Bonkers, Blather, Blunders, & Buffoons #32
Recently, Mr. Biden delivered a political speech from Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, calling on the memory of General George Washington, wintered there in the extreme cold, whose mission was to replace devotion to an English King with devotion to democracy and American freedom. His historical references quickly gave way to current politics by calling out his major presidential opponent, Donald Trump. Defending our democracy was a continuing theme in Mr. Biden’s speech, a key part of which is the sacred right of all citizens to vote freely, while at the very same time he was promoting democracy, Democrat activists in several states were working to remove leading Republican candidate, Donald Trump, from primary ballots, forcing voters to cast those ballots for other than the top candidate on the Republican side. Apparently, this is the Bidencrat version of defending democracy. So much, then, for General (later President), George Washington’s valiant effort to instill victory against the British, thus casting off the monarchy, in order to install democracy here (ultimately a Constitutional Republic) across the newly-freed American states. The Democrats’ version is to do whatever it takes to retain power and control, beginning this time around, with the potential for denying the right to vote for the former president within several states’ primary elections.
According to writer Scott McKay commenting on the “Our Democracy” reference early in Mr. Biden’s speech: “Our Democracy” is the Obama democracy, in which DEI replaces meritocracy, identity politics replaces reason, cancel culture replaces the free exchange of ideas, ballot-harvesting replaces voter persuasion, and chaos replaces the rule of law. That’s what they’re selling, and if you’re not buying, you’re a white supremacist…regardless of your race.” A strong rebuttal to a portion of his haranguing speech, casting blame for everything on Donald Trump, with considerable reference to the January 6th (2020) “insurrection” with lie after lie covering up the realities of that event. The whole address was pure pandering for the ever-righteous, shining light amidst the darkness, Mr. Biden, and how only he can protect “Our Freedom.” With apologies to the legacy of Valley Forge, as we concerned Americans now all hope for a fair and free (from fraud) election, November can’t get here fast enough.
On the subject of, at present, the far more urgent national issues demanding federal attention, the Biden administration has given the go-ahead to the National Park Service to remove the statue of William Penn along with his historic home, despite vigorous public objection. You’ll recall that over the last three years or so, the federal, state, and local governments, in bended knee response to activists, have succumbed to local or federal pressure to remove certain statues of historic figures, some having direct association with the Confederacy, as well as those of other prominent Americans from different events entirely. The objective would appear to be, not just the tearing down of some old statues, but the visible reminder of aspects of our past history that some factions have decided should not be remembered or honored. Now, no question, slavery is not to be honored or treasured. But current and future citizens, especially the younger ones, should have access, both in school and in public, to important aspects of our history, so they can be reminded of, and learn from, both the positive and negative people and events that have shaped the various historic eras and events of our nation. Recall that old adage: those who ignore and fail to learn from the mistakes of our past, are destined to repeat them.
So then, who was William Penn and for what reason(s) is he potentially no longer to have a statue of honor. So, you know, before his statue may possibly be forever removed from public view, William Penn was the individual who actually founded the State of Pennsylvania(!), and, in addition, was considered to be “an important early colonial figure.” Now, that fact, actually founding a state, is extremely significant, and as such, should not be hidden from memory or view for the Pennsylvania citizens of today and for unending tomorrows. OK, so did William Penn own slaves? Yes, he did. As did most wealthy and influential landowners during colonial times, in those decades prior to the anti-slavery Civil War, after which the evil practice of “owning” human beings was eliminated over time. So now, if the NPS is given the final go-ahead to remove his statue, William Penn and his historic home would no longer be on public display. That is if the recent temporary court injunction fails to become permanent. If, in fact, that court action is ultimately even needed. It seems that public reaction to potential removal was so strong that the current Pennsylvania Governor is said to have personally asked the White House to allow the statue to remain in place. So, between the court injunction and the PA Governor’s personal intervention, it looks to be secure, for now. There is simply no valid reason for the person and achievements of William Penn, and many other historic figures with statues around our nation, should be made to literally disappear from public view.
And by the way, you should also know that in October of last year, after hard fought “cultural and legal battles,” the statue of a famed military leader, Confederate General, Robert E. Lee (sitting atop his horse), previously located in Charlottesville, Virginia, a long-ago Confederate state, was secretly removed from its substantial base and actually melted down (!), while the organizations that had been pushing for the removal and disappearance now work with the City of Charlottesville to determine what replacement sculpture might be, in their view, more appropriate (i.e., “inclusive”). Again, it’s fair to say that the overriding effort was to “bury” the memory of a famed military leader, from a time long ago, a time that cost Southern and Northern states the huge loss of soldier lives. And then to take that historic event (and its southern commander) away from a position of status (pro or con) and public view, in order to discourage others of all ages from learning about and from it. Perhaps forgetting, yet again, that, wisely, we’ve got to remember our past to keep from repeating it!
