Control the house

If the republicans take the house and the senate in the upcoming elections not much will change because Biden can veto any legislation they pass and it takes a two thirds vote in both houses to override a presidential veto. One thing will change if they take the house and that is investigations will shift from Trump to Hunter. Just like democrats are trying to road block a Trump run for president, the republicans will try to do the same to Biden's attempt at a second term. Political prognosticators are predicting that AG Merrick B. Garland will find Hunter guilty of tax evasion and Trump guilty of obstructions and both will get off with a wrist slap. Then Garland can say he is not influenced by politics.

Rich poor

College grads make $900,000 more over their life time and those with a masters make $1.2 million more. Those holding the most debt are advanced degree holders especially in medicine and law. The government is now proposing that those who did not go to college pay for those who did as they seek to hand out cash to those who have student debt. This week the government gave $52 billion dollars to large companies that produce computer chips. One such company, Intel, had $43 billion in gross profits last year. The government is offering a to pay 25% of the cost of installing solar panels on your home. This is only for people who have a large tax bill and thus only for upper income folks. The government is offering a $7,500 tax credit for those who purchase and electric car. These are once again upper income people. Meanwhile governments across the country are reducing budgets of police departments making the streets less safe and most of these streets are in low income neighborhoods. Schools in low income areas continue to have poor facilities because the money comes from property tax and this is lowest in low income neighborhoods. All of these things exacerbate the income disparities in the country.

Climate and nuclear

The people in the western world and in particular the United States are being subjected to a lie, that wind and solar can replace fossil fuels. This lie survives because it has been tied to politics, the press promotes it and because scientist refuse to stand up and say it cannot work. The three main areas of concern are space needs, mining and disposing of raw materials and transportation. In regards to space a 1,000 megawatt nuclear power plant takes up 640 acres. An equivalent solar farm takes up 48,000 acres and a wind farm would need 230,000 acres. Wind and solar require the use of rare earth metals and this poses an environmental hazard. The mining of these elements takes place mostly in China where the process poisons the ground water and they end up in Africa where it poisons the water there. Finally wind and solar cannot deal with transportation as batteries cannot move heavy construction equipment, rail locomotives, ocean liners and airplanes. The Green New Deal which purports to solve the climate change problem is actually standing in the way of the only solution which is nuclear power. The recently past slim down version of the Build Back Better bill is a step in the right direction as it removes the social spending from the climate spending. Now if someone in the administration would bring up the subject of nuclear power we could be on the way to solving the problem of climate change.

Hunter laptop

In Apr of 2019 hunter left his laptop at the computer shop. The owner made a copy of the hard drive and turned it over the FBI who told him to lawyer up and not tell anyone about the laptop. It wasn't until a year later just before the 2020 presidential election that the laptop became public. The administration labeled it Russian disinformation and the national press carried that message to the public. Next the social media giants refused to allow the information on their sites. After Biden was inaugurated more information emerged and March of 2022 the NY Times and the Washington Post authenticated the laptop. This is from an interview with David Folkenflik from NPR on April of 2022. We've learned a bunch more detail about Hunter Biden's vision to help a Ukrainian natural gas company called Burisma handle bad press in the U.S. and some other ramifications here although he didn't register as a lobbyist. We also learned about a Chinese energy company presumably with links to the Chinese communist government that made Hunter Biden seven figures in a short amount of time.

Wall

Here is a quote from Biden during the campaign. "There will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration". Here is what happened this week. The Biden administration’s quiet approval of the wall’s construction also comes after Biden often used it as a means of contrasting his policies with those of the Trump administration. This is a good sign recognizing that things change. Will steps be taken to stop moving these illegals to various places around the country particularly now that cities like DC and NYC are asking for help with immigrants.

China jobs

The economic relationship between China and the United States is one sided. China restricts US companies operating in China whereas the US offers almost no restrictions. China has large import taxes on US imports and the US only recently responded in a small way. China is much more depended on the US than the reverse. The US should gradually pull out of China and look to other third world countries for low cost manufacturing or better yet bring the business home. The original intent of free trade was to promote economic ties which would discourage military interference but that is not working. Americans say they are willing to pay more for gasoline to help fund the war in Ukraine. Would they be willing to pay more for other products that would be made here. Many of the products made in China are of very poor quality whereas US made products are high quality. Our trade balance is already half what it was last year and this tread should continue as we make more products here.

