Author Archives: granny g

Making The World A Safer Place

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Anyone paying attention has noticed that China has been increasing its reach in the South China Sea by building artificial islands, declaring them Chinese territory, and claiming the ocean around them. China has made no secret of the fact that it plans to be the single super-power in the world in the near future. President Trump recently negotiated a deal that will make that slightly more difficult.

On Saturday, Breitbart posted an article about a deal between Denmark and America about Greenland.

The article reports:

Denmark’s government was cautiously optimistic on Saturday about Donald Trump’s announcement of a deal on Greenland to bolster U.S. military presence there but keep the island under Danish control, following months of threats by the U.S. president to seize the semiautonomous territory of a NATO ally.

I suspect that those threats were part of the negotiating process, but I can’t say that for sure.

The article notes:

After Trump’s announcement Friday, the office of Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said the deal will be signed by all three governments next week during the United Nations General Assembly, but parliamentary action is still needed by the Danish and Greenland governments before it can be enforced.

“Next week could be a good week … for Greenland, Denmark, and the United States alike,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen wrote on Instagram Saturday morning.

“A period of uncertainty will hopefully be replaced by a binding agreement that strengthens security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic – and thus also our shared security within NATO and Europe – while respecting the Kingdom´s red lines,” he added.

Greenland’s government leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen said he was happy about the deal which he said “benefits not only our collective security, but also the continued development here in the country.”

The article concludes:

After his return to the White House, Trump had called on Denmark to sell the island to the U.S., while insisting Greenland is crucial for U.S. security. He pointedly wouldn’t rule out taking the island by military force, even though Denmark is a NATO ally of the U.S.

Denmark and Greenland repeatedly said the island is not for sale and condemned reports of the U.S. gathering intelligence there. The U.S. push for Greenland was also fiercely opposed by Russia and much of Europe.

Greenland grassroots pro-sovereignty activist Orla Joelsen wrote on X that “our fight against Trump´s ambition to take over Greenland has been won.”

“The new agreement explicitly recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and the Greenlandic people´s right to self-determination,” the activist added.

The shipping lanes around Greenland are going to become even more strategic in the future as the counties around the North Pole develop better methods of navigating through the ice. This agreement is a step forward for the free world.

Voting With Their Feet

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As we approach the mid-term elections, it might be a good idea to take a look at the consequences of some of the ideas that the Democrat party is espousing. Those consequences are visible in blue states such as California, Minnesota, New York, and others. Many blue states are losing population as businesses and residents leave those states to go to states with better economic conditions and fewer regulations.

On Friday, American Greatness posted an article about another major company talking about leaving California because of the actions of California’s Attorney General.

The article reports:

An antitrust battle over a proposed merger of Paramount Skydance with Warner Brothers has Paramount’s CEO David Ellison threatening to move the studio out of the state of California.

The Daily Caller reports the Hollywood giant is weighing moving its operations out of California while the state’s Democratic attorney general leads a lawsuit seeking to block its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

The California Attorney General Rob Bonta, backed by 11 other state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America, filed a lawsuit to block the deal on antitrust grounds, according to The Wrap.

According to TMZ, officials within the Los Angeles Mayor’s office and California Attorney General’s office say Paramount has threatened to leave California and move its operation to another state, if the matter isn’t settled by Oct 1.

…A leaked internal report warns that if Paramount follows through on the move, the impact on California’s economy could include the loss of up to 58,000 jobs, a $21 billion hit to economic output, and a reduction of up to $1.17 billion in annual state tax revenue, according to Yahoo Finance.

The Daily Caller reports that Paramount’s departure would be another blow to the state’s already shrinking entertainment industry.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the region shed roughly 57,000 entertainment jobs over the past four years, while more than 80 film and television production service businesses have closed since 2022.

The article concludes:

The threatened move underscores how California’s current regulatory climate is becoming intolerable despite Governor Newsom’s claims that the state would continue to be the entertainment capital of the world for decades to come.

UPDATE: Sept 22

From The Hollywood Reporter:

After all of that sound and fury, that’s it? “I don’t think these two companies should merge,” said California attorney general Rob Bonta in unveiling a settlement with David Ellison to allow the mogul to do just that with Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery.

I wonder if Paramount will stay in California.

Not Surprising

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Iran is losing the war with America (and Israel). The flow of money into the country has been severely limited, the Revolutionary Guard may or may not be getting paid, and the government is not on steady ground. So what is Iran doing? It’s working very hard to get a nuclear bomb so that it can be the bully on the block.

On Friday, Trending Politics posted an article about increased activity around Pickaxe Mountain in Iran.

The article reports:

New satellite imagery reviewed by the Institute for Science and International Security shows additional earthen barriers and soil around entrances at Pickaxe Mountain, a deeply buried facility President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike.

Imagery from Sept. 11 shows roadblocks still blocking access to western tunnel portals, according to the institute.

The group said the restricted access supports its assessment that the facility is not currently being used for normal operations, while also suggesting valuable equipment or materials may remain inside.

Analysts also identified additional soil placed over one western tunnel portal and a nearby cluster of older entrances.

…“Washington can do what it’s traditionally been able to do with sites that are underground, hardened and fortified, and that’s to bury their entrances and raise the political cost to the Islamic Republic of being able to dig out,” he said.

“While there may not be the perfect munition just yet, Uncle Sam always has a bigger bomb,” Ben Taleblu (Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies) added. “And in the meantime, what they can do is show that they mean business by burying the entrances.”

Separate satellite imagery also shows Iran rebuilding another sensitive facility at the Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran.

