Category: Uncategorized

The other day I read about three novel ideas, each of which I liked.

The first idea was in a column by Wayne Allyn Root. He suggested to Donald Trump that one of his campaign promises should be to end taxing Social Security. Some might say that this would be pandering to seniors, however, the money that was forcibly placed into this fund belongs to the seniors to begin with. Why should they be taxed when they get their own money back?

The second novel idea was put forth by Shad White, Mississippi’s State Auditor, who suggested in a recent report that the state needs to change the way it approaches funding for its public universities. One of the suggestions he made was linking public investment to workforce needs, instead of treating every degree program as the same, according to the Associated Press.

Instead of the state of Mississippi loaning money to every Tom, Dick, and Harry for majors which increasingly are translating into increasing college debt, why not loan money preferentially to those majors which the the most needed in Mississippi … those majors which are resulting in the biggest financial gain for Mississippi’s graduating college seniors. 

He said, “Students need to keep an eye on which industries are growing when they pick a college major. Taxpayers need to do the same when they think about funding universities. 

These majors are Construction Management, Agricultural Economics, International Business/Trade, Hospitality Administration/Management, and Architectural Engineering Technology.  

But he didn’t stop there!

From BlazeNews:

“White claimed that there are many degrees currently offered that are “useless degrees” in “garbage fields.” Some of the degrees he said needed to go were Anthropology, African American Studies, Gender Studies, Women’s Studies, German Literature, Sociology, and Urban Studies. He suggested that some of these degrees are fertile ground for political radicalization, according to the report.”

A truly novel, although not PC, idea.

The third novel idea is from Christine Anderson of the European Parliament. (Long, but well worth it!)

Here’s what she said, word for word:

“We just need to find a way to wake the people up. Because the point is simply this: it comes down to a choice. It’s either freedom, democracy, and the rule of law — or enslavement.

“There is no such thing in between. There is no such thing as a little freedom, a little democracy, a little rule of law, just as there is no such thing as a little enslavement. So that’s the choice. It comes down to – it’s either the globalitarian misanthropists or the people. It comes down to – it’s either us or them. And that’s, I think, what this really is all about.

“Now, when my colleagues and I were elected to this parliament, there was no question about it. We were on the side of the people because the people actually pay us to act in their best interests. That’s our job. And once again, I will say to every single elected representative around the world, to every single member in every elected government around the world, if you do not unequivocally stand with the people and serve in their best interests, act in their best interests, you have no place in any parliament or in any government. You belong behind bars. You may even rot in hell for all I care at this point because that’s exactly what you deserve if you sell out the people.”

Imagine that!! Politicians should do what those who elected them want! … a truly novel idea. Think about what politicians are pushing that Americans do not want … Think EVs for everybody! Think getting rid of coal while subsidizing wind and solar. Think badmouthing police while crime is soaring! 

 9/25/23

On Sundays I write about individuals who are worthy of our praise.

I would guess that many of you remember Tim Tebow, an all American quarterback who subsequently went on to play in the NFL. As his football fame is now in the rear view mirror, one might ask why am I singling out Tim Tebow now?

From Epoch Bright:

“For Tim Tebow, ‘MVP’ has a whole different meaning. Far from the limelight of the sports field, the 36-year-old Heisman Trophy winner and former NFL quarterback has long set his sights on helping the world’s “Most Vulnerable People.” The Tim Tebow Foundation, founded in 2010, works in 86 countries to transform the lives of orphans, people with special needs or significant medical needs, and those caught in the snare of human traffickers.”

In addition his Foundation has a special night every year, Night to Shine, which celebrates people with special needs, offering them a prom night experience, and takes place simultaneously around the world—in over 1,000 cities and 56 countries. (Next year, it will be held on February 9, 2024.) The timing, the Friday before Valentine’s Day, is no accident.

“We wanted this to be a night where every person with special needs ‘Shines,’ and we wanted our love and God’s love for them to shine through,” Tebow said.

When asked to tell about an inspiring moment or person at Night to Shine that will stay with you forever, Tim Tebow responded, “I could tell you thousands and thousands of stories just from our first Night to Shine! One that really stands out to me is a mom coming up to me and telling me that her daughter will never get married. She will never have kids. But tonight, at Night to Shine, she felt like she was a princess. Another is the first time we ever hosted a Night to Shine, one sweet girl came down the red carpet in a wheelchair with everyone cheering her on. She had so much fun and loved the experience so much that she came back down again, this time walking with assistance! It was such an inspiring moment.”

Kudos to Tim Tebow for demonstrating that there is more to life than sports!

9/24/23

I would guess that many of you are familiar with the Babylon Bee. For those who are not familiar, it is a satirical website that has humorous, tongue-in-cheek articles.

