Antidote for Fake News: Fair Witnesses and Mentats

Journalism is dead. Fake news proliferates. Fact checkers are corrupt. Most people
want the truth but don’t know where to find it. This post offers a possible solution
Antidote for Fake News: Fair Witnesses and Mentats
By: George Noga – February 5, 2017
    More Americans believe Elvis is alive (8%) than trust the media (6%). Their distrust is not misplaced. Journalism schools are hothouses of progressive argle-bargle; they draw their students, who cling to illusions of adequacy, from the bottom deciles. The media have abandoned even the veneer of objectivity; they are irredeemably corrupt.
    Most Americans want to know the plain truth even if it shatters long and deeply held shibboleths. I exclude from that group the 24% who self-identify as progressives because their beliefs are based on religion and are thus impervious to facts or logic. Fortunately, there are solutions for the remaining 76% of Americans who want truth.
     All the main fact checking sources including Facebook, PolitiFact, and Snopes are debauched and unprincipled. We need an unimpeachable, competent and nonpolitical source for checking facts and determining truth. We need Fair Witnesses and Mentats.
     The Fair Witness concept is a creation of science fiction author Robert Heinlein in his book, Stranger in a Strange Land. Heinlein’s book takes place in the milieu of an overbearing government (familiar?). One way citizens could counter the overweening power of government was to hire a Fair Witness, a specially trained and recognized person who was so truthful and objective as to be unimpeachable. Anything observed or reported by a Fair Witness was universally accepted by government and the courts.
    Heinlein’s Fair Witnesses are professionals with an eidetic memory trained to make no extrapolations or assumptions; they wear distinctive white robes and are accorded deferential treatment by society. When a Fair Witness is asked the color of a house, he/she replies, “It is white on this side.” Heinlein’s book was published 55 years ago and the Fair Witness concept was only a small, obscure part of the book. However, if you search the internet for Fair Witness, there are 80 million entries – more than for the Kardashians, Pope Francis and Vladimir Putin. Obviously, it resonated with readers.
     Mentats, created by sci-fi writer Frank Herbert (Dune series), were specially trained to develop their cognitive and analytic capacities to unimaginable heights. They were the embodiment of logic and reason and only a few could qualify. It is thus a recurring sci-fi theme that society needs accurate, impartial arbiters of ascertainable facts.
    Clearly, the public, or at least 76% of it, is hungry (make that desperate) for a reliable way to separate fact from fiction. The potential is unlimited and there is no reason the Fair Witness/Mentat  concept could not be modified to work today. In fact, I have a blueprint for such a program but it is too lengthy to include herein. If someone successfully introduced such a concept (website) today, he/she could be the next internet billionaire. I would be tempted to try it if I were fifteen years younger.
     Imagine the possibilities! Fair Witnesses would transform public debate about any matter that lends itself to proof. It would be the death knell of progressivism – which is based on lies. Being untruthful would become unproductive. The thought of a news story being promptly rendered untrue might even make the media more circumspect. There are obvious applications for business and advertising. Note: I  plan to write a future post about what a Fair Witness might have to say about climate change.
     We have much to learn from obscure sci-fi tracts published long ago. Like all great science fiction, Stranger in a Strange Land and Dune speak to us today. Fair Witnesses or Mentats would shatter the Elvis myth but they also would bring about a renaissance in the media – currently trusted by only 6% of the most gullible Americans.

