Trump: Hillary Does the Hanky-Panky

Posted on June 27, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Last week Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said, “Hillary Clinton may be the most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency.”

My reaction was, “She’s got some big shoes to fill, there, Donald!”

Politics has always been a dirty business, but for the most part our presidents have been on the up and up. Some, like Grant, Arthur, Harding, and Reagan were surrounded by corruption but didn’t actually line up at the buffet themselves.

Then Hope and Change happened, and suddenly presidential corruption was elevated to an art form and a lucrative industry. While presidents have always found ways to reward their friends and supporters, the $800 billion blank check President Obama received for stimulus and recovery packages opened the floodgates for rampant, criminal cronyism.

Getting elected to the top political office in the world takes money. A lot of it. And big contributions usually come with expectations of payback. President Obama did not disappoint. Peter Schweitzer points out in his corruption expose, “Throw Them All Out”, how ten members of Obama’s 2008 campaign finance committee parlayed $457,000 in contributions into $11.3 billion in grants and guaranteed loans for companies they own and/or direct. And that was just the tip of the iceberg.

The half billion dollar Solyndra scandal was one of the few crony boondoggles that hit the presses. According to Schweitzer, there were many more, and larger, that were never publicized: Solar Trust of America, $2.1 billion. First Solar, $4.7 billion (primary owners include Ted Turner). Leucadia Energy, $3.5 billion. Brightsource, $1.4 billion (primary owners include Robert Kennedy, Jr.).

The purpose of the stimulus was to create jobs, but Schweitzer says most of the grant and taxpayer-guaranteed loan money ended up in the pockets of uber-rich Obama campaign donation bundlers. A $100 million grant to Basin Electric in tiny Beulah, North Dakota created just 8 jobs. Former Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers loaned $10 million to the National Democratic Convention when the hometown (Charlotte, NC) event ran short of funds. He was rewarded with environmental waivers and $300 million in grants – a good portion of which was allocated to projects already completed!

Yes, Obama sets the Hanky-Panky bar plenty high for his successor.

But Hillary is no piker. She sold access and influence to cronies and foreign governments for billions of dollars that were laundered through the Clinton Foundation, even during her tenure as Secretary of State. As Secretary, she brokered lucrative deals between foreign countries and US corporations in exchange for huge checks.

But unlike Obama, who has no shame about how he distributes the taxpayer’s money and makes no effort to hide it, Hillary goes to great lengths to avoid transparency. Umm, I mean getting caught. She removed records of 75 secret meetings with donors when she was Secretary of State. She set up her own personal email server and deleted perhaps 30,000 messages, putting national security at risk just to hide her Hanky-Panky. She was paid enormous sums for speeches she made to banker friends on Wall Street.

Meanwhile, Democrats giggle at Donald Trump because he is not raising cash at Clinton’s torrid pace.

After Obama, and with the possibility of a Clinton presidency looming, maybe it would be good to elect a leader who doesn’t have to do the Hanky-Panky to pay back his cronies.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

I never saw her, never never saw her . . .
My baby does the Hanky-Panky!

Hanky-Panky – Tommy James and the Shondells

Big Government Elitists Are On The Run

Posted on June 24, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard 1

cartoon by Gary Varvel

Voters in Great Britain took a courageous stand against their heavy-handed, uber-liberal, politically correct, elitist big-government overlords at EU headquarters in Brussels yesterday. They said NO to open borders. NO to uncontrolled Muslim immigration. NO to global-warming hoaxes. NO to stupid monetary policy and negative interest rates. NO to profligate gender-bending. NO to anti-Christian aggression. NO to over-regulation of businesses and micro-management of personal lives. NO to identity politics and fear of offending everybody. NO to corruption and croynyism. NO to rampant welfare programs. NO to top-down decision making by unaccountable bureaucrats.

Other European nations will likely follow Great Britain’s lead and jump ship soon. Enough is enough.

