INCOMPETENCE HAS ITS UPSIDE

To the average left-wing, summer-of-love, we’re good, they’re bad leftist, the world is a conundrum; They blame right-wingers for the problems they themselves create. They accuse Donald Trump and his supporters of racism, yet bear within their party anti-Semitic racists freely supporting a second holocaust against Jews. Many other examples could be given, but that is not their real problem; it is that they are not able to set priorities in the instance where the priorities do not contradict themselves. Environmental dogma reaches a point of absurdity when bird-killing windmills are prioritized over the creatures themselves. Emotion driven people change their fad at their convenience because it would be boring otherwise. Every problem is bound up in their morality-determined world. Each issue has a moral imperative attached to the extent that they stumble as they fall over their own feet and fail their cause.

Sometimes the average right-winger just has to take his good news the way he can get it. According to the Washington Examiner,[1] “Biden has expressed ‘immense frustration’ that his administration has few completed infrastructure projects to boast about on the reelection trail while 70% of voters give him poor marks on his handling of the economy.” The reason is classic Democrat circular firing squad style. According to the Examiner:

“States are . . . largely allowed to spend the money as they see fit. But this usual system was not good enough for Biden, who didn’t trust Republican governors to spend the money in ways that promoted a carbon-free transportation system. Instead, his infrastructure bill channeled money through grant programs run by federal agencies, . . . This was a device to allow Democrats in Washington to send money directly to Democratic cities and counties while cutting off Republican governors.

But these were all new grant programs without any functioning rules guiding how local governments could apply and how the federal government would decide which local governments got what. The creation of those regulations took at least a year and even then, local governments still had to apply under new rules and the agencies had to reward the money. All that took time as well.”[2]

So, after three years of the Biden administration, electric car owners have few charging stations to use on their long-distance road trips. And if the trip is in winter, each trip is likely to take even longer as the batteries performance declines (possibly as much as 41%) in cold weather, which in turn requires more stops and additional time on the road.

California is helping the Biden administration with its holy war against fossil fuels. In a Bloomberg story article recently, Chevron announced it was taking a $3.5-$4-billion-dollar write-down of its assets as a result of policies in California and environmental liabilities incurred from operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The article goes on to say:

“The charges “primarily” stem from California regulations that “have resulted in lower anticipated future investment levels,” the company said in a filing Tuesday [January 2, 2024]. Chevron’s production in the state has dropped 15% since the Covid-19 pandemic and now accounts for just 3 percent of its worldwide output.[3]

Using environmental laws to penalize fossil fuel companies is the trick of choice for the leftists running America’s governments. Like the EV chargers that aren’t built, California deprived Californians of the jobs and money Chevron would produce, but staggering environmental costs (and rising interest rates) undermine entire projects.

Extreme environmental laws, along with high taxes, also inhibits home building and businesses from being started or expanded. Restrictive environmental laws prevent even the governments that want to produce allegedly green products from doing so.

Chevron responded to the California challenges, saying:

“The comments come as California lawmakers consider limiting the profits in-state refiners can reap. The most-populous US state already has the nation’s toughest fuel standards as well as a carbon cap-and-trade program that critics say forces consumers to pay more at the pump.”[4]

The goal here is to drive up the cost of fossil fuels, stigmatize the fossil fuel industry, and reduce the value of their corporate stock. Consequently, California experiences energy blackouts and requests its citizens to charge their cars at night when the load is lighter.

Equally pernicious, are the attempts to coat environmentally friendly statutes with woke “. . . secure environmental justice for historically marginalized communities”[5]

While elements of aid to impoverished communities of color may be justified, the vaguely stated goals of the environmental justice {EJ] plan under Executive Order 14008 gave voice to hateful rhetoric by leftists like Richard Moore, co-chairman of the White House Environment Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC), who used the opportunity to attach allegations of “climate injustice, environmental racism, and environmental genocide”[6] aganst American minorities. This hateful rhetoric suggests an administration fulminating irrational personal issues instead of reasoned strategy to solve problems.

In fact, the implementation of the executive order gets in the way of itself by mandating raising union wages and satisfying community activists “that most effectively reduce emissions.”[7] Other requirements undermine noble goals. For example, replacing lead water pipes in old homes requires more time and resources to get the job done, and less time with stake-holder consultations. Other obstructions include requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act’s debilitating review process. Permitting requirements represent an additional hurdle and, “These policies would also raise new hurdles to private industry, restricting job opportunities particularly in poor communities.”[8]

Mixing social justice goals with environmental improvements will end up diverting funds to left-wing activist groups while risking failure to legitimate and needed infrastructure improvements. Once again, the Biden administration undermines its own causes with its emotional tantrums concerning social goals versus tangible improvements in the lives of people. For communities of color, they will receive just enough benefits to retain the appearance of progress, but not enough to move the needle into new territory. Minority communities deserve government that solves the problems of poverty, poor educational attainment, and personal insecurity within their communities. So far, over fifty years of affirmative action has not done the job. Government in the end will not succeed in its desire for an equal outcome for all of Americas citizens until government gets out of the way of those in minority communities who can lead their people out of their insulated world.

Note the following:

Orsted, a commercial windmill company has cancelled its contract with the State of Maryland to install wind-power windmills in the Atlantic Ocean on the grounds that it is no longer commercially viable as a result of market conditions, including inflation, high interest rates and supply chain constraints.

Note also:

Orsted announced that it had cancelled its Ocean Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 2 twin projects. This project was on behalf of New Jersey. Earlier an energy firm, Equinor and British Petroleum discontinued its contract with New York State for the Empire Wind 2 project.

The empire of contradictions, hypocrisy, and bureaucracy march on as the Biden Administration’s clumsy government can’t get out of its own way. If a Trump Administration is formed in 2025, it is unlikely that much of the Biden Administration will exist for long. Americans will be able to return to peace and prosperity.