Next up from MLLG on February 12th – The Democrats’ War on Blacks

Kitty Genovese and Congressional Democrats

Kitty Genovese was murdered while 38 witnesses looked on and did nothing. The US
Constitution was murdered while 225 Democrats in Congress looked on and did nothing.
Kitty Genovese and Congressional Democrats
By: George Noga – January 29, 2017
     On March 13, 1964 Catherine (Kitty) Genovese was murdered in New York City, raped and stabbed to death over a harrowing 30 minute period, while 38 indifferent neighbors observed from their apartment windows, heard her repeated screams and did nothing to help. This bystander indifference became known as “Genovese Syndrome“, led to the nationwide 911 emergency telephone number and spawned numerous books and movies. The recent 50th anniversary of Kitty’s murder was marked by a new play, “38 Witnesses”, new movies, “The Witness“, and “37” and a “Girls” HBO episode.
     Over a harrowing eight year period (2009 to 2016) the United States Constitution was savagely attacked in Washington, D.C. The Constitution (and the rule of law) was repeatedly abused and violated with multiple attacks to its beating heart. Just as Kitty Genovese’s neighbors stood idly by, over 200 congressional Democrats indifferently watched, refusing to lift a finger to defend the Constitution. Not only did they observe the vicious attacks, they actively abetted Obama, Reid and Pelosi in the carnage.
     Following are but a few of the mortal wounds to the Constitution and the rule of law. Altogether there are over 50 more such violations – too numerous to list herein.
1. Treaties were fraudulently termed executive agreements and not submitted to the senate as required by the Constitution because Obama knew they would not be ratified. Principal among them were the Iran deal and the Paris Treaty on Climate Change.
2. Obama made recess appointments when the senate was not in recess and, in fact, when it was following the exact same protocol Harry Reid instituted to forestall recess appointments while Bush was president. These were serious body blows to the Constitution. The illegal appointments have since been invalidated by the courts.
3. Many (about 45) unaccountable czars were appointed without senate confirmation, an action not permitted constitutionally. Obama’s creation of the CPSC circumvented congressional appointment, budgeting and oversight powers – another clear violation. Again, the courts have stepped in and invalidated such illegal appointments.
4. The EPA, NLRB, IRS, DOJ and various regulatory agencies issued unconstitutional regulations and the FCC violated the law with its net neutrality rules. Once again, many of these actions already have failed constitutional muster in the courts.
5. Obama unilaterally altered the ACA, delaying the employer mandate, extending subsidies to non-exchange plans, not enforcing transparency provisions, delaying out-of-pocket caps, delaying insurance requirements and exempting Congress. This would be de rigueur in Venezuela, Cuba or North Korea but is a serious crime in the USA.
6. Obama unilaterally refused to enforce immigration law and, in effect, conferred legal status on illegal aliens. He violated his oath to faithfully enforce the law.
7. Harry Reid changed filibuster rules for cabinet and judicial appointments, violating long established rules. Tim Kaine, expecting to be VP and to have a senate majority, stated Democrats would further change the filibuster rules for SCOTUS to assure their nominee of approval. Reconciliation (Obamacare) circumvented the rule of law.
   Many of the witnesses to Kitty Genovese’s murder later regretted not taking action. Now, some Democrat senators and representatives regret staying silent while Obama, Reid and Pelosi trampled the Constitution. However, their tears are crocodile tears because they know that what was sauce for the goose is now sauce for the gander.
    The 38 witnesses to Kitty’s murder were ordinary people reluctant to get involved, perhaps at personal risk and Kitty was but one person. The Democrat Congressional witnesses to the evisceration of the Constitution were elected officials sworn to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and were not at risk of personal harm. Yet approximately 225 of them stood idly by as wound upon wound was inflicted on the Constitution, on our beloved republic and on 323 million Americans.
   There is an appalling moral equivalence between the refusal to act by the 38 silent witnesses to Kitty Genovese’s murder and the 225 Democrat members of Congress passively witnessing the prolonged and vicious assault on our Constitution!

Our next post February 5th addresses the issue of fake news

Trump: The Great, Good, Bad and Ugly

The MLLG initial analysis of the Trump Presidency
Trump: The Great, Good, Bad and Ugly
By: George Noga – January 22, 2017
     We have received numerous requests from readers for the MLLG position on the Trump presidency; here it is.  Firstoff, Trump is more populist than conservative; many of his positions are eerily similar to Bernie Sanders’. Nonetheless, Trump clearly was preferable to Clinton by a country mile. Here is the great. good, bad and ugly.
The Ugly
 
  •   NAFTA and TPP are the ugliest of the uglies of Trump positions. However flawed these trade agreements, they are vastly superior to tariffs and to trade barriers. We adhere to Milton Friedman’s belief that America is better served even if we unilaterally abolished all tariffs and barriers – and even if no other nation reciprocated.
  •   Trump’s China policy is downright scary. Starting a trade war with China is a no-win situation. Even if, as Trump asserts, China uses low-cost labor, imposes import barriers, subsides exports and manipulates its currency, Americans benefit.
  •   The War on Drugs will be continued. This is a failed policy and no good (and considerable harm) will come from continuing, or even ramping up, the drug war.
The Bad
  •   Asset forfeiture and eminent domain abuse will continue; this is anti liberty.
  •   Intervention in private business such as with Carrier and Boeing is problematic.
  •   Support for police ignores the need for serious reforms required to end abuses.
  •   Bigger deficits and his tendency to shoot from the hip are troubling.
The Good
  •   Rebuilding the nuclear triad and the military are essential. This is one of the few areas where government truly is necessary – to protect against external threats. This includes the war on terror, veterans affairs, Israel and the incendiary Middle East.
  •   Repeal of Obamacare and Obama’s regulations is an unleavened blessing.
  •   Education, energy and environmental policies will be signal strengths of the Trump presidency. His position on climate change alone is a great step forward.
The Great
  •   His appointees to the cabinet and to the White House staff are the strongest group since perhaps Washington’s first cabinet containing Hamilton, Jefferson. and Franklin.
  •  Trump’s appointments to SCOTUS and the judiciary will honor the Constitution.
  •   Cutting taxes, abolishing regulations and exposing media bias qualify as great.
       As you can see, it is a mixed bag for those of us whose lodestar is more liberty and less government. The gestalt or oeuvre however, compared to the alternative, is vastly superior. With Hillary there was vast downside and little, if any, upside. With Trump there is at least some possibility that our best hopes for America may be realized.

