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? 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 them of interest!

Not a Place to Visit

Communist China has just passed a new law which requires all visitors/residents and those just transiting through the airport to hand over passwords or access to their personal devices. To refuse is a criminal offense. This means that you might have to surrender all personal, banking, business, etc. correspondence and records to the Communist Chinese. Sounds like a wonderful place to visit, hey? When you are out of your room, who knows who is on your electronic device. (California Post, 4/4/2026 pp 15)

Pay for your Neighbors’ Car

The (thankfully) cripples Federal mandate for “green” cars costs the U.S. auto makers over $100,000,000,000 (that is billion) in extra costs. But some folks in government just never learn and in California (where else), a state program has been rolled out where EV owners who need battery or fuel-cell repairs, can receive up to $7,500 for those costs or $10,000 for a new EV if the damage is unrepairable. Of course it is run by the California Air Resources Board, an unelected group of “enlightened” bureaucrats and others of that ilk who cannot understand that it is your money they are spending and maybe, just maybe, you have a better use for your tax dollars. (CA Post, 4/4/2026, pp24)

Ah, There is Hope

When President Biden left office, his administration had managed to increase the 2024 Federal Register to 106,461 pages. Now I know that your life was so much better thanks to the new rules and regs so you will be disappointed that after one year in office, the Trump administration has cut the Register to “only” 61,461 pages. I will make a bet that not one member of Congress can tell us how our lives were made easier, more productive, or safer by the pages last in Trumps’ first year. (CA Post, 01/10/2026)

Forgive me for using points of interest from the California Post, but in its short existence in California, it has caused quite a bit of disturbance, reporting and noting on points that the traditional legacy media has ignored. Such fun!

When Citizens Are the Victims: In Factoid #7 (6/13/2025), I noted that the German government in a desperate attempt to gain more tax dollars, was increasing the potency of the legalized cannabis they market. Why are they knowingly selling a more dangerous drug to their citizens? Because the black-market cannabis is stronger and less expensive than the legalized drug. Amazing! Because the German government cannot eliminate the black market, they simply market a more dangerous drug to the market, which is composed primarily of youthful, immature minds. In their failure to protect their citizens, their desire for tax revenue precedes any thought of social responsibility.

In another case of making the citizens the victims, France plans to have a 5% surcharge on insurance policies for all French citizens. The surcharge is proposed to pay for the damage from the 2023 riots. This begs the question: who has insurance and who are the rioters? According to Marine Le Pen, “This government has decidedly no longer any limits to its provocation and contempt for the French people. As I had already requested in 2023, during the presentation of an anti-riot plan, we must strictly apply the “rioter pays” principle. It is up to the rioters to bear the cost of repairs.”  Once again, the citizen who follows the law is expected to pay for the rioters, many of which are from migrant areas. How about a law that eliminates any welfare payments to any migrant who is caught rioting? The savings could then be used to repair the damage from the riots. (American Renaissance, 9/5/2025)

What a Revolutionary Idea: After being caught editing a major interview with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, CBS has decided to only broadcast full interviews on its program, “Face the Nation.”  CBS has been accused of removing more than 23% of the Noem interview and this follows CBS parent Paramount agreeing to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit by President Trump over the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.  Apparently, other CBS shows other than “Face the Nation” are free to “edit” interviews at least until they get sued for slating the news they report. (WSJ, 9/6-7, 2025, pp B10).

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? 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 them of interest!

75 Seconds? Good Enough for Some

There is a huge need for organ transplants.  Thirteen people die a day waiting for organs that never come. When an organ is available, there is a small window of time for the transplant before the value of the organ is destroyed.  This small window of time has put huge pressure doctors to “harvest” an organ as every minute can count.

With this pressure, the old guidelines are under siege such as when is a person dead? What critical bodily functions must stop and for how long for the harvesting to proceed? Is it two minutes or 75 seconds? Is it when there is no brain function or is DCD (donation after circulatory death which means that, “patients have irreversibly lost all brain function and are kept on machines only to maintain their organs…. they’re dying but not yet dead.”

Hospitals can be graded on their “conversion rates”, meaning “how efficiently they transform dying humans into spare parts”.  This may lead to examples as found in Kentucky where “73 patients with “neurological signs incompatible with organ donation” who were still being prepared for harvesting.”  Another example is from Alabama where a patient was declared dead and after the first incision for harvesting, her chest began to rise and fall with “grasping respirations.”

