Rest in Peace, Mark Sheridan Clark!

Posted on April 29, 2026 by Mike Clark

Well, after 71 years my dear brother Mark has passed on to the “next place.”

It happened yesterday, 28 April 2026. He passed away peacefully at home after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Battles with that particular cancer usually do not last very long, but he had been offered an experimental treatment (don’t ask me to describe it), and this treatment did manage to fight the cancer pretty successful, almost to remission. However, the cancer was not defeated, and regrouping, it began growing again. At that point, it became clear that there was nothing more to be done, and with some relief, Mark and his wife Mary decided that it was time to let nature take its course.

In all this, he had a positive attitude, not blaming God or anything for what was happening to him, not crying out in fear or despair, but he simply fought the fight cheerfully. In my last visit with him back in February 2026 he was just as cheerful as he had always been throughout his life, though he knew that his time on earth was running short. Around that time he posted this on his Facebook page:

“As I sat on my bed looking out the marvelous window after a 2-hour nap while receiving my investigational cancer killing drug I was thinking about how I deal positively with my situation. I said to myself, I need to share this with you the reader. I love God and Jesus Christ and Mary, my wife who takes excellent care of me. Home life couldn’t be better living with my son and granddaughters. I love and thank each and every one of you for your prayers. I’ve passed so many dates where I should have died by now, so I know you’re prayers are working. I don’t take a day now simply, each day is special and I work to keep them special. So in closing, thank you so much! I love you all so very much, you are all in my prayers.”

Mark was a very accomplished man in many ways. But my overwhelming impression of him is that he could never do anything halfway. He was the living embodiment of “If a thing needs doing, it should be done well, or not at all.” He strove for completeness in everything he did. When we were young, our parents got me a guitar, and I learned to play it. I could play OK, and even took part in a couple of basement bands with school friends. When Mark saw me learning to play guitar, he had to do it, too. But it was MY guitar, and since he wasn’t going to get a guitar until a later date, he started learning on mine. Problem is, Mark was left-handed, and I am a righty. But no, not a problem, he just learned to play with a right-hand strung guitar! This means that he strummed/picked with his left hand, and worked the fretboard with his right. I don’t know how he did it, because the very idea of playing a guitar opposite-handed sounds impossible to me! But he did it.

We were neck-and-neck as far as skill level on the guitar is concerned, up until the time we went our respective ways in adulthood. But whereas I never advanced beyong basic picking and chording, he persevered. To me, he was astonishing! One thing he could play (and sing) very well was Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”! He could also play and sing practically every song in the Beatles’ catalog. I topped out with “Obla-Di Obla-Da,” which was the only Beatles tune I learned to play.

When he was 17 years old, with our father’s permission he joined the US Air Force and became a power production technician. This means he learned to operate and maintain electrical generation equipment. He managed to get stationed in three different countries overseas: Iceland; Greece; and Spain. He would have made it a full career with at least 20 years, but a bad reaction from a flu shot the Air Force required him to get caused an incurable chronic condition which required him to be retired medically. While the condition could have ended up killing him, no matter, he just learned to manage it.

After his USAF retirement they lived in Texas, and operated a keymaking shop for a time, but Mark was eventually hired as the Director of Public Works at some city whose name I have forgotten. He was successful enough at this that he was asked to work in the same position at the larger city of Canyon, Texas, where he worked for several years. While there, they fulfilled one of Mary’s dreams of operating a bed and breakfast establishment, when they bought a down-and-out bed-and-breakfast house in Canyon, Texas. It was in need of refurbishment, and they fixed it up and operated it for many years. At one point Southern Living Magazine listed their B&B as one of the ten best B&B’s in Texas. That B&B is still operating under different management: Hudspeth House (https://www.hudspethhouse.com/about).

Eventually, they decided to move to Oregon, Mary’s home state. So, after obtaining a job in Wood Village, Oregon, working for the city’s public works department, they sold their B&B and set up stakes in that city. While there, Mark ended up being elected to the Wood Village City Council, and also served for a number of years as a member of and then the chairman of the Port of Portland’s Citizen Noise Reduction Commission (pertaining mainly to Portland International Airport).

