… about the New York City mayoral race and the lack of representation of Italian Americans. Check it out here.
Category: politics
bookmark_borderMassachusetts Republican Party passes resolution in support of Columbus Day
According to the Italian American Alliance, the Massachusetts Republican Party has unanimously passed a resolution in support of Columbus Day:
“On Thursday July 31st, the Massachusetts Republican State Committee held their quarterly meeting. One of the resolutions to be voted on was offered by State Committeeman Nicholas Miceli. Mr. Miceli was unable to attend the meeting due to a prior commitment in Washington DC and so extended the honor of reading the Resolution to Virginia (Papa) Gardner, Chair of the National Chapter of the Italian American Alliance. The resolution was passed unanimously.”
The full text of the resolution is as follows:
Whereas: The Massachusetts Republican Party stands with the Commonwealth’s Italian Americans, Spanish Americans, Catholic Americans, historians, and other devoted citizens in steadfastly supporting preservation of the second Monday of October as “Columbus Day” which is currently the federally recognized holiday.
Whereas: The Massachusetts Republican Party acknowledges the history of the holiday. Columbus Day was instituted as part of an agreement between the United States and Italy to avoid a pending war in the aftermath of the horrific lynching of eleven Italians in New Orleans in 1891. Ever after, it has been commemorated for Italians to celebrate their heritage and collective contributions to the United States.
Whereas: The Knights of Columbus celebrate Columbus Day, knowing that the explorer brought Christianity to the New World – giving voice and representation to generations of Catholics.
Whereas: We already honor and celebrate the Indigenous community, on Native American Heritage Day the Friday after Thanksgiving in November.
Whereas: The Massachusetts Republican Party stands with the sentiment expressed by President Donald J. Trump who stated that he is “bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes.”
Be It Resolved: That the Massachusetts Republican Party stands in opposition to the repeal of the Federal Holiday of Columbus Day. The Massachusetts Republican Party will stand against canceling the historical figure who has served as a symbol of pride for many Americans and:
1. Recognize Columbus Day
2. Oppose the destruction of Columbus statues
3. Acknowledge the discrimination against Italian Americans
4. Oppose efforts to erase culture
5. Stand against hate of ALL ethnic groups
6. Celebrate both Italian and Indigenous peoples both on their respective holidays
Thank you to the MassGOP for taking a stand for what is right.
(source here)
bookmark_borderChronic venous insufficiency is not funny
File this under the category of, “things that shouldn’t need to be stated.”
I stumbled across this post in my Facebook feed.
Nothing remarkable about the post itself. Like many people, I’ve heard the news that President Trump has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a common condition for older people which means that he experiences swelling in his legs and will likely start wearing compression socks.
What is remarkable, and not in a good way, is what I saw in the lower left corner of the post: the fact that the most common reaction that readers had to this post was the “laughing face.”
Out of the 1,600 people who reacted to this post, a plurality reacted with laughter.
Hundreds of people think that President Trump being diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency is funny.
What the heck is wrong with these people???
Why on earth would someone think that a person being diagnosed with a medical condition is funny?
What kind of person laughs at another person’s medical diagnosis?
I simply do not understand this reaction. I don’t get it. At all. It is baffling to me.
I can’t imagine ever finding a public figure’s medical diagnosis to be humorous, no matter how much I disliked the public figure.
It’s difficult to find a better example of the meanness, the nastiness, the cruelty of the progressive left than this.
In our society, we hear again and again about the “cruelty” of the Trump administration, the “intolerance” of right-wing ideology, the idea that conservatives “lack empathy” for those different from themselves. Yet it is the progressive left that chooses to respond with humor, with mocking, with ridicule, with laughter when a person that they dislike is diagnosed with a medical condition.
This behavior is actually cruel.
This behavior is actually intolerant.
This behavior is what actually demonstrates a lack of empathy.
The progressive left has absolutely no claim to the moral high ground when they choose to react with laughter to the president’s medical diagnosis. Every time they accuse the right of cruelty, intolerance, or a lack of empathy, they demonstrate their own complete and utter hypocrisy.
