SHE’S BEEN MISTREATED NOT DEFEATED

AMERICAN FLAG 1

By Don Kenton Henry

 

The Lady’s served her children well

She’s known joy and she’s known hell

She’s lost more than just one son and daughter too

She’s been through tragedy and triumph

Ever watchful and reliant

And she does it all for me and you

 

A shining beacon across the seas leading those yearning to be free

With hopes of dignity and safety; a chance to make a better life

Where a person is judged by deed – not their color or their creed

To pursue happiness and liberty without strife

 

But it’s easy to throw stones, cast bullets and throw bombs

At one who helps those who might be different

And none are quite so vulnerable as those who stand tall above the crowd, shouting liberty out loud

And dare give everyone a place at a table set for all

See Freedom cannot be when it’s meant for just you and me

It has to be for brothers and sisters weak and small – as well as strong and able

Let our differences not be a threat – this is the lady’s test

To keep us all together as a whole

So step forward, help her hold that torch, feed her heart, water her soul

Teach your young to drench the roots of freedom

 

But please bring something to her table; give whatever you are able

Let her know that you are grateful to live the life you choose

And realize the tide of freedom ebbs if that arm drops by her side

Then all you take for granted . . . we will lose

 

Take a stand – don’t bite the hand that feeds you

Don’t let us lose the right to speak, protect our families, take a knee or choose our leaders

It’s been a glorious ride . . . though of late she’s been mistreated

She can only be defeated from within

And you cannot keep her by replacing things which made her great

With things from which so many died and so many did escape

Cast your lot with Lady Liberty, ring her bell, water her tree

Lock hands and stand with me, keep her safe as she has we

Stand tall with our Lady Liberty

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“IT’S THE ECONOMY” . . . (NOT YOUR LOVE LIFE, STUPID)

― Op-ed by D. Kenton Henry

And not your potty breaks, either, “Snowflake”. (To plagiarize the apt and insightful adjective Clint Eastwood ascribes to the thumb-sucking generation of politically correct automatons.)  What’s at stake for America in our November presidential election is a whole lot more important than social faux-issues the left (which includes Hillary) have contrived to distract the electorate from the real issues. Issues which will determine the long-term welfare of our great country. These have nothing to do with matters such as what attire you wear into the bathroom. Or the threat, “Republicans are going to take away your marriage certificate.” The first has never been a concern of the right. We don’t care if men want to dress like their mother or women like their dad. Our concern was that the proposed law (you know the one I’m referring to) was only going to make it easier for a pedophile or sexual predator to have easier access to his more vulnerable prey. Consider this: A big burly male lumberjack with a fetish for children walks into a woman’s bathroom full of little girl’s at the local YMCA. As a woman, you confront him and he says he “identifies as a female”. How are you going to prove he doesn’t and convince him to leave without discriminating against him? And now, since you’re the only one in there with him, he decides that “variety is the spice of life” and hauls you into a stall and has a go at you. Yes, there are all kinds of stupid to go around.

And no one is going to take away someone’s already issued marriage license or try to change a law allowing same-sex marriage in a state which has ratified that right. Get over yourself. In the scheme of things, you’re not that important. The United States Constitution makes it pretty clear we are all entitled to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. That pretty well covers it. There are no exclusions or qualifications. The only objection for most of the right, and those even more familiar with the Constitution is that per the 10th Amendment, it was always a state’s right issue. In brief, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” That pretty well covers it, also. Specifically, the powers entrusted to the Federal government, known as the enumerated powers, listed in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution include making treaties, regulating interstate and international commerce, maintaining a postal system and coining money. We all know how good the feds are at managing these things but . . . I digress. All other matters were left to the sovereign states, their people, and their Congress. Then the Supreme Court, in the tank with the WH and, as they did with Obamacare, pulled a rabbit out of a hat, over-reached their authority (in the opinion of this author) and took the matter out of the hands of the states and obliged the states to license same-sex marriage. This should have come as no surprise as we’ve always known this administration has no respect for the Constitution (and obviously has some dirt on some members of the Supreme Court). However, in the end, and, as I initially implied, no one really gives a damn about your love life.

