Sunday, January 28, 2024

Cowboy Pranks


Story by Terry McGahey

Sometimes funny things happen when just going to town or running errands. One example of this is when two young fellows had moved to town from New York City (get a rope). These two brothers had moved to Tombstone. Why, I never knew. While they were actually very nice guys, they're babes in the woods knowing nothing at all about Western life. Both liked to play funny pranks on people once they had been there awhile and got to know you well enough. Of course all in fun.

One evening, while I was having a few beers, they told this older half-crazy woman that I didn’t like Arabian horses. This old woman came over, sat next to me, and started going off on me about it because she had an Arab. Being as polite as I could be, I told her, "Lady I don’t even know you."

I looked over and these two city boys were looking at me and laughing. So I thought, ok, I’ll just wait for my time.

Well, about two weeks later I got my chance. I had to run over to Sierra Vista, Arizona, to pick up a ton of hay and they asked if they could go along. While on our way I pulled over at one particular cattle guard, got out of the truck, and held my hand over my eyes as though I was looking for something. They thought it was odd but never asked why.

On the way back, I did the same thing at the same cattle guard and they finally had to ask, "What are you doing?"

I then began to tell them, you see that sign that says cattle guard, well I am looking for that fellow and he is not here doing his job keeping the cattle from crossing over on the road. I then began telling them that I heard that the cattle guard positions were going to be opening up soon. I told them how good the pay and benefits were. And I told them how when we get back to Tombstone, if I were them, I would hot foot it over to City Hall and fill out an application because even though it’s a state job the city has the applications and would forward them on.

Pretty much, all the way back to town I pumped those two boys up about the job. And when we pulled into town, I parked in front of the bar, they got out and walked over to City Hall to apply while all the time I was chuckling all to myself.

I then went into the bar. And of course, I knew everyone in the place and told them the story, and the whole place busted up laughing.

About five minutes or so later those two walked in and the whole place erupted in laughter and those two boys' faces turned beet red. I then looked at them, laughed, and said, "Well boys, did you get the job?"

With that, the whole place erupted in laughter again. I then said, "Maybe that will teach you boys not to pull pranks on someone when you are in their back yard" and chuckled some more.

They sat down near me. And taking it all in good stride, they said, "We won’t prank you again that’s for sure."

I then asked them, "How did they react at City Hall?"

The older of the brothers said he asked for the application for the cattle guard position and everyone in City Hall began laughing so they knew they had been had.

The following Sunday, we headed to the bar, and a friend of mine by the name of Ron had taken a large piece of cardboard, cut it into the shape of a star, covered it with aluminum foil, and wrote in big letters, "Cattle Guards!" and hung it on the wall. To say the least, those two boys didn’t live that one down for several months, which goes to show you, that when you are in someone else’s back yard you should watch what you do. Because it could very well come back to bite ya on the butt.

Terry McGahey
Associate Writer/ Old West Historian

Terry has been a working cowboy, writer, and historian. He is best known for the fight that he waged against the City of Tombstone and their historic City Ordinance Number 9. He was instrumental in getting the famous Tombstone City Ordinance Number 9 repealed while at the same time forcing the City of Tombstone to fall in line and comply with the laws of the State of Arizona.

If you care to read how he fought Tombstone's City Hall and won, check out:

The Last Gun Fight -- The Death of Ordinance Number 9 (Chapter One)

Friday, January 26, 2024

The Civil War -- A Few Interesting Facts -- Part One

Confederate General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson

The Civil War started in 1861 and lasted until 1865. How awful was the Civil War? Well, believe it or not, there were more than 620,000 casualties. Let's put it this way, to understand the toll it took on the nation as a whole, we need to understand that two percent of the entire population of the United States died in the American Civil War.

During the Civil War, the Union Army needed a place to bury their dead soldiers. The Quarter Master of the Army confiscated Confederate General Robert E. Lee's home and turned his entire estate into a cemetery. It was done so that General Robert E. Lee would be reminded of the carnage he caused. Lee's estate later became Arlington National Cemetery.

The South did not expect to lose the war. Because Southerners figured that Northerners were mostly from cities and had to learn how to shoot and ride, Southerners figured they'd have it better since they were mostly farmers who were already skilled marksmen, hunters, woodsmen, and horsemen.

Most Southerners were not slaveholders. Less than a tenth of all White Southerners had any direct connection to slavery. In fact, the number of White Southerner slave owners is believed to be less than 6% of the entire White population in the South. Of the slave owners in the South, there were Black Southerners who owned slaves.

Northerners expected to win because they had more men and their Army was much larger and better equipped. Northerners believed the South could not compete with the output of Northern factories that produced 100 times more government supplies than that of the South. And yes, along with the huge manufacturing and railroads for transporting guns and supplies, there was 100 times the corruption from government contractors who profited from the war.

It is said that during the Battle of Chancellorsville, a Union soldier discovered that he and many in his unit were swindled by corrupt government contractors in the North. It happened when his rifle misfired. When the Union soldier checked, he found that his rifle cartridges were filled with dirt rather than gunpowder.

On the dark night of May 2nd, 1863, right after the Battle of Chancellorsville, Confederate General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson and his staff were returning to camp. His staff's arrival was mistaken for a Union Army cavalry unit. The Confederate sentries immediately fired a volley at the approaching men. When the General's staff identified themselves, Confederate Major John D. Barry didn't believe them and shouted "It's a damned Yankee trick! Fire!"

With that, a second volley was let go. Of the rounds fired in the second volley, General Jackson was struck by three rounds. Some of his staff were killed. Yes, along with their horses. It was quite the massacre. It was also total mayhem.

After the confusion settled down, General Jackson waited to be cared for. Then, once medical assistance arrived, Jackson was actually dropped from his stretcher while he was being evacuated from that position. Some say he was evacuated because of incoming artillery while others say he was simply being relocated when his unit was moved.

After General Jackson's left arm was amputated, he was actually thought to be recovering. But then, on May 10, 1863, eight days after being shot, General Jackson died of complications from pneumonia. Stonewall Jackson received chloroform for the removal of his left arm. On his deathbed, he described being anesthetized as the "most delightful physical sensation I ever experienced."

He was 39 years of age. And with his death, it's said that General Robert E. Lee felt that the Confederacy had lost one of its best Generals. No, not as a result of a Yankee sniper. But sadly, as a result of his own Confederate troops mistaking him and his staff for Union troops.

For the record, Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson got his nickname during the first Battle of Bull Run. During the battle, his men noted that he stood "like a stone wall" while leading them on.

As far as having a very strange of thinking, to call Stonewall Jackson quirky would be pretty much an understatement. First, he was a hypochondriac who thought that he was "out of balance" at times. As strange as it sounds, even in the heat of battle, he would raise an arm so the blood would flow down into his body because he felt that that helped him re-establish equilibrium. And yes, believe it or not, he was shot in the hand during the First Battle of Bull Run because he was doing that.

He absolutely refused to eat pepper. He said the spice made his left leg weak. He sucked lemons because he believed that lemons helped his "dyspepsia." As for medical remedies that he believed in, he used to dunk his head into a basin of cold water with his eyes open. He did that because he believed it was good for his poor eyesight. He also believed that he needed to stand upright so that all of his organs were "naturally aligned." As for feeling invincible, it's said that he once told an aide that he felt "as safe in battle as in bed."

On May 10th, 1865, Union troops ambushed and captured Confederate guerrilla William Quantrill at Wakefield Farm, Kentucky. Quantrill was considered a mad dog killer. It seems fitting that he was shot in the back while trying to escape and lingered in pain while paralyzed from the chest down. He was taken to a military prison hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, where he died of his wounds on June 6th. He was 27 years of age.

And by the way, some reports say the Union doctors refused to give him any sort of pain medicine for the whole time that he suffered because he refused to admit who he was. Yes, even though he was identified by those who knew him. That includes men in his band.

It's believed that he refused to admit who he was because he feared he would be hanged for the Lawrence Kansas Massacre if he recovered from his wounds. He was right as it was Quantrill who ordered his more than 450 Confederate guerrilla fighters to kill around 150 unarmed men and boys -- and then burn Lawrence, Kansas, to the ground.

On that same day, on May 10th, 1865, near Irwinville, Georgia, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured by Union troops. It's said that he was dressed in women's clothing to escape detection. Later, he tried to say that he was only wearing his wife's shawl because he was cold.

One bit of trivia that I found hard to believe had to do with two brothers. Chang and Eng Bunker are best known as "the original Siamese Twins." Natives of Siam, present-day Thailand, the brothers were joined at the sternum. As a curiosity, they became a popular attraction in a traveling circus.

By 1839, they purchased 110 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. They married sisters and settled down there. And yes, they were slave owners. With a handful of slaves, they built a successful farm. The brothers also became naturalized citizens devoted to the Confederacy.

In 1865, Union General George Stoneman raided North Carolina and decided to draft some of the locals into service. General Stoneman did not care where their loyalties lay, he wanted troops to work in support roles. To find those troops, Gen. Stoneman set up a draft by selecting the names of local men over 18. Their names were put into a lottery wheel.

