She Could Steal, But She Could Not Rob

It's 2019 and there is about a year and a half before the next Presidential Election in 2020. You would think the snowflakes would have calmed down by now. Robert Mueller has submitted his report and says he's not indicting any more liars, which is kind of sad because we all saw some big fish get away - namely, Hillary Rotten Clinton and her gang of subversives running the top law enforcement agency in the country. Considering Strzok, Page, Comey and McCabe and their communications, lying to the FBI almost seems a non-sequitur at this point. But I digress.

Whether some people like it or not, Donald Trump is the President of our United States as I type these words. The last election is behind us. Most of us have parked our political passions for the moment knowing we can take them out and dust them off as the next election draws near.

Well, most of us, anyway.

Last Friday my wife and I decided to go to the local art institute downtown and see a movie that has gotten some pretty good reviews. It was not a political movie in any manner whatsoever. It was Apollo Eleven, a movie that was made using existing footage taken mostly by NASA and the astronauts themselves. The movie was excellent; the images, colors and scenery were literally out of this world. Better yet, there were no Hollywood bozos in it at all. It was real, not scripted or acted out. My wife and I really enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to everybody. It was outstanding.

I'm always confused as to why some people applaud at the end of the movie. To me, applause is reserved for those talented people that can actually hear and see how much the audience liked their work. At the end of the movie, as some people do at the Munstitute (my nickname for the Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute) where the movie was shown, there was some scattered applause. Ok, whatever. What I think about applause doesn't really matter. But what followed next did.

As we were standing up in front of our seats waiting for the aisle to clear so we could exit, some gray-haired well-fed female homo sapiens (I'm gender assuming, nowadays we can't be too sure) loudly uttered If we can put men on the moon, we should be able to put a Democrat in the White House.

I was stunned. My wife asked if I heard it, and in my daze at hearing the words, asked that she repeat them so as to be sure I hadn't mistaken them. I was not mistaken, in fact, I was taken aback.

I came to enjoy a movie, not hear some old hag spout off her political opinions. My wife and I paid for that privilege, and you took it away from us, Ms. Big-Mouth. We are well aware that people have different political feelings and there is a time and place for you to express them.

But not there, not at the movie. As the title of this blog infers, you stole something from us, lady. You chose to melt like a snowflake at a movie that had nothing to do with politics. By expressing your (unwanted) political opinions at a non-political event, you demonstrated to us what complete dunderheads some of you are. Thanks for ruining what had been a very enjoyable evening up to that point, Ms. Horses-Ass.

So, in humble commemoration of that august event, let me leave you with something: A picture of what is currently floating around on many 20-dollar bills. Sooner or later you will probably handle one and if you spazz out over it, well, that's just too bad. Haters gonna hate, and here's to you, lady. In the future, please keep your political opinions to yourself in public and especially a movie theater.

PS: Judging from what I see right now, he's probably going to live there quite a while. Get used to it.

Reparations: Making Your Children Pay For The Sins of Your Fathers

Imagine this: You're driving down a road doing nothing wrong. Not speeding, swerving, or driving recklessly. Your license is valid. The car is plated and insured. You are legal in every sense of the word. Then, all of sudden you are pulled over and a cop hands you a ticket. You ask what for, and he says your grandfather was a known reckless driver that hurt someone in 1922 and this is how the justice system works now. Somebody has to pay for the sins of your forefathers, and today it's you.

Imagine your response when you go to Traffic Court and the Judge fines you a hefty sum. To your surprise, he awards it to someone you've never met or even heard of.

This is what reparations are: A fine imposed (one year, one century, or whenever) later on completely innocent people for sins that happened long ago at the hands of others. And to consider it right, just and proper shows what vacuous cheeseheads the Democratic Party in this country have become.

The idea of reparations for wrongdoing (in this case, slavery) long ago is becoming popular among Democrat Presidential candidates. Of course, they're courting the black vote, and what better way to get it then to promise ... free money. Spartacus, Fauxcahontas and Kamala-twoface are already on record as supporting it in some fashion. Bernie Slanders is dodging the question for the moment, and to his credit he is on record in 2016 as opposing it. But it's a new day, and sooner or later he'll have to go on record about it.

President  #44 made it patently clear he would not consider it; rightly so. If I remember correctly, he identified as black.