Could this be the start of a world-wide movement back to “normal” government? Mainstream America has repudiated its permanent political class, and despite the best efforts of the DC insiders (both Democrats and Republicans) to barricade the Beltway, the ascendance of common-sense outsiders to national leadership looks more likely every day. Don’t be fooled by the liberal-media polls who try their best to throw cold water on the “throw-the-bums-out” movement. European pollsters predicted right up until election day that the Brits would stay in the EU – and were embarrassingly wrong.

Government is nothing more than dollars-in, dollars-out, just like any business. And every competent business manager knows that the way to make good decisions is to push them down to the lowest possible level of the organization. Family decisions should be made at the family level. Cities, counties, and states can manage their own affairs. We shouldn’t expect or allow our federal government to handle much more than borders, national security, and foreign policy. When condescending, elitist government officials try to micromanage every aspect of human life, the result is Venezuela.

Socialism has never worked. It never will. America will be great again. And those who jump off the socialist European Union ship first will be healthy and robust again too. Those who don’t are in for some tough times. Other confused nations (Canada? Australia?) will see the stark contrast and will move back to sanity.

It’s been a long wait. But something tells me we are in for something good.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Something tells me,
I’m into something good!

Something Good – Peter Noone (Herman’s Hermits)

Yep, Herman is still around! He does a great weekly “British Invasion” radio show on Sirius/XM radio, full of salacious stories about his young teenage years which he spent bar-hopping with his older (and reportedly decadent) Beatles and Stones buddies. Herman admits the stories may or may not all be factual, but they sure are entertaining.

Illegal Immigrants: Don’t Rock the Boat

Posted on May 29, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

rock the boat At breakfast this morning my daughter was relating a conversation she had with a neighbor-friend who is a third-grade teacher at a predominantly Hispanic public elementary school. They were discussing the problems caused by the extensive federally-required testing of third graders – the loss of instruction time, the stress for students and teachers, the declining scores. Then the teacher made a startling observation.

“It’s not just the testing that’s a problem, ” she told my daughter. “I have a room full of kids who don’t value education. That’s because they come from families who don’t value education.” She said nobody at home speaks English, so the children have no interest in learning English, or much of anything else, at school. They don’t see anything at home that connects education to success in life or anything positive. “They act out all day. Our classroom is chaos, and we are not allowed to discipline because the school is afraid of legal action.”

Another friend of mine is a kindergarten teacher who teaches entirely in Spanish. Her students receive no English instruction. She reports the same lack of discipline and respect in her students, and suffered a serious physical attack by one of them. Her administration warned her to not report the incident to police or other authorities.

Both of these talented young teachers are now questioning the wisdom of their career choices.

After breakfast, I flipped through the Sunday morning news shows, landing on the Fareed Zakaria GPS report about discrimination. He pointed out that many more schools are now segregated than were before Brown vs. Board, and went on to say performance and outcomes in these “minority” schools is much worse than in “desegregated” schools. He carefully avoided one critical detail. The segregation in today’s schools is English-speakers vs. non-English speakers. American-born vs. (mostly) illegal aliens.

The other Sunday news shows all had the obligatory segments with talking heads explaining how Donald Trump has no chance to be elected president because he offended Hispanic voters by saying Mexican criminals have come across our open border. The news producers shelved the video showing protesters at a Trump rally assaulting police while waving Mexican flags.

My sensibilities were a little bit rocked by all this turbulence before my third cup of coffee. I had to say: this is just not working.

We can not leave our borders unprotected any longer. We can’t continue to pretend that these are only poor “refugees” wanting to celebrate America, to do the jobs we won’t do, and to help raise the tide that floats all boats. The boats that were already here are taking on water. We don’t have enough jobs for our own citizens. Our schools and support systems are sinking under the weight of foreigners, many of whom have no intention of assimilating.

