Speech

Even though the US got the basis of its common law from England it is notable that England does not have First Amendment protecting free speech. In England over 3,000 people are arrested each year for things they publish on social media. In Russia, the former Soviet Union that number is 400 even though Russian has almost three times the population of England. While this is disturbing it is not alarming unless it happens to you. An arrest could mean they come to your home and take you away in cuffs. It could mean the loss of your job or even your children. The penalty is up to two years in prison. The effect of this is to make people afraid to state their personal beliefs. One example of an offense in England is"false information” with the intention of “causing distress or anxiety” Say something that hurts someone's feelings and you may cause distress. This makes it difficult to determine in advance what is and what isn't a crime. This always leads to the question who determines what is speech that causes distress and in England the arbiter is the government. The American people by and large do not want the government to determine what they can say. In certain areas the majority does agree, things like publishing child porn. In recent years people have been banned from the media for what is being called misinformation and it is the private companies known as social media that make the determination. The problem is that the government was putting pressure on some media to ban certain people or speech and this is illegal. Some see this as a step toward what is happening in England.

Interview

In watching the VP Harris interview on CNN, I was reminded of being back in school where everyone preferred a multiple choice test over an essay written test and it gave me an idea on how to ask tough question and still make for an easy interview. You can ask how would you deal with problem X. Would you use solution A or solution B or solution C and let them choose. This way the interviewer offers answers to their own questions. These can be figured out ahead of time to give the best possible answers. Here is an example from the interview. Question by the interviewer. How should voters look at some of the changes that you've made? Is it because you have more experience now and you've learned more about the information? Is it because you're running for president now. Obviously the first is the preferred answer but Harris chose neither even though good managers realize that they often have to change positions when new information becomes available. Harris answered by saying, my values have not changed.

Nuke power

Building a nuclear power plant is expensive and time consuming mostly because of regulations. Today a one gigawatt plant would take 8 years and cost $5.4 billion dollars. If more plants were built the cost per unit would decline but even at that cost the recent Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)of $1.2 trillion dollars could build 222 new plants which is far more than the 93 plants currently operating in the US. These 315 plants would provide more than three/fourths of the countries electricity needs. Building small nuclear reactors on an assembly line basis would be more efficient and less costly. It would take 4,000 one megawatt reactors to satisfy the US needs for electricity and these could be built using the $1.2 trillion from the IRA.

Fracking

Fracking is once more in the news and many people do not realize the significance this has on the economy. Two/thirds of all oil and gas in the US comes from fracking and 95% of all new wells are fracked. The US is currently producing both oil and gas at record rates leading the world in both. This has kept the price of gasoline below $4 and is of great political advantage to the Biden administration but fossil fuels are the biggest contributor to climate change and thus the press has been silent on this issue. When Trump was in office there were daily articles about the harmful effect of fossil fuels but that is no longer the case. In the long term the race is on to see if the negative effects of burning fossil fuels will outlast the supply but this is all unnecessary. If the country would just switch over to nuclear power both problems would be solved. The exaggerated fears of danger and long term storage have proven to be unwarranted so the only reason left for not going nuclear is politics. This can be seen in the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act where $369 billion dollars was set aside to fight climate change, none of which was for nuclear development. A good portion of this money was given to companies in the wind and solar business and millions of that was sent back to the government in the form of campaign contributions. This is the same old story that happened with Solyndra, a company that manufactured parts for solar panels. The company was given $535 million dollars in 2009 and in 2011 filed for bankruptcy. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) loan program lost $528 million to the solar panel company Solyndra after the company defaulted on a $535 million loan in 2011. To compound the error the government continued to give money to other solar companies who in turn gave campaign contributions. Later the government investigated and found no wrong doing.

Nuke power

Currently there are 440 nuclear power reactors operating in 32 countries with 61 under construction. There are 94 units in the US Between 1977 and 2013 no new nuke plants were built in the US and only two since then. In 1990 there were 112 plants. The reasons for this are two fold. First was concern about safety but there has only been on reactor accident and no one was injured or killed. The second is waste storage. All of the waste produced from all reactors could be stored in an area the size of a football field at depth of less than 10 yards. With the onset of small thorium reactors the safety threat is even less and not only is the amount of waste far less these new plants can use up the stored waste from the old plants. Nuke power plants be they old or new emit zero carbon

Bleach

Sticker shock. I wash one load of clothes every two weeks and I use a small amount of bleach and I buy one gallons size of bleach. I have been using the same gallon since 2021 and I bought a new one gallon container today. I buy the Walmart brand and I paid $5.47 whereas I paid $2.50 four years ago. Yikes!

Electricity

There is some confusion regarding energy use. Many articles promoting wind and solar list the percent of electricity that is produced by these two sources which today in the US is 14% but only 5% of total energy since 67% of all energy produced is used for things like heating and transportation. The increase in energy from wind and solar has not kept up with the demand and thus the $3 trillion spend over the past 20 years has only led to 5% of total energy use. Transportation 27.94% Industrial 22.56% Residential 6.33% Commercial 4.65% Electricity 31.11% This shows why the country should be moving toward natural gas for transportation since natural gas is much cleaner than gasoline and diesel. You can always tell if an article about wind and solar is biased when the talk about the percent that wind and solar is of electricity and not total usage.

Annuity

VP Harris brought up an issue that needs more attention when she said, "home ownership is one of the best ways that we achieve inter generational wealth". One way to do this is to privatize social security which today has a strong bias against Blacks in particular Black males. The average Black male retiring today at age 62 has had life time average earnings of $30,000 per year. His social security check will be $1,300 per month. If he could take his social security contributions subtract the money the government needs for disability and survivor payment and invest those at 4% in a tax free account he would have $230,000 and could purchase a life time pension of $1,500 per month with a guaranteed 20 years of payments. Today his life expectancy is to age 69 so he will only collect SS for 7 years and at $1,300 per month that comes to $109,000 and the rest stays with the government. If he owned this account there would be $1,300 per month going to his heirs for the next 13 years. This is because a life annuity 20 year certain means payment for life to the annuitant plus a guarantee of 20 years of payments. The real winners are White females who at age 62 will live for 18 more years. Social security deductions are 6.2% which includes 2.2% to cover the cost of disability claims and survivor benefits. This leaves 4% plus 4% from the employer to invest. People who oppose this change under different circumstances would be called racist.

Coal

For those people who are interested in nuclear power, of which I am one, they find numerous investigations and experiments and projects in the nuclear power field going on around the world. As more and more information is presented it becomes obvious that the solution to the problems of climate change is nuclear power. New laws, new ways of financing and new technology are paving the path to a nuclear future. New impetus for nuclear comes not only from moving in that direction but understanding that wind and solar will create more environmental hazards and will not solve the problem. The old large scale Gigawatt uranium plants that most people are familiar with are being replaced with small Megawatt thorium plants. These small units will be manufactured on an assembly line and moved to the use point on semi trucks thus eliminating the need for long power lines. The energy density of thorium means less waste products to dispose. One pound of thorium contains the same amount of energy as 3.5 million pounds of coal which would leave behind 350,000 pounds of waste as coal ash.

