Why does it have to be so complex?

It appears to me that oftentimes, our government needs assistance in making prudent decisions. If we apply a little common sense and practicality to some of these situations, life for the politicians, and for the public, could be made so much easier and better. For example:

War in the Ukraine

Who does not want to stop the war in the Ukraine, other than Vladimir Putin? I believe we can stop that war in 2 months without sending one more bullet to that war zone. How? It’s really quite simple. All the U.S. needs to do is to start pumping the hell out of our roughly 200-year supply of petroleum reserves. This pumping would lower the price of petroleum on the world market, thus taking away Putin’s primary source of income to continue his invasion of the Ukraine. There are numerous accounts of Russian soldiers leaving the battlefield because of not being paid. By cutting Putin’s money source, there would be less soldiers (who wants to be shot or die for free?), less fuel for military vehicles, less money for bullets and rockets….in other words, Russia could not afford to continue the war without financial ruination.

Think of the positive ripple effects of pumping our own oil. The price of gas would go down. More jobs would be created in the energy industry. Our economy would be stimulated by actual business and economic progress rather than being stimulated by government handouts. We could supply our excess energy to Europe to break their dependence on Russian oil. The currently threatening railroad strike would not have as much economic impact, because we could use our pipelines again. (This would upset the Oracle of Omaha, because his gigantic stake in Burlington Northern is profiting immensely from hauling oil!) And… maybe Joe Biden could afford to replenish our strategic oil reserves at his own expense! After all, doesn’t Hunter Biden have a seat on the board of directors at Burisma? Burisma is an oil consortium located in the Ukraine. So, Joe has juice in the petroleum industry. This would offset his strictly stupid, political decision to use the U.S. strategic oil reserves to lower the price of gas by 2 cents before the midterm election. And maybe, just maybe, the oligarchs in Russia would find their cajones to overthrow Vladimir Putin, and get their mega-yachts returned.

Common sense tells me that there is at least a half dozen ‘positives’ for pumping oil. None of this will get done, however, as long as the democrats are in control. It would make too much common sense and go counter to the Green Deal.

Climate Change versus Environmental Protection

Let me help all the woke-wonks determine the difference between climate change and environment protection. Here it is. Mother nature and the rules of the universe will forever and ever be responsible for climate change. Man does not have one iota of impact on climate change. Man does have responsibility for environmental protection, and we have done it for decades.

Let me begin with environmental protection. Do you have a catalytic converter on your car? Of course, you do. In America it has been required of car manufacturers for decades. The purpose was to reduce harmful emissions entering the atmosphere. A similar requirement was placed on factories. There has to be ‘scrubbers’ on all smokestacks. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has gone to great lengths to keep our rivers, lakes, streams and air free of pollution. We plant trees and create green spaces. We even believe that electric vehicles are the answer to environmental protection. That issue requires more discussion. But the U.S. has gone to great lengths, and has spent billions of dollars, and required industry to spend billions of dollars to protect the environment. The problem is…. many other countries do not do one damn thing to protect the environment of Mother Earth. No catalytic converters. No smokestack scrubbers. They are even cutting down the Amazon rain forest. That rain forest alone supplies a high percentage of our oxygen, and yet they are cutting it down at an alarming rate. What I am saying is that the other 190+ countries need to get on board with environmental protection. The U.S. has taken measures to protect our country, but we are not capable of protecting the whole world.

Sorry woke-wonks. Climate change is beyond the capability of man. Currently there are two volcanos erupting in Hawaii. What if these volcanos spewed enough ash to put a black cloud over the entire planet, and that black cloud would block the sun for two years? Well, it already happened over 500 years ago. The end result? A Little ICE AGE! Yup. People starved and froze because of low temperatures and because the crops would not grow. This event is well documented in Europe. How would man control that? Did you know that the Sahara Desert was at one time a tropical forest? Yup. It became a desert because the axis of the Earth shifted in relation to the sun. How would man control that? There was one volcanic explosion on this planet that spewed more noxious gases into the atmosphere, than all the noxious gases released by automobiles since the invention of the automobile. Yup. How does man control that?

There are going to be years when our summers are hot, and years when our summers will be cooler. There will be years when there will be more ice formed in the Arctic, and there will be years when Arctic ice will be melting. How would man control that? Make ice? Two issues come to mind: 1. How could man change any of these events? And 2. What exactly is going to be done with the trillions of dollars that our government wants to spend and has spent on climate change?