Believe it or not, Eng Bunker's name was drawn. No, his joined brother Chang was not. After some fuss about how such a mistake could happen, neither was forced to serve in the war. But of course, that didn't stop their eldest sons who enlisted to fight for the Confederacy.

There is a lot of talk these days about why the United States government put "In God We Trust" on money. On July 30, 1956, the 84th Congress passed a joint resolution "declaring 'IN GOD WE TRUST' the national motto of the United States."

Of course, there's that "In God We Trust" became the official motto of the United States in 1956 because atheistic-Communism was on the rise in the 1950s. Well, while the 84th Congress may have passed their joint resolution to show the Communists that America believes in God, the words "In God We Trust" first appeared on a U.S. coin in 1864.

In fact, "In God We Trust" first appeared on the obverse side of the Two-cent piece in 1864. It was done to boost morale during a time when war had ravaged America, and many started to question if God had abandoned us. 

Lastly, some Native American tribes were slaveholders who found a political and economic kinship with the pro-slavery Democratic Party. It is said that when Confederate Brigadier General Albert Pike authorized the raising of Native American regiments during the fall of 1860, the Creek, Choctaw, and Cherokee tribes allied with the Confederacy. It's said they felt a sense of kinship with the Confederacy. 

How anyone can have a sense of kinship with people who would fight to enslave others is beyond me. No, I don't understand the whole "Slave Owner Mentality." But, it just shows that it also took place back then.

Tom Correa





Thursday, January 25, 2024

Child Slave Labor Is Still Around Today


This post is about two things that my readers have asked me to answer. First, I've been asked if I think "reparations" for the ancestors of black slaves would be "the right thing to do." 

Let me answer it this way, there were a lot of things that took place in history that may have been wrong according to how we see the world today. It seems to me that while many people today focus on the bad, people conveniently forget that many of the ills of what took place were remedied over time. From the end of slavery and segregation to the once completely unimaginable reality of our nation electing a Black President, nothing is as it once was. This is evidence that we have moved forward in many positive aspects. 

Americans of all races have learned to be Americans. Sure some refuse to as if carrying dual citizenship with some other place, and still call themselves by nationalities and ancestries that they themselves and their families have not been a part of in more than a century or two. But overall, I believe most people who can trace their ancestry back to some nation in Africa consider themselves Americans today. 

As for "reparations"? Where do we start? Do we give reparations to everyone for some ill that beset their ancestors? Do we give reparations to the Italians and Irish for the racism and hatred that they were exposed to or for living in the squaller conditions that they were forced to endure? How about reparations to the settlers who were brought to America and died trying to fulfill the Homestead requirements? How about those who failed because the deck was stacked against them and all they experienced was ruin and heartache?

Think about it? Where do we start when trying to pay people for what happened to their ancestors who were people a hundred years before most of us were born? How about the Chinese you were paid half as much as what whites and blacks were paid to do the same jobs on the railroads? How about how they were rounded up and killed? How about how Americans turned a blind eye as they were being shipped into America as slave labor, as indentured servants, and into prostitution? How about the fact that they are the only racial group that the United States actually passed a law forbidding their entry into this country? 

And really, how about the Native American tribes that were relocated to Oklahoma, who died along the way? And how about the Native American lands that we took after they took it from someone else? Which group do you want to compensate? Do you want to go with the tribe that one tribe tried to kill off or the tribe that massacred the other? 

And please, don't make the mistake of feeling like all Native Americans are the same. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I was taught by a Cheyenne friend that the tribes in America spoke different languages, had separate customs, and hated each other for centuries no differently than the Germans and French have. Being neighbors for centuries didn't make them friends. Should we the American taxpayer in the 21st Century now start paying tribes that waged war upon each other, or just the ones that we waged war upon? And really, how far do you want to go back? 

Should Americans be responsible for paying reparations to people over incidents that took place before we were ever a nation? Should we pay for what the French, English, Spanish, Russians, and Mexicans did? Some narrow-minded people think all Europeans are the same. Some think we all came to America speaking the same "White Language." What most don't realize is that the Old West was a hodgepodge of people from all sorts of foreign lands, should American taxpayers pay for their conduct?

Of course, there's the issue of the Hawaiians who hate Whites in Hawaii but love the financial benefits that America provides. I'm sure they want reparations even though the Hawaiian Monarchy forbade them from owning land, voting, having a say in how they lived, or having any rights. 

I'm sure there are Hawaiians today who don't even know that the United States didn't even want Hawaii. In fact, I'm pretty sure that there are people in Hawaii who don't know that the United States didn't authorize the coup to take the islands, or that the United States threatened the people who did with war, or that two Presidents passed the issue of annexing Hawaii to others simply because they didn't want to deal with it. President Grover Cleveland was adamant about not allowing Hawaii into the Union. President Cleveland advocated for the restoration of the Queen but the Hawaiian Provisional Government rejected the idea. But then again, I'm sure those facts won't stop some people from still saying that Hawaiians need reparation from the United States.

Everyone alive in America today has never had to toil and live the lives that their ancestors did. No one alive today has experienced any of the grievances that their ancestors did over a hundred years ago. And though I think that providing reparations to people who are alive today is just a con game, if Americans want to give the ancestors of African slaves reparations then we must in all fairness also give the ancestors of European slaves reparations. 

Whether people like it or not, European slavery in the form of "child slavery" was more widespread because it lasted much longer than black slavery did in the United States. In fact, by 1906, it was estimated that almost Two Million white children were still in bondage working in factories, mines, fields, and wherever else cheap slave labor was needed. It is also a fact that White children of European ancestry were rounded up and used in every sort of business imaginable, all creating productive output using only their rudimentary skills far into the early 1940s.

The second thing that I've been asked for is the article below which I first published here in 2017. In the article below I talk about child slavery in the North during the Civil War. Since I've been asked to reprint the article, I hope you find this research interesting.

By the way, before getting into it, I want you to know that I wrote this article in response to a discussion on a thread about slavery in the 1800s, specifically the 1850s and 1860s. It seemed that some very narrow-minded people think the word "slavery" only applies to African people who were brought to the United States.

That sort of narrow-minded way of thinking disregards the fact that we now know that the vast majority of African slaves sold into slavery by their families in Africa were actually shipped to the Caribbean and South America. It also disregards the fact that in 1807, a mere 24 years after the end of America's Revolutionary War, America made the importation of African slaves into the United States illegal. Lastly, and most surprising, that way of thinking also neglects the fact, like it or not, that many other races have been slaves at one time or another.  

My blog post that seemed to upset a lot of people was about child slave labor in the North during the Civil War. Because of discussions where people are trying to turn that article into something that it was not, allow me to also say that this piece is about the hypocrisy of those in the North who were against slavery in the South -- but were not bothered by the child slave labor going on an equally large scale around them since the First Industrial Revolution in America.


So now, let's talk about the slave labor that took place in vast numbers in the North during the Civil War. We've all heard of the "Industrial Might" of the Northern states during the Civil War compared to the South's agricultural base. Let's keep in mind that the Civil War was the first truly "Industrial War" where the urbanized and factory-based Northern manufacturing took on the agriculture-focused South.

So now let's talk about the child slave labor behind that "Industrial Might" in the North. Yes, let's talk about a subject that no one seems to talk about. Let's talk about the North's use of slave labor in the form of forced child labor. Let's talk about the forced child labor that accounted for 45% to 55% of all of the labor used in the North during the Civil War. Let's talk about how almost all of the children who were used as slave labor in the Northern states were "white children" of European ancestry.

No one talks about who worked in the factories in the North. No one talks about the huge percentage of child labor that took place in those factories. No one talks about how the North used child slave labor before, during, and after the Civil War. No one talks about how the emancipation of children did not come about until decades after slaves in the South experienced emancipation.


Let's point to the fact that young children routinely worked in the United States legally for many years before and after we became a nation. Some have indicated that black slave labor in the South does not compare to child slave labor in the North because the children were not property as the blacks were. Though that was the reality of black slaves, when looking at how children in the factories and mines were treated, one has to ask if the children were treated the same or worse than property?

Children were enslaved, they were separated from their families, they were certainly exposed to serious hazards and health risks, and they were left to fend for themselves. Child labor abuses were plentiful during the Industrial Revolution from 1820 to 1870. But it did not end in 1870. It continued for another 60 years.

Industrialization attracted workers and their families. Many relocated from farms and rural areas to cities to do factory work. In factories and mines, children were actually preferred by businesses because owners saw children as more manageable, a lot cheaper, and unwilling to strike.

Our children worked in mines, manufacturing plants, factories of all sorts, textile plants, and agriculture in various ways, including harvests and canneries all over the North. And yes, they were newsboys, peddlers, messengers, and bootblacks. The lucky ones swept the trash and filth from city streets, stood for hours on street corners pushing newspapers, and delivered messages for pennies. Others worked in the mines and coughed up coal dust all through a 10 to 12-hour shift in the heat of the dark. Others sweat to the point of passing out while tending factory furnaces.


