Independents

With bipartisanship at a high the independents are becoming more determinant. So what do many, if not most of this group, see as important. They like law enforcement, legal immigration, secure borders, strong military, safety net, jobs over public assistance, free speech, less government, low taxes, energy independence, respecting the flag, pro Israel and fair trade policies.

Climate and power

The proponents of climate change are facing a dilemma. They want to get rid of fossil fuels but they have no realistic replacement. To use wind and solar requires the mining of rare earths and environmentalist oppose that unless it is done in China. Meanwhile progress can be made by continuing to improve mileage and moving away from coal in power plants. This has allowed the US to reduce CO2 emission over the past 15 years by more than any other country. The use of natural gas for transportation would continue this downward trend since transportation accounts for 28% of all energy use in the USA. New and improved nuclear power plants could be built. Currently the US gets 20% of its power from nuclear which represents 50% of all carbon free energy. There are two nuke plants set to come on line next year. Solar currently provides 2% of power.

Ego talk

If your desire is to help others learn then carefully dig up the facts on the subject using multiple sources and cross checking and cross referencing and people can be better informed. I you want to discuss behavior use your self as an example and answer the questions posed by St Paul when he said why do I do the things I should not do and do not do the things I should do. We can all learn from that. When facts are presented without proper verification and the behavior of others is discussed that is generally ego talk and lacks credibility.

Colonialism

According to President Obama's book his father fought against British colonialism in Kenya and this had an impact on the presidents views of the world. He was disgusted with the way western countries exploited Africa. Some feel this affected the way he saw the Israeli/Arab conflict. They think he sided with the Palestinians because he saw Israel as a country taking advantage of the weaker state. This did not affect the way Obama saw replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar. He seems unaware that the mining of rare earths in China is causing environmental damage so that western countries can expand their high tech societies. It is colonialism all over again.

News stories

The news often gets the story wrong and that could be accidental bias but sometimes there is deliberate bias by choosing what stories not to run. This AM on Morning Joe they said that Trump bought up the emails on Hunter Biden's laptop and it was not effective because most people who do not watch Fox News know very little about this story. A few months back they said the same thing about the Steel dossier and many feel the same could be said about the deep state. This same phenomenon can be witnessed by looking at the stories of the news websites.

Demetia

Ronald Reagan was 77 years old when he left office and Joe Biden will be 78 when he enters office. Many talking heads suggested that Reagan was suffering from dementia. Here is something from the New York Times. Even before Ronald Reagan became the oldest elected president, his mental state was a political issue. His adversaries often suggested his penchant for contradictory statements, forgetting names and seeming absent-mindedness could be linked to dementia. Multiple journalists have testified to a complicated reality: a slowly diminishing executive who leaned increasingly heavily on advisers, disengaged from day-to-day affairs, and sometimes had difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality.

Spending

Nancy Pelosi finds herself facing a conundrum filled with irony. A republican president is offering to spend more taxpayers money than she is proposing. Will the states receive money to pay off their unfunded pension debt is the question.

Math club

In the past I have commented on how the ladies are taking over the world. They now represent 60% of college students with more than half in medical school, more than half in law school and more than half in graduate school. The only place the ladies trail is in engineering and that is changing. Today I subbed for a math teacher at Apple Valley High and he is in charge of the math club. On his wall was a picture of the 47 students in the math club and 40 of those were women.

Family friendly

A number of news stories reflect the concern that some have about Thanksgiving Dinner and will it erupt into a family quarrel. The way to avoid this is to discuss policy and not personality. You can tell your pro choice friend that you oppose abortion because you believe that life begins at conception and you see the fetus as a future human being. You do not call him a baby killer. People who would never personally insult a friend seem to lose it when it comes to certain things. You can differ on policies like immigration and taxes but don't say your friend is a cultist. In today's vernacular that is a pejorative meaning they don't have the intellect or wisdom to discern truth. If you stick to issues you can disagree without being disagreeable but when you talk personalities you open the door to insults. If some politicians resort to name calling just take the high road and talk issues.