Perhaps someone should visit the profile pages of each of the people who left a “laughing face” reaction to this WMUR news story, and scan their profile pages for any mention of a health struggle or medical diagnosis, affecting either the person themselves, a family member, or a friend. Then, that someone should leave a “laughing face” reaction on each of these posts. I wonder how these people would enjoy being the recipient of their own behavior. I wonder if they would still consider health problems to be funny, if they or their family members or friends were the ones being made fun of.
To state the obvious truth that I alluded to at the beginning of this blog post, the fact that President Trump has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency is not funny. If it weren’t for the moral bankruptcy of the progressive left, such a thing wouldn’t need to be stated. But unfortunately, it does.
bookmark_borderUSNS Harvey Milk renamed after Oscar Peterson
The U.S. Navy ship that was named after gay rights activist Harvey Milk was recently renamed in honor of World War II hero and Medal of Honor recipient Oscar V. Peterson. The Navy oil tanker was originally named the USNS Harvey Milk in 2016 under the Obama administration, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth decided to rename it in order to “take the politics out of ship naming,” according to Fox News. The new namesake, Peterson, sustained fatal burn injuries while attempting to keep his ship afloat after it sustained severe damage during a battle with Japanese forces in the Philippines.
I agree with Hegseth. On the one hand, I feel bad whenever a historical figure has their name removed from something. Destroying the monuments, celebrations, and memorials of historical figures is exactly what I have dedicated the past five years of my life to criticizing and fighting against. But with this renaming, the intolerant bullies who have carried out this historical figure genocide are finally getting a taste of their own medicine. Harvey Milk is a historical figure that the intolerant bullies of political correctness tend to admire, so perhaps by seeing his name erased, they are experiencing a tiny, miniscule fraction of the pain that they have inflicted on others.
One such bully, Nancy Pelosi, called the renaming “a shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream.” This comment demonstrates a complete and utter lack of empathy. Pelosi and those who think like her have spent the past five years actively carrying out a vindictive erasure of historical figures who actually signify diversity and inclusion. This is what is truly shameful. Perhaps Milk is a historical figure who makes gay people feel included and represented, but having a ship named after him doesn’t do anything to help me. As someone who has always had difficulty fitting in and making friends, who has always been different from the majority, and who has always thought for myself rather than following social norms, Milk didn’t do anything to break down barriers for people like me. Rather, it is historical figures such as Christopher Columbus, Robert E. Lee, and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson who make me feel included and represented. And those are exactly the historical figures who have been subjected to a deliberate, vicious, cruel, and brutal campaign of obliteration by Pelosi and her ideological allies. It’s despicable for Pelosi to complain about a “vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers” when that is exactly what she and her allies have been doing.
While I do feel a little bit bad for Harvey Milk, having his name removed from a ship pales in comparison to the sickening acts that have been perpetrated against Christopher Columbus and those who fought for the Confederacy. It is those acts which are truly shameful. And it’s past time that the perpetrators get a taste of their own medicine.
bookmark_borderThere’s no such thing as “paying for tax cuts”
“It’s just not the right thing to do to shut down a bunch of rural hospitals to pay for tax cuts,” Sen. Josh Hawley recently said regarding financial legislation that is currently under consideration in Congress.
This statement irks me. I’ve seen statements like this numerous times over the years, and I am irked every time I see one. Because there’s no such thing as “paying for tax cuts.” Tax cuts are not something that you pay for, because tax cuts are not something that costs money. Tax cuts do not involve spending money on something. They involve collecting less tax money to begin with. In other words, tax cuts do not constitute an expense for the government; they constitute a reduction in revenue.
It’s true that both expenses and reductions in revenue have the same result: the government ends up with less money, and therefore has to cut spending in order to balance its budget. But this does not mean that an expense and a reduction in revenue are the same thing. They aren’t.
Tax cuts are not something that you pay for. They are something that requires you to cut spending, because you’re now taking in less revenue.
