NIMBY

There is a wealthy pro basketball player who owns a $30 million dollar home near Atlanta and he is upset because the city plans to build less expensive homes nearby. I bring this up because back in the 50's when I bought my first home there was a Broadway play called, A Raisin in the Sun. It was about a Black family that wanted to move into an all White neighborhood and they were not welcome. The problem was portrayed as racism when it was also economics. The homes cost $10,000 and they estimated the homes would lose 20% of their value. At the time I suggested that if the Black family was some famous movie star and the value would increase 20% there would have been fewer complaints. This basketball player is Black and his concern is not racism but economics. This was the point I tried to make those many years ago.

Stories

President Biden is being criticized for making up stories and I take umbrage with that. In one of my careers I dealt with some financial issues that were complicated and I often used stories to simplify by use of examples. Over the years time has taken its toll and I now find myself in the awkward position of not remembering which stories I made up and which were true. My solution to this problem is simple. I just consider them all true.

Shop lifting

Chicago, like many large cities is plagued with crimes one of which is shop lifting and the question is why and what can be done. Stores are moving and/or closing because of theft and on the famous Miracle Mile 30% of stores are closed. The Cook County States Attorney will not charge a felony unless the amount is over $1,000. As if to pour salt on the wound Illinois will become the first state in the nation to end cash bail completely. The majority of voters must be okay with this since the mayor is running for reelection next month and is favored to win. Her opponents are more liberal than she is. Chicago is the latest city to be hit by rampant shoplifting and its Magnificent Mile, the once highly-populated retail destination, is now dotted with empty storefronts as businesses are being driven away by the brazen thieves. It is well known that technology is ahead of the law and this is a case in point. People shop lift to sell items on E bay and the law has not caught up with this new marketing idea.

Radio

Now that I am no longer subbing I spend a lot of time at home where Eunice is pretty much house bound and we both enjoy listening to music on Youtube. She likes music from the Grand Ole Opry and I noted that they broadcast over station WSM out of Nashville. When I was a teenager most of the music was from the Big Band Era but we young people had to find something different so we turned to guitars. There were very few guitars during the Big Band days. At that time there were radio stations called clear channel stations and under the right conditions they could be heard thousands of miles away. One such station was WSM so we would wait until late at night when the local stations went off the air and we could pick up Nashville where we listened intently for the sounds of guitars and harmonicas. This country type music blended over time with rock and roll and we were enthralled with the new sounds of blue grass rock. In time this music gained popularity and we could listen to local stations like KMOX out of St Louis to the top forty tunes. This was how we spent Saturday morning. What goes around comes around and I now spend my time at home listening to music but instead of on the radio its on this new contraption called Youtube TV.

CRT or not

One of the difficulties in discussing CRT in schools is defining what CRT is. In the schools in this area there is no discussion in science and math classes but in social studies the subject comes up. Here is an example that can help to explain what CRT is all about. The topic is treatment of native Americans by the colonist. Here could be a typical lesson. The natives were tortured, murdered, moved off their land to reservations forced to speak English and convert to Christianity not to mention the White mans diseases like smallpox. It has been estimated that in 1450 there were 4 million native Americans across the continent but by 1800 that number dropped to 600,000. That meant an astonishing 85% of native American were killed in various ways by the colonist. If the lesson ends at this point in the class that is CRT. If on the other hand the lesson continues it becomes teaching history. In the last 150 years things have changed. Natives have been assimilated into general society which means attending school, getting immunizations being eligible for government benefits like health care and public assistance. Their life expectancy has increased from age 40 in 1800 to 74 today. Childhood deaths have decreased dramatically and 25% of natives are enrolled in college. Today there are 5 million native Americans and they earn an average of $40,000 per year. Last years federal budget set aside $4.5 billion for Tribal programs. One recent boon to the reservations is the introduction of casinos where profits provide funding for housing, jobs and educational aid. If the lesson ends at this point that is teaching history. Many times White students leave the class feeling guilty if the whole story is not told.

Memphis

As I watched the video of the Memphis police beating a man to death, I was reminded first of the Rodney King incident in 1991 in LA and then the beating to death of George Floyd in Minneapolis just a couple of years ago. In the Floyd case riots broke out in many cities and lasted many months causing property damage, injuries and deaths. In the King case not much happened until the trial when the officers were found innocent. After that riots started in LA and when the dust settled 63 people lost their lives. The reaction to the Memphis situation is much more subdued and the question is why. Some have concluded that police brutality is not as salient as racism. The pretext for the earlier riots were based on the illegal and cruel treatment of victims by police but that has come into question. It appears that the real concern centers around racism. This also explains the lack of concern about urban crime and the fact that half of the murders in the country are mostly young Black men killing other young Black men. Once people realize this then steps can be taken to reduce this useless killing of young Black men or in many cases boys.

Christians

Charities and churches, most notably the Catholic Church, are trying to help illegal immigrants when they enter the US. They feel this is the Christian thing to do and this attitude has spread. The news reports today that a teacher in Rhode Island is soliciting funds to help a student pay his debt to the coyote that help him get into the country. The fee was $5,000 and he only has $3,000 and needs the rest of the money by February first. She referred to the coyote as a group that helps migrants enter the country as if they were some innocuous well meaning good guys. These are Cartels, criminal enterprises who send unaccompanied children across a thousand miles of Mexican desert, who accost women on the journey and threatened the families of these victims if they don't pay up. To say this is misguided is an understatement. This teacher probably feels she is acting as a loving caring person.

