Month: May 2022

On May 3 there were primaries both both in Indiana and Ohio.. Donald Trump endorsed candidates in both of these states. How did these Trump-endorsed candidates do?

The following is from the Mike Gallagher radio show on 5/4:

“President Trump’s endorsed picks in the states of Ohio and Indiana all won last night in the Ohio and Indiana primaries. Every one of them — there’s not one that he endorsed that didn’t win, including the black woman, the Air Force vet, who is hopefully going to become the first black  Republican woman in the U.S. Congress, one of the 22 nominations endorsements by Donald J. Trump. Twenty-two! That’s a pretty good track record.”

What does all this mean? After all 22 victories out of 22 candidates is pretty substantial … so much so that some might even refer to this as a route.

Again from Mike Gallagher:

“It’s not just a man, it’s a movement. It’s America first. And when Donald Trump endorses somebody, look at the power of that endorsement. J.D. Vance in Ohio was apparently flailing in his campaign until Donald Trump endorsed him. That’s pretty powerful stuff.”

What does this all mean in terms of the November 2022 election? At this point only time will tell, but I am encouraged. Granted I am a big fan of DJT, and am biased, but 22/22 is pretty impressive!

“Lots of comments on social media. One of the takeaways from one of the reporters for the AP: ‘J.D. Vance parlayed a late endorsement from Donald Trump into a come-from-behind victory that was a testament to the power the former president still holds with the Republican voter base in Ohio.’

“Well, it’s not just Ohio. President Trump still leads the Republican party.”

In an early victory for a Donald Trump-endorsed candidate at the start of midterm season, Rep. Alex Mooney on 5/9/22 beat fellow incumbent Rep. David McKinley in West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District Republican primary (PBS). Wall Street Journal: Mr. Mooney earned an endorsement from Mr. Trump after Mr. McKinley voted for last year’s $1 trillion infrastructure package.

What does all of mean? … Only time will tell, but at this stage I am encouraged.

5/11/22

Personally, I have nothing against Subway,  the sandwich place. In fact I used to like going to my local Subway, and then they chose Megan Rapinoe to be their spokesperson. You remember Megan Rapinoe, one of the stars of the U.S. Women’s National Team at the last Summer Olympics. You remember that very talented women’s team that did not make it to the finals. You remember that team on which a number of players knelt during the National Anthem. Rapinoe played for that national team – the American team – and her kneeling when this country’s national anthem was played was embarrassing, and disgraceful to many. 

Many people who watch women’s soccer took note of Rapinoe’s “leadership,” or more precisely … lack thereof. As a consequence of Rapinoe’s outspokenness, the team failed to show pride in the country that gave them the opportunity to do what they did. Many of those TV viewers did not forget the lack of patriotism displayed by the Women’s National Team, and many, including myself, saw Rapinoe as the ringleader.

However, Subway was apparently enamored by Rapinoe’s kneeling, and made her their spokesperson. … after all it was the woke thing to do!

Well what do you think happened? It was the woke versus the ordinary folk. Recently released public filings from the Subway fast-food franchise revealed some pretty dismal 2021 numbers. Per the New York Post, Subway had to close “1,043 more outlets across the US than it opened in 2021,” which diminished “Subway’s total footprint by nearly five percent.”

Subway franchisee owners were said to be very upset after the Rapinoe ads began running primarily due to complaints by customers. Could it be that Megan Rapinoe’s anti-American views rubbed some customers the wrong way. Did this play a role in the dismal 2021 numbers? 

Personally, I have not gone into a Subway since they went woke with Rapinoe. I consider myself just one of the ordinary folk, and I guess I could say that my sudden non-taste for Subway had nothing to do with Megan Rapinoe … sure, I could say that, but it would be a lie!

5/10/22

Tweedledum and Tweedledee are characters in an English nursery rhyme and in Lewis Carroll’s 1871 book Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. (Their names may have originally come from an epigram written by poet John Byrom.) However today, in common English usage if you refer to someone as Tweedledum or Tweedledee! it will probably be understood as an insult, as, in essence, you would be saying that he or she has no independent intellect.

Two different news stories brought these terms to mind.

First: The latest CNN poll on Joe Biden and the economy,  23% rate economic conditions as even somewhat good … who are these tweedle-dums? This is down from 37% in December and 54% last April. What is even more amazing is that 2% of those polled, rate economic conditions as very good! Who are these tweedle-dees? What world are they living in?

The second story that brought “Tweedle-dums and Tweedle-dees” to mind is the speculation of student loan forgiveness. Who are these yo-yo’s who borrowed exorbitant amounts of money for college and who have no reasonable hope of paying it back?

