Fossil fuel

During the campaign Biden regularly attacked the fossil fuel industry. Joe Biden said during a rally this week that he wants to “get rid of fossil fuels.” Biden also said there would be “no more coal plants.“ “we should put them in jail” when talking about fossil fuel executives. Biden has also endorsed a fracking ban. If elected Joe Biden said that he would end fracking, during an exchange with a New Hampshire voter on Friday. “And stopping pipeline infrastructure?” Biden also endorsed a carbon tax on the American people, which will force households to pay much higher gasoline, heating, and cooling bills.   action, saying: “There’s no more consequential challenge that we must meet in the next decade than the onrushing climate crisis. … Left unchecked, it is literally an existential threat to the planet and our very survival.” To help achieve that goal, Biden promised to end new oil, gas and coal leases on public land. After the election to his credit he followed up on his campaign promises. The Biden administration is canceling oil drilling lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Cook Inlet, President Joe Biden shut down oil and gas lease sales from the nation’s vast public lands and waters in his first days in office

Twitter

One of the more interesting things about the Musk takeover of Twitter is the Bot count. Apparently Bots are accounts dressed up like humans but are in fact not human. This is of interest because advertisers pay a rate based on the number of people who can see the ads. This means the more Bots the higher the cost of placing an ad on the site. You would think that those companies who pay to advertise would be upset about this misleading practice but no one seems very excited about the revelation that Twitter had a large number of Bots. It has now been revealed that Twitter also used the practice of shadow banning. This is the practice of banning followers to a user and keeping the user from knowing about the banning. A user may have a 1,000 followers but the user is unaware that some or all of his followers have been blocked.

Free speech

On a TV show last night Trey Gowdy said there are a lot of crazy people out their so we should refrain from saying crazy things. He is asking the people to give up their treasured right to free speech because some idiot might react with violence. If you find yourself adjusting what you say because you are fearful that someone may use your words as a reason to harm another person you are going down a path of no return. Each time you yield you encourage the aggressors to go another step further in their attempt to limit your free speech. On Morning Joe today they suggested that it was the republicans who bad mouthed Pelosi that caused some crazy guy to attack her husband and they of course pointed out that the main culprit was Trump. When Hillary said that half of Trump supporters are racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and Islamophobic”  was she encouraging some people to take violent actions. Saying you can't criticize politicians can be added to the limit on speech proposed by using terms like disinformation and misinformation. If it is not illegal you have the right to say it. This doesn't mean you should say it only that you have the right. You can say nigger but it serves no legitimate purpose and just hurts others so don't say it. Use common sense but don't give up your right to free speech.

Diesel

The country is facing a shortage of diesel fuel and unless something is done the price will sky rocket and this means higher prices for all goods. Farmers are burning diesel to harvest crops and people in the Northeast are filling their oil tanks for winter. If supplies run out raising prices will not help. One alternative is to stop exporting diesel. Currently about 40% of the diesel produced on the US Gulf Coast is exported to countries that are in dire need. Companies can get a better price by exporting so if the government wants to curtail exports they might have to pay the companies the difference. The government could restrict exports by invoking the Jones Act which restricts water transportation of cargo between US ports to ships that are US owned, US crewed, US registered and US built. Will the government put the US first if it comes to a shortage.

Guns

When ever there is a shooting the first thing that many people say is there are too many guns. In 1990 there were 24,700 murders in the US and that dropped to 16,300 by 2020. This drop occurred even though the population increased from 250 million to 330 million. There were 65 million hand guns in the US in 1990 and 106 million in 2020. Total number of guns of all types owned by private citizens increased from 200 million in 1990 to 400 million today. Since 1990 the number of guns in the US has doubled while the number of murders has been cut in half. 34% of Whites own a gun, 25% of Blacks, 28% or Hispanics and 19% of Asians

Demcracies

Looking around the world today exposes the stark differences between countries. The democratic governments of Europe, North American, Japan, South Korea and India are not threatening their neighbors. The tyrannical governments of China, Russia, North Korea and Iran are the threat to others. Their people are not free so their governments can act with impunity. Women are second class citizens in many countries where the people are not allowed to elect their own leaders, countries like Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and the other sand Muslim countries like Kuwait and UAE. The women in Iran are standing up to the forced covering of their heads as a symbol of their second class status. People in the free world should be joining in their protest, especially the women's groups in the west.

Drill baby drill

Many people are complaining about Exon/Mobile profits of $90 billion last year. During years 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 their profits were higher ranging from $92 to $112 billion. This was during the Obama years and he railed on about excess profits but nothing was done about it. Prices topped $4 in May of 2011 when oil production was 5.7 million barrels per day. Production increased to 10.4 million by June of 2018 and gas prices came down to $2.50. The high oil prices led to investment in shale oil which led to the increase in production with the technique called fracking and that can be done today. There is plenty of oil and increased production will bring down inflation. Obama didn't mind closing his eyes to climate change as oil production doubled and Biden would be wise to do the same.

Asian Americans

It appears there is more to racism in America than skin color. Case in point. Asian Americans. This is not a monolithic group as Asians from Japan are quite different from Asians in India. Some things they have in common are emphasis on education and strong family ties including respect for elders. This group has the highest marriage rate and the lowest divorce rate. They have the highest high school and college graduation rates. They have the highest SAT scores running 50% above other minorities. They have the highest family income once again 50% higher than other minorities. This brings us back to the point that racism is based on something other than skin color. The question is, what? One answer is that they have a number of cultural things in common with Whites, things like God, family and country. Another factor is language. 72% of this group are bilingual and 28% speak only English. As a comparison for Latinos the bilingual rate is 55% and 44% speak only English. There were only 10 million Asian Americans here in 2000 while there were 35 million Latinos here in 2000. Asian Americans have the lowest incarceration rate at 1.4% of any group. It makes sense to have an immigration policy that is merit based and this would bring in Asian Americans almost exclusively. They will speak English and have job skills that are badly needed especially in the tech area. They will be self supporting and not dependent on public assistance. One actual example is the story of the Vietnamese boat people. During the late 1970s hundreds of thousands of people from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos began their flight out of their homelands. Most left by sea. In emigrating to the United States, these Boat People faced extraordinary cultural, material, and psychological obstacles. In the face of these impediments to success, their rapid economic and educational achievements provide one of the most intriguing success stories of our time.

Crime

In the early 1990s, U.S. crime rates had been on a steep upward climb since the Lyndon B. Johnson presidency. The crack-cocaine epidemic in the mid-1980s added fuel to the fire, and handgun-related homicides more than doubled from 1985 to 1990. That year, murders peaked in New York City with 2,245 killings. Politicians embraced tough-on-crime platforms and enacted harshly punitive policies. Experts warned the worst could be yet to come. The incarceration rate doubled from 400 per 100,000 in 1990 to 800 per 100,000 in 2010. Since 1990 the murder rate declined from 24,000 per year to 16,000 per year despite the fact that the population increased from 250 million to 330 million. Starting about two years ago the country went soft on crime with incarcerations down. Nationwide, states and the federal government actually released fewer people from prison in 2020 than in 2019. The decrease in the incarcerated population was not related to releases, but rather the 40% drop in prison admissions and 16% drop in jail admissions. Some feel that the country should bring back stop and frisk and special crime units working undercover and cash bail along with electing prosecutors who are tough on crime. In other words bring back what worked in the 1990's.