Overall, child laborers were the sons and daughters of poor parents, and of course, recent immigrants depended on their children’s measly wages to survive. They were the children of industry and large cities in the North during the Civil War. What black slaves were to the South, child slaves were to the North.

The fact is forms of child labor, including indentured servitude and child slavery, have existed throughout our history. It actually predates our independence. Some were lucky and were treated easier than others. Others were treated as property.

Fact is, we can trace child slave labor back to before the United States was founded in 1776. It's true. There was child slave labor in the 18th century. From farms to factories, young children were used as laborers.

As British colonies, long before our independence, English laws allowed children to work in everything from farms to manufacturing. By 1833, when the British outlawed black slaves, child slavery in the form of indentured servants and forced child labor was commonplace in England.

Of course, American colonial laws modeled their laws after British laws. So yes, similarly American laws forced many children into workhouses, factories, and mines. In fact, those laws allowed for orphan boys to be placed into apprenticeships in trades. Orphan girls were sent into homes to do domestic work, work in laundries, and of course, work in sweatshops.


After we broke away from England, American industry kept up the practice and sought out children to use in all sorts of manufacturing facilities throughout the former colonies. Child labor served Alexander Hamilton's vision of America. He saw child labor as providing increased labor to support industry.

According to his vision, when Alexander Hamilton was Secretary of the Treasury, he actually stated in a 1791 report on manufacturing that "children who would otherwise be idle could become a source of cheap labor."

Around the same time, a national newsweekly printed their opinion stating that "factory work was not for able-bodied men, but rather better done by little girls from six to twelve years old."

Besides advertisements seeking children from the ages of 8 to 12 to work in a cotton mill in the North, it's said that by 1820 children made up more than 40 percent of the mill employees in at least three New England states. So while it is said that the manufacturing industry that grew following the Civil War required children as young as 8 years old, we should recognize that forced child labor in factories, retail stores, on the streets, on farms, in mines, and elsewhere, took place long before the Civil War.

This was so much the case that in 1842, a few Northern states began to limit a child’s workday. Massachusetts lowered a child’s workday from 14 hours to 10 hours, but most laws were not enforced. And Massachusetts was not the only state to use forced child labor, child slavery in the industrial North during the Civil War.


It is a fact that women and children dominated pre-Civil War manufacturing in the North. It is a fact that the number of children used in the North actually increased during the Civil War because of the need for everything from uniforms to shoes and belts, hats, and hardware. Yes, the beans, bullets, and bandages that keep an Army functioning.

So please make no mistake about it. While the South had black slavery that they considered property, the North had child slavery that they considered property. In the North, children replaced the need for adults as many Northern men were pressed into service in the Union Army.

And while the North was afraid of the influx of freed slaves fleeing the South, Northerners, in fact, re-enslaved many freed slave children just as they did the children of immigrants during the Civil War. It's true as the children of freed slaves in the North were treated the same as other children in that they worked 10, 12, or 14 hours a day and six days a week. And while those children were, in essence, re-enslaved through forced labor and apprenticeship agreements, they were bound to companies no differently than they were to their slave masters in the South.

In 1870, the first U.S. census report on child labor numbers accounted for 750,000 workers under the age of 13. These figures came mostly from the Northern states. These numbers did not include children who worked for their families or on farms.

For many years, not much changed in the North regarding the use of forced child labor. But after the Civil War, forced child labor abuses became a routine nationwide as more cities adopted the practice. And yes, the scams to get more children increased. For example, in New York City in the 1870s, there was a scam going around that had to do with Italians who secured employment for Italian immigrants. The scam was child slavery under the guise of apprenticeship.

The people responsible for that scam deceived Italian parents still living in Italy into willingly sending their children to America to begin an apprenticeship program. Once agreements were signed, then the children were shipped to America. At the docks, they met and were immediately forced to work in horrible conditions. As was the case throughout the North for many years, if the children failed to comply, they were beaten and starved.

This was happening so much so that in 1873, just eight years after the Civil War, the New York Times stated, "The world has given up on stealing men from the African coast, only to kidnap children from Italy."

While forced child labor was pretty much restricted to the Union during the Civil War, it became more and more commonplace throughout the nation after the war. Southerners followed the example set by Northerners and filled the openings left by freed black slaves with women and children. And yes, forced child labor and apprenticeship agreements extended to businesses in the South after the war.

It is said that freed slaves willingly exchanged the labor of their children for "training" provided by their former slave owners. So yes, after the Civil War, former black slaves, those who were freed and had children, actually forced their own children into re-enslavement. Imagine that.

Slavery comes in several different forms. Forced Marriage, Domestic Servitude, Indentured Servants, Forced Labor, Bonded Labor, Child Labor, and Sex Trafficking are all forms of slavery. As for "chattel slavery"? Chattel slavery is the "owning" of human beings as property. They are bought, sold, given, and inherited. Since slaves in this context have no personal freedom or recognized rights to decide the direction of their own lives, isn't that comparable to what they did to children until the 1930s?

The child slave market was filled by hiring others to find them and detain them. In some cases, it was from orphanages. Other times it was from a destitute family. They were lied to, held prisoner, and even kidnapped. They were sold into bondage and stolen. They had no personal freedom or recognized rights, were beaten and starved, had bounties put on their heads if they escaped from where they were housed or worked, and were in some cases shackled to machinery and given a coffee can to urinate in. To me, that's slavery. That is certainly not the life of a free person.

As for child labor laws, in 1904, Federal child labor reform laws began to take shape. But that didn't stop employers from putting children to work. In fact, by 1911, it is said that more than Two Million American children under the age of 14 were working 12 to 14 hours a day for six days a week.

And yes, well into the 1900s, children worked in unhealthful and hazardous conditions and always for what was known as slave wages. As for unhealthful and hazardous conditions, even into the 1900s, young girls continued to work in mills and garment factories. They faced the danger of losing fingers or even a foot while standing on top of machines to change bobbins. They risked being scalped alive if their hair got caught in the machinery.



As for the children younger than 10 who were forced to work in the coal mines, they were known as breaker boys. They were smothered and crushed by piles of coal. They fell down shafts. Breaker boys faced the threat of cave-ins, gas leaks, explosions, and other hazards that adult miners did. But let's be honest and talk about their slave wages. They made 10 times less than the adults they worked beside.

While black emancipation came about in 1863, it wasn't until 1938 that Federal regulations of child labor were achieved in the Fair Labor Standards Act. While it did not emancipate children completely, it limited the minimum ages of employment and hours of work for children through Federal law. But, unfortunately, such laws were violated all the time.

The point of my article had gone completely over the heads of some folks. I've never condoned or tried to downplay the suffering of black slaves in the South. I have never ever tried to defend slavery of any sort, nor would I ever. I certainly would not defend slavery anywhere. The article above is not about slavery in the South. It is about child slavery as what took place in the Industrial North during the Civil War.

Their hypocrisy is in regards to what offended them. It was selective at best. While they were rightfully offended by blacks in chains, they were hypocrites in that they should not have turned a blind eye to the child slave labor practices that were taking place around them in the North at the same time.

While no longer applied to blacks after emancipation, those labor practices were certainly applied to children until they stopped in the late 1930s and early 1940s. And the only reason it stopped was that adults needed jobs. Adults saw children as taking jobs away from adults during the Great Depression, and that's when it stopped.

As for today? Sadly, there are many types of slavery and some still taking place today are in the form of involuntary servitude, debt bondage, forced labor, and child slavery. Yes, believe it or not, though not as blatant as it once was, child slave labor is still around. 

Today, the number one source of child slave labor comes from the South of our border with Mexico. Human traffickers are running children into the United States at an alarming rate. And yes, besides being brought here as child slave labor, some of the children being smuggled into our country are being sold to sick people on this side of the border as child sex slaves. 

As horrible a fact as that is, it's a fact of life today. And frankly speaking, it should disgust any normal person. But sadly, it's not enough to disgust the Biden Administration and the Democrat Party which sees the flood of illegals coming into the United States these days as a new source of cheap labor and votes. 

If politicians in Washington D.C. had any sense of honor and dignity, any sense of wanting to make something truly better, then they'd stop children from being smuggled in. They would do something to stop it now. 

Tom Correa



Monday, January 22, 2024

Introducing Terry McGahey


I have never truly introduced myself to the readers of The American Cowboy Chronicles, so at this time I thought I should do so. Number one, if anyone looking to read my articles and looking for some kind of flowering or perfect writing skills you are in the wrong place, I write just as I speak and will not be politically correct at any time. Tom and I came together as like-minded people who are sick and tired of watching our beloved country being torn apart by the radical left. 

As an American Patriot who believes in our constitution which is the law of the land, the far left has been working tirelessly at bastardizing our constitution and our way of life through lies and disinformation. I will always remember what Nancy Pelosi said before the 2020 election, not in her exact words but close enough. I remember when she stated, "We will stop Trump from becoming president by any means!" Yes, "By any means!" Doesn’t this tell you how rotten and crooked these people are?

