Polysilicon

Many of the products that US consumers use are made from parts that are produced by slave labor in China's Xinjiang Province. Polysilicon is one example of many hundreds of products. People are forced to produce polysilicon for solar panels in China. Over 100,000 Uyghurs, ethnic Kazkhs and other Muslim minorities are subjected to forced labor in China following detention in re-education camps. Workers often from poor rural areas are placed in factories in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. China is the world's largest producer of solar grade polysilicon and half the production is made in Xingjiang. Are people in the west who are pushing solar aware of what is happening? Just one more reason to look at thorium for our electricity needs but first we must disconnect climate change from social change. Are the politicians willing to do this or is slave labor in China not their concern.

Maxwell

Everyone recalls the suicide death of Jeff Epstein in a Brooklyn jail. He was supposed to have a room mate but was mysteriously transferred to a cell by himself which violates jail rules. The two guards who were supposed to be watching Epstein were instead browsing the Internet. The video from the two security cameras that were watching Epstein were accidentally erased. Now his girl friend Ghislaine Maxwell is in the same jail that Epstein was in. Some feel she is not safe but if something happens to her will that be just one too many coincidences?

Ukraine

Can people learn from history. The world stood and watched while Hitler took back the Rhineland, Austria and Czechoslovakia all leading up to WW 2. Today we watch Putin take Crimea, Moldova and Georgia and now he is threatening the Ukraine. The US can place a lot of economic pressure on Russia but if they invade Ukraine the only option is to supply Ukraine with arms and fight a proxy war. If Ukraine falls the next target will be the Baltics and since they are part of NATO that means war with Russia.

Border problems

The U.S. Border Patrol reported more than 1.6 million encounters with migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border in the 2021 fiscal year, more than quadruple the number of the prior fiscal year and the highest annual total on record. Over one million were not from Mexico. 1,000,000 single adults 450,000 families and 145,000 unaccompanied children There were an estimate 600,000 got a ways and they moved to various parts of the country. Most are not vaccinated and have not been tested for Covid. The number of over dose deaths exceeded 100,000 and most are from fentanyl made in China and brought across the southern border. There are no accurate figures on the number of children who are trafficked or the number of women and girls who were molested along the way. There are no accurate figures on the numbers who came from Europe, Africa and Asia. Most news outlets do not cover the border problems just as there is a news black out on Afghanistan.

Taxes

As people file their taxes this year it is important to use software as there are many benefits for low income workers. Many cities have places where AARP offers help. I worked there for 11 years and know first hand how this can benefit low wage earners. A typical case is the single mom who gets help from grandma baby sitting. She works full time at Walmart and has two small children. She has benefits like health insurance, pension, holidays and vacation. She earns $30,000 per year. When you subtract her taxes and add back her benefits she will take home $39,518. If the new law offering universal childcare passes she could pay $2,100 per year and not have to rely on grandma giving her an income of $37,418.

German nuke plants

A number of European countries led by Germany have decided to phase out nuclear power. The three objections are listed as follows. Barriers to and risks associated with an increasing use of nuclear energy include operational risks and the associated safety concerns, uranium mining risks, financial and regulatory risks, unresolved waste management issues, nuclear weapons proliferation concerns, and adverse public opinion. Apr 26, 2021. These all relate to uranium plants and not thorium plants. Thorium plants cannot melt down and stop operating when power is lost. There are no mining risk with thorium since it is found everywhere and easily extracted. There is minimal problems with waste products and thorium plants can use up stored waste from uranium plants. Finally thorium plants cannot produce bomb material.

China nuke plants

While the United States lives in the pipe dream of wind and solar, the Chinese have 1,200 PhD's working on thorium power with $2 billion dollar a year budget. They will be building mobile thorium power plant for their own use and for export to countries around the world.

Teachers of color

Many companies are offering higher wages and/or sign on bonuses to attract and hold employees. This is the free market at work. Schools are paying $200 per day for subs and $229 if you sign up for two weeks. Something different is happening to regular teachers. Some Minnesota schools are now offering to pay up to $8,000 more to teachers of color. They then want these teachers to stay in small groups to help mentor each other in the hopes that this will make them feel more comfortable. This sounds like segregation to some.

Criminal release

A reasonable argument can be made not to send drug uses to prison and to released those who are in prison but there is a limit. Those accused of more serious crimes should not receive the same treatment. In Houston, TX things have gotten out of hand. HOUSTON - In Harris County, no fewer than 113 defendants charged with capital murder have been inexplicably granted bond and released back onto our streets pending trial. We are talking about "capital murder" - the most egregious offense in the criminal code - a conviction for which carries either life imprisonment or the death penalty. In all, more than 50,000 accused felons have benefited from the "catch and release" philosophy of "criminal justice" perpetrated by the current crop of democratic "reform" judges. According to Crime Stoppers Houston - 155 people have lost their lives at the hands of accused criminals - cut-loose from custody - only to kill while on bond.

Scooter Libby

Trump often talked about the "deep state" referring to people in the Department of Justice who were acting in ways that were detrimental to his administration. Attorney John Durham is currently investigating some of these issues regarding the alleged Russia cover up. This is not a far fetched idea as was learned in the Scooter Libby case. Recall he was Chief of Staff for VP Dick Cheney who was accused of releasing the name of CIA agent Valarie Plame. For two years beginning in 2003 Libby was interviewed by Special Counsel Fitzgerald and in 2005 Libby was indicted on charges of lying during the interviews. This is referred to as a process crime since if a person talks long enough they will contradict themselves. During the trial a state department employee Richard Armitage came forth and told Fitzgerald that he Armitage was the person who released the name of Plame as a CIA agent. Fitzgerald ignored the information and achieved a guilty verdict. He later said he had no intention of charging Armitage and the case is closed.

NPR

There is always been a question about whether NPR is liberal or neutral as they profess. Here is a clue as to what their listeners think. A poll among 1,000 NPR listeners was asked what the most important story of the year was and they responded the January 6th raid at the Capitol.

Guns butter

The eternal argument of guns vs butter is in the news again because congress just passed a record defense spending bill with 181 democrats voting for it. The $768 billion dollar bill far exceeds the estimated $500 billion for the Build Back Better bill. The standard argument in favor of guns says that if you short the military people die but if you short domestic spending people go hungry. There are real examples of how this works. At the end of WW11 the defense budget was cut and five years later soldiers were sent to Korea in WW 11 tanks to fight against the more modern Russian built tanks. After Viet Nam the new thinking was that future wars would be high tech and not a troops on the ground war but that did not play out in Afghan and Iraq. Soldiers were once again sent to war with inferior equipment and ground vehicles lacked proper armor and upgrades were added in the field. In the mean time many soldiers were severely injured and/or died from road side bombs. The only thing left is to attack the defense department for wasteful spending and that is ongoing. Keep in mind when you hear stories about $400 toilets that all money goes to salaries.

Equity and crime

Some cities in California realized that a disproportionate number of shop lifters are Black so they lowered the penalties for shop lifting to promote equity. Now some cities in Washington have decided to lower the penalties for drive by shooting since most are Blacks and this will promote equity. It appears that not much thought was given to the fact that the majority of victims in drive bys are Black. It is a kind of reverse affirmative action for crimes.

Police

A police officer responding to a man attacking a women shot the man and the bullet went through a wall and killed a girl on the other side of the wall. The assailant was beating a women with a heavy metal object and the woman was sent to the hospital with injuries to her head and arm. The attacker died from the gun shot. Here is the headline in the New York Times. Girl, 14, Is Identified in Fatal Police Shooting at Los Angeles Dressing Room At least 9 people killed, 47 wounded in Chicago this weekend and the NY Times did not report any of these. Killings in Black neighborhoods are so common they do not warrant any reporting.

Afghan

The news from Afghanistan is hard to find even on the Internet. The best option is Aljazeera where reports show that women are not allowed to travel without a male companion, not allowed to work and and not allowed schooling. A new guidance asked people not to play music on their car ratios. Local TV is not allowed to show dramas and soap operas using women in prominent rolls. The concern is that the country is slowly returning to the days when the Taliban was in control and Wahhabism ruled. Interestingly enough a report in Afghan was on MSNBC this AM

Hong Kong

The government in Hong Kong is tearing down statues honoring those who stood up against oppression in the 1989 riot in Tiananmen Square. At that time large numbers of students and professional people gathered to protest the way the Chinese Government was trying to keep the demand for democracy under control. The government sent in armed troops with tanks to stop the protest and 200 students were killed. The local soldiers refused to attack the students, some of whom they knew, so outside troops were called in. While the statues are gone the memories linger on.

Dem dilemma

The dilemma facing the democrats is not knew as it has its roots in the New Deal. FDR passed 76 laws in his first 100 days most of which were designed to help people in the middle of the depression. This was possible because the democrats controlled both the house with 313 members and the senate with 60 members which was a super majority. The democrats then kept control of the government for the next 40 years and they realized that their control depended on offering benefits to the lower and middle income groups. This was all reinforced with the Great Society under Johnson. Now Biden is trying to become the second FDR with the Build Back Better (BBB) bill. The down side is that many democrats believe that people need government to get along or in other words they cannot take care of themselves. This is something that cannot be revealed to the public and thus the dilemma. The way to do this is to have the people pay at least part of the bill like social security even though the benefits they receive far outpace the price they paid. A good example is Medicare where the average person will collect $3 in benefits for each dollar paid in even though the employer paid in half of that. More recently benefits are offered without payment, things like child tax credit and earned income credit. Much of the BBB bill contains unpaid for benefits that resemble many of the current public assistance benefits. You are eligible not because you paid into the program but because of your income status.

