Category Archives: Uncategorized

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 accords with Pakistan and Turkey. The accord 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!

The Toll Of Abortion

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On Friday, The Gateway Pundit posted an article about abortion in America.

The article reports:

Abortion prevented a number of births equal to nearly 30 percent of live births during the Generation Z birth years. Meanwhile, Generation Z is the generation most likely to support abortion. Generation Z consists of Americans born between 1997 and 2012. Approximately 71 million members of this generation were living in the United States as of 2025–2026, making it one of the country’s two largest living generations, behind Millennials.

Between 1997 and 2012, an estimated 19–20 million pregnancies ended in legal abortion.

The annual number of abortions peaked at nearly 1.6 million around 1990 before declining for more than two decades. By 2020, however, the number had begun rising again, reaching roughly 930,000.

Following the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, estimates from the Guttmacher Institute and the Society of Family Planning placed the annual total above 1 million again. The organizations estimated approximately 1.03–1.14 million abortions annually in 2023 and 2024.

Did we kill the future doctor who would have cured cancer? Did we kill a future singer with a voice like an angel? Did we kill a future scientist who could get us to Mars? We don’t know.

The article concludes:

CDC data show large racial and ethnic disparities in abortion. In reporting areas that provided race and ethnicity data for 2022, non-Hispanic Black women accounted for 39.5 percent of reported abortions. For general population context, Black Americans represented approximately 13.6 percent of the U.S. population in 2022, although the two figures measure different populations.

Liberals also love championing diversity. However, because the abortion rate among non-Hispanic Black women was more than four times the rate among non-Hispanic White women throughout the Generation Z birth period, abortion eliminated a larger share of the potential Black Generation Z population and, to a lesser extent, the potential Hispanic population. So much for diversity.

Regardless of how you feel about abortion, two living beings with separate DNA’s walk into an abortion clinic and only one walks out. Legalizing abortion is a major step toward the devaluing of human life. Legalizing abortion up until delivery (as done in Massachusetts) is a total devaluation of human life. The next step is euthanasia, which is already legal in many countries and many American states. It has been said many times that the generation that made killing their children legal will be the first generation to be killed by their children legally. We have opened Pandora’s Box, and I am not sure if we will ever be able to close it.

Is It Too Late To Solve The Problem?

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On Friday, Just the News posted an article about the problems in Europe due to the large numbers of Muslim immigrants who do not share the values and culture of Europe.

The article reports:

After the Islamic extremist terrorist attack on America on Sept. 11, 2001, there were fears of anti-Muslim backlash. But 25 years later, the script has been flipped.

Ten million or more Muslims have immigrated to the west.

Today, Muslim figures are mayors of New York and London. But there’s also conflict. Europe is gripped by tensions caused by the rapid demographic change.

A fatal stabbing in Southampton, south of London, last December provided one example of the cultural and political pressure point.

Bodycam video showed police buying into the killer’s false claim that he’d been racially attacked. Vickrum Digwa – a Sikh and son of an Indian citizen– pretended to be the victim, while officers handcuffed the real victim: college student Henry Nowak, as he bled to death.

There’s been a surge in protests across Europe. And two-thirds of Britons now say the total number of immigrants is too high. Both major parties – Conservatives and Labour – have faced public anger and disappointment over years of broken promises.

Iain Duncan Smith is a Conservative member of Parliament and former party leader.

“We’ve overcooked migration,” he told Full Measure during an interview at a London park. “We’ve been far too lax and too easy. 

“So we have to crack down on that. And the only way to have cracked down on it was what I supported, from the word ‘go’m, was to say to those who arrive illegally, ‘You’re going on the next aircraft back to somewhere further away than you came from, OK?’ 

“Once they realize the risk at sea and the cost is no longer outweighed by the opportunities, they won’t come anymore. That’s the way to deal with it, but we have to be hard about it and the government’s very weak at the moment and not able to do it.”

