Ken's Comments

The low bar being set by the Democrats with the Articles of Impeachment are a danger to our Republic.  The first Article is that the President "abused" his power.  The second charges the President with Obstructing Congress.[1]  But the reasoning and justification for these charges is so weak they threaten to set a low bar, opening the door for either party who lost an election to bring charges to undo the will of the people by removing a President. Article 1 is titled "Abuse of Power."  The Article states "Using the powers of his high office, President Trump solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, in the 2020 United States Presidential election."[1]  Put aside the question of whether the facts support this charge, which is debatable, let's see another example of how this low standard could be applied.  Consider that in 2012, President Obama personally asked the Russian President to "give him 'space' until after the...

So I'm reading an article on Breitbart.com and I find myself in the same situation as with my last post.  I'm asking myself about Joel Pollack - do you consider yourself a Conservative?  If so, why are you criticizing this action and not praising it? The article is titled "'Justice Democrat' Ilhan Omar Argued Against Bill on Female Genital Mutilation."  Ms. Omar is Muslim, a Democrat, according to the author she is a Progressive, and she was recently elected to Congress in Minnesota.  The legislation in question was a Bill before the State Legislature. In classic John Kerry fashion Ms. Omar was against the bill before she voted for it. The author states Ms. Omar's "... stance on female genital mutilation (FGM) is anything but 'progressive.'”  Now here's the rub - he's completely right.  Her position on the legislation was not Progressive, it was Conservative!  Ms. Omar's stance on the legislation is described in Mr. Pollack...

I find myself in the unpleasant position of having to agree with a Federal Court Judge who overturned a Federal law that makes genital mutilation of females unconstitutional.  Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a horrific practice employed by some members of the Muslim faith.  Congress passed a law making this a crime and a Judge in Detroit ruled that law unconstitutional and, based on a very limited review of the case, I agree with his reasoning.  This may be a good decision made in a bad situation. The situation was that a doctor in Michigan was arrested and charged with violating a Federal law that prohibits performing genital mutilation on young girls.  For the record, the attorney for the doctor is quoted as saying the physician did not do this.  But the issue at hand is whether the Federal law is Constitutional.  Here is the test for Conservatives - just because something is horrible does that give the Federal Government the right to regulate it? ...

The headline of the editorial in the Wellesley News said "Free speech is not violated at Wellesley." Then the body of the opinion piece goes on to advocate violation of Free Speech. There were two key passages from this Editorial that deserve further attention.  Let's consider the first: "Wellesley is certainly not a place for racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, transphobia or any other type of discriminatory speech. Shutting down rhetoric that undermines the existence and rights of others is not a violation of free speech; it is hate speech. The founding fathers put free speech in the Constitution as a way to protect the disenfranchised and to protect individual citizens from the power of the government. The spirit of free speech is to protect the suppressed, not to protect a free-for-all where anything is acceptable, no matter how hateful and damaging." Regarding the first sentence, who defines what is "discriminatory speech."  Co...

One woman accuses Bill Cosby of drugging and raping her and people believe his denials.  Many women accuse Bill Cosby and the number of accusations has people convicting him. One FBI agent writes a book in the 1990s decrying Hillary Clinton's behavior in the White House and people shrug it off.  We're now up to how many books?  One by an FBI agent responsible for White House Security.  One by a Secret Service agent who was on the Presidential detail.  Three by authors who hunted down different sources to write books. The authors include: Kate Anderson Brower, Ed Stein, Ron Kessler.  The Secret Service Agent - Gary Byrne.  I forget the FBI agent who wrote the book in the 90s. Hillary Clinton is described as being an arrogant, imperial ruler who has no respect or regard for the people who work for her and no respect for maintaining security when it is inconvenient to her. That latter point is really being proven by the email scandal surrounding h...

The question of the day is are actions of 20 years ago important to this election or not?  Donald Trump accuses Hillary Clinton of being an enabler of Bill Clinton's predatory nature.  In response, Hillary won't talk or offers answers that deflect, and liberal supporters of Hillary say that's old news and is no longer important. Today, ABC News is running a big story about something Donald Trump did in 1991. "The former People Magazine reporter who interviewed Donald Trump 's alleged spokesman 'John Miller' in 1991 -- and immediately felt it was actually Trump himself -- says his denials that he masqueraded as his own spokesman raise questions about his character." https://www.yahoo.com/news/reporter-1991-audio-recording-says-trumps-denials-raise-052300885.html The question recurs - is something that happened 20 years ago important or not.  Or is it only allowed to be asked of Donald Trump and not Hillary Clinton? For that matter, if actio...

Really interesting story about the idea that rather than try to get all the guns off the street, why not educate people on how to legally and safely possess weapons for your protection.  I like the catchy name too - "Black Guns Matter."  I give the writer credit for being open minded about this and not just making a knee jerk condemnation.  But like the writer, I disagree with the people interviewed when they suggest self-defense includes illegal actions by police.   But the general point is well taken.  Education works.  There is a reason why none of the instances described in the article where little kids shot someone or were themselves shot happened in rural states like Wyoming or Montana where guns far outnumber people and kids of any age can hunt as long as they are accompanied by an adult.  Out here weapons are tools and people are taught from the earliest age how to handle and respect their tools.   Ubiñas: Philly man...