Crime in NY

Murder rates follow general crime rates and in NY City the data shows the trends. During the 70's and 80's the murder rate held at about 2,000 per year but in the early 90's it spiked up to 2,500. At that time the city made a number of changes in the policing and by 1997 the murder rate dropped below 1,000. This downward trend continued until 2019 where 550 murders were committed. What happened. The city took a get tough stance on crime. The police force grew by 35% while the number of prison inmates rose 24%. A program called, "Broken Windows" was instigated. This was the strict enforcement of the law and arrest for misdemeanors increased by 70%. The theory was that if people are deterred from small crimes it will deter big crimes and it worked. The last few years the crime rate has once again increased and the causes are fewer police on the street and fewer criminals in jail. From 2019 to 2021, murders went up 51%, shooting up 104%, burglaries up 16% and car theft up 91%. The brunt of the increase is borne by Blacks who make up 24% of the cities population but were victims in 65% of murders and 74% of shootings. The same is true for felony assault and rape.

Free speech at colleges

The University of North Carolina has come to the rescue of free speech. The president of the university announced the formation of a new program to promote free speech. This is on the heals of what happened last summer. Last week UNC-Chapel Hill’s Faculty Council passed a resolution affirming the right of faculty members to speak freely and the university’s duty to protect their speech. The university president said that it is well known that students with conservative views are hesitant to speak out for fear of reprisals and this must stop. The new program provides a platform for open discussion allowing all viewpoints. He said so many of the professors are liberal that he must introduce a program to encourage different views on various subjects. It is stunning that such an announcement is needed. What ever happened to our universities.

Technology

When hand held calculators were made available to all students many stopped learning their multiplication tables. This was not that alarming as many thought that by repeated use of the calculator the tables would be learned. In my experience that has not happened. It is not unusual to see high school students using a calculator to add single digit numbers. The calculators have advanced to the place where they can graph equations and solve calculus problems. Technology has now moved on from math to writing. The computer program ChatGPT can now write essays better than students. Will we reach the point where going to school is no longer necessary. Just carry your smart phone with you and let it do the problems and write the essays. Will the three R's be reduced to reading?

Equity

Watching the video clip of Al Gore at Davos was an example of using hyperbole to make a point. This was not unexpected because he said he exaggerated in his book to bring attention to the problem. I assume that he is sincere but misguided. It is hard not to suspect his motives since he has made millions on the go green ideology. I am being kind to call it ideology when in fact it looks a lot more like religion. Gore who has already made over $300 million is out for more. He is the co-founder of Generation Investment Management, a $36 billion investment firm. They have a $1.7 billion Sustainable Solutions Fund that will invest in companies that follow the new dictate of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) program. This is a surreptitious (code word) way of saying that the new green deal is about social change in conjunction with climate change but it is never referred to in the press as social change. This bit of misdirection is maintained even though the sponsors of the deal make it clear what they want. Green New Deal (GND) proposals call for public policy to address climate change along with achieving other social aims like job creation and reducing economic inequality. In other words equity or equal outcomes. In socialism everyone is equal but some are more equal.

ESG

There are many companies whose job is to maximize the return in 401K retirement plans. A new idea being pushed by those with climate concerns is called Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and could threaten the return on investments in these 401K plans. ESG tells investment managers what companies they should invest in based on that companies treatment of climate change. For example, investing in fossil fuel companies would be discouraged. The law proposed to accomplish this was changed to remove the requirement that people be told if their investment manager is subject to this new rule. This will allow the government to get involved in your personal finances. Many large money managers have already stopped investing in fossil fuels making it more difficult for oil companies to get financing for new drilling. This is just one more way where the government is attacking the fossil fuel industry. This is all based on the dubious proposition that wind and solar can replace fossil fuels. To solve the problem of climate change requires the use of all kinds of energy sources while making the transition to a carbon free economy.

Bureaucrats

Big surprise. Congressional investigators are finding out that the bureaucrats are not responding to their request for documents in what is called a timely manner. Can these investigators be that naive. The bureaucrats run the government and they are not interested in giving up any of their secrets. Republicans and democrats think they are fighting each other when in fact they are both being controlled by the bureaucrats and these Washington insiders are not about to expose any of their inner workings. As long as the two political parties are fighting with each other the non-elected are safe. If some elected official is accused of malfeasance the non-elected can convict them or prove their innocence. They do this by either leaking information, withholding information or just releasing false information. The only way to stop them is for them to accuse and convict themselves. For example if congress subpoena's someone to testify and this person holds information about those inside the government they just refuse to appear and congress slaps them with contempt. The chief insider, Attorney General, decides not to enforce the contempt charge and its all over. Congress has subpoena power but no power to enforce. These career government employees now have both Trump and Biden under their thumb and they can determine who survives and who dies. Over the years the elected have ceded more and more of their power to the non-elected and this is the price they pay. The press who long ago went to sleep have not yet figured out what is happening. The only way for the people to regain their government is for the voters to demand change because any elected official who tries to take back power from the non-elected will be destroyed. An informed electorate is the only way out of this mess.

Tax on oil

When President Biden took office he was heralded as the environmental president. He pledged to eliminate carbon emissions by 2050, end fossil fuels, scrapped leases to oil companies and threatened a windfall profits tax. He likened the oil companies to war profiteers. Biden is now asking oil companies to increase production and is ready to open up the Willow project in Alaska something that environmentalist oppose. I often wonder if Biden is aware of the environmental problems posed by the production of wind and solar. I even wonder if environmentalist are aware. If they are they never seem to talk about it.