Business regs

As the Great Depression came to an end, many new laws were introduced to prevent similar problems from happening again and some of these regulations were about banks. For 40 years things were maintained in a lawful way but in 1982 Reagan deregulated the banks and trouble soon followed. Over the years financial institutions have been caught on a regular basis cheating the system in one way or another. Financial institutions are under the lens of regulators, and that scrutiny looks like it will only continue to grow. In fact, financial institutions that lack compliance and due diligence were already fined a staggering $2.7 billion in 2021, according to our "AML Fines 2021 Report." Here is one example. JP Morgan agrees to pay $920 million in connection with schemes to defraud US treasury markets. Why hasn't this activity put a stop to this behavior. The answer is two fold. First no one goes to jail and second the fines don't hurt. JP Morgan is worth $2,600 billion and so this fine represents .03% of their holdings and they made far more than that on the scam. This illustrates why a free market economy requires oversight by the government but the government must take this responsibility seriously.

Amazon pricing

While Amazon is a great American company it has its faults. Years ago people objected to Walmart moving in because they would run small local people out of business. Amazon sells products that other companies produce and they sell them at below the cost that these companies charge. This gives them monopoly power. Amazon tells those who sell on its site that they must purchase its wear housing and shipping services and this more than makes up for the lower cost of buying products on Amazon. The result is that many small companies have gone out of business. Between 2007 and 2017, the number of small retailers fell by 65,000.  About 40 percent of the nation’s small apparel, toy, and sporting goods makers disappeared, along with about one-third of small book publishers. (Small is defined here as under 500 employees.) Through the fees it charges sellers, Amazon keeps an average of 30 percent of each sale independent businesses make on its site, up from 19 percent in 2014

Reinvest in business

Part of the Inflation Reduction Act was placing a 15% surtax on all corporate profits about one billion dollars. If companies are reducing taxes by accelerated depreciation, offshoring profits, awarding stock options or maximizing tax credits then change the law. Companies that avoid taxes by reinvesting in the business should be left to do so. Amazon topped the list of US companies in R&D spending at $22 billion. Many of their innovations come from this spending. Amazon's investment in property, plant and equipment make it eligible for tax credits amounting to $60 over the past five years. The result is over the past 28 years Amazon went from one employee to 1.6 million employees. When companies use profits to reinvest this creates new jobs and that is one of the purposes of business. It is the best part of capitalism.

Inflation reduction act

Instead of spending $4.5 trillion on Build Back Better congress is now considering $739 billion on the Inflation Reduction Act. It will include $313 billion dollars in new corporation taxes. It also places a $2,000 out of pocket drug limit for seniors. The bill offers $90 billion in tax incentives for wind and solar companies. This was tried before but failed as companies took the money and then went bankrupt. It offers tax credits for home investments in wind and solar but those will only help people who owe taxes. It offers a $4,000 tax credit for the purchase of a used electric car and $7,500 for a new one. While the bill removed the social spending from the green new deal there was no mention of nuclear power.

Arrest

When approached by a police officer do not resist. If you are incorrectly challenged just go along with it and later you can have your day in court and explain your position. This week a 16 year old Black male was challenged by police for jumping the turn style on the subway and he proceeded to attack the police which led to a fight and his subsequent arrest. He punched the officer repeatedly and the young man put a head lock on the officer something which the officer was not allowed to do. A video of the whole incident went viral on the Internet. The whole country escaped a bullet as the police officer was also Black.

