When you consider the respective positions of the opposing parties on the the current fight over whether or not to fund border security, one is forced to consider whether the two sides are viewing the same reality.  The President has declared a humanitarian crisis on the border, and is seeking $5 billion, which amounts to about one one thousandth of the federal budget, to build what is alternatively called a wall or barrier, which is alternatively constructed of concrete and/or steel.  The Democrats have flatly declared that no crisis exists.   The Department of Homeland Security has reported that illegal border crossings tripled from 2017 to 2018.  The President has told us that 60,000 children illegally entered the U.S. in the last two months, and we can’t handle them.  Democrats swear that illegal border crossings are down, so there is no problem.  Clearly, something is amiss.  Either one side is blatantly lying, or the two factions are experiencing two starkly different realities.  Alternative realities.  Physicists theorize that alternative universes may actually exist.  It all has to do with string theory and the peculiar actions and reactions of obscure subatomic particles, you know, all the stuff you can’t understand that the nerds on The Big Bang Theory always talk about.   A noted physicist has explained, “There are a couple of multiverses that come out of our study of string theory that create gigantic surfaces in space.  And what that means, within string theory, is that we may be living on one of those gigantic surfaces, and there can be other surfaces floating out there in space.”  You got that?  What that mess means is that it’s possible that there could be alternative, parallel universes in which there exist different realities.  In other words, Trump may be living in one universe, in which untold thousands of illegal aliens are storming our border, while in the Democrat universe, “all is well, remain calm.”  If you think that’s outlandish, consider this – CNBC, allegedly a news outlet, has actually “reported” that there are Democrats running around loose who believe that Donald Trump isn’t really the President, but that he’s just leaked into our world from an alternative universe.  No, I’m not making this up.  In February of 2017, CNBC reported, “There’s a theory going around online that CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) experiments have caused the world to shift into an alternate reality where Donald Trump has become president.   Trump theorists cite “the Mandela effect,” a phenomenon that occurs when large groups of people believe something happened even though evidence shows it isn’t true.  Some think more of these incidents have occurred since CERN was established, and suggest that its particle physics experiments are causing the world to shift into parallel universes.  People are recalling the original reality, which is why there is divergent thought according to the believers.  In Trump’s case, conspiracy theorists have cited “evidence” like his quote on terrorist attacks on Sweden and assertions that Muslims were cheering in the streets after 9/11, as memories which they believe stem from a parallel universe Trump used to reside in.”  As crazy as this sounds, it does explain how two opposing parties can view the same events and come to two diametrically opposed conclusions.  If the subatomic particles can create two alternative realities, then perhaps Trump and the Democrats are just viewing the respective realities that exist in their respective universes.  In Democrat land, there is no caravan, and illegal immigration is not a problem on the southern border.  Il Duce Obama, and Chuck and Nancy have told us just that, so it must be true.  In the Trump universe, there is a rogue caravan (which was formerly known as a mob), which broke down fences to enter Mexico, marched all the way to the U.S. border, and stormed the barricades trying to break in.  Those pesky subatomic particles must be creating alternative universes on TV too, because on CNN we’re told the idea of an immigration crisis was manufactured by the President (if he actually is the President), yet, on Fox News, we regularly see images like these –

Democrats wouldn’t lie, so this must be a parallel universe, right?  And the parallel universe must extend over the border into Mexico too, because officials in Tijuana are begging the U.S. for help with the thousands of illegals who they perceive to be fouling the streets of that city; illegals who really don’t exist in the Democrat universe, because they have told us there is no crisis.  The other day, President Trump went on TV and explained the scope of the crisis we face in our universe.  Chuck and Nancy then went on the air, presumably from their parallel world where all is well.  Americans haven’t been needlessly victimized by criminal aliens, and no barrier is needed, even though in January of this year, Congress voted to build a barrier on the border.  That was then, this is now, and if Trump wants it, it’s no good.  As this is written, the government remains partially shut down.  The President is demanding money for a steel barrier.  Chuck and Nancy (a truly Odd Couple) demand that Trump must open the government, and then they’ll discuss it.  Keep in mind that the shutdown is the President’s only leverage, and even with that leverage, the Democrat offer to Trump is, “Go pound salt.  You get nothing.”  Chuck and Nancy have gone full Corleone on Trump, “This is my offer Mr. President, nothing.”  And all over $5 billion.  Congress has budgeted ten times that amount to be given to foreign nations that spit on America.   Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties.  But $5 billion to secure our border?  No way!  I actually heard Nancy Pelosi complain about the government wasting money.  If Nancy leaked into our universe, she ought to leak the Hell back out.  I don’t know if the alternative universe theory is correct, but I do know this – the Democrats are playing Americans for fools.  Their position is, who you gonna believe, us, or your lying eyes?  I choose my own eyes, unlike Nancy Pelosi’s, mine still open and close.

