It is obvious to folks of all political persuasions that our President, Joe Biden’s mental acuity is fading rapidly.  I say this not in derision but in some measure of pity.  

Soon, members of his ruling party will need to make a decision to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution regarding incompetency of the President.  I would guess this decision is on the near horizon and will be exercised sooner rather than later.

When that happens the Vice President, Kamala Harris will be sworn in as President. 

This is a person who also ran for President but did not secure a single delegate in the primary races.  She was unable even to carry her home state of California.  Her former paramour,  Willie Brown, previously California State Assembly Leader and San Francisco Mayor, would not endorse her.  She does not have the backing of a significant portion of the Democratic Party.

Many believe that though Joe Biden supposedly chose her for a running mate because she “checked off two boxes” as both a woman and “minority’,  the real reason he chose her is because he perceived her to be an even weaker leader than he is.

If placed in the Presidency we can expect President Kamala Harris to begin to fade away in a very short time. The powers that be in her party will need to find a way to give her a final “nudge” to the sidelines.  Perhaps with help from the Bill & Hillary Cartel.  Or, perchance you think Hillary will look with favor on Kamala becoming the first woman president?  The Clinton’s have a knack for making no longer wanted folks to exit stage left.

When this happens, and I don’t expect a lengthy time in the Oval Office for Ms. Harris,  the party will need to again invoke that convenient 25th Amendment and remove her from office.  

Lets see.  Under the Constitution who is next in line for the Presidency?

Drum Roll please………….

You got it.  The Speaker of the House of Representatives.  Nancy Pelosi.

Timing is of the essence.  Keep in mind the Democrats need to complete this plan of succession before the 2022 mid-term elections when it is just possible they might lose control of the House of Representatives. 

Anybody out there want to try and convince me that this was not the Party Plan from the beginning?

Are you scared yet.  

Bob Bandy – July 2021

photo credit – Victor Davis Hanson – Zerohedge – Tyler Durden

Excerpt from an article by Victor Davis Hanson June 11, 2021

Victor Davis Hanson: This Isn’t Your   Father’s Left-Wing Revolution

Sixties protestors mainlined divorce, abortion on demand, promiscuity, drug use and one-parent homes. But by the late 1970s and the 1980s, most veteran cultural revolutionaries had gotten married, were raising a family, bought a house, got a job and made money.

This time around, their offspring’s left-wing assault is different — and far more ominous.

The woke grandchildren of the former outsiders are now more ruthless systematic insiders. The woke and wired new establishment knows how to use money and power to rebirth America as something the founders and most current Americans never envisioned.

Name one mainline institution that the woke left does not now control — and warp. The media? The campus? Silicon Valley? Professional sports? The corporate boardroom? Foundations? The K-12 educational establishment? The military hierarchy? The government deep state? The FBI top echelon?

The left absorbed them all. But this time around, members of the left really believe that “by any means necessary” is no mere slogan. Instead, it is a model of how to disrupt or destroy American customs, traditions and values.

end of excerpt – full article available on line

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In a world where I can’t turn on a TV, look at a newspaper or hear a conversation without being confronted with “Wokeness”, Black Lives Matter and  Critical Race Theory, I have begun re-examining my own views on “Critical” issues in life.  In the process I have developed what I will call “Critical Bob Theory”.  My own theory is based on observations and facts and not on heated hyperbole. 

Critical Bob Theory

It seems that as a culture and nation we seem to be losing our grasp on established boundaries on cultural values, acceptable behavior, equal justice and expectations. Things that we can depend on being true, every time, all the time. 

Many sports are played on a field with boundaries and specific rules that must be complied with by contestants on both sides of the ball.  If those boundaries are not respected and rules not equally applied, chaos is the only possible outcome.

Nature has rules that are constant and predictable.  Gravity is one.  Fall or jump from an airplane several thousand feet in the air above the ground without a parachute or other flotation device and you will fall to earth. Not once in a while but every single time you do it. 

If we defy the laws of nature we will lose every time.  Natures laws are like basic mathematics, not negotiable.  2+2 is always 4.  