[1] Washington Examiner, 1/2/2024, pg. 1

[2] Ibid

[3] Bloomberg, Energywire, https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2024/01/03/chevron-sees-up-to-4b-hit-from-calif-policies-former-gulf-assets-00133498

chevron-slashes-california-spending-on-adversarial-fossil-fuel-policies

[5] National Review, December 2023, Not Green, Not Just, James B. Meigs, pg. 19

[6] Ibid, pg. 20

[7] Ibid

[8] Ibid

May 23, 2023

JACKPOT RACISM

Many people dream of a get rich quick scheme that will make them instant millionaires. They have fantasies of basking in the lifestyles of the rich and famous by jetting to exotic Tahiti, buying enormous mansions, and disdaining the suckers who have to work for a living. Las Vegas card-counters, gold prospectors, Ponzi game schemers, all seek the same quick reward requiring little work to satisfy their inexhaustible greed and materialistic, narcissists impulses. Recently, a new angle popped up in California: Reparations for Black people only.

Rather than work for their wealth, these are people whose energy is devoted to dreaming up a quick fix to the problem of sweat, hard work, and saving and deferring gratification. And who better to milk for the dollars necessary to achieve their dreams than the taxpayer.

The San Francisco’s African American Reparations Advisory Committee was formed to act as a public forum for activists demanding reparations for historical discrimination. According to the New York Times, the cost to the city would exceed $100 billion. The city budget is $14 billion. The purpose of the committee according to the committee’s chair was not to create “. . . a math formula. It was a journey for the committee towards what could represent a significant enough investment in families to put them on this path to economic well-being, growth and vitality that chattel slavery and all the policies that flowed from it destroyed.”[1] The committee suggested a $5 million per recipient payout, along with annual income of at least $97,000 and personal debt forgiveness. That should do quite nicely. The state has suggested a modest $1.5 million payment. They might benefit by a journey from the land of Oz to the land of reality as these sums are not even close to payable. But let it be said, that they do not think small. Their demands are based on the slave and discrimination history in America that they claim impoverished Black Americans. Never mind that California was never a slave state, The schemers are now spreading the word around the country: here is your chance to get rich quick.

Sympathetic members of Congress who are used to demanding large appropriations from the government have piled on to the proponents of instant wealth. Representative Cori Bush has called for the expenditure of $14 Trillion to aid the reparations effort. A normally sympathetic Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has said that his state can’t afford what the San Francisco based Reparations Commission has called for, though they say that the amount of money isn’t meant to reflect any actual losses. Rather it is the concept of compensating for a wrong that is operative today—another version of the old saw that it’s not really the money, it’s the principle of the thing.

As one Black resident of Tampa, Florida recently said while requesting $3 million per person:

“All this nonsense, homelessness and all this other garbage you all talk about. Police violence and all this stuff—don’t nobody care about that. We care about our reparations. And we have to put White people on notice that we want our reparations. Our foreparents (sic) and us didn’t work for free and get underpaid and all this nonsense and the White folks get away with it while they talk about the great city they’re building. No. We want our reparations. $3 million per person. $3million per person right here in this city. That’s the only [thing] Black people have to care about. All this other little nonsense we do not care about.”[2]

The movement has now spread from coast to coast. Who doesn’t like free money. There are a few advocates who understand the problematic nuances of these payments and ask the question, who would be entitled to this windfall?

As a multi-millionaire politician, would Barack Obama, whose mother was White and whose father was Nigerian be entitled to payments.? Would Black millionaires and Billionaires be entitled to an equal amount? What about White people whose families emigrated after the end of slavery and Jim Crow? There are poor White people. They don’t have the excuse of racism, or do they? Isn’t an assumption that all Black people would be wealthy to the same degree if their reparations are the same? Is it racism that causes poverty or is the particular social patterns of the poor, i.e. drug use, a violent environment, and weak family units, that causes financial failure.

And who is paying for this? Is it the taxpayer? If it is the taxpayer, then aren’t Black people paying for their own reparations. No doubt, a philosophical conundrum. But who cares when you can get rich quick.

Fundamentally, the call for reparations to Black people is racist. It is a part of the continuing story of hate in America. Hold the existing population responsible for the sins of the past generations, and you may assume a high moral perch without cost to you. But it comes at a cost in the form of violence and separation. And it is an old American grift. Dividing Americans racially is a power play intended to put White people (in this case) on the defensive as if all White Americans held slaves or sanctioned racism. The truth is that the dividers in America have hate in their hearts. It is transference of their own self-loathing to others because the haters can’t admit it is they who hate.

As for those of Italian heritage, let us demand reparations from Italy as we remember our hardships under Roman slavery. Let us demand further reparations from Germany and Japan for two world wars. The British brought the first slaves prior to the establishment of the United States of America. They started the ball running on this thing. Yes, let’s get our pound of flesh from them, White people too.

Revenge and resentment perpetuate revenge and resentment. Not all injustices can be rebalanced by compensation. The answer is to learn from the past and don’t repeat the mistakes born from envy, resentment, racism and hate. African Americans tend to think that history began with the first slaves on America’s shores. What they might reflect upon is the condition they would be in had their ancestors remained in Africa and the condition they might find themselves in if they were there today.

What America needs is a healing of the heart which is something money won’t satisfy. As an immigrant people, Americans have learned that:

History is complicated.

[1] Fox Digital, San Francisco’s proposed reparations plan could cost city $100 billion: Report, 5/19/23

[2] Fox News Digital, Tampa man demands $3 million for every Black person in viral video: “We have to put White people on notice” 5/19/23

March 5, 2022

THE WORLD RUNS ON TRUST

Rafaela Rivera and her 4-year-old son, Angel, were standing on a sidewalk in New York City. Other people milled around them peacefully. A dark figure appeared into view and as he passed by the boy the unknown man took a swipe and knocked the child abruptly to the ground. Rafaela reacted immediately, “Hey, you just hit my son,” she said, and then she lunged toward the man and grabbed him. They twisted for a moment and fell to the ground. Two passersby helped Rafaela to subdue the man until the police arrived.

