War or peace

All parties in the Ukraine War want a peaceful settlement so why does the war continue. The US concern, like others, is the loss of life and property but the US is manufacturing war materials and sending these to the EU which is paying for the armaments. The EU, in the midst of its economic problems, is paying for the war and would like that to end. Russia has suffered over one million killed or injured along with a country in an economic mess. Ukraine is watching its country being destroyed along with the loss of troops, millions who have left the country and facing opposition from their people. In 2022, 73% of Ukrainians supported fighting until a clear victory and in July of 2025 that number had reversed to where 68% favored a negotiated end as soon as possible. The leaders of the Ukraine government have declared no elections until the war is ended and they are watching billions of dollars flow into their country. If the war ends, they must face an electorate that is war weary and broke. A number of Ukrainian officials have been accused, arrested, or convicted of benefiting economically from the war. While Ukraine's government and anti-corruption agencies have actively prosecuted these cases, the war has also created new opportunities for corruption, particularly in defense procurement and reconstruction.

Pelllets

When uranium is used as the fuel in power plants, one of the problems was the creation of unwanted by products. Uranium comes in two types, U 235 and U 238. The energy is from the 235 which is less than one percent but the neutrons bombard the 238 and change it into unwanted isotopes. The new approach to uranium greatly modifies this problem. First off, the uranium is enriched to 15% instead of 5% and then encapsulated into pellets where the bad by products remain captured in the pellets. In addition, the fuel is added as needed much like thorium reactors which makes them safe. If the power goes off the feed stops and the reaction runs out of fuel. Both of these fuels are compatible with small nuclear reactors which are the preferred types. Picture the fuel being wood in a wood stove. The fire is ignited and continues as long as wood is added but if that stops then the fire goes out. This is called walk away safety.

Energy density

The term energy density is a new way of explaining the laws of physics when it comes to production of energy. Here are the energy densities of various common fuels in BTU’s per pound. Wood 7,800 Coal 12,000 Diesel 20,000 Natural gas 22,000 Uranium 1.2 trillion Thorium 3.7 trillion Doug Burgum, Interior Secretary, recently directed that when reviewing energy projects to add density to the calculations. This is expected to show the advantages of nuclear power over wind and solar. When this is combined with the space requirements, the environmental problems with mining, processing and disposal of materials needed for wind and solar and the unsightly appearance of these projects, it will further dissuade the use of these energy methods. In May 2025, Trump signed four executive orders aimed at advancing nuclear power by accelerating the construction and licensing of new reactors. Private companies like Google, Amazon, MicroSoft and Facebook are moving in this direction. This marks a significant shift from nuclear power being developed by government to private companies.

Money

The economies of Europe and North America are a combination of free market capitalism along with a wide safety net. This can best be seen in the public (government) and private sectors. It is private business and innovation that promotes economic and job growth. The public sector extracts money (taxes) from the private sector and redistributes that in the form of benefits (public assistance). The US maintains a balance between these two. The extreme on the private side is called Laissex faire which is a hands-off approach by government. On the other extreme is socialism where the government owns the private property. Since the end of WW2 the trend has been to spend more on public areas. Since 1960 non-defense spending has increased from 8% of GDP to 18% while defense spending has decreased from 8% to 4%. One example is social security that costs the government $1.5 trillion in 2024 vs defense which cost $1 trillion. Money spent on defense creates debt and new jobs while money spent on social security creates debt and no new jobs. Money spent on defense also creates innovation which helps private companies to create new jobs. Much of what Musk’s companies are doing have benefited from NASA.

Brain

There are a number of explanations given to explain the left-wing bias in news reporting but one that is normally not followed up on is the difference between what is called left brain and right brain. Left brain people are often found in careers like law, accounting, engineering, science and computer stuff. These people use linear and analytical thought. Right brain people are often found in arts, music, writing and acting. They use intuition, creativity, emotional expression and holistic thinking. Most people use both sides of their brains but tend to favor one side over the other. Many who favor left brain become builders of things while the right brain people are more into reading and writing about building things. When you are building things, you encounter barriers like government regulations and you see those as impediments to your goal. People who spend their time with intellectual endeavors, people like teachers, see government as helpful to their goals. Journalist fall into the category of thinkers as opposed to builders. If they are concerned about some real or perceived injustice, they do not build something to deal with the problem they write something. For example, if they see a need to help someone or some group, they will likely look to the government for help whereas a builder might look to create new high paying jobs so these people could help themselves. Like all generalizations these ideas are subject to more exceptions that rules.

Landfills

In the 1940’s it was common for chemical companies to bury waste products in 55-gallon steel drums. These plant managers, for the most part were chemical engineers, who understood that in time these drums would rust and the materials would leak into the ground water. The most infamous of these sites was the Love Canal located near Niagara Falls but there 1,300 other sites which have cost over $50 billion dollars to date to cleaning up. Did the companies learn a lesson from this debacle? The answer is how are used solar panels being handled. Approximately 90% of old solar panels go to landfills. These contain heavy metals like silver, copper, arsenic and selenium along with cadmium all of which are classified as hazardous waste. While newer landfills are designed to prevent leakage all still leak to one extent or another. According to the Conservation Law Foundation, All Landfills Can Leak, and Our Health and Environment Pay the Toxic Price. Despite state and federal regulation, landfills leach harmful chemicals into the ground and water supply. While this is not a good situation, this is only about the disposal of old panels. A more dangerous problem arises from the mining and processing of these panels.

Deportations

The controversy concerning deportation of migrants is about them not receiving a court hearing before being deported. The rules surrounding illegal immigrants state that a person coming across the border and claiming asylum has the right to a court hearing. If they are deemed not to qualify for asylum then they are eligible for deportation. During the Obama administration over 3 million illegals were deported and over 2 million were never adjudicated. A substantial majority of people deported during the Obama administration were not adjudicated by a judge. A 2014 report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Migration Policy Institute found that roughly 75% of those deported between 2009 and 2012 did not have a hearing in immigration court. Instead, they were removed through non-judicial processes, which involve an administrative order rather than a judge's ruling. In this case an administrative order was a presidential executive order. This is what is happening today and many are protesting saying these people did not have their court hearing.

