Bone Tomahawk revives the Western movie genre

 I grew up in the golden age of Western movies. I saw dozens of Westerns as a child and watched hundreds of Western episodes on television: Gunsmoke, Bonanza, High Chapparal, Have Gun Will Travel, The Roy Rogers Show, Rawhide—I saw them all.

Why did I love this genre? The Western desert appealed to me--the beauty of a long vista, with its ever-present sense of danger and adventure. Mostly, however, I loved to see stories of good guys on horseback as they struggled against insensate evil. I knew the good guys would eventually win, and in the movies, they almost always did.

John Ford's Westerns were my favorites. Without realizing it, I was a movie critic in elementary school. I realized that The Searchers, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence were the genuine article and far superior to the cheap imitations.

Beginning in the 1960s, the Western movie genre fell into decline. I hoped Missouri Brakes, starring Marlin Brando, and The Shootist, starring John Wayne, would revive it, but those movies were disappointments.

Eventually, I realized that Western movies set in modern times are just as thrilling as films about the Old West. Lonely Are the Brave, Hud, and No Country for Old Men were authentic contributions to my beloved genre.  Hell or High Water, starring Jeff Bridges, Ben Foster, and Chris Pine, is equal to Shane, even though the victory over evil was nuanced.

Last night, I watched Bone Tomahawk on Netflix, and I was gratified to see a Western movie that is equal to the films I saw as a kid. The plot is simple: four men of uneven temperament ride out to rescue a kidnapped damsel in distress. By the movie's end, the good guys complete their mission, but two of the four saviors are dead.

Kurt Russell plays the laconic, relentless, and totally dedicated lawman. Mathew Fox plays Brooder, the Western dandy who hates Indians. Patrick Wilson is the faithful husband who endures almost unbelievable pain and hardship to be reunited with his wife, played by Lili Simmons.

Richard Jenkins is cast in the scene-stealing role of Chicory, the self-proclaimed "backup deputy" who is simple-minded but loyal and brave. If there is a hall of fame for Western movie sidekicks, Jenkins deserves a place next to Gabby Hayes, Slim Pickens, and Andy Devine.

I always judge a Western movie's portrayal of Native Americans. Until I saw Bone Tomahawk, I gave Wes Studi top billing for his role as the malignant Magua in The Last of the Mohicans. Now, there was an Indian with a chip on his shoulders.

Wes Studi, however, is a Presbyterian compared to the aborigines in Bone Tomahawk, who are bone-chillingly scary. I won't say more because I want movie movers to feel the horror I experienced when the bad-ass Native Americans showed up in Bone Tomahawk.

Bone Tomahawk is an almost perfect Western--the old-fashioned struggle of good against evil set against the backdrop of the stark and pitiless landscape of the American West.  My faith in Westerns has been renewed,

Going after the Bad Guys

'Can’t Take the Home Out of Oklahoma': A Movie Review of Twisters

I grew up in Tornado Alley in western Oklahoma. This was before the invention of cell phones or the Internet, and people in my small town were warned about an approaching tornado by sirens. As a small child, I recall being awakened in the middle of the night by the urgent moan of a siren blasting through loudspeakers mounted on telephone poles throughout the town.

My parents didn't have a basement, so they would bundle up my siblings and me and take us next door to Mrs. Nightingale’s house. Mrs. Nightingale had a concrete root cellar filled with home-canned fruits and vegetables that smelled of musty concrete. This shelter had a sheet metal door that my father invariably left open. He would stand in the doorway of our cave-like refuge, ready to close it if we heard the freight-train sound of an approaching tornado. Fortunately, we never did.

If the tornado siren blared while I was at elementary school, Mr. Vaughn, the school principal, would order all the children to huddle in the hallway, crouch on the floor, and fold our arms above our heads. It was the same drill the school practiced for nuclear war, but for a six-year-old, a tornado was much more frightening than an atomic bomb.

Our Oklahoma sky would turn green when a tornado lurked on the plains, and the air would become still and heavy. No one can see that green sky without being frightened.

Last night, I went to the movies to see Twisters, starring Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones. I warn you that the film is a full-on rom-com, so if you are one of the millions of Americans who hate rom-coms, don’t see it. It’s also an action movie full of flying cars and trees and a lot of fun to watch while munching on a box of popcorn,

I liked Twisters, the 2024 remake, better than Twister, the 1996 original. The romance between Tyler and Kate, played by Powell and Edgar-Jones in the current film, was more believable than the rocky relationship between Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt in the 1996 version.

None of the main characters used profane language in Twisters, making it appropriate for kids to see. Glen Powell was devilishly handsome, and Edgar-Jones played a chaste and determined young storm chaser with a scientific theory for stopping the deadly tornados that terrorize the Plains states.

Twisters includes "Out of Oklahoma" on its soundtrack, a song written by Lainey Wilson. As an Oklahoman who got a degree from Harvard, this line from the lyrics rings true: "Can’t take the home out of Oklahoma, so you can’t take it out of me.”

