Thu, 22 Feb 2024 09:23:59 -0800WeeblyWed, 21 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMThttp://opinionsunlimited.us/blog/why-is-it8192517      Why is it that in Arlington, Texas I can VOTE ABSENTEE, but if I want o renew my library card , I have to go to the library IN PERSON with proof that I am, in deed, a resident of this town?
     
       Why is it that our President seems to be more concerned about the security of foreign borders than he is with the security of U.S. borders?

         Why is it that the mayors of NYC, Chicago and other cities get to complain about a few thousand immigrants coming to their cities (without mentioning these people are illegals) while they were unconcerned when 4-9 million illegals crossed into Texas?

           Why is it that the National Organization for Women (NOW) is silent on the subject of biological men competing against biological women in athletic events?

              Why is it that the Administration gets to claim  that inflation is "under control" and "going down" when the dozen eggs that I used to pay $.98 for, now cost over $2.00??

              Why is it that President Biden gets to blame, without challenge, that Trump is responsible for the mess at the southern border, when it was he who stopped construction of the border wall, undid the "Remain in Mexico" policy and gutted the deportation rules ON HIS FIRST DAY IN OFFICE?

              Just Asking...and hoping that a lot of voters have noticed this stuff also!!
]]>Thu, 16 Nov 2023 19:09:48 GMThttp://opinionsunlimited.us/blog/bye-bye-birdie                  In my most recent copy of "The Week"magazine is a blurb informing me that The American Ornithological Society is removing ( I presume from their list of birds) the names of ALL species that reference people and replacing them with names that describe their plumage or other characteristics.  This is all because it was recently revealed that the namesakes of Townsend's Warbler and Bachman's Sparrow, as well as "dozens of others" were slaveholders or "held racist views".  Indeed, the president of the AOS, Colleen Handel, said that the names "cause pain to people" and, thus, are "barriers to their participation in the world of birds."  She did not say who was caused pain nor indicate how she knows that they felt such pain (it may be, after all, just an assumption on her part).  Also, I don't quite know what "participation in the world of birds" means and, therefore, being barred from it may be of little import to those whose very names give people pain---they are probably dead anyway or, if not, they don't give a rat's ass.

                       When are we going to put an end to this national pastime of searching for ways to assign racially motivated blame and guilt? It's about time to recognize that slavery happened and, while despicable, is a fact of our history and one which we have come a long way from.  We should be using it as a teaching point not obliterating any references to the people of that day (tearing down statues, renaming buildings ) so we can pretend it didn't happen.  Now, we have gotten to the point where we're renaming animal species to be politically correct!

                         This action by the AOS is, in my opinion,  "For the Birds"!

 








]]>Sat, 04 Nov 2023 17:10:16 GMThttp://opinionsunlimited.us/blog/main-stream-media-and-nfl-referees                     Everyone who watches the NFL is familiar with the occasional time when a player for one team is flagged for unnecessary roughness only to find out via the TV replays that the flagged player was merely reacting to a cheap shot by an opposing player that the Ref DIDN"T see.  
                        In a similar situation I noted that last week several main stream news  channels have reported on the plight of Palestinians who have suffered by being in harm's way from Israeli air and artillery strikes, even after having been told by multiple Israeli leaflet drops to get out of the area of intended targets.  But, what struck me about many of these reports was the impression that they gave that Israel had conducted these destructive attacks unilaterally out of he blue.  Very little, if any, mention was made of their being a reaction to the slaughter of Israeli civilians by Hamas on October 7th.  The media, like the referee in my example, missed the first violation  is now solely focused ONLY on the second and are gleefully chastising Israel for heartlessly visiting death and destruction on "innocent" civilians.  (On second thought, maybe they didn't "miss" it---just ignored it.)
                        By the way I am unclear about how many "innocent" Palestinian civilians there are in Gaza.  Are these not the folks who voted Hamas into power in the first place and who dance in the streets every time an Israeli or American is killed and hung in the town square?

                          In any case, this situation relates to today's New York Times piece by Jeremy W. Peters entitled "Jewish Viewers Find a Refuge in FOX News".  In this OP/ED Mr. Peters cites FOX as drawing Jewish viewers because FOX has a pro-Israel slant, unlike MSNBC which is more pro-Palistinian.  I disagree!!  In my experience, FOX covers BOTH sides of a story in an even handed fashion far more consistently than any of the other national news outlets. That is why people who can think for themselves gravitate to the FOX News channel. I'm surprised that Jews, who are a generally smart and classic (as opposed to modern) liberal group took this long to figure that out.