Civilization needs constants and as citizens we need reliable boundaries.  If our civilization loses it’s predictable constants and boundaries, we will lose our way and end up in a “through the looking glass” world where up is down and down is up, nothing makes sense, lacking direction in our lives and ending up confused and troubled.  I see much of this happening now.  Look at too many of our major cities that have become infested with unpunished crime, drugs and homeless encampments filled with misery and filth.

Most people of faith (I am Christian) have a set of laws set down by God to live by and to follow.  Honor your Father and your Mother,  Thou shall not murder, thou shall not steal, etc.  These were Commandments, not suggestions. They are constants.  They don’t change and if  we stray from those constants we find ourselves in trouble, morally and in many cases legally. 

At one time most of us thought Government was a constant, ruled and kept in check by the Constitution, Bill of Rights and those Amendments like guaranteeing Freedom of Speech,  Right to Bear Arms, etc.

A constant.  with Laws and Rights that apply to everyone equally, no fudging. 

But, government is not applying laws evenly and appears on a path to shred much of the original Constitution, Bill of Rights and those Amendments. 

If you join a group for a peaceful, unarmed, noisy protest at the Nations Capitol you can be labeled a Domestic Terrorist, locked up, without bail, indefinitely without trial.  However, if you engage in violent protests, destroying the private property of innocent citizens, looting and burning large areas of a major city under a false flag of “Racial Injustice” there are no legal consequences.  If arrested you will be released without bail and any record of arrest will be expunged by a corrupt legal system. 

Government no longer fills important positions on a merit based system.  Decisions are being made based on gender, gender identification, political affiliation and skin color.  

Government is no longer a reliable constant, it has become a purely political entity that seeks its own agenda and power for those in charge.  It also wants to force feed this divisive and destructive Woke Culture and Critical Race Theory propaganda to the most vulnerable of our population, our children.  

Nature is constant and has certain immutable laws.  Violate them at your own peril.  In the womb and at birth we are all either male or female.  Government may tell us that we can choose any of a long list of genders to live our lives as, it may even declare there are no longer any gender differences, surgeons can alter, many would say mutilate, physical biological differences,  but in the end they are not able to change genetics.  Too often these efforts only create pain, confusion and some measure of personal and social chaos.

I believe boundaries are an essential element of any successful culture and civilization.  Without them civilizations crumble and fall into the dustbin of failed civilizations in history.

If you agree with much of what is written here, please share this article with family, friends and neighbors.

Bob Bandy – June 2021

I wrote the following/below post some eight years ago during a particularly low period in the Obama Administration.  Skyrocketing National Debt, very high unemployment, Corporate America and jobs fleeing the country, and Administration statements like “This is the new normal” and “Manufacturing jobs will not be coming back to America”.  At the time I felt almost hopeless.  Incompetency had won and the future was bleak.

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EVER WONDER WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO “YOUR” WORLD?

In some ways I feel a little like Rip Van Winkle awakening from a long sleep wondering where I am and what has happened to the happy and ordered world I grew up in.

It seems to me that our lives are now ruled by a consortium of Clowns, Criminals and Lunatics.

A  journey through a looking glass into a world where the Lords of Darkness have stolen power and are creating a society where no good deed will go unpunished.

If the United States were the Milky Way Galaxy, then Washington D.C. would be the gravitational heart of that galaxy.

At the heart of  the Milky Way Galaxy there resides a Super-Massive Black Hole.  In space lingo a Black Hole is the collapsed heart of a large star that has compressed into a point where gravity is so intense that everything, including other stars and star stuff,  is sucked in and nothing of any recognized value, not even light, can escape.

Washington D.C. is like that.  A place where our tax dollars get sucked in and nothing of any value can possibly escape.

You know why?  Its because the Clowns, Criminals and Lunatics are busy stirring a big cauldron to turn our tax dollars into a system of Food  Stamps and Flat Screen TV’s to keep the masses complacent.

The Romans first introduced the concept of Bread and Circuses to keep the rabble quiet and content.  The Dark Lords in Washington have only copied them.