Slaves

Often times when people look back over their lives, certain things come up that they wish they could change or something they they wish they had done differently. The same thing happens for countries. Slavery had been around since the dawn of man and did not end for most of the world until the 19th century. The slaves were brought to the US by European slave traders even though no slaves were sent to Europe. If Americans today were given a chance to change history what would they most like to change. Many feel it would be the dark years of slavery. If the slaves had not been brought to America how would things look today. First off there would be very few Black American as they would be descendants of West Africans living in West Africa. West Africa today is among the poorest nations in the world. About 90% of the population lives in poverty, with little access to food, decent housing, water or sanitation. Terrorism and violent extremism threaten the stability of the region. If a poll were taken today, asking people if they had the power, would they erased slavery from our history, what would be the response. Would the answers from Black Americans be different than from White Americans. Would the longing for freedom cause Black Americans to say they would give up the life here for a history of remaining free people. We cannot change the past but if we could, would we necessarily make things better. Do we have that much wisdom?

Laws

When ever there is a mass shooting the liberals say we need more gun control laws and the conservatives say we need to enforce the laws on the books. Here is an example of unenforced laws from the NY Times. Newport News School Was Warned 3 Times That 6-Year-Old Had a Gun, Lawyer Says Another child saw the weapon at recess, and a teacher warned that the boy might have a gun in his pocket. Yet an administrator dismissed the threat, according to the lawyer for a teacher who was shot.

Saving SS

The current retirement age for social security is 67 and early retirement is at 62. This means a 30% reduction in benefits. The average benefit at age 67 is $1,850 per month so the benefit at age 62 would be $1,300. Since this is an annuity if the person lives the average life span of 76 years they will collect the same amount regardless of what age they start. Social security is not sustainable unless some changes are made. One change could be to up the full retirement age to 70. This would then reduce the age 62 benefit to $1,150. Another change would be to have an income limit for benefits. All individuals with more than $100,000 of income not counting social security would not receive any benefit. This would save $2 billion per year. Withholding SS tax on all earnings would bring in $85 billion per year. If all those with income of $100,000 would not get any SS this would save $100 billion per year. These changes would get SS past the hump of baby boomers retirees and remove the threat to SS for many years. Of course these changes require cooperation between parties so just forget it and have the Fed create new money.

More war

The spokesman for the Defense Department is John Kirby and he is all in on the war. He was 12 years old when the Vietnam War ended. All he knows about it is what he read in the history book. He wasn't here to hear the misinformation that came out of Washington. He should re read the Pentagon Papers. If you don't know what those are you're like him, too young to be pushing another war.

Tanks

Today President Biden announced that the US will send 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. As a casual aside he said since these tanks are very complex to operate we will send Americas to train. If you consider the whole country of Ukraine to be at war then we will be sending American soldiers into the war zone. Meanwhile the procession of retired generals continues across the news media where they in unison point out how important it is that we continue to supply Ukraine with weapons. These are the same generals who always point out the evils of war and why it must be avoided at all cost. Sending war materials is better than sending cash to a country that in the past was awash in corruption. All of the materials we send to Ukraine will have to be replaced which means a bonanza for the infamous military industrial complex. Will the next level of escalation be an attack on the Americans trainers.

Schools

The recent interest in schools has brought the differences between public and private schools into focus. Catholic schools have higher test scores, smaller class sizes and lower pay for teachers. Pay for catholic school teachers is only 65% of what public school teachers receive. Ten percent of students go to private schools but 21% of teachers children go to private schools. The only group that has a higher percentage is the children of members of congress. Test scores are better for all ethnic groups, attendance is higher, suspensions and expulsions are lower. Education is more important in the eyes of parents who send their children to private schools as witnessed by their willingness to pay higher tuition. Discipline problems in Catholic schools are much less frequent and handled swiftly with expulsions. It is no secret that if the parents are concerned about their children's education, if the class sizes are lower and if classroom discipline is maintained the children will perform better.

Wind and solar

The Internet is overflowing with articles about how renewable energy sources are increasing but they use a statistical trick by comparing percentage increase over last year. For example if solar provided 3% of the energy last year and this year it increased to 4% that would be reported as a 33% increase. The facts indicate a different story. According to a August 2022 article energy consumption and production contribute to two-thirds of global emissions and 84% of the global energy system is still based on fossil fuels, the same percentage as 30 years ago. Oil 33.6%, coal 27%, gas 24.2, hydro power 6.4%, nuclear 4.3%, wind 2.2%, solar 1.1%. Of these wind, solar and hydro power are considered renewables and hydro power will not be increasing so only wind and solar are available for growth and they account for 3.3% of the total. Here is a recent report from CNN. The world generated a record 10% of its electricity from wind and solar in 2021 and clean sources accounted for 38% of total power supply — even more than coal. This is another reporting trick. Note the word electricity. This does not include energy used in transportation. If that is added in total from wind and solar drops to 4%. Almost all of the articles on the Internet are written by wind and solar proponents.

Scrooge

The new republican congress is telling the public that they will investigate but they are all smoke and no fire. The administration has said they will only answer legitimate questions and they will determine what is legitimate. So the committee can then subpoena documents and people to testify and if they refuse they can hold them in contempt of congress and ask the Justice Department to prosecute but Justice will not take any action. The only hope for the investigators is to get the public on their side but the press is aligned with the bureaucrats so they will not help. The republicans would be better off without control of congress because with it they will be a do nothing congress but without it they could stand on the sidelines and criticize. In this topsy-turvy world of politics winning is losing and losing is winning. The only upside is that most republicans understand that just creating new money to finance new programs is not sustainable. This means they will be the Scrooges who refuse to help the poor and downtrodden with new programs.

