By Robin Itzler
Commentaries and insights selected from Robin's weekly newsletter Patriot Neighbors. (Cartoons may be added by me. RK) E-mail her at PatriotNeighbors@yahoo.com to get on her list, it's free. Let's start with this commentary:
INFLATION IS MUCH MORE THAN 3.4% In between his naps, Joe Biden likes to tout that Bidenomics is working. But as we know that’s a lot of malarkey. Bidenomics is a complete failure! (Otherwise, Joey would be riding high in the polls.)
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the government’s most widely used inflation measure. It includes food, clothing, shelter, transportation, energy, and medical care. Since Joey was given the keys to the Oval Office, prices have risen a whopping 17.3 percent.
The December monthly CPI was 3.4 percent. However, this is misleading. Anyone who frequently goes grocery shopping knows real prices have gone up much more that the monthly reports would lead us to believe. An example from our own weekly shopping. When President Trump left office, we used to buy this container of chips for 99-cents. It was recently on sale at the same store for $1.99. On sale for DOUBLE the price! That means the price of the chips has increased 100 percent. Patriot Neighbors readers can take their own shopping list of regularly purchased items and share similar stories of horrible increases.
So, when Joey touts that inflation is coming down, he makes as much sense as Kamala Harris giving a speech about yellow school buses. From the House Ways & Means Committee:
- Prices have increased 17.3 percent since President Biden took office.
- Real wages and benefits have fallen 3.7 percent since President Biden took office.
- Inflation has become so deeply ingrained in the economy that core inflation (3.9 percent) is even higher than headline inflation.
- Inflation outpaced wages for 26 straight months of Biden’s presidency.
- Mortgage rates reached a 23 year high of 7.8 percent in October. The average monthly mortgage payment has increased by $1,091 and is 96 percent higher than when President Biden took office in January 2021.
- Credit card interest rates are at the highest level in nearly three decades, while consumer credit debt has reached an all-time high of just over $1 trillion and the number Americans struggling to pay credit card bills has increased sharply.
IOWA CAUCUS: Comments from around the nation President Trump’s 30-point win is the largest ever in Iowa Caucus voting. In 1998, Senator Bob Dole won the Iowa Caucus by 12.8 percent and that record remained intact until 2024 when Donald Trump had his historic 30-point margin of victory. Moreover, the race was called for Trump within minutes of closing. When it was officially over, Trump had won 98 of 99 counties with Haley winning one county by one vote. Here is a sampling of comments following Donald Trump’s historic Iowa win.
Chris Wallace – CNN
“There may be three tickets out of Iowa, but Donald Trump’s is first class, and Nikki Haley’s and Ron DeSantis’ is standard.”
Marc Thiessen, former Pres. George W. Bush speechwriter – Fox
“This is the first time Trump supporters had a chance to stand with Donald Trump and that’s what they did in Iowa.”
DC Draino (Rogan O’Handley) – Twitter/X
“They impeached him twice. Indicted him four times. Raided his house with the FBI and buried him with lawsuits. The deep state did everything it could do to stop him, but President Trump just won the Iowa Caucus. MAGA IS BACK ON FIRE!”
Megyn Kelly – Twitter/X
“Trump wins Iowa easily. Honestly – what a comeback versus where he was after 2020. It’s truly stunning.”
Ryan Fournier, Conservative Commentator – Twitter/X
“Trump pulled off Iowa without having to attend a single televised debate. That’s the force behind this guy!”
Leo Terrell, Republican Commentator and civil rights attorney (former Democrat) – Twitter/X
“Trump’s win tonight is the largest margin of victory ever in Iowa’s history!”
Graham Allen, Conservative Commentator – Twitter/X
“President Trump has been projected to win Iowa. Over $250 million was wasted on Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis’s campaigns. It’s time for all other candidates to DROP OUT!”
Tucker Carlson – Tucker Carlson Network
“Donald Trump’s triumph in Iowa last night wasn’t just decisive; it was historic. His thirty-point margin of victor was more than double the previous record. Despite this, Democrats and the media are still holding out hope that Trump’s support will somehow evaporate. It hasn’t happened yet, but if you ask them, it still could. And they have a plan for it if does: replace Trump with Nikki Haley.”