Green

While Trump is looking to increase nuclear power, VP Harris is all in on the Green New Deal. She proposes spending $10 trillion on the deal which is not only inflationary but it takes away the move toward nuclear. More scientist are coming to the conclusion that the answer to climate change is nuclear. Has Harris been informed about the damage to the environment caused by the mining, processing and disposing of the materials needed for the Green Deal. One way she hopes to pay is to increase corporate taxes from 21% to 35% a rate that would be higher than any European country.

Border

President Biden asked VP Harris to investigate the root causes of the problems at the border. The main conclusion was that the dangerous life in the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala was causing people to flee to the United States. This is questionable since migrants are coming from 149 countries. Her short term plan was to hire thousands more border agents and crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking and her long term policy was to send billions to these countries to try and help the government to control the criminals. The result was a continuation of the record numbers of immigrant crossing along with record amounts of fentanyl. Migrant crossings under Biden went from 50,000 per month to 250,000 under Biden. If they had just left the Trump policies alone the problem would not have worsened like it did. The new Harris may give the old Trump policies a new look starting with the wall.

Laptop

It is four plus years since the Hunter Biden laptop controversy began and using the benefit of hind sight it is time for a review. The laptop was turned over to the FBI in December 2019. The FBI “verified” the authenticity of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop in November 2019 and a federal computer expert assessed “it was not manipulated in any way,” IRS supervisory agent Gary Shapley told Congress in explosive testimony released Thursday. During the following months the reports said that the laptop was Russian disinformation. The FBI went to various media outlets and warned them of a plot by Russia to promote stories that were not true and they should not be taken in by such stories. 51 former US intelligence leaders signed a pre election letter saying that the laptop had "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation". Three weeks before the 2020 election the New York Post published a front page story that presented emails from the laptop, alleging they showed corruption by Joe Biden. The story was banned from social media. It wasn't until March of 2022 that, The New York Times reported in March 2022 that they found emails "from a cache of files that appears to have come from a laptop abandoned by Mr. Biden in a Delaware repair shop". Why did the FBI allow the disinformation story to persist when they knew it was not true? A controversy still remains as to whether the laptop showed any illegalities by President Biden but many feel the FBI should have killed the rumors that it was Russian disinformation.

Work

There is a new business theory currently popular described as work life balance. At a company called Nvidia where computer chips are made the employees work long hours often until 2AM but the retention rate is high because the pay is high. In the past five years the stock has increased by 3,700 percent going from $4 to $128 and many employees have become millionaires and could retire but want to stay on because even bigger profits are coming. A story is often told to illustrate the call of more money. John went to work as a local truck driver. The job entailed making deliveries. He did not load or unload just deliver. The pay was $20 per with good benefits. The company needed more help than they could hire so overtime was the answer. The company said that all hours worked per week between 40 and 50 would receive $40 per hour and hours between 50 and 60 would receive $80 per hour and hours between 60 and 70 would receive $160 per hour and hours between 70 and 80 would receive $320 per hour and hours between 80 and 90 would receive $640 per hour and hours between 90 and 100 would receive $1,280 per hour. In other words for every extra ten hours your wage would double. Would you be willing to work the 101st hour for $2,560. No matter how tired your were could you turn down that last $2,560. Would you work until you dropped. The allure of extra money is strong maybe strong enough to ruin your health. In this example the employees are working 15 hour days but those at Nvidia are working even longer. This example was made up to illustrate a ridiculous point but it came true at Nvidia or as they say truth is stranger than fiction.

Cuba

Cuba, one of only four remaining communist countries in the world, has suffered economically for many years. In the past they had help from the USSR but after that collapsed they turned to China for help but now China is in trouble so Cuba is left on its own. They could end all of their problems and have thriving economy if they would give up their communist government and open their economy to the free market. Their close proximity to the world's biggest market plus the desire of many Americans to once again see Cuba as a tourism spot could bring their people into the 21st Century. This would mean those in power would have to cede control to the people so it is not likely to happen. It would be like congress voting for term limits.

Speech

With the recent revelations by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, regarding government pressure to ban certain information, it is time to review the law regarding free speech. The law says that government cannot censor speech but that does not apply to private companies but government cannot pressure private companies to censor. The two main areas that Zuckerberg says were involved were the information on Covid and the story about the Hunter Biden laptop. He says he was wrong to succumb to pressure from the FBI and limit access to these stories. The importance of these revelations is being watered down by arguing over how often censorship has occurred over the years instead of the seriousness of the crime. This is a wrong no matter which administration is involved. It is the old teenage defense that the government uses regularly, mom everyone is doing it.

Nuclear

Will wonders never cease. People are waking up to nuclear but they are only thinking in terms of existing power plants. Here is a recent news item. Nearly half of Democrats surveyed in one poll are in favor of expanding nuclear energy throughout America, an idea recently touted by former president Donald Trump Nuclear energy's favorability has increased in recent years as more people recognize it as a clean energy source and alternative to fossil fuels, the use of which can exacerbate climate change. Trump spoke in favor of expanding nuclear energy across America, specifically in regard to how he sees nuclear power as an avenue to increase the nation's energy supply needed for AI. The next step is to introduce America to small nuclear reactors that reduce the load on the grid which is a stumbling block to increasing the supply of electricity.

Speech

Pavel Durov was arrested at a Paris airport. The 39-year-old Russian-born billionaire was reportedly accused of failing to mitigate the misuse of his platform for criminal activities. His platform called Telegram is the Russian equivalent of Facebook. It is used by 900 million people including many in Ukraine who use it to maintain contact with relatives who have fled the country. The app is known for its high-level encryption and limited oversight on what its users post, which makes it highly susceptible to disinformation, conspiracy theories, hate and other harmful content. Americans should be concerned because of the threat to free speech. Note that disinformation, conspiracy theories and hate are protected by the US First Amendment. Other harmful content is not explained. Durov’s detention raises questions about whether tech bosses should be responsible for the content on their platforms which has been in the news in the US regarding social media. The first question that should be asked is who determines what content, if any, should be banned. Recall that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. The laws are clear regarding free speech. Companies and private employers are able to regulate speech on their platforms and within their workplace since the First Amendment only applies to the government. The next move is into the gray areas where the courts decide, for example, in the case of New York v Ferber(1982) the court ruled that child pornography was not free speech. Since France does not have a First Amendment Durov cannot depend on the courts to come to his aid.

