Michelle

After spending 8 years in the White House, Michelle Obama was happy to get out. When questions came up about her running for president she said no thank you. At that time she figured Biden would win, have a successful first term and be reelected. All of that has changed. Biden has faltered badly and it is even possible for Trump to win. This is a frightening thought to Michelle and she is now faced with a decision. The Democratic Convention will be held this August in Chicago. If Biden were to step down the delegates could chose the nominee. Barack has told her that he would take over the job and she could have time to learn from him. She will be 60 years old and would be a shoo in for the job. She can bi pass Harris without any concern since she is also a Black women. It all fits together. The democratic voters would swoon not because they would expect great things from her but because she would eliminate Trump once and for all. The election no matter how you slice it is all about getting rid of Trump.

FBI

The foreign intelligence surveillance activities (FISA) is designed to investigate intelligence activity. It has become a way for the government to work around the forth amendment. To get a criminal warrant you must have probable cause but not for intelligence work. FISA allows the investigator to wire tap a foreign agent working in a foreign country, listening in on a Chinese spy talking to another Chinese in China. An investigator is not interested in that but rather any American the Chinese may be talking to so the investigator waits and listens until he hears a conversation with an American. Next the investigator starts to investigate the American. That is called reverse targeting and that is illegal. The FBI uses FISA millions of times and in 2022 they said that in only 2% of the cases did they follow up but that came to 330,000 times. Next while investigating the American they uncover something illegal and they open a criminal investigation where they can now get a warrant without violating the forth amendment. What they discover may have nothing to do with foreign spying. The FBI calls this parallel construction and many have been investigated in this way. Simply put it is a way to circumvent the forth amendment.

Teachers

Currently arguments are going on how academic freedom has changed. For the years after WW 2 and up until about 20 years ago teachers could state facts about racial differences without being censored. They could make comparisons between races based on facts. They could say Black families have higher percentages of single moms. Blacks commit a disproportional numbers of crimes. Same goes for Black incarceration. The rules determining what a teacher could say begin to change and it was no longer judged on facts but rather how the facts effected the students. If certain facts caused students to be upset this meant they could no longer learn properly because the were emotionally upset. This led to what is now called safe spaces. The teacher could no longer make factual statements that might upset the students. Some say this is restricting speech.

Taxes

Economics teaches that if you raise taxes on something you will get less of it and visa verse. Both California and New York, the states with the highest state income tax, are losing people and they are moving to Texas and Florida where the is no state income tax. The two high tax states are now considering a wealth tax which will further exacerbate the problem. Both of these states are dominated by democratic control and the population is majority democratic. They are incapable of cutting spending and so must resort to higher taxes to keep from going broke but it will not end good. Most politicians figure they will be retired when the day of reckoning comes.

Mud

During a presidential election the focus is normally on the record of the person in the White House. In Biden's case he could talk about the infrastructure bill, the chips act and keeping the import tax on China. The problem is that these are not what the polls show people care about. What people care about are high prices, high crime and the border. If the incumbent decides not to run on his record then he must attack his opponent. Biden has chosen path. Trump will destroy democracy. White supremacy is the most dangerous terrorist threat. Trump is compared to Hitler. The use of MAGA republicans to denigrate Trump voters. Trump being who he is responds to these attacks with counter attacks using the term crooked Joe, and Biden is the destroyer of democracy and Biden uses fear mongering tactics. Many feel that Trump would be wise to concentrate on his successes with inflation, crime and the border but he prefers to fight dirt with dirt. The old Reagan question, are you better off today that four years ago, would be effective but Trump prefers to stay in the mud. So the public has almost of full year of mudslinging ahead. Of course the press will love this.

Epstein

In 2006 Jeffery Epstein was charged with sexual exploitation of a minor. The investigation produced 31 victims. Only two victims presented evidence to the grand jury and returned a single charge of solicitation of prostitution. Shortly after that the FBI began its own investigation resulting in an indictment. US Attorney Alexander Acosta agreed to a plea deal with Epstein's Attorney Alan Dershowitz to grant immunity from all federal criminal charges, along with four named co conspirators and unnamed potential co conspirators. At that time the indictment was halted and sealed. Despite a federal law to the contrary the deal was kept from the victims. Acosta later said he offered a lenient plea deal because he was told that Epstein "belonged to intelligence". The big question left unanswered is who told Acosta to go lightly. According to law only the president or the Attorney General has such power. They may send an underling to carry out their instructions but which of these two people gave the order.

Crime

Many experts contend that the disparities in Black poverty and incarceration are caused by racism. Here are some stats. Year Black single moms Black incarceration rates Black poverty rates 1940 18% 3% 17% 1970 30% 41% 14% 2000 67% 38% 13% Part of the Great Society that started in the mid 1960's allowed single moms to have their own apartment with utilities paid along with healthcare and food allowances. Shortly after that the number of single mom families doubled. The reason for the increase in incarceration rates was the tough on crime, law and order, war on drugs policies initiate by Nixon and Reagan and continued by Bush and Clinton and were exacerbated by the Clinton 1994 crime bill. Rates went up for everyone so before and after the number of Blacks were five times the number of Whites. The CATO Institute says the War on Poverty cost $15 trillion dollars