Debt

Watching the debt ceiling debate is a battle in futility. Two thirds of the budget is mandatory spending (social security, Medicare, Medicaid) and is off the table. One half of what is left is defense and that is off the table. That leaves 16% to work with and that includes things like VA benefits, school lunch programs and food stamps. Does anyone believe some person would campaign on cutting food stamps. Everyone knows that you have to look at entitlements and everyone also knows that the answer is printing more money and since the harm from that will not happen until the current batch is out of office, that is the logical way to go. If common sense prevailed they would realize that you bring down the debt like you brought it up on a year by year bases of slowing the growth. No one has to take a cut they just get slightly smaller increase. Let's say that inflation is 4% for the next 70 years but budgets are only increased by 3%. What happens. Real government spending decreases by one percent each year. The record breaking 2022 budget was 6.3 trillion. 6.3 trillion at 4% for 70 years equals $98 trillion and 6.3 trillion at 3% for 70 years is $50 trillion. That's a $48 billion surplus. This is what happens when you keep the increase in spending a little behind the inflation rate. Here is what happened last year with social security. The inflation rate in 2022 was 8% and everyone on social security got an 8.7% increase. Just the opposite of how things should be done.

Tim

I have come up with the ideal candidate for president in the next election based on the criteria used in the 2020 election. People voter for Biden because he is a nice guy and they voted against Trump because he is not a nice guy. This tells me that the nicest guy will win and as I look over the field the front runner and obvious choice is Senator Tim Scott. Every body likes Tim even Trump. How can you not. A Black kid from South Carolina raised by a single mom working two jobs becomes a US Senator. Only in America can this happen. He's friendly, charismatic, articulate and experienced. Go Tim

President

I have decided that I will run for president. Here is what I will do and how I will do it. I will bring down inflation by increasing oil production to 17 million barrels per day. This will lower the cost of all products since all contain some transportation cost. It will make the country energy independent. I will secure the border by reintroducing remain in Mexico, stop catch and release, force Mexico to secure their border with Guatemala and build a wall. Next enforce illegal hiring and push for merit immigration. I will reduce crime by putting career criminals in jail, stop no cash bail, bring back stop and frisk and forcing DA's to enforce the law. I will start a national program designed to encourage new people to join law enforcement and push local authorities to back their officers. I will end the war with a peaceful negotiation. Russia will receive the Dumbas region and a promise that Ukraine will not join NATO. The money now being wasted in destroying the country will be used to build a new and improved Ukraine. I will solve the problem of climate change by forming a group of qualified scientist to criss cross the country explaining small nuclear reactors and when people are informed they will see the logic. I will make America first by increasing import taxes and offering incentives to bring manufacturing home starting with critical medical materials. It will be new infrastructure and work closely with my next promise. I will send a wake up call to government agencies like the EPA and Interior to adjust their regulations to make new development easier. No more shutting down major construction to save the Snail Darter, a small fish no one ever heard of. I will start opening up mining in the United States to mine and refine our own cobalt to save the lives of children in Africa who are currently producing most of the worlds cobalt. I will start manufacturing our own rare earth metals instead of poisoning the drinking water for 150 million Chinese. I will keep the sanctions on Iran and take steps to cement our relations with Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. I will work with congress to develop a merit based immigration system by explaining the value added to our country with well educated migrants with STEM. I will demand that other countries pay into NATO, WHO and UN the same percentage of their GDP that the US pays or I will withdraw from all such organizations. I will have the schools concentrate on academics and leave sexual matters to one course in third year high school with an elective course in the senior year both courses being taught by qualified teachers.

Theft

One of the problems with no cash bail is repeat offenders. The Mayor of New York said yesterday that there were 22,000 arrest for theft and only 327 people were involved. That averages 67 thefts per person. If these people are not incarcerated they just keep stealing. Because of social equity these people cannot be jailed. This has become a business since the thieves discovered they can sell what they steal on line for cash.

FISA

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) was established by Congress in 1978. The irony is FISA was created by the U.S. Congress based on the recommendations of the Senate's Church Committee, which was convened in 1975 to investigate illicit activities and civil rights abuses by the federal intelligence community. The court gives permission for search and seizure without a court order or warrant. Since the court only hears the governments side of the story all information presented to the court must be fully investigated before being presented to the court and 99.998% are approved. The FBI improperly used warrantless search powers against U.S. citizens more than 278,000 times in the year ending November 2021, according to an unsealed Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) filing. This was the court that approved the now debunked Steele dossier that was used to spy on the Trump campaign. The FISA judge who approved the request now says he would not have done so if he had known what he knows now. The first request by the FBI to spy on Carter Page was refused so they went back a second time with the Steele dossier and the court approved. Is it time for another Church committee.

Refugees

The latest bad news scenario for Ukraine has to do with demographics. Young men of working age are being killed in war and children are being sent to Russia. While the country is slowly being ravaged the coming generation is being thinned out to the point where there will not be enough people to run the economy if it ever gets going. Each year this situation will get worse as more and more die and/or moved out of the country. Many of the refugees will not return after the war and the longer the war last the fewer will return.

