Boycotting "The Daily Show?" Count me in.

Links: A. New "Daily Show" Host Mocks The United States.
           B. South African Chosen to replace Jon Stewart.

So who is Trevor Noah, anyway?  He is a young, good-looking, congenial South African who has been hired to replace Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.  My hope is that the majority of Americans will remain just as clueless regarding Mr. Noah as they are today.  Interestingly enough, I'm unfamiliar with Noah, and I certainly consider myself clued-in on South Africa.  True, I haven't lived in SA in a decade, and the cultural scene is constantly changing.  What is odd, though, is that many of the South Africans I have spoken with seem to be in the dark about Noah as well.  Maybe he's famous in Europe, or California, or maybe he's a radio personality.  Whatever the case, he landed a sweet job here in the States.  Personally, I never really appreciated The Daily Show.  I thought it was a bit of a knock-off of Bill Maher.  And Bill Maher never really had a difficult job to begin with.  He showed up on time, greeted his pre-selected audience of college-age lefties, and made fun of religious folks and conservatives for thirty minutes.  Once, as he was preparing to rip into George W. Bush, he said Bush's name, but got a bit tongue-tied on the comment.  It made no difference.  All he needed was the name, and everyone laughed.  The reason for the comment never even mattered.  What a great crowd!

Truthfully, I despise Bill Maher, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.  All three left the realm of comedy some time after their first seven-figure paycheck.  They see themselves as political savants, and as the only true measure of political thought in the United States of 2015.  They all use the same shtick, which betrays the mostly-empty bag of talent they brought with them when they got the gig (except Colbert, who is talented).  If you make a serious political point, and it gets flung back in your face by whatever fool who has chosen to appear on your show, then you say something to make the guy look stupid, and the audience jumps right on board, like a trained lap-dog.  Forget the point that was being made.  The politics are serious only when the host is making a point.  Any opposing viewpoint is worthy of derision and nothing else.  And if the host is about to have his opinion shoved down his throat, then make fun of the guest, his or her attire, accent, weight, whatever it takes.  And with the morons who fill that audience, it doesn't take much.

I am forced to accept the Bill Mahers and Jon Stewarts of the world, because they have the right to express themselves in the United States, even as they appeal to the lowest common denominator of intelligence in our society.  But Hollywood or wherever decided (again), that we need someone with an accent to tell us how horrible we are.  I guess the experience of the British guy who bombed out on CNN and whose name thankfully escapes me, wasn't proof enough; Americans don't like to be criticized by someone who has left some shithole to come to the Land of Opportunity, only to tell us how shitty we are.  So now we have a pretty-faced South African named Trevor Noah driving The Daily Show.  Have a look at the first link I have selected, and be comforted by the fact that these aren't the only kind things he had to say about the United States.  Someone want to tell me to "get a sense of humor"?  Sorry, but that doesn't float.  This guy isn't working stand-up at the Comedy Store, he is playing to millions of American households every show.  Its true that we seem to have entered a bizarre "hate America first" age, which has been embraced by the Obama Administration.  In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, President Obama set the table quite quickly in 2009 and 2010, with his "Apology Tours" of Europe and the Middle East.  But I don't think making fun of our heritage and our patriotism is funny anymore.

I keep waiting for some backlash of "U.S.A. Pride" to come rolling up Main Street but it hasn't happened yet.  Yesterday, the Governor of Indiana was defending a new state law that seemed quite reasonable to me.  Today, he is starting to stumble back, as the media begins to really attack the law.  The crooked Governor of Virginia, Terry Rodham Clinton McAuliffe, even went so far as to invite Indiana businesses to relocate to Virginia!  Not if you want to make a profit!  Terry, if you want businesses to move to Virginia, you need to address your tax code.  People of the United States, regardless of what late-night talk shows and the media tell you, there is nothing shameful about being Conservative.  There is also nothing wrong with being Liberal.  We start to have problems when one group begins to believe that they have they moral authority to intimidate the other into silence.  The worst offenders, unfortunately, are young people, with little or no life experience.  Heck, we have a President who has never had a real job.  Have you ever met someone trying to balance a checkbook who has never had a job?  They just don't get it.  And that explains our twenty-trillion dollar national debt.  Back to the younger generation, which always means well, but usually ends up screwing the pooch.  The Democrats have formed this group of young people into one helluva battering ram, especially when it comes to elections.  But there is a reason why most Conservatives are older folks, and most liberals.....aren't.  Its all about "life experience".  Living life, losing jobs, falling in love, losing loved ones, having your heart broken, holding your newborn child, all of these experiences are necessary to provide the right perspective on life.  Young people seem to think that the answers are easy, and they never are.  I know.  I was there once.  We all were. 

A Perfect Example Of Petty Political Corruption In 2015.

