English left yesterday for South Carolina, in order to visit with Gram and Rufe. She left me with a very grumpy basset hound. All these years, and I still do not understand why it is my fault that English is not at home.

Dudley got a little pot roast with his dinner last night. And that was after his nightly treat of some Hub’s peanuts. You might think that that endeared me to him. Nope. He ate it, and then went to pout in one of the bedrooms. Ungrateful cur.

I would love to go to South Carolina. But someone has to take care of Dudley. I refuse to put him in a kennel, because that would make him miserable. It might kill him. And despite his petulant, stubborn behavior, I love him very much.

Navy Secretary John Phelan was fired. It appears that former Navy diver, retired Captain and Undersecretary of the Navy Hung Cao will be his replacement.

The United States Department of Justice indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on criminal charges related to wire fraud. In essence, the SPLC was funding the very “hate” it claimed to fight against. For example, the SPLC was instrumental in funding the Neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia, where 1 young woman was murdered, and upon which China Joe claims he was inspired to run for President. The SPLC has also contributed monies to the Ku Klux Klan. All this while denouncing these groups, and fundraising off the need to defeat these groups. Sigh. It makes one wonder what the Left would do if it did not have “hate” to oppose. If everybody just got along, would the Left fade away?

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that California’s laws attempting to regulate how ICE agents conducted their operations (for example, wearing masks), was unconstitutional. As predicted.

Virginia Democrats can look forward to their stupid attempted regulation of ICE to meet a similar fate. So can New Jersey Democrats.

“I do not believe that Mayor Brandon Johnson is doing enough to tamper down these activities.  What we have seen is Chicago has now become a destination location for illegal street takeovers like this where hundreds of youth are encouraged to descend on a location, and whether it’s to do mob action, regardless of if he likes the term or not, illegal street takeovers with our vehicles or other activities that are criminal, people know to come here.  They know they can get away with it, and they know that oftentimes our police are handcuffed themselves from stopping and interceding at these events.”

–Chicago, Illinois Alderman Raymond Lopez (D.).

Downtown Chicago is inundated weekly with mobs of violent teens that take over the street, commit violence against locals and local businesses. And Mayor Johnson (D.) will do nothing about it.

Illinois Democrats are seeking to amend the State Constitution in order to require legislative districts to be drawn with racial considerations. Hmmm. Redistricting based on race. Sounds racist to me.

Governor Gavin Newsom (D. Ca.) directed public funding to a non-governmental organization who brought in illegal aliens suffering from AIDS. Now on what planet is that a good idea?

The California State government is considering whether to use taxpayer dollars to provide illegal aliens with attorneys to contest deportations. Huh. I am actually shocked that California does not already do this.

At UCLA Law School, the student chapter of The Federalist Society invited the U.S. Department of Homeland Security General Counsel to speak. Predictably, Leftists could not abide the fact that someone with whom they disagreed would be allowed to speak at a small student gathering. So naturally these Leftists disrupted the speech, threatening violence, calling the speaker and the attendees vile and profane names, and making general horses’ asses of themselves. Just another day in the life of those who are always claiming that the Trump Administration is an authoritarian regime threatening our civil liberties. You know, like the freedoms of speech, assembly, and association.

Anheuser-Busch is committed to investing an additional $600 million in American manufacturing over the next 2 years. Sadly, I do not care for Budweiser. But a lot of Americans do, and this should make them very happy. WINNING!

Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres were sold for $3.9 billion. That is a lot of peanuts and Cracker Jack.

The United States Navy seized yet another tanker carrying sanctioned Iranian oil. This seizure occurred in the Indian Ocean. WINNING!

The New York Mets are the worst team in baseball. They have spent millions upon millions of dollars, and have nothing to show for it. Interestingly, the Mets’ most recent 12 game losing streak began when Comrade Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D. N.Y.) visited Citi Field, and was photographed hugging the Mets mascot. Socialism strikes again! It makes everyone miserable!

Dave Mason, co-founder of the band, Traffic, has died at age 79. R. I. P.

Representative David Scott (D. Ga.) has died at age 80. R. I. P.

Michael Tilson Thomas, music director of the San Francisco Symphony, has died at age 81. R. I. P.

GFK

Yesterday was Earth Day.  When I was young, it was a day to clean up your neighborhood, and the emphasis was on not littering and polluting.  Under China Joe, the emphasis was on how to give government more control over our lives by restricting our energy sources and choices.  Oh, boy!

China Joe insisted that the American people cut carbon emissions 50% by 2050.  What was his plan, chop down all the trees?  Or convince Americans to quit breathing?

China Joe’s climate czar John Kerry pressured banks to stop lending to energy companies, other than solar and wind firms.  Twelve (12) States asked China Joe to ban the U.S. production of gas and diesel automobiles by 2035.  Terrible idea.  Unconstitutional.  China Joe loved it.

But yesterday? It was a beautiful day. I drove my diesel sedan without guilt. No one harangued me about saving the planet. There were no marches or demonstrations, or cries of “the sky is falling”. It was actually a lovely and normal Spring Day. What a difference it makes when the Left is not in power.

Sadly, after the lovely Spring day faded into night, the Virginia election returns came in. By a narrow margin, the referendum disenfranchising 1/2 of the Commonwealth’s voters passed. Voters in Fairfax County provided the difference in the margin.

So now the battle moves to the Supreme Court of Virginia. The entire referendum process was illegal and unconstitutional, as we have outlined before. Let us hope and pray that the justices have the courage to do the right thing, and apply the law. If so, yesterday will have just been a huge waste of time and money. If not, Virginia will be under the thumb of the authoritarians. Yep, authoritarians. Because it is the Left, not the Right, that imposes tyranny in the United States of America.

A dear reader inquired as to whether I subscribed to the view that Virginia was okay to trash its Constitution, and oppress its citizens, because “Texas started it”. I do not.

Texas did not start extreme partisan gerrymandering. Indeed, Texas did not engage in extreme partisan gerrymandering. What Texas did was to respond to a court decision and a directive from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights division.

Furthermore, States that have engaged in extreme partisan gerrymandering are Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, California, Oregon, Minnesota, New York, and New Jersey. And those States all did this well before Texas did anything.

Finally, it does not matter what other States do when it comes to the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth of Virginia is for the protection of Virginians, not to even the perceived score with other States. How does it promote “democracy” when you disenfranchise your own citizens? How does it promote “democracy” when you violate the laws and the Constitution to pass your power grab scheme?

And this is not a one off. General Assembly Democrats passed legislation for Virginia to award its electoral votes to the winner of the “national popular vote” in presidential elections. Virginia voters do not matter, only voters in other States matter. If Democrats run up big margins in California, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, it matters not what Virginia voters want. It will only matter what voters in those other States want.

Virginia Democrats are not for “fairness”. Virginia Democrats are not in favor of “democracy”. Virginia Democrats are only for Democrats. They are the true authoritarians, in the Commonwealth, and nationally. Tyranny is being imposed. What are we going to do about it?

“Through sly structural changes, Democrats are effectively erasing the American Revolution and replacing it with the French Revolution.

The Founders believed in individual liberty against the might of the state. They were terrified of unconstrained democracy, for they understood that mobs are easily swayed and manipulated. Therefore, they created filters on the way to the federal government.

The House of Representatives has a direct vote (and that vote was expected to represent coherent local communities, not gerrymandered monstrosities). Until the 17th Amendment, state governments, which again represented the filtered will of the local people, selected Senators. And the president was selected by the EC, which ensured that each state had its say and that each region of America had a representative voice.

Morality, too, was important: As John Adams famously wrote, ‘Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.’

The French Revolution, by contrast, was purely statist, with the state supported by a mindless mob. It was virulently hostile to the Bible and willing to use the utmost violence to maintain its goals.

If you think there’s any difference between the leftist street protests with people screaming to geld little boys, cheering on the annihilation of the Jewish state, or celebrating Charlie Kirk’s assassination and demanding the same for Trump, on the one hand, and the French mobs cheering on Louis XVI’s beheading, on the other hand, you are lying to yourself.

Choose your analogy: The leftists are storming the Bastille or firing on Fort Sumter. Either way, you’ll be correct. They’re out for blood, and we’re still sitting there sucking our thumbs and promising ourselves everything will be fine. With these changes to our elections, every Republican who stays home in November, whether from laziness or pique, is effectively voting for the new revolution.”

–Andrea Widburg, excerpted from her April 22, 2026 article in The American Thinker, entitled “Democrats are transforming the American Revolution into the French Revolution, Whether it’s Virginia’s redistricting, James Carville’s plans, endless impeachments, or the Popular Vote Compact, leftist revolution is on the menu.”

The United States Secretary of Labor has resigned amidst allegations of untoward behavior. She is a Democrat, from Oregon. I cannot remember her name. And under the circumstances, it does not matter. No one cares.

“Awesome!”

–Senator Christopher Murphy (D. Ct.), reacting to the news that Iranian ships had evaded the United States Navy’s blockade. Sigh. A United States Senator unapologetically cheering our enemies.

Senator Murphy cheers for those who chant “Death to America!” and supports open borders and illegal aliens. He may be a United States Senator, but he is not on Americans’ side.

As an aside, Senator Murphy reacted gleefully to news that turned out to be fake. What a bozo.

Senator Thom Tillis (R. N.C.) supports the nomination of Kevin Warsh to be the next Federal Reserve Bank Chairman. Yet, Senator Tillis plans to block Mr. Warsh’s nomination. Because . . . Orange Man Bad.

“Why do we continue to import people who hate us?”

–Representative Chip Roy (R. Tx.).

Representative Chip Roy introduced legislation that would amend existing immigration law to prohibit the admission and naturalization of any alien who is or was a member of, affiliated with, or advocates or advocated for a Chinese communist party, communist party, socialist party, Islamic fundamentalist party, or any other totalitarian party (or subdivision or affiliate thereof), domestic or foreign.  The legislation would also apply to any alien who is or was affiliated with, or who advocates or advocated for, any organization that advocates socialism, communism, Chinese communism, Marxism, or Islamic fundamentalism.  The bill would also create new grounds for deportation. Under the legislation, an alien could be removed from the United States if he has engaged, is engaged, or at any time after admission engages in advocacy for communism, Chinese communism, socialism, Marxism, or Islamic fundamentalism; writes, distributes, circulates, prints, displays, possesses, or publishes any written, electronic, or printed matter that advocates those ideologies or that is on behalf of or advocates for such parties; or is, has been, or becomes a member of or affiliated with such parties or organizations.

This legislation is pure common sense.  And even better, Representative Roy picked the perfect name—“The Mamdani Act”—named New York City Comrade Mayor Zohran Mamdani.  I LOVE IT!

Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D. Fl.) resigned from Congress.  Because she is a liar and a thief.  Next stop, prison.

How far Left, how unserious, how radical has the Democrat Party become? Former Harvard Law Professor, and lifetime Democrat, Alan Dershowitz has become a Republican.

New York State passed a law mandating that long term care facilities for the elderly and the terminally ill make all decisions based upon a patient’s “gender preference”, as opposed to biological sex. This includes everything from room assignments to bathroom access to use of pronouns and names. Penalties include loss of operating license, fines, and jail. It is a stupid law. It is also aimed squarely at the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, a Catholic Order, who operate a hospice. For more than 100 years, the Sisters have cared for the terminally ill with care and compassion, never charging any patient a dime, and accepting no public funding. Nonetheless, the State of New York demands the Sisters’ surrender to the radical “trans” agenda, their religious beliefs be damned. This legislation is truly evil.

The Albany Unified School District [California] sent a group of students of color (“colored students?) on a trip to Virginia to study topics of “social justice” at several historically black colleges. No Saltine Americans needed to apply, as they were not permitted to make the trip.