US future

For a short period of time after the Soviet Union collapsed, the US was considered the only super power with China coming on strong but today that has changed. China is in decline as countries, led by the US, move their production away from China. That coupled with the housing disaster and the demographic loss of young people has sent China into a slow but inevitable decline. Russia is bogged down with the Ukraine War. Europe is lost in economic decline caused by cheap Chinese imports and high energy cost. Iran has been devastated by the loss of Hamas and Hezbollah combined with the fall of Syria and the destruction of their nuclear program. North Korea has put all their emphasis on nuclear weapons while allowing their people to do without the basics of life and they have withdrawn from the rest of the world. This leaves the US in the unenviable positions of not having to be concerned about foreign enemies. The US stands at the precipice of the greatest economic growth in history, as new manufacturing facilities are being built across the land and AI is increasing productivity in all areas. All of the countries of the globe should heave a sigh of relief that it is the USA that has the mightiest military in the history of the world. Many other countries would be hankering to take over the world.

New energy

There are 25 companies in the AI race led by Microsoft, Google and Amazon and they are investing trillions. As these new facilities are being built, they are constructing their own power plants. Trump who sees things from a business standpoint is not putting up any government money in the form of loans or grants but he is streamlining the regulatory approval process to speed up construction. Time is money and this is saving these companies billions. Currently most of the power plants are gas fired but in the not-too-distant future these will be small nuclear reactors (SNR) and this will open the door to using these SNR’s for production of all electricity. This means ample power without the long transmission lines and makes way for small charging stations to power EV’s. This is the start of a revolution in energy supplies and it will be financed by private companies and not the taxpayers.

Sunnova

Many people remember Solyndra, the solar panel company that collapsed into bankruptcy in 2011, owing taxpayers $500 million for government loan guarantees but not many are familiar with the new kid on the block, Sunnova. This company was founded in 2012 with a great idea. They would build solar panels to install on homes. They would charge no money down and get monthly payments that were mostly covered by the homeowners saving in electric bills. They also qualified for the 30% tax credits. The company took off with the help of a $3 billion loan from the government. In 2021 the company went public and the stock rose to $48 but by 2025 the company filed for bankruptcy. They fell victim to the same problem that plagued Solyndra. They could not make a profit because they could not compete with low-cost panels from China.

Home heating

One of the side benefits of fracking for oil was the increase in production of natural gas. The price of natural gas used for home heating has increased 2.5% per year since 2000 and that has been the inflation rate. The cost remained steady even though US exports of natural gas have increase 18-fold from $250 million per year to over $100 billion. These exports kept Europe from collapse when they stopped buying gas from Russia. In 2024 Europe purchased 45% of its natural gas from the USA. Even with these imports the cost of natural gas in Europe remains high at $12.30 per MMBtu’s vs US cost of $2.20 per MMBtu’s. To give some perspective the average cost for home heating in MN is $650 per year and if they had to pay European cost it would be $3,693. This is a $3,000 per year difference which is no small item for most home owners.

Murders

Trump has sent troops into DC to fight crime and suggested he might to the same to other cities. With this in mind, it is time for a quick review of murders in the US. In 2023, the latest year FBI figures are available, there were 22,829 homicides and 12,276 were Black. In addition, Blacks killed 90% of Blacks. Blacks represent 14.4% of the population. In 2023 there were 19.5 million Black males and 8.5 million were between the ages of 15 and 50. This group which is 2.5% of the population commits 53% of all murders. This is information which is widely known but rarely discussed. The Black neighborhoods need help.

Intel

The Biden CHIP’s Act provides $280 billion to companies in the form of grants and loans to boost domestic research, development and manufacturing. Trump, ever the businessman, is not just giving out grants, he is demanding a stake in the company for the money. The Trump administration announced that the U.S. government will take a 10% stake in Intel, valued at about $8.9 billion, in exchange for previously awarded grant money under the CHIPS and Science Act and secure enclave program funding. Intel was in trouble, facing severe financial losses. These grants and loans were a salvation. The company was facing aggressive cost cutting including plant closures and job cuts. This will help the company and give the taxpayers a return on their investment. This is from CNBC. Trump says government will make deals like Intel stake ‘all day long’

Rare earth metals

The way environmentalist groups stopped the growth of the nuclear power industry is well documented but that is not the case with rare earth metals. The US was the world leader in rare earth metal production until the 1980’s with the Mountain Pass mine in California being the main producer. In the 1980’s several leaks in a pipeline occurred and then once again pressure from environmental groups pushed the EPA to shut down the mine. It was during this time that China began mining rare earths without regards to the environment and today China produces 95% of the worlds supply. The Halleck Creek rare earth mine in Wyoming is under construction and expected to be operational by 2029. Better late than never but if nuclear power is allowed to expand the need for rare earth metals will decline rapidly since many of these metals are used in electric cars, wind mills and solar panels. When environmentalist shut down an industry, they are not concerned about the environmental problems that will develop by replacement products. This is short sighted thinking to obtain a short-sighted goal. They use fear to get public support much like they have used climate change to get support for wind and solar at the expense of nuclear.

Electric cost

The new Canadian PM believes that climate change is a threat and is responding by promoting lower carbon emissions. This has a negative effect on the Western Provinces where fossil fuels are an important part of the economy. Something similar has happened in California and the latest example is the closure of two oil refineries in the state. The main reason was regulatory enforcement. This along with the closures of nuclear power plants will raise the cost of electricity. This will hit low-income families the hardest. Electricity cost in California is 35 cents per kW compared to 15 cents in MN. On average, Minnesota residents spend about $193 per month on electricity. That adds up to $2,316 per year. This equates to $450 per month in California or $5,484 per year. Canadians currently pay 20 cents per kW and hopefully not following California.

