Needed to be said...

Things you need to know about the FBI

Rand Paul's digging is really important.

An interesting take on the Jones Act

America first is a real necessity, but what about protectionism?  Here's Peter Zeihan's take on the Jones Act:

I need to spend some more time on the subject because it's complex.  Unfortunately, today is not the day for that.

New York case against Trump falling apart

Tim Pool briefly discusses it:

This case will fail, but probably not before the 2024 election and certainly not with this judge. It's a mistake the left will pay for eventually.

I wonder if he'll stop bashing president Trump

Mike Pence bows out of the GOP presidential race.

CDC's 3% COVID booster uptake

You blew your credibility CDC, you blew it.  No one wants to listen to your COVID booster garbage.

A history lesson on Israel and Palestine

So many unintentionally or intentionally protesting for Hamas don't know history.  Here's a short lesson from 2011. 

Did I offend?

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a sudden drop in views on my blog.  Not an insignificant drop (for me at least, I know I'm a small blogger), but a 75% drop in views.  I started wondering if there was a post I made that offended my readers, perhaps somewhat out of line with my regular conservative principles.  I looked back and I can't see any posts that might have offended.  Then it clicked, perhaps I said something that offended Google.  The day it dropped precipitously was a Sunday when I posted a Bible verse, like I do every Sunday.  This one was about peace.

I honestly don't think that was it. I don't know what it was, but Google has never been keep on helping small bloggers, and certainly not conservative ones.  I have had an error on my ads revenue for years that I have repeatedly fixed that never seems to really go away.  I'm sure at some point my viewership numbers will return, it's no big deal, my ad revenue has always been pathetic and it's not the reason I blog anyway.  I blog to share my thoughts about politics and events and hopefully engage with others in discussions at times. 

Friday funnies

This is more fun than funny, but still:

You had one job.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) grilled Robin Dunn Marcos, director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who has lost 85,000 illegal immigrant children. If a Republican president had lost 85,000 children, liberal media and Democrats would be howling about it as inhumane.

Finally a GOP speaker.

And the winner is Mike Johnson.

Are the Trump plea deals a warning sign?

I haven't seen as much as I expected on the Trump associate plea deals happening in Georgia from conservatives media.  There's a lot of plea deals happening and as a Trump supporter, you might have reason to worry.  Personally, I don't think it's the case, or that it's still too early to worry.  You just have to remind yourself that when these charges were brought, how spurious they were regarded as being. That hasn't really changed. It's very possible that these plea deals are all a way of the prosecutors saving face since the details of the plea deals seem awfully lenient, attorney Jenna Ellis is a case in point:

In exchange for her cooperation, Ellis pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings. The count stems from her testimony before a Georgia Senate subcommittee on Dec. 3, 2020. Along with co-defendants Rudy Giuliani and Ray Smith, Ellis “knowingly, willingly, and unlawfully” made false statements about election fraud in Georgia, according to her new charging document.

Under the terms of the agreement, Ellis must serve five years probation, 100 hours of community service and pay $5,000 in restitution to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office. She agreed to testify truthfully when called, provide documents and other evidence, refrain from posting about the case on social media and to pen an apology letter to Georgia voters.

That seems awfully light sentencing for a massive "conspiracy", even for a plea deal. The real purpose might be to achieve the talking points for the election, draw out the overall case, and quietly let the media around plea deals diffuse quietly down the road.  There's nothing directly implicating president Trump at this point, likely even with these supposed plea deals. 

You might also be wondering why there are plea deals even happening. You have to remember that the state can bankrupt you, spending years in court trying to wear out your finances, They can literally crush you and a lot of these defendants are not Trump-level wealthy.  The evil underlying that reality is of far greater concern than even the potential 2024 presidency of Donald Trump. Nevertheless, this so far, is just the latest eventual failure of Democrats to derail a presidential candidate they have unsuccessfully been trying to derail since 2015.

I'm not sad about this

The Hollywood writers strike continues.  I'm not sad.

Why so dumb?

Why are people so dumb?

Steve Forbes doesn't believe Brandon will be the 2024 nominee

He believes Let's Go Brandon will step aside:

I hope he's wrong.  He may be the most defeatable incumbent in American presidential history.