Police

Five Memphis police officers were suspended and fired for using excessive force while arresting a Black man who died from injuries. There has been very little in the news about this incident and many are wondering why the silence. Some say it is because the five officers were all Black. If this is the case then the outrage about police brutality has less to do with unacceptable behavior and more to do with racism.

Joe Manchin

Another voice is heard. Senator Joe Manchin was interviewed and discussed how the US could get control of the deficit not just by cutting spending and raising taxes but through innovation which he said included small low pressure nuclear reactors. The use of thorium reactors could lower the cost of energy while simultaneously fighting climate change. It could produce hydrogen for carbon free transportation and desalt sea water which would bring down the price of food by growing in desert areas. It could start to use up all of the stored nuclear waste. The plants are small and could be built near the point of use greatly reducing the need for long transmission lines. The space needed for a plant is much smaller that the equivalent of wind and solar. Let's go Joe!

Bill of Rights

President Biden said that the Second Amendment, from the day is was passed, limited the type of people who could own a gun and what type of weapon you could own. This is a false statement but it is not the big problem here. The ten amendments were added to the constitution to limit what the government could do not to limit what the people could do. This is a basic misunderstanding and the reason that many people are always pushing for more government intervention in the lives of its citizens. The first ten amendments also known as the Bill of Rights were added to the constitution to resolve one of the most glaring deficiencies of the Constitution, preventing the government's abuse of individual rights. Over the years congress has assumed more and more power using the general welfare clause in the constitution. These laws have not been challenged. It seems the government can spend to promote the general welfare without any constraints.

Leaks

The Justice Department signaled Friday it’s unlikely to share information about ongoing criminal investigations with the new GOP-controlled House, in a move that’s certain to frustrate Republicans in the chamber. This is standard procedure for ongoing investigations so no one should be surprised, in fact, some feel this was the impetus for setting up the special prosecutor. If things proceed as they have in the past there will be no information forth coming from the Biden investigation but there will be a constant stream of leaks about the Trump investigation.

Docs

President Biden said today that the controversy surrounding the lost documents was a lot of nothing or in his words there is no there there. This prompted an immediate storm of conspiracy theories. The government knew about by the documents before the election but it was kept secret until a newspaper uncovered the story in mid December. Then Biden sent in his own lawyers to look over the documents and said there was nothing there. The theory is that there was some damaging information in these documents and his lawyers got rid of it so he could then say there is nothing there. The theory continues saying the FBI allowed Biden's lawyers in alone so they could cover their behinds.

Mob

While most people have been aware of the threat caused by the open border in regards to fentanyl, child abuse and crime, there is a new kid on the block. The cartels with their almost unlimited cash can now start to bribe US officials and thus allow freedom to operate without fear of reprisal. It will be like the old days with the mob.

WASP

It is often said, by certain groups, that the United States was built on the backs of slaves. There is some truth to that especially in the agrarian south but not so much in the industrial north. The north was where the innovation and new manufacturing ideas developed. Names like Rockefeller, Carnegie, Ford, Edison and JP Morgan and thousands more like them led the way. Most of them have two things in common. First they were almost all WASP (White, Anglo Saxon Protestant) and all were male. Even the presidents aside from Eisenhower, Kennedy and Obama were WASP. The New York Yankees baseball team is sponsoring a WASP night where all the players will wear white to commemorate the contributions of these past leaders. Anyone who is not comfortable wearing white is welcome to participate and attend. They will not be admonished, ridiculed, insulted or called unpleasant names. Everyone is invited to participate in this great event in any manner they choose. I always enjoy a little satire. It makes me think.

FEMA

Republicans are threatening to impeach Homeland Secretary Mayorkas for failure to secure the border. This guy is between a rock and a hard place. He knows the border is wide open but he has been told by his boss to say the border is secure. While the congress can and probably will impeach it means nothing to Mayorkas. He knows the senate will not convict him and he knows he is following orders. The whole process will just be an exercise in futility and waste time and money in the process. In is speech today he introduced a new word. What used to be illegal aliens changed to migrants have now become none citizen arrivals. He announced that the FEMA will start helping border states. This is what Texas has been asking for but instead of focusing on how to deal with these migrants the laws should be enforced and the rules changed to discourage people from coming to the border. Most people understand this but to do these things sounds too Trumpian so they are hesitant.

Changing

Bob Dylan said, the times they are a changin, and at a faster rate today. BLM is on the way out. Wokeness is being challenged on all fronts. Schools are going back to academics. Jobs are coming home. Critical Race Theory is fast disappearing. Teaching gender transfer is no longed acceptable. Cancel culture is starting to backfire. The one area that is still hanging on is equity. Instead of striving for excellence people are settling for mediocrity. Instead of students getting grades A thru F the new goal is C's for everyone. Although being a C student myself, I still think grades should reflect effort. Bad mouthing police is no longer in vogue. There is a awakening about the border problem. Fentanyl, child abuse and crime have force people to get more involved. Meritocracy smacks of capitalism and many prefer socialism. Recall Orwell who said socialism is where everyone is equal but then he added that some are more equal. Immigration should be based on merit like many countries practice. Being weak on crime as a way to make up for slavery is not working. Tearing down statues and changing the names of schools is out. Not to mention changing pronouns to fit new genders. Things are going back to the old norms, the way things were 10 years ago.

Reparations Cal

The latest news from avant guarde California is that they want reparations for slavery and I think they should go for it. There are 2.25 million Blacks living in the state along with 189 billionaires. These billionaires have a total worth of $700 billion dollars which is enough to give each Black person $311,000. This is only fair because these rich people made their money off the backs of Black slaves whose descendants were discriminated against in numerous ways. Its payback time.