Dream

The new American Dream End globalization and bring home the industrial base Replace the new green deal with thorium reactors to end climate change Defeat Hamas and move toward a two state solution Negotiate a peace in Ukraine by ceding Donbas and no NATO expansion Set up a transportation system to allow inner city students to attend suburban schools Expand production of oil and gas Increase natural gas exports Move to natural gas for transportation while developing nuclear Raise the child tax credit and increase the earned income credit Secure the border and institute a merit based immigration system Strive for diversity and inclusion without equity Remove taxes on the first $25,000 of pension income Faze out social security benefits on families with retirement income above $100,000 Rekindle the Abraham Accords and unite Shia Arabs with Israel Government to provide national defense, public safety and jail time for corruption. Promote R&D to make common sense decisions on AI These changes will reduce the income and education gaps

Decision

Life is a series of decisions be they personal or professional. The accepted approach to decision making is to gather as much information as possible and digest it. The next step is to reach into your heart for a final choice. When President Bide was elected he set about to almost immediately to cancel and/or rescind many Trump policies. These decisions were made right from the heart with a minimal of analysis. He canceled Trumps border policies. He ended Trumps sanctions on Iran. He moved away from Trumps energy policy of expanding fossil fuel production. He pushed for police reform which led to cutting police budgets. Later he had to reconsider his original moves. As we move into the Harris era the only way we can think through her policies is to know that they are or we will have to accept her based on her personality. Or as Nancy Pelosi said, do we find out what is in the bill after we pass it.

Border

The bipartisan border bill that failed to pass in the house by a vote of 215 to 199 including five democrats who voted against the bill. It also failed a procedural vote 43 to 50 in the senate. The democrats say the bill failed because Trump was against it and wanted to keep the border as a campaign issue. The bill had some parts that were pro Trump like the border wall and remain in Mexico but it had other parts that were unpopular. It allowed up to 5,000 border encounters per day at which time the border would be closed. This would be difficult to monitor since encounters occur at various locations between the 192 legal entry points. The bill infers that the border could be opened and closed with ease when closing the border has proven to be quite difficult. This is once again in the news because VP Harris has promised to bring back this bill.

Trump

Since Harris is somewhat reluctant to reveal her position on some critical issues it is time to look at where Trump stands. Polls show that abortion is an issue that favors democrats so what is Trump's position. First off he wants the issue decided by the states as was put forth by the Supreme Count. Second he does not propose a national abortion ban. Third he says abortion should be legal in the first 15 weeks with exceptions for rape murder and the life of the mother. Polls show that this is a compromise position that most people would be OK. Trump as said he will not touch social security or Medicare. Trump says he will keep Obamacare and make it better. On crime Trump will encourage governors to make local DA's enforce the law by putting repeat criminals in jail and stopping no cash bail. On the economy Trump will use all available means to increase fossil fuel production and remove many regulations that inhibit production. He will continue his theme of ending globalization by bring jobs home (reshoring). He will keep existing import taxes on China and add more especially on Chinese cars produced in Mexico. He will reduce illegal border crossing by implementing the same policies he used in the past. Reintroduce remain in Mexico, force Mexico to close their border with Guatemala and stop catch and release. He will begin the process of deporting illegal migrants starting with those with criminal records and those on the terrorist list. He will oppose free college and push for school choice. He will oppose forgiving student loan debt. Trump will propose a compromise position to end the war in Ukraine. He will work with NATO and Putin and let Russia retain Crimea and the Donbas area and promise not to invite Ukraine into NATO and in return Russia will withdraw its troops. He will send Israel all of the materials they need to overwhelm Hamas and end the war. He will reinstate the sanctions on Iran which includes reducing their oil sales. On minor cultural issues he will oppose trans women in female sports. He will oppose gender changes on minors. He will oppose schools keeping secrets from parents. He will oppose drag queens in schools. On other even less important issues he opposes tearing down statues of confederate leaders, or changing the names of monuments, buildings and streets named after former presidents who were slave owners and he opposes reparations to descendants of slave owners.

Casey

Monday night the mighty Casey went to bat and took strike three and there was no joy in Mudville. He left the stadium and headed for retirement. The rest of the fans breathed a sigh of relief and erupted with admiration for their fallen hero. Not to worry said the press. We have a new player we just brought up from the minors and she will carry us to victory.

Jobs

In 1978 China opened the door to free markets. The country had suffered from economic stagnation since the 1949 revolution and the new premier Deng Xiaoping started reforms that led China away from a central planning economy and opened the door to foreign investments and technology. In 2002 China joined the WTO which was a watershed change and led to unprecedented growth. For many years the West felt that if China were opened to a free market economy that political freedom would follow. This belief was the primary reason for allowing China's entry into the WTO. The plan did not work as China refused to follow the rules dictated by membership in the WTO. They used industrial policies like subsidies, force foreign companies to transfer technology, added import taxes to reduce foreign competition and manipulated their currency. Over a 20 plus year period China experienced explosive economic growth causing the loss of jobs in Western countries including 6 million manufacturing jobs in the USA. Trump was the first national figure to recognize this and ran for president with a promise to reign in China's stealing of American jobs. He called his plan make America great again. This was the reason why middle income workers voted for Trump. They knew he understood their plight and was trying to help. This would end the gravy train of huge profits that US companies had become used to and they with their partners in congress fought against the changes that Trump proposed. It was also the main reason that the income gap widened to such an extreme. While Trump was looked upon favorably by the middle income people he was seen as the enemy with the establishment which wanted to maintain the status quo. Even today most of these groups want to keep global trade economy but the tide has turned and most people now see how the job losses were caused by globalization.

Chicago

Many people feel that cultural problems begin with good education or in this case lack thereof. The convention has brought attention to Chicago and in particular Chicago schools. It exposes a failed system. Keeping politics out of the way and not just blaming the teachers union take a look at the facts. According to data provided by the Chicago Public School (CPS) spending per student has doubled since 2012 but test scores have dropped. Only 26% of students in grades 3-8 can read at grade level and only 18% can do math proficiently. These are average scores so when you look at schools that are mostly minority students the scores are lower. Chronic absenteeism is 40%, meaning students miss 10% or more of classes. The students who tend to do poorly in school are more likely to end up on the bottom of the income scale and many will be living below the poverty level. Many come from single parent families and the boys tend toward criminal activities and the girls toward early pregnancy. Many of the problems of racism in the country have been over come but this is one area where progress has been stymied. Many solutions have been tried but to no avail. Discipline problems are all too common as students have not learned respect for authority. It takes only one disruptive student to adversely effect the entire class.

Groups

Why are certain groups considered natural constituents of the democratic party. The answer depends on the group. Federal employees because democrats lean toward larger government and republicans preach small government and thus republicans represent a threat to jobs. Employees at National Public Radio and TV since the democrats are always for funding and republicans want to cut funding or eliminate it all together. Teachers as the republicans push for charted schools and oppose the control by the teachers union. Young people by their nature are liberal but tend to become less so when they see the deductions in their first paycheck. Minorities because democrats have been in the forefront of public assistance benefits. Union members as the companies are seen a siding with republicans. The political leanings of these groups can be influenced by economic conditions, public safety and national defense.

Cash

As polls show the democrats losing support among middle income workers VP Harris is trying to bring them back into the fold and one good way is to increase the child tax credit. The downside is that this will be inflationary. One excellent way to help the low and middle income people is to pay off credit card debt. The cost would be about $1.4 trillion but that is less than the $1.7 trillion student loan debt and it would help the group that Harris is trying to win back. Both of these approaches would punish people who were irresponsible in their personal budgeting. In the past few years the government has sent out over $6 trillion is cash to the people and the result was inflation. I wonder how many people remember what they did with the money.

