Legacy

Political leaders seem to be concerned about their legacy and here is Obama's. From NPR.... Every president sees his party lose hundreds of positions — it's the price a party holding the White House pays — but no president has come close to Obama. During Obama's eight years in office, the Democrats have lost more House, Senate, state legislative and governors seats than under any other president. When Obama took office, there were 60 Democratic senators; now there are 46. The number of House seats held by Democrats has shrunk from 257 to 188. Democratic Party has lost a net total of 13 Governorships and 816 state legislative seats since President Obama entered office, the most of any president since Dwight Eisenhower. The 2022 mid terms are looking much like the Obama years.

Nuke power

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh. On CNN this AM there was a special report saying....dire report world running out of ways to fight climate change. Will someone tell these experts about thorium nuke plants. Will someone tell them to use natural gas in place of coal at power plants. Will someone tell them about natural gas for transportation.

Ukraine aid

When Putin took Crimea the congress approved $300 million in aid for Ukraine including anti armor systems, mortars, grenade launchers and ammunition but Obama refused to go along. He feared this would just cause the Russians to escalate. Here is a report from the New York Times in June 2015.WASHINGTON — With the peace process stalled and violence escalating in Ukraine, a bipartisan coalition in Congress is defying President Obama and European allies by pressing the administration to provide weapons to the embattled nation. From the Chicago Tribune December 2017 WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has approved a plan to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine The new arms include American-made Javelin anti-tank missiles, U.S. officials said late Friday. This report is from the Washington Post The Trump administration has approved the largest U.S. commercial sale of lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine since 2014. Here is from Politico June 2021 The Biden White House has temporarily halted a military aid package to Ukraine that would include lethal weapons, a plan originally made in response to aggressive Russian troop movements along Ukraine’s border this spring. Both Obama and Biden feared that by giving aid to Ukraine they would provoke Russia so they refused request from Ukraine for aid.

Rich Russians

There are about 100 friends of Putin whom he helped get rich quick when the Soviet government fell in 1992. Their fortunes grew and today are worth about $800 billion dollars which is about the worth of the rest of the 144 million Russians. It's reported that many of these billionaires are holding money for Putin. They spend money lavishly. An example is Roman Abramovich, a former Russian provincial governor and Putin ally who became a steel and metals magnate. Now a dual Israeli citizen with a net worth estimated at more than $13 billion. He used his fortune to buy the British soccer club Chelsea and homes in London and New York. Many of the others are well known and could easily be charged with stealing money from the Russian people.

Politico

Her is a report from Politico a liberal site The world’s biggest social media companies are scrambling to combat a global barrage of Kremlin-backed falsehoods and digital tricks around the invasion of Ukraine — putting the tech giants back in the political crosshairs over the spread of online disinformation. Russia-backed media reports falsely claiming that the Ukrainian government is conducting genocide of civilians ran unchecked and unchallenged on Twitter and on Facebook. Videos from the Russian government — including speeches from Vladimir Putin — on YouTube received dollars from Western advertisers. Unverified TikTok videos of alleged real-time battles were instead historical footage, including doctored conflict-zone images and sounds. These debunked posts have been racking up millions of likes, comments and shares on Facebook and Twitter, according to CrowdTangle, a social media analytics tool owned by Meta, and POLITICO’s separate review of TikTok and Google’s YouTube.

Energy policy

The Biden administration states that it is their concern about climate change that determines their energy policy. This policy sets up road blocks to keep energy companies from expanding and producing more oil, coal and natural gas while simultaneously encouraging the development of wind and solar. Many ordinary citizens believe in this policy but in their personal lives are not willing to make the necessary sacrifices. Look at your life and your neighbors lives. Do you live in a small house, drive a small car, live in the city or do you live in a large house on a large lot in the suburbs and drive 20 miles to work each day in your SUV or pickup. If you are in the latter group do you water your grass and spray with herbicides and fertilizers, do you mow every week in the summer and use other tools like edgers and leaf blowers. Do you have a four wheeler and a boat to go with your cabin at the lake where you also have a lawn. If climate change means the end of the world as we know it in just a few years are these people acting like believers or is this like many expect just a political position for these people. Climate change is real and the solution is nuclear power but that is never mentioned and as long as people are manipulated using politics nothing much will change.

Putin Tyson

What is going to happen to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky remains to be seen but when Russian news reported that he left the country he put his safety at risk and showed up on TV in front of the government buildings in Kiev. Contrast that to the former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani who fled the Taliban and is now living in UAE. How he is paying for this is not known but he is accused of taking money with him when he left Kabul. Here is some military advice to Putin from Mike Tyson who said, Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. I always thought that explained the difference between academia and the business world. All of those physics problems which used friction-less planes.

Prices going up

I use about 50 gallons of gasoline per month and gas is about $3.40 per gallon and my electric bill is $180 per month. During the past year gasoline prices in Europe have risen 500% and electric power cost have risen 600%. If that happens here my gas cost will increase $170 per month to $850 per month and my electric bill will increase from $180 per month to $1,080 per month. This gives you some idea why the Europeans are in bad shape. Here is an example from one German consumer. Henry Backhaus, 65, is among tens of thousands of Germans who were dropped by private energy companies that could not afford to buy wholesale electricity and gas at soaring rates. Under German law, the local utility was then required to step in, but it sent him a bill for 747 euros (nearly $850) a month — more than he had been paying for an entire year.

Dead soldiers

I have often discussed the difference between democratic countries and countries led by dictators and recent news about Ukraine has presented one difference that was new to me. When American soldiers are killed in battle, all presidents have faced the sad situation at Dover Air base where the bodies draped with US flags are unloaded. Russia, where the government controls the press, does not put up with that. They take mobile crematoriums onto the battle field and burn up the dead bodies of fallen soldiers so they don't have to face the people back home.

Oil oil

In 2020 the United States exported about 8.5 million barrels of oil per day and imported about 7.9 million barrels per day thus becoming a net exported for the first time ever. This sort of thing happens with most commodities and the reasons are many. US oil is light and sweet meaning in pollutes the least but many refineries need heavy crude to operate efficiently. Some light is exported and heavy imported. Sometimes it is because of transportation cost. New England uses imported oil because New York refused to allow a pipeline and thus it is less costly to ship oil in from Russian than to ship by rail to New England. The oil from Canada by way of the Keystone pipeline was heavy and destined for the refineries in the Gulf Coast. This pipeline was designed to import 800,000 barrels per day. Increasing oil and natural gas production now will not deter Putin but over the next few years it can wean Europe away from Russia so that this cannot be used for blackmail again. It is a warning to all countries including the US. It is imperative that the US be energy independent. This was the case in 2020 and can be that way again in 2022 if the government gets out of the way. It seems obvious but apparently some greens believe that burning Russia oil is less damaging to the environment than burning US oil. Why else would they want to stop the pipeline and import oil from Russia. The scientists tell us that even if the Green New Deal were implemented it would not stop global warming. The use of coal in Asia is so great that what the US does has little to no effect. The answer is thorium nuke plants but social change by way of wind and solar have taken center stage leaving nuclear lost in the fog of politics. There are some politicians who understand this as witnessed by the 2020 democratic platform. It took five decades, but the Democratic Party has finally changed its stance on nuclear energy. In its recently released party platform, the Democrats say they favor a “technology-neutral” approach that includes “all zero-carbon technologies, including hydroelectric power, geothermal, existing and advanced nuclear, and carbon capture and storage.”  They still cannot say nuclear but it is included in the phrase, all zero-carbon technologies.