What?  Did you expect something creative and original to come out of Washington D.C. ?  Have you forgotten this is the place where 98% of our political leaders give the rest a bad name?

(Bob Bandy – Feb. 2013)

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As Yogi Berra reportedly said “It’s Like Deja Vu All Over Again”

I find myself re-visiting what I wrote “back then”. 

Living in a surreal world with an empty suit “President” totally under the control of a Pelosi-Schumer Crime syndicate, who are in turn directed by a shadowy “Star Chamber” of “Deep State” far left “Progressive Marxist’s” bent on the destruction of our way of life, our Constitution and our Rights under the Constitution.  All under the false flag of Social Justice. 

I firmly believe all of these folks have achieved the current state of affairs as the result of, in my opinion, a very skillfully orchestrated, and expertly executed, Coup d’etat fraudulent election, almost assuredly with the help of an unfriendly foreign power.  I am not alone in this opinion.

So what can we do?  We can peacefully, legally, persistently and loudly “Push Back” at every opportunity.  For example we do not have to allow our children to be indoctrinated with Marxist ideas in our schools. 

Always keeping in mind the so-called “Progressive’s” are going to do everything in their power to shut us up and shut down any opposition to their schemes. 

Just something to think about and consider as a call to action before the America most of us love is gone forever.

Bob Bandy – May 2021

John Carpenters

Escape from New York (1981) IMDb

photo: Google

I am reprinting the following article because what it has to say is important.  Like many others I believe there are those who would take us down a path to destruction as a nation.  One that we have grown up in and many have fought and died to sustain.  These folks may be well meaning but they are engineering a national, and perhaps international disaster.  What follows is excerpted from the beginning of the article.

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The Following is Reprinted from:

Converge Media

WOKEISM – THE NEW RELIGION OF THE WEST

There is a new religion. It is moving like a tidal wave through every facet of western culture, shaping and redefining society as it goes. This religion masquerades under the guise of compassion and justice, but underneath is an evil ideology that is incompatible with western values and incongruent with the Christian worldview. This movement did not start in Minneapolis on May 25th, when George Floyd was murdered. That event acted as a watershed moment for an ideology that has been growing for decades. If left unchecked, this new religion could lead to a complete unravelling of western culture.

There are many names for what we currently find ourselves in; wokeness, political correctness, and cancel culture are some of them, but these only encapsulate a portion of the phenomenon. Cultural Marxism, neo-marxism, social justice, identity politics, and Critical Theory are broader descriptors. We would like to use a term that adequately captures the religiosity of the movement: wokeism.

Wokeism is a religion. Although it has not been organized into any formal religious structure, it has all the functions of religious doctrine. It has a unique epistemology (theory of knowledge), an evaluation of the human condition, and a redemption narrative. But from where did it come?

Critical Theory

In the early 20th century, a German school of philosophy called the Frankfurt School developed a social philosophy called Critical Theory. In a nutshell, Critical Theory critiques culture and challenges the underlying power structures of society. It is a movement to “liberate human beings from the circumstances that enslave them,” reinterpreting western culture as a story of the oppressor vs. oppressed. In Critical Theory, the only things that exist are hierarchies of power, and those hierarchies must be torn down. The goal of this movement, whether stated or not, is nothing less than the complete dismantling and rebuilding of western culture from the ground up.

Critical Theory started to become prominent among western academics in the 90s and eventually infiltrated almost every university in the western world. In recent years, the ideology has left the university and has made the jump to media and corporate culture, establishing itself as the primary moral culture within western societies. Currently, the main lines of separation between oppressors and oppressed are race, sex and gender identity.

This is not just a political or social movement within the framework of traditional enlightenment values. Concepts such as logic, science, and reason are viewed as tools of the oppressive white patriarchy. Values like individualism, hard work, punctuality and delayed gratification would be understood as perpetuating white supremacy. Critical Theory has become much more than a social philosophy and is the primary philosophical driving force behind the new civil religion of wokeism.

The goal of this movement, whether stated or not, is nothing less than the complete dismantling and rebuilding of western culture from the ground up.