Once the door is opened, where does it stop? Do we pay the expanded generational pyramid of slave descendants only? What is going to be the litmus test to determine who really is a descendant of a slave and who isn't? What about other wrongdoings perpetrated while the country was marching towards manifest destiny? Do we pay the descendants of native Americans for cheaply purchasing their land? Do we pay them for killing their women and children (google it, it's not pretty) in a genocidal fashion?  Do we pay Mexico for taking Texas and California from them? Do we make the grandchildren of bank robbers repay the bank a hundred years later? Do we pay the children of military members because a DI roughed up dad? Do we pay the Vietnamese for spraying Agent Orange during the war? Agent Orange didn't just cause cancer in Americans; it killed a whole bunch of Vietnamese also... just as slow and awful as it later killed our GIs who served there.

No living citizen of America today has owned slaves. No black or white person alive in America today has ever been owned by another American. I've never owned a slave and nobody I know has ever been a slave. Slavery has been illegal in this country for over 150 years now. We know what happened, we know how it happened and we know when and how it stopped. We've learned the lessons and have moved on. Generations have come and gone in the meanwhile and we're far beyond where we were then.

While we're on the topic let's also say that if you were the victim of an unconscionable governmental action as were the Japanese-Americans during their illegal 3-year internment during WW2, then you are entitled to reparations. In 1988, Congress finally did the right thing and awarded $20,000 to each surviving person who was interned unjustly. But this only applied to people who were actually there, not their descendants.

Reparations is a dangerous path to go down. When one group of "victims" is paid off, the next group will pop up and demand their "fair share" for whatever ills their ancestors suffered.

To use the notion of reparations as a political tool in a campaign is despicable. But it seems there is no shortage of despicable people in politics, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

The movement of moderate Democrats further left does have a silver lining in it. Moving to radical positions such as legalizing infanticide (aka late-term abortion), reparations for slavery, and legitimizing illegal immigration including calling for voting rights for non-citizens will have one good result: Fewer Democrats will be elected, and this is not a bad thing.

If reparations for centuries-old sins perpetrated by our ancestors become reality someday, may I suggest a settlement?

One dollar each and a sincere apology, which of course, is priceless.

A New Mental Disease in America

Never mind the predictions of climate change destroying us; we are facing a much larger problem at the present. There is a recently diagnosed mental illness afflicting millions of Americans at present. Most of the afflicted do not even realize they are infected, but almost all of them display symptoms of some sort. Upon discovery by renowned researchers in the field, this disease is now known as Trump Deranged Syndrome, or TDS for short. Victims of this mental disease have been diagnosed in all 50 US States and many parts of Europe; to date, most continents have turned up at least some people exhibiting the systems of TDS. Remarkably, Russia has been spared from this disease so far, probably due to the high consumption of Vodka, which for reasons not yet known seem to have spared their citizens from coming down with the disease. That, and they don't speak English very well.

This disease presented itself in Autumn 2016 and spread rapidly after election night of the same year. TDS is unusual in that it can manifest itself in many different ways, including but not limited to:

• Extreme depression, lack of energy, lethargy, and/or intestinal distress
• Violent mood swings
• Increased urge to riot, burn and destroy
• Dressing in unusual apparel meant to mimic female genitalia
• Sobbing, crying, sitting down in public and shouting NO, NO, NO at no one in particular
• Increased social media interaction, commenting on or sharing memes of left-leaning websites
• Delusional behavior resulting in imagined conspiracies, such as Russian election interference
• Believing impeachment of a sitting US President is the only salvation for America
• Desiring bigger government with higher tax rates
• Emotional outbursts when apparel known as MAGA hats are displayed
• Ejecting peaceful customers from restaurants for their political beliefs
• Shielding faces with hoodies and do-rags while rioting
• Refusal to believe facts such as stock market increases and low unemployment numbers

TDS has been studied by population, and certain commonalities have been noted:

• States known as "Blue States" contain a much larger affected population
• Large urban areas contain the largest numbers of afflicted
• Coastal regions are very susceptible
• The entire western coast of the continental US is grossly infected
• People with college degrees are much more likely to contract the disease; the more advanced the degree, the more susceptible the individual is
• Media and newspaper reporters are especially vulnerable
• The less common sense an individual has, the more likely they are to contract the disease
• Journalism schools appear to be able to spontaneously germinate the disease in students
• Many victims still live with their parents long after adulthood, often for decades

Noted psychologist I. Dunno Feelgood of St. Bedlams Institute for the Mentally Disturbed says this disease is hard to treat and the prognosis for cure is poor. He also predicts the disease will spike in 2020 to higher numbers then ever before, and then almost completely disappear on or about January 20, 2025. A new variation of the disease is expected to emerge at that time.

