Who won

sure how many votes Hillary Clinton or Trump received. he co-chairman of the vote fraud commission cast doubt on the 2016 election results, saying he was unsure how many votes Hillary Clinton or Trump received. There are many who complain about Trump and his people challenging the election results but there were similar questions after the 2016 election. From an article in Politico from September 18, 2017 nearly 8 months after Trump took office, Democrat Hillary Clinton refused to rule out challenging the legitimacy of last year’s presidential election in an interview released Monday afternoon On November 17, 2017, ten months after the election, Hillary Clinton on Trump’s Election: “There Are Lots of Questions About Its Legitimacy” Here is a shocker. December 18, 2019, three years after the election democrats in the House of Representatives voted to overturn the results of the 2016 election. Then followed a three year investigation by a special prosecutor to determine if Trump colluded with the Russians to win the election. Even after Mueller's committee found no collusion many refused to believe the results

Murders

Murder rates in the US have come down by 40% over the past 30 years and about half of all murders are Black males and 90% of those are murdered by other Black males. While Black males represent 6% of the population they account for 50% of homicides. Homicide rates have decreased from 26,700 in 1991 to 16,425 in 2019. During that time the number of guns doubled to the present day 360 million. One could conclude that having more guns does not increase murders. The problem is more complicated. Black males are misdirected from birth. They have higher rates of poverty, single family homes, school drop outs and crime. The have higher unemployment rates, they miss school more often, they are disciplined in school more often their test scores are lower and they represent 34% of the prison population. Many programs have been instituted over the years to rectify these stats but without much success. Many want to make gun ownership illegal but drugs are illegal and there remains a serious problem. Honest citizens might follow the law and turn in their guns but it is highly unlikely that criminals would do so.

Pork

The congress passed the $1.9 trillion Covid relief package and only 9% of the money is dedicated to Covid. The other 91% is for various other items and projects, pejoratively referred to as pork. This is happening as one trillion dollars from an earlier relief bill remains unspent. Congress is notorious for acting in this manner. Find something that people want and then add the pork and say take it or leave it. Biden has refined this approach. He listed all the things that the bill will do for people and then said take back what you think is not worthwhile. It is like passing a bill that gives everyone a thousand dollars and then taking a poll to see if this is popular.

Wall

The border patrol uses various means to capture illegals. They include cargo scanners, ground scanners, aerostats (blimps), radio and cell phone tracing, drones, fixed surveillance towers, mobile surveillance , biometrics, patrol boats, planes and helicopters, satellite surveillance, drug sniffing dogs, isotope detectors, night vision goggles, and walls and fences. Biden says we don't need the wall. Some suggest this is merely an anti Trump move.

Equity

The movement to replace equality with equity gained some strength in Boston this week. Equal opportunity is replaced with equal results. Fourth, fifth, and sixth graders will not be accepted into advanced classes in Boston for the next year because a majority of students in those classes are white or Asian. The school district analyzed the demographics of the program and found that “more than 70 percent of students enrolled in the program were white and Asian, even though nearly 80 percent of all Boston public school students are Hispanic and Black,” The change was headed by Dr. Rivera who is a Boston Public School parent. She serves as the director of the Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development & Public Policy, and an associate professor of Women's & Gender Studies at the University of Massachusetts-Boston.

Lies

The latest attack on free speech is called disinformation. Editors decide that something is not true and they then refuse to print it. Private companies have this right. This means that under current law if social media becomes dominant they can edit all news and we will know only what they want us to know. The question then becomes can these editors lie. Under U.S. law, many falsehoods—even some deliberate lies—receive the full protection of the First Amendment. That is true even though “there is no constitutional value in false statements of fact,” as Justice Lewis Powell Jr. wrote for the Supreme Court in 1974. Nonetheless, the Court has often refused to allow government to penalize speakers for mistakes, sloppy falsehoods, and lies. Political lies are strongly protected; but even private lies sometimes are as well.

Fake news

With the onset of social media the spread of information has accelerated beyond anyone's imagination. While having more access to information is a good thing the speed has caused misinformation. A controversial story comes out and it is instantly reported around the world and as another new story comes along the first is quickly forgotten. Several days or weeks later the first story is debunked but it is old news and many are no longer following. The end result, in the eyes of many, is that the false story has become fact. This sort of thing used to happen in the news papers. John Q Public was accused of some dastardly deed and it made front page news. Some time later he was exonerated and that appeared on page ten. People who thought he was guilty at the time continue to think that even if they read the retraction. Many have figured this out and take advantage. They know if they can get the story out it will have good chance of becoming what people believe.

Mask

In the first ten months of 2020 about 265,000 died from Covid or 26,000 per month. Since the election 235,000 or 58,000 per month have died. Several polls taken at the time of the election showed that 90% of people were wearing mask. While mask are important there must be other more important factors to consider. More investigation is needed in this and other areas of Covid. Why did the number of Covid cases double when 90% of people were wearing masks? Some feel the statistics are overlooked because the mask issue became political. While this may console some it may well interfere with investigating the real reasons. The future looks promising. In the past month new infections have fallen 70% and hospitalizations have dropped 60%. The vaccine is helping to bring an end to this scourge but the nation must prepare for next year. Under normal circumstances there would not be a vaccine at this point and probably not for many years. In May of last year the NY Times laid out a time line for a new vaccine and predicted it would take 12 years to get it into the arms of Americans. Here is their report. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/30/opinion/coronavirus-covid-vaccine.html

Gas for Europe

Europe gets 40% of its natural gas from Russia through a pipeline that crosses Ukraine. In 1997 a new pipeline called Nord Stream 2 started. It was to by pass Ukraine and go under the Baltic Sea. Trump was concerned that Europe would become dependent on Russia for natural gas and used threats to have Germany shut down the line. This would not only keep Russian from having a monopoly on European gas supply but open the door for US natural gas. US exports of natural gas to Europe have been rising each year as the US brings more liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities online. Biden has change US policy and the result is the pipeline construction is once again OK. Russia will likely be more complementary than they were under Trump. America is back.