The Washington Post on January 2022 regarding banning of Trump But there’s another, more conceptual debate that transcends partisan politics and carries implications beyond Trump’s freedom to tweet. It’s the question of whether the largest social media companies have become so critical to public debate that being banned or blacklisted — whether you’re an elected official, a dissident or even just a private citizen who runs afoul of their content policies — amounts to a form of modern-day censorship. And, if so, are there circumstances under which such censorship is justified? Here is the social media position on Putin Twitter, Instagram and Facebook are quiet about whether the Kremlin and high-ranking Russian officials who are using the platform to give updates about Russia's advance on Ukraine and spread Russian propaganda will continue to have unfettered access to their accounts.

Ukraine

We are watching the chaos in Ukraine only because some reporters are still there. We see civilians being forced to flee to Poland while others cower in basements hoping to avoid the bombs. We can only imagine what is going on in Afghanistan where terrorist run free and there is no food and no law to protect the citizens. The experts are now saying there is not much that can be done to stop Putin without risking WW3. As a non expert how about opening all the secret bank accounts around the world and in particular Swiss and taking all the money from the Russian billionaires which would include Putin. This would also expose many others who have reason to hide money. How about increasing the supply of natural gas and oil to help the Europeans. If there are more severe sanctions what are we waiting for. These are the things that will directly effect the Russian people and could result in a fifth column. Prior to the invasion NATO should have told Putin that they would not invite Ukraine to join and this might well have satisfied Putin. Recall how the US reacted when Russia put missiles in Cuba.

Oil

When Obama was elected the price of oil was $60 per barrel. In 2014 when Putin took Crimea the price rose to $109 per barrel. Recall that Obama said that your electric bill will sky rocket and he was right. but saving the planet was part of the sacrifice we had to pay. When Trump took office the price had dropped to $40. When Trump left office it was still $40. The first thing that Biden did was to restrict fossil fuel production and the price doubled to $90 by the end of his first year. Jen Psaki said that is the price we have to pay to save the planet. Putin invades and the price goes to $100 and probably higher in the coming days. Because of higher prices China and India are using more coal. All of these policies designed to reduce CO2 have in fact increased CO2. It is time for Biden to reverse policy and open up the spigots on fossil fuels instead of asking OPEC to help.

Ukraine

CNN and MSNBC have moved away from Trump to report on the war in Ukraine. Fox has moved away from the border, Afghanistan and China but they are holding on to gas prices. In today's world misinformation has been replaced by selective reporting. My friend from Slovenia gave me some interesting information about Ukraine. If NATO and USA don't respond to this.... Russia attacked overnight. I'm very wortied. There is also danger that Putin will try to destabilise Bosnia and Hercegovina again. I think that president of Serbian entity within Bosnia will use situation for separation of Serbian entity from Bosnia and Hercegovina. Can the USA even afgord not to use military power against Russia after it attacked Ukraine? I think not, this is direct attack against American geopolitical interests in region. And as I said before, through that interest, it seems that the USA will be once again saving Europeans from Eastern danger. I wonder how will Germany react now. 

Swiss banks

For years I have fantasized about some teenage hacker getting into the Swiss banks and exposing all of those rich and famous people who are hiding ill gotten gains. Now is the time for NATO to go to the Swiss and demand they open the banks. It matters not how many hot shots from around the world will be exposed to criticism but what matters is that the assets of all the money stolen from the Russian people by the oligarchs can be impounded. It is said that Putin is worth a hundred billion dollars. If the IRS can go into off shore banks in the Caribbean certainly NATO can force the Swiss to cooperate. Sanctions may not bother Putin but taking his money will get his attention.

Ukraine

According to the news we are defending Ukraine because they are a democratic country but is that true. Ukraine President Zelenskyy took control when Putin's man (Poroshenko ) who was president and was ousted because the people were tired of corruption. Since taking control he has closed down free speech by threatening journalist who disagree with his policies and closing 12 TV stations that challenged his programs. It appears that he is not that different from his predecessor. It takes us back to the cold war where we supported dictators because they were anti communist.

Cost of gas

Trump's energy policy resulted in the US becoming energy independent and a net exporter of natural gas and oil. Biden within the first 100 days reversed the Trump energy friendly approach and promised to stop drilling on public lands and in Alaska a long with withholding drilling permits. He said that climate change was more important and during the campaign promised to stop fracking. Jen Satky said today that Biden was doing everything he could to lower the price of gasoline. Here is a quote from The Hill, a left leaning site, from 08/28/2021: From its first days, the Biden administration has attacked and stifled America’s energy production. When he was campaigning, Biden and his running mate both promised to stop fracking. Immediately after he was elected, Biden paused all oil and gas leasing on federal lands. He then killed the Keystone XL pipeline and the many thousands of jobs it supported, claiming the pipeline did not serve the U.S. national interest. Only a few months later, he supported removing sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, handing a major energy and international policy win to Russian President Vladimir Putin and oil giant Gazprom. One way to bring down the cost of oil is to increase the supply of oil. Biden should revert back to the Trump policies to increase both natural gas and oil. This would help the US consumer and hurt the Russians. One of the best ways to get Putin's attention is to bring down the price of fossil fuels.

Free press

The Trump loss in the election has been devastating for the ratings for CNN and MSNBC. CNN is in a particularly bad position because they have lost 70% of their audience while suffering some personal set backs for their best shows. Adding to their problems is the looming merger of WarnerMedia, their parent company, with Discovery, which will give Discovery CEO David Zaslay control of CNN. Zaslay may use this opportunity to completely change the format at CNN moving away from advocacy to straight news. This would mean a lot of new faces at CNN and some feel this was started when Chris Wallace moved from Fox to CNN. If this change happens and CNN rebounds this may be a signal for other networks to be less biased in their coverage of the news. This could lead to reuniting the American people said the eternal optimist. It would be great to see the free press rejoin the first amendment.

The new USSR

Biden announced the sanctions against Putin and they are weak. He sanctioned two banks that were already sanctioned by Obama in 2014 and he said he would not support the new gas line from Russia to Germany but that was not set to open until this coming summer. Putin could take the eastern part of Ukraine and stop and everyone would be okay and he may very well do that. Then he could move into Belarus and do the same thing and adding that to his incursion into Georgia and his taking of Crimea he has set the stage for further moves in the future. Next would be taking back Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. He would be well on his way of reunited the old Soviet Union which is his ultimate goal. He can do all of that without taking any NATO country. He may even decide to take Finland. From the standpoint of the west most people, particularly in the US, would not intervene.

Free Market

In the post WW 2 era there were a couple of dozen countries that were communist and the general feeling was that democratic countries could win them over using economic forces. The experts said that once you have strong economic ties countries would be hesitant to war against one another. As the communist countries one by one fell to the wayside only the cold war remained. When the Soviet Union collapsed the feeling was that only China remained as a threat so the west set about developing trade. The idea was that once people experienced economic freedom it would led to political freedom but that turned out not to be true. The attempt to encourage the people of China to demand democracy failed and the result was the creation of a monster, a communist country using the free market system and today we are dealing with the failure. One of the great accomplishments of this failure was the bringing of a billion people out of poverty. As more of our jobs went to China and more Americas purchased goods made in China the poor in China moved up our of poverty. Some feel that now is the time to bring those jobs back home by buying goods made in America.

