Wednesday, December 27, 2017

A Happy and Prosperous 2018 to All!

Friends, your favorite Peasant wishes all of you and your families
a most bright and prosperous Happy New Year!

After the Holidays, we shall gather here to reminisce about the
fantastic blessings which came our way in the old year,
and we'll look at the prospects for the new year! We have
had a tumultuous but joyful 2017, and we'll take time to count our
many blessings which came with it!

Stay warm! See you next year (HAHAHAHAHA! My little joke!).


MEM

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Christmas Greetings to All!

Your nearly-overworked Peasant needs to slow down
a bit (quite a bit!) and take a little down time. And with
Christmas right around the corner, I shall take this
occasion to wish you, my great and wonderful readers
a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous Happy New Year!
To quote Sean Hannity, one of our fantastic conservative
radio talk show hosts, "Let not your heart be troubled",
for I shall be back so very soon! I shall declare this my
Christmas holiday vacation.

Meanwhile, enjoy this fine online publication in my
absence:

www.nationalreview.com/  National Review Online


Thank you for your loyal readership and friendship!
I'll see you all after Christmas Day! May your Christmas
be merry and bright, and may you receive and share
lots of love!


MEM

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Governor Brown's Moment of Reason (May He Have Many More!)

A most unusual event recently happened in Sacramento,
California's capital city; some would even call it a miracle.
Governor Jerry Brown, the state's archliberal governor,
vetoed a bill which would have codified former President
Obama's policies regarding campus sexual assault.

In 2011, the Obama regime issued the infamous "Dear
Colleague" guidance, which ordered the nation's universities
to create Title IX "courts" under the threat of their losing
federal funds. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is
working to replace this monstrosity with a new regulatory
code which restores and protects due process, clamping
down on political correctness-based witch hunts.

The solidly Democrat-held legislature passed a law that
explicitly protects the Obama-era guidelines, making
adherence a condition of receiving financial assistance,
according to the bill's sponsor state Senator Hannah-Beth
Jackson. Gov. Brown, who actually shares Secretary DeVos'
concerns in regards, stated in a letter accompanying his veto:
"Thoughtful legal minds have increasingly questioned whether
federal and state actions to prevent and redress sexual harassment
and assault --- well-intentioned as they are --- have also
unintentionally resulted in some college's failure to uphold
due process for accused students."

Gov. Brown went on to say that accused students must be granted
"the presumption of innocence until the facts speak otherwise"and
warned that "depriving any student of higher education opportunities
should not be done lightly, or out of fear of losing state or federal
funding" and added that "we have no insight (into) whether there is
disproportionate impact on race or ethnicity." Truer words on this
subject have never been spoken, especially by someone on the
political correctness-worshipping Left.

It is most surprising, refreshing, and gladdening to see a prominent
government official of the liberal political persuasion stand for the
rule of law, and the Golden Thread of Justice which is woven
through it, the latter stating that an accused person is innocent until
proven guilty, and that the accused must have an fair and impartial
trial. Although he has left his comrades in the legislature scratching
their heads and asking plaintively "Whose side is Gov. Brown on?",
it is quite clear that, at least in this instance, California's governor is
on the side of justice. What a concept for the Left to fathom.


MEM

Monday, November 27, 2017

Jim Bunning, R.I.P.

Your baseball-lovin' Peasant would be remiss if I didn't
pay tribute to Hall of Fame Major League Baseball pitcher,
United States Representative and United States Senator
Jim Bunning, who passed away on May 26 of this year,
aged 85. Bunning was a man of tremendous accomplish-
ments, which included being the only MLB athlete to
be elected to both the House of Representatives and the
United States Senate.

A star athlete in high school and at college, Bunning was
signed by the Detroit Tigers, going on to stardom with
the tigers as well as the Philadelphia Phillies and the
Pittsburgh Pirates. He retired from the sport with having
the second-highest total of career strikeouts among big
league pitchers (he is now 17th on the list), and pitched
the seventh perfect game (no hits, walks, hit batters or wild
pitches) in Major League history against the New York Mets
in 1964.

After his baseball career he began a career in politics, first
being elected to the Fort Thomas (KY) City Council, followed
by service in the Kentucky State Senate where he served as
Minority Leader, then was elected to Congress,serving in
the House and finally ascending to the Senate. A rock-ribbed
conservative, Bunning served six terms in the former
and two terms in the latter, retiring in 2010. He was succeeded
by current U.S. Senator Rand Paul.

Bunning was a friend to hardworking taxpayers, military
personnel and veterans along with their families, small business
owners, and was a champion of the unborn. Contatry to what
many Democrats and labor unions have long claimed, Bunning
was not at all hostile to unions; quite the contrary, he was active
in the Major League Baseball Players Association, the ballplayers'
union. Bunning was instrumental in gaining better pay, benefits,
and conditions for his fellow baseball players, including decent
locker rooms and per diem coverage, this at a time when team
owners could still impose their will on players, which included
providing a poor pension plan with paltry payouts to players,
most of whom didn't even qualify for the plan. Bunning also was
instrumental in establishing free agency for players to help them
shop their services around the majors for the best salary and contract
deals, as well as to veto trades to other teams. Although he didn't agree
with the ideas and plans which organized labor holds these days,
Bunning always recognized the legitimate and rightful need to
protect the basic rights of workers, and lived his convictions both
as a ballplayer and a member of government.

A most remarkable man, a fine athlete, a dedicated public servant,
a devoted husband and father, and an outstanding citizen. Not a bad
legacy. Enjoy your heavenly rest, sir. You have truly earned it.


MEM

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Thanksgiving Thoughts and Wishes

Although one needn't wait until the fourth Thursday
of November to be thankful for all what you have,
as one can (and should) be thankful and give thanks
each and every day for all one's blessings, Thanksgiving
is a most appropriate holiday to formally give thanks
for all that is good and beautiful in one's life.

Here's just a few of the things that your thankful Peasant
wishes to express his thanks for this Thanksgiving:

*I was born in the United States, the most free, the most
prosperous, the most wonderful country in the world,
and have lived here my whole life to date, just about sixty
years. I have traveled abroad and enjoyed visiting other
nations, but always enjoyed coming home to be the best part
of each of my trips, returning to a country that has so many
wonderful things going for it which many people in other
places envy and dream about having for themselves.

*I have my health. Although I have hypertension (high blood
pressure) I have it under control with the help of wonderful
medicines and a careful but not overly restrictive diet.
And I have the usual aches and pains which come with the
advancing years, but they don't lay me up in bed. I am still
quite active, I own and run a business in which I perform
very physical work (I am a handyman) for my clients, and
I have an active social life as well.

*My music collection which largely consists of CDs and
cassette tapes of Irish music from great artists such as
the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. I love Irish
music, especially as it keeps me close to the Irish part of
my background (and by the by, I am related to the Clancys!).

*The Milwaukee Irish Fest. It's the largest Irish festival in
the world; if you want to sample even more of Irish culture,
you have to visit the Auld Sod itself! When I'm there I get
together with family and friends, some of each being performers
themselves.

*My song circle, which I founded in 2010 and dedicated to the
memory of my dear friend and co-founder of our Irish Fest
Chuck Ward. We sing the songs of the Celtic world, Ireland
and beyond, meeting to sing every few weeks at some of the
local pubs.

*All of my dear family and friends. I have cousins from Ireland
to San Francisco, and friends all around the world. I keep in
touch with and visit with them as best I can.

*I live in a country where I can speak my mind about anything
at all, including the political scene (hence this blog!). Although
the left-wingers want to take this constitutionally guaranteed right
away from me and others sharing my opinions they are fighting
a fight which they cannot win. We Americans cherish our rights,
do not shy away from our responsibilities, and will fight like
hell to keep and preserve our liberties!

*The historic election of Donald J. Trump as our president on the
heels of the eight-year nadir which our country had suffered with
extreme left-wing President Barack Obama in the Oval Office,
and the undoing of the damage he did with his cavalier dismissal
of our Constitution and our constitutional rule of law. Our liberties
are once again safeguarded, and we have regained our bearings
as a nation.

*Our great and brave people who serve in our military. They keep us
safe from our enemies from other lands who want to do harm to us
both home and abroad. They put their lives on the line every day
when deployed, and they train very arduously to protect us and
our great nation on land, on the sea, and in the air. They give so much
for us, and that is why your grateful Peasant thanks and praises them
frequently on this blog. What remarkable people!

*The abundance of food, clothing, shelter, and creature comforts
that I have and always have had, even when times were challenging.
When I think of the people in some countries where they are lucky
to have grass huts or wooden shanties to call home, have little food
and little money to buy food and to obtain medical treatment in
case of illness or injury ...

In summation, your faithful Peasant's cup runneth over! I am so
thankful for all of these blessings and for the many more which I have
neither the time nor the space to list here, and I am so very very
thankful and proud to be an American. And of course I am so
very very grateful for all of you, my dear, loyal and wonderful
readers! You are the reason that I keep blogging! You are what
keeps me going in my quest to defend and advance the conservative
principles of governance, finance, and living! Happy Thanksgiving
to you all and God bless!


MEM

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Gratitude on Veterans Day

Folks, today is Veterans Day. If you value your liberty,
if you enjoy your freedom, thank a vet!

God bless all our veterans, living and passed, and all our
currently active military personnel. You're who made,
and keeps, our country the free and wonderful place that
it is!