Burb school

While the current talk is reparations, the best way to help Blacks is through better education. Many things have been tried but here is an approach worth considering. First off a typical school district here in the burbs is District 196. There are 29,000 students, 1,900 support staff and 2,100 teachers with an annual budget of $534 million dollars. Build a school campus in the suburbs with the elementary, middle and high school in one large building. The building will be designed for maximum protection of students. Bus transportation will be provided for any inner city student who wants to attend. The buses will pick up students at various schools and transport them to the new school which will be a charter school. The staff will be minimal with a principal, assistant principal, secretary, nurse, food service staff and police officer for each school. Discipline will be strictly enforced. Three strikes and your out. The schools will have the best of equipment and teachers will be paid higher salaries from the staff savings. There will be no shortage of teachers as they will line up to get into such a school. The curriculum will be based on academics. Social studies will cover US History, US Geography and Civics. Four years of math will be offered with two years required. Science will include general science, biology wih chemistry and physics as electives and four years of English (reading and writing). No foreign language and an extensive program of intramural sports, no school teams that travel to other schools. This is a school for serious students who make the choice to come and advanced placement courses will be available. Those who are not serious will be asked to return to their other school. This is the basic idea and experts can build on this and make the needed improvements.

Responsibility

In July 2022, a Milwaukee-based group calling themselves the Kia Boys (or Kia Boyz) posted a video to TikTok revealing how easy it is to steal some modern Kia and Hyundai models with everyday tools. The claim is now being made that those who steal these cars are not responsible for their actions because the cars are to easy to steal. Others say that being responsible for your actions means if you steal a car the crime is yours. The governor of New Mexico is proposing a law that says if a gun is used in a crime the manufacturer can be held responsible. In a rather circuitous route the idea of being responsible for your actions can be seen in troubled students. Too many of these students have problems taking responsibility for their actions. This probably starts in the home.

Social justice

Social justice is a relatively new term and is an offshoot of equity. Statistics show that a disproportional number of Blacks are in prison and some District Attorneys have tried to make adjustments to equalize the disparities. Their approach has been to change some crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, no cash bail and releasing repeat offenders. In short the idea is to keep Blacks out of prison. The theory of equity means that if Blacks represent 13% of the general population they should equal 13% of the prison population and they are striving for equal results. There is pressure to achieve equity in other areas with attempt to adjust testing to get more Blacks to compete or eliminating grades in school or what is known as grade inflation. The end result is a general trend toward mediocrity in the name of fairness.

Warp speed vaccine

Typical Timeline. A typical vaccine development timeline takes 5 to 10 years, and sometimes longer, to assess whether the vaccine is safe and efficacious in clinical trials, complete the regulatory approval processes, and manufacture sufficient quantity of vaccine doses for widespread distribution. Trump because he was an outsider could think outside the box and assumed that this could be done much faster and started operation warp speed and the vaccine was developed in less than one year. A Commonwealth Fund study estimates that, through November 2022, COVID-19 vaccines prevented more than 18.5 million US hospitalizations and 3.2 million deaths and saved the country $1.15 trillion. Without COVID-19 vaccines, the US would have seen four times more deaths from the pandemic virus—an additional 3 million lives lost—as well as nearly four times more hospitalizations, 1.5 times more infections, and an additional $1.5 trillion in medical bills since December of 2020.

War

President Biden announced today that the US will train Ukrainian pilots to fly F 16's to move further into the quagmire. The quagmire theory explains the cause of the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. The quagmire theory suggests that American leaders had unintentionally and mistakenly led the country into the Vietnam War. The slow increase in the US involvement can lull the American people into the warm water frog scenario. The end could be quite different as the Ukraine leader Zelenskyy does not see nukes as off the table. This man has too much sway over the way the West is participating in the war. If it came down to losing the war he would have no qualms about using nukes against the Russians. The death toll slowed during the winter months but is about to spike up as the long awaited spring offensive begins. At least that will bring the war back into the news.

Race

The ongoing case of Mr Penny who used a choke hold on a man in the subway and the man died has led to calls of racism and public protest. This happens on a regular basis and the press puts these cases front and center. The question arises as to who or what group benefits from dividing the country along racial lines. The press of course gets lots of clicks and readers but what other groups benefit. The so called race hustlers are always out in force but they are a small number.

Loans

In March of 2020 the government paused the payments on student loans and that has continued to this day at a cost of about $5 billion per month. $42 billion to 615,000 borrowers have been canceled since Oct of 2021. The court is expected to rule against the legality of the Biden loan forgiveness plan and those loans will have to be repaid.

Watergate

Today they were talking about the Watergate hearings which were on everyday for months and I was glued to the TV. A lot happened but what I remember most clearly is when a man named Butterfield was testifying and they asked him a question and he answered by say, I'm not sure but I can check the tapes. This was followed by a long silence as all the senators sat there with their mouths open.

Workers

The study of the demographics of many countries shows they are running out of young workers and these are the people that provide for the elderly but also are the consumers of current production. China is entering this period were there are not enough young people but the way around this can be seen in Japan where they faced this problem in the 1990's. Japan chose to keep high value manufacturing at home and then set up manufacturing facilities around the world and in particular in the United State.. Here they have a supply of factory workers and they can send the profits back home to care for their graying population. The United States is about to embark on a similar plan by bringing manufacturing back home. The US will keep the high value production here in the US and send the low value production to Mexico where there is an ample supply of young workers. High value products require specially trained workers who have the educational skills needed in areas like high tech communication, advanced medical equipment and defense weapons. Low value are plant assembly line workers agriculture. Building new facilities will be costly and inflationary but in the longer run bring prosperity.