Swiss banks

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 a few insiders took advantage of their connections with government officials and along with some officials became very wealthy. They used their inside information to buy certain assets that greatly increased in value. Seven of these were well known and called the seven banker outfit. These people today are called oligarchs. Many of these oligarchs live with their families in London and commute to Russia. One of these is Mikhail Fridman, Russia second richest man and is currently restoring Athlone House in Londan as his primary residence to be worth 130 million pounds. These rich men are too smart to keep their money in Russia and like to have dollars. Putin is worth billions but no one is sure where he keeps his money but Swiss Banks are the probable spot. If the whereabouts could be discovered this would be a good way to leverage his activities. Switzerland which is situated in the center of Europe is not a member of NATO because they have survived by being neutral.

Lies

A friend told me that the country should only have one news program and it should tell the truth and so I told him to move to North Korea. In a free country, truth like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, so the best bet is to have access to many versions of the truth and select what you are most comfortable or in too many cases what is most comforting. It requires a lot of work to dig into the news and many do not have the time or the inclination. Jefferson said, "An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic". It is difficult to define what is a lie. If you say some thing that is a lie but you believe it to be true, is that lie. Is exaggeration lying. If you lie to make someone feel better is that a lie. Does lying depend on intent. Is withholding pertinent information lying. Is taking things out of context lying. There are lies, damn lies and statistics. The questions go on an on.

A company called Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC) went public in September 2021 at $10 per share. Then in October they agreed to merge with Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG). The stock price then rose to $90 where it stands today. This is in anticipation of Trumps new social media site called Truth Social. It has just opened and the response is overwhelming. People trying to sign on are asked to wait until the system can catch up. Trump had 90 million viewers on social media but he was shut down so he is now trying to start up a new site. He will have to compete with giants like Facebook and twitter. Time will tell how this works out but if he is as successful as Fox News he will have a formidable platform.

Bad cops

In every group there are bad apples and police departments are no exceptions. In the past two years thousands of officers have quit many because they felt those in charge did not have their backs. The question is how many who quit were the bad cops. No one knows but here is an amateur psychologist explanation. A bad cop is one who uses his authority to build up his ego, to lord it over people. Protect and serve are not his motivation. It is highly unlikely that he will quit. He needs this to feel like a whole person. Fortunately, like all groups, the bad guys are a small minority.

Gas tax

On Morning Joe today they said that Biden is considering canceling the federal gas tax to help consumers faced with higher gas prices. Gas has gone up a buck 20 in the past year and likely to head higher. Removing the tax is much like releasing oil from the reserves in that it has little effect. The federal gas tax is 18 cents per gallon. That will be wiped out in the next few weeks. What is needed is for the US to increase production of oil and natural gas to lower the price of both. This will bring the country back to the position of energy independence that was the case a year ago and allow for increased exports to Europe who will need help if Putin uses energy as a war weapon.

NATO pact

There are 30 countries in NATO and the Ukraine is the only country bordering Russia that is not a member of NATO. NATO has an agreement that if one of the countries are attacked then all are attacked. Russia can attack Ukraine without attacking NATO but that is the only country on their border that is not a NATO member. If Russia takes Ukraine will Putin stop there. If he goes into a NATO country does that mean war between Russia and NATO. Does that mean war between nuclear powers. Will that lead to WW 3? Will western countries believe WW 3 is necessary to protect Slovenia. Will Americans be willing to risk nuclear war to protect the people of Slovenia, a country most Americans never heard of and certainly have no idea where it is. France, England and Poland had a mutual protect agreement and when Hitler went into Poland that started WW 2. Will history repeat?

Putin Hitler

It is often said the history repeats itself and today's movements by Putin illustrates that point. In 1938 Hitler announced that a part of Czechoslovakia called Sudetenland, where the people spoke German, was actually a part of Germany. Hitler was able to get the German people on his side because he controlled the press. Each time Hitler took more territory the German people cheered and were filled with pride as old Germany was coming back. Today Putin said he was taking part of Ukraine because the people there speak Russian and therefor should be a part of Russia. The Russian press is controlled by Putin the the Russian people will cheer. The world objected to Hitler but aside from words and letters nothing was done in 1938 and the question now becomes what will be done with Putin. When the Soviet Union collapsed Ukraine had over 5,000 nuke tipped ICBM and they agreed in 1994 to turn these weapons over to Russia with a guarantee that Ukraine would remain independent. This is just one more example of the results of making deals with dictators.

Russia

The population of Russia has not increased since the end of the Soviet Union in 1990. The main reasons for Russia's annual population decline are high death rate, low birth rate, high rate of abortions, and a low level of immigration. No one wants to go there. The Russian GDP has declined the past 15 years going from $2.3 trillion to $1.5 trillion. The GDP of California is $3.3 trillion. Alcoholism has been a problem for many years and alcohol consumption remains the highest in the world. Russia is dying and Putin is getting desperate to do something.

Dictators

Europe gets about one/third of its natural gas and one/forth of its oil from Russia and the US could make up for most of this and if the Saudis could kick in while the US gears up it could wean Europe away from Russia. It is difficult to understand why Germany shut down its nuclear power before it was ready to replace it with renewables. It is much like the US going ahead with electric cars before the energy sources were moved away from fossil fuels. Once again politics is behind both of these situations. As the situation in Ukraine unfolds it is mindful that dictators are always coveting territory. Russia is eyeing Ukraine while China looks longingly at Taiwan. Democracies must answer to the people so they use their military for defense. England is not attacking Scotland, France is not attacking Germany and the US does not have designs on Canada because democratic nations do not tend to expand their territory. Putin can easily convince the Russian people that they are being attacked because he does not have to answer to the press and therein lies another basic difference between democracies and dictatorships.

Back in the mid 2000's, demand for mortgages led to an asset bubble in housing. As the value of homes increased people took out loans against the home to buy all sorts of items, things like vacations, cars and boats. These refi's put the homeowner deeper in debt and when the boom was over many lost their home and it hurt the low income people the most. Today houses are increasing in value at an unheard of rate and ads on TV are telling people to refi and buy things. Between Dec of 2020 and Dec of 2021 the average home increased in value from $350,000 to $400,000. That $50,000 can buy a lot of toys and young people are on a buying spree. It was only 15 years ago that this strategy proved disastrous and many younger people don't remember. Will this happen again?

Energy shortages

European Union countries are only luke-warm in joining the US against Russia because they are so dependent on Russia for oil and gas. Many people suggested early on that the US crank up its production of oil and gas and convince Europe to buy from the US. Instead the US gave the go ahead on a new Russian natural gas pipeline while reducing US production of natural gas and oil. Later when gasoline prices started to rise causing votes to become more important than climate change, the US decided to increase production of fossil fuels. Oil companies found they liked the new high price for oil and are reluctant to increase production. This back and forth on energy policy is disruptive to the business and it may take a while to increase production. Looking back this was a mistake and it encouraged Russia to meddle in Ukraine. Germany's new chancellor Scholz understands that if energy from Russia is disrupted that the price to German consumers will quickly rise and just like here in the US the people will not be happy. He now must risk his position to line up against Russia and like most politicians his most important priority is to get re-elected.