I’m not a bigot or a selfish meanie. I’m not broad-brushing Hispanics or any other minority as terrible people. I’m not saying no more immigration, ever. All I’m saying is, what we’re doing now – unfiltered, uncontrolled mass immigration driven by liberal public benefit programs – is not working. It has to change before the boats all tip over.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rock the boat, don’t rock the boat baby
Rock the boat, don’t tip the boat over
Rock the boat, don’t rock the boat baby
Rock the boat

Rock the Boat – the Hues Corporation

Mixed Emotions When Mexican Driver Kills Mexican Child And Flees Back to Mexico

Posted on April 29, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard 1

photo courtesy Charlotte Observer

I have been following a story in the Charlotte, NC news for several days now which still grips my attention for a variety of reasons. I find myself wrestling with my reactions to each development, and trying to sort out the implications of the profound change Charlotte, and much of America, has gone through in recent years.

I write this post not to make any particular point, but rather to illustrate how our emotions are manipulated by the politically-correct news media.

The tragedy began when a mother was crossing a street in East Charlotte with her young son and daughter in hand. The girl let go and darted across the street, and her six-year old brother followed. He was hit by a beat-up white work van. The driver, identified by witnesses as “a Hispanic man in his mid-thirties with curly black hair,” stopped briefly, saw the child lying gravely injured on the street, and then sped away.

Like any parent, my first reaction was horror at the sudden death of a child, and sympathy. Immediately following that was my suspicion and anger that the driver is probably an illegal immigrant.

A year ago Charlotte’s political leaders chose to declare it a “sanctuary city”, one of hundreds of cities across the country that refuses to turn illegal immigrants, including criminals, over to federal authorities for processing and deportation. Since then Charlotte has attracted growing numbers of Hispanic illegals, and the crime statistics have tilted heavily in their direction.

In support of the sanctuary city stance, Charlotte news outlets do not identify illegal immigrant criminals as such. A respected African-American business owner was recently murdered in my Charlotte suburb by a Honduran laborer, and the fact that the killer was here illegally was never reported by the Charlotte press. But since the murder occurred on the South Carolina side of the lake, the Rock Hill (SC) Herald reported that federal immigration and customs officials were involved.

Here’s where the bouncing emotions and questions come in. My “I’ll bet the driver is an illegal” reaction to the hit-and-run incident probably matches the vast majority of my neighbors. If he is here illegally, the driver likely has no insurance, perhaps no driver’s license. Even though it was clearly an accident, and the driver is doubtless torn with guilt, his entire life in the USA is clandestine, so he had to run. I feel sorry for him. Wait, no I don’t, he fled the scene of a fatal accident. I noticed that the child’s family is also Hispanic, and I can’t help but wonder if they are also here illegally. But so what? The child’s death is no less tragic. The boy’s family told reporters they want the driver found and prosecuted. Would the Charlotte police have turned him over to ICE if they had caught him?

The driver has now been identified as Juan Antonio Quintanilla-Garza, and the press will only report that Charlotte police believe he is “out of state.” The words “out of the country” would be too revealing. Quintanilla-Garza probably left corrupt, backwards Mexico to try to help his own family. He became a criminal in the process.

The accident was not caused by illegal immigration. It could have happened to anyone, by anyone, anywhere. But it became more than an accident when the driver took off. And the flood of illegal immigrants to our country, plus the disproportionate incidence of crimes by illegals, plus the inexplicable “sanctuary city” policies that enable and protect illegal immigrant criminals all combine to scramble our emotions into an omelette of anger, fear and frustration.

It’s not about racism. It’s about borders, and security, and economics and enforcing the laws. And in the middle of it all is a dead kid.

What a mess.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

You’re not the only one
With mixed emotions
You’re not the only ship
Adrift on this ocean

Mixed Emotions – Rolling Stones

Trump’s Promise to Put “America First” – End of the World?

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard 1

I watched Clarence Mason’s interview on Lou Dobbs tonight. Mason’s enthusiastic support for preserving our traditional values and way of life was stimulating and inspirational.

Dobbs was reporting on Donald Trump’s foreign policy speech, in which Trump said his priority would be to put “America First” in any foreign policy decisions. Dobbs asked Mason what he thought of Trump’s pro-America stance, and it was like lighting a fuse under a bank of July Fourth fireworks.

