The Conservative Sage

The August 2014 shooting death of unarmed black teen Mike Brown in St. Louis by a white police officer and the subsequent decision by the grand jury not to indict has brought unrest to American Streets. The protestors feel that police are shooting and killing mostly unarmed black men at alarming rates. Many also believe that police interaction amongst white's is all together different due to the benefits of "white privilege". "If that had of been a white man..." is a common refrain from blacks when speaking of a negative experience with a white police officer. The media plays an integral role in these perceptions by continuously assaulting us with images of black victims and white perpetrators. In light of the Brown incident and other controversial shootings this year, the adjective attached to these perceived victims is "unarmed". The term is a staple in the lexicon of the American media which h...

The financial crisis of 2008 continues to have a devastating effect on the lives of many Americans. However that same crisis has been a blessing for many others- namely lawyers. With each new round of Eric Holder justice department fines and penalties against banks for their role on the crisis, a few New York law firms are reaping billions in Fees. J.P Morgan Chase, which has by far paid the largest penalties, has set aside approximately $23 billion in legal reserves to settle claims and expenses. High powered firms like Sullivan & Cromwell, Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Garrison; and Wilmer Hale represent JP Morgan. Other large banks such as Citi, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo have ponied up an additional $50 billion in fines to the feds. To date, the largest banks have forked over $128 billion in fees and counting. So far the largest chunk paid out by bank of America. No doubt that their lawyers are also enjoying a windfall....

On the heels of last week decision by the grand jury in Ferguson not to indict officer Darren Wilson for the shooting of black 18 year old Michael Brown, the country is once again in a state of unrest. A New York grand jury also failed to indict a police officer in the death of a black man. Last August, Eric Garner 43, died due to a police choke hold while they attempted to arrest him for allegedly selling black market cigarettes. The coroner determined the cause of death as a homicide. The officer who administered the choke hold, which is against NYPD policy, officer Daniel Pantaleo was immediately relieved of his gun and badge-essentially ending his career. Protesters immediately gathered in New York and other cities with the typical chants no justice, no peace. Although it is my personal view that the death of Mr. Garner was indeed a tragedy that should not have occurred and it also should have gone to trial. These incidents, are compounde...

Order appears to have been restored with the resounding defeat of the Democrats during midterm elections earlier this month. The Republicans gained the 9 seats needed to regain control of the senate as well as several key Governors seats. Perennial blue state Maryland elected Republican Larry Hogan in a race that further shook the political landscape. Democrats as you could imagine did not take the defeat well, blaming everything from the GOP money machine, Ebola, to low voter turnout for their ouster. Now it's time for true conservatives to return to governance and lift the country out of its economic slumber. Democrats have failed to put any pressure whatsoever on their protected President. The Keystone Pipeline has been left in limbo for two years along with 300 other pieces of legislation that waste away on Harry Reid's desk. When congress begins its new session in January, Republicans will be in favorable position to force President Obama to play bal...

On a relatively quiet street in Tulsa Oklahoma, Jeremy lake was standing outside his home with his girlfriend Lisa Kepler 18. Her father pulled up and asked what she was doing in the neighborhood. Jeremy walked up to introduce himself as Lisa's boyfriend and without a word 54 year old Shannon Kepler shot him. Lake later died from his injuries. Kepler fled the scene and was later arrested. As was his wife Gina for accessory to murder after the fact. What makes this case more shocking is that the Keplers are Tulsa Police offices. Most 2nd amendment advocates take comfort in so called law abiding citizens arming themselves to help protect us from crime. However no one seems to ask the question who will protect us from them? I am not suggesting that most gun owners or even a large number are as unstable as Kepler. Most gun owners are responsible and indeed law abiding. It is also important to recognize that v...

