Fox Face

Fox News was started in 1996 by Rupert Murdoch and in 2000 Roger Ailes took over as CEO. They recognized a need for a conservative voice to balance the rest of the media and the adventure was an immediate success and is today the most watched cable network. Following this example Trump should gather together a dozen of his rich buddies and start a conservative social media network. They would have a ready made audience that would be larger than the other cable news outlets combined. This would give the public another option and the ability to see different viewpoints.

Double standard

Many stories are written about discrimination in the US especially against Blacks. The same goes for stories about the Covid virus but more serious problems occur every year around the world. Over one million people die from malaria each year, mostly children under five years of age, with 90 per cent of malaria cases occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria can be treated. If the right drugs are used, people who have malaria can be cured and all the malaria parasites can be cleared from their body. This double standard happens in other areas. The US will not mine rare earth metals because it is so harmful to the environment but the US gladly purchases these metals from China where the mines are threatening Yellow River. It is trickling towards the nearby Yellow River, a major drinking water source for much of northern China, at a rate of 20 to 30 metres a year, a local expert told the influential Chinese magazine Caixin.

China

China was a struggling third world country until the 1980's when they opened up their economy to the free market and since that time they have grown quickly. In 2001 their economy got a big boost when they were allowed to join the WTO. This required them to follow general rules for international trading which they promptly disregarded. Over the years they have used cheap labor to draw businesses from the west. The business is more competitive since they have so few environmental controls. They save billions on R&D by stealing intellectual property from the west. They export far more than they import and run a favorable balance of trade with all countries. There is no free press since the government controls speech. Large areas of their population work as slaves. They have students going to school all around the west with the hidden purpose of acting as spies. They buy up businesses that allow them to spy on the west. Recently they have been providing funds and fentanyl to the Mexican cartels to bring drugs into the US. There is evidence that the Covid virus started in China and was allowed to spread to the rest of the world. Many feel this is a non shooting war and it is hard for the US to compete with its free and open economy.

Equity

Susan Rice says all government agencies will promote equity. “Every agency will place equity at the core of their public engagement, their policy design and delivery,” HUD nominee Marcia Fudge says she wants to make housing available for everyone.“From my own perspective, the difference is one just means you treat everybody the same. Sometimes the same is not equitable,” Fudge said. “Equity means making the playing field level. … The same is not always fair.” Both of these ladies are talking about equal results. Will this mean that everyone who wants a home loan will have one. That was tried and the result was the 2008 mortgage crisis and the poorest people were hurt the worst. Many of them have still not recovered. Will free housing follow free health care and free college. Will guaranteed income be next. Congressman Tim Ryan has proposed $2,000 per month every month until the pandemic is over. Once people start receiving a monthly check it will not be easy to stop. Will taking assets from the rich by force be needed to pay. Remember the wealth tax. What about equity in other areas. Will it be necessary to get rid of winners and losers to achieve equity. Should everyone who works a forty hour week receive the same pay. The road toward equity is filled with unintended consequences.

Greenies

The word cult was often used to describe followers of Trump. Webster says a cult is a system of veneration and devotion toward a particular figure or a small group of people having beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister. While this was not meant to apply to all Trumpers is was sometimes interpreted that way. This same word could be used to describe those who believe in the new green deal. Without looking into the details of what it means to replace fossil fuels with wind and solar they have jumped on the band wagon. They believe that we can just start producing wind mills and solar panels by the millions and shut down the oil and gas industry. They believe that all the people working in these industries will develop the skills needed to move into a new industry. It is mindful of when the auto industry left the rust belt that those workers could move into the high tech business. Major changes in production can occur but it requires a deeper understanding of the business than many people have or even desire to have. Just as the Trumpers were tying to change the way the working people are treated, the greenies are trying to change what working people do. As Ross Perot used to say, the devils in the details.

Climate cash

Early in President Clinton's term a lot of emphasis was place on climate change with Vice President Al Gore leading the charge. This resulted in the Kyoto Protocol which Clinton signed in 1998. This however was a treaty and needed senate approval. The senate refused to ratify. It did not even come to a vote because and earlier vote concerning the treaty was defeated 95 to 0. In 2015 the Paris Accords were signed by the US since it did not require senate approval. Over the past 20 years Western European countries along with the United States and Canada have made progress toward the goal of reducing global warming but China and India have wiped out any gains. Both countries are still building coal plants and China is building them at home and around the world. China has 121 gigawatts of coal plants under construction, which is more than the rest of the world combined. The last coal plant in the US was built in 2011 and 300 plants have closed since 2010 leaving only 241plants operating. China has that many plants currently under construction. China says they will reduce CO2 in the future but they also said they would leave Hong Kong free until 2047 but they reneged on that. The US CO2 output is less than it was in 1996 when the population was 70 million less than today. This Paris agreement is all about climate cash. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that an annual investment of $2.4 trillion is needed in the energy system alone until 2035 to limit temperature rise to below 1.5 °C from pre-industrial levels. Where is that money coming from and where is it going?

Biden and China

Some feel that Biden had a complicated relationship with China from which he somehow benefited. There is no proof of this but the future will tell if anything untoward happened. As of now Biden is keeping the import tax on China and his buy America means more jobs here and fewer jobs going to China. Biden says he wants to recruit other countries to join the US in pressuring China on protecting intellectual property. He has pledged to invest in technology to keep ahead of China. Mr. Biden has said the United States must get “tough with China,” and referred to Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, as a “thug.” As long as this remains Biden's China policy it provides evidence that he had no unethical dealings with China.