Alberta

The dislike toward Trump that is seen from many Americans has spread to Canada and is causing problems. The conservative candidate for PM was on the way to victory when Trump remarked that Canada should become the 51st state and the whole picture changed. The liberal candidate won the election and after the excitement was over the realization that he was a proponent of promoting green energy, which the Western Provinces saw as hurting their economies, replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar set in and this led to a crisis. The new PM is pushing reductions in carbon and the Western Provinces are pushing to build new oil pipelines to the US. The Western Provinces produce 5.7 billion barrels per day and 4.1 billion barrels are sent to the USA. These provinces have secured privately financed improved pipelines to the USA but the federal government in Ottawa will not approve because of their stance on lowering carbon.

Batteries

Elon Musk is building large data centers where he plans to supplement natural gas with solar and batteries. Solar panels alone cannot work because the data centers need continuous power and thus the need for batteries (storage). Here is an opportunity for the climate people to step in and suggest small nuclear reactors. They need only to outline the damage to the environment that using batteries will cause. They should be making people aware of the harm that mining, processing and disposal of the lithium, nickel, cobalt and graphite will cause. The first step would be to transfer the subsidies that are currently going to solar panels to the development of small nuclear reactors. This combined with streamlining the permit process for reactors will lead the way to clean energy that does not damage the environment. Google and Oracle are currently leaning toward small nuclear reactors while Microsoft is going to use power from the old Three Mile Island nuclear plant. Musk is going with batteries because he already produces same for his cars which are not selling. The beauty of all of this is the fact that this is all private money and not just another government program. This sort of thing can only happen in a free market capitalist system.

Trade deal

The Europeans are complaining that the new Trump tariff deal is unfair. The new law is a 15% reciprocal tax but the EU retains its VAT which is 17 to 25% depending on the country. The US import tax will increase from 2.5% tariff to 15%. Basically, exports to Germany will not increase but they were minimal under the old rules. The big change will be pressure to lower imports to the US and force companies to make more products in the US to escape the tariffs.

War or peace

The Trump approach to Ukraine is centered around the way the West sees the situation. He believes that Putin can be persuaded to seek peace for economic reasons. The cost of the war and the loss of troops will decline as Russia once again joins in mutual trade agreements with the West. The sanctions will be removed and all sides will win. The problem is that Putin does not see the world in this way. He sees a threat to his borders through Ukraine and believes this could be the beginning of the end of Russia. He is not going to reach any agreement and the war will continue but Trump will be given credit for offering a reasonable solution. The US will continue to supply arms to Europe who will then continue the fight. The US defense contractors will reap huge profits and in time the Europeans will get drawn further into the war leading to sending troops to Ukraine. The US will remain an outside force providing arms. Since the start of the war US defense stocks have risen by 48%.

Iran nukes

Iran has been saying for years that they want to enrich uranium to use for electrical power generation. Iran has a glut of oil and a shortage of fresh water. Gas is $1.37 per gallon because the country has large quantities of oil. Instead of building nuclear power plants they would be better off building desalting plants. Most people understand that the quest for nuclear power plants is the road to a nuclear

Waste

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) was formed in 2005 to prevent another 9/11 type attack. One of the reasons given is that the, training of pilots to fly planes but not take off and land them, was not discovered is that the FBI did not coordinate with the CIA. The goal was to unify and coordinate the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC), which has 18 agencies and organizations spread across different departments (Defense, Justice, Homeland Security, etc.). The staff will be reduced by 40% or 700 employees. This represents an annual savings of $700 million or a million dollars per employee. This means the elimination of redundant functions and consolidating responsibilities. This is an example of how government programs overlap. Another example is the 43 federal employment and training programs with a budget of $20 billion. Studies by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) have consistently identified fragmentation, overlap, and duplication within federal employment and training programs. Without proper oversight by congress bureaucratic programs tend to grow just by their nature. The goal should be to reduce the $6 trillion federal budget by 40% which would result in a savings of $2.4 trillion and this would wipe out the projected deficit of $1.9 trillion and lead to a $500 billion surplus. This is not a new idea. In 1985 congress passed the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act designed to produce a balanced budget by 1991. Congress immediately set about to mess up the act by using gimmicks and lack of enforcement and it failed.

Change is coming

There have been a number of social and economic changes since WW2 and they have caused a political shift to the left. The first was the move toward globalization and away from nationalism. Slowly over a sixty-year period the manufacturing base was move over seas for profits and at the expense of good factory jobs. The next came with Greenpeace in the 1960’s where using misinformation and scare tactics the nuclear power industry came under attack. This was followed by the climate scare, which then used sustainability to promote social change under the guise of climate change, while they insisted that wind and solar could replace fossil fuels. The economic power created by these ideas opened the door to cultural changes and things moved further to the left. As with most changes, things went too far and the people began to object and Trump came along when the time was ripe for a backlash. Over the past 20 years and in particularly the past ten years the old concept of nationalism has returned. America First means bring back the good jobs, forcing world organizations and European countries to pay more of their own way while making the US more competitive. This has resulted in a power shift away from the establishment and the bureaucracy feels threatened and are trying to hold on. The next couple of years will determine whether the change is permanent or if the country falls back to the old ways.

Mail in

The use of mail in ballots is in the news because Trump wants to eliminate them. The numbers are difficult to explain. In the presidential election of 2016, there were 33 million mail in ballots, in 2020 the number rose to 65 million and then in 2024 declined to 48 million. Most of the increase in 2020 went to Biden. In 2016 Hillary got 65 million votes and in 2020 Biden got 81 million. This increase of 15 million coincides with the increase in mail in ballots. Some feel that the pandemic had some thing to do with the results.

Bureaucracy

A good example of how bureaucracies grow if left unchecked can be seen in the military. During WW 2 there were 7 four-star generals and admirals with total personnel of 12 million. In 2023 there were 37 four-star generals and admirals with an active force of 1.3 million troops. This effected all other officers in something referred to a rank creep or officer inflation. In today’s military there is one officer for each 4.4 enlisted and during WW2 the ratio was one officer per eleven soldiers. Something similar happens in business. When the CEO salary increases this opens the door to salary increases for lower-level managers. Between 1940 and 1970 the ratio of CEO to worker salaries was 25 to 1 but by 2023 the ratio increased to 290 to 1. Business hierarchy has flattened over this time period with the ratio of managers vs workers has changed slightly from 5 to 1 to 6 to 1. Much of this is because of automation.