As long as many of us have been alive middle east turmoil has been as normal Christmas, Halloween and the 4th of July. It has also been just as frequent. After vanquishing Osama bin Ladin it appeared that America had gained the upper hand in the war on terror. These terror groups have the uncanny ability to reconstitute and remerge more dangerous. Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or (ISIS) a Sunni terrorist group which has a stated goal of forming an Islamic caliphate across those two nations. Heavily armed and well funded, ISIS has rampaged through Iraq, murdering thousands of Shiites, Christians and other ethnic minorities. ISIS has attracted fighters from Europe, the U.S. and other European countries to join their Jihad. Just two months ago, the world was focused on Nigerian terrorist group Boko haram's kidnapping of 200 school girls. Just as ruthless as ISSI is Boko Haram which rampages through villages killing hundreds of men women and chil...

Recently a USA Today front page featured a glaring headline: Testosterone Valley. The article referred to Silicon Valley as a "exclusive boys club" citing its lack of diversity. The article also pointed out that blacks, and Hispanics make up less than 4% of tech jobs in silicon valley. Racial extortionist Jesse Jackson has once again begun his shakedown of corporate America by requesting diversity records of tech giants Google, Facebook, Twitter and others. This has shined an unwanted spotlight on the tech industry's lack of diversity. However, there is something else awry in America. This week, USA  basketball  roster for next weeks Olympic basketball tournament in Rio. The 12 man roster doesn include a single white player. A check of the rosters for the past USA basketball teams reveals a total of 6 whites have made USA basketball rosters since 1994! Which represents less than 10% of the total number of players. This troubling ...

There are many clichés that we all grow up with. Some of them are true and some are just simply tradition and not very useful. One such example is this "conversation" that blacks must reportedly have with our children as opposed to non black parents regarding police interaction. This topic has been renewed in light of the Michael Brown shooting by a police officer in Ferguson Missouri. There notion that the police are afraid of black men, see them as violent, dangerous and therefore certain protocols should be understood when encountering them to avoid being shot and/or killed. What is more dangerous is the message itself. One that tells young black men that it is law enforcement that is the greatest threat to their lives. Although police misconduct is as real as that of any other profession, the number of lives of black men snuffed out by other black men is incomparable to that by police officers. The mainstream med...

What has emerged from the current unrest in Ferguson Missouri is tragic for those who recognize it, and just as tragic for those who do not. The St. Louis suburb of Ferguson has been under siege for the past ten days after unarmed 18 year old teen Michael Brown was fatally shot by police officer Darren Wilson after he and a friend were walking in the street. A video surveillance tape later surfaced which allegedly shows Brown committing a strong arm robbery at a local corner store minutes before his shooting. Protestors have clashed with police who have used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds. Unfortunately rouge elements have exploited Browns death to engage in criminal activity. This counterproductive behavior also has another deleterious effect, it affirms stereotypes. Hundreds of black youths descended upon convenience stores, gas stations and other establishments stealing items such as shoes, clothes, cigarette...

One of the more notable moments of the Obama-Romney debates was when the two argued about Romney's assertion that America's #1 geopolitical foe was Russia. The President dismissed this notion by mockingly stating that "the 1980's called and they want their foreign policy back". Just add that to the ever growing list of President Obama's miscalculations. Sarah Palin was characteristically ridiculed several years ago for what today seems prophetic. She stated that Vladimir Putin would enter Ukraine on Obama's watch. One can only speculate what the coverage would have been the media were balanced with regard to Palin. Now Romney appears to be the Cassandra. Just last week Putin landed in Cuba to meet with Raul Castro and discussed plans for the two nations to re-establish economic and military ties. Most alarmingly, the discussions include the possible building of military bases there. There are also talks of bases in Nicaragua and Venez...