Teachers

The idea of going to college has come under some scrutiny and many doubt that it is worth the time and money. First off, 40% of college students do not graduate and of those who do only 20% end up in jobs that require a college degree. 20% of 60% means only 12% of those who go to college needed that education to get the jobs they have. Anyone in that group of 88% who didn't need college could have been working four or more years instead of going to school. If you major in STEM or business you have a good chance of getting your investment back but most other areas are questionable. Teachers are a gray area. They are needed but are paid much.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure bill signed into law in November 2021 WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is restoring federal regulations that require rigorous environmental review of major infrastructure projects such as highways, pipelines and oil wells — including likely impacts on climate change and nearby communities. The longstanding reviews were scaled back by the Trump administration in a bid to fast-track projects and create jobs. April 2022 Democrats have hailed the infrastructure law, with its $550 billion in new road, rail and broadband funding, as a transformative shift for the country. But inflation — which reached a 40-year high of 8.6 percent last month — has already slashed billions from its value, forcing states to cancel or delay projects as costs balloon. Ethanol, which seemed like a good idea when huge federal subsidies and mandates were put in place a decade ago, now seems like a very poor idea indeed. June 3, 2022, at 6:03 p.m. DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Biden administration on Friday set new requirements that increase the amount of ethanol that must be blended into the nation's gasoline supply. Add to that the fact that they expect a food shortage around the world because of the Ukraine War.

Nuclear

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Steny Hoyer, Majority Leader of the House was on Fox this AM and he said that the solution to the problem of climate change is nuclear power. If the congress would decouple the new green deal from the social spending the country could come to understand that wind and solar are not the answer to climate change. The far left groups would move away from wind and solar once the money is no longer there to redistribute and this would open the door to nuclear. The transition requires keeping fossil fuels long enough to move to nuclear.

NYC Mayor

The mayor of New York City is asking the federal government for help with the illegal immigrants who are using up the facilities in the city. He should take a trip to Eagle Pass, TX a city of 25,000 that apprehends 2,000 illegals per day. At that rate the city doubles its population every 12 days. The city officials have been asking for federal help for years but nothing happens. Will Biden help out the mayor of New York.

Police

As the democrats switch gears and start to support police many news outlets report that Biden never said to defund the police and that is correct. This is from an interview with Democratic activist Ady Barkan who asked Biden, "But we do agree that we can redirect some of the police funding" and Biden responded, "Yes, absolutely" In Biden's defense, he early on recognized that defund the police was not a winner and began emphasizing the move away from that position. Now more and more democrats are pushing for more funding for police. This is prompted by polls showing that crime is a big problem in the minds of voters.

Prejudice

I first became aware of how people are losing their first amendment right to free speech by observing how careful teachers must watch what they say. I now realize that it is not just teachers but many others. If the thought of two men having anal intercourse makes you uncomfortable and/or if you feel there is something unnatural about that, then you best keep it to yourself. If you know that Black on Black crime is at the heart of murders you best not mention it. If you think that the lack of fathers in the home is one of the main causes of young Black men ending up in jail don't say it. If you realize that most people in prison are from the lower socioeconomic groups, be quiet. If you know that Black males are disproportionately expelled from school don't bring it up. Same goes for Black males and criminal activity. If you believe there are only two genders or if you think there is something strange about people under going surgery to change genders, stay quiet. If you don't want first grade teachers to instruct students about transgender stay quiet. If you are uneasy about drag queens entertaining children in school, stay quiet. You can't say that AIDS started in the gay community and now you can add monkey pox to that but keep quiet. If you speak about these issues you will be accused of being prejudiced. You will be ridiculed and made to feel foolish. In time you may become enlightened like Clinton was on gays in the military. You many change your mind on gay marriage as Obama did. Cultural values change overtime but they change slowly. Be patient, don't criticize or belittle those who differ from you. Look back in your own life and see how you have changed.