The Woke Fed

The Fed is going Woke. Instead of concentrating on money supply and interest rates they are looking at things like climate change and equity. They are listening to Biden who has ordered the Financial Stability Oversight Council to prepare a report on how the financial system can mitigate the risks related to climate change. My guess is that the Fed people know even less science than the congress people and so will continue to believe that the solution is to replace fossil fuel with wind and solar.

Biden

As the country becomes more divided, it becomes increasingly difficult to properly evaluate the performance of the man in the White House. Recall when Trump was a candidate and on at least a dozen occasions he said or did something that the experts said that was the end of his campaign but they were wrong. The 30% who were the Trumpers would not turn against him. This continued during his presidency and it was the pandemic that did him in. The same thing has happened in the past year with Biden. The 30% are sticking with him even though his popularity is down to 40%. You recall when Trump said he could shoot someone and not lose any voters. These two groups are like the abortion people. On either end of the issue are people who will not change. The only way to get an honest picture of what is happening is to watch the polls of the independents and they are moving away from Biden and this is the big concern for the democrats in the upcoming election. According to Gallup polling, for example, Biden's overall job approval rating has dropped from 57 percent in February to 42 percent today, a slide of 15-points. That drop-off has been driven almost entirely by independent voters.

Nuclear is safe

The single most negative thing about nuclear power is the perceived safety factor. I say perceive because nuclear is far and away the safest method of electricity production. Here are the deaths per TW of power produced. Coal 24.6 deaths, oil 18.4 deaths, natural gas 2.8 deaths and nuclear .07 deaths and this includes the 100 people who died at the Russian plant in Chernobyl. Thorium plants would be much safer than the current uranium plants, far less costly to build while producing much safer by products. It takes 800,000 tons of uranium ore to produce one gigawatt of energy as opposed to 200 tons of thorium. The by products from uranium plants will last 10,000 years while thorium by product last 300 years. Thorium by products can be used as a source of valuable medical compounds. Thorium plants are smaller and thus less costly since they operate at normal pressures and if they lose power they shut down automatically meaning the can be built near populated areas which means fewer long distance power lines.

France

France was an early entree into the nuke power industry and today France gets 70% of its power from nuclear. Most of their plants were built in the 60's and 70's and with a life expectancy of 60 years they are now faced with a decision to build new plants or refurbish the existing plants. The government recently decided to build new and this opens the door to small thorium reactor plants. France is currently helping to finance the building of these thorium units by Roles Royce in England. These new thorium reactors can be built more quickly and at less cost. The one thing standing in the way of this transition is politics. Is the vested interest in the existing system too strong to open the door to the new way of thorium?

Branden

A good example of cancel culture. During an interview with NASCAR driver Branden Brown, the crowd started yelling F--- Joe Biden, and the interviewer in an attempt to change the subject said the crowd was yelling lets go Branden. Now Branden cannot find any corporate sponsors.

Childcare cost

Childcare in MN cost $1,200 per month. This precludes a low income mom with two children from working. The Build Back Better Bill (BBB) proposes that the most a mom will pay is 7% of her earnings. Taking a closer look brings up some interesting questions. Say a mom works at Walmart and earns $15 per hour or $30,000 per year so her childcare cost would be $2,100. Since the cost of two children would be $28,800 per year the government would be on the hook for $26,700. Why not just send the mom the $26,700 dollars and let her stay at home? Does anyone think that this kind of plan will cause the cost of childcare to increase. It is different for a professional mom who earns $100,000 per year since her childcare cost would be $7,000 instead of $28,000. Is that the purpose of the bill?

Oil

In the past year the US has decreased its oil production and made up much of the difference by importing Russian oil. While the emphasis of this exchange is focused on the politics not much is printed about the environmental cost. US oil is sweet compared to Russian oil which is sour. This means that Russian oil is higher in sulfur, higher in viscosity and higher in acidity. Much of the problem with acid rain comes from the sulfur that becomes sulfuric acid. Russian oil is higher viscosity meaning it contains less of the more valuable lighter hydrocarbons. Russian oil is higher in naphthenic acid which corrodes equipment both in the plant operations and in the environment.

Climate

Searching for government handouts is a national pass time and has been going on for many years. For the people that pay taxes these benefits come in the form of tax deduction for home mortgage interest, oil depletion allowances, farm subsidies, capital gains rates, deduction for state tax and property tax and carried interest. For those who don't pay taxes the big benefits are child tax credit, and the earned income credit. These benefits are championed by political action groups (lobbyist) and are difficult to cancel. Liberal congress people act as lobbyist for the non taxpaying groups. The Build Back Better(BBB) plan contains additional benefits for the non tax payers in the form of universal pre-care, expanded child tax credit, childcare credit and affordable housing. Left out was free college and paid leave. It increases taxes on the tax paying group and raising the limit on state and property tax deduction was omitted. While much of what is in the BBB is helpful the whole plan is flawed in that it is presented as a climate change bill with $500 billion dollars set aside for wind and solar. This continues the country down the wrong path by pretending that wind and solar can replace fossil fuels because going green is the cover story for expanding social programs. While there is a need for additional help for working families, using wind and solar to get there is going backwards in tackling the problem of climate change.

Abortion

A very strange article appeared in the news today. Apparently the Governor of Ohio signed a bill saying that if a baby survives an abortion the doctor is not allowed to kill the baby. The baby must be allowed to survive. I wondered then who and how would kill the baby. Do they do it with a scalpel or injection of some poison or just let it lie around until it died from lack of water. Is the baby crying while this happens. Who is able to carry this out.

China expansion

Democratic countries are less likely to covet territory and thus unlikely to invade their neighbors. That is not the case with dictatorships. Take the last century as an example. The Axis countries, Germany invaded Poland, Japan invaded China and Italy invaded Ethiopia. Each time they said they were invaded first but history has shown that not to be the case. In today's world things have not changed. Russia with Putin declared president for life has designs on The Ukraine, In China Xi also president for life wants Taiwan and il in North Korea is eyeing South Korea. Making agreements with countries where the leadership does not have to answer to the people is a waste of time. China signed an agreement in 1997 to leave Hong Kong alone for 50 years but in less than half that time they reneged. Recall Hitler signed a non-aggression pact with Russia and invaded Russia. Fifty years ago the West welcomed China into the fold. Many, including myself, felt that once the people got economic freedom they would demand political freedom but we were mistaken. Today China is led by a dictator who has the power of the free market to fund his agenda of world domination. The road to expansion will be fueled by nationalism since 92% of the population is Chinese.

Portland

During the summer riots in Portland and other cities many crimes were committed. Here is one incident. According to court documents, on May 29, 2020, Schinzing marched with a group of protesters to the Multnomah County Justice Center. When the group arrived, several people broke windows and entered the building. Three civilian Multnomah County employees were working inside the Corrections Records Officer when the windows were broken and quickly fled for safety. Schinzing was among those who entered the building. Some in the group spray-painted portions of the office; damaged computers and other office equipment, furniture, and interior windows; and started fires. Schinzing, who was identified on surveillance cameras by a distinctive tattoo of his last name across his upper back, spread a fire started near the front of the office by igniting papers and moving them into the drawer of another cubicle.  A few minutes later, the building’s sprinkler system activated, extinguishing the fire, and law enforcement officers secured the building. At the time of the fire, the Multnomah County Detention Center, located in the Justice Center complex, housed approximately 289 inmates.

Cars

I have never locked my car because I don't keep anything of value in the car. This way thieves do not have to break in. Many people thought me a little strange but I now have allies in California. The crime of breaking into cars has become so common that many people now leave their cars unlocked with the trunk open. I don't have to open the trunk because once your inside the car you can open the trunk.

Uyghurs

The cry of never again was heard loud and clear after the Holocaust but today it is silent when it comes to the genocide of the 12 million Uyghurs who live in the Xinjiang province in China. These people who are mostly Muslims are treated like slaves. There are 83 companies, mostly American, that use the slave labor of Uyghurs to make their products. Americans are buying these products because they are cheaper. This is much like the American products that use rare earth metals mined in China where the mines are poisoning the drinking water for millions of Chinese people. The latest report titled “Uyghurs For Sale”, from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, reveals a vast network of companies complicit in the mass detention of Uighurs and other Turkic people. ASPI stated that it had found “27 factories in 9 Chinese provinces that are using Uyghur labor transferred from Xinjiang since 2017. Those factories claim to be part of the supply chain of 83 well-known global brands.” These companies use this cheap labor to increase profits and American consumers are complicit. This is just one more reason to make products here in the USA. Most people are not aware that the Nuremberg trials included the CEO's of German companies that helped the military.

Its not race

There is some misunderstanding about race when it comes to voters. Reagan won because he persuaded white working men registered as democrats and thus was born the concept of Reagan Democrats. This same group voted twice for Obama and twice for Trump. Joe six pack is not motivated by the color of skin but rather kind of policy. If Joe believes the candidate can bring back the days when wages were going up faster than inflation he will vote for that candidate.