The article mentions that over the summer the European Parliament overwhelmingly approved the strictest immigration and deportation law in EU history. Let’s see if they are able to follow through with enforcement of that law. The future of Europe depends on it.

Two Days To Remind Us

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Friday was the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001. Thursday was the one-year anniversary of the assassination of Charlie Kirk. On Friday, Townhall posted an article about the truth that those two events have in common.

The article reports:

Both tragedies confront us with the same fundamental truth: Evil seeks to silence, terrorize and destroy. The Bible puts it even more personally, identifying evil with a name: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” And a free society cannot survive if we lose the moral clarity to recognize that thief and the courage to resist him.

Those of us old enough to remember September 11, 2001, remember more than where we were when the planes struck. We remember the moral clarity that followed.

We knew innocent people had been murdered. We knew firefighters running into the towers were heroes. We knew passengers aboard Flight 93 sacrificed themselves to save strangers. We knew the terrorists who deliberately targeted civilians were evil.

Americans argued later—and rightly so—about wars, intelligence failures, foreign policy and the proper limits of government power. But on that morning, no serious person suggested that the victims somehow deserved what happened because of their politics, careers, religion or perceived privilege. We did not comb through their histories looking for reasons to withhold sympathy. We did not demand ideological agreement before mourning the dead.

They were Americans. They were human beings made in the image of God. They were innocent. That was enough.

Twenty-four years later, Charlie Kirk was murdered while doing something distinctly American and profoundly Christian: standing in a public forum, inviting questions and debating people who disagreed with him.

Unfortunately, today we have American politicians saying that we deserved the events of September 11.

The article notes:

We have replaced political opposition with moral dehumanization. People are no longer merely wrong; they are dangerous. They are not neighbors to be persuaded but threats to be eliminated. Once that premise is accepted, violence becomes easier to excuse. If someone’s speech is itself characterized as violence, then actual violence against him can be repackaged as self-defense.

That is how a culture prepares itself to tolerate political bloodshed.

The article states:

What we believe as a society matters.

We can teach that speech is answered with speech, that freedom begets liberty, that political opponents retain their God-given dignity and that courage means standing for truth without surrendering to hatred.

Or we can teach that empathy is tribal, violence is negotiable, and murder becomes understandable when the victim holds the wrong opinions or the murderer is sympathetic and we cannot judge.

The choice is up to us.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Continues To Do Its Job

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On Friday, The New York Post posted an article about the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) recent seizure of at least 2,000 pounds of methamphetamine at the Mexican border.

The article reports:

Authorities uncovered a massive haul of methamphetamine hidden in cabbage shipments at the US-Mexico border.

On Thursday, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Houston division shared video of heads of cabbage packed up several boxes — with an agent unwrapping one to reveal a huge stash of the drug.

Additional images showed several wheelbarrows packed with meth. All in all, the DEA said, the seizure netted at least 2,000 pounds of the drug.

The agency said its McAllen office in the Rio Grande Valley made the seizure.

Long-term use of the drug can lead to dental decay, damage to organs and chronic mental health issues.

A meth epidemic has swept the US for years, largely thanks to the efforts of Mexican drug runners who began smuggling ephedrine into California, PBS reported.

But President Trump has made drug smuggling one of his administration’s top targets. Most notably, Trump has approved targeted sinkings of vessels allegedly carrying drugs into the US.

The article noted that the seizure was part of a Homeland Security Taskforce investigation, conducted jointly with federal border agencies and Texas enforcement.

Seizing drugs at the border is not going to end the drug problem in America, but it is definitely a step in the right direction. We need to remember that we can’t help a drug addict unless he is willing to be helped. However, if we dry up his supply or make it outrageously expensive, he might be willing to consider help.

Either way, I appreciate President Trump’s effort to stop the flow of drugs into America.

Where Is The Money Going?

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The North Carolina lottery system was enacted in 2005. When the North Carolina Education Lottery (NCEL) was started, the money was supposed to go to education.