Abortion

For the people who are willing to compromise on the abortion issue the words of Bill Clinton ring true when he said that "abortion should be safe, legal and rare. For many pro choice people this makes sense but at the convention this week Planned Parenthood is offering free abortions which sounds like a sale and smacks in the face of "rare". The only saving grace is that these will be medical abortions which means no late term abortions. Since the reason for 85% of abortions is emotional or financial stress on the mother it is desirable that they make this decision before 12 weeks where 90% of abortions take place. Trump has proposed that abortions be legal in the first 15 weeks with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. Harris says that abortions at any time should be legal. There is no compromise here. Polls show that Trump's position is the way the majority of Americans see the issue as only 19% agree with late term abortions.

Equity

VP Harris has said that equality is unfair because people started out at different points some with advantages that others did not have. Her solution is equity where everyone ends up in the same place. Here is her statement. "And if the goal is truly about equality, it has to be about a goal of saying everybody should end up in the same place". It is often said that a tie game is like kissing your sister. Competition is an integral part of almost every aspect of life. Competition by definition means that there will be winners and losers and this is what happens in a free market economy. Socialism is about everyone getting a participation trophy. The current craze is diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). A society can grow and prosper with diversity and inclusion but equity has no place in a free market economic system. The danger is when diversity and inclusion replace merit with some other measurement. The best qualified applicant is by passed for a person of color or gender because of some past real or perceived discrimination. This is called identity politics. It is a new form of nepotism It is easy to justify such activity when it is a general situation but when it involves a personal case with someone you know then things look a lot different. There can be no Olympics with equity.

China

China is following their standard plan to move into the US car market. The Chinese government supplements the industry to produce low priced cars which can then be sold on the world market and eliminate any competition. This is what happened to US steel companies like Bethlehem Steel. China began sending cars to Mexico after the USMCA trade deal was adopted under Trump. Trump placed a 25% import tax on Chinese cars and so China planned to circumvent the tax by shipping cars first to Mexico and then to the USA. China has set up 29 new car manufacturing plants in Mexico since June of 2022. Trump stated that allowing cheap Chinese cars into the US would cause a blood bath in the US auto industry. Chinese EV's start at $13,000 and the average cost is $22,000 which is less than half of the average cost of an American made EV. Trump then threatened to increase the tax to 50% and more recently he suggested 100%. In May of this year Biden recognized the threat and proposed a 100% import tax on Chinese cars coming in from Mexico. This was unnoticed by the American press which made a big fuss when Trump introduced the import taxes on Chinese goods saying these cost would be pushed on the US consumer. Biden kept these taxes in force because they were bringing in billions to the US treasury.

First Solar

Part of the Inflation Reduction Act includes $369 billion for grants (free money) to increase domestic manufacturing capacity for wind turbines, solar panels, batteries and EV's. Follow the money by just looking at solar panels which are representative of the other products. The US imports 88% of its solar panels. As far as the solar panels built in the US these companies get their raw materials from China where the mining and processing of these materials is poisoning the ground water. This way the US keeps its water clean. In any event most of this money ends up in China. The biggest benefactor of the solar grant money is a company called First Solar which is owned by Tesla. Elon Musk has become rich off of the US government in many ways. Solar panels made overseas cost 75 cents per watt and those made in the USA cost 95 cents per watt. First Solar gets $700 million in tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act and then sells these to a financial company called Fiserv. They now have $700 million in cash. After that in one month the company stock increased from $200 per share to $300 per share. Since there are 100 million shares this makes the company worth $30 billion dollars. The total assets of the company total $10 billion. Over the past year, Patrick Buehler, First Solar Chief Product Officer, has sold a total of 8,619 shares and has not made any purchases of the company's stock. This recent transaction follows a trend observed over the past year, where there have been 29 insider sells and no insider buys at First Solar Inc. In case anyone is wondering why solar is so much more popular than nuclear here is a possible answer. It took me all of 30 minutes to research this material. Where are the news reporters the old muckrakers.

Choice

When it comes to choosing who a person will vote for they can look at where the candidates stand on the issues. It is highly unlikely that the voter will agree on every issue so they select the candidate with whom they most agree. This is typical of the way people make decisions. When buying a house there are many factors and no house will satisfy a buyer in every respect but the choice is made based on which house offers the most satisfaction to the buyer. There is a difference between voting and house buying in that a person is involved in voting. This means personality or more succinctly do you like this person. Although some people will say that a house has personality.

Harris

Trump's campaign can be summed up by saying he will just do what he did before but Harris does not have that luxury since she was not president. That is why she can say what will happen when I am president. In order to understand where she stands the voter must look at her past positions on issues. She is a strong advocate for the Green New Deal believing that wind and solar can replace fossil fuels. Her position on immigration follows closely that of the Biden administration with a path to citizenship for illegal migrants. She was for national healthcare but has now moved away from that position. She wanted a federal program to force gun owners to sell their guns to the government but has now moved away from that position. She wanted to ban fracking and drilling on government lands but has moved away from that position. She backed the Biden policy demanding that EV's reach 56% market share by 2035 but that is now being reconsidered. A $40 billion fund for the government to build low rent units. In 2020 she said that police departments have budgets that are too large but is now changing her position saying budgets need to be increased. This week she offered her economic program which consisted of up to $25,000 to first time home buyers to help with the down payment. In addition first time buyers will qualify for a $10,000 tax credit. A new government agency to oversee the prices charged for various consumer product especially on food. She will double the current child tax credit from $1,750 to $3,600. Plans to cancel $7 billion in medical debt for 3 million Americans. She wants to forgive student loan debt and free college tuition She want abortions legal at any time during the pregnancy She is both for Israel in the war and also supports the idea of limiting resources to Israel She support the US effort to fund the war in Ukraine On other issues she is for gender surgery on children, schools keeping secrets from parents, drag queens in schools and trans men in women's sport. She is for DEI, CRT and opposes Charter Schools.

Bubble

When a person decides to run for public office they generally do so with the best of intentions. Often times the decision is based on a perceived wrong they want to right or just the idea that they want to make the country a better place as they see it. So far, so good. They soon find themselves surrounded by a group of people who think like they do and each member enforces the group think. The person may start out in city politics and soon find themselves running for state representative and this involves a bigger circle of friends and so on up the line. At some point, if they are successful, they may find themselves being elected to congress. Here they are influenced not only by their now much larger circle but also from outside sources like lobbyist. This are welcomed with open arms because they bring a detailed understanding of import issues and they also represent a source of campaign contributions. This is extremely important because so much time is spent looking for funding. As the years passed the politician, without realizing it, has become removed from those people that he is supposed to represent and gets most of his information from close associates who each have their own agenda. Lobbyist pay for access and the congressman gives daily access to his advisers. This then become the bubble that outsiders refer to when an elected official forgets who they work for.

