Border

To find news about the southern border it is necessary to go to Fox because the other networks are not covering this news. There are three main issues. First, the number of illegals crossing the border is at record levels and only about half of those who are caught are sent back. There are an equal number who are not caught and no one knows what happens to them. Of those who are caught many are put on buses and transported to the interior of the country. Second many of these have Covid and 30% refuse the vaccine. The new Delta variant spreads easily and will cause problems where these people are kept in confined places. Third drugs coming in are at an accelerated rate. EL PASO, Texas — Federal agents in this section of the southern border say they’ve seen a staggering 4,000 percent increase in fentanyl seizures over the last three years. While the US has travel restrictions on those coming from Europe the same does not apply to the southern border.

Covid Wuhan

The case regarding the Covid has been gradually unfolding since the onset. At first it was said to have come from an animal. Later when it was suggested that it might have come from the lab in Wuhan many scientist came forth saying that was not the case. In February of 2020 this happened. A group of 27 prominent public health scientists from outside China is pushing back against a steady stream of stories and even a scientific paper suggesting a laboratory in Wuhan, China, may be the origin of the outbreak of COVID-19. When the lab leak was suggested immediately scientists came forward calling it a conspiracy theory with Dr. Fauci leading the charge. The leaks began to gain credibility when it was revealed that Fauci's group provided funding for the Wuhan lab. Than last month an article in Vanity Fair revealed that the State Department was told not to investigate Wuhan because it would reveal the US involvement in gain of function research. This week the NY Times reported the larger truth — obscured until recently by fervent efforts (including by Fauci) to dismiss the lab-leak theory for the origins of the pandemic — is that the U.S. government’s scientific establishment did support gain-of-function research that deserved far more public debate than it got," Stephens wrote. "Also incontrovertibly true is that beneficiaries of that funding engaged in deceptive tactics and outright mendacity to shield their research from public scrutiny while denouncing their critics as conspiracymongers."

Equity in schools

The word equity is creeping into the schools, equity meaning equal results. For many years there has been and is a achievement gap between white students and students of color. Educators have tried many ways to narrow the gap but to no avail. The gap exist in reading and math as measured by test scores. Graduation rates can no longer be used to measure success since many who graduate cannot read. This happens because students who are not learning are allowed to go to separate classrooms and as long as the come to school they will graduate. Studies show that keeping students in school until age 18 reduces the chances of them ending up in jail. Better to spend $15,000 per year in school instead of $30,000 per year in jail, not to mention the negative effects of jail time. If the goal of equity is to bring low scores up that is fine but all to often it means bring up the bottom and bringing down the top. This is the goal of equity with income. The more time teachers spend on working with low performing students the less time they have with other students. This can best be illustrated by how a student with discipline problems is handled. Often times a teacher will spend too much time asking a student to stop misbehaving. It is rarely talked about but the problem occurs with Black students in disproportionate numbers. It is not uncommon for a teacher in algebra class to spend the majority of time with one or two students in a class of 25. Too many students lack the self discipline needed to stay on task and this combined with lack of respect for authority leads to low test scores. Its not woke to say but all too often the problems begin at home.

Deportations

The news today said illegals crossing the border are at the highest level since 2001. It is surprising that this problem was that severe that many years ago. The Biden administration has deported 600,000 taking up with where Biden left off as VP. As former Vice President Joe Biden defends himself from attacks on the number of deportations during the Obama administration, it's worth taking a look at the numbers. Department of Homeland Security data shows that the agency removed more than 3 million immigrants in the country illegally from 2009 to 2016. That's an average of 383,307 per year. The number of people apprehended is less than half of those who get in under the wire. This is why Obama was called deporter in chief. In FY 2000, the Border Patrol recorded 1.7 million apprehensions and DHS estimates that an additional 2.1 million entered undetected. Since January of this year over 900,000 illegals have crossed the border and 600,000 were sent back. Based on past experience this means that over one million entered the country undetected. Illegals apprehended by month this year. January 78,000, February 100,000, March 179,090, April 178,622, May 180,030, June 188,829. An undetermined number of these have crossed over, sent back and crossed over again.