It may seem like a noble thing to offer your organs to another, but aside from great ability to help another, it is also becoming a business.  Additional safeguards may be needed to protect the providers. (The Epoch Times, Aug 20-26, ppA18)

The German Challenge

Approximately one in four of the German population is either a first- or second-generation immigrant, yet they commit about 60% of all violent crime in Germany. Among Syrian and Afghan migrants, just under 50% have never worked since coming to Germany. At the same time, Germany has pledged to spend 5% of it’s GDP to build up it’s military as Chancellor Merz has said that the German welfare system is broken and he is calling for a 10% cut in welfare. Finally, the German economy has stalled with negative “growth”. It looks like it is about time for old Europe to realize that the easy days are gone. One has to wonder if European leaders have the nerve to make and carry out the hard measures that are necessary..

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? 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 them of interest!

• Germany: the race to the bottom- For well over a thousand years, especially in the West, the concept of a social contract between the government and the governed has been developing. It has not always been perfect, but it has been a steady part of Western culture. Briefly it says that you the citizens agree to pay taxes and obey the laws, including if necessary, taking up arms to defend the state. In return, the state agrees to work to protect the citizens from all enemies, foreign and domestic and to provide certain services (health inspections, a school system, fire, and police services, etc.). No government can stay in power without at least a minimal amount of support from its’ citizens.

Germany, like all other governments is constantly looking for new streams of revenue. One new stream is making cannabis legal. As usual, on paper it looked like a great idea; by making it legal, it should undercut the drug cartels and thus save money on policing. Additionally, it is a repeat business that is unaffected by the ups and downs of the economy. Never mind that modern day cannabis is basically a mutant of the cannabis which is not only stronger than the cannabis of Woodstock fame, but is know to cause mental problems, such as depression, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, etc., especially among the younger generation (up to the age of the mid-20s). So, a certain portion of our youth will face mental problems in their lives, that is just the cost of getting more taxes.

The problem is, in Germany for example, that the sale of cannabis is not creating the tax windfall that was expected. Why? One reason is that the underground economy offers a stronger version of cannabis than that offered by the government. This can be done by altering the amount of THC; in fact, the amount of THC in European cannabis is nearly double since 2013. The market responds as the legal cannabis has less THC and thus the underground economy is outperforming the legal product.

What is a government to do? They want their money. They could put an all-out effort into eliminating much of the underground economy but that would take time and money, and they have not been that successful in the past. The obvious solution to the government is to increase the THC, thus making the legal stronger so it can compete with the underground-economy product. Of course, the stronger the product, the more dangerous and damaging to the citizens who not only use the product but have to face individuals who are impacted by the stronger product. Given the long-term thinking (?) of the government, which should solve the problem, right? Not really, as all those who work the underground economy need to do is to up the amount of THC to maintain market share. This means in effect that the government, in its quest for dollars, is in a race to the bottom against the underground economy. It is a kind of, “if we cannot lick them, we can join them.”

The social contract is not what it used to be; we cannot count on the government to protect us from foreign and internal enemies. Does that mean I get a tax refund for the governments not only failure, but conscious decision to offer a product that is increasingly dangerous. (FT,  6/7-8, 2025, pp. 2)

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? 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 them of interest!

The German government, strongly supported by the EU has decided that there needs to be fifteen million (15,000,000) EVs in Germany by 2030. I wonder if that includes EVs on car dealers lots because the federal government is facing a major challenge to its goal. The challenge? Nearly 34% of all EV drivers are switching back to combustion engines.
This means that early adaptors who purchased EVs were mostly concerned about the environment, perhaps specific features or just had a case of “first on the block” syndrome. If they are going back to combustions engine vehicles, the fact that they entered the EV with an open mind indicates a failure on the part of EVs. Imagine the disappointment and potential anger to be found from those who are literally forced into EVs through the dictates of the EU.
In fact, the return to combustion vehicles is accelerating; In 2021, 14.2% of EV owners returned to combustion vehicles; that number increase to 17.5% in 2022 and was 28% in 2023. At the same time, only 3.6% of new car buyers choose EVs (the number is only 2.9% in the German market). Inventories are piling up on dealers’ lots and the interest charges for those inventories are putting a severe strain on the dealerships. According to the head of strategy for the ADAC SE (the Auto Club of Germany), “the federal government’s goal of 15 million electric cars by 2030 is already impossible to achieve.” This will mean “a stock of 8.6 million electric cards is possible by 2030.”
It is no secret why European nations, especially Germany are experiencing such weak economies; forced policies like the EV mandates ignore reality and the desires of the market place. Aside from the known drawbacks of EVs, the grids in Europe are not designed nor updated to handle the energy demands to accommodate the needs of so many EVs. Europe continues to do the same thing and expects a different result; nearly eighty years of tired policies need to be re-examined, and new ideas brought forth. To do that would require leadership and the weak coalition governments of Germany and France are not capable of such boldness.
Source: Remix News, 10/15/2024

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? 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 them of interest!