More Davos

In case there is any doubt about what Davos represents here is what the headlines say. Money, including philanthropic capital, is key to tackling climate crisis, John Kerry, Al Gore tell World Economic Forum Governments, businesses and financiers must throw sufficient financial resources behind decarbonisation technologies, Davos conference hears ‘The lesson I’ve learned in the last years … is money, money, money,’ says United States climate envoy John Kerry The world is following the US new green deal using climate change to redistribute wealth.

Davos

I have been to two movies in the past 40 years and only went because my children recommended them. So it was to my delight that a famous movie person showed up unexpectedly at Davos. Oliver Stone showed up with a provocative new movie called Nuclear Now. He argues that nuclear has been unfairly maligned by oil companies and others (by others I hope he means the greens) to make the public fearful about its safety. Stone says nuclear is the only existing technology that could help in a meaningful way to bring down carbon emissions. He said climate change has forced us to take a new look at nuclear. Unfortunately he is talking like a scientist to a group of people more interested in politics. They want to transfer wealth from rich countries to poor countries and be in charge of who gets what. Many in this group have already become rich by wind and solar and they are looking to get richer. Nuclear doesn't fit that agenda.

Vouchers

Some have questioned how much politics is involved in schools. Recent development in Arizona can help answer this question. For years Arizona had a school voucher program which allowed disabled children, students living on Indian reservation, students attending low-performing public schools and a few others to participate in the voucher program. The previous republican governor expanded that to all students. The new incoming governor now wants to undo the expansion. Arizona now has the nation’s most expansive private school voucher law. It allows parents of the more than 1.2 million school-age children to get 90% of the state money that would normally go to their local public school and use it for private or other school costs. That amounts to about $7,000 for a non-disabled student. The new program has only been effect for 6 months and 30,000 students have signed on but this number is expected to rise to 50,000 this year. If they are going to cancel they best do it fast because it is very difficult to take away a government program. In our area the people most interested in vouchers are inner city parents who want to send their children to schools in the suburbs.

Governor

Kudos to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. His goal is to make MN the most family friendly state in the country. Since the war on poverty started in the 1960's the family has suffered especially Black families which have seen the number of single parents increase from 25% to 70%. This was so profound that groups like BLM suggested that the family was not that important. Talking about the lack of fathers in the home was discouraged. Parental rights have been eroded with school counselors secretly talking to students about subjects better left to parents. Parental consent is viewed as a “cultural and religious barrier” that must be removed in order for children to access “family planning, safe and legal abortion. Families are defined by a strong moral compass that requires all member to have a powerful sense of right and wrong as defined by their belief system. For many, so called sophisticated people, consider things like families going to church together as quaint.

Group think

Peer pressure has a new name. It is called group think. Some are concerned that this is being pushed n schools. Teens feel the need to get along and will often agree to something they do not feel is right just to get along. If they see a student who has come out as a different gender and this student is getting a lot of praise and likes on social media they feel they should agree and post a like. This type of pressure is not limited to young people. There are many adults who are not comfortable with transgender but do not want to express their views in public. Many remain quiet about political situations they disagree with, things like the policy at the southern border or promoting the war in Ukraine. This kind of thinking leads to what is called cancel culture. You can be punished if you disagree with certain groups. Group think.

Equity

Equity is replacing equality in many parts of the country. Equity means equal out comes and equality means equal opportunity. A good example of this policy can be seen in some schools in Virginia. Eleven high schools withheld merit scholarship awards from student so they could not put that on their resume when applying for college. It was felt that these awards would give these students an advantage. “The reality is that we have a superintendent in Fairfax schools who has explicitly stated that her top objective is equal outcomes for all students, regardless of the price,” said Youngkin. “Now we know the price includes paying $450,000 to a liberal consultant to come in and teach the administrators in Fairfax County how to do this. What it appears happened is that principals in schools decided that they were going to systematically withhold accolades and a path to college admission and scholarships from high-performing students. Can you see the schools allowing poor performing athletes to join the team in order to give more students a chance to play. How about giving different test to different students to get the grades up. Not to far fetched as this has been done with test for fire and police departments. In Atlanta a few years ago teachers adjusted SAT scores to bring up lower students. There are many cases were people were promoted over more qualified people in the name of equity. Many colleges are making it more difficult for Asian Americans to get in. Equity is seen by many as the new way to discriminate.

Country

There are American citizens who do not like America. They consider themselves as victims of some past real or perceived injustice. They wait for someone to come to their rescue and give them equity. The military is finding it difficult to get new recruits and some have suggested that it doesn't seem right to ask young people to put their lives on the line to protect systemic racism.

White only

The NHL was attempting to become a more diverse organization when they decided to host a job fair but placed some limitations on who could attend. “Participants must be 18 years of age or older, based in the U.S., and identify as female, Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, and/or a person with a disability. Veterans are also welcome and encouraged to attend,” the post stated. It would have been simpler to say no white males need apply. This is a throw back to the 19th Century.

Shoot

President Biden was talking today and he reminded me of my boy hood hero Roy Rogers. Roy was the kind of nice guy who when confronted with an armed bad guy would just shoot the gun out of the bad guys hand. Biden didn't expect that but he did suggest that the police officer just shoot to wound not to kill. It seems to me that in the excitement of moment tying to shoot at a limb might cause a miss and result in getting shot. Is it reasonable to ask officers to shoot to wound.