Iran is not historically a Muslim country. Before the Islamic takeover in 1979, the state religion in Iran was Zoroastrianism. Iran was a Persian country–not an Arab country. If Iran is able to obtain a nuclear weapon, it will not hesitate to use it–first on Israel and then on America. The goal of the current leadership of Iran is to create chaos in order to bring back the 12th Imam. Mutually assured destruction (MAD), which was America’s policy toward the Soviet Union during the cold war, does not work with Iran because they welcome nuclear war. Shiite Islam is essentially a death cult. We don’t need to allow them to follow through on their wishes to develop and use nuclear weapons.

Avoiding The Rest Of The Story

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On Saturday, PJ Media posted an article about a Government Accountability Office report that is totally misleading.

The article reports:

Washington has discovered a government program that costs billions of dollars, and naturally, everyone is shocked.

The Government Accountability Office says federal agencies spent an estimated $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave in 2025. Roughly $6.7 billion of that was tied to the Trump administration’s Deferred Resignation Program, which allowed workers who agreed to leave government to remain on salary while generally no longer working.

…There’s just one problem.

The $6.7 billion figure is an estimated one-time cost of removing workers from the federal payroll. OPM (Office of Personnel Management) Director Scott Kupor has said the Deferred Resignation Program is expected to save more than $20 billion every year because those salaries disappear after the employees leave.

Spend $6.7 billion once to reduce annual spending by more than $20 billion, and suddenly the story sounds rather different.

Except that, Washington being Washington, there’s another concern.

GAO says OPM can’t accurately determine the program’s actual net savings because it never established a separate payroll category to track administrative leave used for workforce reductions. Administrative leave for the resignation program was mixed together with other forms of administrative leave in the federal payroll system.

The article concludes:

OPM’s more-than-$20-billion annual savings figure remains the administration’s projection. GAO isn’t endorsing it. GAO also isn’t saying the Deferred Resignation Program lost taxpayers $6.7 billion on balance. Its report says something more inconvenient: the federal government doesn’t yet have the data necessary to accurately calculate the answer.

And somehow, “Government Accounting Is Too Messy to Know the Final Number Yet” didn’t make many headlines.

The $6.7 billion is real enough to deserve scrutiny.

So is the part people keep leaving out.

It will be interesting to see exactly how much the annual deficit is when the government closes its books at at the end of September. We won’t actually see all of the Department of Government Efficiency Agency (DOGE) cuts, but between some of the cuts and the increased revenue due to the tax cuts (yes, tax cuts result in increased revenue), it will be interesting to see what the deficit for the past year actually is.

Fixing Something That Was Broken

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The H1-B Visa program has come under scrutiny in recent years because it has been abused by American companies. We have all heard the story about Disney employees being forced to train their foreign replacements. Disney imported workers because foreign workers will work for less money and fewer benefits. It was about their bottom line. That wasn’t the intention of the H1-B Visa.

On Saturday, Amuse On X posted an article about a recent Executive Order by President Trump designed to fix the abuses in the H1-B Visa program.

The article reports:

A company can tell its investors in the morning that it needs fewer workers and tell Washington in the afternoon that it cannot find enough of them. Closing a semiconductor fab in Ohio and hunting for a chip designer in Austin can produce both sentences honestly. The harder case is when the two sentences describe the same desks. For more than 30 years, nobody in the federal government was assigned to sort one from the other. On September 18, President Trump signed an executive order that gives that comparison to the agencies already charged with reviewing H-1B sponsorship.

…Last December 14, defending the president’s $100,000 fee, I wrote that no bureaucrat could tell a real shortage from wage arbitrage and that price should do the screening. The same week as the new order, a companion proclamation renewed that payment for certain petitions through September 21, 2027. The administration reports that lottery registrations from the major IT staffing and outsourcing firms fell from 24,946 to 2,055, a 92% decline. That is the government’s own figure. Several policies changed at once, and a registration is not a hire. Even so, the drop is large enough to take seriously. On July 24, the First Circuit refused to stay the judgment vacating the fee in State of California v. Mullin; the immigration bar’s reading is that collection remains blocked, a price can be enjoined, and this one was, and what is left standing is the power to compare what a sponsor swore to against what its own payroll shows. Examiners cannot read motives. They can read records.

The article concludes:

The next president can quietly withdraw an order. Heritage’s November 25, 2025 report by Simon Hankinson recommended searchable monthly data on petitions, layoffs, complaints, and investigations, and Thursday’s text promises nothing of the kind. Without those numbers, workers and compliant employers have no way to tell an enforcement program from an annoucement. The administration should publish the reviews it opens, the violations it establishes, and the wages it recovers. Daniel Kishi of American Compass proposed in March that sponsors be required to post jobs domestically first and that displacement liability follow the work through the labor contractor to the company that benefits from it. Until that is statute, the client that hands its IT department to an outsourcer stays insulated from the layoffs that follow.

After the American engineer, the people with the most to gain from the review are the foreign professionals hired honestly. Their reputation is currently set by brokers like Dattapuram, and every invented job makes a real one look suspect. If Labor finds that the laid-off and the newly sponsored did different jobs, the sponsors lose a few weeks. If it finds what Disney’s technicians found in 2015, some of the largest names in American business have been swearing to things that weren’t true, and we will finally have it in writing.

This is definitely a step in the right direction.

The Numbers The Media Is Not Showing You

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From an X post:

In case you are having trouble reading the numbers:

INFLATION
🟦 Biden: +12.3%
🟥 Trump: +4.3%

GROCERIES
🟦 Biden: +15.8%
🟥 Trump: +3.3%

GAS
🟦 Biden: +69%
🟥 Trump: +12%

RENT
🟦 Biden: +7.7%
🟥 Trump: +4.5%

ELECTRICITY
🟦 Biden: +19.1%
🟥 Trump: +8.4%

NEW & USED CARS
🟦 Biden: +23.9%
🟥 Trump: −1.2%

I know gasoline prices are high right now, but they will come down. We know the reason they are high. Unfortunately because previous administrations loved kicking the can down the road, we were faced with a choice between higher gasoline prices or Iran with a nuclear weapon. Our children and grandchildren will appreciate the fact that we (so far) have been willing to make that sacrifice.