The real issues that should determine who is elected to lead our country forward are:

1) A failing economy: The federal debt stands at 19.5 trillion dollars. With a bullet. http://www.usdebtclock.org/  This would not be as insurmountable a problem as it appears except that the Real Unemployment Rate is 9.8% and the Labor Participation Rate is almost lower than it’s been in 39 years. Our national economy (GDP) grew a pathetic 1.2 percent last quarter―an embarrassment to the Obama administration and preview of only more to come with a Hillary administration. She will double down on Obama’s failed economic policies in her attempt to fulfill pie-in-the-sky promises she made to potential voters in an attempt to buy them away from admitted socialist, Bernie “Sell-Out” Sanders. With this low a GDP, the debt will only accrue. And if Hillary gets elected and tries to spend our way out of this economic pit, even more so. Heaven forbid the Fed’s artificial suppression of interest rates, in an attempt to prop up the stock market and make Obama look good, ceases. If that ever happens ― we couldn’t pay off the National debt until the sun cools, contracts, implodes and wipes the books clean. Until then, our credit won’t be good anywhere in the Universe.

2) Terrorism entwined with immigration: Specifically, “Islamic Terrorism”. It’s occurring everywhere the world over. It’s done in the name of religion and, whether a perversion of Islam or not, it’s not Buddhists , Hindus, Jews, Christians, pagans or atheists that are perpetuating it in mass. It’s Muslims. No, not all. But based on approximately 1.6 billion Muslims in the world―if only 3% are intent on executing Jihad and establishing a caliphate calling for the elimination of infidels (yes, that’s you and me, Snowflake)―that leaves 48,000,000 we have to worry about. ISIS has been instructed by their Mullahs to blend in with the refugees and infiltrate Western society. They have been instructed to take over our communities, become the voting majority, replace English Common Law with their barbaric Sharia Law and―when the time is right―rise up and kill us. And Hillary Clinton wants to increase the number of Syrian refugees we take in, house, feed and, otherwise subsidize at our expense by 500%! Is there anything she won’t do for more votes? To the point she will import our own assassins?

To clarify the balance of power as dictated by the Constitution as it relates to immigration: While due process is to be applied to non-citizens present in our country, matters of immigration and national security are the authority of Congress. Not the Executive branch. Individuals not yet in our country are not entitled to any rights conferred by our Constitution to our citizens, But if Hillary gets elected and overrides the Constitution with executive orders the way Obama has ― Welcome Wagon may be greeting ISIS in your neighborhood with discounts on fertilizer at a lawn and garden store near you.

3) Obamacare: The future of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is at stake. We were lied to in order to support it ― “If you like your plan, you can keep it.” “If you like your doctor you can keep him.” It had to be passed in the middle of the night “before we can know what’s in it”. All lies. I’m not only a consumer, I’m a health insurance broker specializing in individual and family coverage and have for 30 years. I deal first hand each day with all the falsehoods regarding Obamacare we were led to believe.

We were also promised our premiums would go down. Instead, they have increased at a rate that, in many cases, is greater than before the passage of the Act in March of 2010. The reality is unless you receive a subsidy for a significant portion of your premium, you are in shock over your cost for health insurance. In other words, if your fellow taxpayers chip in and cover your bill you might find this to be a pretty good deal. (Never mind that pesky deficit.) The only time premiums have diminished somewhat is this past January, at least in my home state of Texas, when I and approximately 150 of my clients were forced off our PPO and into HMO coverage. Now we find we not only could not keep our plans but we have lost access to our doctors and hospitals. With the rationing of our providers comes the rationing of our treatment. But not to worry about that hip replacement. In the words of Obama, “There must be a pill for that.”

This fall, just before November’s election, people are going to be getting wind of compromises in and premium increases for their 2017 health insurance. Just before they head to the polls to vote for our next president. I don’t have to be prescient like the “Great Karnack” or Nostradamus to know that come November 8th they are going to be an angry lot and―barring a significant domestic terrorist event coinciding with the election―it’s going to, along with the economy in general―be a pre-eminent issue on their mind.