Stephen Kruiser – PJ Media (excerpt)
“I truly feel that Haley has latent lib tendencies that haven't manifested themselves yet. The last thing this country needs is another Republican in a position of power who's aiding and abetting the Democrats in their destruction of the Republic.
“Nikki Haley could still have a strong showing in New Hampshire and her home state, which will send the editorial boards of the lefty rags into a frenzy. There is still a lot of talk about her being Trump's running mate, which may give me heartburn for the first time in my life. I might also literally hold my nose when voting for a ticket with her on it.”
Vivek Ramaswamy – speaking to supporters in Iowa
"It is true that we did not achieve the surprise that we wanted to deliver tonight. As of this moment, we are going to suspend this presidential campaign. Earlier tonight, I called Donald Trump to tell him that I congratulate him on his victory. And now going forward, he will have my full endorsement for the presidency."
Wayne Alyn Root – excerpt from
“Trump is Secretariat. DeSantis and Nikki are Headed to the Glue Factory” “Trump will win New Hampshire next. Then comes my home state of Nevada. Trust me on this one- a record-setting Nevada landslide is coming. Trump will win the Nevada Caucus by the biggest margin in the country. Nikki Haley isn’t even on the ballot in the Nevada Caucus. Trump will beat DeSantis one-on-one by 50 points.
Then Trump will destroy Nikki in her home state of South Carolina by 30 points. Trump is beating DeSantis in his home state of Florida by 40 points. Trump will win all 50 states. It’s over. Drop out now and retain your dignity. And quickly endorse Trump. Or you both have no political future left in the GOP.
Just admit it…"Trump is Secretariat. And DeSantis and Nikki are headed for the glue factory". As you know, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suspended his
presidential campaign on January 21 and endorsed President Trump.
For all intent and purposes, the Republican primary is OVER!
Donald Trump is the Republican nominee.
RINOS: What happened to their brain cells? If you want a recent example of why Donald Trump will be win the Republican nomination for the third time (and hopefully win the presidency for the third time), look no further than RINO Oklahoma Senator James Lankford working with Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York to come up with a crappy border deal: Increase green cards by 50,000 per year Work permits for adult children of H-1B holders Immediate work permits to every illegal alien invaders released from custody Taxpayer funded lawyers to certain UACs and mentally incompetent aliens 5,000 illegal alien invaders PER DAY allowed into the U.S. Restricts parole for those who enter without authorization between ports of entry.
Fortunately, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has said the bill is dead on arrival in the House. Why the hell elect Republicans if they are going to act like Democrats? If you want to share your thoughts with Senator Lankford: Email: Link below Phone: 202-224-5754 Write: 316 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
VIVEK: Maybe this is Vivek’s plan On the REPUBLICAN side, Athena Thorne at PJ Media thinks Vivek Ramaswamy’s decision to drop out of the race after Iowa’s disappointing fourth place finish was a master stroke: But what if he (Vivek) thought it over and calculated that there was a path for him to be the next vice president — and then top of the Republican ticket in 2028?
What if he went to Trump with that proposal?
If that’s his plan, then he has been extremely cunning in getting himself in front of Trump ahead of the curve. Brilliant move in that case.
Also, on the REPUBLICAN side the California GOP establishment has pushed baseball Hall of Famer Steve Garvey for U.S. Senate. This letter to the editor by David Middleton of Palm Desert, California appeared in the January 14 issue of Southern California News Group (SCNG) Sunday Opinion section. SCNG is a network of 11 daily newspapers and associated websites serving readers across the Southland.
“I am a 35-year resident of Palm Desert and moderately involved in community activities and politics. I did not know Steve Garvey lived in Palm Desert until he announced his run for the U.S. Senate. For however long Garvey has lived here he has had ample opportunity to serve on city commissions and committees, help with charity and service organizations and become known to our community. Instead he seems to act as though he is entitled to becoming a senator just because he was a professional athlete. One has only to look at Jim Jordan in the House and Tommy Tuberville in the Senate to see how awful electing inexperienced jocks can be. Garvey is just another political gadfly, in it for himself. We deserve candidates who have learned their craft, built a record and can articulate their positions on the issues facing the country."