Border problems

The border situation is going down hill fast but most people don't know it because there is a news blackout. The strategy of the cartels is working perfectly. They are bringing in immigrants at an accelerated rate which is causing 90% of the border agents to be involved in processing instead of guarding the border. This opens wide areas of the border, for drugs along with unsavory characters who want to avoid the patrols. Almost 2 million illegals have crossed the border not counting the estimated 600,000 getaways. Over 100,000 Americans have died this year from overdose and 70,000 of those were from fentanyl which is made in China and sold to the cartels. The cartels make money bringing people to the border and more money getting them across the border while they rake in the profits from illegal drug sales. This is helping to destroy the families of the many who have died from OD.

Florida EV's

On the news today they announced that Florida is leading the country in the sales of electric cars. What was not in the report was that Floridians get 70% of their power from natural gas, 17% from nuclear, 5% from coal and .06% from solar. The rest is purchased from outside of the state. While EV's are the future they are best used where the power source is green.

Soviet Union

Many younger people do not remember much about the Soviet Union. It was a command economy meaning the central government would plan what was to be produced. This is very difficult under the best of conditions but the planning was interfered with because goals were set based not on good economic policy but rather on ideology. Everything was designed to show how communism was better than capitalism. They set up a series of five year plans each designed to show off a sector of the Soviet efficiency. The first was directed at heavy industry and big equipment was shown to the world and instead of the whole economy growing together it was a piece meal growth. Since one sector depended on other sectors for parts and such, things bogged down while one area tried to catch up with another area. In the west where the free market determined growth this was not the case and in time the west growth far out paced that of the Soviets. This finally caught up with the Soviets in the 1980's and led to the collapse of the country.

Border policy

Recently there has been a slow return to the Trump border policies. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Monday that it will use border wall funds to close some unfinished gaps in the wall that former President Trump started. Is this an admission that walls work and if not why are they doing this. A bicameral group of more than three dozen Democratic lawmakers slammed the Biden administration Monday for its revival and expansion of a Trump-era program requiring migrants to wait in Mexico for asylum decisions. Mexico is stopping immigrants at their border with Guatamala as thousands of Haitians wait for asylum.

BBB

The Build Back Better plan was too costly for many democrats but the left wing would not give up any of the many social benefits in the plan so the cost was adjusted down by cutting the time the benefits would last. The thinking was that once a benefit is given even for a short time it would be difficult reverse. This Washington slight of hand did not get Joe Manchin to go along so the plan is dead for now. Next year a new plan will be presented which will show the true ten year cost of all the components and if that cost is under $1.8 trillion Manchin will probably go along. This will expose the true cost of things like child tax credit, childcare credit, universal pre-K and paid leave will be omitted. It is frequently pointed out that these programs are very popular but that is no surprise.

Realtor

Realtor.com is a nation wide source for finding houses and they are changing some of the metrics they use to help buyers. The two most common questions that potential buyers ask about neighborhoods are first are the schools good and second is it safe. Realtor feels that they must "reimagine" (their word) the way they post data on safety. They feel the current way discriminates against minorities since crime in those areas is much higher. They want to adjust their descriptions of neighborhoods to make them seem more safe. This assumes that you can reduce crime by reporting that it as less. This just avoids the problem and makes some feel better.

Nuke power

While Rolls Royce is famous for its classic cars they are also prominent in the nuclear power business. For many years they have been producing the power plants for nuke submarines. They have now joined hands with the British and French governments along with Exon Oil to build small thorium nuke plants. These will be along the same idea that several other companies as well as other countries are now actively pursuing. They will be built in assembly line fashion and shipped for onsite instillation. First step is to build the building so the instillation will not be impeded by weather. Each plant will produce enough energy to power 200,000 homes. Each will use left over heat to produce hydrogen which will be the fuel of the future for transportation and desalting sea water. The plants are safe and can be built near populated areas to reduce the cost of transporting power. They are called small molten salt thorium reactors and are safe because the nuclear chain reaction stops when any problems develop. These plants can use up existing stores of nuclear waste products and they produce zero carbon.

Native Americans

CNN reported today an extreme example of CRT. Instead of just teaching the history of the Holocaust some third grade students were asked to recreate the Holocaust. One student was assigned to play the role of Hitler and others were to dig their classmates mass graves and stimulate shooting the victims. The students likely felt guilty about what happened and perhaps that was the point. The dark days of history can and should be taught but students should not be made to feel guilty about events that they had no control over. While this hopefully a one-off many history lessons are taught in ways that students are left feeling that they are somehow responsible. I have witnessed this when the subject is the treatment of Native Americans.

Inflation

In the Spring of 2021 the Covid Relief Bill was passed into law. This was a $1.9 trillion dollar bill that was supposed to be for Covid Relief but was basically sending cash to people. The government sent $1,400 to everyone so a family of four got a check for $5,600. In addition everyone who was collecting unemployment from their state got another $300 per week from the feds. The child tax credit was increased from $2,000 to $3,600 so the same family of four with two children got another $7,200. Then this family got another $8,000 in childcare credits and they were refundable meaning they got the money even if they owed no taxes. These people went on a wild on line spending spree and then surprise, inflation set in. Then in July of 2021 the government passed the $1.2 trillion dollar infrastructure bill. These two bills totaling $3.1 trillion was over and above the $6 trillion dollar regular budget. Now they are debating another $5 trillion in the Build Back Better bill to send more money to the above mentioned family of four. Recall the Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) that was pushed last year. This is the theory that says the Fed can create money for all of the country's needs without fear of inflation as long as the country is not at full employment. Since we have 10 million people who are not working the some feel this spending is OK.

CRT

Some say that CRT is just teaching the truth about US history and others say it bad mouths America. Here is an example that explains the difference. In teaching history it is necessary to include those parts which are uncomplimentary and in many cases shameful. For example teaching about slavery, the treatment of Native Americans, the internment of Japanese Americans in WW 2, the Jim Crow years, the Tuskegee study and many others dark times is necessary. If it ends there it leaves the impression that the students in the room are some how responsible to the point where many feel guilty. When the rest of the story is told things change. When students are told about the many ways that the country has changed over the years and the many attempts to make up for past mistakes then the students can learn from the past without being made to feel ashamed. When they learn about how the Supreme Court has ruled against segregation, how congress has passed laws to prohibit discrimination, how all citizens have the right to vote, and affirmative actions laws made life better for all, the picture changes. Students then learn about the past, recognize they cannot change the past but they can do better in future. Students today are more acceptable to differences than in the past. In general the country is more open and tolerant today than just one generation ago.

Australia

As the latest Covid variant hits the country the government is considering various rules and some are concerned about individual freedom. What kind of rules? Look at what Australia did during 2020. They had a lock down which meant everyone except essential personnel were to stay in their homes. They could leave only to purchase food and medicine and could go outside their house if they stayed nearby. Australian authorities don’t fool around. State premiers have vast powers, and use them. In Melbourne, located in the state of Victoria, a curfew is in place, and limits apply to people leaving their homes. There are hefty fines for non-compliance. Since this issue has become political many people would give up most of their freedom if the government asked them to since they have already committed to this approach. This would pit the stay at homes against the go out people.

Chna

Most Americans view China, not Russia or any other country, as the top threat currently facing the U.S., with the majorities of those from both parties being worried about the possibility of the two nations going to war. The problem is the people are unwilling to make even a small sacrifice to end the threat. If the American people would just agree to buy American the problem would be solved. This would mean higher consumer prices but it would also mean higher wages for American workers. It would shorten the supply chain for most products including those needed to prepare drugs. It would be even more effective since shipping cost have quadrupled. It would be very much like the economy of the 50's and 60's. Inflation was under 2% and wages increased by 3% and the US had the highest standard of living in the world. This is the biggest threat China could face as it would hurt their economy.

Buy American

Most Americans view China, not Russia or any other country, as the top threat currently facing the U.S., with the majorities of those from both parties being worried about the possibility of the two nations going to war. The problem is the people are unwilling to make even a small sacrifice to end the threat. If the American people would just agree to buy American the problem would be solved. This would mean higher consumer prices but it would also mean higher wages for American workers. It would shorten the supply chain for most products including those needed to prepare drugs. It would be even more effective since shipping cost have quadrupled. It would be very much like the economy of the 50's and 60's. Inflation was under 2% and wages increased by 3% and the US had the highest standard of living in the world. This is the biggest threat China could face as it would hurt their economy.

Illegals

As the administration claims that the border is closed millions of illegals are crossing anyway. This in conjunction with the Build Back bill, that allows for work permits and protection from deportation for 7 million illegals, it is not unreasonable to assume that the government wants these people to come in to be future voters. New York just this week allowed illegals to vote in local elections something that California did several years ago.

News

In analyzing the media, people often differentiate between news and opinion giving the impression that news is not biased. The bias in news does not arise from how things are presented but rather what things are presented. The news can be factual and still be biased depending on what stories are chose to air. Fox talks at length about the border, crime and inflation but MSNBC goes on about January6th, Trump and racism.

USA

Give thanks for the United States of America. For a country that has made its share of mistakes and for a country that many say is racist the US stands tall in the world. Imagine for a moment that the mighty US military was in the hands of some other country. What would the leaders of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea do if they had this powetful military. Think back only a short time and picture Hitler, Mao, Ayatollah Khomeini and the Kim family having control of this military. Throughout the history of the world when a country achieves overwhelming military superiority they tend to use it to expand territory. The US could have done this at the end of WW2 but that is not the American way. As the Soviet Union took over half of Europe the US took several hundred acres to bury dead US soldiers and then came home.

