"The Old Man": Still in the Fight

 

Friends, great news: cancel culture hasn't yet obliterated the proud heritage of Washington and Lee University, my alma mater.  The University's board has voted overwhelmingly to keep W&L's name in place, after leftists pushed for a change in the wake of the George Floyd/BLM fiasco.  Of course, W&L will grovel at the feet of the 1619 project and anti-white, anti-Southern bigots in countless other ways, but we'll take what small victories we're given, nowadays.  Robert E. Lee really was a larger-than-life leader and a true Christian gentleman.  I'm glad that his memory will still be honored by at least one U.S. institution of higher education.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/06/04/washington-lee-university-keep-robert-e-lee-namesake-promises-make-symbolic-changes-campus/

 

In other news, California is shrinking!!!  Not geographically, of course, but demographically, and it's not hard to see why: sky-high taxes and cost of living, rising crime, runaway wokeness, etc.  What's saved states like California and New York, in the short term, is two things: federal largesse and soaring stock market values.  Because there are still a lot of high-earners with big equity portfolios in our coastal states, that means that capital gains tax revenues flow like wine in the midst of a bull market.  Imagine what would happen, though, if the Dems lost their trifecta in D.C. and the stock market were to take a tumble.  California would find itself in a demographic/fiscal death spiral!

 

https://www.thecentersquare.com/california/irs-california-shrank-by-165k-taxpayers-8-8-billion-in-gross-income/article_6df49882-c4b7-11eb-a6df-3321eeeab5b6.html 

Georgia Republicans are split over the future of the state's GOP Governor Brian Kemp.  Many like him, but Trumpers aren't sold on the man who refused to help Trump contest the electoral outcome in 2020.  Kemp's role was quieter than Brad Raffensperger's, mind you, but Kemp didn't exactly lay it all on the line for DJT.  Will he win the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2022?  Maybe, but if he does one has to wonder whether Trumpers will show up to vote for him...

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/georgia-governor-republicans/2021/06/05/id/1024047/

 

The anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre in China in 1989 has many Chinese asking, "What massacre?"  Apparently, Microsoft has an equally short memory.

 

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/free-speech/autumn-johnson/2021/06/04/microsoft-censors-tank-man-image-search-results 

Here's a wacky idea: Donald Trump could run for the U.S. Senate in 2022 or for the House of Representatives, hoping to replace Nancy Pelosi as Speaker.  Wow!  That would be wild, huh?  A Trump run for the House would indeed energize Trumpers, but one assumes it would also nationalize the mid-terms and boost turnout across the board.  It would be an interesting contest, no?  Trump v. Pelosi, mano a mano...

 

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/donaldtrump-speakerofthehouse-2022-2024/2021/06/04/id/1023989/ 

 

Finally, the diabolical subtlety of Facebook's efforts to "protect" the 2020 election and fund get-out-the-vote efforts, overwhelmingly in blue areas, may well have decided the outcome.  It ought to have been an outrage at the time, but it's only now that we're learning on what a vast scale Facebook endeavored to tip the scales in Sleepy Joe's favor.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/zuckerbergs-45m-boosted-dem-turnout

Trump: Still in the Facebook Doghouse

 

Friends, today we learned that Facebook's "suspension" of Donald Trump will last at least until January 2023.  Coincidentally, therefore, the President will be silenced until AFTER the all-important 2022 mid-term elections.  Imagine that.  Basically, Facebook has clarified that, if your posts endanger "public safety" (in their infinite wisdom), then they reserve the right to suspend you for however long they please.  Thank heavens they put that all down in black and white, right?  All ambiguity has been removed, and 100% fairness and impartiality will prevail going forward.  Uh huh.

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/facebook-trump-suspend/2021/06/04/id/1023939/

 

Michael Barone is among those who find Facebook's "editorial" policy laughable...and extremely dangerous to American democracy.  Note that leftists are always pushing for more social media censorship, too.  They know which side their bread is buttered on, clearly.

 

It's easy to propose ending Facebook's Section 230 protections, but as Barone discusses that would probably mean that Facebook would become more selective and circumspect about the content it allows on its platforms, and in essence lawyers and judges would get to decide the parameters of acceptable speech.  Would we be better off?  I'm not sure we would.  The only cure for what ails Facebook might be...new ownership/management!

