Government Shutdown

 As we approach one more potential government shutdown thanks to a legislature that hasn't actually passed a budget in years.  Favoring a succession of CR's which just automatically increase spending.   We're seeing support from all sorts of places for exempting aid to Ukraine from the government shutdown.  How is this absolutely insane notion gaining traction.  By what warped insanity would anyone decide that we should deprive US citizens, while shoveling unaccountable billions to Ukraine.   I'd love to be able to say that this steaming pile of excrement was the brainchild of the DFL, but unfortunately it seems to be bipartisan. 

Election Challenges.

 The popular narrative is that there have been virtually zero instances where courts have found any merit to the election challenges after the 2020 election.

https://election-integrity.info/2020_Election_Cases.htm

According to this chart, the popular narrative just might not be exactly right.    Now, a number of cases were dismissed without being heard, and we really have no way to judge those on the merits, or to determine whether of not the judges political stance had a bearing on the decision to dismiss.   But that's an issue for another post.

What's interesting is that, of the 30 cases actually decided on the merits, 22 of those that were adjudicated were decided in favor of Trump and/or the GOP plaintiffs.   By my math (which might not be the best) that means that 75% of the cases decided on their merits found in favor of Trump/GOP.     That seems like a pretty good record, and an indication that there were more problems with the election than many would admit. 

Farm living is the life for me...

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/kerry-ripped-demanding-agriculture-emission-cuts-bankrupt-every-farmer

 

 "You just can’t continue to both warm the planet while also expecting to feed it," Kerry added. "It doesn’t work. So, we have to reduce emissions from the food system."

Well, this is quite the conundrum.  It would seem that John Kerry (one of many climate hypocrites whose lifestyle belies his commitment to the cause), has identified a major problem.  If we keep feeding people through our agriculture system, life as we know it will end because of global warming.    Well, maybe that's an exaggeration.  

One problem we have is that the places where our foods are grown in staggering amounts (1.65 Billion bushels of wheat, 15 billion bushels of corn, and 4.5 billion bushels of soybeans), are not particularly close to the places where high densities of people live.    So, Johnny will need to find some "net zero" (which is a fiction) ways to transport those billions of barrels of grain to the places where they're processed (which also need "net zero" power), and then to the consumers.  

The second problem is that farming is an incredibly low profit margin business.  Forcing farmers to replace expensive machinery with more expensive (and so far unavailable) "net zero" farm machinery simply cuts margins even thinner or forces an increase in prices.   Because adding more cost to our already rising costs for food is a great plan, right?  

The third problem is that a significant portion of the "emmissions" from farming are 100% natural.   The only ways to eliminate those emissions would be to kill off millions of head of livestock.  

What I find most amusing about this story, is the complete lack of coverage by the MSM.   The majority of the stories I found in my search were from advocacy groups who were either vehemently opposed, or 100% all in.

Maybe we should go back to horses and oxen to harvest our crops.  

Capitalism, sort of.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/12/02/781152563/researchers-find-a-remarkable-ripple-effect-when-you-give-cash-to-poor-families 

Dan just made a startling discovery.   He just discovered that unregulated capitalism actually works.

The above NPR story references one unpublished study that simply gave $1,000 in cash to about 10,500 families, with a control group of 50,000 families receiving nothing, and that those families spent that money on goods and services in the local economy.  Shockingly enough, this boosted the local economy for a short period of time.  

The conclusion of the authors of the article seems to be that giving all of the worlds poor a direct cash, one time, gift will stimulate the economy of the areas where the poor live.  

Now, on the surface, I don't disagree.  It makes perfect sense that if you give the poorest of the poor a one time gift that they will spend it on the things they need to improve their chances for survival.   

However, the article raises several questions that are interesting.  