Unemployment

When a person makes a claim for unemployment, questions are asked about their work record. If you refuse to take work that was available you do not get your check so many people just say there was no work. It is now revealed that in California there were $31 billion dollars in false claims. Will the state try to recapture these funds or will that cost more than its worth.

Vaccines

Trump shut down the economy when the virus hit and then set up plans to reopen as safety permitted. This is the tight rope that each community has to walk. Now everyone agrees this is the way to go. Trump wanted schools open ASAP and now that is what everyone wants but doing so in a safe way. Not much has changed. Trump wanted the vaccine ASAP and that is what everyone wants. Trump sent vaccines to the states and they are responsible to get that into the arms. This is best since each state has a different situation. Some states like Florida have vaccinated almost half of the people but California is only at 25%. South Dakota is at 57% because they allowed medical facilities to deliver the vaccine. West Virginia is at 69% as they vaccinated older people and health care workers and front line workers all at once. All of these different ways of doing things can be evaluated and learned from so the next time things will run smoother. More cooperation and less finger pointing would help the cause.

Tesla

Tesla made its first profit in the first quarter of 2020. It survives on regulatory credits. When auto companies achieve low carbon emissions they can sell carbon credits to other auto companies. These credits amounted to $594 million in 2019, $419 million in 2018 and $360 million in 2017. As other auto makers come on line with electric vehicles they need to buy fewer carbon credits so this hay day for Tesla will be running out and some experts question Tesla's ability to stay alive without these credits. Elon Musk saw right from the start how he could make money by way of government rules on carbon sales. Tesla's stock increased 87% in 2020 and the company is now more valuable than GM, Ford and Chrysler combined even though Tesla sold only half million cars while the other companies sold 10 million. The government set up these rules to promote electric cars and the plan is working.

Impeach

Yesterday 45 republican senators voted to stop the impeachment trial calling it unconstitutional. This is a strong signal that they will not vote to impeach but the trial continues trying to get 17 republicans to vote to impeach. This is a tough hill to climb and indicates that something other than impeachment is going on. The question what is it. Are they taking up valuable senate time going down a blind alley? Could this time be better spent getting checks out to the unemployed. Is it still the same old party infighting that has plagued the congress for the past four years?

Equity

Over the past six months the word equality has been replaced with the word equity. In case people are wondering what the difference is, it is quite simple. Equality means equal opportunity and equity means equal results. This first came about in the early 70's with the terms affirmative action and quotas. Later things like playing sports in school without keeping score and giving passing grades so as not to adversely effect self worth became common place. Soon various test given to public employees like police and fire departments were altered when not enough minorities could pass the test to get these public jobs. Colleges that used to weigh heavily on test scores and extra curricular activities now add in points for personality. Sometimes people are given an edge for jobs because of skin color. When rewards are based on subjective scoring rather than merit the door is open for equal results. This is the goal with equity.

Climate

Watching politicians can be frustrating and climate change is a good example. They emphasize replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar without understanding the full impact. Many do not realize the environmental damage caused by the mining of rare earth metals which are needed to manufacture wind mills and solar panels. They seem to be oblivious to fact that airplanes cannot fly on batteries. They never consider the new technology regarding clean thorium plants that produce small quantities of waste products and use up much of the stored waste. They have likely never heard of methane hydrate and finally they never seem to even consider using natural gas for transportation. While saying they look at all options in practice they do not. In their private lives they live in large homes with big lawns and commute daily in their SUV's. They pollute more taking care of their grass than all of the California fruit and vegetable farmers combined. They have second homes with the same environmental impact as the primary home. Climate change ranked as the 11th most important issue in the 2020 campaign just a little ahead of abortion. The only conclusion is that global warming is not a climate issue but a political issue. One congresswoman says it will be too late in 12 years. It is a way to restructure the current economic system. It led to the shutting down of a pipeline which has no effect on the oil used since it is carried in an adjoining pipe. It results in joining the Paris agreement which has no enforcement provisions. It results in numerous reports financed by government grants outlining the pending disaster. The proponents complain about the climate deniers because it is politically expedient but they don't investigate other solutions. They just stick with wind and solar. Millions of low information people on the subject believe that wind and solar are the only solutions.

Congress waits

As congress fights over federal funding to states and protecting businesses from law suits and spends valuable time discussing minimum wage and money to help performing arts the checks for those unemployed fail to go out. If the goal was to help the unemployed they could send out the checks and argue about the rest later. But each side sees this pile of money as a way to finance their favorite pet projects so nothing gets done. That is our government at work. Of course while this is going these people come out on TV and express their concern for the unemployed.

Inclusivity

The Biden foreign policy is big on inclusivity. He feels that getting along with our allies is an important part of his plan. It is the continuation of the Miss Congeniality plan used during elections. Some in the press were excited about good old Joe who was and is known as a nice guy. If the US rejoins the WHO and the TPP and renews relations with Iran and gets rid of the import tax on China and Europe, doesn't ask NATO and UN members to pay more, allows Mexico to pass through immigrants instead of holding, doesn't follow through on the Trump policy in the Middle East which upsets Iran and sends money to the Paris Agreement, the US will once again have good friends around the world. He may have to pare back his made in America buy American pledge because other countries don't like that. If Americans start to demand things be made in American and start buying things made in America that might make America great at the expense of other countries.