The camera then stops recording the scene. We are told that the man, clearly disturbed by drugs or mental illness, was arrested. Ironically, Rafaela took Angel on an expensive cab ride instead of the subway because she didn’t think the subway was safe.

City or country, state, or nation, we live in a world in which we place trust in our fellow human beings. Human history records many threats from bandits, soldiers, corrupt or brutal police, or government authorities. Today, there is a different expectation—the expectation of safety on our streets. With a larger population than our ancestors faced, we need to get along. Realistically, the human race has not achieved perfection and never will. But the modern expectation requires a level of trust, as it did to some extent in the past, that the person next to you will not hit you in the head.

In the United States, the expectation of freedom from fear is being tested. Criminals are granted clemency without regard to the opinions of their victims, unvetted illegal aliens are admitted across our borders and circulated throughout the country by the government, and generally hostile political parties drive up the emotions in controversial issues to a fever pitch. The effect is to undermine the peace of our culture.

The terrorist effect affects the American psyche. Brutal assaults are on the rise. Murder counts in many American cities are setting records. Yet trust is earned with difficulty over time and lost in an instant of cruelty or unkindness. A little fear goes a long way. If your neighbor is attacked, you will hear about it and fear it. We are challenged to act with courage, but courage should not be necessary. Yet, there are many ways to be hostile, perhaps as many as there are people on earth. Even if perfection is not possible, it is a normal human aspiration to live in peace. One should have the expectation of the person next to you that he/she is not wearing a bomb.

Theoretically, a conservative or liberal want the same peace, and diverse viewpoints can coexist. But underlying the peaceful coexistence is the possibility of hostility, passive-aggressive antagonism, and in the common language of the left, microaggressions can poison the dialogue. Accusations lead to anger, anger devolves into distance, people stop listening to each other, and each side sees the other as “the other.”

Hostility is its own curse. It breeds wildly. Eventually the trust that existed before dissolves into violence and one cannot stand next to another person for fear of the uncertainty of unhealthy distrust. The cure for fear is not an easy one. Christian principles are helpful, but not everyone is a Christian. Most people want peace, but peace does not come without trust.

Russia has invaded Ukraine. The neighbor is a thug. The thug declared what his neighbor had was his and he is taking it. In this way nations are like people. The peace of the human field has been disturbed. Countries are composed of people and do not behave differently in this earthly universe than individuals. For some, trust is gone and violence continues on a larger scale. The world runs on trust. The world dies when trust is lost. And when trust is lost, so too is justice.

January 22, 2022

THE LIAR-IN-CHIEF (PART 1)

Different professions seem to entail different levels of dishonesty. Used car salesman have historically been at the top of the list. They range from puffers—those who exaggerate the quality of the vehicles they sell—to less benign frauds who fill carburetors with sawdust. Politicians fall into the category of the former more often than the latter. There is always a range of exaggerations and while they may tell you the upside of their viewpoint, they leave out the downside, say, taxes you pay for a great sounding social program, etc. There are a few politicians whose prevarications rise to the level of Hall of Fame status. The nominal Commander in Chief of the United States, Joe Biden, has successfully reached the pinnacle of his profession and deserves special recognition for a host of lies perpetrated over the course of his 50-year career. Sadly, it must be said, that the lies have paid off handsomely with professional success.

Glib commenters might say, “Well, all politicians lie.” And leave it at that. But that is like saying all tennis players hit balls outside the line. That is true, but there is a difference between Serena Williams and your local soccer mom who plays tennis with hubby a few times a year. You might even say Conservatism Bittersweet has its own bias and that this critical review is a matter of political differences. Biden’s current approval rating currently at 33% suggests that the observations have been noted by all sorts of Americans.

What truly marks the occasion is the usually obsequious Washington Post[1] which has awarded Biden their highest derogatory liars award, the Pinocchio. In fact, they have given the maximum possible, four Pinocchio’s to Biden for a host of virtue signaling stories made out of whole cloth. Although his stories have long been derided in conservative circles, Biden’s low rating has allowed a crack of honesty to shine through the edges of the Post’s blinders. Biden’s claim in a story he has told for years, that he was arrested as a teenager while attending a civil rights rally can’t be supported by any known facts. The Post’s fact-checker pointed out, “too many elements of his claim didn’t add up.”

Biden also claims an arrest at the age of 21 for trespassing at the Capitol and another arrest in South Africa while supporting Nelson Mandela. Biden now has admitted that the latter story is untrue. He has also made claims of exceptional scholastic performance. Among his claims, is finishing in the top half of his law school class. A lie. He graduated from the University of Delaware with a “C” average and 506^th out of a class of 688 while majoring in history and political science. He claimed he earned three degrees, but has only the two. He also claimed to be on full scholarship at Syracuse Law School. Again, false. He was given a half scholarship based on need and graduated 76 out of a class of 85. His claim that he was awarded the Outstanding Student of the Political Science Department Award, is also a lie. During his campaign, he admitted that he lied on these points of his academic record.

Lest you think he is a one-dimensional liar, Biden’s academic record also shows that he was disciplined for plagiarism, having borrowed liberally from Robert F. Kennedy, Hubert H. Humphrey, and Neil Kinnock in a law school paper.

Some other Biden claims are more difficult to assess due to the passage of time. He claims to have given a welcoming speech to his graduating class, which the valedictorian of the class could not remember. Biden also claimed to have left a lunch counter when a Black friend was denied service. Again, the witness had no recollection of the event.

Biden has told these stories for years so they cannot be attributed to the cognitive decline he is currently experiencing. The stories have been a mainstay of his persona as a public figure for years. The trouble for Biden is that as a presidential candidate he received a level of scrutiny that far surpassed what he received from the Delaware press as a senator. He projects an affable demeanor in public and the attitude of many people is, well, that is just old Joe. But that makes them enablers as Biden rose in the political ranks. To paraphrase a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln “You can fool some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”

For some people, the end justifies the means. Justice Clarence Thomas in his 2007 memoir, My Grandfather’s Son, recounts the telephone call he received from Joe Biden the head of the Judiciary Committee that confirmed him for the Supreme Court:

He [Biden] had decided to oppose me . . .