War is hell

Here is a headline from a CNN article about the war in Ukraine that should be a wake up call to everyone in the West. "How Ukraine became a laboratory for Western weapons and battlefield innovation". These weapons are the agar in the Petri dish and the bacteria are the Ukrainian people as we observe them under the microscope. These are not people being pushed from their country while all that they have is being destroyed. They are just experiments that can be watched from a safe distance as we once again witness man's inhumanity to man. We will soon reach the first anniversary of the Russian invasion and see no end in sight as we expand plans to send even more efficient weapons of war. We need the help of the forth estate to wake us up but they have sold out to the infamous military industrial complex. They have become a mouth piece for the federal government.

Prosecutor

Newspapers publish letters to the editor on a regular basis but they can do so in a very biased way. They receive some very thoughtful letters and some that are kookie. They can say we publish half that are conservative and half that are liberal but they can pick letters to make one side look responsible and not the other. While special counsel Robert Hur will be tasked with investigation Biden's mishandling of secure document, special counsel Jack Smith investigating Trump will be looking at documents and January 6th. The latest is that the document deal will blow over which allows Smith to go full out on January 6. The main problem he faces is that the general public is not that concerned about January 6 as witnessed by the lack of news created by the TV congressional hearings. This opens the door to a wandering prosecutor as happened with Clinton when he was finally convicted of lying about Monica. Clinton was involved in many questionable activities the least of which was Monica.

Whose the boss

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck its probably a duck. The aura of mystery surrounding the Biden's and their relationship with the bureaucracy is beginning to look like a duck. The most recent example is the way the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is handling the secret documents found in Biden's home. They are supposed to notify congress when this happens but not only haven't they done that, they have ignored request from the congress for comment. These bureaucrats work for the president so they are in a difficult position and for all intents and purposes their hands are tied. This conflict of interest must be addressed. In the overall scheme of things this problem with documents is a minor affair but the same situation exist with major problems. It is much like the chief law enforcement officer of the United States, the Attorney General, who works for the president and is often asked to investigate things within the administration. It is like asking a subordinate to investigate the boss. Remember when Eric Holder said he was Obama's wing man. It would be highly unlikely that he could be convicted of any misdeeds because he would have to convict himself. This leaves impeachment as the only recourse for high crimes and misdemeanors, a process which requires a two/thirds vote in the senate. In a nutshell bureaucrats are like professors with tenure. Their safe unless the president wants to get rid of them. The elected officials may think they are in charged but from an operational standpoint the bureaucrats are running the show. We will see this power when the republican congress tries to get information from the Justice Department.

New congress

As the new republican controlled house takes power they will be stymied by a democratic controlled senate and the veto power of the president so they won't be enacting any new legislation and they know that so they will spend their time investigating. But even that will be problematic since Hunter Biden is under investigation and now President Biden is under investigation. This means that any request for information by congress will not be forthcoming since there is an ongoing investigation. The Justice Department will merely say they cannot release any information while there are these ongoing investigations. The house has rescinded the bill to hire 87,000 new IRS agents but it is all for show because the senate will not approve and if by some fluke they did Biden would veto. It is shaping up to be a do nothing two years.

BMI

A new study was released today that 20% of children are obese. This surprised me because the students in schools do not fit that description. Based on my observations about 5% are fat. So I thought maybe the discrepancy was do to the definition of obese so I did some research. There is something called the Body Mass Index (BMI) and if it is over 30 you are obese and if over 40 your suffer from severe obesity. You can calculate your BMI by taking your weight in kilograms and dividing by your height in meters. Now I am 6 feet tall and weigh 195 pounds. Changing to the metric system I am 1.83 meters tall and weigh 88.45 kilograms. Dividing these two numbers I come up with 48.3 which puts me in the severe obese category. Bah humbug

Sin tax

There is a term not used anymore called sin taxes. These were taxes on tobacco and alcohol used to fund various government programs. In today's world you can add legalized gambling, marijuana and lotteries. The government collects $25 billion on lotteries, alcohol and tobacco bring in $18 billion, gambling $30 billion and the new kid on the block marijuana $11 billion. This money comes mostly from the low income groups and senior citizens. Statistics are used to show that low income people pay very little income tax but they do pay for most of the sin taxes along with social security and Medicare. Add to that sales tax which is the same for all income groups and the low income people get hurt the most since they spend almost all of their income.

Biden docs

The recent revelation that Biden has top secret documents in his home is reminiscent of Hillary Clinton's emails. When the government asked for these emails Hillary first went through them taking out what she referred to as personal stuff like her daughters wedding and then forwarded the requested material to the FBI. Clinton said her lawyers “went through every single email” to determine which ones were personal and which were work-related, Biden sent his lawyers to go through the documents to determine if any were top secret. Biden's situation is not as critical because his documents were not under subpoena. It does pose the question as to whether his lawyers were cleared to see the documents.

Joe in or out

Here is the latest conspiracy theory. Prior to the midterms Biden was slipping fast and the party insiders were planning his early exit. With the help of the abortion issue the elections did not produce the Red Wave and Joe got his second wind. The bosses had planned on using 2023 to groom Joe's replacement but those plans went awry and now they must use plan B. The first step is to find ways to discourage Joe and the misplaced secret papers have opened the door. Never in history as a special prosecutor been appointed this fast. This prosecutor will follow the path of those laid before him and travel far and wide exposing all of the suspected dealings of the Biden family. This may even effect Hunter as the plan was to just charge Hunter with some innocuous tax scheme to show they were not biased but now they may dig into his dealings with China and Ukraine. Joe may figure out what is going on and decide to fight in which case the insiders may have to reconsider and accept Joe as their nominee.