War or not

The strange bedfellows that politics creates was on display in the recent meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska. This was mindful to when FDR met with Stalin, a man who without provocation attacked neighboring Poland, the same man who had murdered millions of his own people. Or go back to Nixon going to China to meet with Mao a man who had murdered millions of his own people. Some are critical of the meeting saying Trump should deal with Putin like Joe Biden, meaning he should have called Putin names like crazy SOB. This meeting was the first step in trying to end the war, a war that Biden declared support for as long as it takes. The same war that the west declared that Putin couldn’t win or he would take over Eastern Europe, the same group that said Putin couldn’t lose because he would resort to nukes. It is time for some common sense which is now overshadowed by politics.

Name changes

In June of 2023 the Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action but it did not go away. It was replaced with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Trump, using executive orders, removed DEI from government offices but DEI is still around in the corporate world. DEI has morphed into Belonging. Mayo Clinic now has an Office of Belonging. Walmart is now using the term belonging. Kohl’s has Chief Inclusion and Belonging Office. Dollar Store Culture, Inclusion and Belonging. Disney became Belong and Thrive. Nationwide Insurance uses Belonging, Respect and Fairness. Most corporations still maintain the basics of DEI but they have changed the name. This is a common practice to dress up ideas with euphemisms. Pro Abortions became Choice which became Women’s Health Issues.

EU and Russia

Many EU countries see a peaceful solution to the Ukraine War as a threat to their safety. As the world stands today it is the US that provides for the safety of the EU. This has come about over the years as Europe reduced their defense spending to supplement their social spending relying on the US for protection. This led to a standoff between the two super nuclear powers and created a safe zone for Europe. If there is a settlement to the war then the EU fears that the US will back off. These fears are real as the US has told the EU that they must start to provide for their own defense. The EU would like to keep the war going for another five years while they build up their military to take over when the US leaves. They feel that only then would they present a deterrent to Russia.

Podcast

Many in the press often say how refreshing it would be if some politician would just admit he was wrong and change his position on a particular issue. Beware! On those few occasions when that happens the press response is he’s a flip flopper, or he goes which ever way the wind blows or he will say whatever is needed to get reelected or my favorite, he caved. The result is that elected officials often hold onto positions they would like to change or worse yet they give some mealy mouth double talk to side step the issue. One of the fears that many pols have is when things are taken out of context. The use of pod cast will go along way to minimize that, as in a three-hour conversation the person has time to explain their position in greater detail. This is not fool proof but it can help.

Redistricting

Redistricting is in the news again and the issue is complicated by the way districts are determined. In most cases the district boundaries are set by the state legislature and therein lies the problem. If the legislature is dominated by one party, then politics determines the rules. The number of congressional seats is set at 435 and the population is divided by that number to arrive at the number of people in each district. The population in the last census (2020) was 331 million so each district should have 760,000 people but that is not the case. Districts range in size from 550,000 to over one million. A fair and simple way to determine the boundaries would be to use a computer analysis. A population density map could be fed into the computer and then lines could be drawn targeting 765,000 per district. While this is the logical way, it would not suffice because this removes the politics and the politicians would not like that and they would be the ones who have to make the change. It is the same situation with term limits.

California

The US is waking up to the fact that the country cannot go down the path that Europe has chosen since that leads to recession. The same lesson is being learned within the US as the country watches the situation in California where they are pushing wind and solar. They have shut down all but one of their nuclear power plants and it is schedule to close in 2030. Drilling for oil in the Monterey Shale basin is being curtailed for environmental reason while offshore drilling is ending for the same reasons. A proposed 65 cent gas tax will add to the current $4.50 price. The state income tax at 13.3% is the highest in the country. On the other end 40% of the people are on Medical the state funded medical care and 50% of new babies are born under Medical. One/third of all people in the US on public assistance live in California and they are under CalWorks. It provides cash aid and helps families with expenses like housing, food and utilities. The average cost of electric power in the US is19 cents per kWh but 35 cents in California. The cost of housing is $773,000 in California vs $355,000 average in the rest of the country. The top one percent of wage earners pay half the taxes. The result of all this is that the rich and the poor are OK but the middle class is suffering. This is what happened to the middle-income groups across the country over the past 50 years.

Putin

Trump has positioned himself into a strong negotiation with Putin. While Biden was giving money and arms to Ukraine, Trump is selling arms to Europe which in turn is sending them to Ukraine. He can say to Putin the US can go down this war path for ever. The US sales of arms is helping the economy grow and providing good paying jobs. Meanwhile Russia is going broke and losing thousands of lives.

EU vs US

The US and the EU have been reducing their CO2 emissions and since 2000 the reductions have been 1.3 billion tons for each. Meanwhile during the same time period China has increased its CO2 emissions by 7.4 billion tons. These reductions have been mismanaged by the EU and their economies are suffering while in the US the economy is moving ahead. The EU failed to understand that in order for wind and solar to be effective requires adequate sunlight and wind both of which are in short supply in Europe. Add to that the closing of nuclear power plants and cutting off the supply of natural gas from Russia and you have the makings of a problem.

Action reaction

As the Trump revolution moves forward, the opposition is changing strategies. As the changes grow in effectiveness and gain in popularity the policies become more acceptable and the complaints shift to attacking the how. Securing the border is OK but not how it is being done. Bringing manufacturing jobs back home is good but it’s being done improperly (tariffs). Getting a settlement to the war is good but land swapping. Removing illegal migrant criminals makes sense but not mixing in non-criminals. Prior to the arrival of Trump these problems were often discussed but no action was taken. The best example is immigration. For years the experts said that our immigration process was broken and congress needs to fix it, but nothing was done. Whenever an action is taken there will be opposition. It’s Newtons third law, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