MEM

Thursday, November 9, 2017

On Piggery and Hypocrisy

Sexual harassment is a beastly thing. It debases and devalues
a person, reducing him or her to a thing, an object of misplaced
and/or misbegotten passion, a veritable toy. Victims' careers and
lives have been ruined by this shameful behavior, and laws have
been written and enacted to deter and to remedy such terrible
abusement in workplaces, in schools, in all public places.
But sometimes a situation will occur where the harasser holds
a position of considerable power, and therefore will be immune,
or nearly so, against charges from the harasser's victims.
This is certainly the case with Hollywood, the city where movies
are made, fantasies are enacted on the silver screen (and apparently
elsewhere), gorgeous people work and play, and power goes with
money like peanut butter goes with jelly ... and with Ye Olde
Casting Couch.

In that city, one of their most famous and powerful denizens,
movie mogul muy grande Harvey Weinstein has been the
subject of a nationwide discussion about sexual harassment,
primarily as he has been accused in recent weeks by many
women in his employ. Some prominent actresses have
revealed their unfortunate encounters with the movie mogul,
having stated that these incidents took place earlier in their
careers before they became established stars. Some of them
submitted to Weinstein's improper overtures because they
could get ahead in their careers faster, or at least not have
them abruptly ended by someone with the power to drop
them from his studio and perhaps get them virtually blackballed
in Tinseltown so that they would "never do lunch in this town
again". They filtered in, one at a time and then in greater numbers,
slowly picking up steam and increasing in numbers.

Now, pertinent to this story is the fact that Weinstein, as is many
(practically all) of Hollywood's most prominent figures, is a
die-hard Democrat. Very, very left-wing, in fact. He has thrown
fundraising events for President Obama and for Hillary Clinton,
and even acted as a bundler for them, gathering up donated
campaign funds from wealthy liberals in and outside of Hollywood
to transfer to the aforementioned candidates in big bundles.
The story grew to become nationwide news, appearing in print
and broadcast media throughout the country. At the same time
liberals in and outside of the Democrat Party have been trying
their damndest to hamper Republican President Donald Trump's
ability to govern, attempting to dig up dirt on him and to
manufacture dirt whenever they couldn't find anything (as has
often been the case), especially in terms of his interaction with
women. They have excoriated the president for past salacious
remarks he in fact made about some women, what some call
"locker room talk", and your faithful Peasant must say that
these remarks were indeed quite crude. But it is one thing to
make uncouth comments about women, and quite another to
behave in uncouth ways toward them. However, in the lefties'
book of social etiquette, it is only the non-lefties that have to
toe the mark, not the lefties themselves. Again, the left-wing
double standard rears its ugly head.

Obama and Clinton, as well as Democrat National Committee
officials have been called upon to return the funds that Weinstein
raised as well as personally contributed, and at the present neither
any response nor action has been forthcoming from these quarters.
Your watchful Peasant isn't holding his breath for either, to be sure!
But then, this is the same bunch that has given a pass, and even
praise to former Congressman Anthony Weiner, the politician who
lived down to his name (!) with his "sexting" mischief, as well as to
others in their sorry ranks, members of Congress, officeholders
at the state and local levels, wealthy donors to the Democrat Party
and causes of importance to the party as well as to the left-wingers
in general, entertainers of various sorts, and to Weinstein himself.
Always remember, folks: the Left tries to hold the conservative
opposition to the latter's standards, to the point of picking over every
detail, while never holding themselves to any set of standards but one;
Win at all costs, do whatever you must in order to win no matter how
down and dirty the means, smear whomever, destroy whomever,
rob whomever, just grab the prize (which is of course power)
and take the victory lap. Additionally, whatever money there is to be
had is icing on the cake.

We conservatives should point out this gross hypocrisy of our foes
at every opportunity, loudly and clearly. After all, we are in a war for
the very soul of America. This is a war being fought on the cultural,
political, educational, financial, and moral fronts. There are no Geneva
Conference rules of engagement and treatment of prisoners; it's
a nationwide street fight about the kind of society our country
is to have, the kind of government we are to have, and the rules of
behavior we are to have and to pass along to our children and the
coming generations. Some conservatives in Hollywood (yes, my
grand readers, there are actually some conservatives in that corrupt
and decadent citadel of radical chic; they didn't die out with the passing
of John Wayne) have been working to point out these disturbing stories
in that "anything goes" place, knowing that they are jeopardizing
their careers by doing so. And it appears that they are now being
joined by some of the Hollywood Liberal glitterati in exposing these
dark acts to the light of awareness and scrutiny. What happens there
in time to come will certainly have an impact on all areas of our
society and most certainly our politics. And liberals everywhere shall
suffer greatly from the fallout, for they will have to pay the price
for their double standards and double dealing; Hollywood's
compliance with and enabling of predatory behavior, Hillary's
philandering pervert of a husband and her destroying the names
and reputations of his victims, the cyber-pervert former
Congressman's sexcapades, the libs claiming there to be a speck
in the conservatives' eyes while they have a humongous mote
in their own, it's all going to drag them down.

Meanwhile back in La La Land, things are going to be rather
tense and even a wee bit dicey for the glittery gang; the mood will
be less festive at the Beverly Hills Hotel from here on in. But it's high
time for the afflicted to be comforted, and the comfortable --- who have
been afflicting the afflicted --- to now become afflicted. Let
the maelstrom commence!


MEM










Thursday, November 2, 2017

Antifa: the "Fa" Among Us

In the wake of President Donald Trump's inauguration as our
president, our country's left wing has had not merely a cow,
but an entire herd. And they, along with their herd, have been
on a stampede ever since.

They have marched in the streets of Washington D.C. during
the week of the inaugural festivities, as well as in many other
major American cities. Sometimes they kept things peaceful,
sometimes not. Radical groups which as a matter of course
instigate violent scenes have stepped up their activity in reaction
to the ascendancy of our current president, i.e. Black Lives
Matter (and you thought that they only hated white cops!).
They hate everyone and everything that is at all conservative,
libertarian, even moderate; if it's not full-on radical Left, then
it must be destroyed, no ifs, ands, or buts with these buttheads.
But a more dangerous group has emerged and is going after
anyone and everyone who is not completely sympatico with
their very left-wing brand of politics: Antifa.

Antifa (Anti-Fascist) is a thuggish bunch that opposes everyone
and everything that they deem fascistic. On their hate list is
(naturally) President Trump, the Republican majority in the
House and Senate of our Congress (and the whole of the GOP
as well), the Constitution, wealth and the wealthy (although
they never raise a fuss over wealthy left-wingers, i.e. Warren
Buffet, Bill Gates, Tom Steyer and the like), and everyday
Americans who vote Republican (or for Libertarian and/or other
conservative or right-leaning candidates). These paragons of
leftism confront them whenever and wherever they can, and
aren't bashful about bashing a few people in the face.
Their latest escapade took place in Berkeley, California at the
University of California, a renown bastion of left-wing political
activity with a long history of radicalism. Conservative blogger
and activist Ben Shapiro was to speak there on September 14,
and the school girded for battle with Antifa threatening to raise
hell. To date, Antifa has cost the university over $2 billion in
security fees and damages from their past attempts to silence
and intimidate other speakers whom they regarded as fascists.
Last February, Antifa cost UC-Berkeley $100,000 alone for
"pre-protesting" a talk by provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos
--- and succeeded in getting the event cancelled. In August,
the school lost another 600 grand in security fees when Antifa
succeeded in getting a talk by conservative columnist and author
Ann Coulter cancelled. Cal-Berkeley is to be commended for
being willing to book speakers whose politics do not mesh with
that of the administration and faculty, let alone the student body,
much less Antifa. But if they had taken a stronger stand against
these totalitarian bullies back in February, they might have saved
themselves a fortune and a lot of effort to secure their scheduled
events.

The best way to deal with bullies, and this is exactly what the
Antifa goons are, is to stand up to them as soon as they begin
to menace anyone. Bullies have to be made to realize that they
are dealing with people and organizations which won't put up
with their bullying, and have the means to rebuff them and the
will to do so. For bullies are, first and always, cowards. They go
after those whom they think are weaker than themselves and can
therefore dominate. The fascists are, as all totalitarians have
invariably proven to be throughout history, bullies.

And Antifa is very much "Fa".


MEM


Saturday, October 28, 2017

Have a Politically Incorrect Halloween!

So now the lefties are trying to dissuade people from wearing
certain Halloween costumes, dressing up as certain characters
from film and literature because they are somehow offensive
to certain groups of people (never mind that hardly anyone
from said groups have raised even a peep in protest themselves,
for the left-wingers are always happy to speak and act on behalf
of those who are too intellectually feeble to see that they are
being oppressed in some manner. One of their many thoughtful
and compassionate services they provide for such subgroups of
our nation's peasantry!) and therefore must be abolished.

One of these characters not to dress up as, for the aforementioned
reasons given by the PC pinkos, is Moana, the Polynesian girl
heroine in a recent Walt Disney animated movie. Not to fret,
my grand readers, for your loyal Peasant has an idea: encourage
your little girls to dress up as Moana, and you moms, aunties and
cousins, and female friends join in the fun! Don those Moana
costumes and go trick-or-treating together! Perhaps host a Halloween
party and dress as Moana! Heck, go about your daily business
in your Moana get-ups! What a stir you'll cause when you go to
your banks, your grocery stores, your post offices, your schools
to drop off or pick up your children! And any leftists who would
see you will have conniptions and apoplectic attacks galore!
Oh, the joyful fun, playing such an exquisite Halloween trick
on the Left!

