by Brian Brady
Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL
August 14, 2019 is a sad day for me because I realize that I ruined my family’s future. Oh, how I wish I would have kept my mouth shut !
My daughter, a brilliant and accomplished student was rejected by all the Ivy League colleges despite her stellar work in high school. Each rejection letter said the same thing; ideologically undesirable. Fortunately, she was accepted at my Alma Mater but her inability to access student loans (she was branded as “ideologically undesirable”) left her with no money for college.
She’ll have an opportunity to attend a State-sponsored college if she successfully completes her mandatory service in Organizing for America. She’s going to have to keep her mouth shut and tow the line, though. She is atoning for her 9th grade paper entitled “God Will Provide: Why We Shouldn’t Fret About Climate Change“. Her teacher reported her to the Government website and that, combined with my record of dissent, determined her future. We almost lost her to the Child Education Services Agency with that little transgression.
President Robert Menendez signed the Good Children Can’t Be Left Behind Act of 2017. That Law taxed the money I’d saved in her 529 plan, at 75%, to support the education of disadvantaged youth and I protested on Twitter. I suppose my protest was misguided in retrospect.
President Menendez was elected by a sweeping margin when he ran against former Senator Mel Martinez in the first ever race-neutral Presidential election. Former President Obama signed the Neutrality in Elections Act of 2013 and it was agreed that Presidential elections would be held with a specific race/ethnicity as the qualifying factor, every eight years, so as to offer opportunity to all Americans. We The G.O.P originally nominated George P. Bush but his ambiguous ethnicity disqualified him for this particular election; he’ll have his chance in 16 years.
I called that reverse discrimination on Facebook. A so-called “friend” reported that status update to the Government website and I was heavily fined for that comment six months later.
I mentioned that I was short on cash. Fed Chairman Summers capped real estate and mortgage brokerage fees at $500/file under the Consumer Financial Protection Act. I had hoped to land one of the Federal Housing Counselor jobs where I could perform the pre-closing counseling, prior to the 14-day rescission period, because that paid twice as much but I was branded as ideologically undesirable back in 2010. The fine I incurred for seditious speech, on Mortgage Rates Report, when Fed Chairman Summers was confirmed sealed that fate.
My poor wife was dumb enough to stick with me after she rejected the advances of one of the State Environmental Appraisers, on an inspection for one of our clients. Had she accepted his proposition, my daughter might be off to Brown University and my wife would be enjoying quarterly vacations in Europe. Today, she’s stuck with annual stay-cations (we’re not supposed to travel more than 250 miles without a permit) and you already know about my daughter.
All is not completely lost; I have my memories of Bloodhound Blog. What a lively bunch we were…so full of idealism ! Al used to wave the flag, Greg warned us of the Government-Industrial Complex, Don drew parallels between old movies and political shenanigans, and Sean was sure the Government would zap his brain. Alas, I realize that those memories must stay in my mind because I can’t afford the luxury of free seditious speech anymore.
Don’t feel sorry for me, though. It’s not so bad. I still have my health (care).
Michael Patton says:
How dare you mock our SUPREME LEADERS!
(note: Internet Czar, if you’re monitoring this, please note I did not jump on the bandwagon and say something like Ditto.)
August 15, 2009 — 4:53 pm
Jeff Brown says:
My good buddy, Brian ‘The Moving Target’ Brady. Can’t wait to hear the lib comments twisting your words, and better yet, denying Obama and company ever said or did anything of the kind the post implies.
Take an extra couple cookies, Big Guy, you’ve earned ’em.
August 15, 2009 — 7:32 pm
David Losh says:
There was a time when I was warned about my on line reputation. After reading this blog for the past couple of months I look tame.
race-neutral Presidential election
Sheesha!
August 15, 2009 — 7:35 pm
Greg Swann says:
Just brilliant, Brian. This is one of the best posts ever written at BloodhoundBlog.
Inlookers take note: There were people in Nazi Germany who found themselves in the camps in 1940 for things they had had the temerity to say in public in 1930. If you want to tell me “it can’t happen here,” first tell me how it happened there.
August 15, 2009 — 7:51 pm
Benjamin Dona says:
What a great post Brian! Made my sunday morning all the more enjoyable than usuual.
Now, if I can just figure out how the morons in the White House got my wife’s private email address…
August 16, 2009 — 6:28 am
Missy Caulk says:
Oh Brian…I wish I could laugh and enjoy this post as it is extremely creative.
Alas, it seems all to real to what might actually happen.
August 16, 2009 — 7:26 am
David Losh says:
If you want freedom then you need to have all people free. Millions of African Americans are in prison for trading in illegal drugs. It’s for the public good. Even though we can regulate prescription medication, alcohol, tobacco, and fire arms, illegal drugs run rampant.
