The following appeared on Monday, September 18, 2023, in the Blank Slate Media newspaper chain and on its website, theisland360.com:

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently posted on her Instagram account a video that claims the inflation talk is “propaganda” promoted by greedy corporations.

That allegation is absurd.

Since Joe Biden took office in January 2021, overall inflation has skyrocketed. It is up 15%.

Dairy products are up 24%, ground beef +21%, roasted coffee +21%, soups + 24%, poultry + 24%, frozen fruits and vegetables +24%, and flour has jumped a staggering 34%.

As for energy costs, diesel fuel is up 64%, home heating oil +63%, gasoline +54%, propane + 25%, natural gas 25% and electricity is up 22%.

As for wages, the Census Bureau reported medium household income, adjusted for inflation, fell last year by $1,750 to $74,580. It is down $3,670 from 2019.

Those are facts, not “propaganda.”

This is not the first time AOC has distorted reality.

In December 2021, AOC claimed that the “smash-and-grab” crime wave was a hoax. She said this despite miles of videotape that police and retailers possess that prove otherwise.

Then there was the time in July 2020 when AOC declared on social media that the surge in crime was due to “hungry people stealing loaves of bread.”

The fact was at that point in time, acts of petty larceny were actually down 7% while murders were up 27%.

When called on her misstatements, the self-righteous AOC said it didn’t matter because she is “morally right,” even if her facts are not.

AOC, a dedicated Democratic-Socialist ideologue, is truly out of touch.

Why? Because if she faced facts, it would contradict her ideology.

Ideology is a much-abused word. Many who bandy about this term are under the mistaken notion that ideology is synonymous with strongly holding philosophical or theological truths. On the contrary, ideology is instead a system of ideas or rigid abstract formulas mixed with scientific jargon and some empirical facts that claims knowledge about reaching perfection in the temporal order.

Ideologies are pseudo-sciences constructed around simple equations concerning man’s complex relationship with the body politic. They are promoted as secularized redemptive creeds to justify or legitimize power grabs.

The art of politics for ideologues, the renown historian Jacob Talmon has noted, “is the application of their formulas to society and the final purpose of politics is only achieved when the ideology reigns supreme over all fields of life.”

Because ideologues believe they are omnipotent, their formulas to manage mankind cannot be challenged regardless of the facts. As a New England transcendentalist once quipped, “if the material facts differ from the truth, so much the worse for the facts.”

While the ideological formulas may vary, the ends are the same: domination. Since ideological formulas are absolute, no dissent is tolerated. For ideologues, the party line is the only line—the total line.

In the case of AOC, she subscribes to the Democratic-Socialist ideology.

Their radical platform calls for a hiring freeze of police and fire officers, the decertification of police unions and associations, the elimination of all misdemeanor offenses, the termination of prison expansion funding, the closing of local jails, the end of police occupation of black and brown communities, and the disarming of policemen.

The Democratic-Socialists want to nationalize water, gas, electric, telecommunications, media, banking, insurance, investment and real estate corporations.

They also want to increase income tax rates, real estate taxes, financial transaction taxes, capital gain taxes, corporate taxes, and to institute wealthy and luxury purchase taxes.

No doubt AOC is convinced that when the tenets of her ideological platform are imposed and are properly administered by Messianic elitists like herself, society will be transformed into a harmonious secular paradise—in other words “Heaven on Earth.”

But anyone with an ounce of common sense knows that AOC’s socialist platform if implemented would only lead to chaos and despair—just as it has in every country that has been governed by analytical creeds that supersede practical experience.

AOC is a hopeless ideologue who so far has talked a lot on Instagram and has accomplished little in the halls of Congress. Be aware, however, she and her confreres will never rest in their quest for absolute power. And they will rationalize most any means to achieve that end.

The following appeared on Friday, September 8, 2023, in the Blank Slate Media newspaper chain and on its website, theisland360.com:

Thirty years ago, I was the Conservative Party candidate for New York City mayor running against the incumbent Democrat, David Dinkins, and the Republican-Liberal, Rudolph W. Giuliani.

I ran in 1993 to give voters a conservative choice on Election Day over two liberals.

During the campaign, Giuliani would not appear on the same platform with me. He refused to debate Mayor Dinkins because I was included.

Why was he ducking me? Because Giuliani takes criticism poorly, has trouble laughing at himself and has a short fuse.

His handlers feared a wisecrack from me (and I had plenty of them stored up) might set him off.

Giuliani admitted to columnist Murray Kempton, “Marlin might get under my skin and make me angry.”

Well, Giuliani won, but when he entered City Hall he did not check his character flaws at the front door. Mayor Giuliani thrived on being a mean-spirited, humorless, malicious thug.

By the end of his second term, Giuliani’s obnoxious behavior had taken a toll.  The public had grown weary of his personality, and he became a laughingstock. His separation antics from his second wife was bad soap opera.

Also, when the economy was booming at the end of the 20th century, Giuliani abandoned fiscal restraint and became a big spender.

City budget expenditures jumped 25%—twice the inflation rate. Giuliani left his successor a projected operating deficit of $4.5 billion and New York citizens with the highest tax burden of any major municipality in the nation.

However, all of Giuliani’s flaws were swept under the rug after he displayed outstanding leadership on 9/11.

“America’s Mayor” parlayed his fame into a multimillion-dollar, money-making machine.

He and his third wife spent lavishly. Giuliani’s biographer, Andrew Kirtzman reported that their overhead was $250,000 a month.

Over time the Giuliani aura began to fade.

His campaign to be the Republican nominee for president in 2008 was a disaster. He received only 2% of the vote in the South Carolina primary and dropped out.

Celebrity status and a well-heeled campaign treasury did not guarantee victory. Giuliani spent north of $50 million to win one delegate.

Conservatives did not buy into Giuliani stories of his Damascus Road-like conversion.

Republican consultant Nelson Warfield best described the Giuliani candidacy: “It bordered on science fiction to think that someone as liberal on his many issues as Rudy Giuliani could become the Republican nominee. Rudy didn’t even care enough about conservatives to lie to us. The problem wasn’t the calendar—it was the candidate.”

While Wall Street and Country Club Republicans control campaign money, Giuliani’s failed candidacy proved that socially conservative Main Street and Walmart Republicans control the outcome of primaries.

In recent years Giuliani’s income declined and his third divorce cost him plenty.

A desperate Giuliani foolishly thought an alliance with President Trump would restore his fame and his fortune.

That marriage of convenience was a disaster. Trump treated Giuliani like a servant and stiffed him on legal fees.

And taking center stage in the 2020 post-election follies resulted in Giuliani’s law license being suspended and his criminal indictment in the Georgia election conspiracy case.

Ironically, the RICO law Giuliani abused to make his name as a big-time federal prosecutor in the 1980s, was used by the Atlanta DA to nail him.

Desperate for cash to start paying off the $3 million he owes his white-collar criminal lawyer, Giuliani was forced to put his Manhattan apartment up for sale in August.

To add insult to injury, a legal defense fund website set up by Giuliani friends to raise $5 million was taken down after raising less than $10,000.

Giuliani’s narcissistic need to be in the spotlight has destroyed his reputation and his legacy. Now, he will be remembered for hair dye running down his face and his Georgia jail house mugshot.

Awfully sad, don’t you think?