Trump

In the long battle to damage Trump something odd appeared in the news today. During the daily briefing session back in 2019 Trump was shown a picture of an Iranian rocket blowing up on the launch pad and he said he wanted to keep it. The president was taken by the image. “Trump thought this was very neat, and asked if he could keep it,” said a former Trump administration official. “And after some hesitation, the intelligence briefer said yes. Officials had been nervous about leaving the image with the president, according to the former official, who attended the meeting. The officials were concerned because this photo was classified and Trump released the photo and now they want to challenge the legality of his action. Experts agreed that the president, as commander-in-chief, is ultimately responsible for classification and declassification. Does some briefer have veto power over the president?

Mortgage

New Day is a mortgage company that specializes in home loans for veterans. They offer no money down initial loans with no cost refi loans. The ads encourage taking a new loan every time the value of the house increases. Over the past ten years houses have increased 5% per year on average. A $300,000 home will increase in value to $488,000 in ten years. This person may have qualified for $300,000 loan but his income may not have kept up and he no longer qualifies for a larger loan. Since he has borrowed every year he has no equity and is in danger of losing the home. If home values suddenly decline as was the case in the last mortgage crisis he could be in trouble. This is all too familiar and happened only a few years ago in 2008.

Police

Now that increasing crime has shown up in the polls various officials are attempting to take corrective actions. As the more than 500 riots in dozens of cities were going on local law enforcement found themselves in a dilemma. Activist and city officials were demanding reform or for some defund the police. 25 people died and many buildings including federal building and police building were damaged. The total cost was in the billions and thousands of business were damaged and many will close forever. During these riots many big businesses were donating money to various reform the police groups to show they were not racist and now since smash and grab is affecting their stores they are asking for more police protection.

Wuhan research

The Covid virus story is a good example of how politics can influence science. When the virus first appeared experts concluded it came from a research lab in Wuhan,China. So far, so good. Then Trump called it the China virus and in comes the politics. The experts responded to this by saying the virus came from a bat and not a lab. This argument was big news for a few months and then started to disappear. Since then more and more evidence has indicated that the virus came from the lab. There is still no proof of its origin and China will not cooperate in the investigation. The real dangerous theory is that China planned to create the virus and release it on the world. This idea gained credibility when it was revealed that China stopped all travel from Wuhan to the rest of China but not to the rest of the world. It was at a time when China's economy was sliding and the US economy was booming. China coerced the WHO to say the virus came from an animal but the WHO lost much of its credibility when the close ties between the leadership in WHO with China came to light. Adding to the mystery was the fact that the US was paying for some of the research at Wuhan which some say included something called gain of function which means making a virus more deadly. Fauci said they gave money to the lab but it was not used for gain of function. This is hard to determine much like Planned Parenthood saying the government money they received is not used for abortion but for other women's health issues.

Its the economy stupid

Last summer, when many people were stuck in their homes, the government sent out over a trillion dollars in free money to these shut ins and they went online and spent like drunken sailors. Amazon was busy 24-7 and suddenly demand exceeded supply and inflation arose from the dead. As if to add insult to injury the government took steps to limit the supply of oil and gas and this caused the cost of home heating and gasoline to rise. Now the fed announced that it will start raising interest rates to calm inflation and this will mean higher interest rates on car and home loans.

Crime

Morning Joe had a come to Jesus moment this morning. He and Al Sharpton were talking about the mayor of San Francisco who is clamping down on crime. They were tired of what they called the latte liberals who were calling to defund the police. They pointed out that when NYC in the 90's reduced crime they did it with the broken windows strategy where they started by attacking small crimes which led to a reduction in more serious crimes. This type of conversation as little as one year ago would have been called racist. In San Francisco crime came home to roost when the fancy upscale stores were ransacked. Sharpton made this change about a year ago but many in the media are just coming around. The liberals have seen the polls and will now become the law and order people.

Collusion

As time passes and the Trump/Russia collusion fiasco is investigated the whole thing comes under question. The latest from the NY Times "It seems we can clearly see now that the Steele dossier should never have had the life and the impact that it did," Barbaro said. "It should never have been used in the wiretap warrant for Carter Page, should never have been read into the congressional record, or featured on prime time segments on cable news." The dossier was commissioned in 2016 by Fusion GPS, a research firm employed by Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Mark Elian. It investigated Donald Trump's campaign on behalf of Clinton. The Times received a Pulitzer Prize for its work on the collusion investigation.

Not solar

The new green deal is in the way of solving the problem of climate change. The emphasis is supposed to be on wind and solar but most of the program goes to social problems. The Build Back Bill allocates $300 billion toward solar panels and $1.2 trillion toward social programs. Wind and solar cannot solve the problem and until that is understood the country will continue to go down the wrong path. The green deal is about social programs. Things like universal childcare are admirable goals and should be perused but not at the expense of losing the battle against climate change. Things are slowly changing as more people begin to see that the answer is nuclear power using thorium.

News

Fox News rarely shows anything about the congressional hearings on the January 6th riot at the Capitol Building but MSNBC covers it on a regular basis. Today Morning Joe says these hearings will be like the Watergate hearings. Fox tends to cover policy issues and MSNBC can't seem to get past Trump. A person must watch more than one news source to get a balanced picture.

CNN

CNN has lost 80% of its audience since Trump left and now with their top guy, Cuomo leaving some in the business feel it is time for the network to move toward the middle. Some predict a house cleaning is coming down the pike and today's announcement that Chris Wallace is joining CNN adds credence to the claim as Wallace may be the first of many new faces at CNN.

Play down

When Biden started his term inflation was 1.4% and it has risen steadily since with 2.5% in March, 5% in May and now 6.8%. Early on Biden said it was only temporary and not a big problem but yesterday he said inflation is a problem for low income people. This is much like the way Trump handled the Covid. At the start he said it was much like the flu but a few months later he started the warp speed program to get a vaccine. Presidents normally like to play down problems if they can.

One and done

The current phrase used to explain the Biden administration is one and done. The idea is to get as much accomplished in the first term and not run for a second term. This is best borne out by looking at the border. It is a mess and polls show 65% of the voters do not approve of the way things are going but the administration has no plans to change. The illegals will top 2 million this year and there are 600,000 get aways. The honest people turn themselves into the Border Patrol but the run aways have something to hide. The amount of illegal drugs coming in is at a record high. The cyotoes are making billions and women are being attacked while unaccompanied minors are at risk of abuse. Most of the illegals coming in are not vaccinated, many are criminal and most will receive government benefits.

Power efficiency

The efficiency of a power system varies by power source and this measurement is called capacity factor. Nuclear is 92%, Wind is 35% and Solar is 25%. The big difference is that the wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine. This is called curtailment. Wind and solar need a back up system but nuclear does not. Also if a nuclear plant shuts down you are saving on fuel cost but this is not the case when wind and solar shut down.

Thorium

Uranium power plants use water as a coolant and as a heat transfer mechanism which means operating temperatures of about 300 C whereas thorium plants operate at 700 C. Water must be under pressure to get the temperature up but thorium plants operate at normal atmospheric pressure and this makes them safer because there can be no explosions caused by high pressure. Most people are not familiar with the laws of thermodynamics but one basic rule is that heat transfer becomes more efficient as the temperatures rise and this means that thorium plants are more efficient. Scientist who are able to take off their political blinders recognize that the solution to climate change is nuclear and most who work in the nuke energy field know that thorium is the way. Thorium left overs disappear in about 500 years whereas uranium by products stay around for 10,000 years. Thorium plants can use up existing stores of radioactive waste and thorium is more abundant than uranium. Unlike rare earth metals thorium can be mined without damaging the environment. If a thorium plant loses power the laws of physics force a shut down. The operators can just leave and it will shut down. In the business this is called walk away safety.

Private schools

Catholic school teachers earn 20% less than their counterparts in public schools. The cost per student in public schools is $15,000 vs $11,000 in private schools. According to the U.S. Department of Education, Catholic school students consistently score higher on advanced achievement tests, and by eighth grade, they outscore their public school counterparts in mathematics by a full 13 points. There are a number of reasons for these differences. Public schools are more tolerant of inappropriate behavior. Students in Catholic schools know they will be suspended if their behavior warrants. Very low income families cannot afford Catholic schools. Catholic schools are more demanding and concentrate on the 3 R's while having higher expectations. Children of public school teachers attend private schools at twice the national average. Parents who send their children to private schools play a more active role in their children's education including having books in the home and attending student teacher conferences.

Police reform

In the big cities that are experiencing record crime stats including murder, carjackings and armed robberies the citizens got what they wanted. In a big win for the growing criminal justice reform movement, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner decisively beat his center-of-left challenger in a Democratic primary that pitted the incumbent’s progressive reforms against a rising tide of violent crime. The people reacted against what they perceived as improper police behavior and they pushed for reform and they got reform. “To me, it's an indicator that people have been ready for change and are happy with the change, which is the move away from using jails or prisons or other punitive measures for every social problem we have in our community and the need to look more holistically at each case as a prosecutor. Instead of blaming the DA's look to the voters.

