As the 4th of July once again comes up on the calendar, it is with sadness that I am forced to consider whether it’s even worth celebrating Independence Day anymore.  After all, Independence Day celebrated our break from Great Britain.  We cast off the shackles of tyranny, and inaugurated a new nation conceived in liberty.  In a letter to his wife Abigail, John Adams predicted that Independence Day would go down in history as the “Day of Deliverance.”  Adams wrote that succeeding generations would celebrate the day as the great anniversary festival which would be commemorated by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty.  The day would be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shows, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.  Today we still have parades, but we have them only to give LGBT people someplace to march.  Sports?  No.  Sports only cause injuries, and we mustn’t take chances.  Guns?  Are you kidding?  Bells disturb the peace.  Bonfires violate EPA regulations.  In Florida, illumination is illegal because it disturbs the turtles.  And, of course, we’re not even allowed to mention God in a public setting.  Independence means autonomy, freedom from the control of or by others.  Such things no longer exist.  Maybe we’ve had things too good and too easy.  We’ve forgotten where we came from and how we obtained the freedoms we have enjoyed.  And because evil forces discredit and undermine the source of our liberty, we are in peril of losing those freedoms we long have cherished, and which once made America the envy of the world.  In 1787, the States created the federal government.  Since then, slowly but surely, the federal government has expanded its authority to the point where it has rendered the States nearly impotent and now dominates every aspect of our lives.  In order to do this, the federal Leviathan had to discard the principles that impelled us to our independence.  The insatiable beast is unconcerned.  The Declaration of Independence declares that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.  Thomas Jefferson wrote, “God who gave us life gave us liberty.”  The point is that our rights come from God, not from any government.  John Hancock considered resistance to tyranny to be “the Christian and social duty of each individual.”  That’s why the government must discourage religious faith in order to steal our freedom.  All religions except, apparently Islam, currently are scorned.  By destroying God, and particularly Christianity, a tyrannical government destroys liberty and removes resistance to its tyranny.  Benjamin Franklin cautioned us that “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”  We constantly are being told that we must sacrifice our liberty in the name of safety. The recent move to cancel the 2nd Amendment is a perfect example.  In this, we are advised to give up essential liberty without getting even temporary safety.  President Eisenhower said it best, “If you want total security, go to prison.  There you’re fed, clothed, given medical care and so on.  The only thing lacking … is freedom.”  The problem is that far too many of us are willing to choose the prison rather than the freedom.  Independence is one of those outdated 18th Century notions that we are simply too evolved to recognize, let alone celebrate.  Thomas Paine warned that “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it.”  People no longer yearn to breath free.  Yearning for freedom is hard work.  We might yearn for a latte, but that’s about it.  We’re spoiled. Viktor Frankl, an Austrian physician who survived the Holocaust, like Thomas Paine, understood that freedom is not free. Frankl recommended that New York’s Statue of Liberty be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the west coast. Responsibility goes hand in hand with liberty, but we can’t be responsible for ourselves.  We’re content to let the government provide.  That’s why the 4th of July shouldn’t be celebrated as Independence Day anymore.  Instead, we should mourn the 4th as Dependence Day.  We’ll top our tofu burgers with government cheese.  We’ll exchange our liberty for servitude, and we’ll achieve equality; we’ll all be equally miserable and destitute.  Ronald Reagan warned that “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.  We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream.  It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”  We have squandered the last generation by pursuing a socialist Utopia which has never and will never exist.  Our freedom hangs in the balance.  Unhappy Dependence Day.

Am I the only one who has noticed that every time Americans are victimized by Islamic terrorists, our government assures us that it’s all our fault?  Now, when I say “government,” you know what I mean – Il Duce Obama, the  supreme arbiter of right and wrong.  Obama gets lots of practice, too.  Since he became President, the number of deaths from terrorism worldwide has more than doubled.  Right here at home, we have experienced Islamic terrorist attacks virtually every year since 2009.  In every case, the connection to an extremist Islamic motive is clear to everybody but our President.  Obama never sees the connection, but he is consistent.

