The Little Ones

 

11-year old Jocelynn Carranza is dead. Certain classmates at her school in Gainesville, Texas thought it would be great fun to threaten to call ICE on her family and have her parents deported.  In fear of losing her family and being left alone, Jocelynn Carranza took her own life.

 No one should, but many will politicize this tragedy. The Left will say “Aha”, see what happens when you turn the ICE dogs loose and Fox News celebrates the purge of undocumented immigrants.  The Right will counter with none of this would be necessary if Democrats had not opened the borders the last four years and allowed our country to be invaded by illegal immigrants.  Sadly, we know how our politicians and the media will spin this.

 But the real issue here is the behavior of some children toward other children.  Of parents failing to teach their children right from wrong.  Of course, there have always been bullies on the school yard.  We had them back in my day.  But they were few; often wildly unpopular and not in the mainstream of students.  They were also subjected to punishment from teachers and reports going back to their parents who often meted out additional punishment.  At least to a significant degree bullying was held at bay. 

Not so these days.  Teachers may lecture about bullying and post messages around the classroom to raise awareness and discourage bullying.  But it’s a bit like the old Robin Williams joke about un-armed London Bobbies shouting at criminals to “stop or I will say stop again.”  In too many places school yards have come to resemble a prison yard with the guards looking the other way (or at their smart phones). Add in social media bullying and there’s no escaping it when a group of bullies finds a vulnerable target.

 11-year old Jocelynn Carranza is dead.  Who’s most at fault?  Perhaps all of us.

 

“Red and Yellow, Black and White,

They are precious in His sight.

Jesus loves the little children of the world”

Groundhog Day Again...and Again

"What you don't want to do is dig around here like a groundhog on crack."- Joe Teti

Confession: I did vote for Trump, again.  Mea Culpa.  But I blame the Democrats. They need to do better. With confession out of the way and executive orders flying out of the oval office like a covey of quail, it is now time to weigh in on the first fortnight of Trump’s second term.

_Cabinet Picks: Grade B

Several of his choices are just too controversial and “one-off”.  Perhaps they can do the job and do it very well.  But why set them up, as well as yourself, for failure? RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbert and Pete Hegseth are “out of left field” picks that even have Republicans shaking their heads.  The rest of them, including Kash Patel are solid picks, even if Democrats are bashing them. 

 _Changing the Map: Grade F

This would qualify as an unnecessary distraction akin to telling your spouse that you wish to change which side of the bed you sleep on.  Is it really worth it?  I’m good with Mt. Denali and the Gulf of Mexico.  Let’s move on.  Nothing to see here. 

_Just Spit-balling: Grade C

Reminding Panama that we run the Americas, built the canal and protect their country and the canal from the bad guys is not a bad idea. Shining a light on who’s keeping the lights on in Greenland sends a message, but to what end?  I’m not sure Panama or Greenland are among the most pressing issues facing us at this time.  

_Beg Your Pardon: Grade B

I get it, Biden totally abused his presidential pardon power.  It is what it is.  Trump had the opportunity to do better and selectively pardon those Jan 6 protestors who were unfairly prosecuted.  But there were some in that bunch who deserved to go to jail and stay there for a while. (Just like there were some Antifa and BLM protesters who should have been arrested and prosecuted on Biden’s watch).  But Trump likes to use the driver even when an iron off the tee is the smart play.  So, let’s just pardon all the J6-ers

_Spending Cuts: Grade B

Shutting off government spending was always going to hurt.  But one needs to understand who is getting hurt and to what extent they can afford that hurt.  It’s our own fault that we have made so many so dependent on government funded programs.  It’s going to take some time to work our way out of this mess.  And there is plenty that can be cut before we get down to muscle and bone.  With some of these orders, it feels a bit like we are throwing out the baby with the bath water just to make a point. 

_The Great DEI Rollback: Grade C

The extremes of DEI were already fading before Trump took office. Now Trump (and many Red States) are in danger of swinging the pendulum too far in the other direction.  It would have been better to deal with specific DEI abuses through established legal channels and continue to let the market discipline virtue-signaling companies. 

_Tariffs: Grade D

The only thing that keeps this from being an “F” is that there are certain situations where tariffs make sense.  But they should only be used infrequently and precisely.  In general, tariffs have historically proven to be bad economic policy.  They will turn up the dial on inflation, hurt exports and create shortages of certain products. U.S. consumers will pay the price for higher tariffs and whatever benefits ultimately come from them will not justify the costs.

_On The Border: Grade B

As long as the focus is on removing the bad people who have slipped in over the past 4 years, the grade is an “A”.  But take it too far and start deporting anyone who is here illegally, even if they have been here for years, have family here and have been productively working here; then it’s not going to turn out well.  We simply cannot afford to lose this much of our workforce.  I am hopeful there will be as much attention on reforming our immigration laws as there seems to be on rounding up and removing undocumented immigrants.