High Truths and Low Lies

I grew up in rural Virginia, one of 6 children. My father worked in a factory on rotating shifts. He never went to college. At age 24 he joined the Eighth Airforce and flew 38 missions as a bomber pilot during WWII. My mother stayed home and raised us until my younger sisters were in junior high, then she worked part-time at Kmart. She never finished high school.

Growing up, money was very tight. I started working odd jobs at age 13, mostly cutting grass, picking apples, shoveling snow, helping a local farmer, etc. Both parents stressed making good grades in school. I was an average student, but took top classes in HS. My parents insisted that I prepare for college. When I finished HS, my parents had saved $1,118 for my college education. They insisted that I attend a regional university in TN. I took out a loan from an local bank, and worked during college (every summer, Xmas break and part-time while in school).

By the Spring of my junior year, all my money had run out, so I started working construction. The company allowed me to work M-W-F. I took classes on Tuesday and Thursday and at night. During that time I lived in a trailer. Those years were very difficult. But, I earned my BS degree, and received a Fellowship to purse my MBA. During that time, I lived in the basement of an old home near campus. I did not have a reliable car. Two years later, I earned my Masters. During those 2 years, I worked 3 part-time jobs.

To this point, I felt that I had earned everything in my life. I was not “given” anything. except the $1,118. If I didn’t work, I didn’t eat.

After graduation, (my family did not attend), I wrote 92 letters to companies seeking a job. My girlfriend paid for the stamps. Only 5 companies responded. I went on 2 interviews wearing a blue blazer my landlord loaned me.

I received 1 job offer and moved to West Va. and started working in a salaried position. I had a 12 year old car and a 12″ B/W TV. The company I joined was excellent. I worked hard and was promoted many times. However, to pursue my career, I had to move to SC and then to Delaware. One of those moves came as a result of me being “replaced” by an “affirmative action person”. I had to move my family to make room for a black women. While working in Delaware about 11 years later, I was “transferred” again, to make room for another minority. That particular job change was very scary for me since I was moving to a less important role, one subject to downsizing, and I had a disabled son. I had to have family medical insurance. Those 2 job changes were unfair to me. And, my family.

I finally left that company after 27 years. I moved to NC to seek employment and did find work in Raleigh. And, continued to work for 10 more years with 2 companies. The last company required a move to Charlotte. Finally, I retired due to medical reasons.

Looking back on those 37years, I never felt privileged, nothing was “granted” to me, handed to me, or bestowed on me or available only to me. I got what I earned.

That is why, white privilege is hard for me to swallow. Lastly, my story is not unique. 1 know hundreds of people like me. Their story is the same.

A few days ago, our local paper “The Daily Fishwrap” ran a front page article about black students being suspended from school. The “investigative journalist” used data from the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, a non-profit located in Durham. According to their recent study, black students are disproportionately disciplined and even suspended from school. according to the study, blacks 7 times more likely to receive short term suspensions than white students.

Of course, according to this non-profit, racism is the reason. Teachers and administrators do not understand the black culture, even though 38% of these teachers are black. If you are not black, then you cannot understand their background and thus the students responses.

Keep in mind, that over the last 10-15 years district discipline rules and policies have been re-written to account for minorities. Teachers have received mandatory training on the policies. I am an educator. I was married to a high school teacher, I have known many teachers ((friends, neighbors, family members, etc.) They will tell you that often the black students cause trouble in the classroom. And- more importantly, black students are allowed much latitude; second, third and even four chances before being disciplined. Teachers are extra sensitive to the “race card”.

The non- profit claims that more law enforcement is in schools with students of color or low incomes, so these students are exposed to law enforcement and thus get “referred” to law enforcement more frequently. The loon reporter that wrote the story should do much her job. She should investigate these claims. And-she should write a balanced piece.

These experts claim that black students are being targeted, and vilified for “being themselves”. I say that is complete nonsense and dishonest. I say install video equipment in these classrooms and watch the behavior of disruptive students. Watch for yourselves what teachers have to deal with.

Is it possible that black students disproportionately misbehave? Can all these suspensions be explained as racism? Let’s see the videos, let’s see more details. I ask the Southern Coalition for Social Justice how much effort and money they have spent teaching black students and their families how to behave in school.