Read the headline and, if you wish, read the article.  Then I'll tell you why the Government is so wrong on this one. South Dakota Wrongly Puts Thousands in Nursing Homes, Government Says South Dakota Wrongly Puts Thousands in Nursing Homes, Government Says By Matt Apuzzo The Justice Department said Monday that with few alternatives available, thousands of people were held unnecessa... Oh the horror!  People in South Dakota are being imprisoned in nursing homes rather than being allowed to live out their golden years in the comfort of their homes surrounded by loved ones.  Something clearly must be done about this. Now let's talk about what's wrong with this story.  We have bureaucrats in Washington D.C. applying a national standard of care for senior citizens to a situation in South Dakota.  Make sure the rube doctors are giving the best care possible.  That sounds appropriate right? Except that it isn't a...

Donald Trump is accused of amoral behavior, name calling, misogyny...  and then there is: MSNBC's Chris Matthews Under Fire After He's Caught Ogling Melania [Trump] on Open Mic MSNBC's Chris Matthews Under Fire After He's Caught Ogling Melania on Open Mic MSNBC's Chris Matthews Under Fire After He's Caught Ogling Melania ... The host of 'Hardball' commented on her "Runway walk." Or the headline below "Bill Clinton: 'It's been a long time since a girl' said I look great."    So it's "girls" not "women" and really no criticism from the media toward the serial womanizing predator scumbag for this comment? Bill Clinton: 'It's been a long time since a girl' said I look great Bill Clinton: 'It's been a long time since a girl' said I look ... By AOL Staff The former president dropped the truth bomb while i...

Reading this article Why Cruz, and the G.O.P., Lost to Trump - The New Yorker Why Cruz, and the G.O.P., Lost to Trump - The New Yorker From the J.F.K. assassination to Monica Lewinsky, it was a long day in Indiana. and two things caught my eye that I thought I'd mention. First, since when is it "Cruz and the GOP?"  I think John Boehner's labeling of Cruz as Lucifer and an SOB is an accurate depiction of how little the GOP likes Cruz.  Not that being disliked by the Party is an indictment, it's clear the Party bosses accepted the support of the Tea Party to get majorities in the House and Senate and then wanted nothing further to do with those voters.  Personally, I agree with Boehner on this one, though. The second point is Cruz stating that Donald Trump is "utterly amoral" in response to the asinine remarks by Trump quoting the National Enquirer to ...

One reason for the protests and opposition to Donald Trump is that he speaks ill of other people.  Even President Obama has gotten into the act. I find the conversation by members of the media who support the President and the President's own comments to be highly hypocritical. Since President Obama was elected, Conservatives are routinely called racists just because they disagree with the President.  Keith Olbermann, Bill Maher, and almost all the announcers on MSNBC have been particularly vile in some of the things they say about Conservatives and Republicans.  US Representative Michelle Bachman was accused by the women on The View of hating children because she voted against Obamacare.  Mitt Romney was accused by Harry Reid (who was lying at the time) of not paying taxes and of being a bad Mormon. President Obama has routinely railed against the rich as have many Democrats, painting them as horrible people who are responsible for America's poor.  He hat...

T-shirts and newspaper cover pages identify Donald Trump with Adolf Hitler.  Yet who are the real fascists in this election? Is Donald Trump inciting demonstrators to go and disrupt the speeches of other candidates in a manner similar to the Nazi brown shirts of the 30's?  No he is not.  Its the liberals that are doing that, including the liberal group MoveOn.org that encourage the Occupy Wall Street movement that ended up including anti-semites, rapists, and various and sundry other criminal elements and activities. Is Donald Trump calling for hackers to attack the websites - personal, business, and political - of his opponents?  No he is not.  That's the hacker group Anonymous. Is Donald Trump responsible for death threats being made against the family of his opponents?  No he is not.  It's the people who oppose him who are doing that. We are running fair elections here and so far a plurality of Republicans have chosen Donald Trump.  Her...

Past quotes from Hillary Clinton have come forth that could demolish her support from the African-American community, assuming they get reported and assuming the African-American community cares (I'll blog on that another time). Her specific comments: "They are often the kinds of kids that are called 'super-predators,' " Hillary Clinton said then. "No conscience, no empathy. We can talk about why they ended up that way, but first we have to bring them to heel." This came to the public's attention because a young African American woman brought it up at a $500 per person fundraiser Ms. Clinton was having.  She and a friend paid to get in, then put up a banner with part of that quote and asked Ms. Clinton to explain it.  The video is quite popular now. See the video and some really good contextual commentary by Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k4nmRZx9nc   The background - in 1996, Ms. Clinton ...