While living in Canyon, Texas, he and his wife Mary had bought several fixer-upper houses and fixed them for sale! He extended the skills he picked up fixing houses to their nearly final house in Wood Village, which they completely remodeled, turning it into a show home.

Mark was a certified electrician, a certified waste management engineer, and even learned how to fly an airplane. He was a welder, a metalworker, a carpenter, a plumber, and an artist in stained glass. He was a true friend to everyone, but his best accomplishment was being a husband and father.

He died in the sure knowledge that Jesus Christ was his Savior and Redeemer. Those of us left behind will miss his enthusiasm, love, and friendship, but we know he has gone on to a better place, free of the hardships that the cancer that took his life dealt to him. We also know that we will all eventually follow Mark to that place where he has gone; may we endure well to the end, as he has done.

Posted in Family, Events, Faith | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Losing a Brother

Posted on April 22, 2026 by Mike Clark

It’s 23 April 2026 and my little brother Mark, now taller than me, but still 3 years younger (he’s 71), is about to lose his battle with pancreatic cancer. I always thought he would outlive me, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Apparently.

He and his wife, Mary, are taking it well, They’ve both had a rough time of it, mainly because the investigational drug treatment he’s been involved with has let him last far longer than the usual pancreatic cancer patient. But the drug stopped working, and they made the decision to just let nature take its course.

Tonight we had a call online, and I was briefly able to rouse him from his not-quite-coma, but this will be the last time. I feel very melancholy about it, but not surprised. I knew this day would come when he first told me that it was pancreatic cancer. There’s a good chance of survival if caught early, but his was not. I believe that he was at stage 4 when diagnosed, and that was too advanced to be assured of survival past 5 years. Still, it sucks.

All is not lost however! Being Christians, we are assured that this is not the end, not really. We await the Resurrection. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ suffered unbearably to save us from our sins, and to ensure our eventual return to an immortal and eternal life.

Posted in Miscellaneous | Leave a comment

To all my friends and acquaintances who oppose Trump with all their hearts

Posted on September 25, 2025 by Mike Clark

I will start by saying I did not support Trump in 2016. This should be obvious from my blog posts published at that time. I thought he was not the right man for the job — but neither was Hillary, so I voted for a candidate who had no chance at all of being elected. Just a protest vote. But Trump’s performance in office made it clear that I had been wrong about him. Note that I don’t particularly like him. He tends to annoy me when he talks. He says some pretty darned dumb things from time to time. But what was the result of his first term? Only a Democrat could call it a failure; it was in fact quite successful, despite the left having hissy fits every other day. And it only ended on a negative note because of Covid. If Hillary had been elected in 2016 she would have ended on a negative note, too.

But in 2024, what other choice was there besides Trump? Biden was a damaged man, who was not entirely mentally competent even during the 2020 campaign, and after he was elected became even less so until we saw what he had become during that disastrous “debate” with Trump. And the person he chose as his running mate, to be a heartbeat away from the presidency? Is there anyone, other than a Democrat sycophant, who truly believed Kamala Harris is capable of serving as President? But besides that, just how “democratic” was her rise from vice presidential candidate to the top of the ticket? Not very democratic at all, but if the Democrat party had only acknowledged early enough just how damaged Joe Biden was, they might have had an actual democratic process to choose her, instead of the farce of her anti-democratic “anointing” that occurred. So ultimately we got Harris vs Trump, and what proof did we have that Harris could serve effectively? None at all, while Trump had already served a term as president, and none of the horrors the Democrats predicted would take place if he was elected actually came to pass. It should have been clear from the start that the only safe choice was Trump.

