Another Reason It Is Hard To Cut The Federal Budget

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Theoretically the federal budget is controlled by the House or Representatives. They are supposed to send a budget to the Senate and the Senate is supposed to vote on it and pass it on to the President to sign. Unfortunately the last time Congress completed all bills on time was 20 years ago, in 1996. We have operated under Continuing Resolutions for a long time and federal spending has ballooned because of it. Why do we keep electing people who are not interested in cutting spending? The following information might be a clue,

On Wednesday, Townhall reported the following:

The state of Florida had a population of 22,610,726 as of July 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That ranked third among all states — exceeded only by Texas, which had a population of 30,503,301; and California, which had a population of 38,965,193.

As of this September, federal, state and local governments in this country employed a record total of 23,421,000 individuals, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In other words, government payrolls were populated by more people than lived in the state of Florida or in any of 47 other states. Only California and Texas had populations that exceeded the number of people who work for government in this country.

The article notes the incredible coincidence that government employees vote Democrat–they want to preserve their jobs.

The article concludes with a few examples:

In Maryland’s District 4, 12.29% of workers work for the federal government. It is represented by Democratic Rep. Glenn Ivey. In Virginia’s District 11, 12.06% of workers work for the federal government. It is represented by Democratic Rep. Gerald Connolly. In Maryland’s District 3, 10.72% of the workers work for the federal government. It is represented by Democratic Rep. John Sarbanes.

Imagine what our Congress would be like if 10% or more of the workers in every congressional district worked for the government.

That’s how the system works.

The Consequences Of The Biden Administration’s Middle East Policy

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The Biden administration’s Middle East policy is simply a continuation of the Obama administration’s Middle East policy–strengthen Iran and weaken Israel. President Obama may or may not have been an anti-Semite–I am not going there right now. The idea was that a strong Iran would add stability to the Middle East. It was a really dumb idea because Iran wants to control the Middle East, not make peace. The policy of both administrations has been a disaster and has resulted in increased terrorism and loss of life in both Israel and its enemies.

On Thursday, Victor Davis Hanson posted an article at American Greatness about the situation in the Middle East.

The article notes:

Both the Harris-Walz presidential ticket and now lame-duck President Joe Biden keep insisting that they are Israel’s best friend.

A snarly Biden recently bragged at a contentious press conference, “No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None, none, none. And I think [Netanyahu] should remember that.”

Yet the thin-skinned and triggered Biden’s prickliness poorly hid—or perhaps revealed—the truth: this current administration knows that it is responsible for the current explosion of the Middle East and the particular dilemmas of Israel.

Biden further revealed his blame-gaming of the Israeli government when asked another loaded question about purported Netanyahu election interference, saying, “Whether he’s trying to influence the election, I don’t know.”

Election interference?

Biden apparently forgot who just flew Ukrainian President Zelensky into swing state Pennsylvania, just as early and mail-in voting there began, to lobby for more aid even as he trashed candidates Trump and Vance to a left-wing magazine.

Recently, Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris refused to say whether the Netanyahu administration is even an ally of the United States.

The Biden administration (and candidate Kamala Harris) are trying to have it both ways–they want to seem to support Israel, but they don’t want to alienate the Muslim voting bloc.

The article concludes:

After it all, Biden-Harris lifted sanctions on a hostile Iran, giving it $100 billion in oil windfalls. It begged Iran to reenter the disastrous Iran deal. It abandoned the Abraham Accords. It lifted the terrorist designation from the terrorist Houthis. It restored fungible aid to the Hamas tunnel builders. It gave new aid to Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon.

Israel’s enemies got the Biden message: attack the Jewish state and perhaps Americans for the first time in a half-century may not really mind that much.

And so they did in unison.

Rather than admitting their own role in igniting the Middle East, Biden and Harris now blame the victims of their own incendiary foreign policy.

The final irony?

Israel has concluded that Biden-Harris foolhardiness can be toxic—and endanger its very survival—and so will not agree to its own suicide.

Instead, Israel seeks to finish a multifaceted war it did not seek. And one of whose beneficiaries from Israeli blood and treasure will be the U.S. itself, given Israel is now systematically weakening America’s own existential enemies.

Israel is right to remove the terrorist threat that will not always be aimed only at Israel—it will eventually come our way.

Editing With A Purpose

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There are times in television or radio that an interview has to be edited to fit into a specific time. That happens frequently. There are other times when an interview or news article is edited to give a specific impression that may or may not be accurate or unbiased. The most recent example of this is the editing done by “60 Minutes” of the interview with Kamala Harris. Word salads were edited to make them sound like intelligent remarks.

On Wednesday, The Gateway Pundit reported:

This is the definition of election interference.

Apparently, Kamala’s interview with 60 Minutes was much worse than we first thought.

Fake news 60 Minutes was caught editing Kamala’s answers to make her sound coherent and normal.

In fact it was so bad that ’60 Minutes’ spliced her nonsensical answer and replaced it with a completely separate sentence she said earlier in the interview.

