Bonkers, Blather, Blunders, & Buffoons #4
No question, this edition’s Quad-B grand-slammer is the current U.S. administration and it’s damaging, dangerous, poorly-planned, and mishandled rapid pull-out from Afghanistan, much to the consternation of our allies there, not to mention the thousands of Americans and friends of our American military who are now in peril, along with every unprotected Afghan woman and girl now left to be preyed upon by militant thugs adhering to Middle Ages’ radical militant Islamic law. Referring to the Taliban, New York Post editors described them as “global pariahs when they ruled Afghanistan in the 1990’s, ignoring the handwringing as they crushed the country’s women, destroyed those 1,500-year-old Buddha statues, and hosted the al Qaeda plotters of 9/11.”
Beyond Afghanistan, the senseless and coming brutal disgrace of the moment, lies the chaotic and knowing malfeasance of our southern border, where the illegal migrant invasion continues. Our courageous and fatigued Border Patrol agents reportedly apprehended almost 200,000 illegals during July alone, a 418% increase over same month 2020, “and a 12% increase over the previous 21-year-high seen in June (2021).” The Rio Grande Valley Sector (Texas), alone, saw 15,000 illegals apprehended in just one week! That particular sector “is consistently the busiest of the nine southwestern border sectors.”
To make matters even more worrisome, beyond the very serious problem of drug trafficking & human smugglers, along with those and other criminals, and very likely terrorists sneaking through, in early August, Border Patrol agents collected over 800 unaccompanied children crossing the southern border in one day(!), after hitting an all-time high with minors-without-parents in July. In the words of Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.): “Biden’s open borders policy is a disaster.”
While the administration wastes everyone’s time and resources with the phony concern about determining the “root” causes of the border stampede (poverty- Hello!), the obvious non-political solution is simply to slam the border shut. Add more agents, and National Guard, if needed, but slam it shut. So obvious. But self-centered, and self-ish, politicians, wearing blinders, refuse to close the door to this social and economic detriment of our nation. And the ultimate irony or perhaps disgrace, while the administration welcomes hordes of migrants traveling to our border through Mexico, it then refuses admittance to Cubans seeking freedom. Why? Because Cubans tend to vote Republican!!
Then there’s the increase in gas at the pump. The administration “killed the Keystone XL pipeline (potential 830,000 barrels of Canadian oil to the U.S. per day), put a moratorium on oil leasing on federal lands, and canceled the Trump-era oil leases in Alaska.” All, of course, to curry favor with the Progressive-Greens, despite America’s overwhelming dependence on oil and gas. New York Post: “Biden has made combating climate change a top priority and declared war on the American energy industry to do it.” Realizing the unpopularity of elevated pump prices, the administration has asked Russia and others to increase their oil production, so that we can then import oil, rather than depend on our own! Russia refused! Responded Representative Dan Crenshaw (R-TX): “Reaching a whole new level of stupid, the Biden administration asks OPEC to increase production while making every possible attempt to destroy cleaner American oil and gas. Not just stupid, but anti-American.”
Shifting topics, but still in apparent stupidity, Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) reportedly announced to a group that she is in favor of eliminating funding for ICE, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the entire U.S. Department of Homeland Security! It would seem that she has little real interest in protecting our shores. Former ICE Director Tom Homan was quick to react. Said he: “That’s the single dumbest thing I’ve heard any member of Congress say. (She) wants to defund the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that not only has CBP and ICE, but they have the Secret Service, the Coast Guard, and FEMA. She wants to defund the department that has the responsibility for the safety and security of this nation.”
Moving on, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) , in a recent interview with Teen Vogue magazine (“the young person’s guide to conquering and saving the world”) actually said the following: “Both voting and access to abortion are basis. They’re about the functioning of our democracy and about the protection of personal autonomy.” So, then, abortion is a key to the “functioning of democracy.” Appears we’ve never truly viewed the killing of unborn babies in quite that fundamental way. Interesting that our brilliant Founders never picked up on that for the Constitution.
The creator of the “1619 Project,” Ms. Nikole Hannah-Jones has reportedly stated that: “The most equal multiracial country in our hemisphere would be Cuba. Cuba has the least inequality between Black and White people of any place really in the hemisphere. And that’s largely due to socialism – which I’m sure no one wants to hear.” Yes, ma’am, you are absolutely correct!
The Sheriff of Dane County (Madison, WI) has reportedly announced a change in all references to his jail’s inhabitants. Said he: “As we serve, we want to maintain dignity and respect for all who are involved in our criminal justice system. We will no longer refer to our incarcerated community members as ‘inmates.’ Their new title will be ‘resident’ or ‘those in our care.’ ” The Sheriff feels this change in language may “hopefully help reduce recidivism.” Unlikely, but there is always hope. Madison, Wisconsin is a very liberal area, so this wokeism initiative will likely be well accepted there. Good to remember that those men and women “in his care” are there, not for a tour, but because they are accused of, and arrested for, violating the law. Had they not, they would still be fully-functioning ‘residents’ out there in the community and free at home.