Hospitalizations

The weak link in the Covid chain is hospital space and that is critical at this time so the first vaccines should go to the elderly especially to those with underlying conditions. Most front line workers are younger and in good health and do not threaten to use up hospital beds. Interesting that at this critical time states like New York, California and Illinois are beginning to open up.

Truckers

Fracking has brought down the price of home heating and fuel cost for transportation. One group that has benefited is private truck drivers whose major expense is fuel. This has not escaped the ever watchful eye of government which in turn is always looking for new sources of revenue. A plan is being proposed to tax trucks based on the miles driven which should pretty much take back any saving from fuel cost. When Eisenhower proposed the Interstate highway program it was to be financed by road tax called the Highway Tax Fund (HFT). Today trucks pay 45% of that tax and adding a road tax would put further pressure on their business. There are 3.5 million private truckers and once again the best way for the government to get new money is to tax the little guy.

Change

Our language is changing to become more gender neutral and many jokes are made of how this can effect the meanings. Sometimes it is ridiculous as when woman is changed to wo person or man hole cover is changed to person hole cover. Other times is seems more acceptable as in all people are created equal or husband and wife vs man and wife. Today in church the minister quoted Matthew 4:19 changing the verse from fishers of men to fishers of people. This might be in between the above examples. Will the new versions of the bible be changed to fit the new ideas on gender. Would it be like changing some of the notes in Beethoven's ninth. Do we now have poetic license to change other parts of the bible. Is God the Father acceptable. Is all this just a fad or will it stay around. How does gender change other languages. In German for example das Madchen is the word for girl and it is neutral while der Hund is the word for dog and it is masculine and die Strasse is the word for street and it is feminine. This involve pronouns that are strange to us. A ball landed in the middle of the street becomes a ball landed in the middle of her. When you start down the road of making changes you never know where it will lead. Change can be a good thing or not.

Minimum wage

The minimum wages is in the news again. There are about 500,000 who earn less than the minimum wage and many of those are restaurant employees who receive TIPS. Polls indicate that these people would earn less if they had to trade their TIPS for $15 per hour wage. Most of them feel the best thing would be to raise their wage from the current $2.13 to $5 and keep their TIPS. Would customers be willing to pay more if the increase went to wages? A poor mans Big Mac cost $1.80. Most fast food places have labor cost at about one third so $.60 of the cost goes to labor. If you doubled the labor cost the price would rise by 60 cents or $2.40. Add another 20 cents for the cost of increased benefits and you would pay $2.60 for a hamburger that now cost $1.80. If the employees currently earn the minimum wage of $7.25 this would double their salary to $14.50. Would the average customer be willing to pay an extra 80 cents for a burger if they knew the money would double the salaries.

America

In recent years groups of people who dislike America have come forth. Some are upset with the way the Native Americans were treated and others are angry as they believe that America was built on the backs of slaves. Still others are upset with income distribution as they point out how many super rich people are living lavish life styles. Some feel that immigrants from the south are not treated fairly and those in power are responsible. Others see America as polluting the globe and some are upset with the passing of debt on to future generations. While all of these are ligament complaints these same people fail to see the good in America. You will generally find what you look for. It is not surprising that many of these people are rioting in the streets and burning American flags. What is needed is to compare America with other countries past and present and this leads to a more balance view.

School

Full time school starts January 25 for K-2 and February 8 for grades 3-5. This must have more to do with childcare than the virus or they feel that elementary teachers are more expendable than middle and high school teachers. The fear all along has not been that the children will get sick but that the teachers and staff would be vulnerable. Certainly older students would better understand the reasons why they couldn't visit grandma and spread the virus. Is there another explanation?

Impeachment

The first impeachment trial of Trump took place in the US Senate from January 16 to February 5 and during this time the news media was focused on the trial. While that was going reports from China on a new virus leaked and the CDC warned of the danger while Wuhan was quarantined. The virus took a back seat in the news cycle. We are now faced with the same situation. The emphasis should be on the virus and not on impeachment. A conviction requires 67 votes which means that 17 republicans would have to vote against Trump. President Biden is trying to get his programs under way but all the news will be about the trial. It could easily add further delays to getting the stimulus out to those who lost their unemployment at the end of the year. This is also not helpful to the rest of Biden's plans.

One party control

When Harry Reid got rid of the filibuster to nominate a few judges he opened the door for Trump to nominate three supreme court justices. Now the senate is considering removing the filibuster completely and this would open the door to swinging back and forth depending on which party is in control. For example it takes only a simple majority to remove the filibuster and the democrats have that with the VP vote. Next they could increase the number of justices to 12 and add three liberal justices all with a simple majority. If the republicans gain control of the house and senate and white house they could then add three more conservative justices. This would severely weaken one of the three branches of government as set up in the constitution. Historically this would be an advantage to the democrats because since 1933 the democrats controlled all three (house, senate and White House) 34 years and the republicans 6 years. California is a good example of what happens when one party controls everything. There the population was growing rapidly since 1950 but it has declined the past two years. California has the highest state tax rate at 13.3% and the highest sales tax at 7.25%. The top one percent in the state earn 24% of the income and pay 48% of the taxes. In recent years companies are leaving the state because of taxes and regulations. The same thing is happening in New York.

Unemployment

Many articles have been written about the families that could not absorb an unexpected bill of $400 but the unemployment part of the CARES ACT ran out on 12/31/20 and nothing has been done. This benefit was $300 per week and 12 million are now without that. The congress is unable to act to help these people and the latest word is that it may take until March to resolve the problem.

