Month: April 2024

states decide.” Those on the anti-abortion side especially Senator Lindsey Graham did not like that position on abortion. Now, while I am anti-abortion, I thought Trump’s position was good. Why? … Multiple reasons.

First, the President is not the one who makes the laws on abortion. Laws are made by the legislative branch. Furthermore if any changes are to be made in this post Roe v Wade time, if it is not the legislative branch, it will be come from the judicial branch. 

Second, it doesn’t really matter, for instance, what RFK Jr. thinks about the abortion issue because he will not be elected President. At this point being elected President is the only thing that matters. A smart Republican politician should realize that it would not be wise to make abortion a central theme in this upcoming election. Because there are many other issues that need to be prioritized, let abortion be a basic non-issue.

And it seems to me that is exactly what Trump just did. Does his position upset some? Yes, undoubtedly! However, if being anti-abortion is a main issue for an individual, most of the time, I think that he will vote for Trump rather than vote for someone who is extremely pro-abortion … Joe Biden.

Third, if we had to pick the one person who did the most for the anti-abortion position, it would have to be President Trump. Why? … because he appointed three conservative Supreme Court Justices. Furthermore, in order for anyone to appoint even one Supreme Court Justice, he first must be elected President. I think Trump’s present position on the abortion issue will go a long way to achieving that goal.

4/10/24

As someone who owns stock in Ford, I was happy to see that Ford has finally seen the light on its EV production.

From Fox Business:

“On 4/5 Ford Motor Company announced that it pumping the brakes on the production of two forthcoming electric vehicle models as demand for EVs continues to wane.

In a manufacturing update Thursday, 4/4/24, Ford announced that it is pushing back the production launch of its planned three-row electric SUV at its assembly plant in Oakville, Ontario, from 2025 to 2027.

The automaker said the two-year delay of its new SUV rollout “will allow for the consumer market for three-row EVs to further develop and enable Ford to take advantage of emerging battery technology.”

Ford also said it now expects customer deliveries of the all-new electric pickup truck it will manufacture at its Tennessee plant to begin in 2026 and “gradually ramp up production to assure quality,” after saying last year that production of the truck would begin in late 2025.”

Why these changes in plans? Actually, it’s quite simple!

Ford lost about $4.7 billion on EVs last year and projects losses in the range of $5 billion to $5.5 billion this year. 

Again from Fox Business:

“Despite a surge in EV demand in recent years following a push from the Biden administration and manufacturers, consumer interest has leveled off for all-electric models as many consumers balk at making the switch from gas-powered vehicles over concerns such as a lack of charging infrastructure and the higher cost of the vehicles.

“Hybrid models have now become a “happy medium” for some buyers, because they do not always require a charger, and they tend to be more affordable.”

In general the American public is not on the EV bandwagon. Isn’t it about time that those who produce autos are finally seeing the light!

4/9/24

While no one can ever convince a leftist by using logic or common sense, will cash penalties be the impetus that alters their behavior. There are now beginning to be examples of such cash awards given to individuals whose freedom of speech was constrained.

One of the most recent examples of such comes from Vermont

From The Loop:

“A Catholic high school snowboarding coach who lost his job after stating that men and women are biologically different has favorably settled his lawsuit against the Vermont Agency of Education.

Coach David Bloch was fired from Woodstock Union High School in Vermont in early 2023 after a conversation with two students on his snowboarding team about biological males competing in women’s sports. He said at the time that biological differences typically give male athletes advantages over female athletes.

Bloch was fired the day after the competition, with the school district claiming that he violated the school district’s Prevention of Hazing, Harassment, and Bullying Policy and the Vermont Principals’ Association policy.

“Bloch sued in July 2023 and was represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a nonprofit Christian law firm. ADF reported that the case was settled in March 2024, as the school district agreed to pay Bloch $75,000—nearly 17 times his annual salary.

“ADF Legal Counsel Mathew Hoffmann said in a news release that Americans should not have to be afraid to express their beliefs.

“For more than a decade, Coach Bloch led the Woodstock Union snowboarding program to enormous success in terms of both athletic accomplishment and personal growth of the snowboarders,” he continued. “But the school district fired him because he simply expressed his views that males and females are biologically different and questioned the appropriateness of a teenage male competing against teenage females in an athletic competition.”

