PERMITTING IS AN ARBITRARY PROCESS BUT GREAT REVENUE SOURCE

PERMITTING IS AN ARBITRARY PROCESS BUT GREAT REVENUE SOURCE

By Domenick J. Maglio Traditional Realist

Regulation on American business has been shown to significantly drive up the cost of a product. Trump’s executive order to negate many regulations has been a boon to the business sector. Every government mandate that regulates how the business should be run adds additional cost. Government does not know what is better for a business than the businessman, but local government bureaucrats are empowered to enforce regulations to slow down too rapid growth and maximize revenue for the government.

The same need to control growth and increase revenue has afflicted our home building market. The prices notably rise even during low demand. A major factor for this increase was attributed to expenditures to meet building codes and an increase in the bureaucratic army of the local building department. Not only are there specifications for every building material put in the home but how that item has to be installed.

Our homes used to be our castles as far back as the Middle Ages. Currently the popular sentiment has shifted with the assistance of government propaganda from the family’s private property to the local government’s need to protect them and others from “safety” hazards they arbitrarily feel might happen in the future. The government continues to creep even into the sanctity of our “castles” supposedly to protect citizens from improving this significant asset, their homestead for their own good and “safety.”

In the recent past in unpopulated areas people did not have to get permission to add to their home, renovate the interior or even paint.  Government required permits were very limited in scope until local government realized the potential revenue source of permitting every aspect of people’s homes. The permitting department like many others expanded under the guise of public safety. Presently the mandated codes and building requirements conflict and have little legitimate justification.  Some counties have created their own local codes while others use state and national ones.  An example is seen in something as simple as doors.  A front door with steps must swing inward while a state hurricane mandate requires the outside doors swing out, which is exactly the opposite. In the first case the person is supposed to be able to see the steps while the second example the doorjamb will prevent the door from being blown in.

Another contradictory regulation is that all doors that separate a garage from the interior of the home need to have a self-closing hinge to prevent fumes from entering the interior of the house. However, this requirement caused an uproar after being implemented. The practical problem is that the family cannot easily carry in groceries or other objects from the garage as the door constantly closes between trips. Two different rationales for the same garage door results in frustration.

Making the building regulation process more confusing is when two government entities have contradictory requirements. A local city historical requirement to any buyer is to keep an older house in the exact style of a certain time period, while the county bureaucrats in the building department demand updating the house to modern standards. What does the homeowner do? Put in an old-fashioned jalousie window or hurricane impact ones? These determinations should be hammered out clearly before any citizen has to face this “Catch 22.”

When it comes to FEMA regulations many are arbitrary and left to interpretation by a FEMA representative and the local building department. The choice of the flood map in a particular area determines the classification of the property. The capriciousness in the interpretation of the map creates an issue. Changing department heads, supervisors, or a rogue inspector who makes bizarre  interpretations of the statute can drive a new homeowner crazy.

Home ownership and upgrading one’s home instead of being encouraged have become a nightmare. Our local, state and federal regulatory agencies need to be accountable to the people they serve.  The permitting department’s army should not be used to build a bureaucratic kingdom for their political advancement and for increasing their authority, salary or retirement package.

It is time to reevaluate building and upgrading a home. Home buyer, builders, government officials, concerned and affected citizens should have an open forum to simplify and discard non-sensible, ineffective or conflicting regulations. The red tape of the government bureaucracy should be reduced by attrition and the return of freedom to property owners. Government workers should assist homeowners not place obstacles to impede their freedom to improve their own property.

Bureaucrats, keep your hands off the sanctity of a person’s home. It is our human right.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN  and a new book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

SAT “ADVERSITY SCORE” WILL STRENGTHEN UNIVERSITY REEDUCATION CAMPS

SAT “ADVERSITY SCORE” WILL STRENGTHEN UNIVERSITY REEDUCATION CAMPS

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

The use of an Adversity Score matrix is a vile step into bureaucratic thought control and a big step away from merit based education. The Adversity Matrix is a subjective road towards indoctrinating students. Instead of right or wrong information, anyone that is easily propagandized or is an adherent to progressive ideas can be unfairly favored in this process. It would be another means to coerce students into accepting progressive ideology or face the firing squad of being erased from higher education by unethical professor’s biased failing grades to eliminate any resistance to their brainwashing.

Most people realize the SAT and ACT exams are supposed to test college aptitude. These tests are supposed to discriminate between the students who will do well in college and those who will not. They are not infallible or even accurate testing instruments but they are part of the admission process that evaluates student ability, skills, community service and life experiences.

There are students who do not do well in higher academic grades because of their attitudes and/or behavior. Yet these students might have developed academic skills through their out-of-school activities such as reading, media, family or friends. The SAT examination is supposed to validate the skills and student readiness to do well in college.

Currently, David Coleman, executive head of the SAT board and architect of the failed Common Core program stated; “the Adversity Score gives contextual information for colleges to better evaluate students.” There are fifteen socio-economic factors such as crime and poverty rate to arrive at this score by using the student’s zipcode. The score will be from 1-100 below 50 shows hardship and above denotes privilege. Students will not be informed of the score. There will not be an iota of transparency to fight this arbitrary process.