I assure you that tornados do not occur daily in Oklahoma, even in Tornado Alley. In fact, I've never seen an active tornado. 

In Twisters, however, cyclones pop up with the regularity of a cross-town bus.  Day after day, adrenaline-charged storm chasers recklessly drove through farmers' fields,  whooping, hollering, and tearing up the landscape. 

If Glen and Daisy had driven through my father’s wheat field in a heavy-duty truck, they would have found storm chasing far less entertaining. In fact, they would discover that my father’s Browning shotgun was far more dangerous than any category-five tornado.

Tornado over Kansas, painted by John S. Curry (1929)

I ain't voting for Kamalama Ding Dong. The Democrats are contemptous of ordinary Americans

 Four years ago, the Democrats nominated Joe Biden, a demented grifter, for President and dragged him over the finish line. This summer, the Dems threw Biden under the bus and will likely nominate Kamala Harris, a race-hustling idiot, to replace Biden. 

It has long been evident that the Democratic Party's insiders despise Americans and are picking our pockets while their donors get richer by the day. The Dems don't care about having a secure border, they don't care about urban crime, and they don't care about inflation. And Kamala Harris, the presumed Democratic Party nominee, is the poster child for the Democratic Party's arrogance, its intellectual vacuity, and its racism.

I ain't voting for Kamalama Ding Dong to be our next President. I'm not willing for America to giggle its way into the future under the leadership of a goofball. What do you think will happen if President Kamala cackles at Vladimir Putin like she cackles at the American people?

The Democrats have insulted working Americans for years while pandering to racial minorities. Apparently, they think minorities and transgendered athletes form an electoral base strong enough to wreck the country. I think they are wrong.

With the exception of Jewish kapo politicians who are undermining Israel in its life-or-death struggle with Hamas, I don't think a single Jewish American will vote for the Ding Dong. 

Although it will surprise Nancy Pelosi, a great many Hispanic Americans are alarmed by illegal immigration, and most of them don't like being labeled as Latinx, a wokedom insult to the Spanish language. She'll be surprised at the number of Hispanics who will vote for Trump in November. 

How about Asian Americans, who've been discriminated against by America's elite universities, most of which are infested with so-called progressive Democrats? Many Asian Americans will abandon the lunatic Democrat Party this November.

The Dems have bleated about their commitment to preserving American democracy while they rig the election process to nominate a fool who has never won a single primary election. They're about as democratic as the Russian KGB.

I don't believe Kamala will defeat Trump in November, but I won't feel sorry for her when she loses. Harvard will probably ask her to be its next president—that's another part-time job that pays good wages.

Note: I can't take credit for inventing the term Kamalama Ding Dong. I heard a television commentator use that term, but I can't remember who it was. The word appears in a Jestwire commentary.

Why won't Kamala let us in on the joke?

Screw Flyover Country! The Dems raise campaign money in Hollywood, Cape Cod, and Martha's Vineyard

Last month, George Clooney and Julia Roberts co-hosted a Hollywood fundraiser for Joe Biden. Barack Obama was there to guide Joe Biden off the stage and to offer photo opportunities to Hollywood moguls. This star-studded event was a howling success. Biden pulled in $30 million for his reelection campaign.

Less than a month later, George Clooney wrote a New York Times op-ed essay calling for Biden to withdraw from the presidential race. 

Did anyone condemn Clooney as a huckster and a shill for Biden—who is so cognitively diminished that he can hardly walk unassisted? No. In fact, George Skelton, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, praised Clooney to the skies and said Clooney should be the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate. Why? Because Clooney “has an easy smile that exudes sincerity and is extraordinarily telegenic.”

Last week, a herd of prominent Democrats called for Joe Biden to withdraw his presidential candidacy, and yesterday, Biden threw in the towel.

Nevertheless, Kamala Harris raised $2 million on Cape Cod for the demented grifter's reelection campaign just before he dropped out of the presidential race. Wouldn’t you like to see the list of donors? 

Soon,  David Letterman, the retired anchor of The Late Show, will co-host a Democratic fundraiser on Martha' Vineyard, which has become a modern-day Devil's Island for lunatic liberals suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome. 

With Biden out of the presidential race, all the money raised for Biden will go to Kamala Harris. Unfortunately for her, Biden spent 93 percent of the money he raised last month, which includes the $30 million George Clooney raked in for him in Los Angeles. No matter; the elites still have plenty of dough.

People living in Flyover Country will note that the coastal elites are donating money to the Democrats while food prices and rent are going through the roof. The Dems don't care about working Americans, whom they contemptuously describe as White Christian Nationalists. 

"Screw Flyover Country" is the Dems' motto. I sincerely hope Flyover Country rams Donald Trump up their butts.

David Letterman
A fool and his money are soon parted, Photo credit: Forbes.

Secret Service Director Kimberley Cheatle should be fired ASAP

A 20-year-old kid tried to kill Former President Trump last week and damned near succeeded. A bullet pierced Trump’s right ear. Had it traveled two inches to the left, Mr. Trump would have been a murder victim.