For example here are two of the recent Babylon Bee postings:

• “In a controversial new episode of Paw Patrol that aired this week on Nick Jr., Chase gets neutered so he can become the world’s first transgender pup.”

–  “In a gracious move of bipartisanship, the Senate voted to relax rules 

      to allow their freshman Senator Jabba The Fetterman to take a bath 

       in the reflecting pool.”

You get the idea. Now here is the test. Try to figure out if the following two stories are from the Babylon Bee.

“Biden repeats same story twice almost ‘word for word’ within minutes, sparking concern online: ‘Elder abuse’.”

Politico’s Jonathan Lemire, who was traveling with the president on Wednesday, wrote in a quick update about Biden’s comments: “After briefly touting his economic record, POTUS reflected on his decision to seek the presidency. He told the story about the events of Charlottesville in 2017 as the reason for his campaign. A few minutes later, he told the story again, nearly word for word.”

If you said that his was from the Babylon Bee, you would have been wrong, as what this piece describes is all true. Okay I will give you another chance.

In its “US News” section, top Spanish paper Marca ran a story yesterday headlined, “Joe Biden’s latest public blunder at the UN with Brazil’s president Lula.” The sub-headline added, “The president had another unfortunate moment as the world was watching on.”

After President Lula took the podium to begin speaking, Biden, standing stiff as a board, started fiddling with his UN translator earpiece and receiver. Lula was speaking in English. First, Lula waited respectfully for Biden to finish, but as the long, silent seconds uncomfortably elongated, finally Lula, sounding a mite teched, asked “Can you hear me, President Biden? This is a historic moment for Brazil and for the US.”

Biden was standing three feet away. Lula was speaking into an amplified microphone. In English.

If you said that these were from the Babylon Bee, … sorry, but no cigar, as this was actually the leader of the free world!

Here in both of these stories, reality beats the Bee!

Embarrassing!

9/23/23

Many years ago I learned that for the most part, do not volunteer for certain things. For instance, in the military if one volunteered to take a course in tropical medicine, then it would be an interesting vacation of sorts for a week or so in Panama. However, from then on if trouble broke out in some godforsaken tropical country, guess who would be tapped to be deployed to that godforsaken tropical country.

I thought about this piece of common sense when I just read about the latest from the University of Michigan. 

From the Epoch Times:

“The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor confirmed in several recent statements that it will require students who test positive for COVID-19 to leave campus dorms and isolate in other locations, including hotels.

University health officer Robert D. Ernst said in a message on Sept. 1 that the school’s COVID-19 guidance ‘could include relocating to [one’s] permanent residence, staying with a nearby relative or friend, or finding a hotel space’ after one tests positive for the virus, according to reports.

‘Students in Michigan Housing must leave their residence halls during isolation, even if they are in a single room.’”

After reading this I asked myself, “What planet is Robert Ernst living on?”

Is he an example of Peter’s Principle?

Picture yourself as a University of Michigan college student … mostare not from Ann Arbor and so cannot just easily pop home; most have little spare money with which to pay for a hotel room; since the dorm  oftentimes will provide access to meals that have already been paid for, how do they eat when not living in the dorm? … and the list goes on!

So let’s assume that one is a student at U Michigan and gets a cold. What would be last thing you would do? Hmmm! The last thing I would do is volunteer get a Covid test! Take that mister all-knowing Robert Ernst!

9/22/23

Sometimes when rational people read something, most will comment, “WTF, these individuals are crazy, looney tunes, out to lunch, etc.” 

This from a 9/19/23 NY Post article:

An estimated 1,000 people who prefer to be recognized as not humans, but canines, organized a gathering at the Berlin Potsamer Platz railroad station in Germany, communicating only by howling or barking at one another.

The unorthodox canine convention follows the viral sensation of Toco the human collie — a man located in Japan who is fulfilling his life-long dream of becoming a pooch after purchasing a $14,000 hyperrealistic suit.

Other internet-famous hound-human hybrids include Tom Peters, a Brit who previously revealed he identified as a Dalmatian, and Toru Ueda, a Tokyo engineer who spent $23,000 on a custom wolf suit.

“When I wear my costume I feel I’m no longer human,” Ueda, 32, previously told the UK Times. “I’m free of human relationships. All kinds of troubles, related to work and other things — I can forget about them.”

Clinical lycanthropy is a rare psychiatric syndrome that involves a delusion that the affected person can transform into, has transformed into, or is, an animal.

This is also known as Species Identity Disorder or Species Dysphoria (also see Dissociative Identity Disorder). Clinical Lycanthropy has been associated with the altered states of mind that accompany psychosis (the mental state that typically involves delusions and hallucinations) with the transformationonly seeming to happen in the mind and behavior of the affected person.