]]>Tue, 17 Oct 2023 20:00:32 GMThttp://opinionsunlimited.us/blog/60-minutes-and-journalistic-integrity                 For those of you who missed it last Sunday, let me tell you about the 6o Minutes "interview" with President Biden.
The interviewer was Scott Pelley and what he really did was to interview himself!!  Pelley would ask a question of Mr. Biden, and the response would be mumbled and so garbled that Pelley would then follow up by saying something like: "Is it your position that a safe corridor from Gaza to Egypt should be opened for "innocent Palestinian refugees to escape from Gaza"?  Of course Biden answered "Yes" and offered nothing more. After another rambling statement by Mr. Biden, Pelley clarified for him by saying "Are you saying that humanitarian aid should be sent into Gaza for the innocent Palestinians caught up in the aftermath of the Hamas attack"?  Again, the answer was "yes" and Pelley never pushed the President to formulate and express and idea of his own.  So much for journalistic integrity and a free press which holds politicians accountable.
       
                 In another story on 60 Minutes, the plight of illegals who had been flown to Martha's Vineyard was covered by CBS reporters citing that the couple of dozen migrants arrived with no warning, no housing and no jobs waiting for them.  HOW TERRIBLE!!!  This catastrophe was reported to be the work of   the Governor of Florida who "tricked" the illegals into making the trip.  No mention was made of the "trickery" that got them to cross the Texas, Arizona and Florida borders in the first place!  Come to think of it, the only time I am aware of CBS or any other news organization, except FOX, being even mildly interested in illegal migrants IS WHEN THEY WOUND UP IN  NEW YORK CITY, CHICAGO AND MARTHA'S VINEYARD.  In fact, what I remember is that the FOX NEWS reporter had the only broadcast coming from the Southern Border for TWO YEARS while FOUR MILLION ILLEGALS crossed the Texas and Arizona borders!  And just so it doesn't go unnoticed, the Federal Government shipped many of these folks to other parts of the country. I was here, in DFW, when 3000 of them came by bus to Dallas in the dead of night and were just dropped off even though, just like in Martha's Vineyard, there was no warning, no housing for them and no jobs waiting.  I don't think we can blame Ron DeSantis or Gregg Abbott for that, but CBS will try, I'm sure.







]]>Sun, 24 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMThttp://opinionsunlimited.us/blog/a-few-recent-observations                I was interested to note that David Brooks of the NYT and the star of my August 4th "You Smug Bastard" blog entry has made news by complaining about paying $78.00 for a hamburger meal at Newark Airport.
He, Brooks, pointed to this as an example of why Americans think the economy is lousy, and he's right. But on closer inspection, his irritation should have been about the $18.00 dollar hamburger rather than the total bill since, according to the restaurant, 80% of the bill was due to his bar tab (of around $62.00) for two double bourbons!  Brooks took a lot of heat about his complaint, but it seems to me to be  the very definition of a self inflicted wound!  The economy is, in fact, rotten, but buying booze and complaining about the cost is not the way to hold down food prices.
                   Speaking of food prices, I saw, in the 22 September issue of "The Week" that Biden defender Paul Waldman of MSNBC cannot understand why the President's poll numbers are bad because "Inflation has plummeted...".  PLUMMETED!!!   REALLY???  I don't know where Mr. Waldman shops, but I do most of the food shopping  for this household and "Plummeting is not a word I would apply to either grocery or gas prices here in Texas!
                      Next, I am mystified by the double speak coming out of the White House Press Secretary and, indeed, the president himself.  I found out, this morning, by watching video clips of both KJP and Mr Biden that Donald Trump is the one responsible for the chaos on the Southern border.  Yes, apparently it was Trump who stopped construction of the border wall, ended the "Remain in Mexico" policy, offered work permits to illegal aliens, released others into the interior and is suing Texas for putting a barrier in the Rio Grande.  And all of that was done by Trump AFTER he lost the Presidency!!  What an extraordinary guy!!

