See…It’s Really Not That Hard

Government Gone Wild: How D.C. Politicians Are Taking You for a Ride – and What You Can Do About It – Kristin Tate (Center Street Books)

In a world over run with political correctness, micro-aggressions (?!), over-regulation and general government intrusions into every level of our existence, I find it both surprising and somehow heartening that there are young up and coming conservatives who really seem to get it. You know those younger folks who don’t buy into the Feel the Bern hucksterism of a politician/sugar granddaddy offering up “free” stuff.

One such person comes in the form of self-described Libertarian Chick, Kristin Tate, a conservative author, columnist and commentator who is out with her debut book, Government Gone Wild: How D.C. Politicians Are Taking You for a Ride – and What You Can Do About It. Tate busts out her take on some of the major issues facing the country and along the serves up so not so common sense in her on unique fashion.

 

Tate is about a subtle as a claw hammer when it comes to delivering her opinion. As an old school conservative I throw some people for a loop when I talk about the so-called war on drugs. I am right there with Tate’s take on things…the war is a failed effort and any true free market conservative knows that we could solve a whole boatload of money issues if moved away from incarcerating personal users and in the process started taxing the crap out of people’s habits. There’s a reason that tax stamp is wrapped over the cap of your favorite adult beverage at the liquor store.

While Tate is shy about telling you what she thinks and she at times comes off as a little too hip for me, I clearly get that her just leave me alone and let me do my thing attitude is what that country truly needs. Like her, I don’t care who you sleep with, I don’t care what you ingest, if you leave me alone, I will return the favor. Now is that too hard to understand? Oh and let’s not forget, I take care of me and mine, and I’ll expect you to do the same.

All Politics is Local

Going Red: The Two Million Voters Who Will Elect the Next President – and How Conservatives Can Win Them – Ed Morrissey (Crown Forum)

Comedian Darrel Hammond used to do a bit on Saturday Night Live playing former President Bill Clinton, usually in a bar, trying to come to grips with something and uttering the line “what the hell happened?!” It was that familiar refrain that sadly became the catch phrase of Republicans following the 2012 Presidential election as they tried to understand exactly what the hell happened!

Conservative blogger, writer and radio host Ed Morrissey reminds us of the painful details of what was clearly a White House ripe for the taking following a 2010 Republican mid-term blowout, President Barack Obama mired in the controversy of Benghazi, and the mess that is Obamacare. And yet it didn’t take long to see the Election Day handwriting on the wall for Republican candidate Mitt Romney, who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with his lack of testicular fortitude and inability to close the deal to send Obama packing.

 

Well now Morrissey not only dissects what went wrong, but how serves up a roadmap for how to fix the problem in 2016 and take politics down to a granular level in his new book, Going Red: The Two Million Voters Who Will Elect the Next President – and How Conservatives Can Win Them. Morrissey spent time on the ground researching and investigating not only the so-called battleground states, but those pivotal counties within those all-important states.

There are a handful of political prognosticators that have the ability to drill down into the ground game that has become part and parcel of winning national elections and in many cases even statewide races. Morrissey is one of those folks. His deep dive into politics at the micro-level really proves that all politics is local and that successful candidates will have to custom craft their messaging to target these microcosms of voters. This is truly an intriguing proposal for victory, it will interesting to see if the Republicans are will to take up the mantle.

 

Still Buying the Democrat Bullshit

Listen, Liberal: or What ever Happened to the Party of the People – Thomas Frank (Metropolitan Books)

Author and opinionist, Thomas Frank is out with a new political tome that has him turning his gun sites away from his traditional targets on the right and focusing his ire on the Democrat party in Listen, Liberal: or What Ever Happened to the Party of the People.

Sure to outrage lefties, anyone with an ounce of brains and common sense, aka Conservatives will see through Frank’s canard because he continues to delude himself by thinking that the Democrat party was ever “the party of the people.” I laughed out loud when I read that Frank was the founding editor of something called The Baffler (whatever that is/was) because he seems utterly baffled by reality.

Frank can’t quite resist the urge to play the smart ass liberal card when he comments on President Obama and the Clinton’s proclivities to vacation on Martha’s Vineyard claiming that “people in many parts of the country have never even heard of it.” Really?! Does this guy really buy into the liberal belief that the people in so-called “flyover country” are just a bunch of dumb clucks without the worldliness to know about Martha’s Vineyard? Now who’s the dumb ass?

Here’s a dose of reality for Mr. Frank; liberals/Democrats are not the party of the people, they are merely willing to play the class warfare card of rich versus poor, and the only reason why the rich guy is rich is because you are poor, not because he worked harder and achieved. Liberals are willing to give handouts, lie about taking Grandma’s Social Security, tell big government can solve all your problems and pretty much whatever else it takes to get elected or remain in office. In short, the Democrats are the party of bullshit and Frank is buying what they are selling. 

 

Losers Unite

United States of Jihad: Investigating America’s Homegrown Terrorists – Peter Bergen (Crown Books)

Peter Bergen is the go to guy when it comes to understanding the mindset of Jihadist terrorists. Bergen has authored or co-authored a shelf full of must read books on the subject; his latest, United States of Jihad: Investigating America’s Homegrown Terrorists, tries to delve into the minds and actions of terrorist actors who have signed on to the Islamic Jihad either on our shores our exported themselves to take part in terror overseas.