In September, North Carolina State Auditor Dave Boliek posted a performance review report of the lottery and the money going to education.

This is some of the information contained in the report:

The North Carolina Office of the State Auditor (OSA) is statutorily required to conduct financial statement audits of the North Carolina Education Lottery (NCEL). Examination of recent financial statements found that while lottery sales have been increasing significantly, the percentage of lottery proceeds transferred to North Carolina’s Education Lottery Fund has fallen sharply.

From FY 2023 to FY 2025, the NCEL reported gross sales increased from $4.3 billion to $6.6billion. However, the percentage of sales transferred to the Education Fund fell from 23% in FY 2023 to 16% in FY 2025. The total dollars transferred to the Education Fund increased from$1.02 billion in FY 2023 to $1.09 billion in FY 2024, but then declined to $1.08 billion in FY2025.

OSA conducted a performance audit to examine the factors that led to the above figures. The primary drivers are substantive growth in digital instant games, declining sales of traditional lottery games, and expansion of higher-payout lottery products. Total prize payouts increased from approximately 66% of sales in FY 2023 to approximately 76% of sales in FY 2025, resulting in a reduced percentage of sales available for transfer to the Education Fund.

The article includes the following chart:

If the education lottery is not doing what it is supposed to do, why do we still have it?

The article notes:

North Carolina law sets a target that 38% of NCEL revenues are to be transferred to the Education Fund, while also providing that allocations should occur “to the extent practicable.”1

In practice, the 38% figure has not operated as a fixed transfer requirement. NCEL met the original 35% statutory target during its first full year of operation, but its long-term average transfer percentage has been approximately 27%.2 Changes in lottery products, consumer preferences, and lottery market economics have increased sales while reducing the percentage of sales available for transfer to the Education Fund.

As lottery product offerings have evolved, the relationship between maximizing sales and maintaining a targeted transfer percentage has become less clear.

I would like to mention that the best bumper sticker I have ever read said, “The lottery–a tax on people who are bad at math.” It sounds like the people buying lottery tickets are not the only people who are bad at math.

Trump Report Card: Energy

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Author:  R. Alan Harrop,Ph.D.   

We are all aware by now that no successful highly technical society can exist unless there is abundant supply of relatively cheap energy. Also, as we have seen in several European countries, modern societies cannot rely on “green energy” and maintain their standard of living. President Trump is the first president in recent years who recognizes these facts; and importantly, has taken steps to ensure that America not only has sufficient energy in the present but in the future. Continuing on the energy path that the Biden administration put us on would be catastrophically destructive. Let’s examine what the Trump administration has done to keep us on the right path as far as energy is concerned.

First, President Trump’s “Drill Baby Drill” slogan, backed up by actual policy changes, has increased the number of oil and natural gas drilling permits by 55% since he took office. In 2025, oil and natural gas production reached record levels, including 714 barrels of crude oil from offshore drilling sites. President Trump realizes that modern civilization cannot exist without relying on fossil fuels. He also recognized that our country’s technology allows us to produce fossil-fuel-based energy with the lowest environmental impact in the world. For example, our coal powered plants produce only 2% of global emissions while China and India alone produce 40%. The Biden administration was shutting down cost-effective-coal-burning plants in this country for no good reason. President Trump has stopped the green-energy-taxpayer subsidies and also the Biden administration’s push to mandate electric vehicles. The decision to purchase an electric vehicle should remain a consumer free choice–not a typical Marxist government mandate.

Second, the Trump administration recently announced a trade agreement with, of all people, Venezuela, which prior to his arrest of dictator Nicholas Maduro, was aligned with China. The agreement makes the United States (through private oil companies) a permanent member of the new North American Blue Energy Corporation with access to oil reserves of 65 billion barrels in addition to the 46 billion barrels of oil reserves in our country. The U.S. companies will have a 35% equity stake. This not only ensures sufficient oil reserves for the future, but keeps it out of the hands of our adversaries. It also will allow us to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserves that were depleted by the Biden administration in order to reduce the price of gas at the pump and help their re-election efforts.

