Governor Murphy caught in an act of cultural appropriation?

The Left calls it “cultural appropriation”. It’s what they complain about when a member of the so-called “dominant” culture appropriates elements of another culture – especially a disadvantaged “minority” culture. Well, Phil Murphy is certainly a mega-wealthy one-percenter, so having a can of PBR would probably count as cultural appropriation. But in this case, he dressed up…

This photograph was posted by the Governor’s own communications guy, a “proud alum” (as he puts it) of Hillary Clinton, Bill DeBlasio, and Barack Obama. So he should know all about the rights and wrongs of political correctness. Or is it only incorrect when someone you don’t like does it? Of course, that could be anyone from Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard to Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump.

Was this a case of cultural appropriation or just an attempt at pandering? Will the Governor wear a kilt on St. Andrew's Day? A sombrero on Cinco de Mayo? Will he do a dance too… maybe end up on a remake of Coldplay’s Dancing Politicians (Violet Hill)?

Governor Murphy is always up to something. One day he is issuing directives on providing Sanctuary and millions in aid to illegals – while slashing education funding to the children of taxpayers. The next he is instructing local law enforcement on how to incarcerate the sexes together – can’t wait for the lawsuits that will result from this brainstorm. But somehow he can’t seem to address the highest property taxes in America, or the worst foreclosure rate in America, or the lousiest business climate in America.

Phil Murphy runs away from the big stuff. He likes to meddle in the lives of “lesser beings” (average folks like us) and he like photo ops. And he likes to feel morally superior to everyone else (we suppose it goes along with being economically superior). What you see here is what you are going to get. This is what he is good at.

Self-described “Dixiecrat” running in Sussex County

Here are the opening paragraphs from the InsiderNJ puff peace, commissioned by her Trenton insider friends and penned by Fred Snowflake:

“Deana Lykins says her new hometown of rural Green Township in Sussex County looks a lot like her native Kentucky.  But the picture changes quickly when it comes to politics. Lykins says that when she grew up in Owen, Ky.,  her home county was more than 90 percent Democratic.”

Well, it’s still registered Democrat… there are over 4,400 Democrats to 2,300 Republicans, with 400 Independents… but Donald Trump carried the county with 75% of the vote in 2016.  Throughout the 1980’s and 90’s, Democrats generally carried the county (with the exception of 1984, when Ronald Reagan won the county with 52%), but after 2000, the county became reliably Republican.  

Owens County is 96.6% white, which makes it whiter than Sussex County (93.4%) but it’s a lot poorer.  The per capita income in Owens County is just $22,633 and 16% of the population live below the poverty line.  Yes, these are the white working class people who have been discarded by the global economy and the new economic elite.  They are part of a larger working class – of all races and ethnicities – who for twenty or more years have increasingly found themselves on the losing end, economically.  

$22,633 is a significant number for another reason.  We don’t know what her social strata was back in Kentucky, but when she moved east to New Jersey, lawyer-lobbyist Lykins became part of an elite than pocketed in one month what the average guy in her home county lived off for a whole year.  We know this because Deana Lykins told a federal bankruptcy judge in New Jersey that her monthly income was $23,576.

Candidate Lykins has a big house, fancy automobiles, and a wealthy lifestyle… but that didn’t stop her from spending herself into bankruptcy court.  And now she’s running for the Assembly – as a Phil Murphy Democrat.

In August of 2014, the candidate filed for bankruptcy (case #14-26076) in federal court and reported a monthly household income of $23,576.  From the court records, the debt appears to be consumer or lifestyle based… with a number of credit card companies listed as creditors, as well as tax authorities.  Property listed included a large, well-appointed house, as well as a BMW, Land Rover, and a Chrysler Sebring.

Candidate Lykins is well-known in Trenton, where she worked for the Democrats in the Legislature before turning into a lobbyist for the insurance industry.  What skills she has to offer are ominous – especially in the area of keeping spending in check and balancing budgets – but Lykins would be a safe vote in support of the spending and debt agenda of Democrat Governor Phil Murphy and the rest of the Trenton Democrats.  