 I would like to point out a few things with the above comments on ‘clinical lycanthropy’ Initially it is referred to as a psychiatric syndrome … with emphasis on ‘psychiatric.’ Then it is referred to as a ‘delusion’ with ‘the transformation only seeming to happen in the mind and behavior of the affected person.’

To those of us who are rational, a human is a human and cannot be a dog instead, just as a zebra can’t change its stripes.

Can someone who does not still live in Portland or San Francisco explain the difference between lycanthropy and a girl who thinks that she is really a boy or similarly a boy who thinks that he should be a girl? Hmmm!

9/21/23

A headline from the New York Post:

“Inflation squeezes Americans as 61% say they live paycheck to paycheck”

To put this in perspective over six in ten Americans are struggling to survive, and if they were to miss a paycheck … an impending disaster?

Similarly from Yahoo Finance:

It’s not just low-income Americans drowning under inflation and interest rates — some higher-income folks are feeling the strain on their wallets as well.

Data from a June survey conducted by personal finance software company Quicken revealed that 32% of Americans earning at least $150,000 a year are currently living paycheck to paycheck, while 36% of folks earning $50,000 to $150,000 and 55% of households earning less than that reported the same.”

Impending disaster?

Credit card usage has been escalating amid high inflation.

In fact, according to the New York Fed, credit card balances topped $1 trillion in the second quarter of 2023.

As some Americans are waiting for their next payday to afford everyday expenses, credit cards may be the only tool left at their disposal. But relying on them too heavily comes at a cost.

The Quicken survey found that 46% of higher-income groups are more dependent on their credit cards than they’ve ever been — compared to just 40% of middle- and 39% of lower-income groups. About a third of folks earning $150,000 a year or more also admitted they won’t be able to pay off their balances before the end of the year. Truly an impending disaster! 

Notice that the last “impending disaster” is with an exclamation point and not a question mark. It’s only a matter of time before the “sh*t hits the fan!” … Thank you, President Biden!

9/20/23

First of all I am far from being a green-enthusiast. The green pie-in-the-sky dreamers are just that … dreamers!

The following is a headline from a piece that was published almost one year ago on 10/2/22 in Fox Business:

“Energy experts sound alarm on Europe’s energy crisis as ‘clear and present warning’ for America

Six experts warned congressional leaders not to follow Europe ‘blindly into the same disaster’”

From the same piece:

“In a letter the coalition of six experts urged congressional Republican leaders — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. — to consider how green policies have contributed to the energy crisis in Europe. They added that the crisis proves the U.S. lawmakers need to bolster, not “compromise,” energy security.

In recent months, European consumers and businesses have been hit with massive energy bills due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which upended global oil and gas markets due to Russian producers’ dominance, and an aggressive transition to green energy sources like wind and solar pushed by several major European nations.

Amid the crisis, Europeans have been forced to take drastic measures to conserve energy and keep bills low while governments have imposed rationing rules and introduced relief programs. The letter noted that the crisis has forced manufacturing plants to close and will likely lead to major blackouts throughout the winter in Germany.”

It didn’t take long for this warning to come to fruition in Germany. 

From Fox Business (10/27/22):

A German energy company is dismantling a wind farm to allow for an adjacent coal mine to expand its operations, officials said. 

One of the wind farm’s eight wind turbines was dismantled last week, and two others are expected to be taken down next year. The remaining five turbines will be dismantled by the end of 2023, said a spokesperson for the company that builds and runs the wind farm.

One of the wind farm’s eight wind turbines was dismantled last week, and two others are expected to be taken down next year. The remaining five turbines will be dismantled by the end of 2023, said a spokesperson for the company that builds and runs the wind farm.”

It appears that reality has set in in Germany, and hopefully reality will soon set it here in the US also!

9/19/23

Approximately three years ago we started on masks, Covid lockdowns, social distancing, etc. which facilitated voting by mail which facilitated widespread voting irregularities, that some of us refer to as “voting fraud.” Finally, after two plus years of Biden mandates, we are finally escaping from the ushered in Covid tyranny.

But, hey, there is another election coming in 2024. Biden’s numbers are horrific, and you can smell the panic emanating from behind the closed doors of the Democrat higher-ups, as they wish for another “Covid.” They hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel with Nipah.

I realize that most of you have no idea what I am talking about, but the question is whether it  will be “here we go again?”

From Jim Ferguson UK on X:

“Breaking News: World is on Alert.

Reports are emerging from India of a highly dangerous Virus with a kill rate of 75% which is far deadlier than anything previously seen.

Nipah Virus is spread by fruit bats who can transmit the virus to people via contact with infected bodily fluids like saliva or urine left on fruit.

The spike in cases of this virus, which inspired the Hollywood pandemic thriller ‘Contagion’, has already killed two people in the southern state of Kerala.

Five other cases have been detected, including a child of one of the victims, with over 800 people being testing.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) stated it was ‘closely’ monitoring the outbreak.”