Schools

Over the past 40 or so years, teachers have been asked to take on responsibilities normally assigned to parents. This is going on while subject matter is increasingly more complicated. This is the result of more students coming from homes where education is not a priority, homes where poverty leads to crime and homes where there is often no father present. This is tragic for these young people but the burden to make things right should not fall on the teachers. They need to concentrate on the 3-R's. Society in general must take up the task of helping these misguided students and it should start with the most vulnerable, those who live in the poor inner city neighborhoods. One of the first steps would be to allow inner city students to be bused to schools in the burbs.

Nursing homes

During the height of the pandemic four states, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan all forced Covid patience into nursing homes causing thousands to die. This action was in direct conflict with CDC recommendations. The Justice Department yesterday said there would be no federal investigation. It will be up to the states and that means the democratic controlled legislators in these states must investigate a democratic governor. The NY case with Governor Cuomo is of particular concern because there was a hospital set up at The Javits Center and a special hospital ship was sent both of which were designed to accept Covid patience but neither was used.

Shots fired

In many cases in the past the attention given to a little white girl being kidnapped was larger than that given to Blacks. The same thing is now happening in cities. Last night in Washington DC a shooting occurred in a white neighborhood and it is all over the news today. The police chief is out on the street talking to citizens and visiting businesses in the area. When shootings like this happen in Black neighborhoods the only news is how many were killed and if some were children their ages are given.

Opioids

20 years ago the tobacco companies sent $200 billion to the states as part of a settlement and this money was to be used for smoking problems. Most of it was spent for other reasons with many states just putting the money in the general fund. Yesterday the opioid companies settled by sending $26 billion to the states to be used for opioid problems. How much of that will end up in the general fund?

Hugo Chevaz

Hugo Chavez was the president of Venezuela from 1999 to 2013. When he took over the constitution was changed giving him almost dictatorial power. The next year he was reelected with 60% of the vote. He then put his friends in control of the state oil business and the people rose up and tossed him. Two days later the Palace Guard put him back in power. He then promised to use the income from oil exports to offer adult literacy programs, free community health care, low income housing and subsidized food and consumer products. He then develops a civilian army of 2 million men to defend against foreign enemies which could be used to protect him. He makes oil deals with Russian, Iran China and other South American countries. In 2006 he wins reelection with 62% of the vote. He nationalizes the oil industry. The budget deficits rise along with inflation. He begins to manipulate the courts and intimidate the press. He gets rid of term limits and promises to stay in power for at least ten years. Drug traffic increases due to permission government. He buys 90 Russian tanks along with anti aircraft missiles. In 2012 he is reelected for a fourth term. In 2013 he dies. All these new government benefits were promised when oil was $100 but then it fell to $30 and they ran out of money reminiscent of Maggie Thatcher who said socialism is great until you run out of the other guys money. Maria Gabriela Chavez, daughter of Hugo is a wealthy woman which proves Orwell's explanation of socialism when he said all are equal but some are more equal.

What if

I learned years ago to avoid playing the what if game. While encouraging people to get a will or as trust they would often start the what if and I would try to move them away from that because it led to the dead end street of doing nothing. Today I will disregard my own advice. While there are numerous stories about the Covid vaccine, I have not found one story that referred to this as the Trump vaccine. What if, people suddenly started getting sick and dying from the vaccine. How would the news report this. Let me hazard a guess. Trump forced the FDA to approve the vaccine and now people are dying. Trump vaccine kills. Trump pushed through an unsafe vaccine to promote his reelection. When Trump hedged on mask wearing some in the news said Trump killed hundreds of thousands. Haven't seen any news about how many lives the vaccine has saved.

