The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.
Frederick Douglass
Did you watch it? I didn’t. I never liked watching the annual Presidential SOTU addresses, but I always felt it was my duty as a citizen. That changed after “The Wicked Witch of the West,’’ in front of the nation, dramatically tore up her copy of President Trump’s 2020 SOTU speech. I’ve always thought the hobnobbing of Washington politicos, with dramatic standing, scowling and clapping or moaning was just poor Kabuki theater. I don’t pretend to understand traditional Japanese theater, but I do know farcical hoopla when I see it. And for me it would have been torture listening to PINO and having to watch the unmasked harpies sitting behind him. Isn’t it curious that Pelosi no longer required masks, ostensibly because the CDC reversed their “science” four days before SOTU. It sounds more like “political science” to me.
Years ago, I heard a TV ad stating that retirement is when you pay yourself to do what you really want to do. This makes sense to me, so I did not suffer through the State of the Union message. I read multiple reports from newspapers and news sites whose reporters were required to watch and listen to PINO. Aside from the predictable sycophants, the consensus was Ol’ Joe did nothing to bind the wounds of our country or change direction for the benefit of We the People. Even mild-mannered Dana Perino panned Biden’s speech.
Amid instances of PINO’s mistruths and misspeak, he appropriately spent considerable time on the Russian-Ukrainian war. However, he did not address the threat of nuclear war.
Putin, the Russian dictator, is a ruthless ex-KGB colonel and has repeatedly threatened the use of nuclear weapons.
The Ukrainian war is a tragedy, but hopefully has awakened Americans to the necessity of energy security. Even the Germans have figured out that Putin is an unpredictable dictator, and buying natural gas from him is a national security issue. You would think that Ol’ Joe would understand that our energy independence is also a national security issue. However, rigid ideology has corrupted our leaders’ minds. We were energy independent at the end of 2020, but Biden cut our domestic oil production by over a million barrels a day and we now import over 600,000 barrels of oil a day from Russia. We are funding Putin’s war. Buy American, Mr. Biden, not “weaponized Russian” oil.
The issue is that solar, wind, hydro and geothermal energy sources are insufficient to meet the needs of our country or the world. China is one of the world’s leading polluters and has just signed a contract to purchase 100 million metric tons of coal from Russia. Xi Jingping does not worry about pollution as he continues to build coal fired power plants. Even nuclear fission reactors are not enough. So, for the short-term, fossil fuels are necessary if we want to have electrical power for lights, charge our cars and smartphones, heat/cool our homes or run factories. Progress is being made to create an electromagnetic field capable of containing nuclear fusion of hydrogen, the process that powers the sun and the stars. Someday we will have oceans (H2O) of energy, but in the meantime, I do not want to sit in the dark or be cold, nor do I want to be dependent upon or support brutal dictators by buying their fossil fuels.
America is “woke and broke,” said one pundit describing the state of our union. I realize the four Horsemen of The Knoxville Focus (Hunley, Black, Duncan and Ferguson) repeatedly decry the mismanagement of our country. But speaking the truth will hopefully awaken people.
The left’s destructive woke philosophy is built on victimization and abject racism. And our deficit spending has fueled rampant inflation which will be felt for years to come. These days, I find it astounding that anyone can support Democrat policies or vote for a Democrat, given that party’s policies and ideology. Actually, I fear the Democrat’s destructive ideology and policies more than Putin’s missiles.
My wife Becky is well-informed and for the last 6 to 9 months she has sensed a change in the mood of our country. I’m more pessimistic, but I hope she’s right and it’s not too late. Biden, Democrats, and the progressive-socialist cabal are responsible for the southern border crisis and invasion, promotion of racist class warfare and threatening our national security with energy mismanagement. Perhaps, IF we avoid nuclear war with Russia, the Ukrainian tragedy may finally awaken the American people to reality. iPOTUS should reverse his energy policy and allow drilling and exploration and remove crippling regulations. We must quit listening to the climate crisis loons like John Kerry, Biden’s climate czar. We must tighten our belts and stop buying anything from Russia. And we must become energy independent again. It is a national security issue beyond rising gasoline prices.
Last week in his column, Congressman Duncan referred to a book we are reading in our “egghead” book club which focuses on Henry Kissinger and realpolitik. I always thought the term derived from Russian. Mr. Webster defines realpolitik as, “politics based on practical and material factors (issues) rather than on theoretical or ethical objectives.” The word derives from the German real (actual) and politik (politics). Mr. Biden, our country should be exercising realpolitik rather than the Democrat party ideology of wokeness, exemplified by CRT and the discredited and anti-American 1619 project.
As I watched the Ukrainian news, I thought of Charles Dickens’ famous book, A Tale of Two [Presidents]. From his Delaware bunker, PINO offered Ukrainian Pres. Zelenskyy evacuation from Kyiv. The former comedian and TV star declined saying, “I need ammunition, not a ride.” Well said, Mr. President! We should have such patriotic citizens, businessmen and leaders, rather than career politicians like iPOTUS or Canada’s Trudeau, who ran away from Ottawa and hid from Canadian truckers.
Several years ago, when asking my grandson, Oakley, about events of the previous day he became flustered regarding details. He told my wife, “BeBe, I can only handle right now.” I feel the same way. I would rather be writing about medicine, science, history, philosophy, travel, the arts or spirituality. I’m sorry, but because of the crisis, “I can only handle right now.”