The post at X states:

That doesn’t mean Americans aren’t feeling real affordability pressure. They ARE. But during Biden’s term, I REMEMBER the media making it feel like everything was fine but the opposite was felt by Americans in the real world. Today, it seems to be the opposite. People’s conditions are improving but the perception is that life is worse. That’s exactly why you have to separate how people feel, what they’re being told, and what the underlying data actually show. We’re heading toward the 2026 midterms.

A vote for Republicans in the mid-terms is a vote for a strong economy. A vote for the Democrats is a vote for less freedom and more regulations.

Trying To Keep Our Elections Secure

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On Friday, The Federalist posted an article about Ohio’s Proof-Of-Citizenship Law.

The article reports:

A pair of election integrity groups are asking a federal appellate court to uphold Ohio’s law requiring proof-of-citizenship to vote, The Federalist has learned.

“Ohio is right to require proof of citizenship when registering to vote,” Honest Elections Project (HEP) Executive Director Jason Snead told The Federalist. “This case is yet another baseless attempt by left-wing activist litigants to create chaos in elections and to fight any reasonable steps states make to ensure that only citizens are registered to vote.”

Citizenship is a requirement to vote in federal elections. Some jurisdictions have allowed non-citizens to vote in local elections, but that is strictly a local matter. If you have to be a citizen to vote, why is having to prove you are a citizen even up for discussion?

The article notes:

Filed by HEP and the Center for Election Confidence (CEC) on Wednesday, the amicus brief obtained by The Federalist urges the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a temporary ruling by Ohio-based Senior District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. The Clinton appointee issued a preliminary injunction last month halting enforcement of a state requirement that individuals provide documentary proof-of-citizenship when registering to vote.

As described by Courthouse News, Oliver argued that the contested provision is “preempted by the National Voter Registration Act and increases the likelihood that U.S. citizens fail to register for elections.” The preliminary injunction “suspends the requirement for documentation ahead of the Oct. 5 registration deadline for the midterm election.”

How difficult is it to prove you are a citizen? A birth certificate, a social security card, a passport are accepted as proof of citizenship. A married woman may include her marriage certificate to show a name change. It’s really not that hard.

The article concludes:

HEP and CEC further contended that Ohio is likely to succeed on the merits of the case because the U.S. Constitution’s qualifications, electors, and elections clauses “give States exclusive authority to set and enforce voter qualifications in federal elections.” They argued that Ohio’s law complies with that authority and that “Congress lacks power to preempt it.”

“CEC is honored to support Ohio’s common-sense protection for the integrity of its elections,” CEC Executive Director Lisa Dixon told The Federalist. “Like millions of other Ohioans, the voters challenging the law offered proof of citizenship and registered to vote successfully, so this lawsuit should end now.”

At least 12 states have enacted laws requiring proof-of-citizenship in order to vote in elections, according to Ballotpedia.

About That ‘Buying Votes’ Thing

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Recently at a rally, President Trump promised a $5000 check to Americans if the Republicans hold the Congress in the mid-term elections. Democrats and some Republicans were apoplectic. How dare he buy votes! What about the deficit! Well, I understand the concerns about the deficit, but how much of that deficit will we wipe out by ending fraud and gaining tariff income? Meanwhile, the Democrats are buying votes!

On Wednesday, Legal Insurrection posted an article about a program the Democrats have initiated in Texas.

The article reports:

Townhall Media caught Sky McAdams, an organizing manager for Texas Majority PAC, admitting to a scheme involving paying people to influence others to vote for Democrats.

You know they desperately want Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talerico to win.

You can’t pay someone to vote for a candidate, but apparently the PAC discovered a way around the rule.

The article includes the following video:

From the video:

MCADAMS: We are paying people $25 to attend a one-hour Zoom class to learn why voting is important and why the Republicans are causing all of these bad things. So it’s like a roundabout way of paying people for their votes, essentially, which is interesting.

PERSON RECORDING THE VIDEO: What’s the – what’s this called?

MCADAMS: It’s called the Paid Relational Program. I think rally Texas is the official name. You can’t pay someone to vote for someone. You can’t be like, “Here’s $25, go vote for me.” You can say, “Attend a one-hour class and you can receive $25.” And then the class just talks about the importance of…it’s a little gray.

PERSON RECORDING THE VIDEO: But right now we could use all the help we can get.

MCADAMS: If I was a Republican, I would be pissed. I would be like, “That’s shady as f**k.”

Relentless’s website admits that it recruits “low-propensity voters and compensates them for their time as they reach, persuade, and mobilize their friends and family to vote.”

The article concludes:

The Democrats are desperate. This scheme should not surprise anyone.

It also should not surprise anyone when absolutely nothing happens to Texas Majority PAC or Relentless.

Unfortunately, that’s where we are, folks!

Behind The Panic About Artificial Intelligence

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After a while, you have to be sleeping not to recognize when a campaign is mounted to influence how you view something. Recently we have seen a campaign whose goal is to force Congress to regulate Artificial Intelligence (AI). Who is behind this campaign and why do they want government regulation?

On Tuesday, Issues & Insights posted an article about the AI panic that is currently being fed by the mainstream media.

The article asks the question:

Twelve years ago, Stephen Hawking said that “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.”

Heck, Frank Herbert warned in his 1965 sci-fi classic, “Dune,” that “Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.” Countless other sci-fi plots involved intelligent machines killing off or enslaving humans.

So, why is this latest warning getting so much traction? And why did Jacob Coxon, a relatively low-level former employee at Anthropic, become an instant media celebrity?