"I'd be curious to see if they persist in the longer run," asks Eeshani Kandapal (an economist with the World Bank).    I agree.   Supposing that a one time gift will spark long term economic growth doesn't seem realistic.     Which raises one of my questions:  Wouldn't the goal be to help people find a job that provides an income over the long term, rather than a one time gift?    Would making these gifts on a regular basis, help or hurt these families in the long run? 

"But were those income gains simply washed out by a corresponding rise in inflation?"

In this one time, small scale study the answer seems to be that inflation wasn't as much of a factor as they thought.   However, on a larger scale, longer term study it seems as though supply and demand  would become an issue and would increase inflation.    The article notes that a similar study in the Philippines did show significant inflation because supply of certain things couldn't keep up with demand.  

The article hints as the conclusion that this sort of direct aid is much better than the more traditional foreign aid that has been given in the past.    As demonstrated in the book Dead Aid, one of the major failings of most traditional foreign aid is that it goes to powerful individuals in the government and never actually reaches those it's intended to help.  Or it is used to fund projects the only benefit the already rich and powerful.    This raises the question of why would those in power sit by and allow groups to pass out large amounts of money that doesn't enrich those in power?    

As the authors of When Helping Hurts conclude, the best way to help those in need long term is not to do for them, what they can do for themselves.   In other words, don't spend thousands of dollars flying 50 blancs into Haiti to build houses or paint schools, when you could hire Haitians to do that for themselves.   Obviously, this doesn't mean that it's bad to send highly skilled and specialized people into these countries to provide scarce medical services, or other specialized services.  

 Personally I think that the folks at OI have a much better and more sustainable model than simply handing out one time cash gifts.  In short, they deal in micro loans combined with business training to help families and communities build economies that should result in long term growth for the community.   

Finally, I can't help but want to put this is the context of the massive reduction in global poverty over the last 30 years or so.  While this is really good news, it doesn't mean that there isn't more that can be done.  

But, in short we now see through what OI and other micro loan ONGs are doing and this study, that capitalism does actually work to alleviate poverty. 

Data

https://winteryknight.com/2023/09/21/new-study-same-sex-attraction-isnt-fixed-4/

 

Damn that research.   

 We have "conclusive proof" that same sex attraction isn't fixed, but the same folx who have been telling us that it is are also telling us that  the "gender identity" of children is so fixed at a young age that we must encourage them to perform permanent changed to their bodies as the primary means of dealing with dysphoria. 

Vote Security

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/bridgeport-gomes-ganim-absentee-ballot-primary-18370447.php 

Strangely enough, according to the article, it appears that the city is more worried about how the video got linked, than the ballot stuffing.

It also appears that the woman stuffing the ballot box was Wanda Geter-Pataky a local democrat official, who it seems has a history of this sort of behavior.  

Nothing to See Here

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/video-teen-driver-struck-bicyclist-b2413215.html

 

This is one more instance where the media coverage would be significantly different had the driver been white and the victim black.  

The Las Vegas review Journal headline called it a "bike crash" initially.  

Trust

 One of my family members works for an organization designed to increase trust in the news media.  While a laudable goal, the very fact that the news media needs an organization to increase trust in it, maybe doesn't bode well for the news media.  

One of the conclusions they've drawn is the people trust local news more than national news, which makes sense.    However, when I see stories like I saw last night on our local CBS affiliate, I have to wonder.

The lead in to the story was that "crime was down 20%" in MPLS parks.   Well, that's a good thing, right?  Well, sort of.   The first set of stats the showed noted that serious crimes (rape, murder, assault, etc) were down by 3, that's correct 3.  Not 3%, but 3.   (from 72-69)    Wait, you say, that's not 20%.    Then they show the next batch of data which tells us that minor crimes, (property crimes) are down by 20%.    So, the lead in was part of the Truth, just not the whole Truth.   Of course, any crime reduction is better than no crime reduction, but wouldn't you think you'd want to reduce the serious crimes more than less serious?    How is this supposed to make park users feel safer?  

No wonder people don't trust the news as much as they used to.

