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I was watching the Olympics when in Michael Phelps’ last individual event of this Olympics (the 100M butterfly), there was a three way tie for second at 51.14.  At the time, I thought that odd – certainly timing equipment can easily get down to thousandths of a second, right?  And then Regressing talked about that and why it isn’t the timing equipment or calibration – it’s the pool (reformatted, emphasis mine):

…Modern timing systems are capable of measuring down to the millionth of a second—so why doesn’t FINA, the world swimming governing body, increase its timing precision by adding thousandths-of-seconds? As it turns out, FINA used to. In 1972, Sweden’s Gunnar Larsson beat American Tim McKee in the 400m individual medley by 0.002 seconds. That finish led the governing body to eliminate timing by a significant digit. But why?

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After all, it was President Obama who said to judge the Feds (and his Administration) on whether it works – or not:

“The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.”  – President Obama, Inauguration (2009)

Instead of a one-by-one series that I’ve done, here’s a few:

Secret Service faces questions about child sex abuse

The U.S. Secret Service is under scrutiny after a batch of newly released documents revealed that a special agent was accused in 2012 of using a date-rape drug to molest boys. The revelation, stemming from a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, raised questions about whether the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security, which oversees it, as well as its investigative arm, took sufficient action when confronted with the allegations.

And yet, Progressives keep telling us that Government is filled with experts that are non-partisan and only have everyone’s best interest at the forefront.  Again, what were those boys’ best interests in getting molested by Federal Government employees?

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But unfortunately, much of the time, we have not understood the importance of the responsibility of voters to maintain a supportive Congress that is compatible with the agenda of the president.

From the Concord Monitor comes this bit of stupidity by Philip R. Harvey of Hillsboro, NH in which we see yet another person wanting America to be something that it is not (full piece after the jump:). To wit, it is clear that he doesn’t like our political system of governance because stalemate!  This is quite clear from the above quote when you shackle it with this (reformatted, emphasis mine):

Many constitutional democracies around the world operate under a parliamentary system. Normally, with that form of government, the people elect the members from parliamentary districts, and the political party having the majority of members selects the individual to lead the government. That individual serves only as long as the majority of members supports his or her position on issues before the parliament…in such a parliamentary system, the legislative and the executive branches of government are permanently intertwined. In other words, there is not a separation of power between the legislative and executive branches of government.

And then he goes on to describe our system.  And Harvey seems to advocating for this notion of further breaking down the series of checks and balances that our Founders put into place?  So he’s quite sure that such a situation that is far superior to our’s in that our government “can get something done”.

First off: seriously, eliminating the role of the various State legislatures wasn’t bad enough in selecting US Senators?  But second, is the major function of government should be “to get things done”? I’ll circle back to the opening “statement of fact” in a little bit.

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“But some men displayed honor until the moment of their death.”

As we have written before, the Left has been waging war on ALL traditional values that America used to stand for over decades.  Frankly, we are now reaping that sullen tornado now in Society.  However, there are still some of us that are bitter clingers to virtues that used to stand for something, that used to spur us on to be better, that acted as rulers against which we could use as standards of behavior, that once were considered to be absolute values (whether or not we actually achieved them or not – they were there to be reached for).

Benjamin Slade over at Medium has written a touching letter to his young daughter caught my eye – someone that has learned the truth and strength of Honor and trying to guide her towards it (emphasis mine).  I’m leaving out the first part of it but take a gander at it if you would and read about honor:

A Letter to My Daughter About Young Men

…So instead I will tell you about young men and honor.

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Emphasis mine, reformatted:

New York Democrat Relies On Dead Voters To Get Ballot Access

Vote fraud exists. No one knows to what extent it exists because there is no government agency actually looking at it. When ever a state does look at it the potential for fraud is enormous. For instance, in 2014 North Carolina identified at least 35,570 people who were registered to vote in North Carolina had also voted in other states. Academic research suggests that votes by illegal aliens might very well have tipped the outcome of close elections in several races. In April of this year, the primary in the Maryland Democrat stronghold, Baltimore City, was decertified for numerous irregularities, not the least of which being more votes cast than there were registered voters in several precincts. And vote fraud comes in a lot of shades and is not limited to casting votes in an election. Using fake voters to gain access to the ballot is probably a much greater problem than having them show up at the polling place.  For instance this:

The Long Island Democrat seeking to replace retiring Rep. Steve Israel in Congress is relying on dead voters to get on the ballot, The Post has learned.

Tom Suozzi is collecting signatures to appear on the ballot as both a Democrat and an independent of the “Fix Washington” party in hopes of attracting reform-minded voters in the race against Republican state Sen. Jack Martins. But some of those who have “signed” apparently pulled off a miracle — because they’re dead.

A voter named “Ed Unser”

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Video after the jump.  US Senator Chuck Schumer (NY-Progressive D) decided that the IRS handing out tax bills for American Olympic medal winners is unAmerican, that according to his presser,

“…However, because the money is considered “earned income abroad,” the monetary value of the Olympic medal is therefore subject to federal taxation…who work hard year-round…from being forced to pay taxes on their medals…unfairly taxes them…”

So, Schumer is just fine with creating yet another one of those “loopholes” that Progressives are always railing against?  Look, I don’t have a problem with Olympians getting a tax break.

Sidenote: “tax loophole” can be, when uttered by Progressives, means “WHAT?!?!?!  We missed grabbing more of your hard earned money for our use??”  “Tax break” is when Progressive grants some favored or “oppressed” (in this case, Olympians being oppressed by the US Government)

But what about everyone else working long and hard for the successes they reap as well?  Why does Schumer ignore the “rest of us”?  If taxes are a penalty and we are “forced” to pay taxes on our “winnings” (earnings), why is he so happy in piling more lashes on top of our backs?

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“Free money!  Free money!“; all the politicians and spenders love “Free money” when they deceive themselves and lie to us that “it won’t cost you a penny”!  Now Concord NH is doing it again.  Loudon Road is the main commercial drag in town and it is time to do a re-paving.  And once again, “the kicker” is that “free money” is available to do that from a higher level of government IF (and only IF) it is done according to its diktat.  Repaving is a $1.1 million cost to local taxpayers (and keeping its current 4 lane configuration); the State pays pretty much the whole thing if Concord does it the way the State demands with 2 lanes and a “turn lane” in the middle.  This quote from Concord City Councilor Keith Nyhan sums it up:

“I think really logically for me, the only option is to go with the three-lane design,” Nyhan said. “Take the quote ‘free money’ from the federal government, save our own taxpayer dollars.”

Is this the level to which we as a nation have dropped, that it is always a case to foist off costs onto others?

Oh, and is Nyhan signaling a “take the money and screw’em anyways” with this one?

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‘Grok friend Chan has a thought on Social Justice Warriors

When any SJWs make the accusation about America’s ‘cultural appropriation’, a good counter to that accusation might be to ask them about these foods which might appear to have been ‘stolen’ from another culture, but are a purely American creation.

On the other hand, America is based upon cultural appropriation, something that has helped make America great. Too many of the SJWs offended by cultural appropriation also tend to be racist as they want to make America a balkanized nation with no interaction between the various groups. One of America’s greatest strengths has been the melding of these various ethnicities and cultures together to create something greater than the whole.

But then again SJWs don’t believe in that, and they never have.

Remember, in the college atmosphere of today, no one is allowed out of their “cultural lane” (see, I’m”appropriating” a sports or political term – am I insensitive?).  For all of their devotion to multiculturalism and “inclusive” words,

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