CNN: Barbara Starr- 'Donald Rumsfeld's Legacy: The Iraq war & September 11th'

Source:CNN- Donald Rumsfeld: President George W. Bush's Secretary of Defense (2001-06)

"CNN's Barbara Starr looks at the life and legacy of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who died at the age of 88, according to a statement from his family.

No cause of death was immediately provided.

"It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the passing of Donald Rumsfeld, an American statesman and devoted husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather. At 88, he was surrounded by family in his beloved Taos, New Mexico," the Rumsfeld family said in a statement.

"History may remember him for his extraordinary accomplishments over six decades of public service, but for those who knew him best and whose lives were forever changed as a result, we will remember his unwavering love for his wife Joyce, his family and friends, and the integrity he brought to a life dedicated to country." 

From CNN 

Before I get into my main point about Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, I just want to say first that I believe he was a very good man and a man who served his country with a lot of courage and served a lot of people very well. His actions post-9/11 are perfect examples of that. As well as his service to President Gerald R. Ford in the mid 1970s. 

My main point about Donald Rumsfeld is that if he's not the face of Neoconservatives and neoconservatism in America, it's because maybe they can only have one face and that face belongs to Vice President Dick Cheney. 

And on a lighter note: when I think of Neoconservatives today, I think of 20 trillion-dollar debts and trillion-dollar deficits, because that's what it's taken the last 20 years to fund their foreign and national security policies. 

The economic and foreign policy of George W. Bush Administration was essentially guns and butter, financed by a national debt card. They told everyone that we can occupy two foreign, Middle Eastern countries that don't want us there in the first place, all by ourselves and at home we're going to double the size of Medicare, (an entitlement program) expand Uncle Sam's role in public education, cut taxes for everyone, and it's not going to cost anyone everything, because we have this national debt car and as long as the printer at the Federal Reserve keeps working and prints all of that money, we can do this indefinitely. 

That's what I think of Neoconservatives today and there's obviously more to neoconservatism than that, but guns and butter and their national card is what they're most famous for.  

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Last Week Tonight: John Oliver: 'Health Care Sharing Ministries'

Source:Last Week Tonight- John Oliver talking about health care sharing ministries.

"Health Care Sharing Ministries, or HCSMs, advertise themselves as a more affordable, faith-based alternative to health insurance. But John Oliver explains some of the massive limitations these plans can have." 

From Last Week Tonight 

From what I've heard about health care sharing ministries, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with them either. But at the same time I don't smoke anything, but I'm not in favor of outlawing tobacco and I would even legalize marijuana for personal use for adults. I don't drink alcohol, but I'm not for alcohol prohibition. 

I believe in an individualistic free society like America (unlike a collectivist welfare state like Britain, where John Oliver is from) that Americans need to be make their own decisions, short of hurting any innocent person with what they are doing,  even if those decisions offends the Far-Left or Far-Right, who believe that Uncle Sam is better qualified to make their own decisions, because Americans are just too damn dumb or immoral to make their own decisions for themselves. 

If you don't want health care sharing ministries, stay the hell away from it and find another way to pay for your own health care. 

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Theodore Roosevelt Center: "Before Stonewall: Ariston Bath Raid (1903)'

Source:Theodore Roosevelt Center- Theodore Roosevelt's connection with the Ariston Bath Raid.

"While the #Stonewall riots are often seen as the impetus to the gay rights movement, the fight for equality and acceptance began far earlier. In today's blog post, Karen digs into the Ariston Bath Raid of 1903, and Theodore Roosevelt's connection." 

From Theodore Roosevelt Center 

"Unlike other cultural groups, the LGBT community has a less visible history, resulting in the assumption that their oppression and fight for equal civil rights has not been long fought. If students learn anything about gay history, they learn about the Stonewall Riots, a demonstration by members of the queer community in response to a violent raid against patrons of the Stonewall Inn 52 years ago on this day. The event is often seen as the impetus for the larger LGBT rights and gay pride movement in the United States, which is why Pride Month is celebrated annually in June. Most Americans’ awareness of gay history beyond Stonewall is minimal though, despite the fact that evidence of gay culture has been recorded since America was a British colony. For this week’s short blog post to close out Pride Month, I wanted to explore a lesser-known moment in the gay rights movement from Theodore Roosevelt’s first term as president — the Ariston Baths Raid of 1903. 