Patriot Neighbors did not edit the writer’s comments regarding Representative Jordan or Senator Tuberville although we do not agree with them. We think Representative Jordan and Senator Tuberville are doing outstanding jobs.
On the DEMOCRAT side, we are now focused on the January 23 New Hampshire primary. New Hampshire is the first primary in the nation. Interestingly, Joe Biden’s name will not be on the Democrat ballot so we will see if any of his 81 MILLION (ROFL) supporters who live in the Granite state scribble his name. Or will INDEPENDENT Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. take many of the votes? Democrats are encouraging their voters to cast their ballots for Republican Nikki Haley.
Also on the DEMOCRAT side, Representative Dean Phillips, who is running against Joe Biden in the primary, has put out a hilarious ad showing Big Foot looking for Joey. Big Foot can’t find Biden and searches for him as Americans have searched for Big Foot. The link below takes you to this very funny 30-second ad. (Hmm, maybe Trump can use it in the general election.)
Writing about various scenarios in Politico, Jeff Greenfield closes with the situation when a frontrunner stumbles but survives post New Hampshire:
Walter Mondale came to New Hampshire in 1984 holding what the New York Times called the biggest polling lead of any non-incumbent in history. By nightfall, he had been beaten by Gary Hart in a landslide, and only victories in Georgia and Alabama saved his campaign. In 2000, George W. Bush was on his way to a coronation, when John McCain’s free-wheeling town hall campaign earned him a similar win in New Hampshire. Only the determination of the GOP base not to nominate a heretic like McCain saved Bush.
This history is important to keep in mind should Haley (or more improbably DeSantis) actually win New Hampshire. For all the obsession with the first primary state, states later on in the calendar have often proved more decisive. Illinois and New York made the difference for Walter Mondale in 1984; South Carolina restored George W. Bush’s status in 2000. Hillary Clinton’s 2008 New Hampshire win prevented Barack Obama from quickly closing out the contest, but Obama still won after a months-long state-by-state delegate slog (his team’s great insight was that winning small states by large margins was more effective than winning large states by small margins).
That’s why even a Trump loss in New Hampshire may matter less than the media frenzy to follow would suggest. After New Hampshire the terrain is significantly tilted in Trump’s favor: It’s not only because of the size and intensity of his base, but because his supporters have dominated the delegate selection process, making it easier for a candidate to turn pluralities into winner-take-all delegate results.
Other things to consider: Consider all the money, time and effort the DeSantis and Haley campaigns are spending to be the second runner-up. And it’s NOT even to be vice president. Think how much better that money, time and effort could be spent promoting the Republican agenda. If you are angry.
JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICINE: To DEI for Dr. Sherita Hill Golden, chief diversity officer at Johns Hopkins Medicine, proved once again that DEI hires are really DIE hires. They are killing their company!
The latest issue of the Johns Hopkins employee newsletter featured a column called “Diversity is the Word of the Month.” (Okay, you know where this is going.) In the article, DOCTOR Golden defined privilege as “a set of unearned benefits given to people who are in a specific social group” that operates on “personal, interpersonal, cultural and institutional levels.”
According to DOCTOR Golden, if you are one of these, YOU are in a privileged group:
- Whites
- Christians
- Able-bodied people
- Middle– or owning-class people
- Heterosexuals
- Middle-aged people
- Cisgender people
- English speaking people
- Males
The blowback came fast and furious and DOCTOR Golden quickly put out a yada-yada-yada statement that what she wrote was “overly simplistic and poorly worded.” Yeah, right. Fact is, DOCTOR Golden thought the list was accurate when she wrote it for her employee publication.
Maybe Johns Hopkins should hear from people who are tired of the DIE (Diversity, Inclusion and Equity) crap. (And yes, we know we put the letters in different order, to best represent what it really is.) If you want to share your thoughts with CEO Dr. Theodore DeWeese:
Email: IDAdmin@jhmi.edu - Phone: 855-662-3017 - Write: 5801 Smith Avenue McAuley Hall, Suite 310 Baltimore, MD 21209
DEI is DIE-ing In 2023, the Supreme Court overturned the use of affirmative action in universities. To many that was the tipping point for corporations slowing moving away from the left’s DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion).