And there's other politically incorrect Halloween options for
costumes as well. Choose your favorite character and costume
and you'll be celebrating the day as well as celebrating our
freedom!


Happy Halloween from your spooky (only to left-wingers)
Peasant!


MEM

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

A Sad Anniversary (and a Sad Observation)

My friends, this post cannot wait until tomorrow.
Normally your faithful Peasant posts on Thursdays,
with exceptions made for a hectic schedule ahead
or for an article which is of such timely importance
that it cannot wait; this post falls under the latter
category.

On this date, October 25, fifteen years ago, a dear friend
of mine who was a member of the United States Senate
and someone who was on the other side of the political
divide died in an airplane crash while on his way to a
tiny Iron Range town in northern Minnesota where he
was to attend the funeral of a supporter and friend;
Senator Paul Wellstone was just 58 and was flying with
his wife and a daughter, all of whom persihed along with
the pilot in their small chartered airplane. I met Paul
when he was meeting with his constituents at the
Minnesota State Fair (I lived in Minnesota at the time),
and we became fast friends despite being politically
diametrically opposed. Despite his strong liberal
bent, he did not turn up his nose at me, nor did he
make any cutting remarks about my conservatism.
We had a pleasant visit, and had several more over the
remaining years I lived in Minnesota, the last being on
the occasion of his book signing promotion at a
Barnes and Noble bookstore in Saint Paul, where I was
then living. He signed the copy of his book which I
had purchased, noting in his inscription that although
we didn't agree on many political matters he valued my
opinions and our friendship. I told him likewise,
and that I would stay in touch with him after my move
back home to Milwaukee later that year.

Indeed, I wrote to Sen. Wellstone, and sent him a Christmas
card; although he was Jewish, he loved receiving Christmas
greetings from his Christian friends and supporters.
On October 25, 2002, while I popped in to visit my stock-
broker at his downtown Milwaukee office, I saw the
sad announcement of my friend's sudden death on my broker's
TV screen. Suddenly I was slack-jawed and deathly quiet
as I listened to the TV news commentator give the tragic
details of Sen. Wellstone's demise. I had intended to discuss
my portfolio with my broker, who was a good friend as well,
but we wound up talking about the senator and my friendship
with him, along with his willingness as an elected official to
listen with interest and sincerity to constituents who did
not share his political views and indeed did not vote for him
when he was elected and re-elected to the Senate, and truly
cared about people, not merely giving lip service to that effect
like so many left-wing politicians routinely do. Indeed,
the senator had many friends on the Right as well as on the
Left, and he worked tirelessly to make his political ideas work
for all Minnesotans and for all Americans, working to demon-
strate that government can be a loyal and dependable
servant, a rather caring and helpful leviathan. Although your
loyal Peasant never voted for Paul, and was skeptical of his
legislative ideas, I always had the utmost respect and regard
for him, and was (and always shall be) so very proud
to call him my friend.

When his memorial service was held, many Democrat politicians
and activists came to pay their respects, but also made pointed
political statements as well, turning Sen. Wellstone's service
into a full-fledged political rally. To this day conservative
talk show hosts on the radio and TV play tapes and videos
of this memorial service cum left-wing hootenanny, showing
how the Left works to politicize everything. Your respectful
Peasant shall not state how I think my late friend would have
thought of this spectacle and what his reaction would have been,
but I shall venture to state for myself that the Left is relentless,
shameless, tasteless, and single-minded in its pursuit of
pushing their statist agenda upon the American people.
They have only become more aggressive in the years since
Sen. Wellstone's death.

My friend Sen. Paul Wellstone was a man of honesty, integrity,
true compassion, decorum and class, unlike much of his political
brethren. The Peasant misses him more than I can ever say.
It's a shame that while so many lefties remember and revere
this humble public servant, they do not endeavor to emulate him.




MEM


Tuesday, October 17, 2017

What the Hell, Ireland?

One of my ancestral countries, a country which has enjoyed great
prosperity and freedom with its capitalist democracy over the years
as a sovereign nation that at best makes no sense, and at worst mocks
their own struggles for the very freedom and liberties which
we Americans ourselves have fought for and cherish. Ireland's
national post office released a commemorative stamp honoring
Che Guevara, the communist revolutionary who was Fidel Castro's
top lieutenant in the unfortunately successful effort to instigate
a revolution which resulted in a communist dictatorship in Cuba
that still rules this nation with an iron fist.

The stamp shows a black, red and white drawing of Guevara
along with an envelope with a quote from his father: "In my son's
veins flowed the blood of Irish rebels." Where did your part-Irish
Peasant miss the era in Irish history in which Ireland threw out
the British, replacing the Crown with a communist revolutionary
state? It's awful enough when 20-something men and women
who are too young to have lived through the Cold War don T-shirts
with Che's image, mainly as a means of displaying their radical
chicness in hipster-frequented coffee shops and bars, but it's jaw-
droppingly shocking to see a country print postage stamps
honoring a cold-blooded totalitarian thug as Ireland is doing on
the 50th anniversary of Guevara's death by execution by a
Bolivian Army firing squad when he tried to bring a red revolution
to Bolivia. The struggle for Irish independence from Great Britain
was to achieve equality under the law, property rights, and political
self-determination beginning with Home Rule, establishing their own
legislature rather than having a distant British parliament dictate
how things would be in their native land. Communism and
communists are as far removed from these things as the sun is
from Pluto. Guevara having had some Irish blood is not a good
enough reason to honor him, given how he lived his life, forcing
oppression upon people under the weak guise of liberation.

During the rest of the Cold War years in the wake of Guevara's death,
the international Left made him a martyr to the cause of such
"liberation", but all one need to do is see the mass privation,
oppression, repression and broad suffering of the Cuban people
continuing today, under the rule of Raoul Castro, Fidel's brother who
succeeded his late sibling as Cuba's strongman. As horrible as British
rule was for over seven centuries in Ireland, it was not as much so as
the Cuban communist's regime's domination of that nation is, and
as the communist regimes in other nations from Soviet Russia to
China to North Korea to Vietnam to ... you get the point.

My dear ancestral country, please get a clue.


MEM

Thursday, October 12, 2017

The Not At All Fabulous Four

Just recently, Senate Republicans once again booted another
opportunity to repeal Obamacare; well, four of them did so,
sinking the rest of them along with any chance of repeal before
year's end. The latest bill which would have repealed the hated
individual and employer mandates as well as the medical-device
tax along with block granting Medicaid money to the states,
giving them control over how to manage the program according
to their constituents' needs and wishes, the Graham-Cassidy bill,
missed passage because of the four rats whose votes denied 
the GOP the fifty votes needed to clinch repeal (Vice President
Mike Pence would then have cast the tie-breaking vote in favor
of passage). 

Here are the four who have made a mockery of the Republican
Party's promise to the American people to repeal the so-called 
Affordable Health Care Act if only we would vote for them,
granting them majorities in both chambers of Congress and 
voting for a Republican president, which of course we did:

Rand Paul (KY), who was elected on his promise to vote for 
repeal of the health coverage boondoggle but backed out 
at crunch time. Paul helped to kill the Senate's first replacement
bill over the summer because it didn't repeal every last provision
in the law (so he said at the time). He did, to his credit, vote for
the so-called "Skinny Repeal", but that bill merely repealed 
the mandates and the medical device tax, nothing more.
But on Graham-Cassidy, which would have done just a wee
bit more, Paul punted. Could it be that many of his fellow
Kentuckians are on the lower rungs of the economic ladder
and he is afraid that they'll vote him out in a trice if he tries
to rescind Obamacare? He has a golden opportunity to explain
to these constituents that Obamacare is not the panacea it has
been presented as and ballyhooed to be by the Democrats; that
a market-based health coverage program would be less costly
and more efficient for them and for everyone. As a political
libertarian, you would think that he'd jump at the chance to
do this. But Sen. Paul is doing no such thing. I guess that makes
him a LINO (Libertarian in name only).

Lisa Murkowski (AK) was all in favor of dumping Obamacare
while Obama was in office, but as soon as Donald Trump got
elected she did a sudden about-face and voted against repeal
in the previous votes on Obama's health coverage program.
On many other measures before the Senate Senator Murkowski
has proven her RINO credentials for all to see, so this
development is certainly no surprise. If there is a bill before
her chamber which would shrink the federal government even
by the tiniest increment she'll attack it like a pit bull that
hasn't eaten in three days.

John McCain (AZ) ran for re-election to the Senate on the
promise that he would vote to abolish Obamacare, and like
Sen. Murkowski did an abrupt about-face, in effect telling
the folks back in Arizona "Bleep you!". And with his recently
discovered inoperable brain cancer slowing him down, McCain
has been having his treatment covered by the cushy-comfy
health coverage plan which he and his colleagues have long had
available to them (which also is the same coverage that the
members of the House receive), and which they have voted
to keep by exempting themselves from having to enroll in
the Obamacare plans which were forced down the throats of
us mere peasants (!).