Next up January 29th is our post: Kitty Genovese and Congressional Democrats

The Obama Presidency

MLLG Inauguration Day Special Posting: The Legacy of Barack Hussein Obama
Special Posting: The Obama Presidency
By: George Noga – January 20, 2017
   This retrospective covers the eight years of the Obama presidency and is based on the public record which loquitur pro se, speaks for itself, to wit:
1. “For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country.” (Michelle Obama) Never has any leader or spouse uttered such a sentiment. Obama went on to disavow American exceptionalism and describe America (historically) as a force for evil. With Obama leaving, Michelle now avers America “is entering a time of hopelessness“.
2. Obama had an historic opportunity to unite the nation; instead, he became the great divider. Not only did he fail to soothe racial tensions, he exacerbated them and caused race relations in America to deteriorate to the worst point in living memory.
3. Obama’s global apology tour included Europe (arrogance), Muslims (imperfect), western hemisphere (dictate terms), G-20 (restore standing), War on Terror (off course), Guantanamo (sacrificing values), Turkey (dark periods of our history) and CIA (we make mistakes). Recent apologies include Hiroshima, Cuba and Argentina.
4. He appointed a special prosecutor for the CIA, a petty, vindictive action that set the tone for a hyper-partisan presidency. After a disruptive, divisive investigation, no CIA wrongdoing was found. Graciously, Trump will not do the same to Hillary Clinton.
5. Obama abused the rule of law with 45 czars, phony recess appointments, executive orders, executive memoranda, dear colleague letters, use of reconciliation to pass bills, changing long-established filibuster rules and regulatory overreach rejected by courts. He refused to submit treaties to the Senate, falsely calling them executive agreements.
6. He blamed Bush (and others) publicly over 20 times, continuing up to the present.
7. Obama’s signature domestic achievement (Obamacare) is an abject failure.
8. Obama’s signature foreign policy achievement (Iran) is an abject failure. The Iran deal was to prevent Iran from getting the bomb; Obama’s deal guarantees Iran the bomb. Meanwhile, the mullahs egregiously violate the agreement with impunity.
9. His economic policy failed. Economic growth after the recession was the worst in history. There was not one year with 3% growth; the $900 billion stimulus was totally wasted; national debt increased nearly $10 trillion – doubling under Obama’s watch.
10. His tax policy failed. Taxes skyrocketed; he refused to lower corporate tax rates forcing US jobs to flee abroad via tax inversions. He left trillions of dollars languishing abroad instead of repatriating them for new investments and job creation in America.
11. Obama’s policies were particularly noxious to blacks. He dismantled school choice, condemning poor kids to failed government schools. Black youth unemployment surged due to union-mandated minimum wage hikes. He restricted payday loans, imposed punitive overtime rules and presided over a surge in inner city violent crime.
12. The world is much more dangerous. Syria and Libya are humanitarian disasters and spawned the refugee crisis. The entire Middle East is unraveling. A revanchist Russia took Crimea and part of the Ukraine and threatens the Balkans. By ignoring red lines, he destroyed America’s credibility and permitted Assad to use chemical weapons. Leading from behind, Obama would rather be loved than feared; he is neither.
13. Obama treated friends as enemies and enemies as friends; he forced Netanyahu to enter The White House via the kitchen. He favored Iran over our Arab allies. He supported socialists in Venezuela, Cuba, Honduras and throughout Latin and South America. He sent delegates to Castro’s and Chavez’s funerals, but not to Thatcher’s.
14. Obama violated long standing rules and common sense against paying ransoms. The Bowe Bergdahl affair (rose garden ceremony) was particularly sordid. He paid a plane load of cash to Iran to return our sailors who had been publicly humiliated.
15. He neutered the military, debilitated our nuclear deterrent and released dangerous and recidivist terrorists from Guantanamo. He thrashed the police.
16. He has been a disaster for Democrats who have lost over 1,000 offices which include 69 house seats, 13 senate seats, 910 state legislative positions, 12 governors and 30 state legislative chambers. They are in the worst position in nearly 100 years.
17. Voters repudiated Obama’s policies and methods of governance. Amidst all the war and things unraveling around him, he found time to play golf well over 300 times.
18. His disastrous energy policy wasted billions on Solyndra and the green chimera.  His baseless rejection of the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines was shameful.
19. He dwelled in a fantasy world of political correctness, refusing to utter “radical Islamic terrorism“. He mocked religion. He was incivil, rude and ill-mannered.
20. He politicized the DOJ, IRS, EPA, NLRB and indeed the entire government to unprecedented heights. His every action was hyper-partisan. He abused and trampled the Constitution on over 50 different occasions. He disrespected federalism.
21. Obama’s actions will be quickly undone because he did not pass laws, opting instead for easily reversible executive orders and memoranda, reconciliation, watered down filibuster rules, faulty regulations and executive agreements instead of treaties.
22. The very few successes during Obama’s reign (for which he shamelessly took full credit) were due to George W. Bush’s policies that he strongly opposed. The Bush surge in Iraq permitted troop withdrawals; Bush interrogation protocols were responsible for locating Osama bin Laden; Bush policies brought us low energy prices, energy independence, and reduced carbon emissions attributable to fracking.
23. He used the full force of his office for punitive and ideological crusades such as forcing young girls to share bathrooms with transgender men. He used the IRS to punish enemies. He attacked the Little Sisters of the Poor along with many others.
24. He also was the worst lame duck president. Between the election and inauguration, he forced billions of dollars of destructive regulations down the gullets of Americans who had just voted to repudiate such policies. He trashed our ally, Israel, in the United Nations in a hissy fit of vindictiveness toward Netanyahu. He strove to delegitimize his successor. He did not cooperate during the transition and actually worked to impede it. He continued this petty and hostile train of abuses up until his final day in office.
25. Obama also will to be the worst ex-president ever – beating out the hapless Jimmy Carter. He declared he would not honor the long established and respected American tradition of refusing to criticize his successor and, in fact, both he and Michelle already have. He will be a narcissistic, divisive, and graceless ex-president.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
    Based on the above record, Obama’s place in history is secure. He was the worst president of all time, the worst lame duck president and is on a path to be the worst ex-president. Moreover, it is an ignominy he will maintain even if our beloved republic lasts 1,000 years. In researching this post, I looked at the five worst US presidents and the five worst Roman emperors; Obama has them all beat hands down! If you believe I have been unduly harsh, go back and reread the 25 points listed supra.
  Obama is a solipsist and narcissist. Psychologists list ten traits that determine narcissist personality disorder; Obama clearly manifests nine and possibly all ten. Narcissist that he is, Obama will believe it was America that failed him. He is fond of comparing himself to Lincoln, who was humble. But comparison to Wilson is more apt. Wilson was cerebral and flaunted his intellect (smartest person in the room) and moral purity. Wilson’s reputation is in tatters and he was succeeded by Harding.
    Obama got elected and governed by personal charisma; crowds swooned deliriously, believing he would halt the rising of the oceans and heal the planet. He cast a powerful spell on all of liberaldom. Charisma is like that; people project their needs onto an imagined redeemer. Like all such messianic figures, once the spell has been broken, they stand alone, naked and exposed. Obama’s spell lasted longer than most.
 