 

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2021/06/04/facebooks_speech_suppression_argues_for_repeal_of_section_230_and_a_facebook_stock_price_of_zero_145871.html 

As this article discusses, there are growing cleavages on the Left re: whether or not to negotiate with Republicans over infrastructure spending.  Progressives want to ignore the GOP and pass a massive spending bill using reconcilation, while Biden and Democratic moderates want to keep trying to find a compromise that at least 10 Republican Senators can live with.  And this is just the beginning of tactical disagreements between Dem radicals and centrists.  Expect a lot more disappointments, frustrations, and acrimony to build up over the next few years.  That's what happens when you "win" elections, after all.  You have to govern, and governing is hard.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/03/infrastructure-liberals-progressives-gop-biden-491845

 

As Pat Buchanan points out, Biden and the Democrats need to humor the GOP for one reason only: without Senators Manchin and Sinema on board for ending the filibuster, legislatively the Dems can't accomplish anything of importance without Republican support.  That raises the question: when will progressive anger at Manchin and Sinema boil over?  When will an Antifa mob show up on their respective front porches?  You know it's coming...  Also, as Pat points out, Kamala Harris has been given a key role in pushing the Dems' "voting rights" bill in Congress.  Assuming Manchin and Sinema stand fast, Harris will fail utterly.  Will she too become a target for progressive rage?

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2021/06/04/democratic_showdown_kamala_vs_manchin_145869.html

 

There is some good news for the lefties: for one thing, their favorite punching bag, Donald J. Trump, is about to resume his roadshow, which means he'll be getting a lot more attention in the media.  That should improve CNN and MSNBC's dismal ratings, and it may also serve to unite and excite the liberal base, which is already experiencing some fluctuations in the fervency of its Bidenism.  As always, the less the Dems even think about Biden, the better it is for the party and the movement.  Despising Trump, on the other hand, is one thing that progressives have no problem agreeing on.

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/upcoming-trump-rallies-will-help-democrats-remind-voters-why-they-ncna1269240 

Here's an interesting wrinkle to the "American Rescue Plan".  Remember how it threw $350 billion at (mismanaged) cities and states?  Well, it turns out that the funding formula was crafted to work to the advantage of the bluest jurisdictions.  It's a good thing, too, from their narrow perspective, because a lot of blue states and super-progressive cities were nearing bankruptcy, due to fanatical lockdowns and collapsing revenues.  Biden and a Schumer-led Senate bought these blue areas some time...but how much???  One assumes the federal spending spree won't last forever, although it's already lasted since the 1960s, so who knows.

https://fee.org/articles/biden-s-stimulus-bill-favored-blue-states-in-one-huge-way-new-study-finds/

The Barbarians Are At The Gates

 

Friends, get to know these two faces: they're Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D - Arizona) and Senator Joe Manchin (D - West Virginia).  They are the sole reason why the Dems haven't mustered the measly 50 votes needed to end the filibuster and thus push through every bill on progressives' wish list, from transgender rights, to mandatory mail-in voting and the prohibition of voter ID, to tax increases, to D.C. statehood, to court-packing, and more.  Put another way, because the Dems underperformed in the 2020 Senate elections as a whole (thanks, Donald Trump!), they need total unanimity from their Senate caucus to get much of anything done, including ending the filibuster.  So far, Kyrsten and Joe aren't willing to blow up the rules of the Senate, and end any and all chance of bipartisanship, in order to ram the Dems' radical agenda through.  THANK GOD!!!  Understandably, though, the Dems and progressives are getting antsy, as you can see in this article here.  They feel as though leftist hegemony is so close they can taste it...and yet these two recalcitrants just won't budge.  It's enough to make them go batty!  It's also enough for Sleepy Joe to express his irritation publicly.  As the article says, it probably won't do any good.  Quite the opposite, in fact: it might cause Sinema and Manchin to dig in their heels.  Let's hope!

https://www.salon.com/2021/06/02/dealing-with-manchin-and-sinema-democrats-finally-ditch-the-carrot-and-pick-up-the-stick/