America has already witnessed many students failing courses for only voicing traditional American viewpoints rather than buying the socialist-communist ones. Presently conservative speakers are frequently banned from college campuses for arguing against socialist policies. Antifa affiliated students attending these debates violently riot disrupting the university’s sponsored educational program without receiving punishment. The administration must protect the right of all students’ free speech.

This Orwellian scheme is already being used by 50 universities and is slated to increase to 150 by next year. Colleges will have an arbitrary number that is “supposed” to be helpful in selecting students. This is another bureaucratic gimmick to replace merit by an “identity politics matrix.”

People overcome all types of obstacles in their lives besides dealing with socio economic conditions. People from all levels of society have overcome many kinds of adversity. An affluent student who has received no love or support but rather psychological or physical abuse will be overlooked. Illness, death of a loved one, handicaps, drug or alcohol addiction will not be part of the evaluative equation. The socio economic scale is a limited and unjust way to discriminate in selecting students who will be successful at the university.

There is every reason for David Coleman not to reveal a student’s score. Just like Common Core it will give less ammunition for adversaries to point out the program’s liabilities. It will rightfully open up a Pandora’s Box of objections to this arbitrary score of the student. It is better for the SAT bureaucracy to remain secretive of the underhanded workings of the social engineering being done by the  educational elites. This addition to the SAT score will do away with students who work hard to reach a higher level of competency. Instead, it would select groups of students already prone or easily politically indoctrinated to follow the progressive political ideology.

By replacing a partial merit system with a full blown politically motivated one our nation will be doomed to be governed by a small powerful group of progressive elites. The dumbing down of our education system has happened at warp speed. The disgraceful condition of it has been hidden through grade inflation eliminating cursive writing, history, geography, critical thinking and lowering the SAT standards to disguise the low quality of our current student knowledge base.

Most importantly, the lack of freedom of speech and debate in our present universities has curtailed the diversity of thought and created narrow minded students.  Critical thinking is being punished by enforcing “Political Correctness” thought control.

We must stop these anti American educational practices by withholding federal funds, legally prosecuting professors for punishing student rights to express contrary viewpoints and have them sign a pledge to uphold our Constitution and Bill of Rights. For America to be free again we must demand well documented, not revisionist history knowledge and critical thinking ability of citizens. 

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN  and a new book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

OUR TRUE HISTORY IS THE GLUE THAT HOLDS THE NATION TOGETHER

OUR TRUE HISTORY IS THE GLUE THAT HOLDS THE NATION TOGETHER

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

Today America’s history is under attack. Most schools no longer teach history in a factual manner. The history of America is seen by most public school and university intellectuals as a series of exploitations of other people to benefit the power brokers of the United States to the detriment of everyone else. There are numerous creatively fabricated narratives to substantiate this point of view. In this current time our incredibly enlightened founders are made out to be evil white racists who did not personally sacrifice almost everything to establish the freest nation in the history of mankind. This is revisionist history that attempts to undermine the legitimacy of the USA.

Why now and for what reason is this happening? Whenever there are revolutionaries who want to take over an existing government they have to destroy the moral values and past leadership, which are the underpinnings of the existing culture. This rewriting of the history of the nation from predominately negative perspectives is needed to provoke change. The masses will change their allegiance from the former leaders to the wannabe ones. During the early stages of the Soviet communist revolution in the 1920s Antonio Gramsci advocated attacking Christian values to foment the worldwide revolution. Chairman Mao implemented the Cultural Revolution to justify eliminating any opposition while rejuvenating communist zeal to avoid a counter-revolution.

Presently privileged interest groups, anarchists, the elite media, globalists and communists have aligned with our present elite political establishment to dismantle the national interests of countries worldwide for a global one-world-government. All of these diverging groups view that the breakup of the United States will open the floodgates of change, which would allow for the rapid creation of a Utopian world government. It is a grandiose scheme that can be accomplished only by annihilating the cultures throughout the world especially the United States.

Today’s progressives in the United States are still trying to destroy any patriotism that may exist in our younger citizens. The political culture of exceptionalism is being flipped from the incredibly intelligent, rational men of the past to evil, self-serving exploiters. This historical distortion can only take place by creating a vacuum of historical knowledge. This is happening in our public schools and in our universities by preventing open debate with opponents and by radical rewriting of factual history. This false and disgraceful history has to be rejected.

The only major obstacle to their victory of taking over the US government is the incredible exceptionalism of America. This would include George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee and almost all other heroes of our nation’s history. These heroes have to be denounced and then erased by social justice distortions. The only problem is the acts of courage of these heroes has been well documented in many sources. Many of the statues of these honorable men have been torn down by Antifa and other progressive mobs. There are too many references of their important deeds, well documented in official books to be eliminated without the notice of the people. Patriotic citizens have to stand up and voice their objection to prevent this catastrophe of obliterating the freest nation on earth from continuing to be free.

