Week Ending March 1

Politics Downstream of Culture?

Or is it the reverse? Prevailing wisdom, since Andrew Breitbart made his now famous observation, is that Religion drives Culture and Culture Drives Politics. Sorta which came first the chicken or the egg? Had to be the egg, right?

Much of my firm's work in consulting was aimed, ultimately, at changing culture. Almost all sustainable improvement in organizational performance requires a change in the culture. But whenever clients mentioned "changing their culture", I used to preach that you don't change culture, at least directly. What you must change is behavior first.

Start rewarding different outcomes and behaviors will change. Why? For the simple fact that we humans tend to behave to satisfy needs. How fast can/will behaviors change? Depends on how desirable the rewards are and whether we have the capabilities needed to earn them. Sustain your new behaviors with rewards and continuous improvement and, Voila, you wake up one day and have a new culture.

In our world today, the way I see it - Politics drive Culture a lot more than the other way around.

Today, we reward politicians not for what they accomplish or how much what they do benefits their constituents. We reward them for how much influence they have and whether it can be leveraged to better our own situation. Not we primarily, as in the common man, but those who have big bucks and big clout.

It certainly wasn't Culture that

• Cheered men to play women's sports

• Flung our borders open to millions of illegals including countless criminals and terrorists

• Ignited rampant outbreaks of antisemitism on our campuses

• Encouraged asinine movements like defund the police and decriminalize felonies.

  
  

No, in my view, these were spawned, not by our culture, but by conscious political acts intended to isolate identity groups and mine them for the votes needed to stay in power, in the course, increasing politician wealth. 

Maybe I'm "all wet", but the way I see it - culture is downstream of politics in our twisted world.

And it will take political action to reverse it.  Trump has the will but can he overcome bureaucratic inertia and vested self-interests?

Congress is an Empty Vessel

For over a decade, Congress has been fundamentally useless. Can't even pass a balanced budget. Last one was 29 years ago. The majority of rules and regulations (most pointless), which dictate our lives, were made by unelected agency pukes. The only way anything gets done is by executive orders, which are promptly undone when the opposing party takes over. Our country is no longer governed by three separate but equal branches - that is for sure.

As Trump tries to steer our rudderless battleship back on course, it is doubtful the majority of what is accomplished will be codified into law and perpetuated. Far more likely that progress will be snarled in countless lawsuits filed by leftwing governors and adjudicated by liberal judges. No telling how much this will cost, but for sure the Supreme Court is going to be a busy beaver for the next four years.

To me, Congress deserves 90% of the blame. Many of these clowns have lived off the public teat for decades. Yet all they do is pose for photo-ops, make loud speeches besmirching the opposition and scramble to be on Fox or CNN or pretty much anywhere they can. As Macbeth said, "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

This is really quite a sad state of affairs and fraught with great danger for the Union. The ineptitude, impotence and intransigency of Congress threaten our democracy far more than Donald Trump and Elon Musk ever could.

Repeat after me - TERM LIMITS, TERM LIMITS. We wouldn't need hundreds of executive orders and boatloads of lawsuits, if they'd pass some legislation every once in a while. No wonder they poll lower than Biden.

Israel in the Right

When someone's policy is to wipe you and your people off the face of the Earth, one is no longer required to discuss, debate or negotiate. I say cut the Jews loose to take care of business.

Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is Dead!

Common Sense continues to prevail. MSNBC scraps The Joy Reid Show and Reid is F-I-R-E-D!!! Kaboom. Next - the whole network should go dark.

Ben Shapiro is shedding croc tears. Says 11% of his content came from what Reid spouting inanities.

Musk Mistakes

Musk demanded that Federal employees list their accomplishments and it is roiling workforces. Of course, Dems are stirring things up by calling for 'mass civil disobedience'.

Department of Government Efficiency chair Elon Musk announced that federal employees must report their accomplishments from the last week or face losing their jobs. Democratic lawmakers and unions have encouraged employees to flout the directive.   