Third, the Trump administration recently revoked the so-called Endangerment Finding policy of the Biden administration that allowed unelected bureaucrats to issue regulations that not only stymied growth but increased the cost to the American consumer of various products by over $1.2 trillion. The Endangerment Finding policy was initiated by that other Marxist president, Barack Obama, in 2009 and reinforced by the Biden’s Clean Energy Power Plan 2.0. These policies allowed officials in the government to institute such things as diesel truck emissions shutdowns, electric vehicle mandates, automatic engine shut offs when stopping, and the elimination of gas stoves, etc., none of which were authorized by Congress.

What we see in Trump’s actions is not only a return to common sense policies, but a counter revolution against the Marxist big government regulations that threaten the freedoms that have been the basis of this country. Loss of freedom is not always a one-time action, but is often the result of a series of seemingly small actions. These seemingly small actions can easily have the cumulative effect of taking away our freedom. Look what is happening in New York City, which now has an avowed Marxist as mayor. President Trump has taken very effective actions to increase the supply of energy in our country. The temporary increase in gas prices must not be allowed to hide that fact. Stopping the world’s greatest sponsor of terrorism ruled by a group of fanatics is worth the sacrifice. We willingly made those sacrifices during World War II. All true patriots need to get out and vote in the coming election if we are to maintain our freedom and stop the openly advocated slide toward Marxism by most of the Democrat party candidates.

A Change In Leadership

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A historical museum should not reflect current cultural trends, it should reflect history,  but unfortunately the Smithsonian in recent years seems to have gone woke. An article posted at the Daily Signal on Tuesday reports that the current head of the Smithsonian, Lonnie G. Bunch III, will be stepping down before the end of the year.

The article reports:

The secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Lonnie G. Bunch III, is stepping down, amid continued criticism from the White House about the direction of the Smithsonian museums.

“There is no place like the Smithsonian—it has been one of the great loves of my life, and I am extraordinarily proud of what we have accomplished together,” Bunch said in a statement. “I leave with pride and sadness, gratitude and joy, and with enormous confidence in the people who will carry this remarkable institution forward.”

Trump administration officials have raised concerns about the Smithsonian museums in recent weeks.

A July White House report charged that the National Museum of American History had become “subject to institutional capture by a radical, activist ideology that is fundamentally opposed to telling the noble, honest story of the great country we know and love.”

Bunch criticized the report, calling it “not a fair characterization of the work” in a memo addressed to Smithsonian staffers.

The article notes:

In August, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and White House Domestic Policy Council Director Vince Haley sent a letter saying federal agencies could not “continue to support the Smithsonian under current leadership.”

…They also suggested that the institution may be involved in “significant violations of federal antidiscrimination law.”

“Indeed, the administration has recently uncovered evidence that the Smithsonian leadership’s institutional culture may have resulted in significant violations of Federal antidiscrimination law, including creating a hostile work environment and engaging in practices that classify individuals and allocate opportunities, funding and other benefits on the basis of race, ethnicity and other protected characteristics.”

The article concludes:

“We can only hope that the next Secretary of the Smithsonian will not treat the Institution as a battleground for his culture wars,” Mike Gonzalez, senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Signal. “Instead, let’s hope that he or she takes seriously the mission of the national museum complex that he or she leads, that is to say to preserve and transmit America’s history, culture and art—in a word, heritage—to future generations.”

The last time I visited the Smithsonian was more than 25 years ago. At that time, it was amazing and apolitical. Hopefully we can go back to amazing and apolitical soon.

The Day Before

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This is an updated version of an article I posted on September 10, 2008:

Today is September 10, 2026. Twenty-five years ago, it was the day before. We were all going about our business, enjoying a beautiful fall, and making plans for the future. I wonder, if we could have seen into the future, is there anything we would have done differently that day.