I don’t know what Donald Trump’s plan is for Obamacare. Other than he says he’s going to repeal it. But I do know that Hillary Clinton plans to double down on it, replacing it with a single-payer system. Why? So we can all have health care like our veterans enjoy? Or so that she can co-mingle health care for everyone with Medicare and deplete funds to which Medicare recipients have contributed to their entire working careers for the purpose of quality health care late in life? For the benefit of people, many of whom have never contributed a dime to our economy or their own welfare?

And you wonder why there is this watershed rejection of Washington and the status quo. Bear in mind when you go to the polls in November that one candidate represents a perpetuation of those things. In spades. And the other represents, at least, the possibility for meaningful and substantive change. Change upon which the survival of this country is predicated.

The title of this post, “It’s The Economy . . .”, is a spin- off of the mantra of James Carville’s successful campaign on behalf of democrat Bill Clinton to upseat George H. Bush in the ’92 presidential election. That campaign was based on three things:

  1. Change vs. more of the same
  2. The economy, stupid
  3. Don’t forget health care.

And the irrefutable irony is that, twenty-four years later―what should be the deciding factors . . . remain the same.

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TED CRUZ: MARTYR TO PRIDE OR PRINCIPLE?

TED 2

Op-ed by thisdonald

I’ve had approximately twenty hours to process what Ted Cruz said or (more accurately) didn’t say at the Republican National Convention last evening. And also what he did. First, let me say, I have supported him, from here in my home state of Texas, in his Senate elections and all through the presidential primary process. I am a Constitutional Conservative and, as such, Cruz was my obvious and first choice. Had he proven more electable than Donald Trump, he would have remained my choice. Unfortunately, no republican proved more electable than Trump. No one had the charisma or ability to tap into the angst of the American electorate to the degree Donald Trump did and he easily emerged as the people’s choice. Ted Cruz shares my principles and values more than any of the former candidates. However, Ted was a candidate with great intelligence but short on charisma. At least in the context of a contest with Donald Trump. (And so was every other candidate, for that matter.) It doesn’t matter if Ted Cruz was or remains the smartest candidate in the room. Or that he is the most fierce defender of the Constitution. If he couldn’t get himself elected―it paid no dividend. Trump got himself elected as the republican nominee and I think Trump will get himself elected President. Ted will never have the panache of Trump but he could have caught on to what was working for Trump and, like Trump, and had the courage to tell middle America what we so desperately wanted and needed to hear. But he didn’t. He just patiently waited for Trump to derail and that never happened. It didn’t happen because that’s how desperately America needed what Trump was selling. “Make America great again―don’t apologize for who or what we are and―get out on board or get the hell out of the way!” So much did we need to hear this, there was no stumble Trump could make big enough for him to lose his support.

I am more than disappointed that Ted Cruz did not climb aboard the Trump Train last night. That being said, he was on the horns of a dilemma. Literally. He could do as Dr. Ben Carson did―put his personal pride aside and (at least for the time being); forget the disparaging comments Trump made about Cruz’s wife and father; and put our country first by supporting Trump in getting elected. Or―he could break his pledge to support the republican candidate (whoever it was) if not himself. I’ll be the first to say, “That’s a tough one.” Not quite up there with “Sofie’s Choice”, but tough. I’d like to say he made the correct one but I can’t. Being a strict constitutionalist, at least to me, implies putting your country above all else. Including personal welfare and pride. As our Founding Fathers did. Cruz claims to be one but he put family honor and personal pride first. To me, nothing I or my family have will mean much if we lose America and our way of life. And that is what is at stake here. I am disappointed and somewhat embarrassed for him that Cruz did not sacrifice the former for the latter. He should never have taken the convention stage if he could not endorse Trump. That decision has lumped him in with the Republican elites in so many ways. “I endorse Donald J. Trump for the Presidency of the United States!” That’s what Cruz didn’t say last night.

Now to address what he did. I think Cruz was positioning himself for the presidency. I don’t think being a Supreme Court Justice would satisfy him. As qualified as he is, I don’t think he wants to spend the rest of his life behind the bench.  He wants to be on the front line leading the charge. I think he positioned himself such that―in the event Trump fails to be elected; or follow through on his promises; or totally fails to honor conservative principles―Cruz will be there in 2020 to say, “I told you so.” And to offer the alternative.