Musk said on Saturday that federal employees would receive an email directing them to list their accomplishments from the week prior, with the DOGE leader adding later that day that the assignment should take less than five minutes to accomplish. Employees have until 11:59 pm on Monday to send the list or lose their employment, according to emails regarding Musk's directive that were sent by the Office of Personnel Management.

Honestly, though I love Elon Musk, this seems like several pretty classic "consultant" errors.

First...I hope he started by reviewing job descriptions and goals for the employees involved. This is the official record of "what is expected."

Second...Any request for client employees to do anything should come through their boss - not the consultant. This request (order?) should have come from the Department Director down through the chain - not Musk.

Third...I wonder what some random list of last week's accomplishments really proves. Plus, self-reporting rarely shows anything enlightening. Caution - Apparently, we may have employees on the payroll in no show jobs who don't even work for the government anymore.

I volunteered through X to help with this project but heard nothing, hah!

Germany Coming Around?

President Donald Trump celebrated on Sunday after German conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz claimed victory in a national election, ousting Social Democrat incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

President Trump congratulated: "Looks like the Conservative Party in Germany has won VERY BIG. Much like the US, the people of Germany got tired of the No Common Sense Agenda, especially on Energy and Immigration."

Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won Sunday's national election, with the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AFD) finishing a strong second, according to exit polls.

Still, in typical dysfunctional European fashion, the new Chancellor, lacking a ruling majority, must now form a coalition government with opposition parties, so checkmate. Wait - that sounds like the US Congress!

Ka Ching!

National Cancer Institute spends $218M per year on grants for 'underrepresented' groups: source. Under former President Joe Biden, the NCI spent 3% annually to increase representation of 'underrepresented' groups in the cancer workforce.

A watchdog group focused on getting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) out of medicine found that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is actively spending millions of grant dollars to boost the number of racial minorities in the cancer workforce. 

This funding, uncovered by the nonprofit watchdog Do No Harm, shows that $218 million in NCI grants for "underrepresented" groups – mainly racial minorities – is actively dispersed by the NCI. Prior to President Donald Trump taking office, during the Biden administration, around 3% of the NCI's total grant funding every year went to institutions so that they can hire more faculty members and scientists who are minorities, according to Do No Harm.

By all means, let's eschew competency and exclude whites with requisite skills.

There is some good news. In addition to Herculean efforts by DOGE, a number of agencies are running with the ball on their own. HUD Director, Scott Turner, announced cutting $4 million in DEI directed funds. The grant was for Cultural Change and Outward Mind Thinking. Guess we'll just think down our $36 trillion debt.

By the way, as reported, this same agency found $1.9 billion in misplaced funds? WTF? Treasury has now been notified that these funds are available for debt reduction or other uses.

EPA doing its part...

The EPA has been clawing back millions in environmental grants issued under the Biden administration, recently revealing that the Biden administration was allowing eight entities to distribute $20 billion of taxpayer dollars "at their discretion." 

The agency found that part of the funds were $2 billion to a climate group linked to high-profile Democrat Stacey Abrams in what was described by the administration as a "scheme" of "wasteful" spending.

The grant was given to Power Forward Communities, an Abrams-tied nonprofit that sought to "reduce our impact on the climate" by financing the replacement of household appliances in lower-income communities with green alternatives.

Can you imagine that? Like Everett said...a billion here, a billion there.

WAPO Genuflects.

As the owner of a company it is your right, no, your responsibility to lead. To direct. To set the culture and drive the principles.

WAPO owner Jeff Bezos announced today the Editorial Section is headed in a new direction. Emphasizing (only) Individual Freedom and Free Markets. Resignations will follow. The Ed Board head David Shipley has tendered his.

Wish I thought this was all about getting on board but really it's about dropping circulation and fear of the Donald.