   To close this tawdry and noisome chapter of our history, we recall President Ford’s words (about Nixon) at his inauguration: “Our long national nightmare is over!

Our next post in a few days (January 22) puts us back on our regular schedule.

Why the Left is Unhinged

This special MLLG posting explains why the left is so apoplectic after the election.
With a government so powerful it could incarcerate Mother Theresa, no one is safe.
Why the Left is Unhinged
By: George Noga – January 17, 2016
     Many of our fellow citizens on the left have become unhinged in the election’s aftermath. The main reason, thanks largely to Obama, is that presidents have become more like kings, wielding enormous power unthinkable to the founders. If presidents and all elected and appointed officials honored the Constitution, it would matter little who occupied the oval office, Congress or the judiciary. We are supposed to have a national government of few, limited and enumerated powers within a federalist system. Who is mayor or governor should be more important than who is president. However, kings affect our lives infinitely more than presidents acting within the Constitution.
     For those on the latte-left, government has supplanted religion. There was a time when we Americans saved most of our passion for religion. No more. The progressive herd not only has abandoned religion but now mocks and condemns it. They have transferred all their passion to politics, explaining much of their post-election angst.
     They not only lost an election but now see a veritable Lucifer wielding the same unchecked power Obama usurped. The progressive religion explains why libs have a messianic fervor about climate, guns, environment, identity, etc. They regard honest differences over policy as apostasy. If you have a different view about immigration, you are a racist, Islamaphobe and xenophobe – no discussion permitted. Moreover, they want to criminalize expressing your views as hate speech and to throw you in jail.
     Thirdly, everything is now political, including many things never before considered political such as science, religion, news, media and education. Science has been corrupted due to the vast quantities of federal money doled out in grants. The federal government spends $3,000 to every $1 spent by others for climate research. You get what you pay for. The media are now advocates; honest reporting has disappeared and fake news proliferates. Even fact checkers are corrupted. Facebook employs liberal censors and uses tainted, ideological fact checkers to control content.
    Finally, there is SCOTUS with one seat open and the federal judiciary with 100 open seats. There was a time when seasoned (older) largely apolitical judges were chosen on merit, served for a limited time (10-15 years), retired and soon moved on to the great court in the sky. Today, young judges are appointed because they don’t have a record that can be used against them and more importantly because, with today’s longer life expectancy, they can serve forever. As a result, the stakes for SCOTUS are sky high.
     I close with a favorite anecdote to illustrate the frightening power of the federal government. During the 1980s when Rudy Giuliani was US attorney for New York, he and his staff had a favorite game. They would select well known people from all walks of life and determine for how many federal crimes they could be indicted. Everyone, no matter how good his/her character, could be sent to prison. Included in this group was Mother Theresa. And that was 30 years ago; today it is worse – infinitely worse.