Sunday, the New York Times home page prominently featured four articles — all free to read — about AI. (See screenshot at right.)

Also over the weekend, the four biggest AI labs called for the industry to slow down development.

The article notes:

Reporters pressed Trump for his take on “concerns about AI leading to human extinction.” His response was that “We’re leading China in AI, we’re the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI, wins.”

So, again, we ask, who is driving this narrative?

The media don’t seem to care. But there are clues. First is the fact that Democrats are playing it up for political reasons before the midterm elections. They want to win votes. Second is China, which would benefit from the U.S. putting itself into an AI straitjacket.

But there’s another clue. The urgent calls for regulations are coming from the leading AI companies.

Obviously China will benefit if America slows down AI and research into it, but there is another reason the companies involved want regulation. Regulation can create barriers for new companies in the industry. Making it harder for new companies to break into the industry will eventually create a monopoly formed by the companies already there.

Nothing reported in the media happens by accident.

Trump Report Card: Foreign Affairs

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Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.

Judging the effectiveness of a president’s administration must include an evaluation of the administration’s actions in foreign policy and global security. The current conflict with Iran to prevent them from becoming a nuclear power is center stage right now. However, President Trump has taken additional actions that effect our relations with other countries.

First, most of the European countries that make up NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) have been relying on the United States for their military defense. These countries have not been spending the agreed-upon funds to support the organization (as required following WWII). President Trump has consistently pressured the countries of England, Germany, France, Spain, and others to increase defense spending. As a result, our NATO allies have increased their defense spending by $1.21 trillion. Much of this money has been spent purchasing American-made weapons and defense systems, boosting jobs and co-production opportunities in our country. The President has also shifted the primary responsibility for Europe’s defense back to Europe. No other president, since NATO was created, has held their feet to the fire in terms of their responsibility for their own defense. President Trump has also put the responsibility of supporting Ukraine on the European countries where it belongs and not totally on the United States.

Second, China has been increasingly looking for ways to align with countries in Latin and South America. For example, a Chinese corporation has been attempting to control the two ports that are at the ends of the Panama Canal. This essential waterway, which we built and controlled since 1914, was turned over to Panama in 1999 as part of President Carter’s controversial treaty. The concern that we would lose control to a foreign nation (like China) came to fruition when Panama allowed Chinese companies to control the exit and entrance ports (Cristobal and Balboa) and China began charging excess fees on American commercial and Navy ships. In January 2026, due to the pressure exerted by the Trump administration, Panama terminated their agreements with China and now allows the United States to deploy military personnel at the Canal and free transit by U.S. Navy ships. In other words, President Trump has reasserted the principles of the Monroe Doctrine that no other nation will control countries in our hemisphere. No other administration was willing to address this issue.

Third, President Trump took decisive action to arrest Nicholas Maduro, the communist dictator and drug trafficker of Venezuela. Maduro cancelled election results and increasingly aligned his government with China and Russia. On January 3, 2026 a joint military and law-enforcement raid involving more than 150 aircraft suppressed the Venezuelan air defenses, storming the military base where Maduro and his wife were staying. As a result, Maduro is now being held in an American prison pending trial for narco-terrorism, drug trafficking, and weapons charges. In addition, the new acting leader of Venezuela has taken steps to re-align their country with the United States and away from China and Russia. A recently announced joint oil development program between the United States and Venezuela will increase our access to the largest oil reserves in the world and keep them away from Chinese control.

Fourth, President Trump has taken out the Iranian nuclear facilities and is pressuring their regime to agree not to pursue nuclear weapons in the future. It turns out that in spite of the puny efforts of Obama and Biden, Iran has been secretly expanding their nuclear programs with the help of China, Russia and North Korea. This should surprise no one who knows anything about Islam and its acceptable practices against infidels as allowed by the Koran. Let’s face it, as we found out on the attacks on the Trade Center on 9/11 when multiple terrorists committed suicide in order to inflict damage on infidels, the Islamist terrorists who run Iran are a death-cult for whom any and all actions against the hated infidels are acceptable. The idea that we would allow them to possess nuclear weapons is about as stupid as it gets. History shows us that extremists are willing to fight to the death for their evil intentions; for example, Adolf Hitler.

Now the price of defending freedom and our lives comes with a cost. We are now paying that cost in the form of increased fuel prices. Ask yourself whether protecting ourselves and the future generations of Americans is worth it. We shouldered the burden in WWI and WWII. It is our generation’s turn to step up to the plate. The results of this coming election will answer that question. God help us if we do not.

Looking Behind The Curtain

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In approximately six weeks, Americans will go to the polls and vote in the mid-term elections. Spending in the mid-term elections is projected to exceed $1 billion. That is an indication of how important these elections are. Let’s look at some of the people who want the Democrats to win the mid-terms and what the consequences of that victory would be.

The European Union (EU) and Canada want the Democrats to win. There is currently a proposal to make Canada an ‘associate member’ of the European Union. Why would the EU do that? America and its freedom are the only thing standing between the EU and its dream of global dominance. Our current energy prices have a lot more to do with European exchange traders in London than they do with producers. If energy prices can be kept high through early November, those high prices could impact the mid-terms. America’s increased oil production and oil deal with Venezuela may help, but that won’t totally solve the issue.

If the Democrats win the mid-terms, what happens to the war in Iran? Chances are they will end the war without ending Iran’s nuclear program, and the can will be kicked down the road as it has been since 1979. I will predict that if the Democrats win the mid-terms, Iran will have a nuclear weapon within two years.

If the Democrats win the mid-terms, the tax cuts in the Big Beautiful Bill will go away. The price of energy will go even higher as government restrictions are put on drilling, electric plants, etc. There will also be an end to any plans for building more oil refineries in America (refineries that are desperately needed).