Sunday verse

 

Let's Go Brandon money trail

This is getting...I wouldn't say interesting, but maybe 'real' is more accurate.

Great Kamala impersonation

This is funny.

Video evidence of Hamas rocket fail

The left is so delusional that many won't accept video evidence or even that Let's Go Brandon and U.S. intelligence say it was a failed rocket launch from within Gaza by either Hamas or a splinter group that caused the accident in Gaza.  I say accident because it's no longer even clear it hit a hospital.

Canada's clueless liberal leadership

Meanwhile in Canada, the Liberal government is still full of Marie Antoinettes:

Owned.

More thoughts on Trump vs. Brandon vs. RFK Jr.

When RFK Jr. announced an independent run for president, I wondered if it would hurt or help president Trump's chances in 2024. At the time I thought it was too early to tell.  I still feel that way now but I think there are some preliminary impressions to be gleaned.  Red Eagle Politics takes a stab at breaking down some of it.  I also have some thoughts about how Democrats will use this in 2024, which I will discuss below.

Coming out of the 2024 election, there are two likely scenarios at this point assuming the nominees end up as expected as of today; (1) Trump is elected or (2) Let's Go Brandon is re-elected. The latter scenario is only likely in the event that RFK Jr ends up taking more votes from Trump than Brandon. 

In the former scenario, Trump winning, the chances are high that no candidate will reach the 50 percent voter mark. Democrats will argue that since that is the case, Trump has no mandate to do anything.  Even without a divided but victorious GOP  in the house and/or senate the president will face yet more legal obstacles to any policy item.  The GOP and president Trump must be prepared for that fight. The media will carry the 'no mandate' water for Democrats as far as they can. 

If Brandon ekes out a win, the reverse will be true.  The argument will be he needs to bring disaffected Democrats who voted for RFK Jr. back into the fold be being conciliatory with them and then he will have a true mandate.  The media will carry the water again, claiming he is doing just that, as he continues to placate the far left and obfuscate any chance for real criminal justice for his crime family (or any other Democrat), while maliciously and irresponsibly prosecuting anyone who disagrees with them or dares question them. In other words, establishment BAU (business as usual).

Getting back to the election impact, I am not beyond believing Democrats have set up RFK Jr. as a pseudo Manchurian candidate to suck independent votes away from Trump, while he still truly is a dyed in the wool leftist.  He certainly is a rabid environmentalist and the common ground with libertarians centers predominantly around anti-vaccine mandates.  It's a convenient situation for Democrats if he can drain just enough Trump support.  After all, he did drop his Democratic primary challenge against Let's Go Brandon to run as an independent.  That in itself raises a red flag. It can be argued that he may achieve more success this way, but is sure helps Let's Go Brandon by him doing so.  Food for thought.

Left enables Hamas, lives to regret it

Two examples of the left betting on or supporting Hamas, and not liking either the impact of their support in the case of Harvard, or realizing they are backing murderers (as TMZ had to denounce BLM for their support).

Support evil and you are evil, period.

Fact Checks are a stubborn thing (when done properly)

Fact checked Ilhan Omar deletes X (Twitter) post.

She is safe from zombies

Zombies eat brains don't they?  Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has nothing to offer them.

Iranians at the southern border? That checks

Iranians trying to illegally enter the United States through the open southern border, potentially (likely) with terrorism on their minds. That checks. Who knew that might happen? Well to start, president Trump, oh, and also pretty much everyone with common sense.

How to understand monetary policy basics

I often talk about why monetary policy is so important, and why Keynesian economists have it so wrong on monetary policy, especially compared to the classical economists.  Monetary policy is of greater importance than fiscal policy when it comes to the economy, in particular with respect to inflation and growth or recession. The impact of monetary decision making, made by unelected bureaucrats, must not be understated - it's huge. But the discussion tends to be a bit too esoteric for a lot of people. The idea of understanding monetary policy.

To help with understanding here is a good video that explains the basics, in under 5 minutes. 

Sunday verse

 

Economic woes ahead?

According to a former Fed president, yes:

Stay safe (no thanks to Let's Go Brandon)

It's Friday the 13th, and more importantly a Day of Jihad (?).  Live your life and don't live in fear, but be smart about it today.