Next on January 20th is our special MLLG Inauguration Day posting.

Election Analysis and Afterthoughts

Hillary had a world class marketing team trying to sell box wine to oenophiles, more baggage than a carousel at LAX, a paranoid streak rivaling Nixon and a limitless sense of entitlement.
Election Analysis and Afterthoughts
By: George Noga – January 15, 2017
     We got it right all year! My January 17th post cited 3 principles: (1) no permanent majorities; (2) the longer a party is in power, the more likely it is to lose; and (3) economics trumps all else. I also cited 3 keys: (1) polling is dead; (2) Obamacare is wildly unpopular; and (3) demographics, i.e. for Republicans to make gains among Hispanics, Asians, women and millennials would be easier than for Democrats to make gains among whites. All 6 of these principles and keys proved to be correct.
 
     My September 20th special posting began “I don’t purport to know who will win the election, but I know how it will be decided. . . . It will be decided by les deplorables, good-hearted, hard-working Americans branded as racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and Islamophobic and revulsed by the latte-left’s perversion of America and outraged about being lied to.” Those words proved to be prophetic.
 
     Our final preelecton post on November 6th stated the race was tightening and Trump would win if all or most of the following happened: (1) polling was flawed; (2) there were late shifts in voter sentiment; (3) Obamacare repudiation was robust; (4) government failure drove voters as in the Brexit vote; and (5) blacks and millennials stayed home while evangelicals turned out in force. BINGO! All five happened. 
 
     Clinton and the Democrats lost because a good, decent and just society is based on a voluntary social and economic compact between citizens and government. That compact was violated, desecrated and trampled upon by Obama, Clinton and liberal elites who would be our masters. Voters demanded change from failed hyper-progressive social and economic policies. It had nothing to do with Comey or Putin; it had everything to do with deeply flawed governance and candidates.

Post-Election Reflections

  •     Hillary outspent Trump 2 to 1 and had a better organization but, in the final analysis, the best sales and marketing are limited by the product being sold. As one pundit nailed it, they had world class marketers trying to sell box wine to oenophiles.
  •     After every defeat, Democrats delude themselves into believing that their problem lay in not getting their message out. Their problem was that they did get their message across and it was soundly rejected by the voters. They never learn.
  •     Liberals exposed their churlish souls after the election: rioting, contesting the results, tampering with the electoral college and planning to disrupt the inauguration.
  •    Voters repudiated Obama’s policies and his method of governance, although he remains personally popular. Both Hillary and Obama immeasurably aided Trump.
  •     Demonization of opponents is dead. The Democrats won in 2012 by turning a good and decent man (Romney) into an unrecognizable monster. It did not work against Trump even though he was a target rich candidate. It may never work again.
  •     Democrats obsess with branding their opponents as racists. That abomination also may never work again. Disagreement about immigration is not racism. Over 200 counties that voted for Obama in 2012 changed to Trump; were they all racists? 
  •     Steve Bannon as a Trump advisor outraged liberals who were a-okay with Al Sharpton advising Obama. Bannon has degrees from Georgetown and Harvard, served 7 years as a navy officer and had successful stints at Goldman Sachs and Breitbart News. Sharpton attended Brooklyn College for two years before dropping out, never served in the military, owes $4.5 million in unpaid taxes and is known mainly for his role in the sordid Tawana Brawley affair that a jury ruled was a giant hoax.
 
    The fierce, frothing-at-the-mouth animus and virulence liberals are showing for Trump is not out of concern for America or because progressives are afraid he will fail. Au contraire; it is entirely because they are  terror-stricken that he will succeed!

 Coming January 20th – an Inauguration Day retrospective of the Obama presidency

The Legacy of Fidel Castro

A preview of this blog for 2017 and also Fidel Castro’s Legacy for Cuba
The Legacy of Fidel Castro
2017 Preview of the MLLG Blog
By: George Noga – January 8, 2017

    Before we get to Cuba, I must attend to some MLLG business. I hope you enjoyed the new MLLG blog throughout the past year. We are continuing the blog in 2017; hence, I now must ask for contributions from readers to help with our costs which are not inconsequential. I hope that this will be the only time I make such a request.

    All support goes 100% for expenses; any help, even a small amount, is appreciated. Please mail your check to MLLG at: P. O. Box 916381, Longwood, FL 32791-6381. To save time and money, I no longer maintain a separate MLLG legal entity; therefore your check, to be negotiable, must be made payable to “George Noga“. Thanks to all of you for reading, forwarding to others and for all your support since we began in 2007.

    I am excited about upcoming posts. Next week we present a postmortem of the 2016 election; this is followed by a special edition on Inauguration Day (January 20) which is a not-to-be-missed retrospective of the Obama presidency. Other upcoming topics include: Kitty Genovese and the Democrats, nullification, the war on blacks, the ninth amendment, more on climate change and MLLG commencement addresses for both high school and college. With the election now over, 2017 will contain more posts about economic, tax, human interest, environmental and cultural issues.