Build back

The cost of the Build Back Better plan is said to be $1.7 trillion over ten years but many programs do not go for ten years. This is a government gimmick used to lower cost of new programs. Parts of the plan end before ten years and this is called sunsetting. When these programs run out of money before the ten years are up then additional funds are required and this means the $1.7 trillion is more like $4 trillion. Universal preschool for 3 and 4 year-olds ends after 6 years (and with a 40% state cost-share by year 6). Child care subsidies are phased in over 3 years, operate in full for another 3 years, and then end. The child care tax credit and the expanded EITC end after a single year.  ACA/Obamacare expanded premium subsidies end after 3 years. And the expansion of ACA credits to individuals in states which haven’t expanded Medicaid, ends after 4 years.  

Inflation

Most people under the age of 50 have not experienced inflation. Inflation has been around 3% and has not posed a problem. The low inflation was there in spite of the fact that the deficit kept rising and this was explained by increasing productivity which was the result of the computer. This past year productivity declined by 5% and the deficit increased dramatically and this was the beginning of the end of low inflation. Productivity decreased 5.2% in the third quarter of 2021, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, as output increased 1.8% and the hours worked increased 7.4%. This is the largest decline in quarterly productivity since the second quarter of 1960.

Inflation

Many economist are concerned that additional government spending will aggravate the inflation problem. The infrastructure bill which allocates $1.2 trillion to various projects will not have that effect because the spending will not occur for a number of years if at all since environmental concerns will slow down many projects. The Build Back Better bill however is a different story. This money will go to consumers who will put it into the economy when they get it. It includes: 320 billion for tax credits to install solar panels and EV 400 billion for universal pre K 200 billion child tax credits 200 billion four weeks paid leave 165 billion applied to healthcare premiums 150 billion affordable home care 150 billion affordable housing This adds $1.5 trillion to the money supply in a short time period. This will raise prices by 15% although the administration says it will lower inflation. Not sure how that would work.

Inflation

Many economist are concerned that additional government spending will aggravate the inflation problem. The infrastructure bill which allocates $1.2 trillion to various projects will not have that effect because the spending will not occur for a number of years if at all since environmental concerns will slow down many projects. The Build Back Better bill however is a different story. This money will go to consumers who will put it into the economy when they get it. It includes: 320 billion for tax credits to install solar panels and EV 400 billion for universal pre K 200 billion child tax credits 200 billion four weeks paid leave 165 billion applied to healthcare premiums 150 billion affordable home care 150 billion affordable housing This adds $1.5 trillion to the money supply in a short time period. This will raise prices by 15% although the administration says it will lower inflation. Not sure how that would work.

Transgender

Lia Thomas is a transgender swimmer on the University of Pennsylvania swim team. She was born a male but changed to a female. She recently set school records in the 200-meter freestyle and 500-meter freestyle in November. This past weekend, the record-breaking stretch continued, as Thomas set a school record in the 1650-meter freestyle. Her teammate Anna Kalandadze finished in second place — over 38 seconds behind Thomas. The swimmer continued smashing records on Saturday with a nearly 7-second victory in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:41.93 — representing the fastest finish in the country, the school said. The previous record was 1:52:98. Normally when new records are it is by a very small margin like less than one second. All of those young women across the country who have worked hard will now realize that they can no longer compete.

Abortion

Roe v Wade has always been unpopular within certain groups. Name changes were part of lessening the concern by the general public. Pro abortion was called pro choice and abortion was called reproductive rights. These were good moves to soften the issue but the pro choice people made some serious miscalculations. They kept pushing the envelop and demanded the right to have an aborting in the final days of pregnancy even to the point of allowing a aborted baby that did not die to be killed. A reasonable person might conclude that abortion in the first trimester is acceptable for legitimate reasons and even in the second trimester under special circumstances but going further would be too much. Even the definition of legitimate reasons has been a slippery slope. It started with abortion for spina bifida and progressed to Downs syndrome to sex determinate and not there yet but legally allowed abortion because of eye color. The pro choice people were given a rope and they proceeded to hang themselves.

Distance learning

Some schools are going back to distance learning. While the chances of a child dying from Covid are slim the other damage is real and can be seen in test scores. The biggest health problems are mental and emotional. There was a 22.3 percent spike in ER trips for potential suicides by children aged 12 to 17 in summer 2020 compared to 2019, according to findings published in the CDC's "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report." That trend seemed to continue into this recently completed academic year as visits were up by 39.1 percent this winter, compared to the previous winter, the report said.

Hilary

There was a lengthy discussion about Hilary Clinton on MSNBC today and they are drooling over the possible rerun between Hilary and Trump. They can see their ratings rising back to the good old days. Both of these candidates will be the same age as Biden was last year. Hilary's plan is to move to the center much like Bill did. She says the party should not be run by the far left. She spoke at length about the evil person that Trump is but said nothing about his policies except what she called, "his Muslim ban". She said he tried to overthrow the government on January 6th. If I could advise her I would tell her to forget about his personality and concentrate on policy and that would guarantee her lose. Talk about the border, about crime, about schools, about China, about taxes, about inflation, about energy, about defense budget and about policing. More realistically speaking if the party as a choice between her and Biden and Harris she will win the nomination.

MP Materials

At one time the US mined rare earth metals but that all stopped in 2002. Now a company called MP Materials has reopened the mine. The ore is still being sent to China for processing. It represents an attempt on the part of the US to gain a foothold in a market that is presently dominated by China. The government is offering to subsidize. This is along with the many billions of subsidies the government has already contributed to the wind and solar business. If science could replace politics all of this money would be going to thorium nuke plants.

Musk

Elon Musk is selling stock to pay taxes. He is also selling stock to invest in his space program Space X. This is a new business but already employs 10,000 highly paid high tech types. He hires mostly engineers and their average salary is $100,000. This is one billion dollars in salaries and these people will pay $250,000,000 in taxes each year. Musk moved his business from California to Texas where there is no state tax. California has a 12.3% state income tax. On the $8.8 billion that Musk sold to pay federal income tax, California lost $2 billion in state tax. Instead of using these tax dollars to invest in new business adventures the government will be using this money to provide benefits to people and many of these people will vote for their benefactors.

Safe reactors

The question is, if thorium is such a good deal, why don't we have it. Back in the 50's and 60's when nuclear power was being developed thorium was the first choice of scientist but it was the second choice of politicians and the politicians won the day. Thorium reactors cannot be used to produce bomb grade material but uranium reactors can and that ended the discussion. Today we have all the bomb grade material we need so the scientist can return to the path they were on 60 years ago. Ordinary table salt is sodium chloride and it melts at 1,400 degrees F. Other salts do the same thing and slightly different temperatures. The salt used in thorium reactors is lithium-beryllium fluoride and it has a melting point of 1,450 F. The thorium fuel is mixed in the melted salt and this is used to provide the heat needed to run the turbines to make electricity. When the salt leaves the reactor vessel it is no longer radioactive and is circulated around a heat ex changer where it heats up a gas that used to spin the generator. This reactor operates at normal atmospheric pressure and if power is interrupted the salt cools and the process is shut down. The salt only stays hot if additional thorium is added and when the power is off no more is added. This is called walk away safety since the whole process will shut down if the operators just go home.

Putin and oil

There is concern that Russia is preparing to invade the Ukraine. Russia gets a ton of money from oil exports and things have been looking up for the past 10 months. Russia exports 8 million barrels of oil per day and when Biden took office oil was $47 and today it is $77 or $30 per barrel more. This means Putin is bringing in an extra $240 million dollars per day. US production declined and the price rose, the old supply and demand thingy. The question arises, did this extra income give Putin the impetus to make the move. This rise in oil prices has caused gasoline prices in the US to rise from $2 per gallon to $3. If the US would announce an increase in production the price of both would come down and this would help US consumers and hurt Putin. US oil companies are happy with the higher price as the US produces 11 million barrels per day and this $30 increase gives them an extra $330 million per day.

Math

When students learn math each year depends on what they learned in previous years. When a student gets behind it is imperative that they get help because it just gets worse if they don't. There was real concern in this area because of the shut down during the pandemic. The way some schools are dealing with this is to remove advanced math from the curriculum. American students currently rank number 31 out of 79 countries and will now fall further behind.

China

Back in the 1980's South Africa was a racist country with the white minority controlling all aspects of the economy. Americas were upset and the US placed sanctions on South Africa and this was followed up with many pension plans divesting of all South African assets. Will the US today take steps to challenge the racism in China where the Uyghurs are treated as slaves or in Afghanistan where women are slaves. Where are the civil rights leaders? Where are the women's groups? Will our government place sanctions on China? Will pension plans remove Chinese assets from their portfolio? Don't hold your breath. We can't even get the NBA to get out of China. When there is money involved all those idealistic ideas go by the wayside. 80% of the ingredients used in prescription drugs are produced in China. It might be wise to make some changes here even if it cost more. That advise could be appropriate for many products in the supply chain. Made in America and cost more but it's worth it.

Hand guns

Statistics show a correlation between the number of hand guns and the number of violent crimes but it is not what most people believe. Since 1990 the number of guns owned by US citizens has increased dramatically and today they own over 400 million guns including more than 100 million hand guns. During this same time period violent crime has decreased by half going from 758 per 100,000 people to 388 per 100,000. Some believe this presents a reasonable argument that more guns make us safer. The distortion comes from the fact that a disproportional number of violent crimes occur in the minority centers in the big cities. Black males continues to murder Black males in record numbers and often times the solution is said to be getting rid of guns. Many of the guns used in these crimes are stolen from legal gun owners. It is estimated that 600,000 guns are stolen each year. Some feel if guns were confiscated by the government this would mean no guns for the criminals but that goes against past experience in other areas. For example drugs like cocaine and meth are illegal but are found across the country. In any case it is a moot point since citizens would not allow for the confiscation of guns. When the powers to be, admit to this, then they can start looking for other solutions.