This doesn't help - thank you Let's Go Brandon for funding terrorists through Iran while leaving the border wide open:

Friday funnies

A little levity to brighten your day. Or it may bum you out if you are a glass half empty type.

Elon Musk exposing evil

This needs to be seen, and the only way that happens is with free speech.

Democrat law in Pennsylvania might backfire, help Republicans.

If you know the playing field, you can better compete.  Pennsylvania Republicans seem to be benefitting from that.  Democrats passed an automatic voter registration bill into law. It's capturing REpublicans at a 10-1 ratio over Democrats so far. This alone won't deliver them the state the way say a sudden 300,000 appearing votes might, but it's a start.

RFK Jr. independent run for president: good for Trump?

Robert F Kennedy Jr. has announced an independent run for president in 2024.  The expectation is that it will hurt Let's Go Brandon and help president Trump's election bid.  But I can see circumstances where he pulls voters from both parties.  He has gotten a warm reception from many bloggers and media types on the right, because he is willing to point out Let's Go Brandon's horrible record. Will that warm reception continue to the point it hurts president Trump? It may.

While third party candidates typically do not have a major impact on elections, the most notable, relatively recent election where it mattered was Ross Perot's independent run in 1992.  He pulled only 8% of the popular vote (a fairly high watermark), did not win any states but clearly had an impact on the election. He espoused a number of conservative policies (as well as liberal policies). It's clear he took votes away from the Republican candidate, George Bush but likely also from Bill Clinton. That he did not do better was likely a result of his self-inflicted campaign chaos.

The argument that he may hurt president Trump in a general election stems from the fact that there are many issues where he is on the same side as president Trump.  People are looking for common sense and he may have many liberal views, but he definitely would have been the most, if not only,  common sense Democrat in the primary race.  Those who want common sense without the chaos and/or bombastic style of president Trump could easily turn to RFK Jr. instead.  There are a lot of Republican voters who still get their news from mainstream media and have been spoon fed the notion that president Trump was abysmal as a candidate and as president.  Conversely the never-Trump 'crowd' would not need to throw in with Let's Go Brandon.

I think it's too early to tell if RFK Jr. hurts Trump or the other guy more, but it's something to watch.

Geopolitics of Hamas and Israel

Remember when president Trump was leading the United States and Middle Eastern countries were signing peace deals with Israel?  Good times, good times. But after Let's Go Brandon 'acquired' 81 million votes to become president one of the things he's done was to give Iran $6 billion because apparently he can't give everything to Ukraine.  Anyway, Iran is a primary sponsor of Hamas, and weeks after the 'humanitarian aid' Hamas rains down rockets on Israel.  This is not a coincidence. It's not even stupidity on Let's Go Brandon's part.  There are a lot of Hamas sympathizers in his inner circle. It is at a minimum unintentionally deliberate.

Here's Peter Zeihan's take (keep in mind he's a Democrat-leaning analyst and is giving Let's Go Brandon credit for the work the Trump administration did in the Middle East.  Otherwise the fallout and what to look for portion of his take is worth noting).

Polling wow!

Republican identifying voters outnumber Democrats according to Gallup? Wow.

Sunday verse

 

Um...

This is surprising in as far as the timing.

West Virginia is the canary in the coal mine

Unfortunately, West Virginia is very poor.  The reasons are explained in the well made video below. Geography, demographics, politics, but it's mostly due change.  In economics there's a concept related to supply and demand called equilibrium.  The price and quantity of goods and services produced seek their own equilibrium, where supply and demand match.  When disruptions happen, like coal becoming less vital to the national interest, the equilibrium changes.  That causes all sorts of fallout including for example, poverty. West Virginia has experienced something that 

My take on a few of the points raised,  as well as the future of a broader swath of Western economies, follow the video.

The video points to the limitations of geography as a fundamental barrier to a renewal of West Virginia.  It's fundamentally true but it does raise questions. There are places in Switzerland for example that have worse geography than West Virginia with respect to economic prosperity but yet they do not have the same level of poverty. Why is that?  Perhaps they have the benefit of a longer time frame to stabilize their situation. Or maybe it was something else.  The point is geography does not have to result in poverty.