Fidel Castro’s Legacy

   In 1959 revolutions took place in two countries, both on small, subtropical islands governed by dictators. Both countries were mountainous, less than 25% arable and both relied on sugar exports. Also in both cases, there were giant hostile mainland nations just a few miles away that cut off all diplomatic and economic relations and threatened military invasion. However, one of the nations was much more prosperous than the other one and well ahead in terms of health, education and income.

    One of the two nations was Cuba and in 1959 it was the more prosperous. Today its economy has failed; its per capita GDP is $5,500, but the take home pay of most Cubans is $30 per month. It remains a brutal dictatorship filled with political prisons that practice torture. Its GDP per capita ranks 137 in the world and its freedom index ranks 171. One-third of all pregnancies are aborted and it is a nihilistic society.

    Even Cuba’s vaunted health care system is a failure. Cuban doctors botched Fidel’s treatment in 2006; specialists from Spain flew in to save his life. Infant mortality, once claimed to be ultra low, is based on lies. Cuban data are based on forced abortions for any pregnancy considered risky and they do not count infant deaths from underweight births. Cuba’s infant mortality is worse than elsewhere in Latin America. Most Cuban doctors are sent abroad to earn hard currency to keep the regime from utter failure.

    You may be surprised that the second country referred to is Taiwan. Dirt poor and under military dictatorship in 1959, it became a vibrant democracy and a capitalist economic tiger. Today Taiwan’s economy ranks 21 in the world with per capita GDP of $40,000. It ranks 26 on the index of human freedom. Cuba was ahead of Taiwan in 1959 in nearly every metric of human and economic well being. The juxtaposition of Cuba and Taiwan between 1959 and today reveals the true human and economic disaster that is the eternal legacy of Fidel Castro to the remaining people of Cuba.

    Castro and Che may continue to adorn tee shirts of clueless youth. Useful idiots, in and out of the media, may offer encomia, but the people of Cuba, when the regime inevitably falls, will render final judgment. Castro statues will be felled, murals defaced and the truth outed – that Fidel was a hypocritical, despotic, murderous megalomaniac who inflicted incalculable poverty and suffering on the people of Cuba.


Our next post January 15th presents a postmortem on the 2016 election.

A Cri de Coeur from California

A gripping post-election letter from a disillusioned lifelong California liberal
A Cri de Coeur from California
By: George Noga – December 25, 2016
   Since beginning my blog in 2007, this is the first time I am devoting an entire posting to a single quote (edited for length). I am presenting this as an unplanned Christmas gift to readers, some of whom undoubtedly have already seen it on the internet as it is going viral. The writer wishes to remain anonymous for obvious reasons. Enjoy!
     “I am a secular/agnostic Californian and I want to share with you, from the liberal bastion of Northern California, that I am officially tired of the type of people who have surrounded me my entire life. In the wake of Trump’s election, I am experiencing “tribe fatigue”. I’m not tired of the Other, Deplorable Tribe; I’m tired of my own.
      I was raised a secular liberal; my parents were non-religious Democrats and my ex-Catholic mom loathes organized religion to this day. My college professors were secular liberals. During my journalism phase, my newspaper colleagues were secular liberals. My law school professors and peers were – in the vast majority – secular liberals. Almost everyone at my law firm was a secular liberal. My California neighbors and friends all are secular liberals as are my siblings and their spouses.
     By all rights, I should be a member in good standing of their tribe and joining their candlelight vigils against the evil Trump Administration. But November 8 and its aftermath revealed to me that I am just so tired of these people. I can’t be like them and I don’t want my kids turning into them.
  • I am tired of their undisguised contempt for tens of millions of Americans, with no effort to temper their response to the election with humility or empathy.
  • I am tired of their unexamined snobbery and condescension.
  • I am tired of the name-calling and virtue-signalling as signs of high intelligence.
  • I am tired of their trendiness, jumping on every left-liberal bandwagon that comes along (transgender activism, anyone?) and then acting like anyone not on board is an idiot/hater.
  • I am tired of their shallowness. It’s hard to have a conversation with people obsessed only with moving their kids’ pawns across the board.
  • I am tired of their acceptance of vulgarity and sarcastic irreverence as the cultural ocean in which their kids swim. 
  • I like pop culture as much as the next person but people who never raise their kids on junk food seem to think nothing of letting them wallow in cultural junk.
  • I’m tired of watching them raise clueless kids who go off to college and within months are convinced they live in a rapey, racist patriarchy; Make America Great Again is hate speech; and Black Lives Matter agitators are their brothers-in-arms against White Privilege.
  • I’m tired of their lack of interest in morality or self-betterment. They believe being nice, well-socialize people who hold correct political views is all there is.
  • I’m tired of being bored and exasperated by everybody. I feel like I have read this book a thousand times. Down with Trump! Trans Lives Matter! Climate deniers are destroying the planet! No cake, we’re gluten-free!
     Since November 8th, we have been taking the kids to church . . . secular liberalism seems empty in some way, despite all the things my former tribe has to be thankful for. I want more, especially for my precious kids; I’m trying. . . . I have come this close to buying a giant poster of the American flag for the living room. I may do it still.”
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Next up on January 8th is our take on the Legacy of Fidel Castro 