End the war now

The economies of the EU have been stressed since the start of the Ukraine War primarily because they chose to stop buying cheap natural gas from Russia. This shortage has been partially made up by LNG imports from the US. The latest blow is the 15% tariff imposed on EU exports by the US. Germany, the economic engine of the EU, has been in recession since the war and will now be hurt even further with the new tariffs. As the Trump administration pulls back from providing national defense for the EU these countries are now moving to expand their military. This switch will, in the short term, revitalize their economies but substituting defense spending for social spending is not a good long-term strategy. A better solution for all parties is to reach a peaceful settlement to the war. Then Russia exports will once again hit the world markets. Here is an article from August 7, 2025 LONDON — Most Ukrainians now favor ending the war with Russia through negotiations, as support for fighting until victory has dropped sharply since the early days of the conflict. Although their hopes for joining NATO and the European Union have faded and approval of U.S. leadership has plummeted, Ukrainians still see the EU, U.K. and U.S. as key to ending the war. Yet, most doubt that will happen anytime soon. More than three years into the war, Ukrainians’ support for continuing to fight until victory has hit a new low. In Gallup’s most recent poll of Ukraine — conducted in early July — 69% say they favor a negotiated end to the war as soon as possible, compared with 24% who support continuing to fight until victory. This marks a nearly complete reversal from public opinion in 2022, when 73% favored Ukraine fighting until victory and 22% preferred that Ukraine seek a negotiated end as soon as possible. It is time to end this war, a war that should have never started.

Child tax cuts

Since the US has a progressive income tax system (high earners pay a higher percentage) it is expected that any tax increase will have a greater effect on the rich as will any tax decrease. The Trump tax cut of 2017 was just extended in the Big New Bill. This helps low-income people the most on a percentage basis but not on a total tax basis. Here is a chart showing tax savings at different incomes for a family of four Income Tax savings $75,000 $2,700 $120,000 $3,600 $180,000 $5,200 $500,000 $4,800 The big help for low-income families was raising the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000. An easy and convenient way to help the lower income groups is to increase the child tax credit to $5,000. This would cost the government $250 billion per year but almost all of the money would go to low-income groups, that is families’ earnings less than $100,000 per year.

Musk

When talking about Elon Musk the use of superlatives seems redundant but his latest achievement is mind boggling. The development of Grok 4 the most advanced super computer took only 122 days from start to finish. It took 103 days to complete the ground work and building and only 19 days to install the technology. Normally such a project would take 4 or 5 years. Why is it that he can do this but others cannot? People should take a close look at how he operates and learn.

Hitler

In a twisted way of thinking Trump is taking the steps needed to save the democratic party, steps they are unable to take for themselves. As it stands now the leaders in the democratic party are going out of their way to criticize Trump at every turn. They are doing this because they are not allowed to talk about their policies. Cultural issues like biological men in women’s sports, gender surgery on minors, teachers keeping secrets from parents, no cash bail, reducing offenses to keep people from jail, only two sexes, allowing violent protests, crying racism, defund the police, DEI, CRT and on and on are hurting the party and Trump is ending these unpopular ideas. The democratic party is unable to end these issues and needs Trump to do it for them and each time he attacks Woke they can call him Hitler and say he is ending democracy.

Migrants

Virtue signaling is a relatively new phrase in the vernacular an it means using compassion to promote an idea. A good example is California where compassion toward migrants coming up from the south allowed ten million to enter the state since 1990. Some suggest this was done without considering the long-term consequences. Where would these people live in a state that was already facing a housing problem. Would they over lode the publics schools. Would they place an undo strain on public health? Would this lead to increases in crime? While many of these issues did not affect the political leaders who instigated the policies, they had a profound affect on the poorer neighborhoods. This same thing has occurred, to a lesser level, in other states and this represents the positive side to illegal migrants. The down side is the thousands of women and girls who were molested crossing the Mexican desert, the estimated 275,000 deaths to young people from fentanyl, the trafficking of thousands including 300,000 unaccompanied minors who have disappeared, the billions in profits to the cartels and the criminals that are still living in the US. All of this merely illustrates the need for legal immigration and not an open border. It will take many years to recover.

Canada succession

The Canadian Constitution states that any province can secede with a popular vote. In 1995 a referendum in Quebec to secede narrowly failed with a vote of 50.58 vs 49.42. This caused Ottawa to wake up and Quebec started to get funds from the federal government that were inappropriate to their contribution. Many interpreted this as Ottawa bribing Quebec to stay in the union. Quebec, with a population of 10 million is losing residence and has a low birthrate of 1.3 children per woman when 2.1 is required to maintain the population. The big money coming into the federal government is from Alberta and Saskatchewan from oil and natural gas. These two provinces, along with the neighboring provinces of British Columbia and Manitoba, are upset with Ottawa saying they are contributing to maintain Quebec. The push for succession in Alberta is gaining strength but still lacks the majority needed. Some say that the push is just a political maneuver to get Ottawa’s permission to work more closely with the US. The problem was exacerbated by the election of liberal Mark Carney who is a big believer in wind and solar and believes that fossil fuels are endangering the earth. He was a surprise winner in the last election as voters swung away from the conservative candidate Pierre Poilievre when Trump joked about Canada becoming the 51st state.

Injunctions

The Trump administration is battling the lower courts as individual districts attempt to stop executive orders. When a judge in one district makes a ruling demanding that all districts follow, the administration contends that the judge only has power in his district and cannot make rules that affect the whole country. In June of 2025 in the case of Trump v CASA the Supreme Court held that lower courts lack the authority to issue universal injunctions that block government policies nationwide. This is in line with the constitutional separation of power. The Supreme Court has equal power with the executive branch not the lower courts. Since then, the lower courts have continued to attempt to block administrative rulings but the Justice Department is not enforcing the injunctions of these judges. A federal judge in Maryland blocked President Trump’s birthright citizenship restrictions nationwide late Thursday, the fourth such ruling following the Supreme Court’s decision clawing back universal injunctions. 8/8/2025

Private SS

The latest information indicates that social security will begin to reduce benefits in eight years. Three fourths of young people feel that SS will not be there for them. Social security under its present form is racist since White females collect more than twice as long as Black males. One way to solve both of these problems is to privatize SS. Each working person must set aside 6.2% of earnings for SS and 2.2% of that is for survivor and disability benefit while the remaining 4% is saved for retirement. The employer matches these amounts so the total going for retirement is 8%. The stock market over the past 100 years has averaged 10% growth per year. If a 25-year-old person earning $50,000 per year and receiving a 3% raise every year and investing 8% of their annual income at 5% return would have $650,000. Investing this at 5% would provide $2,700 per month. Under the current law this person would get $2,014 per month from SS. Upon death all payments stop. In a private account the entire $650,000 would pass on to heirs. Starting next year every person who turns age 25 will begin privatizing their SS and in 37 years the whole system will be private. If the market continued at 10% has it has in the past the 25-year-old of today would have $1.7 million which at 5% would provide $5,200 per month. Most young people would like this better.

