Politics

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by Reid Fitzsimons (this article was written as a Letter to the Editor of a small local paper, the Susquehanna Transcript, as a response to an earlier anti-Trump letter)

Sometimes we love too much, and sometimes we hate too much, to the point the object of our love is perfect and flawless and the object of our hate is vilified in totality. These feelings can be personal, and not infrequently political. Extremes in love and hate might feel satisfying, but too often feelings overcome reality, and make us believe and do stupid things. The June 12thissue of the Transcript contained a letter from a nonagenarian residing in Uniondale entitled Assimilate 201. It was a little difficult for me to follow, but it was clear the writer is no fan of Donald Trump, and her inaccuracies and falsehoods presented as fact, both small and significant, suggests she hates Trump a little too much.

Hitler is the go-to comparison for people Democrats don't like

She claims Trump called immigrants “vermin,” then segued into a predictable comparison to Hitler, mentioning that, “In case you didn't know, Hitler killed 8 million mostly educated Jewish people in large gas ovens.” It’s not a huge point, but I don’t think Hitler really cared about the educational level of the Jews he had exterminated, and for historical accuracy, the accepted Holocaust figure is 6 million. The mention of killing so many people in “large gas ovens” likewise is inaccurate: the Nazis used a variety of methods to kill Jews and other demographic groups- large ovens were typically used in concentration camps to efficiently incinerate the bodies (and perhaps hide evidence of their atrocities) after they were slaughtered. This may seem a petty point, but if someone is using historical comparison to make a political point it should be reasonably correct.

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by Reid Fitzsimons

Every once in a while some hapless Republican is excoriated for suggesting some version of, “Well, Hitler did some good things,” a statement often quoted without context. With the exception of a handful of neo-Nazi morons and a frighteningly larger number of anti-Jew extreme leftists (who do their anti-Jew things with tacit support from establishment leftists), pretty much nobody thinks Hitler did anything overall “good,” but from a historical perspective, it’s not unreasonable to ask, “Did he do anything that could have been perceived as “good” that rallied millions upon millions of people to support his ascendancy and policies?” This is an important question for this moment in time, as there are worrisome indications the world is once again turning to authoritarianism.

So...how did Hitler obtain absolute power in Germany? Undoubtedly there have been innumerable papers and books on this subject, but ultimately the answer is as old as history and is in play to this very moment. For brief background, Germany was in shambles following its utter defeat in WW1. The victorious allies, acting on understandable emotion but with little wisdom, forced upon Germany a repressive and retributive agreement called the Treaty of Versailles (www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-Versailles-1919), designed to prevent Germany from ever again becoming a military power. It demanded huge reparations and allotted heretofore chunks of Germany to other nations. Not surprisingly there were wannabe left wing and right wing revolutionary movements and all the chaos they entailed, so the reasonable solution was some form of democracy that came to be called the Weimar Republic (www.britannica.com/place/Weimar-Republic). Nevertheless, great discontent continued and there were vacuums to be filled, and Hitler had the skill to fill the void, and the patience.

Adolph Hitler in 1924 at the age of 35
Before becoming a bloodthirsty dictator, Hitler was an artist
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by Reid Fitzsimons

During much of the Presidential primary season in 2016 I was out of the country in a fairly remote area with little access to news. Upon my return in May, while on a layover at the Atlanta airport and their endless broadcasts of CNN, I learned that Trump has sewn up the Republican nomination. I admit I felt a little queasy the news: I didn’t really know that much about Trump and never watched that show with the tag-line “You’re Fired!,” but I had heard plenty from the establishment news media that he was somehow dangerous and clearly not their guy. In general the other Republican candidates fit the desired mold of being “reasonable,” willing to “cross the aisle” and work with Democrats. I did know Trump was a blowhard.