There is a saying in certain legal circles that the average person commits three felonies a day. Impossible you say? You know the laws and you obey them? Sorry, you are simple incorrect. Certainly, if you are in business, you will commit violations of the federal government. If you are a teacher, lawyer, farmer, insurance salesperson, mother, or father, you are in grave danger of committing a federal crime. Why? Read on.

Over the past ten years, Congress has passed and place in motion an average of 344 new pieces of legislation. Each year, those new laws contain two to three million words, which outline the rules and guidelines and the costs of disobeying those words of wisdom. But there is more, for when Congress passes those laws, they send them to the correct federal agencies to be enforced and to write how they are to be administered. One, two or multiple agencies may be involved, and each one has a vested interest in making sure they have administrative and police powers to enforce their directives. Currently no one knows for certain how many federal agencies exist; the lates count put the total of over 350 agencies, but again, that is not a final count. And each one of those agencies is looking out for its own turf. At the current time, there are over 5,000 federal crimes.

But, as with government, there is always more. Those federal agencies have police powers, and they contribute by creating over 300,000 regulations which carry criminal sanctions. On top of their regulations, they also issue “guidance” documents and many appear in the federal register. If you wish to read the federal register, make yourself comfortable and the 5,000 volumes, each containing about 1,000 pages (a total of five million pages), will be brought to you. *

Aside from the possibility of committing an infraction against the hundreds of thousands of laws (all designed to make your life better), there is the cost to you of these regulations. A recent study found that the regulations passed in the last three and a half years, will cost the average American family over $47,000 over the life of those regulations. **

The next time a politician promises a goodie for you (at no cost of course), or seeks a bond for some new project that we simply cannot live without, remember the cost will be borne by you and the next time you step out your front door, you just might be committing a federal crime.

• * Figures provided by Chapter 1 of Overruled by Justice Neil Gorsuch and Janie Nitze
• **Study done by Casey Mulligan, University of Chicago, WSJ, 9/26/2024, ppA17

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!

Who profits from fictitious poverty numbers?

We often hear about the crisis with the Social Security and Medicare programs, but we never seem to hear about any problems with funding for welfare programs. In 2023, means-tested welfare spending totaled $1.6 trillion, and it takes up “72.6% of unobligated general revenue (total revenue net of Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes and premiums and mandatory interest on public debt)”.

What do we get for this huge expenditure? While the official poverty rate has remained stable at about 11.5%, the Supplemental Poverty Rate (SAP) is actually increasing (This indicates that while the official measure stayed the same, the broader measure that includes additional factors like government assistance programs saw a significant rise). How can this be?

One interesting fact about the government’s numbers is that the Census Bureau does not count 88% of transfer payments made to “poor” households. This means that programs such as food-stamp debit cards, free medical care through Medicaid, refundable tax credits (checks from the Treasury) or benefits from about one hundred other Federal transfer payments are not counted as income. If all these transfers of money, services and goods were counted, the total value would have been $64,700 in 2020! Compared to when the War on Poverty began in 1967, this is an increase of 780% in inflation-adjusted dollars. How long do you have to work to net after taxes, $64,700?

So, who does profit from this amazing bit of government math, aside from the recipients? One obvious answer is the Federal government, or to be accurate, the vast bureaucracy which administers these programs. Add to that vast number are the other bureaucrats at the State, County, City, etc. levels of local government. Hundreds of thousands of individuals have a personal stake in creating erroneous numbers and openly report that the trillions of dollars spent on these programs are wasted.

What exactly is the purpose of these programs? Not counting those individuals who have a real need due to physical or mental problems, but looking only at the healthy, is it to help lift them off of welfare and into a productive life, or is it to maintain them at their current level so that hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats lead a middle and upper middle-class lifestyle? That, as people used to say, is the $64,000 question. How long can we spend approximately twice on means-tested welfare than we do on our national defense?

Thanks to Welfare is What’s Eating the Budget, WSJ, 9/12/2024, ppA15, written by Phil Gramm and Jodey Arrington.

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)

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”.