Guinea pigs

If you feel like a Guinea Pig you are not alone. The administration promised on day one to shut down drilling for oil and natural gas and on January 21, 2021 he halted oil and gas permits on US land and water. As the price of gasoline increased Biden reversed his order and is now issuing 40% more leases than Trump. The administration was silent as the defund the police call became louder. Then crime rose dramatically and now Biden backs funding for more police. The Justice Department joined forces with the teachers union and school boards to call parents terrorist and the parents revolted and election results caused the administration to reconsider. The news promoted the exodus from Afghanistan a success because of the number of citizens who were air lifted out but later they changed when they saw the effects on the Afghan people. First inflation was a minor problem and would go away but when gas prices started to rise it became a serious problem. Biden said he would shut down the virus but it got much worse after he took office. This up and down government has caused people to lose faith in Biden and this is reflected in the polls. Some areas have remained unchanged and the most serious of these are the southern border and China

Daytona

This morning I witnessed a blast from the past when Richard Petty was on TV at the Daytona 500 which he has won 7 times. In 1970 I was at the Duquoin State Fair and watched Petty win the final grand national run on a dirt track. He won of course as he had 8 other times in Duquoin. I was not a big racing fan but I was living in Terre Haute, IN and I drove over to meet my sister who came over from Spfld, IL. She and her husband were racing fans. They had a camper and we spent the night there enjoying the festivities which were nothing compared to what happens in Daytona. It was more than 50 years ago but I remember the excitement as though it were yesterday. The grand stand had 3000 seats compared to Daytona's 125,000. Different times different places but a race is still a race. On a different subject but interesting fact is that on the way home I stopped at a road side stand to buy an apple. Southern Illinois is a big apple growing area. The apples are winesaps and they are the size of a small grape fruit. There were three in a bag and I asked how much and the guy says would 15 cents be too much. Of course I was only earning $600 a month.

Looking back on Covid

Looking back on Covid exposes a series of mistakes that cost many lives. When it first hit in early 2020 the CDC and Trump said it was not that serious. Trump said it was no worse than the flu and would be over by Easter. On January 31, 2020 Trump shut down travel from China. By late February the CDC announced that Covid would disrupt the economy. Trump was not ready to shut down the economy so he started holding daily briefings and the CDC was sidelined. The CDC developed a test for Covid but the test was flawed and this resulted in damaging delays. On March 13, 2020 Trump shut down the economy. Meanwhile the FDA was slow to approve drugs to combat the virus and a delay of a few weeks was deadly since this virus moved so quickly. Trump became increasingly upset with the slow movement of the FDA so that on April 30, 2020 he set up a program to fast track the development of a vaccine. The goal was to have 300 million doses of vaccine by the end of the year. On December 14, 2020 the first vaccines were distributed and 2.8 million people had been vaccinated by the end of the year. President Biden said the country would be past the problem by July 4th but cases continued to increase. In the early months of the outbreak the CDC and WHO stated that face masks were not needed for the general public unless a person was experiencing severe symptoms. In April the CDC recommended cloth face masks and WHO followed in June. Even after that Trump refused to wear a mask in public and he felt they were not necessary. Health officials felt the virus was spread by direct contact and so they emphasized hand washing and cleaning surfaces. Thus the argument about masks continued. People of color died at a disproportionate rate and this introduced race into the already confusing equation. A disagreement between federal and state authority caused further confusion. Although everyone was well aware that the virus would hurt the old and sick first no plans were laid out to protect this group. As it turns out, the reality-based, science-friendly communities and information sources many of us depend on also largely failed. We had time to prepare for this pandemic at the state, local, and household level, even if the government was terribly lagging but we didn't. To further complicate matters the issue of masks got political and remains so today. The result was many who wore the mask did not do so properly and used the same mask over many days. The latest calls into question the efficacy of cloth mask and the CDC recommends the N95.

Rap music

Rap music is very popular and much of it uses the word nigger and is degrading to women and glorifies gang violence. One up and coming star is Youngboy NBA. As early as 2016 he was arrested for a drive by shooting where he pleaded guilty. In 2018 a warrant was issued against him for assault and kidnapping. In 2019 he was tied to a shooting in Miami. In 2020 he was accused of gun and drug distribution. In 2021 he was arrested using a federal warrant. He was released on $1.5 million dollar bail. He is now 22 years old and making lots of money using what is called Drill music which is all about Blacks shooting (drilling) Blacks. He is a roll model for many young Black men who see rap as way to make a lot of money and become famous. Basketball no longer has a monopoly in this area.

Private school

K-12 schools in the US have been under attack for many years. Some complain that teachers are responsible for areas formerly assigned to parents. Some say is it because discipline problems caused by students not learning respect for authority in the home. Some say that too many students take standardized test compared to other countries. Some say it is because the US mainstreams students with learning disabilities. Regardless of the reason those closest to the problem know there is a problem and those are the teachers. While in general 10% of students go to private schools, 20% of the children of teachers go to private schools.

The Olympics have brought a disturbing situation to the attention of the American people. There are US businesses, celebrities and athletes who have closed their eyes to the atrocities going on in China for permission to sell products to the one plus billion Chinese consumers. Movie sales in China now exceed sales in the US and this is making a ton of money for Hollywood. Many of the same actors who criticize America are closing their eyes to the genocide going on in China. NBA players like Labron James have pointed out the various problems here in the US but he and the NBA are silent when it comes to China. The NBA gets more than a billion dollars from China and they know that if they criticize China in any way they will jeopardize the deal. One of James' big sponsors is Nike, a company that uses the slave labor of the Uyghurs, to produce their shoes. China is not bothered by a pesky first amendment and the people don't have to be concerned about misinformation because the government decides what is true. If anything is said or done that the government doesn't like then they are shut down and often times just disappear.

Online order

I rarely buy anything on line but recently I made a purchase and I can see why Amazon is to popular. I ordered 4 pair of women's compression socks and got them in two days with no shipping cost. They were the wrong size so I sent them back. I didn't have to pack them. I just took them to UPS and they packaged them up and there was no shipping cost. By the time I got home I got and email from Amazon saying that they were aware that my return was on the way. Now I just have to see how long it takes to get my money back.

Blacks and Jews

Quintez Brown, 21 was released on $100,000 bail one day after being charged with attempted murder while Kyle Rittenhouse was held in jail for 87 days and released on $2 million dollars bail. Brown has yet to stand trial but Rittenhouse was found not guilty and released. There are people who complain that America has a two tiered legal system and examples like this add fuel to their fire. The interesting thing is that BLM put up the bail for Brown but a gofundme account paid the Rittenhouse bail. One other point to make is that a Black man attempted to kill a Jew who was running for office and not one story covered the racism.

News or not

Social norms and political ideas and other cultural activities are often describe as a pendulum. The ebb and flow of history tends to balance out over time to some construct of reasonableness. In the past decade the far left of the democratic party has moved the pendulum too far for most people and the result is a shift in the culture. Issues like law and order, illegals crossing the border, schools focusing on oppressed and oppressors, cost of gas and groceries have caused low and middle income voters to move away from the democrats and toward the republicans. While disregarding the polls democratic leaders are focusing on the January 6 riots and voter integrity. News channels like MSNBC and CNN have doubled down on Trump investigations while the public has moved on. Since the majority of news media work together, not reporting news is very effective. It is the social media that people have turned to in order to get a broader picture of the news. 60% of Internet users regularly read Blogs and there everything is covered.

Law vs no law

Over the past 6 months dozens of Internet sites have reported that Tic Toc is being used to connect US teen drivers with the Mexican cartels to drive illegals from the border to Houston. The teens receive one to three thousand dollars per trip. Aside from one report on Fox Business News the regular news media is not covering this just as they are not covering general activity at the border. A few congressmen make trips to the border to expose the rampant disregard for the law but that is ignored by the national press. President Biden rarely mentions the border and most members of congress seem uninterested. Record numbers of illegals cross the border undetected they make there way into the interior of the country. Add to that the large number of illegals that are transported by the government to various parts of the country all the while ignoring the rule of law. It appears that sometimes it is okay to disregard the law but other times it is not. Most recently compare actions at the southern border vs the northern border. This contrast is difficult to explain.