Donald Trump and Barack Obama post-election Nov. 2016

Over the summer Trump was officially nominated, as was Hillary Clinton (HRC) for the Democrats. The latter, who is a true sociopath, made it easier to vote for Trump despite my severe reservations. Perhaps due to increasing age and cynicism I avoided watching the conventions and speeches, but shortly before the election I was in a cheap motel room in Pensacola, FL, turned on the TV and found Trump at some campaign rally. I girded myself to listen to his shtick, fully expecting him to rant with spittle flying and bark like a seal, this being largely how he was portrayed by the establishment press. What I found instead was a pretty typical political speech with the usual promises of prosperity, jobs, strong military, etc. Part of his rhetoric involved “make America great again (MAGA).

Left: Trump/Clinton debate Fall 2016, Right: Hillary Clinton with spouse in background, concession speech
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by Reid Fitzsimons (note that this is a very long article, but the introductory part is brief and stand alone, followed by profiles of five black cultural celebrities who reflect the subtle and at times overt racism of the Democrat party)

“These Negroes, they're getting pretty uppity these days and that's a problem for us since they've got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we've got to do something about this, we've got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference. For if we don't move at all, then their allies will line up against us and there'll be no way of stopping them, we'll lose the filibuster and there'll be no way of putting a brake on all sorts of wild legislation. It'll be Reconstruction all over again.” A statement made by Democrat President Lyndon Johnson made when he was the senate majority leader in 1957.

The old guard of black racialist shakedown artists revered by the Democrat establishment, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson
One of the newer entries, Nikole Hannah-Jones of the "1619 Project"

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.” Future Democrat President Joe Biden, 2007, in reference to Barack Obama.

The compelling 1989 movie Glory depicted the creation of black Union Army units in the Civil War, specifically the 54th Mass. Infantry Regiment. These units were lead by white officers but otherwise segregated. Under the command of Col. Robert Gould Shaw, the 54th became a disciplined and formidable unit, but for the most part the black soldiers were considered as laborers in uniform, and buffoons at worst. In one disturbing scene, while the 54th maintained their formation another black unit was allowed to loot a white plantation house while its corrupt officers looked on, but one of the black soldiers assaulted a white woman and was summarily shot by a white officer. The message was that much of the white establishment believed that black troops couldn’t control themselves, which was okay to some extent, but don’t mess with white women. The 54th went on to distinguish itself at the Battle of Fort Wagner.

This idea- that black people are basically buffoons- persists among some white people this day, those people being privileged and powerful Democrats. Still, blacks can be useful to them as political props and minions as long as the are regulated and controlled, lest they act according to their innate savage nature. This is what Joe Biden was saying when he observed the rare exception of an “...articulate and bright and clean…” black person in his 2007 quote.

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by Reid Fitzsimons

There’s a well known adage that says a frog placed in a pan with cool water will remain in the pan as the water is gradually heated until it dies. I doubt that it’s true, but the point is valid: if something pernicious is initially portrayed as benign but slowly changes until it’s harmful, it has a chance of eventually being accepted. The chronically battered wife probably didn’t fall in love with her husband because he beat her from the start, it just kind of escalated until it becomes the norm.

Presently, the water is still tepid in regards to normalizing pedophilia, i.e. adults having sex with children. Soon enough, however, it will be boiling, and one of the most disgraceful accusations- of being a pedophile- will give way to something like, “if you don’t accept and embrace sex between adults and children you are a pedophobe!

A chubby bearded guy with glasses titillated, along with others, by watching prepubescent boys dressed up as sexy girls. If progressives have their way, this malevolence will become routine.

As usual, this type of societal transformation begins with nuancing the language. Hence, the current innocuous term being floated, which sounds so much less pejorative than “child molester” or “pedophile,” is Minor Attracted People, or MAP. The main advocate for this term seems to be a “transgender” (of course; “they and them” pronouns) post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins named Allyn Walker who wrote a book entitled A Long, Dark Shadow: Minor Attracted People and Their Pursuit of Dignity.