Paris Agreement

Today on the news Dr. Fouci and President Biden both said we should follow the science and that was music to my ears. Signing onto the Paris Agreement means the US will be sending $3 billion dollars per year to other countries to combat global warming. This means many bureaucrats around the world will be fighting to get their hands on the great American greenbacks. If we follow the science, the US should be sending natural gas to countries around the world, in particular to Asia, as this will do more to help the climate than money will do but it will not be easy to convert gas to money, to line pockets of those anxiously awaiting the arrival of the big bucks. The US leads the world in fighting climate change. US emissions are now down almost 1 Gt from their peak in the year 2000, the largest absolute decline by any country over that period. A 15% reduction in the use of coal for power generation underpinned the decline in overall US emissions in 2019.Feb 11, 2020 While this was going on: Since 2000, the world has doubled its coal-fired power capacity to around 2,045 gigawatts (GW) after explosive growth in China and India The science is clear. Changing coal fired power plants to natural gas helps fight global warming. Many of the heavy metals released in the mining and burning of coal are environmentally and biologically toxic elements, such as lead, mercury, nickel, tin, cadmium, antimony, and arsenic, as well as radio isotopes of thorium and strontium. In addition burning coal emits large quantities of sulfuric and nitric acid the fore runners of acid rain. Power plants release the majority of sulfur dioxide and much of the nitrogen oxides when they burn fossil fuels, such as coal. That my friends is science.

Cancel culture

President Biden has called for unity and one of the first things he could do is to tackle the problem of cancel culture. Cancel culture (or call-out culture) is a modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles - either online on social media, in the real world, or both. Those who are subject to this ostracism are said to be "canceled. For example, some are calling for Harvard to cancel the degrees that some republicans earned in the past and others are asking employers not to hire anyone who worked in the Trump administration. Sometimes it involves boycotting a company because of some ad. This is very effective because companies do not want to antagonize anyone. In general it is an attack on free speech. If someone says something that another person doesn't like they can call it hate speech and ask others to join them in attacking the offender. This can escalate into attacks from all sides because one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist. It's a lose lose situation.

Trump policies

Trump is gone but will his policies carry on. Here are a few questions. Will jobs continue to come back home. Will China be taxed as long as they tax the US. Will wages for blue color workers continue to rise. Will the embassy remain in Jerusalem. Will the 4 new Arab countries that recognize Israel continue to grow. Will NATO countries continue to pay their fair share. Will fracking keep the US energy independent. Will natural gas home heating cost continue to go down. Will gasoline prices stay around two dollars. Will Iran continue to pay a price for their sponsoring of terrorism. Will America remain exceptional. Will opportunity zones in inner cities remain. Will criminal justice reforms remain in effect. Will ISIS stay defeated. Will the working class lose their $2,000 tax savings. Will job creation in the private sector continue to be a priority. Will Mexico continue to work with the US on border controls. Will outsiders continue to believe that they can get elected. Will pressure to clean up the bureaucracy continue. Will work on the vaccine continue. Will republicans continue to be the party of the working people. Will the changes in VA hospitals continue. Will maintaining a strong military continue. Will the Space Force grow to meet the needs of the 21st Century. Will the First Step Act remain. Will law enforcement remain strong. Will troops continue to come home. Will immigration by merit stay. Will regulations be removed to expedite shovel ready projects. Continue the fight against human trafficking. Continue with special programs to help Black colleges. Continue the fight against opioids. Continue the buy America, hire America policy. Will the policy to open the economy and schools continue.

Covid

The Covid, like all virus saw the death rate decline in the summer months and start up again in winter. At first many did not follow the rules of masks and social distancing but by summer they were getting the idea. By September these rules were being followed and more and more were getting on board as fall approached. What have been the results of all of this conforming to the rules. Deaths per day have slowly increased from 700 per day in the summer to over 3,000 per day in January which is much higher that the 2,000 per day last May. Experts try to explain this data and they assign different reasons at different times but they are not sure just why things are happening the way they are. It it still undecided if staying in or going out is best. Florida is open and California is closed yet both have similar case numbers. Just about everyone is wearing a mask and deaths are rising rapidly. People have learned a lot about the virus but there is still much to learn

Paris Agreement

President Biden will sign 17 executive orders and joining the Paris Agreement is one of those. The Paris Agreement is one more move toward globalization, which means transfer of wealth from the West to the East. Part of China's admission to the WTO included their being recognized as a developing country. The Paris agreement is designed to have developed countries send money to developing countries to help them meet their commitments on climate change. Western countries are to commit $100 billion dollars per year much of it going to China and India. China and India demanded rich countries provide financial support for them to increase their climate plans, as leaders prepared to meet at a UN summit in New York. While the US has reduced CO2 emissions neither of these countries will begin to reduce CO2 until far into the future. China says they will start reductions in 2030 but the consensus is that this will not happen as China has reneged on their promises to the WTO and their promises to Hong Kong. CO2 levels have risen every year since the Agreement led by Asia and Europe. Many feel this Agreement is more about moving money than improving the environment and evidence bares this out.