Link: Mayorkas and Rodham Deny Wrongdoing

There are times that I glance over the domestic news and giggle, and then there are times that I'm left feeling discouraged.  Today is one of those days in which I'm red-ass pissed off.  I'm not so much angry that another flock of Democrats have been caught abusing their office for political or personal gain, I'm angry because there never seems to be any recourse.  This particular scenario, involving Department of Homeland Security No. 2 Alejandro Mayorkas, is so obvious in its abuse that Politico, never known to be an enemy to the left side of the aisle, provided my link today.  As the link details, Mayorkas was busted because of an internal investigation by the Department of Homeland Security Investigator-General.  Actually, the issue here involves two individuals.  Mayorkas, who involved himself in Virginia Governor's efforts to win federal funding for a fledgling electric car company called GreenTech Automotive.  When Mayorkas was Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (he has since been promoted to Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security), his department controlled the investment-based program known as EB-5.  Initially, officials working in Citizenship and Immigration Services, denied a regional center's application to receive EB-5 funding to manufacture electric cars.  Mayorkas intervened, reversing the original denial.  Now we discover that Virginia Governor and Democrat bigwig Terry McAuliffe had invested in GreenTech's little electric cars.  To cut to the chase, Mayorkas abused his authority as Director of the EB-5 program to reverse a decision made by his staff, in order to protect the financial investment of a fellow Democrat.  Since Barrack Obama was elected in 2008, how many abuses of this nature have been exposed?  We can start with the IRS, which was politicized in a manner not seen in a century in the federal government.  "Anyone that gives money to Conservative Groups, especially the Tea Parties, can expect an audit".  I wasn't there to hear it, but I'm fairly confident that the previous statement was made by Lois Lerner.

I'm not going to waste this post on revisiting all the shenanigans of the Obama Administration.  I won't close this commentary, though, until I've had the chance to introduce you to Tony Rodham, Hillary Rodham Clinton's brother.  You see, Tony ran an EB-5 visa investment known as Gulf Coast Funds Management, which, coincidentally, directed funds to the above-mentioned GreenTech.  Hillary Clinton just happened to be Secretary of State during the time that Gulf Coast Funds Management and GreenTech were pressing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (and Director Alejandro Mayorkas) for approvals to accept investments that could lead to green cards for foreigners willing to pay more than $550,000 in principal and fees.  When Tony Rodham decided to get involved in this venture, what was he thinking?  Was he pondering how nice it is to support research into alternative energy?  Or was he thinking, I am make an investment that can't lose, because the funds are guaranteed by the U.S. taxpayer, thanks to my connections.  Well, if he was thinking the latter, he was correct.  The folks who are the veterans at U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services, who know the job better than anyone, recognized that GreenTech was a loser and did the right thing by denying their application for funding.  Here comes well-placed Alejandro Mayorkas to smooth everything over for both McAuliffe and Rodham.  This particular favor probably had a lot to do with his subsequent promotion to Deputy Secretary.

Now lets get to what really pisses me off.  During the Obama Administration, the federal government was purposely seeded with political appointees who have no business being where they are.  they don't have the knowledge or the experience to be sitting in their offices.  They received positions based upon their loyalty to the Democratic Party and nothing else.  Now passing out political favors is nothing new, and Republicans have done it as well.  But until 2008, both parties limited this type of largess to the occasional Ambassadorship.  Washington DC in 2015 reminds me of South Africa.  In South Africa, it is virtually impossible to find a government ministry that is not flooded at the managerial level by ANC members.  And its very frustrating for the political opposition because so many important investigations into government fraud and corruption get whitewashed.  Sound familiar, folks?  When was the last time you heard anyone resigning from this Administration? The Modus Operandi of the Obama Administration is to deny, defend your fellow Democrats, don't give an inch, wait for the smoke to clear, and get your promotion.  One of the more entertaining examples of this type of behavior involves New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez.  Senator Menendez has deflected accusations of an interesting variety in the last decade, including reports that he "partied with" underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic, and that he wasn't disclosing private gifts as required by law.  While Senator Menendez was behaving like a good Democrat (from a powerful state), and voting the right way, the Obama Administration kept Menendez safe.  But once Menendez expressed his disagreement with Obama over Cuba and also over these "cloak and dagger" negotiations with Iran over the Nuclear issue, he has been thrown to the dogs.  Poor Bob can expect all sorts of FBI inquiries, because that's how business is done.  Its one of the traditions Obama transplanted from Chicago.  Once you have the authority, do everything you can to make sure you never lose that power.  Step one is to fill every vacancy with a political selection, regardless of qualifications.  And the recent promotion of Alejandro Mayorkas to the second-highest job at Homeland Security, even while he was being accused by his own Investigator General of unethical behavior and abuse of authority, is a perfect example of petty political corruption in 2015.