“Of course we should put America first!” Mason cheered, explaining that he is tired of everybody blaming America for every problem in the world. He proclaimed his pride in the USA and his desire to rebuild our economy by taking a fresh look at foreign trade, mass immigration, and one-sided military agreements. He clearly reveled in what he sees as Trump’s common-sense mix of protectionism and patriotism.

Trump’s proclamation drew immediate scathing rebuke from all directions. “Trump’s ‘America First’ Has Ugly Echoes From U.S. History”, was the headline slam from CNN. Reuters piled on with “Trump’s ‘America First’ Speech Alarms U.S. Allies”. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of 15 wanna-be presidential candidates who took a butt-whoopin’ by Trump, tweeted “Trump’s speech is pathetic in terms of understanding the role America plays in the world, how to win the War on Terror, and the threats we face.” (Full disclosure: I voted for Cruz over Trump in the South Carolina primary, but an enemy of my senator Graham is absolutely a friend of mine!)

But back to Clarence Mason.

I have been listening to pundits from Glenn Beck to Meghan McCain to Steve Deace wailing that Donald Trump’s popularity and ascent to the top of the presidential ticket is the end of the world as we know it. They insist that Trump will lose to Hillary Clinton because ALL women hate him and ALL Hispanics hate him and ALL blacks hate him.

Here’s a news flash. Clarence Mason – black guy. And there are many, many more like him attending Trump rallies and talking politics after church and on coffee break. Women too. And Hispanics. People of every race, gender, and income bracket. They are tired of the big-promises-no-results Republicans. They have learned the truth about the we’re-from-the-big-government-and-we’re-here-to-help-you Democrats. Just like the angry white males that the media claims are Trump’s only supporters, they are not going to get fooled again.

The pundits and the insiders are apoplectic. They can’t understand how, and they won’t admit, that Donald Trump is very likely to be our next president. But it’s really so simple. After years of being told that we are the scum of the Earth, we Americans – white, black, Hispanic, male and female – want a president who puts America first for a change.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it,
And I feel fine!

It’s The End of the World As We Know It – R.E.M.

Shiny Objects Distract Us From Making Our Mark On History

Posted on April 22, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

Battle-of-Verdun Many people today think that our time in history is oh, so important. They believe that life today is more dangerous, more difficult, more demanding than ever. By the very definition of evolution, we must be the smartest people who ever lived. We are the result of human progress. The Western world is now “progressive”, so our collective decisions about how we live and what we do must be better than ever before. We are the current revision level. The latest. The best.

Maybe it’s time to think honestly about our place in history.

Sometimes when I catch myself whining about what a rough day I had, I think of the guys who stormed the beachhead at Normandy in the face of withering machine gun fire. Or the men who charged the enemy at Khe Sanh. Or Verdun. Or Gettysburg. Or Lexington. Or Fallujah.

I think of the frontier families who left all their comforts behind to travel west on a wagon, taking a life-or-death chance to find peace and prosperity in a new, untamed land.

I think of the kids who went to work at the age of 9 in a coal mine or sweat shop because they knew the family had to eat. And the people who face disability, disease, and injury and keep on working.

Our grandparents worked harder every day than we will on our best day. And knowing the challenges they overcame, they were probably smarter than most of us, too. Throughout history people have endured tremendous hardships, and have accomplished remarkable achievements. Many gave their lives to protect others from evil. How do we stack up against our predecessors?

The news pundits tell us that the 2016 presidential election is the most important one ever, to the exclusion of all other topics and events. With seven months until the election, there is nothing else on planet Earth worth reporting other than what our presidential candidates have to say about the most critical topics.

Sadly, the most critical topic right now seems to be whether the few hundred transgendered individuals who exist in our country should use a bathroom labeled “men”, “women”, or “other”.