Shortly after the assassination attempt, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle sent a memo to her agents, praising their work and urging them not to be distracted “by those who were not there and yet still pass judgment.”

What a churlish thing to write. Basically, Ms. Cheatle labeled any critic of the Secret Service for the way it handled the assassination attempt as a Monday morning quarterback.

Later, Cheatle admitted some "failures" in the security arrangements at the Trump rally. Nevertheless, she refused to assign blame or resign from her post.

In fact, the Secret Service’s security arrangements for President Trump were shockingly inadequate. Several commentators have pointed out that Trump's security team should never have allowed a man with a rifle to crawl up on the roof of a building and shoot at the President from a distance of only 140 yards.

I live in Mississippi, where young people begin hunting deer at the age of 12. Anyone who is moderately proficient with a deer rifle will tell you that a standing target only 140 yards away is an easy shot—a can’t-miss shot--especially if the shooter is aided by a rangefinder to help calculate a bullet's trajectory.

I can think of only two explanations for the Secret Service’s failure to secure the building from which the would-be assassin fired his rifle. The agent in charge may have been incompetent. Alternatively, the Secret Service agents may have been indifferent to Trump's safety.

After all, Ms. Cheetle was appointed by President Biden. Perhaps she didn’t think it was important to protect President Trump. If so, Cheatle's attitude toward Trump may have infected her agents.

Regardless of whether the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, can be explained by incompetence or malice, the people responsible should be fired. Kimberly Cheatle should surrender her office keys and be escorted out of the building carrying a cardboard box containing her personal effects.

No one should feel sorry for Kimberly Cheatle. She has a sociology degree from Eastern Illinois University, which should make her eminently employable. Perhaps she can get her old job back guarding potato chips at Pepsico. I'm sure Jill Biden will write a strong letter of recommendation.

Barney Fife: Don't put him on a sloped roof.

The Fat Lady has sung but Biden won't drop out of the presidential race until he pardons his family

The Fat Lady has sung. Biden will not be on the Democratic presidential ticket in November. George Clooney, Hollywood's operatic Fat Lady, wrote a New York Times essay declaring that the Democrats need a new candidate. Biden can say bye-bye to any more mega donations from the entertainment industry.

When will the tottering geezer toddle off the stage to spend his last golden years at Reheymouh Beach?

It's a certainty that Biden won't step down before his term ends. Although he vows he won't pardon his son Hunter (convicted of federal gun violations), I think Joe will pardon him, along with other family members and a large cast of friends who were allegedly involved in an influence-peddling scam. 

When he issues those pardons, Biden will be implicitly admitting that he was part of an illegal scheme to squeeze money out of foreign governments or their proxies. The American public will be outraged at the Democrats, so Biden can't release those pardons until after the November election.

Nor will Biden release his delegates anytime soon. Per his handlers' instructions, he won't withdraw from the presidential race until it is too late for the Democrats to substitute any candidate except Kamala Harris.

The Democrats have carefully organized this King Lear drama, and all the essential characters are sticking to the script. I suspect Joe and Jill are in on the gag and playing along until Joe can issue a pile of pardons. 

Spoiler alert. When this histrionic psychodrama is over, and Americans stumble out of the movie theater into the blinding sunlight, they will discover they have a new president--Kamala Harris.

George Clooney stars as the Singing Fat Lady.

Joe Biden should pardon Rachel Maddow on humanitarian grounds

You can take it to the bank. Joe Biden will drop out of the 2024 presidential race. The New York Times editorial calling for Joe to step aside was the death knell for his reelection campaign, and everybody knows it.

Why doesn't Joe withdraw his candidacy to preserve his dignity and enjoy his golden years eating ice cream and clam strips at Rehoboth Beach? 

I'll tell you why. Family and friends in the Biden bunker fear what will happen to them if Dr. Dementus gets hold of the Justice Department. Trump might launch criminal investigations against the Lawfare crowd and Joe's relatives--the ones who reportedly have offshore banking accounts. Therefore, some of Biden's closest family members and advisers are urging him to hang on.

I think Biden's confidants would drop their efforts to keep Biden in the White House if Joe would issue blanket pardons to everybody who was complicit in Russiagate, the Hunter Laptop scandal, and the alleged Biden influence-peddling scam.

Obviously, Joe needs to pardon family members first. Jill, Hunter, Joe's children, and grandchildren should receive blanket pardons whether or not they did anything unlawful.

Then there are the lawyers who set up the Biden family's alleged money laundering scheme. They will want pardons. And Joe should pardon all those lawfare attorneys—Fani Willis, Alvin Bragg, Jack Smith, and others. 

On humanitarian grounds, Biden should also pardon all the people who are hysterical about the possibility of Trump becoming president again. They fear mass deportations, detention camps, paramilitary groups, death squads, and draconian restrictions on abortion.

Therefore, Biden should issue sweeping pardons to all of Trump's most vicious critics, including the ladies on "The View" and all the MSNBC commentators. I don't think any of these people did anything illegal. Still, a Biden Get-Out-Of-Jail card would ease their anxieties about possibly being sent to a concentration camp in rural Arkansas where they might be forced to pluck chickens.