Various treatments and medicines have failed to lessen the devastation TDS wreaks on its victims. If you encounter a person with obvious TDS, you are warned to limit your conversation to talking about puppies and the weather. Anything beyond that may trigger an uncontrollable TDS seizure, which has the effect of bringing a euphoric sense of victory to the victim while causing normal sane people to question how many brain cells are left functioning inside the cranium of a TDS victim.

Let's be careful out there, folks. This disease is dangerous.

Alexandria, Andrew and Amazon

Off the record, it's called corporate welfare. But it's a reality in the times we live in. Every village, every town and every city in every state is competing to bring business in because business equates to money injected into the local economy in the name of jobs. Jobs that pay a measurable margin above minimum wage are most desirable because they bring educated and skilled workers along with them, and this equates to a good standard of living and thusly a healthy community. It also has the side effect of keeping local taxes stable and when taxes are stable, communities flourish.

Business, however, is not like business used to be. To remain profitable, they have to compete in the marketplace. This means they have to be able to produce and distribute their product and then be able to sell it at a profit. If business, any business does not make a profit, they do not last long. Raising prices is the last thing a business wants to do because they know competition is fierce and if they price themselves out of the ballpark, sales will drop and consequently profits. So they look to lower their internal costs any way they can.

The highest cost a business has to deal with is their human resources, period. The more people you have on the payroll, the higher the cost of doing business. So it is no surprise that business will automate everything it can to lower costs. There is a line, however. There will be employees and there will be a payroll.

When a company like Amazon lets it be known they are looking to establish a regional presence, the political wooing begins. With an estimated 25,000 jobs to barter with, Amazon sat back and considered the offers. And there were plenty of them, to be sure. Boston, Chicago, San Diego, New York City ... not to mention the southern states set up with lower tax schedules than the bigger blue states. Along with doing business in a blue state comes the reality that it is usually over-regulated more than red states are. (This is one contributing reason business down south is doing better than up north.)

I confess I was surprised and amazed that Andrew Cuomo seemed to have won the competition to have Amazon locate in New York; Queens was the selected location. Andrew Cuomo is not on my Christmas card list, but I gave him credit for winning the competition. The nay-sayers attacked him for the deal he gave them (3 Billion in tax credits and incentives along with squashing local regulatory controls, just to mention a couple of gems in the package), but overall bringing in 25,000 jobs is no minor accomplishment.

It was a short-lived victory. About a month or so after the announcement, Amazon pulled out. And as the story unfolds, now we're learning why. It seems the new Congresswoman from Queens (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez aka AOC) kind of pissed on the deal to the point where Amazon decided it would not be in their best interests to relocate to Queens after all. The bidding war looks to be back on, but anybody with a brain should realize Amazon already had a plan B, C and D in reserve. The smaller municipalities (like Oneida County) can save their ink, paper and stamps and skip wooing Amazon. Simply put, it ain't us... It ain't happening here.

Like Yogi Berra says, It's like deja-vu all over again. The first thing that came to mind was how our County Executive Anthony Picente (aka Fearless Leader from the cartoon Rocky and Bullwinkle) did worse: He actually built the building before having the company pull out of the deal leaving OC taxpayers holding the empty NANO bag, bond debt and all. But he had help ... Boris "Brindisi" Badenov and Natasha "Destito" Fatale have their fingerprints all over it too.

There is a silver lining in the cloud. Now Democrats are going after AOC for ruining the deal, and we all know there is nothing better than watching liberals tear up liberals. It saves wear and tear on Republicans when Democrats shit where they eat.

Is the deal salvageable? I have no crystal ball and won't bother to prognosticate about that. But I will make a bet, and that is AOC is going to have a real hard time in less than 2 years when she runs for re-election. She has her own party that is pissed-off at her to contend with before she has to deal with the other party candidate - and I'm thinking there is going to be a Republican candidate on the ballot next time. That's a double whammy, and for the new kid on the block, that's a critical mistake to have made so early in her career. I'm thinking she is going to be a flash-in-the-pan anomaly; here today, gone tomorrow.