And the accusations against Trump from the very beginning were likewise unprecedented. Trump had never been called a “racist” in his entire life, and in fact had supported black civil rights organizations all his life, appeared positively on such programs as Oprah’s, and The View, receiving nothing but praise. Until he announced for president. Then suddenly he was a racist, homophobe, anti-woman, and just about any kind of negative thing that could be imagined. Of course, being the outspoken person that he is, he gave the talking heads and politicians plenty of grist for their defamation mills.

Let’s not forget, too, that the media and Democrat politicians tended to accuse Trump of things that were either false or completely misleading. For example, accusing him of separating families at the border and building cages for kids, when it was the Obama administration that built the cages originally, and also separated families. More recently Trump has come under fire for deporting illegal immigrants, as if Obama hadn’t deported millions himself, far more than Trump did during his first term.

And then we have the media. The only mainstream media organization that would give Trump any kind of break when it came to reporting on the campaign was Fox News. And Fox News is a hiss and byword among the Democrats as a joke of a news group. As for the rest, they were all clearly and unquestionably against Trump and everything he stood for. All of them, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC, stood foursquare and without the slightest hesitation for Joe Biden as first the most wonderful candidate for president and then the greatest president ever elected. Biden’s most ardent supporter, media personality Joe Scarborough, made this impassioned defense of Biden, after supposedly having spent some time with the president:

“I’ve said it for years now: he’s cogent. But I undersold him when I said he was cogent. He’s far beyond cogent. In fact, I think he’s better than he’s ever been intellectually, analytically. …This version of Biden … is the best Biden ever. Not a close second. And I’ve known him for years. … If it weren’t the truth, I wouldn’t say it.”

And then we saw Biden’s pathetic and heart-rending debate performance with Trump, after which Biden’s wife Jill praised him as if he were a toddler: “Joe, you did such a great job, you answered every question, you knew all the answers!” This was the man who was the best choice for President? If he were “beyond cogent” and “the best Biden ever,” what does that say for his political career before becoming president?

After Biden’s deficient mental state became obvious, ABC News was involved in making Kamala Harris look far better than she actually was, by heavily editing the interview they conducted with her. When successfully sued for this bias, it became clear that she didn’t know what she was talking about half the time. And without that heavy editing she was obviously and clearly unsuitable for the job of president. And since ABC saw the poor quality of candidate she was in actuality, yet still colluded to try to make her seem competent, how can we ever trust them again?

The degree of lawfare that has been directed at Trump has been unprecedented. They impeached him twice, on arguably false constitutional grounds, but failed to remove him from office. He was indicted for patently ridiculous reasons in New York and Georgia. The “34 felonies” he was convicted of in New York and thereafter constantly brought up by his opponents were for crimes that are just normal business operations if done by anyone else. He was fined an utterly impossible amount of money for these imagined crimes, nearly half a billion dollars, and so outrageous that even the liberal courts of New York found it to be unconstitutional. The fact that the indictments in New York were entirely politically motivated is obvious from the fact that the prosecutor stated from the outset of her term that she was out to “get” Trump.

And consider, too, what we have discovered about the Biden administration’s interference with the free speech rights of all those who opposed them. After Elon Musk bought Twitter it was revealed that the FBI had been deeply and secretly involved in colluding with Twitter management, suppressing anyone who spoke “misinformation” against the administration and its policies. And then we learned from Mark Zuckerberg himself that Facebook and the rest of Meta’s social media platforms had been cooperating with the Biden administration to do what Twitter had been doing, as well. Zuckerberg apologized and said they wouldn’t do it again, but can we believe him? And finally, most recently, YouTube has admitted that they had been doing exactly the same thing at the Biden administration’s behest.

One might ask, is it not fascists who seek to suppress and punish unapproved speech? The answer is, yes, fascists are famous for this, and what does this tell you about the Biden administration and the Democrats? So, what are we to think about the Democrats and their supporters in the media calling Trump a fascist? This is called “projection,” which is to accuse one’s opponents of doing the same thing one is doing.

