Fact Check This!

Hello My Dear Friends! It has been a while, hasn't it. I've been taking a break during this contentious election season so as not to add to all of the noise. However, sometimes a Cat has to do what a Cat has to do! Now, I realized a long time ago that we are now living in a post-fact era. Meaning "facts" have somehow become irrelevant, an afterthought if you will. Members of the media today are either too dumb or too lazy to check their own facts so they turn to groups like FactCheck.org or Politico and just assume that they are right.  Well, guess what, many times they are not. So, I asked myself, "PoKitty, who do we turn to when the "fact checkers" are as wrong as the facts they are checking"? Well, after a moment of thought I realized that the answer was simple; ME! During and after the Presidential Debate all the talking heads were babbling about 'fact checking this' and 'fact checking that' and one after another repeated the same WRONG information. I was stunned, really. Two particular "facts" caught my attention. The first was the brouhaha over Mr. Trump's assertion that "Stop & Frisk" procedures were NOT ruled unconstitutional. Everyone with a microphone jumped all over him. Lester Holt interrupted him twice to tell him he was wrong. All of the fact checkers said he was wrong. Guess what. He is RIGHT. As a matter of fact, (there's pesky word again), Stop & Frisk as a tactic was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1968. In New York City a Federal District Judge, Shira Scheindlin, ruled that the way the NYPD was conducting their Stop & Frisk policy was racially bias and therefore unconstitutional. She did not, and could not by law, rule Stop & Frisk as a tactic unconstitutional as the Supreme Court had already ruled on the matter. Thems the facts people. Mr. Trump also said that the judge in question was "very anti-police" and was removed from the case by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Also correct. Let me share a couple of notable quotes from Judge Scheindlin. When ruling on the stop & frisk case she said, "It is pervasive in policing policies like stop & frisk and neighborhood watch, regardless of the collateral damage done to the majority of innocents". Yes, Judge Scheindlin also believes Neighborhood Watch is unconstitutional. She also said "Blacks and Hispanics were more likely to be subjected to force than whites, despite the fact that whites are more likely to be found with weapons and contraband".  That is a fact that I am not familiar with. Anyway, to recap. Stop & Frisk as a tactic was NEVER ruled Unconstitutional. Trump is correct. The second "fact" that has been totally twisted also came from Mr. Trump. He said the murder rate in NYC is up. Again the media jumped down his throat. YOUR WRONG! Well, in 2014 there were 328 murders in NYC. In 2015 there were 352. You do the math. Granted, the numbers for 2016 are trending down but 2016 isn't over yet. So, as a matter of Fact, the murder rate in NYC is up. Sorry pundits. Just because someone calls themselves a "fact checker" doesn't mean they are actually dealing in facts. So, here's another fact for you. When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left her post, a routine audit by the Inspector General's office found a whopping $6 billion (that's billion with a "B") unaccounted for. Six Billion Dollars missing. Gee, I wonder why CNN hasn't reported that. It's a fact. Look it up!
Po

Hurl 'em If You've Got 'em

Hello My Dear Friends! As you know, I've been lying low these days. There's just so much nonsense being tossed around that I just don't have the energy to battle it all. Today, however, after reading the lead story of our local paper, I just couldn't help myself. A little background...Wendy Long, a candidate for US Senate, tweeted out some questionable comments last week. Why it took an entire week for her comments to make front page news is a story for another day. Anyway, Long was on the city's Northside where a former Catholic church was converted into a mosque in 2014. Long tweeted: "Neighborhood where the mosque displaced the church. Crime, prostitution, money laundering. Nice Dem control of cities". That tweet was followed by: "Catholic Charities takes federal tax dollars to resettle refugees we can't screen. Leaves the Catholics to ISIS". As I said, questionable comments. But that is not what ticked me off. It was the response. Our illustrious Mayor said "I think it's (Long's comments) exactly what has become the Republican Party. It's xenophobic racism". "She has no objective evidence. She has nothing but a blatant appeal to racism and bigotry". Our self-aggrandizing US Rep added, "She obviously doesn't understand the Northside. I've been to a lot of those minority communities over there - the Bhutanese and everybody else - and I'm telling you right now those people are hard working people".  Okay. That's the background. Now, here's my problem. In this world, where we are soooo quick to slap labels of intolerance on everyone, there comes a point when those who label should actually learn the meaning of the labels they use!  Let me begin with the Mayor. "Xenophobic racism" isn't even a thing. Combining 'red flag' words for impact is juvenile. Long implied that crime followed the opening of a mosque. One would then infer that her issue is with Muslims. Since Muslim is not a race or a national origin, neither xenophobia or racism would apply. If anything, it would be Theophobia or the new and ever popular "Islamophobia". However, since she never implied that she was afraid of Muslims, there is no 'phobia' at all. What you have here is a simple case of prejudice. Here's a funny twist. Your repeated use of the word 'racist' implies that you believe that all Muslims are people of color. Your use of xenophobic implies that you also believe that all Muslims are foreign. Hummm. Someone's got issues. Here's a little more food for thought. Your opinion that Long's comments were "exactly what has become the Republican Party" is, by definition, BIGOTRY. Look it up. As for the Congressman; in the future it may be helpful to remember that referring to a minority group as "those people" is, in fact, racist. So, let's be clear. A "racist" is one who believes that one race is superior to another and the belief that race alone accounts for differences in character and ability. That's why referring to a minority group as "those people", as opposed to all people, is racist. "Xenophobia" is the fear of that which is foreign. Religion is hardly a foreign concept. Bigotry is the intolerance of any belief or opinion that differs from one's own. So, hurling labels at people you disagree with makes you the bigot. So, feel free to continue blindly labeling people, let's just try to use the correct labels moving forward. Thank You!
Po