Trump supporters

New York Times columnist Bret Stephens said Trump's supporters were right to be angry at the system. The Times published a series of articles saying they were wrong to label Trump supporters as appalling. Stevens wrote in 2015, if by now you don't find Trump appalling you are appalling. "What Trump’s supporters saw was a candidate whose entire being was a proudly raised middle finger at a self-satisfied elite that had produced a failing status quo," he asserted.  "I was blind to this," Stephens admitted. "I belonged to a social class that my friend Peggy Noonan called ‘the protected’," he said and acknowledged his own financial luxuries.  While the low to middle income people watched their buying power go down for forty years the elite were moving slowly upward. The demarcation line was white and college educated and that is continuing today. The democrats are gaining support among this group and losing support in the blue collar and minority groups. Here is a quote from left leaning Axios. The big picture: Republicans are becoming more working class and a little more multiracial. Democrats are becoming more elite and a little more white. During the Trump years Hispanics started leaving the democratic party. Here is a quote from the right leaning Washington Examiner. Hispanic voters are rapidly reevaluating their relationship with the Democratic Party, creating a problem for Democrats that, in some ways, mirrors their struggle to retain working-class voters.

Nuclear power

Biden's new science adviser Arati Prabhakar is a physicist and will re-introduce the country to nuclear power. Not! The only thing that would deter her from going nuclear would be politics so don't look for much in the way of change. Four of the world’s leading climate scientists, Kenneth Caldeira, Kerry Emanuel, James E. Hansen and Tom Wigley, published a letter late last year calling on environmentalists to embrace a new generation of nuclear power plants. The letter was shared online at the New York Times by Andrew C. Revkin

Jan 6 report

The congress has been investigating the January 6 riots at the Capitol Building and this will continue on prime time tonight. Although this is the last scheduled hearing, the panel has left the door open for more. The panel had originally envisioned six hearings throughout June but extended them into July as it collected more information. The committee still hopes to publish a final report in the fall. Do not be surprised if the hearings resume after the August recess and expect the final report to be issued just before the mid term elections as an October surprise.

Police do nothing

As people express disbelief in how hundreds of police officers stood by doing nothing in Uvalde, TX, it is mindful of Seattle in 2020 when the entire police department stood by while a group of violent protesters took over part of the down town area. Hundreds of protesters have taken over several blocks of Seattle and transformed it into the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or “Chaz” For three days these protesters were allowed to control this area while the police abandoned their precinct. A 16 year old boy was shot and killed and five others were shot and critically injured while 50 businesses were destroyed. For three days, protesters have filled several blocks and at least part of a park in the artsy Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, after police abandoned their east precinct, following dangerous clashes between protesters and law enforcement.

Climate challenge

The President talked today about climate change, saying as he has said before, that it is an existential threat, meaning the end of the world. Climate change is caused by an increase in CO2 in the atmosphere and this is caused in part by the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. He was confused on two issues. The first happens to many people where he talked about weather instead of climate when he mentioned how hot it was in many parts of the world. Here is a real life example of weather. In 1936 in Parshall, ND the temperature dropped to 60 below and in the summer it rose to 121 degrees in Steele ND. Here is another more extended example. Dust Bowl, name for both the drought period in the Great Plains that lasted from 1930 to 1936 and the section of the Great Plains of the United States that extended over southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, and northeastern New Mexico. His second mistake was assuming that wind and solar were the answers to the problem of climate change. As long as experts believe that, they are part of the problem because the solution is nuclear power. Those who have studied the issue without bias know that nuclear is the answer.

Debt

People often express concern about the national debt which is now just over $30 trillion. The borrowing rate for the US has been low because the Fed has kept interest rates low. For example the government paid on 1.5% on the debt last year which was $450 billion dollars. While home loans and car loans are often talked about when the Fed raises the funds rate it also effects the government interest on debt. If the Fed increases the rate by one percent which they are planning to do this month that equates to an additional $300 billion dollars added to the national debt. The Fed will keep increasing the rates until it tames inflation and that may mean going to 8% which means another $2.4 trillion and that is each year. That is more than twice what is currently spent on social security.

Chip bill

There is a $52 billion dollar bill stalled in congress known as the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors. The high tech companies like Apple are all for this since it amounts to a government subsidy to these companies. Apple is sitting on $200 billion in cash. Do they need subsidies. It is stalled because like most bills it has a lot of other stuff attached to it. They may negotiate these attachments away to pass the bill but why is the government giving all of this money to Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley is spending millions more for Joe Biden than it did for Hillary Clinton To some extent, Silicon Valley is doing nothing unusual. 2020 is by far the most expensive election cycle, adjusted for inflation — costing more than twice as much as the runner-up, the 2016 race. But the new money reflects how Silicon Valley is increasingly turning its financial power into political power that could persist after Election Day. Recall how much money the solar panel industry gave to Obama and got billions in return most of which was lost when these companies went bankrupt. Did the owners of these companies collect before the bankruptcy. This is business as usual for Washington.