Fetterman

Political experts tell us that the average person doesn't really zero in on elections until after Labor Day. In spite of the that many states allow early voting that starts long before Labor Day. Case in point Pennsylvania. This state allows early voting 50 days before the election and more than 500,000 voted before the only debate and many were not aware of the problems that Fetterman was dealing with. He had a stroke before the primaries and maintained a low profile after that. While many knew of his stroke very few had the opportunity to evaluate his ability to recover. This all came into the open in the debate and many were surprised at how much the stroke had effected his ability to communicate. This staying out of the lime light reminded some of the way Biden campaigned.

GOP take over

John Stewart was in the news today because he suggested that Hunter Biden was guilty of influence peddling. He based this on Hunter getting a million dollars a year from a Russian oil company by the name of Burisma. Hunter was on the board even though he has no knowledge of the oil business. Why is Stewart coming out now when this arrangement has been known since the summer of 2016. Many in the press are anticipating republican control of the house and senate which will lead to investigations about Hunters businesses. This seems likely at this point and it will confirm Hunters guilt but he will not be prosecuted because he was under the influence of drugs at the time and he has since cleaned up his act. If the investigation starts to get close to Joe Biden the Department of Justice will refuse to enforce any subpoenas issued by the congress and the investigation will die on the vine. Republicans should forget about Hunter and get about the business of dealing with inflation, crime and the border. It is all laid out for them. They should go all out on producing more fossil fuels, bring back cash bail, put repeat criminals in jail, and return to the border policies of the Trump years. They should put more import taxes on goods from China and push for the production of those goods in American with the goal of securing the supply lines especially in products that relate to national security. This will answer the old cry of don't just complain about things, come up with solutions.

Ukraine

I remember when Vietnam started to influence US policy. It was in response to the Truman Doctrine which stated that the US would assist any country that was threatened by communism. It started small in the 50's when I was in college and over a period of 20 years escalated into a monster that cost billions of dollars and over 50,000 lives. For most of us it was like the frog in the pan of warm water that is slowly heated until the frog dies. While I was too old to be drafted, I began to feel uncomfortable about the war in the mid 60's. I recall the government would list the fatalities but softened the blow by showing the enemy losses. They would announce that 20 US soldiers died today but 1,200 Viet Cog died so we felt we were winning but soon that no longer satisfied me. Finally in 1972 I saw in the evening news a little girl running down the road on fire from the napalm that covered her body and I was ready to join an anti war march. Many years later I went through the same growth process as I watched the US enter Afghanistan for legitimate reasons and slowly get dragged into the quagmire of war. Now we are faced with Ukraine. The enemy is the same as it was in Vietnam where there we were fighting the Soviet Union and now its Russia. Same country different name. This time I am not ready to wait. The pressure is on to continue down the path of winning but the path is fraught with danger. Now is the time to stop the war and negotiate a peace. Both sides must be willing to give. NATO must give Putin an out so he can go home and then the West can begin the process of rebuilding Ukraine. They have a large population of educated hard working people and with the help of the West can develop a fast growing economy. It will take some real statesmen to come forth and demand an end to this war. The military industrial complex will not be happy. After this election there will be time to zero in on Ukraine and the people will start to challenge the current policy. Lets hope it doesn't take twenty years.

Locked schools

In reading about the school shooter in St Louis the police said the building was locked so they did not know how the shooter got in. Before I worked as a sub teacher I used to go around and check steam boilers and recommend the chemicals needed for treatment. I went to many schools and often times would arrive in the early morning when the building was locked but I always knew there was a back door open for deliveries. Later while subbing in 14 different high schools it was common practice to have open doors until about an hour before school started. It would be easy for anyone to enter the building and wait in the restroom until after school started. That is still the case today. Most schools are very secure between 7 AM and 5 PM but other hours someone can get in undetected. It is the old saying that locks are to keep honest people out.

Filibuster

There is always hype surrounding elections and this time is no exception. Some democrats feel that if they could get 51 seats in the senate they could change the country. Since Joe Manchin will not vote to ban the filibuster they need 51 to accomplish that. Once that is done then they can increase the Supreme Court by four Justices and reverse the abortion ruling. Next they can add statehood to Washington DC and Puerto Rico which would add four democratic senators. The could offer a path to citizenship to all illegals which leads to voting rights. While a wealth tax is probably not legal they could charge a 90% income tax on all income over $1 million. This does not mean this would happen only that it is within the power of the congress.

Levi's

Levi’s president quit and walked away from $1 million in severance so she could ‘be free’ to speak out against school closures. Levi’s brand president Jennifer Sey has quit, and she says it’s because the denim company tried to silence her after she publicly spoke out against school closures during the COVID pandemic. She was offered a million dollar severance if she would sign a nondisclosure agreement but she refused so she could say why she left. Companies used to be concerned about product quality, employee benefits and stockholder equity but in today's would politics has entered the fray. Some people don't like the phrase cancel culture but this is an example of what it looks like. Her opinion on whether schools should close has nothing to do with her ability to do her job which she had for 20 years working her way up the ladder.

Fetterman

John Fetterman the senatorial candidate in PA suffered a stroke in May of this year. He did not appear much in public but when he did he seem unable to comprehend. The interview with NBC Dasha Burns exposed his cognitive issues and she was roundly criticized by others in the press when she said in private conversations he seemed unable to express himself. The press asked for his medical records which he refused to release. He agreed to one debate which happened last night and his performance was dismal. He was unable to understand questions and thus his answers suffered. Fetterman only agreed to one debate and it came late in the campaign meaning that many have already voted. On Morning Joe they were critical of Fetterman's performance saying that half the people will still vote for him because he is a democrat and then came the "but" and we know the truth comes after the "but". Joe pointed out that people will vote for Fetterman because he is a democrat just like republicans will vote for Walker in Georgia just because he is republican regardless of his qualifications. This is known as the teenage defense. No matter what your guy does if you can find someone on the other side that does the same thing then you are okay. The result is we have two unqualified new senators. All's well that ends well.

Migrant treatment

Here is one of the more important reasons why people accept illegal immigrants. In a presidency that is less than one month old, President Biden has reassured the Dreamers that they would not be abandoned, began the difficult process of welcoming refugees, started to reunite immigrant parents separated from their children, and most importantly, refocused America on the issue of impoverished children. As many as 20,000 migrants are kidnapped every year in crossing Mexico. The abductions can be lucrative: they earn criminal gangs an estimated $50 million each year, according to the Mexican National Human Rights Commission. Kidnapping for ransom isn’t the only risk. Health professionals report that as many as six in ten migrant women and girls are raped on the journey. And activists repeatedly raise concerns that abducted women and girls are vulnerable to trafficking. The continued failure to uphold basic principles of human dignity and protection from violence is a stain on Mexico’s record. It is to nobody’s benefit except the criminals who seek to profit from human suffering. Last week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said "We give a pregnancy test at DHS to every girl over 10, to provide for their medical care. That is how dangerous the journey is," she said. There is a serious disconnect between what people want to do for migrants and what is happening to the migrants.