George Washington’s Mount Vernon Christmas

George Washington’s Mount Vernon Christmas is a holiday tradition at MLLG. Enjoy!
George Washington’s Mount Vernon Christmas
By: George Noga – December 18, 2016
      We are reprising America’s greatest Christmas story; it is 100% true but known only to few; it is deeply moving and uniquely American. The events that ended on Christmas Eve 1783 could not have happened anywhere but America. It shaped our republic in ways being felt today. It is an authentic, feel-good classic to be shared with children and grandchildren.
Note: This post is much longer than normal but I believe you will agree that it is well worth it.

Christmas – New Year’s Eve 1776

     Washington wrote, “The reflection upon my situation and that of this army produces many an uneasy hour when all around me are wrapped in sleep. Few know the predicament we are in.” Washington was desperate; 1776 had been the darkest year in American history. He had endured a succession of military disasters. The morale of his remaining army, starving and freezing, was rock-bottom; hundreds desert during the night. He is down to only 2,400 troops.
     On the New Year’s Eve march to Trenton, many have no shoes and wrap their feet in burlap during the all night march, leaving behind a crimson trail of blood in the new fallen snow as a sudden and fierce northeast storm engulfs his Continentals. The fate of the American Revolution has come down to this. Washington is down to one last desperate throw of the dice. And although Washington leads one of the most successful surprise attacks in history, it only buys time. Ahead is the desperate winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge. Indeed, every winter and Christmas until 1783 was the same story of hunger, cold and privation.

Quelling a Revolt; Word of Peace Treaty

       Just before receiving word of the peace treaty in 1783, Washington was confronted with a rebellion. He called a meeting of his officers, gave a short speech and then reached for a letter from Congress in his pocket to read aloud. He gazed upon it and fumbled with it without speaking. He then took a pair of reading glasses from his pocket which none had seen him wear before. He said, “Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country.” This moved everyone to tears as they realized the sacrifices Washington had made; the rebellion died instantly.

       On November 17, 1783 Washington received word that the peace treaty had been signed ending the war. Only then could he resign his commission and return home to Mount Vernon, from which he had been away for eight long years – except for only a few days while enroute to Yorktown. Upon learning of the treaty, Washington yearned to be home in Mount Vernon in time for Christmas but he had less than six weeks, many duties to perform and many miles to travel. What follows is the story of Washington’s incredible 38-day Christmas journey.

A Mount Vernon Christmas: November 17 to December 24, 1783

   Farewell Orders to the Troops

     On November 17th Washington issued his “Farewell Orders” lauding his troops for their extreme hardship and urging them never to forget the extraordinary events to which they bore witness. He closed by announcing his retirement from service stating, “The curtain of separation will soon be drawn . . . and closed forever” meaning for all future offices. Instead of using such an opportunity to promote himself, he appeared above all human ambition. When his remarks reached King George III, he called Washington “the greatest man of his age”.

New York and Fraunces Tavern

      Washington left camp and arrived in New York November 21st; he thought it necessary to reoccupy New York but he had to wait for the British to evacuate. While there he made sure Tories who had secretly assisted the American cause were shielded from retribution. He also protected the British withdrawal to prevent untoward actions. Everywhere Washington was greeted as a hero with cheering and enthusiastic crowds; nearly every home had a drawing or lithograph of him in the window. Receptions and dinners were held nightly in his honor.
     On December 4th Washington hosted a farewell reception for his officers at Fraunces Tavern. He realized the inadequacy of any formal address and did not trust his emotions to read one. When all the glasses were filled, Washington offered a toast, “With a heart filled with love and gratitude, I now take my leave of you. I most devoutly wish your later days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.” Following the toast, blinded by tears and his voice faltering, Washington continued, “I cannot come to each of you but shall be obliged if each of you will come and take me by the hand.” Each officer came forward suffused with tears and unable to utter a single intelligible word.

Philadelphia, Wilmington and Enroute to Annapolis

     From December 5-18 Washington’s journey took him to Philadelphia where he spent several days and then onward, via Wilmington, toward Annapolis, where Congress was then sitting. At every stop and all along his route throughout his entire journey citizens gathered to pay tribute. Always courteous, the general accepted every proffered hand and returned every greeting. America never before had and never again will experience such an emotional outpouring for one man. Every citizen understood that he conducted them through a long and bloody war that achieved glory and independence for their country. All knew viscerally that there never would be another such moment or another such man.

