High Truths and Low Lies

The Poisoning of America

May 26, 2023

See chart above. Note the Biden years! Fentanyl is killing 100,000+ Americans each year. The precursors to make fentanyl are made in China, then shipped to drug cartels in Mexico. The cartels smuggle fentanyl into the US via our southern border. This illicit drug trade is an act of war and should be treated as such. Smugglers are terrorists!

During 2021 to 2022, more US citizens were killed by fentanyl than during the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Biden’s border enforcement policy is the cause of these deaths. Biden is allowing the drug to be smuggled into the US. In 2019, President Trump met with China’s Xi Jinping and successfully requested China to ban the fentanyl production. The supply stopped and deaths declined. See chart above. But Congress fought Trump regarding building the wall along our southern border. Construction stopped. By late 2020, Mexican cartels, the Sinaloa’s, Chapitos, and CJNC increased their smuggling activity. When Biden took office in early 2021, the US. experienced an historical increase in fentanyl deaths. Now, the death rate is 4X higher.

Biden is responsible. The Democrats had complete control over the WH, Senate and House. Biden cares more about future voters than American deaths. The fool Biden wants to give amnesty to illegal immigrants, many engaged in drug trafficking.

Since a majority of the fentanyl deaths are to Black people, I do not understand why our Black leaders are not outraged. Where is the Congressional Black Caucus? Where is VP Harris? What exactly did Pelosi do? She visited Taiwan which caused China to up their drug production. Why do the Democrats allow poison to be smuggled into the US?

This is Anne Milgram, Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency.

Milgram has been the DEA leader for 2+ years, a Biden appointee. Milgram has no managerial experience, no administrative experience. She should be fired for gross negligence. The DEA has a budget of $3 billion, 23 domestic field offices and 10,100 agents. Their mission is to stop illicit drug trade. The DEA does have a diversity organization providing extensive training for all agents.

Labor Participation Rate

May 24, 2023

Note the Trump years and the Biden years!

Millions of men and women in the US. are not looking for work, about 1/3 of the labor force. They have given up! Most are living on state and federal benefits like SNAP, Medicaid, childcare credits, stimulus payments, unemployment, free lunches, disability benefits, home energy assistance, eviction relief, housing assistance, Earned tax credits, and many more.

Labor participation is calculated as “unemployed” + “employed” divided by Adult population. Currently calculated at 62% in the US. This means about 60 to 80 million workers are not working, See chart above.

Of course, millions of the unemployed cannot work due to education, disability, drug addiction, retirement, job skills, language barriers, drug tests, location, transportation, etc. However, if just 10% of the unemployed started back working, about 6-7 million workers, there would be no labor shortage. The problem is incentives to work or not to work.

Here is a short list of factors that affect unemployment:

Brandon Johnson is Chicago’s new Mayor

Chicago is the third largest city in America, about 3 million people. Chicago is also one of the most violent cities in the US. In 2022 Chicago had 695 murders, and this year through May there have been 971 shootings, an average of 7 per day.

Yet the foolish voters of Chicago elected a union organizer as the new mayor. Johnson has no qualificators to be mayor. No management experience, no financial background, no budgeting skills, no legal or contractual experience, and little leadership skills. His formal education is in youth development. And he has no business experience. He has never built an effective team!

Johnson got endorsements from unions, especially the Teachers Union. The police endorsed his mayoral opponent. Johnson is a leftist democrat and political activist.

Chicago has an operating budget of $11 billion and its 4 major pension schemes are in default, underfunded. And-the Federal covid funds are ending. The city needs a strong, experienced executive. Running a large city requires a substantial set of skills and knowledge.

Johnson will be a disaster as mayor. The voters of Chicago will regret their decision.

PS- as of March 2023, Johnson owed the city of Chicago $3,250 in unpaid water and sewer bills plus $1,000 + in unpaid parking tickets. Truly a man of character.

Directions on a Paint Can!

May 16, 2023

This is a quart size paint can purchased at Lowes. I am re-staining my front porch railings with this product. This product is expensive, about $100/gal., so I have to follow the directions on the can.

However, I cannot read the directions because the font size is so small. Even with a magnifying glass, the writing is too small. Why? Half the writing is in Spanish!

My Hispanic friends can’t read the instructions either. Two different languages crowded onto one paint can. This approach serves no one!

My Weekly Highlights

May 14, 2023

Henry Ruggs III is going to jail. The ex-NFL player killed a woman while driving 156mph on a city street. Her car burst into flames. He pleaded guilty to drunk driving.