Marshall plan

A letter signed by 30 far left congress people led by the Squad has been sent to Biden suggesting he start negotiating with Russia to end the conflict in Ukraine. I agree and suggest the following compromise. Russia to keep the Donbas territory and withdraw from Ukraine. Ukraine to join NATO. US then helps to rebuild Ukraine using the money that the US will send to Ukraine if the war continues. Other NATO countries can help with the rebuilding cost. It could be the Marshall Plan 2.O

Migrant safety

Here is one of the more important reasons why people accept illegal immigrants. In a presidency that is less than one month old, President Biden has reassured the Dreamers that they would not be abandoned, began the difficult process of welcoming refugees, started to reunite immigrant parents separated from their children, and most importantly, refocused America on the issue of impoverished children. As many as 20,000 migrants are kidnapped every year in crossing Mexico. The abductions can be lucrative: they earn criminal gangs an estimated $50 million each year, according to the Mexican National Human Rights Commission. Kidnapping for ransom isn’t the only risk. Health professionals report that as many as six in ten migrant women and girls are raped on the journey. And activists repeatedly raise concerns that abducted women and girls are vulnerable to trafficking. The continued failure to uphold basic principles of human dignity and protection from violence is a stain on Mexico’s record. It is to nobody’s benefit except the criminals who seek to profit from human suffering. Last week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said "We give a pregnancy test at DHS to every girl over 10, to provide for their medical care. That is how dangerous the journey is," she said. There is a serious disconnect between what people want to do for migrants and what is happening to the migrants.

Joe

Three cheers for Morning Joe. Today he said we should build at least four more (LNG) liquefied natural gas export facilities. Germany is on a crash building project to erect facilities to receive LNG. Then he said, to my green friends it is necessary as we make the transition away from fossil fuels. While that was good he stopped short. All of this would have been underway years ago if the new green deal people had not taken control. Sadly enough these same greenies are still blocking the way to solving the climate problem by emphasizing wind and solar instead of nuclear. Once again politics is getting in the way of science.

IRS audit

The IRS will be hiring enough new agents to bring the auditing level up to where it was 10 years ago. The administration says the new audits will be on rich people and that may be true but it is not true today. Poor taxpayers, or those earning less than $25,000 annually, have an audit rate of 0.69% — more than 50% higher than the overall audit rate. It also means low-income taxpayers are more likely to get audited than any other group, except Americans with incomes of more than $500,000. In Fiscal Year 2021, the IRS closed 738,959 audits and collected $26 billion in extra tax. They average about 300,000 audits each year for earned income tax credits (EITC). These are mostly people who earn less than $50,000 and are claiming children they don't have. In other words 40% of audits are on poor people.

LNG

Three cheers for Morning Joe. Today he said we should build at least four more (LNG) liquefied natural gas export facilities. Germany is on a crash building project to erect facilities to receive LNG. Then he said, to my green friends it is necessary as we make the transition away from fossil fuels. While that was good he stopped short. All of this would have been underway years ago if the new green deal people had not taken control. Sadly enough these same greenies are still blocking the way to solving the climate problem by emphasizing wind and solar instead of nuclear. Once again politics is getting in the way of science.

Inflation $400

The statistic is used to show how unequal things have become in the U.S.: Some 40% of Americans would struggle to come up with even $400 to pay for an unexpected bill. If — or, more likely, when — they’re confronted with such an expense, they’d probably have to sell something or go into debt. The now oft-cited figure comes from the Federal Reserve’s 2018 Survey of Household Economics and Decision Making, in which some 12,000 households were asked about their financial well-being. Inflation will cost the average family more than $400 per month this year so it will be a real hardship on many families.

Spending

Federal government spending during fiscal year 2021(October 1, 2020 to Sept 30 2021) was $6.82 trillion. It was $6.27 trillion in fiscal 2022 (Oct 1, 2021 to Sept 30 2022) This $13 was spent while Trump was in the White House for 4 of the 24 months. In addition Biden wanted to pass the Build Back Better bill but that was stopped by Joe Manchin. That bill was said to cost $2 trillion but that was with budget tricks to only pay for the first few years and then renew. The true cost would have been $5 trillion. Now Biden wants to pass the student loan bill and as of now no one knows how much of the $1.7 trillion debt will be canceled. Most economist suggest that the current inflation is caused by government spending.

Budget

The last time the congress reformed the budget process was 1974. The congress can investigate and issue subpoenas but the president can refuse to enforce the subpoena. Thus the only power the congress has to investigate is when the congress and the president are the same party. If the republicans take the house they will investigate a number of situations but it will all be for show since Biden does not have to enforce their subpoenas. The real power of the congress is the purse but since the government no longer passes a full budget this is difficult. Instead of a passing a full budget each year where each item is considered individually the congress instead passes what are called omnibus bills and they are usually some huge number and contain all sorts of various programs including a lot pet projects. If the congress wanted to hold hearings with teeth they would withhold money until subpoenas were enforced and to do that they would have to stop the whole budget to get at one part and that would shut down the government and they don't want that. The past two years the democrats have had the congress and the White House so they can investigate and enforce subpoenas and that is just what they did.

Biden or not

The question on the minds of a many is will Biden run for a second term. He cannot answer because if he says no then he is a lame duck and this limits what he can accomplish. If he does not run then who. The field is week. First up is Senator Sanders who is 81 and would be 83 in 2024. Second is Senator Warren who ran in 2020 and finished third. She has spent most of her life as a college professor and in 2013 became a US senator. She, like all senators, has no administrative experience where the buck stops with her. VP Harris is the likely candidate based on past precedent as 15 VP's went on to become president. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg is a mentioned candidate. He would be the youngest ever elected just beating Kennedy by a few months. He has impressive education background being a Rhodes Scholar and he is a veteran. His only experience is a small town mayor for two terms but this requires administrative skills. He is gay and many feel the country is not ready for a president and a first man. California Governor Newsom at age 55 is about normal for presidents and he has administrative experience. Politically he may not be best since California is sewed up as a democratic win. Many insiders feel that Sanders should go away with Biden, Hillary and Schumer as it is time for some younger blood. Who are these younger people. It is best to find a governor and none of those have any name recognition.

DC bubble

On Morning Joe today the conversation was about Biden's up in the summer and down in the fall roller coaster ride. After much discussion it was decided that the answer is poor messaging. They decried the fact that his legislative achievements which there are many have been overshadowed by inflation. They felt that the administration failed to promote things like the infrastructure bill and inflation reduction act. This is proof that they are living in the DC bubble. The average voter pays very little attention to the legislative process going on in Washington. What they see is the cost of food and gas. They see criminals running free and illegals bringing fentenyl that kills young people.

China

The rise and fall of China is best seen in economic terms. Throughout history China has been a poor country with GDP hanging around $2,000 per person but that all changed in 1980 when China opened up to free market capitalism. This was heralded in the West as the belief was that once people get economic freedom they will demand political freedom but that never happened. For 30 years China road the free market band wagon bringing GDP up to $18,000 and moving millions out of poverty. Then about ten years ago Xi Jinping took control and his communist ideology was so strong he started to nationalize private business and that has severely damaged the economy. He has so much power that with this recent party endorsement he will be a de facto dictator which means the process of nationalizing business will continue and the economy will continue to decline. Chinese tech companies are reeling from regulation. Nervous creditors are hoping for a bailout for China’s largest developer. Growing numbers of executives are going to jail. An entire industry is shutting down. For China’s leader, Xi Jinping, it’s all part of the plan. He is killing the goose that laid the golden eggs but he is so committed to communism he cannot see what he is doing. From 2019 to 2021, state-owned enterprises acquired more than 110 publicly traded Chinese companies, valued at more than $83 billion, according to PwC. Such acquisitions were rare before Mr. Xi took over in 2012; by then, state-owned enterprises' share of the economy had been declining