Solar

Carbon Tracker is a think tank that promotes wind and solar. On April 26, 2021 they said, Carbon Tracker uses the findings to claim that “the fossil fuel era is over.” At current growth rates, it says, solar and wind power could price fossil fuels out of the world's electricity markets by the mid-2030s, and by 2050 could replace fossil fuels entirely. Another pro wind and solar group on April 24, 2021 said, Wind and solar could replace fossil fuels 100 times over, says new report. These are only two of many articles on line predicting that wind and solar will replace fossil fuels. Some break it down into replacing the electricity supply which is very possible to replacing all fossil fuel which is very impossible. No scientist will stand up and tell the world that wind and solar cannot replace fossil fuels. 747's cannot run on batteries. Military F-35's cannot run on batteries. Ocean transports cannot run on batteries. Rail locomotives cannot run on batteries. Large farm and construction equipment cannot run on batteries. Even replacing electric power leaves open the question of what to do when the sun doesn't shine and when the wind doesn't blow. It is easy to understand how the average person may believe the claim that fossil fuel can be replaced by wind and solar but scientist and engineers should point out the errors in this thinking.

Devil details

In 1992 Ross Perot ran for president and famously said, "The devils in the details", and this holds true in most cases but often times it is more convenient to forget the details. Many open minded people feel that sexual preference is a personal matter but they find themselves uncomfortable with anal intercourse and thus they don't think about intimacy of gay relationships. Many who feel abortion is a woman's right do not consider that in the first 14 weeks the fetus is sucked out in pieces from the womb and after 14 weeks it is pulled out part by part using claw like instruments. It is easier to forget these minor details. In the local high schools third year students are shown a movie of a baby being born. Would they consider showing a movie of an abortion. It is very common to see bedroom scenes on TV and in movies showing a man and a woman in very explicit sexual activity. Will they show two men, scantily dressed, hands roaming, open mouth kissing while going through the motions of anal intercourse while under the bed sheets. These kind of details are too uncomfortable and better left out of sight. What does that tell us about our society?

Gun crimes

As the move to defund police by groups such as Black Lives Matter begins to backfire a new group has stepped forth to counter the crime spree. The group All Black Life Matters wants to refund the police. This group is possible because it is no longer taboo to point out that most Blacks are murdered by other Blacks and that Black young men represent half of all murders even though they are only 6% of the population. The center of crime over the past years has been and still is Black neighborhoods in the inner cities. Nothing has been done to reduce this problem because every time it comes up the answer is too many guns on the street. The problem is young criminals fighting over drug territory. The immediate solution is to arrest and incarcerate anyone involved in a gun related crime. New York City reduced crime by using policies like stop and frisk. This policy was deemed discriminatory since a disproportional number of young Black men were arrested. No consideration was given to the fact that a disproportional number of young Black men are involved in gun crimes. This is just a matter of math.

CO2

In an attempt to equate US and Chinese climate plans, John Kerry suggested they should both do something. Kerry challenged global leaders to accelerate the actions needed to curb rising temperatures and pull the world back from the edge of the abyss. While the US has CO2 levels lower than they were in 1990 in spite of a having 75 million more people, China continues to build coal fired power plants at a rate of one per week. Where is the equivalence?

General pot

The argument over financing the viral lab in Wuhan sounded familiar. The money they received was not suppose to be used for gain of function but the money went into the general pot to be distributed later. It is familiar as it is what happens to government funds going to planned parenthood. They say that money is just used for women's health issues unrelated to abortion but it also goes into the general pot.

Free lunch

Mayor Smith is running for reelection and tells his constituents in his first term he build a new school and a new fire house and if elected he will build a new city hall. His remarks could be reinterpreted. During my time I spent $2 million of your tax dollars to build a fire house and $3 million of your tax dollars to build a new school and if reelected I promise to spend $4 million of your tax dollars to build a new city hall. President Biden leaned forward and whispered, I just gave you $1.9 trillion dollars. What happened was the federal reserve authorized the creation of $1.9 trillion of new money. Who ever said there was no free lunch?