China

In 2000 President Clinton welcomed China into the WTO. China agreed to the rules including reducing tariffs and guaranteeing intellectual property rights but they have ignored the rules and nothing has been done about it. Consumers will benefit from lower prices Corporations profited from the billions of new customers and producing products in China at lower cost. Labor unions opposed the deal as they saw manufacturing jobs leaving the country. In the first ten years six million manufacturing jobs were lost about half from automation and half to China. Who are the winners in this deal? In 2019 the US exported $163 billion from China and imported $471 billion for a trade deficit of $308 billion. Advantage to China. To this day they continue to steal intellectual property and have high tariffs on US imports. The US had low import taxes on Chinese goods until Trump changed that. Will Biden reverse this?

Keystone

Environmentalist disapprove of the Keystone pipeline because the oil is a heavy type which produces more pollution. The new pipeline will replace the existing line but in a more direct path meaning fewer miles of pipeline. The product is being refined and sold around the world. The new line will not effect that but may prevent spills as the old line gets older. The thinking could be that if the old line starts to leak the whole project could be shut down but chances are the leaks would just be repaired and continue to happen as time goes by. The one objection left is that the new line would cross some Native American lands so that is the reason to stop the construction. That is a legitimate concern and should be resolved before the new line is allowed to go forward. Meanwhile get ready for leaks as the old line wares out. This is the way things work in today's worl

Masks

Things are not always as simple as they seem. Wearing face masks seems like the proper thing to do but recent studies say there is a down side. A study by JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, revealed that wearing masks causes an increase in the infection rate. The explanation is that those who wear masks feel safer and ignore the idea of social distancing. New data shows that wearing masks is more effective if social distancing rules are followed. The rules were always mask plus social distancing but human nature caused people to think that the mask would overcome the distance. Over 90% of people are wearing masks but the problem is getting worse. More emphasis must be placed on social distancing.

2016 election

The unsettling of Americans that led to the election of Trump was caused by the movement of manufacturing jobs overseas and the growing disparities in income distribution that occurred over a 30 year period leading up to the election. The blue color working people saw their wages decline and wanted change but when they rose up others saw them as racist so the battle lines were drawn. On one side people formed groups based on identity politics and the other side based on jobs. This is one reason why liberal programs seem to put jobs behind public assistance and conservative programs are about jobs. When it comes to jobs the Biden plan includes government money to finance infrastructure and government money to finance solar panels and wind mills. This is reminiscent of the WPA under FDR. Both were paid for by deficit financing. The interstate program under Eisenhower was a public works plan but it was paid for by a gas tax. Those pushing for the new green deal have yet to face the environmental impact of mining for rare earth metals. To paraphrase the Music Man, they are either unaware of the disaster or they are closing their eyes to a situation they do not wish to acknowledge

Biden plan

Some of the Biden high lights. Buy American which includes spending $400 billion on wind and solar to combat climate change. Means getting rare earths somewhere in American and paying higher prices for blades than those made in China. Start sending money to the World Health Organization (WHO) but not rejoining. Rejoin the Iran nuke deal with the first step of removing the sanctions. Dial back Trumps import taxes on China. Keep fracking but ban drilling on public land. Offer citizenship to illegals. Roll back the Trump tax cuts and increase taxes on the rich. This will increase taxes on middle income but most of the increase will be on the top one percent. Forgive student debt for low income families. Lower Medicare age to 60. Will continue the Trump agenda on the virus but do more and faster. End travel restrictions on certain countries. Five step plan to open schools. Raise corporate tax rates to 28% and the top individual rate to 39.6%. Raise minimum wage to $15 and repeal right to work laws. Provide healthcare to all within ten years. $2 trillion in stimulus to various groups including $1,400 to individuals and $400 per week additional unemployment. Increasing the child tax credit from $2,000 to $3,600.

Paris Accords

Biden is considering rejoining the Paris Accords to help in the battle against global warming. Since the Accords started in 2015 the United States has reduced CO2 emissions while China has increased emissions. The US has changed from coal to natural gas while China has increased coal usage. The US is to pay $3 billion dollars per year into the fund and China will receive money from the fund. The Accords have achieved far less than was projected as enforcement is based on the name and shame concept. Sounds like cancel culture on a global basis. It is like all United Nations programs in that it is a transfer of wealth from the west to less developed countries. There is little control over how countries use the money so much of it will be siphoned off to enrich local leaders. There is much the US can do to help reduce CO2 emissions but not through the United Nations. The US can export natural gas to replace coal around the world particularly in Asia but there is no push for that since there is no way for government officials to get their hands on cash.

Cancel

Here is the latest example of cancel culture Following last year’s efforts to ban Trump Administration officials from speaking on campus, Harvard University students are now circulating a petition that calls for revoking degrees from Trump supporters and aides who attended the elite Ivy League institution. Teachers are particularly vulnerable as one misspoken word can lead to disciplinary action. One teacher while explaining why the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, was removed from the library used the word nigger in her explanation and got in hot water. She was supposed to say the N word. The NYC mayor has canceled contracts with Trump companies without regards to how many people may lose their jobs.

FISA

Senator Lindsey Graham released classified documents which indicate that FBI agents Strzok, Comey and McCabe all agree that had they known then what they know now they would not have allowed the FISA court to issue warrants to listen in on Carter Page's phone calls. This brings to mind the fruit of the poisonous tree metaphor which states that evidence gathered by illegal means cannot be used. Once they listened in on Page they were allowed to listen in on anyone who talked with Page which means they could and did listen in on many in the Trump administration. This led Mueller down many blind allies and to conclude that there was no collusion between Trump and the Russians. The whole two year investigation which dominated the news and cost $32 million dollars came to nothing and all because of an illegal warrant. They used the Steele dossier to get the warrants. This was information put together from an opposition research report developed by the Clinton election group. The information was later declared unverifiable. The real damage comes from the fact that when you investigate for two years it no longer matters whether any crime was committed because the damage is done just by the investigation.