Some of Trump's most paranoid fault finders may fear that a Biden pardon letter might get lost or misplaced when they need it most. For example, an MSNBC reporter might get arrested while her pardon letter was being laminated at Kinko's.

To alleviate this fear, Biden should offer to tattoo his pardon letter on the recipients' butts. 

Rachel Maddow is excessively worried about what might happen to her if Trump regains the White House. However, even Rachel would probably sleep better at night if she had a sweeping and all-encompassing presidential pardon tattooed for posterity on her rump.

What can Biden do to ease Rachel's anxiety about Donald Trump?

Kamala Harris is the real-world Furiosa after Immortan Joe's bad night

 Let me begin by admitting that I had a bad night. I had a cold that I might have taken Nyquil for, and I was suffering from prolonged jet lag from a trip to Florida a couple of years ago when I crossed into the Eastern Time Zone.

I have always enjoyed dystopian stories, so I settled into my Lazy Boy recliner and rented Furiosa to watch on my home TV. It only cost $25.

Furiosa is two and one-half hours long, but it seemed interminable. I got confused and lost the plot line. The movie is a story about a bewildering cast of people obsessed with the lust for power and a thirst for revenge. There was an old white guy named Immortan Joe, who appeared to be hooked up to an oxygen machine, and a young woman named Furiosa, who seemed to be attracted to chaos and never said anything coherent.  Furiosa may or may not have been a woman of color. Furiosa spent the whole movie plotting to kill Dr. Dementus, a strangely sentimental psychopath.  (Back story: Dr. Dementus received his doctorate from Delaware State University.)

When the movie ended, I switched on to CNN, which was breathlessly reporting that Joe Biden, an old white guy on oxygen, was being pushed out of the presidential race. Kamala Harris, CNN averred, remained fiercely loyal to Biden but was waiting in the wings to replace him to fight the epic election battle against Donald Trump, our present-day Dr. Dementus.

I'm embarrassed to confess that I got Furiosa and the CNN news coverage mixed up (head cold, jet lag, etc.). 

Then I realized that the CNN news coverage was really the trailer for the sequel to Furiosa. Kamala Harris is cast in the title role. Joe Biden will play the part of Immortan Joe. and Donald Trump signed on for the role of Dementus.

Furiosa has a host of minor players who will reappear in Furiosa II. Pete Buttigieg is cast as Bommyknocker Warboy, and Alejandro Mayorkas will play Pissboy and is already rehearsing.

Immortan Joe had a bad night.

Froma Harrop says the Biden economy is "amazingly strong." Are Americans too dumb to realize they're prospering?

 Froma Harrop, a second-string cheerleader for the mainstream media's Biden cheer squad, has been called out on the field to do a rah-rah-rah for Joe Biden's disastrous presidency.  

Biden's first-string cheerleaders--Paul Krugman, Nicholas Kristof, and Thomas Friedman--are exhausted and have stumbled back to the press corps's locker room, intellectually dehydrated. Step down from the presidency, Mr. Biden, they croak before lapsing into a deep political coma.

Not Froma! She's fresh as a daisy and cheerily chirps that Biden's America is "pretty great" and "doing fabulously well."

Harrop points out that the stock market is on a roll, and Americans are spending lavishly. Inflation is under control, she avers, and gasoline prices have come down. Harrop cites Jamie Dimond, JP Morgan's CEO, as saying the average consumer is much wealthier than before the pandemic.

But note the things Harrop did not talk about. Food prices have risen almost 20  percent since Biden took office, and American consumers are not mollified by Froma's observation that inflation is "a worldwide phenomenon."  

Harrop neglected to mention the shocking rise in the cost of housing, automobiles, homeowners insurance, and auto insurance. These rising costs--by themselves--are pushing millions of Americans out of the middle class.

Nor did Harrop think it necessary to mention that the United States is in a shooting war with Russia. It is true that Ukraine, America's proxy, is doing the fighting and dying, but America is buying the missiles, tanks, and ammo. And we are doing it with borrowed money. 

And then there's Israel's savage war in Gaza. The U.S. is providing Israel with the military assets it needs to fight Hamas, and where does that money come from?  No wonder the national debt has reached a catastrophic level.

Implicit in Harrop's Panglossian puff piece is the condescending notion that Americans are too stupid to realize they are prosperous and so delusional that more voters support Donald Trump than  Joe Biden to be our next president.

I look forward to Froma's spin on Biden's presidency after the donor class and the Deep State force Biden out of the presidential race. If she's smart, she will eventually follow the New York Times's lead and urge Biden to step down. 

And Froma is smart.