War or not

Peace negotiations to the Ukraine War are once again in the news. It is time to review how this came to pass. Recall at the start of the war the experts got themselves into a pickle. They said that Russia could not be allowed to win because that would embolden them and they would push to rebuild the old Soviet Union starting with the Baltic countries. The same people said that Ukraine could not be allowed to win because if Russia was cornered, they would resort to Nukes. It was a guaranteed Mexican standoff. It was a war that was doomed to last forever. The war would never has started if the West had agreed to allow Russia to retain Crimea and absorb the Russian speaking areas in Ukraine known as the Donbas Region. This combined with forbidding Ukraine entry into NATO would have prevented the war. Within a month after the war started, Putin was still in accord with this type of agreement and would have withdrawn his forces. Now here we are three plus years into the war and the same deal is on the table and some, including Zelensky, are still opposed to a peaceful settlement. The cost to rebuild Ukraine is estimated at a half trillion with thousands dead and many more thousands injured, combined with millions who have left the country. Who are the winners in this catastrophe? US arms manufacturers and all those along the way who steal by various means. Add to that those EU countries who are sending military aid. Those who oppose a peaceful settlement must answer the question. Do they want a permanent war and if not, what is their answer?

DEI

Affirmative action began in 1964 with good intentions like many government programs but in time morphed into something it was trying to prevent. The original ruling said employment cannot discriminate based on race, color, religion and national origin. Most everyone was in agreement with the objective of the law but when the Department of Labor began to enforce the law they went too far. When congress does not follow up with oversight, agencies tend to over do things. They decided that employers must give preferential treatment to minorities. This was the practice until the Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that this type of hiring was, in and of itself, discriminatory. In the early 2020’s the writing was on the wall that affirmative action was on the way out so certain groups, inspired by the George Floyd murder, began what is now called Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). This was affirmative action under a new name. Early in his second term Trump issued a number of executive orders to dismantle DEI practices in all areas that receive government funding.

Counting illegals

Trump has suggested that illegal migrants not be counted when determining electoral votes. Counting these people hurts the republicans. When it comes to the top six states with the most illegals, they are California, Texas, Florida, Illinois, New York and New Jersey. In the liberal states of California, New York, Illinois and New Jersey there are 4.4 million illegals while in the conservative states of Texas and Florida there are 2.5 million. Since the population of the US in the 2010 census was 308 million and there are 538 electoral votes each vote represents 575,000 people. The difference in the number of illegals in liberal states vs conservative states is 1.9 million and that represents 3.3 electoral votes. This seems like a lot of activity for such a small difference.

Jewish people

The Jewish people, historically known as Gods chosen, have been persecuted throughout history and today is no exception. In the US 70% of all religious hate crimes are against the Jews. One of the reasons that Jews are disliked is jealousy. Until the development of the printing press in 1440, most people did not have access to the printed word and thus most people could not read. The exception were Jewish families that taught their sons to read. The main purpose was to study the Torah but it had side benefits. The Holy Roman Catholic church discouraged the loaning of money at interest called usury. If you were the only families in town that could read and write and you could loan money at interest the logical step is that you would be the banker. Most people remember the Shakespear character Shylock and how his money lending got him in trouble. Over the centuries Jews became prominent in the banking industry and today they have a lot influence in most things financial. This is often used to denigrate Jews. Hitler pushed the idea that Jewish banking interest caused the economic problems in Germany and this led to the killing of Jews. This is a common story throughout history. Because of this prejudice the Jews have had to excel just to stay even. One good example is the fact that Jews represent only 0.2% of the population but they have won 45% of all Nobel prizes in chemistry, physics, medicine and economics. Jews understand the value of education. Today in the US, 57% of Jewish adults are college grads as opposed to 29% of all adults. Because of this they are over represented in business, especially in the financial industry.

India coal

(Reuters) -Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's group will build and operate a $3 billion coal-fired power plant in Bihar state with a 2.4-gigawatt capacity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is targeting increasing the country's coal-based capacity by 80 GW, or more than a third, by 2032 to more than 290 GW, saying it was necessary to ensure reliable, round-the-clock power. One GW is the power of a large nuclear power plant. India like most countries has large coal reserves and they plan to use them. Their reasoning is sound. The West, including the US, use coal to develop their industries throughout the 19th and 20th centuries and now it is India’s turn. If the US would start building small nuclear reactors (SMR’s) on an assembly line basis these could be sold to India and they would not have to rely so much on coal. China already has plans underway to produce and sell SMR’s around the world. Several private companies in the US are in the process of installing SMR’s to power their data centers. The US government is helping by reducing the regulations on nuclear power. More and more scientists are coming around to the understanding that nuclear power is the future.

Spying

After 9/11 the government took steps to shore up its intelligence agencies by enacting the Patriot Act which gave broad power to the establishment. Civil liberty groups vehemently objected on the grounds of privacy. They said these new powers would lead to government misuse for political reasons but their voices fell on deaf ears. Fifteen years later along comes the outsider Trump who represents a threat to the status quo and the predictions come to fruition. Trump is the republican nominee and in July of 2016, about four months before the election, the FBI’s counterintelligence section launches “Crossfire Hurricane”, to look into allegations of Trump/Russia collusion. This is where the fears of the civil liberty groups come into play. The FBI used unsubstantiated information from the now debunked Steele dossier to investigate Trump advisor Carter Page. The court is also not told that Page was a CIA source. Had this information been known to the FISA court they would not have issued the wiretap warrant. Once issued the warrant allowed for hops meaning while listening to Page the government could then hop to anyone Page was talking to then hop to anyone that person had talked to. Using this double hop the entire Trump group was listened into without their knowledge. This resulted in: Politicization of intelligence assessments occurs when the gathering, processing, or dissemination of intelligence information is influenced by political considerations, potentially leading to biased or inaccurate assessments that support specific policy preferences. This can manifest as analysts tailoring their findings to align with policymakers' desires, or policymakers selectively using intelligence to bolster their arguments. More and more information about this incident is being made public but it will not matter because 50% of the people have made up their minds based on their politics.