On the subject of China, a couple of items important for Americans to know. While we have angrily watched now millions of immigrants from nations around the globe violate our immigration laws with a pat on the head from this administration as they illegally cross our southern (and now, northern) border, including, recently, a large number of Chinese citizens. That said, you should be aware that China has been actively taking full or partial control of a large number of seaports around our planet. In fact, you should know that “China owns or operates a seaport on every continent except Antarctica and, at last count, that nation now has stakes in 92 active seaport projects.” China has come to foreign nations, and with seemingly unending bags of money, has offered to build-out or modernize a country’s seaport in return for full or partial operating control of said port. The significance here is the increasing control that China now has over international shipping, by virtue of port control around the world, which would give them considerable operational leverage should they ever chose to militarize key ports under their control. Replacing the current commercial container vessels with war ships! The U.S. and India, now 92 ports late to the international seaport dance, have finally begun to take competitive notice, especially in the Indo-Pacific section of the world. Most recently, the U.S. administration has announced a $553-million investment in a port terminal for Sri Lanka. It’ll be costly, but America needs to make efforts to catch up, especially with the thought of Chinese war ships in key operating ports.
The other concern regarding Chinese acquisitions, that we’re just now beginning to realize, are the large plots of land in the Western U.S. that wealthy Chinese investors have acquired. We’re talking tens of thousands of acres. Even though the purchases are being made by hidden front entities, tougher to trace, we definitely need to turn some federal attention to this activity. Some acquisitions, or attempted purchases, have actually, and not by accident, been near to U.S. military installations! We definitely need for our security services to be on the lookout for such future purchase attempts. We are not concerned about any Chinese landowners growing wheat! It’s present and future Chinese spying right here at home that is the concern, especially if we eventually end up facing China in the future defense of Taiwan. It feels like we’ve been too slow to recognize both the Chinese U.S. land purchases and the operational acquisition of such a large number of foreign ports, while we leave, on purpose, our southern border, now open to millions of migrants, and foolishly concentrate our primary attention instead on ‘climate change’ and all things “green.” And speaking of foreign acquisition of U.S. land, just how friendly have our top leaders and representatives actually become with our adversary China?
Denver, Colorado is an avowed ‘Sanctuary City,’ except when it isn’t. Denver is apparently spending millions in taxpayer funds to ship illegal migrants to other cities and states about as soon as they arrive in Denver! While most illegals are given bus tickets to ‘get out of Dodge,’ some are actually given free flights, likely to more distant cities. So far (2023), Denver has spent “$7.5-million” on housing for illegals and “nearly $5-million” to feed them. Estimates on such expenditures (plus bus and plane tickets) were expected to total $40-million by the end of 2023. That total cost would be significantly higher if the city wasn’t sending illegals on their way just as soon as possible, making Denver, it seems, an unexpected re-distribution center for these no-doubt-confused border crossers! Folks, welcome to Denver, but you can’t stay here!
And speaking of yet another large, unneeded, administration expenditure, Mr. Biden is apparently planning at some point to form and send out around the country an “American Climate Corps” intending to train, according to the White House: “20,000 young people for jobs in the clean energy economy, focused on advancing environmental justice, deploying clean energy, implementing energy efficient technologies, and tackling climate change.” Oh, thank heavens, as many of us were really worried about all that stuff, and especially having ‘young people’ attempt to “advance environmental justice.” That’s a darn big load for those young corpsmen and women to achieve. And the cost, in taxpayer dollars, you might ask, is projected to be $30-billion, with no doubt much more cost to follow, as always happens, especially when ‘young people’ are ‘deploying clean energy,’ and especially when hyping and attempting to solve that invisible rascal, ‘climate change.’ As you might expect, Mr. Biden’s ‘plan’ has raised objections, at least one of which came, thankfully, from Representative Bob Good (R-Va.), along with his introduction in the House of a “No American Climate Corps Act.” Said Representative Good: “Americans are struggling to make ends meet because of Bidenomics. Instead of recognizing that family budgets are already stretched thin by sky high energy prices, President Biden is focused on deploying a climate army that will increase regulatory burdens on business owners and drive inflation across the economy even higher.” The concept does remind us of FDR’s far more needed, feasible, and useful Civilian Conservation Corps, initiated in the early 1930’s (Depression) to provide single men with “work programs to improve America’s public lands, forests, and parks.” Since Mr. Biden’s climate corps initiative was first announced back in September of 2023, with no known official public action on his plan to date, hopefully it may have perished from fiscal and other rational causes. ADDENDUM: Word out today (January 16th) that Mr. Biden has now had an information session for the purpose of explaining how the “ACC” will work and its multiple missions, not the least of which will be to bring the climate change message to America at the ground level. He apparently plans to begin recruiting and training the anticipated 20,000 young citizen participants this summer. For those involved, the assurance that the ACC program will be “union friendly.”
(Fact Sources: Mr. Biden’s Valley Forge political campaign address via spectator.com, Scott McKay, 1-8-24; William Penn’s statue may be removed from sight via breitbart.com, Joel B. Pollak, 1-7-24; Robert E. Lee statue removed permanently and melted down, via foxnews.com, Alexander Hall, 10-27-23; China’s seaport take-overs and American land purchases via breitbart.com, John Hayward, 11-10-23; Sanctuary City Denver sends illegals onward via breitbart.com, John Binder, 11-13-23; Biden Climate Corps plan via dailysignal.com, Lucy Gilbert, 11-3-23).