What of the attempts to assassinate Trump? One nearly succeeded, and the other was discovered just minutes before the assassin was in range to fire. How many other presidents or presidential candidates in the past fifty years faced such mortal danger? Did Joe Biden? Barack Obama? No, of course not. Both shooters were extreme leftists and motivated to take him out because the philosophy of the left has always been “by any means necessary.” Even by violence.

After all this, the Democrats and their fellow-travelers still have the gall to claim that it is Trump who is the fascist. That Trump is a danger to “our Democracy”? If it is not obvious to you that it is Trump’s opponents who are acting fascistically and are a serious danger to our Republic, then I have a bridge to sell you.

Posted in Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Canada, the 51st State? No, let’s not…

Posted on May 18, 2025 by Mike Clark

To much dismay President Trump has been talking about Canada becoming the 51st state of the United States. There are political roadblocks to this that would make this virtually impossible, but even if it were possible, would it be a good idea for either country?

To start with, I would say that it would actually be good for Canada. Their economy is quite hampered by their own government. One comparison makes this quite clear. Look at Ireland. It’s population is 1/7th that of Canada, and yet its Gross Domestic Product per capita is about twice that of Canada! The so-called “Liberal” government has been suppressing Canadian economic and expressive freedom for decades, and it threatens to get even worse. Joining the US, whose GDP per capita is 1.5 times Canada’s, would pump up the Canadian economy and benefit Canadians a great deal.

But it would not be good for the United States. To start with, the political atmosphere of Canada is overall leftist. Considering national voting patterns overall, Canadians are much closer to the US Democrat than the Republican Party. If Canada came into the United States as a single state, it would become the largest state, both by population and land area. Its political influence would be similar to that of California, currently the largest state of the US in terms of congressional delegation.

Let’s examine how Canada’s politics would affect US politics. I am going to make the assumption that the current makeup of Canada’s House of Commons represents the national feelings. And I’m going to say that the Conservative Party approximates the Republicans, and all the others approximates the Democrats.

If Canada did become the 51st state, there would then be 52 senators in the US Senate. The two Canadian senators would as usual be elected “at large”, and given current feeling in Canada, they would both be Democrats. The House of Representatives would be a bit of a different story, and some Republicans would come in from Canada.

There is currently a maximum number of Representatives permitted, which 435. The House chamber is only so large, after all. This means that each House congressman represents 760,367 people. With Canada’s 40 million new citizens, the representation would change to one congressman for each 852,321 people. Divide 852,321 into 40 million Canadians and this would mean that Canada’s delegation to the House of Representatives would number 47 (compared to California’s new number of 46). And with the political makeup of Canada’s House of Commons, 34 of Canada’s new congressmen would be Democrats, and 13 would be Republicans. What does this mean for the United States? Disaster.

The Disaster comes about because the Democrat Party would then have an unassailable majority in the House of Representatives, and a likely majority in the Senate. Those majorities would probably last for a couple of decades, if not longer. This is NOT good for the United States, given the Democrat Party’s proclivities in terms of bad economic and social policies.

Realistically, however, it would be impractical for Canada to come in as one single state. As large as Canada is, it would really need to come in as several states, each with its own state government. How many new states? There are currently ten provinces and three territories. All but one of the provinces are sizable to make states, but Prince Edward Island with only 154 thousand people needs to come in joined with one of the other small provinces, its close neighbor New Brunswick. What name should it take? Doesn’t matter much for this purpose, but just let it join New Brunswick as a county with its current name. So this makes 9 new states. What is the upshot of this alternative?

It would be even worse to add 9 new Canadian states. The House of Representatives would be the same as if Canada came in as one big state, but the Senate would have 18 new senators, and likely as not, 4 would be Republicans and 14 would be Democrats (assuming a similar fraction to the House). This would put 14 new safe Democrat seats in the Senate, making both House and Senate a Democrat playground. And it would likely stay that way for a good while.