We may not be fighting for our existence in a global war, but it’s not like there aren’t still serious challenges facing today’s world. Poverty still exists. Genocide continues. Despots and ideologues threaten peaceful citizens. Unborn children are slaughtered. But these big, historic issues are kicked aside by academic, media and political leaders who distract us with frivolous, fraudulent shiny-object issues, and our candidates are only too happy to join them in changing the subject: Climate change. Women’s rights. Safe rooms for college students who fear “white privilege”. Perceived police brutality. Gay wedding cakes.

Frankly, life in these United States is pretty good for most of us. We can preserve the qualities we inherited. We can make life even better, both at home and around the world. But it won’t happen unless we find and elect political leaders who have learned from history, who have a vision of what our place in history can be, and who don’t get distracted by shiny objects.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Those were the days my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life we choose
We’d fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.

Those Were the Days – Mary Hopkin

Hillary Clinton Is the New Houdini

Posted on April 5, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

houdini_630 Harry Houdini astonished audiences in the early 20th century by proving that he could escape any confinement or restraint. Whether hung upside down in a straight-jacket, handcuffed and crammed into an airtight milk can, or wrapped in padlocked chains and dumped in a water tank, he always got out of his predicament.

Now, in the early 21st century, we are graced with an escape artist of equal magnitude. Hillary Clinton is the Houdini of our time. She has repeatedly proven that she can escape responsibility for any dishonest, fraudulent, or illegal act.

Even in the face of irrefutable, photographic, video and eyewitness evidence, Hillary always escapes unscathed. While others who commit similar or lesser crimes serve jail terms, Mrs. Clinton only gets wealthier and more powerful – so wealthy and powerful that she is odds-on favorite to become the leader of the free world.

Her early exploits were impressive. She turned a $1000 cattle-futures investment into $100,000 through a crooked broker against odds estimated by economists to be one in 31 trillion. No investigation occurred.

Hillary’s behind-the-scenes activities in defense of her philandering husband during his presidency are legendary, and a number of mysterious deaths are alleged to be related. Again, no investigations.

Other miraculous escapes by Mrs. Clinton included her involvement in the Whitewater scandal, “Travelgate”, “Filegate”, and Vince Foster’s death. Attempted inquiries were choked off.

After Bill Clinton’s presidency, and during Hillary’s tenure as a senator and then secretary of state, the couple amassed a fortune by selling influence to foreign leaders and corporate entities, laundering the proceeds through the bogus Clinton Foundation. Only 5% of the Foundation’s tax-exempt funds have found charitable purpose, the rest being used for salaries, travel, and lifestyle for the Clintons and their close associates.

With her mojo definitely working and a track record of invincibility in recent years, Hillary has become fearless. She blatantly lied about her actions during and after the attack on the Benghazi consulate. And while this escape act did come under congressional investigation, she still denies the proven facts of her complicity, confident that her firm grip on every testicle in Washington, DC will shelter her from harm.

And now, in the climax of her escape-artist career, Hillary Clinton will attempt to avoid prosecution for a blizzard of felonies and treason. With full knowledge of the illegality and the risk to national security, Secretary of State and Wannabe-President Hillary Clinton set up and used a clandestine personal email server for all of her State Department business.

Some motives can’t be masked. Just as there can be no motive for fighting voter-ID requirements other than the desire to commit vote fraud, there can be no motive for setting up a private communication system other than the desire to keep 100% control over one’s messages. She didn’t just use a Gmail account, like other federal officials have. She didn’t create a private mail account through an internet service provider. Either choice would have provided the “convenience” she claimed she needed, but they also would have left copies of all her emails to be dredged up by later FOIA requests and investigators. No, Mrs. Clinton actually set up her own private physical server so that all the communications would be entirely under her control. When the Benghazi investigation discovered her crime, she “wiped” the server clean. She claims to have turned over all of her emails, but to this date, over half of her emails have still not seen the light of day. Classified federal documents, some of them “life or death”, were put at risk and were probably compromised by foreign government hackers.