Durham report

I concluded some years ago that the un-elected government officials called the bureaucracy had too much power and could not be controlled. Recently a high ranking IRS employee came forward as a whistle blower to expose what he considered to be unethical and illegal activities in the department. Yesterday the whistle blower's entire team was removed from the suspect investigation. It is next to impossible for a government employee to criticize without being punished and this protects the bureaucrats. Most recently these same bureaucrats have joined forces with the press to add another level of protection. Yesterday the Durham report was released and stated we conclude that the (Justice) Department and FBI failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to the law in connection with certain events and activities described in this report The press reported today that as to the Durham report there is no there there. The press is still doing their part.

Biden's age

A number of people are saying Biden is too old but that is misleading. There are many people his age who are quite active and alert but he is struggling. His problem is not his age but his mental and physical health. He has times when he is lucid and other times he seems lost and these are the early signs of dementia. For some people this can be a long slow decline over many years but on average it takes about two years after initial onset for the person to lose their independence. It is unlikely that Biden could finish a second term with good health. The question is should he be asked to do so.

School courses

Most people know about Rosa Parks, the Black lady that sat in the front of the bus and was arrested. Rosa was a civil rights activist who had sat in the front of the bus on several occasions before she was arrested. She was a member of the American Civil rights group and chosen for this test case. Something similar happened this past week to a Florida teacher. A first year teacher in fifth grade is being investigated for showing a animated Disney movie featuring a gay boy. She was challenged by a school board member who is a christian and felt the movie was not appropriate. If the movie did not show explicit sexual behavior but centered on the love between two boys it should not be controversial but why out of all the Disney movies did this teacher choose this one. She said the Hernando County School District sent a note to the parents of children in the class informing them that their children had been shown the film. Was this done on purpose to become a test case. Now instead of finding ways to improve students academic abilities the emphasis will be on other matters. This is just one more distraction that schools can do without but some people feel the schools must teach sexual preference. What other non academic interest should schools be exploring.

Question

Many years ago I read a great book by David Halberstram called, "The Best And Brightest" about the Kennedy/Johnson years and Johnson, who was a crude person had once offered a new reporter an exclusive interview. The reporter asked how many people were on the White House staff. Johnson responded by saying, you have a private interview with the most power man on the planet and you ask a chicken shit question like that. Today Biden was on his bike and stopped to take a question from a reporter and the reporter ask, how was you Mother's Day. Biden hides from reporters and they are hungry for interviews and this is what the reporter asked.

Durham

The report from John Durham on the Trump/Russia connection was released today and revealed what many Trump supporters have known all along that it was politically motivated. It was acceptable by these government officials because of their dislike for Trump. Durham’s 300-plus page report also states that the FBI used “raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence,” to launch the “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation into Trump and Russia but used a different standard when weighing concerns about alleged election interference regarding Hillary Clinton’s campaign. “Based on the review of Crossfire Hurricane and related intelligence activities, we conclude that the (Justice) Department and FBI failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to the law in connection with certain events and activities described in this report,” Durham wrote.

USA

Everyone is aware of the great contributions that the United States made to the world in the last century with helping to win the two world wars and the rebuilding of the countries of those who fought against the United States. But there is much more. To start with about 40% of all the 900 Nobel Prize winners have been from the United States. The main reason is the countries investment in higher education. Academics from around the world come to the US for advanced learning. Thanks to its renowned research universities and robust bio technology industry, the US dominates the Science and Technology category. The US has won 65% of Nobel prizes in chemistry, 43% in physics and 91% in medicine. The AIDS epidemic in Africa was brought under control and polio is no longer a threat because of US medical care. The US won the cold war and today there are only five communist countries, China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and North Korea and all but North Korea are in part free market economies. Because the US provided safety for the sea lanes the worldwide trade led to the globalization of the past 70 years brought about the greatest economic growth in history and in the process brought one billion people out of poverty. The US almost single handedly brought about the computer revolution over the past 50 plus years which has increased productivity and prosperity around the world. The US has 750 military basis in 80 countries. The US funds the major portion of NATO in addition to supplying most of the troops. The US is the major fund provider for the IMF, the World Bank and the UN. The military strength across the globe allows many countries to have minimal defense expenses which allows them to spend more on social programs like national healthcare.

Food shortage

To steal a phrase from the "Music Man" to illustrate the lack of understanding of the war in Ukraine. "Friend, either you're closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated by the presence of war in your community". The war has jeopardized the 20% of the woulds supply of grains and this will lead to severe food shortages especially in Africa. This is the same place where children are mining cobalt for electric car batteries. It is the same country where the west will bury the discarded materials from wind mills and solar panels. There are people here in the US who are well educated and well off financially who constantly express their concern over the poor and down trodden and yet they seem to be oblivious to the damage to the poorest of the poor living in Africa. It is cynical to say but sometimes I think that when these people go to bed at night, the last thought that passes through their head, is how much better off the world would be if there were more people like me.