White, ex-Marine was arrested for manslaughter in NYC resulting from an incident on the subway. The Marine restrained the man with a choke hold while waiting for the police. The man was threatening passengers and had 40+ prior felony arrests. The man died. If the deceased were white, or the Marine Black, no arrest would have been made.

For 2.5 years the southern border has been overrun with illegal immigrants. About 5-6 million people have crossed into the US, unvetted. Over 1500 have died. 100+ are on the terrorist watch list. This crisis is completely manufactured by Biden and the democrats. Their plan is to get 5-6 million more voters, especially in Texas and a few other red states. Biden has said he wants amnesty for these illegal immigrants. Voting rights. In total, this is the most destructive act by any US President.

Biden used a fake document during his last debate with Trump. He claimed that 51 intelligence agents signed a letter that claimed the Hunter laptop story was bogus. Biden needed a “talking point.” This is election interference, same with the FBI telling Twitter what info. to censor. All in favor of the democrats. Trump never had a chance!

The FAA has reported a record high number of unruly passengers over the last 2.5 years. The airlines reported 5,960 cases in 2021, and 3000+ in 2022. This year the incidents are slightly lower. Why the increase? These passengers are new to air travel and do not know how to behave. Mayor Pete should solve this problem before we have a tragedy.

Slave reparations are being proposed in California. Current price tag is $800 billion. The plan is political and illogical. And-another welfare scheme. Where is that money coming from?

Coach Prime at Colorado U. is losing players. Seems like a buffalo stampede. I hope he knows what he is doing.

I do not support giving illegal immigrants driver’s licenses. I think it is a step in the wrong direction, and further incentivizes more illegals. The vast majority of immigrants crossing our southern border have the equivalent of 8th grade educations. Many are criminals, and almost all receive social welfare benefits, including free healthcare and education. And regrettably, almost all are unvetted. We do not know who they are. So-granting them driving privileges seems dangerous. Proponents say granting licenses will reduce hit and run accidents. What? I got my driver’s license at age 16 after taking driver’s ed. and passing a driving test. Same with my children. And-I carry auto insurance. Nothing less than this should be “granted” to illegal immigrants.

LGBTQ+ is confusing!

May 10, 2023

Our local paper, the Charlotte “Fishwwrap” ran a large article about the gay community in NC. The headline was “A harsh new anti-LGBTQ bill is coming to NC.” Readers might think that somehow a new law will oppress or criminalize the gays in NC.

The headline was unnecessarily inflammatory, published to keep gay issues stirring.

The LGBTQ community is about 7% of the population. For residents in NC older that 55, that percentage is 2%. I support equal rights for gays, but the information I read is confusing. Here is an example:

The “harsh” new bill being proposed would prohibit public schools from teaching gender identity, sexuality, and sex activity to children in K-6 grades. I agree! But do not understand why this action is so “harsh” against the LGBTQ group. Parents do not want a 25-year-old kindergarten teacher to show sex acts to 5- and 6-year-olds. Who could possibly support this madness? Imagine trying to teach a 5-year-old about non-binary or reverse trans trending genders??

The local media just wants headlines, and newspaper sales! The gay community is being used.

“Cream Skimming” or Not!

May 6, 2023

Milton Friedman, Noble Prize winner in Economics, first proposed the concept of school vouchers in 1962. He felt the program would create a competitive environment between public and private schools, and thus raise the quality of education in the US. Other economists have added the concept of “Acquiring Human Capital” to the school voucher discussion. High quality education builds human capital which leads to employment, income and wealth. It is that simple.

School vouchers provide state funding to parents so they can choose which schools their children attend, public or private. The money follows the child.

Regrettably, many public schools have poor ratings, especially in our large cities. Baltimore currently has 23 city schools with 0 students passing the math proficiency test. Parents from those schools could send their kids to private schools using the school vouchers. Parents have a choice. Private schools often, but not always, record better student achievement. The reasons are the admissions policy, and the discipline process. Disruptive students are kicked out. Not so in public schools! Ugh!

It is true that better students, the cream, often leave the underperforming public schools. The parents realize the importance of education and they have a choice!

Lastly, low income and minority families are most impacted by school vouchers. Most states target this group to help those children get a better education. Vouchers are paid in higher amounts to low-income families. This is very similar to the Federal Pell Grants for college, currently at $7,400 per year. Most of the Pell grants go to minority and low-income families.

I support the school voucher programs. Give parents a choice.

Weekly Highlights!

April 27, 2023

My wife and I were on vacation in the Dominican Republic for 10 days. What a beautiful country! So, I am slightly behind in writing. These are my comments for the past week:

-I had to travel with a passport and complete immigration papers to get into the DR. I also had my picture taken. All my travel luggage and carry-ons were X-rayed. Migrants illegally crossing the US. southern border just walk in!