Is racism a part of the “social justice” learning experience? Apparently so!

In Wisconsin, a mob of radical animal rights activists tried to storm a Beagle breeding facility, and riot police squads were necessary to disperse the crowd. Now that same mob has stormed the Wisconsin State Capitol Building, and are demanding that the Governor close down the breeding facility. Sigh.

The illegal alien tried for sexually assaulting and groping high school girls in his Fairfax County, Virginia high school? He was sentenced to a mere 180 days in jail. Basically, he will serve 20 days in jail, per victim. Justice demands a lengthy prison sentence, mandatory registration as a sex offender, and then deportation. But this occurred in Fairfax County, where a criminal illegal alien is more important than parents’ daughters.

In DeKalb County, Georgia, a British national—Olaolukitan Adon Abel—was arrested for the death of Lauren Bullis, a Department of Homeland Security employee, and another woman.  Abel stabbed Bullis multiple times and shot her while she was walking her dog.  Abel is facing two counts of murder, aggravated assault, and weapons charges.  Mr. Abel’s attorney has asked for bond, assuring the Court that her client—an alien—is not a flight risk.  Moreover, his attorney further assured the Court that Mr. Abel was not a “danger to the community”.  He shot Lauren Bullis 6 times in the face!  Sigh.  I am so embarrassed by my colleagues at times.

In Indiana, a radical Leftist United States District Court judge struck down Indiana’s voter ID law as unconstitutional, because the law did not permit the use of IDs issued by colleges and universities. It was a baseless decision. Thankfully, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit stayed the lower court’s decision. The Indiana law remains in effect.

APPLE CEO Tim Cook is stepping down. Where will the company go now?

American Airlines and United Airlines are exploring a possible merger. What a bad idea! Why not just bring back New Coke, while we are at it?

I highly recommend Chick-Fil-A’s new and seasonal strawberry/hibiscus drinks. I have tried both the Sprite and the lemonade. Both were refreshing, and delicious!

For the last 10 months, Ben’s Chili Bowl in Washington, D.C. has been closed. The restaurant, located at 14th and U Streets, NW, survived the riots following the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as the George Floyd riots, remaining open throughout. But Ben’s Chili Bowl finally succumbed to construction contractors. The aging restaurant needed structural repair, and was expected to be closed only for a short while. It has been nearly a year. But come May 1, Washingtonians can once again return for a good half-smoke with chili, fries with chili, cheeseburgers and hot dogs with chili, or just a bowl of chili. WOO HOO!

The European Court of Justice ruled that Hungary cannot ban the promotion of homosexuality to minors. You must be joking!

The United States Navy seized an Indian oil tanker carrying Iranian oil, in the Bay of Bengal. WINNING!

The Indian cargo vessel that the Navy fired on as it tried to run the blockade? It was transporting materials to Iran from China. The materials were key components used in the manufacture of ballistic missiles.

The PGA Tour is dropping Hawaii. The Tour will no longer have stops in Maui (Tournament of Champions) and Oahu (Hawaiian Open). Which is a real shame. There is nothing better in the dead of Winter than turning on the television and watching golf being played in a warm climate. It is dark and cold outside, but on your screen, golf pros are dressed in short shirt sleeves, and hitting golf balls over manicured green grass, as the Sun shines in the background. I am going to miss that.

Singer and songwriter Alan Osmond has died at age 76. R. I. P.

Former Oakland Raiders linebacker Rod Martin has died at age 72. R. I. P.

GFK

In innumerable ways, America is a great country. But in 1 important way, America finds itself in decline. That is, the decline of what was referred to as “The Protestant Work Ethic”.

All over the United States, more and more people are refusing to work. Government has made being poor quite comfortable. Pursuits such as gambling, gaming, and smoking dope have taken up the time normally reserved for work.

This decline did not happen overnight. It began in the late 1960s, when then President Lyndon B. Johnson decided to further expand President Roosevelt’s “New Deal”, by creating “The Great Society”. Government declared “War on Poverty”. Some 63 years later, after spending more than $37 trillion, poverty won.

We still have about the same number of poor as we always did. But the “poor” live better today, than did many of the “rich” many, many years ago. Moreover, while the “poor” are only gradually growing, they are steadily growing more militant, demanding that they are entitled to a share of others’ wealth.

This sense of entitlement is not restricted to the “poor”. Tell a senior citizen that they are not “entitled” to Social Security and Medicare. But do so only while standing out of arm’s reach. People truly believe that the taxes they paid are really theirs, and that they are entitled to a pension and medical care. Which is understandable, because that is exactly how government sold these taxes to them. Newsflash: government lied.

Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. The money is not there. It never was. Current taxpayers are merely transferring funds to current beneficiaries. There is nothing in the bank for them.

And, if government chooses to end, or reduce, Social Security benefits, there is nothing you can do about it. YOU. HAVE. NO. RIGHT. TO. SOCIAL SECURITY. OR. MEDICARE. None.

Below is an excellent article about the loss of the work ethic by Mr. Barton Swaim, a Wall Street Journal columnist. The recovery of our work ethic is the first step to recovery from this comfortable pit of despair that we began digging under President Johnson. Enjoy.

America Loses Its Will to Work

From the War on Poverty to ‘quiet quitting,’ we’ve stopped appreciating the value of honest labor.

BY: Barton Swaim, The Wall Street Journal (April 17, 2026).

‘In democratic peoples, where there is no hereditary wealth, everyone works to live, or has worked, or was born of people who worked. The idea of work as a necessary, natural and honest condition of humanity is therefore offered to the human mind on every side.”

Thus wrote Alexis de Tocqueville in “Democracy in America” about the reverence with which this country’s citizens in the 1830s regarded remunerative labor. The great French writer compared aristocratic societies, among whose elite work was regarded as a thing to be done for honor but not money, with the nascent bourgeois society of America, in which gainful employment was an unavoidable part of life. Half a century ago the average college-educated American would have endorsed Tocqueville’s remark and marveled that anyone would think otherwise. In the 2020s many Americans evidence a deep confusion about the nature and purpose of work.

The weakening of America’s Protestant work ethic, to use a contested but irreplaceable phrase, is a complicated story, but you could trace its beginnings to the 1960s. No one has chronicled that story more incisively than Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute. In November Mr. Eberstadt published “America’s Human Arithmetic,” a collection of essays mainly on the subject of labor. The book includes a 2014 address about Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty, that assortment of programs begun in the mid-1960s—Head Start, Medicaid, expanded food stamps and many others.

Did the “war” bring victory? On the one hand, today’s poor live vastly more prosperous lives by any material measure than the poor of the 1960s. Talk of citizens living over or under a “poverty line” is meaningless, Mr. Eberstadt shows, the de facto line having risen so dramatically upward—a fact that has little to do with government transfer payments and almost everything to do with rapid economic growth in the postwar period.

On the other hand, antipoverty programs have left more or less the same proportion of the citizenry dependent on welfare and disinclined to join the workforce. So private-sector growth has made today’s “poor” rich by comparison with their forerunners two generations ago, even as government antipoverty measures have ensured that today’s poor, however well off by comparison, remain dependent and resistent to upward mobility. The War on Poverty hasn’t only failed; it has weakened virtues its originators took for granted.

Three decades after the War on Poverty began, congressional Republicans passed, and a Democratic president signed, the most sweeping reform yet made to America’s welfare state. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 conditioned the most important forms of direct welfare payments on employment or the search for employment. Opponents predicted disaster. New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, formerly a critic of America’s welfare state, predicted that his colleagues who voted for the bill would “take this disgrace to their graves.” In fact, the reform succeeded. It moved millions off welfare rolls and into the labor market.

The law mainly reformed Aid to Families With Dependent Children, which it renamed Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. But expansions and liberalizations of other safety-net programs in succeeding years have negated the gains made by the 1996 law. Is a similar reform possible in 2026? Not a chance. The culture has radically changed.

In the mid-1990s, politicians and commentators could still speak of America’s work ethic without apology. In the 2020s, America’s cognoscenti constantly suggest something baneful in the bourgeois idea that gainful toil is virtuous—movies romanticizing manipulated workers and vilifying rapacious corporate executives; intellectuals contending that the five-day, 40-hour work week abuses wage laborers; academics suggesting terms like “work ethic” are racist; journalists ready to portray every worker-management relationship as exploitative. A steady stream of freshly published books crosses my desk in which the authors insist that the American workplace jades employees and managers alike. Recall also the Covid-era glorification of “quiet quitting”—in which employees simply stop doing the jobs they were contracted to do—and the scores of think pieces claiming that Americans’ “work-life balance” is less than optimal.

Note the tacit premise that “work” is opposed to “life.” Evidence abounds that many Americans no longer consider gainful work a natural and necessary part of life. The sudden explosion of online sports betting bespeaks a nation of young men looking for ways to pocket cash for no work. The Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Murphy v. NCAA struck down a federal prohibition from 1992. By the time of that ruling the stigma attaching to sports betting had all but disappeared and widespread legalization seemed destined one way or another.

Pandemic-era measures that kept able-bodied men in their homes, bored and looking for ways to pocket a few bucks, enhanced the attractiveness of wagering on games. Americans bet $5 billion on sports in 2018. In 2024 they bet $150 billion. The sports-betting phenomenon reveals, if nothing else, the loss of any notion that income should bear some relation to a product or service rendered. The bettor produces no product or service for his winnings. Indeed, that is the draw—money for nothing, or nothing that benefits anyone but the bettor. Such an ethic bothered previous generations. It bothers ours much less.

Ponder also the sudden ubiquity of advertisements for personal-injury law firms that promise to get their clients ample reward for damages. All over the country one encounters them on television, radio and billboards, with phone numbers leading to call centers that weed out weak claims. Have so many people really suffered bodily injury? An unknowing visitor to the U.S. in 2026 might be forgiven for wondering why more Americans aren’t hobbling around in leg casts and wearing neck braces. Some personal-injury suits are right and just. Yet any moderately observant person can see that the industry, if that’s the right term for it, has tapped into a massive market of Americans no longer ashamed to avoid work and rake in unearned cash.

We’ve known for years about the slow flight of working-age men from gainful employment. Mr. Eberstadt’s “Men Without Work” (2016) documents in painful detail the moral and psychological costs of men leaving the labor force since the mid-1960s. New and frightening is the phenomenon of “disconnection” among the young, both male and female. About 1 in 7 Americans 18 to 24, according to a recent Rand study, are neither working nor looking for work. Many young people support a “universal basic income”—a government payment to every American, regardless of income or employment status.

In 1996, 30 Democrats in the House and 25 in the Senate voted to reform welfare laws, and a Democratic president signed the bill. Today, approximately zero Democrats exhibit any interest in changes to welfare programs that don’t involve spending more on them. Since the death of George Floyd and attendant protests, moreover, the nation’s cultural arbiters decided not to question the premises of the Great Society and War on Poverty and instead to double down on welfare-state fundamentalism. If Republicans wish to do anything about America’s declining work ethic, they will have to do it alone.

The public knows there’s a problem. Stories about the theft of billions of dollars from Medicaid and other programs in Minnesota have revivified the idea that welfare programs dole out money to undeserving recipients and need reform. The fraud in Minnesota, perpetrated mostly by members of the state’s Somali population, is stupendous in its scope and cost—so much so that the center-left press, including the New York Times, felt obliged to cover the story. But similar stories of welfare fraud have emerged in Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, all covered by local media.