It’s not the Politics, it’s the Hypocrisy

Hello My Dear Friends. It’s been awhile! I know that I’m not updating you as I should but, the truth of the matter is, I’ve just grown weary of it all. We are being so bombarded with “politics” that there is no escape; no reprieve. I’m not here to bash Hillary or to defend The Donald, I’m here because of a video I saw on Facebook. It really got my cat dander up. It was a video by leftwing blogger Ezra Klein. It wasn’t his video that bugged me. It was the header that read “I dare you to watch this and defend voting for Donald Trump”.  I dare you to watch this, as if he were speaking the Gospel, and defend voting for Donald Trump, as if my vote were anyone’s business but my own. You see, my friends, it’s this type of self-righteous hypocrisy that makes me want to scream. Let’s look at the latest “controversy”.  Donald Trump offended a Gold Star family. I get it. No one has sacrificed more for this Country than Gold Star families and they deserve nothing but respect. Trump was wrong. Let’s just get a little perspective here. During the DNC a Gold Star father called out Donald Trump, questioning if he had ever read the constitution and berating him for “never sacrificing a thing”. In a subsequent interview Trump said, in part, “You saw the mother, she didn’t say anything, maybe she wasn’t allowed to speak, I don’t know”. That set off a firestorm in the media because Trump only questioned whether or not she was allowed to speak because she was a Muslim. This, then morphed into an attack on all Gold Star families and “proof” that Trump was unfit to be President of the United States. OK. Here’s the perspective part. In 2012, a week after the Benghazi attacks that killed 4 Americans, including a US Ambassador and 2 former Navy SEALS, Hillary Clinton met with the parents of Tyrone Woods, one of the former Navy SEALS, and told them their son died in a “spontaneous protest over a YouTube video”. She went on to tell the Woods’ that she would get to the bottom of this and punish those responsible. When the truth came out and we learned that Mrs. Clinton had been lying about what happened, Mrs. Clinton claimed she never told the Woods about the video, affectively called them the liars! Then, when questioned about those inconsistencies before a house panel, Mrs. Clinton said, “What difference, at this point, does it make”. That made “news” for a minute or two and then it was gone.

OK, now, let’s take the names and the politics out of this and just examine the facts. Which do you find more offensive? Questioning whether or not a woman was allowed to speak based on her religion or lying to a family about the death of their son, then calling the grieving parents themselves liars, then saying how their son died was really that important.

I don’t know about you but, it seems to me, that this is yet another case of ‘it’s not what you say, it’s who says what’. But why let a little reality douse a perfectly good firestorm.