And speaking of liberal Madison and its university (University of Wisconsin – Madison), this one defies Ripley. On the campus, situated there for almost 100-years, there is a huge (really huge) 42-ton boulder referred to as the ‘Chamberlin Rock,” named as such in honor of a former UWM president. He was a researcher and expert on glacial deposits. The ‘Rock’ is considered to be more than 2-billion years old, and thought to have been carried to what became the campus area by “glaciers from Canada to Wisconsin.” Again, in the age of wokeism and everything-is-racial, as the result of complaints by the University’s “Black Student Union and other activists,” deriving from one racial slang reference to the ‘Rock’ back 1925 (!), dug up in a long-forgotten local newspaper story, it was now determined that it had to go, at a cost of almost $50K (said to have been funded by private donors).
The University’s director of campus planning and landscape architecture is reported to have said: “Removing the rock as a monument in a prominent location prevents further harm to our community, while preserving the rock’s educational research value for our current and future students.” No word as to exactly where the ‘Rock’ was moved (onto land owned by the University), but thank heavens it can no longer so prominently, visibly, and directly offend and/or “harm” present and future generations of Madison students, teachers, and community members. By so doing, solving one of that area’s likely more gnawing and troubling relationship issues at last. By the way, it’s reported that a student group(s) also demanded the removal of an Abraham Lincoln statue from campus, but, thankfully, “University leaders rejected that request.”
In other campus notes, following in-put from students, faculty, and alumni, Valparaiso University has decided to remove its sports teams name, the “Crusaders,” and replace it with the “Beacons.” “That decision came after a decades-long debate that has recently intensified.” Apparently, groups like the KKK began using symbols dating back to the Christian vs. Muslim Crusades from the 11th century. Going back considerably farther than the 1925 Madison affront. So, then, going forward, the “Beacons” will proudly shine a new and more acceptable light on campus sports and life.
And for this edition of Quad-B, here is the crown-jewel of short-sighted foolishness. The Democrat Governor of Oregon has signed a bill that, effective in three-years, reportedly “drops the requirement that high school students prove proficiency in reading, writing, or math before graduation.” Supporters of the measure said that it is to “truly reflect what each student needs to thrive in the 21st century.” Hello…is anyone supporting this move in that ultra-lib state actually still capable of clear, non-rose-colored thought. “Thrive” in the years ahead? In this current high-tech century, and well beyond, are we actually assuming that there will be no need for their young Americans to be measurably “proficient” in reading, writing, and math? Has STEM not yet reached the West Coast? At least, then, in Oregon, the dumbing down of student expectations will continue to roar.
A spokesperson for the Governor’s Office lifted the curtain a bit to give us a glimpse of what this is really all about at its core. The new standards for graduation will help benefit: “the state’s Black, Latino, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, and students of color” (what other “colors” are there in Oregon?). No question, while they’re catering to all of the minority students listed, that is, lowering the education/graduation standards, they are imposing the same reduction in quality expectation on the White students as well. A pretty obvious attempt at mandating “equity” vs. equality, which is all the rage (literally) now in liberal circles. Attempting to impose equal outcomes in place of equal opportunities.
An editorial in the Oregonian newspaper on the subject concluded: “Our educators should be focused on how to help students regain the ground they’re lost after a year and a half of distance learning and hybrid instruction – not on lowering our standards.” Between backward moves like this in education, and the on-going civil (violent) disturbance issues plaguing Portland for the past year+, all apparently overseen by tolerant ‘woke’ Democrat leadership, if you are non-woke, and non-politically elite, and you’re thinking about a family move, a reminder, and do considerer with care, there are 49 other states.
(Taliban description via nypost.com, Post Editorial Board, 8-12-21; July migrant data via breitbart.com, Bob Price, 8-12-21; Rio Grande Sector stats via breitbart.com, Bob Price, 7-20-21; Unaccompanied children entering/Tom Cotton comment via theepochtimes.com, Tom Ozimek, 8-7-21; Crimping oil exploration and refining quotes via nypost.com, Post Editorial Board, 8-12-21; Crenshaw quote via dailywire.com, Hank Berrien, 8-11-21; Homan quote via dailycaller.com, Henry Rogers, 7-9-21; Warren quote via dailywire.com, Ben Zeisloft, 8-2-21; Hannah-Jones quote via foxnews.com, Brittany De Lea, 7-19-21; Wisconsin Sheriff quote via dailymail.com, Sandra Salathe, 8-22-21; Madison ‘Rock’ issue/Lincoln statue data & quotes via breitbart.com, Amy Furr, 8-8-21, and powerlineblog.com, John Hinderaker, 8-8-21; Valparaiso University stats & quote via legalinsurrection.com, Mike LaChance, 8-13-21; Oregon education standards stats and quotes via foxnews.com, Edmund DeMarche, 8-10-21).