And, FWIW, the New Green Deal is almost guaranteed DOA. Mitch McConnell is going to bring it to a vote, but he already knows the outcome. Not only is it going to go down, it is going to go down in flames and the upside of calling the vote is that the American public will now have on record as to who voted for it and who voted against it.

And 2020 isn't all that far off. Barring any unforeseen tremors and if history is any predictor, Trump will be re-elected ... and I wouldn't be surprised if he brings the House back to Republican leadership at the same time. Not to mention, odds are this President will have another Supreme Court nominee if I'm reading the tarot cards right. That is going to set the tone and pace for judicial decisions for decades to come, and after considering how screwed up this country is, I'm not thinking this is a bad thing.

But for now, I'm going to sit back with a bag of popcorn and enjoy watching Andrew Cuomo and NYC Mayor de Blasio rag on AOC for pissing in their Amazon Wheaties.

I'm betting it's going to be a show to remember.

God Forbid the Rich Leave

Irony can be a real bitch. I've lived in New York State all my life, but I see the writing on wall. In a few short years, I won't. My wife and I are planning to fully retire in the next few years. The clock is ticking and we've begun looking into states that have a much better tax climate than NYS.

Don't get me wrong; I've lived in my house at the same location for over 40 years and I love my small corner of the vineyard. I've been blessed beyond expectation. But New York has reshuffled the deck over the years, and not for the better. I'm not Albert Einstein, but like others, I've come to realize NYS is a poor place to live in retirement. The population has been steadily decreasing for decades (especially upstate), and the reason why is pretty clear: NYS owns the title to being the worst state to live and retire in; it's #50 out of 50 United States and considering how far gone California is, that fact is pretty sad.

There are numerous websites that will confirm my words. Forbes, Kipplingers and Freedominthe50states are just some sources that reinforce my words. It's so bad NY has become #1 in population loss; about 50,000 people booked out of NYS last year. (That's just one year!) Andrew Cuomo would have us believe it's because of the weather. If he had only used the word climate instead of weather, he'd have been right. Andy baby, it's not the weather, it's the climate. The tax climate. The anti-gun climate. The pro-choice abortion climate. And so on ... You even have the brass balls to say I and others like me are not even welcome in this state. Yeah, vaffanculo, Mr. Cuomo.

And that's the problem when people leave. Not only do they leave a hole when they leave (NY is scheduled to lose 2 US Congressional seats after the 2020 census), they take their money with them. Often, that's a lifetime accumulation of money, and when they go, that is money that is not going to be spent or taxed in NYS anymore. The real hit is the loss of money because that means those that remain are going to pay more in taxes, not less.

It's not conservative policies that are driving up NY taxes, it's liberal policies. It's not conservative policies that drive people out of NYS, it's liberal policies. And of course, conservatives don't run NYS, liberals do. And worse, they don't have a clue as to a solution. As politicians tend to do when the hooey hits the fan, they start pointing fingers and blaming others.

In Andrew Cuomo's case, he is now blaming Donald Trump's tax cuts for the almost $3 billion shortfall in the budget. This is, of course patent bullshit. It's not Donald Trump, Mr. Governor. It's you. After decades of big tax and big spend policies, after years of 3 men in a room hacking out budget compromises, the seeds you have sowed have grown. And what a miserable crop they turned out to be. Not only do we pay the highest sales tax rate in Upstate, but we pay high income and property taxes on top of that, and yes - you're responsible in part because you force the local schools and municipalities to tax the shit out of us for your unfunded mandates.

What's more, I thought you and your ilk said Trump's tax cuts benefited the rich. Why, if they truly did, that's more incentive to stay here, not leave. Which is it? The tax cuts hurt NY by letting the rich pay less in taxes ... or the other way around? Do rich people have an incentive to stay here by paying less, or ... Just which way is it, Andrew?

Now it's even worse. Now you have complete 1 party control in NYS and this is not going to end well. Yeah, now Carl 'Montel Williams' Heastie, Andrea 'Moms Mabley' Stewart-Cousins and Andy 'Kaufman' Cuomo are going to sit in the room and now there's absolutely nothing stopping you. When great comedians like those get together, you would think the jokes are going to be pretty good. When the curtain next month lifts, I'm thinking the joke is going to be on us ... again.