Charity

Should the rich donate to charity. The answer is, depends. If a person has the skills needed to start new business or grow and existing business the profits should be used for those reasons. People like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk should use the company profits to expand and start new enterprises because the best charity is a good job. The three members of the Walton family, Jim, Rob and Alice own 50% of Walmart stock or 1.38 billion shares. The dividend is $2.20 so these three get to share $3 billion per year. This is money that can be given to charity because it does not effect the growth of the company. Warren Buffett is worth billions and gave most of it to charity. His business was not directly creating jobs but helping others to finance companies that did create jobs.

Crime

Sociologist say there are two main ways to describe crime, the due process model and the crime control model. The country tends to cycle between these two where the one concentrates on rights of criminals and the other on the rights of victims. The back bone of due process is innocent until proven guilty. It is a slow process as the case works its way through the legal system ending often times in the courtroom. To take pressure off the courts and to promote a speedy trial, the system uses plea bargaining. This allows defendants to negotiate with the prosecutors office to reach a settlement without going to court. The second called crime control places the emphasis on the victim and demands punishment for anyone convicted. It can best be seen in the three strikes and your out, the stop and frisk policy and the broken windows policy which is where low level crime is punished to deter more serious crimes. In the first model, experts point out the many reasons why a criminal acted the way he did. Others say this allows the criminal to place the blame on something or someone other than himself. Like Flip Wilson saying the devil made me do it. They say each person must accept the responsibility for their own behavior. The second model or the get tough on crime version can and often does jail people for non violent crimes and can be racist when misused. In street talk it says don't do the crime if you can't do the time. We are presently moving from a due process model to a crime prevention model.

Fauci

Dr Fauci announced the new variant and the US stopped all air travel from South Africa and six other African countries. The market lost 1,800 points and then Fauci said he was reevaluating the travel ban and the market came back 1,800 points. His responsibilities center around health and not the economy. He is not influenced by any cost/benefit ration when it comes to comparing health and the overall economy. Thus the plan to have children be vaccinated. Of the 73 million children in the US fewer than 700 have died from Covid and most of those had preexisting health problems. The staff and teachers in the schools have been vaccinated but many schools still require masks.

Smash and grab

Thailand has come to America. Thanks to my late daughter-in-law, I had the opportunity to visit Thailand a few years ago. Everyday at sun down merchants come out and put blankets down on the ground and spread out their wares including all sorts of consumer items. Out in San Francisco smash and grabers are doing the same thing. The race into a store and grab up as much merchandise as they can carry and the next day they have it on display for people passing by. If you can steal $950 without being charged you can do that each day and sell it at half price and make a very comfortable living

Police response

The Mayor of Chicago said that the rise in smash and grab crime is because the stores will not hire private security to protect themselves. In those stores that have private security the guards are hesitant to confront the thieves because it can easily escalate into violence and then the guards can be held responsible for any injuries or deaths. If a guard stops a thief and is threatened by the thief the guard may use his gun to protect himself and then the press reports that a guard killed an unarmed man for stealing a thousand dollars. Police face a similar situation in car chases. It is better to let the crook get away than to risk an accident where someone could be injured or killed. Once criminals realize that the police are hamstrung they will be emboldened. There have been a number of cases here in Minneapolis where criminal activity is reported to the police and there is no response. Something like breaking and entering cars or minor thefts are not responded to because they can lead to escalation and the officer could find his career in jeopardy.

Subpoena

The congressional committee investigating the January 6 riot in Washington DC has issued subpoenas for the phone, email and text messages from the phone companies. The people they are investigating have not been charged with any crime. This sets a dangerous precedent. If congress subpoenas personal records from you, you have the right to hire an attorney and challenge the subpoena but the phone company is not going to go to that expense to protect your records. No probable cause is required to issue a subpoena. The government can issue a subpoena just to see if a crime might have been committed.

Press

Trust in the media has been on a downward slide since the high of 55% in 1999. By 2014 it was down to 40%. Today is at 36% but it is very political. The poll shows that 68% of democrats, 11% of republicans and 31% of independents trust the media. Since 92% of the coverage of Trump was negative and 32% of Biden has been negative you would expect the big difference between parties to be understandable. Some say this is because Trump called the media fake news but that should not affect objective reporting. Some question whether the press still strives for objectivity.

Ponder

Some things to ponder US requires all non-citizen air passengers traveling to the United States to provide proof of Covid vaccinations but this is not requires of illegals crossing the southern border. Obama traded five terrorist for one deserted saying, "the United States has a sacred rule of not leaving behind its men and women in uniform but Biden has left many Americans behind in Afghaninstan. Trump banned travel from China and was called xenophobic while Biden bans travel from Africa and is protecting US citizens Curtail oil drilling on government lands and then releasing oil from the strategic reserve in the name of climate change Giving an OK to the new Russian natural gas line to Europe while stopping the natural gas production on government lands. The national TV stations had a running count of Covid deaths while Trump was president but they no longer do that even though Nov. 22, 2021 -- The number of COVID-19 deaths recorded so far in 2021 has surpassed the total for 2020 and the vaccine was available all of 2021.

Quotas

The dilemma surrounding affirmative action. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, you cannot base a hiring decision, in whole or in part, on a person's race or gender. But as in all cases there are loop holes and this case the government can enact a law that infringes on a fundamental constitutional right. This happens when the government feels there is a compelling interest in something that is so important. Thus we have affirmative action or as some call it quotas.

Green or not

The other side of the story. For millions of years and up to the industrial revolution the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere was decreasing. The main reason is that sea creatures were converting it all to calcium salts that are used to build their shells. This was putting stress on plant life and the earth was losing its green. As the industrial age began to put CO2 into the air the plant life was revived and today is thriving. While stories about the destruction of the rain forest abound, stories about the earth getting greener are no where to be found. As carbon free nuclear power becomes the dominate source of energy the loss of CO2 will be cause great harm to the greening of the earth. There will come a day when countries will be required to add CO2 to the atmosphere. Here are some excerpts from NASA. Earth has continued to grow green since the turn of the century and this could help moderate global warming. NASA in February of 2019 established that the earth was greener than it was in 1980. More trees means more rain which means more clouds which means global cooling. Isn't it strange that this kind of information is rarely published.

Child care

Part of the Build Back Better bill contains a provision for government paid childcare. This will allow many non working moms to return to the work force. The cost cannot exceed 7% of the families income. For example a mom working full time at Walmart earning $30,000 per year will pay no more than $2,100 per year per child in childcare. In MN today childcare is $12,000 per year. The cost for this service in the new bill is estimated at $200 billion over ten years but it must be renewed in six years. This was done to keep the ten year cost down. This is a budget gimmick called sunsetting. Once this is law many new babysitting businesses will open up. Since the government will be on the hook for all cost over the family limit of 7% the price will quickly rise. In the example above the mom would pay $2,100 and the government would pick up the difference of $12,000 minus $2,100 or $9,900. In a short time the babysitters will raise their prices since the government is paying. The true cost of this service will be far more than the estimates. Just like what happened with tuition cost when the government starting offering student loans.

Civil service

When I started in the financial planning business all federal employees were civil service which meant ,among other things, they had their own pension plan. The other main difference was the unwritten law that you could not be fired. This was hyperbole because you could be fired but it was very difficult. Over the years it has become easier to fire someone but they still have more protection that many other jobs. The VA was a case in point as many incompetent people were allowed to stay on the job even though they were not performing up to standard. Trump made such an issue of this that the VA came under pressure to evaluate employees like is the case in other businesses. One of the more important changes Trump made was to allow VA patients to visit non-VA facilities to get quicker treatment. Giving Veterans more options didn’t mean VA stopped providing care at its medical facilities. In fact, VA is seeing more patients than ever before, more quickly than ever before and studies show VA compares favorably to the private sector for access and quality of care – and in many cases exceeds it. This lax approach to hire and fire was around for many years and only recently has progress been made. In 1984 civil service was replaced with social security. Employees at that time had the option to remain under civil service or move to social security. All stayed with civil service as it was a better plan. There are very few of the original civil service employees still around. It was the general opinion that getting a civil service job was like getting tenure at a university.

Roe

After the Civil War Blacks still didn't get full rights so 30 years later the Supreme Court in Plessy v Ferguson came up with the concept of separate but equal. More than 50 years later equality was still lacking because things were separate but not equal. So in Brown v Board of Education the court ruled against segregation and that in conjunction with the Civil Rights amendment in 1965 ended the last vestiges of Jim Crow and brought us to today. The court changes when society changes or when new information presents itself. Interestingly enough in high schools and colleges many, not all, students are segregating on their own. Check the cafeteria during lunch and see that many tables are segregated. See how students gather after school and you see segregation. At sporting events they segregate. One of the signs that racism is a thing of the past is when students no longer segregate. The court is now looking at Roe v Wade which was decided in 1973. Some say it isn't wise to change a ruling that has been around for 50 years but others say that precedence shows that is not a reason not to change.

