TheWiseOldFart

  Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart When I joined the 2010 Decennial Census, I took an oath. I administered that same oath to dozens of men and women over the next couple of years. I took it seriously, and I demanded that those who recited the words I asked them to repeat did the same. If a census worker violates that oath, he or she faces a maximum fine of $250,000 and a prison term of five years. The members of all three branches of our government take an oath of office, similar, but slightly different, according to their positions. However, when they violate their oaths, nothing happens, with the possible exception of winning reelection. The oath of office taken by every justice on the Supreme Court. "I, ________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart The American people have a long way to go if they want to live in the greatest country in the world. The choice of most Americans to accept lies and ignore the truth is the most destructive force our nation has ever experienced. In 1981, the President of the United States ignored the intent of the First Amendment and by his avid and adamant devotion to one religion, Christianity, influenced the thought process of tens of millions of Americans. Thanks to Ronald Reagan, millions of Americans believe the lie that our country was founded on Christian values alone. His policies were the precursor to our nation’s greatest enemy which supports the end of democracy. This right-wing propaganda machine calls itself 'Fox News.' The truth is clear and undeniable: the First Amendment guarantees “freedom of religion,” and “freedom from religion.” On October 7, 1996, Rupert Murdoch, with the assistance of Republican strategist, Roger Ailes, launched the unofficial righ...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart First, an undeniable fact. Pete Hegseth is woefully unqualified to be Trump’s first Secretary of Defense. Without an iota of experience in any level of government, the well-known sexual predator, alcoholic, and a man who embezzled funds from charities involved with veterans, which he led, was given one of the most important positions on any president’s cabinet. Over the last five months, Hegseth has proven himself to be a moron who has no legitimate reason to be in any form of government. He is an embarrassment to himself, to Trump, and to his country. Trump doesn’t care, but the American people should. Hegseth is loyal to Trump, not to his country, not to 340 million people. He is lying about the effectiveness of the 14 ‘mega bombs, each weighing 30,000 pounds, dropped on Iran last Saturday evening. Although Trump and his cronies united in the last two days to falsely claim that the attacks were completely successful, reports by respected authorities contradict...

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Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart My father served in the United States Navy in WWII. I enlisted in the United States Air Force on September 11, 1964, and was discharged for medical reasons on March 9, 1965. After I turned 70, AAA began to drastically raise my rates. I searched for a new company. I was told by USAA that I was not eligible, proving that their commercials are blatant lies. USAA claims that if your grandfather was in the military, you can have insurance. I was denied, although my father and I both served. The real reason is obvious: I was over the age of 70. No one with power and great wealth can be trusted in the 21 st century. Op-ed by James Turnage Follow my blog and be informed  

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart On a quiet Sunday morning, in one of the most beautiful places on  earth, a fascist dictator launched a cowardly attack which would alter the future of the entire world. In Europe, a ruthless and ambitious dictator was invading nation after nation and replacing democratic governments with fascist rule. On December 7, 1941, Hawaii was an American territory. It would not become a state until 1959. However, the Emperor of Japan knew that a large percentage of America’s naval forces were docked in one place, and a single, carefully planned attack would cripple or destroy a devastating number of ships designed for war. The next day, the greatest President in American history, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, announced that the United States would join our allies in the fight to defeat fascism. On that day, the end of WWII had begun. When the bullets stopped flying, and bombs no longer ravaged structures and took the lives of innocent men, women, and children, in what m...

I didn’t read the articles, but numerous journalists posted headlines today attempting to explain the breakup of the bromance between Trump and Musk. This is moronic. It is simple and it only requires average intelligence to know the truth. Trump intentionally used Musk for his money. Eventually, he made a complete fool of the richest man in the world. Musk was not as smart as he thought. He fell for the ultimate con, like millions of other uninformed Trump supporters, proving money doesn’t make you more intelligent, and choosing ignorance over fact will result in pain and disappointment. I predicted the end of the bromance at the same time it began. I know human nature, and two men with enormous egos who are desperate to be relevant could not co-exist for very long. He other factor is Donald Trump’s character, or more accurately, lack of. Trump demands loyalty but offers none in return. He uses everyone around him but no one is indispensable, not even his own children. He got what he ...

This promise gained Trump votes in the 2024 Election. However, it was just another lie from the man who has never told the truth. Legitimate Economists claim that the orange buffoon’s latest tariffs will raise grocery prices, causing more pain for the majority of our nation’s people. He doesn’t care. Everything is always about him. Every economist offers the same opinion: tariffs will destroy the economy and inflation will grow by as much as ten percent. When Trump was campaigning in 2024, he promised to ‘run our country like he runs his business.’ If you knew about Trump’s failures, you would never have voted for him. The only reasons he continues to have a business is because foreign nations rescued him and he used illegal methods to get undeserved loans when his world was falling away. For the latter reason, he is a convicted felon. Trump’s only tactic is no different from the schoolyard bully you might remember in elementary school. He threatens his adversaries, and lies to those f...