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by Reid Fitzsimons

I’m a white male, so I have white male pride. I’m taller than average, so I have taller than average pride. I’m a white male raised in the suburbs, so I have taller than average white male suburban pride. I demand “pride months” and that people chant “white male suburban taller than average rights are human rights!” You might respond, “Isn’t pride supposed to be based on some kind of accomplishment, especially one that took some effort and maybe even a little sacrifice? You can’t really be proud of merely being who you are based on skin color or height or whatever. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be okay with what or who you are, it just has nothing to do with pride.” And I say, “What are you, some hate-filled cisgender fascist who supports the oppressive meritocracy, a backward thinker who believes actual accomplishment is better than being wonderful simply because you feel you are? You’re just like Hitler!”

Two sides of the same "pride" coin

I first met Vivian in a tiny Honduran village in 2008. My wife and I had opened a little project for children of the village a year before and we were fortunate to have many volunteers, mostly young people from the US, Canada, and Europe. One of these had befriended one of teenage attendees, Myra, and visited Myra’s house, a typical single room mud and stick hut with a dirt floor and without electricity. Our volunteer from Belgium asked me the next day if we knew Myra had a little sister who was dying. We did not, so I soon visited there myself and encountered 2½ year-old Vivian, who was hairless, had lots of scars on her body, and weighed 11 pounds. Her beleaguered mother was holding Vivian and constantly shifting her from breast to breast in a largely futile attempt to feed her: mom was simply dry, and Vivian was simply starving to death.

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by Reid Fitzsimons

When we moved to South Alabama in 2008 we learned our new neighbor had a sophisticated sounding English surname. Based on this, we envisioned him to likely be a cultivated person, maybe a retired college professor. This image was quickly dispelled upon meeting him: he was an ignorant vestige from the Jim Crow/KKK days, an overt racist and, we later learned, an lifelong alcoholic with anger control issues; his pleasant wife certainly earned to title of “long-suffering.” In America today, of course, accusations of “racism” from people either trying to justify their privilege or victim status (or usually both) spew out like stomach contents at a drunken frat party, but I suspect there are very few people under 50 today who have actually met a real racist. This is because they have largely died off, like our bigoted and imbecilic neighbor of 10+ years ago.

Trevor Anderson of South Carolina, recently fired from his position as a middle school French teacher

More recently, Mr. Trevor Anderson was discharged from his position as a French teacher at a South Carolina middle-school. This was a blip in the news cycle seen at Foxnews.com (link below). In a prejudicial way, as with our Alabama neighbor, I immediately envisioned an educated and serious person, someone certainly able to control himself (I recall elementary school teachers in the 1960s admonishing us to “control yourselves”). It ended up, however, that Mr. Anderson has a avocation as an enraged pro-abortion activist. Apparently in response to pro-life demonstrators near his favorite abortion clinic, the gentleman in question grabbed a megaphone and generously shared his thoughts. Among his litany of passionate outrage were the following quotes: "I teach them French. I teach them that people like you are a piece of s---… I teach them that Christians are f---ing idiots...You're all f---ing idiots.” And, presumably in response to a black pro-lifer, he suggested "You do what all these White people tell you to do, you f---ing c--n. You f---ing j---- boo…Do a little dance for us like your masters want you to." And, to a pro-life woman, "You deserve to be called a c---, you deserve to be called a b----."

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by Reid Fitzsimons

Joe Biden, our demented, deranged, and diminished President, has an interesting verbal tic. For decades he has told tall tales and make believe anecdotes that he thinks will be to his political advantage. From his silly “I was coal miner” to this cynical and vicious “the other driver involved in the death of my wife and infant daughter (in the 1970’s) was drunk,” there is no fantasy too fantastic for him not to utter. Not uncommonly, we know he is lying because he’ll insert the phrase “Not a joke!” The introduction to this article, which is about why so many girls and young women believe they want to become males, is definitely not a joke, as follows.