Hyperbole

Trump was infamous for exaggerating which some called hyperbole and others called lying. Biden is acting in a similar way. He said the January 6 attack on the capitol was the worst challenge to our government since the Civil War. You have to consider Pearl Harbor and 9/11 in there somewhere. The attack on the Capitol began about 2 PM and was over by 8 PM with five of the rioters losing their lives one whom was shot by a police officer. He said the Georgia election reforms are worse than Jim Crow on steroids. These included separate schools, restrooms, restaurants, movie theaters, swimming pools and drinking fountains not to mention poll taxes, water cannons and attack dogs. He said the border was closed as illegals crossing reached 500,000 in 3 months and those are the ones we know about. Some might consider this as misinformation. He said the vaccine rates between whites, Blacks, Hispanics and Asian Americans are the same. He said were sending back the vast majority of families that are coming. He said if we kept the minimum wage indexed to inflation it would be $20 per hour today. He said he could send every qualified person to a four year college for $150 billion. He said that confirming a new Justice in an election year is unconstitutional. He said in the Obama/Biden administration 18,000 got clemency when the actual number was 2,000. This is a partial list to illustrate the point that politicians sometimes use hyperbole.

Unit cost

Everyone knows that the cost per item comes down as more are produced. One of the things that helps this process is the way income in distributed often shown as quintiles on in 20% groupings. This allows everyone to eventually have access to what only the rich can have in the beginning. TV's were expensive and so only the rich bought them and soon as the price came down the next quintile could buy them and so on. Today we are seeing private citizens going into space at the cost of $250,000 each but in time as more people space travel the price will come down. In the future space trips will become more common.

America

Bad mouthing America seems to be in vogue these days and after a while it can be a little disconcerting. Most historians agree that America is the greatest country. They point out how America has shared its innovations with the world and they are legion. America was the only country to fight a civil war to get rid of slavery. The only country to rebuild its enemies after a war and help them become the free democratic nations they are today. When disasters happen the world turns to America. The American economy has been instrumental in bringing billions out of poverty. In space, science and technology America leads the way. Americas pharmaceuticals are shared will all, things like vaccines and miracle drugs. America is called a melting pot because it is by far the most diverse country that ever existed. Americans represent every race, religion and national origin. The America people using the advantages of freedom combined with market capitalism have created a large middle income group. There is no need to belong to a certain class as success is available to everyone. Recently scientist have expressed concern about the possibility of an asteroid hitting earth and what country will they turn too to solve that problem? You guessed it.

Afghanistan

As the US troops withdraw from Afghanistan the government has expressed concern for some of the interpreters and arrangements are being made to bring them to the US. These leaves others who joined forces with the US in jeopardy. In 2009 Pakistan allowed the Taliban to take control of the Swat Valley in Southern Pakistan. The Taliban then closed the girls schools and threatened and killed female teachers. The Taliban have closed all of the girls schools in the areas of Afghanistan that they control. Will they now close all of the schools? This is one of the reasons why Muslim countries were bypassed when the industrial revolution came along. They allowed religion to dictate government policy. If it were not for US and British engineers the oil rich countries would still be living in tents in the desert, a backward people much like the other major Muslim countries like Pakistan and Indonesia. We have learned the hard way it is best to allow people go their own way. When people recall the Holocaust they often say never again but when mass executions happen as in the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 nothing is done. What will the world do if this thing happens in Afghanistan. Are we so tired of a 20 year war that we will once again do nothing.

Electoral

The electoral college determines the presidency. Each state is allotted votes based on the number of representatives which is determined by population. 48 states have the winner take all form which means that the candidate who gets 51% of the votes gets all of the electoral votes. In two states, Maine and Nebraska, the votes are split based on congressional districts. Democrats want move away from the winner take all on a state level to a winner take all on a national level. If one candidate gets more votes that any other in the national election all states would award their electoral votes to that candidate. States with small populations will not favor this change. It is only necessary to win the 11 biggest states to get 270 electoral votes so small states would be overlooked. Incidentally, illegals count toward determining how many electoral votes a state may receive. A small state like North Dakota with a population of 770,000 gets one vote while California receives 4 votes just from the 3 million illegals that live there.