In the latest example of college students being denied the opportunity to hear Conservative views, Ben Shapiro tried to give a presentation on the campus of California State University - Los Angeles and was blocked by liberals, including representatives of Black Lives Matter. Stuart Varney's observation after playing some clips:  " There was a lot of pushing, shoving, screaming, yelling — racism from the left and bigotry from the left and neo-fascist tactics from the left ." http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/matthew-balan/2016/02/26/stuart-varney-spotlights-far-left-mob-disrupting-ben-shapiro-event At the same event, a female reporter was assaulted three times. Adelle Nazarian of Breitbart News was attacked by three different individuals attempting to keep her from recording what was going on outside the event. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/feb/26/adelle-nazarian-breitbart-reporter-assaulted-three/ A search of the LA Times, the Washington Post, NY...

For the last 8 years we've heard about Conservatives are racist, terrorists, Nazis, fascists, warmongers, and a variety of other names.  In recent weeks the bigotry of the Left has been put on display. We've seen it in the past with references by media commentators like Ed Shultz and Bill Maher towards Conservative women like Ann Coulter and Sarah Palin.  Tea Partiers were called racists because of the actions of a few but did anyone call Occupy Wall Street people anti-semitic when there were signs at their protests about a world conspiracy of Jews?  Oh no. In recent weeks, the bigotry of the left has been on display again as their darling, Hillary Clinton is under fire.  First, it was Chris Matthews - who has spent years saying that anyone who does not agree with Barack Obama is a racist.  When Donald Trump announced he would not attend the last debate before the Iowa Caucuses, Matthews blurted out - who is going to watch "two Cuban guys."  To his cred...

I'd substituted the words "Liberal" and "Progressive" for "Democratic" but I like this quote, it is so true: “I vote [Liberal/Progressive], because I’m pro-choice … except on schools, guns, trade, health care, energy, smoking, union membership, light bulbs, plastic bags, Walmart, what kinds of food you can eat. …” Think about it.  Liberals oppose school choice.  They want to take away guns.  They want single payer health coverage - no choice for you.  Energy - limit the choices available for power supply.  Smoking - don't let people do it.  Unions - you must belong, no right to work laws.  And the same is true for all the other items on the list. The quote is from an article dated Feb. 3, by Walt Williams on the Human Events site (humanevents.com).

One of my complaints about Donald Trump is how he states his ideas.  First it was banning all Muslims from entering the country.  Now it's giving power to Christians.  The fundamental idea he is advancing is right, the way he says it is wrong. Flipping channels I happened on a re-broadcast of the Republican Debate hosted by Fox Business News.  The moderator asked Donald Trump about his position on Muslim immigration.  Then every other candidate was asked their position.  Other than not singling out Muslims, every other Republican candidate agreed that the current process is broken and immigration needs to be throttled or stopped while the current immigration process is fixed. His most  recent comment about Christians is similar.  I think most Republican candidates would decry liberals' war against religion but to say Christians would have the power is a statement designed to create a sensation.  But both of these comments redirect all o...

If Democrat insiders - examples: Hillary Clinton, her campaign, Democrats who want her to win, President Obama and his supporters, and the Liberal media types who support them - really cared about the poor wouldn't they be talking about all the people out of work who have fallen off the Unemployment rolls?  Wouldn't they be saying the unemployment problem is much worse than the unemployment rate reported by the Government?  Wouldn't they be mentioning the fact that the employment levels in the US are lower than they have been in quite some time? If they really cared about the poor, wouldn't they be concerned about the number of people who are employed but who are holding lower paying jobs or who have to take a second job to make ends meet?  You might say arguing for a $15 minimum wage is an attempt to address that problem and that has a modicum of legitimacy.  My counter argument is two-fold.  First I'd rather they were proposing ideas to create better pa...

Was listening to Glenn Beck on the radio and heard him do the same thing the media does in defining the "conservative" position on an issue.  Where the media usually calls anything they disagree with a "conservative" position, Mr. Beck was defining a position on immigration as liberal because it is the position he does not agree with. In this case he was talking about a position Sen. Marco Rubio has staked out on what to do about the immigrants who illegally entered this country and have been here for years.  Sen. Rubio prefers an approach that allows these individuals to stay.  Mr. Beck referred to that as a liberal approach. So let's apply the what is a Conservative test to Sen. Rubio's position. 1. A Conservative is someone who favors less government 2. A position/vote/bill that results in less government involvement is a Conservative position/vote/bill 3. Taken to its logical extreme the most Conservative point of view of all is anarchy, no gover...

So says Sean Illing of the liberal leaning Salon.com website.  Truer words could not be spoken.  As Mr. Illing said: "All religions are not the same. All faith traditions are not equally wise or equally tolerant or equally peaceful….A devout Quaker and a committed Wahhabist have very different ideas about justice and equality and morality" I will take a step back from the generalization Mr. Illing and the folks who excerpted his article at the Newsbusters.org side made.  There are liberals, like Bill Maher, who don't shy away from saying the words "Islamic terrorist."  Not every liberal has this problem but the Democrat candidates for President do. We'll get a real discussion about this next year in the Presidential election where the Democrat candidates have been very clear about not saying the words "Islamic terrorist" while Republicans have not at all been shy in this regard. If you want to read more, Mr. Illing's article is excerp...