2009 – A radical Muslim praises Allah as he kills 13 at Fort Hood.  Obama says, it’s “workplace violence.”  Later that year, a Muslim shooter who proclaimed himself on a jihad shoots army recruiters in Little Rock.  Obama says, it’s “a senseless act of violence.”  2009 Christmas day – the Nigerian Muslim underwear bomber, with ties to al Qaeda,  tries to blow up a plane in Detroit.  Obama says, he’s “an isolated extremist.”

2010 – A Pakistani with ties to al Qaeda plants a car bomb in Times Square.  No big deal for Obama, it’s just “a sobering reminder of the times in which we live.”  Translation, “Get used to it.”

2013 –  the Boston Marathon bombings.  The FBI says, the bombers had extremist Islamic beliefs.  Obama says, “It  was just two brothers and a crock pot.  We don’t know why they did it.”

2015 – San Bernardino killings – ISIS calls the shooters “soldiers of the caliphate.”  Obama says, “we don’t know the motive.”

2016 – Orlando – 49 dead.  The shooter proclaims his allegiance to ISIS.  ISIS calls the shooter a state fighter.  Obama says, “there’s no evidence of a link to an overseas terrorist group.”

Now, while I’m not one of those who accuses Obama of being a secret Muslim, it is extremely difficult to believe that he could be so blind.  Islamic terrorists are the enemy, and it cannot be denied that Obama is providing that enemy with considerable aid and comfort.  It’s no accident either.  It’s Obama’s policy.  Obama calls it Combating Violent Extremism, or CVE for short.  It’s a great title for a program, I mean, who could be opposed to combating violent extremism anyway?  In fact, the Republican Congress is about to re-fund the program to the tune of another $40 million this week.  And since the overwhelming volume of violent extremism comes from Islamic terrorists, CVE must be working hard to protect us from radicalized Muslims, right?  Wrong.  The Justice Department released its Threat Assessment Report right after the Boston Marathon bombings.  The DOJ concluded that the greatest threat we face from violent extremists comes from White supremicists.  But they’re watching violent Muslims too, right?  Well, not really.  In fact, the investigation of Muslims is greatly discouraged.  It’s all part of the Obama strategy to confront the threats of the 21st Century.  According to the White House, here’s how that works.  First, he banned enhanced interrogation, which, of course, is what led to the discovery and killing of Osama Bin Laden (for which Obama takes credit).  That should help.  Then, he released confirmed terrorists from Guantanamo, sent them back to the battlefield to kill more Americans, and he plans to close Guantanamo.  Sounds crazy, you say?  No, No, Obama has this figured out.  You see, according to Il Duce, when we interrogate and imprison Islamic terrorists, that only aids the recruitment of new terrorists.  And that’s not all.  WE, and by “we” Obama means non-Muslims, are responsible for creating new Islamic terrorists, because WE have failed to exhibit religious acceptance of Muslims.  It’s religious acceptance that combats violent extremism, you see.  Obama goes on to say that, “when human rights are denied, it feeds the violent extremists.”  Two things.  First, the unquestioning acceptance plan was tried in Germany.  This past New Years Eve, 379 German women in Cologne were sexually assaulted by Muslim “refugees” they had welcomed to their country.  Perhaps the German ladies were not welcoming enough.  Extremists feed on the denial of human rights?  Where is that happening?  Not here.  Not in Europe.  Human rights are denied in Muslim countries.  That’s why the refugees are fleeing to us and not away from us.