Recycle panels

The average home uses 900 Kwt hours of electric power per month. It cost $16,000 to install solar panels less $4,000 tax incentive for a net cost of $12,000. You must owe tax to get the credit and not many homes owners owe $16,000 in taxes. For a family of four to get any credit they must earn $78,000. Panels lose efficiency over time and last about 25 years so many are now being replaced. Average home uses 20 solar panels and it cost $30 to recycle a panel or $2 to put it in the landfill. Many are sent to other countries to landfill and many states are considering mandating recycling. Over the next ten years the US will install 500 gigawatts of solar power and it takes 3 million panels to develop one gigawatt so there will be 150 million panels and the cost to recycle each is $30 so that is $4.5 billion dollars. This is enough to build two 500 gigawatt nuke power plants and if they are thorium plants there will be very little to recycle.

Uvalde report

I was watching a committee report on the school shooting at Uvalde, TX and they failed to set up so the TV audience could hear the question. This happens on a regular basis with these news conferences. They know in advanced that this will be televised but they fail to give a mic to those asking questions. So the audience watching has to guess what the question was by listening to the answer. The committee reported that the police were not well organized much like those who set up this broadcast.

Small nuke plants

A 1,000 megawatt nuclear power plant takes up 640 acres. An equivalent solar farm takes up 48,000 acres and a wind farm would need 230,000 acres. Thorium nuke power plants can be build on an assembly basis with units small enough to be hauled on a semi truck. Each unit would produce 50 megawatts and units can be added as the need arises. They can be built near the point of use, unlike wind and solar which are set up many miles from point of use. This requires long expensive power lines which can be avoided by thorium plants.

Sanders climate

Senator Bernie Sanders was interviewed on NBC about the Build Back Better bill. He said this bill would take steps to prevent the problems caused by climate change and Senator Manchin is personally responsible for stopping the bill. He said that climate change is, to use the word everyone is using, an existential threat to the world. While the US has been steadily reducing CO2 emissions over the past 30 years China and India have increased their CO2 emissions by 200%. Sanders said nothing about the contamination of the earth by mining the materials needed for wind and solar not to mention the problem of disposing all of these materials when they are used up. He seemed unaware of the fact that nuclear power is the answer especially thorium. Sanders like many politicians see climate change from a social change perspective.

Climate and science

John Podesta, former chief of staff for President Clinton was on MSNBC talking about Joe Manchin stopping the Build Back Better bill. Paraphrasing he said about Manchin: He single handedly doomed the nation and ended the only chance to solve the climate change problem. This is one more example of how climate change is a political issue as opposed to a climate issue. He makes no mention of nuclear power. The interviewer also said nothing about nuclear.

Iran nuke deal

The threat of Iran getting a nuke would be funny if it were not so serious. The time that Iran would need to build a bomb is referred to as the breakout time. Experts say it is three months and the negotiator want to extend that to one year. In order to get this the west is willing to drop the sanctions and give Iran money and open the world to their oil sales. Iran launched their nuke program in the 1950's and since that time Pakistan, India, South Africa, North Korea, Israel and Libya have developed the bomb. All of these countries along with England, France, Russia and the US have figured out how to enrich uranium but Iran still hasn't. Iran is the worlds leading sponsor of terrorism and has lied repeatedly about their nuke program but the US is trying to make a deal with them.