-NC elections laws are being changed. No more late ballots and drop boxes. Good idea.

–Narcan has been approved for OTC sales. Narcan is a nasal spray used to reverse opioid overdosing. Sales to begin this summer. This drug will save lives, but also increase opioid use. Closing the southern border will save more lives.

Bud Light lost its Marketing VP. She selected a trans man as the national spokesman. Sales for that Belgium Company owned beer dropped through the floor.

Biden needs to focus on China’s mineral supply chain. China processes 68% of the world’s nickel, 59% of lithium, 73% of cobalt, and 40% of the world’s copper. China has mines all over Africa. The Biden administration is more focused on diversity and racial justice.

Cal-Maine is America’s largest producer of eggs. That company produces about 12 billion eggs per year. Egg prices have risen from $1.80 to $4.25 in the last 15 months. Avian flu, fuel prices, feed prices and labor costs resulted in this increase.

Gas prices are back above $4.80/gal. See Chart below. Thank You Joe Biden.

The 3 major credit bureaus in the US. have removed most medical debt from consumer credit reports after pressure from the Biden Admin. Currently, forty-three million people owe a total of $88 billion in medical debt. The federal spokesperson said, “medical debt is really not debt.” Debts under $500 are targeted for removal from credit scores. Can you imagine what will happened to those unpaid debts?

Lastly, Biden pledged $500 million of taxpayer money to help end the de-forestation of the rain forest in Brazil. I say let Brazil handle that problem. The country has grown rich from the sale of timber and has a GDP of $1.6 trillion.

Rent Control

April 21, 2023

A foolish State Senator in NC introduced a bill that would “allow” local municipalities to enact “rent control.”

Currently, NC is one of many states that prohibit rent control. See Chart. Notice that only 5 states (Democrat lead) currently allow rent to be controlled by local governments.

Rent control allows cities to dictate what a landlord can charge a tenant for rent.

In the study of Economics “rent control” is a form of Price Ceiling. That concept means the price of a product or service is controlled by a government. The government sets the price, below the market, and not subject to laws of supply and demand. This is, of course, tampering with the free market.

Landlords take on all the risks, borrowing money at floating interest rates, hiring builders, insuring the property, attracting renters, issuing contracts for rents/leases and collecting rent payments. Landlords also bear the risks of unpaid or late rent payments. They also are responsible for all repairs and upkeep.

“Rent Control” means the landlords would be limited as to what level of return they can receive for their investment and the risks. All notable economists know that price ceilings always lead to a decline in supply. Investors stop building rental property. They are unsure if they can cover all their costs and risks. Period.

For NC, rent control is a very bad idea.

My Weekly Musings!

April 2, 2023

These are my comments for the week:

–I don’t care anymore about Brittney Griner. She’s lucky to be back in the US.

–Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks lost to Iowa. Staley said she was going to help basketball players that looked like her. Hmmm!

–NC Gov. Cooper issued executive order help reduce unfilled state job vacancies. Order will remove the requirement for college degree in many jobs. Of course, this will help Blacks and Hispanics. Probably a good idea but let’s be very careful. This will hurt HS academics, college enrollments, and job progressions to higher levels. China is pushing more academics, especially in technical fields.

As reported by me recently, NC schools are reporting record levels of crime in the schools, mostly assaults. In Chalotte, an average of 9 assaults occurs per school day. Legislators are trying to pass a new law calling for stricter penalties for assaults, including expulsion. Opponents feel the new law will disappointedly affect Black students. Currently, it is ok for students to be involved in “minor physical altercations” What? Can you imagine a teacher getting pushed by a student?

Evanston, IL. is the first city to pay “slavery reparations.” Black residents are getting $25,000. But the residents are upset, and some claim that it “does more harm than good.” The total fund is $10 million raised from the sale of weed. You can’t make this stuff up!

One of our big malls is struggling to stay open. Big retail chains like Macy’s, Starbucks, Bath and Body Works, and Toys R Us have closed. About a month ago, the Apple Store closed in the middle of the day. The day before, the mall experienced the third shooting in three months. Store employees are scared.

NC local NAACP chapter is fighting with the national organization. The State organization has been in trouble since 2013 for “questionable spending practices.” The local treasurer was suspended. Sadly, the State organization has an “executive committee” of 47 members. How does anything get done?

A recent WSJ poll shows Americans are very unhappy and pessimistic. The poll compared the same questions from 25 years ago. Patriotism is also low. Americans feel “things are broken.” I would add “angry” to the list!

Nashville police represent the finest of the fine.