Anyway, I was raised in an area close to a little town called Glen Avon, in believe it or not, Southern California during the fifties and sixties when the Bravo Cattle Ranch was still in operation and when California was still a good place to live. So I've always been around the cowboy-type lifestyle, I always wanted to be one. 

Back in the 1970s and through the mid-80s, I was an Ironworker building high-rise buildings and others out of Las Vegas Nevada and California. I was injured on the job pretty badly around 1986 or so. I just don't remember the exact year anymore because it no longer matters.

After being medically retired by 1988 a year and a half later I began to realize just how bad California was getting with regulations on business and with the average people being over-taxed. In 1990 I had enough of California’s bullshit. I moved on to Tombstone, Arizona, looking for a more relaxed and better way of life without the traffic and hoards of people as well as most everything else that was going wrong in that state in my opinion.

Funny, only after a year of enjoying that more relaxed style of life I ended up in a battle with Tombstone over their old Earp Ordinance disallowing the carry of firearms within the city limits. I won’t go any further with this because the whole story is on Tom’s blog. 


By the time this battle had taken place, I had met the local cowhands. And, being the same type of people I was used to as an Ironworker, I naturally fell in with them and began working cows by 1991 at forty years old. I rode my first bull at 42. I figured my body was already tore-up, so what the hell. 

Yes, cowboying is hard work but it was not quite as demanding on the body as wearing a 35 to 40-pound tool belt and climbing steel columns for much of the day.

Again, this is who I am and I won’t skirt my feelings or beliefs for anyone. We have been under attack by the far left for many years now and I want to thank Tom Correa for giving me the chance to express my feelings, thoughts, and hatred for what the Left is doing to our great nation. If we have any chance to save our country in the future I believe that Trump is the man to lead us back to our American way of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

Just my opinion. Trump 2024











Saturday, January 20, 2024

Crooked Elections Are A Part Of Our History



The Mainstream Media and its people responsible for disseminating the news on television and in newspapers these days have lost the trust of the American people. One reason is they give folks today the impression that they've never heard of crooked elections, ballot stuffing, voter fraud, or anything dealing with election tampering. 

Of course, while the use of trickery and intimidation to achieve a political win is usually focused on a Presidential Election, there have been many smaller local and state elections where the vote was anything but honest. And while the folks in the news business make me wonder about just how uneducated they are, contrary to what the Mainstream Media is feeding the public today, crooked elections have been around since the beginning of the founding of our republic. It's true. And yes I know it's sad, but it's true. 

Simply put, electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Electoral fraud has many different forms. Here are the most common types of election fraud: there is ballot stuffing, mail-in ballot fraud, absentee ballot voter fraud, felon vote fraud, casting votes in the name of dead people, voter impersonation, fraudulent signatures, voter registration fraud, voter intimidation, voter suppression, voter "caging and purging." 

Voter "Caging and Puging" is a conscious act to deny someone the right to vote. It takes place when a political party or a partisan organization sends registered mail to addresses of registered voters that they already know are not going to vote for their candidate. 

Why bother doing that if they already know are not going to vote for their candidate? Well, there's a reason for that. All of the mail that's returned as "undeliverable" is placed on what is called a "caging list." 

How is that list used? The political party or partisan organization that sent the mail knows they can challenge the right to vote for anyone on the list. That means they can "purge" voters' names from the voting rolls. They can get away with this because election rules say that if voters are unreachable at the address listed on their voter registration, then they are not eligible to vote in that area. It's a pretty devious way of eliminating registered voters for your opponent. Crooked as hell, but the political groups do it. Yes, especially when you know that your opponent is leading in the polls and you want to stop your opponent's supporters from voting. 

Voter Suppression describes policies and tactics that place an undue limitation on the ability of citizens to cast countable ballots in an election. To me, doing something like Voter "Caging and Puging" is a form of Voter Suppression because they are limiting someone's ability to vote for the candidate of their choice. It's all about tactics used to suppress the number of voters who might otherwise vote in a particular election.

Voter Registration Fraud is a form of vote fraud in which someone registers to vote or registers someone else to vote using a fictional name or without that person's consent. The worst case of Voter Registration Fraud that comes to my mind deals with a Democrat-controlled political organization known as ACORN. 

ACORN worked to elect the 2008 Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama. While it was said at the time that ACORN was responsible for "massive voter fraud," we do know that ACORN workers in Seattle, Washington, committed what the Washington Secretary of State called, "the worst case of voter registration fraud in the history of the state of Washington." The group’s leader was convicted of false voter registrations and served nearly three months in jail. Four other ACORN workers on his team also received jail time.

Voter Impersonation is a type of vote fraud in which a person claims to be someone else when casting a vote. In 1982, an estimated 100,000 fraudulent ballots were cast in a 1982 Chicago election. After a Justice Department investigation, 63 individuals were convicted of voter fraud, including vote buying, impersonation fraud, fictitious voter registrations, phony absentee ballots, and voting by non-citizens.

Of course, one type of Voter Impersonation is voting in the name of a deceased person. Voting in the name of a deceased person is vote fraud because someone is casting a vote under the name of someone dead. The way that people get away with that is because the dead person's name is still on the state's list of registered voters. Believe it or not, there are political groups that are taking some states to court over the state's desire to clean the voting rolls of dead people. Some of these political groups argue that the Constitutional Rights of those dead people are being violated -- so their names must stay on the rolls. Yes, they are doing that even those the people are dead and obviously can't vote. 

Absentee Ballot Vote Fraud is when a person attempts to fill out and turn in an absentee ballot containing false information. For example, this can occur when a person attempts to fill out and turn in an absentee ballot with the name of a false or non-existent voter. The term can extend to manipulation, deception, or intimidation of absentee voters.

Felon Vote Fraud is when a person convicted of a felony, someone who is by law not eligible to vote as a result of the conviction, attempts to cast a ballot. Voting rights for convicted felons vary by state. But overall, Felons lose the right to vote when they are convicted of a crime. The interesting thing behind this is that Voter Fraud in most states is a Felony. So yes, the people in the political party and political groups that are doing any of this are felons.

And no, they are not above "suddenly finding uncounted votes" for their candidate. For example, in the 1948 United States Senate election held in Texas. Lyndon B. Johnson won the Democrat primary over his opponent Coke R. Stevenson by only 87 votes. Of course, Lyndon Johnson was accused of voter fraud in Duval County because it had initially appeared Stevenson had won the election. And really, Stevenson would have won if it weren't for the fact that a box of 200 votes was suddenly found out of nowhere for Johnson just when he needed them.

If you're thinking that that same thing happened to Joe Biden. History agrees with you. Suddenly, out of nowhere, thousands of votes were found for Biden when he was losing the election. While many believe that Mail-In Ballot Fraud had something to do with it, some say that Mail-In Ballot Fraud is merely a product of someone's imagination. They say that knowing it's a real modern-day problem.

Mail-In Ballot Fraud is another way to stuff ballot boxes. And yes, the 2020 Presidential Election relied heavily on mail-in ballots due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, even with evidence such as videos showing that people dumped questionable amounts of Mail-In Ballots into the Post Office boxes to sway the 2020 election -- some people say that Mail-In Ballot Fraud played no part in the Election of Joe Biden. Those folks insist that Mail-In Ballot Fraud is a product of our imaginations.

Of course, Mail-In Ballot Fraud is not an imaginary problem. To prove that point, all one has to do is look at what took place in September of 2023 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. A judge there found evidence of mishandled Mail-In Ballots in the Democratic primary for mayor. That judge ordered a revote. 

It's true. Surveillance videos caught people stuffing Mail-In Ballot drop boxes in Bridgeport, Connecticut, during the Democratic primary there. In his ruling, Superior Court Judge William Clark addressed the inconsistency by saying he lacked the authority to postpone or cancel the general election. However, he said he had seen enough evidence of malfeasance to order a rerun of a September 12 primary in which incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim defeated challenger John Gomes by 251 votes out of 8,173 cast.

"The volume of ballots so mishandled is such that it calls the result of the primary election into serious doubt and leaves the court unable to determine the legitimate result of the primary," Clark wrote in his ruling. 

Judge Clark cited surveillance video that showed significant Mail-In Ballot stuffing. That's exactly what he saw after watching surveillance videos showing people stuffing multiple absentee ballots into outdoor collection boxes. Yes, something that some say can never happen to any degree.

And really, I hate hearing the line, "There's no such thing as widespread Voter Fraud." The 2003 mayoral primary in East Chicago, Indiana, was overturned by the Illinois State Supreme Court after evidence of widespread fraud was revealed. It's true. A political operative for the East Chicago, Indiana, Mayor's campaign is said to have persuaded voters to let him "fill out their absentee ballots in exchange for jobs." He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years of probation and 100 hours of community service. 

Fraud in the 2003 East Chicago Mayoral Primary was so widespread that the Indiana Supreme Court ultimately overturned the election results and ordered a special mayoral election that resulted in a different winner.

