Month: July 2017

 

In general if someone says that he/she likes going to the dentist, that person is going to be considered a bit unusual or bizarre. I have nothing against dentists, and am not an “anti-dentite”, but what kind of normal person actually likes going to the dentist??

Me, I like going to the dentist, or more precisely, I like going to the dentist’s office. Today I went for my six month cleaning and check-up, and got there forty minutes early. No, I am not super-compulsive about arriving on time, but rather I wanted to be able to read some of the magazines that he has in his waiting room. I always look forward to reading Sports Illustrated and if there is time, glancing at National Geographic. Was forty minutes going to be enough time?

Shortly after opening S.I., I came upon a letter complaining about an article in the prior issue that unnecessarily criticized Donald Trump, and “what was that doing in a sports magazine?” Now I did not read the article in question (as I had not been in the dentist’s office for six months), but what was that doing in a sports magazine? I then closed the Sports Illustrated, and then opened National Geographic.

Upon opening it, I saw an article about why people lie. It sounded like it could be interesting so I started to read it. The initial example was about a pathological liar who had gotten into an Ivy League school in large part because of all the exaggerated lies on his resume. Then, “Boom!” Out of the blue, the author was talking about Donald Trump! I did not read the rest of this article, but as I skimmed it, I saw that Mr. Trump’s name was mentioned two or three more times. Interestingly, Barack Hussein Obama was not mentioned, even though he had said on multiple occasions, “If you like your doctor, you can keep him.” and he had also promised that our insurance premiums would go down, although it was apparent from the git-go that that was going to be impossible!

There are so many problems with National Geographic that I do not know where to start. First of all, what is an article about liars and lying doing in National Geographic? Did they dramatically change their format over the last six months? Be that as it may, why was Donald Trump essentially called a liar, but B.O. was not even mentioned? Why mention Mr. Trump in the context of other obvious pathological liars? Could it be that the author of this National Geographic article was a biased leftist?! Duh!

I then closed National Geographic, but since all that was left to read was Time and Woman’s Day, I stopped reading altogether. I then started thinking, “Are all of today’s magazines being infiltrated by liberals?” I do not get any magazines at home and I now congratulate myself on my spend-thriftiness. It’s bad enough that our newspapers are infiltrated by liberal opinions, but I had assumed that Sport’s Illustrated and National Geographic would be non-political and thus safe to read. This was not the case, and because I am a man of principle, I vow not to read either Sports Illustrated or National Geographic for the next six months!

On 6/30/17 our local newspaper printed an op-ed article in the form of a letter written by “California” addressed to “U.S.A.” on its birthday. In this letter California comes down hard on The U.S.A. –  essentially totally shifting blame for its quirky ideas onto the more responsible party. Although I did not agree with the point of view of the author, I thought that it was cleverly written (albeit probably with his left hand).

What if California and U.S.A. were real people? Would U.S.A. respond to the original letter?   Probably, yes. Would U.S.A. respond by tweeting?  Probably,no. I think that U.S.A. would respond to the comments of California in a gentle, almost paternalistic rebuttal type of letter, and it would go something like this:

Dear California,

I just received your lengthy and somewhat rambling letter on this my 241st birthday. I am sure that you did not mean any disrespect even as you were telling me that I was going through a nasty meltdown. The missus was a little taken aback by your tone, but I assured her that you were just going through a phase similar to puberty. I agree that we have been drifting apart, but to claim that it is solely due to my midlife crisis, is a bit simplistic, don’t you think? Surely, even you cannot think that all of your spouting off about sanctuary cities and not doing what the constitution says is anything other than classic passive aggressive behavior. In addition the “I’m right and I am not going to listen to you” attitude sounds as if you are seven years old, although to me I’ll bet that it’s your hormones getting the best of you!

You also mentioned that I have turned against things I, the U.S.A., used to love. Perhaps it is the drugs out there on the left coast, but you forgot some key elements in almost all of the following accusatory hallucinations about things “that I used to love”:

Immigration – I have not turned against immigration, but rather I have turned against illegal immigration!

Trade – I am not against trade, but I am against trade deals in which I, the U.S.A.,is getting screwed, and our ‘trade deal’ with South Korea is next up for a critical evaluation.