Power

Why do the people in charge of the government feel it is their responsibility to take money from the public in the form of taxes and give it back in the form of benefits. There are a number of reasons. First they see wealth distribution as a matter of fairness. They see the free market creating winners and loser and not everyone has the ability to be a winner and it is their duty to correct for any unfairness. They see people who are obsessed with immediate gratification and cannot set aside funds for a rainy day or for old age. They see people who spend money on foolish things instead of good investments. In other words they see themselves as the father and the people as their children. They do things out of compassion to protect people from their own ignorance. Then of course it brings power to those in charge and allows them to distribute funds to get votes which keeps them in power. The number one objective of every congress person is to get reelected so they can keep on being the magnanimous person they were created to be. They have given their lives to public service because they know what is best for people especially voters. There is a bit of hyperbole here but many public servants deep in their hearts feel that they are needed to protect the public from themselves. While they have good intentions they often times succumb to the mesmerizing allure of power and all too often power leads to corruption. People by nature want to be free which means they will make mistakes. Deep down people what to live in a society where they have the right to fail as opposed to a safe situation where some stranger has to hold their hand.

Trump

What will happen if Trump is reelected. First off most will be based on what he did when he was president before with a few additional goodies. He will increase production of coal, oil and natural gas to the max which means energy independence at home and large exports to add to US energy company profits. This means drilling on government lands and off shore and reducing regulations that inhibit growth in the fossil fuel industry. He will secure the border just as he did before by forcing Mexico to close their border with Guatemala, reinstating the remain in Mexico rule, stop catch and release and begin deporting illegals beginning with the undesirables. He will offer federal law enforcement aid to local government to help them put convicted criminals in jail and force local DA's to enforce the law. He will begin to deport illegal migrants starting with the criminals and working through the rest. He will add new import taxes on Chinese goods bringing in billions to the US treasury. He will reinstate the sanctions he had on Iran reducing their oil exports from 3 million barrels per day down to 800,000 barrels denying them $175 million dollars per day of income. He will sit down with NATO leaders and Putin and negotiate a settlement to the Ukraine War. He will tell Israel that the US will back them with all of the necessary supplies they need to quickly defeat Hamas. He will remove the tax subsidies on wind and solar projects and EV's. He would remove the requirements set up by EPA forcing people into buying EV's. He would not change social security, Medicare or Obamacare. On things of lesser importance and new things he would remove taxes on TIP income and put forth a plan to not tax social security benefit since that money has already been taxed. He would oppose trans in women's sports, gender surgery on minors and drag queens in schools. He would oppose tearing down building and statues and renaming monuments and streets because of past ownership of slaves. He would oppose reparation. He would oppose DEI and CRT. He would promote school choice. In short things would be much like they were during his last term up to the onset of Covid.

Putin

Putin has a PhD degree in economics and wrote his thesis on energy production and distribution. He came into power in 2000 and recognized that Russia's oil and gas reserves were the road back to world power. He convinced Europe to buy Russian gas and sold oil on the world market. This money was used to build up the agriculture business and become self sufficient in food production. The empty food shelves that had plagued the country were replaced with Russian made food stuffs. The profits from fossil fuel helped to build up the military which in turn fired up the economy. Putin learned the lesson of using oil and gas as a bargaining tool to achieve political goals. With the invasion of Ukraine he has learned to use grain exports in the same way forcing countries, especially those in Africa, to refrain from objection to the war. His efforts have been somewhat thwarted as the losses of grain and oil and gas from Ukraine have been made up for by increases in other countries. The Russian people see Putin, who has been in power for 24 years, as the person who cleaned out the money changers and built up the economy. There was so much corruption which began as the old Soviet Union came to an end that Putin could clean up the mess and still keep billions for him and his close friends. The rest of the money went to help the Russian economy and thus he is still a crook but small time compared to the past.

Harris

VP Harris unveiled her economic plan and surprised some by moving to the left rather than to the center. The biggest move involves the government to intercede in the price of commodities with food at the head of the list. The most recent attempt by government affecting prices happened when Nixon put a 90 day freeze on wages and prices to control inflation. High prices do not cause inflation rather inflation causes high prices. Inflation happens when demand exceeds supply. Harris then says that she will offer $25,000 in cash to first time home buyers which will increase demand. There are 1.8 million people who qualify as first time home buyers and if they all take advantage of this it will cost the government $45 billion which would put upward pressure on inflation. She proposes that the government finance the building of 3 million starter homes which means more government spending which means more upward pressure in inflation. Her plan calls for the expansion of existing tax credits for businesses to build affordable rental housing along with $40 billion to boost construction. Add to this elimination taxes on TIPS will cost $15 billion per year, increasing the child tax credit to $3,600 would cost $240 billion, forgiving medical debt would cost $220 billion and then add to this the cost of forgiving student debt which stands at $1.7 trillion. The country is already facing inflation pressures as the reshoring of jobs will continue as the US doubles its industrial base. Over the past few years as millions of Americans got free money from the government they didn't think of how this money would lead to inflation. Will these government programs be so popular that once again people will not consider the long term effects on inflation.

Iron dome

Back in the day when Reagan proposed a missile defense system the media laughed at him and called it star wars but today these patriot missile are used routinely to shoot down in coming missiles. Because of this the press learned an important lesson and when Trump proposed and iron dome to protect the homeland no one laughed. It would not be like Israel where their enemies are nearby but it would be located in northern Canada to defend against incoming ICBM's coming across the north poll from Russia and/or China.

Taxes

The Trump tax cuts that went into effect in 2018were across all income brackets. Since the rich already pay most of the taxes, the top ten percent of wage earners pay 76% of total taxes, when you cut taxes the rich get a bigger cut. This is in total value and so those who opposed Trump's plan say it helped the rich more than the poor and they are correct. However if you look at who got the biggest tax cuts on a percentage basis the lower income groups fared better. People with gross adjusted incomes of $15,000 to $50,000 got a cut of 16 to 26% Filers who earned between $50,000 and $100,000 got tax breaks of 15 to 17% and those with incomes of $100,000 to $500,000 got tax cuts of 11 to 13%. By comparison those with AGI's of $500,000 to one million received a 9% cut and those over $ one million got a 6% cut. VP Harris says she will not renew the Trump tax cuts and she also says that no one earning less than $400,000 will see their taxes go up and that is true as far as it goes. But those lower income groups that have the benefit of the Trump cuts will lose those cuts. For these people they will see their tax liability go up and for them that is an increase in taxes.

Credits

There are tax credits and there are tax credits. Some are refundable meaning you get the credit even if you own no tax and others are non refundable meaning you can only deduct the credit from taxes you owe. Trump has proposed to increase the current $2,000 dollar child credit of which $1,500 is refundable to a $5,000 fully refundable credit. This is an excellent way to narrow the income gap. This means that a family of four with an income of $107,000 would pay no federal income tax and in most states no state income tax. The $7,500 tax credit on EV's is non refundable meaning you must owe taxes before you can get the credit. This will require no new federal programs since this is already in existence. It is reported that Harris wants to increase the child tax credit to $6,000 but the family must have a child under one year old.