Of course, while Mail-In Ballot Fraud is all about "Ballot Stuffing or "Ballot Box Stuffing." Ballot Box Stuff is nothing new. It is all about casting illegal votes or submitting more than one ballot per voter. It's simply a form of electoral fraud in which a greater number of ballots are cast than the number of people who legitimately voted. The term refers generally to the act of casting illegal votes or submitting more than one ballot per voter when only one ballot per voter is permitted.

In 1844 during the New York City Election, New York City’s infamous Tammany Hall which was synonymous with political corruption and election fraud showed everyone what Ballot Box Stuffing is all about when it's done on a big scale for the times. In that election, there were 55,000 votes recorded even though there were only 41,000 eligible voters in the city.

In Kansas and Missouri, in 1855, Democrats wanted political power so they could make Kansas a "Slave State." They started secret societies called "Blue Lodges" with the sole purpose of gathering enough support to make Kansas a "Slave State" instead of a "Free State". Those secret societies were all about organizing to rig that election. The Democrats had a tried and true plan. They would stuff the ballot box on the day of the election to gain control of the legislature. 

How did they do it? Well, just before the election, a census was taken. Through the census, folks there found out that Kansas had a population of 8,601. And of them, 2,905 were voters. In Lawrence, Kansas, the whole town only had 369 voters.

But on election day, which was on March 30, 1855, it is said that about 1,000 armed pro-slavery Democrats rode into Kansas from Missouri to vote at the election. According to eyewitnesses, the Democrats arrived in over 100 wagons, all armed with guns, rifles, pistols, and Bowie knives. Believe it or not, it's said that they also brought with them two small pieces of field artillery. That's one way of making sure no one would contest their voting. 

Those pro-Slavery Democrats from Missouri stuffed the local ballots with over 800 votes. Being non-residents didn't matter, they intimidated the local folks there in Lawrence who were legal voters, they shot at one voter because he was a Republican and "an obnoxious free-state man." After they terrorized the town of Lawrence all night, they left the next day. 

The Democrats' plan of ballot stuffing worked in other locations in Kansas besides the town of Lawrence on that day in 1855. In fact, even though the recent census stated that there were only 2,905 legal residents registered to vote in Kansas, believe it or not over 6,300 votes were cast. 

As far as what happened once the authorities learned of what took place? The Territorial Governor Andrew Reeder, who was threatened by the pro-slavery Democrats, ordered another election to be held -- but another vote did not take place out of fear of what the Democrats would do to their towns. 

Imagine that. People got away with fixing an election because people were afraid of what the criminals would do in reprisal. 

Tom Correa



Thursday, January 11, 2024

Americans Need To Wake Up

Story by Terry McGahey

Opinions are like fingers and toes, we all have them. So, I have decided to give mine on what I believe the Democrats objective for this country is all about. In the first place lets just call them what they truly are, Socialists and Communists. 

I will not deny that we had a problem with the Covid strain a short time ago, but this strain of flu like symptom was no different in ways than in the past with the bird flu, swine flu and others. Yes, people perished during this time period of Covid, but people also perished during the bird flu and swine flu. Odd, I don’t remember those two being labeled as a pandemic. People die every year from the flu or flu like symptoms.

It’s just my opinion that Covid was a test ran by the Democrats to see just how far they could go in an experiment of population control. And in my opinion, the major herd of sheep believed the lies and disinformation the government put out. Now I understand, if people wanted to wear masks and if businesses asked their customers to wear masks then that’s their choice and I have no problem with that.

The problem I have is that the feds and state governments began forcing people to wear masks. As I stated, that’s control people, WAKE UP! 

I know several people including myself who picked up the Covid strain, was sick with flu like symptoms for about three to five days and recovered from it, no different than most any other flu unless their immune systems were weakened for the most part. People die of the flu every year and if you noticed, no one died from the regular flu that year, it was always Covid. 

Control, control, control. If these Democrat Communists find the want or need to control the population again, now they have the perfect play book on how to get it done.

Again, these are only my opinions and with our open border policies I believe the Democrat Communists are all in with the New World Order. And in order to complete this agenda, they must completely disrupt our way of life, which they are doing. 

Think about it, some states like California and others are issuing drivers licenses to illegals, and the feds are actually giving them money, our money!

Maybe the Democrat Communists are looking down the road at getting these illegals a citizenship status believing that the millions of now illegals will eventually get to vote and will vote for them which could turn the tide completely their way in the future. Ten to twenty million votes or more could easily turn the tide in their direction to complete their agenda of control.

Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Communist Party from 1953 to 1964 once stated that the United States will fall from within. Doesn’t this statement seem to go along with what is happening right now in our country? 

Tie the hands of the police, allow for open borders, ruin the economy by breaking the middle class, making it so the older retirees have to decide between medication or food, try to delete or teach disinformation of our history in schools and colleges, This only mentions a few of the problems we as Americans are facing today. 

What about the global warming movement? Now the government is trying to force us into electric vehicles. Think about it, in California the illustrious governor, Gruesome Newsom had already asked people who own electric vehicles not to charge these vehicles during the peak of electric usage. 

So, how do they gain more control? They gain more control by forcing us into electric cars then declaring an electric grid emergency disallowing the people from charging their cars which restricts the movement of the American people. If you can restrict the movement of people you now have even more control which I believe is their goal in the future using the electrical grid as their hammer.

I only hope the American people will wake up to this Communist movement before it’s to late and we the people become helpless through the loss of power by the people to the Communist Democrats who want total control of our country, our people, and the death of our Constitution.

Just my opinion. 

Terry McGahey
Associate Writer/ Old West Historian
 

Terry has been a working cowboy, writer, and historian. He is best known for the fight that he waged against the City of Tombstone and their historic City Ordinance Number 9. He was instrumental in getting the famous Tombstone City Ordinance Number 9 repealed while at the same time forcing the City of Tombstone to fall in line and comply with the laws of the State of Arizona.

If you care to read how he fought Tombstone's City Hall and won, check out:

The Last Gun Fight -- The Death of Ordinance Number 9 (Chapter One)     

Sunday, January 7, 2024

2023 Ends With Americans Very Angry -- Part Three


Should the American people be angry at the blatant lies coming from Joe Biden? Absolutely. Let's remember that the lies mount up daily with the Biden administration. 

Regarding our Economy, Joe Biden has claimed that he's created 13 Million to 14 Million jobs. But, that's a lie. In fact, Economists and Market Analysts have pointed out that those were jobs that Americans have returned to after the COVID pandemic shutdowns eliminated 22 Million jobs. 

And frankly, contrary to what Biden's administration says, America's manufacturing sector under Joe Biden has been shrinking for the last year and a half. The reason that this has been taking place is all about Biden's anti-business policies. His desire to increase taxes and regulations -- especially regarding draconian energy regulations -- is killing American businesses big and small.

Also, according to a new report out, the U.S. labor force participation is at a historically low 62.5% at the start of 2024. And here's this, economists have reported that the December 2023 jobs report shows 683,000 workers dropped out of the American labor force. That means while adding 796,000 Americans as Part-time workers, our national economy has lost 1.5 Million Full-time workers since June of 2023.

Here's a statistic that just came out, 8.7 Million Americans, a record high, have to hold multiple jobs to make ends meet these days under the "America Last" policies of the Biden Administration. What this all translates to is that more American workers are being forced to hold more than one job to pay for a higher cost of living -- especially when we consider that today Americans are experiencing a cumulative 17.4% inflation rate under Joe Biden and his administration. This is something that many of us haven't seen since the Jimmy Carter years of double-digit inflation, double-digit interest rates, and double-digit unemployment rates throughout the country.

So, should Americans be angry that the Biden administration benefits China and Europe with its anti-American policies toward business, manufacturing, transportation, and oil production? Should we be angry at the amount of money politicians spend while Americans are having a tough time buying basic everyday necessities like groceries and gas? And don't kid yourself, Americans are worried about the price of food and gas and how they will pay their bills versus paying their rent or mortgage.

While Americans are fighting the battle of trying to stay above water and not drown in debt doing it, America has Democrats in positions of power who are literally concerned about "Cow Farts." And no, I'm not kidding -- Cow Farts!

Of course, it's not just "Cattle Flatulence" that Climate Change Democrats are worried about. While Democrat crazies want to eliminate meat consumption in the United States, they are targeting cattle for the moment. But their target is actually about all "Ruminant Animals" farting.

What are "Ruminant Animals," you ask? Cattle, Bison, Sheep, Goats, Deer, Elk, and Antelopes, are all classified as Ruminants. By the way, so are Giraffes, Camels, and roughly 200 other species of animals. Ruminants include both domestic and wild species. Basically, Ruminants are "herbivorous grazers" that get their nutrients from plants by fermenting them in a specialized stomach before digestion.

The process, which takes place in the front part of the digestive system and therefore is called "foregut fermentation," typically requires the "fermented cud" to be regurgitated and chewed again. Yes, "cud chewers." Nature has made it so that the "cud-chewing" process of rechewing the cud is used to further break down plant matter and stimulate digestion. That's called "rumination."