Peace prize

The US State Department invites the UN racism investigators to visit the US In Obama's first year he made a number of international trips. On each one he pointed out some of America's shortcomings. In France he said, "America has shown arrogance". To the Muslims he said, "My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americas are not your enemy. We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect" To our friends in this hemisphere he said, "All of us must now renew the common stake that we have in one another. I know that promises of partnership have gone unfulfilled in the past, and that trust has to be earned over time". About the war on terror he said, " Unfortunately, faced with an uncertain threat, out government made a series of hasty decisions". To the Turkish parliament he said,"Our own darker periods in our history". Within ten months of taking office Obama received the Noble Peace prize. Maybe the state department will get a peace prize.

Fox News

Fox News started slow but over the past 20 years has led in the ratings game. The main reason is that liberal viewers are split between MSNBC and CNN. Fox strategy was to make news entertaining and that has worked. A good example is the Fox Show called The Five. It started ten years ago and is on at 5 PM eastern time and now has more viewers than the other prime time shows. When Obama was elected many thought Fox would lose its number one spot but it only got stronger. Then Trump came along and the Fox lead grew even larger. Over the years Fox lost many of its rating stars but replacements just step in and nothing changed. A number of attempts have been made to shut Fox down but the first amendment is hard to overcome. When Trump was a candidate all the cable networks wanted him as he was a big draw. CNN's daytime audience rose by 50% and its prime-time audience by 70%. After he won, Zucker apologized for airing so many of his rallies. The Trump debates brought record viewers to all networks and they profited. Today Fox is not only the leader in cable news networks but in all cable. If viewers never watch Fox they will miss some important news stories. It is wise to watch a number of different news sources.

Divided America

There is a strange new phenomenon easing its way into the American scene. It is a slow movement away from the battle between the political parties and it comes as a surprise to most people. The new divide is between those who feel that American is a country of opportunity and those who see the country as racist. The first group see a country were everyone has a shot at success but the second group see oppressors and oppressed. Everyday stories appear about the people who overcame obstacles and worked their way to a comfortable life. The middle income group, which includes 60% of Americans, contains a proportional number of minorities with 59% white, 12% Black and 18% Hispanic. In 1979 those figures were 84% white, 9% Black and 5% Hispanic. Our leaders say the American people are not racist and America is not racist but the country suffers from systemic racism. This confusion comes from trying to rationalize the conflict between the oppressed and the oppressors.

climate

The conservative solution to climate change, otherwise known as climate change without new social programs. First begin changing all transportation over to natural gas. Use infrastructure money to install natural gas at all existing gas stations. Next continue replacing coal fired power plants with natural gas. Begin production of thorium nuclear power plants and replacing existing nuke plants with thorium. Next using power from thorium plants begin production of hydrogen and move to replace natural gas with hydrogen. Provide other countries with natural gas while they develop thorium nuke plants so they can follow suit and convert to hydrogen.

Avenatti

People often use the phrase Trump derangement syndrome and yesterday a case was settled that exemplifies this illness. Michael Avenatti the lawyer that defended film star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against Trump was convicted and sentenced to two years. Avenatti came into prominence through his appearances on cable TV where he was praised to the point of idolizing. He was on CNN 122 times and MSNBC 108 times amid effusive adulation even to the point that some suggested he should run for president against Trump. His fame spread far and wide when he introduced a written declaration accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of spiking drinks at parties that allowed girls to be gang raped. All of this news was so welcomed by these networks that they failed to check the background on Avenatti and left them in a mess when he was exposed. After all the dust settled these networks just let the whole episode fade into the past.

tobacco

In 1998 a law suit against tobacco companies gave $246 billion dollars over 25 years to 46 states. Different states distribute the money in different ways but not all the money goes to health prevention measures. South Carolina gave money to tobacco farmers and North Carolina spent money on tobacco production. Many states don't have any money coming in anymore because the secularized their future payments and put the money in the general fund. Today 40 states have spent less than half of the money on smoking prevention programs. Tobacco companies were allowed to raise prices by 35 cents per pack to help pay for the settlement. In short it was a transfer of money from consumers to states just like a tax.