Build back better

In 2009 Obama told the people in Michigan that the jobs lost would not be coming back. In 2016 he sarcastically said that Trump must have a magic wand to bring back jobs. Then jobs started to return and now Biden says he will bring back jobs with his Build Back Better plan.

Medicaid vs Obamacare

Medicaid is healthcare funded by a joint federal and state program and free for low income people. Medicaid has always covered those with pre-existing conditions. Medicaid did not cover single adults but Obamacare changed that and now in 35 states these people qualify. While they are counted as part of Obamacare they are in fact in Medicaid. Of the 23 million people in Obamacare 15 million have moved into Medicaid leaving 8 million actually covered by Obamacare. Those 15 million are people whose income is below the poverty level, $17,000 for single and $34,000 for family of four have free healthcare. The 8 million covered by Obamacare have incomes above the poverty level and receive partial subsidies. With income greater that 4 times the poverty level the subsidies stop. For a Silver Plan under Obamacare the average monthly cost is $400 and the subsidy would be about 60% of that or $240 leaving a monthly cost to the patient of $160. The problem is the deductible which is about $8,000 for a single and $16,000 for a family in 2020. While many can afford the monthly cost they generally do not use up enough to meet the deductible so they pay most of their medical cost out of pocket.

Pension fund

Our government at work. The republicans propose $1.8 trillion in Covid stimulus and the democrats propose $2.2 trillion and they fiddle while Rome burns. Republicans are concerned that some of the funds will be used to shore up state pension funds. The democrats have set aside $300 billion to help states but say the money will not be used for pensions. The state pension funds are $1.2 trillion in the hole and the state teachers funds are $400 billion in the red so even if they used the whole $300 billion it would still leave some states in trouble. The Illinois fund is one of the worst offenders at $120 billion in debt while the neighboring state of Wisconsin has a fully funded pension. States that have been responsible will receive no pension help but those which have been careless will get help. This happens frequently when government hands out benefits as they often promote equal results.

Epstein and Maxwell

Not too long ago in time but an eternity in the news cycle, Jeff Epstein was the hot item. He took people to his private island for what was reported as sexual adventures. The pilots list of people who went there was a listing of Whose Who in American society. The FBI supposedly gathered date including two computers but all of this has faded into the fog of yesterday. More recently his female companion,Ghislaine Maxwell, was arrested and charged with helping Epstein conduct his rather nefarious business but she has since disappeared from the news. Amazingly enough, most people predicted that nothing much would come from this since those involved are rich and powerful and they are treated differently than most.

Who is racist

The word racist has been used extensively to cast aspersions on people and calling Trump a racist is no exemption. Following the old adage of actions speak louder than words, Trumps record defies the claim of racist. Trump is for immigration based on merit which means the most new immigrants will come from Asia and in particular India where the people are not Caucasian. Trump has a son-in-law and grandchildren who are Jewish. He has cut off funds to the Palestinians and moved the Israeli Embassy to Jerusalem. He has introduced opportunity zones into inner cities to promote and build Black business. He signed the First Step Act which removes the bias against incarcerated Blacks. He signed new legislation that sends $250 million dollars per year to historical Black colleges. Trump set up the Hispanic Prosperity initiative to promote all aspects of Hispanic American lives especially in education. Trump Enterprises have a majority of Hispanic employees. Unemployment in all groups was brought to the lowest levels. The press has ignored all of his actions and concentrated on his words.

