The recent conviction of former President Trump will be used during this election cycle to discredit him. Do you really want a convicted felon to be the President of the United States? Yet was the trial fair? To answer that question, ask if you would want to be a defendant in a trial and be treated in the same manner. If you say you do not know enough about the trial, please follow the link below for an analysis of the trial and the numerous grounds for a successful appeal.

Sadly, we have seen a major political polarization of our national governmental institutions under the Obama and Biden administrations. When President Obama promised to “fundamentally change” the United States, it should have been a warning to all of us. Unfortunately, few imagined that the fundamental change would be a political infection of the IRS, FBI, DOJ, and national intelligence agencies. We live in dangerous times, and we need to remember the wise words of President Reagan when he said: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”

Reversible Errors – The American Mind

Even though we are surrounded by scores of information sources, the sheer number is enough to make one go numb.  Factoids will be posted periodically to bring you bits of news which may or may not catch your fancy.  Most of the Factoids will be posted to bring you counter-intuitive information which may not be covered by traditional news sources; Question: why aren’t they covered?  Possibly they may go against the grain of political or cultural “acceptable” thought.  Or, perhaps because they cannot fit into the thirty-second sound bites without raising more questions than they answer.  Hopefully you will find some of them of interest!

HOW TO COMMIT SUICIDE:  Remember the $1Trillion to fund the wonderful Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)? Thanks to West Virginia Sen. Shelly Moore, we now know that the Environmental Protection Agency received $3 Billion for “environmental justice.  The Climate Justice Alliance, which is a network of nearly 90 affiliates received $50 million to support their work.  The problem is the goals of the Alliance.  Some of their goals include:

• Cutting military funding to Israel
• Shutting down Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
• The abolishment of all prisons
• Defunding the police

They will also work with a group called the NDN Collective which states in it’s manifesto that, “We shout not treat the struggles we face against Zionism, white supremacy and imperialism as separate from one another, because they act as one to oppress and eliminate us.”

Does anyone at the EPA actually like the United States or are they just too busy to check up who they give OUR money too? (WSJ, pp A14, 5/24/24)

NOT A WAY TO RUN A BUSINESS:  The EV business is not exactly a great way to build a business.  Ford has admitted that they lost $132,000 for every EV they sell.  The EPA (not them again) wants 70% of auto sales to be made up of EVs and plug-in hybrids by 2032.  Think Ford will still be around by then? (IBID)

Over the past forty years or so, the Frankfurt School has managed to infiltrate most of the key institutions of the west, specifically academia, the media (both news and entertainment), as well as many of the special interest groups (women’s, environmental, civil rights, etc.). Along the way it has managed to all but destroy any demand for self-discipline and responsibility and has offered in its place a mentality of victimhood and persecution. Who is to blame for the woes of the world? One group in particular, the white male.

The articles linked below begin to point out some of the fallacies of such thinking. They also point out the downside risk by looking at examples in the history of such a race-based ideology. In effect, such shallow thinking only leads to a never-ending cycle of new victims and new boogiemen.

Expropriation: The End Game of Anti-Whiteness – The American Mind

As Whites Go, So Goes the Nation – The American Mind

During the Covid pandemic, we often heard the chant, “follow the science!”  Unfortunately, there was very little real science to follow, and it was a time for political demagoguery, scientific intolerance and power abuse of our fundamental rights.  We all face another threat to our individual freedoms with the liberal legalization of marijuana by cities and states on a daily basis. Unfortunately, no one is chanting “follow the science” when actual science is available.

The article linked below provides information that has been known for years but which is being ignored by our elected officials and bad actors in their rush to legalize marijuana. Why is that?  Although the reasons are not spelled out, another chant comes to mind; “follow the money”.  It is no secret that governments in their never-ending quest for new sources of tax revenue have a vested interest in legalizing marijuana.  Indeed, politicians proudly forecast a wonderful new revenue stream coming from marijuana regardless of proven harm done to users, especially young users.

So, the politicians get their tax windfall and society gets increased schizophrenia, chronic psychosis, anti-social behavior, and other wonderful side effects. Do the politicians require today’s stronger marijuana to carry black-box warnings of the dangers involved by use? Of course, not as that just might impact sales and thus tax revenues. Gone are the idyllic days when we believed the government was there to protect us from the bad players of the world.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-you-arent-reading-about-marijuana-permanent-brain-damage-biden-schedule-iii-9660395e?page=1

Even though we are surrounded by scores of information sources, the sheer number is enough to make one go numb.  Factoids will be posted periodically to bring you bits of news which may or may not catch your fancy.  Most of the Factoids will be posted to bring you counter-intuitive information which may not be covered by traditional news sources; Question: why aren’t they covered?  Possibly they may go against the grain of political or cultural “acceptable” thought.  Or, perhaps because they cannot fit into the thirty-second sound bites without raising more questions than they answer.  Hopefully you will find some of them of interest!