Some might say that this was just a mistake, they just goofed.   If that's so, then why would I trust those in charge of catching mistakes before they air when they missed such an obvious one.   

Or one could wonder, if they'll twist the Truth in something like this, what else are they twisting? 

Trump

Trump flips his "strong pro life" stance because he wants dems to "like" him.    I suspect the True believers will try to spin this somehow to pretend like this isn't Trumps True character.     He's always been an amoral person who's primarily interested in winning.    

I post this because one of the talking points of the Trump faithful is his pro life record.   He absolutely nominated the justices that helped overturn Roe, and he talked a good game when he was in office.  But this undermines one of the big reasons why some voters were able to stomach voting for him.   Further, his answer sucked.  

All he had to say is something like- (paraphrased from Dana Loesch?)

"If the representatives elected by the people of the US  were to agree on legislation that set a 15 week limit on abortion, a restriction that has been favored by a majority of the US for quite some time, I would be very likely to sign it.   It seems like signing a bipartisan bill which represents the consensus of our citizens would be a reasonable next step in this contentious nationwide dialogue."

It seems like Trump is reverting to type and is less concerned than ever with giving his opponents ammunition. 

A Dose of Truth

"Here’s the TRUTH on how to win 2024 in a landslide: stop talking about Joe Biden & start talking about our own vision. The dirty little secret is that Biden isn’t even the one who’s in charge. The people we elect to run the government aren’t the ones who actually run the government right now. It’s the managerial class in the deep state. We blew the 2022 midterms because we acted like a bunch of partisan hacks spewing poll-tested platitudes about the “failed Biden agenda.” Well, we should expect the same fate in 2024 unless we level up & actually articulate what we stand *for.* I’m doing my part.  "

Vivek R 

The Truth is that he's right.   Not just for the GOP, but also for the DFL.   Neither side is spending a lot of time laying out a positive vision for the next administration.   What's amazing is that it's not that hard.    Come up with a list of 5-10 things that you will tackle in your term, provide specifics about how you will tackle those things, and explain the benefits of those things.   

I don't think Vivek will win this time around, I'm not even sure if I'd support him right now, but he has managed to balance some of the positive attributes of Trump (as a campaigner) , with a much better focus on policy and messaging, and without all the baggage.   We need more candidates like him going forward. 

BVMLTT

https://christoverall.com/article/concise/the-black-church-and-the-insignificance-of-ethnicity-in-light-of-the-gospel-of-christ/ 

While I might not agree with everything said in this piece, I do think that it is worth considering.    Especially in light of how many white progressive christians try to speak to and for the black experience, and how so many of the prominent black church leaders seem to be in lockstep with liberal politics.    

If nothing else it's refreshing to see a black scholar taking on this topic. 

Hunter, Hunter, Hunter...

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/hunter-biden-indicted-federal-gun-charges-rcna39623 

Not long ago Hunter Biden had a really sweet plea deal fall through, and many on the left tried to justify the sweep deal.    Well, now we know that the charges he was indicted for could bring him a total of 25 years in prison.      Now that sweet deal is looking even more corrupt.   

The very notion that the son of a sitting US president would get a plea that involved zero jail time for multiple federal gun felonies is absurd.   The fact the his father's political party (looking at you NM) is actively trying to manufacture ways to make legal, lawful gun owners guilty of federal crimes just makes it worse.  

Back in the day, the appearance of impropriety was enough to torpedo the career of a politician.  Now, it takes considerably more than that if you are a democrat. 

What's Sauce for the Goose...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/opinion/democrat-republican-electoral-votes.htm 

 

Democrats Have Been Shameless About Your Presidential Vote Too

NY Times 2021

Maybe the GOP is just following the lead of the DFL when they deny election results.  

Few objections were filed in accordance with the Electoral Count Act in the 20th century. But starting with George W. Bush’s victory in the 2000 presidential election, Democrats contested election results after every Republican win.

