMansion, based on all the misery you folks chatting here have to now experience.
Maybe as a “G’day!” Aussie, was seen as an old-fella-weird-one, by still wanting to be Stateside despite you all down the drain!!
Yes ... will still stop by again, especially Red FLA.
We all got our own location challenges, Oz is no different, you just don’t hear about us much (or maybe ever!)
It takes a special type of person to want that much control over a populace. A special type of individual that values their net worth, over those they rule.
Why send 40k troops to the jungles of Vietnam?
Money. It was a veritable testing ground for weapons, vehicles and ways to kill each other.
Why drop the connection between gold and the dollar?
Money. What better way to inflate the stock market, than with helicopter money printed on printing presses no longer tied to a tangible asset, and then fan the flames by keeping interest rates at or below zero.
Why drop the twin towers on 9/11?
That was an experiment to see if the entire planet could be made to buy into "fake news." And it worked. An entire new alphabet government agency was born out of that experiment - Homeland Security.
Not to keep people out. But to keep them in.
In prisons, under watch, keeping the circus going while giving us other things to worry about (gender, race, scandals, whether our shoes have bombs in them) instead of concentrating on what we need to be worrying about.
That the government should be run like a business. Instead of a circus. Full of clowns ready to make money disappear (mostly amongst themselves) as fast as they can print it.
Unfortunately, the only way to get rid of the clowns will be to burn the tent down.
Luckily, I will be living far away from that coming conflagration.
Hey Mr. fishing. Dorothy, like all liberals only wants to tax and spend. Anyone with a brain understands that America does not have a revenue problem, they have a spending problem.
Mark: I'm not a big proponent for large firearms. I think there should be limit on how many you can buy and their firing capacity. I am referring to Semi-automatic i.e., .50BMG caliber rifles and large capacity magazines that can hold ten rounds or more of ammunition which are not sold in California. Other states may not be the same. I have heard that some parts of Ca. have passed local ordinances that prosecute only those who demonstrate malicious intent. As the need for money: we need to fix our roads, education and health services and I'm sure there are a lot of other places also.
I have lived in California since 1960 and my parents were both born here in the 1920s. Two basic problems with California today. Demographics and too many people. The phrase, “You can’t shove 10lbs of sh*t in a 5lb bag” sums it up nicely.
Interesting that 9/11 was picked. I believe our response to that event accelerated a trend of moral and fiscal decline dating to the assassinations (Kennedys, King); Great Society (massive over-expansion of government); and Vietnam (an evil, corrupt war). As P. J. O’Rourke noted in Parliament of Whores, the pigs have been bellying up to the trough since the country was founded. But over the past 60 years, the trough continued to expand while the slop thinned and diminished in nutritional content.
Wayne Murray; LibertyAffair stole my thunder but I so, so heartedly agree...Your recounting those very important steps and the "freely elected" perpetrators of them speaks volumes. But lets forever not forget China is "Communist China". As far as free elections - don't hear the news and your uninformed, hear the news and your misinformed. Countless millions...
In 1950, Western swing artist Bob Wills wrote and recorded his classic "Faded Love". Patsy Cline recorded a very emotional version in 1962. Both are great; I prefer the Patsy Cline version, but as they say, "Bob Wills is STILL the King". "Faded Love" states very closely my feelings about my country, America, to which I now refer merely as the USA. I use the designations as a delineation. Best always. PM
I have to agree, spending time in California some 35 years ago. SF back in the day when bus tours of the City included a drive through the Castro district for a look at the local freaks. Who would have thought the freaks would take over the entire City including the government? A drive down the coastal highway, a ride on the cable car trolley, Carmel, Santa Monica, a few other spots.
I have no desire to go back, why let reality ruin the memories... paradise lost?
What a bunch of depressing, old, over the hill farts inhabit these pages. Especially amusing coming from a Britisher or two, inhabiting perhaps the most decrepit, rundown, ridiculous little pieces of real estate in the western world. Why don't you all relocate to the Sceptered Isle, or join Bill when he sets up shop in China or Korea, where he can enjoy real freedom.