There was one man who was living in a different world than the rest of us–even on September 10. His name was Rick Rescorla. He was the vice president for security at Morgan Stanley, a brokerage house with 2,700 employees in the World Trade Center in the south tower on floors forty-four through seventy-four and 1,000 employees in Building Five across the plaza. Because of the foresight of this man, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter lost very few employees in the bombing of the World Trade Center.

Rick felt strongly that the terrorists who had attempted the first World Trade Center bombing would try again. He asked his company executives to move from the towers, but the company’s lease went until 2006. Rick held evacuation drills on a regular basis in spite of the grumbling of his fellow employees. Every few months all 2,700 employees would march down the stairs and out of the building in an evacuation drill. On September 11, 2001, by the time the second airplane hit the second tower, most of the company’s employees were already out of the building. There were three employees missing, and Rick and two other people went back into the building to find them.   All six were killed when the building collapsed.¹

I tell this story today for two reasons. First, Rick Rescorla is a hero whose foresight saved many lives. Second, Rick Rescorla understood that there were terrorists who wanted to destroy America even before there was a “war on terror”. We need to think back to September 10, 2001, and remember what our innocence was like and the price we paid for it. Thank God for a man who chose not to be innocent.

Rick Rescorla was a British citizen who also fought bravely in the Battle of Ia Drang, one of the early battles of the Vietnam war.

We need to pray for more men like Rick Rescorla.

  1. Much of the information in this article is from the book BREAKDOWN by Bill Gertz (subtitled “How America’s Intelligence Failures Led to September 11”).

The Unjustice Department

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The Justice Department during the Biden administration was a disgrace. It had been politicized under President Obama, but with the help of holdovers from the Obama administration, President Biden took the politicization to a whole new level. Some recent facts about the case against General Flynn are genuinely disturbing.

On September 10th, Just the News posted an article about the case against General Flynn.

The article reports:

Retired General Michael Flynn, whose life was turned upside down by the Russia collusion investigation, told Just the News he would never have accepted his 2018 plea deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller had he known the full FBI evidence in his case.

“Had I seen that evidence that you have broken, no way in the world,” Flynn told the Just the News, No Noise television show on Wednesday night hours after President Donald Trump’s administration declassified the fully unredacted versions of the FBI’s 2017 handwritten and typed notes of his interview with agents during which prosecutors alleged the former three-star general lied about his contacts with a Russian diplomat.

Those documents showed there were conflicts and discrepancies between what the agents wrote in their handwritten notes and what they put in their typed interview about his recollections the day he spoke with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. 

Flynn said Wednesday he believed the discrepancies were enough to undercut the charge that he lied to the agents.

The case against General Flynn is a prime example of political lawfare. It really would not have mattered if he had been found guilty or not guilty–the legal expenses and the damage to his reputation were used to serve as a warning to anyone who supported President Trump and was willing to work in the Trump administration. General Flynn was forced to sell his home to pay his legal expenses.

Congress and the Supreme Court shut down the idea of President Trump using the money he won in his lawsuit against the IRS to start a fund for the victims of political lawfare. That is unfortunate because the Flynn case would have been a very appropriate place to use that fund.

Those responsible for hiding evidence from the General need to go to jail.

Inflation Is An Issue, But Overall The Economy Is Doing Well

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Saying that the economy is doing well despite the inflation is somewhat like someone asking, “How was the play, Mrs. Lincoln.” I understand that, but hopefully the inflation is a temporary condition that will be dealt with shortly. The main driver of the current inflation is the cost of oil (and the lack of American refineries). America First Refining (AFR) is building a new refinery at the Port of Brownsville, Texas. It is expected to start operating sometime between 2030 to 2032. The builders are hoping to expedite the building so that it finishes ahead of schedule. That will be part of a long-term solution. The short term part of the solution will be to finish the war in Iran. I believe that will happen in the next few months.