1.  Definition: The trade-to-GDP ratio is an indicator of the relative importance of international trade in the economy of a country. It is calculated by dividing the aggregate value of imports and exports over a period by the gross domestic product for the same period. Although called a ratio, it is usually expressed as a percentage. Definition source: Wikipedia

The US’s trade-to-GPR is only 25%.  Other nations have a larger ratio, such as China, Russia and Japan which vary from 38 to 47%.  Western Europe is in worse condition with France and the U.K. at about 70% and Germany is at 100%. (FT, 2/17-18, pp18)

What does that mean?  The smaller the percentage, the less a nation is dependent on foreign trade; the old dream of national autarky (a policy of national self-sufficiency and non-reliance on imports or economic aid) could be realized. The downside of autarky is a smaller economy but a smaller percentage means that a nation has more leverage over trading partners, and they are less likely to give into a weaker nation demands. Since WWII, the U.S. has built numerous institutions (the U.N., NATO, the IMF, etc.) which has been more of a benefit to other nations than to the U.S.. Given the frictions in the world today, it is clear that our allies need the U.S. much more than we need them and that is a power that the U.S. will continue to wield as long as the U.S. is seen as a stable shelter for capital and investments.  Politicalization of national institutions, such as the FBI, CIA, DOJ is a threat to the perception of a stable national order.

• Government “Improper Payments”:  According to the GAO (3/26/2024), for FY 2023 the federal government made an estimated $236,000,000,000 (billion) in “improper payments”.  They roughly break out in the following manner:
  • 74% or $175 billion to deceased individuals or those who no longer qualify for government programs.
  • $11.5 billion were underpayments.
  • $44.6 billion were unknown payments, meaning the government has no idea is the payment was in error or not.
  • $4.6 billion where a recipient was entitled but the incorrect statute or regulation was used.

Do you want the good news or the bad news?

• The good news is that this figure is about $11 billion less than the prior year.
• The bad news is that over the past 20 years, the government has made about $2.7 trillion in such improper payments.

About 79% ($186 billion) was concentrated in five program areas: Medicare, Medicaid, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, the Earned Income Tax Credit and Paycheck Protection Program.  It is not clear how many billions went to federal prisoners, foreign individuals, foreign corporations, etc.

The federal government is seeking to hire tens of thousands of individuals for the IRS; perhaps we would all be better off of instead of focusing on U.S. taxpayers, those agents focus on the individuals/corporations/etc. who scammed us and on tightening up the sloppy bookkeeping and management at the various federal agencies.  When the employees are unionized, protected by civil service and contribute to the politicians who control the budgets of the agencies, don’t be surprised that this type of sloppy work is allowed to continue.

As Illinois Everett Dirksen of the U.S. Senate use to say: “A billion here, a billion there and soon you are talking about real money”.

Winston Churchill once said, “Never was so much owed by so many to so few.”  Those were dangerous times. Our times are also dangerous, so to paraphrase Churchill, perhaps we should say, “Never have so many had to accommodate so few.” 

The attached link will take you to an excellent article about, yes, J.K. Rowlings takedown of Scotland’s Hate Crime & Public Order Act, but will examine the shallow thinking behind the act, the sloppy lawmaking, and the driving forces behind a heinous law. If you have any interest in preserving our Constitutional right to free speech, read on and see how those who set themselves over the rest of society and the common values work to overturn your individual rights.

Queen of the Gender Crits (quillette.com)

If you are a minority, a felon and currently serving time for a crime you committed, you will now be able to get a new trial or sentence.  All you need to do is to “demonstrate that in the past, criminal suspects of his race were arrested, prosecuted or sentenced more often or more severely than members of other racial groups”.  It does not matter if members of your race actually committed more crimes, in fact, if that is the case then that is actually better for you.  This flies in the face of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that stated that a defendant had to show that “decision makers acted with discriminatory purpose; statistical disparities aren’t enough”. Thus, if a police office stops a suspect and uses the phrase “high crime area”, the officer has shown a “bias against people of color”, even if the area is in fact a “high crime area”. 

How exactly does this law protect law abiding citizens?  It does not as in Los Angeles, “blacks are 21 times as likely as white to commit a violent crime, 36 times as likely to commit a robbery and 57 times as likely to commit a homicide”. And who are the victims?  In Los Angeles for example, blacks are 17 times as likely to be victims of homicide.  Being lenient on predators only harms the law abiding.