Finally, there's Susan Collins (ME), who through her years in
the Senate has authored a voting record indistinguishable from
those of many Democrat senators, so much so that she really
is in the wrong party. She also voted (surprisingly) to not pass
the legislation which sent the Affordable Health Care Act
(Obamacare) to then-President Obama's desk for his signature
to become law, but again, with the changing of the guard at
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue she voted against each measure
designed to repeal all or part of the act. She heard from many
of her fellow Maine folk who had wanted her to vote for
repeal but apparently thinks that they are too stupid to make
their own health care choices and that her state's government
is incapable of managing Medicaid better than Uncle Sam.
Sen. Collins certainly embraces the liberal mantra that the
government cannot trust us peasants with such important
choices; that it's better that the "experts" in Washington step
in and do these things for we simple-minded simpletons.
Besides, an independent and independent-minded peasantry
is a threat to the establishment's acquisition and wielding of
power! Horrors! What's a good statist to do?

Why Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell doesn't
impose at least a modicum of party discipline on these recalcitrant,
troublesome non-team players points out yet another reason
why we conservatives have neither any trust nor confidence
in him and his leadership (perhaps your frustrated Peasant
should have put that word in quotes?). We have to make it clear
to these senators that we elected them and their fellow GOP
colleagues to do a specific task, to do OUR bidding, not that
of any special interest parties, not big-monied beltway fat cats
who invite them to fancy-shmancy cocktail parties and stuff
their wallets with wads of cash in exchange for giving them
what they want and giving us the shaft, nor that of the
establishment press in the hope that they'll write complimentary
things about them. They didn't work on their campaigns,
we did! They didn't vote for them, we did! We put them in
office and we can take them out of office! With the mid-term
elections coming next year, we have to drive home these truths
to these four self-serving elitists. It's a crying shame that we
have to fight two battles, each on a separate front; fighting
the Democrats on one front, while fighting RINOS on another
front. But our mission is our mission, and although we didn't
choose these battles, they chose us. And now we must do what
we must do.

This is war!


MEM








Monday, October 2, 2017

Taking a Short Break

Friends, your favorite Peasant is in need of
a little break to take care of some personal
business. I am going on a business trip to 
participate in a business venture with a family
member. But I'll be back before you know it,
my fantastic readers!

Meanwhile, enjoy these fine online publications
while awaiting my return:


www.nationalreview.com/  National Review Online

www.weeklystandard.com/ Weekly Standard Online

Thank you everyone for your kind understanding
and indulgence! Be back soon!


MEM

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Charlie Matthew William Gard (Baby Charlie), R.I.P.

We here in the United States have been hearing about
the horrors of national health care programs in other
countries; your somber Peasant shall share with you,
my grand readers, a story which ranks as one of the
most heartbreaking to date.

A British baby, Charlie Gard, not even one year old,
was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder which
robbed him of his vision, hearing, and ability to breathe
without assistance, and caused brain damage. The doctors
at Grand Ormond Street Hospital in London halted treat-
ment and sent him to a hospice to die. In the meantime,
Charlie's parents Chris Gard and Connie Yates heard
about an experimental treatment which could help
their suffering son. It meant having to take Charlie
to New York, and the cost for everything --- the
treatment, travel, lodging, etc. --- would be out of pocket,
but Charlie's parents told of their plight on GoFundMe
to raise money for it all, as the Birtish state health care system
would not pay anything toward it.

Well, Britain's NHS also would not allow Chris and Connie
to take little Charlie to New York, or anywhere outside
of Great Britain for treatment of any kind; Charlie's
doctors refused to release him, and went to the British
High Court to overrule the parent's treatment decision
for their baby. The High Court did so. Next, Charlie's
parents appealed to the European Court of Human Rights;
that court upheld the first court's ruling.

Many people and organizations entered the fray. A hospital
in Rome affiliated with the Holy See offered to admit Charlie,
as did a New York hospital affiliated with Columbia
University. On July 24, as Charlie's condition grew more dire,
the attorney for Charlie's parents withdrew their request to
transport their baby to New York for the experimental
treatment, but could Charlie remain on artificial ventilation
for just one more week? Nothing doing was the reply from
the High Court. Four days later, Baby Charlie died.
His parents were crushed, the doctors victorious, and the
NHS smug and arrogant. Although Great Britain has long
ago abolished capital punishment for deadly criminals,
the British government and its state-run health care system
in effect sentenced an innocent little baby to death, a death
which might have been avoided had he been able to
receive experimental medical treatment, and admitted
"Hail Mary" but was a better option than either continuing
conventional treatment or letting the helpless little patient
fade away in a hospice. But the NHS would not sacrifice any
of its power and control over Baby Charlie and his parents,
who with the rest of Great Britain's approximately sixty
million people are mere subjects to the monolith that
is that country's ultra-statist government.

And this is the kind of health care system that our own statist
politicians want to ensnare us in. Yet another reason that
government should not have a say in what kind of health
care and coverage we get, and that we should never give our
government that power. This is state power run amuck,
gone mad, and destroying freedom along with the priceless
value of human life!

Rest in peace, dear little Charlie. You deserved better.

MEM

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Eight Great Years!

It's anniversary time for us, my great and wonderful readers
and dear friends! September 23 marks eight years of getting
together each week to pick apart the political and economic
news of the day, to see who's been naughty and who's been
nice from a freedom standpoint, to comfort the afflicted and
afflict the comfortable (such as smug left-wingers!), and to
celebrate our great and wonderful country with the freedom
we enjoy and work to protect. Time flies when you're having
fun!

May we continue to meet right here each and every week
to have yet more fun, while standing up for all that we are
blessed with as Americans, and cheerfully standing athwart
history yelling "stop!", as the late great William F. Buckley
did with his magazine National Review. Remember, we
are the ones who author history day by day with our actions;
let us act in ways which shall preserve our country, our liberty,
and our way of life. And what's more fun than that!

God bless!


MEM

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Another Conservative Warrior Steps Forward!

No sooner than State Senator Leah Vukmir declare her candidacy
for the United States Senate seat from your faithful Peasant's
home state of Wisconsin did another conservative star and friend
of mine declare his candidacy for the seat that Sen. Vukmir
is vacating to run for the U.S. Senate: State Rep. Dale Kooyenga!
And as had Senator Vukmir, Rep. Kooyenga exclusively announced
his candidacy on Dan O'Donnell's radio show.

Dale has served seven years in the Wisconsin State Assembly,
as strong a champion for conservative principles there as has
Leah Vukmir been in the State Senate (and in the Assembly,
as she held that very seat before being elected to her current
office). Limited government, low taxes, minimal regulations
so as not to cause undue difficulty in establishing or operating
a business, livable budgets, quality education, responsive and
responsible government are his standards, and I have no doubt
that Rep. Kooyenga will seamlessly continue Sen. Vukmir's
work in the Senate therefore.

A reserve officer in the Army Reserves, Dale is also strong
on veteran's issues, and has always been there for Wisconsin
vets and their families. An accountant as well, Dale is also
strong on fiscal issues and is a proven friend to hard working,
taxpaying Wisconsinites. A finer candidate to replace Senator
Vukmir is as rare as a unicorn!

Therefore your pleased and proud Peasant endorses State Rep.
Dale Kooyenga for the State Senate! Success and blessings for
you, my good friend!


MEM

Thursday, September 7, 2017

A Conservative Warrior Cometh!

Just this very morning your exuberant Peasant was listening
to one of my favorite conservative talk show hosts, 
Dan O'Donnell, conversing with guest State Senator
Leah Vukmir who made a very special announcement.
My one-time state representative and state senator
(I no longer live in her district), after much thought and 
deliberation has declared her candidacy for the United States
Senate seat currently held by Democrat Tammy Baldwin.

I told Leah when I saw her at the Wauwatosa Fourth of July
parade that whatever she wanted to do regarding this
opportunity that she would have my full support. Leah has
been a conservative warrior in the legislature, whether the
GOP was in the majority or the minority, whether a republican
or a democrat was in the governor's office. Always a
tireless, relentless, unwavering advocate for smaller, more
responsible government, lower and fewer taxes, less onerous
regulation for small businesses, defending the unborn, and
giving schoolchildren and their parents decent choices for
the children's education, Leah will bring principle and
responsiveness to the U.S. Senate, something that the
GOP majority seems to need a strong dose of and that the
Dems in that chamber need to be sobered up by.

Leah will be an asset to President Trump and his legislative
agenda, especially with his tax reform programs. And she is
a quick study on the issues, so she will contribute right away
to the president's efforts to curb illegal immigration, as well as
his ideas for strengthening our military and shaping our foreign
policy. She will also be most helpful in reforming the Veterans
Administration and how it administers its veteran's hospitals.
Some horror stories have come out of several of them; the one
in Tomah, here your favorite Peasant's home state of Wisconsin,
is among them. A close friend, an army veteran, was hospitalized
there and he was constantly doped up on an endless stream of
medication practically forced on him by the staff because no one
wanted to actually treat him for his ailments, no one seemed to care.
Senator Baldwin certainly didn't care about my friend or the other
patients that were treated to the same "care". A U.S. Marine patient
there was so overly medicated that he took his own life.
When Marquette Baylor, a member of Sen. Baldwin's staff played
whistleblower and shined the light of attention on the incidents
at the Tomah facility, Sen. Baldwin promptly fired her, and did
her damndest to sweep the matter under the rug, commenting as
little as possible about the matter. For this reason, Sen. Baldwin
should in turn be fired by the Wisconsin electorate.