But here’s where her candidacy gets really interesting.  

On her first video she made public for her current campaign for the New Jersey Legislature, Deana Lykins describes herself as a “Dixiecrat”.  Yes, you heard that right… she said she was a “Dixiecrat” on a campaign video meant for public distribution and then posted that video and distributed it through her campaign.

So just what is a “Dixiecrat”?

Well, let us for the moment turn to that well-known source of definitions, Wikipedia, for further enlightenment.  Here is what they have written to define the term “Dixiecrat”:

The States' Rights Democratic Party (usually called the Dixiecrats) was a short-lived segregationist political party in the United States. It originated in 1948 as a breakaway faction of the Democratic Party determined to protect states' rights to legislate racial segregation from what its members regarded as an oppressive federal government.

Supporters assumed control of the state Democratic parties in part or in full in several Southern states. The Party opposed racial integration and wanted to retain Jim Crow laws and white supremacy in the face of possible federal intervention. Its members were referred to as "Dixiecrats", a portmanteau of "Dixie", referring to the Southern United States, and "Democrat".

Wow…

And we have news for old Fred Snowflake… Dixiecrats really did fly Confederate Battle Flags, real ones.  Not Hank Williams Jr. Country & Western Band banners.

In the weeks ahead, we’ll have more entertaining background from Ole Kentucky and Owens County “Dixiecrats”.  So stay tuned… it is going to be fun.

How did Sussex Democrat candidate go bankrupt while making $23,000 a month?

Deana Lykins is a lawyer-lobbyist and member of the One Percent.  She has a big house, fancy automobiles, and a wealthy lifestyle… but that didn’t stop her from spending herself into bankruptcy court.  She recently announced her candidacy for Assembly, running as a Phil Murphy Democrat.

In August of 2014, the candidate filed for bankruptcy (case #14-26076) in federal court and reported a monthly household income of $23,576.00 (that’s every month).  That’s more than the yearly income (per capita) of the average resident in a town like Sussex Borough ($20,887). 

From the bankruptcy court filings,  the debt appears to be consumer or lifestyle based… with a number of credit card companies listed as creditors, as well as tax authorities.  Property listed included a large, well appointed house, as well as a BMW, Land Rover, and a Chrysler Sebring.

Candidate Lykins is well-known in Trenton, where she worked for the Democrats in the Legislature before turning into a lobbyist for the insurance industry.  What skills she has to offer are ominous – especially in the area of keeping spending in check and balancing budgets – but Lykins would be a safe vote in support of the spending and debt agenda of Democrat Governor Phil Murphy and the rest of the Trenton Democrats. 

We will be examining this candidate’s record further in the weeks and months ahead.  So stay tuned…

Are celebrities like Lady Gaga new model “Christians”?

One famous actress once observed of another… “that type would wear a gold-plated dog turd around her neck to get attention.”

And so we come to Lady Gaga, the latest in a long incarnation of “entertainers” who begin by desperately seeking public attention… and end with thinking themselves the centers of the universe.  Just when did court jesters (and these jesters perform, first and foremost, to gain the favor of a fashionable elite) replace philosophers and theologians?

The Gagster has been in the news again, decrying the existence of any outpost of traditional Christianity – you know, the kind that existed for a couple thousand years before the coming of her hirsute arse – and suggesting that Christians follow her interpretation of the New Testament.  Yes, the Gospel as read by Lady Gagged and Gagged Again.

Not that she’s read the Bible… no, she’s just kind of “felt” it.  But hey, feelings trump knowledge, right?  So this is the Gag… read it:

“Here it is. Lady Gaga calls herself a Christian and then tries to convince the rest of the world that Vice President Mike Pence is not a good representation of what Christianity actually is. Why? Because he believes in traditional marriage between one man and one woman. Gaga's comment came after people on the Left became outraged to learn that Karen Pence is going to teach at a Christian school that follows biblical teaching about sexuality. That led to broad attacks against Christian schools in general, revealing that they have become the next big target for the anti-Christian Left.