“That’s fine,” I said. “It doesn’t matter to me whether I ‘m confirmed or not. But I entered this process with a good name. and I want to have it at the end.”

“Judge, I know you don’t believe me,” he [Biden] replied, “but if any of these last two matters come up, I will be your biggest defender.” (The other matter to which he was referring was the leak of my draft opinion.) [And the Anita Hill allegations.]

He was right about one thing: I didn’t believe him. Neither did Virginia [Thomas’s wife]. As he reassured me of his goodwill, she grabbed a spoon from the silverware drawer, opened her mouth wide, stuck out her tongue as far as she could, and pretended to gag herself.

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/09/22/biden-academic-claims-inaccurate/932eaeed-9071-47a1-aeac-c94a51b668e1/

January 1, 2022

TRADITION

(Tevye)
“Because of our traditions,
We’ve kept our balance for many, many years.
Here in Anatevka we have traditions for everything…
how to eat, how to sleep, even, how to wear clothes.
For instance, we always keep our heads covered
and always wear a little prayer shawl…
This shows our constant devotion to God.
You may ask, how did this tradition start?
I’ll tell you – I don’t know. But it’s a tradition…
Because of our traditions,
Everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to do.”

–from Fiddler on the Roof

Tradition is a part of the perfect equation that describes social good health. Tradition of a social nature (as opposed to a political nature) is a part of the equation of a peaceful and prosperous life—a goal most human beings seek but have never achieved. For Tevye, it is direction set by God, a way to eat and sleep, and how to wear clothes. The trappings of divine recognition, are physical and material, a cap (yarmulke), a shawl. Physical objects are not God. They are reminders of the spiritual, which is not a physical object. It is the physical bread crumbs that leads to the spiritual. Spirituality leads to God.

But tradition is not only religious. The formula works in many ways for many professions. A wig for the judges in England validates the continuity of the law. Medical jackets are white for doctors in part because they convey the continuity of the medical profession. The law and medicine change over time, but the stability in continuity stabilizes the anarchic and arbitrary actions of nature. There is no reason for a tree to fall on an unfortunate passerby, yet it happens. The randomness of arbitrary nature is inexplicable, yet tradition moves us along like a flowing stream.

Celebrations evoke tradition. Marriage ceremonies with their atten

tion to formality and dignity infer the importance of fidelity and love. The transfer of such information is often silent, yet profound. The union of a man and woman require discipline and morality. Not all these qualities are definable, yet information and values are transferred from one generation to another. Commitment, whether it is in marriage or a military platoon unites the unit against the falling trees of random injury. It isn’t fair, you say. But it is what it is. A meteorite streaking from the sky crushes a house and you wonder what the message was. But the continuity of tradition bears at least some of the burden of fear and guilt and we press on.

Holidays send messages the way a telegraph sends sentences. Christmas in the religious world evokes the life of Christ and his teachings. The secular world steals the theme of gift-giving and endows an economy that provides jobs to the producers and workers who purvey goods and services. The New Year’s Day holiday sends a message of renewal and dedication. New Year’s wishes turn into resolutions and sometimes into action. There is a purpose in honoring our traditions. Labor is magnified in its importance with a special day. Blood sacrifice and dedication to a greater good are honored by Veterans Day. Historical and special people are honored. Washington, Lincoln, Martin Luther King are heroes. Remembering them evokes the continuity of American history, and just as necessarily the American place in the world. Even a personal birthday honors a life as the human race is composed of individuals comprising a community situated on a single planet with a common destiny.

So, tradition itself is something to celebrate, for it has passed the test of time. No one knows from whence it has come. It simply is here. Neither is it obscure to the blind, but it is known to everyone, even by a fiddler on a roof.

November 6, 2021November 11, 2021

JOE BIDEN AND INFLATION-MIDTERM REPORT

Many people have seen the purported President of the United States, Joe Biden, stumbling up the stairway to Air Force one, flopping over his own feet like a beached fish. The buffoonish clown representing the United States could not have more aptly demonstrated by any other metaphor the failure of his administration. Biden has also appeared at a microphone, leaning over it as if it was a private message, and in hushed tones, saying, “Pay them more.” He wanted employers to increase the pay of American workers. Not a bad idea, yet exhorting employers to simply pay more as if they were the Federal Government printing up whatever dollars they need, told a deeper story of ignorance and stupidity that, like the bumbling stairway Biden, symbolized the degradation of the office he represents.

The old adage, “Be careful what you wish for, you may get it,” comes into play today as inflation, defined as too much money chasing too few goods has risen to concerning levels. To be clear, economists do not say higher pay is bad for people or the economy if productivity increases proportionately to the rise in pay. Furthermore, a small amount of inflation occurs in a healthy, growing economy. While it is unlikely that anyone paid serious attention to Biden’s remark to raise pay, wages have taken off as the result of a worker shortage (sometimes referred to as a “workers strike”). The problem is that inflation has gone up faster than wages. Jay Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman believes the inflation the U.S. is experiencing is “transitory.” But the English word, which he uses frequently, is so complicated in economic terms he cannot tell us how long transitory is. Better not to predict than predict incorrectly, says the acolyte of American economics.

Biden, indeed, has been the cause of the increasing and persistent inflation the U.S. economy has experienced due to policy decisions that he, or whomever makes decisions from the White House, made. Stimulus payments have flooded the economy with more money than it can handle. Paying unprecedented unemployment compensation and adding an additional $300 per month on top of these payments added additional money and kept people out of the workforce. Why work when you don’t have to? Meanwhile, Biden continues to encourage the Federal Reserve to pump more money into the economy by buying $120 billion in mortgage-backed securities and treasury bills and bonds. It is all tantamount to giving massive intravenous transfusions of sugar into the arteries of a diabetic. The economy has become soaked with cash chasing a limited amount of goods and services.