Refineries

As the demand for gasoline increased over the years no new refineries were built because of environmental concerns and the output of existing refineries was increased by adding on capacity. Recently a new refinery was built in North Dakota after years of battling environmental concerns it took the ND Supreme Court to clear the way so they can start production in 2024. At least eight refineries have either closed altogether or converted capacity to manufacturing renewable fuels since 2019, taking around 1.1 million barrels per day of refining capacity offline and driving the current supply-demand imbalance in fuel markets. Chevron (NYSE:CVX) CEO Mike Wirth said Friday that he does not expect another oil refinery will be built in the U.S. ever again, due to decades of federal government policies. Many of the programs in the newly passed infrastructure bill will likely encounter the same difficulties as they try to build

Unions

I have often said that while I am pro union for private unions I am opposed to public unions. New York City just got rid of what many say was the worst mayor in the cities history. Bill de Blasio was elected because only 23% of eligible voters turned out and he got the union endorsement. The United Federation of Teachers, one of the New York City’s largest and most influential labor unions, endorsed Mayor Bill de Blasio’s re-election campaign on Wednesday. On Monday, he received a significant boost in those efforts: the backing both of a municipal labor union, the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association, and of one of New York City’s largest and most powerful private sector unions, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union He got 726,000 votes. Within the metro area, we found that an estimated 689,018 of New York City's 3.4 million employed residents were union members in 2021. The union elects you and then you sit down with the union and negotiate.

Iran

People in Europe, the US and throughout Iran are protesting demanding a regime change while Biden is trying to make a deal with them not to produce a bomb. Biden seems unaware that Iran is using the threat of a bomb as a negotiating tool. [10] Iran has been operating six cascades of IR-2m centrifuges (approximately 1,044 machines) in production mode since November 2021 If Iran chose to produce enough enriched uranium for one weapon, it could do so by feeding uranium enriched up to 60% U-235 into either the cascades of IR-1 or IR-2m centrifuges at FEP. In either case, it would take the centrifuges at least 1.2 weeks to accomplish the necessary enrichment work (95 SWU).Jul 21, 2022 We estimated several months ago, first based on the quarterly IAEA Iran report from November 2021, and then again in March 2022, that Iran could accumulate a significant quantity of 60 percent HEU by spring 2022, based on its average daily production of 60 percent HEU up to the date of the IAEA repo Is the whole world playing some kind of game. If Iran doesn't have enough U to make a bomb it is because they don't want to have enough. Wake up and start backing the uprising in Iran instead of debating over a bomb. Go all out on sanctions. Close down their banks. Freeze their assets around the world.

Illegals

The figures on illegal immigrants for last fiscal year were released showing 2.3 million crossed the border and even more concerning are the 600,000 got a ways. These are people who for one reason or another do not want to deal with the border patrol. The assumption is that many have criminal records. When a reasonable person evaluates the situation it is easy to conclude that the administration wants these people to come here. The border patrol stopped 15,000 with criminal records. 4,000 were for violent crimes including 62 for murder. If statistics hold in the 600,000 got a ways there would be 250 charged with murder.

Push to center

Many liberals are being pushed to the center by their left leaning friends. Middle of the road liberals are not interested in Having drag queens in elementary school Teaching first graders about transgender Substituting they for he and she No bail DA's Open borders Canceling student debt January 6 Mar-a-Lago They are interested in inflation, crime and immigration. One interesting area where the parties agree is the threat to democracy. Seventy-two percent of registered Democratic voters and 70 percent of Republicans expressed fears about the future of U.S. This indicates that people in the two parties are talking past each other because each party thinks the other party is the threat.

Craig

Angie Craig is the US congresswoman in this district. She is a democrat who replaced a 20 year republican last election. Her ads promote the fact as they say, she went against her party by supporting police. This is controversial only because many democrats say they were never opposed to the police in any way. Recall that the Minneapolis police and the mayor proposed reducing the police budget by $7 million but the voters rejected the plan. A public pledge by nine of the 13 elected members of the Minneapolis City Council on June 7, 2020, to "defund police" garnered significant attention for the police abolition movement, as well as considerable political backlash.

Raped

A story was told about an incident that is a microcosm of what is happening in many parts of the country. A student was raped on the University of Pittsburgh campus and a petition was started to ask for more campus police and got 6,000 signatures. The university responded by announcing a new safety program which included more police. This was follow by students protesting that more police would be mean more discrimination against Black students and so the university reversed its position. Then the student who came up with the original petition apologized and suggested he might have to change schools. The president of this university finds himself in the same position that the mayors of many cities find themselves. If they answer the request of citizens for more police protection then other citizens will say the police presence will discriminate against Blacks. It's the old case of damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Politicians

As we get close to the election, I am reminded of that famous Senator Foghorn Leghorn who told a crowd of potential voters, you know I feel strongly about this issue and if you don't like my position, I will change.

Organic

On the news today they were discussing the Chemistry professor who was fired because the students said his class was too hard. This caught my attention since I have some experience in this area. I took organic chemistry the first time when I was in college in the 50's and then again some 30 years later when my daughter was in college. There are two things that changed for me during that time. First off the text book is important. In college I used Brewster and the course was interesting and easy. It was all about combining compounds to form new compounds and the rules that guide these combinations. The second time things were different and the course was more difficult. First off the text book was Fieser and Fieser. Second the course was mostly about mechanisms meaning the steps in between the basic reaction. In the first course it was about A + B = C + D but in the second course is was all about what happens between A and B and that is more complicated especially when you introduce that math that takes place. While this is a hard course people who have aptitude for math can understand with some effort. One of the down sides to any science course is lab. A four hour organic class meets one hour a day four days a week but you also have four hours of lab and the lab reports are lengthy and take a lot of time. If you are majoring in chemistry, chemical engineering or going into medicine this is a required course and if you can't get it you should look for another major. This is particularly true in medicine because you will be required to take biochemistry which is like advanced organic. Another option is to get a tutor.

Infrastructure

The infrastructure bill was passed into law about one year ago and many predicted it would be slow going because of environmental concerns and so far not much as been done. Fully-funded development projects still face regulatory hurdles that can cause significant delays or derail projects.

Money

In many areas the two major parties have switched sides. Democrats are now the party of Wall Street and college educated who live mostly on the coasts. Republicans are the blue collar party with mostly mid country folks. One area that stands out is how the financing of campaigns has changed. In three important senate races the dems have the money advantage. Fetterman has $17.1 million in reserve while Oz trails with $9.5 million. Warnock in Georgia has $13 million topping Walker's $7 million. Barns in Wisconsin has $20 million and Johnson has $11 million. This change in campaign funding started with Hillary who outspent Trump $1.4 billion to $950 million.

Free speech

Former President Obama said something yesterday that caught my attention because is it something that people today, including teachers, have to deal with when he said that people feel like they are walking on eggshells. And sometimes Democrats are, right? You know, sometimes, people just want to not feel as if they are walking on eggshells," I have heard teachers use those very words when describing why they must avoid certain phrases, things like: God family and country All lives matter Make America great Single parent homes and poverty Illegal immigrant The national anthem and the flag Nuclear family These word police are a threat to free speech and they use cancel culture to enforce their illegal activity. People who use words that are considered to be unacceptable are shamed and ridiculed into submission. In some cases they lose their jobs. A common refrain from those who have been accused is where to I get my reputation back. There is currently a national uproar for people who say the election was rigged. This may not be true and in fact it may be a lie but people have a right to lie. You can say the eating rat poison is good for you. You can say that cutting off your hair will make you live longer. You can say all sorts of ridiculous things because of the free speech part of the first amendment. Speech is limited only by what is illegal and that involves slander and liable. Simply put this means be careful what you say about people.

