New York City is Dead To Me Thanks to the Public Design Commission

 

 New York City ‘officials’ have decided to remove a statue of Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, one of the founders of our Republic, the founder of the esteemed University of Virginia, the author of the Virginia Constitution upon which the Bill of Rights was based from City Hall because his statue ‘offends’ sensitive ‘woke’ ( not a real word)

Yes, he owned slaves. Yes, he was a hypocrite. Yes, he was profligate. Yes, he was a flawed human being. However, without Thomas Jefferson and other flawed men ( because women had no agency until the 1970s), there would be no United States of America. There would have been no Declaration of Independence upon which the divorce from Britain was based. These men who traveled for weeks to meet in Philadelphia as the Continental Congress  to commit treason against the king, who knew they would be executed for treason if they lost, who tried to cobble together agreement among 13 individual states that were more akin to countries with disparate interests and cultures, who made painful compromises that do not withstand 20th and  21st Century moral scrutiny, still created the foundation upon which our country that now celebrates diversity and freedom was built. 

Enough with the idiocy. Where else on this planet does anyone believe they would have the same rights, privileges, agency, freedoms, ability to rise from poverty to the presidency, the rank of Chairman of the Joint  Chiefs, to run a Fortune 500 company, to govern a state, to become a University professor, to create a multi million dollar business, to fly to the moon? 

Why do people the world over want to risk death or imprisonment or deportation  to come to this country? It is because of the government formed by the flawed human beings such as Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, John Adams, Caesar Romney, and all of those individuals who risked life and limb to sign the Declaration of Independence. 

America. Love it with all of its beauty and its flaws or leave it!

Why Don’t All Mugs Have A Thumb Rest?

 

Seriously, I am baffled why it is so challenging to find pottery mugs with thumb rests. Of course, I didn’t know the value of a thumb rest until I purchased a gorgeous hand throw mug at the Saturday market in Charleston, SC several years ago. Immediately, I realized that from hence forward, it would be impossible for me to enjoy a cup of tea or a coffee in a deficient mug. 

Regretfully, I broke the handle on my market mug. Although Superglue fixed it for a time,  the handle separated again, leaving me bereft.

I checked Amazon, craft markets, pottery stores, specialty shops, gift shops, department stores online pottery vendors and discovered that mugs with thumb rests are like unicorns. 

Fortunately, a few brilliant potters on Etsy have seen the light. My husband is now a convert and my family have been able to locate the perfect breakfast mug for him at The Black Dog in Logansport, Indiana. 

Truly, after experiencing the holy grail of mugs incorporating the thumb rest, no other sort will do.  

The Chinese Nationalists Kuomintang Saved The Treasures of China when Fleeing the Communists in 1949

 

October 10, 2021 is the 110th anniversary of Taiwan, Republic of China( ROC) independence. The People’s Republic of China (PRC ) leader, Xi Jinping, seeks to turn back the clock on the modernization of China launched by Deng Xiaopeng and reinstate the totalitarianism of Mao. Xi has promised reunification by force if necessary. The rest of the world must not allow this to happen. Why would I, an American near retirement living in rural Virginia care about what takes place across the Taiwan Straits?

It is simple. I enjoyed the rare privilege of living outside Taipei for two years 25 years ago and learned how the KMT saved 8000 years of the treasures and history of China. Had Chiang Kai Shek and his fellow Nationalists not transported the incomparable wealth of China’s historical material culture from the Forbidden City to the island of Formosa in 1949, Mao’s Red Guards  would have destroyed it all, along with the millions of people that were purged, during the Cultural  Revolution.  Mao and his acolytes encouraged neighbors to report neighbors, children to report parents, and wives to report husbands for exhibiting bourgeois values. Everything considered antithetical to Mao’s political ideology was destroyed. While visiting the Forbidden City in Beijing in 1991 I was amazed at the deterioration of the crumbling site devoid of any historic wealth. I asked our guide, Henry Harry,  what had happened. He told me it was all in Taiwan.

While the early leaders of ROC certainly practiced their own brand of repression, including decades of martial law, the people of Taiwan 🇹🇼 ultimately created an energetic, creative, capitalist society in the process with democratically elected leaders.  They’ve preserved the history of the Chinese people. I’ve not visited a more impressive museum in the world.

This bit of history should resonate with every American. We must not  succumbs to the ‘woke’ culture in the United States today that insists that evidence of our history:  the good, the bad, the ugly, the glorious,  be removed from our public spaces, our cultural institutions, our universities. Giving in to any repression of individual freedoms by the thought police is unfathomable to those of us who have talked to people who have experienced authoritarianism. How is the behavior and hate speech of current Progressive ideologues truly any different? 

I will be celebrating Double 10 Day tomorrow, feeling grateful to the people who saved the history of China’s civilization. 

Defending Free Speech, The Right to Assemble & the Constitutional Breaches by Merrick Garland

 

At one time, Attorney General, Merrick Garland, served this country with honor. Perhaps he is bitter about his scuttled nomination to the US Supreme Court. Or, maybe he is beholden to the Biden administration for his appointment. Maybe, he fell on the shower, hit his head, and lost his critical thinking skills. There must be an explanation why he would abandon the US Constitution that he swore to honor and protect by using federal resources to prevent concerned parents the right to protest the left-wing ideology foisted on students of public schools by teachers unions and militant ‘woke’ ( really? Is that a legitimate word?) school boards from expressing their concerns in a public forum.

The Biden administration, the progressive communists, the liberal teachers unions, the mainstream media, and the entirety of Congress have abrogated their responsibilities to our children. Consequently, parents have no choice but to unite and fight for the souls and minds of their children to prevent indoctrination by left wing orthodoxy. That fact that Merrick Garland, the one time federal investigator who uncovered the atrocities of Timothy McVey and brought justice to the families of the Oklahoma City bombing, has agreed to pursue potential prosecution of concerned parents should send shivers down the spines of every American. This is the beginning of the end of our country as we know it. This should offend every American, parent, green card holder or visitor of the USA that believes in the very foundation of our society. 

Democrats were tricked into supporting Joe Biden, who lied about his desire to unite America. Tulsi Gabbard, who served in the US Military on active duty and as a member of Congress as a Democrat speaks out about the heinous disregard of the rights of the people under this administration. This is not a right or left issue. This is an American issue.

Stop the madness! Whether I agree with the way the Senate managed nominations to the Supreme Court in the past matters not. We were saved from the lifetime influence of a man that was once considered a moderate. He is now...frightening.