Joe Biden's presidency: Rah, rah, rah

Baby, Baby, Baby, We're Out of Time: Biden or Trump--We Are Toast

You're out of touch, my baby,

My poor, unfaithful baby,

I said, baby, baby, baby,

You're out of time

Out of Time

Rolling Stones (1966)

King Kong, a symbol of brute force and unpredictability (Donald Trump), and Godzilla, a representation of experience and stability (Joe Biden), engaged in a fierce battle on an Atlanta debate stage last Thursday night. CNN declared King Kong the victor, a decision echoed by the New York Times, potentially shifting public opinion.

Regrettably, both pugilistic debaters may have run out of time to sway American voters. Trump squandered a golden opportunity to present himself as a composed and thoughtful leader, while Biden failed to instill confidence in his mental acuity.

Concerning three major issues, America is also running out of time. First, we urgently need a national leader to guide us out of our proxy war with Russia, a task that cannot be delayed.

Second, we're running out of time to secure the nation's southern border. Biden doesn't want to do it, and Trump may be so tied up in litigation and political warfare that he might be unable to do what he repeatedly promises.

Third, our president, whoever that might be, must make a rigorous effort to get our national debt under control, or the U.S. dollar, which serves as the global standard for international trade, will lose its status as the world's reserve currency. But we may be out of time on that issue as well. Commitments to Medicare, Social Security, and national defense are so overwhelming that we may never be able to balance our nation's budget.

Trump or Biden? I'm at a loss. I'm even considering throwing my vote away and casting my ballot for RFK Jr. After all, it may not matter who wins the presidential election because, baby, baby, baby, we're out of time.

• America: Running Out Of Time

If the New York Times ain't happy, ain't nobody happy: The Gray Lady throws Joe Biden under trhe bus

 Perhaps you've heard that old Southern aphorism: "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."

Today, I'm modifying this ancient pearl of wisdom to reflect on the odds against Joe Biden winning a second term as the leader of the Free World: If the New York Times, a powerful voice in American politics, ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. 

And the New York Times is not happy. Less than 24 hours after Biden's dismal debate performance against Donald Trump, the Times editorial board swiftly and decisively called for Biden to drop out as the Democratic Party's nominee for President.

New York Times columnists Thomas Friedman, Paul Krugman, and Nicholas Kristof--the Democratic Party's Pretorian Guard--joined the chorus, advising Biden to step away from the vehicle.

Nevertheless, some media voices are sticking with Joe despite the glaring signs that he suffers from dementia. The going-down-with-the-ship camp bases its misplaced loyalty on one of two arguments. 

First is the Howdy Doody crowd. These are the commentators who say that Trump is so odious that a diminished  Biden is preferable. These people would vote for Howdy Doody over Trump.

A second group is sticking with Biden based on race. One writer pointed out that Biden's leading critics are white men over sixty. And we all know we can't trust those guys.

Which group will prevail? My view is this: The New York Times has decreed that Biden must glide down the exit ramp. Eventually, all of Biden's supporters will fall in line.

Why didn't Howdy Doody run for president?

The Hill's Michael Starr Hopkins calls for Plan B after Trump-Biden Debate, but he ain't got no Plan B

 I was stunned by how quickly the mainstream media threw Joe Biden under the bus after last night's presidential debate with Donald Trump. It was as if the leftist pundits awoke from a deep sleep and realized for the first time that the Emperor was wearing no clothes!

Even the New York Times's op-ed writers, reliable lap dogs for the Democratic Party, admitted Joe's debate performance was dismal.

Michael Starr Hopkins, writing for The Hill,  undoubtedly spoke for millions of progressives when he wrote today that "Democrats need a Plan B." Unfortunately for the Trump haters. Hopkins has no Plan B.

Hopkins admitted it would be "political suicide" for the Democrats to switch candidates at this late hour, and thus, they must rally around Biden despite his glaring flaws. "We can't change the quarterback," he acknowledges, "but we can improve our playbook."

In essence, Hopkins argues that Biden can still defeat Trump on election day if Democrats simply repeat the shrill mantra that Biden is better than Trump.

It's a pathetic argument, and most Americans don't buy it. They're looking for a leader who can end the Ukrainian war before it goes nuclear. They are searching for someone who can shrink the national debt, which accrues interest at a trillion dollars every 100 days. They want a secure border that will keep rapists and human traffickers out of the country.

Biden has done nothing to address these problems—in fact, he created them or made them worse. I think Donald Trump will defeat Joe Biden in November. If so, Democrats will have only themselves to blame.

"If you vote for Biden, you ain't Jewish": Biden has alienated a crucial Democratic constituency

Remember when Joe Biden chided an African American radio host during the 2020 election season? "If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump," Biden flippantly claimed, "then you ain’t Black."

It was a racist remark, stereotyping all Black Americans as Blue Dog Democrats who would be denying their own interests if they voted Republican.

Now, that phrase has been turned against him as Jewish voters recoil from Biden's betrayal of Israel. As Varda Meyers Epstein wrote on the Elders of Zyon blog site, "If you vote for Biden, you ain't Jewish." Writing last month, Epstein accused Biden of betraying Israel in its life-or-death struggle with Hamas. Biden was "withholding arms and information," Epstein charged, and concealing "critical intelligence for later leverage, and was now using it—carrot and stick—to force Israel to stand down from Rafah."