Checks

The news just revealed that some of the top secret documents were stored in Biden's Corvette. This reminded me of an incident that occurred many years ago when I was working for Pillsbury. I was sent to a small town in Indiana to start up a new plant. I arrived with only a small order book to purchase what ever was needed. People in town new who I was and what I was doing there so this book was as good a cash. I purchased many items including a new company car. After a month I received a stack of 500 pre-printed checks with the Pillsbury logo and I put them in the trunk of the car. About a week later an office manager was sent and he took over paying the bills so I forgot about the checks. About a year later after I had moved to Alabama I discovered the checks and returned them to the company headquarters in Minneapolis. Sometimes things just happen but in my case it was not illegal.

Top secret

The hoopla surrounding the discovery of Biden's secret documents is being distracted by comparing this episode with the Trump problem. The real problem is the removal of the documents which is a felony and punishable by fines and prison time. There are many cases where people in the military removed documents and were given a dishonorable discharges. The interesting thing is all the people like Schumer, Pelosi, and Biden who have repeatedly said that no man is above the law. Remarks like that are just pompous pontificates. Everyone who has lived for a while understands that the law is different for different people and it is very different for presidents. I am glad that everything I say is not recorded for posterity.

Solar panels

Solar panels last about 20 to 25 years and many are ending up in land fills. There’s a cost problem in the US because it’s more expensive to recycle than it is to dump. It costs less than $1 to dump a panel in a landfill and between $12-25 to recycle it, but only $3 is paid out for recovered aluminum, copper, and glass. They don't even attempt to extract the rare earth metals that just get buried to later get into the ground water. Here is a headline from a leading environmental group. Rare earth metals pose challenge in clean energy transition.arth Minerals Pose Challenge in Clean Studies have shown the heavy metals in solar panels — namely lead and cadmium — can leach out of the cells and get into groundwater, as well as affect plants. These metals also have a record for detrimental effects on human health. Lead is commonly known to impair brain development in children, and cadmium is a carcinogen. Since there are regulations governing land fills in the US the newest targets are landfills in Africa. Ho Hum.

Border unaccompanied chiildren

One of the reasons that Biden delayed his visit to the border was to keep the national press from seeing the problems. This was avoided by cleaning up the areas where the president went leaving nothing for the press to film. People who watch Fox News are well aware of the chaos that exist along the border since Fox has a full time reporter on the scene. He has the use of drones to film the thousands coming across the border everyday. Since out of sight out of mind seems to be the thought process of the press there is no serious problem at the border. This can be backed up by Mayorkus who says the border is secure. While the sheer number of migrants represents a serious problem the other aspects are even more serious. The over one million got a ways that could include criminals, the human trafficking, the money going to the Cartels and the influx of drugs including fentanyl which is killing young people at a record rate. DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen says sexual abuse is so prevalent during immigrants' journeys to the US southern border that immigration officials now give pregnancy tests to girls as young as 10. Nearly 130,000 unaccompanied migrant children entered the U.S. shelter system in 2022, a record - CBS News.Oct 14, 2022 Are these children easy targets?

Think ahead

A federal agency is considering a ban on gas cooking stoves to improve indoor air quality. The amount of gas burned for cooking is less than one percent of the amount used to heat the home. Is this the first step in getting rid of natural gas for home heating. Will many homes then use electric power which is produced by burning coal in the local power plant. Will there be unintended consequences. The city of Minneapolis banned any future drive through restaurants because people were contaminating the air while having their engines run while waiting in line and when the Covid hit the only safe restaurants were the fast food places. Some years ago the government decreed that new toilets must used only one gallon per flush and people found out that didn't do the job so they flushed twice. The point is does anyone think ahead when making such decisions.

Income tax

Periodically the cry can be heard to do away with the IRS and replace it with a national sales tax. The arguments for this change make a lot of sense. It is simple since most states already collect a state sales tax and this would be collected at the same time and just passed on to the federal government. It encourages saving over spending and savings equals investment. The income tax system is so complicated that only the very wealthy can take advantage of all the loop holes. Many rich people pay less income tax than Joe Sixpack. The downside is so great that it will never happen. The government collects $3.5 trillion in income taxes and the consumers spend $14 trillion so to replace income tax would require a 25% national sales tax. If anyone was serious about getting rid of income tax the easiest way would be to repeal the 1943 law which made automatic withholding from pay checks. If that law were gone and people had to come up with their tax bill for the year on April 15 there would be riots in the streets. A better solution is to simplify the tax code which is currently more than 4,000 pages. Everyone is aware that you can get different answers to the same tax question depending on which agent answers the phone. It is complicated because special interest have influenced the law makers who write the law. So what else is new?

IRS auditor

I did income tax filing for ten years at the senior center. While these were mostly simple cases many involved single moms which meant understanding the earned income tax credit (EITC) and the child tax credit. It required three full days of training each years to update us on the changes in the law. I bring this up at this time because the government is going to hire 87,000 new IRS agents. The requirements for this job is a BA degree with at least 30 semester hours in accounting. In the tight labor market we are now experiencing it will be difficult to find this many prospects. The average starting salary is $75,000 and most accountants working in private industry are making more than that. Will they take a lower paying job to work for the government?

Wind blades

One of the miracles of modern chemistry is the construction of windmill blades. It is a special glass/carbon fiber that is indestructible. They last forever but are damaged in use and must be replaced. While various processes to reuse the blades are under study, the used blades are currently buried and they will be there when the rivers wash the mountains to the seas. The push for wind power has moved the production ahead of any recycle plans. Germany is leading in this area. Principal amongst the German green’s concerns is what to do with more than 90,000 turbine blades; each of which weighs up to 15 tonnes; each of which cannot be recycled; each of which has been deemed hazardous waste. Just one more example of how the new green deal has the horse before the cart. Very little thought has been placed into what happens down the road.