Coming late

When a person comes late to work or school it is disruptive and disrespectful to those who are on time. When I worked at a plant in Indiana we had a policy of disciplinary time off with pay. When a person was late on a regular basis they would be told to take a week off with pay and during that time decide whether they could get to work on time or not. All of the people either came to work the following Monday but no later than Tuesday and that usually solved the problem. This past week in high school they announced that if 95% of the students in your class were on time your class would have a chance at a prize. In business if you continually show up late to meetings the boss will take note of that and at your annual review you will lose points that will effect the size of your raise. Every student can be late on occasion but I know from experience some students come late on a regular basis and nothing is done about it. They might be in for a rude awakening when they leave school and go to work. One teacher has a sign on his door that says if you are late, go to the office and get a pass. He closes his door when the bell rings and it is very rare that anyone comes late. The school does not like this policy saying they don't have time to issue passes to anyone who comes late. To make matters even more difficult to work with, the students coming late are dis-proportionally Black. Under the unwritten law that teachers live with, known as pick your battles, the teachers just ignore the late student.

White flight

The term white flight was coined in the 50's when white people left the cities for the suburbs. This resulted in a lower tax base which meant fewer services and led to more flight. By the 80's the cities were in shambles with empty houses in slum like neighborhoods. Crime, mostly about drug deals became the norm and then in 90's people demanded law and order and the cities started making a comeback. This has run into a snag in the past year as crime is once again on the rise and people are leaving the cities. Cities hardest hit with the flight are coastal, east and west.

TerraPower

In 2011 Bill Gates founded TerraPower and tried to build a nuke power plant in China because he was having so many problems here in the US with the EPA and other government agencies. When the US discovered this they made some adjustments and Gates is now building in Wyoming. The plant will cost $4 billion, half from Gates and half from the US government. It is a liquid sodium reactor but uses uranium for fuel. This is like using thorium in that it does not require high pressure water to cool and can shut down by itself if problems occur. This is a start. If Gates is half as successful with TerraPower as he was with MicroSoft he may just save the world but politics looms on the horizon and he may have so many problems with government regulation (interference) the whole project may be abandoned. TerraPower has been around for ten years and founded by a well known entrepreneur but no one has heard about it. Wonder why?

VP Harris

VP Harris is in the news because of some staff resignations. Recall she came on the scene like gangbusters when she announced her candidacy for president in front of a lively crowd in Oakland. She got rave reviews from the press and was off to a flying start. She got even more notoriety when she pointed out that Biden built his reputation on segregation. Then things started to fall apart. She could only gather 2% of the vote and dropped out of the presidential race. Then she got a reprieve when Biden chose her as his VP. The choice of VP is the first big decision a candidate makes and Biden gave everyone a clue as to how he thinks. Logic says that the person chosen should be someone for whom the people would trust as capable of being president. Biden, however, selected Harris for purely political reasons most important of which was she was Black and a woman. As VP she has not had many successes and is plagued with mistakes. While the VP is often the heir inherit to the throne things are not working out for her.

Radioisotopes

On of the advantages of thorium power plants that is rarely talked about is the production of various medical isotopes used primarily for cancer treatments. Many believe that these by products will produce enough income to pay the operating cost. These treatment are called targeted alpha therapy and show great promise but treatments are limited by the supply of suitable radioisotopes and this is where thorium reactors come into play. Bismuth 13 is a isotope that does not naturally occur and is used in chemo. Technetium 99 is used in the detection of various medical conditions. The medical molybdenum market accounts for 30 million procedures each year. Iodine 131 is used to treat cancers of the thyroid. Rubidium 82 used for PET imaging. Myocardial perfusion imaging uses thallium 201. Co 60 can focus gamma radiation on precise areas of the brain to fight cancer. Many therapeutic procedures are palliative, usually to relieve pain. For instance, strontium-89 and (increasingly) samarium-153 are used for the relief of cancer-induced bone pain. Rhenium-186 is a newer product for this. These are only few of the chemicals used in medicine and thorium reactors produce them all as valuable by products. The by product of fossil fuels is dirty air and the by product of wind and solar is dirty water.

Nuclear now

We get reports from various news sources almost daily telling us that climate change is an existential threat. The dictionary says that means An existential threat is a threat to something's very existence—when the continued being of something is at stake or in danger. It is difficult to take this threat seriously since the answer to the whole problem is nuclear energy and no one says that. So the end of the world is coming and some say soon yet no one is talking about nuclear. The only conclusion is that they don't really mean it and they have some ulterior motive for saying that. We know why the fossil fuel people don't want to talk about it and we know why the wind and solar people keep quiet about it but what about the ordinary citizens. Do they not think about the issue. Why haven't the scientist brought it up. They understand that nuclear is carbon free, doesn't contaminate the air and water, and can be used to make hydrogen for transportation. It is totally bewildering.

Vaccine

A third court has now ruled that Biden's vaccine mandate is unconstitutional. This is on the way to the Supreme Court. The question now arises, what happens to the people who have lost their jobs if the big court rules against the mandate. Will they then be able to sue their employers for lost wages and throw in some emotional suffering. In Chicago about 4,000 of the 12,000 police have missed the deadline for vaccination. As of October 2021 thirty percent of healthcare workers remain unvaccinated.

Divided country

A large number of people still feel that the last election was stolen from Trump and they are ridiculed by another large group. They are called crazy insurrectionist who are trying to destroy our democracy. There is another large group that still feel that there was a Trump/Russia collusion and they succeeded in impeaching Trump and are calling for more investigation and this groups is considered crazy by many as refusing to face the facts. Both of these groups are locked into their positions and that is representative of what is happening to the country. They all declare they are the real Americans as they join forces to divide the country. Facts and investigations are treated the same as trials. If they don't prove your side they were wrong regardless of what the jury decides.

Going nuclear

There is a college in a Illinois town where I used to live and they have signs on the street light poles saying, get ready the world is changing. This is happening in an important area behind the scenes and very few people are aware of what is going on. Many environmentalist who a few years ago were anti nuclear people are rethinking their positions. As we entered the 21st century the push for clean air was led by the proponents of wind and solar. The plan got a big push when it was combined with social change but as Bob Dylan said, things are a changin. Leading scientist now realize that going to wind and solar is trading clean air for dirty water. The amount of waste from both the construction of wind and solar and the amount of dangerous waste products have caused them to see the value of nuclear. Many have come to the conclusion that you cannot solve the climate change problem with wind and solar. The misinformation about the safety of nuclear has been promoted by those who compete with nuclear and they joined forces with those who want to use wind and solar to promote social change and they have convinced people that nuclear is not a viable alternative. Scientist who rely on factual evidence are realizing that nuclear is the only way to deal with climate change but they are faced with the politicians who are committed to wind and solar. As more information is forthcoming the balance will shift to nuclear where both clean air and clean water can be achieved.

NPR reports

This past week there was a 15 minute interview on Public Radio with a woman who traveled with a caravan coming up through Mexico. She related a dozen stories of people who risked their lives to make the journey emphasizing the hardships encountered along the way. No mention was made of any women or children being molested. No mention of paying coyotes. No mention of criminals inside the group, no mention of children traveling alone and no mention of drugs be delivered. Here is part of a report from the NY Times. On America’s southern border, migrant women and girls are the victims of sexual assaults that most often go unreported, uninvestigated and unprosecuted. This is from the El Paso News. Federal agents in this section of the southern border say they’ve seen a staggering 4,000 percent increase in fentanyl seizures over the last three years. Here is from CNN. Tens of thousands of migrants arrive at the US border each week, with record-setting numbers of unaccompanied minors among them.

China and thorium

China has joined the age of thorium and plans to use this to become carbon free. The first experimental plant is underway and expected to go online this fall. Plans to build many more on an assembly like process are next. Thorium reactors are modular in construction and can be combined to increase power as needed. They are safe and will automatically shut down if left unattended or if power is interrupted. They do not use water as a coolant and operate at normal atmospheric temperatures which means no danger of steam explosions. They can use up existing stockpiles of waste. They not only produce electric power but many valuable medical chemicals needed to treat cancer. They can be designed to use excess heat to desalt sea water. China plans to sell these to 30 different countries. The thorium can be mined without harming the environment and is less costly and more available than uranium. One good source of thorium is the coal ash that has accumulated at coal fired power plants.

Native Americans

The classroom teacher is speaking in social studies explaining the history of the colonization of the New World. The settlers came bringing with them guns which allowed them to over power the local natives. They treated them as savages because they were not religious and pushed them off of their land. They added insult to injury by spreading diseases like small pox which killed many of the natives. They made treaties with the natives which they later broke and then moved them further west. The celebration of Thanksgiving is just one more way to insult these natives. The question arises how does this make the students feel. Is it designed to promote guilt. Do these students now feel responsible for the mistreatment that occurred hundreds of years ago. What should the students response be to this lecture. Did the teacher speak this way to show his concern for natives proving that he is a sensitive caring man who fights against injustice. If only there were more people like me the world would be a better place. Just what is going on here. What is the end game?

Free childcare

A single mom with two children working at Walmart for $15 per hour earns $30,000 per year and receives $6,000 in earned income credits plus $6,000 in child tax credits. Walmart provides benefits like healthcare, vacation and pension. The proposed build back better bill includes free childcare for 3 and 4 years olds meaning the mom could go to work when the youngest is 3. That saves $200 per week per child. When the children are five they can go to full time school where they are eligible for free breakfast and lunch. Mom pays no income tax and has a take home pay of $40,000 per year with low cost childcare and food assistance. In addition mom would qualify for benefits from TANF, SNAP and WIC. The only moms who can work are those who have a relative like grandma to take care of the kids. With the addition of childcare many moms without family support for childcare can work outside the home. Another option is to get the dead beat dads to pay the $20,000 for childcare but in today's world in many families the government is the dad.