Fentanyl

Fentanyl is a pain relief drug called a break through pain killer. It is prescribed to patients who are on other pain relievers and need extra help. Illegal fentanyl is made by the Mexican cartels using ingredients imported from China. It is mixed in other illegal drugs like heroin, meth and cocaine. The preparation is reckless and the fentanyl content ranges from .02 to 5.1 milligrams. Two milligrams is a fatal dose for most people. It would not make sense to kill the users so anything over 2 milligrams is a mistake in the preparation process. The only other explanation is that the dealer is trying to kill people. The problem is getting worse as 70,000 OD-ed on fentanyl in 2020 and 80,000 in 2021. This is part of the problem associated with illegal border crossings along with children being molested, criminals coming into the country and unattended minors making the long dangerous journey across Mexico. It is difficult to understand why the government is not closing the border.

Iran nuke deal

As Biden prepares to deal with Iran it makes sense to see how Iran responded to the nuke deal of 2015. In early 2016, Iran violated the spirit of the agreement by testing missiles that could reach Israel. More breaches of the deal came to light as Iran was found to be in violation by having too much heavy water. In July 2016 Germany reported that Iran was acquiring materials to build illegal weapons. According to nuclear regulators Iran intended to replace its centrifuges with more efficient ones two years before the agreement allowed. The UN announced that Iran for the second time was accumulating more heavy water than allowed. Then an Israeli spy revealed secret documents showing Iran was breaking the deal in numerous areas. As part of the deal Obama released billions of dollars that were frozen and sent $1.7 billion in cash. After that Iran increased its terrorism activities and funded a take over of the government in Oman, sent rockets to Palestine which were launched against Israel, sent weapons to Hezbollah and fired rockets at US air bases in Iraq.

The Biden administration is trying to get a deal with Iran and they want to return to the deal that Obama made and Trump canceled. This allows Iran to enrich uranium up to 4% but Biden is planning to expand that to 20%. Enriching uranium is not linear. Once you reach 20% you are 90% of the way to 93% which is what is needed for a bomb. In addition he is removing sanctions and paying Iran to store their enriched uranium in Russia with the understanding that if the US backs out on any part of the deal the Russians could send the uranium back to Iran. I have long maintained that Iran could have made a bomb many years ago but just use the threat to bargain with and it seems to be working well with Biden.

The price of oil is determined on the world market mostly by speculators and they see a slow down in the economy coming, possibly a recession, so they are bidding the price down expecting a decrease in demand. The administration has them in a quandary. Biden tells them to increase production now but in a few years he wants them out of business. Two years ago Biden said, “We are going to get rid of fossil fuels.” This statement was made with the idea that he would replace fossil fuels with wind and solar. This was part of the new green deal that would include a lot of social spending and redistribution of wealth. No scientist came forth to say this could not be done so the press just went along with the idea. Here is Secretary Grandholm in June of 2021. Preserving the existing fleet of nuclear plants, driving the development of advanced reactors and investing in nuclear R&D are all essential to the USA's clean energy transition, Jennifer Granholm, secretary of the US Department of Energy (DOE), stressed this week. Speaking at the annual general meeting of the American Nuclear Society, Granholm told nuclear industry workers and students watching the webinar: "We need you". This is the only way, she said, that the USA will meet its targets of a 52% reduction in CO2 emissions by the end of 2030, 100% clean energy by 2035 and a net-zero economy by 2050. This understanding of the how to solve the problem of climate change seemed to be clear in her head but nothing happened. Why?

Constitution

The democrats are challenging the constitution but some say only extremist are pushing the idea. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, is taking heat for remarks arguing there is no way to identify the Founding Fathers' thoughts on key issues when interpreting the Constitution, asking, "Who the heck would know what our Founding Fathers meant?" There are groups who want to eliminate the electoral college. Others want to expand the Supreme Court which which would open the door to the next president to further expand and in time destroy the judicial branch. Some want senators to be assigned by population like house members. Polls show that 40% of democrats want to repeal the second amendment.

Wrong direction

Historically over 60% feel the country is heading in the wrong direction. For example in 2008 when the mortgage crisis hit the number was 91%. Experts say that Biden's high number (88% say wrong direction) is because of the economy but that doesn't make sense. While Trump was in office only 15% of democrats said things were going in the right direction despite the fact that the economy was booming. As soon as Biden was elected democrats approval of the direction jumped to 75%. It seems it is based more on politics than economics.