 

The premise of the above article is what Democrats all across America are saying: Republican voter ID bills, and bills restricting mail-in voting, early voting, ballot harvesting, drop boxes, and the like, are EXISTENTIAL THREATS to American democracy.  The article actually has the temerity to claim that abolishing the filibuster is needed to "save American democracy".  This is hyperbolic language, even for neo-Marxists.  The truth, of course, is that the changes to election laws proposed by various GOP legislatures are modest, at best.  They certainly don't take away anyone's right to vote, and their effect on voter turnout would likely be infinitesimal.  Even if the bills pass, moreover, many blue states will still have more restrictive voting laws in place than red states!  The Dems are living in a dream world, as usual, but that doesn't mean that they don't believe their own nonsense.  They assuredly do.  The sad reality is, therefore, that, when we arrive at the 2022 election, both sides are probably going to expect to lose, because they expect to be cheated out of victory.  At least one side has got to be wrong, I hasten to add...

 

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/06/02/bidens-home-state-of-delaware-has-stricter-voting-laws-than-texas/ 

Discrimination: It's the Hot New Thing!

 

Friends, remember when our goal as a nation was to treat everyone fairly and equally?  How naive we were!  Lefties have found a much better solution to our racial and ethnic problems: figure out who's "in" and who's "out", and lavish advantages and praise on the former and disabilities and excoriation on the latter.  In other words, let whitey have it!  About time, right?

My latest article celebrates the decision of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, striking down the discriminatory aspects of the "American Rescue Plan".  It's a start.  The Dems won't give up, though.  They'll be back with more stratagems to divide and conquer.  Stay vigilant!

Check out the article at Townhall and see what you make of it:

https://townhall.com/columnists/nicholaswaddy/2021/06/01/when-did-i-have-a-dream-become-were-your-worst-nightmare-n2590278

 

In other news, here's a very thought-provoking analysis of the potential fallout from the changing narrative on the origins of COVID-19.  The "experts" assured us that the disease simply couldn't have come from a lab.  Now, the experts are backtracking, and Donald Trump seems like a world-class virologist.  Makes you think!

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/01/wuhan-coronavirus-lab-leak-covid-virus-origins-china 

Here's a great argument for voter ID: simply put, almost every civilized country already has it!  Plus, even with the changes that GOP legislatures are pushing in places like Georgia and Texas, voting in the good ole USA will still be easier than almost anywhere else in the world.  And this is Jim Crow 2.0???  Gimme a break.

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2021/06/01/the_us_is_a_voter_photo_id_outlier_theyre_the_rule_in_europe_and_elsewhere_778714.html

 

There's a special election today in New Mexico.  The Republican candidate isn't especially likely to win, but...oh, if he could!  The alarm bells would really start to ring on the Left.

 

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/republicans-hope-cut-house-democrats-majority-special-new-mexico 

Lastly, what's become of downtown Portland under far-left rule is truly astounding.  It could be a glimpse of America's dystopian future, too.  The good news (I guess) is that it's mostly poor minorities who are "afflicted" with Portland's dysfunctionality.  In other words, it's mostly the people who voted overwhelmingly blue who are getting blu-ed in the face.  I guess there's some justice in the world, huh?

https://www.breitbart.com/law-and-order/2021/06/01/nolte-blacks-murdered-near-historic-rates-democrat-run-portland/

The Problem With White People

 

Friends, no one likes whitey -- that's for sure -- but luckily critical race theory has come along to explain to us crackers why we suck so badly, and how we can apologize and prostrate our way to atonement.  Praise be!

Here's a great article on the wokeness-as-new-religious-othrodoxy paradigm.  The fanaticism and fervency of CRT's adherents may not be explainable in any other way.

https://spectator.org/george-floyd-wokeism-religion/

 

The demonization of whites, and the assumption that all people of color are victims of "white supremacy", is a doctrine that is accepted in some unlikely places these days, including in school districts where you'd expect teachers and administrators to tread more lightly.  Is your child being subjected to this kind of indoctrination?  Find out!