As Israel's military operations continue in Gaza, once again the worlds left has taken to the streets with chants of "genocide". Israel launched a ground operation nearly one month ago to destroy Hamas' network of tunnels which were used to carry out terror attacks inside Israel. The global media projects images of the destruction in Gaza along with tearful wails of relatives carrying dead bodies of children. Although any human being with a semblance of a conscience is disturbed when women and children are killed, Hamas bears the brunt of responsibility for using it citizens as human shields in order to win the propaganda war. However why does the left only care about women and children when Israel is involved? Hollywood celebrities, entertainers and professional athletes and taken to their Twitter accounts with calls of "Free Palestine". Some like actress Penelope Cruz have accused Israel of Genocide. Others have called for an Israel boycott. A...

As the Donald Sterling controversy and the forced sale of the Los Angeles Clippers is being settled in the court room, I have always been happy to consider how worse things could be: we could be Europe. This incident was particularly bothersome for me because it gives the left validation for their "racist America" narrative. However there is some perspective that many could benefit from. Donald Sterling is an old bigot who said some very ignorant things behind close doors. There are many people whom I know personally who says things just as ignorant or worse. However there is no recording to cause them harm in their public lives. America has come a very long way in the past several decades with regards to race relations in sports and in society at large. During the 1950's, the Harlem Globetrotters on at least one occasion suffered the indignity of having to sleep in a county jail while traveling because no hotel would rent them rooms. NBA players during the 70's an...

The rumblings of income inequality and unemployment have been reverberating around the country since President Obama's election. These cries are growing louder in South Africa where the longstanding African national congress is on the hot seat. The ANC has failed to close the wealth gap between rich and poor as promised and empowerment programs have failed to do the trick. Complaints of corruption have dogged President Jacob Zuma after Government watchdog The Public Protector reported that $23 million in taxpayer money had been spent to upgrade his childhood home. The miners unions, which has been a loyal base for the ANC is beginning to weaken. "why would I bother wearing one of these ANC T-shirts?" asked unemployed 22 year old Tirelo Kaledi when he was offered a T-shirt with the face of Mr. Zuma. "I'm tired of them making promises and not delivering to the rest of us". Similar to the democrats in America, the ANC has a firm grip on the black vote due to ...

Welterweight boxing champion Adrian Broner's brash talk and crude antics have garnered him a great deal of attention and controversy. So when he pulled up to a homeless man on the street, with his camera phone rolling, he no doubt wanted to document his altruism for PR purposes. Broner proceeded to count out ten $100 dollar bills and handed it to the man to his astonishment. A new video surface and showed that the man was beaten and robbed the next day. It is safe to say that the beating most likely would not have happened if the initial gift was not posted to You Tube. Karlesha Thurman walked across the stage and accepted her Account Degree from California State University Long Beach. She then realized her 3 month old was hungry and decided to breast feed. A friend expectantly snapped a photo which Thurman subsequently posted to her Facebook page. The photo has created a firestorm as to whether or not breastfeeding should be done in a public place such as ...

As conservatives make what at times appears to be inept attempts to reach out to blacks and Hispanics, the question is will this outreach produce the necessary results enough to tilt the country in our favor? My deepest inclination is to say not a chance and let me explain why. First, the last forty years of big government policies have all but ruined an entire generation of blacks and many have been convinced that the Democrats are our friends. Not the political chess pieces that in reality we have become. The left wing media machine has done an outstandingly nefarious job of demonizing conservatives with the standard pejoratives of racist, homophobic, sexist and the like. These negative connotations have damaged the Republican brand so much so that it causes even those blacks that agree with its positions to back away. And to insure that this continues, the Democrats inject millions of dollars into black radio to further the propaganda. ...

Seattle recently instituted a minimum wage of $15 per hour. There are sure to be serious economic ramifications as a result namely lawsuits against the city, several have already been filed. The recent protest around the country demanding a higher minimum wage have been well covered by the media. Wal-Mart and McDonald's workers have led the way. This laws passage could actually be a positive development since now the left has to live with the repercussions of its economic illiteracy. The rest of the country should monitor the progress of Seattle and its economic fallout which certainly won't be good for workers or small businesses. Expect many businesses to hire fewer workers and reduce hours for current ones. Seattle should expect an influx of low skilled dreamers to flood into the city if this law is upheld. Usually when liberals get what they want they almost always don't like the results. So let's sit back and see what happens when the cook is forced ...