Millions of ordinary Americans, moreover, saw the bogus ways in which large parts of the public sector used the 2020-21 pandemic as an excuse not to work. They also see the major disincentives to productivity—the exploding use of marijuana, thanks to the federal government’s refusal to enforce its ban; the ease with which undeserving applicants may receive benefits from programs like Women, Infants and Children, among many others; and the channeling of ambitious and industrious college graduates into jobs that create no useful product or service: academic instructors in arcane subjects, sustainability advisers, diversity coordinators, development and communications managers for activist organizations, and on and on.

The rebuilding of America’s work ethic is a politically saleable theme ready for use by any candidate brave enough to talk about a subject requiring a few sentences of nuanced explanation. But most Republicans avoid the subject, or address it, when they must, obnoxiously. Last summer, when GOP lawmakers passed a budget bill that imposed modest work requirements on able-bodied recipients of Medicaid payments, they defended the provision in one of two ways—either by misleadingly claiming that illegal aliens’ use of Medicaid dollars justified the reform, or by referring sardonically to “able-bodied men in their parents’ basement playing videogames” or some such phrase.

America’s work-ethic deficit goes far beyond illegal migrants, who know they risk deportation if they get caught taking benefits, and dudes living with their parents.

It’s true that any suggestion of reforming a federal welfare program to encourage its recipients to achieve greater financial independence will invite accusations of heartlessness, cruelty and racism. That’s politics. A genuine concern for lives distorted by unreformed welfare programs can make those accusations sound empty.

Two further circumstances complicate a coherent GOP message on work and welfare.

First, a small but influential part of the party rejects the conservative insight that public handouts tend to distort incentives to work. Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, the most vocal exponent of this viewpoint, last year fulminated at the overwhelming majority of his fellow Republican lawmakers who voted for a modest stiffening of Medicaid eligibility rules. He calls Medicaid “working-class social insurance” and cheers its expansion. Aligned with Mr. Hawley are Vice President JD Vance and an influential coterie of socially right-wing but state-friendly conservatives.

Second, the Trump administration has made its chief policy objective the expulsion of illegal aliens. The president’s political advisers show every sign of making that effort, for all its problems in execution, the central Republican message in this year’s midterm elections. The great majority of Americans support the effort to deport illegal immigrants who have committed crimes other than crossing the border unlawfully, and probably a majority assents, in the abstract, to the defensibility of deporting all illegal aliens regardless of criminal record.

But in rounding up law-abiding migrant workers, the administration has found itself targeting men looking for work in Home Depot parking lots—men who want to engage in gainful labor and who, whatever zealous Republicans might say in an election year, don’t draw welfare checks. Hispanics—overwhelmingly the object of zealous immigration enforcement—consistently outperform all other groups in labor-force participation rates. The administration’s highest priority, to put the point bluntly, appeared to be to deport guys who hang drywall, install shingles and generally contribute to economic growth.

None of this need stop GOP officeholders and -seekers from making the case for the Protestant work ethic in 2026 and beyond. Since the pandemic, American society has seemed to turn away from its presuppositional faith in remunerative labor. Our belief in work as, in Tocqueville’s words, “a necessary, natural and honest condition of humanity” is no longer a tacit assumption but a disputed viewpoint. Elected leaders can’t solve that problem by passing reforms to welfare laws, but they can force the public to consider the subject. That the public will reward them for it isn’t certain, but a proud nation generally likes to be reminded of its old virtues.

GFK

“90 percent of Virginians aren’t Democrats, that’s true, but about 100 percent of Virginians want election results to be respected.  We’re deeply worried that Donald Trump will try to interfere with the election results this November or in 2028, cause we saw him do it before.  And we have to have a Congress that will stand up to it.  In 2021, all five Republicans in Virginia went along with Donald Trump in his effort to overturn an election result.  So we’re giving Virginians a chance to vote, which Republican states have not done, about whether they want to have a Congressional delegation that will stand up against Donald Trump’s tyranny.”

–Senator Tim Kaine (D. Va.), explaining that the redistricting amendment vote was not about fairness, but about standing up to Trump. Because . . . Orange Man Bad.

Today is Election Day in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The question today is whether the Constitution should be amended to permit the General Assembly to redraw the electoral maps. But the decision today is whether Democrats will be able to silence the voices of 50% of Virginians. If the referendum passes, then the liberty and political representation of 1/2 of the Commonwealth will end. Fairfax County will rule the Commonwealth. Power, once gained, will not be voluntarily relinquished.

Below are 2 articles touching on today’s choice. Enjoy.

Virginia Democrats stealing Republican residents’ access to representative government

Gerrymandering raises Civil War-era questions about federal power and rights

BY:          Michael McKenna, The Washington Times (April 12, 2026).

For the past few years, this column has argued that the Civil War — had it been only or even mostly about slavery — was unnecessary, the product of incompetent leadership, especially on the Northern side.

Somehow, all the other nations in the Western Hemisphere abandoned slavery in the early and middle 19th century without resorting to bloodshed. Only the United States required a war to settle the question of slavery.

That is, of course, why most thoughtful people understand that the war between the states was really about competing visions of the power of the federal government. Robert E. Lee, the great general of the Army of Northern Virginia, noted that “the consolidation of the States into one vast empire, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of ruin which has overwhelmed all that preceded it.”

Given our circumstances, that seems prophetic.

Lee was pointing out that many in the Confederacy were fighting for something more fundamental than the preservation of slavery; they were engaged in an effort to preserve a constrained federal government. Those on the federal side of things were — intentionally or otherwise — fighting to expand the size and authority of the central government.

Each side was convinced that their beliefs were important enough to justify killing their fellow Americans.

That seems relevant to our current moment in the commonwealth of Virginia. In an effort to confirm every suspicion that people have about them, the Democrats in the Virginia legislature passed — and the new “moderate” governor signed — an aggressive gerrymandering plan that would almost certainly result in the Democrats winning in 10 of the 11 congressional districts in the commonwealth.

At the moment, Democrats represent six congressional districts, while the Republicans represent five. That makes sense, given that the Democrats typically have a 5- or 6-percentage-point advantage in Virginia.

Essentially disenfranchising 30% or 40% of the voters was not enough for the Virginia Democrats, though. They took the extra step and redrew the districts such that the ballast of the vote in five districts would be in Fairfax or Arlington counties and another four districts would be anchored in the urban parts of Norfolk and Richmond.

In other words, it is not just a partisan gerrymander; it is a regional gerrymander. If you don’t live in Fairfax, Arlington, Richmond or Norfolk, then you are effectively robbed of your ability to participate in representative government.

Finally, and most painfully, the most destructive part of this process is that under Virginia law, the redrawing of districts has to be confirmed by a referendum of the voters. In other words, if the half of Virginia voters who do not vote for Democrats lose access to representative government, then it would not be at the hands of rabidly partisan and mostly dim-witted state legislators.

Rather, it would be at the hands of their neighbors, friends and fellow citizens who should know better. No one expects anything from elected officials, but most people believe that their neighbors — people who know them — will exercise prudential and reasonable judgment.

This is how civil wars start. If one set of citizens can and does take away the vote of their fellow citizens for any reason or for no reason, then what does the republic stand for and what does it stand upon?

____________________________________________________________________

Will Maryland and Virginia become one-party states?

Chasing out conservatives any way they can

BY:          Robert Knight, The Washington Times (April 12, 2026).

When motorists cross the Potomac River from Virginia via the bridge at Point of Rocks, Maryland, they are greeted by a “Welcome to Maryland” sign with a message from Gov. Wes Moore: “Leave no one behind.”

That might sound good if it meant something like the U.S. military’s daring rescue of the downed jet pilot in Iran this month, but coming from a liberal Democrat such as Mr. Moore, it’s more like a vow to have government reach into every last aspect of people’s lives.

Democrats already control seven of the state’s eight congressional seats, but that’s not enough. Mr. Moore has called for gerrymandering the Eastern Shore district of Rep. Andy Harris, the lone Republican and the chairman of the House Conservative Caucus.

In 2010, Democrats gerrymandered Western Maryland, which had been represented by 10-term Republican conservative Roscoe Bartlett. He didn’t fit into the Baltimore machine’s idea of a congressman, so they got rid of him in 2012. Now they want to finish the job of making Maryland a one-party state like Massachusetts or Rhode Island.

Baltimore is by far the state’s largest city. It was the girlhood home of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose father, Thomas d’Alesandro Jr., was a mob-connected three-term mayor. Baltimore’s political culture is a classic urban mix of union power, identity politics, poverty, socialism and high crime.

On the other side of the ledger, it has the Orioles, Ravens, Johns Hopkins University and some first-rate Italian and seafood restaurants. Plus, Fort McHenry and the Chesapeake Bay.

Then we come to education. According to the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program for 2024-2025, only 13% of students in grades three through 12 in Baltimore City schools were proficient in math, and only 31% in English. SAT scores cratered to a new low.

Losing nearly 2,500 students from 2019 to 2025, Baltimore City Public Schools nonetheless added nearly 2,100 full-time staff. Nearby Baltimore County added 531 employees during that period while losing nearly 3,800 students, according to Georgetown University data cited by Heritage Foundation research fellow Corey DeAngelis in The Washington Times.

You might think that parents are getting a better deal because there must be more teachers per student, but the number of teachers in Baltimore County decreased by 53, along with a drop in custodians, bus drivers and cafeteria workers — the people who directly serve the students. The staffing increase was 267 school bureaucrats, a hike of 21%.

On top of this, a new study by Lending Tree pegs Maryland as the third most expensive state in which to raise a child, trailing only Hawaii and Alaska.

Getting back to Mr. Moore’s promise of not leaving anyone behind, Maryland lawmakers are now taking aim at the state’s faith-based schools, which they don’t control but wish they did.

In March, the state House passed HB 649, which adds gender identity and sexual orientation to anti-discrimination law and applies it to all schools, including private and religious schools. Now in the Senate, the bill would create a private right of action so that leftist groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union or the Satanic Temple can sue faith-based schools that won’t bend their knees to Baal or Baphomet.

The tally was 100 Democrats voting yes and 35 Republicans voting no. Remember this the next time someone insists the parties are indistinguishable.

Once upon a time, Maryland residents who grew tired of the Free State’s leftist rulers could move to Virginia, but that option is closing. Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who campaigned as a moderate Democrat but emerged as a flame-throwing radical upon taking power in January, is pushing a multipronged, left-wing agenda, including tax hikes and gun grabbing.

After stating that she opposed gerrymandering, she threw her support behind a gerrymandering constitutional amendment. It would change the state’s congressional delegation from six Democrats and five Republicans to 10 Democrats and one Republican.

Sounds fair, right? The ballot language actually ensures voters that it would “restore fairness in the upcoming elections.”

Democrats, who say they want to counter Republican partisan redistricting in Texas, ignored constitutional rules by rushing it to the ballot, and the Virginia Supreme Court punted the case until after the election, set for April 21.

Early voting has been underway since March 6. For some reason, Democrats love “Election Month” instead of Election Day. Turnout has been surprisingly strong in rural Republican areas that face disenfranchisement, but the outcome is anyone’s guess.

Although the amendment could well determine which party wins the U.S. House in November, Democrats are outspending Republicans by millions of dollars. That was how they won another Wisconsin Supreme Court seat Tuesday.

Somebody with deep pockets had better wake up.

If Virginia goes the way of Maryland, then where will God-fearing, conservative Virginians and Maryland refugees go next? Joseph R. Biden’s Delaware? Or will they develop a strange new respect for longhorns and gators?

GFK

“We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”

–Winston Churchill.

“The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.”

–Vladimir Lenin.

“Congress can raise taxes because it can persuade a sizable fraction of the populace that somebody else will pay.”

–Milton Friedman.

“The power to tax is the power to destroy.”