Score one for the good guys!

4/8/24

On Sundays I write about individuals who all of us can admire. Eva Edl is such an individual.

Her story as follows from The National Pulse:

Eva Edl, an 89 year old Nazi concentration camp survivor. When you read the following remember that she is both 89 years old & a Nazi concentration camp survivor.

This elderly concentration camp survivor faces 11 years in prison for allegedly obstructing access to an abortion clinic. This week, a court convicted Eva Edl, 89, and three others for misdemeanor violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Law. FACE prohibits interfering with a woman seeking to get an abortion at a clinic.Authorities charged the defendants after they sang hymns and prayed at the Carafem Health Center in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, on March 5, 2021. The Biden Department of Justice described their actions as an illegal “blockade.”

However, the Biden regime hit Edl with additional FACE charges. She is due to appear in a Michigan court in August. She could get up to an additional 11 years in prison.

Edl fled communist Yugoslavia. As a child, her persecutors forced her onto a cattle car and sent her to a concentration camp.“If it is right for the American government to legalize the killing of innocent human beings inside the womb, preborn babies, then why do we condemn the Nazis who also legalized the extermination of born people—Jews, Gypsies, and others—all unwanted individuals?” Edl asked.

“Nobody’s life is ultimately safe in a nation ruled by someone who does not respect all human life, from conception to natural death,” Edl said. “It will just depend on who is in power, and whose whim will dictate who is permitted to live, and who is going to be exterminated.”

The message here?

Do not sing hymns or pray if the Biden Department of Justice is anywhere nearby!

To me this story is beyond belief!

Think about it … an 89 year old Nazi concentration camp survivor being thrown in jail for singing hymns and praying!

Despite one’s individual beliefs on abortion, I think we can all agree that Eva Edl is someone we can admire on multiple fronts as she not only talks the talk, but also walks the walk!

4/7/24

Sometimes you might wonder what it would be like living in a country where the Gestapo is looking over your shoulder, searching for a misstep over which they could put you in handcuffs and then throw you in prison after a “trial by your peers.” Well, these days it doesn’t appear that you have to look far!

The Biden regime and its DOJ have just orchestrated the trial of 70-year-old Rebecca Lavrenz, a 70-year-old grandmother whose crime was PRAYING IN THE U.S. CAPITOL on Jan 6th. 

From National Pulse:

“Rebecca Lavrenz, the 71-year-old great-grandmother charged by the Department of Justice for her peaceful participation in the January 6, 2021, rally in Washington DC, plans to appeal the Thursday verdict that could see her locked up for three years, 

Lavrenz is a mother of four, grandmother of seven, and great grandmother of one. She maintains her attendance at the January 6, 2021 was to “peacefully assemble” and pray for our nation. She spent about ten minutes inside the Capitol building, which is usually open to the public, after police moved aside and allowed protesters in.Almost two years after the rally, Lavrenz — who has no criminal record or any history of violence — was charged by Joe Biden’s Department of Justice on four federal criminal misdemeanor counts:

1) Entering and remaining in a restricted building;

2) disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds;

3) disorderly conduct in a capitol building; 

4) parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a capitol. 

With sentencing in August, Lavrenz face up to three years in prison and over a quarter of a million dollars in fines.

“Lavrenz was forced to surrender to the FBI where she was turned over to the U.S. Marshals at the United States District Court in Denver, Colorado.

After being handcuffed, with a belly chain around her waist and chains around her ankles, this great-grandmother was held in a federal prison. After hours of confinement, Rebecca was brought before the court in shackles and read her charges. Her passport was surrendered, and she was released on probation until her jury trial.”

“I am in utter disbelief by [the] verdict. Never in my life did I imagine that my own government would charge me as a criminal for exercising my religious liberties and rights to free speech, which are guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” Lavrenz said.

To me stories like this are beyond belief!

Stay tuned for “Beyond Belief 2” tomorrow.