Over the course of his political career, Senate minority leader Harry Reid has been no stranger to the occasional gaff. His now infamous remarks about then Senator Barack Obama's lack of a "negro dialect" is his most notable example. During the presidential campaign of 2012, Reid on the senate floor claimed that a "Bain investor told me that Romney hasn't paid taxes for 10 years". Conveniently Mr. Reid failed to mention who his "deep throat" was. Dirty Harry's tongue once gain has revealed his true character. One of his and the Lefts favorite target has been the billionaire Koch brothers. Reid recently claimed that the "Koch Brothers are destroying the planet". Mr. Reid failed once again to substantiate his claim. He didn't explain how the Koch brothers could be "destroying" the planet while simultaneously earning some 700 awards from the EPA for environmental health and safety excellence since 2009? Koch Brothe...

The reign of terror in recent years of Boko Haram in Nigeria is just the latest indictment of the weak state of Africa's defenses against terror and mayhem. The genocide in Rwanda back in 1994 is the textbook example. Over a period of 100 days more than 500,000-1,000,000 Tutsi tribal members were slaughtered by the Hutu majority while the hapless U.N. stood idly by. Sierra Leon's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) with support from Liberia's Charles Taylor murdered 50,000 between 1991-2002. Not only did the feckless U.N. do nothing to prevent the genocide, they along with the Clinton administration pressured the Sierra Leone government to cancel a contract with Executive Outcomes, a private army contractor who had been very effective in controlling the rag tag RUF. With the contractor out of the way, the murder and maiming resumed. Just last week in the shadow of the Paris attacks, Boko Haram in its attempts to establish a...

The latest corporate merger has once again cast light on the complex U.S. tax code. Pfizer which is based in the U.S. plans to acquire British based AstraZeneca in a so called 'inversion' that would result in the combined company having its tax residence in the UK which has lower tax rates. The move has been criticized by politicians on both sides of the pond. However the larger issue is why haven't US politicians caught on to impetus behind this very old maneuver? U.S. heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar has avoided or deferred paying $2.4 billion in U.S. taxes by shifting most of the overseas sales for replacement parts to a Swiss subsidiary where it negotiated a 4-6% tax rate. A Senate investigation found that Apple paid virtually no corporate income taxes on billions of dollars in income over the past four years. Its widely reported that US corporations have an estimated $2.1 trillion in untaxed profits overseas. The rhetoric of the Obama administra...

President Obama released his 2013 tax returns and once again fails to pay his fare share. President and Mrs. Obama reported $481,098 in income paying $98,169 in income tax for an effective rate of 20.4%, slightly more than last years 18.4% they paid on $608,611in income. The Obama's donated $59,251 to charity and paid $23,328 to the state of Illinois. The Presidents rhetoric once again does not match his actions. Surely a member the 1% would be vilified for such a favorable tax rate. The President has often stated how he and others like him don't need the tax breaks however he continues to take advantage of them. Of course the press will ignore this latest display of hypocrisy. I wonder what Warren Buffet's secretary has to say about this?

As the latest black democrat left a Federal courthouse defeated, sadly it will have little effect on their blindly loyal voters. Democrats have ruled our major cities for decades and with few exceptions they have turned into social and economic basket cases. Here just a few examples of recent fallen democratic Mayors and politicians. Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon is the latest left wing politician who appears to be headed to federal prison. He abruptly resigned two weeks ago after being arrested on corruption charges.  In February former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin was convicted on 20 of 21 federal corruption counts. He is awaiting sentencing. Jesse Jackson Jr . is cooling his heels in the fed for the next several years, he plead guilty in 2013 to misuse of campaign funds. Jackson served as a congressman from Illinois 2nd district, a seat previously occupied by Mel Reynolds who also served time in prison for having sex with underage campaign workers. ...