During the course of a week, a lot of information and hearsay finds its way to my desk, either from The Internet or via snail mail. It often merely sits there on my computer or on my desk until I delete it or send it into the “round file.”
Normally, this material is not enough to warrant a complete post by itself. As the Aussies like to say, it’s a “dog’s dinner”—an assortment of scraps that, when mingled, can make a meal for a dog, or in this case, a comprehensible post.
So today, I have prepared a dog’s dinner for you. It’s a collection of thoughts, ideas, and commentary that I hope you will find enlightening, if not downright disturbing.
An Obituary printed recently in the London Times. Brilliant!
Today, we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years.
No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn’t always fair;
- And maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.
It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses, and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home, and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live a few years ago after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death,
- by his parents, Truth and Trust,
- by his wife, Discretion,
- by his daughter, Responsibility,
- and by his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 5 stepbrothers;
- I Know My Rights
- I Want It Now
- Someone Else Is To Blame
- I’m A Victim
- Pay me for Doing Nothing
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.
Joe Biden’s War on Appliances
Has Joe Biden declared war on our household appliances? It sure seems like it.
The list of offending appliances and equipment is growing seemingly by the week as Biden orders the Department of Energy to track down and begin banning such household staples as gas stoves, room and window air conditioners, water heaters, lamps, washing machines, ovens, refrigerators, air conditioners, dishwashers clothes dryers, and most recently, ceiling fans—all in the name of the left’s new religion called “Climate Change.”
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm—who appears to be the de facto Pope of this new religion, has proposed draconian regulations that she wants to impose on all of these appliances.
Who cares if these new rules and decrees will result in significant price increases while almost certainly ensuring a decline in quality and efficiency? say, appliance manufacturers.
For example, the cost to manufacturers associated with the increased equipment needed to produce the new DOE-approved ceiling fans will total $86.6 million per year, according to the DOE’s own estimates.
Republicans on the House Committee on Small Business say that figure is too low, and if the new DOE rule goes into effect, it could put small manufacturers out of business, given the costs the companies would incur in order to comply with the changes.
“This rule would require numerous small business fan manufacturers to redesign their products and may put between 10 and 30 percent of small business ceiling fan manufacturers out of business,” the GOP members of the committee wrote in a letter to Granholm last week. “It appears that the Department of Energy (DOE) may not have properly considered small entities during this rulemaking process.”
Funny. Pope Granholm doesn’t seem to mind all of those private jets the elites and the Rich Men North of Richmond are flying (and polluting) the skies of America. I guess THAT carbon footprint doesn’t count.
Doesn’t dealing with climate change demand sacrifice? That’s what we’re constantly told by the climate change disciples. So let those calling for it sacrifice first. Leave us and our appliances alone. Ground those private jets instead.
Democrats Intend to Rule Forever, Not Govern
In case Americans have forgotten this fact, when Democrats are in power, they invariably feel they have the right to tell everybody else how to think, how to speak, how to behave, and how to live.
Democrats have consistently pushed for a nanny state while doing whatever it takes to maintain their grip on power. Their goal? A nation ruled by one party—the Democrats, while Republicans, Libertarians, and any other political group that may be out there is reduced to irrelevance.
One-party control by Democrats means they can push through any legislation, no matter how radical. It could mean a fundamentally transformed Supreme Court that legislates rather than deliberates. It could mean top-down federal control over nearly every aspect of American life. (See “Appliances” above).
The only thing standing between us and such a dystopian vision is the November 2024 election.
Think about the hundreds of Republicans, conservatives, and Trump supporters who have been thrown into jail since January 6, 2021—many without the benefit of due process or the right to a speedy trial, both of which are guaranteed by the Constitution.
The fact that Democrats have used the U.S. Patriot Act to jail political opponents should concern all Americans.
And in case it has slipped your mind, look at how Democrats and their corrupt comrades in the Department of Justice and FBI are dealing with the principal Republican challenger to the inveterate liar who inhabits the White House.
You have to wonder what Democrats will do if not one of the 91 indictments in any of the four upcoming court cases against Donald Trump results in a conviction.
Will the socialists who currently run the Democrat Party resort to a Putin-style airborne assassination? Will they plant a bomb on Trump One and blow it out of the sky?
I would not be surprised.
Some may think that is a ridiculous scenario to consider. But is it? Given the visceral hatred leading Democrats, including Biden, have for Donald Trump, it seems like a logical next step if Democrats can’t find a way to put Trump behind bars.
The problem for conservatives in America is that they, not the Biden socialists, revere the Constitution and the rule of law. Even more troubling is that conservatives seem willing to allow Democrats to debase and use our judicial system to destroy their opponents while protecting themselves.
The weaponization of our government by Democrats against those who criticize or oppose their hostile and intrusive policies is about as close as I have come to living in a communist/socialist nation since I covered China and Vietnam for the Chicago Tribune.
It’s frightening to witness the steady erosion of free speech and the right to assembly while our news media watches and continues to function as propagandists for the Democrat Party.
This is NOT the America that I grew up in and served in the U.S. Army.
This is NOT my country.
–30–
[If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to ForeignCorrespondent and tell your friends to subscribe. IT’S FREE! WHAT A DEAL! If you’ve received this from a friend and would like to be added to our distribution list for future blog posts, please enter your email address in the sign-up for notifications box at https://ronaldyatesbooks.com/category/foreign-correspondent. You can also find my commentaries on Substack at https://ronyates.substack.com/ and the American Free News Network at https://afnn.us. And please feel free to comment. WE LOVE COMMENTS!]
Not my country either. What is happening to Trump is a travesty. But where are the Republicans? Nothing but cricket sounds. Even Bush, who hates Trump, should be questioning the methods being used here. Country over personal gain doesn’t seem to be in vogue any more. Sickening.
Love the Times obit! Those Brits have such a dry sense of humor.