Cartels

Much like the Mafia expanded into legal businesses via the Vegas casinos the Mexican cartels are moving into new areas. Sometimes outright ownership of a business but more often extortion much like the protection rackets used by the mob. The cartels are heavy into the cab and bus networks, limes and corn tortillas and chicken processing and distributing. The cartels represent 20% of the countries GDP and are the fastest growing sector. With their $280 billion of annual income they can buy and/or control most businesses and they are actively doing just that. In a recent trial of Mexican Security Chief Genaro Luna testimony from cartel insiders El Grande and El Ray Zambada explained how they paid him millions of dollars to protect their operations, take out their rivals and went into the cocaine deals with him. The cartels are not only raising havoc in the United States they are slowly taking over the government of Mexico.

Stars

While watching a documentary on human development showing homo sapiens started about 300,000 years ago but it is only in the past 10,000 years that human like activities have taken place. Going a step further in is only since the industrial revolution which began about 300 years ago that significant progress has been made. If the human race continues to increase mentally it seems that anything may be possible. When the subject of intelligent life in other parts of the universe comes up most people agree that the distances between stars and galaxies are too great for earth to have visitors. However when the possible age of other civilizations is taken into account the distance no longer seems like a barrier. It is not only possible but likely that there are civilizations out there that have been developing for hundreds of millions or even billions of years since some stars are many times older than the earths sun. It is possible that ways of traversing these great distances have been developed that would allow visitors from far off places, if they desired, to reach earth. When scientist are questioned on this matter they answer in the acceptable scientist way by saying to the best of our knowledge travel between stars is not yet available.

Climate

On October 10, 2023 Kirby said, John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, reaffirmed Monday that the president and his administration still believe climate change is the largest threat facing the U.S. and world since it is capable of "wiping out all human life." In 2023, the United States produced a record 125 billion cubic feet per day (CFD) of natural gas, which was a 4% increase from the previous record set in 2022. This made the U.S. the world's largest producer of natural gas, The United States produced more crude oil than any nation at any time, according to our International Energy Statistics, for the past six years in a row.Mar 11, 2024. Some say the answer to this seeming contradiction is that $4 gas is a bigger threat than climate change. If the US had maintained the original Biden plan to end fossil fuel that gas prices would be so high that they would be a challenge to his reelection chances. Even VP Harris now understands that ending fracking is not acceptable. No one in the press is even talking about climate change.

MA

Medicaid is a program started in 1965 to provide free healthcare for low income seniors and low income individuals of any age with a child or children. It also included pregnant women and people with disabilities. Before Obamacare there were 45 million people on Medicaid and today there are 88 million enrolled in Medicaid including nearly 40 million children. Medicaid used to be free but with Obamacare there are income requirements. Since Medicaid/Obamacare are both federal and state programs they vary in some ways by state. In addition Medicaid pays for nursing home expenses for low income people. In 2023 Medicaid cost the government $890 billion which was more than the defense budget of $860 billion. The number of people uninsured before Obama care was $44 million and today there are still 26 million uninsured. There are two main changes. First single adults are now covered and second some free and others with low monthly premiums and annual deductibles. In MN Medicaid is called Medical Assistance (MA). A single person with income of less than $20,784 qualifies for free healthcare in Minnesota. As their incomes increase they must start to pay out of pocket for a monthly premium and an annual deductible. To find these cost you must apply for MA and they will offer different plans at different cost.

Errors

When Biden came into office he made a series of unforced errors in an attempt to undo the damage that, in his opinion, Trump had caused. He reversed the Trump border policies which led to the number of migrant crossings to increase from 50,000 per month to 250,000 per month. Next he reversed the Trump sanctions on Iran which allowed Iran's oil sales to increase from 800,000 barrels per day to 3,000,000 barrels per day. Much of this additional income went to Hamas. Early in his term Biden attended the June 2021 Brussels summit meeting where NATO leaders reiterated the statement made at the 2008 Bucharest summit that Ukraine would eventually join NATO. Putin had specifically stated that this was not acceptable. Many say this threat to join NATO led Putin to invade Ukraine. The situation today would be much different if Biden had left the Trump policies on the border and the sanctions on Iran in place and announced at the Brussels summit that Ukraine would not be invited to join NATO.

Abortion

The controversy surrounding abortion will continue for a long time because those on the extreme edges are unwilling to compromise. Some say that since life begins at conception there is no abortion that is not the murder of a human being. On the other side are those who say that abortion must be allowed at any time even the day before birth. Many others can look at the problem more objectively and see that some abortions are more distasteful than others. An abortion the day after conception is far different than an abortion the day before birth. Early abortions can be performed with medication or suction and the fetus is still quite small. Late abortions require a physical tearing apart of the fetus and the pieces must be reassembled to make sure no parts were left in the uterus. The average person, witnessing a late term abortion, would be disgusted and even nauseated. Live birth videos are shown in 11th grade health class but no late term abortion would ever be shown. Polls show that 2% say abortions should be illegal in all cases and 19% say abortion should be legal in all cases. This means that 79% of people believe there should be a compromise position.

Iceberg

The presidential campaign has taken another turn. It started out a Miss Congeniality contest with personality being more important than policy as this emphasized Trumps lack of political correctness more than his policies but that has now changed. Neither personality nor policy are important as the Harris campaign is down to two reasons to vote for her. First she is a Black female and second she is not Trump. There is no need for her to lay out any policies or to conduct any interviews. Her lack of administrative skills and her inability to express herself without reading will have minimal effect on governing since the great free market economy moves along like a giant iceberg seemingly not effected by politics. The country swings back and forth between more and less government but the berg just keeps floating along. It is the news media that keeps politics alive and in the minds of the people and even during an election year most people are still more concerned about paying their light bill than listening to debates. Pew Research this April showed that more than 80% of Americans believe elected official don't care what people like them think. The country has experienced four years of Trump and four years of Biden and the berg is still gliding along in the current of free markets.

GAS

It's a part of economics that states that when you have more of something or if something becomes more easily available more of it will be used. This applies to more than just things it also applies to services. Sometimes the need for something outpaces the availability of that something and this seems to be the case with school counselors. More and more students find themselves in need of counseling and the question is why. The three top reasons students seek help are low self-esteem, social isolation and trauma and experts say that these can be traced back to social media. Students compare their personal situations with others on their phone and feel they don't measure up, not realizing that much of what the see on the phone is not real. It is like the old magazine pictures of female models where the photos have been touched up and in real life very few look like that. In some extreme cases students come to believe that they are the wrong gender and this is becoming more prevalent. The number of gender-affirming surgeries (GAS) in the United States has increased significantly over time. According to a study published in JAMA Network Open in August 2023, the number of GAS procedures increased from 4,552 in 2016 to 13,011 in 2019, and then slightly decreased to 12,818 in 2020. This represents a fivefold increase in procedures between 2016 and 2021. The study's researchers believe the actual numbers are higher due to data limitations.

Blockade

The US is building up its military forces in the Middle East in an attempt to convince Iran not to attack Israel but once these forces start firing property will be destroyed and lives lost. It would be better if the US just announced it would blockade all oil shipments from Iran. This would place extreme economic pressure on Iran since oil and gas represents 40% of a Iran's exports. This is easily done by closing down access through the Straits if Hormuz. The US could then say as the next step they would damage the export facilities on Khark Island which is a small island off the coast of Iran where all the oil and gas ships are loaded.