Many on the right refers to it as DIE (diversity, inclusion, and equity). Writing in the July 18, 2023, Forbes, Shaun Harper shares “Why Business Leaders Are Pulling the Plug on DEI”:
“Many companies pledged millions of dollars (more than $200 billion altogether) without a clear plan of how they’d invest the funds. Too many others hired their first-ever chief diversity officers with unclear visions of what they wanted those professionals to do. Others created DEI councils comprised of employees whose hearts were in the right place, but they lacked subject-matter expertise and they most certainly weren’t qualified to develop sustainable DEI strategy.”
This article and many others citing the coming demise of DEI were written months before Harvard’s Dr. Claudine Gay and Johns Hopkins Dr. Sherita Hill Golden debacles.
Patriot Neighbors welcomes sharing readers’ opinions.
THE DEI CULT by Terry Payne — North Carolina
Whenever I hear these cult words — Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) — I start to retch. In their original context, they are splendid words. Unfortunately, the Democrat Party has distorted their interpretation and context to signify the opposite of core definitions.
Democrat Party leaders employ DEI to create division, hatred, and exclusion. Party activists claim DEI originated from the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and “affirmative action” legislation. Nothing could be further from the truth. DEI ideology is rooted in the communist philosophies of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Saul Alinsky and Frank Marshall Davis — Barack Obama’s mentor.
The most successful accomplishment of the Democrats is the “balkanization” of society. Their perverted version of diversity, — under the stewardship of Obama — fomented division and hatred after promising the opposite. Instead of unifying Americans, the Obama presidency morphed into the Marxist strategy of “divide and conquer.” Obama’s destructive vision flourishes under the Biden-Harris administration.
With dispatch and stealth, DEI ideology has replaced the core liberal values of merit, fairness, and equality in academia, professional organizations, media, government agencies (including the DOJ and FBI), and Big Tech. DEI bureaucracies and groups have mushroomed operating behind the scenes with ambiguous definitions, goals, and policies.
The Left’s version of diversity means giving special privileges to certain protected classes of people — people of color, LGBTQ, women — so they can acquire socio-economic control over the majority, which currently is white. This is “tyranny of the minority.” Politically, DEI translates to acquiring votes. It’s a part of the Democratic Party’s campaign strategy to divide Americans based on skin color and collecting the votes of all non-white populations, including illegals.
Ironically, where you have commitment to diversity, there is no thought diversity. People who demand attention to diversity are against viewpoint diversity – meaning no First Amendment. Diversity translates to: “it’s great to act different if you think the way I do.” Diversity is anti-American.
There are inherent problems with the idea of DEI, or civil rights Marxism. First, it’s “systemic racism” because of the fundamental discrimination in its concept that all aspects of success are due to exploitation and discrimination by the white majority. When DEI is applied to groups, underperforming groups are to be considered “victimized,” whether they are victims or not. Those who are members of overachieving groups, whether they are victimized or not, are to be treated as villains. All white men are by definition “supremacist villains.”
Second, interrelated to the first, DEI produces mediocrity. Since success is treated as immoral and failure as righteous — because victimhood is fortitude — then mediocrity is that transition “sludge” where you avoid being labeled as an underperformer and also escape ridicule for being an achiever.
In dysfunctional academia, racially diverse mediocrity is preferable to nonracial meritocratic achievement. Look, for example, at Harvard where former President Claudine Gay, despite being a serial plagiarist and evasive on antisemitism, finally resigned on January 2, 2024.
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.'s ethics resonate decades after his death because he’s revered as a legacy civil rights leader. Reverend King’s quote below resembles a constitutional amendment on equality.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
There was nothing equivocating about Reverend King’s views on race and equality. His vision is the antidote for DEI’s civil rights Marxism.
ARE WE NOW A COMMUNIST NATION?
Some recent events that make us wonder if the republic can be saved.