(Before going any further let me be clear … “I do not watch The View, have never watched Tht View, and will probably never watch The View.)

Recently Sen. Elizabeth Warren on the View talked about this issue. While avoiding the issue of “how to reimburse Americans who paid off their student loans,” she did make some good points on certain sub-classes of those who owe money on student loans. 

“About 40% of folks with student loans don’t have a college diploma,” Warren began. “They’re folks who tried and life happened … and now they earn what a high school grad earns, and they’re trying to pay off college-level debt, and it is crushing their bones.”

I do have empathy for this group. Someone talked them into going to college, but they just could not hack it. Should they have started college? Probably not. Was starting college most likely a dumb decision? Probably, yes. … but should we punish stupidity?

Warren continued, “Keep in mind that of those that have student loan debt more than half have negative wealth— they don’t have any wealth. You know that right now there are tens of thousands of people who are living on Social Security, who are having their Social Security checks garnished to pay student loans,” she continued. “And so this for me is a question of fairness.”

Again I have empathy for those seniors who signed for loans that were for their grandchildren. Most likely they were overwhelmed by trying to ensure that their grandchildren had a chance of success. Did these seniors make poor decisions? In retrospect obviously, yes, but garnishing their Social Security while Biden’s inflation is injuring everybody? Err … no!

While Warren does make some good points, I vehemently disagree that student loan forgiveness “is a question of fairness!” “Fairness” would entail making them all pay back what they borrowed. However, could there be some middle ground? As far as I am aware, no one in Washington – no Democrat and no Republican,  has proposed a reasonable compromise approach. 

Bill Maher weighed in on student loan forgiveness – which he deemed as a “loser issue.” During the same episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher,” a notable Democratic strategist reamed out Democrats for being experts in “pissing off the working class.”

My compromise includes:

For seniors, I would slash the amount owed by half. Perhaps, not 100% fair, but definitely 100% compassionate. 

For those who started, but did not finish college, I would find ways that they could do volunteer work, either at night or on weekends. They would not be paid for this, but in lieu of a wage, the amount would be deducted from what they owe. Those who owed money would benefit; those who were recipients of this volunteerism would benefit; the country, as a whole, would benefit.

For those Tweedle-dums and Tweedle-dees who are drastically and hopelessly under water, perhaps a three year stint in the military with 50% of their pay going to paying off their loans.

Nonetheless, who are the real Tweedle-dums and Tweedle-dees here? 

If you guessed the politicians in Washington, you would have been correct.

Come on, politicians … instead of quarreling about everything, get together and figure out a reasonable compromise.

5/9/22

Sunday is my day to write about someone who is deserving of our respect. Today’s honorees are a couple from Minnesota.

These days having six kids is a big deal. Having six kids all at once is a huge deal, but that’s what happened in Minnesota, where a couple adopted six siblings after they had been taken into Child Protective Services (CPS) several years ago due to neglect.

Ruby Celada, 38, and her husband, Armando Ayala, 48, signed the adoption papers in Minnehaha County Courthouse late March. 

The eldest, Alanna, is 12; Arturo just turned 9; Jerry and Aiden are 8; their younger autistic brother Avery is 7; their little sister, Aniya, is 6.

The siblings were taken into CPS due to neglect from their parents, who are currently serving time in prison, the Argus Leader reported. “You don’t do that to your kids,” Ruby said of the father, her brother. “If you want children, you need to—like God says—you need to change.”

When the siblings first entered the foster system, Ruby started keeping tabs on how they were doing and anticipated one day being their mom. “I love them just like if they were my own children,” she said. “Every time I see them and I have to leave, I cried.”

“They’re able to stay together,” Ruby told The Epoch Times. “They’re just happy that they found their forever home, they’re not going to have to go to different people’s houses and stay there for a while, and then they get attached and then they have to go to another home.”

Originally from Riverside, California, Ruby and Armando now live in Leota, Minnesota. Currently, the kids are all attending elementary school and doing well in class, Ruby said.

What’s next for the family? “We’re going to be traveling to California to do something fun for our adoption day that we had,” Ruby said. “I think Sea World or Disneyland.”

Feeding six kids is going to be enough of a challenge. But taking them all to California and then to Disneyland … OMG! Could this be a chance for Disney to improve its recently tarnished image? Does anybody have a Disney connection?

5/8/22

Those of you who have been reading my blogs for a while are cognizant of three things:

1. I am oftentimes not a fan of the New York Times.
2. Many, many times I have pointed out that Democrats do things which  are the most detrimental to those among us who are the least fortunate.
3. School closures made little, if any sense, and the detrimental consequences of the switch over to on-line learning would affect children for years to come.