I understand the sense of loss these men convey and I share it. What we may not share is the belief that the loss can be put entirely on our government and those who profit off of it. Damn Nixon for removing us entirely from the gold standard. Damn the Clinton's for their corruption. Damn Bush (the son) for the "war on terror". Damn Obama for the leap towards socialism (now furthered by Biden). I could go on but I'll leave it there. Until we shrink dramatically the federal government, until we live within our means and until the majority of US citizens return again to embracing our Constitutional Republic, Bill of Rights and foundational principals the decline will continue. Lets hope more awake to the evils of big government and socialism.
Hi Liberty -
Great comments IMO from both you and dsouthen.
Not mentioned is the disproportionate and TREASONOUS role our corrupt, communist-owned, reprehensible "media" plays in stoking strife and mandating division.
You gave a great checklist of actions we need to take to save ourselves (if that is still even a possibility.) I would add one more into the first slot -
AMERICA - THROW AWAY YOUR TV AND PUT DOWN YOUR PHONE FOR A WHILE....
Great points.
This brings to my mind
Yuri Bezmonev's interview with G.Edward Griffin. He laid out the four stages of subversion by radical Marxist's - demoralization, destabilization, crises, normalization. I personally met people who hold a torch to communism/socialism and believe me its difficult, hoping for a response when talking on the subject matter or worse, speaking to a five year old on the philsophical differences between it, and free markets. Forget about it, its hopeless. Im not sure what the answer is but the pressitutes have a captured audiance and if the whole thing implodes tommorow ?
I mean, look at Convid a run of the mill common cold that literally scared the S..T of people, everyone; young, old, athletes, even doctors!
"We will return to your regular programming after these messages"
Even when its admitted there s an absence of understanding.
I'd say we're deep into the normalization phase right about now.
I had a very interesting exchange with one of my 32 year old twin sons over the weekend. I wasn't sure I got all the way through their thick skulls as they we growing up. (What can I say, they take after me).
He actually gave me props for "calling it" as he put because in 2010 when he and his brother were in college I tried to explain that all the borrowing and spending was going to result in astronomical tax bills for them when they finished school and got "real jobs", especially if interest rates returned to sane levels. Shockingly, he remembered my sermon almost verbatim and was telling me how we are going to spend more on interest than on the military!
You gotta love these American Marxists (i.e. the Mayor of Phoenix). I keep my cardiologist happy by taking 40 mg of Rosuvastatin, 10 mg of Ezetimibe and I go 4 miles on the treadmill each day. It also helps that my wife threatens me with "getting a boyfriend" if I don't make it to 85 (she will be 80 which means I have to go at least 20 more years). This also enables me to eat all the bacon, rib eye and filet mignon I want and keeps the Barolo, San Genovese and Cabernet flowing freely:)
Amen.
I don't know what dsouthen is. Don't need to know, methinks. I certainly agree with "AMERICA - THROW AWAY YOUR TV AND PUT DOWN YOUR PHONE FOR A WHILE."
After the Roaring Twenties and the Big Band Era along came the R & B and then Pop Music. The Seventies along came Heavy Metal. That's when the Music Died and the three men headed for the coast. The older generation still likes Classical and Popular Music, I hope. Now it's Hip Hop and Rap. There is very little music to it. That's why they refer to it as 'Sounds'. But, face it, it is the youth and teens that buy music. Or at least it used to be. They probably buy it or Pirate it on their I-Phones now. That is if they can spare some money spent on Piercings and Tatoos.
I speak from experience. My son started singing popular music when he was 12 years. He was great but wouldn't sing for anyone but family. I sent him to an Opera Teacher so he could learn to sing from his diaphragm and not just his vocal cords. After three lessons the teacher told me he wasn't going to take my money because my son was a natural. He did teach him how to sing from his diaphragm. After High School he got in with Ozzie Osbourne and Heavy Metal. At least he didn't get in to biting the heads off bats. Now he is off Drugs and off Heavy Metal and has his own Hip Hop Band. Just Saying! Florida Jimmy..