I absolutely cringe when I hear about the Green Deal, or by proposals to spend another trillion or two on ‘climate change.’ Why do I cringe? I cringe because I think this whole climate change and Green Deal crap is just that…. crap! I believe this whole issue is a way of bilking the American public out of monies which eventually end up in pockets or reelection campaigns of dishonest politicians. The idiotic woke-wonk public will buy into it, because they think we need to prevent climate change. Do you remember when Obama was POTUS, and $4 billion was granted to a solar company? I do. That company went out of business within 9 months of receiving the money. What happened to that money? I am not aware of any government investigation to determine what happened to our tax dollars, or of any effort to get the money back. I am irritated seeing Al Gore expounding climate change and eliminating fossil fuels…. while he is getting off his private jet. He made millions by forcing companies to buy ‘environmental credits.’ What happened to that money? As far as I am concerned, Al Gore is a dipshit that ought to be walking…. right to prison. Purchasing ‘environmental credits’ was just a way of extorting money from business and industry.

I would dare say that a proposed spending bill for climate change and the Green Deal, after being loaded with political pork, would be similar to the amount of money spent on benevolent projects by the late Clinton Foundation, about 4%. Through the use of grants, loans and contracts to unscrupulous contractors, I would say very little money really gets to its intended use; and much of the money finds its way into pockets and campaign coffers.

Elon Musk

Elon Musk has suddenly become less popular than a prom queen with acne. With the Green Deal, Elon was mister popular because he owns the most successful electric EV) company on the planet, Tesla. The liberals loved him. And then, Elon did two things that have absolutely placed him in disfavor with liberal woke-wonks.

Firstly, he bought Twitter and fired practically all the woke-wonk employees that were exercising censorship. This censorship was largely against positive conservative conversations or against any negative liberal conversations. For instance, no tweets were allowed that had anything to do that was negative about Hunter Biden. (Executive woke-wonk Mark Zuckerberg has admitted the FBI contacted him about not allowing negative Hunter Biden posts on Facebook prior to the presidential and midterm elections!) But Elon has stated he is going to change the business climate at Twitter to allow free speech! The liberal press is going wild, as is the White House. Last week, the White House stated they are thinking about investigating Twitter. Really? Why? Apparently, it is against White House and Democratic party principles to have some right-leaning executive own a media source.

Secondly, Elon brought disfavor on himself with the following statement, “If the 2024 election were held today, I would vote for Ron Desantis.” OMG! No censorship at Twitter! Voting for a Republican! In the liberal mindset, this man needs to be destroyed.

Be cognizant of what the White House and the liberal media will do to destroy Elon Musk, or any of the Republican presidential frontrunners in the 2024 election. Sorry Elon. No date to the prom for you.

(Please excuse me for using the term woke-wonk excessively through this blog. I am a baby boomer and have lost track, and don’t really care of the names of the generations that followed the baby boomers. So, rather than saying, ‘whiney entitled liberals that have their heads up their asses,’ I thought woke-wonk would be more appropriate. Amen.)

Common Sense? Where did you go?

Grandma P and I were fortunate in completing a 15-day Alaska cruise in August. The scenery in the 49th state is phenomenal. It is the cruise everyone should take. Our cruise aboard a Princess ship was exceptional, as always, except for one issue. We were still required to wear masks in public areas. And anyone who tested for covid was isolated in a deck 12 balcony suite. (This was not a perk as they could not leave their rooms for the entire cruise!) There were some cases, but the number was very low. Maybe 17 cases with 2200 people on board. I will not go into the draconian measures the cruise lines have to perform if the rate exceeds 1% of the total number of people on board. You have heard of some of them, cruise ships returning to port, cruise lines canceling cruises, cruise ships being sanitized.

Of course, all these draconian measures were to assure the public safety. In the past two years, the CDC and the US government could not do enough to sledgehammer the cruise lines into governmental compliance. So, with this little story as an introduction, here is my question. If for the past two years the government is so concerned about Covid, why are we letting illegal immigrants across our southern border with an estimated positive Covid rate of 18%. 18 frickin’ percent! If the government was so concerned about Covid and its effect on the citizenry, would they not have stopped a mass introduction of the disease via illegal immigrants? Does that display common sense?

College Tuition Proposal

Don’t you just love it when your government makes you feel like an idiot? What I am referring to is the proposal for $10,000 in student loan forgiveness. Was I an idiot or what! I worked parttime during my college years, oftentimes holding two parttime jobs. When summer break occurred, or any break between semesters occurred, I went full time. I ran out of money after my first year of college, and even though my parents could have contributed some, I did not want to ask. Call it pride. Call it stupidity. Call it parenting that taught me to be independent, but I paid for myself and completed by college experience without a loan. During my college career, no one went to Florida, Mexico or the Bahamas for spring break. After all, if you were a male and flunked out of school, you could visit Viet Nam for free for at least one year, all courtesy of the U.S. military.