So back to CVE.  The Feds are keeping a watchful eye on those pesky White malcontents.  After a Muslim terrorist killed 49 in Orlando, the DOJ warned that threats against Muslims will not be tolerated, and civil rights violations will be prosecuted.  But what about Islamic violence?  Well, Obama says we can’t connect Muslims and terrorism in the same sentence because it gives violent extremists legitimacy.  I don’t know what that means, but he says it.  For that reason, the FBI is prohibited from investigating any religious motivation behind violence if the suspect is Muslim.   The FBI can’t investigate anti-American statements by Muslims made in social media.  Even when the suspect himself proclaims an Islamic extremist motive, we must ignore it.  Just this week, in an act reminiscent of the Watergate tape transcripts, the DOJ redacted recordings of the Orlando shooter’s telephone calls to remove his references to Islam.  Mustn’t burden us with the truth.  The FBI must “partner” with Muslim community leaders.  They may investigate an Islamic extremist motives only when the information comes from a Muslim “partner” group.  Since these groups typically are aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood, or like CAIR, with Hamas, you can imagine how often that happens.

So let’s recap the Obama Doctrine.  We must welcome all Muslims to America.  To avoid hurting their feelings, we mustn’t screen them before they come over.  Once they get here, if they rape, shoot or kill us, we must understand that it’s our fault; we had it coming.  If we object, we will be prosecuted.  If they hate us, they have good reason to do so.  If, like Donald Trump, you want curtail Muslim immigration temporarily, you, like him, are a racist who hates Muslims.  On the other hand, if you’re a Muslim, you can hate everybody;  Americans, all women, Jews, Hindus, Christians, homosexuals, and anybody who disagrees with you.  No need to be tolerant.  That’s our job.  I know this sounds crazy, but Obama knows best, and as soon as he gets the guns from the hands of law-abiding Americans, we’ll all be safe.  What’s that overpowering smell?  The fish stinks from the head.