Hey FLA-J,
Great story, but I'm personally perplexed as to how someone (anyone) could pick HipHop over Heavy Metal (or Any Metal!) ;)
dsouthen was a commenter adjacent to yours, but he and his comment have disappeared.
PS - I've been in FLA almost 60 years, living everywhere except the West coast, Panhandle or JAX. Actually spent several months at Camp Blanding in the mid-90's, but that wasn't "living." Started at PAFB and other parts Brevard, long stint in Altamonte Springs/Longwood/Orlando, longer stint in DeLand, now between WPB and Davie for the last 8 years or so, with a freshly-inherited house back beachside in Brevard (Indialantic.) Anyway, we likely have at least passed each other in traffic...
Go figure! Why does anyone do what they do? I don't think Bill has Communist. yearnings as some do. To each his own. I do think he favors Socialism.. But that is his business.
We all live in universes. Probably at least three. Number one is Mother's Universe. She is the god of that Universe. She carries us, nourishes us, etc. from conception until birth. At birth we enter another universe. We become the god of our Universe at birth, but we still live in Mom's Universe at the same time until we exit Mom's Universe. Unfortunately, some never leave Mom's Universe until they 'drop the body': DIE. We all live in the Physical Universe, which is GOD'S Universe until we 'drop the body''. The GOD of the Physical Universe, which is probably in excess of 100 trillion of our years old. He has told us; in the BIBLE we are all gods. Some people live in too many universes, such as Fathers, Grandparents, Adoptive Parents, and Wif(v)es. They can become aberrated (mentally). Fortunately, there is a cure for Aberration. Just Saying! Florida Jimmy.
2 comments
Could there be less incarceration in China and Russia because they “disappear” the dissidents and criminals?
I am nearly 75 yrs old and grew up in the gray times your anecdotes described. Such a full life and full of optimism! Now I do believe that America is done - and I am not sure why. What do the people trying to ruin the best country in the world hope to accomplish? If it is power and control, the shorter lifespans and lower birth rates will give them a lot less of us to control and fewer people to produce the foods and services that enable a good life.
Quite depressing! My father fought in WWII to stop exactly what is being done in our country. He is rolling over on his grave.
“What do the people trying to ruin the best country in the world hope to accomplish?” - Globalism, global control
Gee Kam -
Hmmmm. "Homogeneous", "indoctrinated", "parade formation", "pressure to conform", "strictly enforced." Sounds like a great time to be had by all -- or else.
Funny, but if I didn't KNOW better (through study and HISTORY), I'd swear you're trying to sell us on how superior communism is...
*eye roll
PS - Surely all that severe devotion wouldn't have anything to do with not being able to BUY FOOD, TRAVEL, BANK or COMMUNICATE if you say, post or think something the "government" (read TYRANTS) don't like...
Exactly how I feel. As a Canadian growing up close to the border I spent a lot of time in the USA. I don't recognize the USA now. It's populated by two armed camps who hate each other. Since 2016 we have actively avoided travel in the USA which is truly unfortunate because many of the most beautiful places on earth are there. Whatever happened to civility? Whatever happened to live and let live. I sincerely hope that America can find its way. It won't do so at gunpoint.
Amen! I used to think the same of Canada. I hope it is the same. Just Saying! Florida Jimmy.
Arrived in California in 1967 at the start of my career. So exciting to be in sunny Golden California. It was a feeling so full of promise and excitement. Now when I visit family still there I can’t wait to get back home. It has lost what it once was. Unfortunately much of the USA Urban centers have also. That’s why I like living in a rural area now.
Amen! Spot on. That's why I have lived in PARADISE, Jacksonville, FL, since 1986. Just Saying! FJ.
Freedom is what people want. Capitalism is what is symbiotic with Freedom. California used to be great. Now the people are not having such a great time. But still, apparently, they vote for Democrat- Socialists. Deep State prison cities are depressing. One reason however that China has fewer people in prison, if you don’t count the million plus Uyghurs in concentration camps, is because they kill a lot of their inmates. That’s a deterrent.