Epstein might also have mentioned that Biden undermined Israel when he implicitly endorsed Senator Chuck Schumer's speech excoriating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and calling for his ouster. Biden called Schumer's outrageous betrayal "a good speech."

Why has President Biden stabbed Israel in the back? Some commentators say he's afraid he'll alienate Michigan's Muslim voters before the November presidential election if he doesn't take a more pro-Palestian stance in the Gaza war. Michigan, after all, is a critical battleground state.

I disagree. I think Biden's betrayal is a cowardly capitulation to a rising tide of anti-semitism in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Racist Democrats hate Jews, and they don't care whether they alienate Jewish voters who have traditionally voted for the Democratic ticket.

If so, Biden made a fatal miscalculation. Even if he carries Michigan in the November election (a doubtful proposition), he may lose other states with significant Jewish populations. 

Earlier this week, New York voters swept Jamaal Bowman, a pro-Palestinian Congressman, out of office, and Jewish PAC money helped defeat him. Bowman had accused Israel of committing genocide, and Jewish voters took note.

Bowman's defeat is an indication of how Jews will probably vote in November. Jewish voters may have concluded that if they vote for Biden, "they ain't Jewish." And there are 1.4 million Jews in New York City alone.

Pro-Palestinian protesters outside a Jewish synagogue in Los Angeles
Photo credit: Wall Street Journal

Why take out student loans to get an Ivy League degree when you can learn to be a bigot for less than twenty bucks?

 American universities have spent millions of dollars on affirmative action, women's varsity sports, litigation defending their race-based policies, and the newest race-obsessed fashion trend--Diversity. Equity and Inclusion (DEI). 

All these investments should produce kindlier and more tolerant college campuses--a collegiate nirvana, an idyllic state of perfect racial harmony.

But not so. Over the past few months, universities have shown themselves to be racist institutions and hotbeds of antisemitism. The most racist schools have been the most elite: Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, and UCLA, among them.

And it's not just the students who are bigoted toward Jews. Professors have also attended disruptive anti-Israel rallies, and when college presidents call the cops, the faculty protest by passing votes of no confidence in them.

Few college leaders openly espouse anti-semitic opinions, but they often don't take campus anti-semitism seriously. For example, three college administrators were put on leave at Columbia recently for exchanging "unprofessional text messages while attending a panel discussion about antisemitism on campus. "

Young people might profitably ask themselves why they should take out $100,000 in student loans to surround themselves with bigots on an Ivy League campus. After all, you can school yourself in racial prejudice for the price of Adolph Hitler's Mein Kampf, which you can purchase from Amazon for only twelve bucks.

Mein Kampf: Cheaper than a liberal arts degree from Harvard

Civilians are suffering in Gaza, but that's not Israel's fault

Antisemitic racism on college campuses has disguised itself with crocodile tears for the civilian population in Gaza, which has suffered greatly during Israel's war with Hamas. But I think that's bullshit.

College protesters don't give a damn about the carnage in Ukraine, where the New York Times estimated a half million casualties--and that was almost a year ago.

According to the mainstream media, 37,000 people have died in the Gaza conflict, but the legacy press depends almost solely on Hamas for its casualty figures.  Who believes Hamas--the outfit that raped, tortured, kidnapped, and killed innocent Israeli civilians?

Without a doubt, the Gaza war has created massive suffering, but civilians die in every war. Hamas chose to commit war crimes against civilian women, children, and the elderly, and now it wants a ceasefire purportedly to protect the civilians with whom it is hiding. That doesn't work for me.

I have no sympathy for Hamas and little sympathy for the Palestinians who are protecting them. People who keep Israeli hostages in their homes are not civilians; they are combatants. 

 If the nation of Israel is to survive, it must wipe out Hamas--every root and branch. Tragically, this means there will be substantial collateral damage to the civilian population of Gaza.

Another boneheaded idea: Western meddling in Moldova

Moldova, a small country near the Black Sea coast, is nestled between Ukraine and Romania. This nation, once part of the Soviet Union, gained independence in 1991, marking a significant turning point in its history.

So far, Moldova has not been dragged into the Ukraine war, but the conflict is on its doorstep. Chisinau, Moldova's capital city, is only 230 miles from Kherson, where there has been heavy fighting.

According to Bloomberg News, "Moldova's President Maia Sandu is pursuing a pro-Western course that would take it permanently out of Russia’s orbit." As  the Bloomberg news agency noted, Moldova is "at the heart of a geopolitical struggle between Washington and Brussels on one side, and Moscow on the other."

Moldova is holding an election in October to vote on a constitutional change that would allow Moldova to join the European Union. As the Bloomberg story observed, a pro-Western outcome "may offer the West a potentially important win" that would significantly shape the geopolitical landscape in the region.

The Bloomberg story should have mentioned that 20oo Russian troops are already stationed in Moldova's breakaway province of Transnistria. Moreover, as the news agency acknowledged, the autonomous province of Gagauzia is showing pro-Russian tendencies. 