Harvesting

When it comes to elections, experts talk about the ground game and that will be more important in the future because of the way the voting rules are changing. The new way is to send ballots to all adults over age 18 several months before the election and have early voting. Enter the ground game. Workers go door to door helping people fill out the ballot, collecting ballots and taking them to polling stations. This is called ballot harvesting and in many cases those collecting the ballots help to fill them out. Many low information voters can easily be manipulated and that opens the door to voter fraud. Statements like, if you vote this way the government will send you money. Those who collect ballots can also have with them voter registration forms. The signature on the voter registration form will match the signature on the ballot. For the most part there will be no signature validation. Much of the TV money during the coming elections will be spent on hiring and training harvesters.

Investigations

The Valarie Plame affair poses an interesting incite to how the state department operates. Bush 43 was told by the British that Saddam Hussein had purchased uranium from Africa and Bush mentioned this as one of the reasons he felt that Hussein was trying to make a bomb. Valerie Plame worked for the government in various positions but was, on the side, a covert agent for the CIA. She recommended that her husband, a former diplomat, Joseph Wilson be sent to Africa to investigate the uranium story. Wilson then published an oped in the Times saying he could find no proof that the transfer of uranium took place. A week later the fact that his wife, Valarie Plame, was a covert CIA agent was leaked to columnist Robert Novak. It was reported that Scooter Libby, an adviser to VP Dick Chaney, leaked the information. Some surmised that Chaney did this to retaliate against Wilson. A special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, was appointed to investigate. As the prosecution got underway Richard Armitage in the State Department told Fitzgerald that he was the one who leaked the information on Plame to Novak. Fitzgerald told Armitage to keep quiet and he then proceeded with the case against Libby knowing Libby was innocent. Libby was finally tripped up in cross examination and lied and was convicted of lying. This is similar to what happened to Trump adviser Michael Flynn. Libby was later pardoned by Trump.

Deportation cost

Control of the southern border under Obama was lax and he deported 300,000 illegals per year during his two terms. Trump emphasized border control and deported 80,000 per year during his term. It appears that Biden is going back to Obama style lax controls. Will he then deport more? Does it make sense to keep them out rather than let them in and then deport them. The average deportation cost to the government is $11,000 per illegal. During the Obama years that was $275 billion dollars which is almost as much as the US spent on foreign aid during that time.

Buy American

When it comes to buying American the rule of thumb is that US made products are higher quality and cost more. With all the negative news about products made in China the US consumer may be ready to buy America at a higher price. For those who can afford it will find it pays off in the long run. Higher quality means longer life and fewer problems. To make this change requires action on the part of consumers because a company like Walmart stakes its reputation on everyday low prices. This means Walmart will continue to buy from China until the customers demand better quality. If those who want to Make America Great Again will join forces with those who want to Buy American, Made in America maybe things will change. Not likely but possible.

EV's

Electric vehicles (EV) are the hot item for the in crowd but are they OK for the average consumer. Probably not. You need to use your EV for local trips and have a second car for other uses. The range is short and charging time is long. Even short trips to work can be iffy especially in cold climes like MN. Add to that time wasted in traffic and you lose battery power before you get back home. EV's contain 400 to 1000 pounds of lithium batteries and that poses a serious problem with disposal. Recall the procedure to dispose of a small battery. Environmental problems associated with mining lithium. Cobalt is also needed for batteries and there many hazards working with cobalt. EV's depreciate rapidly and have low resale value. Repair cost are notorious and not every place can repair. Most use energy produced by fossil fuel to charge. One way to get better mileage is to reduce weight but EV's add weight.

Border

Some have suggested that Biden wants to undo Trump regardless. Case in point. Immigration. Feb. 10, 2021 at 1:19 p.m. CSTU.S. authorities made nearly 78,000 arrests and detentions along the border with Mexico in January — the highest number for that month in at least a decade and more than double the amount from a year earlier — a sign of the immediate challenge President Biden will face as he attempts to undo the policies of former president Donald Trump. Many wonder why this couldn't until after the pandemic is over.

Border problem

Most experts agree that the immigration system is in dire need of repair. One example is when in the spring of 2014 immigrants from Central American flowed through the southern border. The facilities were overrun and unable to cope. Children posed a particular problem because smugglers found out that it was easier to get through the process if you had children with you. This led to using children to help smugglers get them and their goods through the border. Fleeing poverty, chronic violence and joblessness, the families also were spurred by smugglers telling them that children who cross the border could generally avoid lengthy detention and certain deportation By May 4,000 adults and children were crossing each day. Migrants soon started calling the holding facilities dog pens. The situation was called intolerable by the Washington Post. Not much was reported until years later when Trump called for zero tolerance and then the news reported daily. Trump back tracked on the zero tolerance and things quieted down as fewer children came across. In the past week in response to Biden's more lenient policy the problem has come up and now these families are being kept in unacceptable conditions and Biden now finds himself in the same position that Obama was in in 2015. Seems that what goes around comes around and nothing is fixed.

Ivy league

Many experts agree that one of the best ways to reach income equality is through education. Most of the effort to improve opportunity is in the K-12 area but what about higher education. If you graduate from an Ivy league school you are looking at a bright future. Let's look at Harvard which data shows is representative of these school. The family income of the average Harvard student is $168,000 while the average American family income is $68,000. Harvard has $40 billion dollars in its endowment fund. Wouldn't equity demand that more students from low income families be admitted. Shouldn't Harvard seek out low income families. What if the other Ivy league schools that also have large endowment do the same thing. Overtime as thousands make their way through these exclusive school rising incomes would follow them and the income gap would become smaller. The average starting salary for an Ivy league grad is $90,000.

Climate change

There is much confusion about the new green deal. There is the part about replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar and the other part about jobs. The first part gets most of the news coverage and means using natural gas for transportation, building thorium nuclear plants and constructing wind and solar near every power plant and every structure and using natural gas as a backup. Part two means rebuilding the power grid, refitting existing structures with energy saving improvements, upgrading roads and bridges and all public buildings. Most of this is heavily reliant of government subsidies. For example, the MPLS light rail, considered a success, was built with government money and operates with 65% of expenses paid by government. To be self supporting would have fares so high that usage would be minimal. Why isn't all of the above already underway? Simple answer is that politicians cannot put the country ahead of their parties. It's all about who gets the credit so nothing gets done. Even the citizens take sides politically both sides blaming the other side while nothing gets done. What fools we mortals be.