Those of you who are long time readers will be familiar with my solution to #3 … For the general population, in Sept. 2021, have all children restart in the same grade that they were in back in 2020 when the in-person schooling stopped. Would some children be relearning some things? Absolutely! But for children who are less fortunate … a big win, as they would not lose an entire year of education. What would be the downside of my plan? … kids would then graduate high school being one year older. In other words, there would have been no significant downside. (Part and parcel of my plan was that any child, vis-à-vis any parent, for whatever reason, could choose to advance to the next grade, but this advance would not be the norm.)

Did anybody listen to my plan? Did anybody have the foresight to predict that the so-called Zoom learning would be a complete disaster? Did anybody comprehend that online teaching would only benefit the teachers, and not the students? Did anyone realize the extent that the nonsensical education strategy that was used in mostly Democratic states would hurt the least fortunate, the most?  Hmmm!

On 5/5/22, David Leonhardt had an awesome article in the New York Times entitled, “New research is showing the high costs of long school closures in some communities.”

Mea culpa … David Leonhardt is right on! 

(Note that there are many graphs in his article. Graphs which I cannot reproduce.)

The following are quotes from his article:

“Academic researchers have since been studying the subject, and they have come to a consistent conclusion: Remote learning was a failure.”

“On average, students who attended in-person school for nearly all of 2020-21 lost about 20 percent worth of a typical school year’s math learning during the study’s two-year window.

“But students who stayed home for most of 2020-21 fared much worse. On average, they lost the equivalent of about 50 percent of a typical school year’s math learning during the study’s two-year window.”

“One of the most alarming findings is that school closures widened both economic and racial inequality in learning.”

“Low-income students, as well as Black and Latino students, fell further behind over the past two years, relative to students who are high-income, white or Asian. ‘This will probably be the largest increase in educational inequity in a generation,’ said Thomas Kane, an author of the Harvard study.”

“… school closures were what economists call a regressive policy, widening inequality by doing the most harm to groups that were already vulnerable.”

In addition schools that were located in the higher poverty areas had the greater number of remote weeks of school (another graph).

“Many of these schools are in major cities, which tend to be run by Democratic officials, and Republicans were generally quicker to reopen schools. High-poverty schools are also more likely to have unionized teachers, and some unions lobbied for remote schooling.”

Like I already said, in this article there are many graphs to emphasize what a mistake the prolonged closing down of in-person schooling was. Since I cannot reproduce these graphs, I urge everyone to read this article. 

This David Leonhardt piece closes with:

“Were many of these problems avoidable? The evidence suggests that they were. Extended school closures appear to have done much more harm than good, and many school administrators probably could have recognized as much by the fall of 2020.”

Ahem! I told you so!

5/7/22

At this point the public does not know the name of the leaker who gave Politico a copy of Justice Alito’s February draft on the Mississippi abortion case. Whether or not anybody in charge knows the identity of the leaker is open to speculation. Obviously either the leaker will be found out, or he/she will escape detection. For the good of the country, the leaker cannot go undetected, and this goes for whether he/she is on the left or on the right. The leaker must be identified and his/her punishment must be severe, or else this type of surreptitious behavior will be repeated in the future.

Let’s assume that at some point, which I will refer to as the “red line,” the leaker still remains unidentified. What should be done? My suggestion would be “peer pressure” … significant peer pressure.

Remember, back when we were kids and somebody threw a ball through Mrs. Jones’s window. “Who did it?” our parents would ask … Silence! What then happened was “peer pressure.” Often it went something like the following: “If the culprit does not own up to what he/she did, all of you will all be grounded for a week; talk it over; you have thirty minutes.” Inevitably, because of peer pressure, the culprit typically owned up, often with tears. Likewise, in high school, if someone smuggled out a copy of a test’s answers, and gave it to another class, the same basic scenario would occur – using peer pressure to identify the individual that leaked the correct answers to the other class. Here the punishment for the entire class would necessarily need to be more severe if the culprit did not own up … for instance, everyone in both classes would receive an ‘F’ on that test. The peer pressure would be ginormous, because the consequence was going to be extreme. In this situation, the culprit was going to receive an ‘F’ one way or the other. All of his/her classmates would explicitly say to the culprit, “Why should be all be punished for something you did. This ‘F’ could potentially play a role in my not getting into the college of my choice. Admit what you did so we all can move on.”