In the wake of the Orlando terrorist attack which killed 49 and wounded 53 others, our President, true to form, has chosen to ignore the truth, and suggest that the solution is for Americans to change.  In the early morning hours on Sunday, Omar Mateen entered a gay nightclub and shot over 100 innocent people.  Immediately, we were cautioned not to jump to conclusions, the first clue that there was an Islamic link.  Mateen’s family is from Afghanistan, but we mustn’t judge.  Obama went so far as to admit that shooting 100 people is an act of terror, a big concession for him.  On Sunday, we learned that 13 minutes after he starting shooting, Mateen took a break to call police to proclaim his allegiance to ISIS.  Then, ISIS issued a statement announcing that Mateen was an ISIS State fighter.  That same day, Obama warned us not to give in to fear or turn against one another.  Mateen’s motivation was not known, Il Duce scolded us.  Only that was a lie.  Much was known publicly about Mateen’s motivation, and it’s certain Obama had better information than the media.  We are constantly told by the government – “If you see something, say something.”  The Orlando tragedy proves that doesn’t work.  Mateen’s ex-wife reported he was violent and unstable.  That didn’t stop him from being licensed to carry a gun and hired by world-wide security company G4S as an armed guard.  G4S guards federal government facilities for the State Department and Homeland Security, including nuclear facilities.  They had Mateen guarding the St. Lucie County Courthouse.  Say something?  A co-worker told his superiors that Mateen was a devout Muslim who was dangerous and unhinged; a violent homophobe and a racist.  In 2013, after Mateen told co-workers he had ties to terrorist organizations and wanted to become a martyr, they told the FBI.  The FBI interviewed Mateen about that, and later interviewed him again about possible ties to an American suicide bomber.  The FBI took no action, however, because Mateen said all the people who saw something and said something were bigots, picking on him because of his Muslim faith.  That was good enough for the FBI’s.  Mateen was no threat.  Mateen’s father later confirmed this, saying, (and I’m not making this up) “My son was not a radical, he doesn’t even have a beard.”  You can’t argue with logic.  Two days after the shootings, the FBI was still looking for Mateen’s motive. (I guess we can’t believe either Mateen himself or the ISIS news agency, you know how those terrorists lie).  On Tuesday, Obama said what he always says when unbelievable violence occurs, “We need to do some soul searching about gun laws.”  That same day, Obama criticized Republicans for pointing out that he refuses to identify attacks that are made by radical Muslims as “radical Islamic terrorism.”  In so doing, Obama used a typical tool of the tyrant, mixing a small truth with a big lie.  True, Obama gets criticized for not identifying radical Islamic terrorism, but he went on to claim that “they [Republicans] say this is the key to solving the problem.”  Big lie.  No Republican I ever heard of ever claimed that terrorism could be controlled by uttering the magic words “radical Islamic terrorism.”  They have said Obama should admit what we’re dealing with, control the borders, and give greater law enforcement scrutiny to potential Islamic time bombs like Mateen.  But Obama doesn’t want to do those things.  Obama blasted Donald Trump as “un-American” for calling for a temporary ban on admitting people from Muslim countries that support terrorism.  As I’ve often noted, if the Democrats didn’t have hypocrisy, they’d stand for nothing at all.  Obama himself suspended the admission of Iraqi refugees for 6 months in 2011 to improve the screening process.  In an election year, the same proposal is un-American.  Mr. President, this is not about gun control, it’s about Islamic terrorist control.  We are tired of being blamed for your inability to face the truth.  ISIS has called for attacks on Americans during Ramadan to “terrorize them so that the neighbor fears his neighbor.”  Sunday’s attack was such an example, but you won’t blame Islamic terrorists.  You even have said “ISIS has nothing to do with Islam.”  Uh, what do you think the “I” stands for?  The sad truth is that Obama’s state of denial goes much deeper than that.  The literal meaning of the word “Islam” is “surrender” (to God).  Ever notice Obama won’t even say “ISIS,” but insists on saying “ISIL?”  ISIS is the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.  ISIL stands for the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (the entire Middle East).  Clearly, Obama already has surrendered.  He says people who self-radicalize are hard to identify ahead of time.  Mateen wasn’t.  For several years, the government was told repeatedly that he was a violent terrorist threat.  We need more gun laws?  No gun law would have stopped Mateen, who the government licensed to carry guns, and permitted armed access to government facilities, even though he was on the FBI’s Terrorist Watch List.  No. It’s the inept and pathetic government that needs to do some soul searching.  We are supposed to rely on the government to identify and deal with terrorist threats, but the government has proven that it cannot and will not protect us, even when the potential terrorist is singled out.  The Russians told us that the eventual Boston bombers were dangerous.  The government did nothing.  Numerous citizens identified Omar Mateen as a threat.  The government did nothing.  Is it any wonder we don’t trust the government?  No Mr. President, we haven’t turned against one another, we’ve turned against you.  Once again, you’ve proven yourself at best a weakling, and at worst, a Quisling.  We won’t give in to fear, but we’d better put the fear of God into the feckless public officials who pretend they are protecting us.  Public safety is the first priority of the government.  Without it, we are in Thomas Hobbes’s “state of nature.”  Taking guns from law-abiding Americans isn’t a solution.  While Obama has been President, the number of dangerous jihadists has doubled.  Whatever Obama has been doing hasn’t gotten the job done.  I long for the day that when he’s off the job.