Asians and Blacks

Geraldo Rivera was on TV today and stuck his neck out by saying that the Asians who are being murdered in New York City are being killed by Black men and he called this racism. This has been around for many years but beneath the surface since the 1980's. At that time Koreans were moving into Black neighborhoods and setting up successful businesses. The Black community did not like that as it showed that it could be done. The Blacks attacked these businesses and drove many of the Koreans out. Things then settled down but recently the old racism has resurfaced. To say that it is Blacks who are killing Asians is the same as saying it is Blacks who are killing Blacks and neither is acceptable in today's PC world.

China coal

Beijing Olympics organizers have repeatedly promised to host the greenest Games ever, aiming at carbon neutrality. But outside of the Olympics, things aren't so green: the central government pledged this week to run China's coal power plants at full capacity to meet energy demands. "Coal supply will be increased and coal-fired power plants will be supported in running at full capacity and generating more electricity, so as to meet the electricity needs for production and residential consumption," according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

Subbing

Schools have changed since the start of the pandemic, both for the teachers and the students. Up until two years ago, I could sub in just about any class and conduct a lesson. I was knowledgeable in the areas of science and math and for social studies and English, I could read the lesson in the morning and then conduct a Q &A with the class. When I subbed for a foreign language the teacher would not expect the sub to be fluent and so the lesson was either a test or a movie. All that has changed. Now when I get to school I merely point out that the lesson is on schoology and then my responsibility is just to take attendance and be the adult in the room. I bring this up because there is a dire need for subs and any retired person could easily handle the job. You merely send in a copy of your diploma and have a back ground check and your in. You can work one day a week or five and you can choose your school and grade level. It is a chance for you to pay back by helping the schools, the students and the teachers. You can also make some extra money to send off to that grandchild who is away in college. You will stay young being around young people. Its a win win.

Prince Phillip

When liberals talk about equity, they are for the most part, referring to sharing the wealth. There are other areas where equity is lacking and one of those is in the legal system. Recall OJ Simpson and the dream team. Polls show that most people believe that OJ was guilty but his crack legal team proved otherwise. When some Black man in North Minneapolis robs a convenience store you can rest assured he will not have a dream team of lawyers for his defense. Yesterday in the news it was announced that Prince Phillip, the man accused of having sex with a minor, settled the case out of court by paying the young lady $12 million dollars. Most criminals, young or not, will not have this option.

Used cars

Inflation hurts low income people the most because most of their expenditures are for necessities like food and shelter. If the family income was $50,000 last year that is worth $46,000 this year. If you are retired and had a $100,000 CD it is only worth $92,000 this year. Shortages caused by manufacturing unable to keep up with demand along with supply chain problems have cause prices to rise. One strange thing is the price of used cars which for the first time in history are rising. The average used car costs $7,000 more this year than last year. The old adage that you lose a third of the value of your new car when you drive off the lot is no longer applicable.

Climate social

Those who profess to be most concern about climate change tend to be the same people standing in the way of solving the problem. The reason stems from the fact that they are using climate change as a reason to promote social change. Either through ignorance or by design they fail to understand that you cannot replace fossil fuels with wind and solar without the help of nuclear. Years ago when the problem of global warming first appeared, most people in government realized that the solution was to use all possible options which meant renewables and nuclear but when some found out they could use the issue to promote certain social changes, nuclear was left out of the picture. It is not too late to revive the interest in nuclear, especially since the new thorium technology has shown how nuclear is safe. The direction the country moves will be determined by the upcoming mid-term elections. If the congress changes the door will be open to relegating wind and solar to the proper place on the spectrum of what course to follow and nuclear will become more important.

ian oil

News reports say that Putin blinked as he moved some troops away from the border. Starting in early March of 2021 Russia began to shift troops to the Ukraine border when the price of oil was $65 per barrel. Over the next year the price rose to $95 per barrel. During that time Russia exported 214 million barrels which means Putin brought an extra $6 billion dollars. The news reports this as a failure on the part of Putin. The price is still hovering around $94 and that may continue well into the summer months. The other winners are the big oil companies and the big losers are the American people who are now spending a dollar more for gasoline. My mother used to say the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Seems in this case she was right.

Remington

Yesterday a court ruled that Remington gun manufacturer must pay $73 million dollars to families of victims who were killed by a man using a Remington gun. A few months back a man driving a Ford Escape purposely rammed into people in Waukesha parade killing five and injuring many others. Can the families of these victims now sue Ford Motor company for producing this car. Will this court case open Pandora's Box for lawyers. Will consumers have to start buying extra insurance to cover such cost?

Trump hacked

A report came out today that Trump as a candidate and as president had his computers hacked and the information was leaked to the press. Only a few liberal sites reported this and The Hill was one site. Here is some of their story. Tech Exective-1's employer, Internet Company-1, had come to access and maintain dedicated servers for the Executive Office to the President (EOP) as a part of a sensitive arrangement whereby it provided domain name server (DNS) resolution services to the EOP, Durham's office wrote, using an acronym for the White House's Executive Office of the President. Tech Executive-1 and his associates exploited this arrangement by mining the EOP's DNS traffic and other data for the purpose of gathering derogatory information about Donald Trump. This explains why information from the Trump White House was leaked on a regular basis. While this hurt Trump it was not as bad as it could have been because Trump himself was constantly telling the world what he was thinking and doing with his tweets. Recall that within a week of Trumps taking office his phone call with the Australian Prime Minister was leaked and this continued on through his years as president.

Living alone

Any person older than retirement age who applies for a job is familiar with the catch 22 phrase of we only hire the most qualified and you are over qualified. That is not the case of the substitute teacher. When I walk into the building, I am the oldest person there and I am welcomed with open arms. I'm not old and useless like too many elderly who are living alone. My favorite singer and song writer Eric Bogal wrote a song about an old lady dying alone. It was based on a news article he read in the Sydney paper. Here is the first verse. Summer's smiling on the city, it's another lovely day in Sydney, sunshine pouring down like honey But in the room where Clare is dying, no sunshine sends the shadows flying No children gather round her crying, there's no one there at all Except perhaps for the man who sees each little sparrow fall If you know anyone living alone take the time to visit them.

Anybody but Trump

Many in the press have expressed surprise that polls show that 51% of democrats say they do not want Biden to run for a second term. The real surprise is that this percentage is not higher. In 2020 the democrats fielded 29 candidates for president, the largest field in history. The candidates clearly showed the weakness of the party. They did not select the best qualified to be president but rather the most likely to defeat Trump. While they voted for Biden the secret beneath the surface was really a vote against Trump. For the insiders, Biden's lack luster performance is not unexpected. Many of his supporters realized he was not ready for the job but they remained quiet. While they will not openly state he is not up to the job they do not want him to run again. They are of the mind that no matter how disappointing Biden may be or become he is better than Trump.

Population

Population in Europe has been on the decline for many years. My friend who lives in Estonia decided to have a baby and the state rewarded her handsomely. Estonians do not encourage immigration and they are not having enough children to replace those who die. The population of Estonia has declined from 1.6 million in 1990 to 1.3 million today. This is similar to the other European countries. The US population is continuing to rise but mostly do to immigration. It is well known that the poor have more children and this is seen in China where millions of poor have moved up to the middle income group and the population for the first time in many years is declining. The real growth can be seen in Africa and Asia not including China.