- USA—Feds United for Peace (i.e., they are pro-Hamas terrorists) had wanted federal employees to walk off their jobs on Tuesday, January 16. House Speaker Mike Johnson made it very clear that those folks work for US—the U.S. taxpayer—and they would have to rally to support the Hamas terrorists on their own time. The Biden administration was in a pickle because they didn’t want to tell their supporters that hate Israel not to protest. So, with a storm coming, they told everyone to work from home.
- CALIFORNIA—According to the National Review, San Francisco Unified School District administrators instructed high school teachers to teach students about “Israeli terrorism.” A parental-rights group shared memos with the publication that shows the district wants teachers to lead anti-Zionist discussions with their students. If you want to share your thoughts with Superintendent Dr. Matt Wayne:
- Email: waynem@sfusd.edu - Phone: 415-241-6121 - Write: 555 Franklin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
- NEVADA: Government meetings usually open with an invocation with clergy from different religions offering a prayer. On January 16, the Washoe County Board of Commissioners (capital is Reno) opened their meeting with an invocation by Jason Miller, founder of Reno Satanic.
And how did he close his invocation? Miller said, “Hail Satan!” If you want to share your thoughts with the Commissioner Chair Alexis Hill (but don’t expect much of a response as Ms. Hill includes her pronouns on her bio): Email: AHill@WashoeCounty.gov
IS THE TIDE TURNING TO FREEDOM?
With our prayers and involvement, we must have hope of saving our republic. Let’s look at some recent wins that show the tide might be turning in the direction of Conservative Judeo-Christian values. However, we need Republican LEADERSHIP, which seems to be in short supply.
EMMY AWARDS—Did you miss the Emmys awards where drag queen RuPaul defended drag queen story hour? Maybe you were busy with more important tasks such as clipping your toenails or ironing a shirt. From Deadline: While other award ceremonies have managed to bounce back (at least slightly) from their pandemic lows, the 75th Emmy Awards hit another depressing milestone. Only 4.3M viewers watched Monday night’s ceremony on Fox, according to early Nielsen data.
That’s a significant decrease from last year’s previous all-time low, when less than 6M people tuned in for the show on NBC. The awards show was also down more than 37% from the last time the Emmys aired on Fox in 2019, when the audience sank to a then-historic low of 6.9M.
All of the above were much lower than the last Monday night ceremony in 2018, when NBC raked in 10.17M viewers.
INTERNATIONAL:
POLAND—Polish Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Dominik Tarczynski appeared on Jack Posobiec’s Human Events podcast a few weeks ago to discuss how the country’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk is holding two political prisoners who are members of the Polish Parliament! It seems Tusk arrested the two parliament members although the previous prime minister had pardoned them. From “Polish MEP Cites Donald Trump as Inspiration Amidst Polish Political Crisis,” Catherine Salgado wrote:
Not only that, Tarczynski specifically cited an American president as his inspiration. “For [the] European Parliament, so we are in the process of campaigning, that is why I am starting putting my hat on again,” he said, fitting a “Make Europe Great Again” ballcap onto his head. “And this is not a joke,” he went on, “this is serious stuff. This man inspired us. He showed us the way, he showed us what the greatness means. It means safety, it means family, it means values, it means dignity, it means who we are, and it means freedom — freedom of media, freedom of speech, freedom of what we think, who we are, letting us be who we want to be.”
The Deliberate Dismantling and Ultimately, the Destruction of America by Frosty Woolbridge
This is part one. Below are the opening paragraphs and the link is below to read the entire article. Part 1: Enemies of America within America, meaningless citizenship, fragmenting America’s culture
You are about to learn what’s happening to America as to its being dismantled. You are about to see how, ultimately, this current invasion will end in the destruction of America. This report comes from the vantage point of an American journalist who has traveled the entire world on his own dime. You’re not learning this information from a paid journalist of the New York Times or the Washington Post or The Atlantic Magazine. Those journalists write from the slanted orders of their bosses.
You know that America’s mainstream media refuses to report on what’s really happening on America’s borders. New York Times reporters are paid not to tell you the truth. They are paid to hide the facts, obfuscate what’s happening, and in the end, to cover up everything until there’s no way to solve our problems. In other words, keep you in the dark.............To Read More....
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