Immigrants

Governor Abbott sends migrants to NY City and there is an uproar in the press. So far Abbott has sent 3,700 to New York and Texas has paid the full fare. The democratic mayor of El Paso has sent 11,000 migrants to New York and the federal government has paid for their transportation but there is little to no news reporting.

Abortion

Biden said today that the first thing he would do if the democrats keep the House and Senate would be to codify abortions. He has had the House and Senate for the past two years and doesn't have to wait until after the election to do this. Most experts see this action as not effective because if Congress passes a law that supersedes a Supreme Court ruling, the Court could later deem that law unconstitutional and strike it down.

Pro demcracy

Joe on Morning Joe was decrying the fact that while the loss of our democracy is the most important issue, people are more concerned about inflation. Joe actively pushes what is called the pro democracy movement. According to the NY Times the two biggest threats to our democracy are first the refusal of many republican to accept defeat in election and second the power to set government policy is increasingly disconnected from public opinion and the example they give is the supreme court. Joe's explanation for this is the oft used excuse that the pro democracy people have failed to get out their message. I agree with the second point in that government decisions are too often made by un-elected bureaucrats. The congress who represents the people have given over power to agencies like the Environmental Protection, Homeland Security and Health and Human Service. The congress passes laws but they turn over implementation of these laws to various departments where those laws are turned into regulations of which there are too many. Only a couple of years ago climate change was Joe's big concern. He went right past nuclear war to pro democracy. Politics dictates his thinking.

Ukraine war

During the 40 plus years of the cold war the US did all sorts of unsavory things trying to defeat communism. We secretly or not so secretly overthrew governments and allied with tyrants all with the intent purpose of crushing the Soviet Union. As former Ambassador to the United Nations Gene Kirkpatrick said, he may be a dictator but he is our dictator. Ethical actions were set aside with the sole purpose of defeating the commies. Looking back it is difficult to understand our positions but at the time they seem acceptable. We are in a situation today that gives everyone some idea of what it was like. We are now risking nuclear war to keep Russia out of Ukraine. It seems like the right thing to do but will we think that when we look back. Would we say that a compromise of turning the Danbas over to Russia for Ukraine joining NATO would have been better. Finland and Sweden are ready to join NATO. Could this be the off ramp that Putin needs. Is this a win for the West. In only 8 months the US has spent $60 billion. Will this be another Viet Nam or Afghanistan where trillions were spent. Will this lead to putting US soldiers on the ground. Will the American people get tired of this and demand a compromise. Is anyone asking these questions. There are 150 million families working in the US and if this $60 billion were divided among them it would cost $400 each. If we asked the people if they would send in a check for $400 so we could keep this war going another 8 months would they write that check. This puts the cost of war into understandable language.

Silent majority

When Nixon ran the second time in 1968 he had a number of things going for him. First he ran against Hubert Humphery who could not extricate himself from Johnson's war policy. Second the democratic party was in disarray because of the war and third he was able to gather together a large group known as the silent majority. The dictionary says this is a large block of voters who feel marginalized, silenced or underserved by the political system. This group was the precursor to the democrats who voted for Reagan and became known as Reagan democrats. These people are euphemistically referred to as low information voters and they swing back and forth depending mostly on economic issues. They voted for Obama and then Trump. They will likely swing toward the republicans this November. Over the years the name majority has become to mean White and now this group has been tagged as racist when in fact it is the economy not race that motivates them. These people are regular Americans who are concerned about kitchen table issues but rather than discuss these economic issues the press has resorted to labels as represented by Hillary's remarks, racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and Islamaphobic. This coming election exemplifies these difference where the republicans are pushing issues like inflation and democrats are pushing January 6 and Mar-a-lago. The silent majority people who oppose immigration are called xenophobic and those who oppose crime are called racist.

Crime

On the news today a group of police officials were discussing the rise in crime and they came to the conclusion that is was spurred on by two causes. First was that too many crimes are committed by repeat offenders and these career criminals must be taken off the streets. If it is a drug problem go to treatment. If it is a mental issue go to a psych facility. If it is plain old crime then go to jail. The second reason given was lack of respect for authority. They pointed out how many times a simple stop by police turns violent because the person refuses to follow orders. Simple request like, show your hands or get out of the car are seen as a show of disrespect. This is not a new thing to anyone who has ever been a teacher. The trouble makers in school are repeat offenders and are disrespectful. If parents could see the length that teachers go to in trying to maintain control of the classroom they would have a new understanding of why teachers need summers off. Simple things like stay in your seat, stop talking, don't throw and stop hitting are met with sarcastic remarks and these same request are made many times and take away from the time devoted to the lesson. On the street and in the school the offenders are disproportionately Blacks and this of course complicates the issue. Some believe it is the lack of fathers in the homes that allows the discipline problem to develop. This too is controversial. Everyone knows there are large numbers of single moms who do a great job under the most trying conditions but the facts remain that children from single parent homes have more problems in school and in later life. It is common knowledge that 50% of murders are Blacks killing Blacks and those committing the crime are between the ages of 15 and 45 and this represents less than 5% of the population.

Social

Higher inflation is leading to higher interest rates and this means an added burden on the national debt. The US spent $392 billion on the debt last year and the average interest rate was 3%. This year the interest rate will be much higher. One of the reasons that social security takes such a large cut from the budget was because of the high interest rates during the late 70's and early 80's. The same thing is happening now. Social security just announce that next year all recipients will receive an increase of 8.7%. SS pays out $1.145 trillion so this increase will cost an additional $100 billion.

Election

The TIPP (Technometrica Institute of Policy and Politics) was the most accurate poll in the 2004, 2008,2012 and 2016 presidential elections. Here are the results of a poll taken August of 2022. Shock Poll: 8 in 10 Think Biden Laptop Cover-Up Changed Election Most following the story want the AG to appoint a Special Counsel to investigate the laptop-related issues. The NY Times and the Washington Post both received Pulizer Prizes for reporting how Trump colluded with the Russians to interfere with the 2016 election. They called the story about the Hunter Biden laptop Russian disinformation. A two year investigation by a special prosecutor found no collusion and both papers have now admitted that the laptop was legitimate. Many say that there was interference in the election but it was by the press?

High interest

During the campaign Biden promised to end Covid saying Trump couldn't do it and 200,000 have died. Well Biden couldn't end Covid either even with the vaccine. It finally ended on its own with natural immunity doing what it does. The failure to end Covid was replaced with the Covid relief act spending $1.9 trillion dollars which then led to inflation which led to the Fed raising rates which led to higher interest rates. High energy cost are now combined with high interest rates to add economic burdens to the people especially those in the mid to low income groups. The Covid act gave out so much money that many people decided they didn't need to work which reduced productivity which added to inflation. The Fed will add .75% today for the third time this year and this will continue well into next year as they expect inflation to be a problem until 2025. The US must crank up its production of oil and natural gas which will lower the cost of transportation and thus lower the cost of all goods. This will help the Fed reach its goal of 2% inflation. The recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act just added more money to the economy and the canceling of student debt will add more. The government is fighting itself. Someone in government has to step up and take charge.