Cancel culture

Cancel culture is a new phenomenon spawned by social media. It is popular because it is a way to increase a persons social status while decreasing the social status of someone they dislike. It strengthens bonds of friendship within the group (likes). It makes enemies reveal themselves often causing them harm such as job loss. It's about getting satisfaction from shaming others. It builds me up by tearing down others. This is as old as human kind but with new broader powers brought on by social media. It reveals the baser side of people mindful of TV shows where participants regale one another with insults sometime devolving into assault. It convicts without a trial. People are found guilty in the court of public opinion. Once this is done the facts no longer matter and individuals are stained for life.

Riots

Last week was historic for two reasons. First a group of several thousand people most of whom were waving flags stormed the capital in attempt to stop the congress from voting to approve the new president. The melee lasted about three hours and by evening congress continued the vote. Some officers were trapped and the crowd assaulted them with improvised weapons (including hockey sticl, crutches, flags, poles, sticks and stolen policy shields. Windows were broken and about 80 police officers were injured and five people were killed. It was reported that Trump was responsible because he talked earlier in the day and said, " We fight like hell and if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore". At the same time Trump said, "I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard". At this point a second group appeared composed of a few hundred congress people and a few hundred press people. They reported that an attempt was underway to overthrow the government of the United States. The first group failed in the attempt to overthrow the government but the second group succeeded in overthrowing the president of the United States. These things happen when emotions run high. No need to investigate just act. When Obamacare was passed Pelosi said we can find out what is in it after we pass it. In this case we can impeach and then investigate. The objection to Trump's speech was the use of the word fight. This word is often used in college fight songs, fighting evil, fighting disease, fighting for life, fighting prejudice and many more places. It rarely means fight as in physical violence. Three people died from medical emergencies, one officer died of injuries and one women was shot by a police officer. These protesters didn't come with guns to kill they came with flags to protest. It only takes a few renegades to cause the crowd to overreact as we witnessed all last summer. The strategy is to get the police to attack the crowd. The only way to prevent that is to deny permits for protesters and that is against the constitution. When the investigation is complete those who acted in violence will hopefully be arrested although that did not happen in most cases last summer. Some who were arrested were offered bail by elected officials who were sympathetic to the cause. If it only takes a few bad apples in a few thousand protesters to overthrow the strongest government in the world some changes need to be made and quickly.

Covid stimulus 3

The Biden Covid stimulus plan is very similar to that which was proposed last summer even down to the total cost of $2 trillion. The summer plan never made it because congress could not agree on the details. Let's hope this new plan will have better luck. One point of interest is increase the child tax credit from the current $2,000 per child to $3,000 per child an $3,600 per child under age 6. This means a family of four with two children under age 6 can earn up to $88,000 and pay no income tax. Another change lowers the monthly cost for Obamacare for lower income people but this will be of little help since the big cost is in the deductible. The plan temporally increases most public assistance plans which primarily help the poor, things like food stamps, WIC and nutritional aid. The plan calls for an increase in the tax deduction for child care, this will not help the working poor since they pay no income tax and this plan is not refundable. Both plans provide more income for not working than for working for many low income workers. For example if you earn $600 per week your benefit will be $700. Both plans offered $2,000 to many people who were still working when this could have provided $6,000 to those who were laid off,

Media news

People say they are looking for the truth but whose truth. All humans have built in bias and this effects their view of the truth. This week a man came forth indicating he knew what the truth is and he will strive to promote that truth. Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter announced that he was not only blocking Trump but others will follow. He said regarding this blocking, "this is going to be much bigger than just one account, and it's going to go on for much longer than just this day". This is mindful of a statement that was popular in the middle of the last century which said, first they come for the jew, then they come for you. More than half of Americans get their news from four social media sites which were not around 20 years ago. Everyday their audience grows as does their ability to influence the news. This is not just in the United States since these companies have more than 3 billion followers world wide.

NYC mayor

NYC has term limits on the mayor but Bloomberg got the city council to approve a third term. Current Mayor de Blasio is not considering a third term so a number of candidates have emerged. One of those ex- Wall Street executive Raymond McGuire is getting lots of support from Wall Street. At least 20 billionaires have donated to his campaign. He resigned his position as VP with Citigroup to run. He is a new comer to politics and his main strength is finance in which New York needs help. Trump has proven that this type of candidate can win.

Impeachment

The government is getting more efficient in the impeachment process. The Bill Clinton investigation that led to his impeachment started in June of 1995 and the house inquiry to impeachment was December 12, 1998 to February 12. 1999. After a three and one half year investigation the inquiry lasted 61 days. The Trump first impeachment investigation began on January 17, 2019 shortly after the democrats took control of the congress. Special counsel Mueller was appointed on April 18, 2019. This failed to prove collusion. Next in a phone call between Trump and Zelensky on July 25, 2019, a whistle blower claimed that Trump had committed and impeachable offense. On September 24, 2019 the house began the impeachment inquiry and this ended on October 31,2019. After a 280 day investigation the inquiry lasted 37 days. The second Trump impeachment investigation lasted six days and the inquiry lasted one day. Impeachment one-3 years investigating and 61 days for inquiry. Impeachment two- 280 days investigating and 37 days for inquiry Impeachment three- 6 days investigating and 1 day for inquiry.