Just as a side note, the word "ruminant" comes from the Latin "ruminare," which means "to chew over again". It's also where we get the word "Ruminate" which means to "think deeply about something." It's too bad Democrats can't ruminate over their stupidity to target cattle in their efforts to fight Climate Change.

So now, believe it or not, we have people in our Federal Government who measure Cow Farts. It's true.
According to the folks at the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) which are the people who obviously measure such things as Cow Farts, "All ruminant animal species account for about 4% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Cattle account for about 2% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions."

So what does Cow Farts have to do with Americans being angry? Well, let's compare Cow Farts to our transportation system which includes cars, trucks, ships, planes, tractors, buses, trains, and more which accounts for more than 25.3 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Get the picture? Cow Farts amount to almost nothing in the big picture of Climate Change -- if you actually believe that scam.

Let's put it another way, it means that even if someone decides to go Vegan, they won't have much of an impact on Climate Change and Global Warming and the Sea Level rising. By the way, just so you know, Sea Levels have actually dropped 8 to 9 inches since 1880 -- but that's one of those pesty inconvenient truths that Climate Change scammers don't want you to know.

But, getting back to the whole Cow Fart drama, the Left's "let's ban cattle movement," research shows that removing all livestock and poultry from the U.S. food system would only reduce worldwide global greenhouse gas emissions by 0.36%. That is a pimple of a flea's ass when it comes to where it stands in our list of important things.

Here's more information that may make you angry, studies prove that if we eliminated all livestock from American farms, our diets would be deficient in vital nutrients that meat provides. And by the way, we know that meats provide us with high-quality protein, iron, zinc, choline, polyunsaturated fatty acids, B-12, and iodine, to name a few. This is very important when looking at the agenda to stop Americans from eating meat.

Why is this so important you ask? It is important to know this when looking at how the Biden administration is supporting the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, led by a top Chinese Communist official, which is calling for Americans to consume less meat, all meats, in the name of fighting Climate Change. As incredible as it is, the U.N. wants to eliminate meat consumption, but only in the United States.

In fact, documentation shows that the U.N. admits that meat is needed to provide vital nutrients to people in "developing nations." But, the United Nations "feels" that Americans don't need vital nutrients because we are not a Third World Country. Imagine that!

Sadly, it's true. That's what the U.N. is saying. The Communist jerkweeds in charge of the U.N. are targeting Americans by demanding that the United States eliminate eating meat -- while saying that eating meat in other countries is okay.

In response to this overreach from the United Nations which has no regulatory power, Congresswoman Ashley Hinson (R-IA) today joined Congressman Mike Flood (R-NE) in introducing a resolution condemning the United Nations for calling on Americans to eat less meat.

“It's laughable that a U.N. agency spearheaded by a top CCP (Chinese Communist Party) official is calling on Americans to eat less meat in the name of Climate Change when China is the world's worst polluter. This is a thinly veiled attempt by China to undermine U.S. agriculture as well as the Iowa farmers who produce high-quality meat. The impact of the CCP infiltrating the U.N. is clear: they can strongly call for Americans to stop eating meat, but can't strongly condemn Hamas for their human rights atrocities in Israel. I'm proud to lead the charge to condemn this nonsense from the U.N. alongside Representative Flood, stand up for U.S. agriculture, and set the record straight." - Congresswoman Ashley Hinson

While the United Nations and the Climate Change crazies are targeting cattle -- and specifically the American Beef Industry -- I'm thankful that the U.N. has zero authority in our country. They are overstepping the United Nations Charter. And frankly, since you asked me for my opinion on all of this, I feel Americans need to withdraw from the U.N. because it is a corrupt organization run by Communists and supporters of Terrorism. America should stop our financial support of the U.N. and let them wither on the vine.

By the way, if you're thinking the Biden admin would defend our way of life to the U.N., don't bother. That's not happening. Joe Biden and the Democrat Party as a whole have shown themselves to be working against us the American people -- instead of for Americans in our best interest. The number one example of that is how the Democrats have waged a war on American Oil production.

Democrats won't admit that just a mere 3 years ago, we Americans were closing out 2020 as an "Oil independent" nation again for the first time in more than 40 years. That brief stint as the World's number one oil producer only lasted a couple of years under President Trump because Joe Biden and the Democrat Party killed it. They killed our efforts to stay Oil Independent because Joe Biden and the Democrats see working for other nations as more important than working for ours.

Americans are angry about being lied to by Democrats who want to kill oil production in the United States and encourage oil production in other countries.

According to a House Committee On Oversight & Reform report entitled Democrats' War On Domestic Energy Production And Its Impact On The American People:

"Starting on his first day in office, President Biden waged war on America’s energy producers, causing energy prices to skyrocket for the American people, killing good paying jobs in the energy sector, and jeopardizing our nation’s security. Canceling the Keystone Pipeline, halting oil and gas production, and reckless Green New Deal spending diminish America’s energy production and make our nation dependent on foreign countries often opposed to U.S. interests. Due to Democrat policies implemented by the Biden Administration and supported by a Democrat Congress, Americans have faced increased prices for gas and everyday goods. In June 2022, the average price of regular unleaded gasoline reached an all-time national high of $5.016 per gallon.

Since September 2021, the energy index alone has risen 19.8 percent year over year which is the predominant force driving inflation to a 40-year high. Instead of conducting oversight of these policies as prices have risen or strengthening America’s energy security since Russia invaded Ukraine, Democrats have pursued a predetermined narrative vilifying oil and gas companies and blaming them for the results of their own poor policies.

Instead of pursuing domestic production, President Biden has sought to increase our reliance on foreign countries. He traveled to Saudi Arabia to ask them to increase production, which they declined to do. The President is also preparing to scale down sanctions on Venezuela’s authoritarian and repressive regime to encourage oil production in Venezuela. President Biden is encouraging production everywhere except the United States. This strategy ignores the U.S.’s dependence on oil while punishing American workers by killing good-paying jobs. At the same time, the Biden strategy props up oppressive regimes by providing a market for their oil and gas.

In sum, President Biden is encouraging U.S. energy dependence — not independence. The Administration and Committee Democrats, however, refuse to take responsibility for their failed policies. Rather, they have sought to shift the blame onto industry for skyrocketing gas prices and historic inflation.

President Biden declared American companies are “war profiteering” and threatened higher taxes. It is clear that the Administration and Committee Democrats will continue to blame the oil and gas industry for the energy crisis the Biden Administration created. President Biden claims to be “doing everything in [his] power to reduce gas prices.” But in reality, the Biden Administration has decreased U.S. emergency stockpiles of crude oil by more than all his predecessors combined with little benefit for American consumers."


The American people are being played for fools and Joe Biden refuses to encourage domestic oil production -- even though the Left's Green New Deal of depending on wind and solar power are utter failures.

And let's remember for a moment, during the Trump presidency, American oil production translated into big benefits for Americans. We saw lower fuel bills at home and at the pump. Manufacturers of our over 6,000 petroleum-based products also saw cost savings. Those cost savings meant they could hire more Americans at good-paying jobs and give pay raises while charging customers less for products -- all while still making healthy profits.

Along with low interest rates, low inflation rates, and low gas prices, this all meant that we had more personal buying power. This is absolutely true contrary to the lies that Democrats would have had us believe. And let's not forget some of the lies that Democrats repeated over and over again about Trump.

Democrats lied about how Trump would start World War III, how he'd start a Nuclear War, and that he colluded with Russia which we all found out later was an absolute hoax fabricated by the top echelon in the Democrat Party. And how about their lie that "Trump's Middle-Class tax cuts would kill millions of Americans while only making the rich wealthier"?

None of that happened, and the Trump Tax Cuts meant all Americans were paying lower taxes while also having more buying power. For me, I sure miss that buyer power that Trump gave us -- as much as I miss America being the World's Number One Oil Producer. And frankly, like most Americans, I'm angry at the cost of everything today because of the dumb policies of the Biden administration. Dumb. Just dumb, and not good for America.

All of this has made Americans extremely angry about how Democrats have tried to play us for fools!

Please don't kid yourselves, there are a lot of extremely angry Americans out there. And really, as crazy as it might sound, there are people like Joe Biden and the Democrat Party who think we the American people have nothing to be angry about.

So before closing, let's beat a dead horse for a moment. Let's talk about what being played for a fool means. It means that you have been deceived or manipulated in some way. It means being conned, lied to, tricked, used, having been bamboozled, betrayed, victimized, or fooled by an elaborate hoax -- usually a hoax meant to take your money.

The expression “being played” generally means being taken advantage of by someone. We've all been taken advantage of in a relationship. While not usually at the time, later we usually write it off as being blind to what a person was really like. Sadly, it is a natural occurrence for someone to be used for some reason or another. Such life lessons help us to learn to be more discerning with whom we trust in life. Hopefully, we won't make the same mistakes. But no, there's no guarantee that we won't.