Annapolis and Returning His Commission

      Washington arrived in Annapolis, then the capital and seat of Congress, December 19th. From December 20-22 he was feted endlessly at lavish dinners and balls, always preceded with 13 toasts followed by 13 cannon shots. On December 23rd there was a special session of Congress to honor Washington and to accept his resignation. Attendance overflowed the facilities with people everywhere. He closed his address by stating, “I retire from the great theatre of action and  . . . here offer my commission and take my leave of all employments of public life.” Then he withdrew from his coat pocket the parchment given to him in 1775 that was his appointment as Commander-in-Chief and ceremoniously returned it. Some consider Washington’s Annapolis speech the most significant address ever delivered in civil history.

Christmas in Mount Vernon

       Immediately after his speech, Washington set out for Mount Vernon, still hoping to arrive in time for Christmas. It was so late on the 23rd and the days so short, he got only as far as Bladensburgh, Maryland before retiring for the night. The next morning, Christmas Eve, he rode to the Potomac River, crossed via ferry to Alexandria and rode the final miles. It already was dark when he approached Mount Vernon. About a mile away he could see its many green-shuttered windows – now all ablaze with candles; it was, after all, Christmas Eve.
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Much material is from “General Washington’s Christmas Farewell – A Mount Vernon Homecoming 1783 ” by Stanley Weintraub. The 174 page book is readily available on Amazon for $16.95 new or for under $5.00 used. If you enjoyed reading this post, I guarantee that you will love the book even more!

We are taking a holiday break; the next posting will be in January 2017.

A Politically Correct Christmas

Trigger Warning! Despite our very best effort to be 100% politically correct,
this post uses the term “Christmas” and may contain other microaggressions. 
A Politically Correct Christmas
By: George Noga – December 11, 2016

      Begin by recognizing Santa Claus as a phallocentric, atherosclerotic white male existing within an ageist, authoritarian hierarchy. Only children adhering to bourgeois capitalistic values and to moral absolutism (by agreeing not to be naughty) receive gifts during the Celebration of Winter (formerly Christmas). Such children are brainwashed and seduced into an exploitative, metastasizing consumerism. Gifts are thinly-disguised payola intended to create lifelong addiction to over consumption.

Santa’s bribes to gift-addled children are made by degendered, height-challenged, differently-abled elves at the North Pole, a post-colonial, non-union, right-to-work setting. Regrettably, Obamacare has forced Santa to cap total elf employment at 49 and to limit their work week to 29 hours. The elves and reindeer must constantly avoid stepping off the shrinking polar ice cap and dodge polar bears on passing ice floes.

The tectonic pressure to exchange gifts leads to psychoses not covered by atavistic health insurance plans of rapacious insurance companies. Scrooge-like robber barons, like Wal-Mart, lure unsuspecting shoppers with elaborate decorations, holiday music and even (horrors) low prices. Avoid any stores that stoop so low as to provide ersatz Santas to confuse, coax and cajole young children into an anti-proletarian lifestyle.

PC decor for the Celebration of Winter excludes Christmas-centric trees and any ornaments designed to hang on trees. Also offensive are images of Santa, reindeer, and anything (even napkins) red or green. Even more offensive are nativity scenes and candy canes, the shape of which represents a shepherd’s crook. Snowflakes, snow globes and snowpeople are acceptable; after all, it is a Celebration of Winter. Avoid holiday lights; the energy wasted inexorably leads to more evil fracking and pipelines.

Eschew toys made in China with slave labor, subsidies and currency manipulation, then shipped around the world leaving a humongous carbon footprint. Don’t use wrapping paper or send cards as the environmental impact requires clear cutting of old growth trees and sacrificing spotted owls on the altar of consumerism; moreover, disposing of all the waste requires countless new landfills. After Christmas lines to return gifts attest to the depravity; obviously, people neither needed nor wanted gifts.

Avoid gender specific gifts, the most egregious being NRA-inspired toy guns for the deplorable and irredeemably racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, and Islamophobic boys in flyover land. They will cling to their new guns along with their religion. Certain gifts are acceptable like PCC pills distributed to snowflakes on rape-infested campuses, preferably with funds coerced from the Little Sisters of the Poor. Vacations to socialist havens like Venezuela and North Korea are popular with progressives.

Once all unwanted gifts and waste materials are recycled, avoid binge eating a/k/a Christmas dinner, a microaggression to those with food insecurities. Before eating, skip grace or even a moment of silence, which is but a veiled attempt at prayer. Select organic, non-GMO, sustainable, local and fair-traded foods; tofu is a good choice. Avoid turkey loaded with growth hormones, mutagens, carcinogens and antibiotics, although turkey is preferable to a Chick-fil-A washed down by a 24-ounce Big Gulp.

Ensure that a variety of rest rooms is available for GLBTQ+ who may use any one or more he/she/it/they wish depending on his/her/its/their gender self identity at that moment. For anyone overwhelmed, be sure to provide a safe room with elevator music, teddy bears, videos of frolicking puppies, Play-Doh and warm milk and cookies.


Next up on December 18th is our traditional Christmas posting.