If  Democrats win the mid-terms, you can also expect increased attacks on religious freedom. Right now there is a case in Maine where a mother who has custody of her daughter is being denied the right to take her daughter to church. In another state, the Little Sisters of the Poor are currently being sued because they refuse to take part in euthanasia. A daughter has been taken away from her parents in Massachusetts because they did not support her transitioning to a boy. You can expect more support for those things under a Democrat congress.

Today’s Democrat party is not the Democrat party of 1960. Unfortunately, they are not the patriots they used to be–it’s party first, personal glory second, and country third. If you chose to vote for a Democrat candidate in the mid-term elections, you will be denying your children and grandchildren the freedom and opportunities you grew up with.

Helping When Needed

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On Tuesday, Breitbart posted an article about the help Israel is giving Saudi Arabia as Saudi Arabia is under attack by the Houthis.

The article reports:

Israel has begun providing intelligence to Saudi Arabia through the United States as Riyadh battles an escalating Houthi offensive that has struck deep inside the kingdom and threatened the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, according to multiple Israeli reports Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia initially turned to the United States for assistance, prompting Washington to approach Israel, which began transferring intelligence to Riyadh through U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), Israel’s Kan News reported, citing a diplomat from a regional country.

…The cooperation comes as the Houthis have expanded their campaign against Saudi Arabia, launching missiles and drones deep into the kingdom while advancing along Yemen’s Red Sea coast and around Bab el-Mandeb.

Warning sirens sounded Tuesday in Mecca, Jeddah and Taif as the confrontation escalated, while Saudi and Yemeni forces continued striking Houthi positions in Yemen. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed Saudi warplanes carried out 52 strikes over the previous 24 hours and warned that the attacks “will not go unanswered.”

The article notes:

Pointing to Saudi Arabia’s new defense pact with Turkey and Pakistan, the official argued that “the latest escalation proves that, in practice, Erdogan’s defense pact isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”

“Erdogan has handed Israel a golden opportunity to show the Saudis who they should align with,” the official continued.

The same assessment extended to the prospect of Saudi-Israeli normalization, with the official arguing that their shared interests could reopen a path toward expanding the Abraham Accords and saying Riyadh was now reassessing its course.

The emerging cooperation is particularly significant because Saudi Arabia and Israel have no formal diplomatic relations, despite years of U.S.-backed efforts to secure a normalization agreement between the two countries.

For Riyadh, the immediate concern remains military. The Houthis have seized territory along Yemen’s western coast and strengthened their position around Bab el-Mandeb while attacks on Saudi territory and energy infrastructure have increased pressure on the kingdom to push back against the group and protect the strategic Red Sea passage.

The growing pressure around Bab el-Mandeb comes as the United States expands commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz following months of Iranian attempts to obstruct the waterway. U.S. officials told Axios that roughly 40 ships are now moving through the strait each day under American guidance and protection, carrying about 14 million barrels of oil a day, while Saudi Arabia has significantly increased tanker traffic through Hormuz as fighting around the Red Sea intensifies.

Maybe it’s time for Saudi Arabia to take another look at the Mecca Pact.

Providing Aid And Comfort To The Enemy

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In case no one has noticed, we are at war. We are (hopefully) preventing a terrorist regime from gaining access to atomic weapons. Because they are also developing delivery systems that would allow those atomic weapons to reach us, we are concerned and want to stop them. Unfortunately, there are some very petty people in Congress who put their own pettiness above the interests of their country.

On Tuesday, The New York Post posted an article about Representative Thomas Massie’s filing of article of impeachment against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

The article reports:

Rep. Thomas Massie filed articles of impeachment against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Tuesday for allegedly committing “high crimes and misdemeanors” by waging the Iran war without congressional approval.

…Attorney General Todd Blanche defended Hegseth while leading a press briefing in the Rose Garden.

“Secretary Hegseth is doing a phenomenal job, and the secretary of war doesn’t just go off and do things. He follows the law. And so the DOJ plays a role in that, and we play an active role in making sure the law is complied with,” Blanche told a Post reporter.

“You called it a war. I disagree with that characterization, as does most of Congress. And so there’s been votes on whether it’s a war and what to do.

“Why votes through Congress, which have determined that he’s not doing anything wrong and the president’s not doing anything wrong, should result in articles of impeachment — I guess you’ll have to talk to Massie about that.”

Massie (R-Ky.) made the surprise announcement on the House floor, accusing Hegseth of violating the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which requires congressional authorization to conduct military operations lasting longer than 90 days.

“Peter Brian Hegseth, in his capacity as Secretary of Defense, has executed unlawful orders in contravention of Section 2(c) of the War Powers Resolution of 1973,” Massie declared.

This is simply sour grapes because President Trump got tired of Massie’s shenanigans and supported his opponent in the primary election. As much as I don’t like war, I like the idea of Iran getting a nuclear bomb even less. I also think that if Americans had access to the intelligence that the President had before the war they would wholeheartedly support the war.

Not Surprising Crime Statistics

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On Monday, David Strom at Hot Air posted an article about crime statistics in Denmark. The unlimited migration into European countries from countries that do not share western culture and values has been a disaster.

The article reports:

For years now, Danish crime statistics tell us what we already can intuit from the data we do have: migrants from Muslim countries commit crimes at a vastly higher rate than native-born Europeans, and the statistics indicate that the rates aren’t even close. They are especially represented in the sexual crime statistics, but in just about every category, the differences are remarkable. 

But what most people who support mass migration might be surprised to learn is this: their male descendants are even more likely to commit crimes and are often more likely to be Islamist extremists than their parents. Again, the statistics show the differences aren’t even close. 

