An Olio of Potpurri

I'm a lot smarter than the majority of the people, but this isn't
a point of contention, considering it is depressing and not some
thing to be proud of, realizing how much I don't know. Which
doesn't say much about the majority of the people.

If we are to praise modern technology for its achievements, we
must also count the harm it is causing through social media in
its irresponsible miss use of this aspect of it, that has contributed
to the decline of moral values.

It is also a medium used by the manipulators to reach clueless
and disgruntled masses, like those whom I profess to know more
than they do, uniting them into mobs for destruction, and by their
use, stand to gain from the chaos under pretense of protest.

This is allowed due to another miss use; the abuse of the First
Amendment and misinterpretation in its meaning. The wording
must be honed to prevent or correct its flaws by adding an
amendment to the First Amendment.

Feel good liberals are a hinder toward better governance due
to their adherence to political correction, standing in a circle,
holding hands, singing kumbaya and hoping redistributing the
wealth earned by the productive will solve all our problems.

By patronage for open borders, they are compounding additional
problems. We cannot control the influx of illegal immigration and
undesirables who will never assimilate into American culture, but
form enclaves and barrios with no intent to follow our laws, as
shockingly witnessed by other countries who have opened their
borders without weighing the consequence of losing their identity
as a nation.

They will never become the "Little Italy" or the "China Towns"
that are now a part of our culture.

Conservative column from George Giftos

Whatever Happened to the Music?

I grew up during an age when music was melodic and when people were able to relate to the songs and were able to dance with one another. The musical artists during this time included such luminaries as Fats Domino, Elvis Presley, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Dion, Neil Diamond, the Bee Gees and Neil Sedaka to name just a few. That kind of music lasted up until the early 90's and then it all seemed to disappear from the airwaves and in nightclubs and stage productions.

From the 90's to the present, we have replaced melodic music (I'm not counting heavy metal “music” of the 70's and 80's) with gibberish, gyrations, street rants, and vulgar lyrics cloaked in the name of “rap” and “hip-hop” music.

During the past 30 years of this change of musical tastes, there hasn't been anything of note that could be classified as a musical standard. None of this “garbage” (music) is sung or hummed by people like the older standards of yesteryear, songs that are still sung and hummed today, generally by older people.

An exception to this trend away from melodic music has been the genre of music called “country”. This type of music has now come to be looked upon in a totally different light than it was 40 or 50 years ago. Back then, country music, which was popular in the South and Southwestern states, was considered hokey, twangy, and was stereotypical of red-neck music. Over the past 30 years, country music has morphed into a type of music that combines the old country, homey, nasal style with the popular music of yesteryear to create a blend of music that is melodic and also tells a poetic story in understandable English. Some of the biggest musical stars today, such as Garth Brooks, Toby Keith, Rascal Flatt's etc. are based in the genre that is referred to as Country/Popular music.

Some people have said that this decline in “music” today is another example of the “Dumbing down of America”. Crude, course, vulgar, unintelligible lyrics is not what I consider being considered music – but it has, and it's not a pretty sight to the eyes or ears of a discerning person. What is needed is another revival of music that can be sung, hummed, and danced to by everyone, not just a group of tattooed, unkempt, skin pierced freaks contributing to the decline of civilization.

I know I will be considered an “old fogy” and out-of-touch for making such pronouncements, but someone has got to say it instead of just thinking about it. Good taste and common sense should be universal and not just the purview of older people who are stuck on nostalgia and yesteryear.

Again I ask, “Whatever Happened to the Music”?

Conservative commentary by Chuck Lehmann

The Irony of Being in a Political Cycle

I am a follower of congressional hearings and White House briefings and
I will say, I'm baffled how anyone can possibly come to conclusion about
anything, when the tone of inquiry has become so hostile.

No one appears to be interested in arriving at the truth, but to cater to their
constituents grand standing, or trying to gain political points in a gotcha
game, or follow their media bosses agenda.

It is a miracle how the country can remain a gem of democracy with so much
incompetency from those in power and spheres of people in position of
influence whom we rely on for information.

Truth is diminished in the mire of politics turned corruptive for personal gain
and competitive edge. And the attempt to drain the swamp has been thwarted
at every turn by false innuendo and made up unnamed sources with
unsubstantiated accusations.

Hopefully we are merely in a political cycle, like climate change, without lasting
dire consequences, that will soon pass and bring sanity back to the country.
After watching the Senate hearing before former FBI director James Comey a
little while ago, I am adding a rider to my article expressing the irony of what
I've stated above.

The director said the President's "hope" that he would put an end to investigating
Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn because he is a nice guy, intimidated him, so he
documented his conversations with the president; which he later leaked to the
New York Times via a friend, to cover his back.

When DOJ Loretta Lynch urged him to refer to the Hillary Clinton probe as a
matter, not an investigation about the misuse of her unsecured personal
computers, he didn't think it prudent to document this, among other improprieties.
In heading a department such as the FBI, a person who can be so easily
intimidated has no business being in that position.