4/6/24

The other morning after my wife went to our local grocery store, she said, “Why is everything so expensive? I refuse to buy soda in there, as their price is outlandish. In addition I absolutely refuse to buy any celery at that store! Why is the price of food so high?”

While I could have answered simply that it is because Bidenomics’ is a sham, instead I tried to approach that question logically, and my off the cuff answer was that it is basically all about the cost of energy. The price of gas out here in California is still upwards to $4.50 a gallon and everything must be transported to the grocery store by truck, and as the cost of gas goes up, the cost of everything goes up.

Also here in California the minimum wage continues to go up and up, and thus certainly this contributes to the wages of those who work in the grocery stores. In essence who ends up paying the salaries of the grocery store employees? … the consumer does!

Look at the chart below. For the thirty-six months of Biden’s time in office, the price of groceries has gone up over 20%. Granted that while Joe is probably not cognizant of the increases in food prices since he not been to a grocery store in years, and perhaps not in a decade, I would hope that his advisers could tell him what the cost of food is like in the real world.

After looking more closely at this chart, maybe a more accurate answer to my wife would have been, “The price of food is so high, because of Bidenomics! Besides, in reality, celery is not essential, and who likes celery anyway?”

4/5/24

Let’s play a little game of ‘what if.’

I read two different articles on how two different approaches Covid could have vastly effected outcomes. What if instead of what those “who knew best” dictated and mandated that we do, each of us had the ability to choose which direction we, as individuals, wanted to go.

As those who have read my opinions in the past are aware, from the beginning I was a big proponent of using Ivermectin to treat Covid. In fact, in order to put my money where my mouth was, in November, 2023, I used Ivermectin to treat my second bout of Covid. My response to my early use of Ivermectin in November was akin to miraculous. Using myself as a Covid control, as my initial Covid was years ago, there was no comparison as to how I responded to my early use of Ivermectin.

What if, instead of basically banning the use of Ivermectin, Ivermectin was readily available, and we had all been free to choose our individual approaches to Covid ?

What if the US had paid more attention to Brazil?

From the Epoch Times, 3/28/24:

“A large-scale prospective clinical observational study in Brazil that included 159,561 residents found that administering ivermectin at a dose of 0.2 mg/kg for two consecutive days every 15 days significantly reduced infection, mortality, and hospitalization during the Omicron epidemic period. The study showed that treatment with ivermectin was associated with a decrease of 44 percent, 68 percent, and 56 percent in infection, mortality, and hospitalization rates, respectively, as compared to the non-treatment control group.

Another analysis of the same study setting, based on 88,012 subjects, showed that regular use of ivermectin for 150 days was linked with an even greater effect on COVID-19, reducing the infection, mortality, and hospitalization rates by 49 percent, 92 percent, and 100 percent, compared to non-users.”

Wow! Pretty impressive! Just sayin’!

The second thing that I just read is from the Washington Times via Jeff Childers Coffee and Covid:

    •   In 2021, colorectal cancer suddenly shot from fourth place to the 

         leading cause of cancer death in men under 50. It leapt to second 

         place in women.

• Young adult oral and liver cancer deaths spiked since   2021. So did deadly cervical tumors in women ages 30 through 44, which tellingly reversed “decades of decline” — not a long, slow increase as corporate media would have you believe. It’s the exact opposite.
• According to the CDC’s heavily manipulated data, between pre-pandemic 2019 and 2023, across all ages, cancer deaths rose by +2%. And in young people aged 15 to 44 years, cancer mortality rose twice as fast, to +4%.
• Some cancers had mortality increases far exceeding +2% and +4%. Deaths from the aforementioned colorectal cancer rose +17% in the 15-to-44 group, four times the population-wide increase.
• Uterine cancer deaths shot up +37% among 25-to-44-year-olds between 2019 and 2023; they rose +15% overall (all ages).
• Whatever they want to call it, more and more oncologists are seeing what we would call ‘turbo cancer.’ The Times’ article quoted William Dahut, the American Cancer Society’s chief scientific officer, who said “Colorectal cancers are presenting with more aggressive disease and larger tumors at diagnosis, which is more difficult to treat.”

To me this certainly is an impressive array of increases in the incidence of many different types of cancer, especially considering that there had been a recent impressive decrease up till 2019.