Climate and the UN

Part of the Paris climate agreement was to transfer wealth from the western nations. Developing nations suffering from climate change will demand financial help NAIROBI, Kenya — The chairperson of an influential negotiating bloc in the upcoming United Nations climate summit in Egypt has called for compensation for poorer countries suffering from climate change to be high up on the agenda. The United Nations has now moved from asking for money to demanding money. This is just a small part of globalization. On the surface it is about climate but underneath it is about money. This is the same strategy used by proponents of the new green deal. Up front it is about climate but the real purpose is social equity.

Carter Page

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) entertains applications made by the US Government for approval of electronic surveillance. The court only hears the governments side of the story so any evidence presented must be verified. In order to listen in on Carter Page the FBI needed approval from the FISA court. They presented evidence that was not verified which contained the Steele dossier which was later found to be inaccurate. Recent revelations detail that the FBI knew this info was not verified. Regardless the warrant was issued and the FBI begin to listen in on conversation from Carter Page. There is something called the two hop rule that allows the government to listen to the party whose phone was tapped and then to anyone that person talked with and then to any person that person talked to. This allowed them to tap anyone in the Trump administration. The FBI later apologize to the FISA court and took steps to see that it would not happen again. What they learned became part of the special prosecutors investigation into the claim of Trump/Russia collusion. Though the FBI regrets the numerous “errors and omissions” it made in a series of wiretap warrant requests to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page as an alleged “Russian agent," it insists they were benign mistakes. However, newly discovered records reveal no fewer than 10 instances, starting as early as 2009, in which top officials at FBI headquarters came to possess evidence that Page was acting on behalf of the CIA and the FBI itself, yet hid this exculpatory evidence from a secret federal surveillance court.

FISA

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) entertains applications made by the US Government for approval of electronic surveillance. The court only hears the governments side of the story so any evidence presented must be verified. In order to listen in on Carter Page the FBI needed approval from the FISA court. They presented evidence that was not verified which contained the Steele dossier which was later found to be inaccurate. Recent revelations detail that the FBI knew this info was not verified. Regardless the warrant was issued and the FBI begin to listen in on conversation from Carter Page. There is a rule that once issued the FBI can then listen in on anyone that Page contacts and up the chain it went to where the FBI listen in on most of the people in the Trump administration. The FBI later apologize to the FISA court and took steps to see that it would not happen again. What they learned became part of the special prosecutors investigation into the claim of Trump/Russia collusion. Though the FBI regrets the numerous “errors and omissions” it made in a series of wiretap warrant requests to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page as an alleged “Russian agent," it insists they were benign mistakes. However, newly discovered records reveal no fewer than 10 instances, starting as early as 2009, in which top officials at FBI headquarters came to possess evidence that Page was acting on behalf of the CIA and the FBI itself, yet hid this exculpatory evidence from a secret federal surveillance court.

Iran

As the world watches the uprising by citizens in Iran the US is still taking about a nuke deal. Any person with a brain knows that Iran could develop a nuke bomb when ever they wanted to and they are using the threat of a bomb as a negotiating tool. The time is ripe for maximum economic pressure on Iran and forget about negotiating with leaders who cannot be trusted, leaders who treat women as second class, leaders who have no tolerance for gays or religion or race. The US can crank up production of oil and natural gas forcing down the price and cutting off the income to Iran.

Transgender

Over the past five years the number of transgendering candidates has increased five fold. One of the reasons given is that adults who have transgendered see young people who were similar in some ways to the way they were while growing up and they want them to take action while young because the results are more effective. There has not been enough time to investigate how accurately a person can predict how a child will behave as an adult in regards to gender identification. There is also some pressure by the medical profession to push for gender changing as the procedures are expensive and profitable to doctors and hospitals. Its price list mentions estimates of $140,450 to transition from male to female, and $124,400 to transition from female to male. The Internet reports are conflicting with some saying participants are satisfied and their life is better and other reports saying people what to transfer back. This is just further evidence that more information is needed to determine if transgendering is good or bad and at what age this determination be made.

Columbus

36 monuments to Columbus have been removed but there are 149 remaining. More than 6,000 places in the US are named after Columbus. The initial excitement around taking down statues has faded and now some are wondering how and why it all started. Yesterday was Columbus Day and many want to change the name to Native American Day. Many Italian Americans celebrate this day and are upset with trying to change the name. It is one of many situations the country is experiencing where one side wins and another side loses. Schools spend a lot of time explaining the mistreatment of Native Americans by the colonist and part of their history lesson so it is not as if they were trying to cover up.

Russian nukes

As a non military person sitting on the sidelines it appears that technology is changing the face of war in ways that some countries do not realize. We have seen in Ukraine that small inexpensive missiles can destroy heavy armored tanks and shoulder held missiles can bring down planes. China announced recently that they are building destroyers and the Ukrainians recently destroyed a Russian ship in the Black Sea using a Harpoon missile. Unmanned drones flying thousands of miles from their control pilots can fire missiles at targets. Some drones armed with missiles and/or bombs can fly on automatic pilot to their targets. Russia lost 150 aircraft in the first month of the war. Russia was expected to control the skies in the first few days but technology spoiled their plans. If their nuclear forces are as inept as their air force they are not likely to challenge the US to a nuclear fight. The constant fear is that someone in power will act with reckless abandon and start WW 3

Income

In 2021 there were 7.4 million families living below the poverty level which is $26,000 per year for a family of four. The official poverty rate in 2021 was 11.6%, with 37.9 million people in poverty. What Is a Middle-Class Income? ; Poor or near-poor, $32,048 or less ; Lower-middle class, $32,048 - $53,413 ; Middle class, $53,413 - $106,827 . How many in the middle income group are willing to share some of their income with those living in poverty. Many of these people often talk about income redistribution but they are not talking about their income. It is easy to give away income from the other guy. Lets go after the rich is a common refrain. No one needs more than one million dollars per year to live seems reasonable to most people. In a free society it is difficult to find a way for government to deal with income. The current approach is the progressive income tax. California is a leader in income redistribution. In California there are 100,000 people who earn more than one million dollars per year and they pay 40% of the states personal income tax which comes to $2.5 million each. This could be expanded to the whole country. Right now 11 million people in the US earn more than one million per year and if they paid 40% of the tax it would mean $630,000 each which is far less than the Californians who are paying $2.5 million each. The rich can certainly pay more.

Globalization

Globalization is the modern day equivalent of colonization and it is about to go away just as colonization went away. Global marketing got its start when Milton Friedman said free trade was the answer to maximum productivity. He saw free trade a the great income and social equalizer. It would provide products in the most efficient way and raise the standard of living for everyone. It came into its own in the 1950's and has grown rapidly since. Since 1980 the value of world trade has grown from $2 trillion to $22 trillion while raising over one billion people out of poverty. The way that China has misused the WTO and caused the rapid loss of jobs in Western countries cause some to question the value of free trade when the rules were not followed. This led to an increase in nationalism recently emphasized by Trumps Make America Great Again and even more recently with Biden's Made In America. This,"country first" idea is spreading to Europe. This movement, is encouraged by the complexity and break down of the supply chain, and offers good reasons to bring production back home. The pandemic added to the problems of the supply chain and force companies to look for new suppliers who are friendlier and closer to home. While international trade will continue to grow it will be at a slower rate. The comparison with colonization is not without merit. During the industrial revolution the West, including the US, looked to Asia and Africa for raw materials and mined them without concern for pollution. The same thing is happening today as the search for minerals needed for the green deal are polluting the water in China and then these same minerals are sent to Africa for disposal. The water supply in China is being poisoned so the West can have touch screen high tech products. History repeats itself.