President

Often times information is withheld from the general public because it is a risk to national security. Approximately 1.25 million people in the United States hold a Top-Secret security clearance, according to Statista. This clearance allows access to the most sensitive government information. Many of these people are contractors who are not government employees. By a series of unconnected events a new president is elected and he is a Manchurian Candidate. He appoints department heads who are loyal to him. He begins to institute policies that will further his aims. Several in congress object and use their constitutional authority to oversee the actions of the executive branch. When they ask for information, they are put off by various delay tactics including not revealing information for national security reasons. This is not good enough for congress so they subpoena the bureaucrats to testify but they refuse and are in contempt of congress but the Department of Justice refuses to prosecute. The only recourse is to impeach but that takes 67 votes and with the country divided, which is the way politicians want it, this becomes an almost impossible task. They just report that the whole thing is political and not based on facts and half the people will go along.

Amazon

The federal government has three main responsibilities. First to protect the people from foreign enemies. Second to use regulations and investigations to prevent or minimize corruption in the form of fraud and abuse. Third to provide a safety net for those who because of circumstances are unable to care for themselves. This includes adults with small children and those disabled due to accident or sickness. State and local governments are needed to keep neighborhoods safe. This allows private business to grow and develop. Those willing to take the risk of starting a new business recognize that only one half make it to the five-year mark. These are people who invest their assets and work long hours in the hope of starting a new enterprise. Once in a great while these turn into a giant success. There are many well known examples, people like Bill Gates of Microsoft, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Steve Jobs of Apple. Thirty years ago 31 year old Jeff Bezos started an online book store in his garage. He used all of his $10,000 and a loan from his parents of $250,000 of which he told them there was a 70% chance of failure. Today Amazon offers online purchases of most consumer products with next day delivery. The company has 1,200 distribution centers, 100,000 delivery vans and 1.56 million employees. Bezos is worth $220 billion but 99% is invested in Amazon and Blue Origin space company. Bezos retired from Amazon in 2021 but is still active in his Blue Origin business. While he owns luxury items like homes, planes and yachts, he spends most of his time with his family or at work. As the wealth gap in the US continues to widen some are saying that the government should go after Bezos money and no person should have that much and they are saying the same thing about other billionaires. There are 33 million small businesses in the US employing 63 million people and anyone of these could become the next Amazon.

NY City

As the wealth gap in the US continues to widen the door opens for some charismatic articulate leader to step forth and push for equality. This is happening in the NY City mayoral race. A newcomer on the political scene, Zohran Mamdani, is making waves by promising the redistribution of wealth. He is using the old standby of the democratic party of taxing the rich to pay for the new benefits. He plans to raise $10 billion in new taxes to pay for childcare, free buses and city owned food stores. In addition, he will ask local employees to raise the minimum wage and freeze rents. The seductive lure of free stuff is a powerful force and will likely bring in enough votes to get him elected. If the past is any predictor of the future, he will add more benefits and more taxes and get more votes. It is a proven winning strategy.

Gaza

Most people do not remember that in 2005 Israel gave the Gaza Strip to the Palestinians and dismantled 21 Israeli settlements and evacuated its military forces. Gaza was then transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA). In 2007 the people living in Gaza held an election and the military group Hamas took control. Next Hamas broke away from the PA which at that time was headed by Mahmoud Abbas. Israel chose to leave Gaza because the Palestinians had been launching rockets into Israel while carrying out suicide attacks in Israel. Israel built a wall to keep out the suicide attackers and it was successful. They next followed up with the Iron Dome to stop the rocket attacks. All of this tit for tat ended in Oct 7, 2023 when Hamas attacked Israeli citizens killing 1,200 and taking 250 prisoners. Israel then began a full-on attack which continues to this day. On Oct 8, 2023 the day after the attack pro-Palestinian celebrations took place in the US and many demonstrations continue to this day. Hama’s using gorilla tactics hide their soldiers in amongst the general population to maximize civilian deaths. They also occupy the lower levels of hospitals and have miles of underground tunnels. Whenever innocent people are killed the world publishes pictures. This has been going on since the fighting began. Over time this has had the desired effect of moving public opinion away from the Israelis to the Palestinians. It is a very effective strategy.

Data centers

Data centers are the new power producers for AI and there are over 5,000 such centers in the US with more being built each day. Data centers require continuous power sources and that leaves out wind and solar. In most areas the power available from the grid is not sufficient so they must build their own private power plants. The easiest is a new gas-powered plant but that increases CO2. A good compromise is small nuclear reactors. Other nuclear news focuses on small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), factory-built, modular power plants that could be installed near data centers, potentially without the cost overruns and delays often experienced in building large plants. Google recently ordered a fleet of SMRs to generate the power needed by its data centers. The first one will be completed by 2030 and the remainder by 2035. Google hopes the deal will provide a low-carbon solution to power datacenters, which require huge volumes of electricity. The company said nuclear provided “a clean, round-the-clock power source that can help us reliably meet electricity demands”. Since SMR’s are much safer Trump has reduced the regulations to the point where permits can be granted in 18 months instead of seven years. He is also making the general public aware of the futility of trying to replace fossil fuels with wind and solar which he refers to as the New Green Scam.

Canadian PM Carney

Quebec, Canada’s big eastern province, is now joining the Western Provinces of Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia in moving toward secession. This was all precipitated by the election of liberal Mark Carney as PM. He won on the backlash of Trump’s support for the conservative candidate Poilievre. Carney promotes wind and solar over fossil fuels and this hurts the West where oil and natural gas are big exports to the US. He is also pro immigrant and a strong supporter of gay rights and gender change surgery. These are popular in liberal strongholds like Ottawa and Toronto but not in the rest of Canada. Carney is considered more Woke than outgoing PM Trudeau.