My friend Leah Vukmir got into politics when she saw the poor
quality of education that her children were receiving from their
public school. When she inquired regarding same to their teacher,
she was sent --- literally --- to the principal's office. She was told
to speak to the principal about her concerns, and when doing so
she was referred to the school board. Having never received
any satisfactory answers to her questions regarding her children's
education, she took matters into her own hands and ran for public
office. She has been in one elected office or another over the
ensuing years, serving her constituents most ably.

Leah is challenging one other candidate for the Republican party's
nomination to run against Sen. Baldwin. The other candidate is
an earnest sort and a recent convert from the Democrat party,
having seen the light about their unrelenting leftism, but lacks
State Sen. Vukmir's experience in public office and accompanying
service, as well as her years of membership and involvement in
the Republican party. Therefore, your faithful Peasant is pleased
and proud to endorse Leah Vukmir, current state senator, for
the United States Senate, and I hereby pledge my support in any
and all ways that I am able. You'll make a fine candidate, and an
even better United States Senator, Leah! God bless!


MEM





Thursday, August 31, 2017

Milwaukee Bids Farewell to a Great Lawman

Just a few hours ago, at about 3:15 this afternoon,
Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke handed in
his resignation to the Milwaukee County Clerk.
Sheriff Clarke's letter of resignation reportedly gave
no reason for his leaving office, although he has
been at one time under consideration for a post in
the Department of Homeland Security early in
President Trump's time in the White House and
reportedly has some other irons in the fire. At the
present time, your diligent Peasant has no
information as to Sheriff Clarke's next position.

But I can tell you this: Sheriff David Clarke is
the best Sheriff that a county can have, even above
the former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona,
Joe Arpaio, a lawman who ignored the orders from
President Obama's Justice Department to ignore
standing law regarding capturing and detaining
illegal immigrants for deportation, resulting in his
being summoned to court where he risked being
sent to prison for his actions --- for following the
law! --- and may well have been so sentenced but
for a pardon from President Trump. Sheriff Clarke
always told it like it was, over the screeching and
screaming of the local Left, which includes but is
not limited to Mayor Thomas Barrett, his puppet
Police Chief Edward Flynn, most of the Milwaukee
Common Council, Milwaukee County Executive
Christopher Abele, and most of the members of
the County Board. What has their BVDs in bunches
regarding our outgoing sheriff are as follows:

1) Sheriff Clarke is a black conservative, a creature
which liberals swear is as nonexistent as the unicorn).

2) Our Sheriff addressed the Conservative Political
Action Committee (CPAC) at its most recent conclave
(left-wingers in Milwaukee, and from around the country,
went ballistic at this audacious act!). This alone caught
the attention of the national media and both major
political parties, those amenable to the sheriff as
well as those hostile.

3) He always took his job and his duties seriously;
Sheriff Clarke always strove to lock up the criminals,
whoever they were, whatever their skin color, whatever
ethnic group, whichever gender gender, whatever gender
preference, ad infintum, ad nauseum. Not paying any
attention to the rules of political correctness and its
pieties, this further cheesed off the local liberal
establishment. In Sheriff Clarke's book, if you broke
the law in Milwaukee County, you were going to be
arrested and brought to justice, no ifs, ands, or buts.

4) Sheriff Clarke endorsed Donald Trump for President
(HORRORS! What must Clarke have been thinking, the
lefties wondered).

5) He made Public Service Announcements urging people
to get firearms training and to keep a gun handy, for the
police and the sheriff's deputies cannot respond quickly
enough to stop a break-in or a situation in which an armed
confrontation is highly likely. Until they can figure out
a way to arrive on the scene at the speed of light, this is
the best way of staying alive when so accosted, much
to the outrage of the criminal-sympathizers on the Left.

6) In election after election, Sheriff Clarke drew broad
support from blacks, whites, Latinos, women, old,
young, inner city dwellers, suburbanites, and other
voting groups; many of these voters are democrats or
are Democrat-leaning, but they all voted their safety.
They realize that if you aren't safe in your community,
in your place of work, in your home, all else is irrelevant.
All other issues take a back seat to your very life.

Wherever Sheriff David Clarke goes from here, your
grateful and appreciative Peasant wishes him nothing but
success. Here is a law enforcement official who could
not be brought, intimidated, threatened, or manipulated
in any way, who was and is the friend of the law-abiding,
decent, good people in our county, placing his fidelity with
same over the self-serving elites in the halls of power and
in the media. Thank you, sir, for your unwavering service.
You shall be missed in my hometown and county.


MEM





Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Keep Texas in Your Prayers

Over this past weekend, coastal Texas was hit by
one of largest and deadliest hurricanes ever recorded.
Hurricane Harvey blasted her coast with winds of
160 miles per hour, and at the time of this posting
is walloping cities and towns as far inland as Houston
with high winds and torrential rain; Houston has already
received 20 inches of rain and 30 more (!) are predicted
before the storm finally runs out of its ferocious energy.
The death toll is starting to climb, entire homes have
been submerged, swept away, or both; a parking garage
has gone completely under the rising waters with many
cars parked in it; people are searching for their families,
their pets, their friends and neighbors; in a nursing home
some residents were found sitting in chairs with the waters
up to their waists. Pets have been abandoned, left to fend
for themselves. A police officer drowned while on his way
to render assistance. Many more harrowing situations
have been happening in this dark real life drama.

It will take months, some say years, for the people of
southern Texas to rebuild their homes, their businesses,
their schools, their churches, their lives. Please keep the
people of this region of Texas in your prayers, and look
up organizations working to give aid and assistance to
them and send them some money, as much as you can
afford.

Many people have begun to help, starting with neighbors
helping neighbors, and some people have traveled to the
afflicted areas of the state to do what they can. We can
take comfort in one thing from this living horror; and
it is that the American people are not only generous of
spirit and resources, but have a genuine concern for their
fellow men, women, and children which is our country's
greatest resource by far. This is what will help coastal
Texas to pull through and make its way to a brand new,
better day.

God bless Texas. God bless America.


MEM


Thursday, August 24, 2017

Shell Frozen Out of Alaska

Royal Dutch Shell has been frozen out of Alaska
for oil exploration, but not because of the weather.
Rather, the regulatory enviornment is leaving the
oil company cold, not the freezing temperatures in
our northernmost state.

Shell reported that a recent exploratory well showed
that although there were some hints of oil there, that
there was not nearly enough to justify further explor-
ation. The costs of such projects is quite steep, and
when the additional costs of the regulatory environment
imposed by Washington in coastal Alaska are factored
in it doesn't seem worthwhile for an oil company to
look for oil there. So Shell is leaving Alaska to focus
its efforts elsewhere, and Alaska's economy and our
nation's energy production will be the worse for this.

Although the federal government finally allowed Shell
to do exploratory drilling in Alaska's Chukchi Sea this
summer, the company had already paid $2.1 billion to
obtain leases there, and now has to go home empty-handed
and with a lighter wallet.

Some of Shell's investors were not sorry to see Shell pack it
in up in Alaska with oil then going for a lower price. They
want Shell to concentrate on smaller, less costly projects which
will be more likely to increase the bottom line. But Shell's
work in Alaska was about the future price of oil, looking
ten years ahead, rather than current markets and prices.
Shell even applied to extend their offshore Alaska leases,
which are due to expire before the end of the decade.
And now Shell will take a cold bath for their venture in
Alaska's frigid waters.

Something more to bear in mind for President Trump.
He is certainly amenable to lightening the regulatory
burden to help us to become energy-independent
and therefore able to tell OPEC to take a hike, as some
hostile nations along with iffy ones make up much of its
membership. That's a good sign, because it's not just our
economy that requires it but our national security as well.
His predecessor seemed not to care much about either.


MEM


Monday, August 7, 2017

Vacation Time for the Peasant

Friends, your beloved Peasant is having a little vacation
time to travel to visit family out-of-town. But not to worry;
I shall return in a week or two and we'll meet back here
again to pore over the latest news in the realms of politics
and economics, to recognize and reward the heroes and
to uncover and castigate the villains.

Thank you all for your ongoing support and kind indulgence!
In the meantime here are some links to some wonderful online
publications which you're sure to enjoy:

www.investors.com/   Investors Business Daily
(Hey, they have a GREAT editorial page in which they offer up
wonderful, in-depth conservative commentary! And their invest-
ment-related pages are first-rate!)

www.theamericanconservative.com/  The American Conservative

reason.com  Reason Magazine

I'll be back before you realize!


MEM

Thursday, August 3, 2017

States Supporting Life

A wonderful national pro-life organization,
Americans United for Life (AUL) released
its annual "Life List" for the year of 2016,
near that year's conclusion, having
listed the top 10 pro-life states, based on
legislative initiatives created to protect the
lives of unborn babies in their states.
The list also ranks the rest of the states
in descending order from the most protective
states to the least.

The top 10 for 2016 are, in order:

1) Oklahoma
2) Kansas
3) Louisiana
4) Arkansas
5) Mississippi
6) Nebraska
7) Indiana
8) North Dakota
9) Missouri
10) Texas

"The momentum for creating a culture that
respects life in the law increases each year,"
states Charmaine Yost, CEO of AUL. "This
is a historic time for life. More life-affirming
and protective state laws have been enacted
since 2010 than in any similar period since
Roe v. Wade."