Here is the actual exchange:

Bill Whitaker: But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening?

Kamala Harris: Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region.

And here is ’60 Minutes” edited exchange:

Bill Whitaker: But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening?

Kamala Harris: We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.

Buyer beware when in comes to believing what you hear in the mainstream media.

Videos of the actual answer and the edited answer are posted in the article. Please follow the link to watch the video.

State Interference With Hurricane Relief

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I live in North Carolina, so I hear a lot of stories from people with friends and relatives out in the western part of the state. The only good news is the number of people who have joined up with groups and gone out there to help. It’s not a good idea to go by yourself, but hooking up with a group and going is a great idea. Samaritan’s Purse and the Cajun Navy are good groups to partner with. However, there have been some state and federal government groups that have been less than helpful.

On Wednesday, Red State reported the following:

As RedState reported on Tuesday, Brian Trascher, Vice President and PIO of the United Cajun Navy, confirmed the Sunday “rotor washing” event at one of their Hurricane Helene relief stations in North Carolina by what he surmised was a UH60 Blackhawk helicopter.

The article notes:

The North Carolina National Guard (NCNG) is aware of an incident involving a NCNG UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during a delivery of generators at the request of a local civilian organization to power their distribution outpost in western North Carolina.

While attempting to land, rotor wash caused items to blow away from the local distribution set up by a group of civilians in the area. The crew immediately identified the situation, aborted the landing for safety reasons, and departed the area.

This incident is currently under investigation and the crew has been grounded until the investigation is complete. The NCNG is working with the identified local civilian organization to assess the level of damage caused by the rotor wash.

…There is much-deserved ire against the federal government and its response—or lack thereof—to the Hurricane Helene tragedy in Western North Carolina. The fact that their own state national guard made this error only adds fuel to the fire of the people’s anger. The NCNG probably knew it would only be a matter of time before the discovery that it was their helicopter involved in the incident, so they got ahead of it in order to distract focus off them. This is CYA at its most disgraceful.

In my phone conversation with him on Monday, I asked United Cajun Navy’s Trascher about his suspicions about who it could be, and he mentioned the state’s Air National Guard. “They would answer to the governor of whatever state they came home to, and their own guard general,” Trascher said.

This may have actually been an innocent oversight, but it only adds fuel to the fire. The victims of Hurricane Helene have had almost as much damage done to them by the government (state and federal) as they did from the hurricane.

An Outsider?

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On Wednesday, Scott Johnson posted an article at Power Line Blog about Kamala Harris campaigning as a Washington outsider. We all need to remember that she has been a major player in Washington for the past 3+ years, casting tie-breaking votes in the Senate and according to President Biden, she has been in agreement with all of his policies. Kamala Harris broke the record for Vice-Presidents casting tie-breaking votes in the Senate–she cast 32 votes to help pass President Biden’s agenda. (This figure comes from The New York Times).

The article reports:

Vice President Harris is running for president as though she is somehow an outsider running against the establishment rather than its hand-picked mouthpiece. She’s not only an insider, she’s the second ranking officer in the incumbent administration. She has previously campaigned on every one of the policies of the Biden/Harris administration that have wrought so much damage to the United States.

To take only one example, consider Biden’s opening of the border and his invitation to the whole wide world to come on in. Come on in, that is, and enjoy the freebies. Enjoy the freebies, that is, at the expense of American taxpayers. These are the policies that Harris herself promoted during her 2020 presidential campaign.

And yet Harris has adopted these campaign themes: She has “a new way forward.” We’re not “going back.” Oh, yeah, and “it’s time to turn the page.”

Harris pretends to resolve the contradiction by asserting that she’s “not Joe Biden.” However, not surprisingly, she’s on “the same page” as Joe Biden. What if “it’s time to turn the page”? Harris herself was unable to keep up the pretense or reconcile the contradiction in her appearance on The View yesterday.

When asked on The View what should would have done differently from President Biden during the past four years, she replied, “There is not a thing that comes to mind.” So how is Kamala Harris going to ‘turn the page’ if she is elected after she and President Biden were on the same page for four years?

 

Wanting To Dismantle The Safety Net

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Our Founding Fathers were brilliant. They understood that the quest for power can undermine the common sense and integrity of some people. That is the reason they created three branches of government was to create checks and balances. They never wanted career politicians–they wanted ordinary citizens to come to Washington, serve in Congress for a few years, and return home to live under the laws that they had passed. It hasn’t worked that way. (see article) That is the reason the Electoral College was created. That is why Senators were to be chosen by their state legislatures rather than elected (unfortunately that was undone during Woodrow Wilson, and we see the mess it has created). Currently there is a move to eliminate the Electoral College–the structure that keeps America from being governed by New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Based on how well those cities are, do you want the entire country run by the same people?

On Wednesday, Breitbart reported the following:

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), the Democratic Party candidate for Vice President, called for the abolition of the Electoral College at a Tuesday fundraiser with California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) at his Sacramento home.