What is the likelihood of Canada becoming part of the United States? Virtually impossible. But it might be possible for one province, at least, to leave Canada and become the 51st state. That province is Alberta, which seems to be moving towards this at this time. Assuming Canada would let Alberta go (doubtful), I think it’s likely that the US would allow it. All it would requires is a simple majority in the House and Senate, followed by a presidential “Yea,” which I assume Trump would say. Alberta’s population would entitle it to about 6 congressional representatives. Given the makeup of Alberta’s current Legislative Assembly, it would seem that their delegation would come in with 3 Democrats and 3 Republicans. And given that the Conservatives in Alberta make up a clear majority of delegates to their Assembly, it seems possible that both senators would be Republicans.

But I’m not holding my breath, because even Alberta’s chances of becoming a state seem unlikely.

Posted in International, Politics | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Victory in Europe Day – 80th Anniversary

Posted on May 8, 2025 by Mike Clark

I don’t remember we in the United States celebrating Victory in Europe (VE) Day every 8th of May. Perhaps it was done, but not very memorably, or I would have remembered it. But it’s a much bigger thing in the United Kingdom.

About 2.3 million US soldiers were deployed to the European Theater during World War II, and around 250,000 died as a result of warfare there. But the United States was never at any time faced with a real threat to its existence, and the only US territory that was actually captured by enemy forces were Guam and Wake islands, in the Pacific, and the remote Alaskan islands of Attu and Kiska. As Japanese Admiral Yamamoto told his military leadership, there was no practical chance that Japan could actually conquer the United States, or even force a surrender. The best they could hope for was a peace treaty. Likewise, there was no chance that the other Axis powers, Germany and Italy, could invade the US or force its surrender. But for the United Kingdom it was a different matter entirely.

The war in Europe was a genuine threat to the existence of the United Kingdom, and first and foremost that threat came from the European continent. While some UK troops did fight in the Pacific Theater, the vast majority of UK battle deaths occurred in Europe. With a population of less than 50 million, 383,700 UK military members lost their lives in the war, and over 67,000 civilians died as well, most in enemy air attacks. Until the successful Allied invasion of France in June 1944, the United Kingdom stood at all times in some danger of invasion by Germany, with a credible danger of actually losing the war. As a consequence of that danger, and a genuine fear of invasion that stood in the hearts of all Britons, the victory in Europe is today, 80 years later, still remembered and celebrated, even though there are very few citizens left still living from that time. Still fewer are the last surviving UK military members, which in 2024 was estimated to be 70,000.

The majority of British civilians to die in World War II were killed in The Blitz, also known as the Battle of Britain, when the German Luftwaffe attempted to bomb the United Kingdom into submitting to a peace settlement, or as preparation for an invasion. It was the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces. Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave a speech in August 1940, in which he praised the members of the Royal Air Force, which was greatly outnumbered by the Luftwaffe in both aircraft and pilots, as “The Few.”

Just a few days before this he had been visiting the No. 11 Group RAF operations room during the day of a battle, where at one point every squadron in the group was engaged while more waves of German planes were crossing the coast. When he and General Ismay, his chief military assistant, departed from the bunker to head back to his residence, he had asked the general not to speak to him about it for a time, as he was so emotionally drained, or “moved,” as he said. After several minutes he remarked to Ismay “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” He repeated this sentence in his speech, and ever afterwards the term “The Few” came to refer to the airmen of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the aviators of the Fleet Air Arm, Royal Navy (RN) who fought the Battle of Britain in the Second World War.

I write particularly of The Few because as of time of this video it had been just a couple of months ago that the last surviving pilot of The Few passed away on 17 March 2025, aged 105. He was John Allman Hemingway, known as “Paddy Hemingway,” born 17 July 1919 in Dublin, Ireland. Although the Republic of Ireland was a neutral power during World War II, many Irish citizens fought on the Allied side during the war. In John’s case, he was accepted to serve in the Royal Air Force and was granted a short-service commission on 7 March 1938, a year and a half before the war broke out. By the time war began with the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, he had been promoted to pilot officer, and in early 1940, he was flying Hurricanes with No. 85 Squadron RAF in France.