 

https://www.theepochtimes.com/critical-race-theory-update-et-tu-williamson-county_3836368.html?utm_source=partner 

One thing which sustains CRT and "anti-racism" is the money to be made in hectoring self-hating white liberals about their "privilege".  It's a booming industry!

https://www.theepochtimes.com/anti-racism-consultation-for-american-schools-is-becoming-a-lucrative-business_3835285.html?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=BonginoReport

 

Luckily, President Trump appointed some solid conservatives to the federal bench, and they're doing what they can to protect us from blatant discrimination, like the undisguised bias in the recent "American Rescue Plan," which posits that white men should always go to the back of the bus.  We need to reaffirm constantly the principle of equal treatment, because without it we white conservatives will be voiceless, jobless, homeless, and friendless, and quick!

 

https://www.dailywire.com/news/court-strikes-down-racial-gender-preferences-in-bidens-1-9-trillion-covid-relief-bill-that-discriminated-against-restaurant-owners 

Here's a VERY interesting poll.  COVID anxiety is receding...and worries about crime are rapidly escalating.  Most independents, moreover, view President Trump as better on crime than "President" Biden.  The Dems really are turning America into a place that looks more like San Francisco, Portland, and Chicago...and we hope the voters will notice and recoil!

https://news.yahoo.com/poll-more-americans-now-say-violent-crime-is-a-very-big-problem-than-say-the-same-about-covid-19-123231518.html

There May Not Be Any Black People Left When BLM Is Done "Saving" Them

 

Friends, one year has passed and so it's time to reflect on the legacy of the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department.  Floyd's clearest legacy is the vast political movement that he helped spawn, led by Black Lives Matter and its offshoots.  Their activism, in turn, while it didn't abolish the police, certainly cowed them.  And that Pyrrhic victory over policing led, inexorably, to a rise in crime that -- you guessed it -- has killed literally thousands of Americans, many of them black.  If you like irony, you'll love this: BLM is, whether it realizes it or not, exacerbating and accelerating the murder of black people in this country.  Only when BLM crawls back under its rock, and the police are given freer rein to enforce the law, will black communities see relief.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/byron-yorks-daily-memo-what-one-year-has-brought

 

Some of you will consider this non-news: Donald Trump, all things being equal, would like to be president again!  Of course, four years is a long time, so we'll have to wait and see if conditions are propitious in 2024, but if I were a lefty I'd be a little worried.  Maybe lightning could strike twice?

 

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/trump-2024-president-health/2021/05/27/id/1022997/ 

Facebook has lifted its ban on posts that claim that COVID-19 was manufactured in a lab.  Well well!  Does this mean that Facebook's labeling of previous posts along these lines as "misinformation" was itself...misinformation?  Maybe!  And this is just one of many problems with censorship: it presumes the infallibility of the censors, when, as we all know, "the truth" is a slippery concept and our understanding of it "evolves", as Facebook puts it.  No kidding!

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/may/27/facebook-lifts-ban-on-posts-claiming-covid-19-was-man-made

 

Colleges are already coming pretty close to requiring their faculty, staff, and students to subscribe to leftist doctrines surrounding issues of "diversity and inclusion".  Once upon a time, creating an environment wherein everyone was treated equally might have been sufficient.  No more.  Now you must foster an atmosphere in which the victimhood of certain categories of people is constantly referenced, and the fault of whites must be incessantly acknowledged.  Failure to comply will elicit the harshest penalties.  To put it another way, if you're not "with" the Left, you're against it.  What's next?  Woke loyalty oaths?

 

https://freebeacon.com/campus/ohio-college-will-assign-diversity-scores-to-faculty-applicants/ 

In other Orwellian news, USA Today will allow opponents of transgender orthodoxy to voice their opinions, BUT it also reserves the right to edit their words to avoid offending male women and female men.  Nice!

https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2021/05/27/usa-today-edits-op-ed-from-female-athlete-for-using-hurtful-language-like-male/

 

This is a story worth pondering.  There are many ways to silence and destroy your enemies.  Censorship in the media and social media is one.  Another is to deny organizations and companies of which you disapprove the ability to borrow money, transact deals, or do business in a normal way.  Just imagine how hard life would be if no bank, credit card company, or insurance company would give you the time of day...  In the future, whole industries may suffer this fate, possibly whole political parties, and certainly proscribed individuals.  The sky's the limit.  The Left loves to shun people.  Trust me -- it's only getting started.  When it's done, some of us won't even be allowed to talk to ourselves.