…It exposes the tacit end game of an unseen spiritual force in this no-holds-barred age of fury – to defeat the cultural impact of the Christian faith by redefining it.”

If they can redefine what Christianity is – update it into something fitting their image – they can then simply define away traditional Christianity (the 2,000+ years old religious faith) as a common hate crime, something not protected by the First Amendment.  And then they will criminalize its practice. 

This new model “Christianity” revolves around sex.  It calls itself “progressive” when, in fact, it is a regression into the unrestrained carnality and violence of the religions of antiquity.  It “celebrates” satisfying the “animal” in mankind that Mohandas Gandhi warned about. 

Of course, the more “progressive” members of our political class, failing to come to terms with America’s relative economic and cultural decline, have happily embraced the promise of the politics of sex.  Instead of assuring voters of a “chicken in every pot” they tout “orgasms for every peccadillo.” 

In a politics dominated by a One Percent who long ago stopped worrying about things like food and housing (Governor Murphy anyone???), the endless quest for sexual fulfillment can fill the vacuum.  Aldous Huxley observed: “As political and economic freedom diminishes, sexual freedom tends compensatingly to increase.”  (Brave New World, 1932)

Stephen Baskerville has written an excellent book on what Newsweek magazine described as “the politics of sex” and it is a must read for every legislator and policy maker in New Jersey.  Baskerville is a scholar of political science and a leading authority on divorce, child custody, and the family court system.  He holds a BA in International Relations from American University as well as a PhD in Political Science and History from the London School of Economics.  Baskerville is currently Professor of Government and Director of the International Politics & Policy program at Patrick Henry College.  Prior to this he was Professor of Political Science at Howard University.

The book is called, The New Politics of Sex (The Sexual Revolution, Civil Liberties, and the Growth of Government Power).  In his book, Baskerville outlines the emergence of a new political ideology that derives its claims to political power from neither economic relations or ethnicity or race – but from control of sexuality.  He notes that, until recently, scholars and journalists have been reluctant to analyze this new phenomenon with any depth or detachment – for fear of repercussions.  One critic had this to take away from reading the book:

“I found it intriguing to understand how the roles of the sexes have not really changed. Women are still predominately the ones who care for children – they just do it as day care workers or welfare recipients now – and men still predominately provide the financial support – they just do it by paying court ordered child support now, or by paying tax dollars that the government redistributes to women on welfare. 

What predominately has changed is that we’ve gone from having nuclear family units with a man at the head of it who is looked to for leadership and support, to being a herd-like society with government at the head, giving the orders, and being looked to take care of us.

Instead of individual family units, we’ve become more like one big family with government as our daddy. And instead of that daddy taking us to church once a week to worship God, our new daddy takes us to the government schools five days a week where we learn to serve the state in the new religion of socialism.”

Oh, and where our children learn that pot is “medicinal”, abortion is a “rite of passage”, and STD’s are a normal by-product of a life well lived.  Happy days!

You can get a copy of the book here:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36138566-the-new-politics-of-sex

In attack on Sen. Doherty, Mandelblatt ignores class

It is becoming clearer by the day, that the anti-Trump backlash led by the Women's March organization, is an inverted revolution -- a revolt of the One-Percent against what they see as a threat to the imposition of their world view on the rest of us.  Make no mistake.  Their economic well-being is not threatened.  They will continue to privately smile when they cash checks from their unearned income, while demonstrating to the world that they are outraged at their "privilege". 