The leviathan government in the USA has become a metastatic cancer. We are destroying ourselves through a thousand cuts by bureaucracy and very few benefit. It’s not sustainable. If we can’t fix it, it will fix itself, but with a lot more collateral damage.
Yes, America is in decline, but this quote from Bill's column today is almost laughable:
"China and Russia, said to be ‘repressive’ regimes, actually leave many more of their citizens at liberty than the US. China has more than three times as many people as the US, but only half as many behind bars."
Yes, I must have missed the transition as Russia and China are now bastions of liberty because their prison populations are lower than in the USA. Just ignore the fact that China was sealing its citizens in their apartments during COVID. And, of course, both countries have a free press and allow their citizens freedom of opinion without any interference from the government. Bill, did you ever think that both countries are just large prisons where their citizens can wander about in the prison yard as long as they don't criticize the "guards"? You see, it's the threat of being jailed for speaking your mind that keeps the number of citizens incarcerated low in Russia and China. Or maybe they are just terminated rather than incarcerated. Not that the Progressive/Fascist/Nihilists don't want the USA to head in that direction, but at least we have a vocal opposition who can speak out without being jailed. This is what happens when you look at one tiny part of the big picture and ignore the context.
Make America Great Again! The fight against the USSR, ok, but when that ended so too should have USA "world policeman" and those peace dividends gone back home. But not to be. Also, it made some sense during the cold war to allow nations like Germany, Korea, Japan and Canada to eat some of the USAs lunch by way of advantageous trade to them. But then comes China and combined with massive unfair, unethical trade practices,that tipped the scale and witness rapid USA decline in their industries. People went from designing, engineering and making things in America to "made in China" with the associated destruction of communities left with no means for it's citizens to earn a decent living. Unless of course you had a government job, or even better a job connected to the military machine on one side or the "climate change" mandarins on the other spectrum. Now America is still number one...tech, innovation, Universities, but it CAN'T pay for both "guns and butter" without either big cuts or massive tax raises. The US Congress, Senate and executive branch need to actually face this reality and fix the nation. Otherwise the rich poor divide will get much worse and the Republic will exist in name only.
Hi Mr. Pleau -
"and the Republic will exist in name only."
We're there now...
So long as the flame of liberty lives in the hearts of men/women all is not lost
Well my story is a tad different folks!
A 10 day fly in Fly out to Clearwater FLA late July to spend family time. Fifth time in country since 1986. Yes have been around different parts over the years, it’s a hell of a great country & I’ve met great folks white, black & brindle (fellow ex West Indians!)
DallasFW, entry hub after direct 15 hrs from Melbourne Aust.
- Queues 45 minutes long, Immigration & then 45 again customs.
- No one bitching or carrying on, just getting on with it - we were all moving along coz lots of folks were traveling.
- Same when leaving Tampa >Dallas to Sydney. Couple of delays but fixed without too much fighting.
Florida places, shops, walking streets was great where I was, folks polite, good and friendly.
Guess I must’ve been lucky, just in a regular dude suburb not McMansion, based on all the misery you folks chatting here have to now experience.
Maybe as a “G’day!” Aussie, was seen as an old-fella-weird-one, by still wanting to be Stateside despite you all down the drain!!
Yes ... will still stop by again, especially Red FLA.
We all got our own location challenges, Oz is no different, you just don’t hear about us much (or maybe ever!)
Spot on! Clearwater is fantastic. Hip! Hip! Hooray! Just Saying! Florida Jimmy.
"A poor man doesn't know he's poor until he sees a rich man." Comes to mind.
You have no idea what America was once like and you think it is good now! You would be surprised (understatement).
It takes a special type of person to want that much control over a populace. A special type of individual that values their net worth, over those they rule.
Why send 40k troops to the jungles of Vietnam?