Oil

The US had been producing 13 million barrels of oil per day before the pandemic and then it dropped to 11.5 million where it remains to day. The price of oil increased from $42 to $72 per barrel so the oil companies are making comfortable profits. Gas prices have increased by a dollar and this is attributed to the higher price of oil. Oil companies see the administration as committed to wind and solar and are concerned about new drilling and this effects future supply. As cognitive dissonance goes, this is a classic. President Biden’s explicit policy goal is to reduce U.S. oil and gas production, limiting the global supply of fossil fuels in the name of fighting climate change. Yet his Administration is now imploring the OPEC oil cartel to pump more oil so U.S. gasoline prices don’t rise more than they already have on Mr. Biden’s watch. Burning oil creates CO2 whether the oil comes from the Middle East or North Dakota. While the US companies are losing out on the increase production, Russia is making out like a bandit. MOSCOW (Bloomberg) --Russia increased its oil production in March amid a more generous OPEC+ quota, even as rising coronavirus cases threaten oil demand in the short-term.

Inner city crime

After much hang wringing the majority of people have come to the conclusion that there is a crime problem. One of the more famous Johnny come late-lies is President Biden who announced this past week his crime prevention plan. Biden is meeting with Chicago's Mayor today to discuss gun control. Will they choose to enact more gun laws or will they begin to arrest, prosecute and incarcerate gang members. The epicenter of this problem is in the minority neighborhoods of big cities. In these areas Black males are shooting Black males over gang battles about territory and in the process many innocent bystanders are shot and often times killed. You have to search far and wide on the Internet to find articles about Black on Black crime and when you find it the writers say it is racist to talk about it.

Guns

After much hang wringing the majority of people have come to the conclusion that there is a crime problem. One of the more famous Johnny come late-lies is President Biden who announced this past week his crime prevention plan. Biden is meeting with Chicago's Mayor today to discuss gun control. Will they choose to enact more gun laws or will they begin to arrest, prosecute and incarcerate gang members. The epicenter of this problem is in the minority neighborhoods of big cities. In these areas Black males are shooting Black males over gang battles about territory and in the process many innocent bystanders are shot and often times killed. You have to search far and wide on the Internet to find articles about Black on Black crime.

Racism

Joe Biden: ‘We are by far the greatest, powerful, decent nation in the world’ By John NewsomSep 17, 2017 On his 100th day in office, President Joe Biden said the nation he governs isn’t racist “No, I don’t think the American people are racist,” Biden told “TODAY.” WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris said America is not a "racist country" These quotes indicate that Biden and Harris do not think America or the American people are racist. The teachers union says the country suffers from systemic racism. To say the America is the greatest nation on earth does not mean the country is perfect. It means it is the best there is but that there is room for improvement.

Healthcare

In 2020 there were 76 million people enrolled in Medicaid. 20 million of these were added because of Obamacare which allowed single adults to be eligible. Prior to that only women with children, disabled and some elderly were eligible. For those with incomes of less than 133% of the poverty rate Medicaid is free. For a single person that is $18,000 per year. For a single parent with two children that is $30,000 per year. There are still 30 million people who are not insured and about 6 million of these qualify for free Medicaid but they failed to sign up. Some say that is because there are no preexisting conditions and people can wait until they get sick to sign on. People who have higher incomes can stay on Obamacare where premiums are subsidized for the low income group. The average subsidy is $492 per month and the average premium is $576 per month so this is affordable but the deductibles are prohibitive for many. Depending on income the out of pocket expenses per year are $2,200 up to $6,300 for single coverage and twice that for family. That is the reason many are still uninsured. Young single males are not interested in health insurance.