In January 2001, Representative Alcee Hastings of Florida objected to counting his state’s electoral votes because of “overwhelming evidence of official misconduct, deliberate fraud, and an attempt to suppress voter turnout.” Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas referred to the “millions of Americans who have been disenfranchised by Florida’s inaccurate vote count.” Representative Maxine Waters of California characterized Florida’s electoral votes as “fraudulent.”

Vice President Al Gore presided over the meeting in 2001. He overruled these objections because no senator joined them. Part of the reason they didn’t join, presumably, was that Mr. Gore conceded the election a month earlier.

In January 2005, in the wake of Mr. Bush’s re-election, Democrats were more aggressive. Senator Barbara Boxer of California joined Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio to lodge a formal objection to Ohio’s electoral votes. The objection compelled Congress to spend two hours in debate, even though Mr. Bush won Ohio by more than 118,000 votes.

Representative Barbara Lee of California claimed that “the Democratic process was thwarted.” Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York said that the right to vote was “stolen.” Ms. Waters objected too, dedicating her objection to the documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, whose 2004 movie “Fahrenheit 9/11” painted a dark (and at times factually debatable) picture of the Bush presidency.

Oh, Canada...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/peel-school-board-library-book-weeding-1.6964332 

It seems that our neighbors to the north are frequently further along the path the total dominance of liberal ideology than we are.    While we have the APL bitching about "book banning" in the US, we just have to look north to see what the left thinks about what books are appropriate for public consumption. 

Green Energy

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/10/1187224861/electric-vehicles-evs-cars-chargers-charging-energy-secretary-jennifer-granholm

 

What a goat rope.  Of course this ignores the reality that the raw materials for EV's are mined by slave labor (or severely underpaid labor), child labor, virtually zero protections for the damage to the environment, and multiple other less than "green" issues.  

Unpleasant Realities

https://thehill.com/opinion/education/579750-many-of-americas-black-youths-cannot-read-or-do-math-and-that-imperils-us/ 

https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/09/the-model-minority-myth-is-no-myth-at-all/

Data can be really difficult to deal with sometimes.   Given the DFL control of most large urban areas, and of most of the education infrastructure across the country, I  cannot see how the DFL escapes responsibility for this.   Even if this is "systemic racism" (ignoring the reality that most of the academic support for this notion just went up in smoke), then don't those who control the institutions bear responsibility for what those institutions do? 

More...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94QHNzsg1Ww

 

 

 

 

If...

 If gender is unrelated to genitals, and reproductive systems, then why is destroying the reproductive system and removing the genitals such a high priority?

Oppression

"Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021, females aren’t allowed to be educated past age 12. They can’t be seen in public without full body coverage. They can’t travel more than 45 miles from home without a male chaperone. They can’t work in sectors outside health or education. After age 8, they can’t be in direct contact with a male who’s not a blood relative. They can’t speak loudly in public since no one should be forced to hear a woman’s voice. They can’t wear heels, lest the sound of a woman’s footsteps inadvertently entice a man. All establishments with any reference to the word “woman” have been renamed. Street level windows must be painted over so that women in the home are not visible to men on the street. There’s a ban on women's presence on radio, television or at public gatherings of any kind. So when I see self-indulgent men in womanface wailing on TikTok about how oppressed they are by women who refuse to wax their balls or forfeit their athletic opportunities or honor their narcissistic pronoun demands, all I can figure is that these egomaniacal idiots are the unwitting brand ambassadors for the epitome of American male privilege. And maybe they would benefit from a little vacation to the streets of the Middle East where they could take up their demands with the Taliban and haggle over the definition of the “human rights” they seem to believe they lack."

Kaely Triller

 

While acknowledging that Afghanistan is not in the Middle East, she makes a reasonably good point.    It really boils down to people with first world problems needing to move the spotlight away from actual oppression.  

This is the best option for 2024

https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-vietnam-press-conference-gaffe-hanoi-1825898

 

Let's go Brandon!! 