The article includes the following:

This is not a good place to be. Countries need to welcome immigrants who want to assimilate into their countries–not change them or ignore their laws. If you look at pictures of Beirut, Lebanon, and Tehran, Iran, from the 1960’s, you realize how quickly a country’s culture can be taken over. Those two cities used to be places flight attendants loved to travel. Now they are places where women are not allowed to leave the house without a male relative. That is what the Islamists want for Europe and eventually America. That is the reason we need to control our immigration and only allow people into America who want to become Americans.

Changing The Rules–Introducing Science And Common Sense

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On Tuesday, Legal Insurrection posted an article about the Trump administration Environmental Protection Agency’s plans to rescind greenhouse-gas limits for coal- and natural-gas power plants.

The article quotes CBS News:

The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to repeal rules that limit planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas, an action that Administrator Lee Zeldin has said would remove billions of dollars in costs for the industry and help “unleash” American energy.

The rule change, proposed last year, could be announced as soon as Monday, according to two people familiar with the proposal, and represents a fundamental shift from efforts by Democratic Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama to address climate change and clean up industrial pollution, often in low-income and majority Black or Hispanic communities.

The rule, which is expected to face immediate legal challenges, also could prevent future administrations from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, people familiar with the proposal said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the final rule had not yet been made public.

Not all scientists agree that greenhouse gases are a bad thing. There is one school of thought that says more carbon dioxide increases crop production and provides other benefits.

The article concludes:

In a nutshell, the EPA’s repeal does not excuse power producers from controlling genuinely hazardous emissions; it refocuses federal oversight on pollutants such as mercury, toxic metals, and other compounds that directly threaten public health.

At a time when Americans depend on dependable electricity for air-conditioning, industry, and rapidly expanding AI capability, practical policies that reinforce grid reliability and affordability without needlessly endangering the environment are likely to command far more public support than ideological mandates built around immature or prohibitively costly technology.

The Democrats and their media minions may choose to overlook those successes, but households and businesses will recognize the value of a policy that protects the air they breathe, the power system they rely on, and hopefully offers a more abundant and less expensive supply of energy.

The true environmentalist balances the welfare of the environment and the people who live in it.

Why Am I Not Surprised?

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The Lindsay Clancy trial is over, but the repercussions continue. The behavior of her defense attorney and some of the jurors may have legal consequences.

On Sunday, PJ Media posted an article about the doxxing of the one juror who refused to go along with a ‘not guilty’ verdict.

The article reports:

A doxxing campaign to identify, mob, and hurt the holdout Lindsay Clancy juror is in full operation. 

To give you an appreciation for the dynamics, however, let’s go through The Dozens on some of the wacky ways of the Clancy case.

She was a sterling mother … right up until she killed her kids in separate, planned strangulation executions with her workout rope bands in her basement. 

Court testimony determined she lied about what drugs she was taking to the multiplicity of caregivers from which she sought help.

She never told those multiplicity of mental healthcare workers that she wanted to kill her kids, for fear of having them taken away. 

The jury itself admitted in an NBC Boston backyard interview with three jurors, which looked more like the meeting of a coven, that nurses on the jury offered testimony inside the jury room on toxicology issues. Had prosecutors known that, they could have moved for a mistrial. 

The article notes:

Setting the table for the doxxing yet to come, Reddington (Lindsay Clancy’s defense attorney Kevin Reddington), said in public that the holdout juror “robbed” the other jurors of their chosen verdict, saying, “I hope that guy can sleep well at night.”

And now the mob has been activated. 

Reddington’s wife is part of the mob, posting multiple social media messages, one of which was to direct people to the NBC Boston story in which the coven member began the process of doxxing the juror.

But she was just getting warmed up. Deb Reddington pushed the narrative that the holdout juror was a “criminal” and a “squatter.” In 2021, he was arrested on domestic violence charges, and later released. The nephew who reported the incident then put a restraining order on him. It expired. The couple is now divorced.

The article reports:

Reddington should have been held in contempt, of course, for his extrajudicial rantings. But that only makes plain the idea that the jurors should have been sequestered and a gag put on those involved in the case, so as not to stoke the mob in the first place. 

The defense attorney’s wife, a realtor, has since taken down her X account. 

There should be some serious legal consequences for Attorney Reddington and his wife.

Hitching Your Horse To The Wrong Wagon Has Consequences

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During the ceremony at Ground Zero on September 11th, one of the people whose family was impacted by the terrorist attack asked the government to reveal and deal with the role of Saudi Arabia in the attack. Saudi Arabia is at best a part-time ally, but at times they have been a very valuable ally. The thing to remember is that the main priority of the Saudi government is to protect the House of Saud, the ruling family which has been in power since 1932. The current ruler of Saudi Arabia is Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. One of the goals of the Arab Spring (after they got done toppling the dictators in the Middle East) was to depose the royal families in the other countries. The long-term  goal was to reestablish the Caliphate that had been the Ottoman Empire. The House of Saud walks a very fine line to stay in power. Compromises are common, but have limits. The murder of Jamal Khashoggi was an example of those limits. Although the American media described him as a journalist, he was an active member of the Muslim Brotherhood. I don’t know exactly what he did that caused the House of Saud to murder him, but the fact that he was part of the Muslim Brotherhood needs to be taken into consideration.

Saudi Arabia has been largely responsible for the fact that oil is traded in American dollars. That fact is probably what has kept the American economy afloat despite our massive debt problem. Saudi Arabia has also often been the moderate voice in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). They have been good friends on occasion. On the other hand, so far they have refused to join the Abraham Accords. Instead, last month they became part of the Mecca Pact with Pakistan and Turkey. The pact is a defense pact that states that any attack on any of these three countries will be considered an attack on all of them. Unfortunately, in light of recent events, it looks like the accord is not worth the paper it is written on.