One final point on this new law is that it may enhance the number of pleadings to lesser charges. Using “government speak”, this will mean that politicians will be able to point to a decrease in more serious crimes.  Everyone except the average citizen is a winner.

Use the link below for more details.

https://manhattan.institute/article/california-finds-a-new-way-to-be-soft-on-crime

In the posting of February 14 (The New Sick Man of Europe), I pointed out some of the severe challenges facing Germany. China is successfully challenging Germany’s old business model, they face deindustrialization due to the excessive cost of energy as they ship jobs and technologies to China and the U.S. and there is no common front among the captains of industry in Germany.

The article linked below takes us one step closer to realizing the problems that face this traditional powerhouse of Europe. With a projected growth rate of 0.1%, everyday Germans are facing a period of challenges they have not faced in decades. How will they respond? If they begin to seriously cut back on their commitment to “green” energy to become more competitive in the areas of their traditional strength, they could face a major political struggle.

There is no easy answer but as the article says, the clock is ticking.

https://www.wsj.com/economy/trade/germany-passed-its-first-chinese-testthis-one-is-trickier-740ae21b?page=1

Factoids That Should Make You Think

Even though we are surrounded by scores of information sources, the sheer number is enough to make one go numb.  Factoids will be posted periodically to bring you bits of news which may or may not catch your fancy.  Most of the Factoids will be posted to bring you counter-intuitive information which may not be covered by traditional news sources;  Question: why aren’t they covered?  Possibly they may go against the grain of political or cultural “acceptable” thought.  Or, perhaps because they cannot fit into the thirty-second sound bites without raising more questions than they answer.  Hopefully you will find some of them of interest!

1. The Worse Polluter in the World:  Who is the worse polluter in the world? Is it the United States?  Try again.  Wait, I shall let you know; it is China.  In fact, China’s emission level of carbon dioxide is 50% greater than those of the U.S., Europe, and Japan combined!  So much for Xi Jinping’s claim to be building an “ecological civilization”.  One would think he would be concerned as 75% of China’s surface water supply is contaminated and undrinkable while much of China’s farmland is polluted with salinization and heavy minerals.  No wonder China is the world’s largest importer of food grains. (WSJ, 4/8/24, ppA17)

• Gender-Reassignment and Suicide: According to a report from The Journal of Urology, transgenders attempted suicide rates have doubled after they have received a vaginoplasty.  “The study analyzed the rates of psychiatric emergencies before and after gender-altering surgery among 869 males who underwent vaginoplasty and 357 females who underwent phalloplasty in California from 2012-2018”. (The Epoch Times, 4/3-9, 2024, ppA2)

• Good Intentions, Poor Results: From 2018-2023, the State of California has spent an amazing $24 billion to battle homelessness.  The result?  California has 30% of the nations homeless (about 171,000) and the number keeps growing.  Even more amazing is that the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (CICH) which is responsible for coordinating and allocating resources stopped tracking outcomes in 2021! (WSJ, 4/10/2024, ppA2).  The CICH is part of the Business, Consumer Services & Housing Agency which has a staff of over 8,000. Does it make you wonder if they want to solve the problem or are these just another set of government make work/busy jobs?

• U.S. No Go Zones:  France has over 700 no go zones.  These are areas throughout the country where police escorts are often needed to protect emergency services such as fire and others responding to calls for help.  Recently “Death of America” was chanted in Dearborn Michigan.  Is this the formation of our own no-go zones and how will we respond to such a threat?  So far, nothing from the Governor of Michigan regarding those calls demanding our destruction. Is that leadership?

 Have a good day!

It never ceases to amaze me how individuals and governments can pursue and believe in policies that have 1) failed throughout history, such as Marxism, socialism, etc. and 2) continue to follow a policy in the “name of science” when the totality of “science” is directly opposed to the promises of that policy. There are “believers” both in government and out who stumble along through life, claiming that “this time it will be different” or clearly choose to deny inconvenient facts.

The German policies regarding the “greening” of that economy has met with failure after failure yet the government seems more committed than ever to additional failures. From the huge investment in solar and wind power which has led to higher CO2 emissions, skyrocketing energy costs which has led to the fleeing of industries and increased unemployment, masses of Germans continue to believe that somehow physics and nature can be ignored and altered to fit into their naïve mind set.

The attached link points out the German commitment to failure and the price which will be paid by Germans and most of Europe. This at a time when a very real and immediate threat from Putin’s Russia is starting all of Europe in the face. The “green” policies of the Germans threaten the needed rearmament of the German military and thus pose another dagger aimed at the heart of Europe.

Germany’s Murder of Europe :: Gatestone Institute