However, the economy is showing signs of strength.

On September 5th, MSN posted an article about the August jobs report.

The article reports:

The U.S. economy added a surprising 162,000 jobs in August, the Labor Department estimated Sept. 4, even as economists said a “low-hire, low-fire” dynamic made it difficult for unemployed Americans to find work.

The 162,000 estimate for August far surpassed forecasters’ expectations and marked a rebound after U.S. employers added a now-revised 21,000 jobs in July. The department previously estimated U.S. employers shed 23,000 jobs in July. Payroll gains for June were also revised higher, reflecting a stronger summer job market than previously thought. 

I love how pessimistic the economists can be when a Republican President is in the White House.

The article notes:

The unemployment rate stayed put at 4.1% in August after falling in June and July when hundreds of thousands of Americans stopped looking for work. The labor force participation rate ticked up to 61.6% in August after falling to 61.4% the month before. 

The article concludes with good news for American workers:

Average hourly earnings for employees on private, nonfarm payrolls rose by 10 cents to $37.75 in August, the department said. They increased 3.1% over the year. The department’s next inflation report due out Sept. 11 will reveal whether paychecks kept up with inflation in August. They did not in July.

Fighting To Preserve The Deep State

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Unionizing government employees was never a good idea. There are too many instances of unions making unfair wage or procedural demands that interfere with the working of the government. One of those areas is in the hiring and firing of employees. In private industry, the goal is to make a profit, and it is fairly easy to justify the firing of an employee if he is not helping to meet that goal. The government is not about either saving money or making a profit, and that complicates things.

On Monday, The Daily Signal posted an article explaining how federal employee unions are resisting parts of President Trump’s agenda.

The article reports:

Who ultimately decides how the executive branch works? Is it the president, elected by the American people, or career federal employees and the unions that represent them?

The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal employees, sued the White House’s Office of Personnel Management last month, aiming to block new rules governing how federal employees are evaluated, disciplined, and removed.

The lawsuit represents only the latest in a long series of legal challenges the union has brought against President Donald Trump’s administration since January 2025. According to a July roundup AFGE posted on its website, the union had filed 18 lawsuits against the administration before the latest case.

These lawsuits have targeted a wide range of administration initiatives, including government-wide reorganizations, workforce reductions, collective bargaining restrictions, employee classification reforms, and changes to federal personnel rules.

AFGE has been far from alone in these cases. Democracy Forward, a left-leaning legal advocacy organization that has represented plaintiffs in numerous lawsuits challenging Trump policies, has represented AFGE or other plaintiffs in these cases. Such challenges have involved broad coalitions, including advocacy groups and local governments, alongside labor unions.

Critics argue that these cases amount to more than traditional labor litigation, representing a form of institutional resistance from federal employees and their allies against an elected administration’s effort to reshape the executive branch.

The union was not elected to run the country–the President was. That should end the discussion.

The Consequences Of Bad Economic Policies

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On Tuesday, Zero Hedge posted an article about the number of high-paying taxpayers who have left Britain since 2025 when the non-dom regime was scrapped in April 2025 and inheritance tax was extended to worldwide assets.

The article reports:

This shift is already visible on the Sunday Times lists: six of the 2026 Tax List’s top 100 (including Revolut’s Nik Storonsky) had left in the previous year, the compiler noted that one in nine names on that list were no longer UK-resident, and the companion Rich List dropped dozens of foreign billionaires while recording a sharp rise in British nationals now based in Dubai, Switzerland and Monaco.

But, the latest news is likely the most disturbing to the increasingly socialist government as the UK’s 3rd largest taxpayer – hedge fund founder Chris Rokos – is set to leave.

When you raise taxes to the point where they are confiscatory, people take measures to avoid them. We have seen that in America with the population movement from blue to red states where the taxes and cost of living are lower.