The time I spent in Kenya in 2002 and 2003 as the volunteer medical director (PA) of a remotely located clinic coincided with the peak of the African AIDS epidemic. AIDS was only one among many hideous diseases- malaria was actually more common- that maimed and killed so many, and never a week went by (sometimes never a day) where there was misery and suffering incomprehensible to most Americans. One horrific belief among some men with AIDS was that they could be cured by having sex with a young female, and the girl really didn’t have any say in the matter. One day, the tragedy of the day was a girl of perhaps 18 who, in one clinic visit, was diagnosed with AIDS, tuberculosis, syphilis, and noted to have peau d'orange on the skin on her breasts, suggestive of an atypical form of breast cancer. Keep this in mind when considering the things that cause us so much angst in our very privileged American lives.

To girls and young women: if you can’t live up to this standard of womanhood, if you’re not hot and sexy, you are a LOSER and might as well “transition” and become a guy.
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, NIH functionary since 1968 and multimillionaire, a corona virus celebrity who became the face of the establishment during the pandemic. In Nov. 2021, he made the impressively grandiose statement in regards to criticism directed at him, “But they’re really criticizing science, because I represent science”

by Reid Fitzsimons

I have some friends who are into natural remedies. Sometimes they ask my thoughts, as a retired medical practitioner (PA), about various substances and treatments they might have heard about. When I was younger, I probably would have repeated the standard line- there is no scientific evidence it provides any benefit- but now I’m more, “what the heck, if it’s harmless, give it a try.” Recently they asked about tree-derived substance from Southeast Asia called kratom, something that has been used indigenously for centuries and said to be an analgesic, stimulant, antihypertensive, and to enhance sexual functioning, among other things. In researching this substance I realized it has actual drug properties, including opioid components. It is not illegal at the Federal level, but has been made illegal in several states and other countries. It has a number of potential adverse effects, and is not something I would take lightly. In fact, the FDA notes it has no scientific data that would support the use of kratom for medical purposes and warns the public NOT to use any products labeled as containing kratom, due to reported deaths. And the FDA can be trusted……….correct?

Something happened just shy of three years ago, something that effected the world and perhaps forever changed the relationship between people and governments (or at least traditionally free and democratic governments), this being the corona virus pandemic. Three years later, it’s both fascinating and deeply disturbing to look retrospectively at actions taken by governments and, equally troublesome (if not previously inconceivable), the scientific and medical establishment. Up until 2020, I was pretty much all in for standard, allopathic medicine. Certainly over the years I had been aware of that some study was the ultimate study that proved this or that medicine or treatment was perfect, until the next ultimate study refuted the last ultimate study and the new finding became the gold standard that could never be refuted...until the next study: it truly is necessary to understand that science and medicine are NOT infallible by any means, because in the end science and medicine are products of people who are fallible, and may well have selfish and self-interests influencing them. Nevertheless, within context, I embraced and supported the orthodoxy.

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by Reid Fitzsimons

I have a friend who was raised in relative poverty but, through hard work and smart life decisions, became quite wealthy. A number of years ago his son, at perhaps the age of 13, went through an obnoxious spoiled period- very mouthy and said pretty vile things. If he had to be home by 9, or to bed by 10 on a school night, life was UNFAIR, and one of his refrains was “I HAVE RIGHTS!” Many of us can recall going through similar adolescent phases, and thankfully most of us grew up and out of this “it’s all about me” selfishness,”as did this young man.

"Toby" holds a sign with other demonstrators during a protest regarding evictions going on at the court, 6000 Chimney Rock Rd., Friday, Aug. 21, 2020, in Houston.
Privileged Yet Ignorant People Confusing "Rights" With Outcomes

It’s interesting that the term “rights” is so often invoked by privileged kids (in the years I spent do-gooding in impoverished countries I don’t recall ever hearing it). Of course, to them it’s an ill-defined generic word that essentially means, “I should get my way, I deserve whatever I want!” Unfortunately, this understanding and interpretation of “rights” is increasing in the US as we’ve become wealthier, more selfish, greedier, and more shallow: “rights” have become little more than political and cultural weapons and slogans, without regard for what they really are, and it is indeed pernicious to trivialize them. A “right” is not an argument for “I want what I want, and I want it now.”

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