I am not totally opposed to providing $10,000 in loan forgiveness. As a matter of fact, I would encourage it under the following conditions:

  1. The money is granted for income earning degrees. Teachers, nurses, doctors, dentists, business majors, etc. If your degree is Greek Mythology, Basket weaving or underwater bird calls, you don’t get it. Talk to your parents about bad choices.
  2. Colleges reduce tuition. Yup. Quit overpaying professors that teach three hours a week and quit building buildings that look like chrome donuts. Put the money inside the building and not in the building.
  3. Double the cost of obtaining a law degree. We have to many damn attorneys and many of them become bad politicians. Just look at our Congress.

But what provision is made for those attending vocational schools, where every program is an income earning profession? Have you hired an electrician, plumber or carpenter lately. I hold my breath that nothing happens to one of my vehicles for fear of what it would cost to repair, with such a huge shortage of auto mechanics. Not everyone is cut out for college or wants to go to college. And, as mentioned, many college degrees are a big waste of money. Here again, just look at Congress. How many members of Congress can you name as the ‘best and the brightest’ in the land? Maybe a handful, but there are 535 members!

It is about time that the younger generations that think everything should be handed to them should learn two things: 1. Your parents are paying for it. 2. The working public is paying for it while politicians are attempting to buy your vote with these ludicrous proposals! Don’t you find it interesting that high school and college students are predominately liberal, but once they get a good paying job and pay taxes, they become conservative? The chickens come to roost, but unfortunately a large segment of our population has figured how to get another chicken’s eggs for free. Common sense. Nothing is free!

Illegal Immigration

Apparently, all those attorneys that are now in Congress never read the chapter about the ‘definition of the word illegal.’ If you smile and smirk every time you hear about another group of illegal immigrants being transported by the governors of Texas and Florida to a blue state, I know you are a Republican. But here is the irony. The federal government and some blue state attorney generals are attempting to find a way to stop the governors from transporting those illegals. Okay. I have a sure-fire solution to this problem…. STOP THE ILLEGALS FROM CROSSING THE BORDER! Much like the gunfighters at the OK corral who ran out of ammunition, the governors would not have illegal immigrants to transport if they were not there. Case closed. Common Sense. But yet, not enough common sense to protect our borders. Wow.

Civil Liberties

By now, everyone is familiar with Derek Chauvin. Derek Chauvin was the 19-year veteran Minneapolis police officer that was sentenced to 22 1/2 years for violating George Floyd’s civil liberties. Chauvin was an experienced policeman that knew George Floyd and knew of Floyd’s physical capabilities. So, I would love to hear a response to this question, “If someone is deliberately breaking the law, are they not relinquishing their civil liberties?” After all, isn’t a crime, regardless of what it is: robbery, murder, rape, passing counterfeit money, all uncivil acts? I think Chauvin should have been punished, but not by a kangaroo court, televised, in an extremely biased location. And, did not George Floyd perform an uncivil act by passing counterfeit money? He broke the law. The shop owner thought so and called the police. He did not call a politician, or a lawyer, or a Minneapolis city councilman…he called the police. And the police, as is their job, responded. What kind of society would we have if the police did not respond. What kind of court system do we have that blew off the fact that Floyd had two illegal substances in his body and did not die by suffocation, as determined by the Hennepin County Coroner. But the die (pardon the pun) was cast, and Chauvin had to pay, and the Federal court had to step in to assure he received the maximum punishment by charging Chauvin with the violation of George Floyd’s civil liberties. Common sense tells me that George Floyd surrendered his civil liberties when he performed a crime and he killed himself by being drug addled.

It has been a bad year for the police in Minnesota. Do you remember Kim Potter? You will when I tell you that she is the suburban Minneapolis police officer who was reaching for her taser during a traffic stop and instead pulled her gun and killed a young black man. She is serving two years in prison after being charged with first- and second- degree manslaughter. In the heat of the moment, she made a fatal mistake.

But is justice always equal? If justice were truly equal, why is Alec Baldwin footloose and fancy free after making the fatal mistake of shooting and killing an actress on a movie set. He made a mistake. He is free and no one has gone to jail for the death of Halyna Hutchins.

I hate to draw comparisons on these three crimes, but here it is. Both of the victims in the Minnesota crimes were black. Both officers involved were white and are in prison. Both crimes received national attention. Alec Baldwin is white as was his victim. After a large media bomb, it has gone away, and no one has been punished for the crime. Why is that? Did the two police officers receive disproportionate sentences because the victims were black? Common sense fails to answer that question. But common sense tells me that because of the staffing issues with police departments everywhere, the caliber of the people applying to be police will be lowered. Did you know that police from the suburbs surrounding Minneapolis will not pursue law breakers into the City of Minneapolis for fear of being arrested themselves.? That reality provides society with a demented type of law protection. Egads!