As this is written, the calendar has turned from 2018 to 2019, the partial government shutdown continues with no apparent end in sight, and the Democrats show no interest in any solution to the problem that includes any of the money the President needs for proper border security.  Come January 3rd, the Democrats will take over the House of Representatives.  They claim to have a simple solution.  Just pass a bill that funds Homeland Security until February 3, 2019, and give the President absolutely “nothing.”  The Dems apparently haven’t heard, or else don’t care that the President has made it quite clear that he will not accept “nothing,” and that the Senate has repeatedly told the Dems that they will not present a bill to the President that they know he will not sign.  The Democrat position checks all the Left-wing boxes.  By telling Trump to “drop dead,” the Dems energize their nutty base and their even nuttier contributors.  They also fulfill their greatest desire, to embarrass and attempt to destroy the President.  Also, putting off the border wall fight for another month will give the Dems and their lapdog media partners another month to hype new caravans, and to hope for the opportunity to exploit the deaths of a few more illegal alien children.  In fairness, you must understand that the Dems never thought Trump would make it this far.  In Democrat Crazyland, Trump would have been long gone by now.  The FBI and CIA would have ruined Trump and driven him from office.  That didn’t work.  The Congressional investigations would have proven that Trump is deriving the bulk of his income from Russian oligarchs, or from emoluments supplied by nameless, faceless foreign diplomats who are putting money in the President’s packet by buying pay-per-view movies in Trump’s Washington Hotel.  That hasn’t worked either.  Then again, by now the Dems expected head witch hunter Robert Mueller to have found the photographs of Trump kissing Vladimir Putin’s ring, or the deed to the $50 million penthouse that they say Trump promised Putin, or some such nonsense.  Even the Democrats must know by now that that’s never happening.  If the Democrats were smart, they would realize that their best course would be to make a deal with Trump to end the shutdown, such as it is, and to begin to set themselves up for 2020 by actually governing the country, and sending the message that they have a better plan than the Republicans, rather than by spending all their time trying to scorch the Earth around the President.  For the time being, Donald Trump is the President, and his wishes need to be respected and fulfilled, at least up to a point.  Trump is anxious to end the shutdown, and he undoubtedly will settle, if the Dems can see their way clear to letting Trump have something he wants for border security.  If they were smart, they would string Trump along for the remaining two years, demonstrate that they are responsible legislators who can be trusted to govern sensibly, and win back the White House in 2020.  Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the Democrats are not smart, nor are they in a position to work with this President.  Their nutty base just won’t stand for it, and their whacky Bolshevik billionaire contributors won’t have it either.  And so, the fighting will continue.  And so, the Dems will hand Donald Trump more ammunition to use in 2020.  And maybe, just maybe, the Democrats will manage to destroy their own last best hope of winning back the presidency two years from now.

As the year 2018 mercifully ends, we stand at a crossroads.  Since his election in 2016, President Trump has demonstrated a remarkable resilience.  The pundits have been predicting his demise since he came down the elevator at Trump Tower in June 2015.  Practically every act and utterance from Trump has provoked a prediction that, “He’s finally gone too far, and now he’s done for.”  The pundits have been wrong every time.  Every time Trump defied the prophets of doom, he came back stronger, and the Left looked smaller.  That part hasn’t stopped.  The Left continues to dredge up, or make up, vague, petty and stupid issues to damage the President.  As this is written, the New York Times no less, and there is no less, has published a story, based on the totally unsubstantiated (dare I say, undocumented?), story from the daughters of a dead doctor, claiming that in 1968, that’s more than 50 years ago, the now dead Queens podiatrist falsely diagnosed Trump with bone spurs to help him avoid the draft.  Really? With all that’s going on, that’s the best they can do?  First of all, don’t these morons understand that Trump already won the election?  The bone spur story is the kind of crap Democrats use to keep a Republican from being elected.  They tried the same crap against George W. Bush, claiming he fraudulently got into the national guard to avoid Vietnam.  But I digress.  To reiterate, we are at a crossroads.  The Dems have taken the House in the mid-term elections, and they are promising two things, votes on all the crap on the loony Leftist wish list, like Medicare for all, and 100% renewable energy, and constant investigations of Trump.  The votes won’t make any of the Leftist policies law.  Keep in mind that the Republican House voted 54 times to repeal Obamacare, and that abomination lives on.  The House votes will serve a purpose, to keep the money coming in from the Bolshevik billionaires like Soros and Tom Steyer.  The Medicare for All bill is $34 trillion.  