–John Marshall.

Tax day having come and gone last week, I thought it timely to revisit some myths about taxes in the United States. Because as sure as the Sun rises in the East, if Democrats regain power in Washington, our lives are going to become much more expensive.

MYTH NO. 1: THE RICH DO NOT PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE OF TAXES.

This is the most repeated claim in American tax politics and one of the least supported by actual data. The top 1 percent of earners take in 22 percent of total income and pay 40 percent of all federal income taxes. The top 10 percent earn about half the nation’s income and pay 72 percent of its taxes. The bottom half of earners, collectively, pay roughly 3 percent of the tax revenue. The United States, in fact, has the most progressive income-tax system in the developed world.

MYTH NO. 2: WE’LL FIX THE BUDGET DEFICIT BY TAXING THE RICH.

We simply cannot. The collective net worth of every American billionaire is estimated at somewhere around $8 trillion. The projected federal deficit over the next decade alone approaches $25 trillion. Even a one-time total confiscation of every billionaire’s wealth wouldn’t come close, and you only get to do it once.

The real driver of America’s fiscal crisis isn’t a shortage of tax revenue from the wealthy. It’s the structural growth of Social Security and Medicare. The Congressional Budget Office projects that such mandatory spending and interest payments will permanently exceed all federal revenue starting next year. No amount you could tax the rich will correct an imbalance like this.

MYTH NO. 3: IF YOU CAN’T TAX THE RICH, TAX THE CORPORATIONS.

Corporations are the next most likely target for those who want large government without the middle class paying for it. The problem is that corporations don’t actually pay taxes. Once you understand why, this starts to look like one of the worst ideas in America’s tax code.

Corporations write checks to the IRS, but they don’t bear the tax burden. Every dollar collected for corporate tax comes from a human: the worker who’s paid a lower wage, the shareholder who earns less and the consumer who pays higher prices at checkout. Research shows that workers bear somewhere between one-third and two-thirds of the corporate tax burden through lower wages. If you have a 401(k), you’re paying it too, quietly, through lower returns on every stock in the fund.

Further, corporate profits are returns on investment. Tax them and you get less investment. Less investment means lower productivity, which leads to lower wages over time. Decades ago, economists Robert Hall and Alvin Rabushka showed a better way: Replace the corporate income tax with a consumption-based system under which businesses deduct all wages and capital investment immediately. No double taxation, no penalty on investment, and revenue without unintended economic damage.

The corporate tax survives because voters mistakenly believe someone else pays it. This belief is expensive.

MYTH NO. 4: CAPITAL GAINS SHOULD BE TAXED AS ORDINARY INCOME.

This proposal sounds like common sense, but it’s bad economics. When a company earns a dollar of profit, it pays roughly 26 cents in combined federal and state corporate taxes before distributing the rest to its shareholders. When it’s all said and done, the government has taken close to half of every dollar the company earned. That’s not a tax on the rich — it’s two taxes on the same income.

Those who want to raise capital-gains rates assume the U.S. is a low-tax haven for investors. It’s not. America’s combined federal, state and net investment income tax rate on capital gains already sits at 29.2 percent, well above the average of 19.1 percent in fellow OECD democracies. We’re already an outlier, and not in a good direction.

HERE IS THE PROBLEM WITH THE FEDERAL BUDGET. There is too much spending. More than 2/3 of all federal spending is unconstitutional. Congress does not have the authority to, for example, involve itself in healthcare, whether by regulating it or subsidizing it. Same with housing, pensions, food, and electric vehicles. Don’t believe me? Read the Constitution, Article I, Section 8. That sets out what Congress is permitted to do. BUT THE COURTS! The Courts have upheld some of these programs (for example, Obamacare). SO WHAT? Newsflash: The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. Supreme Court opinions are not the supreme law of the land. If the Supreme Court rules contrary to the Constitution, it is void ab initio.

The United States has too many people riding in the wagon, and not enough people pulling the wagon. When a population figures out a way to force other people to pay for their livelihoods, that society eventually collapses. Slowly, then all at once. This is where the United States is at this point.

Spending must be cut. Incentives for people to look to others for their support must end. We must tax the poor; not because we hate the poor. But all Americans should have some skin in the game. Otherwise the takers will always support politicians who promise to give to them the spoils taken from the producers.

Please consider this carefully. And vote accordingly.

U.S. Transportation Secretary warned New York State months ago that if it did not revise its rules about issuing Commercial Drivers Licenses, his Department would withhold federal funding. More than 1/2 of New York’s CDLs were issued to illegal aliens. Well, the verdict is in; New York refused to revise its rules, and now federal funding is being withheld.

“This is dead on arrival in the Senate.  Temporary Protected Status is just that: temporary.  Beyond that, 91% of all Haitian TPS holders entered the country illegally.  In the last election, the American people rejected mass migration policies that effectively grant amnesty to illegal aliens.  It’s past time to put our own citizens FIRST.”

–Senator Katie Britt (R. Al.).

Last year, Representative Ilhan Omar (D. Mn.) filed Congressional financial disclosures that estimated her net worth at around $30 million. That was a surprise. This year, Representative Omar filed Congressional financial disclosures that estimated her net worth at $95 thousand. That is a bigger surprise. Hmmmm.

So what is Senator Ruben Gallego (D. Az.) hiding about his knowledge of former Representative Eric Swalwell’s egregious sexual behavior, as well as his own bad behavior? Hmmmm.

Politico was working on a story exposing former Representative Eric Swalwell’s egregious sexual behavior in 2019, while he was running for President. But then Politico killed the story when Mr. Swalwell dropped his presidential campaign. Why?

Virginia taxpayers are now stuck paying state income taxes on tips, overtime, car loan interest deductions, and certain business expensing provisions that their federal returns may now deduct or otherwise treat more favorably.  Governor Abigail Spanberger (D.) deliberately chose not to pass along the full Trump tax breaks to Virginia’s citizens.  These changes are the functional equivalent of a targeted tax increase on the very people Democrats claim to champion: the service-industry workers who rely on tips to make ends meet.

What does Spanberger’s action mean for service workers in real terms?  At the federal level, the Big Beautiful Bill now allows waiters, bartenders, delivery drivers, hairstylists, hotel housekeepers, and other service workers to deduct up to $25,000.00 in qualified tips on their federal returns, subject to eligibility rules and phaseouts.  Virginia, however, will still tax those same tips at the state level.  A waitress earning $500.00 a week in tips now watches the state take its 2%–5.75% cut anyway, and that adds up to hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year that could have gone toward rent, groceries, gas, childcare, or car repairs.

Most tipped employees earn less than $50,000.00 a year total.  They are often young adults, single parents, immigrants, veterans, or retirees working extra shifts just to get by.  These families often live paycheck to paycheck, so every extra dollar taken in state taxes makes it tougher to cover bills, handle emergencies, or give their kids a better shot at life.  It is the exact opposite of helping working families. It turns out that Governor Spanberger is more interested in filling the state’s coffers than the pockets of average Americans.  Affordability.

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D.) wrote a memoir, as a run up to his expected presidential campaign. He calls it “best selling”, because 97,000 copies of his book have been purchased. Governor Hair Gel’s own political action committee purchased 67,000 copies. Ouch! Some best seller.

It will be a sad celebration of Independence Day for Southern California residents. Traditionally, the City of Long Beach puts on a spectacular fireworks show over the harbor. People come from all over to view the fireworks. But this year, on the occasion of our country’s 250th birthday, there will be no fireworks show. The California Coastal Commission cancelled it. Because . . . who knows?

Boston, Massachusetts Mayor Michelle Wu (D.) authorized the expenditure of taxpayer funds to provide LGBTQ++ illegal aliens with “wellness” benefits, including yoga lessons, meditation, and gym memberships. When confronted with public outrage, Mayor Wu denied the expenditure, because she claims to have “paused” the transfer of funds. Liar.

“How dare you tell me, as mayor, how to tax you?”

–Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Mayor Cherelle Parker, responding to citizens’ criticism of her proposal to add surcharges to all Uber and Lyft rides.

Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski found hailstones in her front yard following a thunderstorm. She is raising the alarm; apparently, according to Mrs. Godlewski, hail is a sign of global warming. We are all going to die!

Seattle, Washington is overrun with homeless people, most all of whom are drug addicts. These people have overrun downtown, public parks, and are now spilling into residential neighborhoods. So what is Seattle’s city government doing about this problem? The city is providing the homeless drug addicts with spoons, foil, pipes, lighters–all sorts of drug paraphernalia–along with condoms. The city is concerned with keeping the drug addicts safe. The law-abiding citizens can just fend for themselves.

“We’ve got a feeble-minded, trigger-happy president who plunged us into a war where no threat was present, with no clear objectives and no exit plan.  We need to call that what it is. That’s fascism.  There are more good people that care about equality, that understand it’s not America First.  It’s humanity first.”

–Tampon Tim (D. Mn.), speaking at a “Global Progressive Mobilization” event in Barcelona, Spain. 

This corrupt, communist loving twit was speaking to a group of commies in Spain, a socialist country, hostile to the United States. He was undermining America’s war effort, while American troops are actively deployed to combat (a service he worked hard to avoid). A disgusting display by a man who sought to be Vice-President.

Hennepin County, Minnesota [Minneapolis] District Attorney Mary Moriarity (D.) charged an ICE agent with 2 felonies for pointing a firearm at an illegal alien during the discharge of his official duties. Ridiculous! This will not end well . . . for Mary Moriarity.

Luzvin Garcia is an illegal alien from Guatemala. He has been terrorizing Northern Virginia, being convicted 25 times for crimes in Arlington and Fairfax Counties. Yet despite his status as an illegal alien, and a violent criminal, governing authorities keep releasing Mr. Garcia into the community, refusing to turn him over to ICE. Now Mr. Garcia is back in custody, having been arrested for the attempted rape of a woman in Arlington. NOW can we turn Luzvin Garcia into ICE, and deport his criminal a$$ back to Guatemala? Please?

Safeway now offers only paper bags for its customers, due to California’s insane environmental regulations. And now Safeway has shifted to only paper bags without handles. Customers are outraged, as the flimsy bags are difficult to carry, and often break.

Well, The San Francisco Chronicle’s annual list of San Francisco’s 100 best restaurants is out, and it is a disappointment. There is 1 steak house listed (the House of Prime Rib, #88), and 1 traditional seafood restaurant (Scoma’s, #78). Everything else is Oriental (Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese), or vegetarian, or something I do not recognize on a plate. There is 1 Mexican restaurant, and 1 pizza restaurant. Sigh. I don’t know who compiles this list, but no doubt he is a hipster doofus who is gluten free, drinks fizzy water, and refrains from drinking alcohol. He is appalled by real food. And it shows.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said that “there is something demonic” about the United States’ “political culture”. With all due respect, have you paid any attention to what is going on in Great Britain lately?

Iran claimed that the Strait of Hormuz is open, and shall remain so through the duration of the Israeli/Lebanese ceasefire. We shall see. Iran is still playing games.

Meanwhile, the United States’ blockade of the Strait of Hormuz continues. No ships leaving Iranian ports are allowed to depart the Persian Gulf.

No wait! Iran reversed itself, claiming that the Strait of Hormuz is closed again. We shall see. Iran is still playing games.

British Prime Minister Starmer and French President Macron are leading a European effort to fashion a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Talk about being late to the party. President Trump responded appropriately–“No thanks”.

Bob Hall, the only man to compete in the Boston Marathon in a wheelchair, and who is considered the “father of wheelchair racing, has died at age 74. R. I. P.

Country music songwriter Don Shlitz has died at age 73. R. I. P.