Po

Here We Go Again

Hello My Dear Friends. Once again we mourn the result of hate in action. 5 Dallas police officers are dead, 7 others injured, because of one man's hatred of white people. Insanity doesn't begin to describe it. So, the President, never missing an opportunity to push his political agenda, blames guns for the slaughter. Hillary Clinton says "white people have to listen more when African Americans speak", essentially blaming society for the slaughter. Although the protest in Dallas began peaceful, it certainly didn't end that way. As is the case with many of the Black Lives Matter protests, it didn't end peacefully. In this case, 12 officers who were protecting the very protesters who were protesting THEM, were shot in the line of duty. If you go to Twitter and search the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter you'll see an endless stream of praise for the SHOOTER. This is, at the very least, reprehensible. It is about to produce the exact opposite effect that these protesters claim to want. Do you honestly believe that randomly shooting police officers will lead to police officers being less aggressive during encounters with the very people who have called for their execution? Do you? I think we all know that this is going to get worse before it gets better. The long term effects are frightening. First of all, response times as going to slow. Police must be hyper-aware of any situation they're called to. Next, and more importantly,there will be far fewer capable police officers. Would you encourage your sons or daughters to seek a career in law enforcement today? As veteran police officers retire, the pool of replacements will shrink, leaving a shortage that will require the loosening of the qualifications, a lowering of the bar, if you will, for new candidates. That's scary. I can't help but wonder why they do it. What leads a person to pursue a dangerous and, these days, thankless job? It's not the money. The starting salary for a Syracuse police officer is about $41,000. Not chump change but not worth getting killed for either. I can't help but reflect on the case of Syracuse police office Kelsey Francesmone. She received a "man down" call and came upon a crowd of hundreds celebrating Father's Day. While waiting for backup, officer Francesmone heard gunshots. With everything to lose and absolutely nothing to gain, officer Francesmone, thinking innocent people were in danger, ran toward the shots. The crowd rewarded her bravery by attacking her like a pack of wild animals. What happened next, and has become routine today, is the lies. "Witnesses" ran to the media to tell their harrowing tale of how this officer, this Hero, ran into a peaceful gathering and starting shooting. None of the "witnesses" saw anyone else with a gun, no one heard any shots prior to the officers arrival and the man she shot was innocent and unarmed. The media ate it up. Of course when the facts came out, through video and actual witness accounts, we learned the original story was nothing but a pack of lies. Herein lays the root of the problem. "Hands up, don't shoot" was a lie. The viral video out of Louisiana only show the aftermath of the shooting, not what led to it, but that doesn't matter. The fact that the man who was shot had a gun was lost in the shuffle because the girlfriend says he told the officer about it. Did he? I don't know and neither do you. But, again, it doesn't matter. The story was written before any facts were actually in, feeding the police brutality frenzy. This, my friends, is what has to stop. Are there bad cops? Of course there are. Just like there are bad doctors, lawyers or auto mechanics. Police officers, like any other citizen, are INNOCENT until PROVEN guilty. Yes, we need to weed out the bad seeds. If, when the facts are in, it is determined that an officers was unjust in shooting a suspect, then that officer should be prosecuted. This "us" verses "them" mentality is only going to lead to more tragedy. Shooting innocent officers in retaliation for the suspected actions of one is anarchy. Making excuses for it, like poverty, frustration or perceived injustice only emboldens the anarchists. Blaming the guns, instead of the people firing them, is just plain stupid. Can we please stop placing color in front of the lives that matter. Black lives matter, Blue lives matter. All lives matter. While we're at it, can we please stop placing color in front of everything! Wouldn't that be a great first step in the direction of peace? How about, we all take a deep breath and start focusing on the real threats to society, ignorance and hate. I think that, if you take another look at all of these tragedies, you'll see that they all began with one or both of those. Oh, and when an armed police officer says "show me your hands", show them your hands. Rant over.
Po

One Man's Trash...

Hello My Dear Friends! I hope you all enjoyed the long holiday weekend. It's been a while so kindly indulge me. FBI Director James Comey today said the "investigation" into Hillary's email debacle has concluded. He said Mrs. Clinton was "extremely careless" and "reckless" in the handling of classified information but not "criminal". The Clinton camp declared this a "big win". So, basically, it's good to be stupid. Okay, got it. Let's move on. Don't worry. I'm not going to go on about politics. I'm as bored with it as you are. Let me just say this; You reap what you sew people. You reap what you sew.
Brexit dominated the headlines for weeks. World leaders panned the decision. Wall Street went nuts. The pundits called it unprecedented and dangerous. Really? Unprecedented? Do the words, "When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them" ring a bell? How quickly we forget.
Actor Jesse Williams (Dr. Jackson Avery on Grey's Anatomy) received the BET Humanitarian Award for his leadership in the Black Lives Matter movement. In his acceptance speech Williams' said, among other charming things, "We are done watching whiteness use and abuse us". "Police somehow manage to de-escalate, disarm and not kill white people every day". "We are going to have equal rights and justice in our own country or we will restructure their function and ours". I don't have the racial breakdown for viewers of Grey's Anatomy but I'm pretty sure that "whiteness" you so disdain is paying your mortgage. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.
The solar powered spacecraft Juno has hit it's target and is now orbiting Jupiter. NASA says we will soon have pictures of the 5th rock from the sun! I'm pretty sure it looks like this:

But now we'll know for sure. If you ask me, that's $1,1 Billion dollars well spent!