Financial guru Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says that’s not a problem, since we’ll actually be saving money, we’ll just pay it.  Uh, huh, and I hope Santa Claus was good to Alexandria.  Hey, maybe she can get Santa to run the Federal Reserve.  The nutty plan to change over the entire electrical grid from oil and natural gas to renewable energy sources would cost trillions more.  But scientific geniuses like Bernie Sanders think it’s a good idea.  Putting aside the fact that we already have greatly reduced pollution by changing from coal to oil and gas, and the fact that we now have more oil and natural gas available in the U.S. than exists in the Middle East, can you imagine any of us living through such a changeover of the electrical grid?  Every time it rains, snows, and the wind blows, we are warned about impending power outages.  Our power goes out for a few seconds every week or so, on sunny days, for no apparent reason at all, and usually just after I have reset the timer for the outside light, for the umpteenth time.  At what is renewable energy anyway?  Windmills and solar panels, that chop up or fry any passing birds?  Windmills are noisy, and the wind is unreliable.  Her in New Jersey, when we actually see the sun at all in winter, we’re so surprised we think something’s wrong.  Maybe the Left hasn’t noticed that, even with billions of federal subsidies, solar companies have gone bankrupt.  Without the $7,500 federal subsidy, nobody would buy electric cars, and anyhow, even though you just plug them in, the power coming out of the plug comes from oil and gas, you idiots.  The only thing renewable energy would mean for us now is unaffordable energy and deprivation.  I’m sorry, but as Americans we should want for nothing.  We’ve worked harder than all the rest and achieved more than all the rest, so we deserve to have what we want, unlike all the rest.  And keep in mind, all the rest aren’t in favor of Leftist energy policy either.  Germany has raised $181 billion in carbon taxes to reduce carbon emissions, with no effect.  In America, CO2 emissions are down more than in any other country without a tax.  Energy is more expensive in Europe than over here.  They have dimmer light bulbs, they restrict the use of air conditioning, and gasoline is very expensive.  Maybe the Left also has failed to notice the Macron fuel tax, geared to lower carbon emissions.  They practically had a second French revolution.  If even a Frenchman won’t surrender to that nutty policy, it has no chance here.  But Donald Trump is at the crossroads.  He’s bounced back every time so far, but there are now lots of balls in the air.  The Democrat House, the stock market woes, rising interest rates, and the current government shutdown.  If Trump can weather all those storms, he, and we, will have a successful 2019.  If not, hold on, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

A Visit from the Donald
With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and in the White House,
Not a creature was whining, like Schumer, that louse,
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that the Donald soon would be there,
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of tax cuts danced in their heads;
Melania in her Hermes scarf, and Barron in his red cap,
Had just settled their brains for a two hour nap,
When on the South lawn there arose such a clatter,
We stopped in mid-tweet to see what was the matter.
Secret Service jumped up and were out like a flash,
With weapons all pointing, about to kick ass.
The search lights had melted the new-fallen snow,
And garishly lighted the objects below,
But what to my wondering eyes did I spy,
A sleigh, and a man in a MAGA hat, suit and red tie,
His chin was out-thrust, and his testicles large,
I knew in a moment he must be in charge.
More rapid than eagles his orders they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
“Now, Conway! now Sanders! now Miller and Gourka!
On, Kelly! on Bolton, on Jared!, Ivanka!
To the top of the door in the new border wall!
Now tweet away! Tweet away! Tweet away all!”
So up to the housetop the staffers they flew
With a sleigh full of gifts, and the Donald too—
It was then that the media entered this mess,
The prancing and pawing slobs of the Press.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the East Room chimney he came with a bound.
He wore a red tie, from his neck to his foot,
Yet his clothes were not tarnished with ashes or soot;
A bundle of gifts he had flung on his back,
Like a Honduran migrant toting his pack.
His eyes—how they twinkled! His mullet so plush!
His cheeks were well tanned, but his eyes not so much!
His droll little mouth was drawn up in a scowl,
And the rude correspondents started to howl;
What’s in that bag? Jim Acosta beseeched,
If they’re emoluments, you’ll be impeached;
The Donald turns round and Acosta he views,
“I have gifts for the good kids, but not for fake news.”                  Acosta just sputtered, and his eyes gave a roll,
As his stocking was filled by the Donald with coal;
A wink of his eye had caused me to muse,
I had nothing to dread, cause I’m from Fox News;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
He filled all the stockings; then turned to the jerk,
He assured Jim Acosta that CNN blows,
Then nodding his head, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh in just a few bounds,
To Mar a Lago he flew, to play a few rounds;
But I heard him exclaim, speeding by in his luge,
“Happy Christmas to all, and it will be HUGE!”