Walz, endorsing the Democrats’ campaign for a “National Popular Vote,” would give inordinate power to the large “blue” states, meaning presidential candidates would spend all their time in Democratic cities like New York City and Los Angeles.

The Democrats have also called for forced resignations from the Supreme Court and adding members to the Supreme Court to dilute the opinions of the conservative justices on the court. Changes to the Supreme Court would allow the Democrats to push unpopular policies through without having to rely on elected officials to make the laws. Eliminating the Electoral College would simply take away the voting rights of anyone who did not live in a major city.

Either or both policies would result in negative changes to the America we know.

Another Conspiracy Theory Bites The Dust

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Once again science has proven that there is no settled science. America first began examining putting fluoride in our public water systems in 1945, when Grand Rapids became the first city in the world to fluoridate its drinking water. The Grand Rapids water fluoridation study was originally sponsored by the U.S. Surgeon General, but was taken over by the NIDR (National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research) shortly after the Institute’s inception in 1948. The purpose of adding fluoride to the water was to fight cavities and to aid in tooth development in children. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and people who opposed it were mocked (fluoride deniers?).

On Tuesday, Hot Air posted an article about some of the recent studies on the impact of putting fluoride in drinking water. It has not gone as well as expected.

The article reports:

The American Public Health Association says:

Community water fluoridation is recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century. Water fluoridation has played a major role in lowering the rate of tooth decay in the U.S. 

Except it turns out, as I and many others who have read the studies, that this assertion is nonsense, and dangerous nonsense at that. 

Don’t trust me? After an enormous amount of pressure and years of “study” (other countries have studied the issue and chosen NOT to fluoridate or to discontinue it), the National Institutes of Health have admitted that fluoride at the levels we ingest it is toxic and actually lowers IQ. 

The article notes:

The point I want to make is not really about the wisdom of water fluoridation but rather about scientific “consensus.” Opponents of fluoridation have been portrayed as ridiculous and dangerous conspiracy theorists, but they have been right all along. The UN, the CDC, the ADA, and all the experts have attacked and ridiculed critics of fluoridation, who have suffered from being “discredited” for saying true things.

Does that sound familiar? It should. We just saw the exact same thing over the past four years, and enormous damage was done to billions of people.

I am not opposed to people developing “expertise;” we need specialists who focus on vital issues and acquire specialized knowledge.

Rather, the cult of expertise is the problem. In many cases, expertise is really just unearned certainty. No expert should be certain of things to the point that they ridicule others, prevent dissent, and quash inquiry.

Experts also tend to have such specialized knowledge that they totally miss the big picture. Our “experts” in public health never considered collateral damage from even somewhat effective interventions. Not understanding the costs of school closure, they blithely harmed tens of millions of children for no real benefit.

Until we get back to critical thinking and being willing to examine all sides of an issue, we are in danger of doing more harm than good with our ‘scientific consensuses.’

Wanting A Cease-Fire So They Can Re-Arm

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On Tuesday, The New York Post reported the following:

Hezbollah said Tuesday it is now ready to engage in cease-fire talks with Israel, after suffering serious blows to its leadership and ranks in recent months.

The terror group in Lebanon made the announcement after firing more than 100 rockets at the Jewish state hours earlier.

Hezbollah’s deputy secretary general, Naim Qassem, publicly endorsed a truce with Israel, the first such time the terror group has proposed a cease-fire not conditioned on the war in Gaza.

We need to remember that the only time the Arabs or the United Nations call for a cease-fire in the Middle East is when Israel is winning and the Arabs involved need time to re-arm. You can bet if the terrorists were winning they would be avoiding talks for a cease-fire.

The article concludes:

It remains unclear if Israel would accept a cease-fire deal with Hezbollah as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated that the operations in Lebanon would not end until he is assured the terror group will no longer pose an active threat to northern Israel.

The US and France have repeatedly urged for the two sides to engage in a truce over fears the conflict would spark an all-out war in the Middle East.

The only was to deal with terrorists is to defeat them totally. Otherwise October 7, 2023, will be an event that happens periodically. America understood that in World War II. If we don’t remember it, we will be on our way to World War III.

The Biggest Cases Coming Up For The Supreme Court

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On Sunday, The Daily Signal posted an article listing the biggest cases that will be decided by the Supreme Court in the upcoming session (which began Monday).

This is the list of the controversial cases:

  1. The case is called United States v. Skrmetti, and it involves a Tennessee law that bans giving children hormone treatments or genital surgeries to change a child’s body to match his or her chosen “gender identity.” That is, giving testosterone to and cutting off the breasts of girls who think they’re boys, and giving estrogen to and cutting off the penises of boys who think they’re girls.
  2. Americans have been handcrafting their own guns for hundreds of years. And for all those hundreds of years, nobody ever thought it was illegal. Even Democrats thought it was legal until just recently.What changed? Well, the Biden-Harris administration realized that it might be able to end this ancient tradition by deploying a slur. What were once handcrafted guns are now “ghost guns,” and with a name that spooky, they must be banned.
  3. The case is Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, but don’t get confused by the plaintiff’s name. This case doesn’t involve a noble fight against Big Tech censorship or a righteous stand against a screaming campus mob. No, this case is brought by pornographers hiding their smut behind the banner of free speech.Pornography rots brains, especially children’s brains, so Texas joined 19 other states and prudently passed a law saying that pornographic websites must verify that their users are over 18 years old. Texas, being a free state, wanted to strike the balance of allowing adults the freedom to make the self-destructive choice of watching pornography while protecting children who are too immature to fully appreciate the consequences of that choice.
  4. The Biden-Harris administration is obsessed with telling us that anyone who disagrees with it hates democracy. But at the same time, members of the administration are obsessed with doing end-runs around Congress and local elected governments to impose their will on the country.Their latest end-run is so egregious that even San Francisco is fighting back. The case is San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency, in which a super-lefty presidential administration has gotten on the last nerve of a super-lefty city.

Please follow the link to the article for further details. The last case is particularly interesting. If you don’t tell someone what a limit is, you can make a lot of money when you accuse them of going over it!

The Numbers Tell The Story

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The media tells us that Israel is unmercifully killing civilian Palestinians, but is that really the truth? First of all, Israel invites the civilians to leave an area before it attacks. It recommends safe zones for them to go. Secondly, there are very few Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank who do not support Hamas.

On Monday, Pamela Geller reported the following on the Geller Report:

Don’t say “Hamas’ massacre.” Say “the Palestinian massacre.” That’s the way Palestinians see Oct. 7.

Every poll of Palestinians since October 7, 2023, by both AWRAD – Arab World for Research and Development, and PSR – Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, shows that an overwhelming majority of Palestinians supported and continue to support the rapes, torture, beheadings, and murder of more than 1,100 people in southern Israel led by Hamas, and their kidnapping of 250 hostages.

Significantly, the polls found that the support in the West Bank was higher than the that the Gaza Strip. Asked if they supported the attack on Oct 7, the first poll in November 2023 found West Bank support at 83%. Half a year later, in June 2024, after the destruction in Gaza, 73% still said that the decision to attack Israel was correct. In the Gaza Strip, two months into the war support had already dropped to 63% and continued to fall to only 31% in March 2024, saying it was correct to attack. Astonishingly, the joy over the rape, torture, beheadings, and murder of Israelis was so great that even after much of Gaza was in rubble following Israel’s counter attack, for West Bank Arabs that one day of horror inflicted on Israelis, made the destruction of Gaza an acceptable price to pay.

Israel did not start this war. They did not wantonly murder innocent women and children. From what I have read, the October 7th invasion by Hamas was supposed to happen at a later date simultaneously with an invasion in the north of Israel by Hezbollah. Thank God that Hamas got impatient and started without Hezbollah. The only path to peace in the Middle East is through the elimination of Hezbollah, Hamas, and the leaders of their sponsor nation, Iran. A regime change in Iran will begin to bring peace to the region.

FEMA Isn’t Really Broke

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FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) isn’t really out of money. According to a Real Clear Investigations article posted on Sunday, FEMA has billions of dollars leftover from previous disasters.

The article reports:

While FEMA is expected to ask Congress for new money, budget experts note a surprising fact: FEMA is currently sitting on untapped reserves appropriated for past disasters stretching back decades.

An August report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General noted that in 2022, FEMA “estimated that 847 disaster declarations with approximately $73 billion in unliquidated funds remained open.” 

Drilling down on that data, the OIG found that $8.3 billion of that total was for disasters declared in 2012 or earlier.

Such developments are part of a larger pattern in which FEMA failed to close out specific grant programs “within a certain timeframe, known as the period of performance (POP),” according to the IG report. Those projects now represent billions in unliquidated appropriations that could potentially be returned to the DRF (Disaster Relief Fund).”

These “unliquidated obligations” reflect the complex federal budgeting processes. Safeguards are important so that FEMA funding doesn’t become a slush fund that the agency can spend however it chooses, budget experts said, but the inability to tap unspent appropriations from long-ago crises complicates the agency’s ability to respond to immediate disasters.

The article concludes:

Portnoy (Jeremy Portnoy of OpenTheBooks, a nonpartisan watchdog of government spending) first called attention to FEMA’s unspent funds in conversations with RealClearInvestigations on Sept. 8. He said it seems bizarre that federal officials would have a pot substantial enough to cover a projected shortfall while adding billions to the Disaster Relief Fund, but fail to draw on it.

“There is all that money just sitting there,” Portnoy said. “They’re saying they don’t have enough money but when you juxtapose it with the more than $8 billion, well, why not use that right now in Florida and other places?”

The “unliquidated obligations” have stayed on FEMA’s books because it “subjectively” extended the deadlines on some projects. The deadline for 2012’s Superstorm Sandy has been extended to 2026. 

“As a result, the potential risk for fraud, waste, and abuse increases the longer a program remains open,” a DHS report concluded.

Although DHS could probably reach into such unliquidated obligations to help restore order in areas devastated by Helene, experts note that bureaucracies are loath to resort to such tactics when budget negotiations are near, as they are when the fiscal year ends this month.