Po

The Way I See It

Hello My Dear Friends! Today is certainly a day of national sadness. It is unbelievable to me just how much pain and suffering one individual can inflict. How we react says a lot about who we are but, before we react, we need to truly understand what has happened. First, let me say that what happened in Orlando was not a "tragedy". A fatal train derailment is a tragedy, What happened in Orlando was an atrocity. It was an act of evil. Yes, we should be sad but, more importantly we should be angry. 49 innocent souls were lost that day. 49 futures were stolen away. 53 others are fighting to regain their lives. Hundreds of lives have been changed forever. That makes me angry as hell. The President said what happened was "an act of terrorism and a hate crime". I've got news for you. ALL acts of terrorism are hate crimes. A terrorist's sole motivation is hate. This atrocity took place in a gay bar but the killer had no way of knowing whether or not he was killing gays. Plenty of heterosexuals go to gay bars. He pledged his allegiance to ISIS and opened fire on a room full of Infidels. Sharia law, as interpreted by Islamic radicals, proclaims homosexuality a crime punishable by death. So, whether he was an actual ISIS soldier or just an internet wannabe, the outcome is the same. The first truth we need to embrace is that ISIS is HERE. Whether in body or just in spirit, ISIS is here. Now, the first and most predictable reaction was to, once again, start arguing about gun laws. This is, and always has been, a waste of time. You can ban all of the guns you want to and it won't make a damn bit of difference. The bad guys will still get them and, if they can't, they'll improvise. The September 11th killers used box cutters and airplanes. It is illegal to make or possess pipe bombs but that didn't stop the Tsarnaev brothers from blowing up the Boston Marathon. My point is that hate will find a way. It won't make us any safer. The next truth we need to embrace is that there isn't going to be some world wide Kumbaya moment. Love will not find a way. ISIS is a cancer on this planet and the only way to stop a cancer is to eradicate it. As I said earlier, how we react to this atrocity will say a lot about who we are. Will we be France? Turn the other cheek and wait for it to happen again? Or, will we be the United States of America and end this thing once and for all? I, for one, am hoping for the latter. I, for one, say it's time to put an end to the Islamic State. The wolf is at the door. Are we going to hide in the closet or are we going to stand and fight like the greatest nation this world has ever known? This President has been searching for a legacy. Well, this is it. Which side of history do you want to be on Mr. President?

Po

You Don't Say!

Hello My Dear Friends! Thousands of years ago, Cats were worshiped as Gods. I have not forgotten this but, apparently many of you have! My personal physician has gone on maternity leave. Breeders! WTF! I will be interviewing for a temporary replacement ahead of my six month wellness exam. Anyway, enough about me. Let's talk about your healthcare concerns. What? You say. My healthcare concerns? Whatever do you mean PoKitty? Well, let me tell you. The slimy underbelly of the Affordable Care Act is about to be exposed. It's called "reinsurance". That's a program set up in the ACA that reimbursed insurers (with your tax dollars) for losses they incurred by participating in Obamacare. That program expires at the end of this year and, guess what! Yup. Bend over, here it comes. Many insurers, like UnitedHealth and Humana, have dropped out of the program in many states. Others, Like CareFirst Blue Cross of Virginia, are dropping their Bronze (lowest cost) Tier options. That's going to produce about a 70% price increase to consumers. All insurance carriers will be increasing their rates across the board by about 20%. You see, the creators of Obamacare knew their system would never work. Heck, everyone with a brain knew it wouldn't work. "Reinsurance" was built into the ACA to cover up that fact. It was also deliberately created to expire in 2017 so the next President of the United States would have to deal with the fallout. Classy. Who could've seen that coming! Wondering what's going to happen with your insurance? Insurers have to post their rate increase requests on HealthCare.gov by tomorrow. Check it out, if you dare....
A school district in North Carolina is doing away with the Valedictorian and Salutatorian. Why? Because, according to the Wake County School Board, competition for the honor is unhealthy. UNHEALTHY! LOL! Striving to be the best, working hard to be number one, is a little too stressful. Apparently failure is far better for your well being. Mediocrity is better for the soul. How lucky kids are today! It must be amazing to come of age in a vanilla world where success is a burden, safe spaces protect you from controversy, and everyone gets a trophy! Kumbaya My Lord, Kumbaya!
Veterans' Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald yesterday, while being questioned about the on-going problem of long waits for Veterans to be treated at the VA, put everyone's concerns to rest when he said hey, "When you go to Disney, do they measure the number of hours you wait in line"? Well, no Mr. McDonald, they don't. Gosh darn it, you have a point! Of course, I don't go to Disney for treatment of pancreatic cancer so the urgency factor isn't really there. But I get you. If you can't fix the problem, mock it! Well done Mr. Secretary. Well done!
Po