]]>Mon, 04 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMThttp://opinionsunlimited.us/blog/turning-mlk-on-his-head       This past weekend and through all of last week, we saw lots of TV coverage of "The March on Washington" by civil rights activists, sixty years ago, and the great "I Have a Dream" speech delivered by Dr.Martin Luther King on that day.  In that speech, Doctor King famously proclaimed,  "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."  That got me to thinking about the state of race relations in our country.
       I believe that, while we are no where near completely fulfilling Doctor King's dream, we have come a long way towards that goal.  After all, we elected a Black President---TWICE,  our current Vice President is Black, and there are now sufficient Blacks in the Congress to have established "The Congressional Black Caucus" with 54 members as opposed to the situation on 28 August 1963 when Doctor King spoke and there were no Blacks in the Congress.
        In  today's world, however, it seems to me that, especially among white liberals like Joe Biden,  Blacks are  STILL being judged by and for the color of their skin.  And regardless of their other qualifications you cannot make me believe that race did not play a large part in Biden's selection of Kamala Harris and Lloyd Austin for their current positions, or in his nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.  After all, in the cases of both Ms. Harris and Ms. Brown Jackson, Mr. Biden DID announce  in front of the whole world that he would select a Black woman as his running mate and, later, that he would nominate a Black woman as Associate Justice on the SCOTUS.  In these cases he played the race and the gender cards simultaneously. (From the liberal agenda point of view, it's almost too bad one of the women isn't gay or he (Biden) could have made a real trifecta by including the LGBTQ+++ crowd.)  The point is that by limiting the candidates being considered to women and, further, to Black women it seems to me that Mr. Biden may have precluded a significant number of qualified people from even the possibility of being selected for either position.  This is, in my view, the very antithesis of what Doctor King was talking about.  That is,  judging by skin color and not by qualifications or , in King's words, "character".
          As regards General Austin, I will not quibble with his professional qualifications and decisions during his time on active duty.  But recognize that. he is our first African American Secretary of Defense, and was widely touted as another first for Biden's "equity" agenda.   All I will say is that if he (Austin) as SECDEF truly thinks that the withdrawal from Afghanistan was the triumph that both he and his boss claim it was, then he and I have entirely different views on how to handle a retrograde operation. 
      And the chaos that the TV footage showed to be reigning during  that movement is not how it is supposed to look!

            HAPPY LABOR DAY!!

JS











]]>Fri, 04 Aug 2023 23:02:54 GMThttp://opinionsunlimited.us/blog/you-smug-bastard              On 4 August 2023, David Brooks, the New York Times columnist, wrote an OP/ED entitled "What if the people opposing Trump are really the bad guys?"  Of course, he doesn't REALLY believe that he and his fellow Anti-Trumpers are bad and asks "Why is this guy still politically viable after all he's done?" (Sounds like something  you'd hear on "The View")
              Brooks cites others who have addressed this topic, quoting them writing "The Trumpers are reactionary  bigots and authoritarians. [and]...at the end of the day he's the bigot in chief. the embodiment of their resentments. and that's what  matters to them most." (By the way resentments are portrayed to be against people of color, women who value gender equality and LGBT people---I don't know why they left off "Q" and "+")
               Brooks then makes a good point that education and wealth play a role here in that "well educated (and wealthy) parents go to elite schools, marry each other, and [have] children who get into the same elite schools"
He concludes, then, that "Its easy o understand why people in less-educated classes would conclude that they are under economic, political cultural and moral assault--and why they've rallied around Trump as their best warrior against the educated class.
As a member of the "less-educated class", that last sentence REALLY frosted me!  
    First, I don't like being called uneducated and second, the  middle class IS UNDER ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, CULTURAL AND MORAL ASSAULT.   And this OP/ED is, in itself, proof of that!.

  

       LIKE I SAID---HE'S A SMUG BASTARD!!


       ADDENDUM  (8/6/2023)
      This morning it occurred to me that the attitude displayed by Brooks in his OP/ED is not unlike the Clinton portrayal of Trump voters as "A basket of deplorables" or the habit a few years ago of East and West Coast liberals calling the center of the country "The Fly Over States"
 





  


pi

]]>Wed, 26 Jul 2023 07:00:00 GMThttp://opinionsunlimited.us/blog/a-letter-from-the-big-guy              Yesterday morning we received a letter over a signature that says "Joe Biden President of the United States" and I was prepared to accept that until I read the caveat at the bottom of page one which says "This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee."
              So, I am confused. You can't have both things be true---either Biden (the now announced candidate) authorized and signed the letter or the whole thing is bogus and it's not really from him but from some staffer at the DNC.
              But then, this situation about says it for this whole administration doesn't it?  Something is true until they get caught and they then walk it back---telling us what the President REALLY meant was....