“The bridges that have been washed out, that’s not something FEMA will have to pay tomorrow,” Cavanaugh said. 

Please follow the link to the article for further details. This is outrageous. The bureaucracy grows and covers its tracks, and the taxpayers pay the price.

Actions Have Consequences

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On Saturday, The New York Post posted an article about some of the consequences of the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University last spring.

The article reports:

Columbia University saw donations at its annual fundraiser drop nearly 29% after the spate of anti-Israel protests on campus earlier this year.

The annual “Giving Day” event brought in $21.4 million in 2024, compared to $30 million in 2022, the last time the event was held, according to campus newspaper Columbia Spectator. Giving Day was postponed in 2023 due to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and the ensuing protests.

The Ivy League university also saw a nearly 28% drop in the number of gifts, falling from 19,229 in 2022 to 13,870, the lowest since 2015, the paper said.

The article concludes:

“Columbia is fortunate to have a dedicated community of alumni, parents and friends who recognize the impact their financial donations, volunteer time, talents, advice and mentoring make in assisting students and supporting the mission of the university and its schools,” a Columbia spokesperson said. “Their participation and support is ongoing and sincerely appreciated, and they continue to ensure the ongoing success of the university.”

The school has faced criticism for its mishandling of the demonstrations.

Anti-Israel protests resumed in September as the 2024-2025 school year commenced.

Columbia was one of the Ivy schools to be investigated by the Department of Education for civil rights violations under Title VI in December.

Someone needs to sit down with our university students and give them an honest history of Israel and the ‘Palestinians.’

Consider the following:

“We considered ourselves Jordanian until the Jews returned to Jerusalem. Then all of the sudden we were Palestinians – they removed the star from the Jordanian flag and all at once we had a Palestinian flag.” ~ Walid Shoebat

Walid Shoebat is also credited with saying:

One day during the 1960’s I went to bed a Jordanian Muslim, and when I woke up the next morning, I was informed that I was a Palestinian.

This is the original mandate for Palestine:

The ‘Palestinian refugees’ should be asking for land in Transjordan–not at Israel. If you study the history of Israel, you discover that the Palestinian refugees are not actually refugees–they left their property in Israel in 1948 because the Arab nations promised them that the Jews in Israel would be driven into the sea and the ‘Palestinians’ could then have the entire country to themselves. Obviously, it didn’t work out that way.

Bad News For America’s Senior Citizens

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On Sunday, Just the News reported that the Biden-Harris administration’s new Medicare prescription drug plan could wind up costing America’s taxpayers up to $20 billion over three years.

The article reports:

The budget analysis arm of Congress said the increased costs are due to the government subsidizing many seniors’ premiums by sending money to insurance firms, and it would cost at least $5 billion extra in 2025 alone and add to the deficit.

“The higher costs are attributable to the increases in subsidies for premiums and risk corridors,” the CBO told key lawmakers this week.

Does anyone remember medicine before the government got involved? Do you remember taking your children to the doctor when they all had ear infections and the doctor was able to look at all of them and charge you a reasonable price? Do you remember when doctors didn’t have to fill out a ton a paperwork just because you went in for your annual checkup. I suspect that if we all calculated what we spend on medical insurance vs. what we used to pay in medical expenses, we would find out we are paying much more. I understand the need for insurance for surgery and serious diseases, but what about going back to the time you could go to the doctor for a minor ailment and the bill was cheaper than your insurance payment for the month? The free market always works better without government interference.

The article concludes:

CBO responded that federal spending would increase between $10 billion and $20 billion in 2025 compared to earlier projections.

Lawmakers blasted the Biden/Harris administration for imposing such new cost on taxpayers

“As predicted, the Biden-Harris Inflation Reduction Act not only quelled investment for new cures, but caused Medicare prescription drug plan premiums to skyrocket, and Democrats are scrambling to cover it up before the election,” Arrington said .

“In July, the Biden-Harris CMS scrambled to create a new federal program that will send billions of tax dollars to large health insurance companies to cover up a massive flaw in their so-called Inflation Reduction Act.”

The new average plan bid for a standard Part D coverage increases by 179% for 2025 partly due to an underestimation of federal coverage of the Part D changes, CBO said.

Taking Action Where It Is Needed

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On Saturday, The Gateway Pundit reported that Representative Nancy Mace has introduced a bill to terminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Shelter and Services Program (SSP). I don’t want people to be homeless, but we can’t afford to feed and house all of the refugees of the world at the expense of our own citizens.

The article reports:

Mace blasted the program as a colossal misuse of taxpayer dollars that prioritizes illegal immigrants over American disaster victims, and her bill proposes redirecting all unspent SSP funds to aid Americans struggling to recover from natural disasters like Hurricane Helene.

“It’s unacceptable for Americans to grapple with the catastrophic aftermath of Hurricane Helene while the federal government remains fixated on spending hundreds of millions on a program sheltering illegal immigrants instead of helping our own citizens,” said Representative Nancy Mace.