Covid politics

A physician on TV this AM expressed surprise that the Covid is being politicized. He wondered why the $1.9 trillion relief package was necessary when the scientist say the Covid will be over by the time any of the relief is sent out. $4 trillion has been allocated and so far $3 trillion has been sent out. The other one trillion is sitting in the bank. Why add another $1.9 trillion on top of that. He wondered why so little of the new stimulus is money for Covid. He suggested that the Covid portion be approved and that the rest be worked out over time. Next step is to approve the checks for individuals and small business. He wonders why the Teachers Union is involved. Science says its OK to go back to school. He seems not to understand that politics seeps into every issue. Party still trumps country.

Saving lives

On average 40,000 people die from the flu each year. Our experience with the Covid teaches that if you wear a mask and social distance you can save lives. For those who are truly interested in saving lives these guide lines should be followed every flu season. A good rule would be to use these safety factors when the country goes off of day light savings time. This would be a small inconvenience to save many lives. In addition there are other minor changes that people could make to save additional lives, things like wearing helmets, healthy diets and moderate use of alcohol. This could be just the beginning.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin is somewhat of a mystery to me but it is similar to something I am familiar with that being closed end mutual funds. A closed end fund is established when investors pool their funds and puchase a certain portfolio which is then closed to any further purchases. The fund price varies depending on the performance of the fund and shares are traded on an exchange. Money does not flow in and out as shares are purchased and sold but the value of the fund changes accordingly. Say that one of the stocks in the fund is GM and GM stock rises on the open market and thus the value of the fund increases. Bitcoin was started with 21 million shares and that's it. Bitcoin is traded on exchanges like Coinbase and Binance. If I want to buy bitcoin, I place a buy offer and a given price and hope someone wants to sell at that price. The reverse is true for selling bitcoin. The money goes into my Coinbase account and later taken from or added to my bank account. I welcome any corrections or additions to this.

Ice rinks

The irrational behavior by some when it comes to Trump can be best illustrated by the recent closure of the ice skating rinks in NY City. Mayor Bill de Blasio is so upset with Trump that he ended a contract that Trump had with the rinks and closed them down. So many people who have little to do in New York because of the Covid complained and the rinks were reopened. Not only did the people who skate suffer from this closure but all of the employees lost their jobs and for what. The mayor doesn't like Trump. That is why it is called irrational behavior and it can be seen in many other areas.

China and Biden

China is calling for a reset in US relationships. China wants the US to remove the tariffs on their goods which have brought in about $7 billion per month to the US treasury. They are asking the US to remove sanctions on China's tech products especially Huewai so China can enter the 5G market in the US. In return China promises to cooperate on the Covid virus and climate change. Biden has promised to keep the tough stance on China that Trump established. Let us see what happens.

Iran cash

In 1979, when Iran tossed out the Shah, the government froze $11 billion of Iranian assets held in US banks. When Obama released those fund they were worth $150 billion with interest. This was part of the Nuke agreement. This was often misreported as giving Iran $150 billion dollars. There is evidence that Iran used the money to finance terror groups. At the same time the US transferred $1.7 billion in cash to Iran saying it was money owed from the days before the 1979 revolution. The congress investigated this and found it to be a legal transaction. The question of why cash was answered by saying the sanctions at the time prohibited bank transfers. An airplane with pallet loads of cash landed at the airport and at the same time a prisoner release took place. The government said the two incidences were separate because the US never negotiates for prisoner release.

Euphoria

I was watching a review of the 1929 collapse and how just before that a euphoric feeling swept the country. Then I recall the S&L crisis of the 1980's where interest on CD's rose to 15% and commercial real estate values were increasing at what turned out to be an unsustainable rate. Next came the housing collapse of 2008 as people thought that housing prices would go up forever. A bank bailout was needed to save the economy from depression. Now there are other warning signs on the horizon. The Dow has almost double in five years and things like Bitcoin, which many do not understand, have doubled in value in the last year. Then you have Tesla a car company which is investing in Bitcoin and not selling many cars. The company has $50 billion in assets and the stock value is $1000 billion. People are looking at their 401K plans and think they will soon be rich. (euphoria) Is this an early warning that there are problems ahead.

Foreign policy

As the Biden foreign policy is rolled out it is time to review the polices of Trump. To start with Obama warned Trump that North Korea was the number one problem. As Trump leaves office NK is not even in the news. Trump placed import taxes on China and started the process of bringing jobs back home. He set up a new and improved trade police with Mexico and Canada. He turned away from the TPP which benefited China and set up US trade with Japan and South Korea. He arranged working relationships between four Arab countries and Israel and opened the door for Saudi Arabia to join the group. He did this by placing tough sanctions on Iran. He killed the al Qaeda leader Qasim al Raymi and ISIS leader al Baghdadi. He moved the US embassy to Jerusalem. He forced Mexico to deal with immigrants before they entered Mexico by threatening to place taxes on Mexican imports. He moved away from the Paris Accords knowing it was all a way to transfer money to countries where the local government officials would abscond with. He forced NATO members to pay their fair share by threatening to pay less. He reduced overseas troops by 30,000. He caused reforms in the WHO by threatening to leave the group. Trump asked congress to vote to leave the WTO as that group seems to always favor China. The US pays 11% of the WTO budget and China pays 8%. Trump sent a wake up call to the world by saying the US is tired of paying more than its fair share to all world organizations. The result was that these countries were upset with the US. Biden told the world that the US is back and they all applauded. When these deeds are presented to the anti Trumpers their response is not to challenge the policies but to attack his personality and character.

America

American exceptionalism at work. This past week the Mars rover lands successfully. A rocket launches and carries 8,000 pound of equipment to the space station. A Covid vaccine is developed in less than one year and plans are announced to share it with the world. Not bad for one week.

Time to act

Where are the scientist? Politicians who monopolize the discussion of global warming have pushed the scientist into the background. It must be said in no uncertain terms that based on today's technology wind and solar cannot replace fossil fuels. Once that fact is established we can follow the experts who say we must use all available energy sources to combat global warming. As coal fired power plants wear out they should be replaced with natural gas. As uranium nuke plants wear out they should be replaced with thorium plants. The construction of new thorium plants should start immediately. Wind mills and solar panels should be constructed near and around all power plants using natural gas as backup. The same should be built around all fixed building including manufacturing plants using natural gas as backup. The transportation industry should move quickly to natural gas. The push for methane hydrate and the research on fusion should continue and at an accelerated pace. The trend toward larger homes and bigger cars should be reversed. The use of more efficient lighting systems and increased use of insulation along with other construction techniques should be encouraged. Solar and wind for homes and make the install large enough to power a small electric car to go to work and back. There is much that should and can be done but it won't happen until the politicians get out of the way.