In short, Moldova is a complex mix of ethnic and political tensions, much like Ukraine in 2014. Pro-Russian Moldovans advocate for closer ties to the Russian Federation, while pro-Western Moldavans push for Moldova to align with the West.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Chisinau recently, bringing his tireless message: I'm from the American government, and I'm here to help. He announced a gift of $50 million to help Moldova "resist Russian interference." He would have given them more money, he explained apologizingly, but he left his wallet in his other pants.

Perhaps Blinken brought his guitar and sang "Blowing in the Wind," that old Peter-Paul-and-Mary tune, at a Chisinau coffee shop. Or maybe he secretly promised President Sandu some American weapons and military support. Or maybe not.

Almost certainly, however, the CIA is in Moldova, as it is in Ukraine, sowing mischief. God help the Moldovans if the Ukraine war spreads to their country. And God help the United States.

America's top goofball diplomat plays the guitar in Kyiv.

Pax Americana will die in the wheatfields of Ukraine: The American Century is over

 About 100 nations attended a peace summit on the Ukraine war last week, held at a 5-star resort in Switzerland. Ukraine wasn't invited, and several invitees—including China—did not attend. Most attending nations signed a communique on the Ukraine conflict, but some important countries did not: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Mexico, Indonesia, India, Brazil, and India. 

Hmmm. The BRIC nations, which are working to undermine the status of the dollar, were all nonsigners. What do you suppose that means?

The United States--far more interested in cramming a Gaza ceasefire down Israel's throat than peace in Ukraine--sent VP Kamala Harris as its official representative, and she only attended briefly. Meanwhile, President Biden spent time with George Clooney and Julia Roberts out in Califonia, raising money for his reelection campaign.

None of these world leaders proposed a plausible plan to end the Ukraine war. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it won't be time to discuss a peace plan until Ukraine's military position is more robust.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "sane" ceasefire proposal that would require the West to renounce Ukraine's membership in NATO and cede the Donbas and Crimea to Russia. Ukraine dismissed Putin's offer as a nonstarter.

The Ukraine war has only three possible outcomes: First, Russia will win the conflict and absorb the Donbas into the Russian Federation. It already has a firm hold on most of the territory it demands.

Second, the United States, ever more desperate to defeat the Russkies, will escalate the conflict, eventually pushing Putin to use tactical nuclear weapons, which he has repeatedly threatened to do.

Third, the Ukraine war will simply drag on for several more years until Ukraine is a wasteland and Uncle Sam is dead broke.

The third possibility is most likely. If the Ukraine war drags on for a few more years, the U.S. will no longer be a world power. In other words, Pax Americana is in its twilight years and will end as the BRICs accede to world dominance.

Personally, I think the collapse of America's status as the world's leader is a high price to pay for fucking with the Russians in the wheatfields of Ukraine.

Bad Moon A-Rising: America faces a looming real estate crisis

I see the bad moon a-risin'

I see trouble on the way

I see earthquakes and lightnin'

I see bad times today

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Americans live in a Panglossian environment, encouraged by our government to believe we live in the best of all possible worlds. Inflation? It's going down. The job market? Our economy is creating an astonishing number of new jobs. Our President? A paragon of wisdom.

Of course, we don't live in the best of all possible worlds. America is neck-deep in two terrible wars: Ukraine and Gaza, and those wars will eventually bite us on the national butt. Right now, these global disasters still seem far away. No reason to put off buying a new Land Rover.

Domestically, however, an economic calamity is looming, and it will soon come crashing down on us. I'm talking about the collapse of the domestic real estate market.

Driven by catastrophic weather events (hurricanes, wildfires, windstorms, and floods), the cost of homeowner's insurance has risen significantly, increasing the cost of owning a home.

Lenders require people with home mortgages to have adequate property insurance, typically added to the home borrower's monthly mortgage payment. Since most homeowners buy houses based on what they can afford in monthly payments, rising insurance costs will force many Americans to buy less expensive homes.

Interest rates on home mortgages are going up, too. The Biden administration and the Fed are doing their best to keep interest rates down until after the presidential election, but the days of 3 percent mortgages are over.

On the global stage, the BRIC countries are slowly undermining the American dollar's status as the world's reserve currency, and that process is well underway. Our government now spends a trillion dollars every 100 days in interest payments on the national debt, and that debt grows larger each month. Our growing debt has started to put pressure on interest rates, including the interest rate on home mortgages. 

All these trends are gathering into a perfect storm for homeownership. Who resides on the dirty side of this storm? 

Not the banks. When the real estate market collapses the next time, the feds will bail out the banks as they've done in the past, assuming the value of the U.S. dollar holds up through the crisis. 

No, the losers will be American middle-class homeowners. And when the next real estate crisis is over, the American middle class will be much smaller. 

You'll be goddamn lucky if you're still in it. In the meantime, I recommend listening to more Creedence.

Who stole the Dude's Creedence tapes?