Millions of people in camps in Germany, or millions of people in prison in America, it’s all the same. Ghettos are ghettos, Warsaw, or Newark.
August 16, 2009 — 7:48 am
Vance Shutes says:
Brian,
I guess by adding my two cents worth here, I’ll be on the “list” too. So be it.
We can only hope that your peek into the looking glass of the future is a bit murky, as reported here. Then again, the future is ours to create. D**n the torpedos!
August 16, 2009 — 12:02 pm
Jessica Wynn Horton says:
“God Will Provide: Why We Shouldn’t Fret About Climate Change“.
Climate change isn’t the only thing that we shouldn’t fret about…
True “freedom” is spiritual freedom and that can’t be taken away. No, I’m not happy about what all I see going on, but I know who is in control and I pray. I pray because the stability of a client nation is directly related to the spirituality of its people.
The following statements have been taken from Pastor R.B. Thieme, Jr’s Apostasy in the Land.
“In times of apostasy, government seeks to control its citizens from the cradle to the grave. Free men are treated as criminals, and criminals are treated as free men. Freedom of thought, decision, and speech by which the Gospel and Bible doctrine are communicated merge into the shadows of tyranny and slavery. The tentacles of socialism and bureaucracy strangle and destroy free enterprise. Freedom to succeed or fail in life through one’s own motivation and decisions is neutralized. The only bulwark against the onslaught of apostasy in the land is the believer advancing to spiritual maturity.”
August 16, 2009 — 2:06 pm
John Rowles says:
At the risk of being labeled a “lib”, which is fine if you mean “Libertarian” by it, I’d like to point out that George Bush Jr. did more damage to the Constitution and individual liberty than anything Obama seems to be contemplating.
The Cheney-driven agenda to expand Executive Power lead to secret prisons where terrorists and accused terrorists were tortured and a warrantless wire tapping operation that was much wider in scope than they admitted when they got caught. Not to mention the jingoistic run up to the Iraq war that was based on a solid neo-conservative fantasy and flimsy evidence.
The Nazi comparison gets thrown around so much in order to inflame that it has lost meaning, but from where I sit, the use of ultra-right wing prejudices to bull-rush support for the war and a power grab by the executive, things that actually happened as opposed to all these Turner Diary-esque Glen Beckisms floating around about Obama, more closely parallel what happened in Germany in the 30’s than anything I see happening today.
August 17, 2009 — 6:27 am
Greg Swann says:
I don’t see this Republican versus Democrat debate. We have two National Socialist parties, and both are to be feared. But the Republicans are thoughtless pragmatists with the entire intellectual elite of the country — such as it is — arrayed against them. The Democrats are very careful students of Marx, Gramsci and Alinsky — Obama most especially. They know what they want and they have the press and the professoriat running interference for them. The people most to be feared, as Brian notes, are the ones who have already shackled us with all manner of speech codes and thought crimes. But: Everyone who loves liberty opposes both parties and everything associated with them. If the Republicans seem to enslave us more slowly, nevertheless the chains will be just as hard to shatter.
August 17, 2009 — 8:13 am
Al Lorenz says:
Brian,
Great post. Maybe in a few years I’ll do a post on creating a new identity!
Cheers!
August 17, 2009 — 9:04 am
Sean Purcell says:
Greg nailed it, as usual. If you find yourself fearing only one party and supporting the other, take a look in the mirror. You are a part of the problem.
The government is a monster. It has always been a monster. To the degree that it was a “necessary” monster, the founders of this nation – who understood on a personal level the tyranny of power – created checks too numerous to name. Still, power corrupts and part of that corruption is to slowly neutralize and eventually eliminate the checks on its own power.
This is done by all parties and they cannot help themselves (hence the wisdom of “power corrupts”). Some perform this dance to the music of “business knows best” and some perform it accompanied by the melodies of “we (the government) know what’s best for you” but they all dance. It is our job, every couple of generations, to fight back and shrink the monster as much as possible.
My fear these days is that we have crossed a “tipping point,” beyond which there are more people enjoying the benefit of entitlement thinking (and entitlement programs) than there are people looking for their own success and relying on Adam Smith’s invisible hand. If that fear is realized, then there are not the numbers to turn back the monster.
Government is to be feared at EVERY turn. If you are not wearing a tin foil hat in solidarity with the “crazy folk” who see conspiracy all around us… I submit you are not paying attention at all.
August 17, 2009 — 12:26 pm
Jessica Wynn Horton says:
Greg:
You are so right: We have two National Socialist parties.
Sean:
Greg may have nailed it, but you just hit out of the park with that comment!
I’m off to Wal-Mart to look for fancy cars and purchase more Reynolds Wrap…
August 17, 2009 — 12:39 pm
Brian Stockwell says:
Well said gentlemen!