This week, Muhammad Ali passed away at 74.  Ali was a transformative figure well beyond the world of athletics, and became perhaps the most recognized person on the face of the Earth. Muhammad Ali began training as a boxer at age 12. He was a Golden Gloves champion in Kentucky; an Olympic champion in 1960; and heavyweight champion at 22.  In time, he became the unofficial Champion of the World.  In short, Muhammad Ali was a world champion human being.  This is not to say that Ali was perfect. Far from it.  Remember, I said, human being.  I was about 6 years old when Ali won his Olympic gold medal in 1960, so in my life, I have never known a time without Ali.  He was always there, he was always relevant, and he was always controversial.  Now that he’s gone, it’s hard to imagine the world without him.  But the truth is, for a long time, I didn’t like him very much.  Put it down to the prejudice of the times.  In the 1960’s, the country was on fire from coast to coast. Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali and joined the Black Muslims. At that time, Black Muslims were frightening to many people.  Then there was Ali’s refusal to enter the draft, which turned many people against him. I was one of them.  It took me a long time to fully appreciate what Ali did.  We live in a world where hypocrisy is commonplace and most public figures, or dare I say “celebrities,” are phonies, devoid of any principles.  Some have called Ali a coward for refusing the draft.  That’s simply wrong.  Had he been just another celebrity phony, Ali could have gone into the Army, where he would have been assigned to Special Services to do boxing exhibitions, and in all likelihood, appearances with Bob Hope and Joey Heatherton (remember her? Whew! She’s 71 years old now. Am I an old fart, or what?).  Instead, Ali zealously stood on his religious principles.  He could have left the country.  He didn’t.  He stayed and he faced the music.  He was tried and sentenced to 5 years in prison.  He didn’t skip.  Ali declared, “America is my country, if I have to go to prison, I’ll go, but I won’t leave my country.” He appealed his case all the way to the United States Supreme Court.  By the time that Court finally issued a unanimous decision in his favor, Ali had lost over 4 years of the prime of his career.  Ali didn’t whine and complain.  He went back to work.  He fought.  Perhaps to make up for lost time, he fought much too long, which had a devastating effect on his health. But through it all, he engaged anyone who would listen.  In public, he was known as the Mouth that Roared, and always appeared to be a shameless self-promoter.  His private life was different.  He never forgot the little guy.  And although a Muslim, he didn’t discriminate. He once heard that the residents of a Jewish Old Age Home in the Bronx were about to be evicted. Unsolicited, he paid $450,000 to keep the residents in their homes. He never told anybody about this, or any of his charitable works. Whenever somebody needed help, he helped.  He also knew what he lacked.  Although Muhammad Ali had very little formal education, he knew the value of learning.  Ali told a grade school class in 1971 – “Just get your education, and automation’s taking over today, so get your brains ready.  Choose your profession when you’re young and get working toward it.” That’s good advice in 2016 for all those 5th year college students who have yet to declare a Major. Muhammad Ali always seemed to be a figure who was either worshiped or demonized.  His passing has not changed that fact.  In our obsessively politically correct society, I even have heard critics trying to diminish Ali’s accomplishments by noting that he verbally belittled his opponents before fights.  How unkind.  He did that even before he won he became a champion.  Apparently, these sensitive souls have overlooked the fact that Ali was engaged in a sport whose very object is to physically dominate and intimidate your opponent.  As George Carlin once noted, Ali’s job was beating people up.  The truth is that Ali was neither an angel nor a devil. He was a true champion the likes of whom will never be seen again. When I was a kid, everybody knew about the heavyweight champions; Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano.  Ali fought all comers and his fights even had names, The Thrilla in Manila; the Rumble in the Jungle.  Now, we don’t even know who the champ is.  I had to look it up. Turns out there’s no consensus, it’s either Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua or Deontay Wilder.  Who, who and who? What would we call one of their fights?  The Battle of the Faces on the Milk Carton?  The Fight of the Unknown Boxers?  It really doesn’t matter, because they don’t matter.  Love him or hate him, Muhammad Ali always mattered.  He will be missed.