“Kamala Harris and Alejandro Mayorkas have turned FEMA into a migrant resettlement agency. It’s time to end this mess.”

This is a screenshot of part of the article:

On Sunday Hot Air posted an article that includes a video of two Hispanics explaining how they have been staying in a nice hotel since July with all of their needs being met without being required to work. That is not good for them, and that is not good for America. Someone coming here to work is very different from someone coming here simply to live in luxury at other people’s expense.

The article at The Gateway Pundit concludes:

For the second year in a row, FEMA has been forced to implement Immediate Needs Funding, which puts long-term recovery projects on hold due to a severe shortage of Disaster Relief Funds (DRF).

This shortage, however, has been self-inflicted. FEMA’s own spending choices, including over $1 billion used to house and assist illegal immigrants, have drained its resources while Americans suffer in the aftermath of devastating natural disasters.

Despite FEMA’s claims that their hands are tied, the reality is clear: the agency is choosing to divert critical funds away from disaster-stricken Americans to support the Biden administration’s open-border policies.

FEMA’s actions betray their mission and prioritize political agendas over the well-being of American citizens.

As Hurricane Helene victims continue to wait for meaningful aid, Congresswoman Mace’s bill offers a solution that puts Americans first. It’s time for FEMA and the Biden administration to stop the lies and start prioritizing the needs of their own citizens.

I hope this bill gets passed quickly. Unfortunately the hurricane season is not over.

What They Didn’t Tell You About The Jobs Report

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On Friday, The Daily Caller posted an article about the September jobs report. The article took a look a some of the trends in American employment in recent years.

The article reports:

More than 800,000 fewer native-born Americans are employed than last year as job gains among Americans continue to lag behind those of foreign-born workers, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The number of foreign-born workers employed increased by approximately 1.2 million year-over-year in September, while 825,000 fewer native workers were employed, BLS data shows. The large annual difference is in spite of the roughly 920,000 upward employment fluctuation for native-born workers in September compared to August, after a 1,325,000 drop from July to August.

The article also notes:

Real wages have decreased by 1.3% in real terms between the first quarter of 2021 and the second quarter of 2024 as Biden-era inflation continues to dog American wallets. Prices have risen more than 20% since Biden took office in January 2021, with the rate of inflation rising from 1.4% at the conclusion of former President Donald Trump’s administration up to roughly 9% in June 2022.

To combat skyrocketing inflation, the Federal Reserve hiked rates to a 23-year high range of 5.25% and 5.50% in July 2023 before proceeding to hold rates steady until issuing a 0.5% cut in September. The combination of elevated rates and high inflation helped push many Americans into bankruptcy, with delinquent credit card balances reaching their highest level since at least 2012 in the first quarter of 2024.

It should also be noted that the majority of growth in the number of jobs created is in government jobs–not in the private sector. When the government is growing, the private sector is shrinking. That is not good for the future American economy.

It’s Not Really Harmless

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On Friday, Hot Air posted an article about the dangers of recreational use of marijuana.

The article reports:

There are now 24 states, plus the District of Columbia, that have legalized recreational marijuana. This change in attitude toward the drug was originally driven by a push to make it legal for medicinal purposes, i.e. for cancer patients and other people struggling with nausea. But over time this morphed into the kind of broader legalization we have today.

But as many have noted, the drug being sold today is not like the stuff some were smoking in the 1970s or 1980s. Today’s cannabis products are often many times more potent and along with that has come a host of problems that are only starting to be recognized by many doctors, everything from addiction to psychosis. As with any drug, the people who use it most frequently are the ones most likely to experience problems.

…In the worst cases, heavy users experience exactly the kind of symptoms that cannabis is generally thought to alleviate, i.e. nausea, vomiting and pain. This is known as cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome and it can even lead to death in extreme cases.

The article quotes The New York Times:

“Not everyone who smokes cigarettes develops lung cancer, and not everyone who has lung cancer smoked cigarettes,” said Dr. Deepak Cyril D’Souza, a professor at Yale School of Medicine and a staff psychiatrist at VA Connecticut Healthcare Systems. “But we now know, after denying it for many, many decades, that the association between the two is very important. The same is true for cannabis and psychosis.”…

A study in 11 sites across Europe found that people who regularly consumed marijuana with at least 10 percent THC were nearly five times as likely to develop a psychotic disorder as those who never used it. A study in Ontario found that the risk of developing one was 11 times as high for teenage users compared with nonusers.

The article concludes:

Weed is not always harmless and it can be addictive. It’s probably especially bad for younger people whose brains are still maturing. Does that mean it should be illegal? Not necessarily. Alcohol kills a lot of people every year but prohibition didn’t work. Nevertheless, anyone who is using potent cannabis everyday is setting themselves up for problems. Hacking your own chemistry to feel good is always subject to a law of diminishing returns. Sorry if I sound like a 1980s after-school special but I’ve been pretty consistent on this since I was 16 myself. Don’t do drugs, kids.

Using any mind-altering substance while you are young and your brain is still developing is not smart.