Equity

The word equity is popular these days and it means equal results as compared to equality which means equal opportunity. The average family income is $70,000 so if every family made that we would have equity. Those who make more would be required to give to those who make less. Moving on to net worth where the average is $97,000. The median net worth of the average US households is $97,300. Median is the middle point where half the households have more and half have less. Now this is where we separate the believers from the non. Lets say your house is worth $250,000. You would have too much wealth and be required to sell your house, give away about $150,000 and find a apartment. Spreading the wealth around is just a bunch of words until it affects you then things look different. It is easy to take money from the rich because we don't consider ourselves as rich but many others do. From a personal standpoint, I would make out pretty good since my income is below $70,000 and I don't own a home. I say we follow Obama's advice and spread the wealth around. All those in the news preaching equity are only seeing situations which will affect others.

Life expectancy

Social security benefits are weighted toward lower income people. For example three people all age 62 retire earning, $30,000, $60,000 and $90,000 respectfully. The first gets $790 per month, the second gets $1,154 per month and the third gets $1,519 per month. The first retires at 31.6% of salary, the second at 23.1% of salary and the third 20.2% of salary. In addition there is the factor of life expectancy which strongly favors White females (WF) over Black males (BM). A WF and a BM both retire at age 62 and both receive $1,154 per month. The WF lives to age 84 and receives $305,000 while the BM lives to age 77 and receives $207,000. The longest live expectancy goes to Hispanic females who live to age 88 and would receive $360,000.

Twitter

Watching the battle between Musk and Twitter exposes the problems with selling stock. Musk is looking for backers so he can avoid selling Tesla stock. If he were to sell a large block it would cause investors to move their money which would lower the price. This is what people who propose a wealth tax do not understand. If Tesla stock goes down it affects many people besides Musk and the same thing is true when any major investor sells stock.

Trump

When you take the dislike of Trump out of the picture and just look at his record it is quite amazing. He came on the seen as a joke according to the press. He had to be different than other politicians to have even a small chance of getting the nomination. During the debates he spewed out insults toward the others and became more obnoxious as he won each debate. Once he got the nomination the press turned quickly against him. Morning Joe suddenly realized they had been instrumental in creating a monster. Then came the investigation by the State Department. They joined forces with the national press, Silicon Valley, social media, never Trumpers bureaucrats of all shapes and sizes and the full force of the democratic party to challenge Trump at every turn. He overcame that and even though the harassment continued during is four years as president, he was able to complete an outstanding record of accomplishments. On the domestic side he brought on the lowest unemployment in history for Blacks, Hispanics and women. He gave the middle and lower income groups the first real wage increase in forty year. GDP was up and inflation was down. He pushed for fossil fuels and the US became the worlds leading producer of oil and natural gas and a net exporter of fossil fuels while the CO2 emissions declined. He slowed the influx of illegals at the border by demanding that Mexico close their border with Guatemala, keeping migrants in Mexico while they awaited their status and built the wall. He cut taxes and increased defense spending. He was a strong proponent of law enforcement and regularly praised first res ponders. He appointed three to the Supreme Court. He demanded and got NATO members to pay more of their fair share. He pushed hard and developed the Covid vaccine in record time. The Dow increased from 20,000 to 30,000 during his term. He overcame two impeachments and a press corp that failed to cover his successes while emphasizing his failures. He implemented the Abraham accords, the first real progress between Arabs and Jews in many years. He ended ISIS and killed a number of high profile terrorist. He canceled the Iran agreement and refused to join the Paris Agreement. He put import taxes on goods from China. He place sanctions on Russia and pushed to stop the Nordstream 2 pipeline. He encouraged the construction of liquid natural gas facilities which will help to save Europe this winter. While many may disagree with the merits of these deeds the facts are clear that he accomplished a lot.

Warp speed oil

The Keystone pipeline is not the reason for the oil shortage but closing it was significant. While campaigning Biden let it be known that he wanted to replace fossil fuels with wind and solar. This is from the last debate. Would you close down the oil industry? I would transition from the oil industry, yes Why would you do that? The oil industry pollutes significantly, it has to be replaced by renewable over time. These remarks were followed up with the closing of the Keystone which was symbolic of his plans and left the oil industry up in the air. Biden should get on the phone today and begin a warp speed drive to increase oil and natural gas supplies here in the country. Let it be known that he is backing the industry and will open the door to fracking, drilling where needed and reduce regulatory obstacles. These changes alone will cause the markets to react. Lets go Biden!

Biden

US shelters received a record 122,000 unaccompanied children in 2021. According to the government these children are sent to sponsors in various parts of the country. The sponsor must agree to ensure the child's presence at all future immigration proceedings. The number that show up is not available since this is kept secret by the court but the average wait for a court date is 1,136 days. There is no information on the Internet to prove that these sponsors have been veted and this leads to a lot of guess work as to just what kind of people these sponsors are. Trafficing children is a world wide problem. Of the 600,000-800,000 people trafficked across international borders each year, 70 percent are female and 50 percent are children. The majority of these victims are forced into the commercial sex trade. (Ibid.) Each year, an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States. After one year, an asylee may apply for lawful permanent resident status (i.e., a green card). Once the individual becomes a permanent resident, he or she must wait four years to apply for citizenship. When these children reach age 18 they can vote

Children

US shelters received a record 122,000 unaccompanied children in 2021. According to the government these children are sent to sponsors in various parts of the country. The sponsor must agree to ensure the child's presence at all future immigration proceedings. The number that show up is not available since this is kept secret by the court but the average wait for a court date is 1,136 days. There is no information on the Internet to prove that these sponsors have been veted and this leads to a lot of guess work as to just what kind of people these sponsors are. Trafficing children is a world wide problem. Of the 600,000-800,000 people trafficked across international borders each year, 70 percent are female and 50 percent are children. The majority of these victims are forced into the commercial sex trade. (Ibid.) Each year, an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States. After one year, an asylee may apply for lawful permanent resident status (i.e., a green card). Once the individual becomes a permanent resident, he or she must wait four years to apply for citizenship. When these children reach age 18 they can vote

No bail

Most people who are arrested for misdemeanors (shop lifting, trespassing and simple assault) are not taken into custody. For other offenses you may be taken to jail where you will await a bail hearing. Once bail is posted you can leave with the expectation you will show up for your trial date. If bail is set at $10,000 you can pay a bail bondsman 10% or $1,000 and he will cover the rest. When you show up for court you do not get your $1,000 back. If you pay the $10,000 out of your pocket you get the money back when you come to court. Many people cannot afford bail so some states have a no cash bail law which means you get out of jail free with your promise to show up for your court date. This is called a pretrial release. If you don't show, the judge will issue an arrest warrant but in most cases the police are too busy to enforce the warrant so you get off free. Enforcing arrest warrants is one of the more dangerous activities that police get involved in much like going on a domestic violence call. Expecting no bail people to show up for court is much like the illegals who come across the border and are told to come to court sometime in the future. Many never show. Most of these crimes are committed by repeat offenders and they could be held without bond because they did not show up for their hearings but they are released.

Speech

Now that the Musk purchase of Twitter is in the news again the subject of disinformation is also in the news. Free speech means I can say anything that is not illegal which means I can lie. I can say that the Covid started in a lab in China. I can say that vaccines don't work. I can say the election was rigged. What we cannot have is some authority figure deciding what is true. You need only look to the past to find out how many things that were considered true, were not and how many things that were called lies turned out to be true. The best free speech is when everyone can have a platform to express their opinions with the caveat that you cannot break the law. People must be allowed to determine for themselves what is true to them and in doing so they will make mistakes.