We The People of America do not want a bunch of misguided totalitarian revolutionaries destroying our great country. America is in an intellectual conflict of defending our American exceptionalism against strident international, one-world government advocates. These privileged interest groups and anarchists are being used as soldiers to weaken the social fabric and union of our country. This is a well-organized and financed plot to bring down our nation and replace it with an all-controlling robotic world government.

The patriotic citizens who know the greatness of America have to demand that historical cultural context be taught in our schools and recognized in our media. Education based on truth is the best defense to counter blatant lies and distortions.

The “glue of our patriotic history” is there to unite all Americans if we teach it. When  the real comprehensive national history is taught, the context and the unbelievable sacrifice of Americans must be included. With this we would become inoculated against repressive worldwide propaganda.

True knowledge of history is the necessary way to preserve our exceptional nation and the comparable free nations. The most accurate history of world events, not propaganda revisionist history, should be the compass to lead the world of nations into the future of greater freedom and prosperity the world has ever experienced.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN  and a new book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

“I’M OFFENDED” IS A DESTRUCTIVE, ANTI-AMERICAN CONCEPT

“I’M OFFENDED” IS A DESTRUCTIVE, ANTI-AMERICAN CONCEPT

By Domenick J. Maglio Ph.D. Traditional Realist

Dr. Benjamin Spock, M.D. was a progressive socialist who disassembled our functioning child rearing practices. His approach was “permissive materialism.” It has corrupted our pragmatic culture.

Today most families pamper their children but do little training on becoming an adult. The focus for the child is primarily to make sure the child is in a blissful state of ignorance. Too many youngsters are given everything they want before they even ask. Immediate gratification has become the norm. Our young adults have become mentally weak because they have no concept of sacrifice or reality.

Giving people something for nothing always has unintended negative consequences. An entire generation of children has suffered from a lack of strong family life but has not experienced any severe disaster like The Depression or war. They have not been introduced to the benefit of delayed gratification of putting off today for tomorrow when you can afford it. Many modern parents no longer attempt to teach their children to comply with rational rules and behavior. Instead they indulge their child to voice their opinions and feelings to anyone including adults regardless of how baseless and ignorant they are.

Parents are not teaching their children the moral values to be successful, but are creating people with false high esteem. These self-confident but delusional youngsters want others to comply with their feelings and thinking so they do not suffer the aggravation of confusion. There is no debate permitted in their world, as it would disturb their sensibilities. They firmly believe others should stifle their viewpoints through censorship and conform to their idiosyncratic feelings.

Like it or not permissive materialistic child rearing has prepared our children to be social change agents. Their delusional self-importance and mental weakness toward sacrifice is a conscious tactic of the progressive politicians to facilitate rapid progressive change, which leads to servitude by its inevitable loss of rational thought and freedom. Feelings have replaced critical thinking.

“I am offended” is a ludicrous statement. Who cares? Should someone be stopped by a person saying this? “Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never harm me.” This statement has been used for generations as a comeback for children.

It is our decision to listen or not to another person. When a person concludes that the other person is wrong in logic, has wrong facts or is just being nasty, he can walk away. You have a right to ignore that person from that moment on. These easily offended do not have to attend a discussion or debate by different thinking people but have no right to deny others. The best answer to the intolerance of speech is more speech.

This notion of being offended should have been summarily dismissed as absurd when it reared its foolish head. However, progressive universities and the media have condoned it as more than acceptable. It is their “right.” They have created safe spaces, provided therapeutic animals and denied different speaker’s viewpoints and finally turned a blind eye to Antifa attacking people and symbolic statues.

These ill-mannered youths insist when their feelings are hurt that people should immediately apologize and take back their comments especially when it is true. Before anyone else makes a statement they should think about the feelings of all others. The responsibility is placed on the speaker to self-censor, in order not to upset anyone in the group.

This PC self-censorship is not wise or appropriate in a nation that prides itself on freedom of speech. We are being encouraged by self-centered parents who have been raised to think they are privileged. It is allowing their child-like adolescents to also feel they are entitled to tell anyone that they are “offended” which translates into “stop all discussion on the topic” instead of saying to themselves, “Whatever!” Disagreeing with a person’s viewpoint should not allow the listener to dictate what the speaker should say. Individuals should be able to debate expressing their own opinions without being concerned about the audience reaction.

Youngsters should realize that the world does not revolve around them. Young people have to adapt to the culture not everyone else adapting to their particular wishes and feelings. All of us have to be sufficiently mature to comprehend that when a person is constantly offended the problem is theirs to overcome.  This person needs to examine through introspection how they can change instead of demanding that society should change.

Whenever a person thinks someone else is idiotic or offensive, just leave, realizing that the USA is a free speech zone. Everyone has a right to his own perspective. Our republic placed free speech as the number one amendment in the Bill of Rights for the open and free exchange of ideas as the lifeline of our country.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN  and a new book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.