Former MLB All Star and Los Angeles Angel Garret Anderson has died at age 53. R. I. P.

GFK

Yesterday, after visiting the Spring market at Audley Farm, English and I went to The Locke Store in Millwood. While there, we purchased a lovely treat–a maple glazed rolled pastry stuffed with sausage, and garnished with sage leaves. Oh, my goodness! It was absolutely delicious. Thankfully, we only bought 1. Because this thing is addictive. Addictive in the way that Krispy Kreme original glazed donuts are addictive. You just cannot stop eating them.

We did vote. We voted “No”. We visited with friends at the Spring Market, and bought some wonderful fresh asparagus and apples from MacIntosh Farms. And we purchased a few surprises for Gram and Rufe. They will have to wait until English visits later this week to learn what they are.

“As long as there are final exams, there will always be prayer in the schools.”

–President Ronald Reagan.

This Sunday, Easter II, is also known as “Good Shepherd Sunday.” The Gospel is from S. John, Our Lord’s discourse on His role as the Good Shepherd. The theme is also found in the Epistle from First S. Peter: For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. 

We may recall that S. Peter wrote this epistle to Christians living throughout northern Asia Minor (now southern Turkey) who were beginning to experience rising persecution. As well as the danger of apostatizing, many were feeling discouraged in their daily lives. Writing from Rome, where he himself was undergoing the persecution that would culminate in his martyrdom, S. Peter attempts to encourage his readers by invoking the example of their Lord, who was persecuted to the point of death though completely innocent of any offense. 

Persecution is difficult, especially when rights are being taken away, such as participating in the workplace or in the marketplace. When one can no longer provide for himself or his family because of his beliefs, it becomes challenging in the extreme to hold on to one’s faith. In the first serious wave of persecution under Nero, Christians lost their means of livelihood and were stripped of their property. The incentive to recant and burn incense to the emperor was intense. This was the backdrop to S. Peter’s first epistle.

S. Peter makes several points: the first is that all suffering is in accordance with God’s will for us, for it tests our character. In the case of Our Lord, when tested, He revealed even more profoundly God’s love for us. Although He could have responded by cursing those who abused Him, instead He accepted the abuse silently and unhesitatingly. 

Secondly, when we are tested, it is important to remember that it is not because we are cursed. Instead, we are blessed to be able to share in the same mistreatment Our Lord experienced. We are able, as members of His body, to walk that same Way of the Cross. Following His example, we are then privileged to take up our cross to our own Calvary.

Finally, suffering not only tests our character and allows us to participate more fully in the life of Christ, but also builds our character. Each trial and time of testing has the potential to make us stronger in our resolve. By looking through the suffering towards our ultimate end, we can endure with patience each trial, knowing the glory that awaits us.

Christians in our present culture are being tested in ways that are similar to the waves of persecution that swept over first centuries of Christianity. Tenets of the Catholic faith are being challenged in the courts of “progressive” states, and those of strong conviction have had to relinquish their livelihoods. Those who uphold the notion that marriage is “instituted of God” for procreation and the establishing of families are held up to public scorn. Articles in “prestigious” newspapers and magazines ridicule marriage and childbearing for women. “Tradwives” are despised.

But we are not left alone to weather these challenges. Our Lord has gone before us and shows us the way: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. No, we have the Good Shepherd, who does not abandon us to the wolves, but rather stops at nothing to carry His sheep to the safety of the sheepfold, His Church.

____________________________________________________________________

America Needs a New Class of Leaders

Division is also opportunity.

BY:          J.B. Shurk, The American Thinker (March 8, 2026).

In the United States — and the civilizational “West” more broadly — we are a society divided by slogans, propaganda, and social media memes.  It is an unfortunate part of our present reality that we no longer engage in honest “public debate.”  We haven’t done so for a very long time.  

The Founding Fathers wrote essays and pamphlets and delivered hours-long speeches during which they articulated the reasons for their beliefs.  We get pink-hatted people — who may or may not identify as women — “shouting their abortions.”  We get automatons screaming, “Black lives matter,” “Free Palestine,” “Trump is Hitler,” “Hands off Iran,” and whatever other mindless chants billionaire-funded NGOs churn out.  

If you approach people yelling these things and ask them why they believe what they believe, they have no idea.  They can’t explain why “all human lives,” more generally, shouldn’t matter just as much as those with dark skin.  They don’t know anything about Israel’s ancient history, the United Kingdom and France’s colonial carving of the Middle East, the Soviet Union’s promotion of a “Palestinian” identity to cause the United States and its allies problems during the Cold War, any of the multitude of ways that the international community has broken its promises to the Israeli government for the last century, or how the United Nations has spent most of its existence targeting Israel for alleged “human rights” abuses while ignoring unspeakable evils committed by far too many regimes in power today.  They can’t explain why illegal aliens are breaking into America if “Trump is Hitler” or why the president’s determination to protect American citizens from foreign nationals by paying for those foreigners’ return to their own countries is somehow equivalent to Nazi atrocities that included the mass murder of six million Jews and millions of Soviets, Poles, Romani, disabled people, and other so-called “undesirables.”  They don’t have any idea why Iran’s theocratic tyrants and Islamic terrorists deserve to be protected when those tyrants and terrorists have killed, maimed, and kidnapped Americans, Europeans, and Jews around the world for nearly fifty years.  

Our ancestors benefited from Thomas Paine’s polemical pamphlets in favor of American independence.  They listened to Sam Adams’s fiery arguments for revolution.  They attended church services where they heard political exhortations from learned men delivering passionate sermons.  They read newspaper editorials and political essays aloud while drinking ale in local taverns.  Common people heard and debated uncommon ideas that birthed a new nation and altered the historic trajectory of the world.  

We, on the other hand, get hypocrites such as Senator Chuck Schumer, who was last year telling Americans that President Trump was “chickening out” on holding Iran’s Islamic regime accountable for nuclear saber-rattling before telling Americans this year that Trump has no business holding Iran’s Islamic regime accountable for its nuclear saber-rattling.  We get Democrats calling federal law enforcement agents “Trump’s Gestapo” because those agents put their lives on the line arresting criminal illegal aliens — including murderers, rapists, and other violent felons.  We get apocalyptic doomsayers such as Al Gore and Barack Obama who have told us that the “science” of “climate change” is “settled,” even though nothing those frauds have predicted has ever come true.  We get public school teachers indoctrinating students with ridiculously false ideas, such as (1) biological sex isn’t real; (2) the January 6, 2021 protest for election integrity was worse than the 9/11 Islamic terror attacks, the Pearl Harbor attack, and the Civil War all wrapped up together; (3) Muslims built America; and (4) America has never been more racist, fascist, or authoritarian than it is today.  We get a left-wing corporate news media establishment pushing the ludicrous argument that requiring voter identification (a basic electoral safeguard enforced around the world) is both racist and an impossible burden for legal voters to surmount (even though Americans must present valid ID to board planes, buy liquor, and enter government buildings).  

Notice that these sources of misinformation never advance anything that remotely resembles a rational argument.  Democrats don’t explain why they used to consider Iran a major national security threat but no longer do.  They don’t explain why it’s perfectly reasonable to attack federal law enforcement officers arresting criminal illegal aliens, even though they’ve spent five years calling the January 6 election protest an unacceptable “attack” on cops.  Barack Obama and other wealthy “global warming” fanatics can’t explain why they own expensive beachfront homes if those homes will soon be under water.  Democrats can’t explain why it’s too difficult for their voters to get photo IDs, or why boys should undress in girls’ locker rooms, or why white men are a “viral disease,” or why all of their political opponents are “racist, fascist Nazis.”  

All of these false statements are simply represented as undisputed “facts” that cannot be questioned.  As a kind of “political correctness” tripwire meant to ensure that these false ideas are never questioned, Democrats further insist that anyone asking questions must be a “racist, fascist Nazi,” too.  Rational argument no longer exists.  In its place, Democrats give us name-calling, self-censorship, circular reasoning, and empty tautology.

America is very divided today.  For most of its two-hundred-and-fifty-year history, though, America has been divided.  It was birthed in revolution.  It survived numerous attacks from foreign powers while still in its infancy.  It grew up through radical social change, profound technological innovation, and endless waves of immigration.  It has gone to war against itself, and it has gone to war against the world.  It has endured hardships that have destroyed other nations.  Nevertheless, its people have persevered, united, settled the wild frontier, built a continent, and prospered.  We look over our shoulders and applaud American achievement without reflecting on our near escapes from American disaster.

Division does not signal disaster.  Division is also opportunity.  When societies are forced to confront great change, some wilt, while others rise to the occasion.  America has been blessed with rare resilience.  Our nation is unique in human history because it is predicated on the still revolutionary principle that legitimate political power originates with the people.  We do not look to kings to tell us what we may or may not do.  As our rights come directly from God, aristocrats just get in the way.  Our institutions matter not because they are invested with power over us, but rather because we have lent those institutions some of our inherent powers so that they can properly defend our inherent rights.  Neither presidents nor congresses nor corporations can grant us what is already ours.

It is with this understanding of our natural rights in mind that I encourage everyone to protect those rights personally.  Read, learn, debate, and most importantly don’t give up just because giving up is in fashion these days.  This country has been through far worse and survived.  People who tell you that this is the end for America have a vested interest in seeing America end.  Those stubborn enough to resist will ensure that our country lives.

To be sure, we deserve more than slogans, propaganda, and memes.  We deserve civic leaders who can speak in complete sentences.  We deserve members of Congress who can introduce cogent arguments — supported by salient facts and not calumnies, falsehoods, or red herrings.  We deserve a new generation of leaders who remind us of Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Sam Adams, and George Washington.  Perhaps they already move among us.

Do not mistake division for disease.  Division is the engine that often spawns greatness.  What we require is discernment.  We require wisdom.  We require courage.  We require leadership.  We require renewed faith in God’s grace.  These are not always in abundant supply.  But they are very American things.

GFK

Last evening English and I attended the Clarke County Historical Association’s semi-annual “Art At The Mill”. It is an art show held at the Burwell-Morgan grist mill, which was constructed by Revolutionary War hero Daniel Morgan. The opening night is a reception for the Mill’s patrons, and is always a festive event.

Though built in the 1700s, the mill is still an operating grist mill. Flours, corn meal, and grits are still ground there, using the same methods as were used in Colonial Virginia. The raw materials are provided by local farmers, and the finished product is sold, at the Mill, or at local stores. Some of the grain is also sold to local breweries to make craft beer.

Today we are going to run our usual Saturday routine errands. And then we are going to vote. We detest early voting, but in case something arises on Tuesday, we want to register our objection to being ruled by Fairfax County, as Democrats have designed through their tyrannical redistricting move.

In fact, ever since taking power in January, Democrats have worked overtime to neuter Virginians. Most elected Democrats, including our Governor, are damn Yankees. They come from other places, and rather than embracing the Commonwealth’s history and traditions, they try to remake it in the image of those s**tholes from whence they came. Robert E. Lee must be banned because of . . . The Late Unpleasantness (Yankees incorrectly call it a civil war). Guns must be banned because inanimate objects are scary looking and dangerous. Hunting with dogs must be regulated because hunting is sooooo barbaric. Taxes must be raised, because government can spend your money better than can we. Illegal aliens must be sheltered because they are so much better than our old, white, European heritage citizens (damn white folks!). After all, diversity is our strength! And Democrats must be given free reign to govern without opposition, because . . . Orange Man Bad.