Foreign policy

It is often difficult to understand foreign policy and the current dispute between Russia and Europe is no exception. Germany thought for years that it could replace fossil fuels with wind and solar and so it closed down its nuclear plants but they moved to fast. Even though Germany gets 40% of its power from renewables that is not enough and they need the natural gas and oil from Russia. Other European countries need these Russian supplies more than Germany. In the rush to go green Europe has left itself vulnerable to Russian blackmail. The US has enough gas but Europe needs more ports to unload the gas. This is a prime example of poor planning. Something similar is happening in the US as the push for electric cars is moving faster than changing the electrical energy supplies away from fossil fuels. The US currently gets 80% of its energy from fossil fuels, 10% from nuclear and 12% from renewables. The US should be all in on building thorium nuclear power plants but instead we are buying solar panels and wind mills from China. Will China one day cut off our supplies of these goods like Russian is threatening Europe. Will this be another case of poor planning.

The history of Cuba is a case study in how communism takes over a country. Cuba achieved independence from Spain in 1902 and was a free market country up until Castro took control in 1959. Cuba was like two different countries. The urbanites lived comfortably while the rural population was mostly in poverty. The country people worked harvesting sugar but that was only 4 months a year and they could not earn enough money to take care of their families. The giant sugar companies owned by the US did not share the profits with the workers so they were ripe for rebellion. Castro appealed to the poor who were desperate and he promised a better life. He immediately nationalized all the businesses most of which were owned by US firms. This gave him an infusion of cash. He gave the farm land to the poor and over 200,000 became land owners. In time he set up public education and free healthcare. Castro put limits on how much people could earn and this led to a brain drain as all the professional people emigrated to Florida. Castro then aligned himself with Russia and received billions in aid which he used to support his regime. When Russia collapsed the income stopped and Cuban suffered from lack of most everyday items. They gave up their freedom. It was a repressive government and people gave up their rights. Those who objected were sent to prison or killed. During Castro’s rule, thousands of Cubans were incarcerated in abysmal prisons, thousands more were harassed and intimidated, and entire generations were denied basic political freedoms.

Far-left Antifa radicals vandalized businesses and blocked traffic with barricades during a two-hour march down Lake Street in Minneapolis Friday night. The march was infiltrated by independent photojournalist Rebecca Brannon, who said that Antifa-affiliated accounts had been posting about the “direct action” all week. Brannon reports that a helicopter was circling overhead the entire time, but no police ever showed up during the two-hour occupation. Several businesses were vandalized and traffic was blocked in both directions, Brannon reports. The mass vandalism event was organized in response to the death of Amir Locke, a 22-year-old who was shot and killed during a SWAT team raid in Minneapolis last week. At some points, the demonstrators marched through residential streets and created “barricades wherever they could,” according to Brannon. The vandals also threw rocks at and spray-painted the Minneapolis Police Department’s Fifth Precinct. Crime Watch Minneapolis obtained pictures of some of the vandalism. Some of the graffiti included clear threats to burn down the city again.

Lawyers for the Clinton campaign paid a technology company to "infiltrate" servers belonging to Trump Tower, and later the White House, in order to establish an "inference" and "narrative" to bring to government agencies linking Donald Trump to Russia, a filing from Special Counsel John Durham says.

Covid policy

The state department is warning US citizens in Ukraine to leave the country immediately. Poland has opened its border with Ukraine to allow these US citizens to cross into Poland. They must show proof of vaccine before they can cross. The people who left Afghanistan, many of whom were not vetted, did not have to show proof of vaccine. People crossing the southern border do not have to show proof of vaccine. This is just one more example to illustrate the inconsistency in Covid policy. New subject. Lawyers for the Clinton campaign paid a technology company to "infiltrate" servers belonging to Trump Tower, and later the White House, in order to establish an "inference" and "narrative" to bring to government agencies linking Donald Trump to Russia, a filing from Special Counsel John Durham says.

MN protest

Here is a report from the Minneapolis Trib today Protesters block Minneapolis streets Friday night; vandalism in Uptown. At 8 p.m. Friday, dozens gathered near the fifth Minneapolis police precinct, the latest in the daily protest following the police shooting death of Amir Locke. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS crews saw a shattered bus stop, people knocking trash cans into streets and various graffiti, both near the precinct and on and near businesses on Lyndale Avenue South.Saturday afternoon, a spokesperson from Minneapolis Police said the group of 70-100 protesters were “mostly peaceful” while walking in the street, but that they did cause some property damage with graffiti and unconfirmed reports of broken windows. Police also said the group stopped by the fifth precinct twice; some protesters graffitied cement barriers outside and others threw“objects” at the building. No other information was available. Locke protest blocks Minneapolis streets

Native Americans

There are many different explanations of Critical Race Theory (CRT), each one designed to fit a particular agenda. Here is an example of how it works and why it is hard to clearly explain. A social studies class is reading about the way the native American Indians were treated by the early colonist. The religion and the economic systems of the English were used to force the Indians off of their land. The Indians rebelled and many were killed because the colonist had superior weapons. While the Indians excessively killed buffalo the white hunters almost destroyed the whole species. The teacher may say that in North, South and Central America 56 million Indians were killed but not include the fact that in North American 8 million Indians died and this was mostly from diseases like small pox as opposed to guns. This is because the Spanish who invaded Central and South America were more likely to kill Indians. Some teachers will end the lesson at that point and this leaves the white students feeling guilty about something they had nothing to do with and happened many years before they were born. The lesson should not end there. The lesson could have continued by pointing out that long before the colonist arrived the Indians tribes were constantly at war with one another and the men would be killed and the women taken as slaves. It could be pointed out that the life expectancy of Native Americans has doubled from 35 years to 75 years since the colonist arrived. Since the mid 1800's the government has been returning stolen land to the Indians. Today native Americans have access to education and health care that was not available in times past. 25% of Indians have associate or bachelors degrees. There is much more that could be said to help balance the story and leave the students with a different feeling. The question is what kind of picture is the teacher trying to portray?

Putin

As the world waits on pins and needles for war in Europe, Putin is laughing all the way to the bank. Oil closed today at $94 and on its way to $100. Every dollar increase in price adds $3.6 million to Russia's bank account every day. He is acutely aware that his saber rattling is driving up the price so whether he goes into Ukraine or not he has already won. If he goes in, there will be outcries all around the western world but in a few weeks those will die down and he will have added to his kingdom. The Russian people will cheer him on as he takes another step on the road to bringing back the glory days of the old Soviet Union.

Afghan money

Childcare cost

The child care portion of the Build Back Better bill is estimated to cost $270 billion. The average cost of child care in Minnesota is $1,200 per month per child. Under the proposed bill the consumer would pay no more than 7% of their income in child care and the government would pay the rest. If you have two children your child care cost is $28,800 per year and your cost would be no more than 7% of your income, so if you earned $20 per hour you would pay $2,800 for child care. This plan will lead to higher charges for child care but the consumer would not be effected by higher fees. The actual cost to the government will be much higher than the forecast of $270 billion. For example look at what happened to Medicare and medicaid. Here is an article from 2013. “Nearly 50 years ago, at the time of Medicare’s enactment, it was projected that the federal government would spend $9 billion on Part A hospital services in 1990. Actual spending in that year totaled $67 billion—an increase of 644% compared with initial estimates. “Likewise, government officials originally projected that Medicare Part B physician services would require ‘federal appropriations of about $500 million a year from general tax revenues.’ Last year, the federal outlay for that program was $163.8 billion—overshooting the original estimate by more than 4,400%.”