Common sense tells me that these major cities better pull their collective heads out of their asses, and support the police, arrest, prosecute and incarcerate criminals and protect society. Isn’t that the principal purpose of government?

PS. My blog site was offline for over four months. My Houston nephew finally broke the code to get it operable. This blog is dedicated to Al from Hutch who convinced me to get off my Polish ‘dupa’ and write a blog. Good reading, Al.

WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF COMMUNIST AMERICA!

You probably did not notice, but I have not written a blog for 5 months. The reason? I always attempt to write something interesting, factual, and entertaining. But I am so appalled by the current events taking place in this country and in the world, I am suffering from ‘writer’s block’ when it comes to writing anything humorous. Thus my 5 month hiatus.

Hunter Biden’s laptop

A couple of weeks ago, Representative Matt Gaetz was questioning the deputy director of FBI intelligence as to where the Hunter Biden laptop is located. His response? “I don’t know where it is.” Say what? I have lost ink pens. I have lost some loose change in sofa cushions, but I have never lost anything as large and expensive as a laptop computer. But luckily for the FBI, and for the American public, Rudy Guliani made a copy of the information on that laptop. According to sources, this laptop contains child pornography, taped sex acts, business transactions with foreign companies, and more importantly, emails linking many of these foreign money producing transactions to his father, the POTUS. So, Hunter, if you need a copy of the information on your computer, see Rudy, because the FBI lost your laptop.

I want to give credit to the former POTUS, Donald Trump, in that he deserves an “I told you so” moment. He forewarned us before the last presidential election of Hunter Biden’s schemes and about the damaging information on Hunter’s laptop. What was the national media explanation? The media accused Trump of political maneuvering before the election, and the Hunter Biden laptop was a myth promoted as “Russian intelligence disinformation.”

Yet, three former Hunter Biden partners are in prison or awaiting prison. Everyone has heard of Tony Bobulinski. He was the first to testify before the House Intelligence Committee about the monies that were earned by Hunter in China and the Ukraine, with 10% going to then Vice President Joe Biden. Bubulinski said that Joe Biden was referred to as ‘the Big Guy. Who was the chair of that intelligence committee? None other than Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA). Schiff did his best to bury and discredit the testimony by Bobulinski. (I still have difficulty using the words Shiff and intelligence in the same sentence!) This is the same Adam Schiff that got hours of TV attention by stating he had iron clad proof that Donald Trump colluded with the Russians. He never produced that proof, but he got hours of camera time saying he did. Have you heard of Bevan Cooney or Devon Archer? I never heard of Cooney, but I have heard of Archer. Well…they are both in prison, and they were both partners in Hunter Biden’s Chinese dealings as officers in shell corporations. Cooney even turned over 28,000 emails concerning the Biden/Chinese connections. Do you think that Cooney and Archer may be a little miffed by being in prison while Hunter Biden is not? The first of two questions is this: Why is FOX news the only network covering anything concerning Hunter Biden, and all the other liberal media has no coverage of the story? Like one FOX pundit said, “the Hunter Biden story is a Pulitzer just waiting to be claimed.” But no one from the media is researching or covering it. The Nixon presidency was brought down by investigative reporting. Apparently investigative reporting is only done on conservatives. But here is question 2: Has this whole Hunter Biden affair affected decisions by his father?

(As an aside, the Steele dossier has been proven to be total fiction, paid for by the Clinton campaign. The Clinton campaign accused Donald Trump of colluding with the Russians, when in actuality, it was the Clintons! Score another, “I told you so” for Trump.)

Recent White House decisions.

Why did the White House not pursue the cause or the origination of Covid? It obviously began in China, even with the extensive Chinese disinformation campaign. Were we not aggressive in the pursuit of this knowledge because of the Biden/Chinese business dealings? Who was funding Wuhan? The United States lost almost 1 million people to Covid!

I am old enough to remember all of the requirements placed on auto manufacturers when the number of vehicular deaths went over 30,000 per year. In the fifties, when the driver hit the brakes, everyone in the front seat (no seatbelts!) could expect a mouthful of a dash constructed with the finest American steel! Now…padded dashes, shoulder and seat belts, collapsible steering wheels, air bags….you get the picture. Most of this because the vehicular death toll exceeded 30,000. So why have we not done anything about the 100K+ deaths a year from drug overdoses? It is no secret that fentanyl is responsible for many of these deaths, yet we allow thousands of pounds of Chinese manufactured fentanyl to cross our southern border illegally. It is estimated that drug and human traffickers on our southern border are making $100 million per week! So much fentanyl has crossed border, that the price is actually going down! (The only product during this administration that has gone down!) Why has the White House not castigated the Chinese government about fentanyl manufacture? Why have we not closed our southern border to human and drug trafficking? Are these decisions because of the Chinese/Biden connections?