2020 new or old

The upcoming election will be determined by one simple fact. In order to understand that go back to the 2016 election. Jerry is a teacher. He is a family man who has been teacher for 20 years. He is one of the lucky few who loves going to work and loves coming home even more. He goes to work in relatively pleasant surrounding, warm in winter and cool in summer. He has a pension, health care, vacation, personal days and sick leave. Each year Jerry watches his pension go up and his mortgage go down. For Jerry, life is good. Steven worked at Bethlehem Steel. He had a good salary, enough so that his wife could work if she chose or be a stay at home mom. Steve had benefits like pension, healthcare and vacation. Out of the blue, the Chinese government began to subsidize their steel industry to the point where they could sell steel on the world market below production cost. In 1982 Bethlehem lost billions and Steve lost his job. Steve went to work at a low paying job and is wife joined him with the both of them not earning as much as Steve did with Bethlehem. They no longer had benefits. Every four years someone running for president would tell Steve that he would soon be helped and the years past and nothing happened. Along comes Trump, loud mouthed, boastful, egotist who is an outsider. He is not a politician and promises to drain the swamp and Steve feels he has nothing to lose and votes for this new comer. Biden, a man who was part of the government all of these years that Steve received empty promises now promises to help Steve. Steve for the first time in 40 years has seen his real wages increase and must decide whether it is safe to go back to the days before Trump or to move ahead. The election will depend on one factor. How many Stevens will come out and vote.

Court changes

Two developments in the political world these past few years are concerning. First the removal of the filibuster on nominations of Supreme Court Justices. This has the result of moving nominees further away from the center and opens the door to packing the court. Second is the free press that is supposed to be the government watch dog has moved toward advocacy. The dislike for Trump has turned personal and policy issues are affected and this too has moved things away from the center. A recent example is how little news was reported about Israel and two Arab countries coming together vs the news regarding a report that Trump paid $700 in taxes.

Virtue signaling

If you listen carefully to most semi-serious conversations and read between the lines you will hear people say, why can't you be more like me. New words and phases come into the vernacular on a regular basis and one recent addition confirms that people say why can't you be like me and the phase is virtue signaling. For example, a man writes an article decrying racism. In essence he is saying that it is too bad that others are not like him, that he is virtuous and can point out the error of the ways of others. You can substitute most any word for racism and get the idea.

Green deal jobs

The push to replace fossil fuels with wind and solar faces two big obstacles. First is what to do when the sun goes down and the wind stops blowing and the second is transportation in areas like trains and planes. The solution is to use hydrogen for fuel to supplement the wind and solar. This requires the production of enough solar panels to both run the power plants and run transportation. A conservative estimate is that this will require 8 billion solar panels and the US currently has 1.5 million. Under current law these panels would have to be made in China so the expected jobs will not be there. They are made in China because they require certain metals like neodymium, terbium, indium, dysprosium and praseodymium. Mining of these metals is an extreme environmental hazard and China is willing to contaminate their ground water to produce these and the US is not. The claim that the new green deal will provide jobs to produce panels and wind mills is not likely unless the US is willing to mine those metals here. The situation is so bad in China that the mines are about to contaminate the Yellow River, a major source of drinking water. Processing rare earths is a dirty business. Their ore is often laced with radioactive materials such as thorium, and separating the wheat from the chaff requires huge amounts of carcinogenic toxins – sulphates, ammonia and hydrochloric acid.

If Joe wins

If Biden wins the election there will be a collective sigh of relief across much of the country. The four year reign of Trump will disappear like a bad dream and things will return to the good old days where the bureaucrats and big business will once again be in control as the lobbyist reallocate resources from business to government. The press will welcome them back with open arms heaping praise on their every move, while Hollywood celebs and Silicon Valley will sing happy days are here again. Meanwhile the low to middle income workers will resume their slow downhill slide as manufacturing jobs move overseas where companies can increase profits on the backs of low paid foreign workers.

Trump plans

If the election were held today, I would vote for Trump and here is why. Placing import taxes on China like they tax our exports Bring jobs home from China especially medical supplies Placing import taxes on Europe until the lower tax on our products Emphasizing job creation instead of public assistance Placing equal opportunity ahead of equal results Supporting the new NAFTA policy with Mexico and Canada Staying out of the Paris Accords Staying out of the TPP Keeping financial pressure in Iran Moving the embassy to Jerusalem Agreement between Arab countries and Israel Keep fracking as it lowers utility cost along with gasoline cost Fracking has made the US energy independent and allows for exports of oil and gas Keep the Trump tax cuts Reduce regulations Regulate border crossings Promote legal immigration based on merit Strong military Back police with proper funding Opportunity zones in the cities to help black business Increased funding for black colleges Continuing criminal justice reform Allowing Vets to go to public hospitals Getting NATO countries and UN countries to pay their fair share Bringing troops home from around the world

Name

With the demise of Uncle Ben's rice and Aunt Jemima syrup many think that this sort of political correctness is a new thing but not so. In the 1960's Pillsbury came up with a Cool Aid kind of drink using an artificial sweetener. Two flavors were forced to change the name. The first was Chinese Cherry and the second was Injun Orange.