 

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/05/27/pat-toomey-grills-wall-street-over-de-banking-fossil-fuel-companies/ 

Separate and Anything But Equal

 

Friends, a generation or two ago Democrats were demanding an end to discrimination.  Now they're demanding compulsory discrimination...because they get to decide who's on the wrong end of it.  How times change.  Make no mistake: "positive" discrimination, i.e. bias in favor of people of color, is built into the Dems' "American Rescue Plan", and thus we need to work hard to nip this trend in the bud lest discrimination creep into more and more federal programs and policies.  Luckily, the Supreme Court has an opportunity to drive a stake through the heart of "affrimative action" and all racial preferences.  I hope it does, because otherwise this country -- in which whites will soon be a minority, and are increasingly (and openly) despised -- is destined for discord on a gargantuan scale.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2021/05/26/battling_bidens_racist_rescue_plan_145826.html

 

https://thepoliticalinsider.com/supreme-court-could-take-up-direct-challenge-to-affirmative-action/ 

This story is fascinating and deeply troubling.  It's about how Facebook spent hundreds of millions of dollars in 2020 trying to coopt local elections officials and engineer a Biden victory.  There's little doubt, in addition, that the strategy worked.  Maximizing Democratic turnout in a few key areas, and minimizing the number of mail-in ballots that were rejected because of flaws, gave Biden the slim margins he "won" by in states like Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin.  Now, how would the Dems feel if it was right-wing organizations or individuals funneling money to elections officials?  Speaking of which, why aren't we conservatives throwing money at red jurisdictions to help them boost turnout?  What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2021/05/26/how_zuckerberg_millions_paid_for_progressives_to_work_with_2020_vote_officials_nationwide_778300.html

 

There are various practical reasons why the Left has started to pull the strings in corporate America, which used to be so Republican-friendly.  One is that leftists are far better at activism, and activists know how to manipulate shareholder meetings and corporate boards.  Check out this story: leftists are literally maneuvering oil companies into pursuing their own self-annihilation.  Impressive!

 

https://www.ft.com/content/da6dec6a-6c58-427f-a012-9c1efb71fddf?segmentId=b385c2ad-87ed-d8ff-aaec-0f8435cd42d9 

Today we got some interesting poll results.  One, most GOP voters want Trump to run again in 2024.  Two, most voters overall dislike Trump and aren't very inclined to support him.  And, three, crime is an issue of rising importance, and despite the media's efforts to demonize police and excuse criminality, voters understand that the first duty of a politician is to promote order and public safety.  If crime continues to worsen, you can expect it to be one of the major themes of the 2022 and 2024 election cycles.

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/poll-quinnipiac-biden-trump/2021/05/26/id/1022901/

 

https://www.breitbart.com/crime/2021/05/26/poll-73-percent-of-americans-believe-crime-is-higher-under-joe-biden-than-donald-trump/ 

SALT I: Fewer Nukes, More Eyebrow Hair

 

Friends, the signing of the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) in May 1972 by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and U.S. President Richard Nixon marked a major milestone in the Cold War.  Détente took hold, offering the two superpowers the opportunity to resolve their differences through negotiation rather than armed conflict and possibly even nuclear war.  Most importantly, relationships of trust began to forn between U.S. and Soviet leaders, paving the way for the unraveling of Cold War tensions in the late 1980s.

This is just one of several scintillating historical topics covered in this week's Newsmaker Show.  Brian and I also tackle: whether a war similar to the Vietnam War could occur today, and the 1924 bill restricting immigration from southern and eastern Europe.

When the discussion turns to current events, Brian and I take no prisoners.  We take on hot-button topics like: the death threats against Senator Rand Paul, the legitimacy and prospects of the proposed Jan. 6th Commission, the future of the filibuster, the prevalence of hypocrisy among Democratic and Republican politicians, the crime wave in America's cities and its political lessons and consequences, new theories about the origin of COVID-19 and Chinese culpability, and whether or not Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will succeed in stopping Big Tech's persecution of conservatives.