Ted Turner is a billionaire. He cares about making money; period. In the late 1970’s he had an idea. Television News had become profitable. In the 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s, the half-hour evening news was costly for the networks. Their on-air journalists were paid about as much as a man who worked in middle management in a factory. However, in the 1970s, s news became far more interesting and advertisers began to buy space on the then one-hour nightly broadcasts. In the 21 st century, what is called “news” is the most profitable segment on television. The war in South Vietnam continued to rage, and with it social and economic changes began across America. [The 1970s witnessed significant changes in America, marked by economic shifts, social movements, and political scandals. Key changes included a shift from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based one, the rise of feminism and gay rights movements, and a growing awareness of environmental issues. Additionally, the Watergate scan...

We hear about it all the time: national security. Stories about espionage, computers being hacked by foreign nations, individuals selling national secrets, and more, spike the interest of our nation’s people who are concerned about events which might affect themselves and their loved ones in the future. Politicians, attempting to hide their crimes and the crimes of their fellow congressmen, constantly claim that we, the people, don’t have a right or need to know, “for reasons of national security.” Our government will never tell you about the number of spies our country has around the world in key spots to learn information critical to America’s survival. However, the number would surely surprise most of you. It’s one of the oldest military tactics in history. Is all of this a cover-up for things more sinister and frightening? I ask this question because events over the last 10 years appear to reveal just that. The major policy of our government has become the prevention of our nation’...

      When any politician offers this excuse whenever they don’t want to answer a direct question: I can’t answer that “for reasons of national security,” you know they’re hiding something, and that something is not good. All politicians are professional liars. It begins with their campaigns. They make promises they never intend to keep. They will say anything to get your vote, but when elected forget you exist. Let’s get to the truth. In a Democratic Republic, the people elect men and women to represent their needs and wishes. However, in the 21 st  century we elect rule over us, refusing to serve us. The truth is simple and opposes the intents of our Founding Fathers: politicians consider themselves better and more worthy of living the “American lifestyle” than their constituents. Fascism is alive and well in D.C. It is no longer a secret: America’s federal government is the most corrupt and incompetent in the world. Look at history. R...

I love my wife more than I could ever tell her. She is a worrier. All too often she believes what she reads on the internet, not realizing that as much as 95 percent of everything we read on the misinformation highway is propaganda designed to frighten the average person, and designed to prevent them from telling or learning the truth. I often rely on the wisdom and honesty offered by one of the greatest men in the history of the world. “A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.” Martin Luther King, Jr. The most important human right guaranteed by the Constitution is the combination of free thought and free speech. The Constitution and our system of government encourage honest dissent. Nothing works in Washington without intelligent deliberation and compromise. This works just as well in the private sector. This is of greater importance in the 21 ...

Here’s the picture. I was born in July of 1946, making me an original ‘baby boomer.’ When I began my school years, I was sent to a Catholic elementary school. The first thing we did every morning, before prayers, was to stand, face the American flag in the corner, place our right hands over our hearts, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. This was two years before the words “under God” were added to the oath. My mother had a large family, and there were family gatherings frequently. I enjoyed them, but did not understand everything they talked about. Three of my uncles had returned from serving in WWII; one did not. Although I don’t remember them talking about what they did and saw during the war, politics and the state of our nation were frequent topics of conversation. Although politics were frequently discussed, my family was very patriotic. Movies on television were often stories about battles on the land, sea, and air during the war. John Wayne was an American hero, although he av...

In the 1950’s and 60’s my family watched the evening news. It was only a one-half hour broadcast, but men like Walter Cronkite managed to offer viewers nearly everything which happened during the day without offering personal opinions with words, facial expressions, or body language. When billionaire Ted Turner launched CNN in 1980, some people were excited. I was not. I was 34 years old and had no idea how the news could be offered over a 24-hour period which would be of interest to those of us who looked forward to the daily report from our local station. After the first week, it was clear that I was right. Real news took an hour or less. This was repeated about a dozen times over the 24-hour period. The rest of the time was devoted to “entertainment,” which was anything but entertaining. Today’s “news” is even worse. The network personalities either repeat the same stories over and over, and in between allow “experts” to offer their opinions, or they offer nothing but “entertainment...