Mrs. Clinton is counting on a number of factors to make her latest great escape work. She hopes that the American public’s eyes will glaze over when presented technical information about computers and emails. She believes that her stated desire for “convenient” access to her emails will resonate with citizens who can’t put their cell phones down for more than a few minutes without beginning to shake. She expects the lockstep-liberal news media will continue to shelter her, as they always have in the past. She is sure that her IT honcho and her highly-paid aides, including the “terrified” Huma Abedin, will keep their mouths shut. Mostly she is confident that we are so dumbed-down and self-absorbed that we don’t know or care what’s going on.

If she’s right, we may have the greatest escape artist of all time back in the White House this November.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

No one could tell her what to do
Had to learn everything the hard way
She’s on the street, breakin’ all the rules
I’m tellin’ you that she’s nobody’s fool

Escape – Journey

Argentina Moves Right – Canada Moves Left – Now It’s Our Move

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

I have often pointed to Argentina as an example of what could happen to the United States. The two countries have similar early histories, emerging from colonial status to independence and becoming the economic engines of the western hemisphere.

At the height of the industrial revolution the economies of the USA and Argentina flourished. Before World War II the two young nations competed for foreign investment, building strong infrastructures and well-educated middle classes. Buenos Aires challenged New York City’s status as the gem of the West.

And then their destinies parted ways.

The United States maintained a firm grip on its constitution, perfecting its free-market, laissez-faire economic environment. It established its bona fides as a leader in world affairs, defending democracy and human rights. Argentina, meanwhile, set off on a series of socio-political experiments based on heavy-handed and, ultimately, fascist government rule. Argentina’s people relinquished their rights to the government, resulting in economic devastation and the “disappearance” of thousands of political activists.

Last November Mauricio Macri replaced socialist Cristina Kirchner as president of Argentina, promising to return his homeland to the free-market western world. He immediately renounced the nation’s alliances with failed dictatorships like Iran and Venezuela, embracing the United States and Europe. He settled Argentina’s large outstanding debt to a group of US hedge-fund investors which had destroyed the country’s ability to attract outside investment. He established working relationships with Argentina’s state governors and other federal officials, including his opponents. He eliminated crony utility subsidies, cut export taxes, and dropped currency support, allowing the Argentine peso to float.

President Macri is a man on a mission, and in a hurry. While he still enjoys public support, Argentines are in a hurry too, and are beginning to express impatience as they endure symptoms of the new austerity and economic adjustments.

In a strange twist, President Obama will meet Macri this week, following his friendly visit to communist Cuba. Obama has shown an affection for the very despots that Macri, and Argentina, are rejecting. “I’d vote for you, and you for me,” Obama beamed at Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez a few years ago. The US president warmly hosted newly-elected Canadian president Justin Trudeau, a socialist who vows to take his country in the opposite direction chosen by Argentina.

US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton promises to continue the leftward drift established by President Obama. Her primary opponent, Bernie Sanders, would make that a leftward lurch. Our media and schools glorify socialism, demanding more central control and vilifying those who would preserve individual rights.

Will the United States move to the left or the right? Will we follow Canada, our recently-prosperous neighbor to the north, down the proven-to-fail socialist path? Or will we take the hint from Argentina, our wised-up southern friend, and return to the tried-and-true free-market, small government model?

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

You move it to the left, yeah
You go for yourself
You move it to the right
Yeah if it takes all night

The Harlem Shuffle – Rolling Stones

Here’s Mick, strutting his stuff. I just finished reading the bio “Jagger” by Marc Spitz, and was surprised to learn that he was a prized pupil at the London School of Economics, having received a full-ride scholarship. He quit to become a rebel blues singer, but was promised his scholarship would wait for him if his new career choice didn’t work out. We are all glad it did!

Angry? No, I Just Want A Change!

Posted on March 13, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

smelly-diapers1 I’m tired of being called “angry” by the media, the liberals, and the wannabe Republican presidential candidates.