During the war, he rose in responsibility and from April to December 1945 he commanded No. 43 Squadron RAF, flying Spitfires. The squadron served in Italy, where Hemingway was shot down for a fourth time.

For his exploits in the war, he was “mentioned in despatches” and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, or DFC. This is a military decoration awarded to officers and warrant officers of the Royal Air Force for “an act or acts of valour, courage, or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy”. After the war, he remained in the RAF until he retired in 1969 at the rank of Group Captain, after 31 years of service.

Group Captain Hemingway was one of a decreasing number of men and women who served during that war, and who survived the conflict to remind us of the depth and debt of gratitude that we owe to all those who served to preserve the nation, and especially so to the ones who perished in order to preserve our rights and freedoms. May we all continue to remember them, not only by commemorations, but also by working to keep our lands free of tyranny, both for ourselves and our descendants.

Posted in history | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s Time for the 25th Amendment

Posted on July 2, 2024 by Mike Clark
Posted in Politics | Leave a comment

Another “Debate” Point: The Media

Posted on July 2, 2024 by Mike Clark

That “debate” brings up another important point, besides Biden’s unsuitability to be president. And that is the news media: they are not news; they are “news”. I’m putting what are called “scare quotes” around these terms for a reason. Because the “news media” are not what they seem.

If it has not been obvious before, it should be obvious now. The majority of the so-called “news” organizations, such as ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN, they are not actually news. They are wholly-controlled propaganda arms of the most “progressive” branch of the Democrat National Party. Their agenda is not information, but propagandization. They have been strenuously denying the reality of Joe Biden’s mental infirmity for years. It should also be clear that they have been shilling not only for Joe Biden, but also for every progressive movement that has reared its head.

Who is ultimately behind them? It’s hard to be certain, but their coordination on almost all topics is so clear that there can be no denying it. They are working together for a common goal.

Posted in Politics | Leave a comment

Can Anyone Feel that Biden Should Continue as President?

Posted on June 28, 2024 by Mike Clark

The 27 June 2024 “debate” between President Biden and former president Donald Trump has made it abundantly clear that Biden cannot possibly be allowed to continue as the President of the United States. He is a train wreck. It should be clear to anyone with a brain that Biden isn’t functioning.

Would we be better off with Kamala Harris? Temporarily maybe. But Biden is clearly not in command of his own mind.

And as for the Democrats who have been claiming that Biden is perfectly fine? How dare they!

It’s time for the 25th Amendment, section 4:

“Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.”

Posted in Politics | Leave a comment

TDS v. TWS

Posted on October 1, 2023 by Mike Clark

I spend some time on Quora, the Q&A site. I usually answer questions, but sometimes look for answers. I got a notification about a question, as follows:

Trump admits he wanted to award himself the Medal of Honor, the highest award given for bravery to military members, but “they wouldn’t let” him do it because it would be “inappropriate.” How can ANY Veteran or current service member support this?

There were lots of answers, and since the “Space” the question was posed in was the “Trumpers are Traitors” space, “A space to expose the treasonous misdeeds of Trump and his followers,” I knew it was going to be a Trump Derangement Syndrome frenzy.

But I wanted to try to inject a small amount of sanity into the proceedings, and was well aware that my answer would be deleted, post haste. So I decided to post my answer here, as well, where they cannot cancel it. So here is is:

I know you’re going to delete this, because God forbid any sanity be injected into this space, but here goes anyway.

It’s obvious he was joking. It’s a tasteless joke, perhaps on the order of Biden’s assertion that a black person isn’t black if he or she doesn’t vote for Biden. Except Biden wasn’t joking.

Here’s the thing: there are two mental conditions associated with Trump. These conditions occur in people other than Trump. The same mental conditions are associated with Biden, too, by the way, but I digress.