Our response to the Russian saber rattling involving invading the Ukraine was late and insufficient. We should have provided the Ukraine with weapons and equipment much earlier. More importantly, we should have been mustering and leading our NATO/European allies to assist the Ukraine and to agree on economic sanctions in the event that Russia invaded the Ukraine. None of this occurred. Why? Firstly, for whatever reason, we did not take the lead. Secondly, many of our supposed NATO allies do not want to place economic sanctions on Russia. As a matter of fact, in the past, some of our allies have used just such situations to make money. Need an example? When we invaded Iraq during the first Iraqi war, we learned that the Germans were building Sadam Hussein’s palaces, bunkers, and tunnels. We learned that the French were providing the expertise to run his oil wells. Thus, their hesitancy to invade Iraq. So much for sanctions. But the Europeans have become dependent on Russian oil. Trump criticized the German government for their dependence on Russian oil. But Trump also got the United States into the position of being not only energy independent, but also an energy exporter! (Remember $1.79 gasoline?) So, how does the current administration handle this energy crisis? Well, rather than getting all techie on you, just go fill up your gas tank. Just at the time that Europe could use any fuels we could export to them so they could stop buying from Russia, (Tesla’s will not heat your house.) we close down our own energy drilling and transportation resources. If Green Deal advocates think that the tanks and trucks in the Ukraine are running on batteries, you better think again. We could be assisting the war effort, and placing more pressure on Russia, if we could provide oil and LNG to the Ukraine and to our allies in Europe. Why not? Is this not a large enough event to place our country on at least some semblance of a war footing, or are we more concerned about Teslas? Is our hesitancy to take advantage of our natural resources because of Biden/Ukraine ties, Biden/Russia ties, Biden/Chinese ties or are we just flat-ass stupid. And to further the ‘stupidity’ theory, the White House wants to purchase oil from Iran and Venzuela! (Does this government have an aversion dealing with democratic countries?)

Now that I have you in a pessimistic pissy mood because of my blog, I am now going to write about the bad scary stuff!

China is watching! China is watching what is happening in the Ukraine. China is watching for the US/NATO response to the Russian invasion. China is monitoring what the economic sanctions are doing to Russia. China is observing the effectiveness of the Russian military men and equipment versus the Ukranian resistance. China is evaluating the United States ability/willingness to muster a successful coalition with NATO/European allies. China is estimating how effective/willing the United States would be in defending those countries with which we have mutual defense pacts. Why? Because China wants to invade Taiwan! I believe the Chinese believe our US response would be weak because of the Biden/Chinese connections. The Bidens have taken more money from China, than any other country. If Russia would have successfully overrun the Ukraine in two weeks, the Chinese may have already invaded Taiwan. I believe the only thing stopping them now is the Ukrainian resistance, and the amount of men and material the Russian military has lost. Putin is losing support at home and losing support for the war, and that has to be uneasy for the Chinese Communist Party. If this country does not get serious about the Chinese intentions concerning Taiwan, the Ukraine situation will look like a picnic in the park in comparison.

There was a Chinese authority on TV this morning claiming that the Chinese openly brag that they control the politics in the United States, and that the United States has virtually become one of their ‘provinces.’ Have we become a Chinese province? Are they claiming this because of the Biden/Chinese connections affecting our relationships with China or because they have infiltrated our society and politics with their financial and technological superiority? Either way, it does not paint a pretty picture.

This country has spent $6 trillion on Covid. This administration, in 16 months, has increased our national debt to $30 trillion. When George W. Bush left office, it was $5 trillion. Inflation? Up 8%+, gas prices are up double. We are not protecting the sovereignty of our country at the southern border. We are losing 100k+ of our citizens every year to drug overdose. We have shirked our responsibility to lead a coalition against the bad-asses of the world. And…..we have a country claiming that our country has become one of their provinces! Welcome to the United States of Communist America!

There you have it, a pissy blog from a pissed off American.

Magicians or Politicians? Who is Better at ‘Slight of Hand?’

Have you ever seen a really good magician? I mean, a really, really, good magician that leaves you wondering, “how did he do that?” (I’m not being sexist. It’s just I have not personally seen any female magicians. I am sure, however, that the very attractive female assistants are wholly involved with the act. Women are devious that way!)

Have you seen that trick where someone from the audience writes their name on a $100 bill, and then later in the trick, the $100 bill magically appears in the center of a grapefruit? How do they do that?