Charity Should Begin At Home

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On Friday, Breitbart posted an article about the humanitarian aid America is sending to Lebanon to help in the ‘crisis’ there.

The article reports:

The United States announced that it would be providing $157 million in humanitarian aid to address the “crisis in Lebanon” and those who have been affected by it.

In a press release on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed that the “nearly $157 million” in humanitarian assistance would go towards addressing “new and existing needs to internally displaced persons and refugee populations” for communities in Lebanon.

“The United States will provide nearly $157 million in new U.S. humanitarian assistance to support populations affected by conflict in Lebanon and the region,” Blinken said in the press release. “This funding will address new and existing needs of internally displaced persons and refugee populations inside Lebanon and the communities that host them. The assistance will also support those fleeing to neighboring Syria.”

The article concludes:

The news that roughly $157 million in humanitarian aid would go towards helping the people affected by the fighting in Lebanon comes as communities in western North Carolina, such as the city of Asheville and the village of Chimney Rock, were affected by heavy rains and flooding from Hurricane Helene. Other communities in eastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, Georgia, and Florida were also affected.

President Joe Biden previously announced that the U.S. would be sending $8 billion in military aid to Ukraine. Days after this announcement, Vice President Kamala Harris announced $750 in assistance for the victims of Hurricane Helene.

“The federal relief and assistance that we have been providing has included FEMA providing $750 for folks who need immediate needs being met, such as food, baby formula, and the like. And you can apply now.”

This represents $50 more than the Biden administration gave to those who were affected by the Maui wildfires.

If you live in an area effected by the hurricane and you vote for Kamala Harris, you are delaying or denying any help you will ever get from the government. Ask the people of Hawaii. I believe that if President Trump is elected, he will do what it takes to restore the areas impacted by the hurricane. I am really not impressed by the response of the Biden/Harris administration.

The Government Relief Efforts For Hurricane Helene Are Not Being Handled Well

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On Saturday, Townhall posted an article about the government relief efforts for the victims of Hurricane Helene. Unfortunately, the government is being more of a hindrance than a help.

The article reports:

Into this hellscape of destroyed cities, overturned cars, and shattered lives have parachuted the Presidential “nominee” of the Democratic Party—the one nobody actually voted for—Kamala Harris. Conservative estimates of the cleanup in Helene’s wake exceed $ 300 billion…but the tone-deaf Harris put on her cheeriest face and announced that victims would be getting reparations from Washington. In an October 2nd speech in Augusta, GA (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/10/02/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-on-response-and-recovery-efforts-following-hurricane-helene-augusta-ga/) Mrs. Time To Turn The Page stunned onlookers with these words:

“…And the federal relief and assistance that we have been providing has included FEMA providing $750 for folks who need immediate needs being met, such as food, baby formula, and the like. And you can apply now.”

Wow! Your home has been leveled, your car is crushed under tons of rubble, your streets are closed, and your cell phone is useless. But it isn’t all bad news: you can “apply” for a $750 gift card from Kamala Harris.

And where’s the Federal Emergency Management Agency? FEMA—according to its inept and impeached head Alejandro Mayorkas, speaking on Air Force One–“…does not have the funds to make it through the hurricane season.”

The article notes:

What rubbish. FEMA—crying crocodile tears about not having enough funds—isn’t mounting any substantial operations in many stricken areas. In fact, FEMA left hundreds of thousands of Helene victims without even cellphone communications until Donald J. Trump stepped in and tapped Elon Musk to provide StarLink™ trucks which are now operating in areas where cell towers collapsed during the hurricane.

This is not to diminish in any way the heroic work of the National Guard, state and local authorities and private citizens who have worked tirelessly in the wake of Helene’s fury to rescue people in their communities. Additionally, we all are blessed that groups like Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse, The Salvation Army and Team Rubicon immediately rolled up their sleeves and mobilized to literally save lives throughout the hurricane’s path. God bless every one of them.

The private sector always does it better! On August 12th, 1986, US President Ronald Reagan said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” He was right.

 

The Often Overlooked Problem With Electric Vehicles

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On Wednesday, Hot Air posted an article about an often overlooked problem with electric vehicles. Lithium batteries are prone to catch fire when exposed to salt water. So if you live on the coast, you need to get very far away from any incoming hurricane. Unfortunately, the problem does not seem to be limited to exposure to salt water.

The article reports:

Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) going boom in the worst places and what to do when that happens.

On Thursday, the 26th of September, on the freeway outside of the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, California, one of “those accidents” happened.

A tractor-trailer carrying large lithium-ion batteries overturned and caught on fire on a highway near the Port of Los Angeles on Thursday, snarling traffic and leading to road closures and the shuttering of several terminals at the port.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement Thursday night that the fire was expected to burn for at least another 24 to 48 hours and that a roughly seven-mile stretch of California State Route 47, from the Vincent Thomas Bridge to Long Beach,would be closed in that period.

The Port of Los Angeles, the busiest port in the Western Hemisphere, said that several terminals would be closed on Friday.