Gates

Bill Gates was 13 years old when the mothers club at the local high school purchased a teletype that connected over the phone lines with a time share computer. He spent all of his free time playing around on this set up. Later he dropped out of college and in 1975 with a life long friend who was also a drop out, they founded Microsoft. Today the company employs 166,000 which includes 3 billionaires and 12,000 millionaires. The average starting median pay is $91,500. He was the first of many techies to follow who created new businesses and became wealthy in the process. This is only one of the many ways that America is exceptional. All around the world today are examples of how this exceptionalism has made life better for millions. It is not limited to technology but includes culture and entertainment. Literally a billion people have moved out of poverty primarily because of American ingenuity.

Resentment

The theme for Biden's inaugural address is America United as the congress contemplates a second impeachment. Trump will be out of office in one week so this seems to be more revengeful than helpful. Many feel that revenge is the second strongest motive after love. It is mindful of a divorce gone bad. As the parents (the parties) fight the children (voters) pay the price but getting even is more important. Party seems to be more important than country. Biden could play the part of the marriage counselor and bring the two sides to an equitable arrangement. There is always the possibility that those who loathed Trump for over four years may suffer some permanent psychic damage. They may have discovered a side of themselves they were not previously aware and how they handle things from this point may go a long way to determine if this damage can be repaired. Not punishing Trump can turn into resentment . Being resentful is like taking poison and expecting the other guy to get sick.

Football

I quit watching sports on TV 25 years ago when I retired. Then I found the reruns of past games on youtube during the shutdown and enjoyed the games since they were all new to me. Last week, I decided to watch the Bears/Packers game and it was like watching a three hour commercial. The only thing the kept me going was instant replay something they didn't have when TV football first came out in the 50's and now I wonder how I could sit through a whole game watching mostly dead air. Had to be truly dedicated fan in those days.

Censorship

Liberalism, the bastion of free speech, is promoting censorship by closing down opposing views. Parlar is an app similar to twitter that caters to open views from everyone but conservatives have moved there because they feel that social media is biased against their views. Parlar founded in 2018 has grown rapidly to 10 million users and appears to be a threat to the monopoly of the more left sites like twitter and face book. The big high tech companies took steps yesterday to shut down Parlar. These are the same sites that blocked all news about Hunter Biden including articles from the forth largest newspaper in the US, the New York Post. CNN is trying to get local stations to move away from Fox. Liberal congress people are trying to change the laws to force talk radio to provide more time for liberals even though there is little market for liberal radio shows. People who dislike Trump see this as an attack on Trump so they remain silent as the censorship moves in. Some feel that is OK to give up some personal freedom if it helps to discredit Trump. Be careful as censorship is a two edged sword.

Virus vaccine

There are reports saying that Trump is responsible for the deaths due to covid because he played down the danger. Assume that Trump came on national TV last March and announced that the virus is very serious and the CDC estimates that between 1.6 and 2.2 million Americans will die over the next few years it will take to develop a vaccine. He said people should go to CDC.org and follow the instructions. If you went there it said you did not have to wear a mask. His critics might have said he was causing a panic. It has been a running battle between those who want to shut down the economy to save lives and those who want to save the economy at the risk of lives. It is difficult to determine how things would have panned out under a Hilary administration but you can always say fewer people would have died. It is fairly certain that the vaccine would not have been developed in less than a year and no way to determine how many lives the vaccine will save.

Drugs

Just a couple of years ago the opioid crisis was in the news on a regular basis but it has now been mostly forgotten. From 1999 to 2017 400,000 people died from opioid overdoses which is over 20,000 per year. In 2018 47,000 died and in 2019 50,000 died. The response by government has been an education program regarding drug use and money is being allocated to develop overdose reversing drugs. The government also put pressure on China to stop exporting fentanyl. While these are positive steps the problem doesn't seem to be going away. Opioids like oxycontin are very effective pain relievers and when used properly can be a great benefit. It is the misuse of these drugs that cause most of the deaths. This can be said about all drugs.

Brady

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer is an old adage that has been around for many years. Tom Brady has a net worth of $200 million dollars and he married Gisele Bundchen's whose net worth is $400 million and they just sold their New York apartment for $37 million and they paid $25 million for it in 2018.

Ukraine phone call

Trump could be the most transparent president in modern times. His use of twitter and the constant leaks along with his many conversations with the press have made his administration an open one. The Washington Post says President Trump might be the victim of more leaks than anyone in modern American history. One of the better known leaks came from an anonymous source saying that Trumps conversation with a Ukraine leader was illegal. The call set off a chain of events that led to the House Judiciary Committee last week voting to send two articles of impeachment to the floor for a vote by the full House. Shortly after that a transcript of the conversation was released to the public.

White flight

In 1960 Detroit was the wealthiest city in the world and the richest per capita city in the US. Over dependence on the auto industry along with various government policies designed to help caused what became known as, "white flight". As people moved to the burbs the tax base declined and Detroit was on its way to becoming the poorest city in the US. Something similar is happening in large metropolitan areas like New York and San Francisco. Wall Street banks and tech companies are fleeing New York and California because of high taxes. New York State income tax is 6.5% and New York City income tax is 3.8% while Florida has no state or city income tax. For companies that work on small margins and extra ten percent added to the net is tempting. Not only are taxes lower in places like Florida and Texas the cost of living including housing is much less. Add to that less crime and better weather and the move is on.

