Don's Tuesday Column

        THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson    Red Bluff Daily News   7/18/2023

Good, bad pets; and ugly leftists

Traveling and rv camping with pets, especially our new feline, Missy, present duties and rewards like at home. After losing our Toby cat to old age, we said “Maybe we have room for another one.” Nothing against dogs but it was perhaps long-range wisdom, not knowing elderly difficulties of simply walking (dogs need it).

They’ve been “indoor cats” since the first adoptee (came with the house we bought) had a “close encounter of the differential kind.” Over 30+ years, we’re on our 5^th and 6^th kitties; the laughs and joys probably will extend our lives more than sweating in gyms ever could. The sense of loss fades, replaced with new love.

Other campers light up when they see one of our cats on the dashboard; kids want to say hi and we accommodate. The new one, Missy, endlessly runs the “track,” front to back of our rv, just like she does in either of our regular homes; we smile and laugh.

A minority of dog owners don’t make us smile and laugh. A campsite neighbor’s dog, on its first trip, constantly howled while owners went fishing. It settled down after days of disturbed tranquility and sleep; the owner was overheard telling the dog, “Last time we take you,” as if it comprehended.

A deranged “tweeker”—a meth-head given to unhinged rants at the universe, with a rental van he probably kept instead of returning, and who never paid for the site—brought along a cat that wandered off. By 6:30 AM, he was walking around bellowing “Maya,” as if that would bring the cat back. Sums up many of the “homeless”: mentally off kilter, drug-abusing and anti-social misfits needing-but-rejecting care.

The antics of many of our “leaders,” officials and pontificators similarly exasperate and disturb us. Recent events and items: Leftists do “projection,” accusing conservatives of that which they routinely practice—often labeling our side with variations of “hate,” i.e. hate speech, hate groups.

The rise of Moms for Liberty follows the inspiration of the Tea Party movement: the sense of government overreach; excessive impositions by illegitimate, unelected bureaucrats; self-empowered government-connected entities (like education and health officials); and those feeling entitled to command citizen compliance with rules never voted on by the people or their representatives.

“When you’re getting flack, you must be over the target,” applies here. Moms for Liberty arises out of the most basic of outrage-inducing instincts: Seeing their offspring, their children, being educated by once-trustworthy teachers and schools—not to be informed students accomplished in math, reading and history, but to be indoctrinated with propaganda on race, sex, gender-identity, and class/economic-Marxism.

The disgusting pattern: The “progressives,” the “woke,” forge ahead with their diabolical schemes—undermining or destroying traditional, centuries-long accepted principles of civilization, and American constitutional self-governance. When good-hearted, patriotic citizens speak out, stand up, and organize to stop the left, they become objectified and attacked by the likes of the radical Southern Poverty Law Center, get called a “hate group,” “white supremacists,” trans (or fill in the blank) -phobes.

Just like pandemic mandates, election integrity efforts, free speech, and all-things-Trump, the left can’t bring themselves to discuss, debate, or reason with opponents. Their assumed moral superiority morphs into hateful, hysterical name-calling and caterwauling aimed at people who would be happy to talk things over. “Can’t we all just get along?”

It’s not “getting along” to issue tirades about “freedoms that have either disappeared or are under a ruthless political attack from an extreme right-wing minority that has been working hard to end all progress and return this country to the stenchy pit of right-wing white nationalism.” The way I see it, these are the rantings of the MSNBC/CNN/Media Matters screamers and hard-left writers like Mr. Dick Polman (often on this page), contributing nothing positive.

Polled majorities support some abortion restrictions by states, fraud-free elections, free speech; and “low taxes and regulations, the most powerful military, tariffs and taxes on countries who have taken advantage of the U.S.A., protection of our 2^nd Amendment, free market health care solutions, low energy prices through energy independence, parental power on school boards, strong borders and no illegal immigration.”

Are those principles reasonable and worth implementing? You may be surprised to find you’ve agreed with former-President Donald Trump—those are his words and proposals. Disagreements aren’t overcome by demonization, and dehumanizing, of good-hearted people.

Other items: “New emails reveal that Dr. Fauci was aware of risky gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China prior to COVID-19’s emergence” (Republican Subcommittee). Me: He lied to Americans about the pandemic’s origins.

Censorship-by-proxy, by Biden’s National Security, DOJ, FBI, CDC, etc. was slapped down by a federal judge; the despotic practitioners of censorship are fighting to keep doing it, showing their true colors.

The surprise box office hit, “The Sound of Freedom,” exposes international child- and human-trafficking for sex and slavery; many that once condemned trafficking are now dismissing it, and the movie, as a right-wing cultist fabrication. Methinks they are either involved in it, know people who are, or somehow rationalize it.