Maureen Dowd labels the Supreme Court as "rotten" and "corrupt": I disagree

 Earlier this month, Maureen Dowd, an op-ed writer for the New York Times, published an essay calling the U.S. Supreme Court "rotten" and "corrupt".

According to Dowd, the Court is "in the hands of a cabal of religious and far-right zealots, including a couple of ethical scofflaws with MAGA wives."

Dowd cites no evidence to back her hysterical accusation. In fact, reading Dows's shrill screed a little further, she makes clear that her main beef is the Supreme Court's decision to overthrow Roe v. Wade, thereby "yanking away women's right to control their own bodies."

Of course, that's nonsense. The Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson shows that a majority of the Justices hold a conservative view of the Constitution. In Dobbs, it ruled that the states, not federal courts, have the ultimate authority to regulate abortion. Millions of people, including Dowd, disagree with that decision, but that's no basis for labeling the Court as corrupt.

I believe most states will eventually pass legislation that closely aligns with Roe v Wade. In other words, women will have an almost unrestrained right to terminate their pregnancies during the first trimester, but that right will become more restricted the closer a baby comes to term.

Some people believe the state should have zero authority to regulate abortions. Thus, if the "birth person" decides she needs more "me time" after the fetus is in middle school, she should be free to put a contract out on little Johnny to ensure the tyke sleeps with the fishes.

I take a more conservative view. If a woman hasn't snuffed her fetus by the time it's in kindergarten, mom should learn to live with the little brat and open a college savings account.

Little Johnny sleeps with the fishes.

Inflation and the elderly: Most retired Americans will die broke

Here’s a scary statistic: the average pre-tax income of retired Americans is about $55,000, and most of that income goes to housing, transportation, healthcare, and food.

Most retired Americans live on a fixed income that will not go up. Their living expenses, however, are rising at an alarming rate. Food costs have gone up almost 20 percent over the past four years. Homeowners insurance has seen double-digit increases in some places. Car insurance prices have risen astronomically in recent years--more than 20 percent just over the last year.

None of these costs will go down in my lifetime. For example, the rising cost of home insurance is driven by catastrophic weather events like hurricanes and wildfires. Auto insurance prices reflect the higher cost of buying and repairing cars and abusive tort litigation. Those trends are irreversible.

Most Americans cut back on expenses when they retire by moving to areas with lower living costs and downsizing their homes. Moneywise suggests that retired Americans sell their cars and buy bicycles. They should also order big portions at restaurants and take the leftovers home for a second meal. They should also quit buying their groceries at Whole Foods.

Of course, retired people have already implemented those strategies, but the fact remains that living costs are going up dramatically and show no sign of ever retreating.

Our government believes that America has plenty of money. We’ve got cash to put illegal immigrants in four-star hotels. We’ve got money to give jets to Ukraine. We’ve got money to send ammunition to Israel. Rich people have enough disposable income to shower political candidates with wads of cash and can even afford special bathrooms for their pets. Retired Americans have no cash reserves for such projects.

As a kid, I remember visiting my grandparents in Harper County, Oklahoma, and riding horseback by the county's poor farm. That’s where the elderly went in rural Oklahoma when they were dead broke. I visited Harper County recently, and the poor farm is closed. Even the building is gone.

Very shortly, America will have to decide whether to shift national resources to elderly people so they can live in dignity or reopen the poor farms and continue financing the wars in Europe and the Middle East. My guess is that our political leaders will pursue war rather than shift our priorities to the welfare of struggling Americans.

Senator John Fetterman renounces Harvard for its tepid response to campus anti-semitism: Good on you!

Senator John Fetterman made headlines recently when he removed his Harvard hood at Yeshiva's commencement ceremony and renounced his Ivy League alma mater for its lackluster response to campus anti-Semitism. I say, good on you, John.

Fetterman's high-profile rebuke highlights the alarming rise of anti-Semitism at the nation's most prestigious colleges: Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia, among them.

All over America, ambitious young high school students dream about possibly attending one of the nation's most elite universities. If I can just get into Harvard, they tell themselves, a whole universe of opportunities will unfold: wealth, power, fame.

Of course, the elite schools are expensive. It costs $90,000 a year to attend Yale--a third of a million dollars for a four-year degree. You can always borrow the money, and if President Joe Biden is reelected, he might forgive all or at least some of the debt. 

Moreover, if you can present yourself as an exotic candidate, such as transgender shotputter, you might be eligible for a full-ride scholarship. However, this strategy requires careful planning. You'll need to start demanding special restroom privileges by the seventh grade.

Is a degree from an elite school worth the investment? Maybe not. Today, Fortune magazine posted an article (reposted on Yahoo Finance)reporting that graduates of only two Ivy League schools drew median salaries of $100,000 or more ten years after graduation.

Across many colleges, 23 percent of bachelor's programs yield a negative return, and a staggering 43 percent of master's programs leave their graduates underwater (as reported by the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity).

Literally, many young people would be better off financially if they pursued a blue-collar trade rather than attend Harvard. And they'll likely meet a better class of people in the trades--fewer anti-Semites.