Hundreds of sex-segregated bath houses operated in NYC at the turn of the century, spurred by the poor sanitary conditions and limited in-apartment toilets and baths in an increasingly populated city. Turkish baths’ popularity quickly spread from poor immigrants to local ethnic, fraternal and religious organizations, and later hotels and spas, that added steam rooms and massages." 

Source:Theodore Roosevelt Center- New York City in 1969.

From Theodore Roosevelt Center 

I think a big problem with American politics in how people operate in it and try to understand it, has to do with political stereotypes. A lot of political junkies like to stereotype racial and ethnic groups as being part of this party or that ideological faction. African-Americans and Jews tend to get stereotyped as leftists because they tend to vote Democrat. And the same thing with Irish-Americans, especially Irish-Catholics. Anglo-Saxons (especially Southern Anglo-Saxons) tend to get stereotyped as Republicans and right-wing, because they tend to be Protestant. When the fact is none of these voting blocks are monolithic when it comes to their political persuasions.

Cities, especially big cities, and even big Northeastern cities like New York City is the same way. New York gets stereotyped as left-wing, because you have Greenwich Village there and you have a lot of left-wing professors, hipsters, writers, and cultural leftist leaders, etc. But people tend to forget the Manhattan is the capital of Corporate America. NYC is also the home of Wall Street, it’s one of the wealthiest cities (not just big cities) in America, at least when it comes to per-capita income. It also has a lot of blue-collar communities, Italians, Irish, Latino, and other ethnic groups there that tend to vote Republican, because they like Republican economic and even cultural policies.

So when NYPD cracked down on gay bars in 1903 and later in 1968, simply because the people there are gay, you shouldn’t be surprised by that. New York has never been a utopia for gays in America or any other minority group. And neither has San Francisco (speaking of big cities) because even though SF is perhaps the most left-wing of any big city in America, gays have been harassed there as well simply because they are gay. 

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Michael Smerconish: 'What is the Appropriate Sentence For Derek Chauvin?'

Source:Michael Smerconish- you be the judge?

"COMMENT what you think the appropriate sentence is!

"It is a given he will do a minimum of 15 years": NBC News National Reporter Janelle Griffith joins the show to discuss her predictions for today's sentencing of Derek Chauvin, using Judge Peter Cahill's track record of rulings as the basis of her analysis." 

From Michael Smerconish 

I'm not a lawyer let alone someone who is familiar with Minnesota law, but just looking at what Derek Chauvin was convicted of which was second degree unintentional murder, third degree murder, and second degree manslaughter, you would think that Chauvin would be eligible for 20 years in prison for the second degree murder conviction alone. But Chauvin got 22 years total for unintentional murder, third degree murder, and manslaughter. I wasn't a math major either, but I know that 22 years for three crimes is a little more than seven years for each crime. 

The State of Minnesota is not Scandinavia, it's not Vermont, it's not Greenwich, New York, it's not Seattle, it's not San Francisco. This is not some radical hippie, Far-Left type of state. Minnesota is a middle of the road, middle of the country, Center-Left state, but not a Far-Left state. You would think they would be serious when it came to murderers and not slap people on the wrist and ask them not to kill anymore innocent people in the future. Which is what seven years for a third degree and second degree murder  and manslaughter essentially is. 

I don't know who Judge Cahill is (the man who sentenced Derek Chauvin) but I believe if the same jury who convicted Chauvin of these horrible crimes were also sentencing Chauvin, the former officer is probably looking at 30 years if not 40 years. (Unless it was a jury of radical hippie leftists) Because it's hard to imagine a jury who believes a police officer is who guilty of three different types of killings, should probably do real time for it. Not seven years for each crime, which is what Chauvin got.  

