STATE OF THE UNION 2018

Last night President Trump delivered his annual State of the Union Address to Congress. Pardon the language, but he knocked the fucker out of the park and into the next County. 

After eight years of Barack Obama's jejune self-centered blithering on  America's alleged shortcomings, FINALLY a message of positive hope and real change.  How refreshing!

But how odd, that every positive thing and every proof of good things to come was met with stony silence from the assembled Democrats. The observation that black unemployment was at historical lows was met by scowls from the members of the Congressional Black Caucus.  

Congressman Luis Guitierrez all but ran out of the House in "protest" when the audience began chanting "USA! USA!".  AND the rest of the Democrats got up and ran out as soon as the President finished. 

The Dems know now that they will be facing a juggernaut in November. Their "easy takeover" of the house and Senate is little more than a 12 year old boy's wet dream about his fave movie starlet now.  

Not that they haven't made preparations. Now they're speculating on what plans "the Russians" have for the mid-terms.  

As our President would say:  LOOSERS!

IT SHOULDN'T BE SO GODDAMN EASY TO FILIBUSTER

RIGHT NOW THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS SHUT DOWN BECAUSE OF A "FILIBUSTER" BEING ENGAGED IN BY DEMOCRATS IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE

(And incidentally also because it's Saturday).

We say that if you want to filibuster, you ought to be required to keep talking on your feet the whole time.  Once every senator has spoken OR once 60% of the Senators present vote to close the debate, the subject at hand goes to a vote. That used to be the requirement.  But in 1970 the Democrat Party altered the rule to state that any item could be filibustered simply by demanding a 60% majority for "cloture" of debate. Ostensibly, this was so that other business could be conducted. In reality it was so it wouldn't be so hard to inconvenience those opposed to what the Democrats were trying to do.  

How simple. To filibuster, you need to keep talking until you either drop or until 60% of Senators present vote to end the farce. This puts pressure on every Senator to remain available for a cloture vote. The Senate needs to return to the old "shut up and vote" rule. We'd like nothing better than to see Schumer and/or Durbin drop from exhaustion and be rushed to the hospital, only to return to find that the measure they'd been running on about passed into law. That works for us just fine

Change the rules, Republicans.  Filibustering should be hard.

MARTIN LUTHER KING MEMORIAL DAY 2018

Today we remember a man who had a dream that one day men would be judged "By the content of their character and not the content of their skin".  Maybe someday that will happen.  But some funny things have happened since that statement was made by the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior in Washington, D.C

Barely a year after the "Dream" speech Dr. King was shot by James Earl Ray.  Riots ensued for nearly two weeks, scorching parts of every major city in America.  Once these riots had been quelled, it was decided to fix things so they would not break out again. King was subsequently "honored" by having in every city having a large black population a major through route; usually one running through the worst part of town with liquor stores and fried chicken places on every corner that didn't have a pawnshop; named after Dr. King.  This is an honor?

A few years ago Dr. King got a memorial in the Nation's Capital. This is an honor extended to very few private citizens such as Clara Barton (Who has a parkway named for her).  But King's statue doesn't look one thing like him. It appears to be a half-Chinese black man with a stern look on his face, as if he were about to apply his belt to the posterior of an errant child. This is not really a mystery, because the sculptor is a Chi-Com. Plus it had a few misquotes that made King sound like a twit. These, we are given to understand, have mostly been remedied.

But what about "The Dream"?

Regrettably it is further out of reach than it was in 1968.  There has been progress; co-workers of different races these days tend to pay their race no mind.  But the rise of the race-hustlers and hucksters out there displays no sign of abating, and a large segment of America's black population has developed the attitude that past violation of other members of their group's civil rights translates into their being able to do no wrong.  

King's dream has been turned on its head. When certified thugs such as Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown wind up dead after assaulting police officers or innocent citizens, people who point out the content of their character are shouted down while the race baiters DEMAND that the thugs be judged by the color of their skin.

That's scarcely something Dr. King would approve of. 

Oh well. At least he tried.