Once upon a time in America, there were people known as investigative journalists.  These people had a most difficult job – keeping politicians honest.  As I noted here last week, politicians are the trickiest, slickest and crookedest among us, therefore this proved to be a daunting task. When these champions of the public interest set out to investigate a suspected miscreant, they left no stone unturned to ferret out the truth, because the voters have a right to know all about our political leaders, don’t they?  Well, yes and no.  First of all, there are fewer journalists to go around than there used to be.  Back in the Stone Age, when most people could read the English language, and they actually read newspapers, there were many journalists.  Columnists like Jack Anderson constantly were digging for political dirt.  Of course, nobody reads newspapers anymore, so the ranks of available muckrakers have been thinned.  Also, because there are so many potential political miscreants to keep an eye on, the remaining journalists can’t get around to investigating all of them.  They have to be selective.  As 99.44% of all journalists are liberals, it is not surprising that they manage their workload by investigating only Republicans.  This is neither a false or reckless statement nor so sinister as it sounds.  When you consider the world in which journalists exist, it makes perfect sense.  They live in a microcosm of America, inside the Washington, D.C. Beltway.  Within their comfortable cocoon, the journalists are confident that they, and only they, understand what is important, what is right and wrong, and what the public (a entity they have never met and have no desire to meet) wants and thinks.  As subscribers to the James Carville school of liberalism (“We’re right and they’re wrong”), the journalists are in basic agreement that all Republicans are corrupt and deserve scrutiny.  Moreover, if the Republican is conservative, or claims to be so, then there must be something wrong with him anyway.  Hence, a first term Senator running for President, such as Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz, must be thoroughly investigated.  How big was that boat Rubio bought?  How dare Cruz borrow his own money from Goldman Sachs?  These are important questions.  Other questions, such as, just who the Hell is Barrack Obama, who was raised by a Communist mother and a radical Communist father, was indoctrinated by Communist Frank Marshall Davis, and introduced into politics by urban terrorist Bill Ayres? – not so much.  If Donald Trump had spent years of his life living in Indonesia using the surname Soetero, you think the media might look into that?  For Donald Soetero sure, for Barry Soetero (a/k/a Obama), not a chance.  When they do take a peek, the journalists (think Woodward and Bernstein) know how to follow the money.  They are obsessed with Republican money, which is evil if there is either too much of it or not enough.  Think about it.  In 2012, they were after Romney’s tax returns to prove he had too much money and should not be President.  This year, Trump boasts he has lots of money, so they are after his tax returns to prove he is not as rich as he claims, and therefore should not be President.  Any port in a storm, I guess.  Money is evil because Il Duce Obama says so.  He has declared that “there’s too much money in politics.”  Having raised and spent over $1.1 billion on his last election, he should know.  Just this week, Michele Obama said the same thing about too much money in politics.  And she must know too, because she said it at $10,000 a plate fundraiser. (You can’t make this shit up).  Which brings us to the Clintons, a political couple which has had something to hide for 25 years.  Put aside Bill’s sexual scandals.  Forget the Travel Office scandal,  and the Whitewater scandal, and the billing records scandal, that’s water under the bridge.  Let’s even give Hillary the benefit of the doubt on Benghazi, her handling of Libya, and her little email server flap.  No need to dwell on crimes.  What about the Clinton money trail?  Hillary said, “when we left the White House in 2001, we were flat broke.”  This must be true, because, as you may recall, when they left they stole the furniture.  Within 11 years of 2001, the Clintons made $136.5 million.  Bill himself is worth $55 million.  Investigative journalists once were suspicious of the rapid accumulation of wealth by public officials.  But not the Clintons.  And then there’s there’s the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, which has raised some $250 million.  Much of that money came from foreign sources at the very time when Hillary was Secretary of State.  Many of these sources are unidentified.  Some of those that are identified are, shall we say – shady.  Well, maybe I just have a suspicious nature.  They won’t follow that money.  But wait, over $33 million came from a Canadian businessman on behalf of a Russian company that needed Secretary Clinton to sign off on a deal that gave Russia control of 20% of the uranium reserves in Wyoming, Texas and Utah.  They won’t follow that money.  And it’s not just foreign money.  Coca Cola gave $10 million to the Foundation and got the State Department to lift sanctions in Burma.  TD Bank, which coincidentally was the largest shareholder in the Keystone XL Pipeline project, paid Bill $1.8 million to make speeches at the time Secretary Hillary was in a position to exert influence on the deal.  They won’t follow that money.  In this election, we have one candidate, Trump, whose life is an open book.  Trump has conducted his affairs (the good, the bad and the ugly) in plain sight.  Trump is suspect, and the media will follow his money to the ends of the Earth.  The other candidate, Hillary, has conducted every aspect of her life in complete darkness.  Anyone, including a special prosecutor, who has dared even to ask an impertinent question has been denounced as part of the Right Wing Conspiracy.  Hillary has hidden and destroyed evidence of her actions as a public official, while at the same time amassing great wealth from dubious sources.  She gets a pass.  If you’re thinking that the media is just as corrupt as the politicians, you’re right.