Once upon a time, the behavior of the One-Percent was constrained by a moral code that was broadly democratic -- in that it applied to everyone.  Even the very rich were advised "not to frighten the horses."  That however is no longer the case, and it will be some future historian who will draw the exact line when we, as a culture, slipped from being a vaguely Christian one to something decidedly Post-Christian, even Anti-Christian.  Like when the Emperor Constantine decidedly to make his subjects put aside their old gods for the new, we are... quite suddenly... somewhere else.

This dislocation has affected people -- ordinary people -- as much as has the imposition of a global economy on what had, until recently, been a Main Street one.  We are not a nation of immigrants, so much as refugees.  We are lost, cut-off from our past, unable to return to it or even, to find it.  A character in a novel by Evelyn Waugh once mused on the nature of memory... "These memories, which are my life -- for we possess nothing certainly except the past."

Enter Senator Mike Doherty, an honest man living in dishonest times.  The Senator expresses himself... honestly.  We say we value honesty when we do not.  What we value is the show of "virtue" above all else.  Like Pharisees, we wear our virtue so that the world can know our goodness and can reflect back that goodness .  Of course, we are not good.  We are simply blind to ourselves.  We fear speaking honestly, exchange honesty for a script of virtuous catch-phrases, homilies, and sentiments.  We say we hate "hate" while engaging in an endless pursuit of hate objects.  We exchange new hates for old hates -- and call it virtue.

Mike Doherty is a convenient hate object.  He expresses the dislocation that so many feel.  He does so in an honest, almost bewildered fashion.  He is concerned for his working class neighbors, concerned for the guy who maybe lacked the money or luck to get into college -- and who must now live by his muscle and grit.  Or the lady who ended up a victim of the sexual revolution, whose husband ran off with a younger gal at work, and who must now make ends meet and chart a way for her children.

The One-Percent don't care about them.  They call Doherty a "nativist" and a "racist" because he worries about how that man will compete in a market glutted with "illegal" labor.  Cheap labor.  The One-Percent love it.  There's nothing like having servants to puff up the ego.  Cheap labor was behind the murder of Julius Caesar.  With slaves pouring into the Republic, he wanted a law that ensured the future employment of Roman Citizens -- but the Patricians weren't having it, so out came the knives.  Oh, and the greedy pricks tried to justify it by saying they were striking down a tyrant.  Same as today.

When you look at who owns newspapers like the Star-Ledger, with their record of anti-worker, anti-union, greedy behavior -- you can trace back every one of their editorial page screeds to corporate self-interest.  George Carlin was right... "They want more for themselves and less for everyone else... rich c*cksuckers who don't give a f*ck about you."

Ever wonder why the only people that these pricks pay well are the columnists?  All the hard news reporters have been reduced to the level of piece-work stringers, but the owners maintain a stable of well-fed, well cared-for columnists who can largely be relied upon to advance their agenda.  They don't pay for facts.  For hard news.  They pay for hit jobs.  For opinion pieces to push their self-interest. 

Hell, the Gannett organization was sued by its own employees for maintaining a regime of systemic corporate racism... and then they have the balls to employ opinion writers to call other people "racist"?  Look at me, don't look over there, look at the pretty opinion writer balloon, don't focus on the bucket load of shit that we're standing in.

Enter Lisa Mandelblatt, Democrat candidate for Congress.  Such a pretty lady with a winning personality... it almost hurts to have to criticize her.  And she sure looks cute, marching against The Donald in that pink pussy cat hat with all those other rich suburban ladies.  But really?  She is going to make pronouncements about the working class... from Westfield???

Westfield is bubbleland!  It is practically the center of the bubble universe.  They have neighborhoods with names like Country Club Estates, The Gardens, Manor Park, Indian Forest, and Stonehenge... WTF!  They say they love people here illegally who can't speak English when what they really love are people here illegally who will work for nothing and who can't backtalk them. 

And working class people?  They have a name for them too.  If you said it about anyone else they would call it "hate speech" but hell, blue collar folk are this season's fashionable hate object.  They call them "trailer park trash."

