RECENT BLOGS FROM Riley^™

Dateline: July 1, 2021 The Swamp

According to the 1883 fable, Pinocchio was created by Geppetto, a wood carver in a Tuscan village. The little wooden puppet’s nose grew with every lie he told.

Logicians and philosophers wax lengthy about Pinocchio’s Paradox in the puppet’s statement, “My nose grows now”.  But this article is not about logical paradoxes. It’s about political fibs and the use of the puppet’s magical nose to benefit from them.

The Democrats have apparently borrowed Pinocchio’s growing nose to bridge the wide gap between the desolation of their imagined landscape and core American values. The hope is that alluring lies will grow the nose-way and entice Americans to travel over it to the Dem side.

Open borders, cancel culture, the death of energy independence, governing through international consensus, historically high deficit spending, soaring taxes, increasing regulation, etc., will change America fundamentally. On the merits, it’s a tough sell.

Enter the nose. When value isn’t on your side, lie. Big. In fact, big, bold lies are more likely to be believed because it’s too risky to tell them. As the lies grow, the nose grows closer and closer.

According to the Dem drumbeat, our basic values are bad, hence the need for systemic change. Real dangers of the day are blamed on specific people or groups of people, If you’re disgruntled about the goings on at the Southern Border – a fentanyl flood, human trafficking, terrorist invasions – blame Trump. If you disagree with last year’s defunding of the police in Dem-controlled cities, blame the GOP.

A favorite fantasy culprit is climate change, which is responsible for everything from crypto market woes to a single building collapse.

Pinocchio’s bridge doesn’t yet reach all the way from desolation to core values.  So, we can look forward to the continuing spin until the bridge is complete and we’re dizzy enough to cross over.

Or, we can throw the bums out and let Pinocchio’s nose shrink back to its normal size.

Dateline: May 8, 2021 The Swamp

This is the first in a series of recurring articles that showcase the most idiotic political missteps of the past week. Sometimes, like this week, there’s a surprise ending.

Here are, in no particular order, the three boo-boos that top this week’s list.

1. Biden’s push to violate intellectual property laws by giving poorer countries the COVID-19 vaccine formulas developed by US drug manufacturers. He sells it as a grand humanitarian gesture to save lives. Besides, everyone hates Big Pharma for profiting from the pain, suffering and slow deaths of millions.

The immediate problem is that those countries have no manufacturing facilities or know-how to develop the vaccines. They might in a decade or so.  How about just sticking with shipping them the vaccines?

2. The Kalama Harris claim that giving $310 million to Central American countries to address climate change issues will halt the migrant influx at our Southern Border.

The trouble is she undercuts her own argument by admitting that these governments are corrupt and that the corruption will frustrate her efforts.

3. Biden’s maskquerading. Claiming it’s his “patriotic responsibility”, Biden wears his COVID mask outside even though he’s been vaccinated. He also claims that masks should be worn inside even by the vaccinated. Of course, when he visited Jimmy Carter in the latter’s home this week, he cozied up to the 96 year-old without a mask. As soon as he stepped outside, the mask was back on.

Hypocrisy aside, his message is clear: don’t bother to get vaccinated because you’ll be wearing your mask anyway. Maybe surgical attachment will become an option.

The biggest loser: surprise, it’s the McConnell/McCarthy led Congressional Republicans. O.k., they weren’t on the list. But, they are, persistently, the worst of the political bunch. They don’t even pretend to have a plan to counter any of Biden’s disastrous policies. Apparently, they believe they won’t have to win because the Democrats will lose. They should take a page from the 1994 “Contract With America”. The Republicans published it before the mid-terms and won handily.

Dateline: April 25, 2021 Minneapolis

Let’s make one thing clear right at the top. Convicted murderer Derek Chauvin is a dirtbag. The judge is sure to max him out at sentencing. Given his age and what’s about to hit him, Chauvin should die in prison. Good riddance.

But, criminal trials are about more than guilt or innocence. They are also about the fairness of the process. For example, because juries are susceptible to outside influences, our justice system has safeguards designed to ensure that those factors do not sway the verdict.

In Chauvin’s case, the judge put a herculean burden on the jury’s shoulders to overcome extraneous threats in order to arrive at a fair verdict. But, juries aren’t supposed to be left to their own devices in reaching just results.