When facts get in the way

With all of the controversy surrounding Trump the phrase cognitive dissidence has become part of the current vernacular. It happens when a basic belief runs up against contrary evidence. In cases like that the believer finds ways to justify his position using the strategy from The Music Man. Friend, either you're closing your eyes To a situation you do not wish to acknowledge Or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated By the presence of a pool table in your community Another example is the poor little girl who was invited to her rich friends house and her mother told her not to accept any gifts and when offered an orange she took it saying no thank you. Probably the most common way to deal with these uncomfortable situations is to change the subject.

Vaccinations

President Biden mentioned today that certain groups have trouble using the Internet to find out how to get vaccinated. That is true. The same thing happened when Obamacare was introduced. They asked people who knew very little about health insurance to go on line and select a policy appropriate for their needs. For many people just the mention of the word insurance causes their eyes to glaze over. Even the word premium is a mystery to many. Once they figured that out they zeroed in on the monthly premium never looking into the deductible and were unpleasantly surprised when they had their first claim. They solved the problem by offering phone help from thousands of trained insurance agents to explain the different policies. Maybe they will need to offer phone help to the many who are trying to find out where to get vaccinated.

Harry

I don't follow the British royal family closely but Prince Harry has decided to cut ties with his family. This caught my attention so I decided to look further. Harry's one skill is that he is a trained helicopter pilot. He inherited $40 million from his mother Diana. He moved to a posh neighborhood in Santa Barbara and purchased a $15 million dollar home where he will live happily ever after. He may have left his family but he kept their money.

Iran

I normally avoid personal opinion and try to offer information based on the best available data and I start with these facts. The United States in 3 years developed the first A bomb back in the early 1940's. The most difficult part of the project was the uranium enrichment. Over the past 40 years Iran has been working on this enrichment process and admit they do not have enough for a bomb. Periodically reports are issued by various agencies indicating that Iran is only X days from having enough enriched uranium. Pakistan got the bomb in 1998 and North Korea in 2006. It is my opinion that Iran doesn't want a bomb but uses the threat to gain concessions. I suggest that any reasonable person can see that if they wanted a bomb they could have enriched enough uranium by now or they could have purchase enriched uranium from North Korea. Recall that Saddam Hussein used the same ploy to keep the rest of the world in a tizzy while he sold oil on the side to build up his military.

CNG

Transportation has now passed power plants as the leading CO2 producer. This begs the question, why don't we use natural gas for transportation and get the same reduction in CO2 that we got by changing power plants over to natural gas. Not only does this improve air quality but gasoline cars average 32 miles per gallon while compressed natural gas cars (CNG) average 43 mph. There is less rare and tear leading to lower maintenance cost on CNG cars.

Anti Trump

The recent scandal surrounding the men in the Lincoln Project is one of a long list of anti Trump scams that have hurt CNN. They praised the members of this group repeatedly because they were republicans who disliked Trump. One of them Steve Schmidt was on Morning Joe numerous times bad mouthing Trump. He no longer appears on the show. They did the same thing with Michael Avenatti, a lawyer who defended a woman who sued Trump. He was praised by CNN so often he decided to run for president. He is now in jail. Many wondered why George Conway the husband of Trump defender Kelleyanne Conway came out against Trump. Turns out that the Lincoln Project managers used millions of dollars collected to hurt Trump to enhance themselves. Jussie Smollet accused men wearing MAGA hats of assaulting him and he was on CNN many days until it was discovered that he was lying. Nicholas Sandmann, a high school student was falsely accused of racism as he was seen smiling at a native American while he was wearing a MAGA hat. He won millions in a law suit against CNN. It is actions like these that led to the phrase Trump derangement syndrome

Market

Everyday on the business channels various experts give advice on stocks. Why aren't they retired instead of working for some brokerage firm. They use their expertise to explain why the market did yesterday what it did. Often times the reasons they give for the market rising are the same reasons they give a few days later for why the market is dropping. All this is to keep a job and try to influence the small investors while the big pension funds and big banks determine which way the market will tend. Since 1980 the market has averaged 6% per year and the average inflation rate has been 3.5%. About the only thing the small investor can hope for is to get into an index fund and stay there. If you want to try and time the market or pick a winner, use extra funds for that because you are no longer investing, you are speculating. The rule is only speculate with money you can afford to lose.

Shadow

Psychiatrist Carl Jung, studied the hidden side of human nature and one area he discovered he called the shadow. In the shadow of our subconscious mind lies parts of us that we are not willing to face. One of the ways we can find out more about this shadow is to observe what Jung calls projection. He says that we often project onto others those shadowy parts that we don't want to face. If you find yourself over reacting to someones behavior, that could be a clue to a part of you of which you are not aware. Instead of projecting onto someone close and risking the relation we sometimes project onto a group. If you are expending so much psychic energy disparaging another group it could be a clue to something going on inside of you. The past four years many people have projected onto Trump. Either they were for him or against him but with such emotional energy that something more than just political differences was going on. It expanded from Trump to groups who agreed or disagreed with him. This presents those who are willing to look into it, an opportunity to learn something about their shadow. This requires lots of work so most will just pooh pooh the whole idea as psychobabble and leave their shadow alone. But it is still there waiting quietly in the darkness.

Gas freeze

The news is often misleading and in today's is a prime example. The headline is cold weather in Texas has caused gas lines to freeze. Natural gas does not freeze until minus 300 degrees F but sometimes corners are cut and drip legs are not installed. It is the condensate that freezes and drip legs are designed to eliminate this problem.