So perky Ms. Mandelblatt took a shot at Senator Doherty today, calling him out for what she alleged are his "anti-immigrant and nativist statements."  Come again?  This guy was in the Army... who do you think he lived with, worked with, and would have died to protect?  His three sons all signed up.  Who do they live with?

And there sits Ms. Mandelblatt, sitting pretty in Westfield.  You could have chosen to live anywhere... why Westfield?  Isn't that kind of anti-immigrant and nativist of you? 

The One Percenter who stalks GOPer Frelinghuysen

We like Rodney Frelinghuysen because, unlike Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, he didn't try any bullshit, got drafted into the United States Army, and served in Vietnam.  That qualification alone carries him far in our book.

Last spring, a few media boys tried to create a "working class hero" out of a lawyer and bank executive named Saily Avelenda.   In covering her manufactured controversy with Congressman Frelinghuysen, the media boys consistently neglected to provide their readers with Ms. Avelenda's full title:  Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of a bank.  Yes, a fully-fledged member of the one percent!  Before landing her job with Lakeland Bank, in 2010, Ms. Avelenda was general counsel for Hann Financial Service Company, and was a vice president and counsel for Hudson United Bank.

The media tried to make Ms. Avelenda into Northwest New Jersey's version of "La Pasionaria" -- just an average employee standing up to a powerful member of Congress.  In fact, Ms. Saily Avelenda is the co-founder of her own SuperPAC.  You know, S-U-P-E-R-P-A-C, those largely unregulated tools of the super rich that allow the one-percent to wield enormous power to lobby and affect policy in the least transparent way possible.

Yep, Saily Avelenda started her own Super-PAC with GOOGLE multi-millionaire Jonathan Bellack.  Bellack uses his vast wealth to shout down working class voters who can't throw the kind of money around that he can.  While most people worry about their kids' college tuition, property taxes, and staying out of foreclosure, Bellack uses his money to select those who tell everyone else how to live.

Bellack is so stinking rich that he can afford to spend $33,400 on a single dinner ticket, just to hang out with Barack Obama.  $33,400 is what the average working American pays for a new car if they can afford it.  Hey, if you had $33,400 in your bank account could you afford to spend it on ticket to a political fundraiser?  Thought as much.

Now for a word from the great George Carlin.

Carlin is right.  The education establishment sucks.  The establishment media sucks.  And GOOGLE -- the richest corporation in the world -- sucks!  GOOGLE already exercises a creepy corporate control over way too much in our daily lives, but they want more.  Not only does GOOGLE off-shore what should be American jobs to low-paid sweatshops overseas, GOOGLE off-shores its profits to avoid paying taxes to the United States of America.  GOOGLE, corporate lawyers, lobbyists, corporate executives, bankers, one percenters, owners of SUPER-PACs... This is what your Democrats have become. 

They complain about Trump when they damned well know they gave us Trump when they rigged the Democrat presidential primaries to cut off Bernie's nuts.  For once, the "obedient workers" refused to do as they were told and rebelled against allowing the corporate establishment and their media to anoint "Big Mama."

And Saily Avelenda?  Well, the one-percenter Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of a bank has reshaped her media image into...

Yep... she's a "warrior princess"!  You see, this is what comes from playing video games too much and for too long.  You become detached from reality and actually believe yourself to be one of the characters in the game.

You also start to think that a good, decent fellow like Rodney Frelinghuysen is a monster because... well, that's how it is in those games.  There's the "baddies" and there's the "goodies."  Not the kind of character development you get in a novel, but who has time to read a book these days, right Saily?

Actually, the world is a bit more complex than our "warrior princess" would like us to believe.  Less black and white than she'd like us to think.  We'd like Ms. Saily Avelenda to examine with us the policy positions lobbied for by the corporations who paid her so handsomely.  We'd like her to tell us if she showed any compassion at all for those displaced, forced into foreclosure, made homeless by those policies and/or subsequent actions of the corporations she served.