This distinction is important because in my opinion, tax cuts are a good thing, while spending is not. Every government should strive to collect as little revenue as possible and to have as few expenses as possible. Statements like Hawley’s, about “paying for” tax cuts, are made almost exclusively by people who oppose the tax cuts in question. To portray tax cuts as something that has to be “paid for” is to equate tax cuts with expenses, thereby making tax cuts sound irresponsible, like some new and unnecessary spending program. But tax cuts are not irresponsible; they are exactly what every government should be aiming to implement. They don’t involve spending money at all; they involve taking in less revenue.
It would have been more accurate for Hawley to say, “If the tax cuts are implemented, the government won’t be able to pay for rural hospitals anymore.” Because unlike tax cuts, rural hospitals are actually something that the government is paying for.
Whether or not implementing those tax cuts is the right thing to do is a matter of debate – I would say yes – but regardless of where you stand on that issue, you should use the correct language to describe what you’re talking about. Yes, the government will need to cut spending in order to accommodate the tax cuts. And that is something that a lot of people are opposed to. But tax cuts are not expenses, and they’re not something that anyone needs to “pay for.”
bookmark_borderOn Trump’s birthday, Flag Day, the Army’s birthday, and protests
Happy belated birthday, both to President Trump and to the U.S. Army. These birthdays coincided with Flag Day. Below is some social media coverage of the festivities that brought a smile to my face:
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As for the protests held by authoritarians to mark the occasion, the word that predominantly comes to mind is “hypocrisy.” I use the word “authoritarian” to characterize anti-Trump protesters, and I use that word deliberately. The people who proudly proclaim, “no kings” and “united against tyranny,” are largely the same people who demanded mandatory medical procedures and the obliteration of memorials honoring the losing side of a war. There is nothing more tyrannical than that. The fact that people would be outraged by a leader holding a military parade on his birthday, but consider it perfectly fine for a leader to force people to undergo a medical procedure against their will, is a demonstration of complete and abject moral bankruptcy. It’s disgraceful.
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bookmark_borderRFK’s wise words about authority
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bookmark_borderNo, Ilhan Omar did not learn from people impacted by her words
I recently came across a social media post in which Rep. Ilhan Omar attacks President Trump for having “trafficked in hate your whole life” and also claims, “I learned from people impacted by my words.”
I dispute both of these statements.
First of all, how, exactly, has Trump “trafficked in hate”? Which of his public statements and policy positions constitute “trafficking in hate,” exactly? Because I can’t think of any.
Additionally, Omar claims to have learned from people impacted by her words. So she’s publicly condemned the tearing down, removal, and vandalism of statues of Christopher Columbus and people who fought for the Confederacy? She’s advocated that the people who tore down these statues be severely punished, that the statues be put back in their rightful places, and that the people harmed by these actions be financially compensated? She’s advocated that Indigenous Peoples’ Day be abolished, and that the second Monday in October return to being celebrated as Columbus Day in every city, town, and state? She’s apologized to the people harmed by the war on historical figures, by suppression of political dissent, by violation of Second Amendment rights, by mandatory medical procedures, by anti-white racism? I’m pretty sure that the answer to all of these questions is “no.” Yet if Omar had actually learned from the people impacted by her words, these are all things that she would be doing. So no, Omar has not learned from people impacted by her words, and I know this because I am such a person.
bookmark_borderCool mini statue of Donald Trump in the Oval Office
A cool statue capturing an iconic moment:
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Source here
Dismayingly but unsurprisingly, one intolerant bigot wrote in the comment section, “WTH is going on now? Does the freak show ever end?” Because God forbid that statues be made which depict cool moments in history. God forbid that anything cool, remarkable, or beautiful actually exist in the world. Can’t have that. Apparently, for anything cool to exist in the world constitutes a “freak show.” Only bland, mundane things are allowed to exist. Sounds sensible and logical. Not.
bookmark_borderRand Paul’s endorsement of Donald Trump
It brought a smile to my face to learn that Rand Paul (somewhat belatedly) endorsed President Trump. I like and admire both of these politicians, and I agree with Rand’s reasoning.
This is what he had to say:
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