The Houthis have recently attacked Saudi oil facilities and seized islands in the Red Sea that are strategic to Saudi Arabia’s export of oil. Both Turkey and Pakistan condemned the attacks. No military assistance was provided by either country. Currently diplomats from Saudi Arabia are meeting with American diplomats. I suspect Saudi Arabia is looking for some military aid from America.

A part-time friend is better than no friend at all, but backing the wrong horse can be costly.

Refusing To Protect Americans And America Jobs

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On Monday, CNN posted an article about a number of states who are suing the Trump administration to block a new Department of Homeland Security rule that would give immigration officials wider discretion to deny green cards.

The article reports:

The rule change, set to take effect Friday, likely would make it tougher for many immigrants to obtain green cards if they use or are deemed likely to need public benefits such as food stamps, Medicaid or housing vouchers.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is leading a coalition of cities filing a similar lawsuit, are expected to announce the legal action during a press conference at City Hall on Monday, James’ office said.

The states, whose lawsuit also includes the District of Columbia, argue they would lose billions of dollars in federal funding if immigrants, particularly mixed-status families, disenroll from programs due to fears about immigration consequences.

The lawsuit relates to pending changes to what’s known as the “public charge” rule, a provision of US immigration law that allows the government to deny a visa or green card to someone it determines is likely to become dependent on government assistance.

Historically, immigration officers counted only cash benefits, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or Supplemental Security Income from Social Security, in their evaluations. But the Trump administration’s pending change does not specify which safety net programs should be considered – meaning non-cash benefits like Medicaid and housing vouchers can be.

“Hardworking families should not be forced to go without the support they need because they fear asking for assistance will get them deported,” James said in a release. “This rule preys on that fear and counts on families forfeiting the food assistance, health care coverage, and other public benefits to which they are legally entitled.”

This is not the immigration system our country was built on. Non-citizens should not be entitled to benefits designed for American citizens. I personally would support a law that says that people who immigrate to America will be barred from accessing government subsidies for a period of ten years from the time they arrive. I am willing to negotiate of the time period; I am not willing to negotiate on the principle. Our ancestors either had to have sponsors living in the country who could support them if need be or have a marketable skill that would support them. That was a good principle, and we need to go back to it!

Ignoring The Root Problem

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According to AI, tax revenues for 2026 are expected to be $5.6 trillion, which is a 6.9% increase from 2025. That should make it obvious that our deficit problem is not due to a lack of revenue, but an overabundance of spending. The basic root of the problem is that those in Washington had decided that the tax revenue is their money and does not belong to the taxpayers. That is one of many reasons they have been so reluctant to find corruption or hold people accountable for it.

On Monday, CNBC posted an article about the looming crisis in America that will be caused by our massive national debt.

The article reports:

  • The U.S. could breach the debt ceiling at some point in 2027. Fixing it could be hard.
  • If Democrats capture one or both chambers of Congress in November’s midterm election, it would open the door to a standoff as the party tries to extract policy wins from Republican President Donald Trump in exchange for averting a bumpy ride over the fiscal cliff.
  • If Democrats win in November, Republican hopes to remedy the issue while they control Congress could also be in trouble, as some in the GOP are already disavowing raising the debt ceiling without accompanying deep spending cuts.

When President Reagan cut taxes, the deficit soared. Why? Because as tax revenues increased, which they did, the Democrats in Congress increased the spending. What we need is for Congress to cut their spending, end the fraud in government programs, use some of the increased revenue to pay down our debt, and refund the taxpayers some of their own money.

The article notes:

Even with the potential leverage, however, some Democrats are taking a cautionary tone on the debt ceiling. Past debt ceiling standoffs, though not ending in default, have harmed the U.S.′ credit standing. Fitch downgraded the U.S. from AAA to AA+ after the last standoff, saying “repeated debt-limit political standoffs and last-minute resolutions have eroded confidence in fiscal management.”

Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, said Democrats “always want to consider responsible financing.”

“But I think that we need to remember that the tax cut in 2017 and the tax cut last year, it’s contributing mightily to this problem,” Neal said.

Neal also added the caveat that “playing with this thing is dangerous.”

“We’d have to have an open conversation about it,” Neal said when asked what Democrats would want in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. “I know we don’t want debt default.”

That is spin. The tax cuts have increased revenue–not decreased it.

A Step Forward In Energy

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On Saturday, The Defence Blog posted an article about a new Pentagon energy resilience initiative.

The article reports:

  • The U.S. Army selected Fort Benning, Georgia, to host three Radiant Industries microreactors under the Janus energy resilience program, announced August 26, 2026.
  • The three 1-megawatt units will provide backup power to Lawson Army Airfield and other critical infrastructure if the regional grid fails.

The U.S. Army has selected Fort Benning, Georgia, as one of five military bases that will host nuclear microreactors under a new Pentagon energy resilience initiative called the Janus Program, Army officials announced August 26, 2026.

Fort Benning will pair with California-based Radiant Industries to install three of the company’s one-megawatt Kaleidos microreactors, adding a combined 3 megawatts of power tied directly into the base’s electrical grid.

The reactors are meant to protect against a specific vulnerability. Fort Benning, home to the Army’s Maneuver Center of Excellence, relies mainly on commercial utility power, backed up by diesel generators that depend on fuel deliveries vulnerable to disruption during a crisis. Lawson Army Airfield, the base’s main launch point for deploying airborne infantry, Rangers and other maneuver units worldwide, needs uninterrupted power for runway lighting, air traffic control and secure facilities to keep flights moving on short notice. If the regional grid goes down, the microreactors are designed to keep those systems running independently.

The article concludes:

“Energy resiliency is not a luxury, it is a foundation of power projection and combat readiness,” said Maj. Gen. Colin P. Tuley, commanding general of the Maneuver Center of Excellence and Fort Benning. “Integrating microreactors into our critical infrastructure ensures that our flight lines, command nodes, and combat training pipelines remain fully mission-capable, regardless of external disruptions to the regional utility grid.”