Here, in the SCOTUS leak situation, I would suggest that if the “red line”came and went without the leaker stepping up or otherwise being identified, that the same peer pressure concept be used. This time with very extreme consequences! 

For instance: everyone who worked for any of the Justices would be given a pink-slip effective in thirty days, and in addition all would be threatened with the loss of their license to practice law. Although I do not think that any of the Justices were involved in this chicanery, if perchance one was … impeachment.

Dollars to doughnuts, we would learn the identity of the leaker within a week of the “red line” date.

5/6/22

In future years what will be the legacy of Donald Trump? Trying to take the politics totally out of his eventual evaluation will be difficult. It will also be difficult for me because as most of you are aware I am a Donald Trump fan. I will try to be fair here.

In the plus column to me there are two major accomplishments which should define his legacy.

One … he kept the U.S. out of new wars, and lessened our involvement in ongoing conflicts, especially in Mideast, while being a strong proponent of the military. He was able to do this because of his reputation as an unpredictable a-hole. Enemies and potential enemies were always unsure of what he might do, and how he would retaliate. It was not ‘if,’ but ‘when,’ and how strongly he would retaliate, and everybody knew it. The leaders of Iran, Russia, North Korea, and China had either met him or knew of his reputation, and were very leery of crossing the line. The consequence was peace for the U.S.

Two … He appointed three Supreme Court Justices. Granted they do not always decide what I think they should, but for the most part they are right on. Practically speaking, we really have now a Court of six justices. The three liberal justices always vote the same way on any significant issues, and consequently the nation is left with six justices to decide major issues … and President Trump appointed three of the six.

I could go on with Trump’s accomplishments, but instead I am now going to focus on his shortcomings.

One … In terms of Covid, he made one colossal blunder which could haunt his legacy forever. He basically gave total command and control to Dr. Fauci. Here he totally abrogated his responsibility, and handed the whole kit-and-caboodle to Fauci. Lockdowns and all of their bad consequences were because of Fauci. School closures, especially for those children who by necessity were forced to not attend school, will continue to be detrimental for these unfortunate children for years to come, and perhaps for their entire lives … all because of Fauci. Mandates, although a Biden fax pas, which cost many their livelihoods … again go back to Fauci.

And to top it off, all of the limitations that were fostered and encouraged by Dr. Fauci did not reduce the death toll from Covid.

Two … certainly Trump’s personality could be viewed as a major shortcoming. However, to me, one has to balance his super-dominant, unyielding, argumentative personality with his many accomplishments.

So in conclusion, I think that in the future, Trump’s legacy will receive a grade of ‘B’ … if not for his disastrous kowtowing to Fauci, it would have been an ‘A.’

5/5/22

The scuttlebutt from Politico is that the Supreme Court is on the verge of overturning Roe v Wade. How do we know this? How do we know about a  Supreme Court decision that has not been made public? Obviously, this must have come from a leak from within the Supreme Court itself.

Was this an inadvertent leak? Perhaps, an email to a spouse or to a friend proclaiming, “Have I got news for you! Roe is going to be overturned! Don’t tell anybody.” Well actually, ‘no’ … it wasn’t an irresponsible or accidentally sent email. It was a deliberate attempt by some insider to attempt to force the Supreme Court to change its mind. How do we know this? It was a 98-page draft written in February by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. I would surmise that it is almost impossible to inadvertently leak a ninety-eight page document. 

For clarity, there is no way this was an accident. The usual modus-operandi is for documents to be double shredded (horizontal & vertical) before burning them. Without question, this was a deliberate attempt, by a desperate individual. 

Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley explained why the leak is “one of the greatest breaches of security in the history of the court,” describing it as the “original sin for judicial ethics …”

“The opinion can change but the damage done to the court as an institution will likely be lasting. This shattered a long tradition of the court of strict secrecy and integrity in the handling of drafts,” Turley later wrote in a brief essay.

FromBlazemedia:

“While it remains unclear how the court will respond, Chief Justice John Roberts will likely initiate an investigation, with the help of the FBI, to determine who leaked the opinion draft. There is a very small number of people who have access to such documents, so discovering the source probably will be relatively easy.”

But to me identifying the culprit is merely half the problem. For a second, let’s assume that you are that individual who leaked the ninety-eight page draft to Politico … would you do this without discussing it with somebody, or would you act as a lone wolf? Would you seek counsel from your Justice or your fellow clerks? Intuitively, I would guess, unlikely. Now granted, you might not come out and forthrightly ask, “Should I give this copy to Politico?” However, you might have hinted what you were about to do. Perhaps, you received subtle, non-verbal feedback from who knows who! 