Conservative column from George Giftos

The George Giftos bio:

Service: U.S. Air Force

Retired travel agency executive.

In management for agencies by

Fugazy World Travel

U.S. Industries

Carlson Companies

Liberals and the Demise of Cities

Look around the United States at the various “loser” cities and notice they mostly all have one thing in common - they are run by Democrats (liberals). Yes, that is a damning blanket statement, but let's look at the facts.

Go down the list, Detroit, Baltimore, Cleveland, Chicago, New York City, New Orleans, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Oakland, San Francisco etc., etc. They are all run by Democrat (liberals) politicians who pander to the mostly minority poor, ethnic constituencies that make up the majority of its citizens.

Take the City of Chicago (as comic Henny Youngman used to say, “Please”), it has one of the strictest gun control laws in the country, but it has one of the highest murder rates in the country. Most of the schools are under performing and the financial condition of the city is in dire straits. Who runs the city - the Democrats (liberals) under the direction of former Obama aide, Rahm Emanuel (a liberal).

Another city basket case is the City of Detroit. Once one of the wealthiest cities in America, it is now in bankruptcy and it has lost over half its population over the past few years. Many of its former mayors have been convicted of corruption and some are presently in jail. What political affiliation did these former mayor's have - they were all Democrats (liberals).

Just recently, we've seen the the chaos and lawlessness raise its ugly head in the City of Baltimore. The city is mostly minority in population and the political machine is made up of mostly black (liberal) politicians, and they have a police chief who is also black. They have screwed up the handling of the latest riots and unrest that caused a good part of the city to have gone up in flames and had encouraged criminal looting of businesses which took place on a widespread basis. The Democrat-run (liberal) city has double the poverty rate and unemployment rate as the rest of Maryland and the schools are performing at very low achievement rate. Could there be a correlation with these facts and the Democrat (liberal) control of the City of Baltimore?

Another disaster area of the country, New York City, has an ultra-liberal Mayor, Bill DeBlasio, who has dropped many of the reforms instituted by former Mayors Guiliani and Bloomberg, which made the city a vibrant place to visit or to do business with. The crime rate has gone up 20% since he took office and his economic policies have scared many residents and businesses away to other more tax friendly places of the country. With a friend like DeBlasio, New York City doesn't need anymore enemies. By the way, he is a Democrat.

The one thing all these cities seem to have in common, besides being run by Democrats (liberals), is that the governing officials of these cities always seem to blame others for their failures instead of blaming their liberal policies which they have instituted. It's always somebody else's fault, not their liberal policies (I guess they have taken a page out of the Obama and Hillary playbook).

Besides the fiscal malfeasance, many of these Democrat-run cities have amnesty policies that welcome “illegal immigrants” into their cities (Sanctuary Cities) by promising not to to turn them over to the I.N.S. for violating our immigration laws. These cities, trying to be benevolent and inclusive, have caused major problems within their

cities by increasing the unemployment rate of long-time residents and by lowering the standard of living for many of its residents. But, the people still continue to elect the Democrat (liberal) politicians over and over again. They seem to validate Einstein's definition of insanity which was - “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. One ploy the Democrats (liberals) find effective in getting enough votes to get elected and re-elected is by offering the people “freebies” from the public treasury, which in turn has put many of these cities in or near bankruptcy.

So, these distressing facts about these floundering cities is only scratching the surface of the failed Democrat (liberal) policies which seem to mirror the failed economic and social policies of Marxism/Socialism.

I, therefore declare, that things will not change unless the people, in those cities revolt and throw out of office the miscreants that have engineered the demise of their cities - those miscreants are the Democrats (liberals). Case closed!

Conservative commentary by Chuck Lehmann

NPR Humor Gone Flat

This Saturday morning, I was surfing the channels to see who had
the best coverage of the President and First Lady arriving in Saudi
Arabia. It seems Fox News Channel was the only one providing full
coverage.

It was a proud moment seeing them received so respectfully.
Later, I had NPR tuned in on my car radio and was disgusted to
listen to the hosts on that program in a deluge of derogatory, bad
taste humor about the leader of our country.

NPR is now among my list of sub humans who are the mainstream
media and clueless celebrities, who are below idiot and moron
classification, sounding like Stephen Colbert, who is as funny as a
flat tire.

The whole lot of them can be described as the part of the anatomy
that discharges human waste.

Conservative column from George Giftos

Dinesh D'Souza schools liberal student how climate change policies harm the poor.

In a recent speech at Brandeis University, author and speaker Dinesh D'Souza was asked questions about climate change. D'Souza explained that global warming is not something that people experience and many interpret the findings differently. He explained how progressives see global warming as a moral issue because they would be able to change and direct the way people live. But he explained that people in India, for example, are just now climbing out of poverty and they need resources to move from starvation to eating once or twice a day. Instead, he said progressives see resources as luxuries that need regulated, making resources limited and more expensive, thereby harming the poorest of the world the most.