This is a really good idea. Smaller, localized sources of energy are harder to sabotage, and if one gets knocked down, it does not impact as large an area. I hope these microreactors will come into increased use in the private sector in the near future.

Who Is The Democrat Party?

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On Friday, The Daily Caller posted an article about a recent Quinnipiac University poll asking Democrats if they support the Democratic Socialists of America. The results are frightening.

The article reports:

The majority of Democrats support the Democratic Socialists of America, a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday found.

The latest survey shows that among Democrats, 59% consider themselves DSA supporters, compared to just 30% who do not. Out of total voters polled just 26% consider themselves supportive of the DSA, compared to 66% who do not consider themselves backers of the socialist group.

This is a far cry from the 2016 Democrat primaries when the Democrat party elites worked behind the scenes to make sure Bernie Sanders was not the presidential candidate. The Democrat elites remembered the resounding defeat of George McGovern and did not want to repeat that mistake.

The article notes:

If a candidate for elected office identifies as a DSA supporter, 17% of respondents say it makes them more likely to back that candidate, the survey states. By comparison, 43% of voters say it makes them less likely to vote for that candidate while 35% of respondents say it makes no difference.

The DSA did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

…In June, the DSA released a new platform, dubbed “Workers Deserve More,” which in part proposes to “draft a new constitution, and create a democratic socialist republic.” The socialist group’s platform has drawn intense public criticism from congressional Republicans.

“The DSA Communists have now published their insane agenda to take over Congress and America,” House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote in a June 27 X post. “We will not let it happen! WE ARE READY FOR THIS FIGHT!!”

The Quinnipiac University survey was conducted from Sept. 3-6 throughout the contiguous U.S. The poll surveyed 970 self-identified registered voters with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points, including the design effect.

If the people surveyed knew their world history, their answers would have been very different.

Is It A Bribe?

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On Sunday, The America Thinker posted an article about President Trump’s idea to pay each American $5,000 if the Republicans hold Congress in the mid-terms. The Democrats of course immediately went apoplectic over the idea. My first reaction, regardless of debt, deficits, etc., is who’s money is it anyway?

The article reports:

The mainstream media, and other assorted far-left hucksters, consider President Trump’s promise to send a $5,000 check to every adult in the nation if the Republicans win the midterm elections in November an outrageous attempt at bribing the American people.

However, that is not the case. Even the far-left New York Times admits that. There is no quid pro quo, he is not telling any individual that they need to do anything in specific in order to get the money. Indeed, those who didn’t vote at all — or who voted for “Democratic” candidates, even Democratic-Socialists of America candidates — would ostensibly still receive the payment, as far as is currently known.

What these self-same leftists never point out, however, is that everything Democrats — and especially the Democratic Socialists of America Democrats — promise and do is essentially a bribe. Bigger government itself is a bribe. “Elect us and we will provide government-subsidized grocery stores, free buses, free Medicare, free higher education, free health care, and free everything else to boot. Hell, we’ll even throw in “free Palestine!”

The article concludes:

At this time no one knows what any eligibility criteria might look like. But if, for example, the homeless on the mean streets of cities like L.A. and Portland can be bribed to vote for “progressive” candidates for a chance to “earn” 2 or 3 bucks, as has been documented, might not the thought of five grand be a motivating factor?

Sure, Trump can be a bit of a blowhard … but Democrats are hypocrites, liars, and frauds. And they pose a far greater danger to the country than Trump ever could.

When taxes go down, as they have under President Trump, revenue goes up. The problem in the past has been that when revenue goes up, Congress spends more. They are going to spend more anyway–let’s spend some on the people who paid the taxes in the first place!

We Are Creating The Jobs. Are We Creating The Workforce?

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On Tuesday, Real Clear Energy posted an article about the changing energy sector workforce in Pennsylvania.

The article reports:

Every summer, I volunteer at a business camp for high school students in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. For nearly two decades, the parking lot outside our hotel has served as an unorthodox economic indicator.

In the early years, the lot was nearly empty when we returned each evening – you could always find an open parking spot near the door. Then the Marcellus Shale boom arrived. And by 2012, good luck finding a spot at all! White work trucks filled the lot and spilled into the neighboring shopping center. Many trucks carried license plates from Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.

…The explanation was straightforward. The industry had grown faster than Pennsylvania’s workforce pipeline. Modern shale development required welders, electricians, equipment operators, technicians, engineers, and safety professionals. Pennsylvania had the resource and a proud energy heritage, but the modern shale workforce needed to expand tenfold, overnight. In too many energy-related occupations, the pool of trained workers simply was not large enough.

…For too long, we have spoken as though success has only one starting point: a four-year degree. But a paid apprenticeship can be every bit as ambitious, rigorous, and fulfilling as a bachelor’s degree. A power plant control room may also offer more stability than many entry-level cubicles, and probably requires fewer meetings that could have been emails.

The article concludes:

So, while there are still white trucks in hotel parking lots, I now see more Pennsylvania license plates than out-of-state plates during my annual week in Williamsport. But we must be thinking about preparing the next generation of Pennsylvania workers to power our future.

As we recognize Labor Day, it should be more than a retrospective celebration of those already on the job. It should also remind us of the need to prepare the next generation of workers that will uphold our high quality of life.

Pennsylvania’s energy opportunity should be powered by Pennsylvania workers. That starts by giving young people facts, hope, and an open invitation to help build the future.

Career paths do not come in one-size-fits-all. Apprenticeships can be as rewarding (financially and in other areas) as a four-year degree. Engineers and other scientists are needed, but you don’t call an electrical engineer when you need someone to work on the wiring in your house!