International Alliances – Things are actually looking up as President Trump has met with more foreign leaders in six months than the prior president did in the last four years.

Voting Rights – What I am against is non-citizens voting. It is very interesting that the Trump team is having a very difficult time getting the actual voting data in states with Democratic governors!  Why is that?

Women’s Rights – I hope that you have noticed that President Trump has a very capable woman in his Cabinet and also at the U.N. I am a bit perplexed that I am not hearing any comments from you on the rights of women living in Moslem Countries compared to the rights of women living here.

Infrastructure – President Trump just set up a committee to work on fixing our infrastructure in the U.S.A. Correct me if I am wrong but didn’t you, California, just have to finagle  a new gas tax on your citizens, despite the fact that your governor had promised not to raise taxes without a vote of the people. These new taxes all in the name of repairing your infrastructure, as the previous funds to fix your infrastructure seem to have vanished into your smog.

Treating People with Respect – I guess your Hollywood elites have not gotten the message that everyone needs to be treated with respect, starting with President Trump!

While you have always been an independent child, your pouting does nothing to benefit our family unit. I have known for years that your rebellious streak would eventually get you in trouble, but isn’t your verbally striking out against the others in our family taking your recalcitrance just a bit too far?  Granted you have always had a vivid imagination, but now your interpretation of reality on things like “only citizens being allowed to vote” and “legal” immigration appears to be in la-la land!

I still love you, and I will try to continue to be tolerant of your tantrums as I recognize the telltale effects of adolescent hormones. However I do hope that you come to your senses soon, because my patience is being stretched thin.

With love,

The United States of America

 

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals covers most of the western United States, Hawaii, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Alaska. It has 25 active judges and 4 openings – i.e. 29 in total. Of these 25 now active judges 18 were appointed by Democratic presidents including 7 having been appointed by Barack Hussein Obama. So it should come as no surprise that the 9th circuit is a very liberal circuit.  It has been referred to as “The 9th Circuit Court of Schlemiels” as well as “The 9th Circus Court of Appeals”, as from 2010-2015, 79% of its reviewed decisions were reversed by U.S. Supreme Court.

As I am sure many of you are aware that it was the 9th Circuit that ruled against President Trump’s executive order on immigration – apparently because of things he said as a candidate!?

It is the Circuit Court for 20% of the U.S. population, and is by far the largest Circuit Court in the U.S. For the year ending on 3/31/2016 almost 12,000 cases were filed in the 9th circuit, which is 4000 more than the next highest circuit. Is it too large? Many think so, as efforts to split the 9th circuit go back to 1941. In 2007 Supreme Court Justice Kennedy, who was previously a sitting judge on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, testified that it was too large and unwieldy, and should be split. Recently the two Senators from Arizona (McCain & Flake) are again on a mission to split up the 9th, and add a 12th Circuit Court, because it takes too long for a case to be heard and then decided by the 9th Circuit – it typically takes 15 months to hand down a decision.

How would this proposal affect those of us who live in California? Actually, it would not make too much difference to us, since if the 9th Circuit were to be split, both the Northern and the Southern California districts would remain in the 9th Circuit, and probably remain liberal. What would be more prudent to do is to appoint 4 conservative judges to fill the 4 present vacancies in the 9th Circuit, and to do it A.S.A.P.

 

Today(6/30/17) President Trump suggested that Obamacare be repealed first and then subsequently replaced. Do you all think that he is reading my blog? Of course the Never-Trumpers will chime in that he is changing his tune from what he said in January – but at that point there was no way for him to foresee that he was going to be dealing with Republicans ninnies in Congress!

See blog titled, “No CPR on ACA.”

Also today Sen. Ben Sasse (R, Neb) suggested repealing the ACA with a time delay so that Americans will not lose their healthcare immediately. Do you think that he is reading my blog?

Again see blog titled “No CPR on ACA.”

Again the reason to do it this way is to put pressure on the recalcitrants  in the Senate to compromise, and perhaps to even encourage some Democrats to join into the Replace effort (but not Schumer or Pelosi!). Remember if there is then no cooperation, both sides will be at risk in the 2018 elections. Once it is repealed the Republicans will have about a year before the s*** hits the fan, and they will be no worse off in the interim, as they will have fulfilled 1/2 of their promise.