At Joe Biden’s request, Congress recently passed a so-called infrastructure package in the amount of $1.2 trillion. This will add some to the inflation equation. The package term is over ten years, and won’t be a huge inflation pump to the economy because it’s stretched out provisions are over a term of ten years. There is a threat that Biden’s infrastructure package estimated at $4 trillion by credible sources will contribute additionally to inflationary pressures. Biden says the cost will be zero dollars. Even his propaganda arm, the Washington Post, gave him two Pinocchios (their sarcastic award for lies) for his claim. The value of these spending packages is questionable, but not the whole problem. Putting aside the underfunded Defense budget, Social Security and Medicare are under pressure. Politicians love to spend, especially if the consequences are spread over many years. Some will no longer be in office when the impact of these additional commitments hits the public. Be aware that you have been warned. If the infrastructure bill passes later this month, it is estimated that seven million jobs will be lost due to rising interest rates and other causes. The net result is likely to be stagflation.

One of the great drivers of inflation is the deliberate and successful effort by Biden to jack up the price of oil by denying permits to drill on public land. He has ignored the safe transfer of oil by cancelling the Keystone XL Pipeline whose purpose was the efficient transit of oil by pipeline. By cancelling the Pipeline and denying drilling permits elsewhere, Biden deliberately sabotaged the energy plan of Donald Trump that gave the U.S. energy independence. (Simultaneously he approved a pipeline from Russia to Germany. The latter pipeline now gives Russia valuable currency reserves, creates a European dependency on Russia, and undermines the possibility of U.S. gas sales to Germany.)

At a time when the world has a shortage of energy, the absence of U.S. oil to our own refineries puts pressure on prices in this country. The purpose of this is clear. It is to make windmills and solar cells more competitive with natural gas and oil, and also create an artificial demand for electric vehicles over internal combustion engine alternatives. A policy like this has not been specifically announced by Biden. The reason is simple: rising gas prices hurt the lowest income earners. The man from the party of compassion knows that he is creating pain. This leads him to lie about the cost of his plan—the Green New Deal.

This brings us to the other side of the equation, the supply of goods. For reasons that are not entirely clear, dock workers have not been able to download the vast amount of goods (currently estimated at a whopping one million containers) from the ships now backing up at west coast ports, namely Long Beach and other Los Angeles area port harbors. Additionally, truckers are in short supply and must run their loads through crowded Los Angeles freeways at a crawl. This process has been described as a system of systems. The idea that Biden will be cancelling Christmas, now fast approaching, due to the slow distribution of goods, has finally motivated Biden to do something that didn’t involve climate change. What is particularly disturbing is that Biden now claims he has been working on a solution with stakeholders. It has taken since June to arrive at an agreement to work 24/7 instead of the workers usual work hours. Whether this will solve the problem won’t be known until later. Currently, only one of the six ports in question is already working around the clock. There is no evidence the problem will be solved by Christmas 2021. Good Job Joe. One other factor is the spread of Covid to manufacturers around the globe who have been unable to work. But with over 100 ships backed up at west coast ports, this does not have a major effect on the system. Other than working with dock workers, the Biden administration has failed to stop the growing inflation hurting Americans who want to buy with the money Biden has forced into the economy. The government reported November 2021 and uptick in producer prices of .9%. Accelerating inflation is worsening as America struggles with the policies of ineptitude by those in power.

America did not intend to elect a part-time president working at donkey speed during a pandemic. Something like, warp speed, might have worked better. Mmmmmm, where have we heard those words before.

August 31, 2021

CLIMATE OF FEAR

Conservatives have long noticed the telltale signs of left-wing insincerity and hypocrisy. Barack Obama’s $12 million Martha’s Vinyard home qualifies as one of those little tells that define the insincerity of his speeches. Located barely above sea level, the home would not withstand the melting Greenland and polar ice predicted by the hysterical scenarios peddled by the climate alarmists. If he really believed in the climate catastrophe, why would he buy a home that exposed Michelle and the hundreds of birthday guests he planned for his recent birthday bash? Then there is the great Al Gore and those of his followers who fly to climate conferences in private jets with trailing entourages of followers. The issue may be conflated with his ego, but he must realize how it looks. He is not unintelligent. Still, he understands people read the headlines and the details, not so much. There is also a Vice President’s sense of entitlement, but we will let further comment on that issue rest on the psychiatrist’s lap.

But there is more to the issue than hypocrisy indicators. There are the real nuts and bolts of going beyond the talk stage and taking the next step toward the implementation of a climate agenda. Climate alarmists have an idea that imminent death from climate change can be avoided by a massive overhaul of our infrastructure.

Recently a Homby Hills developer of what is billed as the most expensive home in the United States at $500 million dollars was giving a tour of the still unfinished home. The foyer alone was as big as an average house, and on each side of this large space was a series of flowers placed in vases one bouquet after another. The presentation was stunningly beautiful. As the developer walked by, he said, “We use plastic flowers for sustainability.” Yet, the massive home consumed a small towns worth of energy just running the electronics of the place. It was licensed for 900 in its disco club, the amount of marble and wood could have built a block of upscale homes out of the 105,000 square feet of space created after the mountain top was leveled and all for the benefit of a single owner.

But there is a larger issue beyond the extravagant hypocrisy of woke zillionaires. First, start with staggering corporate welfare subsidies in the billions which the U S government uses to promote the Green New Deal. By agreeing to buy electric vehicles and building charging stations for the electric vehicles the American taxpayer is on the hook for more than the sticker price of the vehicle. Additionally, there are EV tax credits for being American Made, Union made, and basic credits, some of which go to the nuclear industry. Now every company is coming to the US government if they can attach the word green to their business to get the green. If crony capitalism continues, there won’t be enough money left in the treasury to buy a hot dog.