The article notes:

Rokos will also open an office in Athens as part of the move, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the details are private.

Italy operates a similar 15-year system, but after recent increases, it has set the flat tax at €300,000 on foreign-sourced income.

Greece has also sought to lure fund managers and private equity executives, adopting new tax rules this summer designed to prevent double taxation.

If the highest taxpayers keep leaving – as Rokos’s reported move to Greece underlines – Labour’s bet that abolishing non-doms and tightening inheritance tax would raise more money starts to look fragile, because a thin slice of people already supplies a large share of income-tax receipts.

The government then faces an awkward choice: accept a smaller tax base and tighter budgets, or raise rates on the mobile and immobile alike and risk accelerating the outflow it is trying to tax.

This is the Laffer Curve at work. If you are not familiar with the Laffer Curve, this article at investopedia is a good place to learn about it.

The Impact Of The Trump Tariffs

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On Tuesday, Amuse on X posted an article about the impact of President Trump’s tariffs.

The article reports:

Less Than Two Years of Trump Tariffs and Tax Cuts Generated $11.2 Trillion in US Investment 

Biden’s Scoreboard Was $1 Trillion in 4 Years. Trump’s Is $11.2 Trillion in just 20 Months.

This month, in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, Hyundai and POSCO broke ground on a $5.8 billion electric-arc mill built to pour 2.7 million tons of automotive sheet metal a year. It is the first purpose-built automotive mill of its kind in the country, and it anchors Hyundai’s $26 billion American program. Officials put the local effect at 1,300 direct jobs and roughly 4,000 indirect ones, with the first coil targeted for 2029. The steel is meant for vehicle bodies assembled in Alabama and Georgia, coil that would otherwise have been stamped from imported steel. Contractors are already on the site in Ascension Parish.

…Liberation Day tariffs put a charge on access to the American consumer and turned the world’s richest market from a free good into a scarce one. The July 2025 tax law then changed the plant’s return. 100% expensing of equipment and qualified production property lets a firm deduct the full cost of a factory in the year it builds it. Power finished the argument for the projects that swallow electricity. American energy abundance made the American data center and the American fab among the few sites that can feed an AI load at scale. European industrial power is still expensive, and several Asian grids cannot promise the same firm load on a construction calendar, which is why data centers and leading-edge semiconductor fabs keep landing here. Reciprocal trade frameworks did the last piece of work. Tariff relief became a multi-year investment vehicle from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Europe’s industrial champions. Lutnick stated the bargain plainly. If you make it here, you don’t pay tariffs, but if you don’t, be prepared to pay to enter the greatest market in the world. Kevin Hassett, the president’s economic adviser, added the tax half. Tariffs are pushing people to onshore activity, and expensing is making them want to invest like crazy.

The article concludes:

Alexander Hamilton wrote in 1791 that a country’s independence and security are materially connected to the prosperity of its manufactures. The Marshall Plan spent about $13 billion in then-dollars, roughly $170 billion today, rebuilding allied industry so that allies could buy American goods. What is underway now runs that sequence the other way. Allied treasuries and allied champions are rebuilding American industrial capacity as the price of admission to the American customer. For four decades America gave its market away and watched the factories follow the giveaway. This term reversed the bargain. If you want the customer, you build the plant here, and in the strategic sectors the taxpayer keeps a warrant. Today, that claim is $11.2 trillion in announced commitments, a steel mill rising in a Louisiana parish, and a stock certificate in the public’s name.

Lying For Campaign Purposes

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I suppose candidates’ lying isn’t either new or unusual (unfortunately), but some lies can mislead with serious consequences. The Covid pandemic taught us to do our own research on medical issues. I have heard many people say that they regretted taking the Covid vaccine. I haven’t heard one person say that they regretted not getting the Covid vaccine. There are currently questions as to which vaccines are absolutely necessary and which are not. Until those questions can be answered, politicians should not be using vaccines to make political points.