Bergen tries to help us understand what makes these people tick, what motivates them act out as lone wolves or to travel to far flung places to plan and or participate in mass murder or suicide attacks. Along the Bergen is careful to examine what actions law enforcement and homeland security have taken to try to identify these budding Jihadis and prevent them from taking action.

Bergen makes the case that the multi-billion dollar National Security Agency program undertaken by the Obama administration, of spying on our phone calls and e-mail in an effort to sweep up Jihadist planning has been an abject failure and despite the administrations claims that the program derailed many terrorist attacks before they started, that simply doesn’t match the reality.

Bergen lays out the threads of commonality that many of these angry, losers who sign on to the Jihad share. His chapter on the Boston Marathon bombing Tsarnaev brothers had me concluding that they were the participation trophy winners of the terrorist world; two losers who had everything handed to them when they relocated to the U.S. and yet always managed to come up short—then blame everybody but themselves for their failures.

As with Bergen’s prior books, United States of Jihad: Investigating America’s Homegrown Terrorists, is a thoroughly research and well crafted examination of not only the history of these homegrown Jihadis, but also the current and future state of what will be an important focus for the war on terror.

Hillary in Beast Mode to Keep Bill off Britney Spears

Pop tart Britney Spears was in full back pedal mode after sending Instagram photos of her meeting with Hillary Clinton prior to the Nevada caucus, quickly downplaying the meeting and subsequent posts as "in no way endorsing" Clinton.

The funniest thing about the whole affair was Mrs. Clinton in full beast mode, Hildebeast if you will, in one photo practically pinning Bill to one end of the couch to keep his wandering hands away from Spears.

Hey Mike, Who Wizzed in Your Corn Flakes?

The Deep State- The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government – Mike Lofgren (Viking Books)

I can’t quite manage to put my finger on it. After 28 years as an allegedly highly respected Republican Congressional staffer, including time with then Congressman John Kasich, Mike Lofgren walked away from Washington, penned a lefty friendly manifesto that popped up on liberal whack-a-mole Bill Moyers website and has since made a career out of being a darling on the left, popping up regularly in places like the Daily Kooks, HuffPo, AlterNet and entertaining the eight readers of Salon.com.

What I can’t quite grasp is, is it the fact that Lofgren barely managed to register a blip in 28 years on the Hill among the Republican political animals or did someone manage to piss him off by wizzing in his Corn Flakes? Now Lofgren earns his keep by peddling all too familiar liberal clap trap to fix the countries problems.

 

I find it laughable on its face that Lofgren embraces liberal yet bemoans the death of the Constitution! Anyone with an iota of common sense can point to liberal policy and liberal jurisprudence that has decimated the Constitution. Lofgren mines familiar tropes like George W Bush was in over his head when he became President; apparently Barack Obama was well versed enough after nearly two years in the Senate to be the leader of the free world. Like I said, laughable at best.

Lofgren has served up a litany of liberal red meat in the form of a series of reforms he feels will “put America back on the right track.” Among them are things like the elimination of private money from public elections; wonder if that would include union dues? The downsizing of the military and intelligence systems; because that worked so well in the lead up to the events of 9/11. Adopt single payer healthcare system; because that has worked so well for places like Canada and Britain…just ask the folks streaming south from our neighbors to the north in pursuit of timely healthcare. I could go on, but what would be the point of recapping these tried and failed policies?

A Unique Perspective…A Wakeup Call

The Fight: A Secret Service Agent’s Inside Account of Security Failings and the Political Machine – Dan Bongino – St. Martin’s Press

Almost certain to tie a sizable knot in the panties of liberals everywhere for not only the directness of his approach, but also for his insider’s, unique perspective; The Fight: A Secret Service Agent’s Inside Account of Security Failings and the Political Machine, by former Secret Service, Presidential protective detail agent, NYPD police officer and political candidate, Dan Bongino pulls no punches when delivering his assessment of the country’s current state.

Not your typical bomb throwing pundit, Bongino comes at things from a been there, done that reality of a guy who has been on the front lines of the War on Terror (NYPD), the internal workings of government (Secret Service) and politics (twice a political candidate.) Bongino offers up not only his wholly unvarnished take on the utter failings of the current resident of the White House, but also the sorry state of his own political party, the Republicans.

Bongino stuck to his guns, refusing to sellout to the Republican establishment as he fought not only to overcome incumbent candidates in runs for the Senate and the House of Representatives. The comparisons he draws between the don’t rock the boat bureaucracy of government and the strikingly similar world of politics should be chilling to any voter who still thinks the Constitution stands for something.

Liberal panty-boys and blind to reality supporters of Hillary Clinton will vainly try to pawn this off as the work of a bitter clinger, conservative, Neanderthal, but the reality is, Bongino has delivered a clarion call to all Americans who are concerned not only about the current state of the country but for the future that seems set on a vicious downhill slide. Truly a wakeup call for the masses.