When it was published in 1949, George Orwell’s 1984 was about a future dystopian world in which the government changes history, represses free thought and individualism,  subjects its citizens to constant surveillance, and punishes all dissent.  Unfortunately, we have seen the future, and we are living the dystopian nightmare envisioned by Orwell, thanks to the so-called progressive Democrats.  I’m not exaggerating.  In 1984,  the government motto was “Freedom Is Slavery” because, according to the Party, the man who is independent is doomed to fail.  It takes a village.  Sound familiar?  By the same token, “Slavery Is Freedom,” because the man subjected to the collective will is free from danger and want.  Medicare for all.  Sound familiar?  “Ignorance Is Strength” because the inability of the people to recognize these contradictions cements the power of the authoritarian regime.  Did you think the Left’s take over of the educational system was a coincidence?  One of the early progressives, John Dewey, supported kindergarten for American kids, not to begin their education at an earlier age, but as a convenient means of removing kids from their families early to prevent their picking up any non-progressive values at home.  In Orwell’s world, the government’s Ministry of Truth was in charge of lying to the public.  The Ministry changed history, by rewriting what actually happened, in favor of the convenient narrative of the moment.  You think the schools stopped teaching history because the subject wasn’t interesting?  And when they do pretend to teach history, many schools rely on Howard Zinn’s, A People’s History of the United States, which pretends to teach history from the Marxist viewpoint.  No, I’m not making that up.  Zinn rejects the notion that the telling of history should be an objective exposition of the facts, but instead, sees is as a means of serving progress.  Thus, in Zinn’s “history,” Maoist China, site of history’s bloodiest state-sponsored killings, becomes “the closest thing, in the long history of that ancient country, to a people’s government, independent of outside control.”  I’m sure that, had they lived, the 30 to 50 million Chinese who were killed by Mao’s policies, would be so proud.  Zinn also dispels that misconception that the Castro regime in Cuba has a bloody record of suppression.  I’m sure that the thousands of Cubans languishing in the filthy prison on the Isle of Pines, the ones the Castros didn’t simply shoot, will be glad to know that they’re not being suppressed.  But changing history?  Is that possible?  In Orwell’s world, the keeping of written records was criminalized, and government records were falsified, to show that the government was responsible only for improving human life and not for oppression.  But that couldn’t happen here, right?  Wrong!  If NBC doesn’t report it, it didn’t happen.  And what do you think the monopolistic search engines and social media sites are up to.  They push any progressive ideas to the front of the list, and either bury or delete conservative thought.  You think it’s a coincidence that Google directed online inquiries about the California Republican Party to a site that equated Republicans with Nazis?  When you don’t teach history, and when young people don’t read books, and when “the truth” is whatever Google and Facebook say it is, then Big Brother is alive and well, and he’s a Democrat.  The Dems like to call Republicans fascists and dictators, but progressives have cornered the market for tyranny.  Progressives are entitled to run our lives from the cradle to the grave, you see.  Because they are afflicted with delusions of rectitude, the unshakable belief that they are always right, they know best what’s good for us.  The individual voter is too ignorant to make his or her own decisions, don’t you know.  And while it’s true that Democrats are having trouble connecting with the voters (which will remain important only until the progressives abolish elections), it’s not their fault.  It’s your fault.  You’re simply too dumb to understand how smart the Democrats/Progressives really are.  Don’t take my word for it.  Just listen to that noted legal scholar, Senator Maisie Hirono, who you will recall was willing to convict Brett Kavanaugh without evidence explaining, “Look, we are not in a court of law, we are in a court of credibility at this point.”  Maisie’s advice to men of, “Shut up and step up” neatly sums up progressive orthodoxy.  Last week, at the Bend Towards Justice conference (as in “Bend Over, Here It Comes Again”), Maisie explained, “We, Democrats, have a really hard time in connecting to people’s hearts instead of [their heads].  We’re really good at shoving out all the information that touch people here [pointing to her head] but not here [pointing to her heart].”Democrats cannot connect with people because we Democrats know so much.  That is true.  We have to … tell everybody how smart we are.”  Wow!  Without realizing it, Maisie Hirono just proved that Ronald Reagan was right again, when he said “It isn’t so much that liberals are ignorant.  It’s just that they know so many things that aren’t so.”  And, of course, Maisie’s right, after all, she’s a liberal.  The proof that Democrats are so smart is all around us.  Joe Biden is a leading contender for the 2020 presidential nomination.  Who’s smarter than good old Joe?  Joe famously taught us that “the No. 1 job facing the middle class is a three-letter word: jobs.  J-O-B-S, jobs.”  Man, that’s deep, no wonder we can’t understand it.  And talk about changing history?  Joe Biden was ahead of his time.  “When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about … the princes of greed.  He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened.’” Uh, two things.  First, the stock market crashed in 1929, and F.D.R. wasn’t president until 1933, and then again, he never appeared on television until the 1939 World’s Fair, but no matter.  And who could be smarter that the new darling of the Left, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who taught us that, “Unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs.”  Alexandria, how would we pay the additional $34 trillion for the programs you want?  Answer, “We just pay it, because it’s more affordable.”  Brilliant.  So good is bad, bad is good, more is less, and freedom is slavery.  Yes, Big Brother is alive and well, and we’re in big F—-ing trouble.