Lastly . . . you gotta admit―Cruz stands on HIS principles no matter the venue or opposition. Which is entirely why I supported him in the first place. But, for now, Republicans must win back the White House. Which means we have to elect Donald Trump. We have to start somewhere, or as a nation we are doomed. I don’t think even Ted Cruz could turn our sinking ship around after four years of Hillary on top of the eight we’ve already suffered with Obama!

Cruz’s knowledge and defense of the Constitution is too great an asset in Washington to lose. There are too few like him. But he needs to get on board in his support of Trump or―in the event Trump loses to Hillary―forever be perceived as bearing some of the responsibility for Hillary’s election.

TED 1

(Ted waving, possibly goodbye, to his chances for the White House in 2020.)

#NeverHillary

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TERRORIST DRIVES A TRUCK THROUGH THE GUN CONTROL ARGUMENT

NICE FRANCE 1

Last evening, while revelers celebrated Bastille Day in Nice France, a terrorist drove a truck into the crowd. At last count, 84 are dead and dozens more seriously injured. This drives a big stake in the heart of the cry for more gun control. In the face of endless attacks on innocents by Islamic, or hate-filled terrorists in general, President Obama and his liberal sycophants continue to call for more gun control. This is not a problem created by too many guns. That is a false argument or red herring designed to avoid addressing the real problem and source of the threat. The real problem is the intent of the perpetrator and the psyche of the terrorist. It seems obvious, to the point of absurdity, to point out that a gun is an inanimate object. As such it is incapable of forming the intent or what, in the legal community, is known as the mens rea (guilty mind) necessary to murder or harm another human being. It is the agenda of the left to perpetuate this argument because, one ― they know they have played a part in fostering the damage to the American and world psyche and, two ― they know it is much easier to focus on a symptom rather than to take the politically incorrect position of attacking a religious based ideology bent on destroying western civilization or admitting blacks are just as capable of hate crimes as whites. In addition to guns, no inanimate object such as a knife, bomb, airplane or―in the case of last night’s attack―a truck, form the intention of killing humans. Only the mind of the perpetrator is capable of that. These items are simply mechanisms by which to realize their objective. In another’s hands they are simply innocent and useful tools.

So our government can, as other governments have done already, ban guns and―even if we eliminated every last one―the terrorist would still find a tool with which to kill. There is no need to belabor this. The reality is―a fight can never be won on one’s heels. Whether in the ring, street, ring or battlefield, the fighter must be going forward in order to win. President Obama has had us on our heels for eight years now. He hasn’t even accomplished his goal of containing the enemy, as they spread like a cancer throughout the globe. Europe opened a Pandora’s box by having open borders and allowing refugees to flood into their countries and communities by the thousands. Now they lurk like rats in a sewer system waiting for the right moment to rise up and kill westerners while they innocently try to go about lives of peaceful co-existence. The enemy is within the gates of Europe and there is no putting the genie back in the bottle. There is also no co-existing with those bent on establishing a caliphate and the genocide necessary to accomplish such.

It is not too late to defeat the enemy within America. A lot depends on who we elect as our next president. One candidate wants to sensibly limit the potential enemies coming into our country and the other wants to open the gates and let them infiltrate our ranks  as they have those of Europe. They have to be stopped at the gate; hunted down where they already exist in this country and destroyed in and with their base of operation overseas.

Whether it’s a radical Islamist that wants to kill gay’s―or what they consider infidels in general―or a black that hates and wants to kill whites―it all goes to the mind of killer. We will never have the means to reverse or cure all infected with this perverted mentality. There aren’t enough psychiatrists or social workers in the world to accomplish that. We have reverse what we can of the racist psyche of our own and, when it comes to Islamic terrorists, take the war to them at home and abroad. We have to kill them until, like Japan in WWII, they decide they can’t take any more losses of their own. Or we have to kill them all. I’m sorry. Sadly, that’s what it gets down to.

―thisdonald.com

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