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CNN: 'Ted Cruz Accused of 'Mansplaining' As Hearing Goes Off The Rails'

Source:CNN- Ted Cruz vs Mazie Hirono on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"A Senate Judiciary Hearing considering the nomination of Judge Gustavo Gelpí to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals got heated as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) lashed out at chair Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), who accused Cruz of misrepresenting her line of questioning." 

From CNN 

"Mansplaining (a blend word of man and the informal form splaining of the gerund explaining) is a pejorative term meaning "(of a man) to comment on or explain something to a woman in a condescending, overconfident, and often inaccurate or oversimplified manner".[1][2][3][4] Author Rebecca Solnit ascribed the phenomenon to a combination of "overconfidence and cluelessness".[5] Lily Rothman, of The Atlantic, defined it as "explaining without regard to the fact that the explainee knows more than the explainer, often done by a man to a woman." 

From Wikipedia 

  So according to Senator Mazie Hirono (Democrat, Hawaii) who I’m sure I tend to agree with her more often that I disagree with her (or at least more often than Flyin Ted Cruz, which ain’t saying anything) Senator Cruz was mansplaining her because he disagreed with her on originalism?

If this mansplaining claim is true, this is just one case, one example of why Congress has fewer fans than skunks at weddings. Apparently according to militant feminists, you’re not allowed to contradict a woman in public without someone throwing an insult at you. And oh by the way: I’m not sticking up for Senator Cruz. I don’t call him Flying Ted because I think he’s a great pilot. I’m just pointing out that political bullshit is nonpartisan.

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Michael Smerconish: 'Democracy or Security?: The Question That Will Re-Elect Donald Trump'

Source:Michael Smerconish- arguing that if Democrats turn against law enforcement, Donald Trump will come back to power.

"(YT EXCLUSIVE) What's more important to you and your family? Democracy, or security? Are we instinctively inclined to protect our own safety and family first?

Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Friedman argues in today’s New York Times that dismantling the police could sink Democrats and lead “way too many” to choose Donald Trump." 

From Michael Smerconish 

Michael Smerconish is right in the sense that too many Americans get their news from the people and organizations that they trust politically. But that’s American political world of reality TV where it’s not the truth which is what matters in America for perhaps 40% of the country (Democrats and Republicans) but what’s believable for the hyper-partisans in America, (the Far-Right and Far-Left) and what sounds good to them politically, that they can use as their talking points on social media and perhaps their own personal blogs.

According to Michael Smerconish, New York Times columnist Tom Friedman argued that if the Democratic Party (the current party in power) turns against law enforcement and crime continues to rise in America, that Donald Trump will be elected President again in 2024.

Rising crime will hurt the Democrats, especially if they’re seen as against law enforcement. But I believe a better question will be whether The Donald will even be eligible to run for President or not in 2024. Not just the criminal investigations, but the personal bankruptcies, he may decide to leave the country, perhaps even give up his American citizenship to avoid being prosecuted and facing prison time before 2024 rolls around. Maybe he”ll find his own deserted country and create the State of Donald J. Trump and be put into power there. Hard to lose elections when only your voters are allowed to vote.

Yes, rising crime and attitude that seems anti-law enforcement will hurt Democrats especially in the Midwest in 2022 and 2024. But whether The Donald will even be eligible to run for President, let alone, be physically up to in in 3 years, are questions that are going to have to be answered first well more than half of the country has to worry about another national nightmare known as the Donald Trump Presidency happening again. 

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Real Time With Bill Maher: 'About Young People in Communism'

Source:Clowns In My Coffee- S.E. Cupp must work real hard to look adorable wearing thick glasses. And that work has paid off. 

"Young people’s respect for elders, poll results on communism and defunding the police." 

From Clowns In My Coffee 

"The Lost Generation was the social generational cohort that came of age during World War I. "Lost" in this context refers to the "disoriented, wandering, directionless" spirit of many of the war's survivors in the early postwar period.[1] The term is also particularly used to refer to a group of American expatriate writers living in Paris during the 1920s.[2][3][4] Gertrude Stein is credited with coining the term, and it was subsequently popularized by Ernest Hemingway who used it in the epigraph for his 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises: "You are all a lost generation".[5][6]

In a more general sense, the Lost Generation is considered to be made up of individuals born between 1883 and 1900.[7] The last surviving person that was known to have been born in the 19th century, Nabi Tajima, died in 2018... 