From Jeff Childers C & C,

“Nipah virus is a relatively-new, high-fatality respiratory virus that first appeared in India back in 2001. It’s a nasty bug. It features a startling 40%-75% mortality rate, is rated for BSL-4, the highest biolab security requirement, and is a CDC designated “Bioterrorism Agent.” Articles describing the current two human deaths variously suggest a zoonotic (animal) origin for the virus either from pigs or, wait for it, fruit bats.

It reportedly spreads through body fluids.

Nipah virus is NOT airborne. Of course, that’s not stopping everybody in Kerala, India from maniacally wearing masks. Masks can stop any kind of virus using their magical mask powers. You just have to make the right sacrifices to the mask gods, or something.

Two deaths is not an outbreak. The official alarm seems to stem from the fact that the second guy who died was contact traced to the first victim. The second guy ran into the first guy at the hospital, which strongly suggests human-to-human transmission. And that’s what has everyone so excited.

One case of human transmission.

In spite of the fact that all post-pandemic studies of lockdowns concluded lockdowns don’t work, and cause enormous unintended harms, the article reported that India’s health ministry has already declared 45 Kerala wards as a “containment zone” after discovering the two Nipah deaths. The containment order imposed a useless lockdown, restricting access to the 45 wards, shuttering schools, prohibiting public gatherings, nixing “non-essential” businesses, mandating masks, requiring testing and tracing, and setting a 5pm curfew.”

So I ask: Is Nipah coming? Will lockdowns etc. be facilitated or even mandated by JB? 

Here we go again ?

9/18/23

On Sundays I like to praise to individuals who go above and beyond what would ordinarily be expected. Deputy Anthony Bussell is such an individual..

In the United States, if you apply for any law enforcement job, there’s always a question,” Deputy Bussell told us, adding what that is, “Why do you want to be a police officer?”

“It’s kind of cliché, but it’s to help the community,” he said.

From Epoch Bright:

Deputy Anthony Bussell isn’t used to seeing the young male motorists he pulls over on the roadside break down in tears.

Upon seeing exactly this at 3:30 a.m. during a traffic stop south of Kansas City last month, he was more than ready to lend a shoulder to cry on.

Through tears, a young man wearing a white ball cap in the car driver’s seat asked, “Can I have a hug?”

The request for a hug was granted by the man in uniform, who has served in law enforcement for 23 years. His unhesitant reply to the young man’s asking for a hug was, “Sure, yeah.”

So the deputy gave him one.

Everybody’s got hard times, no matter who you are, Deputy Bussell said. The officer tried to make someone’s worst day his best.

The traffic stop was on a country road, on 199 Street, just off Homestead Lane in Johnson County. The young male driver allegedly had been doing 70 miles (112 kilometers) per hour in a 45-mile-per-hour zone.

Did he still get a ticket in the end? You bet. “Actions have consequences,” Deputy Bussell said. “The rural area that in Johnson County that we’re at is a two-lane road.

“There could have been a deer, there could have been another car with a family that you could have hit.”

So here Officer Anthony Bussell helped the community in two different ways. He did his duty by patrolling 119 Street and ticketing a speeding motorist. He also went out of his way by showing empathy to the distressed crying young man by giving him the wanted hug.

9/17/23

It seems more and more to me that the teacher’s unions are grasping at straws, trying to keep themselves relevant, as school choice becomes a bigger and bigger issue. Everyone knows the biggest drawback to parents sending their children to a school of their own personal choice is cost. The more affluent can send their kids to whatever school they choose, whereas the less affluent essentially cannot because they cannot afford it.

During Covid, before Covid, and now after Covid, the policies of the teachers’ unions has done more harm to the less affluent than to any other group. Which group of students are the furthest behind because of the policies of the American Federation of Teachers and its president, President Randi Weingarten, who likened parental rights and school choice advocates to segregationists: She says the words “choice” and “parental rights” are the same kind of words that were used in reaction to school desegregation by opponents of the Brown v. Board of Education decision (X).

Randi Weingarten, have you no shame!

CNN hostess Abby Phillip called out the head of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) over the revelation that she sends her son to a private Catholic school. Stacy Davis Gates has harshly criticized school choice as racist and hateful. Phillip asked her: “Do you think your rhetoric, at some point, went too far when you are making a choice – because perhaps I assume you can afford to do that – that a lot of Chicago parents don’t because they can’t afford it?” 

As expected Stacy Davis Gates danced around the issue, and did not answer the question. 

Stacy Davis Gates, have you no shame!

Similarly … CV NEWS FEED // A new report exposed backroom deals that gave Louisiana’s unionized public school teachers access to school choice for their children – despite teachers unions’ hardline opposition to school choice for families in the general public.

Louisiana’s unionized public school teachers, have you no shame!

9/16/23