Report card

What kind of report card can we give to the United States of America. Starting from the beginning with the development of what many call the greatest constitution of all time and going through the civil war where 560,000 white European Americans died to defeat slavery. Then followed two World Wars where dictators who killed millions of innocent people were defeated and then the vanquished enemies were built up from the ruins to become free countries. Forty years of cold war defeated the USSR which allowed free countries to spring up around the world. The world was saved from the ravages of polio and AIDS. America was the nesting place for the Internet, social media, music and entertainment. Scholars come from around the globe to grow and develop in US universities while American businesses lead the world in innovation. With all of this there are many citizens who dislike this country. They disrespect the anthem, the pledge and the flag but cannot find a better country to live while many others are willing to leave their homelands to come to America. These same people want to replace the great economic engine of free market capitalism with socialism under the dream of equality and even that has been replaced with equal outcomes. One of their biggest complaints is that some have too much. They live in the dream world that happiness comes from having more stuff. To have equal outcomes (equity) means eliminating competition because competition produces winners and losers. Each year 32 NFL teams compete for the Super Bowl but only one wins. Is that fair. Does it make sense to have one winner and 31 losers. Instead of the average family income being $60,000, all families should make $60,000. We can strive for more income equality but do not through out the baby with the bath water. Work for greater equality of opportunity and forget the equality of results. What grade do you give the country.

Race

Those who purport to wanting to ease racial tensions often suggest that the first step is to talk about race. While this could be considered virtue signaling in practice it is filled with pitfalls. There are numerous cases where people lost their jobs for speaking about race. Sometimes what they said was racist but often times they were misinterpreted or misspoke. Examples of unfair treatment abound on the Internet. Most recently the host of the TV show, The Bachelor, was punished over an insensitive remark about an antebellum party. After realizing what he said he profusely apologized but to no avail. The cancel culture on social media is unforgiving and this culture hinders discussions about race.

Mealy mouth

The current flap between Trump and Mitch McConnell is mindful of the comments Comey made about Hilary. McConnell called Trumps actions regarding the raid on the Capital, a disgraceful dereliction of duty and proceeded to vote to acquit. Comey went on with a lengthy list of mistakes that Hilary made and then chose not to bring charges. In both situations a case can be made that neither party should have expressed their opinion if they were not willing to walk the talk. These are examples of what some people call mealy mouth.

New Haven case

In 2009 the Supreme Court ruled on the New Haven fire department case. Test were given to determine promotions and the top scores went to white candidates. The city felt that was wrong and decided to promote using race as a factor. The court ruled in favor of the fire fighters and set the precedent. This ruling was based on the equal opportunity that all participants were given. The dissenting side was hoping for equal results or what is now called equity. In decisions of this sort liberty must take precedent over opportunity. In simple terms if giving you more opportunity interferes with my liberty we must rule against you and that is what the court decided. The ruling was 5 to 4 and with a different court one day in the future equity may win out.

Wind and solar

The proper use of wind and solar energy sources requires the mining of rare earth metals in the US where they can be mined in an environmentally sound manner. The use of current technology requires neodymium, terbium, indium, dysprosium and prasdodymium. Other metals such as cadmium, gallium, germanium, selenium and tellurium are also needed. Wind mills and solar panels would be installed near power plants whose back up source of energy would be natural gas. This is necessary since the wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine. Wind and solar should also be set up for any permanent structures such and buildings, manufacturing plants and even homes and all of these using natural gas as a back up. Using Presidents Biden's plan to build in America and buy America the price of wind mills and solar panels would rise but the benefit is good paying American jobs and environmentally sound mining and manufacturing practices. This is a controlled way to develop the trained employees needed to build solar and wind without jeopardizing the economy.

Past mistakes

President Theodore Roosevelt called native Americans "squalid savages" and his statue showing him on his horse standing over a native American was taken down. Presidents Washington and Jefferson were slave owners and President Lincoln shared the white supremacist view of most of his contemporaries. What then should be done with Mount Rushmore. Racism and bigotry have been part of history since time immemorial. How can women be compensated for the mistreatment they received over the years. Can all of this immorality be covered over with financial compensation? What mistakes are being made today that future generations will want to erase. Will things like chemotherapy and radiation treatment be seen as torture chambers? Once society starts to pass judgment on past events the door is open to all kinds of new prejudice. What starts out as moral indignation can quickly turn in to revenge.

Emmy

Governor Cuomo of New York was on TV for several months during the summer and receive rave reviews over his TV appearances regarding the virus. He was so excited about the way he handled the virus that he wrote a book telling how its done. Then the press awarded him with an Emmy for his masterful use of TV. It was mindful of the way Obama received the Nobel Peace price after he had been in office for 9 months. The award was for his achievements that conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.

NY City

A CNN headline concerning hate crimes against Asian Americans reads, As attacks against Asian Americans spike, advocates call for action to protect communities In New York City, police data shows there were 24 anti-Asian hate crimes related to the coronavirus between Jan. 1and Nov.29, 2020, compared with just three anti-Asian hate crimes in the same period in 2019. During this time there were 229 hate crimes against Jews in NY City. There are 1.2 million Asian Americans and 1.1 million Jews living in NY City.

Religion

Many people today see socialism as the answer to income inequality. Most think of socialism as an economic system but there is another side that is not considered. This other side would cause many, especially ordinary people, to question the value of socialism. This other side is religion. Karl Marx was born an atheist and remained so for his entire life. His comments on religion were bumper stickered to, "religion is the opiate of the masses". He felt governments used religion to maintain power over the people. Marx said, the communist hatred of faith is a feature, not a fault". One of America's blessings is its deep respect for religious freedom. According to Marx, religion and communism are incompatible. When communism takes over one of the first things to be changed is peoples belief in their religion. In fact, in any society, there’s a close relationship between respecting religious liberty and the prosperity of other political, civic and economic freedoms.

Twin City riots

Financial planners often suggest that people not make any major financial decisions after the death of a spouse until some time passes. The idea is that decisions made while in an emotional state can lead to unexpected problems. Last summer in Minneapolis racial problems arose and promises to dismantle the police department, root-and-branch, were suggested. This was an emotional response and has led to problems. Many officers felt the city council had lost faith in the police and a number resigned and others took extended leave. What followed was a spike in crime. The city recorded 5,422 violent crime incidents, including homicides, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults, according to preliminary year-end Minneapolis police statistics. That is a dramatic jump over the previous five years, which averaged roughly 4,496 such crimes. This week the city agreed to hire more police and to add funds back to the police budget. What do the victims of these additional crimes think about this whole affair? This small attempt at social engineering resulted the loss of hundreds of businesses and $500 million dollars in damage that the local government is now asking congress to pay.