I’m not angry. When a baby has a full diaper, is Mom angry? Is the baby angry? Is everybody around the baby angry? No, they just want a change. They can’t stand the smell anymore. They are uncomfortable with the way things are. It is obvious that things can’t stay the way they are. They all require a change and they demand it. I’m not angry. I just can’t stand the smell any more. I’m motivated for a change.

I’m also tired of being called a racist.

I’m not a racist. Just because I think Americans who were born here, who cut out Washington and Lincoln silhouettes in grade school, who still get teary-eyed when somebody sings a heartfelt rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, should not lose their precious jobs to foreigners who don’t even want to learn our language, let alone become Americans – that does not make me a “racist.”

And I’m tired of being called “stupid”.

I’m not stupid. No, I don’t believe for a second that our cars and washing machines and toasters are destroying the earth that God created and has kept spinning for the last 5 billion years or so. NASA says it’s not true. 31,000 scientists say global warming is a hoax, and the data “proving” man’s inhumanity to Earth has been manipulated and contrived for nothing more than personal profit. Carbon emissions and greenhouse gases have been around forever – forest fires, volcanoes and sun spots cause way more crap in the atmosphere than man could ever aspire to. So stop calling me a “science denier” and “stupid”.

One more thing – I’m tired of waiting for the people who are supposed to be on my side to stop calling me names that were once only found in the liberals’ playbook. I never thought I would hear Republicans calling me – a long-time advocate and supporter of conservative principles – angry and racist and stupid.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

I was a lonely soul
I had nobody till I met you
But you keep a-me waiting
All of the time
What can I do?

Tired of Waiting For You – the Kinks

Here’s a cool old clip of brothers Ray and Dave Davies and the Kinks. They impressed the hell out of me when I was in junior high and still top the list of all-time great garage bands. The Davies brothers are famous for their epic sibling battles – fortunately, they haven’t killed each other yet, and still put out some great music.

Just Sayin’ . . .

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

Hillary Clinton, after winning the SC Democrat primary proclaimed: “Despite what you hear, we don’t need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great. But we do need to make America whole again. Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers.”

If Hillary thinks we need to make America whole again, why does she continue to divide Americans into “victim groups” by skin color, by achievement and income level, by religion, and by sex or sexual orientation and pitting us against each other? Hillary promises to continue Obama’s direction when she is president. Are people going to grow more divided and suspicious of each other every year during her presidency, too? Just sayin’ . . .

The Reverend Al Sharpton (along with Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O’Donnell) has announced that if Donald Trump is elected president, he will leave the country.

Um, can we make sure the good Reverend has paid his $4.5 million in back taxes before we let him out? And by the way, would somebody please find out what church the Rev is preaching at every Sunday? Just sayin’ . . .

Washington insider and GOP consultant Juleanna Glover said, “If Cruz doesn’t beat Trump in Texas, there’s going to be full-scale panic.”

Seems to me if the Washington insiders are scared to death of Trump moving into their neighborhood, that might be exactly why people are voting for him. Just sayin’ . . .

Environmental activist / actor Leonardo DiCaprio told Vanity Fair he was terrified when global warming caused the weather in Calgary to rapidly change on his recent visit. “There would be eight feet of snow and then all of a sudden a warm gust of wind would come,” DeCaprio cried.

Anybody who has spent a winter on the east slopes of the Rockies will tell you it happens all the time, Leo. It’s called Chinook winds, and it’s been going on since long before those evil white men first set foot in Montana or Alberta. Just sayin’ . . .

On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace badgered Ted Cruz, repeating the juvenile and baseless insults thrown at him by his opponents in the recent presidential debate. When an exasperated Cruz charged that Wallace was using Trump’s opposition bullet points, Wallace flew into a rage. Wallace did not ask Cruz a single policy-related question during the interview.

Isn’t this the same Chris Wallace whose eyes well with tears each week as he lists the political figures who won’t answer his requests for an interview? Just sayin’ . . .

Bernie Sanders says a college education should be provided to all students free of charge.