The crash in the San Pedro neighborhood on Thursday morning did not result in any injuries, but fire crews were taking precautions to block hazardous materials from potentially spreading from the batteries, one of which exploded, the department said.

The article notes:

In the meanwhile, Hurricane Helene was making a beeline for the Florida Coast, and FL officials were out with warnings about EVs and saltwater not mixing. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis urged EV owners this week to get their vehicles to higher ground before Hurricane Helene arrived. Although the problem is rare, there have been a number of instances in recent years of electric vehicles igniting after hurricanes.

Keeping electric vehicles out of standing water is the best way to avoid the possibility of a fire.

Tesla offers similar advice about avoiding letting its vehicles become submerged if at all possible, but if that does happen the carmaker suggests towing the vehicle at least 50 feet away from structures or anything combustible until it can be inspected by a mechanic.

The article also notes that the vehicle may ignite well after you thought the danger was over. There is also the issue of what fumes may be released during the fire or the fact that a lithium fire is very difficult to put out. It really is time to re-evaluate the value of the current generation of electric vehicles.

Bringing Aid Without Government Red Tape

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On Tuesday, Hot Air posted an article about communication is being restored in the areas of the country that were devastated by Hurricane Helene. It’s ironic that the very organization that the government prevented from creating an internet infrastructure is the organization that has come to the rescue.

The article reports:

Residents hit by Hurricane Helene are getting internet through Starlink because no other service is working, and in many cases won’t be for weeks or months.

In fact, there are regions with no access to communications at all, but for Starlink, which is why Elon Musk and Donald Trump are rushing in Starlink terminals.

What most people don’t know is that, originally, Starlink was approved as part of Kamala Harris’ plan to connect hundreds of thousands of rural homes to the internet at broadband speeds.

You know, that program that has yet to connect a single home…

I say originally because the FCC–for obviously political reasons–decided to cut Starlink out of the program due to bogus claims that it hadn’t proven that it could provide the service reliably, and there is no way on Earth that the government would spend money on something that wasn’t 100% bulletproof.

As Joe Biden would say, no joke.

Now individuals, local government units, and soon Elon Musk himself will rush into the stricken areas RELIABLE Starlink terminals to provide communications services to people, first responders, and the National Guard. Without Starlink, tens or hundreds of thousands of people would be completely cut off.

This is another example of a person who knows how to get things done vs. a politician who has no idea how the world outside his bubble works. President Trump and Elon Musk are businessmen. Their profits depend on problem solving. Generally speaking, the only way politicians solve problems is to throw more money at them.

This Is NOT A Solution

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The mainstream media is happily reporting that the dock workers’ strike is over. Well, it is for now. There are a few problems with that statement. Both sides have agreed to extend the current contract through January 15th (a Wednesday) while they continue to negotiate. The new President (whoever that may be) will be sworn in January 20th (a Monday). We should be prepared for an extended strike at that point.

A U.K. Daily Mail article updated October 4th states:

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris celebrated the news that the International Longshoremen’s Association union had temporarily paused their strike until after the election.

The union ended their three-day strike until January 15, after reaching a temporary agreement with the U.S. Maritime Alliance.

The port employers offered workers to increase wages by 62 percent, according to reports, which helped reach a ‘tentative agreement.’

That’s a pretty major wage increase. Because it will increase the cost of every item shipped, what will it add to the price of goods and the increasing inflation?

This is not a solution to the problem–it is simply kicking the can down the road so someone else can deal with it.

Priorities, People!

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On Thursday, The EconoTimes posted an article about the role of the government in providing relief to the victims of Hurricane Helene. The Biden/Harris administration has warned Americans that FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) may run out of money before the end of the hurricane season.

The article reports:

In a shocking development, the Biden-Harris administration announced that FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) may not have enough resources to make it through the rest of hurricane season. This warning comes on the heels of billions of dollars being allocated to foreign aid, raising concerns about the government’s ability to respond to domestic natural disasters.

“FEMA’s Running Dry — And They Just Sent Billions Overseas! How Are We Supposed to Get Through This?”

The administration’s statement was made public on Monday, September 30, raising alarm about the depleted state of FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund (DRF). With hurricane season still in full swing, this could leave millions of Americans vulnerable in the event of further catastrophic weather events.

In June 2023, The New York Post reported:

New York City is set to receive $104.6 million in grant funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help cover its growing expenses related to the ongoing migrant crisis, Sen. Charles Schumer’s office confirmed to The Post.

That’s a third of the $363 million left in the pot allocated by FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program, dedicated to helping municipalities around the US and nonprofits providing shelter and other services to homeless migrants who crossed into the country from the southern border. 

Although it’s also far less than the $650 million total initially requested by NYC Mayor Eric Adams earlier this year, the Big Apple has now received the largest grant from the program compared to other jurisdictions.

The migrant crisis in New York City is a crisis caused by the open-border policies of the Biden/Harris administration. The devastation in western North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida is caused by a natural disaster. FEMA money should be reserved for natural disasters–not man-made crises.