I am a simple farm boy, so I am even impressed with the ‘needles through the balloon’ act. But the trick that I have seen the most and still impresses me the most is when they ‘saw a person in half.’ I have seen this trick when the ‘victim’ is selected from the audience. I don’t know if the person in the audience is a ‘plant’ or not, but I have volunteered Grandma P to be the victim. For the sake of brevity, I even volunteered the use of my chainsaw for the act as it is faster than a handsaw, but to no avail.

I have seen dozens of different ‘slight of hand’ tricks done with a deck of cards. Some of these were very impressive. After observing these tricks, I am elated that I would never be playing poker with any of these guysl. (Playing poker with my 12 year old grandson is challenging enough!)

So why are these magic tricks so successful? Well, without being a professional magician, I am going to speculate that these magicians are masters of the ‘slight of hand.’ What is ‘slight of hand?’ In midwestern farm boy terms, it is the magician’s ability to have you watch one thing, while he is performing the trick with the other. While you are mesmerized by watching his right hand move, his left hand is actually doing the trick. And…a good looking female assistant walking on and off the stage is another very successful diversion. Generally speaking, the good magician has directed your eyes and thoughts to one area, while they are pulling off the ‘trick’ elsewhere.

Do you know who else are masters of the ‘slight of hand?’ Politicians! Especially politicians at the federal level. Let me give you an example.

As you are all aware, the cost of gasoline has gone from roughly $2.00 per gallon in our area, to approximately $3.39 per gallon in just one year. The current Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm was interviewed earlier this week asking about this. Her response? After she was done snickering, she professed she did not have a crystal ball, and the price rises were because OPEC has stated that they were not going to pump any more oil! Here is the ‘slight of hand’ concerning this matter. Madam Secretary put the blame on OPEC, when the current administration in fact, put the binders on the Keystone pipeline. She also conveniently forgot to mention the U.S. was an energy exporter during the Trump administration! We were fossil fuel independent, with cheap gasoline, and exported LNG. Not anymore. It’s OPEC’s fault, not the stupid decisions made by the Biden administration to overturn Trump’s energy independent mandates.

Have you seen much national coverage of how many illegal immigrants have entered our country this year? No? Very few news agencies are covering that issue. Let me be succinct in this; according to knowledgeable sources, 1.8 MILLION illegal immigrants will enter the country this year. Let me put that in perspective. That many illegal immigrants equals the population of Minneapolis, Minnesota…..4 times over! Additionally, all kinds of rumors were circulating that the Biden administration was considering granting $450,000 to each adult member of a separated illegal immigrant family. Say what? Where is the slight of hand in this situation? The Biden administration and the supporting liberal media wants you to be focused on climate change and Biden’s recent trip to meet with European leaders about climate change. It must not have been much of a meeting, as many leaders did not attend. Of course, the ‘wall’ that was being built under the Trump administration was halted by the Biden administration. (Wasn’t Kamala Harris suppose to be the border czar?)

Another example? Are you tired of having COVID restrictions beaten into your head by governmental agencies? Yeah…that is what I thought. I got three times more positive responses than Biden’s approval rating. But yet…wait for it….18% of the illegal immigrants entering this country tested positive for COVID. That is insane, it is not covered by the media, and our government refuses to do anything about it. But yet, our COVID restrictions continue.

Last week, there was a gubernatorial election in Virginia. Virginia has had Democratic governors since the 70’s. Terry McAuliffe was the incumbent democratic governor who faced the challenge of conservative Glenn Youngkin. Because of all the hoopla concerning parents becoming concerned about what was being taught to their children, education became the paramount issue of this election. Parents were being told by school boards that they did not have a ‘say’ in determining what was taught. This stance raised the hackles of many parents and more than a few school board meetings became heated. They became heated to such a level that school boards wanted the FBI to investigate and prosecute some parents as ‘domestic terrorists.’ This whole issue resulted in the upset victory for Glenn Youngkin. So how did the liberal media report this victory the day following the election? There were some idiotic liberal commentators contending that Youngkin’s victory was a “victory for white supremists.” So…we are suppose to focus on the fact that these parents were domestic terrorists and white supremists. Never mind that elected school boards are to serve the community, not the other way around. Never mind that not all of the concerned parents were white. Here we go again playing the racist card. Really?

Are you confident that our federal government is spending our money wisely? If you are anything like most, your reply would be an emphatic ‘no’. If you are anything like me, your reply would be an empatic, hell no! When younger, I was mesmerized by government expenditures that were in the millions. Then, in the not to distant past, the millions became billions. Now, there is no hesitation in Washington, D.C. to pass legislation involving trillions. My problem is this: we become so focused on the size of these expenditures, that we loose site of actually “what is in these expenditures.” It is a page right out of the magician’s handbook! These politicians are counting on our lethargy when it comes to these expenditures. I know I would like to see exactly what is buried in these expenditures with a line item synopsis. But, government is experienced in titling these items in superfluous terms. Still…it is OUR money!