Crime

The increase in crime across the country has caused some to simplify things by saying if you enforce the laws and put law breakers in jail crime will go down. Is there any evidence to support this claim? Violent crime nearly quadrupled (400%) between 1960 and its peak in 1991. Since then violent crime has decreased by 45% going from 684 per 100,000 population to 366. Many reasons are given for this decline but one of the more significant is the 1994 crime bill. This is known as the get tough on crime bill. What was the effect?The incarceration rate in 1960 was 240 per 100,000 population and in 2019 it was 750 per 100,000 or a 300% increase. Some say this bill was racist because it penalized crack users more than cocaine users and this may be true but the question remains does getting tough on crime reduce crime.

Living in America

Almost 7 out of 10 voters (69 percent) believe America is the greatest country to reside in, according to the latest Fox News survey, down from 83 percent in 2015 and from the high-water mark recorded a decade ago: 84 percent in April 2011, the first time the question was asked on a Fox News poll . The question then becomes where do these individuals think is better place to live and why. Why do polls show that 150 million people would like to come to America. There is no poll showing how many want to leave America. It makes good sense to push for changes to make America a better place to live but compared to what. To quote Ronald Reagan, you can move to Germany but you will never become a German, you can move to France and you will never become a Frenchman but you can move to America and become an American.

SS Checks

Some years ago the laws changed and social security checks were no longer sent in the mail. This meant that recipients needed another way to get their checks. Most chose to have the checks sent to their bank account but many did not have a bank account. They were told to sign up for Direct Express to get their checks. Step one. Call an 800 number and apply for the card. They will notify SS and provide the information needed. Then call a different 800 number to activate. Give them your 16 digit card number, the last four of your SS card, your date of birth and then select a four digit PIN. You then go to certain ATM's to get cash from your account. For most people this is not that big of a deal but for many elderly living alone it represents a challenge.

whiteness

White privileged is a misnomer. White advantage is more appropriate. If you are born white in this society you have an advantage. If you are born rich you have an advantage. If you are raised in a two parent family you have an advantage. If your parents went to college you have an advantage. If your parents taught you to respect authority you have an advantage. If you're a women who is attractive you have an advantage. If you are man over six feet tall you have an advantage. If you have a high IQ you have an advantage. If you have good health you have an advantage. The lack of any of these attributes is a disadvantage that many have overcome. You overcome these by playing the hand you are dealt. You accept responsibility for your station in life and work hard to better your situation. It is to your disadvantage to look for others to blame and assume the roll of victim. It is not helpful to wait for someone else to change your circumstances. You must take control of your life.

Civil rights

The 1964 Civil Rights Act is seen by many as the most important step in eliminating racism in the United States. In the house 80% of republicans and 63% of democrats voted for the law. In the senate 82% of republicans and 67% of democrats voted for the bill. Dwight D. Eisenhower got 39 percent of the Black vote in 1956, and Richard Nixon got 32 percent in his narrow loss to John F. Kennedy in 1960. It wasn't until the Civil Rights Act that the Blacks then voted 94% for Johnson who himself was a racist. The Blacks have continued to vote 90 plus percent democrat.

Anthem

They say you can always learn something new and that is true for most people when it comes to the National Anthem. An Olympic athlete said the anthem shows how America is racist. She referred to the third verse. Most people did not know there are four verses since only the first is sung. Here is the third verse. And where is that band who so vauntingly swore That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion, A home and a country should leave us no more! Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave: And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave! She has a point here but you really have to dig to find it and that seems to be happening in many different areas. This anthem was adopted in 1933 long after 600,000 Americans died in the war to get rid of slavery.