Common sense would say that it is very likely that the one who was the leaker must be a far left liberal. It would be extremely unlikely that an individual with this political persuasion would work under a conservative Justice. 

Ergo, my question: Which of the three liberal Justices does the leaker work for? FYI: Each Justice has four clerks. So have we narrowed it down to 4×3?

Hmmm!

5/4/22

In my local newspaper there was a front page article which described increasing traumatic injuries since “Trump’s wall” was extended to thirty feet in height in 2018-2019. The injuries are coming because illegals are falling from or jumping from the top of the thirty foot high wall. The number of patients admitted to local trauma centers has been steadily increasing since 2017  … in 2017, 24 admissions due to border wall injuries; in 2018, 49 such admissions; in 2019, 80; in 2020, 132; and in 2021, 381. (N.B 381 (2021) is triple 132 (2020).

The gist of the article was two-fold.:

First, the local two trauma center hospitals as well as the staffs at these hospitals, are being stressed to the max because of the increased number of trauma patients and the increased length of hospital stays for these patients. This is because of the increasing severity of the injuries when these individuals fall or jump from a thirty foot border wall.

Second, politicians and policy makers should be more aware of the consequences of border policies of those trying to cross, and also the consequences on the health care systems that end up receiving these injured patients.

To me blaming the 30 ft. wall for all of these problems is nonsensical. I feel bad for some of those trying to escape untenable situations in their own countries, however, perhaps they need to be made more aware of the actual dangers of going over a thirty foot high wall … falling, slipping, or jumping. Frequent signs reading “PELIGRO, No Escolar” (extreme danger, do not climb) could easily be posted on the Mexican side of the wall. The other practical thing, in addition to the frequent posted signs, would be to place barbed wire all along the top of this thirty foot high wall. The barbed wire would be easily visible from the ground, and would act as a deterrent to those standing on the ground looking up.

The other obvious thing to do to prevent these injuries … stop encouraging these illegals to attempt to come to the U.S.

Are you listening, J.B.?

5/3/22

Do you remember the old Kmart stores? You could be in a Kmart, innocently meandering around, when suddenly over the loud speaker would come the blaring announcement, “Blue-light special for 10 minutes in Home Goods on aisle four!” At that point a myriad of shoppers would all suddenly rush towards Home Goods. 

“What’s on sale?”

“Don’t know, and don’t care, but let’s go!”

Over the years Kmart sales have dramatically dropped off a cliff. Once, the third largest retailer, behind Target and Walmart, it is now down to just three stores nationwide. Obviously the Blue-light specials strategy was promulgated by poor management, whose game plan was ill-conceived and proved disastrous. 

Why reminisce about Kmart? Actually I was reminded of that business disaster today as it is the eight-month anniversary of the U.S’s moronic and ill-conceived withdrawal from Afghanistan. Whereas the CEO who was in charge at Kmart is long gone, the commander-in-chief who was in charge of that chaotic Afghanistan debacle is still “in charge.” This horrendous fiasco which resulted in the loss of the lives of American military personnel and horrific continuing consequences for the Afghan people has long been forgotten by the mainstream media. However hopefully this present Pentagon report will stir a review or least some questions.

From the daily mail:

“The US left $7 billion of military gear – including 78 aircraft, 12,000 Humvees and thousands of air-to-ground weapons – in Afghanistan after Biden’s chaotic 2021 withdrawal, according to Pentagon report.”

“A Pentagon report reveals that billions of dollars in weapons and military equipment transferred to the Afghan government was left behind in Afghanistan after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the country.

In all, about $7 billion worth of hardware remained in the country after the Taliban seized control, according to the report prepared for Congress which was obtained by CNN.

That includes almost $1 billion of aircraft – rendered inoperable and dumped at Hamid Karzai International Airport – some 22,000 military Humvees and almost all the communications equipment supplied during the course of the conflict.”

Hmmm!

The Kmart shareholders dumped their incompetent CEO, but it was too little, too late, as Kmart is now only a dismal shadow of its former self. Recall that President Biden pledged last April that the US withdrawal would be conducted “responsibly, deliberately, and safely.” Oops!

That was a lie, as thousands of abandoned Americans and allies can attest. Yet when the chaos unfolded, Biden called it an “extraordinary success.” Even the old Kmart CEO never had the audacity to consider his failure, a success!

Notwithstanding his poor performance in just about everything, the U.S. still has that same commander-in-chief. If that old adage, “past performance predicts piss-poor production,” holds true, the U.S. is in deep trouble and hopefully it is not too late.

5/2/22