A Loose Cannon

A year ago I wrote a piece warning you, my fine readers, 

about U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and her

off-the-wall political antics. Sadly, I must blog again about

this misguided politician's activities. Greene hasn't gotten 

any better, and NR has the goods on her. Believe me,  

the goods are anything but good.  

In the May 30 issue of NR there is a partial list of her 

"accomplishments" during her time in office as the House

representative for Georgia's 14th district. She has claimed

that the riot at the capitol on January 6, 2021 was really 

"an inside job" perpetrated by the Democrats to further

smear outgoing President Trump. Greene told Lou Dobbs

in an interview that joining the U.S. military was "like

throwing your life away." She spoke at the America First

Political Action Conference, which was a gathering of 

white nationalists and the brainchild of a Holocaust denier.

How about when she's at her job? According to NR, Greene

does not, I repeat does not, serve on any committees. 

She does no apparent legislative work. She has provided 

very poor constituent service. She has proven to be not a 

lightweight, but a flyweight as a House member and a 

political figure. NR has long been the white glove inspector 

of the conservative movement and the people involved in it,

especially office seekers and holders, as its founder 

William F. Buckley Jr. created it to be, as well as a magazine

of conservative thought and opinion. And here NR has  

discovered a lulu!

NR realizes, as do the vast majority of Republicans and 

conservatives, that in order to retake both chambers of Congress,

we all must make a concerted effort to put our best foot forward

so as to get voters to see that we present a strong and viable 

alternative to our Democrat foes. Rep. Greene is a wobbly foot

which would cause us to stumble out of the starting blocks. 

However, a remedy is close at hand. Although Greene's 

district is too conservative for her to face a serious 

Democrat challenger in the general election, she will 

be facing a Republican primary opponent, Jennifer

Strahan, a health-care entrepreneur who is running on 

a pledge to serve the needs of the district rather than 

act like a lunatic. I don't know the date for their primary, 

but when the day comes may the Republicans of Georgia's

14th district give Greene the boot and give Strahan

the nod.

MEM   

Time Once Again for The Peasant's Irish Holiday

Friends, we're getting to that time of year where your

favorite Peasant takes his annual Irish holiday --- well,

I go to the Milwaukee Irish Fest in mid-August. I've 

said it before and I'll repeat: our Irish Fest is the next

best thing to traveling to Ireland itself! 

The Emerald Isle comes to Milwaukee in the form of 

the largest Irish festival in the world, with musicians, 

singers, actors, scholars, chefs (yes, there are Irish chefs!

Don't be so surprised!) storytellers, puppeteers, dog 

shows (featuring Irish breeds of course!) and merchandise

so incredible that it is a heavenly joy to have it here for 

us to buy for gifts and for our own enjoyment!).

We also have an Irish mass on Sunday morning with 

celebrants from Eire herself!

We'll get together again right after Irish Fest and resume 

our discussing the political and economic news of the 

day. In the meantime, may the road rise to meet you and

all those lovely Irish blessings for you too! 

By the by, this post is the 700th post on PWAP! It's been 

a supreme pleasure to get together with you, my wonderful,

grand, and treasured readers every week to go over the news 

of the day and see what the inhabitants of the halls and offices

of power are doing for or to us, to commend them when they

do right by us and to clobber them (so to speak) when they

do us wrong. And we shall have so much more to pore over

in the time to come, especially with the mid-term elections 

coming soon! See you when I return from Irish Fest!

MEM  

The Travails of the Police

Police officers around the country have never been 

so vilified, so hated, so abused in years past as they

are these days. Radical groups such as Black Lives 

Matter and Antifa chant "PIGS IN A BLANKET, FRY 'EM

LIKE BACON!", left-wing politicians castigate the police 

at every opportunity over everything the police say

and do, and bend toward left-wingers who demand 

that city police departments are either eliminated

or that their budgets are slashed not to the bone but

to the marrow while crime, especially violent crime,

soars like a rocket. With all this, making for eroded 

morale, many police officers in many cities have

either taken early retirement or resigned altogether

and began new careers performing different work.