Actually, we know how this goes. The government will continue to print money, thus devaluing what is in circulation and in your pocket and bank account.

The plot thickens, for beyond massive subsidies, there is a secret behind the Green New Deal fantasy: It is impossible. In an interview on August 7, 2021 with Larry Kudlow on his Fox News Show, Kudlow, Mark Mills of the Manhattan Institute runs through the consequences of trying to achieve Green New Deal objectives. He points out that the resources to create a battery driven economy is impossible because there is no plan to supply the needed resources for it.

Consider that battery cars use 300% more copper per car than an internal combustion vehicle. More cobalt, nickel, manganese, and aluminum. You will need aluminum to lighten the car in order to compensate for the half ton of battery weight of an electric car. The International Energy Agency has pointed out that the world is not planning or prepared to produce the quantity of minerals necessary to support the batteries governments are talking about. Advocates claim the cost will come down. But we will need to raise the global production of minerals 300% to 6000% over what is produced today. The result of competition between France, Germany, the United States, China, and other countries demanding scarce and expensive resources will drive the cost up.

Consider, also, 60’% of the cost in a car’s battery is in the commodity materials itself. But we’re told that the price of batteries is coming down. This is not possible as the scarce resources become more sought after. Additionally, the electric grid will cost more to accommodate the electricity production from approved, green sources.

Overall, a 10-fold or 1000% increase in materials is required to make the same unit of electricity if you compare wind, solar to a gas turbine. That’s just the concrete, steel, and glass. For the minerals requirements such as cobalt, nickel, manganese, chromium it will require a greater expenditure of energy to produce on the order of 400% to 5000%. The US will have to import massive amounts of materials. As Mills says,

“We are going to throttle a massive liquids and gas producing industry that produces revenue for America—hundreds of billions of dollars—and we are, instead, going to import three times that amount of materials in the form of those minerals needed to make green machines and batteries.”

The Greenies have shut down much drilling in the U.S. and much of the mining. How then, do you build energy resources to supply cars, industry, and homes with adequate energy? The answer is the economy will forcibly be downsized. Fewer vehicles will be produced because only a few vehicles can be produced. Who is the beneficiary? China is the answer. They are the major source of rare earths and metals and will be digging furiously to provide them. Who will come first in that scenario? They will, of course.

The end game for the climate alarmists is to reduce the use of world resources at the expense of every country in the world by suffocating economies with expensive solar and wind, and by denying mining and drilling operations permits and breeching dams so that they can brag about how green the United States is. In the meantime, third world countries will suffer the ecological damage as they pull in desperately needed foreign exchange money with less than clean mining practices.

The practical implication of a green victory is the collapse of modern life as we know it. Utopian dreams of a world in harmony with nature will cause everyone to suffer. Good intentions are no substitute for good judgement. Relying on a technology that works only when the sun is out or the wind blows is a prescription for brownouts and failures. Get your gasoline generators now.

June 28, 2021

FOLLOWING THE SCIENCE

The perverse world of Left-wing politics has degraded even the one area of purported objectivity—science. Confirmation of this view was made when Microsoft News revealed that scientists withheld their opinion that the Covid-19 virus originated in a lab because they felt that supporting President Trump would associate them with racism.

Alina Chan and 18 other scientists published a letter in the journal Science demanding a thorough study of the origin of the virus. The Chinese government has insisted that the origin of the virus was the result of animal-to-animal contact. The Trump administration believed that the origin was the Wuhan lab in Wuhan China, which is associated with the Chinese Army. Part of the lab’s known mission was gain of function research. Gain of function research has to do with making a virus more virulent, hence the Chinese army’s interest in the lab. This lab is the only known one of its kind in China and successfully making a virus more potent made the Covid-19 a biological weapon.

President Trump repeatedly accused the Wuhan lab of either carelessly handling the virus or outright using it as a biological weapon. The later point seems to be unlikely because the Chinese killed some of its researchers and population at the outset of the pandemic which ensued. But like Leftist in the United States, they saw no reason to let a good crisis go to waste. So, instead of containing the disease in Wuhan alone, the Chinese released visiting non-Chinese back to their homes around the world as their stays ended. For China itself, they stopped flights out of Wuhan for other Chinese cities, thus contaminating the entire world, and minimizing the damage in China.

Getting back to Alina Chan and her cohorts, it turns out, according to Microsoft News and their source that: the “Researchers said the scientific evidence remained relatively unchanged but noted that “the context and circumstances of the origin debate have changed, NBC reported. One of the most notable changes in the “context” of the debate, according to Chan, was Trump’s departure from the White House.

Chan told NBC that some scientists had apprehensions about publicly discussing the lab leak possibility out of concern that their statements would be manipulated to suggest they were endorsing “racist” language about COVID’s origins in China — an apparent reference to Trump’s use of the phrase “Wuhan virus” and “Chinese Virus.”

‘At the time, it was scarier to be associated with Trump and to become a tool for racists, so people didn’t want to publicly call for an investigation into lab origins,’ Chan said in the interview.’

The left constantly told the big lie—that Trump was a racist. If you repeat a lie often enough, some people will believe it regardless of the lack of evidence to that effect. By designating the disease the Wuhan virus or Chinese virus, Trump was merely describing its source, which was clear even in the early stages of the pandemic. There was no difference in that than there was 102 years earlier when describing the Spanish flu in 1918 by its assumed source. The true context of this was the death of George Floyd which launched the left-wing protests which have led to the loss of life and billions of dollars in destruction in American cities run by—guess who—leftists. Those leftists have now found a new demon in the police as a part of the hate they have spread to divide the United States. The topic of demonizing the police is for another day.

