Import tax on China

The government is finally showing some concern about our dependence on China but they are going about it in the wrong way. Congress passed a $350 billion dollar corporate welfare bill designed to give money to private companies to help them compete with imports from China. This will add to the inflation while handing out checks to big companies. A better way would be to place import taxes on goods from China causing the cost of these items to become non competitive with US industries. Consumer prices would rise but that is the price to pay for having goods made in America. Big companies should be aware that if the government is going to give them money they will demand some control over how it is spent. For those who favor free trade it is not free when the Chinese government subsidizes their industries so they can sell products at a price below the cost of production.

Transgender

Transgender is term for anyone whose gender does not align with their sex assigned at birth. Cisgender means not transgender. Early signs are psychological and a marked incongruence between their gender and their assigned gender at birth lasting at least 6 months. Things like a girl trying to prevent breast development. Doctors and parents are encouraged to take a gender-affirming approach. Some children can change their name say from Mary to John or change clothes or hair style. Hormone treatments research is still ongoing. Some people don't realize they are transgender until they reach puberty or later in adulthood. Medical guidelines do not recommend genital gender-affirming surgeries before age 18. Endocrine Society’s 2017 guidelines mentioned the need for more research on the effects of the prolonged delay of puberty in adolescents.

Independent counsel

Some people are suggesting the appointment of an independent counsel to investigate the Hunter Biden laptop with the idea that Attorney General Eric Garland cannot investigate without bias. What they fail to understand is that since 1999 the independent counsel law changed and any appointment would now report to the AG. This was changed by congress after the Bill Clinton fiasco

Do BLM

The phrase Black Lives Matter causes a great deal of misunderstanding since it refers to only certain Black lives. If a Black man is shot by a police officer then it is a big news story. This happened 139 times last year and the majority of these were killed in the process of committing a crime. If 9,000 Black men are murdered by other Black men it is not big news story. When there are 400,000 Black abortions each year it is not a big news stories. This is why Black deaths pose a conundrum to many.

Portland

Portland, OR has become the poster boy picture for how not to deal with crime. The Portland Police Bureau currently deploys fewer sworn officers — 789 — than at any point in the past in 30 years, according to the bureau and an analysis of records by The Oregonian/OregonLive, even though the city added more than 165,000 new residents over that period. In 2021, Portland recorded 90 homicides amid a surge in gun violence, shattering the city’s previous high of 66 set more than three decades ago. In November, 2021, Portland was among major cities that added funds to their police department. City Council unanimously passed a fall budget bump that included increasing the $230 million police budget by an additional $5.2 million. The city fathers can say oops we made a mistake and must build up the police department but in the process many died. Here is something that I wrote in April of 2021 Most Americans find it hard to believe that 90% of police officers in England are unarmed. The Mayor of Portland has a plan to replace police with unarmed park rangers. This will be interesting to watch and may result in a whole new way of serve and protect. On the other hand it may result in more crime.

BLM

Black Lives Matter is going down the path that Occupy Wall Street traveled. BLM started out with good intentions as its goal was to bring the mistreatment of Blacks by police, to the attention of the public. Corporations who follow the philosophy of doing well while doing good gladly joined the group and provided financial support. Some say that well meaning goal has been overtaken by virtue signaling and fear of reprisals but then things turned violent and the public begin to lose faith in the whole idea. When it was revealed that the leadership was using the money for personal use and that they failed to file the proper IRS forms the whole program was in jeopardy. It is also being marginalized by the new idea of replacing the charge of racism, which has lost its sting by overuse, by the new enemy, the straight White Christian male. This juxtaposition confirms the old claim that if your White your racist.

First grade teachers

The controversy surrounding the teaching of sex differences to first graders deserves more scrutiny. We have teachers with special training who teach sex education in 6th and 11th grade and the subject matter is age appropriate. For example in 11th a movie showing a live birth is presented. The educational system is based on teachers being proficient in the area of their expertise. If a student asks a question in English class about algebra the teacher refers the student to the algebra department. This is common sense but suddenly first grade teacher are asked to explain sex change an eight year old. What happens if the child asks questions about birth control, the death penalty and abortion. These questions should be in the realm of the parents. The first grade teacher neither has the time nor the training to answer these questions. Their job is to teach reading and writing and maintain a safe learning environment in the classroom which means treating people with dignity and respect. There is a world of difference between telling a child not to hit and telling them not have an abortion. Let parents take care of their responsibilities and teachers take care of theirs. It is highly unlikely that any teacher wants the responsibility of explaining birth control to young children.