China tax

The US was instrumental in helping China move a half billion people out of poverty by setting up manufacturing plants in China which provided good paying jobs and buying products produced in China. China thanked America by stealing intellectual property. They told companies if you want to do business here you must set up a company with China as 51% owner. This then allowed them access to all of the companies proprietary information including technology. China charged large import fees to keep US produced products at a price disadvantage while the US allow Chinese products in tax free. Trump in his push to put America first put import taxes on billions of Chinese imports. Biden has retained these taxes up to now showing the world that he was not influenced by China but now he is talking about removing these taxes. When Trump put the taxes on many US companies operating in China started the process of bringing their production back home but with the recent remarks by Biden these companies have put a hold on these moves feeling that soon business will go back to normal. Americans say they are willing to pay higher gas prices to help Ukraine defeat Russia and they will be willing to pay higher prices for goods made in the USA. Its time to bring those companies and their jobs back home. This will mean higher prices but it will also mean higher wages. Back when I was growing up wages increased more than prices and each year people were getting ahead.

Legalizing drugs

An interesting dichotomy is emerging regarding legalizing drugs. The idea is that it would put the illegal drug dealers out of business and a tax on the sale of these drugs could be used for drug rehabilitation. Recall when the cigarette companies had to pay the states billions that was to be used for treating health problems caused by smoking that much of this money was used for other purposes. Now contrast that with the demand to get rid of the second amendment. This would make it illegal to own a gun. This then would open the door to illegal gun sales and the government would lose control over who owns guns and the taxes from the sale of guns. These two would be like ships passing in the night each going where the other came from. These problems require addition investigation before any action is taken.

Illegals

DHS Secretary Myorkas says the border is closed in spite of the fact that many illegals continue to come across. Many are sent back and come across again. Sometimes illegals are put on planes and sent to another location and then deported. Many who are allowed to stay are moved to other locations within the United States. A large undermined number are never captured and just blend into the country. Along with the immigrants come huge profits to the cartels and huge quantities of illegal drugs. Polls show that about 30% of Americans are not concerned about illegals crossing. Many of these feel it is necessary to take care of people who come from dire circumstances. They usually don't pay the cost directly and do not consider the fact that many millions around the world are suffering and could have a better life here in the United States. They don't think about the many thousands who die each year from drugs that come across the border or the convicted criminals who are a part of this group. They are good-hearted people who seem not be aware of the total cost to allowing these suffering people into the country. Some organizations like Catholic charities fall into this group.

Mass shooters

Experts are looking into the reasons why these mass shootings are happening and they are looking for common characteristics to narrow the search. This is the common sense approach. There’s this really consistent pathway. Early childhood trauma seems to be the foundation, whether violence in the home, sexual assault, parental suicides, extreme bullying. Then you see the build toward hopelessness, despair, isolation, self-loathing, oftentimes rejection from peers. That turns into a really identifiable crisis point where they’re acting differently. Sometimes they have previous suicide attempts. They are young white males who got their guns legally. The problem here is that this is profiling.

Blacks in America

When a Gallup poll first asked Americans about their views on marriage between Black and White people in 1958, only 4% approved. Last year, that number was 94% — an all-time high -- with 93% of Whites saying they approved. This is just one example of the progress in race relations that have occurred in the past 50 years. It started with the fact that while slavery was around since recorded history the United States was the only case where a country used a civil war to erase slavery and this war cost the lives of 600,000 soldiers. Brown v Board made segregation illegal and the Civil Rights Act made discrimination illegal. Affirmative action has increased government employment of Blacks and this spilled over into college admissions and private industry. In 1960 three percent of college students were Black and today the percentage is 20%. In 1960 there were 100,000 Black business owners and today that number is over 3 million. Every year for the past 20 years the percentage of Black police officers has been increasing. 750 million people around the world want to relocate and 150 million of those want to move to the United States. The country has a lot of room to improve race relations but much has been accomplished. People sometimes forget that Black males had the right to vote 50 years before White females.

Cis trans

When I recently became aware of transgender people, I was reminded of the chemical term trans which is used to describe certain configurations, the most well known of which, is trans fatty acids. It terns out that the opposite form is called cis fatty acid. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that someone who is not a transgender is call cisgender. Science is invading culture.

Judicial power

During the hundred years between the Civil War and the Civil Rights amendment many states, mostly in the south, relied on the tenth amendment to protect them from outsiders trying to change their society. This society wanted to maintain Blacks as second class citizens. The amendment says, The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. This plan of action used by these states was referred to as States Rights. They didn't want the Feds coming into their states and telling them what to do. Slowly over time the states lost this battle because the Feds used the courts to force the states to change. It was mostly liberals who used these courts and to negate many laws that were deemed prejudicial. The new Supreme Court has reversed this trend and is sending power back to the states. This trend started under Obama and Trump and is amplified under Biden. The court has been routinely ruling against executive orders limiting the power of the president and moving things back to the states limiting the power of congress.