MN election

The people have spoken in the November election. The Minneapolis City Council has a massive overhaul after Tuesday's elections with more than half of the seats being occupied by new candidates. The City Council  moved $1.1 million from the police to the health department to fund “violence interrupters” who would mediate conflicts and head off further trouble. The people did not like this and expressed their concern at the polls. The citizens felt it was not wise to send a social worker out on a domestic disturbance call.

Homeless

For years people opposed to welfare presented the case of the woman using food stamp to buy beer and then driving off in her Cadillac. This may have happened somewhere but this in no way represents the vast majority of people on public assistance. Something similar is happening in today's news. People are saying that the homeless are represented by a young mother with kids escaping and an abusive husband. The vast majority of homeless are people suffering from mental illness or drug abuse and a goodly number of these are veterans with PDSD. The solution to this problem is not giving them drugs or money or living quarters but providing rehab facilities. The city’s 2020–21 budget for the Department of Homeless and Supportive Housing is about $852 million. Here is some info from The Hoover Institute on March 8, 2021. San Francisco estimates about 8,000 homeless living in the city. The $852 million budget works out to about $106,500 per homeless individual. Just imagine how much medical treatment and housing could be provided at that level of support.

Trucks

News people are saying that if Trudeau would get rid of the mask mandates the truckers would go home and that may be true but it might be premature to stop the protest without more assurances. Young people do not remember the tractorcade of 1978. In January 1979, nearly 3,000 farmers drove their tractors to Washington, D.C., many of them from thousands of miles away. The Jimmy Carter administration agreed that the Farmers Home Administration would stop all foreclosures. Soon after the rally was over, the Home Administration resumed foreclosures of farms with past due loans. Can Trudeau be trusted?

Vaccine

During the 2020 campaign when the death toll from Covid hit 220,000 Biden said, anyone that is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America.” A Washington Post article on November 30, 2020 said, (Trump not really encouraging people to get vaccinated) didn't help Biden. The article goes on to say, Biden has presided over about 353,000 deaths in a little over 10 months, compared to about 425,000 for Trump in his final 10-plus months. It is questionable that Trump who took such pride in the vaccine would not encourage people to use it. Here us a quote from NPR on March 16, 2021, Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday recommended that all eligible Americans get the coronavirus vaccine when their opportunity comes, though he added a caveat that he also respects people's decisions not to get one. The Post article doesn't mention the fact that the vaccine was not available for most of Trump's time in office. A Newsweek article from December 21, 2021 states, The nation’s COVID-19 death toll stands at around 800,000 as the anniversary of the U.S. vaccine rollout arrives. A year ago it stood at 300,000. An untold number of lives, perhaps tens of thousands, have been saved by vaccination. It is difficult to find articles estimating how many lives were saved by the vaccine in the US but WHO says over a million were saved world wide and since the US has 20% of the cases it could be assumed that 200,000 were saved in the US.

Truth

As the fog of WW 1 lifted across Europe three new dictators were coming to power. Hitler in Germany, Stalin in Russia and Mussolini in Italy. As their power grew they began to make changes and one change they all agreed with was the control of the news media. Each determined that it was necessary to control the message and they used the power of government to do so. In the United States we have the first amendment that guarantees free speech so we feel we are safe from such chicanery but a new threat has appeared that threatens our speech. The new threat is not the government but social media. They are not controlled by the government and can decide what is true and what is not. They merely have to declare that something is misinformation or disinformation and they can refuse to publish. If you feel you are unable to discern the truth on your own and prefer some third party to do that for you raise your hand.

Class or race

Many cities throughout the United States suffered from something called white flight meaning that white people were leaving the city and moving to the suburbs. Baltimore's population in 1950 was 950,000 and 70% were white while 24% were Black. In 2020 the population was 590,000 and it was 62% Black and 30% white. Detroit is even worse. In 1950 the Detroit population was 1.85 million with 84% being white. By 2020 the population had declined to 650,000 and was 10% white. This same type of white flight is now happening to states as white people are leaving places like New York, Illinois and California and moving to Texas and Florida. The population of New York in 1970 was 63% white and today it is 31%. The country has been returning to segregating since the Civil Rights amendment of 1965. This legislation had hopes of bringing Americans together but it had just the opposite effect. One explanation for this is that this separation was not caused by racism but by economics. Some say it is more about class than race.

pen house

There is an old adage that says, put your money where your mouth is. The people of San Francisco have a chance to take up this challenge. In an attempt to help solve the homeless problem the city has asked the people who have spare rooms to take in one of people who live on the streets. As the Bay Area continues to struggle under the weight of its homelessness crisis, officials and nonprofits are asking local residents to do more than hand out meals or donate spare change. They’re asking them to open up their homes. They are asking apartment owners to open their units and the government will pay the rent. There will be no employment records checked, no credit checks and no background checks just a rent check. Apartment owners are not going to be interested in that approach.

Lab or not

The story of how Covid began is one of mystery and intrigue. It is now agreed that the virus started in Wuhan China sometime in late 2019 and spread quickly throughout the city and the province. China quickly shut down travel from Wuhan to other Chinese provinces but not to the rest of the world and the virus in a few weeks it began showing up in a number of different countries including the US where the first case appeared on January 20, 2020. At the start the Chinese government said the virus came from an animal food mart and was transferred to humans from some animal like a pangolin. China then shut down any outside investigation and to this day have not cooperated with investigators. Some scientist from the World Health Organization were allowed in and they confirmed that the virus came from an animal. Since then the WHO has come under question based on their past ties with China. As more information is revealed the idea that the virus came from the lab and not an animal is gaining credence. As scientist present this new evidence they are discredited by the CDC calling it disinformation but President Biden has authorized an investigation into the matter. The whole matter was tossed into a quagmire when it became a political issue with the CDC being accused of covering up the US participation in the research in the Wuhan lab. China has refused to open up records and that adds more fuel to the conspiracy that the US is covering up to save the reputations of some US scientist. For the past year any scientist who suggested that the virus escaped from the lab was discredited by the CDC.

Big city crime

The claim has been made that America suffering from systemic racism. That claim can be challenged by looking at Baltimore. The city is only 27% white and these people live mostly in one area much like Chicago where the Blacks live mostly in one area. The Baltimore police department is 45% white and that percentage is declining every year. The Baltimore city council 33% white. The mayor, police chief and commissioner are all Black. Baltimore high school students perform at grade school levels. Murder rates are second highest in the nation just behind St Louis. The three big problems facing Baltimore today are high crime, high taxes and poverty and poor education. Here is a quote from the liberal magazine, The Nation. Baltimore’s decline isn’t an accident. It took decades of government intervention and hundreds of millions of dollars. Here is a report from the conservative magazine, The National Review. Baltimore Suffers after Decades of Mismanagement.

Pipeline

Just as candidate Biden disappeared during the campaign, Germany's new chancellor Sholz is hiding out. New on the job he is faced with situation in Ukraine and he needs Russian natural gas so he has left the public scene. While other European countries have pledged support for Ukraine, Germany has remained silent save for saying they will sent 5,000 helmets to Ukraine. Sholz under pressure has agreed to visit Biden in Washington this Monday. When Biden waived sanctions on the pipeline bringing natural gas to Germany from Russia it opened the door for Sholz to allow Russian gas into Germany. Many experts predicted that Russia would use the gas to force Germany to join forces with Putin against Ukraine and it appears they were right. The final approval of the pipeline is not yet formalized and both Biden and Sholz could put a hold on things. Will they do it?