The New Religion

Why call wokeism a new religion? The fact is that the rise of secular humanism over the past 70 years created a religion-shaped hole in our culture. Secularism, for all of its cultural dominance, failed to offer a robust philosophy of meaning and purpose, nor did it provide any moral framework for how to act within the world besides “be a good person because the alternative is undesirable for everyone.” Alternatively, wokeism has developed its view of reality with its own set of values and narratives. From the ashes of secular humanism, a new civil religion rises.

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To read the article in its entirety just google:

Wokeism the New Religion of the West

Bob Bandy – April 2021

One of my biggest gripes with Government (Federal and State) is that they make a habit of telling us lies.  They treat us like we are stupid.  Unfortunately, there is a sad percentage of the voters that swallow the lies and give Government good reason to believe they are right in their assumption.

Example: Our governments tell us they are going to pay for all their “programs”  by “taxing the rich” and by taxing “wealthy corporations”.

FACT:  It is true right now that some 90% of all Income Taxes are paid by a very small percentage of upper wage earners and the “rich”.  Approximately 50% of voters pay no Income Tax at all.  It is also a fact that if the government were to tax all the “rich” at 100% of their income it would not fund government for more than a couple of months.  After that Government could not go “back for more” because government already took it all (100%).  Folks who make that kind of money are not going to continue doing so if you take it all in taxes.  They aren’t stupid.

FACT:  Corporations don’t pay taxes.  Their customers do.  If you raise taxes on corporations, they pass the tax increase on to the customer in higher prices.  They have to or else go out of business.  Lots of folks like to cry out against high corporate management salaries but they are a very small percentage of the corporate overhead and if you want to succeed as a corporation you must attract the best management talent. I am often amused that the same folks who scream about corporate management salaries do not scream equally loudly about multi-million dollar salaries paid to athletes and entertainers.

Back in February of 2019 I wrote an article titled Little Red Hen Oil Company. (You can read the article – just type Little Red Hen in the article Search box and click “enter”).

In this article I documented that at the time of writing the Federal Government was taxing the consumer at 18.4 cents on every gallon of gasoline purchased and California State Government was taxing the consumer at 58.3 cents a gallon.  Oil company profits averaged about 7 cents a gallon, and that 7 cents a gallon profit was subject to Corporate Taxes by the Federal and State Government.  Keep in mind working taxpayers, including the working poor are the ones who pay these gasoline taxes.   I will let you decide who is the greedy party here.

For purposes of todays article I will use the following example.

Example:  Proctor & Gamble manufactures many products used in our homes.  Proctor & Gamble wholesales their products to their customer, Walmart.  Both of these companies are Corporations.  When Government raises taxes on these Corporations, in this example Proctor & Gamble, the companies wholesale price goes up and the price increase is passed on to Walmart.  Since Walmart is a corporation they also must pay an increased Corporate tax and must raise prices on products they sell to their customers.  A lot of Walmart’s customers are average working folks, including the working poor.  So, these folks end up paying the “hidden” corporate tax instituted by the government to punish the “greedy” Corporations.  Think about that for a minute.  Government just taxed you by proxy.

We consumers get upset with Walmart or Safeway or Shell Oil because the products they provide and we need go up in price and we think they are greedy and should be punished when they are really only acting as Tax Collectors for Government.

All this would be more palatable if Government was a good Steward of all this Tax Revenue created but they are not.  A very large percentage of this money ends up in the pockets of corrupt officials or their friends and relatives on padded Government payrolls.

It is just another way that Governments uses hidden taxes on “Joe Six-pack” and the “Working Poor” who are struggling to pay the bills and feed families.

This two-faced charade is repeated throughout our economy as Governments at all levels squeezes companies, individuals and business for taxes, fees, licenses, permits and all manner of “protection money”.  All the while these self-serving politicians, many of whom have never worked at a real job a day in their lives or tried to make a payroll, blame Job Creators and Corporations for being “greedy”.

Remember the Politicians Creed

“If God had not wanted them shorn, He would not have made them sheep.”          Bandit Calvera – The Magnificent Seven – 1960

Bob Bandy – March 2021