Math

Math eludes many students and educators have tried new math a number of times over the years but math scores are not rising. They are particularly concerned about the racial gap. The latest version comes from Oregon where they say that the way math is taught is racist and represents white supremacy. One of the concerns is the focus on getting the right answer. "Upholding the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuate objectivity as well as fear of open conflict." They describe "the belief that there is such a thing as being objective or ‘neutral'" -- as a characteristic of White supremacy. Math is difficult for many people. It is not uncommon to see talking heads on TV when presented with even a simple math problem announce that math was not their strong point and ask someone else to figure it out.

Guilty

Minnesota, like many other states, has a problem with level 3 sex offenders. Once they serve their time they are sent to another prison. A secure facility, in Moose Lake, Minn., that holds male sex offenders who have completed their prison sentences. They are held on something called civil commitment law. This type of law grants Minnesota courts the ability to deem someone an ongoing threat and, even after their sentences are served, keep them locked up indefinitely. These people are held in prison for something they might do. This causes a good deal of hand ringing but no one has come up with a solution. People who were well aware that Trump would not be convicted by the senate want to punish him for something that he might do in the future. The impeachment process in the House was mindful of the old oater cry of give him a fair trial and then hang him.

Two parties

While the two party system results in a lot of gridlock it does protect against the misuse of power. A current example will illustrate the point. New York Governor Cuomo is accused of sending sick people to eldercare facilities but the only people asking for an investigation are republicans. This is the way things normally work. The other party does the checking. There is plenty of corruption in politics but if one party controlled the power, things would be worse. Each party is so sure that they know what is best they don't want any interference from the other side. That kind of arrogance alone should be enough to warrant two parties. How could anyone who has lived a few years believe that one person or one group has a monopoly one what is best or said in another way a monopoly on truth.

fusion

Science precedes engineering and that can best be seen in nuclear fusion, the process that goes on in the sun. High temperatures change hydrogen into helium with the release of heat energy. This energy can then be used to run generators to produce electric power. One such plant is being constructed in England using both government and commercial funds and will be operational by 2025. Fusion power uses water as a fuel source and produces pollution free energy with water as a by product. This process can produce hydrogen for transportation, electric power for home and industry and a low cost method to desalt sea water. With almost unlimited low cost energy and an abundance of clean water the deserts around the world can bloom producing inexpensive food in large quantities more than enough to feed the world. While the world awaits fusion steps can be taken to minimize the effects of global warming. We can replace coal plants with natural gas, build thorium nuke plants, use natural gas for transportation and mine methane hydrate. Methane hydrate alone will provide CO2 free natural gas for a thousand years and most people have never heard of it.

Impeachment

The senate has now confirmed that a person no longer in office can be impeached. Recently many people from the past like Presidents Washington and Jefferson have been denigrated for owning slaves. Can they and perhaps President Lyndon Johnson be impeached posthumously? In August 1964, the United States entered the Vietnam War after reports of an unprovoked attack in the Gulf of Tonkin. But the reports were false — and the president knew it. Can President Nixon be impeached for Watergate? Can Chief Justice Taney who ruled over the Dred Scott decision be impeached? The Dred Scott decision, was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court in which the Court held that the US Constitution was not meant to include American citizenship for black people, regardless of whether they were enslaved or free. Once you start going after past sins there is no end.

Speech

The recent surge in political correctness started in the late 70's. At first it was with words that most people felt uncomfortable with and then spread to words that some felt were impolite and today the list includes words that some feel are just not acceptable. Word by word free speech is being threatened. It is civilized behavior to avoid words that may be hurtful and most people act accordingly. To ridicule people who use those words or to punish those who use such words is a kind of censorship. Limiting language can lead to limiting actions which in turn can lead to limiting thought. Why is this happening? Those who determine speech have power over others. They feel that they know what is best for society in general. Here is one recent example. The Washington Post reported Friday that officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had been forbidden from using seven words as they prepared their 2019 budget documents. The words were: "vulnerable," "diversity," "entitlement," "fetus," "transgender," "science-based" and "evidence-based."

Biden on China

The Chinese communication company Hauwei wanted to install 5G technology across the world. Trump not only refused, he convinced England and the EU to keep them out. They are now appealing to Biden to reverse this decision. This will be the first test to see if there is any truth to the rumor that Biden can be pressured by China. Biden has used tough talk regarding China but there is some thought that the next step will be to reduce arms sales to Taiwan. There has been little complaining about China reneging on the Hong Kong deal. The WHO said yesterday that the virus did not start in China and the administration has not responded. It remains to be seen on how the import tax on China and how buy America will effect jobs going to China. Stay tuned.

FISA and Page

David Ignatius has written for the Washington Post since 1986. During the first two years of the Trump administration he appeared frequently on Morning Joe and joined a chores of commentators who sat around the table criticizing Trump. Once the Mueller investigation into the Trump/Russia collusion probe ended, Ignatius no longer appeared on the show. One reason for the change had to do with how Ignatius covered the Carter Page story. Page was an adviser to the Trump campaign and had several contacts with officials in Moscow. In September Page leaves the Trump campaign amid news reports that he is the subject of an FBI investigation. In October 2016 the FBI got a FISA warrant to monitor Carter Page. To get this warrant the FBI must declare that they have thoroughly investigating the case and have probable cause that Page is engaging in criminal activity. This opened the door to the path that led to Special Prosecutor Mueller's investigation into the claim of Trump/Russia collusion. It was later discovered that Page was working for the CIA and used his contacts with Russians to help the CIA. It has recently been reported that the FBI failed to reveal to the FISA court that Page was a CIA operative. An FBI agent actually change a report that said he was a CIA agent to the was NOT a CIA agent. This agent Kevin Clinesmith was recently found guilty and was given probation. This was one of seven inaccuracies or omission in the FISA application. This opened the door for the FBI to listen in on Trump administration officials before and after the election. Much of this information was selectively leaked to the press to cast a negative light on the administration. This is what is called weaponizing the DOJ to use against a candidate for president and a president.

Teachers unions

I am a proponent of private sector labor unions but not public unions. Unions are the principal means for workers to organize and protect their rights on the job. That word their refers to the members and in the case of teachers it refers to teachers not to students. The argument that teachers are not going to school is hurting students makes no sense. It would be like saying that GM workers on strike are hurting GM stockholders. This conflict of loyalties for teachers is there because the purpose of unions is to help the teachers. It is particularly troubling for many teachers because they are in that business because the want to help children. They are always in a quandary when it comes to union activities and that is why many teachers would leave the union given the option. A few years ago teachers in Wisconsin were given the option to drop out of the union and membership declined from 98,000 members to 32,000 members.