So, Uncle Andy, you have a problem: Your current budget is doing down faster than Rosie O'Donnell on a see-saw. You need more revenue, and I'm only curious as to where you are going to get it. Now you've come to realize that you can't afford to lose rich people anymore, because their small numbers pay the lions share of taxes already. Every once in a while you let your guard down and say what you really think; we saw that already with your 'America was never that great' quote. But your latest quip, God forbid the rich leave was really telling. I'm sorry to say, you're a little late already. They've been setting sail for years now. If you don't believe me, just ask Tom Golisano, the Paychex billionaire and (former) NYS resident. He left over 10 years ago and wrote a nice essay about his reasons why. I couldn't find it on the web again, so I'll just post this syracuse.com article from 10 years ago. (He's saving almost $14,000/day just by domiciling outside NYS; thank God he's still donating to his charities here like his Children's Hospital) ...

It's tough to leave a place you've lived at for a long time. It's tough to pull up roots and leave your friends and family behind. Yes, we'll be back from time to time. But please know and understand that the liberal policies stemming from downstate control of upstate for decades ... are the primary reason ~50,000 people chose to leave NYS last year.

God forbid if you ever make it to the White House, Andrew. I don't know where to move should a national tragedy like that occur.

UFO Sightings in Upstate NY Recently

Something strange has been happening recently in Upstate NY. The Governor's airplane has been here in Oneida County at least 3 times in the last few weeks. Lo and behold, we have suddenly been blessed with the presence of the Governor lately. If he's not here telling us how to weather a snowstorm (which turned out to be a nothing-burger), or looking at creek flooding and threatening to sue a railroad that uses a bridge crossing said creek ... Well, today, the last day of January, he's looking at a water main break and patting construction crew workers on the back with the advice 'keep up the good work.'

Suddenly, Central NY is on Andrew Cuomo's radar screen. Since his airplane is not here very often, some people (even me, a FAA-certificated Commercial Pilot) mistake it for a UFO. We're not used to the Governor topping off the tanks at Griffiss International Airport. Speaking of which, I'm not sure the International part of that name is really getting heavy use.

I confess, I was confused for at least 3 seconds as to why he's suddenly showing a great interest in the Mohawk Valley and it's surrounding area. Then it hit me: There was an election last Autumn and he got his brains beat out at the polls upstate. He was beaten severely, almost as if a burly laborer pummeled him about the head and shoulders. Well, figuratively, anyway.

Many people don't pay attention to elections results unless something remarkable happens. And the local newspaper can't be trusted to tell us Democrat horror stories. So when I discovered how poorly Andrew Cuomo and his Lt. Governor candidate actually did in Oneida County last fall, then I understood why he's suddenly so interested in building up his numbers Upstate again. Out of 62 counties in NY State, Andrew Cuomo won only 15 of them. Upstate  (north of West Point) he only won 6 counties. And most all of those 6 counties went to him because of a large city (larger than 100,000 population) present in the county.

But Oneida County was especially brutal to Andrew. About 81,000 votes were cast, and he only got about 28,000 votes out of that. His major-party opponent got about 45,000 votes and the rest went to small 3rd party candidates. He didn't lose by a whisker, he got the snot beat out of him. Even US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand outpolled him by more than 10,000 votes in Oneida County, and she's not real popular upstate.

2020 is a Presidential election year and Andrew says he's not running. Well, take that with a grain of salt. Maybe he isn't, maybe he is. Maybe he's waiting to see if a Democratic superstar emerges from the pack. So far, the pack looks pretty lame. Besides, there's always a Veep slot to be filled, and running for Vice-President is completely risk-free for Cuomo. If he loses, he's still the Governor.

So, the next time you think you see a fancy UFO, maybe with a contrail, don't be fooled. It's probably just Andrew Cuomo burning up some more Jet-A fuel coming in to help us poor and distraught Upstate New Yorkers. Well, those of us who haven't left yet, due to the weather.

UFOs? Yup, with at least one ET on board. Oh, thanks for your advice on how to fix water main breaks, Andrew. I'm sure they couldn't have done it without you.

Drain the Swamp? Suggestion: Start With These People