Polygamy

‘Time Has Arrived’ to Legalize Polygamy, Writes New York Judge. Will the open minded people pushing each new challenge to the old ways go along. John is a business owner and he has a group health insurance plan for himself and his family and his employees. John's brother dies leaving a wife and two children. They are struggling financially and John decides to marry his sister-in-law and put her and her family on his group health plan. The relationship is platonic and used only for insurance purposes. Maybe Johns sister-in-law has a sister who is need of financial help. John marries her and she gets health care. This is marriage for monetary reasons. The reason that Islam allows for four wives is to take care of widows and orphans. This may be a new idea in the west but it has a history with examples in the bible.

Chem professor

A New York University professor was fired because the students said his class was too difficult. He teaches organic chemistry and this is not a required course. Students taking this course are going to major in chemistry, chemical engineering or medicine. This is a weed out course and if the student cannot pass perhaps they need a different major. It is one of those courses where you must not miss any class, take good notes and do all of the home work. Serious students who do those three things will pass the course.

Transgender

In the school districts in this area when a student misbehaves in class the teacher can call for assistance. When the help arrives, if the student refuses to leave the classroom the other students are escorted out to a neighboring classroom leaving the problem student alone in the room. The same procedure is now being used in schools in regards to dealing with transgender students. Many girls are uncomfortable changing in the gym with transgender girls (boys who have become girls) To solve the problem the schools are removing all of the cis girls from the room to allow for the transgender girl to change. After this girl leaves the other girls come back into the gym and change.

Oil

The government says it will stop withdrawing oil from the strategic reserve at the end of October which some say is conveniently just before the election. The problem is that the international market which sets the price of oil will react before that time. At the same time OPEC has decided to reduce oil output by 2 million barrels per day and that will drive up the price. They are doing this in anticipation of slowing demand based on slowing world economies. Experts are trying to balance the expected slow down in the economy with the reduction in supply. If they guess right the price of gasoline should remain stable.

Cars

The Yom Kippur War of 1973 led to the Arab oil embargo in 1976. I remember the long lines at the gas stations and this week I was reminded of that time as I watched the gas lines in Florida. One line I saw was about 100 cars long. How long would people wait in line if everyone had electric cars. Recall last winter when cars were stalled out east on a major highway and people in electric cars ran out of heat. If science prevails electric cars will never replace gasoline cars but hydrogen cars will be the final answer.

Iran

It is most disconcerting that the women's groups here in the US are not protesting the situation in Iran. Women are being oppressed and they have risen up in mass to protest their treatment. It is more than disheartening that the US press is not making a big fuss. Domestic violence is not a crime under Iranian law and those found guilty of honor killings receive only minor punishment. Men convicted of murdering their daughters receive three year sentences. Women only receive 3 months support when they separate from their husbands and are thus forced to return to abusive situations. She can only get a divorce after her husband has been convicted three times of abuse. Rape victims who come forth face charges of adultery. Iranian law allows girls age 13 to marry and younger if the father permits. There are registered marriages to 300 girls under age 13 some as young as 10. It is time for Americans to wake up to what is going on there. The press has to step up and fulfill its obligation to report the news.

Economy

During the Trump years the economy was booming as shown by the Dow which was 20,000 when entered office and 31,000 when he left. It was on the upswing and continued its rise and reached a peak of 36,000 after Biden had been in office for 10 months. It then started down and today is 29,000. When Trump was elected the experts predicted the market would crash and it rose 50% in four years. When Biden was elected Trump predicted the market would crash and in 20 months it dropped 20% into a Bear market. The first 10 months of the Biden administration the market was up 37% and then the bottom fell out. Biden's approval rating was in the mid 50's during the first 8 months but when he pulled out of Afghanistan it started down along with the market and has settle in the high 30's. Gas prices started to rise, crime started rise and border crossings started rise. There are many reasons why these things happened but the facts are that they did. Now both sides can put forth their arguments it was not their fault.

Supreme court

During most of the 20th century the Supreme Court was liberal. Starting in the 1970 a change toward conservatism began and since that time 11 of the 19 justices appointed were conservative and the court is now solidly conservative with a 6 to 3 make up. The pendulum swings.

Creating money

Fiscal year 2021 started on October 1, 2020 and ended September 30, 2021 when Trump was still president. The government spent $6.8 trillion in that year. During fiscal year 2022 which started on October 1, 2021 and ended on September 30, 2022 the government spent $5.35 trillion. President Trump was in office for 4 of these 24 months. Many can give good reasons why this money was spent. The president wants to start fiscal year 2023 by spending half billion on student loan forgiveness. If the government has decided that there is no limit to their spending then what about car loans, home loans and credit card debt. Maybe there is no limit on how much money the government can print, somewhat like there seems to be no limit on the number of illegals allowed to cross the border. The government can take care of their needs by printing more money. If the election takes power away from the democrats the months after the election and before January 20 when the new congress takes power will bring on a lot of spending and it may include some of the items mentioned above. Modern Monetary Theory is alive and well.

Family

Black Lives Matter is a group that started because of police mistreatment of Black males. It has recently been hurt by people in leadership positions misusing donations. One of the major positions of BLM is their understanding of what the family is all about. As they looked around and saw the number of Black children being raised in fatherless homes they decided that the father could be replaced by the neighborhood in conjunction with the state. "We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable," it says on the page titled "What we believe." Instead of concentrating on how to get fathers back with their families they have chosen a system that can operate without fathers and thus the idea that the mothers who are working sometimes two jobs can ban together and create a new type of family structure based on the community working as a group. 75% of Black babies are born to single moms and 40% of abortions are Black. This devastation of the Black family started in the 60's with the Great Society where the state began the slow process of taking the place of the father.

Party over country

A snap shot of our government at work reveals and interesting picture. While we have a bad situation at the border, cities being overwhelmed with crime, the stock market tanking, inflation out of control and interest rates rising our illustrious leaders and sitting around point fingers at one another. Never has the party ahead of country spat caused more headaches. Each side is so afraid that the other guys might look better that they are stuck in their respective ruts. Both sides have made their beds and will stay there until after the election but then what. If the dems maintain control we will continue on the same path. If the repubs take control Biden will veto any change and we will all wait around for the 2024 election. Either way it will not make much difference for the old folks like me. We are just coasting our way to the end of the road. Perhaps a whole new group of younger leaders will find a way to get together. Or not.

Naples

When I first retired in April of 1995, I moved to Naples, FL. Late that summer Hurricane Erin hit the east coast of Florida and move across the state and dropped 16 inches of rain on Naples in one day. Several streets flooded and people wrote letters to the editor complaining about a foot of water at some intersections. I recall thinking that of all the dozen cities I lived in if they had that much rain in that short of time period they would have had a serious problem. I do remember that small fish fell with the rain. They were scooped up in the Atlantic and dropped in the Gulf. The water was about 3 feet deep on Gulf Shore Blvd the road that parallels the ocean and there were large fish swimming in the water. I saw a Tarpon about 5 feet long jump out of the water. Later that year Hurricane Opal moved right up the center of the Gulf and causes a lot of rain and some flooding. But the Gulf is about 1,000 miles across over to Texas so the storm itself was about 500 miles off shore. When a hurricane is coming that is the major conversation of the residence.