Stars

Our galaxy, the Milky Way, has about 300 billion stars and it is on a collision course with the next closest galaxy, Andromeda, which has about one trillion stars. To illustrate how big the universe is when that collision occurs it is unlikely that any stars will collide. Even though there are hundreds of billions of stars rushing toward one another they will all miss because the distances between them are so great. If a star were the size of a golf ball the next nearest star would be 732 miles away. Not much chance of colliding.

Onshoring

The situation at the southern border allows innocent people to make a perilous journey and helping the drug cartels poison young Americans but there is a larger danger looming ahead. The current President Obrador is trying to become a dictator but he is term limited by law so he will be gone in two years but if his successor follows in his footsteps it could hinder the long term onshoring plans of the United States. The US plans to overtime bring home manufacturing to the west and much of that will be built in Mexico. If the cartels gain too much power they could interfere with the new manufacturing plans. One way for the president to gain more power is to join forces with the cartels and the US would be forced to take military action to control the cartels. This would have a detrimental effect on the US plans to onshore. If the US can succeed in onshoring it will mean high inflation for several years but in the end it will guarantee secure supply chains and increased productivity that will time reduce inflation. While much of the new manufacturing will be in Mexico an equal amount will be in the US and this will raise wagers for factory workers much like what happened in the 1950's. This could become the greatest growth period in US history.

Leadership

There are two reasons why the country needs the return of Trump. First off, while Trump and DeSantis policies are similar, Trump is the only one who can handle the bureaucrats and the country needs to clean house in the bureaucracy. These un-elected people have too much power and they are corrupted. Recall power corrupts. Secondly Trump can end the war. He will sit down with NATO leaders and Putin leaving out Zenlenskyy and negotiate. He has the skills to do this and my guess is he will propose that Russia be given the Donbas territory along with an agreement that Ukraine will not be invited to join NATO. Trump will remove the sanctions allowing the Oligarchs to breath easier. In return Putin will go home victorious with his new won land. This will prevent the up coming world famine effecting mostly the countries in Sub Sahara Africa, it will save the European economy by bringing back Russian natural gas. The big victory will the end to killing and destroying. The west will then begin the process of rebuilding Ukraine from the ground up. The big problem is this is two years off and that may be too late to save the German manufacturing base which is the heart of the European economy and many people may starve not this coming year but the next. Countries have enough reserve fertilizer to get through next year. The west depends on the US for leadership and Biden is not able to step up to the plate.

Perry

Danial Penny is charged with the death of a subway man. Penny and two others held the man down on the floor while Penny put him in a chock hold and the man died. As this case unfolds it becomes curiouser and curiouser. First off the other two men are not being charged even though they helped. Second the NY Times did some deep research on Penny and nothing was published about him. That probably means they didn't find anything of interest in his back ground. No previous run ins with the law and no problems with his military service. There were several bystanders who called the police but they have not been identified. Unlike the many other Black men who were murdered that day this case gets national attention because Penny was White. This is not the beginning of this story but rather the end. The beginning was when the DA decided to allow this man to roam the streets. Next came the no cash bail. Neely had been previously arrested 44 times for multiple assaults, attempted child abduction, drugs, and indecent exposure. Officials say he had at least 43 cases of an "aided case," where mental healthcare workers took him in for treatment. The day before his death he was under investigation for pushing someone on the tracks. There was currently an arrest warrant for Neely in the violent attack on an older woman.

Abortion

Abortion will be an important consideration in the up coming election. 90% of abortions happen in the first 12 weeks which is the end of the first trimester. The embryo is about 4 inches long. A long tube is inserted into the uterus and the embryo is sucked out in small pieces The most common reason for first trimester abortions are chromosomal abnormalities. The doctor then examines the parts to make sure none of the embryo remains inside the mother. By mid second semester the fetus is too large to be suctioned out so a clamp is used to reach in and pull out the fetus part by part usually starting with the limbs and ending with the head. Again the pieces are examined to make sure nothing is left behind as that could lead to serious infection. This is why most people feel the 12 week rule is a good compromise and only the life of the mother exception should be used after the first trimester.

Impeach

If the Justice Department is doing the biding of the president which some republicans suggest, there is nothing that can be done about it. Did the founding fathers ever consider such a scenario. Once the bureaucracy teams up with the president the only option is impeachment but if Justice refuses to release information or enforce subpoenas congress is stymied. They have no access to the documents that will prove their allegations. To connect the president to a crime is further complicated by plausible deniability. If you are president your staff has a number of ways to protect you, one of which is called plausible deniability. It is a way for the president to receive information without acknowledging. There will be no paper trail, no recorded conversations and nothing in writing. The Attorney General is appointed by the president and the AG heads up the Department of Justice for which the FBI is one part. If the AG is a good buddy of the president as was Eric Holder, who famously said he was Obama's wing man, then the president will not be convicted of any crime nor will he be impeached.

Don't get involved

It remains to be seen how the young man who chocked the crazy guy in the subway will be treated but one lesson has been clearly learned by all. If you witness a public disruption call the police and get out of there. For sure do not intercede. It may be difficult to watch a woman or child get beaten but let the police deal with it. This is just one more example of how the society is deteriorating. Teachers are fearful of hugging little students, a man is fearful of asking the for a date for a second try and many people remain silent when they would like to speak out. We saw a good example of this last night when Trump was invited to a Town Hall on CNN. This morning most liberal people were upset that CNN allowed Trump a platform to speak. They want to shut him down. The founding fathers debated for six months before they came up with compromise we call the constitution. The foundation of democracy is free speech and that means listening to speech you do not agree with. You listen and then you get your chance and in time reasonable people can reach an agreement. If you think the others side is being dishonest then if you can see that others will see it unless you have some insight into human nature that others don't have. Some of the commentators today gave the impression that only they were smart enough to uncover lies and disinformation but the average voter has that ability. There are people who have made up their minds and regardless of what new information is presented they will not change but fortunately those are in the minority.