Tax

There are a number of tax credits available and some do not understand the difference between refundable and nonrefundable credits. Nonrefundable means you can only deduct up to the amount of tax you owe. Refundable means you get the money even if you owe no taxes. The change made this year allows all of the credit to be deductible regardless of the tax you owe. Under the new rules this year if you are married and file joint and you have 5 children you can earn $150,000 and pay no income tax. This means that about 70% of working people will pay zero tax.

African ban

The US will limit travel from Africa because of Covid. 107,000 visitors came to the US last year from Africa. Since these countries are all in the southern part of Africa and in these countries the population is 95% Black, will this ban be considered racist as was the case when Trump banned travel from some Muslim countries but included the non-Muslim countries of North Korea and Venezuela and not the worlds largest Muslim country Indonesia.

Amazon

Jeff Bezos started Amazon 27 years ago and his business philosophy was simple. He would reinvest all profits to grow the business and grow it did. The money he might have used to spend to enjoy the good life went instead back into the business. Not only did the business grow but he paid very little in taxes. There were paper losses that he pushed forward to offset taxes. The company went 13 years without a net profit and finally in 2004 they showed a net profit of $73 million dollars. This reinvestment help other businesses to grow. This year is no different as Amazon plans to spend over $120 Billion on supplies and services purchased from other United States businesses There are over 200,000 different businesses that these supplies will come from in a variety of industries. Some say that Amazon should give money to charity but others say it is better if they expand and create new jobs. Amazon started with 21 employees in 1994 and today has 1.2 million employees. This is free market capitalism at work. The best welfare program is a good job. Amazon will hire 125,000 people this year and they have received over one million applications. In the past two years Bezos has sold $16 billion in stock to finance this space program, Blue Horizons. This creates thousands of high paid high tech jobs. Yet knowing his past history politicians plan ways to take his money so they can spend it in ways they think are better and this means ways to get themselves reelected.

Omar

MN congress woman Illmae Omar was accused of marrying her brother, Ahmed Elmi to help him get a US green card. She denied this. The FBI investigated and found that Omar married Ahmed Hirsi in 2018. She and Hirsi split in 2008, but reunited in 2012, even though Omar was legally married to Elmi until 2017. Two FBI agents reportedly held a meeting last October after a concerned source handed over documents in relation to her 2009 marriage to Elmi. Although agents were said to pass on the information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Education, government agencies have not confirmed the existence of an investigation or the potential to open one in the future. Nothing further was done so the allegation is left hanging.

China Hunter

The TV news media relies on The New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal for their news. Last week the Times published what is being called a bomb shell report on Hunter Biden's deal to transfer a cobalt mine in Africa from US control to Chinese control. Nothing of this was reported in the three major networks of NBC, CBS and ABC or in the cable news MSNBC and CNN. Cobalt is needed for EV's and other high tech stuff. China has control of rare earth metals and now control of cobalt. If the US starts to bring manufacturing back to the states they should be preparing to develop their own supplies of rare earths and cobalt as China may well use these chemicals to keep US production in China. Many are asking how the US should respond to China's recent aggressive actions and a good way is to bring our business back home.

Fetus

A pregnant woman and the child she was carrying were killed Saturday night in a shooting in Philadelphia’s Crescentville section, police said. This headline is somewhat confusing since according to the Supreme Court it was a fetus that was killed not a child. In the United States most crimes of violence are covered by state law. Pennsylvania is one of 29 states that consider this murder.

Build back better

The path forward for the country is simple and easy to implement and mostly involves getting back to the pre pandemic days. Properly train and pay law enforcement to protect and serve. Reinstate remain in Mexico, have the Mexican government enforce their southern border and build the wall with all of its high tech protections. Use tax incentives to bring manufacturing back home and this will create new high paying jobs and solve the supply chain problem. Emphasize private job creation not government jobs. Direct schools to concentrate on the 3 R's and leave the rest up to families while allowing the money to follow the student to private schools and Charter schools. Move toward thorium nuclear power to create electricity, hydrogen for transportation and energy to desalt sea water.

Rittenhouse

Kyle Rittenhouse shares some commonality with Nicholas Sandman. Recall he was the student from Covington, KY who was defamed by various press groups and he sued several of these organizations and ended up rich. The terms of his suit against the Washington Post and CNN were not disclosed but he sued for $250 million. Both of these young men were under the age of 18 and they were not famous which means they do not have to prove malice. The press admitted no wrong doing and settled out of court. Defamation of character is a false statement made or published about someone else that harms that person. The term includes both slander, describing a false spoken statement, and libel, a false published statement.

Build back passes

The build back better bill passed today and contains benefits for wealthy people. Starting with the repeal of the Trump SALT, it also has $320 billion in tax credits for installing solar panels and this could save a homeowner $20,000 in taxes but how many low income people pay taxes. The same goes for the $12,500 tax credit for EV's. The least costly Tesla is $45,000 and not many low income people can afford that. The bill could do without these features and keep things like $400 billion for universal pre-K, $200 billion child tax credits, $200 billion for 4 weeks paid leave and $150 for reduced deductibles for healthcare as these help low income people. The bill now goes to the senate and there they may remove some of these help the rich parts.

OJ

The US legal system, which is arguably the best can be baffling at times. In the Rittenhouse trial a newsman was found following the bus that carried the jurors and he was banned from the trial as there was concern that he might be intimidating the jury members. On the other hand, everyday outside the courthouse there are crowds of people protesting loud enough to be heard inside the courtroom. They are threatening to riot if the defendant is found not guilty. 500 national guard members are on hand to quell the riots. The jurors are not sequestered so they are aware of what is happening. They know that if they find not guilty their city may be set afire as was the case before the trial. Is this not intimidating? Will this effect their decision? Are we to the point where mob justice can rule the day? This has not always been the case. In the famous OJ Simpson trial of 25 years ago, a black man was accused of killing two white people, one of whom was his wife. The trial went on for 8 months and there were peaceful protest led by feminist but no violence. Thousands of women joined NOW. A recent poll shows that more than 50% of Blacks think OJ was guilty. He had a group of high priced lawyers called by the press the dream team and they used the race card to get him acquitted. The jury consisted of 8 blacks, 2 Hispanics, 1 half-Caucasian, half Native American, and 1 Caucasian female. The jury deliberated for four hours.

Motive

It can be dangerous to impugn motives. When you hear someone say, I know what he's thinking or feeling or meaning you should be alert to possible bias. Today the presidents spokeswoman said that the republicans are hoping for high inflation. Another newsman said the democrats were hoping for something like January 6. Perhaps this is what psychologist call projection or what a layperson would call wishful thinking.

New benefits

Back in 2010 when Obamacare became law the democrats were warned that this would cost them seats in the house and in fact it did. The dems knew this but Obama decided it would be worth it because they would one day regain the house but once enacted a government benefit is there for good. The same strategy is going on this year. All indications are that the dems will lose the house but Biden feels the loss will be worth it if he can pass the build back America plan. The plan includes free preschool and free child care for kids under age 6. The child tax credit to $3,600. More money for Obamacare to lower monthly cost to users. Once passed these will not be canceled and in a few years the house will come back to the democrats. It is a good strategy and it worked before. These are all good ideas that will help low income people and will cost $900 billion over ten years and a 2% increase in taxes on the rich can pay for this. A family of four can earn up to $88,000 and pay no income tax and have free child care so both parents can work. The USDA recently extended the free breakfast and lunch program through the next school year and by that time it will be hard to stop.

Yes more in thorium

Nuclear power plants using uranium have been operating for 60 years and are safer than other forms of energy production. The main hazards with these plants are high pressure and the use of water for cooling. In addition they produce waste which last for many thousands of years. Enter thorium liquid salt plants. They do not operate at high pressure or use water for cooling and produce waste that last for hundreds instead of thousands of years. In addition they can use up waste from uranium plants. They are smaller in size and less expensive to build and operate. They are safer than any other form of energy production since they have a walk away design. The people running the plant would just walk away the whole process would shut itself down.

Natural gas in Europe

In the past five years the US exports of natural gas have increased 2,400 percent. Exports to Asia have increased in recent years leaving Europe at the mercy of Russia. The US has seven liquid natural gas export terminals with 4 approved and under construction. There are 15 more terminals approved but not yet under construction. The US could supply Europe so they would not be dependent on Russia. Europeans are currently paying four times more to heat their homes than are people in the US and their homes are much smaller in size. The US has a large supply from fracking where as Europe is not fracking. Europe's problem was further exacerbated by an unusual lack of wind this past year. In Germany Chancellor Merkel started shutting down nuclear plants in 2011 with the goal to have all 26 shut down by 2022. They currently have six plants operating.

Wealth tax

Recently it was suggested that the very rich pay higher taxes in some form of wealth tax. Since most of these wealthy people have most of their assets in company stock it means the sale of stock. This past week Elon Musk sold $6.9 billion in stock to pay taxes. This resulted in a 20% drop in the stock price. While this does not hurt Musk since he still owns billions of shares it has an effect on the other stock holders who may not be so wealthy including many pension funds. This is what happens when large blocs of stock are sold. When the rich pay their taxes the ordinary investor loses.