It is painful to watch Joe Biden. Over the weekend Biden fell 3 times while going up a flight of stairs. It was sad to watch. He is 78 years old and no one would want to see an elderly man fall. I hope he did not hurt himself.

Along with these recent falls, he also presents himself as struggling in other ways. His ambulatory skills look unsteady and weak. His eyesight seems weak as he squints to read the teleprompter. His reading aloud skills are poor.

But worse, he makes repeated mistakes while speaking. i flinch when he says “the Harris administration”, or when he can not remember the name of the Secretary of Defense, or the Pentagon. Very sad.

How then, did he manage to prepare and issue 47 Executive Orders in just 7 days. The orders are extremely complex and hundreds of pages long. My bet is that Joe Biden could not recite the names of 5 of those orders. So-who is in charge of the United States?

More to come on that subject later. Keep in touch!

Updated March 22, 2022

The word merit means being worthy and talented enough to deserve praise and reward. That word has been used in the US for well over 100+ years. Yet today, many of our national leaders on the left would like to eliminate merit as a criterion for selection, reward, advancement and praise.

The Boy Scouts had merit badges to reward, recognize and encourage achievement in many important areas. Merit badges were earned. In school, the US had National Merit Scholarships to recognize superior achievement in academics. For the selected students, it was a high honor. In industry, employees receive merit pay increases, often annually, to reward performance and contribution. Talented employees that worked hard received more pay and advancement. Colleges and universities admitted applicants based on merit. Merit for their high school classes and grades and achievement on entrance exams. That process worked. There is a direct correlation, although not perfect, between college success to applicant merit.

The application of merit in these few examples encouraged effort, skill development and initiative. Any person, regardless of gender, race, religion, etc. would often get recognized for merit. These examples also form the basis of a meritocracy. Reward, recognition and praise based on merit. Think about the investment industry. Lenders want to invest, especially in concepts, inventions and people with merit. That’s what due diligence is all about. Determine those investments that have the top chances of succeeding. Makes sense and has served the US for 200+ years.

However, democrats want to use gender, race, and ethnicity to reward people. Let’s invest in black businesses, black farmers, promote employees that are women. Colleges are now using fluff to judge applicants. The fluff is called “life’s struggles” whatever that means. And-how is it determined? So admission to the US Naval Academy and West Point will be based on gender, race and fluff. Wow! Is that fair to young people with merit? How will that affect academic standards at these academies. Now-I am not saying women and minorities do not have merit. I’m just saying those applicants with the highest levels of merit should be considered first. That is the only way to build great future leaders for our military.

There are several very large teacher unions in the US. These unions represent thousands of public school teachers. Teachers are required to pay union dues each month for representation.

The unions have political power. They contribute huge sums of money to political campaigns, supporting candidates that favorably treat the union. Provide campaign funding to selected candidates and get favors in return. The unions also make donations to political causes, mostly far-left organizations. Not really sure why that is??

The union’s power comes from the threat of strike and the “block vote” of its members. The union will tell its members who to vote for which can be decisive in most close elections.

More recently, these unions are making demands regarding other political issues. The large union in California is pressuring the state and local government to “de-fund” the police. How is that related to teachers? To the children they teach? This union is also pressuring the government to expand free medical coverage for all. How is that the related to education??

The teacher unions have kept children, K-12, out of school for over a year. I guess the teachers like getting paid while at home.

Lastly, the union warned their members not to post any vacation photos on social media. The union felt such photos would send the wrong message. Keep the kids out of school, but ok the travel to Jamaica. Despicable behavior.

It seems to me that the race baiting industry has over looked a very large sports industry. Where is the national outcry for more diversity among the current NBA players? As of 2020, the NBA was 74.2 % black. Only 16.9% of the league players are white. Where is the outcry?

With numbers such as these, the data suggests some form of systemic racism. How is it possible to have a national sport without a true representation of the US population. Are the white players being held back? Are the white players being disadvantaged while still young, maybe in high school or college? This is an outrage.