Business

In today's world many businesses realize that they must be good citizens to succeed. Doing well by doing good is the mantra. All profits are not equal, those that carry a social benefit are better. A social benefit can be achieved in a number of ways. One approach is for business to donate to worthy causes. Another is to make products that are environmentally safe. Another may set up an employee profit sharing plan. One of the most productive is to share profits by taking care of employees the same way they take care of customers. Many companies reinvest profits to grow the company and to start new business. While government can provide benefits in the form of public assistance, businesses can provide jobs. Most people prefer paying their own way over living off of public aid and for this reason government should support business.

Tesla

Large corporations are usually valued in one of two ways. The first is called book value and basically represents the value of the companies assets, things like plants and equipment. Added to that is what is called Blue Sky which is the reputation the company has in the eyes of the public. The second is the stock value. Tesla's current stock price is $700 per share but its book value is $17 per share. The difference represents the belief that people have in Elon Musk and that Tesla will sell many more cars in the future. Tesla delivered 360,000 cars in 2019 out of 17 million sold.

The Press

When the founding fathers finished the constitution they were not satisfied. They felt the citizens needed further protection against an intrusive government and so they added the first ten amendments which became known as the Bill of Rights. They led off with the first amendment that included freedom of the press. The press was to seek out and report the news and for the most part has done a good job but that changed with Trump. Over the past four years the press changed from reporting the news to becoming advocacy groups. Data shows 92% negative reporting on a president for whom half of the country voted. On many instances they were not only negative against Trump but included those who voted for Trump. This led citizens who voted against Trump to criticize those who voted for Trump. Friends turned against friends and families against families. Most of the criticism was about personality and very little about policy. If the press had stayed on policy they would not have drifted so far away from their purpose but they chose personality and some say that was to get ratings. For half of the country the press cannot be trusted. Trump knew the press was against him from the start and fought back but it only made things worse. They saw him as a joke and predicted first he would never run and second he would never win. The Huffington Post said they would put Trump in the entertainment section. The day Trump was inaugurated some in the press announced that the campaign to impeach was underway. They made their beds in those early days and then they slept in them for the next four years.

Lies and more lies

Over the past four years the press has complained about Trump lying. Here is a list of his biggest lies as found on the Internet. He has done more for Blacks than any president since Lincoln He has created the best economy in history He said guns minimize mass shootings Muslims were on the roof cheering after the 9/11 attack Mother and doctor will determine what happens in a botched abortion We have signed more legislation than anybody President Obama had a separation policy at the border I won the popular vote if you deduct the illegal voters The tax cut will cost me Biggest inauguration crowd ever Here is a list of Obama lies compiled by the Washington Post More black men are in prison than college Signed the biggest middle class tax cut in history 90% of the budget deficit is due to George Bush policies If you like your healthcare you can keep it The Capital Hill janitors just got a pay cut The day after Benghaze I said it was terrorism I didn't call the Islamic State the JV team Republicans have filibustered 500 pieces of legislation The Keystone pipeline is for oil that bypasses the US We have fired a whole bunch of people at the VA

Power

The big complaint about capitalism is the widening gap in income. The total income of the top one percent is $1.5 trillion. If that were distributed to the remaining 330 million Americans each would get $4,500. That would be $18,000 to a family of four. The question is what would make the people happier, getting the $4,500 or knowing they made things more equal. What is really going on here. The rich spend their money lavishly with their million dollar homes and the best that money can buy but these are the innovators and job creators the people who start new businesses. For many, even if you took their money, they would continue to look for new ways to create new products and services. It is acceptable to lower the income of rich people but more emphasis should be placed on increasing the income of the not so rich. The first requires government to act and the second requires private business to act. The in between solution is to have government act to help business grow and expand. In recent years government and business have partnered to help government and business. The battle lines are drawn. The proletariat vs the elite. The workers rose up in 2016 but they were squashed. Big business, big government, university elites,Wall Street, the political class and bureaucrats were joined by the press to bring back the status quo that existed before Trump. Most people prefer a good job over public assistance but those jobs will be going overseas and thus more will be dependent on government and that is just the way those in power want it.

Electric cars

The US gets 2% of its electric power from solar and 1.7% of cars sold are electric. Since 70% of electric power comes from fossil fuel these electric cars are charging their batteries with power made from burning fossil fuel. The typical electric car takes about 8 hours to charge the battery and in MN winters the distance traveled between charges is cut in half. Electric cars like other modern electrical products require the use of rare earth metals. Many wonder if politicians who have little science background understand the ramifications of replacing fossil fuels. The phrase follow the science is currently in vogue but it seems to be missing in the discussion of climate change.

China virus

In late December Chinese health officials were aware of a new Sars like virus. 27 cases are uncovered but they identify no human to human contact. Chinese health officials are reprimanded for " spreading rumors". In early January news leaks to the Chinese press and the government officially says there is no human to human contact. On January 7 the Chinese government says they knew about the virus from an early date. On January 13 the first case outside of China hits a man in Thailand who had just returned from Wuhan. On January 15 the first US case is confirmed on a man who had just returned from Wuhan. January 23 Wuhan is put on lock down but travelers are still allowed to leave Wuhan and go to other countries around the world. On January 30 the WHO declares a public health emergency after 82 confirmed cases outside of China. China stopped air travel between provinces on January 20th but waited until the end of March to stop travel overseas. The various conspiracies about China's deliberate attempt to cause problems are based on the question, if they thought it was serious enough to stop travel within China in late January, why did they wait until late March to stop travel outside of China.