Border crossings are up

The situation at the border seems to be a surprise to many people but all those who watch Fox News are well aware of what has been going on since President Biden took office. The news did not cover the border until some migrants were bused to northern cities and now even though Myorkas says there is no crisis, Biden calls it chaos. The cause of this mess is anti Trump sentiment. When Biden took office he immediately undid every thing that Trump had put in place even though the border crossings were at record lows. He stopped building the wall even to the point of allowing material that had already been paid for to sit out in the desert an rust. He reinstated the catch and release program which allow people in the country who will have to report to court some years in the future. He stopped the remain in Mexico program. In the debates he said they should come and they did wearing thank you Biden T shirts. The Mexican government stopped patrolling its southern border with Guatemala. Now what.

Biden family

This morning on Fox News, the congressional committee investigating the Biden family's business dealings with China, Romania and Ukraine gave an extensive list of questionable financial transactions between these foreign countries and the Biden family members. There is no direct evidence that President Biden benefited from any of these activities and no evidence that any policy decisions were affected by these transactions. Even if such evidence were presented it would not matter because the Justice Department is not going to look into these allegations, saying it is just political infighting. It is surprising that these congress people assumed that the government would follow up on their evidence. Congress has the power to investigate which includes subpoenas but only the Justice Department can prosecute. The only thing this committee might hope to accomplish is to get public attention on the facts but that will not happen because the press sees this as political. Even today Fox was the only station to carry the committee and that will be the way this is handled so most of the public will not be aware of what the committee uncovered. When the Justice Department and the press are working as a team it is difficult to get through the clutter.

California

For years people streamed into California for the climate but the last few years more people have left than arrived. If the people leaving are the rich this could cause some serious problems because in California 150,000 people pay half the taxes in a state of 40 million. Many of these people are tech types who could leave and keep their jobs by working away from the office. 35% of Silicon Valley employees already work from home.

Budget fight

The discussions going on now in regards to the budget are not working out because both sides are coming at the problem from a completely different directions. One side believes that you cannot keep spending more than you are taking in and the other side believes you can just print up the money to cover the deficit. The argument for the first side is hard to make since the government has been running deficits since WW 2. The reason this has been possible is that the deficit as a percent of GDP has held to about 3.5%. However that has changed in the past two years and is now projected to be 5.5% in the future. This could lead to a serious problem. The second side is based on an unproven economic theory called Modern Monetary Theory. It says that the government can print money as needed since the government is the issuer of the currency. It remains to be seen how long this can last. Most people think of budgets in terms of their private lives and know that spending more than you take in will lead to bankruptcy. This may not be the case with the federal government. The obvious solution to this problem is not to cut any spending but to cut the rate of increase in spending. In other words if the VA budget this year is going up by 4% then just let it go up by 2%. A compromise might include some adjustments for inflation. But it is all politics all the time, economics be dammed.

Campaign

For those fools who are political junkies we are in the perpetual campaign and the battle lines are being drawn. The democrats will concentrate on issues like Trump's personality, equity, transgender, gender inequality, racism, gun violence and abortion. The republicans will concentrate on the border, crime, inflation and energy independence. The press will most likely report on the democratic issues. It will once again be Hollywood, unions, the college educated and the bureaucrats against the working people (Reagan democrats).

Two elections

Beginning before the 2016 election the NY Times started publishing news about the Trump-Russia collusion to win the election. This continued for three years. After winning the Pulitzer Prize for outstanding reporting the Times admitted it was wrong and there was no collusion. In July of 2022, five years later, the Times columnist published an article detailing his "wrong" and regretful reporting before the 2016 election. An 18-month investigation by the liberal media watchdog Columbia Journalism Review has delivered a major black eye to The New York Times and other Pulitzer Prize winners for their stories about the Trump-Russia saga, finding “serious flaws” in their coverage and no acknowledgment that the accusations of collusion with Moscow were never substantiated. This was long after the election was over and led to the impeachment of the president The first impeachment trial of Donald Trump, the president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, began on December 18, 2019. This was during the run up to Trumps second term. Many experts feel that this trial influenced the election. Some say it meant that two elections in a row these investigations amounted to election interference but since it was Trump the press didn't see it that way. The major loss to the country was the way the press chose to look away.

Border

Biden's immigration policy is primarily based on reversing many of the Trump policies. Biden halted the wall construction, ended the travel ban from 14 countries, reined in deportation practices, started catch and release and he ended remain in Mexico. During the debates 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. Under Trump there were 450,000 illegals coming in each year and this increased to over 2 million under Biden. To this day there are still 200,000 per month coming over the border. This includes 240,000 unaccompanied children 85,000 of whom are lost.