Answers

VP Harris has said to look to the future not the past but so far has been silent on what her future plans would look like and this opens the door to looking at her past to get some ideas. She wants illegal immigrants to be eligible for healthcare and decriminalize border crossings along with a path to citizenship for spouses of immigrants in the US. She supports abortion at any time. She supports the Green New Deal which means printing money to spur economic growth. She, like Biden, wants to get rid of fossil fuels and she wants subsidies on EV's. She supports abortion at any time. She supports affirmative action based on identity politics. She voted for the First Step Act aimed as reducing recidivism, expanding early release programs and reducing sentencing. She advocated for donations to the Minnesota Freedom Fund to bail out those arrested in the summer riots in Minneapolis. She voted to legalize cannabis at the federal level by removing it from the Controlled Substance Act. She supports busing for desegregation of public schools. She supports funding to pay for college tuition and fees for families with incomes below $125,000. She is open to abolishing the Electoral College. She supports gun control and advocates for a government gun buy back program. She supports LGBTQ rights which includes trans men in women's sports, gender surgery on minors and drag queens in schools. She opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Her backers suggest she is changing her mind on many issues or at least softening her positions. There are no positions listed on her web site so the country waits her answers to the many questions.

Coup

The last couple of months the country has witnessed a strange set of events surrounding President Biden. He received 81 million votes when he was elected which is the most of all time. When he showed signs of mental decline those around him declared many times over that he was " sharp as a tack". Then the first unusual thing occurred when they scheduled a debate June when in the past most debates occurred in September after the conventions when the candidates are officially confirmed. The debate showed that Biden was not capable of leading the ticket and since he was not yet confirmed changes could be made but how and by whom. Biden received 14 million votes to be the nominee but the democrats point out that these votes were for the Biden/Harris ticket. So far the insiders reported that Biden was still sharp as a tack he just had a bad night. Then the polls began to shift and messages were leaked that things were not as sharp as was earlier stated. Then a few backers began to suggest that Biden might not beat Trump and this heightened the concern. This was followed up with major donors holding up on the money. It was then that the power behind the throne came into play. Pelosi, Obama and Schumer formed a cabal to convince Biden to drop out. Biden said in a loud clear voice he was in it to win it and Pelosi went on TV a few days later saying it was up to Biden to decide what to do. Then a series of private meetings between Biden and the power brokers took place and Biden announced he was dropping out but he threw in a curve when said he was passing the torch to Harris. So without any further ado Harris became the candidate. During an August 8 interview Pelosi said that Biden could not win and fearful of Trump once again being in the White House, Biden had to be replaced. Some have suggested that Pelosi figured there would be a quick nominating process where someone other than Harris would be selected but since Biden had already pushed for Harris they had to go with her. The question remains did the voters select Harris or was there a quiet coup.

Inflation

Both candidates are promising to slow inflation. There are four main ways to accomplish this. First is to stop spending and second is to increase oil and gas production, third is to reshore business to reduce transportation cost and forth is to reduce regulations so business can come home to a friendlier environment. Having the Fed raise interest rates works but politically it's not feasible at this time.

Energy

As a US Senator, Kamala Harris was an early co-sponsor of the Green New Deal. The climate proposal also includes job guarantees for displace workers and a call for a national healthcare system. The plan included $10 trillion to reduce greenhouse gases by 2045. During a CNN forum on climate change in 2020, Harris said she opposed fracking and offshore drilling. She said she would also ban fossil fuel leases on public lands if elected as president. She called for a pollution fee on carbon and would strengthen enforcement and prosecution of fossil fuel companies. This agrees with Biden's statement when he said, "I want you to look at my eyes. I guarantee you. I guarantee you. We're going to end fossil fuel."Sep 28, 2023 It is difficult to find any positions on nuclear by either Biden or Harris but after much searching I found this from Harris when asked do you support nuclear energy and she responded, Yes, temporarily while we increase investment into cleaner renewable alternatives This is in direct contrast with the country currently producing more fossil fuels that at any time in history. Harris has recently started to reverse her position on fracking but will that change again once she is elected. She seems very committed to the Green New Deal which in essence means wind and solar.

Unity

The unity that Biden promised is about to come to fruition. It started when Trump said he would not touch social security or Medicare. Both sides have put import taxes on China. Both sides promote reshoring, Biden with his America First and Trump with MAGA. Biden has reversed his position on Iran and added back the sanctions he removed when he took office. Both sides have put climate change on the back burner by maximizing fossil fuel output. Harris no longer wants to ban fracking. Both sides support Obamacare. Both sides are now in on full support for Israel. Harris is moving away from reparations, national healthcare and gun buy backs. Both sides have given up on debt control since they both printed trillions. Both sides need to reach a compromise on immigration and Ukraine and the country will be as George Wallace said in 1966, "there's not dimes worth of difference between the Republican and Democratic parties". If Trump is elected it will not be the end of democracy and if Harris is elected it will not mean socialism. No matter who is elected the economy will be rolling along and that means good paying jobs.

Schools

VP Harris position on Equity vs Equality So there’s a big difference between equality and equity. Equality suggests, “oh everyone should get the same amount.” The problem with that, not everybody’s starting out from the same place. So if we’re all getting the same amount, but you started out back there and I started out over here, we could get the same amount, but you’re still going to be that far back behind me. This represents a concept which cannot be instituted or enforced. Take one common example. Johnny comes from a middle income family where reading at home is the norm and his parents are strong for education, typically a situation you might find in a home where one or both of the parents are teachers. Jimmy comes from a single parent home where there are no books and his mother works two jobs to keep her head above the poverty level. These boys are 6 years old and entering first grade and Johnny's reading skills are two years ahead of Jimmy's. Johnny thinks school is important and Jimmy sees school as interfering with his play time. It's too late. The problem started years ago when his mother had him when she was 16 and her mother had her when she was 16 and grandma and had mom when she was 16. It is the cry for help that Bill Clinton had when he said welfare should be a helping hand not a way of life. The governments plan to help poor families blew up as single Black mom's went from 25% in 1965 to 75% in 1995. Black students are stuck in the rut of poor grades, low graduation rates and high drop out rates. There has got to be a way to get inner city student into the suburban schools. The biggest stumbling block is transportation. Even if Jimmy's mom is pushing the importance of education Jimmy is stuck in a school that has lots of discipline problems which interferes with learning. He is in an environment where education is not important even to the extent in some schools that getting good grades means being White.