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/11/politics/fact-check-biden-ground-zero-next-day/index.html

Just chalk this up as one more of the stupid lies this idiot spews whenever the mood strikes him.    Maybe his staff should fact check his speeches. 

What could possibly go wrong?

https://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/opinions/it-s-time-to-stand-for-children-and-pass-sage-s-law-the-child-protection/article_68753410-9cf2-11ed-b773-47c1e85df50a.html 

Let schools "socially transition" children without involving their parents, they said.   How could that possibly lead to problems?  

https://www.defendyoungminds.com/post/downfall-pornhub-interview-with-laila-mickelwait-bold-founder-traffickinghub-movement

Free porn on the internet they said.  How could it possibly be a bad thing?

Justice?

 How is it possible that Enrique Tarrio could be sentenced to 22 years in prison, while Shannon Brandt gets only 5 years?

Say His Name

 Eleazer Sidhu.  

Experts

https://medium.com/belover/what-happens-when-scholars-lie-8a1330a050d8

For those who say that we must listen to the experts, I'd ask what they would do when the experts falsify their research to move forward an agenda.   

https://www.thefp.com/p/i-overhyped-climate-change-to-get-published

What if the experts leave out details and Truth in order to get published?   Doesn't this undermine the whole system of giving people credibility because they've been published?   Doesn't it undermine the credibility of academic journals?

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-ivermectin-fda-doctors-lawsuit-bbc8d4fc726c08940ae4b0dad70170e0

What about when the government experts overstep their authority?

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/08/1197971952/biden-administration-fifth-circuit-ruling-social-media-injunction

Or when the administration violates the 1st amendment?

  https://voz.us/there-is-no-climate-emergency-two-nobel-laureates-lead-a-statement-against-environmental-sensationalism/?lang=en

Clearly these idiots can't be experts.  

OMG-One More "Gaffe"

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS0hc9mos8c

 

If one looks at the above video, it seems quite clear that Biden refers to his Secretary of Transportation  as "Secretary Booty Juice".

It's likely that this is just one more of what so many dismiss as "gaffes" that plague Biden.   Yet, the fact that they put so much faith in someone who makes one of these "gaffes" regularly, while demonizing GOP politicians (Quayle comes to mind) for committing a singular "gaffe".

Of course, "booty juice" could only refer to two things, neither pleasant.    Obviously the first would be diarrhea,  the second would be something else entirely. 

BVMLTT

" If you are a single black mom anywhere in this country today, every problem you have is something the democrats didn't fix for you.

If your kids are testing poorly, it's because democrats control your schools.

If your groceries cost too much, it's because you elected a president that don't care about how his policies affect you.

If your momma gets mugged, it's because liberal DA's think letting blacks get away with crime is reparations.

If your son gets gunned down in a drive-by, it's because democrats are in bed with the gangs.

It ain't no right-wing conspiracy theory.

Elections have consequences, and all the bad ones come from voting democrat."

Lavern Spicer

 

"I happened to see Miss Doris Lewis on Fox News this morning. She’s a well-spoken Black woman from Hyde Park Chicago and she is HOT that Biden just put 300 illegals right across the street from her expensive condo. She said “I’ve prepared myself financially to live where I am living, and to have the government come in and dump 300 people right next to me where I am paying a lot of money to live and they’re not paying one dime, it is not fair!” This basically sums up what the Black community feels about these illegals: Why them and not us. She said Chicago has a 76% black homelessness rate, and why ain’t nobody helping them out. She called out the president, the governor and the mayor to stop putting illegals over the Black folks already here. All I can say is, I feel for you Miss Doris but guess what:

You didn’t want Donald Trump so this is what you get. Only way it’s gonna change is if you stop voting Democrat."

 

 

 https://x.com/lavern_spicer/status/1698380556159893797?s=12&t=cLq01Oy84YkmYPZ-URIMYw

 

 

Lavern Spicer