From Wikipedia 

The Wikipedia link I believe could easily be transferred over to the Millennial Generation, because I believe we're talking about a generation of Americans that don't seem to know what they want (other than being cool and popular) and don't seem to know where they are going. 

I mean we're talking about a generation of Americans that thinks socialism is cool and claim to hate capitalism (even as they are the biggest subsidizers and customers of American capitalism in American history) while they're staking out electronics stores to get whatever the latest gadgets are. Millennials seem to live in coffee houses, (perhaps because they can't afford their own place to live) who claim the they can't get though the day without their Starbucks, (or whatever their coffee house of choice is) get into car accidents because they can't put their I-phones downs. I mean at risking of sounding old (which to a Millennial is anyone 40 or over) if this isn't a lost generation, that term has no meaning. 

I believe every large generation (at least in my lifetime) has a period like this and I believe new technology makes it more obvious. Baby Boomers thought socialism and communism were cool in the 1960s. But then parents kicked them out, because they were stinking up their basements and it suddenly occurred to them that they need real jobs and that maybe communism isn't so cool or groovy anymore and that capitalism and liberal democracy is still way to go. 

The Boomers finally mentally grew up in the 1970s and 80s and turned out to be one of, if not the most productive generations that we've ever had. Hopefully the light will go on with Millennials as well as they get smarter with more experience.  

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Real Time With Bill Maher: 'New Rule: Progressophobia'

Source:Real Time With Bill Maher- on left-wing bedwetters and doom and gloomers.

"Where progress has been made, it’s not a sin – and it’s certainly not inaccurate – to say we’ve come a long way, baby. Not mission accomplished. Just a long way. " 

From Real Time With Bill Maher 

 The only thing that I disagree with Bill Maher’s editorial here is the word Liberal. Replace Liberal with leftist, hippie, hipster, left-wing propagandist, faddist, and of course the usual suspects, Socialist and Communist and I believe his editorial is perfect and damn right.

Back in the 1980s, there was a term for Far-Left Democrats who viewed the perfect as the enemy of the good and could never accept real progress in America, because whatever the situation was, it wasn’t perfect in their view. I believe Democratic political strategist Bob Beckel (speaking of lefties) coined the term Doom and Gloom Democrats as the term for hyper-partisan, Far-Left Democrats who could never admit to real progress, because the situation wasn’t perfect in their view.

The more modern term for Doom and Gloom Democrats is bedwetting liberals. I call them bedwetting leftists, but you’re talking about folks who always find that one cloud in the sky on a gorgeous, warm day.

If leftists liked sports (other than soccer and figure skating) and were head coaches, their team could win a game 28-0 and instead talking about that, they would mention the 5 penalties that their team made or the fact that their opponent almost scored on the last possession of the game. And not the mention that their team won 28-0 and played a great game on both sides of the ball.

As far as Kevin Hart: I rarely talk about entertainers at all when it comes to current affairs and politics, but only because they are entertainers. Except when these so-called Hollywood leftists or rightists are being hypocritical.

Entertainers whether it’s Kevin Hart or anyone else, are in the business of popularity and when they’re successful, they have large followings generally of young hipsters, who tend to be pretty left-wing (at least publicly) and for entertainers to keep their followers, they always have to bee seen as cool with those folks. Even if that means saying ridiculous things (to be overly generous on a good day) and risk giving up their credibility to keep or add to their popularity. So I don’t tend to take Kevin Hart or any other entertainer seriously when it comes to current affairs.

But other than the word Liberal, I believe that Bill Maher make a great point here and delivers a great editorial. And some might say he’s an entertainer and I would give them an A for being obvious on that one, but he has a long track record of consistency when it comes to his own politics and uses humor very well to make his serious points.

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