This applies to intimate relationships, business, and financial relationships, dealing with a questionable family member, dealing with a used car salesman, and of course snake oil-selling politicians. It has to do with dealing with a crook named Biden who says crap like, "I'm here to help you and you can trust me," "I'm a Uniter," "Oh, I will work for the American people," blah, blah, blah, lying bullshit. He is the same crooked Joe Biden who everyone has known and hated for almost 50 years.

And by the way, you've been asking me to give you my "opinion" regarding how I see what's taking place today in America. Well, here it is. And yes, believe it or not, some folks on the Left have already started sending me hate mail wanting to cancel my Freedom of Speech. One jerkweed said, "I should shut up even if I am speaking the truth." 

Well, I don't give a shit what people on the Left have to say these days because those people, the ones who like what's going on today, are part of the problem and not part of the solution to fixing things. 

As for being angry about being played for fools? It's all about the feeling we have when we realize that the person who had used us was nothing but a low life. Frankly, it's a lot of anger at ourselves for not recognizing the jerkweeds for what they are. In Biden's case, we all knew that he was a low life. We all knew that he's been a politician for over 4 decades and caught lying time and time again. But, the Left wanted the inept jerkweed in the Oval Office because they are emotionally tied to hating Donald Trump. 

Anger is a natural emotional response towards something that a person feels when they have been deliberately done wrong. There's nothing wrong with being angry when it's justified. But no, no amount of anger justifies a bunch of Leftist thugs and cheap hoodlums and punks burning down businesses and looting. That's using anger as an excuse to be a thief and arsonist. 

That's what took place across the country a few years ago when Democrats in high office allowed the reign of terror to take place how it did. And really, no matter how many businesses were lost or people were hurt, the Democrats didn't care and instead tried to spin the situation to say that it was "Mostly peaceful protests." That's what happened when Democrats refused to call in the National Guard to prevent their cities from being burned to the ground.

The type of anger going on these days has to do with politics and the fact that Americans are worse off today than we have been in many years. Thanks to Joe Biden and the Democrat Party, we are worse off. I'm hoping that the anger that Americans are feeling translates into Republican votes to get Biden and other Democrats out of office this November. That's how we can turn our anger into something good for America.


Friday, January 5, 2024

2023 Ends With Americans Very Angry -- Part Two

At the end of Part One, I asked you to check out where this piece is going. Like I said, I'm taking on Biden sending Billions of American taxpayer dollars to Ukraine, spending American tax dollars on the Climate Change Scam, the Invasion of America on our Southern Border, and more. 

Before, we start let me explain to you exactly how I see things at the start of 2024. 

We have the highest taxes ever since Biden and the Democrat Congress enacted the Five Trillion Dollar Tax hike in March of 2023. With the largest tax hike in United States History and Joe Biden's war on American Oil which he started on the very first day in the Oval Office, Americans have had to endure pain and suffering that we have not seen since the Jimmy Carter years. 

Americans today deal with high inflation, high-interest rates, higher food prices, some groceries completely unavailable, some everyday products gone from the shelves, high gas, diesel, and electricity costs, shipping and trucking costs through the roof, and more and more regulations upon regulations upon regulations coming out of the Oval Office. 

Law-abiding citizens are being forbidden from protecting themselves. On the other hand, criminals are going scott-free with "No Bail" and all of the "Defund the police" policies from Democrat-controlled cities and states. The accumulative effect is chaos. But frankly, Democrats don't give a damn. 

If you think Democrats do, you are following yourself in a big way. And you now think I'm over-exaggerating the situation. Well, ask the folks who are victims today. Let them tell you about what crime has done to reduce our cities to war zones. Crime is at the highest point ever in our history. 

And while a lot of our crime problem is "Home Grown" thug crap that's born out of our cities being infested with a thug mentality, we have Illegal Aliens, drugs like fentanyl, child sex trafficking, and all sorts of evil flooding across our Southern border. And what is the answer to this from Joe Biden? They are doing nothing but fight efforts by the states having to deal directly with the problem firsthand. 

As for Biden sending the FBI to investigate Catholics and other Christians going to church, I'm sure they would rather do that instead of actually investigating crime at the highest parts of the Biden Administration. Let's be frank here, we all know it's a lot easier and "politically wise" to investigate Catholics going to confession -- than it is to look into Hunter Biden's laptop, the Biden's burner phones, their off-shore accounts, their 22 shell companies, and the 170 reports of suspicious activities that we now know for fact has taken place. How do we know these things? It's because of FBI whistle-blowers who are coming forward to risk their careers to make the truth known. 

But hey, Joe Biden and his Circus performer, his administration of every type of mentally ill individual that anyone can roundup, are telling us that everything is better than under President Trump. Biden is saying, forget about it.

Biden and his crew have created the situation that we are in, and now they're saying it wasn't them. They are saying it was them that created the highest crime rate in our history. They created the record of drug deaths that we see in 2024. They are responsible for the more than 6 Million Illegal Aliens pouring into our nation, and the Third World Country diseases that they are bringing in with them. Of course, isn't it interesting how the Mayors of Democrat-controlled "Sanctuary Cities" are now changing their tune and don't want Illegals there? It's fascinating to watch how people change their political stance when reality becomes real to those in denial. 

Biden would love it if the American people would simply forget about how Public Schools are being controlled by the Democrat LGBQT Queer agenda. It is destructive. And what it destroys is our children. And frankly, I don't how those schools haven't been sued and closed down. 

And for the whole WOKE Movement that Joe Biden and the Democrats have been pushing? It is about taking our freedoms away and dividing America. It is about eliminating the freedoms granted to us by God and our Bill of Rights. It is the Democrat's tool to divide our nation by race, color, religion, status, and politics.  

Yes, politically, including attempting to imprison their Political Opponents. And please don't kid yourself, that's the reason that Democrat Prosecutors across the country are working so hard to hit President Trump with anything, fabricated or not. And then the Biden administration wonders why Americans have lost trust in our Government. 

Nothing is worse than to trust someone and then be used and lied to by that person. No one likes it when someone has lied to you or taken advantage of you. Yet, that's the situation that we the American people find ourselves in today. That's what's happening at the start of 2024. And yes, that's why we are so angry. 

We know that even after all of the social ills are taken into consideration, it's the cost of everything today that's making Americans very angry. Let's be really clear on this. There are a lot of folks out there who are struggling to make ends meet. It doesn't matter what color you are, a lot of folks are barely keeping their heads above water. While this is going on, some folks are doing okay -- not great, but okay. 

So what is life like for Americans at the start of 2024? 

How has the government, specifically Joe Biden and the Democrat Party, broken our trust? What have they done to destroy our trust in America, our government, those working in our government bureaucracy, and those in authority who have official power to make important decisions? How have they tried to play the American people? 

For one thing, everything that we are going through today is a result of needless policies that only inflict pain and suffering on Americans. You don't think that's correct? Do you think I'm over-exaggerating what's going on?

Well, let me repeat myself, needlessly, Americans are suffering from the highest grocery prices seen in a lifetime, high gas and fuel prices, higher taxes, high inflation, and high interest rates. Americans today have the least amount of personal buying power since the 1930s. The American dollar seems worthless and stretching it to make ends meet is a full-time worry. 

What does it mean when someone says they are trying to make ends meet? It means they are trying to earn enough money to live without getting into too much debt. I was brought up to understand how hard it was to make ends meet since it was hard to pay for the things that we needed to live when we had little money coming in because times were tough. 

Of course, while Americans are struggling to get by, Americans are also taking note of the way Joe Biden and Congress are spending American taxpayer dollars. As far as most folks can see, our Government spends our tax dollars frivolously while wanting higher and higher taxes taken from Americans. 

Have you ever wondered what sort of nation we would have if we didn't have a government that gave away as much of our money as it does? Can you imagine our roads without potholes? Can you imagine the Homeless in shelters for the Winter instead of allies and doorways? How much would we have for cancer patients and the medical needs of seniors? How much could be cut in taxes so that Americans would be able to afford more of everything -- including food and medications?

Ever wonder what would happen if American politicians decided to worry about Americans like they do people in other countries? Maybe our poverty level would go down instead of climbing as it is right now? Maybe we would be able to live a little less stressed and a lot less angry at our Government?

I think Americans having a hard time getting by while watching our Government spend our money extravagantly is a big part of why Americans are so angry these days.  Americans are seeing our Government spending our money on political agendas instead of on what Americans need. 

For example, the Lend-Lease Act was enacted on March 11, 1941. Lend-Lease enabled the United States to supply Great Britain, the Soviet Union, France, the Republic of China, and about 26 other Allied nations with military equipment, construction materials, food, and oil between 1941 and 1945 during their fight against Germany, Italy, and Japan during World War II. 