Fossil

In a campaign stop in September of 2019 Biden denied the donor’s association to the fossil fuel industry before calling the young woman “kiddo” and taking her hand. He said, “I want you to look at my eyes. I guarantee you. I guarantee you. We’re going to end fossil fuel.” Halted all new oil and gas leasing Killed five year off shore leasing program Invalidated Gulf lease sale 257 Pressured financial markets to abandon fossil fuel projects Cut onshore permitting Added burdensome pipeline rules The result is the country went from energy independence to a being forced to buy oil from Russian, Iran and Venezuela and the price of gasoline doubled.

Border crossing

Morning Joe was wondering why the border crossings are so high and he commented that when Obama and Biden left office they were at a fifty year low. What he failed to add is that when Trump left office they were still at a fifty year low. Over those years they averaged about 450,000 per year and since Biden took office they have been over 2 million per year. Recall that Obama was the deportation in chief. Here is the way that VOX a left leaning publication describes the Trump policy. The best way to describe Donald Trump’s current policy toward families crossing the US-Mexico border is this: He just went from being much harsher than Barack Obama to trying to get the courts to let him be as harsh as Obama was.

Laptop

The big October surprise of the 2016 election was a story in the NY Post about the Hunter Biden laptop. CIA Director Mike Morell testified under oath that Antony Blinken asked him to write a letter saying the laptop was Russian disinformation and have 50 former government officials sign the letter. The letter was posted three days later on October 17, 2020. Morell said he wrote the letter to give Biden a talking point for the debates and he wanted Trump to lose the election. Then as planned Biden referenced the letter in the final debate. Blinken has denied what Morell says and they will both be asked to come back and testify to find out who is lying. Normally such disputes would not be of that much interest but in this case polls show that it might have affected the out come of the election. This would then be a case of election interference.

Get clicks

People are protesting in New York City over the unfortunate death of a Black man on the subway. He threatened some passengers and was taken down by a White guy with a choke hold. He was assisted by another White guy and a Black passenger. Last year 9,300 Black people were murdered most by other Black people but no protest over that. This is not about Black lives but about racism. To further prove this, one of the reporting agencies cropped out the Black guy who helped. There are some in the news business who would like to see unrest caused by racism. They see dividing the country as a way to get clicks.

Independents

For many years the political make up of the country was roughly 35% republican, 35% democrat and 30% independent and that is why many are surprised that recent polls show the country to be 50% independent. One explanation is that the constant blame game by the two major parties has turned off people who are looking for problem solving through compromise. This will not happen because each party uses the other party to cover their mistakes using what aboutism. This means it is all about party instead of country and the voters are beginning to see this. The only way things will change is when the incumbents begin to lose elections. Don't hold your breath as incumbents have too much on their side with fund raising and jerrymandering.

Despicable

When people act emotionally they often lose their ability to think logically. This is the situation faced by many today. It's better to have 6% inflation than 1.5% inflation with Trump It's better to have a shortage of energy than energy independence with Trump It's better to have high crime than low crime with Trump It's better to have $3.50 gas than $2 gas with Trump It's better to have open borders than secure borders with Trump It's better to have war than no war with Trump The reasoning behind this seemingly illogical thinking is that Trump is a despicable person The other choice is Biden, a grandpa who has turned his back on his four year old granddaughter for political expediency and that, to many people is despicable. Now we get to choose the least despicable.

Med students

The New England Journal of Medicine has been strongly criticized for publishing an academic paper calling for medical students to be taught in racially-segregated groups, with the idea condemned as 'morally abhorrent'.The article, written by seven academics, doctors and students at the University of California, San Francisco, was published by the esteemed journal on April 27.It calls for 'new approaches' to teaching - namely, dividing students based on the color of their skin. This is designed to bring grades closer together. Just another example of equity. Many mostly Black high schools did not offer the same quality of education to Black students and it catches up with them in college and in medical school.

Thorium

As more people begin to recognize that the solution to global warming is nuclear the next question is what type of nuclear. Should it be uranium or thorium. Thorium is best for seven reasons. First. Thorium is three times more abundant than uranium. Second. One pound of thorium produces as much energy as 35 pounds of uranium. Third. Thorium produces far less waste and the waste is less radioactive and shorter lived. Forth. Thorium reactors can use up stored nuclear waste from existing uranium plants. Fifth. Thorium reactors cannot produce weapons grade by products like plutonium. Sixth. Thorium reactors are small and can be made assembly line style. A typical uranium plant is about 1,000 megawatts but thorium reactors are 300 megawatts so they can be close to the use point. As the need increases additional units can be added. Seventh. Thorium reactors cannot melt down. If the power goes off they automatically shut down. It is called walk away safety because the employees could just all leave and the plant would shut down. The same is true if it heats up the reaction stops.

Fascism

People who are fearful of Trump see his put America first approach as an appeal to nationalism gone awry which in their minds means fascism. Nationalism is support of ones nation to the exclusion of other nations but that is not fascism. Nationalism taken to the extreme was the cause of the many European wars. When you live in a country where everyone is German or everyone is French it is easy for nationalism to get out of hand. When people have the same ancestors and the same culture they begin to think alike and a crowd that thinks alike can be manipulated. Mussolini in Italy used populism to infiltrate the crowds and directed their pride in their country to gain power over them. America is different because of the diversity. They cannot so easily become part of the crowd because while they may have similar political beliefs they are still quite different in other ways. It is like Ronald Reagan said, you can move to France but you will never be a Frenchman, you can move to Germany but you will never be a German but you can move to American and become and American. There have been many populist politicians though out our history but their power was limited by the many faces of Americans. Trump's is just one more populist and his power will be limited by our countries diversity. Elections here are won and lost by narrow margins because of the many different ways people have based on their backgrounds.