Open speech

The strategy for the upcoming Harris campaign seems to be to keep her from speaking off the cuff. She does much better than Biden when reading from the prompter but drifts away while speaking extemporaneously. The next part will be to speak only about the future and to avoid the past. The two main reasons for this is that four years ago most feel things were better and Harris is changing her past positions on important issues. One major obstacle standing in the way is the promised debate and there may well be a move to cancel the debate. How people have different ways of public speaking was best illustrated in comparing Trump vs Obama. Obama measured every word pausing between sentences and often times between words. He was mentally evaluating his words as if to make sure he didn't say anything that might be controversial. This was much like a normal politician. Then along came Trump who just says whatever comes to mind and if he doesn't say it he puts in out on X. While this is very dangerous for a politician it is one of the things that his supporters like. While you can never be sure what Obama is thinking you can read Trump like an open book. The press lies in wait each day to find the latest unexpected thing that Trump might say and then they have the news of the day. This is the main reason why Trump seems to control the news cycle. This can hurt his campaign since the press will not be taking about the changes in policy that could be showing up each day in the Harris group. It will be a test to see how much the average voter pays attention to policy.

Market

I remember clearly the stock market crash of 1987 when the Dow dropped 22% in one day and many people made the mistake of taking the loss and got out. Experts always say the market should be a long term investment and those who stayed in found the market back to normal in 2 years. These past two days the market fell 6% and the best advice is to ride it out. If you are within five years of a planned retirement you should have not been in the market. For others just be patient. Interesting enough those who had agents stayed more than those who did not.

Sanctions

It is highly unlikely that historians can draw a straight line from one event to another such as was the case with Pearl Harbor but many times they can connect the dots. One such dot case is now being reviewed and that is the war against Hamas. When Biden came into office he canceled all of the sanctions that Trump had put on Iran in an attempt to restart the non nuclear negotiations. This is from February 2021 just after Biden took office. The Biden administration on Thursday rescinded former President Donald Trump's restoration of U.N. sanctions on Iran, an announcement that could help Washington move toward rejoining the 2015 nuclear agreement aimed at reining in the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. In 2023 Biden released $10 billion that Iraq owed to Iran. Next Biden removed the Houthis from the terrorist list. The biggest change was the money Iran received from oil exports. Just before the Trump sanctions in April 2018 Iranian oil exports stood at 2.9 million barrels per day (mbpd) and by October 2018 they declined to 1.8 mbpd and continued down to .8 mbpd. After Biden ended the sanctions in early 2021 the exports rose to 3 mbpd by August of 2022. Much of this money was used to bolster war supplies for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis's. The dots say that trying to appease Iran to negotiate led to the Hamas War. Like they always say, follow the money.

Past videos

Back in 1983 Reagan was ridiculed in the press for his idea that they referred to as Star Wars. His critics thought he was just a goofy old man who had spent too much time in the movies. The NY Times mocked SDI as an expression of anti communist paranoia. Today countries around the world are looking to install anti missile's. Israel's Iron Dome is a prime example. A similar thing happened when Trump announced his candidacy for president in 2015. The press made jokes about him and one magazine said Trump would be covered in the entertainment section. When politicians are wrong about something the press delights in re showing past videos but they are mostly silent when it comes to their own mistakes. It is very difficult to find anything on Google concerning the remarks by the press regarding Star Wars or some of the things said about Trump when he first announced. People do not feel comfortable with the press in general.

Trump

If Trump is elected. There will be a negotiated peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine. The border will be secure by forcing Mexico to close their border with Guatemala, re instituting remain in Mexico, stop catch and release and build the wall. The country will become energy independent by maximizing fossil fuel production and exporting the excess to help other countries move from coal to natural gas. Governments at all levels will be encouraged to stand behind the police, local DA's will prosecute criminals and repeat criminals will be imprisoned. The Trump tax cuts will be continued. The US will back Israel by sending in a timely manner all of the materials they need to defeat Hamas. The US will re institute the sanctions that Trump had against Iran in his first administration. The US will reduce regulations on business and add additional import taxes on China to promote bringing jobs back home. (MAGA) Recognizing that wind and solar will not replace fossil fuels, the US will turn its attention to the only viable solution for climate change and that is nuclear power. On a cultural level there will be no men in women's sports, schools will not keep secrets from parents, Drag Queens will not be dancing in school and rules about pronouns will be discouraged. In general this means that things will return to the way they were four years ago without the Covid meaning a secure border, low taxes, low inflation, low crime and no wars.

Migrants

Data about illegal migrant entries is somewhat confused by different counting methods. In January of 2023 the US introduced the CBP (Customs and Border Protection) app which was designed to help process migrants. Those who used the app were not counted as illegals. Since that time about 700,000 have used the app and 96% were allowed entry. In addition the CHNV (Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans) program has flown in 400,000 during this time period that were not counted as illegals. This means that in the last year and one half between these two programs over 60,000 migrants per month have entered the country with legal status. Also not counted are the over 40,000 per month of got a ways. In all this amounts to over 100,000 per month who are not counted as illegal entries.

DEI

While campaigning Biden said he wanted a Black Female for VP Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Monday he was considering four Black women to be his running mate, and has been receiving extensive vetting briefings about each potential candidate. The administration maintains that she was not a DEI hire A DEI hire refers to a person who was hired through a process that uses DEI principles. This process ensures that all candidates, regardless of their background, have an equal opportunity to compete for a job.

Love

He will never forget that beautiful spring morning when he first saw her sitting at a table at the Dairy Queen. It was love at first sight. It wasn't long before he got to know her and his love grew stronger. She liked to sleep late in the morning and stay up late at night watching reruns of old soap operas on Youtube, while she munched on chocolates. She didn't believe in bathing and never used toothpaste. Her diet consisted of donuts and ice cream and she was so overweight she had trouble walking and lived on a small disability check but it allowed her to always have an adequate supply of treats on hand. She didn't care much for reading and thought that Paris was a country. She had no use for children or pets. Her complexion was ashen and she suffered from cold sores as she seemed to go from one virus to another with no break in between. He bought her a razor but she never used it. Her health was slowly deteriorating and her teeth were in dire need of some serious dental work. She would unwind from the weeks tensions by watching cartoons on Saturday morning while snacking on Frosted Flakes. Though it all she remained the love of his life. Then on that fateful Wednesday morning in January his whole world came tumbling down around him when he discovered she was a democrat. I write this morbid piece of satire to remind people that during this election season that there is more to life than politics and because I have nothing better to do as I await the latest news. Not political of course!

Swap

Hats off to President Biden who led a multi-country group to arrange a 24 prisoner swap and it was accomplished without paying cash to anyone. Let's hope he will use his negotiating skills to command a group to bring Ukraine to a peaceful settlement. The world is looking for someone to step to the plate and end this war. Perhaps Biden is the man.

Start now

At the VP Harris rallies she often says, “My intention is to earn and win this nomination,” This statement implies that she has not yet earned it and this is why some say she was given the nomination by not having any competition. She also says that when she is elected she will do the following..... She is the current VP and has the ear of the president so why not start now in doing the following. She could have a five month head start.

Migrants

When it comes to discussion regarding the southern border the main topic is always the number of illegal migrants but that is not the only problem. In the past three plus years there have been 250,000 fentenyl deaths and most were young people. There is no accurate way to determine how many women and girls were molested along the way or how many unaccompanied minors were sex trafficked or how many got a ways had criminal records to hide or how much money went to the cartels and finally how much of the countries national security has been placed at risk.