And good luck to city mayors and other officials 

in their efforts to rebuild their cities' police forces.

Take Seattle, a city which has seen its uniformed 

police department personnel dwindle to under 

1,000 officers, the fewest cops they've had in over

30 years. Over 300 officers have retired or resigned 

just since 2020! Seattle's new mayor Bruce Harrell

has the double task of reducing crime in his city 

while increasing his police department team.

Harrell wants a bonus of up to $7,500 for new recruits 

and up to $30,000 for experienced officers who come 

to Seattle from police departments in other cities.

Mayor Harrell also wants to cover the costs of their

moving expenses. 

Although the extra money would be nice, there are many

departing Seattle coppers who don't want to work in a 

city where they are hated by the local press and politicians

as well as political radicals and various thugs. Last autumn

the City Council chopped the budget of the police for a 

second consecutive year. Overall crime in Seattle rose

10% in 2021, with violent crime rising by 20%. Property

crime also increased significantly. Starbucks, the Seattle-

based coffee company renown for their many coffee shops 

in many places, announced recently that they will close five 

stores in their home city because of the rocketing crime rate.

There is, all the while, fewer officers working longer hours 

to deal with this astonishing increase in crime. At least, to 

the credit of the people of Seattle, they elected a tough-on-

crime mayor and city attorney, and hopefully will also elect

like-minded city council members to stem the tides of 

increasing crime and a decreasing police force. 

In the meantime, Seattle is a difficult and dangerous city to

visit, let alone work and reside in. And the same can be said

for Milwaukee, Chicago, Saint Louis, Los Angeles, New York,

Philadelphia, and various other cities across the country. 

If we don't take a stand for our law enforcement people, who 

will take a stand for us?

MEM 

Is the U.S. in a Recession?

Depending on whom you ask whether the country is in a recession

or not you will be told either "Yes indeed," or "Not a chance!"

the latter answer will come from the president and his administration,

along with his party which currently has control of both chambers of

Congress. Just about everyone else is convinced (including your 

faithful Peasant) that we are certainly in a recession. We therefore 

have a difference in views and substance regarding the debate 

and the answer to the question at hand.

New York's new mayor, Eric Adams, when recently speaking to the 

non-profit group Project Hospitality, stated "We're in a financial crisis

like you can never imagine ... Wall Street is collapsing. We're in a 

recession." Now, the accepted definition among economists is and

has long been two consecutive quarters of decline in the 

Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Although Wall Street is going 

through a great deal of turbulence of late it is not, as Mayor Adams

claims, collapsing. Besides, Wall Street has seen and been through 

worse in its long history, including of course the Great Depression 

which gripped the U.S. in the 1930s. Perhaps Mayor Adams should

consult with his fellow Democrat, President Biden about the matter.

However, the debate has brought a new notoriety to the organization

which officially designates recessions: the National Bureau of 

Economic Research's Business Cycle Dating Committee. Their idea of 

a recession is "a significant decline in economic activity spread across 

the economy, lasting more than a few months", taking into account

GDP, real income, employment, industrial production and consumer

spending. This definition is practically as long as a Senate fillibuster,

making it not at all as simple as "two consecutive quarters of decline

in the GDP". It must be noted, though, that the NBER won't make its

official determination for a few more months. 

Also, whenever President Biden and his merry band tell us that "there

isn't a recession" and that our economy is quite strong, more and more

people, particularly those on Main Street, believe with certainty that  

we're absolutely in a recession. And with the way that Biden and his 

chums have a rather awkward relationship with the truth, to say the
least, it's no wonder.

I'll close with this: I've heard news of employers slowing or ceasing  

their rates of hiring in part due to the climbing inflation, the worst 

we've seen in over forty years. The supply chain situation for many 

companies isn't getting any better, and there are more than a few  

empty or near-empty product shelves in many stores. What has been 

so far an employees' job market will soon revert to being an employer's 

market with the jobs disappearing, and many firms will not be able to 

afford to hire as many workers as they previously had.   

And it's going to get ugly. Real ugly. 

MEM