Although not yet proven, if this cancer increase turns out to be due to the Covid vaccine, then Ivermectin use would look even better. … “What if ?”

4/4/24

As far as I am concerned I do not want to hear the Libs with TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) complain when DJT wins in November. They  have been warned. Suffice it to say that  many many Americans are not taking kindly to all of the lawsuits that have been filed against Trump, and there is a backlash and this will be enough to elect him.

The latest backlash fodder is the judgement in which Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay to the state of New York regarding his civil fraud case by March 25. … $464 million in cash!

From Townhall:

A CNN panelist is warning New York Attorney General Letitia James what will happen if she seizes former President Trump’s assets as the deadline to pay his $464 million bond looms. 

Frank Luntz suggested that Trump’s chances of being elected in the 2024 presidential election will grow immensely over James’ politically motivated case taking extreme measures. 

He cautioned the woke Democrat that her threat would backfire, directing his ‘you are going to elect Donald Trump’ comment at her. 

‘He’s going to go up in the polls just like he went up every single time they indicted him,’ Luntz said. ‘If the New York Attorney General starts to take his homes away, starts to seize his assets, it’s all going to be on camera, pundits are going to sit there and scream about this, and you’re going to create the greatest victimhood of 2024.’”

Keep in mind that Frank Luntz is not a Trump fan, and even he is predicting a backlash.

To those TDS-ers, “Don’t say we didn’t warn you!”

4/3/24

As most are aware March 17th is Saint Patrick’s Day, but on 3/17/24  there was no luck of the Irish for the “Fighting Jays” solar farm, which is a massive solar farm near Houston, Texas. On this day the “Fighting Jays”solar farm suffered extensive damage from a hail storm.

Not living in Texas I was not aware of this massive hailstorm, and most of the following comes from Just the News:

“The hailstorm produced 3.5 inches of rain in 15 minutes, as well as a “tremendous amount of hail.” The hailstorm struck the 3,204-acre “Fighting Jays” solar farm — the equivalent of nearly 2,500 football fields.

Some reports measured softball-sized hail.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency hail risk map, Fort Bend County — where the Fighting Jays solar farm is located — is an area of relatively moderate risk. Other areas of Texas, which generated 15 million megawatt hours of solar power in 2021, are rated relatively high or very high for hail risk.”

Unbeknown to most, but very logical when thought about, hail presents a major risk to solar farms, which can add to a growing e-waste problem from the industry.  

Solar farms wear out over time. While panels can last 40 years, their production efficiency declines considerably after 25 years. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), after 20 years, a solar cell’s energy production declines 10%. The cumulative waste volumes that will be produced as solar panels reach the end of their useful life, according to NREL, will be as much as 78 million tons by 2050.

That doesn’t include panels destroyed by weather events.

What to do with the damages and thus unusable solar panels?

According to the MIT Technology Review, only about 10% of panels in the U.S. are recycled.

As the waste stream from solar farms swells with the growth of the industry, more recycling facilities will come online to deal with the waste. Whether that will create an economically viable supply chain remains to be seen.

At this time perhaps  a more pertinent question needs to be asked … “Will climate change lead to more hail storms, and, if so, is there a plan to deal with damaged and thus unusable solar panels?”

4/2/24

Let’s assume that I have a friend who lives in Baltimore and is thinking of moving to Chicago. “Why?,” I ask him.” He explains that it’s because of the educational system in Baltimore. He has two small children who are going to be starting elementary school, and he is concerned about them getting a reasonable education, and a lot Baltimore schools are not very good as the following headline points out.

Trying to be a good friend, I point out to him that he must be cognizant that all is not perfect in Chicago. In fact within Illinois, there are 53 schools in which not a single student can do math at grade level, and almost half of these schools are located in Chicago. I also warned him that the cost per student can range all the way up to $56,000. Likewise the size  of the school doesn’t really matter as a class size of 44 students up to 469 students can be equally inept!

After I sent him a copy of the above, he called me and said that he and wife had decided to either remain in Baltimore and home-school the kids, or move to a red state instead of to Illinois!

4/1/24