August 17, 2009 — 12:55 pm
Robert Worthington says:
Brian, I am so shocked I really don’t know what to say. I feel like because I’m a christian and believe in capitialism that I may be brought down myself someday. Scary thoughts but your post was remarkable, nicely done.
August 17, 2009 — 2:35 pm
Don Reedy says:
Brian,
Thanks for getting the message out, in true Bloodhound style. Like Sean, I worry that we may be too late to the party, but I know that you carry a satchel filled with optimism and hope.
All these words and thoughts contribute to the legacy of the free speaking man and woman. It’s a checkered, bloody, and to date incomplete legacy. For me, reading the words you and the others here have penned leaves a sweet taste in my mouth, and a deep aching in my heart.
I want you to know that it is imperative, what you do and what you write, however. From the “Sands of Iwo Jima”, this quote:
“Sergeant John M. Stryker (Sands of Iwo Jima):
“A lot of guys make mistakes, I guess, but every one we make, a whole stack of chips goes with it. We make a mistake, and some guy don’t walk away – forevermore, he don’t walk away.”
As Greg has alluded, dying is dying. You can be run through with a bayonet, or as happens in the movie above, just go for a cup of coffee and let your guard down for a short time. Either way…..
August 17, 2009 — 3:11 pm
Teri Lussier says:
Brian, Brian, Brian-
This is America. We have nothing to fear… Aw, forget it, I can’t even pretend.
I spent some time last week watching C-SPAN. Thank god I have my tin-foil hat at the ready. Bush did twisted twisted things to our freedoms, but I do believe (and I truly wish I didn’t!) that we ain’t seen nothing yet.
August 18, 2009 — 5:02 am
Jim Cronin says:
Brian,
It’s been too long since I stopped by for some light reading. Thanks for keeping it heavy. Your article is one of the most inspirational pieces I have had the pleasure of reading in some time. Kudos.
August 18, 2009 — 9:37 am
witisoto says:
I find it interesting that flame comments will be deleted but entire flame posts get the front page.
August 18, 2009 — 9:59 am
Greg Swann says:
> I find it interesting that flame comments will be deleted but entire flame posts get the front page.
You will need to tell me which of BloodhoundBlog’s guests are being flamed on our front page.
Inlookers: The comments policy at BloodhoundBlog is well-detailed. But if you’re having a tough time understanding it, I wrote a very long post on just that one issue: Why does BloodhoundBlog have a comments policy? In order to prevent my property from being hi-jacked and our contributors and guests from being abused, insulted, maligned and harangued.
An argument that you disagree with is not a flame, not even if it makes you really, really hot under the collar — although that kind of autonomic emotional reaction is a very strong clue that you cannot defend your beliefs in reason. No one gets agitated about a claim that they can demonstrate is patent nonsense.
A flame is an attempt to punish another person for holding views you don’t like, usually with the intent of forcing that person into adopting — or at least aping — your own position. Flaming is coercion, and you had better get used to the idea that coercion is not welcome here.
Repeat that: Flaming is coercion, and everyone writing, reading or commenting here needs to get used to the idea that coercion is not welcome at BloodhoundBlog.
Do you understand? The comment quoted above is a flame, an attempt to punish and to coerce by sneer-power — in this case implying that our comments policy is hypocritical since it permits Brian Brady to make an argument that “witisoto” cannot abide. Thus is a canard for free speech used — ubiquitously, alas — to enforce a mandated silence.
Karl Marx said, “You can’t refute a sneer.” In the Web 2.0 world, you can. This is how it’s done. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to make this demonstration, “witisoto.”
August 18, 2009 — 10:35 am
Doug Quance says:
Like Greg, I can’t be bothered being pigeon-holed into a single political identity. I find far too much wrong with both parties to belong to either.
Having said that, I find it interesting that – especially on the Interwebs – those who talk a good game about free speech are quick to condemn speech that they don’t agree with… and are quick to refer to it as “hate speech”.
I, for one, applaud Greg’s policing of his website. While he does not censor any of us – he does have some rules for his playground… and if we don’t like it, we can take our ball and go home.
As for you, Mr. Brady… well done, sir. Well done.
August 19, 2009 — 10:48 am
Greg Swann says:
> I, for one, applaud Greg’s policing of his website. While he does not censor any of us – he does have some rules for his playground… and if we don’t like it, we can take our ball and go home.
Bless you, sir. Thank you. FWIW, the easiest way to hit the bit bucket is keyword spam — making believe that your name is something like Nassau County Real Estate Bargains. I can’t tell if those folks are spammers, SEO mechanics or just typically illiterate Realtors. But right there at the comments box, it says, “all keyword spam will be deleted.” I end up killing five or ten spam comments a day.
August 19, 2009 — 6:41 pm