Would you, my wonderful readers, like to see
your home states make it into the top 10 of
this list, or at least move up from the bottom
10? Contact your state representatives and
senators, and of course your governors and
get the gears moving for drafting and passing
appropriate legislation for guarding the unborn
from abortion. Stay in touch with them, and
check in regularly with them to see what is
being accomplished. Talk to your friends,
your family members, and your neighbors
to enlist support. It's work that saves lives
and satisfies the soul.


MEM

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Sir Roger Moore, R.I.P.

Many of you, my fantastic readers, remember Sir Roger Moore
as one of the actors who played James Bond in the movies of
that franchise; a few of you may remember Moore as The Saint
in that British television series which also aired on our side of
"The Pond". Still others might remember him for other roles in
movies and television shows here and in Britain. A fantastic
actor, a suave and smooth gentleman, a spokesman for UNICEF,
a grand wit, and a loving husband and father, Sir Roger Moore
passed away after a bout with cancer on May 23 at the age of 89.

The star in seven Bond films, Moore was behooved to assist
UNICEF when he saw first hand the shocking poverty in India
when he was there filming his sixth Bond film "Octopussy".
He joined friend and fellow actor Audrey Hepburn in this
endeavor, as they became the faces for the organization. Moore
also was an avid skiier; he skiied with his family as well as
with his friends liberal economist John Kenneth Galbraith
and conservative publisher, author, sailor, and harpsichordist
William F. Buckley, founder and publisher of National Review,
the renown magazine of conservative politics and thought.
While Moore enjoyed the company of a wide variety of
celebrities, he was a conservative throughout his long and
storied life. Although he loved his native Great Britain, he
moved to Monaco to escape his beloved country's confiscatory
tax rates. He gave to charities in addition to doing publicity
for them, but didn't care to be coerced into supporting a large
and unwieldly welfare state. And in the role of British Secret
Agent 007 he was internationally popular with the world's
conservatives, soundly defeating communists (this was, after
all, during the latter years of the Cold War) and anyone
allied with them in the Bond storylines.

Moore's conservatism reached into day-to-day life away from the
film set as well, having been a strong advocate for teaching
children manners, kindness, and consideration for others, once
stating that doing so would result in the children teaching other
adults by their mannerly ways. He was not merely a model
of a quintessential English gentleman, but a sterling example of
a conservative in both public and private life. Rest in Peace,
Sir Roger; your death may have left us shaken, but your legacy
stirs us to emulate you with the example you set for a beautiful life.


MEM

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Political Correctness In the Courtroom

Political correctness, the invention of the radical Left for
the purpose of censoring speech and actions by anyone on
the Right, including putting pressure on to self-censor oneself
so as to avoid balefully disapproving reactions, has
wormed it way into many areas of our society --- all levels
of government, education, entertainment, even the military
--- and now has made its way into our courts.

For the entire history of our country U.S. law has guarded
jury verdicts from being overturned due to bias or juror
misconduct. Late last winter, before the late Justice Antonin
Scalia's Supreme Court seat was filled with the appointment
and confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch, a temporary liberal
Supreme Court majority has scuttled this protection with the
creation of an exception for racial bias, never mind that it did
not supply a clearly defined means of identifying bias with a
limiting principle to guard against political mischief to
accompany this exception.

Just recently, after a Colorado jury convicted a Mexican
defendant in a sexual harassment case, two jurors signed
affidavits stating that a retried police officer also serving
on the jury made racially hostile remarks during deliberations.
The juror in question was reported to have stated that
"nine times out of ten Mexican men were guilty of being
aggressive toward women and young girls," as well as having
made other statements of a similar nature. The defendant's counsel
tried to get the conviction overturned based on racial animus
but the trial judge denied the request.

Now, the Sixth Amendment guarantees a trial by an impartial
jury, and our legal system has many protections against juror
bias and misconduct, including screening potential jurors for
bias in voir dire, a French term meaning "to see, to speak"
applied to the process of determining the qualifications of a
prospective juror to serve on a jury in a trial. Furthermore,
the judge and counsel for both the plaintiff and the defendant
can discipline a juror for any and all misconduct, including
speaking or acting in a biased manner. Additionally, the other
eleven jurors can monitor for such behavior and report any
infractions.

So the Court overturned these protective guidelines in a 5-3
majority opinion in Pena-Rodriguez v. Colorado, claiming that
racial bias is so common that if left unaddressed, "systemic
injury to the administration of justice" would occur. And with
this declaration a new racial standard was also declared, one
for overturning jury verdicts that was rejected by Colorado
and has no basis to be found in the Constitution. Conservative
justice Samuel Alito wrote in dissent "Although the Court tries
to limit the degree of intrusion, it is doubtful that there are
principled grounds for preventing the expansion of today's
holding,"

The ruling is a frightening move toward infecting juries with
political standards based on left-wing dogma on race, gender,
gender orientation, and class. Both Congress and the President
should utilize the System of Checks and Balances which the three
branches of our federal government have to police each other's
actions with an eye to upholding and preserving our constitutional
rule of law to make the Supreme Court rethink this perilous flight
of progressive fancy.


MEM




Thursday, July 13, 2017

Can America Escape the Debt Spider's Web?

The national debt of the United States, as of this posting,
is at $19.9 trillion, with no letup in sight. Although, thank
heaven, Barack Obama is no longer in the White House,
the debt is still soaring, powered by long-standing unfunded
mandates and unrestrained federal spending going back to
before President Obama's fiscal profligacy (although, it must
be noted, Obama had increased the debt to record levels,
going so far as to accumulate more debt than has all of
his presidential predecessors combined!). The question
now is, what will our current president Donald Trump
do about the spending, and what will the Federal Reserve
do concerning money supply management?

George Melloan, a former deputy editor of the Wall Street
Journal page, and no stranger to economic matters, blamed
the latest round of debt on the easy credit that came about by
the Fed's zero-rate targets in the wake of the 2008 crash.
While the Fed was not entirely responsible for this state
of affairs, through its "quantitative easing" (basically running
the printing presses at full blast turning out lots of newly
created dollars) had an effect by adding an additional
$3.5 trillion in demand for Treasury bills and for the besieged
Fannie Mae- and Freddie Mac-issued mortgage-backed
securities, which was a part of the housing bubble popping
that touched off the Great Recession of 2008. With cheap
credit, almost free in cost, Washington nearly doubled the
debt in the subsequent seven years. The annual federal budget
deficit still hovers between $500 billion and $1 trillion,
this too with no significant reversal in sight.

In an attempt to avoid runaway inflation, the Fed arranged
for banks to put approximately $2 trillion into their reserve
accounts at the central bank, paying the banks a pittance for
interest (currently 0.5%) in exchange. This maneuver has kept
the excess reserves from overloading the economy via
cheap loans.

As for foreign investors buying and holding U.S. debt, demand
for our debt has slacked off. China was the biggest purchaser
of American debt, but their foreign currency reserves are declining
as business in their country slows, and capital flees for safer
locales. Total dollar holdings by central banks in other countries
have decreased to around $2.8 trillion at present from $3 trillion
in 2013.

A credit cycle when both lenders and borrowers considerably slow
their interactions is what we may be seeing happen now. This
development portends a downward turn in the business cycle,
and will also put the current bull market in stocks in jeopardy.

More direct bond buying --- another method of quantitative easing
--- would increase the debt load with alacrity. The flip side of this
coin shows that selling from the central bank's portfolio will send
interest rates soaring by causing the debt supply to exceed demand.

And President Trump cannot do much about this situation. But he
could worsen this situation by threatening trade wars against
America's largest trading partners; he already has one such trade
war going with Canada. If Trump blocks our industries' ability to
earn dollars, he will hamper our ability to climb out of our debt
swamp. The past decade of government and Fed fiscal insanity is
certainly not his fault, but he shouldn't do anything which could
make things more painful, lest he get the blame, and nasty electoral
repercussions could happen in 2020.


MEM

Monday, July 10, 2017

A Note for My Followers on the Tea Party Community's Website

To my friends who follow me on the Tea Party Community website,
I want to inform you that in recent weeks I have encountered some
technical problems that have prevented me from accessing the site,
so I couldn't always inform you of my latest postings on this blog. I've
no idea if it is the computer system at this one local library whose
computers your favorite Peasant uses, or if it is a web-wide problem.
So this is why I haven't always been able to inform you of my
latest offerings during this time.

I still haven't any idea what is causing this difficulty, so I am
letting you know that you can still follow The Peasant by looking
for my posting announcements on Twitter (@markeminor5)
and on Facebook (Mark Minor). For those of you who are not
on either of these social media sites, try entering "Peasant With
A Pitchfork" (minus the quotation marks) into your favorite search
engines and your browsers to see if you can access the TPC site
and with it my page. You can still access this blog if you click
on my notices of my past offerings on Twitter and Facebook,
and you'll be taken to the notices of whatever I recently posted.
If you can reach me via the Tea Party Community page, then
maybe the problem has been either cleared up or it has eased up
for a little while. The latter has sometimes occurred, though it has
so far never been a lasting condition.

I do apologize for this nuisance, and hope it will soon be permanently
rectified. I shall keep you posted. Thank you for your understanding
and your ongoing readership!