Freedom

Over time liberals became progressives but it was more than a word change, it was a change in philosophy. Liberalism used to be the back bone of the First Amendment but that has changed. Instead of free speech they opposed certain speakers on campus, certain words are no longer acceptable and these words are used to ban books, books like Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird. They oppose talk radio and Fox News. Freedom to assemble is under attack when Trump rallies are wrong but protest are OK. Freedom of the press is threatened by replacing news reporting with advocacy. Freedom of religion is challenging tax exempt status of those who oppose abortion, by boycotting business that promote pro life or who oppose gay marriage and closing churches during the pandemic while allowing other businesses to open. In the past the ACLU would fight against such ideas but today they are aligned with the press.

Virus planning

In the 2017/2017 flu season 186 children died from the flu. So far 121 children have died from Covid. There are 66 million people under age 21. The schools are in total disarray. How did the schools get to this point. There was no panic in 2018. Kids went to school and some got sick. Every year in the US 10,000 children under age 15 die from illness. Every year 12,000 children under age 19 die from unintentional injuries. The emphasis on flu protection should be on those over age 60. The young people are being punished because the old people are dying. More planning is needed for future epidemics with the emphasis on the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.

Russian info

This week Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, a Trump appointee. released information from Russian sources that Hilary Clinton started the Trump/Russia investigation to distract from her lost emails. This information was given to the FBI but was not investigated. This was in July of 2016 before the election. At the same time the Steel dossier, which was from Russian sources, claiming that Trump colluded with Russia was thoroughly investigate for more than two years. Conservatives are asking why these two Russian revelations were handled differently.

Covid response

On January 1st 175,000 people left Wuhan and air travel to other Chinese cities was restricted but not travel around the world. The first case of Covid hit the US on January 20th and on January 29th the White House task force on Covid was started. Two days later all air travel from China was restricted. It was then discovered that the personal protection equipment(PPE) supply was is short supply. There was supposed to be an emergency supply but it was depleted from past flu epidemics and not replaced. In addition over the years more and more of this equipment was made in China and they had hoarded the supply in anticipation of the problem while they maintained that the Covid was not spread from human to human. The government then got US companies to begin making PPE. Over the next few months congress approved $6 trillion dollars to offset the economic and health effects of Covid. During this time a number of US companies began the search for a vaccine and for other prophylactic medicines. Meanwhile in mid April the economy was closed except for front line workers, truckers and food stores. The CDC estimated that if the US did not take action that 1.6 to 2.1 million people would die. By September 200,000 had died and Biden said on September 17th that if Trump had done his job no American would have died from this virus. The major failure in the government response was that no one including medical experts stressed the importance of protecting the elderly. In all past flu epidemics it was the elderly that got hurt the most so this should not have been a surprise to anyone. It was so lost in the weeds that in NYC infected people were being sent to nursing homes even though there was a hospital ship sitting empty waiting for Covid patients.

Church

The Holy Roman Church was the only christian church for over 1,000 years when in 1054 the Eastern Orthodox Branch split off. Then 500 years later the Church of England broke away. Then followed a series of protestant groups and today there are 200 different christian denominations in the US. The latest was projected to be a split in the Catholic Church with some being catholic and some being really really really catholic. This was the tough in cheek suggestion by a late night comedian but in today's world who can tell. Will the church divide over the abortion issue. Many protestant churches are now pro-choice.

Fear

In FDR's First Inarguable Address he uttered the now famous words, This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself--nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. There followed 8 years of the worst depression in the country's history. Was Trumps positive attitude one of naivety or was he trying as FDR did to reassure people that the country will get through this. Would it have been wise for either man to say that things were going to get real bad. Could the fact that they appeared optimistic mean that they were not being truthful?