The first condition associated with Trump, the one exhibited in the posting of this question, is the Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). Trump is the devil. Trump is Hitler. Trump is… take your pick. Nothing he does or says is right, and even if you happen to accidentally agree with him (like on not drinking alcohol, for instance), he’s still wrong. Even if Trump policies actually work, they must be still be opposed and reversed. Just because Trump is for them.

The second condition is the opposite. It could be called Trump Worship Syndrome (TWS). Nothing Trump does or says can be criticized. Trump is love. Trump is the savior. Trump is the ultimate patriot. If you happen to disagree with Trump on anything, even if it is an important part of your beliefs, Trump is still right. If Trump policies don’t actually work, they must still be carried out. Just because Trump is for them.

You see what is going on here, don’t you? Both ends of the spectrum are deranged. And like many other derangements, the sufferers cannot even see it. They cancel anyone who point out their derangement. Many otherwise intelligent people have fallen victim to either one or the other condition. It’s tragic. It’s almost as if they have gone into an irreversible loop, like a computer with a virus.

The fact is, Trump policies were, on balance, beneficial to the country. This should be obvious to anyone who has observed what has changed under Biden. Of course, TDS sufferers cannot admit this. It is also a fact that Trump is a narcissist. He can be extremely rude. He can be very infuriating. And TWS sufferers cannot admit this.

I say to both sides: turn your brain back on, please. It’s possible to fight Trump or support Trump without turning yourself into a mockery of a thinking human being.

Posted in Politics | Leave a comment

Ilhan Omar: No Foreign Affairs Committee Seat

Posted on February 6, 2023 by Mike Clark

In the wake of the Republican Party gaining a majority in the US House of Representatives, committee assignments became subject to the will of the Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy.

Some members of the Democrat Party who are especially frowned upon by Republicans have, for various reasons, been stripped of certain committee assignments. These notably include Eric Swalwell, who was removed from the Intelligence Committee due to his past intimate association with a suspected Chinese spy. Since the Intelligence Committee has special access to classified information, it appears that Mr. Swalwell might not be eligible for a security classification. Thus is seems reasonable to keep him away from sensitive information. Naturally, the Democrats disagree.

But the Democrats have taken a special level of umbrage towards the exclusion of Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs committee. The exclusion was upheld in a largely party line vote, and so she is off that committee. One of the reasons for her exclusion was past anti-Semitic and anti-Israel remarks. “But wait!” the Democrats cry, “she isn’t all that bad!” Apparently they believe that her remarks didn’t cross a line — although I’d like to know where they set that line.

While not, strictly speaking, a Democrat Party shill, the news organization called The Intercept, agrees that Omar hasn’t been egregious enough. In a recent email broadcast to subscribers they wrote:

“For years, Republicans made spurious allegations of antisemitism against Rep. Ilhan Omar for her criticisms of Israel — and Democrats joined in.”

See The Intercept’s article here: HOW DEMOCRATS PAVED THE WAY FOR KEVIN MCCARTHY’S ATTACK ON ILHAN OMAR

“[S]purious allegations”? Hmmm. I don’t know what playbook The Intercept is working from, but it sure seemed to me that Omar definitely holds prejudicial views against both Jews and Israel.

The Intercept characterizes Omar’s remarks that resulted in her removal from the committee as insufficient, and intimates that she was doing us all a favor for pointing out that Israel doesn’t treat some Palenstinians nicely (you know, those folks who carry out deadly terror attacks on Israel?), and who maintain lobbying organizations in the US — like every other special-interest group in the world?

Well, anyway, in case you haven’t noticed, Israel is the only country in the Middle East which has a pluralistic society, where both Muslim and Jewish citizens have equal rights, and women are likewise treated equally. But who cares about that, right?

There should be questions raised about Omar’s suitability for the Foreign Affairs committee when for one thing the nation of Israel won’t let her visit because of her support for anti-Israel actions. Since Israel is an important US ally and Foreign Affairs committee members should be able to visit foreign countries the US has a relationship with, it makes sense to exclude her from that committee.

Posted in Miscellaneous | Leave a comment