Money. It was a veritable testing ground for weapons, vehicles and ways to kill each other.
Why drop the connection between gold and the dollar?
Money. What better way to inflate the stock market, than with helicopter money printed on printing presses no longer tied to a tangible asset, and then fan the flames by keeping interest rates at or below zero.
Why drop the twin towers on 9/11?
That was an experiment to see if the entire planet could be made to buy into "fake news." And it worked. An entire new alphabet government agency was born out of that experiment - Homeland Security.
Not to keep people out. But to keep them in.
In prisons, under watch, keeping the circus going while giving us other things to worry about (gender, race, scandals, whether our shoes have bombs in them) instead of concentrating on what we need to be worrying about.
That the government should be run like a business. Instead of a circus. Full of clowns ready to make money disappear (mostly amongst themselves) as fast as they can print it.
Unfortunately, the only way to get rid of the clowns will be to burn the tent down.
Luckily, I will be living far away from that coming conflagration.
Hey Luke. Don’t forget the TSA. I left a blue state for an extremely red state, to avoid what’s coming.
Yes Luke, you are very in tune!
Hey Mr. fishing. Dorothy, like all liberals only wants to tax and spend. Anyone with a brain understands that America does not have a revenue problem, they have a spending problem.
Mark: They could raise it to 20% and I wouldn't care....we need the money.
Mark: I'm not a big proponent for large firearms. I think there should be limit on how many you can buy and their firing capacity. I am referring to Semi-automatic i.e., .50BMG caliber rifles and large capacity magazines that can hold ten rounds or more of ammunition which are not sold in California. Other states may not be the same. I have heard that some parts of Ca. have passed local ordinances that prosecute only those who demonstrate malicious intent. As the need for money: we need to fix our roads, education and health services and I'm sure there are a lot of other places also.
I have lived in California since 1960 and my parents were both born here in the 1920s. Two basic problems with California today. Demographics and too many people. The phrase, “You can’t shove 10lbs of sh*t in a 5lb bag” sums it up nicely.
Also known as a "Blivet" amongst our boys saving Europe in WWII...
I cannot remember the last time I heard a positive comment or read a flattering story about the USA. It may take a revolution to regain that luster.
I enjoy you columns!
Interesting that 9/11 was picked. I believe our response to that event accelerated a trend of moral and fiscal decline dating to the assassinations (Kennedys, King); Great Society (massive over-expansion of government); and Vietnam (an evil, corrupt war). As P. J. O’Rourke noted in Parliament of Whores, the pigs have been bellying up to the trough since the country was founded. But over the past 60 years, the trough continued to expand while the slop thinned and diminished in nutritional content.
Wayne Murray; LibertyAffair stole my thunder but I so, so heartedly agree...Your recounting those very important steps and the "freely elected" perpetrators of them speaks volumes. But lets forever not forget China is "Communist China". As far as free elections - don't hear the news and your uninformed, hear the news and your misinformed. Countless millions...
In 1950, Western swing artist Bob Wills wrote and recorded his classic "Faded Love". Patsy Cline recorded a very emotional version in 1962. Both are great; I prefer the Patsy Cline version, but as they say, "Bob Wills is STILL the King". "Faded Love" states very closely my feelings about my country, America, to which I now refer merely as the USA. I use the designations as a delineation. Best always. PM
I have to agree, spending time in California some 35 years ago. SF back in the day when bus tours of the City included a drive through the Castro district for a look at the local freaks. Who would have thought the freaks would take over the entire City including the government? A drive down the coastal highway, a ride on the cable car trolley, Carmel, Santa Monica, a few other spots.
I have no desire to go back, why let reality ruin the memories... paradise lost?
What a bunch of depressing, old, over the hill farts inhabit these pages. Especially amusing coming from a Britisher or two, inhabiting perhaps the most decrepit, rundown, ridiculous little pieces of real estate in the western world. Why don't you all relocate to the Sceptered Isle, or join Bill when he sets up shop in China or Korea, where he can enjoy real freedom.
Great response Wetmore