Physics math

A physicist Ole Peters has proposed a new economic theory which turns the study of economics on its head. Peters says all current theories are based on something called "ergodicity". It means that the average of all possible outcomes of a given situation informs how any one person might experience it. He maintains that what you can expect on average has little to do with what most people do. Instead of using the math of the economist, Peters uses his solution which is to borrow math commonly used in thermodynamics to model outcomes using the correct average. Here is an example of what ordinary math might lead one to believe. Assume you invest $100 and it goes up and down in value always going up 50% and down 40%. You might expect to win big over time but you would be wrong. 100 up 50% is 150 and 150 down 40% is 90. After four ups and downs you have $65. Now a computer was used mimicking what 10,000 participants would do with 100 ups and down and the results tend to look very different. The ups and downs occurred randomly but averaged out half up and half down as one would expect from flipping a coin. While the average payout was a profitable $16,000,one lucky person got $117 million which was 70% of the groups wealth and over half of the people ended up with less than one dollar. That sounds a lot more like real life than everyone coming up even.

Immigration changes

Biden did not say he wanted to defund the police he said he supports redirecting some police funding to address mental health or to change the prison system. Biden did not say he wanted open borders. He wants to offer a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million illegals in the country. He wants to stop construction on the border wall. He wants to expand the reason why asylum should be granted. He calls for the expansion of shelter networks. He wants to increase family sponsored immigration. He wants to increase the immigration cap to 125,000 the highest since 1980's. He will stop counting spouses and minor children against the cap limit. He wants a new VISA category to allow for more immigrants. He has issued a moratorium on deportations. He proposes no arrest a vaccination sites. He is a strong ally of sanctuary city rules. He wants to count all illegal immigrants in the census. He wants to allow illegals to buy into Obamacare. He wants to end the remain in Mexico policy.

MMT

We often hear the word counter-intuitive when we face something that our common sense says is crazy. One situation today that meet this craziness is Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). This says that in a government that prints its own currency there is no limit to how much it can spend. If we want free any thing we just have the government print up the money to pay for it. Say, for example, we want the government to send every working family $5,000 per month. What will that do to the economy. We tend to think in terms of our family budget but that is not the same since we can't print money to pay our bills but the government can. The standard objection is that inflation will raise its ugly head and the whole thing will backfire. Over the past 12 years with quantitative easing and stimulus we have increased the money supply from $8 trillion to $20 trillion and inflation rate has been under 2%. Inflation has been so low the past 30 years that most adults age 50 or younger have never experienced inflation as a negative. This represents 2/3rds of the population. Recently politicians have used this idea without realizing what they were doing. Several have said to increase unemployment as a way of stimulating growth. If unemployment benefits can do that why not just send money to everyone. MMT says that this is a transfer of money from the government to the people and the people use some of the money to pay their taxes. So whats wrong with that. Is there really something called the money tree. Can the government do the next 12 years what it has done the past 12 years and if not, why not.

Illegals

About 60% of illegals entered the country via the southern border but the rest are mostly those who overstayed work or students visas. Biden has proposed a pathway to citizenship for these people. The US offers healthcare, schooling and jobs to those who cross the border illegally. The US offers safety from the tyrannical governments of Central America. The US offers sanctuary cities with clean sanitation systems and eventually Covid vaccine. This is all taken from an article in the NY Times which then poses the question, will all of this encourage new illegals to cross the border.

Wealth tax

The top one percent of Americans are worth $35 trillion dollars. As President Biden moves toward, as Obama said, spreading the wealth around, the time is ripe for Senator Warren's plan for a wealth tax. A 6% wealth tax could pay for the new $1.9 trillion dollar stimulus that congress is currently in the process of approving. The wealth of these rich people will probably increase by that amount so the tax could continue year after year. The average person in this group is worth $100 million. If the government took 6% they would still have $94 million. A small sacrifice to help so many less fortunate. Once the door is open to this taking of assets by law the percentage can increase according to the needs of the country. We can then follow the principle laid out by Marx who said, from each according to his means, to each according to his needs.

Climate change polls

Polls show that 70% of people consider climate change as a serious problem. People in North Dakota have a unique opportunity to show if this is real or just the right thing to say to a pollster. North Dakota recently approved their biannual budget of $15 billion dollars and $5 billion of that comes from oil revenues. A major environmental problem exist in the oil fields. The fields produce excess natural gas that cannot be piped or stored and thus is burned. This burning produces large amounts of CO2. About 5 years ago a plan was laid out to quit flaring this gas but it still remains. The facilities should be shut down until new gas pipelines can be built and this would take a couple of years. This $5 billion dollars is distributed to the people of the state through various programs and it would mean a loss of income if things shut down. With a population of 750,000 people this comes to $3,300 per year per person. For a family of four this represents a loss of $13,000 per year. Would a new poll show that the people are still concerned about climate change if this were to happen. This is a case for North Dakota but would things be any different in any other location. Climate change is important to people with the understanding that someone else will take care of the problem.

Single moms

A single mom with two children cannot make it without some childcare. If she makes the minimum wage of $7.25 her annual income is $14,500 less $1,105 for payroll tax plus $5,572 earned income tax credit (eitc) plus $4,000 child tax credit for a net of $22,962 At $15 per hour her annual income is $30,000 less $2,295 for payroll tax plus $3,000 eitc plus $1,900 child tax credit for a net of $32,605 At $22.50 per hour the annual income is $45,000 less $3,442 for payroll tax plus $1,120 child tax credit plus 500 eitc for a net o$43,178. In each case as the gross income increases by $15,000 the net goes up by $10,000. She loses a third of her income because government benefits decrease. Childcare in Mpls is $300 per week per child so this young mother would spend $2,500 per month for childcare. Two bedroom apts rent for $1,500 and up. It takes $48,000 per year for childcare and rent. The first mom whose income is less than the poverty level qualifies for Medicaid to cover medical expenses. She qualifies for up to $532 cash benefit per month. She qualifies for SNAP (food) up to $352 per month. Also WIC which is more food for women and children. Also breakfast and lunch are free for school age children. In addition there are grants for low income moms. If a young woman graduates from high school and does not have children until she is married there is a 95% chance that she will not end up in poverty.