In the real world -- the gray world -- maybe it is Saily who is a bit of a monster herself, and Rodney a bit of a hero? 

We'd enjoy debating Ms. Saily Avelenda or Mr. GOOGLE himself -- Jonathan Bellack -- about the need for Super-PACs in our already corrupt political environment.  We would enjoy a back-and-forth with these two walking, talking advertisements for Citizens United... and all the rest of what is wrong with our political process.

One Percenter Democrats stalk Frelinghuysen

We like Rodney Frelinghuysen because, unlike Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, he didn't try any bullshit, got drafted into the United States Army, and served in Vietnam.  That qualification alone carries him far in our book.

Recently a few slacker reporters have been testing their manhood, trying to compare their bonafides with those of Rodney Frelinghuysen.  You can smell these guys a mile off.  They smell of play.  The perfumed sweat of exertion done, not through gritty work, but the kind you get running on a trail, paddling on a lake, playing with some balls.

The person these reporters are openly promoting -- "La Pasionaria" of their shameless pantomime -- is a lawyer and bank executive named Saily Avelenda.

The sweet smelling boys covering her consistently neglect to provide their readers with Ms. Avelenda's full title:  Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of a bank.  Yes, a fully-fledged member of the one percent!  Before landing her latest job with Lakeland Bank, in 2010, Ms. Avelenda was general counsel for Hann Financial Service Company, and was a vice president and counsel for Hudson United Bank.

If you read, for instance, the New Jersey Herald articles written by David Danzis, you come away with the impression that our "La Pasionaria" is just an average employee.  In fact, Ms. Saily Avelenda is the part-owner of her own Super-PAC!

We shit you not.  Saily Avelenda owns and operates her own Super-PAC with GOOGLE multi-millionaire Jonathan Bellack.  Bellack uses his vast wealth to shout down working class voters who can't throw the kind of money around that he can.  While most people worry about their kids' college tuition, property taxes, and staying out of foreclosure, Bellack uses his money to select those who tell everyone else how to live.

Bellack is so stinking rich that he can afford to spend $33,400 on a single dinner ticket, just to hang out with Barack Obama.  $33,400 is what the average working American pays for a new car if they can afford it.  Hey, can you afford it?  Thought as much.

Now for a word from the great George Carlin.

Carlin is right.  The education establishment sucks.  The establishment media sucks.  And GOOGLE -- the richest corporation in the world -- sucks!  GOOGLE already exercises a creepy corporate control over too much in our daily lives, but they want more.  Not only does GOOGLE off-shore what should be American jobs to low-paid sweatshops overseas, GOOGLE off-shores its profits to avoid paying taxes to the United States of America.  GOOGLE, corporate lawyers, lobbyists, corporate executives, bankers, one percenters, owners of SUPER-PACs... This is what your Democrats have become. 

They complain about Trump when they damned well know they gave us Trump when they cut off Bernie's nuts.  For once, the "obedient workers" refused to do as they were told and rebelled against allowing the corporate establishment and their media to anoint "Big Mama."

Ever since, "La Pasionaria" and her GOOGLE friends have been suffering from a kind of PTSD -- no, not the kind you got from Vietnam -- but a hothouse flower variety picked up by those effete types who have had their asses powdered for far too long.  Too long, but no more, for like all one percenters, the owners of this Super-PAC have a record too.

We'd like Ms. Saily Avelenda to examine with us the policy positions lobbied for by the corporations who paid her so handsomely.  We'd like her to tell us if she showed any compassion at all for those displaced, forced into foreclosure, made homeless by those policies and/or subsequent actions of the corporations she served.

We'd enjoy debating Ms. Saily Avelenda or Mr. GOOGLE himself -- Jonathan Bellack -- about the need for Super-PACs in our already corrupt political environment.  We would enjoy a back-and-forth with these two walking, talking advertisements for Citizens United... and all the rest of what is wrong with our political process.