The biggest factor in the case of  West Virginia, clearly was the rise and fall of coal. Coal was a primary source of energy for a long time and is no longer as it has been replaced by oil, gas, nuclear power and more recently solar and wind power.  But coal still has its uses.  For example roughly 1.6 billion tons of coal worldwide were used in the production of steel in 2022, and steel is still a widely used material. The U.S. production of coal in 2022 was approximately 0.54 billion tons or one third of the world coal supply that is used to produce steel.   However it is important to note that only certain types of coal can be used to make steel.

Nevertheless there are other uses for coal.  For example, cement production, carbon fibers and foams, medicines, tars, synthetic petroleum-based fuels.   But the real drivers related to coal were domestic energy and of course military use as mentioned in the video.  These needs declined as alternatives arose.

The video also mentioned mechanization of the coal industry, which means the same or greater levels of production with fewer and fewer people needed to do the job. 

This is where West Virginia has become the canary in the coal mine - the first trial of massive change. Whether it lives or dies provides lessons for America and other Western economies - not relative to coal but relative to people.  The human cost of economic failure is far more important than any other sort of fallout.  West Virginia has experienced a downward cycle of poverty and health as result of not being able to adapt to the change that came upon its predominantly single-sourced economy.  That is the true lesson from the past, and present.  

With the advent of computers, robotics, and AI, fewer and fewer people are needed in more and more jobs.  This trend shows no signs of abating, indeed the equilibrium might be at or nero zero need for human involvement in work.  How do we navigate zero employment and avoid poverty, broad spread malaise in terms of personal motivation and self-worth with nobody working?  This has yet to be solved.  Sure there are some short-term answers for the West; do not rely on single-source economies and instead diversify.  But at best this solution has limited viability if eventually everything evolves to 100% automation.

There is no answer yet.  Universal Basic Income might mitigate the problem, for a time, but it is hardly a solution.  It does not address mental health issues and it certainly will not solve the wealth gap between rich and poor because the wealthy factory owners will still own the means of production and not be subject to the universal basic income.  In fact, it will likely worsen the problem.  A better solution is needed and we need to be working on it today.  

Chinese submarine caught in it's own trap

A Chinese nuclear submarine fell into a Chinese trap intended for British or American subs. China is a paper tiger, yes a geopolitical threat but their power is waning.

Vulgar, but it needs to be said

This contains profanity but is bang on and needs to be said, every day, until something gets done about it.

Will Jim Jordan be the next House speaker?

The situation is in flux. Jim Jordan is interested in the House Speaker role.

How big is this?

Matt Gaetz has succeeded (along with others) in removing Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House.  It's a big deal because it's a first in American history.  McCarthy has been a status quo REpublican, and needed to go.  Whether this was the right time for it is a fair debate.

Tim Pool, takes the anti-establishment view, I tend to agree:

Many at Fox News have taken the establishment view, Brian Kilmeade was clearly even antagonistic to the point of being obnoxious:

Republican in-fighting is never good, but not doing anything and Republicans being Democrat-lite is worse.

Let's Go Brandon sporting a bruised face?

Bruised? Mitch McConnell too.

Wikipedia, supports Nazi sympathiser Trudeau

Benny Johnson points out Wikipedia is working to protect Justin Trudeau from his recent Nazi supporting debacle in Canadian parliament:

Civil suit against Trump is as corrupt as the criminal cases

And it is as corrupt as the impeachment attempts by Democrats were.  It's election interference, it's wrong, it's evil. The system must be fixed or replaced.

In-house House fight among Republicans

Matt Gaetz vs. Kevin McCarthy: a civil war among Republicans over spending.  There's a good fight to be fought here but Republicans fighting Republicans in these times is not good for the country.  This is a tough one but regardless, it's going to happen.

Your government at (nefarious) work

This is as heartbreaking as it is wrong.  Veteran displaced for illegal immigrants.

American lithium

A very large lithium deposit in America, just in time for the battery powered car market, is not a coincide but there's more to it geopolitically than just that.

Post debate, Trump looking even better

Polling post debate looks like president Trump's non-participation is helping, not hurting his polling.  I think at this point no one should be surprised.

Sunday verse