Three Things Worry Me Particularly

The border is for all practical purposes CLOSED. Good job, Tom Homan. Question is will Congress pass substantive immigration reform to institutionalize?

DOGE will cut, cut, cut. The questions are will savings be monetized and will the changes be sustainable, through real culture change?

Thirdly, with all Trump has on its plate, will he find time to deal with our BIGGEST problem, which I'm convinced is Red China. They want us dead.

All Life is a Deal

Beltway pols and LSM are up in arms because Trump wants an ROI on American Aid. Says its US taxpayers $$$ and, if we're going to shovel it to foreign entities, there better be a return. Like first dibs on Ukraine minerals. Maybe we can start to chip away at Red China's monopoly on rare earths.

By the way, this was another "Sky is Falling" moment for Libs. Worst thing the US has ever done...holding poor Ukraine up.

Now all they can do is resurrect the "Trump loves Putin" theme which they used to impeach the first time around. They are accusing Trump of moving over to Russia's side. Dumbasses. In a negotiation you must interact with all sides. If you can't get your enemy to agree, nothing. Many people don't understand that US businesses have billions in assets frozen in Russia since the sanctions. Trump wants those back. There's that and the killings and billions in weapons.

Dems are Desperately Trying to Find "Thought Leaders"

...they can trot out to make a dent in the MAGA tidal wave. One of their choices? Viet Cong Jane. Yup, 87 year old Jane Fonda. Remember when she preached the Viet Cong were "victims". Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge too. Much more credible as a blue hair in 80 for Brady.

Why They're Flailing

The Great Rush once said..."The liberals, you see, do not want to confront conservative ideas. Left with no choice, they just attack conservatives as a group - particularly their motives. If you believe what they say about us (Conservatives), you would think Bill Bennett, Jack Kemp or I are driving through South Central Los Angeles, looking at the slums and poverty and saying - Man, this great - they got nothing, so that means we get more. Preposterous."

The reason you can't even have a conversation, let alone a discussion, with Liberals is because they never have their own solution to offer. It's always about how dangerous and hurtful are the solutions conservatives propose.

Better Dead than Red.

This was a 1950's Cold War slogan meaning one was better off six feet under than living in a communist society. I thought of it while reading my latest tome by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR). Seven Things You Can't Say About China.

provides a current analysis of the Red Chinese capture of America.

Over the next few weeks I will report salient points and jarring examples. Readers may recall a while back we reviewed a similar book, Red Handed by Peter Schweizer. Same subject - Red China. The book chronicled the purchase of our political leaders by the Communist Chinese. Pathetic, nauseating. And it sure ain't limited to the BCF.

The Red Chinese have clearly adopted a motto from Vito Corleone, "Someday I will call upon you to do a service for me." In other words, stay quiet about China's human rights atrocities, thievery and wanton pursuit of world domination and we will make you rich.

Teaser...

Cotton recounts his experience with the Wuhan virus. He says it was pretty much common sense that something was badly amiss in early 2020. China reported an outbreak of pneumonia to the World Heath Organization around the city of Wuhan at that time. This was followed by massive lockdowns and quarantines, erection of field hospitals, imposition of masks and surgical gloves and the 24/7 operation of crematoriums. All just your routine pneumonia precautions.

When Cotton called for a ban on travel from China (China itself had already banned travel out of Wuhan), the Left reacted with its pattern horror.

National Institute of Allergy and Disease - "culturally insensitive". (Our buddy, the now pardoned Anthony Fauci)

Biden - "hysteria, xenophobia, fearmongering" (he really used all those words at once?)

From every quarter, DC establishment rebuked Cotton for using terms like Wuhan virus, China flu

CDC - "absolutely wrong and inappropriate"

Pelosi - "such talk makes us all less safer."

Schumer - "hasty, nasty and bigoted."

Then Trump banned all travel from China and the country was shut for business.

More to come...

Have a Nice Weekend.