I will petition the NBA to immediately start a 3-4 year plan to recruit white players. This of course, will have to include some form of quota system and affirmative action plan to achieve racial parity by 2024. The plan must include extra funding to white sports camps and special programs to encourage and develop white players. Teams will have to establish rosters based on race.

Overall, the league might slip backwards in talent, maybe for just a few years, but racial parity is a much higher goal.

Guess we do not really have a southern boarder. Immigrants from many of the Latin America countries, and many other countries are paying two or three drug cartels $2,500 to $5,000 per person to get smuggled through our boarder. You would have to be very stupid to assume these immigrants to be entirely decent people. Some are, but that’s not the point. The US should know exactly who is asking to be admitted into our country. i think the immigrants should have the skills we need in this country. They should be healthy and without any criminal record. And-immigrants must provide their own records; proof of identity, birth records, etc.

These immigrants must not be eligible to receive Covid Relief payments. The US must re-build a strong economy, with jobs for all. Paying out large sums to illegal’s is preposterous. How does that help the people and businesses in the US?

Democrats will stop at nothing to buy votes. Vote buying by the democrats is their only major strategy. Aid to black farmers, money to convicted murderers, payments to poorly run states and cities, and debt relief to young people are examples. Give people money and they will vote for your party. Despicable behavior. Just wait until November 2022, the democrats will get crushed and they know it!!!

Our current president is frail and mentally impaired. Watch him on TV. He can’t remember dates, numbers, names, his location, and more importantly, what he is doing. This is scary. He is supposed to be the leader of the free world. to be president he should be strong, energetic, hard working, intelligent, and a very good communicator. Biden is none of these.

Of course, the democrats knew that. They keep him hidden. They push their agenda through executive orders (47 ) so far. Hollow Man does not even know what he is signing. Just look at the mess on the southern boarder. Thousands of illegal immigrants, mostly children, crashing through the boarder. Many with the covid virus, many wearing a Biden tee shirt. Hollow Man invited them. One of his EO’s stopped deportation and arrests for illegal border crossings, The outcome was to be expected.

What despicable behavior by the democrats.

The US needs a new immigration plan. Maybe? Of this, I am not sure. So–I would start like this:

1. Strictly enforce our current immigration policies and laws. Fully enforce, not selectively or inconsistently. I believe many of our current laws and enforcement actions benefit the country. And-we can learn the effectiveness of all. We will also learn which policies and laws are not serving this country.
2. Determine the needs of the US for immigrants. This is a very important step. Determine the skills the US needs like farm workers, carpenters, coding, engineering, teachers, etc. I would assign this task to the US Dept. of Commerce and require that department to survey each state every 3 years. The Federal government should never develop the needs assessment. Require that information from each state and publish the data so citizens can see the state data. Of course, each state would have to defend their request for immigrant workers.
3. Set immigration flows to the aggregate needs of the US, both in skills and numbers. And-match immigrants final destination to the needs of each state. This means the states have to be prepared to receive immigrants and to help each get established.
4. Immigrants, regardless of age, must be thoroughly vetted. The US must know the true identifies of each, along with skills sets and previous employment. The US needs workers. Criminal background checks must be made. Under no circumstances should a felon be admitted to the US. The burden of proof should be borne by the person. Immigrants requesting admission to the US must provide their own documents.
5. I would provide support for newly arrived immigrants if needed. That support, maybe 4-6 months, would come from the states that requested workers. I think that is fair.

More to come later!!!!!

Mr. Hollow Man in Washington has decreed an increase to the “federal minimum wage”. Why??? Who does that help? Do we really need the loons in Washington to dictate wages for a restaurant chain in Mississippi or a furniture factory in Arkansas?

I say let the free market dictate wages. Business people know you pay market rate for employees and not a dollar more. if you have trouble hiring employees and/or retaining people, then one remedy is to pay more.

An increase to the “federal wage” will cause the following:

1. reduction of employment
2. reduction of work hours
3. hiring of contractors
4. reduction of benefits
5. more “robots”
6. reduced customer service Ugh!! more time waiting in line.
7. increase unemployment benefits-federal and local
8. business closures or relocations

These are just a few. Why does Hollow Man issue such a stupid order?