Royalties

Open The Books is a non profit government watchdog organization dedicated to investigating and disclosing the way in which the government spends. Using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) they discovered that three top members of NIH received royalty payments from pharmaceutical companies. Dr Fauci received 23 payments, Dr Collings received 14 payments and Dr Lane received 8 payments. The amount of money was deleted (redacted) from the report. However, in our breaking investigation, we found hundreds of millions of dollars in payments also flow to NIH. These are royalty payments from third-party payers (think pharmaceutical companies) back to the NIH and individual NIH scientists.

Gases

Why I believe that global warming is real and man made. Chemist use gas chromatography to measure the amount of various gases in a sample. The process is quite simple. An one quarter inch aluminum tube about 40 feet long is filled with sand size particles of polypropylene a white plastic material that is almost totally inert. The tube is then twisted into a spring like shape and placed in a one cubic foot metal box. The box acts like an oven and is set at about 400 degrees. The front of the tube is the sample input port and the exit of the tube has a volt meter. An inert gas like helium is passed through the tube at a steady rate and the volt meter measures the voltage as the gas exits. When the voltage stabilizes the instrument is ready for use. One one milliliter sample using a syringe is introduced into the input. The sample is pushed through the tube by the helium and when it exits the volt meter record the results on a graph. Every gas has a different graph and millions of samples have been graphed and the computer keeps a record of each. The graph shows not only what the gas is but how much. For example a one milliliter sample of air is injected. Air contains about 80% nitrogen, 19% oxygen, 0.4% carbon dioxide and a small amount of a half dozen other gases, things like argon. As the gases are pushed through the tube by the helium stream the lighter gases move faster and they are separated out by their weight. Nitrogen weighs 28, oxygen 32 and carbon dioxide 40 so the nitrogen would be the first out followed by the oxygen and lastly the carbon dioxide. The computer then calculates the amount of each gas. Down in Antarctica the ice is about three miles deep and they drill down using a steal tube about 4 inches in diameter and they bring of samples at various debts. Each year the thaw and freeze form a ring in the core samples and they have gone back 2.7 million years. Using a hypodermic needle the take a sample of the air from each ring and test it in the gas chromatograph. For all of those years the CO2 levels ranged between 200 and 300 parts per million up(ppm) until the start of the industrial revolution in 1750 when the world started burning coal. Since that time the CO2 levels have risen steadily and today they are over 400 ppm and rising. Its possible that this rise was just a coincidence and there is another unknown cause but that is not likely.

Carbon free

The Inflation Reduction Act set aside $7.5 billion dollars to install 500,000 EV charging stations by 2030. Most of these stations will be in metropolitan areas since that is where most of the cars are. There is no room for solar panels or windmills so the charges will get their power from the local sources which means 60% will be from fossil fuels. Even in rural areas where there is room for panels and mills they will still need back up when the sun goes down and the wind stops. On the Interstates the charges have to be no more than 300 miles apart unless you live in MN where in winter the EV will lose 40% of its range so the charging stations must be every 180 miles. Experts say the US could be 100% clean energy by 2050 but they don't say what the back up power source would be and how would air planes fly. Its as though those things don't really matter. They treat the harm to the planet the same way. Its like only talking about part of the story.

Mines

The copper mines in South and Central America are destroying the environment since there is only limited government control. The biggest challenge in keeping mining safe for the environment is how to dispose of the tailings, the left overs. A proposed large copper mine in Minnesota was shut down by the Biden administration. Unlike mines in other countries, the US uses the most modern technology and the government oversees the operation to control improper disposal of tailings. In Chili for example the tailing are just dumped into the ocean. This is the ultimate NIMBY situation where the ugly American once again destroys poor countries to protect the homeland. This is standard operating procedure for the US. All the materials needed for our windmills and solar panels along with EV's are causing damage to the environment but not here. The mining, processing and disposal of these materials often times by slave labor and child labor are of little concern so long as we keep our water clean. The most disheartening thing is that these greenies seem not to understand what it takes to get these materials or worse yet they know and don't care.

War

As was expected by many, news about the Ukraine war is fading. Both sides are digging in and are being drawn into the quagmire. The US has spent $113 billion and can't afford to stop. In for a dime, in for a dollar. Meanwhile Ukraine is being torn apart. The water systems, electric grid, roads and bridges along with homes and businesses are being blown to pieces. Eight million people have been displaced within the country and another eight million have fled the country meaning the one forth of the countries people have left their homes. 900,000 Ukrainians have been shipped to Russia including over 100,000 children. It looks now is if this war is going to continue for some time and when the fighting stops there will be nothing left to fight over. At that point Putin can leave since the threat that Ukraine posed will have been eliminated and the west can claim victory. No one seems to be interested in a peaceful negotiated settlement. Why can't some leader step forward with a plan something like giving the Donbas region to Putin along with a promise that Ukraine will not be invited to join NATO. In return Russia withdraws all of its forces. The west can then go in with Marshall type plan to rebuild Ukraine. In a few short years they will be a thriving economy and once again providing food to the world. All the money that will be spent on blowing up the country could be spent on building up the country.