If the redistricting referendum passes, then rural Virginia–the vast majority of Virginia–will no longer have a voice in how we are governed. Coupled with the General Assembly’s embrace of the unconstitutional law awarding of the Commonwealth’s electoral votes to whomever large Democrat majority urban areas vote for, almost 50% of Virginia’s voters will be neutered. We will have no say in our government. Fairfax County will rule. That is 1 party rule. That is tyranny. And it is a path to ruin. It will not be “fair”. And it will not be “temporary”. For those short sighted voters, if you believe that the Democrats are going to willingly turn over power in 2030, I have some farmland located in The Great Dismal Swamp you might be interested in purchasing.

English and I are proud Saltine Americans. We are both going to vote “NO” on redistricting. We urge our fellow Virginians to do the same.

Six (6) Republicans joined all Democrats to force the United States House of Representatives to advance a bill directing the President to grant Haitian aliens another 3 years of “temporary protective status”, allowing them to remain in the United States. Why? Just, why?

One spaghetti spined Republican representative claimed that Haitians deserved to stay for another 3 years, because they are so “hard working” and “contribute to our culture’s diversity”. HORSE HOCKEY! Sixty-five percent (65%) of Haitian aliens are on welfare. They are draining our resources, contributing nothing.

As for cultural diversity, “They are eating the dogs. They are eating the cats. Eat the cats, eat, eat the cats!”

More than 350,000 Haitian aliens are scheduled for deportation. Send them all back to their sh**hole country where they belong.

“I’m completely biased as it relates to what my dad did for me.  I fully understand how uniquely situated I am in being privileged enough to have received a pardon from my father.  I don’t think that the founders ever imagined Donald Trump.  I don’t think they ever imagined the Trump family.”

–Hunter Biden, expressing his gratitude for the corrupt pardon granted by his father, China Joe, and then criticizing President Trump’s use of the pardon power.

Of all the unmitigated gall!  My goodness!

What is Hunter Biden doing nowadays? Other than being sued? Because China Joe’s son will not pay his legal bills. And currently his former law firm cannot find him as it seems that Hunter Biden has fled the United States and is residing overseas . . . somewhere. Like father, like son. Deadbeats to the end.

New Jersey Transit is charging commuters who wish to travel from Manhattan’s Penn Station to MetLife Stadium to attend World Cup soccer games, $100.00. The fare is normally $12.90. Well, Governor Mikie Sherrill (D. N.J.) is outraged by this 775% increase in fares, calling it “price gouging”, and demanding that the governing soccer body pick up the tab for commuters’ transportation to the games. Senator Charles Schumer (D. N.Y.) also called it “price gouging”, terming the fare increase “outrageous”.

Here is what Governor Sherrill and Senator Schumer are not telling you. New Jersey Transit is “public transportation”, owned by the State of New Jersey. The State of New Jersey is raising transportation rates by 775%–not the governing world soccer body. If Senator Schumer and Governor Sherrill do not want consumers to be “price gouged”, then Governor Sherrill should direct New Jersey Transit to keep fares at normal levels.

But Governor Sherrill will not do that. Because Governor Sherrill wants the prices high, so she can demand that the World Cup pay her government billions of dollars. This is a government shakedown. And it is despicable.

New York State Democrats are going to enact an annual surcharge on New Yorkers’ second homes. That is in addition to all the other taxes–property, utility, etc.–that owners already pay on their second homes.

Former Virginia Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax (D.) murdered his wife, and then committed suicide rather than facing the legal consequences of his action. The couple’s 2 children were present in the home at the time of the murder/suicide. My God! An unspeakable tragedy, and the reporting about the downfall of this man and his family reveals unimaginable details. May God Bless his young children, and may they somehow find the peace in this world that has so far eluded them.

Tennessee’s legislature passed, and the Governor signed, a resolution declaring June to be celebrated as “Nuclear Family Month”, commemorating the traditional American family. GLAD, the largest LGBTQ++ advocacy group in America, is livid.

If you are a Tennessee homosexual, you can still fly your “Pride” flag in June. But this year, the government will not be celebrating sodomy with you.

Chick-Fil-A released its seasonal strawberry-hibiscus drinks–with Sprite, lemonade, frosted lemonade, and Sunjoy. Get one today!

“The U.S. war in Iran is unjust.  It’s a violation of international law and the rule-based order.   It’s an affront to the way of the prince of peace.”

–Kyle Lambelet, an associate professor of ethics at Virginia Theological Seminary.

Professor Lambelet is a professed pacifist. If a mushroom cloud rose above the horizon in New York City, Professor Lambelet would still insist that only diplomacy could resolve tensions with Iran.

The goal of Epic Fury is to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb, which it came quite close to doing. The chances of success are high; indeed, we have already achieved great successes. War was a last resort. The Left claims Iran was not an “imminent threat”. Really? Define imminent. Did the United States have to wait until a nuclear bomb was already built, ready for deployment? By then it would be too late. Iran has been killing Americans since 1979. I think we have been patient long enough.

The United States and Israel are engaged in war with Iran to end evil, and to prevent an even greater evil. Diplomacy has failed, time and again, because Iran does not engage in diplomacy. Its leaders lie. They do not keep their agreements. And Iran fully intends to gain nuclear weapons, and, ultimately to destroy Israel and the United States.

Professor Lambelet, The Episcopal Church USA’s leadership, and Pope Leo XIV preach peace. Fine. But these folks would rather live on their knees than stand in freedom. That is not what the Lord teaches. It is a perversion of God’s Word.

The United States is not engaged in “a war of choice”. The United States is engaged in a war to secure a greater peace. The hostilities with Iran will not cause unintended consequences that will cause a greater evil. Frankly, it is hard to imagine a greater evil than a murderous regime hell bent on destroying Israel and the United States. The war with Iran is, indeed, a “just war”. It should be fought to a final conclusion.

Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10 day ceasefire. Hezbollah has purportedly agreed to the ceasefire. Hmmmm.

The Gulf countries in the Middle East are angry at Iran for bombing them. So mad, in fact, that they are providing information to the United States Treasury Department about Iranian accounts. The United States is leveling additional sanctions, and issuing account freezes. Sigh. That is such as shame!

Former Dallas Cowboys center John Fitzgerald has died at age 77. R. I. P.

GFK

The United States Navy imposed a blockade on naval traffic through the Straits of Hormuz. Iran is likely to starve to death, for lack of money.

“I’m not going to speak for the President, I’m speaking for myself, a lifelong Catholic.  I would say [to the Catholic Church], stay out of immigration.  They don’t know what they’re talking about.  Because if they wore my shoes for 40 years, and talked to a nine-year-old girl that got raped multiple times, or stood in the back of a tractor-trailer with 19 dead aliens at my feet including a five-year-old boy that baked to death, if they understood the atrocities that happen on the open border, I think their opinion would change.”

–United States Border Czar Tom Homan.

Declassified documents reveal what has long been suspected; the 2019 impeachment of President Trump over his dealing with Ukraine was manufactured by Democrat operatives within the intelligence agencies. These Democrat operatives not only manufactured evidence, but coordinated clandestinely with Democrat members of Congress. Shocking! Not.

“As a chief enabler of this illegal war, Pete Hegseth is responsible for directing this insane military action against Iran, which has already killed thousands of civilians, led to the unnecessary deaths of American service members, and displaced over a million people in the region.  That’s why I’m introducing articles of impeachment against Hegseth for repeatedly violating his oath of office and the Constitution, including the disregard of Congress and willful targeting of civilian infrastructure in Iran.”

–Representative Yassamin Asouri (D. Az.).

Sigh. These are not serious people.

Representative Ro Khanna (D. Ca.) is blaming President Trump for the high gasoline prices at the pump. He is calling for the war to end, to stop all exports of American oil, and for the enactment of a “windfall profits tax”. Huh.

California drivers pay nearly double the national average in state taxes, plus cap-and-trade, Low Carbon Fuel Standard, unique reformulated gasoline, refinery limits, and geographic isolation that blocks cheap imports.  That adds $1.00–$1.78+ over the U.S. average.

And do you remember the last “windfalls profit tax” under President Carter? How did that work out? Not too good!

If Representative Khanna wants lower gasoline prices in California, he needs to speak with his fellow Democrats in Sacramento. Because it is their fault, not President Trump’s.

Well Representative Eric Swalwell (D. Ca.) is out of the California Governor race. Now if he only would leave Congress . . . oh wait; he did. What a scumbag!

“The last thing I would want in a Space Shuttle crew would be seven white-guy U.S. navy test pilots like me.” 

–Senator Mark Kelly (D. Az.).

He must have been very miserable in space with his white crewmates.  Just a bunch of white supremacists keeping women and minorities down on Earth.

Washington, D.C. District Court Judge James Boasberg got slapped down. Again.

Former United States Senator Scott Brown (R. Ma.) is running again for the United States Senate, this time from New Hampshire. Mr. Brown is running as a “fiscal conservative”. Sigh. Scott Brown is many things, but a “fiscal conservative” is not one of them.

Democrat Senate candidate Graham Platner (D. Me.) has a new explanation for his Nazi tattoo and views. The United States Army made him do it. Oh, my!

Congressional candidate and Scranton, Pennsylvania Mayor Paige Cognetti (D.) worked overtime to discourage Church attendance during the former Current Unpleasantness. The Observations commented on that more than a week ago. But now we have learned that Mayor Cognetti also dislikes fireworks on Independence Day. She finds fireworks displays to be “annoying” and “terrifying”. Huh. Funny; she did nothing to suppress the riots following the death of George Floyd, where fires were set, and businesses destroyed. Was that not “terrifying”?

Mayor Cognetti hates Christians and Americans. She has no place in Congress.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman is severely conflicted. While he is no fan of Iran’s mullahs, he really, really, really does not want President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu get any credit for bringing down the mullahs and freeing the Iranian people. Hmmm. So Tom Friedman is cheering for Iran? Not a surprise.

California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer (D.) wants to abolish ICE, put all ICE agents in prison, and bring back to the United States all previously deported aliens. WOW!

California is on the verge of enacting a law to protect the privacy of immigration support providers. The law classifies investigative journalism into claims of fraud by these immigration support providers as “harassment”, and imposes monetary damages on those who engage in such investigative journalism, or “harassment”. Good-bye First Amendment!

In celebration of Independence Day, and our nation’s 250th birthday, there will be a patriotic ball drop in Times Square, in New York City, reminiscent of what happens on New Year’s Eve. EXCEPT, there will be no cheering throngs of Americans in Times Square. Comrade Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D. N.Y.) has decreed that Times Square will be off limits to celebrating, patriotic Americans. Of course he did.

There is an exception, however, to Comrade Mayor’s decree. Leftist protestors and agitators will be issued permits to protest America on that day. Again, no surprise here. It is wholly despicable, and so in character with this anti-Semitic, anti-American Islamic commie Mayor.

Comrade Mayor Mamdani announced that he will spend more than $30 million on the 1st city owned grocery store, to be located in East Harlem. And Comrade Mayor will spend more than $70 million to establish 4 more city owned grocery stores. Wow. “Free” groceries are really, really expensive.

Comrade Mayor Mamdani is also spending $10 million to renovate a public space into the city’s 1st “free” child care center. The center will cost more than $2.5 million per year to operate. This breaks down to $57,000 per child in the “free” child care center. By contrast, private child care in New York City costs less than 1/2 that sum, per child.

Isn’t socialism grand?!?!

New York State Democrats want to ban air rifles and BB guns. Seriously.

Olivia Troye, a former advisor to former Vice-President Mike Pence, and a national security staffer during the 1st Trump Administration, is running for Congress in Virginia. As a Democrat. Sigh. What kind of vetting was done of this woman? Do you have an answer, Mr. Pence? Do you?