If we sent military equipment to help Ukraine just like how we did through the Lend-Lease Program in World War II, then I don't think American taxpayers would be angry about sending that sort of help to Ukraine in its war against Russia. But that's not the case, while we have Americans who are struggling to make it -- all while getting hit with higher taxes -- we have recently learned that Joe Biden is funding Ukrainian small businesses, Ukarinian retirement programs, Ukarinian fire departments, their hospitals, their social services programs, their city governments, and much more. In fact, believe it or not, American taxpayers are paying Ukaine's energy producers to provide Ukrainians with free electricity. Joe Biden is doing this, and yet we know that Ukraine is one of the most corrupt nations in Europe. 

Of course, Americans are not happy with this. But, that doesn't seem to matter to Joe Biden and the small group of people who have total control of our Government. In fact, to add insult to injury, Joe Biden and a small group of Democrats have made aid to Ukraine an essential budget item. What that means is that the money going to Ukraine will take place even if there's a Federal Government shutdown. So while Ukraine will get its Billions from our Federal Government, Americans will not receive their Social Security checks. 

And no, let's not talk about how the Biden administration gave zero help to Maui after the devastating fire there. That didn't stop Biden and his crew from finding Billions of our taxpayer dollars for Ukraine. Why is this supposedly taking place? We are told that Ukraine is important because Russia invaded that country. 

But wait, how about the invasion that's been taking place right now on our Southern Border? Americans are mad as hell that this is been going on unimpeded since Joe Biden took office in 2021. In 2023, the numbers of Illegal Aliens coming into our country from Mexico, Central America, South America, China, and the Middle East are staggering. 

Joe Biden and the Federal Government are doing nothing to stop the Invasion of the United States. Absolutely nothing. And again, as an insult to the American people, the Biden Administration is taking Texas and Arizona to court to stop them from doing anything to stop the influx of Illegals. 

For me, I have gotten a lot of mail from ranchers and farmers living along the border. Their stories of being attacked and their concerns for their safety are real. It is criminal that our Federal Government will not protect them or the rest of America. Many of them asked me to write this to tell people how bad things are and how the Democrats don't give a shit! And yes, it's really that simple, Biden and the Democrat Party simply don't give a shit about the American people.

To me, Biden's failure to protect America and stop the Invasion on our Southern Border is grounds for Impeachment. The whole concept of Joe Biden and the Democrats sending military aid to Ukraine -- while we are being invaded should make everyone angry. Of course, while Biden is concerned about Ukraine, many of those coming in with the surge are Drug Cartel members who have increased the amount of illegal drugs coming into our country by more than 1000 times what it was in 2020. Others coming in are terrorists. 

And here's something that might surprise you, Biden's open-door border policy has had an effect on the average life-span of Americans. Believe it or not, Biden's open-door border policy has resulted in the average life span of U.S. citizens actually dropping to 76.1 years. That's the shortest it has been since 1996. It is a fact that, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the decline in the average life-span of Americans has to do with the increase in overdose deaths -- as a result of Biden's border policy. 

The increase in overdose deaths of Americans is a direct result of Biden and the Democrat Party's refusal to stop the flood of illegal aliens, put a halt to the deluge of illegal drugs coming in by drug traffickers, and bring an end to the child sex traffickers who are dropping children they are smuggling into our country. 

Along with the surge of illegals coming across the border, Americans have seen a rise in crime across the nation that we have never experienced in our nation's history. Carjacking, armed robberies, assaults, murders, rapes, arsons, looting, drug trafficking, and child sex trafficking, are in the news every day.

The Democrats who wanted to defund law enforcement have gotten their way and now the animals are running rampant -- almost completely out of control in most big cities. So much so that businesses are leaving those cities with the hopes of finding a safer place to do business. 

In 2023, American cities have become sewers. Our cities have human feces everywhere, they're rat infested, with drugs everywhere, homeless everywhere, and the city's authorities refuse to do anything about cleaning things up. As for visiting American cities, it's best to stay out of them to avoid becoming a victim. It's recommended that you stay home. 

Actually, you can keep your face out of the obituary section of a newspaper if you just stay away and don't visit those crime-ridden places. And sadly, in 2023, all of our cities have become crime-ridden. Of course, that's because Democrats cannot run cities or states or the nation. Democrats have turned once great cities into sewers with no redeeming qualities. 

And yes, if you were wondering when I was going to get to it, Americans are very angry at all of the many Climate Change regulations that have come from Joe Biden. In all honestly, Biden is such a failure that nothing that he does to screw Americans surprises anyone anymore. And really, where do we start when talking about Biden implementing disastrous policies aimed at hurting Americans? From increasing energy costs and overreaching into our homes which used to be free of government regulations and mandates, to his making the World less safe, what do we talk about first? 

Let's first look at how Joe Biden repealed the Trump-era EPA regulations and instead signed off on Obama Era Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations regarding ponds, ditches, small streams, wetlands, and other waterways on private property. 

President Trump's EPA regulations actually benefited property owners, including farmers, ranchers, builders, and oil producers, who were concerned about the Federal Government coming in to regulate private property owners. Trump's EPA regulations stopped the practice of the EPA imposing massive fines designed to force American landowners into court or having to file bankruptcy. 

And think about this, over the last 30 years, State and Federal Government regulations are the number one cause of American farmers and ranchers going under and losing everything. They simply could not afford to comply. Big corporate farmers and ranchers have had it easier, but family farmers and ranchers have lost the battle against our Government. And yes my friends, that is the reason that family farmers and ranchers are at their lowest number in our history. American agriculture has been under attack by Administrations, like the Biden Admin, who are unfriendly to agriculture and small businesses.

Joe Biden's repeal of Trump's EPA regulations and reimposing the Obama Era EPA regulations again pits the Federal Government against private property owners who in the past lost everything they owned while fighting to keep it. It is a battle that should not be waged. But sadly, it is ongoing. And today with Biden's focus on anti-agriculture Climate Change policies -- small American family farms and ranches don't stand a chance.  

While I know that I'm repeating myself, people need to know that while I'm talking about how Joe Biden is waging a war on American farmers and ranchers, we should also recognize how Biden is attacking the way we live and what types of appliances we use in our homes. Even though it's none of his business and he should keep his nose out of our homes, Biden is banning dishwashers, air conditioners, gas stoves, and other appliances.

He says it's all in the name of Climate Change. But in reality, Biden is attacking American manufacturing. He is overregulating our manufacturers and sending more manufacturing appliances to the Chinese Communist. Should that piss you off? Yes, it should because he's attacking American jobs and our future.  

Here's more, Joe Biden has agreed to pay what the Left is calling "Climate Change Reparations." It's true. In January 2023, Biden promised the world that Americans would pay poor countries what the Democrats are calling "Climate Reparations." In fact, President Biden agreed to commit up to One Billion American Taxpayer Dollars to pay for what "Climate Experts" like John Kerry are calling damage caused by the use of fossil fuels. Biden has agreed to this while China is required to pay nothing. 

So yes, Biden has agreed to pay poor countries One Billion American Dollars as "Climate Change Reparations." And yes, more Americans are finding out about such lunacy. And again, it's just more to be angry about these days.

As for making the World unsafe, Joe Biden has said that the sole threat to humanity’s existence is Climate Change and that not even Nuclear War poses a similar danger. Just imagine the sort of insanity that it takes to think such a thing. But it's sadly true, Joe Biden says Climate Change poses a greater threat to mankind than Nuclear War. 

Let's put this in perspective for a moment, China is talking about invading Taiwan while Russia is now again preparing for a Nuclear War with the United States, Europe, and Ukraine. We are talking about being closer to a Nuclear War today than we have been in 40 years thanks to Joe Biden. And if that happens, we are talking about creating a "Nuclear Winter" and the destruction of our society as we know it. This is staring us in the face, and to downplay the real threats to our allies and the world as a whole, Biden says Climate Change is the real threat to the world. 

Yes, Americans are facing Nuclear War with Russia and China, all while we are being screwed by our Federal Government -- all because of a small group of people who care more about what they think will happen to the Earth 10,000 years in the future because of Climate Change, than Nuclear War. 

Frankly, many of us see "Climate Change" as the greatest scam ever perpetrated. To me, the overload of regulations and huge spending just to address Climate Change is simply more Government overreach. In reality, for all intents and purposes, it looks like our Government wants control of our lives. And frankly, Americans are very angry about this.

There are people on the Left who are psychotic about Climate Change. Their psychosis is demonstrated by them being overly concerned, abnormally concerned, extremely unnecessarily, and totally unreasonably concerned about Climate Change. And while I think it's all about government overreach and government control of our lives, there are a lot of people profiting from this scam. 

Let's be clear here, people profit in different ways. In the case of "green energy" companies like Solyndra, many get a lot of taxpayer dollars before declaring bankruptcy. 

And here's more, of those defunct "green energy" companies that took Millions of American taxpayer dollars from the Federal Government "to fight Climate Change"-- none have to give back the taxpayer dollars that they were given by their friends in Washington. That's quite a scam. Yes, quite a scam -- especially when we find out that politicians are getting paid from kickbacks and campaign contributions. 

CLICK HERE FOR PART ONE

CLICK HERE FOR PART THREE

Tom Correa