If this story wasn’t telling enough, the rest of the story has been mostly uncovered by a Conservative investigation into the underlying facts of the pandemic. The once unknown and now infamously discredited Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) knew of the likelihood of the Chinese lab release of the virus and its work on gain of function research. He knew about it because he helped pay for it with U.S. taxpayer dollars. In addition to his confusing, inconsistent advice on how to handle the pandemic he was simultaneously concealing his involvement in in the Wuhan lab itself. Notably, the U.S. government decided to contribute to the labs gain of function research, which was considered unethical and illegal in the United States. This was the medical equivalent of outsourcing torture of terrorists to friendly allies whose ethics did not prohibit the practice.

Instead of giving Americans different versions of whether and when to wear masks, or originally advising President Trump that the virus was likely the equivalent of the annual flu and other fallacious assertions, he should have simply said, “I don’t know.” But the ego of a bureaucratic leader who does not treat patients took hold, and his advice proved devastatingly wrong, especially in advocating in favor of lockdowns. Even the World Health Organization—a Chinese tool itself—now says this is not the way to fight the pandemic of 2020.

A recent study by Dr. Stephen Smith as well as older studies validated President Trumps assertion and that of scientists in the early stages of the pandemic that the commonly used (and inexpensive) drug, Hydroxychloroquine, improved outcomes against Covid-19. The hate-Trump and deny him any sort of victory at any cost press dominated the debate by opposing the drug and cost many lives. The politicization of this drug and the indifference to it by Dr. Fauci and left-wing pundits does not speak well of journalists and bureaucrats.

What the story of Fauci and Chan tell us about our age is not flattering either. Now we know that science is not free of politics or outside influence. We have learned that what we are told is science, is not always true Even proven science takes many years to validate. What we must learn from Chan and Fauci, or perhaps re-learn, is that the truth is preferable to lies and self-deception, that hate has unintended repercussions, and that evil done in the name of good is still evil.

August 5, 2020

THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT

Flip Wilson, the comedian, knew humans were flawed. Famously, when contemplating his own imperfect actions, he said, “the devil made me do it.” The comment got a laugh every time he said it—and he said it often. The lack of personal responsibility is tied into his rationalization. Knowing that he had done something wrong, but seeking redemption, he blamed it on God’s unseen enemy. In the more recent Orwellian world of left-wing reasoning, the excuse has come in handy—the devil, though, is your local police officer, they say. And this is war.

The first thing that happens in war is that the enemy is dehumanized, stereotyped, and labeled.

During World War II, the Japanese were “Japs,” the Germans were “Krauts,” and depictions of them were stylized and denigrating. This derives from the view that an enemy is sub-human, not like us, and therefore is expendable like a tree whose roots have begun to undermine the foundation of a house. Humans find it difficult to destroy another human life without this lowering of the standard. While it might be argued that an extra-dimensional force caused evil to spring up in Japan and Germany in the 1930-40s, the same case cannot be made for all foul actions in every detail of venality inherent in human beings. When these human characteristics of dehumanization spring up it is a definite indicator that war has broken out. What difference is there between hate directed at a people because they are black and those who are labelled as blue?

In the past few months, the United States has experienced a volcanic eruption of violence from the left. The devil that made them do it was Minneapolis, Minnesota’s Derek Chauvin who killed George Floyd. Without knowing the condition of his sole, it is difficult to determine whether the descriptive term is to be taken literally or figuratively, but the killing was caught on camera and was widely condemned by every facet of American society. But Chauvin’s quick arrest and that of the three other officers present was not sufficient for the Left.

Conservatism Bittersweet readers are sophisticated and know the facts, but for the record Conservatism Bittersweet will review what has happened recently. The killing of George Floyd set off protests against racism around the country. In order to show their biracial egalitarianism, the rioters destroyed black and white businesses. Some African Americans attempted to avoid the carnage by posting, “black owned” on their windows with mixed results.

Again, finding a true racist is hard work. Racists are there, but few fingers can be pointed directly except at Chauvin and three other officers. That fingers couldn’t be pointed at anyone but the Minnesota officers, was not a problem for the Left. All police were pronounced bad. Who likes symbols of authority? For some, conveniently snagging a television or Louis Vuitton bag as a remembrance of Mr. Floyd was insufficient solace for their loss. But others, having found a justification for their moral superiority expended their grief by parading with signs and ultimately making demands to defund the police. Who benefits from defunding the police? Correct Answer: Criminals.

The criminals pointed their fingers at statues of mostly dead white guys and tore them off their pedestals. Although not historically correct, they even demolished a statue of an abolitionist. That doesn’t matter because the Left rewrites history anyway. The worst of their damage was reserved for the police. Two officers were killed in the looting, David Dorn and Patrick Underwood. Hundreds of police officers were, verbally abused, thrown to the ground, beaten, stoned, clubbed, burned out of their headquarters, and mercilessly attacked by the vengeful mob of justice seekers. “WITHOUT JUSTICE, THERE CAN BE NO PEACE,” they said. Of course, they did this in the name of Mr. Floyds memory.

A little hate speech makes the point. They claim it is “rage,” which is a word of entitlement as opposed to the word “hate,” which is not so peaceful a word. One of their weaknesses is a lack of sense of irony.

So much for the peaceful approach. As noted, this is a war. Mark and Patricia McCloskey found that out when they tried to defend their St. Louis home. Reportedly, hundreds of protestors, some of them armed, broke down a gate and entered the McCloskey property to protest on behalf of Black Lives Matter, threatened the McCloskey’s and their dog with violence, but balked when the McCloskey’s appeared out of their renovated home bearing a pistol by her and an AR-15 by him. They did this only after calling the police and not receiving a response. Oops, someone fighting back. The mob retreated in a belief that the McCloskey’s were serious.

Within short order, there were arrests—the McCloskeys.