Virginia General Assembly Democrats passed, and Governor Abigail Spanberger (D.) signed, a law awarding Virginia’s presidential electors to the candidate who wins “the national popular vote”. So, for example, if President Trump wins the election in Virginia, but Hillary Clinton wins a greater number of popular votes across the nation, then Virginia’s electors would be awarded to Hillary Clinton. This is absurd.

The law is absurd because it disenfranchises Virginia’s voters, and gives preference to larger, urban Democrat States such as California, Illinois, and New York. This makes no sense.

The law is absurd because there is NO national popular vote. There is not, because that is not how presidents are elected. In fact, not all States votes are tabulated or confirmed, once the Electoral College count is established.

And the law is unconstitutional. This law has Virginia join a multistate compact. But multistate compacts must have Congress’s consent. Congress has not consented. Furthermore, the law is unconstitutional because it violates the Electoral College’s operations.

This is more about a Democrat power grab, looking to take advantage of urban areas dominated by Democrats, and permitting them to dictate to, and dominate, rural areas favoring Republicans. This is tyranny.

The Council on American Islamic Relations and related groups are demanding that The Alamo be designated an Islamic site, and that its Islamic origins be taught in Texas public schools. One problem. The Alamos has no Islamic origins. It was a Catholic mission in what was then part of Mexico.

Sara McGee is a Democrat running for the Texas House of Representatives, but before voters cast a ballot for her, they may want to know that McGee doesn’t understand the Constitution.  The Department of Homeland Security posted a quote from the Psalms and an image that read “One Homeland Under God” yesterday.  The posting read:

“‘Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people who he hath chosen for his own inheritance.’ —Psalm 33:12.  May God continue to shed his grace on our great nation.”

Sara McGee responded by posting on social media that “This is literally illegal.”  Hmmmm.  No.  No it is not.  The Constitution’s First Amendment forbids the government from establishing a particular religion.  It does not prohibit the government from religious expression.

Texans, vote no.  No to Sara McGee, and no to constitutional illiteracy.

The Miss America pageant has clarified that a contestant must be a biological female. Sigh. Has it come to that? Is this REALLY necessary?

Costco is now carrying collections of Chick-Fil-A signature dip sauces. Get ’em while you can.

British law firms are advising illegal aliens to claim that they are homosexual, in order to gain asylum from being deported to Islamic countries. Sigh.

Germany is on the verge of passing a law that would, in essence, forbid “right wingers” (i.e. conservative) citizens from purchasing real property. Meanwhile, immigrants, legal and illegal, will still qualify for subsidies and assistance in purchasing real property.

Turkey is threatening war with Israel, if the United States does not reach a peace agreement with Iran. What a fine NATO ally!

“I worry that the United States is now in a very weak position vis-à-vis Iran, which should be the outlier, should be on the back foot and should be the one held to account.”

–Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

She is a bitter, bitter woman.  If she were President, what would she have done with respect to Iran?  Nothing.  Just like she did nothing [and worse] as President Obama’s Secretary of State.  Not a damn thing!

“Listen, I’m not one to criticize clerics and religious leaders.  We defend free speech.  We certainly defend the right to free exercise of religion.  A pontiff or any religious leader can say anything they want.  But obviously, if you wade into political waters, I think you should expect some political response.  And I think the pope’s received some of that.

There’s something called the just war doctrine.  There’s a time to every purpose under heaven.  I think what the president’s comments, what the Vice President’s comments reflect is their understanding deep in . . . the SCIF and the classified briefings of the stakes that are so high and the situation that we’re facing and the fact that you had the nation that was the largest sponsor of terrorism now having had that ability taken away from them.  That means potentially millions of innocent people will be able to keep their lives and not be killed by terrorists.”

–Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson (R. La.), pushing back on Pope Leo’s unfortunate decision to weigh in on U.S. hostilities against Iran.

While playing on the weekend at Augusta National, Sergio Garcia melted down over an errant tee shot, breaking his driver, swearing loudly, and damaging a cooler adjacent to the 2nd tee box. ESPN’s Mike Greenberg called on The Augusta National Golf Club to not invited Sergio Garcia back to The Masters Tournament. Mike Greenberg has a good point.

Is LIV golf dead? Maybe.

Former NFL football coach Dave McGinnis has died at age 74. R. I. P.

Sid Krofft, creator of the television show, H.R. Pufnstuf, has died at age 96. R. I. P.

James Whittaker, the 1st American to scale Mount Everest, has died at age 97. R. I. P.

GFK

Maggie Thatcher’s Timeless Wisdom

In the second half of the 20th century, she already had prescient insights into America, circa 2026.

BY:          Vince Coyner, The American Thinker (April 11, 2026).

Maggie Thatcher, easily one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century, was a no-nonsense woman. She became Prime Minister of the UK in 1979 and would rescue her nation from the economic quagmire her leftist predecessors had created.

Maggie was the daughter of a merchant. And as one might expect from the daughter of someone who had to deal with customers and vendors and regulators, all the while making sure there was something left in the bank at the end of the month, she was a straightforward and pragmatic leader.

For someone born almost exactly 100 years ago, she had a vision of government and culture that we could use more of today. She was something of a combination of Nostradamus, Mark Twain, and (rather sadly) Cassandra rolled into one.

Her thoughts and observations provide an extraordinary insight into many of our problems today.

The clarity began even before she was Prime Minister. In a series of campaign speeches before her historic election, she repeatedly stated a variation of this principle: “If a Government can’t protect citizens and their property against violence, vandalism, and theft, there is little point in having a government at all.” If anything resonates with Americans today, it’s the fundamental failure of government to do exactly that.

In blue cities and states across America, we see examples of career criminals (including illegal aliens) regularly unleashed on their communities, only to kill or rape innocents. From suddenly being found not competent to stand trial to having their sentences slashed because of their age or background, American blood is spilling because Democrats care more about the “rights” of criminals than they do about the lives of innocent citizens. Thatcher cared about innocent citizens: “I personally have always voted for the death penalty because I believe that people who go out prepared to take the lives of other people forfeit their own right to live.”

She also had a clarity on the economics of leftism, saying,

Let us never forget this fundamental truth: the State has no source of money other than money which people earn themselves. If the State wishes to spend more it can do so only by borrowing your savings or by taxing you more. It is no good thinking that someone else will pay—that ‘someone else’ is you. There is no such thing as public money; there is only taxpayers’ money.

Maggie clearly understood what most American politicians don’t, namely, that government can spend only as much as citizens produce. Only through taxes or IOUs can the government spend a single penny. Given that our national debt is almost $40 trillion and our unfunded liabilities are approaching $100 trillion, financed by a GDP of $30 trillion, another of her quotes drives home the reality:

We are told that the present Government have learned from their mistakes. I say that they have not learned. They still believe that you can spend your way out of recession and that you can create jobs by inflation… and that is the road to ruin. … You can’t tax and spend your way into prosperity. Eventually, you run out of other people’s money.

(This is more commonly remembered as “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”)

As a merchant’s daughter, Thatcher understood what so many of our career politicians don’t, because so many of them have never had private sector jobs or been part of an enterprise that actually created wealth – and just to be clear, lawyers rarely if ever actually create wealth or anything else of value. A common paraphrase of her remarks about such people is “We have been ruled by men who live by illusions … the illusion that there is some other way of creating wealth than hard work and satisfying your customers.”

Thatcher hit the bullseye with this idea, too, summed up in a common paraphrase: “The patronage state is an arrogant state. It assumes it can spend your money better than you do. Yet it expects you to work for it in the first place.”

Along those same lines, Thatcher anticipated the evolution of the left’s political MO beginning with the ascent of Barack Obama, where every critique, criticism, or disagreement was labeled racism, then expanded to every element of American politics: Homophobic, Islamophobic, Sexist, etc. She clearly recognized the tactics: “I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.”

The Iron Lady addressed what would become one of America’s biggest problems when someone like Donald Trump, who is not a creature of the Swamp and wanted to upset the apple cart, came into office:

Whether it is in the United States or in mainland Europe, written constitutions have one great weakness. That is that they contain the potential to have judges take decisions which should properly be made by democratically elected politicians.

If there’s anything that characterizes America in 2026, it’s the army of black-robed judicial activists who think they have the power to transform themselves into the Executive. These leftist judges are making a mockery of our Constitution, and sadly, Congress and the White House are allowing them to do so.

And she understood that the left was not only a danger at home, but was an equally dangerous threat on the world stage. Her frequent speeches about Marx have resulted in this paraphrase: “To the extent that the West is to blame at all for the ills of the Third World, it is to the extent that the West created Marx and his successors, among whom must be numbered many of those who advised the Third World leaders in post-war years.” From the UN to the EU to the Democrat party, Marxism has almost certainly caused more death and destruction across the country and around the world than any other philosophy in all of human history.

And particularly resonant today is the fact that Thatcher understood what it meant to be an ally. After allowing Reagan to use US bases in the UK to strike Gaddafi, while other European allies wouldn’t allow him to use their airspace, she is reputed to have said the following, although it’s a paraphrase of several speeches, not a quotation:

It had the effect of cementing the Anglo-American alliance. What’s the good of having bases if when you want to use them you’re not allowed to by the home country. It made America realise that Britain was her real and true friend, when they were hard up against it and wanted something, and that no one else in Europe was. They’re a weak lot, some of them in Europe you know. Weak. Feeble.

There were many other jewels, of course. These are two of the best:

“Many of our troubles are due to the fact that our people turn to politicians for everything.”

“Being powerful is a lot like being a woman: If you have to tell someone that you are, invariably, you are not.”

Maggie Thatcher had a clarity of vision and an understanding of the nature of man and the nature of government that few Americans (or Brits for that matter!) appreciate today, and sadly, even fewer politicians.

____________________________________________________________________

Democrat Kings Want Our Heads

What is the real point of these ‘No Kings’ rallies?

BY:          J.B. Shurck, The American Thinker (March 31,2026).

American leftists held another “No Kings” rally last weekend.  Democrats and their ideological allies gathered in city parks and town squares to tell the rest of us how awful we are.  They screamed obscenities and called us “fascists” and “Nazis.”  They demanded President Trump’s removal from office.  Some even brazenly wished for his death. 

To non-leftists, these things are cringeworthy spectacles.  The participants look loony and behave immaturely.  They are not serious people.  Their messages make no sense.  How are they able to protest so vocally if they are living under the yoke of tyranny?  How are they able to call for President Trump’s death if he is truly a malevolent king?  Such riddles are never asked or answered.  We are expected to treat their hurt feelings as reasonable justification for their demands to overthrow the government.  

Democrats’ tantrums resemble nonsensical petitions listing infantile grievances, such as: (1) Hillary really won!  (2) Russia, Russia, Russia!  (3) Don’t forget Epstein!  (4) Trump incited an “insurrection” on January 6!  (5) Biden should have imprisoned Trump!  (6) Kamala really won!  (7) The War in Ukraine is good; the War in Iran is bad!  (8) Trump is attacking the press!  (9) Trump is raising oil prices!  (10) Trump has lost his mind!  (11) Trump will never leave office!  (12) Trump must leave Venezuela and Cuba alone!  (13) Israel controls Trump!  (14) We’re all going to die from “climate change”!  (15) Trump wants to bring back slavery!  (16) Trump is committing “violence” against “trans” kids!  (17) Trump is intentionally dividing the country!  (18) “Undocumented” immigrants are Americans!  (19) The votes of “undocumented” voters must be counted!