Our current administration wants us to focus on lower unemployment numbers, a higher stock market, and a recovering economy. All of these are positive and important items. But, with the waning of the Coronovirus, Bozo the Clown could be POTUS and these improvements were going to occur. Things were so bad that the only way was up.

So I am going to assume the role of the magician, and suggest the American public begin to focus on these:

  1. Climate Change. I am a firm believer that we should attempt to take the practical steps necessary to protect our environment. But…having said that, no environment protection measures will be effective without China and India being involved, and they aren’t involved. They, not the U.S. are the largest polluters of the world. Climate change has occurred for millennium and will continue without our input. Some years the ice cap melts, some years it freezes. That trend will continue. Some people will not be satisfied until there are glaciers covering Canada and the upper third of the U.S., just like in prehistoric times. (Bring back the dinosaurs, and let’s see if those candy-ass liberals still want to support gun control!)
  2. China military buildup. In case you haven’t noticed, the Chinese successfully sent a supersonic, nuclear capable missile around the world in about 30 minutes. The scary component of this is that it is so fast, there is no way of neutralizing it. Additionally, China is spending a huge percentage of their GDP to increase their military capabilities. What will we do if they invade Taiwan? We have a mutual defense pact with Taiwan. If we do not honor that pact, we will loose the support of our allies in that part of the world with whom we have mutual defense pacts.
  3. Supporting our first responders. It is time to support the police and incarcerate the criminals regardless of race. Period. I don’t care if we have to convert the Aleutian islands into a penal colony! The government and liberal media want us to focus on racial injustice, when we should be focused on justice. I have written enough about this in my last blogs, so I will not be repetitive.

If I were to be closer to a magician performing a trick, eventually I may be able to figure how it is done and how he diverts attention while performing the trick. With the mastery of our federal government, I am sure we will always be victims of their ‘slight of hand.’ ” Keep your eye on this, while we are ‘tricking’ you elsewhere.” After all, they are better at it than most magicians.

P.S. Since writing this blog, it has been substantiated that only 10% of the recently passed infrastructure bill is for roads and bridges! Holy crap! Where is the other 90% going?

Justice, My Nightmares of Today!

There are certain things I dream about as I am tossing and turning during a sleepless night. One of these dreams involve our elections. Do we have honest elections? I have that particular dream because some states used vote counting software that was designed to overturn elections in third world crap holes. Do our elections replicate those third world crap holes for which it was designed? In line with that, I also wonder why no law enforcement agency, in particular the FBI, did not investigate any of the numerous complaints about voter fraud in our last election. The FBI did find a mountain of ‘uppers’ when it came to arresting anyone that entered the Capitol building on January 6th of this year, however. I would feel much better if some of that new-found energy would have been used to investigate those claims of voter fraud. I would definitely sleep better, if I thought our elections were honest. Remember this. Our elections are only as honest as the election officials responsible for the voting sites.

In continuation, wouldn’t it be assuring if only American citizens were voting in our elections? Would it be a stretch to require a photo ID? In our state, it is a requirement. We voted with an absentee ballot during one election, and we had to go to a government building, produce an ID, and watched as our names were stricken from the election roles as having voted. We were mailing in our ballots. The state of Georgia went so far as to say that requiring a photo ID is racist. Racist? Will someone educate me as to how providing a photo ID to vote would be racist?

But here is my most disturbing dream. It is the dream that almost sets my asbestos sheets on fire from the friction created by my tossing and turning. Here it is: If we defund the police, what will the replacement be? This dream is not only troubling, but it is timely, because next week the City of Minneapolis is having an election, and one of the items on the ballot is to defund the police. Homicides in Minneapolis and St. Paul have almost doubled this year. Many police close to retirement, opted out of the police force to retire. Many more have just left the police profession. Both cities are at least 1/3 short of the necessary police required. This has put quite a strain on those remaining officers. It has increased the reaction times for these departments because they are understaffed. And now, the geniuses in Minneapolis want to defund the remaining remnants of a once very good police department. Why?

I will tell you why, even though you may not appreciate my logic. Minneapolis and St. Paul are not the only cities facing this same crisis. Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles have all had their policing issues. But the catalyst for defunding the police took place right in Minneapolis with the death of George Floyd on May 5, 2020.

George Floyd, according the trial, was killed by officer Derek Chauvin. But was he?