Canada

The tariff rules being imposed on various countries are more complicated than they seem. One example is oil imported from Alberta, Canada and this amounts to 4 million barrels per day. There is a ten percent import tax on this but there is an exception which exempts most of the oil. If the oil meets the United States, Mexico, Canada Agreement (USMCA) standards there is no tariff. This means that the oil must all come from Canada and not be mixed with oil from another country. Alberta supplies 15% of Canada’s GDP. The people in Alberta are upset with Ottawa’s threat of retaliation against the US with tariffs. These is currently a referendum being offered to the people of Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia to form a government separate from Ottawa. There are signs across the region saying: End Federal Injustice: Western Sovereignty - A Path to Autonomy

Vaccine

During the recent Covid pandemic much information was put out by the government that was not correct and much information that was correct was called misinformation. One example of how the government manipulated information was the way the definition of vaccine was change to accommodate the efficacy of the product. On September 1, 2021 the CDC changed its definition of vaccine Before. A product that stimulates a person’s immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease, protecting the person from that disease. After. A preparation that is used to stimulate the bodies response against the disease. This change was made after it was discovered that the Covid vaccine did not give immunity and did not prevent the transfer after vaccination.

Canada

The reason Europe was in such a disadvantage in negotiating with Trump was the fact that they are so dependent on the US for military protection. This has been the case since WW 2. They have enjoyed this benefit over the years by using defense money to provide social benefits, things like national healthcare. Canada is now in the same situation. The Canadians spend 1.37% of their GDP on defense because they too rely on the US for protection. This is far less than the commitment by the EU countries to up their defense spending to 5%. Just like Europe, Canada provides national healthcare for its citizens using the savings from defense spending.

Germany

From the standpoint of economics, Germany was the crown jewel of the European Union but that is changing because of several factors some of which are self-inflicted wounds. It began with the 2005 election of Angela Merkel. She led the grand coalition of the three major parties. One of her first major policies was to replace fossil fuels with wind and solar. This was done without any deep investigation and failed to recognize that Germany did not have much sun or much wind. In 2008 she began closing the first of 17 nuclear power plants and the last one closed in 2023. The second big mistake was the failure to recognize the oncoming demographic problem of having too many older people and too few younger people. Both of these potential problems were easily discernable to anyone who took the time to look but no one did. Third was the influx of cheap goods from China which led to job loses in sectors like autos and machinery. The straw the broke the back happened the year after Merkel left office when Russia invaded Ukraine and the German government decide to stop buying natural gas from Russia. This caused a steep rise in energy prices which led many German companies, particularly those in chemicals and auto, to suffer and led to lay offs and transferring production to the US. For many years the German government was able to provide significant social benefits because the US offered military protection and Germany used defense spending to prop up social programs. For many years Germans worked much less than Americans averaging 1,340 hours per year verses 1,800 for Americans. The threat to these programs, in particular social security, is now prompting the government to demand that people worked longer hours. In addition, the government will now increase its defense budget from 2% of GDP to 5%. Ten years ago, the US was on the same glide path as Germany but recognized the potential pit falls and changed course. Today the US is moving away from providing military protection for Europe and changing energy policy away from wind and solar and toward nuclear. The US is bringing jobs back home, especially from China and placing tariffs on Chinese import. The US is embarking on a plan to lead the world in AI. The US must next find ways to include recent immigrants into the work force eventually leading to citizenship.

Change

The nation and the world now have six months of the Trump revolution under its belt and the task ahead is still mostly impossible. To turn around the ship of state is like turning an aircraft carrier. The establishment that has evolved since WW 2 is not likely to accept a major change. The move away from globalization was a first step but from here on out things become more difficult. As the bureaucracy puts up the barriers to maintain the status quo, change of any form becomes more difficult and less likely. All of the main institutions want to remain the same in order to keep their power. Big business, bureaucracy (government), education, the national press and cultural things like Hollywood want to keep the system as is. Trump really has only six more months to get a balance of trade, to end the war Ukraine and to solve the problem in the Middle East. If he can accomplish this there is an outside chance of keeping control of the congress which would give him two more years and this would greatly enhance the probability of making permanent changes. The one thing that could help Trump is if the increase in wages, that currently outpaces inflation, would continue but this is up in the air at this time. The power structure in the US and in the world is against any change.

Clouding issues

Issues are often clouded by combining related points in a misleading way. A good example is including legal immigration with illegal immigration. More recently are the stories about Russian interference in the 2016 election. They interfered by placing ads on social media but they did not collude with Trump. The NY Times columnist Bret Stephens wrote that Trump did collude with the Russias but later changed. Stephens also admitted the Russian collusion narrative - "the Steele dossier and all the bogus allegations, credulously parroted in the mainstream media, that flowed from it" - that marred Trump's presidency was an "elaborate hoax" and that "there’s just no other word for it". US President Donald Trump's campaign did not conspire with Russia during the 2016 election, a summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report says. This investigation lasted 22 months and cost $32 million dollars. Special counsel John Durham concluded that the FBI should never have launched a full investigation into connections between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. This investigation lasted four years and cost $6.5 million. In spite of this the Internet is filled with stories that maintain the Trump/Russia connection is true. Right now, the public is clamoring for the Epstein case to be investigated but will the results be ignored. Are government investigation only good for the fees attorneys earn. As long as the politicians can keep the American voters at each other’s throats they are safe from any investigation and the public is more than happy to oblige.

European arms

During WW 2 the US manufactures were called upon to produce weapons for war and the response was nothing less than miraculous with the production of 300,000 air craft, 124,000 ships, 86,000 tanks and millions of other smaller trucks and vehicles. It appears the US is once again called upon to send arms to Europe. The EU has agreed to increase their defense spending to 5% of GDP and use much of that money to buy military supplies from the US. The projected purchases are $250 billion per year. This represents one forth of the US defense budget.