This “writ of grievances” sounds as if it came from the addled minds of a bunch of nutters hopped up on amphetamines.  Leftists want to overthrow the government but insist that Trump should be in prison for trying to “overthrow” the government.  They think Biden was of sound mind but that Trump has lost his marbles.  They ignore all of Epstein’s ties to Bill Clinton and other Democrats, while insisting Trump did something nefarious.  They call for “hate speech” and “misinformation” to be prosecuted as crimes, while denouncing Trump’s “attacks” on free speech.  They want Trump’s “monarchy” to impose “climate” regulations that would increase fuel costs, while condemning Trump for causing gas prices to rise.  They accuse Trump of fomenting “division,” while organizing nationwide protests fomenting division.  They insist that Trump’s speech represents “violence” but that their violence is protected “speech.”  It’s all very crazy.  If you are incapable of bending over and sticking your head up your own derrière, then you probably can’t make sense of anything they say.

One social media guru named Yogi beautifully lampooned the “No Kings” protests: “The modern left’s definition of fascism: You love your country?  Fascist.  You want to enforce the border?  Racist.  You think parents should raise their kids?  Bigot.  You want to know who’s voting in your elections?  Jim crow.”  Yogi then pointed out how ridiculous leftists are for ignoring all the aristocrats who have been ruling over them for decades: 

“Congress has a 15% approval rating.  80% of Americans disapprove.  97% of incumbents got re-elected.  Chuck Schumer.  46 years.  Longer than Stalin.  Steny Hoyer.  45 years.  Longer than Mao.  Mitch McConnell.  42 years.  5x more than Napoleon.  Nancy Pelosi.  39 years.  Longer than Henry VIII.  Maxine Waters.  35 years.  Longer than Mussolini.  Bernie Sanders.  35 years.  Triple Hitler’s entire reign.  Trump.  5 years and 3 months.  Won the popular vote and the electoral vote.  But Trump is the king.”

Online and in the streets, leftists call for violence against anyone who disagrees with them.  They bully young conservatives.  They target Republicans at their places of business.  They dox ICE agents.  They vandalize churches.  The corporate news media almost entirely ignore these threats to Americans.  Democrat politicians are rarely asked whether they condone such intimidation and violence, but when they are asked, Democrat officeholders go out of their way to paint the aggressors as “victims” and the victims as “aggressors.”  In this upside-down world, Democrats can commit all kinds of crimes and never be punished, while Republicans are prosecuted for made-up crimes.

This two-tiered “justice” in the United States is leading to disaster.  It is no longer possible for the non-leftist half of the country to ignore the fact that leftists commit crimes with impunity, while abusing the court system to target conservatives.  The Trump administration must find some way to hold accountable those who have caused the most harm, while restoring balance and impartiality to the “justice” system.  So far, little has changed.  

The Russia Collusion Hoax nearly took down a sitting president.  Hillary Clinton and her campaign team fabricated a dossier to frame Donald Trump as a Russian agent.  Barack Obama, John Brennan, James Comey, and so many other major players within the American Intelligence Community conspired to push rank disinformation upon the American people that would somehow justify the fact that the FBI and CIA were spying on the Trump campaign (and every other 2016 Republican primary candidate, for that matter).  We endured unethical lawyer Andrew Weissmann’s two-plus-years investigation of President Trump, and the whole thing was a scam meant to cover up Deep State crimes.  The corporate news media played their role as propagandists by treating the fake scandal as the most important story in the world.  To this day, the country is completely divided over the Russia Hoax.  Democrats have been brainwashed to believe both that the Russian Federation got Trump elected and that Trump secretly works for Vladimir Putin.  When close to half the country has been indoctrinated to believe such outrageous lies, someone important must go to jail!  Instead no-one has been held accountable.  

Similarly, non-leftists watched Democrats and their allies burn down cities during 2020’s Black Lives Matter riots.  Leftists caused billions of dollars in property damage, and several dozen people were killed.  Nevertheless, Kamala Harris and other prominent Democrats raised money to bail out anybody arrested.  The corporate news media ignored all the violence and destruction and instead framed the country’s costliest riots as some glorious “victory” for civil rights.  

Six months later, however, every American who showed up in D.C. to protest 2020’s election fraud was treated as a violent criminal.  Establishment politicians and corporate news propagandists immediately framed the three-hour frolic through the Capitol as an “insurrection.”  The FBI spent the next two years raiding the homes of Americans with no criminal records.  Prosecutors and judges shamelessly conspired to depict the election protest as an organized attempt to “overthrow the government,” even though none of the protesters carried firearms.  Nancy Pelosi convened a congressional show trial to drum up charges of “sedition” and “treason” against President Trump and his MAGA voters.  Only Trump voters were killed on January 6.  A Capitol Police officer shot and killed unarmed Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt.  Nevertheless, politicians (including installed “president” Joe Biden) and news propagandists continue to lie to the public by claiming that J6 protesters “murdered” police officers that day.  Congress even put up a plaque honoring the same Capitol Police who felt the need to kill unarmed women.

Tina Peters sits in jail for fighting election fraud in Colorado.  Social media platforms still censor conservative voices.  A leftist assassinated Charlie Kirk.  Other leftists have repeatedly tried to assassinate President Trump.  And leftists continue to call us “fascists.”  

Until leftist criminals who promote violence against the rest of us are held accountable, America will continue to descend into madness.  Until prominent Democrats are prosecuted for serious crimes, two-tiered “justice” will remain.  President Trump takes his constitutional oath seriously.  It is the Democrat Party that is filled with lawless, bloodthirsty kings.

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The ‘Consent of the Governed’ Myth

Politicians like to use the phrase “consent of the governed” to explain the policies that regulate our lives. 

BY:          Jim Cardoza, The American Thinker (April 1, 2026).

Politicians like to use the phrase “consent of the governed” to explain the policies that regulate our lives. They do not merely suggest passive acquiescence to actions of government but an active, informed agreement between the people and the policymakers. Yet, the phrase has obviously become detached from observable reality. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the state of California.

To say that California’s government operates with the “consent of the people” requires us to believe that millions of workers, families, and small business owners have knowingly and enthusiastically chosen a set of policies that, taken together, impose some of the highest costs of living in the United States while simultaneously eroding long-standing norms of accountability, public safety, and parental authority.

First, consider taxation. California consistently ranks among the highest-taxed states in the nation, with steep income taxes, sales taxes, and a growing array of regulatory costs that function as taxes by another name. These regulations are not abstract burdens borne by some distant class of the wealthy; they are embedded in the price of housing, utilities, food, and fuel. For government at this scale to be considered consensual, one would have to imagine that Californians were clamoring to surrender a greater share of their income than residents of nearly every other state.

The same can be said of energy policy. California’s gasoline prices are routinely among the highest in the country, driven not only by global markets but also by state-specific taxes, regulations, and fuel formulations. Moreover, policymakers press forward with plans to phase out the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles in favor of electric alternatives, even though the market clearly demonstrates most folks don’t want these cars. To explain this as an expression of popular demand is absurd. After all, if people wanted electric vehicles, they would simply buy them rather than insisting on banning the more desirable alternative.

Food costs offer another illustration. When minimum-wage mandates for fast-food workers rose dramatically, the resulting price increases were predictably passed along to consumers, many of whom are themselves of modest means. As a result, more than 1,000 fast-food restaurants had closed as of September 2024, according to Google Maps data, and the price of a cheeseburger is up 13 percent. If this too reflects “consent,” then we must believe that Californians are actively seeking higher prices for everyday goods. 

Public safety policies raise even more serious questions. Cashless bail systems, reduced penalties for certain offenses, and a broader “decarceration” philosophy have been presented as reforms aimed at equity and fairness. But these policies also carry serious consequences — rising concerns about theft, repeat offenses, and diminished deterrence. To describe such outcomes as consensual is to assume that the public has weighed these trade-offs and concluded that the trade-offs are not just acceptable; they are desirable.

Similarly, sanctuary policies and expanded benefits for those residing in the country illegally. These approaches are unavailable elsewhere for very good reasons. For such policies to be the product of consent, one must believe that Californians have explicitly requested to have their confiscated tax dollars spent not to improve their own lives but rather used as a magnet to attract lawbreakers.

The same pattern appears in the realm of firearms regulation. California enforces some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation. One must ask, does the breadth and intensity of these restrictions reflect a clear, informed consensus among the populace — or the preferences of a narrower set of policymakers and interest groups?

Education policy provides another striking example. Reports of schools withholding certain information from parents — particularly on sensitive issues involving students’ identity or well-being — raise fundamental questions about who ultimately bears responsibility for children. If parental authority can be set aside by institutional policy, how can it be argued that the resulting system reflects the considered consent of those parents?

Likewise, the debate over “medical” interventions for minors touches on deeply contested ethical terrain. For government to facilitate or fund such procedures is not merely a political decision; it is a profound statement about values, risk, and responsibility. To describe this as consensual governance requires a level of public agreement that does not exist.

Then there is the matter of infrastructure and public spending, exemplified by the state’s high-speed rail project. Originally presented to voters as a modern, efficient transportation solution, it has since become an icon for cost overruns, delays, and shifting objectives.

When the reality of a project diverges so sharply from its initial presentation, the notion of consent morphs into little more than a bad joke. Consent, after all, depends on accurate information. If what was promised is not what is delivered, then the will of the electorate was never really in play.

Few, if any, candidates campaigned on a promise of making their state the most heavily taxed in the nation, restricting consumer choices, raising the everyday cost of food, hiding information from parents, or transferring cash from the wallets of taxpayers to those of illegal aliens. These outcomes are all leftist pipe dreams — the imposition of one-party rule — not reflections on the will of citizens.

When campaign rhetoric is routinely deployed in order to deceive and misdirect, it is little wonder that the concept of “by consent of the governed” rings hollow to California citizens. 

GFK

“I’m proud to pay taxes in the United States; the only thing is, I could be just as proud for half the money.”

–Arthur Godfrey.

“The purpose of a tax cut is to leave more money where it belongs: in the hands of the working men and working women who earned it in the first place.”

–former U.S. Senator Robert Dole (R. Ks.).

“Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.”

–former President Calvin Coolidge (R.).

Today is tax day, and every American ought to be outraged.  They ought to be outraged that government at all levels takes so much of our income.  In some States, the combined federal, State, and local income taxes alone can amount to more than 60%.  And that does not account for real estate taxes, sales taxes, gasoline taxes, licensing fees, and other assorted levies.  It is pure thievery, all in pursuit of political power, and socialized redistribution of wealth schemes.  God only seeks 10% of the fruits of our labors; why should politicians get more?

Yes, yes, yes, but the “rich” can afford to pay more.  So?  Does your neighbor’s wealth give you a claim on a portion of it for your own purposes?  Lenin, meet Marx.

In America, government defines “rich” as anyone with a job.  One of my more liberal relatives was all for taxing the “rich” until she got a job, and realized how much the government took out of her paycheck.  She was not liberal very long.

More than 2/3 of federal spending is unconstitutional.  There is no authority for the federal government to provide citizens with health care, housing, food stamps, Social Security, or any of the other myriad of federal programs.  But our citizenry is both largely ignorant and greedy.  They are ignorant of our Constitution and the purpose of government.  And they are greedy.  Don’t think so?  Try and convince an aid recipient that they are not entitled to their “benefits”.  It will not go well.

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government.  It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury.  After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy.”

—The Daily Oklahoman (December 9, 1951).

Is this not where we are now?  Of course it is!  How do you think we got $39 trillion in debt (and counting).  And that $39 trillion does not include benefits promised by Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid (again, all unconstitutional).

We need to drastically cut spending.  We need to drastically cut regulations.  We need to drastically cut taxes.  We need to make Washington, D.C. into a backwater, which rarely touches our daily lives, and exists mainly as a tourist attraction for families and school field trips.  Can you imagine how much prosperity and opportunity would exist for all if government was not sucking up so much?  Try. 

GFK