Let me provide this assessment of the already familiar event. Firstly, would George Floyd be dead if he did not pass counterfeit money? No. The police would not have been called. Secondly, would George Floyd be dead if he got into the back of the police car without resisting arrest, as he did. No. There would not have been any reason to restrain him. Thirdly, would George Floyd have died if he wasn’t full of a high-ball of illicit drugs? That would be a resounding maybe, because that is what the coroners report said killed George Floyd. According to that report, as bad as the ‘knee to the neck’ restraint that Derek Chauvin utilized looked, that was not what killed George Floyd. If you believe the coroner, it was from complications from existing health issues coupled with the ‘drug highball.” So….in a matter of less than 20 minutes, George Floyd passed counterfeit money, resisted arrest, and topped it all by being addled with illicit drugs. Derek Chauvin had nothing to do with the causes of any of these George Floyd events.

Exactly what was Derek Chauvin guilty of? I believe he was guilty of two things. Firstly, he was guilty of being the ranking and most experienced police officer that answered the call. This was beyond his control. Secondly, and most importantly, Derek Chauvin was guilty of familiarity. Unfortunately, Derek Chauvin knew George Floyd, knew of his criminal background using weapons, and knew of his prison time. He also knew George Floyd was working as a bouncer, and knew that George Floyd had a physical presence that would be difficult to contend with. George Floyd is tall, muscular, and has not hesitated to use his size and muscle in the commission of some of his past crimes. With all of that, the ranking police officer, regardless of who it was, needs to take control of the situation. Unfortunately, it was Derek Chauvin. Officer Chauvin realized quickly that George Floyd was on some kind of drug. Ambulances were summoned. (Did you know that some police departments have gotten rid of their 9mm caliber service weapons in favor of larger calibers? That is because some drug addled shooters were so pumped up on drugs that the smaller caliber was not bringing them down! An experienced Derek Chauvin would know this. I digress.)

Now racial justice takes over and the riots occur for four days with few arrests before the Mayor of Minneapolis or the Governor of Minnesota take action. Over 500 businesses are destroyed and looted. To further promote and legalize racial justice, a Black Lives Matter fund of $20 million was provided for posting bonds for any of the arrested looter/arsonists. (No money for the victims who lost their livelihoods, just for the people who destroyed those livelihoods!)

Prematurely, before any investigation of depth, Derek Chauvin is arrested, jailed, and fired from the police department. (Never mind the facts….public opinion demands it!)

The City of Minneapolis, in another premature and stupid move, awarded the Floyd family a $27 million settlement before the Derek Chauvin trial. (This is the same family he had not seen for 6 years.)

The national media could not stop running the tape of Derek Chauvin putting his knee on George Floyd’s neck. Never mind the results of the coroners report, Chauvin killed George Floyd! And….George Floyd went from violent gun toting criminal who served prison time to national black hero and martyr! The woman who filmed the whole event on her cell phone got a Pulitzer prize!

Now, after all of this, Derek Chauvin goes to trial….on national television! The judge, in his desire to look better than Judge Judy, did not sequester the jury. He did, however, instructed the jury to not watch television news. What an idiot! 65% of all Americans get their news off the internet, and the jury was not prohibited from using their devices. They knew what was happening all over the country about rioting that was planned with a not guilty verdict, and they knew of their notoriety on the internet! After one of the most lopsided, kangaroo court procedures known to man took place, Derek Chauvin was found guilty of second degree murder, plus some other tacked-on charges. (As an aside, in Minneapolis, two black men arrested in separate incidents, both accused of homicide, were freed from jail because their high bonds were paid for by left over funds from the BLM $20 million get-out-of-jail bond money. Within 6 months, they killed three more people. Did you hear about that on national TV? Did you even know of it? Racial justice?)

After the trial, two of the jurors said that they were afraid to vote not-guilty, because they knew what would occur (rioting, looting and burning!) as they lived in areas that were originally burned after Floyd’s death! So here is the big question: Did Derek Chauvin receive justice, or was he the victim of racial justice? What if Derek was a black cop? What if Floyd was a white victim? If either was true, would there have even been a trial?

With all of this in mind, I return to my original premise; what will replace the police department? And….more importantly, because of the George Floyd death, and trial of Derek Chauvin and the continual media assertion of police brutality…what public-serving intelligent person would want to be a cop?

My guess? Less people will want to enter the law enforcement profession, police departments will lower their standards, and we will end up with a lower standard of police departments in those cities that keep catering to the crooks rather than supporting the police.

Good luck, Minneapolis. If you defund the police, you will deserve everything that you will get.

P.S. Derek Chauvin should have been disciplined. He did not wake up that morning thinking, “I am going to kill George Floyd today.” It was an unfortunate event that took place while the police were doing their job. In my mind, George Floyd killed George Floyd. America needs to get its priorities straight, do we want a nation protected by dedicated police, or some other half-baked solution that would lead to anarchy, much like what the advocates of racial justice are promoting. It’s an easy choice: either support the police or idolize the thugs.