BBB bill

The democrats are posing a slim down version of the Build Back Better Bill and it looks promising. They will place a 3.8% surtax on earnings over $400,000 on small business owners. They will place a maximum out of pocket on drug cost of $2,000 on Medicare people. They will allow Medicare to negotiate with drug companies. They limit the increase in drug cost to the inflation rate. Expands drug subsidies to low income seniors and makes vaccines free for seniors.

In the Gates case in 2009 Obama said the police acted stupidly before he had any of the facts surrounding the situation. Later he apologized. In September last, Biden said the Border Patrol men on horse back mistreated the illegal immigrants. After a six month investigation by the Biden administration these men were exonerated. No apology has been issued to date. The president along with the vice president and several top ranking democratic officials condemned the actions of these Border Patrol men some referring to the actions as plantation owners whipping slaves.“It was horrible to see what you saw, to see people treated like they did — horses barely running them over people being strapped,” Biden said. This week the administration said these immigrants were not whipped. The press secretary said, "We have taken very specific actions as it relates to the horrific photos that we -- we’re not going to stand for in this administration," “Haitian lives are Black lives, and if we truly believe that Black lives matter, then we must reverse course,” Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said at a news conference Wednesday. Will this mean that Black lives in the inner cities will get more attention. These men were openly criticized by the president and removed from their jobs.

Electoral votes

Some people claim that liberals want illegals for their vote but as of this day illegals cannot vote by going to the polls but they can vote for president. This is because the president is elected based on electoral votes. According to the 2020 US census the population is 330 million and dividing that by 435 means there is one electoral vote for each 750,000 people plus two for each states senators. Thus North Dakota with a population of 760,000 gets on electoral vote for its congressman and two for its senators. It is estimated that there are 12 million illegal aliens in the country and this represents 16 electoral votes which is more than North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and Vermont combined.

Inflation

In July of 2021 six months after Biden took office the administration said: The Biden administration boasted on Thursday that cost of a Fourth of July cookout went down by 16 cents in 2021 compared to 2020. They were indicating that in just a few months things had gotten better. The inflation rate at that time was one percent. One year later the cost of a 4th cookout is up to $70 and the inflation rate is 8%. It is a tough life when whatever you say is recorded and played back later.

America

Two years ago polls showed that 68% of Americans were very or somewhat happy. Last year that fell to 43% and it is now 33%. People must understand that bad news is reported and most good news is overlooked or under reported. With the onset of 24 hour news people can be overwhelmed by all the bad news. America is still the place where refugees want to come. America is the land where you can move up the economic ladder. America is the place where you have freedom of speech and freedom of religion. There are millions of example of people who started out with very little and reached the American dream.

Abortion

I often research things that interest me and am surprised at how differing opinions can be and abortion is no exception. Here is a small sample. Abortions were legal in the US from 1600 to 1857. Abortion was not just legal—it was a safe, condoned, and practiced procedure in colonial America and common enough to appear in the legal and medical records of the period.  Various herbal remedies were used. The concoctions were made variously of tansy oil, pennyroyal, rue, ergot, perhaps opium, and had dangerous side effects (damage internal organs, seizures, death) but in correct doses were sometimes effective in causing miscarriage. In New York, surgical abortion in 1800s carried a death rate of 30% regardless of hospital setting.

China tax

The US was instrumental in helping China move a half billion people out of poverty by setting up manufacturing plants in China which provided good paying jobs and buying products produced in China. China thanked America by stealing intellectual property. They told companies if you want to do business here you must set up a company with China as 51% owner. This then allowed them access to all of the companies proprietary information including technology. China charged large import fees to keep US produced products at a price disadvantage while the US allow Chinese products in tax free. Trump in his push to put America first put import taxes on billions of Chinese imports. Biden has retained these taxes up to now showing the world that he was not influenced by China but now he is talking about removing these taxes. When Trump put the taxes on many US companies operating in China started the process of bringing their production back home but with the recent remarks by Biden these companies have put a hold on these moves feeling that soon business will go back to normal. Americans say they are willing to pay higher gas prices to help Ukraine defeat Russia and they will be willing to pay higher prices for goods made in the USA. Its time to bring those companies and their jobs back home. This will mean higher prices but it will also mean higher wages. Back when I was growing up wages increased more than prices and each year people were getting ahead.