Given the negative pretrial publicity and the rioting, Chauvin’s attorney filed a motion to change venue. The judge denied it claiming that the publicity was so broad it could be seen from the moon. So, if the process was unfair in Minneapolis, it had to be unfair everywhere in the State.

The judge also refused to sequester the jury until closing arguments began. Sequestration is used to insulate the jury from the influence of negative publicity and other outside forces. The judge denied the motion because of the ‘hardship’ that sequestration can cause to jurors.

The judge’s rulings created an issue of jury tampering, which, if found, would overturn the verdict. Specifically, jury intimidation is a form of tampering. The rioting, and threats to do worse, were indisputable attempts to coerce a guilty verdict from a jury that could tune in every night.

But, proving that the jury was, in fact, intimidated can be a difficult row to hoe. In his case, Chauvin should see ice caps in Hell before his verdict is reversed.

The point is jury intimidation is anathema to our system of justice. It won’t always be Derek Chauvin on trial.

Dateline: April 3, 2021 The Swamp

Most everybody knows that a trojan horse hides something bad inside its innocent-looking exterior. As history records, a huge wooden horse was used by the Greeks to enter the City of Troy and defeat their enemies. Today, a lot of people believe that the Biden administration is a trojan horse for the left wing of the Democrat Party.

Actually, Biden himself is a trojan horse, the Trudgin’ Trojan, as he stumbles down a short path to the early end of his term. It’s not merely that leftist policies have replaced his moderate campaign promises. It’s that Biden is a cover for Kamala Harris as she ascends to the Presidency sans any votes.

Sound crazy? Add up the following and check the sum: Biden, on more than one occasion, has referred to her as “President Harris”; she has referred to herself as the President; he renamed his administration the Biden-Harris administration and the President’s residence is now the Biden-Harris White House; she represents the US in critical negotiations with Mexico, et al, in attempting to get them to stanch the migrant flow; Biden’s stated reason for her appointment is to let everyone know who’s in charge.

Couple all that with the fact that Old Joe is fading faster than the bloom on a plucked rose. Compare his halting, stumbling performance last week at his first press conference with his animated appearances during the 2020 Dem debates. Now days, when he stammers himself into a corner, he squeezes both of his eyes shut trying to do a brain reset. It usually fails and he simply gives up on the topic. Pretty soon, he’ll just give up.

To get elected, the Trudgin’ Trojan traded more than his advertised policies for a steaming bowl of Progressive support. He settled for an abbreviated term in the bargain. Look for Harris to assume the throne well before the fall of 2024.

Dateline: March 4, 2021 The Swamp

As has been widely reported, yesterday the video feed of Biden’s remarks to the House Democratic Caucus was cut when he volunteered to take questions. The implication of the pulled plug is that the White House wants to silence the Prez who isn’t up to extemporaneous chatter.

Even more telling than seeing the video cut is the full context of the episode in the 55 seconds before the axe fell. One of the few places I could find on the Internet that is showing a video of Biden’s entire remarks is here.

There are several videos on that page. The one of interest is preceded by, “Here’s another angle of Biden’s virtual event when the White House cut the feed:”

As the video shows, Biden and Pelosi engaged in a 14 minute dialogue. He is shown in profile sitting at a desk looking up at a screen where Pelosi can be seen. For 13 minutes or so, the pair gush at each other and about their great accomplishments and future plans. The Caucus Members are presumably tuned in via the video feed.

Then, at 13:42 into the love fest, Biden states:

“And I’m happy to take questions if that’s what I’m supposed to do, Nance, whatever you want me to do.”

Pelosi appears surprised and a little embarrassed. She looks around in silent confusion. Plainly, questions were not part of the deal. A female voice, not Pelosi’s, is heard whispering hurriedly and the video is cut immediately.

Biden’s “if that’s what I’m supposed to do, Nance” comes across as pathetic. It’s not just the tone of his voice. He should have known in advance whether questions were in the offing. He is the only President in the last 15 to hold zero press conferences before this point in his term. Not a shocker. If he’s not allowed to fumble through in front of fellow Dems, no way the press will get near him.

Better to sound pathetic than demented.