On Monday, The American Thinker posted an article about the discussion surrounding measles cases in America.

The article reports:

On August 25th, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro held a press conference to address the measles outbreak unfolding in his state.  He started by saying:

“Just this morning, the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced the first two measles-associated deaths in Pennsylvania in 35 years. Both individuals were from Lancaster County, and both were unvaccinated.”

During the press conference, Governor Shapiro didn’t share any details about the identities of those who died or about the deaths themselves, instead choosing to focus on the issue of vaccination. He claimed the measles outbreak isn’t unique to Pennsylvania, that declining vaccination rates are a national issue, and that current leadership at HHS is to blame for the problem.

Now, after much confusion and back-and-forth between PA authorities and the HHS, we are learning the details behind the two “measles-associated” deaths. Both victims were infants born in the Amish community of Lancaster County, PA.

    • First Infant: Passed away shortly after birth from a lacerated spleen. Although the infant tested positive for measles contracted from the mother, the virus was not the cause of death.
    • Second Infant: Suffered from a severe genetic disorder that compromised her immune system, making her exceptionally vulnerable to fatal complications from measles or other infections.

The article notes a few things about the MMR vaccine:

The MMR vaccination rate in the U.S. stands at 92% — slightly lower than five years ago, but still high enough to maintain herd immunity nationwide. By contrast, the vaccination rate within the Amish community is reported to be around 25%. Consequently, Governor Shapiro’s claim that measles is “a national problem” is flat-out false. The current measles outbreak is localized to the Amish community in Lancaster County, PA. Using a national platform to claim the entire country is equally affected is a clear politicization of public health.

Generally speaking, the Amish community children are healthier than the average American child. That probably has a lot to do with eating food fresh off of the farm and living in an atmosphere that is very close to nature compared to the world other children live in.

It’s sad that the Governor saw fit to use the tragedy of two families to make an invalid political point.

The Lack Of Helpfulness Of Congress

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On Monday, The Federalist posted an article about the problems of beef production in America.

The article reports:

President Donald Trump met with ranchers in the Oval Office on Friday, signing two executive orders to incentivize the domestic production of beef: Supporting America’s Ranchers and Promoting Fair Competition In Livestock Markets And Expanding Market Access for American Meat Producers.

President Donald Trump met with ranchers in the Oval Office on Friday, signing two executive orders to incentivize the domestic production of beef: Supporting America’s Ranchers and Promoting Fair Competition In Livestock Markets And Expanding Market Access for American Meat Producers.

These are relatively non-controversial executive orders; it would be easy for Congress to put them into law. Congress instead has become a speed bump in the way of getting anything done.

The article notes:

So in substance, the president has ordered the executive branch to send him a bunch of reports: on wolves and cattle predation, on country of origin labeling, on independent meat processing and simpler interstate market access for meat products.

On social media, the White House explicitly framed the orders as an opening move, writing that Trump had “launched a whole-of-government effort to protect & fully support America’s ranchers.” Rollins echoed that theme: “MORE TO COME SO SOON,” she wrote.

Evidently, wolves are a problem for cattle ranchers:

Wolf predation has become a serious problem for cattlemen in the West, especially following the reintroduction of the gray wolf. Cows are becoming wolf food. In California, researchers at UC Davis concluded that “72% of wolf scat samples tested during the 2022 and 2023 summer seasons contained cattle DNA.”

Populations have rebounded significantly since the gray wolf was listed as an endangered species in most of the country in 1978, preventing ranchers from killing them in response to predation. The Arizona rancher Casey Murph has described “the feeling of having to ride away to the sound of a pack of Mexican Grey wolves tearing your border collie herding dog to pieces,” one of many examples of ranchers arguing that the threat of wolf attacks isn’t well understood outside of cattle country.

Part of the problem is the monopoly of beef processing plants. It’s time to end that monopoly and let the free market take over. Please follow the link to the article for further details.