Legalizing drugs

An interesting dichotomy is emerging regarding legalizing drugs. The idea is that it would put the illegal drug dealers out of business and a tax on the sale of these drugs could be used for drug rehabilitation. Recall when the cigarette companies had to pay the states billions that was to be used for treating health problems caused by smoking that much of this money was used for other purposes. Now contrast that with the demand to get rid of the second amendment. This would make it illegal to own a gun. This then would open the door to illegal gun sales and the government would lose control over who owns guns and the taxes from the sale of guns. These two would be like ships passing in the night each going where the other came from. These problems require addition investigation before any action is taken.

Illegals

DHS Secretary Myorkas says the border is closed in spite of the fact that many illegals continue to come across. Many are sent back and come across again. Sometimes illegals are put on planes and sent to another location and then deported. Many who are allowed to stay are moved to other locations within the United States. A large undermined number are never captured and just blend into the country. Along with the immigrants come huge profits to the cartels and huge quantities of illegal drugs. Polls show that about 30% of Americans are not concerned about illegals crossing. Many of these feel it is necessary to take care of people who come from dire circumstances. They usually don't pay the cost directly and do not consider the fact that many millions around the world are suffering and could have a better life here in the United States. They don't think about the many thousands who die each year from drugs that come across the border or the convicted criminals who are a part of this group. They are good-hearted people who seem not be aware of the total cost to allowing these suffering people into the country. Some organizations like Catholic charities fall into this group.

Mass shooters

Experts are looking into the reasons why these mass shootings are happening and they are looking for common characteristics to narrow the search. This is the common sense approach. There’s this really consistent pathway. Early childhood trauma seems to be the foundation, whether violence in the home, sexual assault, parental suicides, extreme bullying. Then you see the build toward hopelessness, despair, isolation, self-loathing, oftentimes rejection from peers. That turns into a really identifiable crisis point where they’re acting differently. Sometimes they have previous suicide attempts. They are young white males who got their guns legally. The problem here is that this is profiling.

Blacks in America

When a Gallup poll first asked Americans about their views on marriage between Black and White people in 1958, only 4% approved. Last year, that number was 94% — an all-time high -- with 93% of Whites saying they approved. This is just one example of the progress in race relations that have occurred in the past 50 years. It started with the fact that while slavery was around since recorded history the United States was the only case where a country used a civil war to erase slavery and this war cost the lives of 600,000 soldiers. Brown v Board made segregation illegal and the Civil Rights Act made discrimination illegal. Affirmative action has increased government employment of Blacks and this spilled over into college admissions and private industry. In 1960 three percent of college students were Black and today the percentage is 20%. In 1960 there were 100,000 Black business owners and today that number is over 3 million. Every year for the past 20 years the percentage of Black police officers has been increasing. 750 million people around the world want to relocate and 150 million of those want to move to the United States. The country has a lot of room to improve race relations but much has been accomplished. People sometimes forget that Black males had the right to vote 50 years before White females.

Cis trans

When I recently became aware of transgender people, I was reminded of the chemical term trans which is used to describe certain configurations, the most well known of which, is trans fatty acids. It terns out that the opposite form is called cis fatty acid. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that someone who is not a transgender is call cisgender. Science is invading culture.

Judicial power

During the hundred years between the Civil War and the Civil Rights amendment many states, mostly in the south, relied on the tenth amendment to protect them from outsiders trying to change their society. This society wanted to maintain Blacks as second class citizens. The amendment says, The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. This plan of action used by these states was referred to as States Rights. They didn't want the Feds coming into their states and telling them what to do. Slowly over time the states lost this battle because the Feds used the courts to force the states to change. It was mostly liberals who used these courts and to negate many laws that were deemed prejudicial. The new Supreme Court has reversed this trend and is sending power back to the states. This trend started under Obama and Trump and is amplified under Biden. The court has been routinely ruling against executive orders limiting the power of the president and moving things back to the states limiting the power of congress.