Meds

In the 1970's school based health centers came into existence. It wasn't long after that they started dispensing prophylactics both contraception pills and condoms. By the 1980's students were taking ADHD meds often times on the recommendation of the school nurse. The school nurse can explain to a student how to get an abortion without parental permission. Recently children have been given meds to change their gender and in some states can do so without parental knowledge. The latest thing in the news is treatment of obese children which includes meds and surgery. So far these require parents approval. In the past few years the number of children diagnosed with ADHD has increased by 30% and now effects 10% of all children. The over medication that has effected adults is now working its way down to children. Per capita spending on prescription drugs increased seven fold since 1980 from $140 to $1,073 adjusted for inflation. Coincidentally this increase occurred since advertising drugs on TV became legal in 1978. In 2020 TV ad spending on drugs accounted for 75% of the total TV ads. While this is a lot of money it is only a part of what is spent. In 2016, the pharmaceutical industry spent $29.9 billion on medical marketing in the United States, including $20.3 billion for marketing directly to health care professionals. This is money to doctors.

Biden border policy

Obama's immigration policy earned him the reputation of deporter in chief as he deported over 3 million migrants. When Biden took office he was critical of Obama's policy saying, Joe Biden called it a “big mistake” to have deported hundreds of thousands of people without criminal records. Biden next ended the remain in Mexico policy and restarted the catch and release program. Biden then stopped all construction on the border wall even the parts that were already paid. Biden accelerated the policy of moving migrants inland. During the debates Biden told immigrants to come. During a 2019 Democratic presidential primary debate, President Biden said that the United States is a country that tells people struggling under oppression or poor conditions, "You should come," as he argued for a more open asylum policy.  This week Biden admitted there is a problem at the border because congress will not enact a immigration policy. CNN says, Don’t try to make sense of Biden’s border policy

Documents

The recent discovery of classified documents in Biden's office at the University of Penn have reopened interest in Trump's storing of classified documents at his home in Florida. The brou ha ha over the Trump situation came to a sudden end when experts said Trump as president could declassify any document. This resulted in another controversy between some who said the president did not have total authority to declassify but there were so many experts saying he could that the whole thing ended. In this regard the situation with Biden is different since he was not president at the time these documents were moved.

More equity

Through the history of Western civilization Jews have been discriminated against and sometimes it was because they were too successful. Case in point, in the last century leading universities limited the number of Jewish students. The same thing is happening to Asian American students today. It was wrong then and it is wrong now. This has now spread into high schools. In one Fairfax County, Virginia high school national merit winners were kept secret for equity purposes. The principal said it was a clerical over sight but recently two more high schools have admitted withholding merit awards. It is not likely that three separate schools had clerical errors but the investigation continues. Equity means equal results and having some students excel in academics means unequal results. This hearkens back to the idea that everyone gets a trophy and everyone moves up to the next grade and not keeping score.

Avenatti

The phrase Trump derangement syndrome is tossed around but sometimes it is a fact as was the case of Michael Avenatti. He was the attorney for Stormy Daniels, the woman who claimed she had an affair with former President Trump. This was all that was needed for the anti Trump press to jump in feet first. Avenatti was featured 254 times in one year on major networks. Here are a few examples. Historian Jon Meacham called Avenatti the savior of the republic. The View's Joy Behar said he was saving the country. MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle said she offered an apology to Avenatti for doubting his ability to combat Trump. Bill Maher said he was Trump's worst nightmare and that he, Avenatti was a folk hero to anti Trumpers. Nicolle Wallace said Avenatti hit a lot of the right notes. Brian Stelter said Avenatti was a serious contender for the presidency. Navarro, you're like the Holy Spirit to me. Turns out the guy was a fraud who could easily manipulate the press because they were ripe for the pickin.

Africa

This is special thank you to Africa for provided the us with the cobalt needed for our modern economy. Special thanks to the children who mine the cobalt. We will repay you when the windmills are past their useful life and the left overs will be sent to Africa for burial, maybe in the same holes by the same children who mined the material to start with. In addition agricultural experts here want to thank you for allowing us to genetically modifying your favorite vegetable cassava and observe any effects it may have over the next few generations. The same thing goes for the mosquitoes which our scientist have modified to cure malaria and once again we will monitor your children to see if there any dangerous side effects.

Social security

One of the reasons that social security is running out of money is that the benefits are adjusted according to inflation. During the late 70's and early 80's inflation reached 14% and this put a strain on the budget. This past year the average benefit increased by $140 per month and this will cause the fund to run out before the estimate 2034. People my age will collect far more than was paid in but that is not the case for recent retirees. SS retirement benefits are very progressive, that is, lower income people get a higher percentage benefit. For example if your life time income averaged $60,000 per year your monthly benefit would be $1,500 and if your average lifetime earnings were $30,000 your benefit would be $1,000.

Women

When I went to college in the 1950's only 5% of high school students went on to college and only about one in five of those were female. The women who wanted to make a career chose teaching or nursing and almost no women majored in science and engineering. There was a derogatory joke that women went to college to get an MRS. Today there are more women in medical school, law school and graduate school than men. You've come a long way baby. While most men my age didn't give much thought to the plight of women our ideas quickly changed when we had daughters and especially when they got to college age. The list of the most important events of the last century are always led by the depression and WW 2 but the coming out of the women should be right up there at the top. They are often mentioned for their contributions during the war where they built the munitions that won the war but their overall benefit to society was the most important change of the century. Those changes have continued and expanded into the 21st century.