In a non-Orwellian world, the mob, or some part of it, would have been arrested by the police. But in the brave new world Americans now inhabit, the victims are arrested and the perpetrators go free. St. Louis Circuit District Attorney, Kim Gardner, the State’s attorney, charged each of the McCloskeys with one count of unlawful use of a weapon. If the weapon is not operable, it is not a crime. But wait minute. In a recent twist on the case, it has been reported that the two guns were found inoperable, but a police crime lab technician reassembled them into working condition. Voila, now it’s a crime. Actually not. The McCloskeys have some powerful allies. The Missouri governor and attorney general have stated their support and President Trump reportedly has ordered a U.S. police unit to guard the McCloskey residence. The governor said he will pardon them if convicted. Conviction is not likely as Missouri law protects people protecting their home.

Since the first of the rioting, the worst of it has abated. Except in Portland, Oregon which is now beyond its 60^th day of downtown turmoil. President Trump sent in U.S. Marshalls to guard the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse. The Mayor blamed President Trump. Again, the upside down Left-world claims victimhood, yet continues to deny Portland citizens the right to use their downtown shops, businesses, and streets free from fear. Millions of dollars of destruction has taken place.

The left-wing press has had a field day portraying the victim police as the perpetrators for the sin of defending themselves against blinding laser beams aimed into their eyes, professional fireworks aimed and fired at them, and hard objects hurled by the “mostly peaceful” protestors. They are not playing by the “rules” according to Mayor Ted Wheeler. The Mayor thinks riots are a game. Here is the legal and moral truth: The police have a right to defend the Alamo-like Portland courthouse. They are the ones under attack by a class of professional haters. The livelihoods of Portlanders have been destroyed and a once beautiful city has been trashed. As collateral damage, the peaceful, but anti-racist protestors are now into their second month of rage. The actual justice seekers seem to be a combination of local Antifa and outside professional rioters who are financed well enough to enjoy the local upscale hotels. George Soros anyone? Just a guess. Well, anyway, the devil made them do it.

The criminals pointed their fingers at statues of mostly dead white guys and tore them off their pedestals. Although not historically correct, they even demolished a statue of an abolitionist. That doesn’t matter because the Left rewrites history anyway. The worst of their damage was reserved for the police. Two officers were killed in the looting, David Dorn and Patrick Underwood. Hundreds of police officers were, verbally abused, thrown to the ground, beaten, stoned, clubbed, burned out of their headquarters, and mercilessly attacked by the vengeful mob of justice seekers. “No justice, No Peace,” they said. Of course, they did this in the name of Mr. Floyds memory.

Within short order, there were arrests—the McCloskeys.

July 5, 2020July 5, 2020

A HIJACK IN PLAIN SIGHT

A recent poll indicated that 80% of Americans believe America is out of control. Here’s why:

The year began with a partisan impeachment of the president and quickly morphed into a pandemic.

The pandemic caused great pain to Americans who lost their jobs in droves, seemingly overnight. And then the horrific killing of George Floyd resulted in protests that turned into a riot.

Congress is split between the hate of Democrats in the House of Representatives and the weakness of Republicans in the Senate. Little gets done.

Local politics are strained. Trashed American cities, almost exclusively run by Democrats are, like the US House of Representatives, equally crazed. Local officials let their preferred political allies violate the law and punish their political foes.

The nationwide legitimate emotional outrage at the torture killing of George Floyd was hijacked by radical leftists. In one case, the city of Seattle, permitted the creation of a no police zone known as CHAZ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone), which morphed into the more manly CHOP (Capitol Hill Organized Protest). Mayor Jenny Durkan promised a “summer of love” in CHAZ/CHOP. The radicals in charge of Seattle having created their own seven block enclave, which they occupied for several weeks managed two murders, an attempted murder, reported extortion, rape, and robbery. The Seattle police department was replaced by AR-15 and baseball bat toting thugs, who foreshadow the police of the future. Expect the worst as the logic of the moment advocates defunding the official police. Who most wants to defend the police? It is, of course, the criminals.

These same Democrats who have told us to keep social distancing overlook the excessive crowding and spread of disease as they feel chaos aids their socialist agenda

and effort to prevent a second term for Trump. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio won’t allow Coronavirus contact tracers to ask whether a disease carrier was involved in a protest. These same Democrats who opposed large gatherings overlook the illegal nature of the protests, and riots since their one-party status allows them to get away with just about anything.

Oh, yeah, the stock market has plunged and looks worse all the time.

In Portland, Oregon, the result of left-wing exercise of their 1^st Amendment rights equated with a hammer fest on local windows, looting and riot. At least no one was killed.

Americans cannot even pray for

If I can’t have it, you can’t have it either.

peace in their churches, synagogues or mosques. So, it is a wonder that 20% of the population remains more optimistic than the rest. And, yes, that is the report for only the first half of 2020.

The last four years have seen Obama holdovers in America’s intelligence agencies, Department of Justice and FBI spy on the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, launch an investigation based on an unsubstantiated, and ultimately proven false report requested by and paid for by the opposite party’s candidate, Hillary Clinton.

The country also witnessed by the magic of video replay the Democrat’s current presumed presidential candidate, Vice President Joe Biden, order Ukraine’s government to stop investigating a local company, Burisma, fire the prosecutor who was doing the investigation, which they did, or lose the billion dollars the Obama administration promised otherwise.

When President Trump reported these facts to the government of Ukraine, which was required by treaty, the Democrats launched an investigation against the president on the grounds that ??? that he exposed a Democrat attempt to cover up his own misuse of American aid, contrary to American law. Oh, yeah, the Democrats undertook an investigation in which secret testimony, much of it exculpatory to the president, was withheld and prevented Republicans from calling their own witnesses or revealing the favorable testimony to the president and the public. On this basis, the impeachment of the president was launched. The House of Representatives impeached the president based on a strictly party line vote. The Senate failed to convict on a party line vote.

Not quite sure how Jesus and Trump got into this.

So, hear it is. With the November election on everyone’s mind, the American people will decide whether they will punish the victim and reward the perpetrator of unjust attacks supported by media elites, or defend the country against such abuses of power. You will get what you ask for.

CONSERVATISM BITTERSWEET

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