Repo

Banks have to keep a proper balance between cash on hand and demand for loans. Banks make money by making loans and thus they lose money when they hold cash. They have to hold ten percent and this can be in cash or overnight in the fed and this is where repurchase agreements (repo's) come in play. These repos are ways the banks use to switch from cash to securities. The current overnight repo rate is 5%. Banks pay their depositors less than one percent and use any extra cash to overnight at 5%. It is a guaranteed profit with no risk. As interest rates have risen people have been moving their savings from the banks to money markets (MM) and there has been a slow drain on bank deposits. This has adversely effected a few large banks and this week Biden said, "Americans can rest assured that our banking system is safe". This has caused some people to worry.

Natural gas

It is well known that the reason the US has been able to reduce its carbon footprint is the use of natural gas in power plants. The reduction could have been much greater if the US used natural gas for transportation. This change over could have started 50 years and be completed. There are 23 million natural gas vehicles (CNG) in the world including 175,000 in the US and 50,000 heavy duty trucks. The 2,200 buses in LA county and 26,000 waste management garbage trucks use natural gas. Natural gas releases 30% less CO2 than gasoline. In addition gasoline releases nitric oxide causing acid rain along with carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. Natural gas burns cleaner, engines run cleaner and cost less per mile. Natural gas can help auto companies meet the new tail pipe standards.

Grassley

Senator Grassley has been around Washington longer than Biden but he is naive. A whistle blower has come forth with damaging information on Biden that happened when Biden was VP. Grassley has subpoenaed the documents. If this is true then the FBI has been sitting on incriminated evidence for seven years and they are not going to come forth with it now. These documents, if they exist, will go the way that Hillary's email went. Another option would be the refusal of the Attorney General to enforce the subpoena and a third would be to have Biden classify the documents. That is why Grassley is naive.

Cancel

Grand Napear was the sports broadcaster for the Sacramento Kings for 32 years and he hosted a radio talk show on the same station for 26 years. He was asked on Twitter what he thought of BLM and he responded that all lives matter and lost his job. This is an example of cancel culture and proof that we are losing our right to free speech. There are many recent cases where invited speakers on college campuses are shouted down. Many people do not believe in cancel culture but Napear does.

Sea lanes

Iran seized another oil tanker yesterday, the second in the past week. Since the end of globalization the United States no longer protects the sea lanes around the world so this type of piracy will happen more often. This type of thing was expected when the US no longer protected shipping and is likely to continue and to escalate. This is bad news for China since they do not have the naval capacity to protect their imports and exports. If this continues insurance companies will stop insuring and that will bring halt to all shipping. The US with a world wide naval force can and will protect American shipping.

Children

People often use the slippery slope argument to prevent some action by some group. Sometimes the threat is legitimate. Some years ago condoms became available at drug stores with no age limits and later schools began handing out condoms to students without notifying the parents. Next came abortion without parental consent. Now there are abortion pills online regardless of age. The latest is in the state of Oregon gender altering surgery is available without parental consent. For many years there were special laws protecting children from real and perceived harm but in recent years this idea has lost importance. Some things remain such as having child porn on your computer or having intimate relations with a child regardless of consent. The latest is California is trying to pass a law making pedophilia legal. It hasn't passed yet but remember the slippery slope. Is having sex with animals next?

Toxic

College campuses today are rife with battles between the oppressed and the oppressors and in most cases the oppressors are toxic white males. We see how the founding fathers have come under attack but it need not stop there. Nobel Prize winners are 90% white males. The classic musicians like Mozart and Beethoven are 90% white males. The great artist are 90% white males. The claim is that these white males suffer from white privileged can be substantiated by history but all that has changed in America. Women have made enormous gains in the past 50 years and are headed even higher and this is a trend that should be encouraged. This is how they catch up to the men. What is not needed is to bring down the men by subjecting them to criticism for past mistreatment of women. The same can be said for any group that has been oppressed. Bring them up. This is what has been happening and should continue. The unfair treatments of the past can best be overcome by bringing the oppressed people up by offering them opportunities to succeed. One of the great success stories is the education of American women who have now surpassed men in every category. This is the first step in changing the disparities in pay and opportunities in business and government. Correcting the inequities of thousands of years takes time. Efforts should be made to speed up the time but not by degrading men but rather buy opening doors for women.

Myorkas

Former Chicago Mayor Lightfoot ....Sunday, she sent a letter to Governor Abbott urging him not to send migrants because the city is at capacity and is struggling to provide resources and shelter for those who are already here. We are averaging 125 migrants per day. There are a half dozen Texas border towns that would be relieved if their migrant count was that low. Lightfoot should follow the lead of NY Mayor Adams and ask Biden for help. The problem with illegals has been going for years and Lightfoot expressed no concern until they arrived in Chicago. Things always look different when they are close to home. This past week a man who had been deported five times killed five members of the family next door. He was drinking and firing his gun in the front yard and when the neighbor asked him to stop he just killed the neighbors family. Using the same logic as the Chicago case if five members of Secretary Myorkas's family had been killed by an illegal he might see the border in a different light.