Disinformation

A study from Johns Hopkins concludes that Covid lockdowns aren't just ineffective, they are damaging to society. CNN, MSNBC, New York Times and Washington Post did not cover this news item. There was no reason given for why this story was not covered but can it be assumed that they thought it was disinformation. Gofundme is a site where people can collect money for various causes. The truckers in Canada set up an account and collected $9 million dollars but the site closed down their account and said they would return the money to the various donors. Could this be another case of disinformation. Are these sites setting themselves up as the arbiters of truth?

Police unions

46 states including New York elect their district attorneys and thus the mayor or the governor cannot fire them. They can be removed from office in some states by actions in the legislature otherwise they must be impeached. The Manhattan district attorney who is soft on crime cannot be deterred by the new mayor. The situation was resolved today when the DA reversed his position on crime but it shows the power these DA's hold. In many cities the police are unionized and use their power to help elect the DA who in return is hesitant to prosecute police officers accused of criminal activity. While private unions can help working people with safe working conditions and decent benefits the power of public unions can too easily be misused. Witness the recent problems with the teachers union.

Viet Nam again

One of the most common ways that the government keeps secrets is to claim that they cannot reveal information because national security is at state. The recent story about Russia starting a war with misinformation is a case in point. When the US government released this information reporters asked for proof and the government response was you will just have to trust us. People my age well remember the Gulf of Tonkin incident. This was a story filled with misinformation that became the major impetus for the Viet Nam war. The government failed to release all the information saying it was a matter of national security. A few years later the secretly released Pentagon Paper showed regular pattern of government misinformation that exposed the many lies about the war. To use the excuse of national security to protect sources and methods is one thing but to use that excuse to start a war is something else. The recent drone attack that killed civilians while the US was leaving Afghanistan was misreported by the government and later news people uncovered the truth. Before the US gets involved in another war there are many questions that must be answered. What is the objective and what is the plan to achieve that objective and finally what would be considered a victory and is there an exit strategy. It would be wise not to make the same mistakes that were made in Viet Nam.

Covid and children

I have a friend who lives in Europe and she went to London to work but recently went back home to be near her family. She is unmarried and felt alone in England. Here is some news I received yesterday. Sadly I am uneployed after moving from the UK. Here the deadly heritage of communism is reflecting also on labour markets. I am 53 now and as such practically unemployed, regardless my good educational background and, for Slovenian standards, impressive working experience. Another characteristic of Slovenia as state is that old communist garniture never really stepped down. They hold majority of media, whole juidicial system, large part of state aparatus and economy, police and all key roles in state. As my father couldn't get job in communism after being marked as unfriendly toward regime, I am in same position, labeled as anticommunist, so enemy, more than 30 years after apparent liberation from that nasty regime. To get such mark in Slovenia, which is state with about 2 million population, means that nobody will employ you. Literally nobody. This is main reason why I moved to UK so I could earn for life over there because I was left out of choices in Slovenia. I also wanted to live abroad for a while and I've chosen London because I fell in love with the city after visiting it as a tourist.

Children and Covid

On MSNBC today they announced that the US death toll from Covid passed 900,000 and then they followed up saying that the good news is that children will soon be vaccinated. Since the start of Covid 700 children under age 18 have died from Covid and most of those had some medical condition that weakened their immune system.

Climate vs social

As tensions grow between Russia and the West, Putin is signing agreements to ship natural gas to China. In response the US is shifting exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from China to Europe. While these changes create cozy relationships between China and Russia they also create a strong trade between the US and Europe. This is only possible because of fracking which allows the US to be the worlds largest producer of natural gas. The so called end of the world scenario caused by climate change will be put on hold as world energy demand sky rockets. The conversion to thorium nuclear power that should have been underway will now have to play catch up if global warming is to be stopped. Those who have been interfering with nuclear development will now have to move away from their social plans surrounding wind and solar and start building thorium plants. As climate change conflicts with social change politics will determine which way the country goes. Will they stick with wind and solar or will they open the door to thorium. Why not do both?

Crime and guns

President Biden visited New York City to talk about the increase in crime. He zeroed in on gun control. Crime in New York was running rampant in the 1990's and Rudy Giuliani became mayor and cracked down and crime quickly declined. He simply arrested and jailed criminals. Biden today emphasized the importance of gun control but there were plenty of guns in New York during the 20 years from 1995 to 2015 when crime was on the downward slope. This is what usually happens when politicians talk about crime. They offer more gun control laws but California has enacted many of the laws that Biden talked about but criminal activity is on the rise there as homicides went up 30% in 2020.

Venezuela

The Biden administration in March of 2021 declared an estimated 320,000 Venezuelan migrants in the US eligible for temporary protection status which opens the path to citizenship. The number of immigrants from Venezuelan increased from 1,000 to over 50,000 since that time. From the Washington Post:U.S. authorities intercepted 13,406 Venezuelan migrants along the Mexico border in October, the highest one-month total ever and more than double the number taken into custody in August

Oil and gas prices

The change in policy regarding increased drilling will have a positive effect on gas prices this summer. Prices were expected to rise above four dollars but that may not happen. In fact prices should come down to below three dollars. “For the last year, year and a half, it’s been OPEC+ running the show, but U.S. production is coming back already, and it’s going to come back more in 2022,” said oil expert Daniel Yergin. The same can be said for home heating cost. From Reuters on January 11, 2022: U. S. natural gas production will rise to an all-time high in 2022, the US Energy Department said in its short term outlook.

Cancel culture

On Morning Joe this AM Mika said that those calling for Whoopie to be fired are going to far. She said this cancel culture thing has to stop. The past two days her parent network NBC has been calling for Joe Rogan to be fired. Many have said that cancel culture will not go away until the wrong people start getting canceled. This could be the beginning of the end of cancel culture.

Kudos to Biden

Kudos to President Biden. In the dead of night when no one was looking he came to his senses and realized that much of inflation is caused by increasing cost of transportation. Here is news from the Washington Post. After years of federal lease sales to oil, gas and coal companies, environmentalists had hopes that Biden would end the fossil fuel bonanza but one year after the announcing a halt to any new federal oil and gas leasing, Biden has outpaced Trump in issuing drilling permits on public lands. After setting a record for the largest offshore lease sale last year in the Gulf of Mexico, the Interior Department plans to auction off oil and gas drilling right on more than 200,000 acres across Western states by the end of March, followed by one million acres in the Cook Inlet, off the coast of Alaska. The administration's actions reveal an uncomfortable truth: Although Biden supports a shift to cleaner sources of energy, he has failed to curb fossil fuel development in the United States'

Tax the rich

The wealthy in Silicon Valley got richer over the past few years and the call for the government to get some of their money is getting louder. What could be more popular than taking money from billionaires and giving it to single moms. A study by Fidelity Investments found that 88% of all millionaires are self-made, meaning they did not inherit their wealth. The key for most millionaires is to save before spending. Most of these people worked long hours and did without for years before they achieved financial success. They became rich before they started buying luxury items. Most people spend money before they earn it. The old joke about Joe who bought a new car and his friend asked if he got a raise and he replied no but I think I might is apropos. Most billionaires go to work everyday trying to grow their business. Many use their money as venture capital to help start up new business. These rich people, like the rest of us, can either spend their money, save their money or invest their money all of which helps the economy grow. A wealth tax assumes that what the government will do with the money is more helpful to the economy than what these people left alone will do with the money. This is the crux of the argument and it can go either way depending on your point of view. Any poll will show you what most people want is for the government to get the money.