MEM

Thursday, July 6, 2017

My, How Times (and Attitudes) Change

Your favorite Peasant recently came across an excerpt from
a U.S. Senate floor speech given by Sen. Elizabeth Warren
(D-MA) on November 13, 2013, regarding Republicans
implementing the filibuster in opposition to then-President
Obama's nominees to federal district and appellate court seats.
Gee, isn't it funny how the Dem's mind changes on certain things
when the White House changes hands! These are the words
of Senator Warren, published in The Wall Street Journal 
in that newspaper's April 1-2, 2017 weekend edition:

"We need to call out these filibusters for what they are ---
naked attempts to nullify the results of the elections of the last
presidential election, to force us to govern as though President
Obama had not won the 2012 election ... If Republicans
continue to filibuster these highly qualified nominees for no
reason other than to nullify the President's constitutional
authority, then Senators not only have the right ... but ...
a duty to change the filibuster rules.

"We cannot turn our back on the Constitution. We cannot
abdicate our oath of office. We have a responsibility to protect
and defend our democracy, and that includes protecting the
neutrality of our courts and preserving the constitutional
power of the President to nominate highly qualified people
to court vacancies."

Contrast these words to how Senator Warren and her fellow
Democrats in the Senate behaved when new President
Donald Trump began choosing nominees for court
vacancies, most notably the U.S. Supreme Court seat
vacated with the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia.
Happily, the Republican senators were able to stop
their filibuster of Judge Neil Gorsuch, who has the
most impressive qualifications and overall legal background
for being a Supreme Court justice since the late Judge
Robert Bork (remember him, and what the Democrats did
to both his nomination and his reputation?). So where was
Senator Warren's outrage when her fellow senate Democrats
did the same thing in an attempt to derail Judge Gorsuch?
For one thing, the Massachusetts senator worked and voted
with her colleagues on her side of the aisle to so derail
Trump's SCOTUS pick!

So much for Senator Warren's concern for the Constitution,
its provisions for the POTUS, our democracy (note to the
Senator: our government is not a democracy but a constitu-
tional republic. Check it out!), and the neutrality of our courts.
And it seems that she pays no mind to the results of the 2016
election either.

In closing, have a look at the way that the Republicans have
voted regarding the acceptance or rejection of President
Obama's nominees to the Supreme Court. Just for kicks,
go back to their votes on President Bill Clinton's choices.
They were more accommodating to these Democrat
presidents and their SCOTUS picks than their Democrat
counterparts have been to President Trump and his choice
of Judge Gorsuch, and going back, their votes on the picks
of both President Bushes and President Ronald Reagan.
The Republicans acknowledged the will of the electorate
in electing Democrat presidents and seeing them nominate
their people much more than have the Democrats in
considering the people favored by Republican presidents.
The Republicans focused on the education, the philosophies,
and the experience of the Democrat nominees; the Democrats
focused on the fact that the GOP presidents' choices were just
that --- the GOP presidents' choices for our top court, and the hell
with the results of the last presidential election, which clearly
demonstrated which direction the people wanted to go in,
giving the Dems conniptions.

Gee, isn't it funny?


MEM




Thursday, June 29, 2017

Independence Day is Here!

Friends, when you enjoy your Independence Day
(Fourth of July) celebrations, please take a moment
to reflect on the brave, patriotic Americans past
and present who made our great, free, and wonderful
country possible, and have kept it that way through
these past 241 years. Also reflect on how frighteningly
close we came to losing everything to the ever-present
left-wing cabal seeking to take our precious country
further down the dark and foreboding road to
totalitarianism in last year's presidential election.

We have much to be grateful for as we celebrate
the United States' birthday! Let us pray for her and
give thanks for her remaining a beacon of freedom
and hope for a troubled world. Now, let's have a
grand 4th of July picnic and watch some fireworks!
Please pass the hot dogs and save some potato salad
for your favorite Peasant!


MEM

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

The Left's Derangement Syndrome

My wonderful readers, the political atmosphere in these
United States has become absolutely toxic, the political
rhetoric has become downright hateful, and violent behavior
is becoming the order (disorder?) of the day. And we have
the Left to thank for it all.

Last week your faithful Peasant made mention of the assas-
ination attempt on House Majority Whip Steven Scalise when
he was at a team practice in Alexandria, Virginia to get ready
for the annual Congressional baseball game between teams
of Democrats and Republicans, a game that is supposed to
lessen political tensions between the elected representatives
from both parties and to raise money for charity. The gunman
was a Bernie Sanders supporter and campaign volunteer from
Belleville, Illinois, who traveled all the way to the Washington
D.C. area with a list of Republican members of Congress in
his pocket. It seems pretty obvious what the purpose for the
list was, given his actions in Alexandria. Moreover, he had been
very vocal about his fierce hatred for President Donald Trump
and the Republican Party, with the recent presidential election's
results being more than his fevered mind could handle. A
deeply left-wing activist, he had been calling for an even more
progressive tax schedule, and was a staunch supporter of
labor unions.

The people back in Belleville who knew the gunman expressed
shock and disbelief over the news of what he had done; the
former mayor of Alexandria, Bill Euille, told the Washington Post
that he had spoken with him nearly every morning when they
saw each other at the local YMCA, nearby the ballpark where
the shooting took place. The gunman had been in town for several
days before committing his heinous crime, shooting the congressman
and three other people, one of whom was a Washington police
officer assigned to guard Rep. Scalise. All victims as of this posting
are alive and being treated for their wounds, with Rep. Scalise's
condition having been upgraded from critical to serious.

Now, in the days and months since the inauguration of President
Trump the Left has become even more unhinged than they had
previously been; witness the march in Washington by the radical
feminists wearing caps resembling vaginas, the speeches made by
show biz libs Madonna and Ashley Judd, the former stating that
she had a wish to "blow up the White House" and F-bombing
the "detractors" of the march and its participants, just this for a start.
Add to the mix still more hateful, violence-flavored rhetoric from
other left-wingers in Hollywood and Broadway, the mean-spirited
"humor" from late night talk show hosts and other alleged comedians,
the incessant calls for the impeachment of President Trump from
Democrat members of Congress (never mind the fact that the president
has not committed any impeachable offenses, nor has he committed
any offenses, period!), and some deranged lunatics in the ranks of the
Far Left absorb this vile bile, then someone acts on these vicious,
violent sentiments. This explains the would-be assassin from Illinois
and his actions in Alexandria.

I can't say that I am surprised by this ugly turn of events, as someone
who has observed the Left for many years. They always accuse their
enemies, the conservatives, of saying what they say, doing what they
do, and being what they are. They would have you, and in fact demand
you believe that the conservatives are the uncivil, unhinged, vicious,
racist, misogynistic, homophobic bullies.  But consider: we conser-
vatives made no hateful remarks about President Obama or his family
when he was in the White House, nor were we the ones who advocated
blowing up the White House; we weren't the ones who formed groups
to "resist" the president when we had a president from the other party;
we weren't the ones who exhorted for the stoning of elected officials
from the opposing party; we weren't the ones who called for raping any
women from the opposing party; we weren't the ones who hurled racist
epithets at black people in the other party, nor sexist and misogynistic
slurs at various women from the other party. And we sure as hell didn't
make any death threats against anyone from the other party or
ideology. Rather, the Left had done all of these things to our people,
and are stepping up their evil behavior, as witnessed in the shooting
of Rep. Scalise. MSNBC recently asked on their network "Do we
HAVE to feel bad about Steve Scalise?", and they along with other
voices on the Left intoned that the House Majority Whip brought the
shooting upon himself (!). The lefties are not only the real bullies,
they also blame their victims for their situations.

This is not unlike a battle in which one side takes peashooters and
slingshots to the battlefield while the other side brings machine
guns, flamethrowers, and howitzers to the fray. We conservatives
have always prided ourselves on combating the liberals and others
on the left side of the political divide with respectful debate, logic,
employing logic and facts. We have left the ad hominem attacks
and the rancor to the left-wingers, feeling sorry for them since they
don't have logic and facts in their arsenal and therefore feel the need
to take the low road when we engage in battle. But in the wake
of the shooting of Rep. Scalise, we must not show such for our
lefty foes, for they do not deserve any sympathy; they are taking
our country down a dark path which leads to the experiences of
other countries where base passions drown out comity, and
to be outspoken is to wear a target on your back. The Democrats
and the Left in general are not like their forerunners from 50 years
ago, nor 40, nor 25, nor even 10; these people (and I use this term
loosely) are totalitarians. They will never acknowledge defeat,
even when decisively defeated in a national election as what
happened last November; they won't listen to any differing voices
with differing ideas. This bunch perceive their political opponents
as the enemy army on a battlefield, and attempt to destroy them by
demonization, discrediting, slander and libel, and now bullets.

Senator Sanders, to his credit, publicly condemned the shooting and
the shooter, sorrowfully acknowledging the gunman's having been
one of his presidential campaign volunteers. This was most gratifying,
coming from the most left-leaning major political figure in the country.
Sanders also wished Rep. Scalise a full and speedy recovery. Let us
fervently hope against hope that others on the Left follow their
hero's example and follow suit, going further by renouncing gross
incivility and embracing clean, honest, respectful, civil and open
debate and discourse.

Otherwise we shall be in danger of having a second civil war, one
that will make the one in the 1860s look like a children's pillow
fight.