Truth

The NY Times suggested that Biden appoint a reality czar to combat disinformation. This could be called a truth czar. Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter volunteered a few weeks ago to handle the job. To paraphrase Shakespeare, truth is in the eye of the beholder. The more convinced someone is that they have the secret to truth the more suspect they should be. There are very few important ideas that do not have two sides to the issue. Normally it is a group of experts who have studied the issue for years who disagree. Religions have truths and this truth is verified by faith. That works for many when it comes to religion but not in the secular world. The normal reaction to a claim that someone disagrees with is to attack the truth teller. Arguments about the issue get sidelined while people cast dispersion's on the purveyors of the issue. To further complicate the issue all too often people immediately take political sides. The current argument used to by pass the first amendment is to say that certain speech is disinformation and therefore dangerous. Disinformation is a euphemism for lying. The way to confront disinformation is with more information. The best was to confront bad ideas is with better ideas. Shutting down information has cause no end of problems throughout history.

Sub teachers

Only one of the 12 high schools I sub at is open for regular school and that is Red Wing. Today there are 7 unfilled jobs for subs. Many subs are retired teachers, meaning older people, and they are not that anxious to return to work. Many others were young teachers looking for full time work and many of them have found other full time jobs during the shut down and are no longer working as subs. There was a shortage of subs before the virus and things will be worse when schools open again. The average student has a sub for one year out of the 12 years of school. In other words a student has a sub one out of every 12 school days. The number one rule for subs is to follow the lesson.

Politics and climate

Are Americans concerned about climate change? Since 2013 sales of pickups and SUV's have increased and sedans have decreased. Last year only 22% of vehicles sold were sedans. The size of homes is increasing while the size of families is decreasing. Homes today are twice as large as homes just a few years ago. The commute today is longer than ever with a national average of 52 minutes. Polls show that since 2013 concern about the environment has increased from 50% to 67%. Why has this seeming increase in concern not brought about a change in behavior. The answer is in the cry wolf story. 50 years ago when earth day started 18 experts predicted that the people would be dead or starving by now. Over the years other experts have predicted dire consequences if action isn't taken. The latest in the news is a congresswomen who says we have only 12 years to avoid disaster. Things are getting worse and the reason is that practical solutions are bogged down in politics. All of the articles on the Internet talk about replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar and other solutions are ignored. After all of this hype solar today provides 2% of our power.

Thorium

Nuclear power plants lost favor when the accident at 3 Mile Island happened. People were fearful of a possible melt down. You need different fissile material if your going to change that. Enter thorium. Unlike uranium, thorium is abundant, and it’s not nearly as dangerous. Enrichment is not necessary, and thus it’s extremely difficult to create nuclear weapons with a thorium-based reactor. Most importantly, meltdowns aren’t possible with thorium reactors because the reaction is not self-sustaining. While initial start up cost is high, these plants are low cost to operate. They are reliable and do not depend on sun or wind. They have zero carbon emissions and produce no pollution. They use up the nuclear waste that is stored around the country. These plants alone could solve the problem of climate change.

Rare earths

In the years before 2015 the US mined rare earths but this was shut down because of environmental concerns. The one US plant now mines the ore and ships it to China for processing. As the demand for these metals increased China gained a strangle hold on production and in the past couple of years the US has taken steps to get into the market. A company called Lynas had a mine in Australia and agreed to build a plant in Texas. They received money from the DOD to process 5,000 tons per year of rare earths. In December of 2019 the USA Rare Earth and Texas Mineral Resources Corp Announce Opening of First Heavy and Light Rare Earths Processing Facility Outside of China Will environmental concerns interfere with the building of this facility?

Natural gas

An argument can be made that the green deal is more about politics than climate change and it revolves around changing transportation over to natural gas. There are 23 million vehicles using natural gas around the world including 175,000 in the Unites States. Many business use natural gas including 2,200 buses in LA County and 6,000 WM garbage trucks. There are over 1 billion vehicles in the world and about 100 million new ones are produced each year. This means that if all new vehicle starting in 2021 used natural gas it would take about ten years to make the transition. This allows time to install natural gas filling stations around the world. The US currently has over 1,000 such stations including 30 in the Twin Cites. Natural gas produces 30% less CO2 and almost zero heavy metals and acid rain chemicals. It runs smoother and requires less maintenance. Overall, natural gas is one of the cleanest burning alternative fuels available today. NGVs can reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and reactive hydrocarbons which form ground-level ozone, the principal ingredient of smog, by as much as 95 percent. NGVs can also reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by as much as 30 percent, carbon monoxide (CO) by 85 percent and carcinogenic particulate emissions by 99 percent. Natural gas cost about the same as gasoline but has an octane rating of 130. The truly sad thing is that this change over could have started 50 years ago.

Climate

What is the green new deal. From the NY Times, The goal of the Green New Deal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid the worst consequences of climate change while also trying to fix societal problems like economic inequality and racial injustice. This is evidence that the deal is about politics and only incidentally about climate. It is about climate cash, that is, sending money from developed nations to developing nations. It is about equity or equal results in the US. That is why there is no emphasis on replacing coal with natural gas, using natural gas for transportation, building thorium nuke plants, selling natural gas to Asia to replace their coal plants, exploring methane hydrate and no discussion of the problems with mining rare earth metals. The only idea is to replace fossil fuels with wind and solar with no detailed plan as to how this will be accomplished. The followers of this new deal are so enthralled with the idea that they do not look into the details. It is mindful of Washington Irving's character Wouter Van Twiller who conceived of every idea on such a grand scale he had not room in his head to turn it over and examine both sides of the issue.

Reagan democrats

My dad was a milkman so I grew up in a blue collar family in a blue collar neighborhood. I was a kid in the 30's and 40's and went to college in the 50's. We were mostly Catholic and the priest would tell the people how to vote and it was simple. Vote democrat. These working people were strong democrats and this continued up through the 60's and 70's. The democratic party was the party of the working people. In 1980 a miracle happened. Many of those people voted for Reagan. They were called Reagan democrats. This same group voted for Obama and then for Trump. Many in the news say these Trump working class voters are racist without accounting for the fact that they voted for Obama. Because of Trump the republican party is now considered the party of the working class. These are non-college educated working people who have suffered from the loss of manufacturing jobs out sourced to China. How they will make out under Biden remains to be seen. Will he tell them like Obama did that those jobs are not coming back or will he attempt to bring them back.