            But, for the sake of discussion, let's assume that this letter really is from Mr. Biden.  In that regard, the letter is a plea for donations.  But unlike the earlier Obama solicitations which accepted gifts starting with as little as $1.00-$5.00, this one asks for $20, $30 or $40!  It seems that the Biden Inflation Bug has hit the donation world along with everything else. folks
               
               There are also several interesting points raised to induce people to donate.  These include trumpeting "...values we (Democrats) share---honesty, respect, and dignity...and unity over division.  After this unity plea, however, a large portion of the letter is devoted to telling us  how evil Republicans are. After all, they want to "cut ...social security benefits", "...silence Black voters.", "...deny lifesaving medical care, putting millions of people in harms way.", support gun violence, and cause LGBTQ+ people to "...live in fear."  ( I may have missed something but in watching TV, I am unaware that any of the LGBTQ+ folks featured on several shows, are at pains to hide their sexual preferences.)  I also found the shared value of "honesty" to be of note from a man who has falsely claimed to hold 3 under graduate degrees, have attended Law School on a full scholarship, graduating at the top of his class , and been raised in the Puerto Rican community in Delaware!
 
                   Next, the letter moves on to list the administration's accomplishments.  These are the same ones that the President mentions every time he opens his mouth on this subject.  Among them is the confirmation of Justice Katanji Brown Jackson as "...the first Black Woman..." to serve on The Supreme Court. (As a long time court watcher, I would have preferred the criteria to be the best jurist available---but that would run counter to the Biden agenda in which he announced his intent to nominate a Black woman BEFORE any names were sent to the Senate.).  Another accomplishment cited is legislation to "...bring down costs like the price of prescription drugs..." (No mention is made of bringing down the costs of food, energy and housing.)

                   Perhaps the most interesting part of the pitch has to do with the goals of the Biden/Harris team as they propose to "finish the job..." To wit:
                  "...build an economy that works for everyone..."
                  "...protect Social Security and Medicare"
                  "...defend reproductive freedom..."
                  "...tackle the climate change crisis..."
                 "...support our nations teachers..."
                 "...ban deadly assault weapons..."

     These are, on the surface, laudable goals. but a few comments are needed for clarity.  Aside from the fact that no where in this letter or list of goals is any mention made of securing our southern border. All this administration wants to do is sue The Texas Governor for doing the federal government's job.

          Building an economy that works for everyone is nice but I'd like them to build one that works for all American citizens and those who are here LEGALLY.  Based on its past performance, it is clear that the Biden administration thinks "everyone" includes the 4 million+  illegals they have let into the country and provided with cell phones, health care, access to public schools and transportation to cities of their choosing.  Additionally, although some will say the stock market is doing well now, it will take a lot of growth to recover from all those months of a down market caused by run away spending.  And if the government doesn't curb its spending, it will only get worse.

         On goal number two---I have lost count of the times that Democrats have claimed that the GOP wants to end Social Security---They do it every election cycle and it's no more true today than it has been in the past.

        The third goal speaks of reproductive freedom, but to many on the left that really means abortion on demand up to and including thew instant of birth.  And the correct term for that circumstance is not "abortion", but "infanticide".

        The 4th goal of tackling the climate crisis (assuming there is one) will be very difficult to accomplish as long as India and China, the two biggest polluters in the world,  share the planet with us.  It would seem that any effort we make will be lost in the wind ---but we can try.
                 
           I am all for supporting "our nations teachers"., but I suspect what this goal is really aimed at is supporting  the Teachers Unions which, in turn, are very active in supporting (as we saw during COVID) the Democratic agenda.  This is not the same as supporting teachers!

            The final goal of an assault weapons doesn't  bother me as much as some people who know me might think.  What I find most disconcerting is the continued emphasis by the Democrats on banning the weapon (guns in particular) and NOT on the people who are committing violence with ANY WEAPON (up to and including cinder blocks, bricks, bottles and knives)!  Yet in cities like New York and Chicago violent people are routinely set free instead of remaining in the slammer where they belong.  Ironically, this is all done in the name of social justice---it may be social but it is certainly NOT JUSTICE!.