MEM







Thursday, June 15, 2017

A Tragedy in Virginia

With the increasing fever pitch on our nation's political scene,
your concerned Peasant has been worried about the accompanying
increase in violence between the partisans on both sides of the
political divide. Now a member of Congress has been shot while
preparing to play in Congress' traditional annual baseball game
pitting Democrats and Republicans for fun and for charity.
While engaging in a team practice at a field in Alexandria,
Virginia, House Majority Whip Steven Scalise was shot in the
hip by a gunman who also shot several other people before police
shot him dead. What is known about the gunman at the present
time is that he is a Bernie Sanders volunteer, having helped on
Sanders' unsuccessful presidential campaign, and has been
a member of some rather controversial left-wing political
groups. Moreover, he had a history of scrapes with the law
which included domestic abuse and aiding damage to a motor
vehicle. And he was allegedly distraught over Donald Trump
winning last year's presidential election, with the Republicans
also doing well in the Congressional and state races, so he
traveled from his home in Belleville, Illinois, to the Washington
D.C. area to vent his frustrations on Capitol Hill Republicans
with a gun.

I want to take the time to address this horrible event in the way
it needs to be addressed, but time is not proving generous today.
So, I shall do so next week, when I can more easily set aside
a block of time to do justice to this terrible act. Meanwhile,
please keep Rep. Scalise and his family in your prayers as he
is fighting for his life; he has had two operations just to stop
the internal bleeding, and faces more surgeries to repair his hip
and some internal organs. I have been praying the rosary for
them. Thank you and God bless. God be with Rep. Scalise
and the other victims.


MEM



Thursday, June 8, 2017

Roger Ailes, R.I.P.

Sometimes a person comes along who makes such a great impact
on a field of endeavor that the both the field and society, are never
again the same. Roger Ailes was just such a person, having created
FOX News, the news network that gave television viewers an
alternative source for their TV news which did not have a left-
wing tilt, a place to turn for a fresh perspective on the news of
the day. A Republican operative for many years beforehand,
Ailes saw the potential which television had for the GOP to
overcome the establishment broadcast media cartel with its
Dan Rathers, Tom Brokaws, Peter Jenningses, and Sam
Donaldsons delivering only what the establishment wanted the
public to hear. As an aide to President Richard Nixon, Ailes
wrote a 300-page memorandum titled "A Plan for Putting the
GOP on TV News", in which he detailed his ideas which he
would implement for founding FOX News.

Along the way, he had encountered lots of adversity --- much of it
in the form of hate from the Left --- for upsetting their cartel
apple cart. But Ailes was a patriot who cared deeply for our
country and he wanted people to get different takes on the news,
especially American political news in order to make well-informed
political decisions, especially at election time. In this instance Roger
Ailes was a liberator as well as a pioneer in the national media.

In his later years Ailes had been accused by some of the female
staff at FOX of sexual harassment;  He claimed that the first such
action was taken by one of FOX's news show hosts because she
was angry about not having her contract with FOX renewed.
However, five more women at FOX filed suits of their own
making the same complaints, and FOX paid one woman a
$1 million out of court settlement. Your diligent Peasant does
not have all the information concerning this serious matter,
but will posit that if Ailes were innocent of the charges made,
he and FOX would have fought them, telling the complainants
to do their worst in court, and Ailes would never have resigned
from the organization he founded. Having followed similar stories
over the years, I would have to say that a blameless person could,
and should, fight with all they've got any attempts to besmirch
his good name and reputation, for these are the most valuable
possessions that any one of us have in life. In the wake of
Roger Ailes' passing on May 18, I shall hold out hope for
Ailes to be cleared and vindicated so that he shall be remembered
in a positive light, remembered for his considerable contributions
to news broadcasting and to our national political discourse
rather than for some alleged instances of poor judgement and
resultant misbehavior. Rest in Peace.


MEM

Thursday, June 1, 2017

A Study in Contrasts

Your favorite Peasant had a wonderful, and rather interesting
Memorial Day.

Every Memorial Day I head over to Elm Grove, a lovely and
charming village which I have loved since boyhood. Living
in nearby New Berlin and later Brookfield, and having attended
high school with a few chums from The Grove, as the locals call
their quaint community, I discovered their wonderful Memorial
Day parade and except for the years that I lived out of state I have
attended this parade every year. The usual features of such a parade
are always present ---  marching military honor guards, local celebrities
and politicians, beauty pageant queens, and decorated military
heroes riding in classic cars; floats with bands playing, students from
a local martial arts dojo, members of a village gardening club,
staff from the village library and such; the village police and
firefighters in their respective vehicles; some villagers walking
their dogs, both clad in red, white and blue decor for the occasion,
and clowns doing delightful stunts. But this year, the parade had
an entrant that they never before had, at least to my memory.
And they certainly stood out!

The Waukesha County Democratic Party sent a contingent to march
in Elm Grove's Memorial Day parade. They marched right down
the main street of rock-ribbed, unabashed, proudly conservative
Elm Grove, where Republicans outnumber Democrats by God-knows-
how-many to one.

No blarney, about fifteen members of their party marched with their
party banner, nearly every one of them carrying an American flag,
some also carrying signs which said things like "patriotism" and
"veterans". And the crowd became very silent. Everyone just
quietly and respectfully watched as the Dems marched by. No one
yelled any obscenities, any threats, any slurs of any kind; no one
threw garbage; no one charged at them to assault them; no one
so much as gave them the finger. Everyone was very polite.
All of this in this bastion of conservatism and small-town values
and virtues, a community which would give a lefty anything from
conniptions to apoplexy.

Now contrast this to the events in places like Berkely, where on
separate occasions conservative speakers were shouted down and
all but run off of the University of California Berkely campus,
and in one of these incidents left-wing students and other "activists"
rioted in the streets. They bragged afterward that they didn't allow
"fascists" to speak on their campus; and affirmed their visceral
hatred of President Donald Trump. In Portland, Oregon, Black
Lives Matter thugs teamed up with other radical groups and rag-tag
individual hooligans to force local Republican Party members and
elected officials from marching in an annual parade in which they
have always marched, with no problems of any kind, until
this year. The GOP folk were told that they would be physically
attacked by the left-wingers if they appeared in the parade, and
since they could not (or perhaps would not?) be guaranteed
safety by the city and its police, they cancelled their scheduled
appearances in the parade.

And your faithful Peasant can come up with more, many more,
such instances of leftist thugs silencing the people whose views
differ from their own, going so far as to threaten them with mayhem
if they appeared in their cities and on their college campuses.
This behavior from the people (I use this term VERY loosely!) who
boast of their supposed tolerance, inclusion, pluralism, and, yes,
love, while accusing conservatives and other non-lefties of
intolerance, exclusion, elitism, and hatred. I have asked this
question here on this blog before, and now ask it again; don't you
love it when the Left accuses we conservatives of behaving as they
do?

I think that these stories are perfectly illustrative and revealing as
to the true behavior of each side, and no more remains to be said.
This was certainly a most interesting, and instructive Memorial
Day for your observant Peasant; a tale of two ideologies and their
adherents.


MEM






Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Memorial Day Thoughts

Friends, Memorial Day is drawing near again.
On this day, as you enjoy picnics, cookouts,
visiting family and friends, going to the beach,
perhaps going to a Memorial Day parade near you,
always remember your fellow Americans, past and
present, who made our country, our freedom, and
this special day possible. Tell a vet, be he or she a
family member, a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker,
or a vet selling poppies to raise money to help vets,
thank you for your service and sacrifice. For it was
their standing up to assume such staggering duties
that has made our lives so rich, so bright, so free.

Thus The Peasant thanks all our vets for all you've done
for our dear country. I for one am forever in your debt.
God bless!


MEM

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Nat Hentoff, R.I.P.

Nat Hentoff was a ferocious champion of the First Amendment.
The political activist, journalist, author, jazz affecionado, pro-life
advocate, atheist, and liberal who often found common ground with
conservatives and libertarians, believed strongly in the right to
express oneself, no matter how unpopular, controversial, and
provocative one's opinions were. Hentoff defended people from
both sides of the political spectrum, pleasantly surprising and edifying
those on the right while confounding and dismaying those on the left.
A man of many talents, as well as many passions, Hentoff was
a true Renaissance Man in the realms of politics and the arts.

During his long life and career, Hentoff received many awards for
his work and his advocacy of civil liberties. Among the awards he
garnered were the American Bar Association (ABA) Silver Gavel
for his coverage of the law and criminal justice in his columns. He
was a columnist and was for over 50 years a staff writer of the
very left-wing newspaper The Village Voice. A firm opponent of
the death penalty, Hentoff was also vociferously opposed to abortion
on demand, further confounding as well as angering many on the left.
Hentoff stood for civil rights for all, regardless of color, creed, gender,
sexual orientation, already born or waiting to be born, with neither
compromise nor apology.

Hentoff was also on the advisory board of the Foundation for Indi-
vidual Rights in Education (FIRE), advocating for First Amendment
rights for students battling political correctness-grounded speech codes
on campuses. He could not abide even the slightest restriction on
speech in our society, and detested censorship of both the spoken and
the written word, making many friends as well as enemies on both
sides of the political spectrum. But whether one loved Nat Hentoff
or loathed him, one couldn't help but respect him for his scholarliness,
his determination, his rigorous examination of all of the facts, and his
balanced solutions to the disputes which he weighed in on.

Just a few days into 2017, Nat Hentoff took his rest from his tireless
advocational work which he dedicated most of his 91 years to. Rest
in peace, Nat, and may you receive a most pleasant surprise upon
having shed this mortal coil!


MEM