Man oh man!  You don't want to miss a show like this one.  Tune in today!

https://wlea.net/newsmaker-may-26-2021-dr-nick-waddy/

The Backlash Against Comrade Zuckerberg

 

Friends, ever since the social media titans decided to become sentinels of orthodoxy and openly persecute, censor, and expel conservatives, the question has been: how would Republican elected officials respond?  By signing Florida's landmark social media freedom bill yesterday, Governor Ron DeSantis fired a shot across Big Tech's bow.  No longer will they be allowed to deny access to their platforms, particularly to candidates for public office.  Will it work?  That we don't know, and there will be lots of legal wrangling to decide the issue.  At least DeSantis is trying, though.  If he fails, it's no exaggeration to say that American democracy is endangered.  If the "loyal opposition" can't share its ideas with the public, it won't get far.  We'll thus be one big step closer to a one-party state.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/24/florida-governor-signs-ban-on-deplatforming-by-tech-companies.html

 

In other news, Senator Rand Paul is getting death threats (again).  Given the apoplectic hatred that burns in the hearts of many a "progressive", it's no great surprise.

 

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rand-paul-death-threat

 

The rise in crime is becoming an issue nationally that could -- could -- sink the Democrats, but only if the public is permitted to know about it.  It's also getting some attention in the special election that's taking place in New Mexico on June 1st.

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/politics/democrats-trouble-rising-crime-midterms 

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/25/dems-house-new-mexico-490711

 

The battle over the Jan. 6th Commission is heating up, and the GOP appears ready to filibuster Nancy Pelosi's bill.  That should sink the idea, unless a last-minute compromise emerges.  And really...what's the need for a commission anyway?  We already know that there are legions of angry people in this country on the Left and on the right, and that quite a few of them hate Congress and would love to storm it.  Ergo, the Capitol needs adequate security!  Problem solved.

 

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/filibuster-capitol-attack-commission/2021/05/25/id/1022651/ 

U.S. embassies have already been encouraged to fly the rainbow flag, so why not the BLM flag too?  Super!  Maybe the Black Panthers flag next?  Or maybe we should just skip ahead and fly the Chinese flag or the Soviet flag?  That's where this insanity is heading.

https://thepostmillennial.com/watch-tucker-carlson-slams-state-department-for-telling-us-embassies-to-fly-blm-flags/

 

Lest we forget, BLM is a radical, racist, and Marxist organization.  Its racism is in the name, for heaven's sake!  Our only consolation lies in the fact that the Dems seem to have realized how embarrassing a lot of BLM's rhetoric (and rioting) is, and they've issued orders to their paramilitary wing to stand down.  Oh, joy!  But how long will this respite last?  Answer: until the militants get new marching orders.

 

https://thenationalpulse.com/exclusive/blm-founder-infiltration-flag-revolution/ 

Lastly, here's a thought-provoking piece that challenges all of us to rise above our very modern and very American urge to resent those who have wronged us.  It illuminates the path to a restoration of America's spiritual strength, yes, but it's almost certain to fall on deaf ears, because victimhood and resentment lie at the center of our contemporary worldview.

https://amgreatness.com/2021/05/24/a-hard-but-simple-way-to-detoxify-american-politics/

America's Favorite Professor Visits Maryland! (Marylanders Flattered and Awestruck)

 

Greetings, friends!  

 

I've just returned from a fascinating journey to Baltimore, Annapolis, and the Antietam National Battlefield.  Maryland has much to offer, historically!  

 

From top to bottom, you can see here: one of the many monuments at Antietam, where in September 1862 the U.S. suffered its bloodiest day of battle ever; the Maryland State House in Annapolis; the central hall at the B&O Railroad Museum; and the Star-Spangled Museum at Baltimore's Flag House, where the seamstress who made the flag that flew over Fort McHenry during the infamous British bombardment in 1814 lived.

Sure, Maryland is a cesspool of progressivism now, but once upon a time it was the proud home of patriots and lovers of liberty galore!  It's a very pretty state too.  It's well worth a visit.  Put it on your list!