Trump’s supporters share one commonality: they all choose to be brainwashed. This happens when anyone watches more than one-half hour of the lies offered by FOX News, Newsmax, One America News and a few other fascist-leaning television misinformation broadcasts. I have several brothers-in-law. One of them was my wife’s roommate when we began dating. I respected him; believing he was intelligent and credited him with his search for knowledge. However, several years ago he moved to the South: first to Georgia, and he now resides in Florida. What I admired about him no longer exists. He is now a right-wing devotee and has become bat shit crazy. He believes that everything Trump is doing is “great.” He admires Marjorie Taylor Greene because “she speaks her mind.” It pains me to know that he chooses not to believe the fact that Trump doesn’t know what he is doing, and what he is doing is destroying the lives of tens of thousands of men, women, and children. Trump has a very low level of int...

Political writers claim the results of the 2024 election were based on one single promise made by a pathological liar. Trump said: “I will end inflation on day one.” Personally, I do not agree with the reasons offered by others for Trump’s questionable victory on November 5, 2024. However, I may be wrong and what was in reality “Greedflation” continues to grow today. Not once has Trump mentioned a single effort on his part to address the issue. The fact is that his ill-advised tariffs will be in effect today and the prices of necessities will rise even higher. In 1992, Democratic political strategist, James Carville, spoke to the press about the coming election. For 12 years Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush destroyed our nation’s economy, adding trillions of dollars to the national debt. They shared the same belief in “trickle-down economics:” give money to the rich and they will increase employment and therefore grow the economy. They were terribly wrong. When ...

  One thing all avid Trump supporters have in common is their choice to choose ignorance over fact. Although it is common knowledge that your illegitimate president is a pathological liar, a combination of Trump’s use of a philosophy adopted by Adolf Hitler, and their own need to see the worst in every situation, allows them to claim belief in the most ludicrous situations. Hitler believed that most people have a low level of intelligence. Therefore, telling them a lie over and over again will eventually allow them to accept a lie as “alternative fact.” The latest example of how easily Trump can make fools of his supporters happened just two days ago in the Oval Office. Ukraine President Zelenskyy met with Trump and Vance in the Oval Office. Vance began the encounter by attacking Zelenskyy, and Trump joined in. The exchange became heated and the President of Ukraine was told to leave. This was how Trump is “presidential.” Trump accused Zelenskyy of started the war which has now las...

Over the last 29 days Musk and his staff composed of babies in training pants have destroyed agencies necessary to maintain America’s place in the world under the lie; “eliminating government waste.” Let’s go back eight years. When Trump was your illegitimate president between 2017 and 2021, Trump wasted at least six million dollars every month on personal expenses. Trump traveled to and from Mar-a-Lago nearly every week. He held hate rallies about once every month, he played golf at his millionaires resorts at least once every week. Among other costs, operating Air Force One costs more than $200,000 per hour. Musk’s fictitious DOGE is making no effort to curtail Trump’s life of opulence and waste at taxpayer expense. The fact is, Musk is a huge part of the problem. In my experience, I find most billionaires to be ignorant. Their only concern is how to increase their already outrageous wealth. Greed limits a man’s ability to think clearly. Trump’s entire existence is one big con. Unfor...

Exit polls on November 5, 2024, offered information that the primary reason Trump apparently won the election was based on a promise to end inflation. Another BIG lie. On this day, February 1, 2025, inflation, or more accurately “Greedflation,” continues to be a problem for most Americans. In a move which is guaranteed to add additional cost to the purchase of necessities and the pain which will accompany the stress of finding money to pay for food, Trump literally raised both middle fingers to the men and women who voted for him. Today, he placed a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China. This will add an increase of 25-50 percent to our grocery and gas bills, just to name two serious problems we will all struggle with.. Have no illusion about what Trump is doing this evening: he is laughing at everyone who voted for him. Once again, he lied and used his talents as a lifetime con man to make fools out of millions of Americans. Trump never intended to make any attem...

All politicians, Democratic or Republican, make promises they cannot or will not keep. However, some politicians proffer blatant lies in the form of campaign promises. When Trump took the oath of office on Monday, he refused to place his hand on the bible. Why? It is an irrefutable fact that Trump’s only god is money. Is he a liar, an atheist, who pretends to support Christianity? Or is there some part of him who fears a God and knew that every word he was forced to repeat would be a lie? He lied on Monday as he lied during the campaign. If you trust the exit polls, the biggest issue was inflation, something Trump jumped on and promised to reduce prices at the grocery store. First and foremost, inflation was a lie. The situation was “Greedflation,” a situation created by greedy corporations, Trump supporters and the latest enemy of the American people. During his boring and misleading inaugural speech, he surreptitiously indicated that he would not be reducing the price of necessities....