Well that's my take on the letter, guys.  Make your own judgement and lt me know what you think.
JS




 








]]>Tue, 27 Jun 2023 07:00:00 GMThttp://opinionsunlimited.us/blog/i-fear-for-the-future                  Part of the reason is that I am afraid that the voting public is not paying attention and the "main stream press" is doing nothing to help the situation.
                   There was a time when the press held the government to account regardless of party affiliation.
                 That period is long past.  My question is: Why won't the main stream media call out Mr. Biden and his minions when they say things that are so obviously false?  Instead, they are allowed, unchallenged, to offer  what I call "Proof By Assertion". That is, because they say something is true, that makes it so. To wit:
               "The President has a great record..."     NO HE DOESN'T ! The Inflation Reduction act did nothing to curb  inflation and the bulk of his legislative agends contains money for green energy and other left wing projects that average people don't want.
               "The southern border is secure..."          NO IT'S NOT ! There are 4 million and counting illegals in Texas and Mayor Eric Adams of NYC gets away with calling a few hundred migrants in the Big Apple a "deluge"!
                "The 'crime wave' in American cities is a figment of FOX News' imagination.   NO IT'S NOT!
                " The economy is in great shape..."       NO IT'S NOT !  The prices of food and fuel are still way up and average people are struggling to make ends meet.
                "Guns are the problem..." NO THEY'RE NOT---SOMEONE HAS TO PULL THE TRIGGER!
                "Old white men are the problem..."    NO THEY'RE NOT----UNLESS YOU ARE LIBERAL, BLACK,
                                                                                                               A WOMAN, A CRIMINAL, LGBTQ+,                                                                                                                                     JANE FONDA , OR ON "THE VIEW".
                My fear comes down to this----if the American voters return these bozos to office in 2024, there is little hope for the survival of the country in which we grew up.






]]>Sun, 12 Feb 2023 08:00:00 GMThttp://opinionsunlimited.us/blog/so-what-is-the-state-of-our-union                      Well, if you believe President Biden, (1) it's all wonderful, (2) he is the reason for the wonderfulness and (3) all we have to do now is "Finish the Job" (Which sounds like a campaign slogan for 2024).
                      Now, as I was told by my favorite Poly-Sci professor, the key to being a political spin merchant (not to say liar) is to never tell the whole story So, let's do a little fact checking for as Paul Harvey would say, "The Rest of the Story...". This, with help from FactCheck.org.
                    1) Biden said he has "created 12.3 million jobs.  But, the job growth was largely fueled by the post-pandemic recovery which started under the last administration.
                          2) The President also said that "take home pay has gone up," which is true, except when inflation is considered and, in that case, weekly earnings actually have gone down.
                         3) Mr. Biden also claimed to have cut  the deficit by $1.7 Trillion, while failing to mention that most of that reduction was due to the expiration of emergency pandemic spending.
                         4) Next, there was the claim that The Great Orange Satan (Donald Trump) added "nearly 25% of the entire national debt while in office.  But trillions of dollars of the accumulated debt under Trump were due to the  bipartisan coronavirus relief packages.  So, the Democrats had a piece of that action as well as Trump.
                          5) The President then said that, unlike the past where we imported projects and exported jobs, now "We're exporting American products and creating American jobs."  In fact, U.S. imports of goods and services have continued to exceed exports under Biden.
                           6) He also claimed, as Democrats have been doing for years, that the Republicans want to "sunset"
Social Security and Medicare.  This assertion gives undue clout to a proposal from Senator Rick Scott that calls for all federal legislation to be brought up for a vote every 5 years.   The claim brought an immediate negative reaction from the GOP members as the media rushed to complain that Mr. Biden was being "heckled". And I guess that's true----it put me in mind of the time in front of the Supreme Court Building when "Chuck Schumer  was screaming at the top of his lungs that if SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade,  Brett Kavanaugh would "Reap  the Whirlwind'.
Is that "heckling"?
                           Anyway, I think the State of The Union is OK right now and that it is probably strong enough to weather the remainder of a Biden first term.  I am less confident that the country can survive if the people give him or anyone like him another term in The White House.
                           






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