Winning

On Wednesday, The New York Post reported that America had reached a trade agreement with China.

The article reports:

President Trump announced early Wednesday that the US had reached a trade agreement with China following two days of negotiations in London.

“Our deal with China is done, subject to final approval with President Xi and me,” Trump revealed in an all-caps post on Truth Social. “Full magnets, and any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China.”

“Likewise, we will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities (which has always been good with me!). We are getting a total of 55% tariffs, China is getting 10%. The relationship is excellent! Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

The article concludes:

The commerce secretary said the new arrangement would see China ease barriers on rare earth minerals “in a balanced way,” without elaborating on specifics.

Lutnick (Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick) claimed that the framework brokered in London put “meat on the bones” on the Geneva consensus and would allow China to ease barriers on rare earth minerals “in a balanced way,” without elaborating on specifics.

China’s Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang had similarly confirmed late Tuesday that an agreement in London had been reached, subject to Trump’s and Xi’s approval.

I really would like to see a limit on the number of Chinese students allowed in our universities, but overall I think this will turn out to be a good deal.

Sports Records That Need An Asterisk!


On Thursday, The New York Post posted an article about the high school girls’ Minnesota state softball championships.

The article reports:

A controversial high school softball team has made the Minnesota state championships for the first time after their star transgender pitcher smashed two doubles and pitched a complete game in a walk-off win.

Trans athlete Melissa Rothenberger’s performance helped her Champlin Park team beat White Bear Lake 3-2 on Wednesday, leading a girl on the losing team to cry and ask her father, “Why can’t you do something?” according to OutKick.

Rothenberger, a junior, went 2-3 at the plate for Champlin Park, sparking her team’s comeback victory after falling behind 2-0 and sending them to the Group 4A state championship Friday.

I guess to that coach, winning is more important than a level playing field.

The article concludes:

“You’re looking at a whole team of future Republicans,” one dad said.

The Minnesota State High School League [MSHSL] permits students to compete under gender identity, despite President Trump’s executive order barring all biological men from women’s sports.

The league has said that the inclusion of trans athletes is protected and “determined by state law, through the Minnesota Human Rights Act and the Minnesota Constitution,” Outkick reported.

While national governing sports organizations such as USA Softball and the NCAA have implemented female-only policies in women’s sports, state-level laws have created loopholes that allow trans athletes to participate.

If the general public does not support this, why is it continuing? Do people remember these things when they vote? If they don’t, we are doomed to have them continue.

When The Engineers Don’t Quite Get The Math Quite Right

On Thursday, The New York Post posted an article about North Korea’s launch of its new navy destroyer. It didn’t go well.

The article reports:

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un was left red-faced and furious after a navy destroyer was badly damaged during a botched launch as he looked on.

The hermit dictator slammed the incident as a national embarrassment and vowed to punish those responsible in a rare public admission of failure, according to state media.

Kim suffered a humiliating blow when the newly built 5,000-ton destroyer became unbalanced during its christening at the port of Chongjin on Wednesday.

The malfunction caused the vessel to slide prematurely into the water, crushing parts of the hull and leaving the bow stuck on the shipway, Korean Central News Agency reported.

The article concludes:

Seoul intelligence claim the Choe Hyon was likely built with Moscow’s assistance following last year’s strategic military partnership summit between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

While North Korea’s naval forces are considered far inferior to South Korea’s, its destroyer program is still viewed as a serious threat by the West, given Kim’s nuclear arms.

Hours after releasing the report of the damaged destroyer, North Korea fired multiple cruise missiles from an area near the northeastern town of Sondok, according to South Korea’s military.

The hermit leader of North Korea is not someone to be taken lightly. His anger can easily be misplaced and misdirected in ways that could be a serious threat to world peace. I guess getting your shipbuilding plans from Russia might not be a great idea.

Getting Rid Of A Really Dumb Car Feature

On Tuesday, The New York Post posted an article about a common-sense decision by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin.

The article reports:

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin hinted Monday that he’s preparing to roll back one car feature that every driver “hates.”

“Start/stop technology: where your car dies at every red light so companies get a climate participation trophy,” Zeldin tweeted Monday in a post that has since racked up more than 8 million views.

“EPA approved it, and everyone hates it, so we’re fixing it.”

The feature kills internal combustion engines at red lights and has been touted by proponents for being able to conserve fuel and cut down on pollution.

Critics have questioned whether the feature can wear down the car’s battery or engine more quickly.

The “off-cycle CO2 reducing” tech has its origins in a federal rule proposed under President Barack Obama in 2012 — but didn’t take effect until new fuel economy standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions five years later.

Between 2012 and 2021, the number of vehicles produced with a stop-start feature due to the carbon credits surged from 1% to 45%.

Up to 65% of vehicles had the technology included in new models by 2023.

For those of us who grew up driving clunkers while in high school, this feature is nerve wracking. The carburetor in my 1954 Lincoln used to jam causing the engine to stall. This often happened at stop lights. When my husband’s car shuts off at stop lights, it brings back really bad memories. There were times when we shoved a board into the engine to unstick whatever it was that stuck! That’s what I think of every time we are stopped at a traffic light–I am ready to get the board out of the trunk and go to work!

Rescuing The Children Impacted By The Open Border

On Tuesday, The New York Post reported that Homeland Security agents in California rescued two teenage migrant sisters who were sex trafficked after they came across the southern border as unaccompanied minors.

The article reports:

It’s the latest effort by the Trump administration to track down more than 320,000 migrant children who went missing under President Joe Biden’s watch — kids whom whistleblowers have warned are vulnerable to exploitation.

Special agents with Homeland Security Investigations saved the girls, ages 16 and 18, Saturday from captivity at a hotel in West Covina, California, where Christopher Ramirez was allegedly “pimping” the young sisters out, sources told The Post.

Cops with the West Covina Police Department initially found the girls and arrested Ramirez on local charges.

The feds are still looking for co-conspirators who helped move the migrant girls, who are from Honduras, from Texas to California and forced them into prostitution, sources said.

The article concludes:

The Trump administration recently found that approved migrant sponsors were providing fake or doctored photos in their applications to HHS.

Tara Rodas, who became a whistleblower on the issue after she was recruited as a federal government employee to help HHS with an influx of migrant kids in 2021, told The Post that “targeting criminal sponsors is a simple yet powerful tool” the Trump administration can use to “save the children.”

“By targeting fraudulent sponsors, the Trump administration is sending a powerful message to predators who commit crimes against children,” she said.

Of the 320,000 missing migrant kids, 291,000 were released into the US and never given a date to appear in immigration court — meaning there is no way to track their whereabouts, according to the 14-page report — which tracked a period from October 2018 to September 2023.

Another 32,000 children were released with hearing dates but then failed to show up to their immigration hearings.

All of these children need to be located, assuming they are still alive. What happened at America’s southern border under the Biden administration was a disgrace. The cartels got richer, and innocent people paid the price.

The Spies We Love?

On Saturday, The New York Post posted an article about Ming Xi Zhang, known as “Sushi John, Ya Ya Noodles in Montgomery Township, NJ. On March 24, Sushi John was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Newark.

The article reports:

Zhang was convicted in April 2024 of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government and sentenced to three years’ probation. In May 2021, he pleaded guilty to having served as an agent of China in 2016 without notifying the U.S. Attorney General.

ICE says he legally entered the U.S. in 2000 but later “violated the terms of his lawful admission.”

…“Any illegal alien conducting activities related to espionage, sabotage or export control against the United States is subject to deportation,” said ICE Newark Field Office Director John Tsoukaris.

Zhang met with Chinese security officials in the Bahamas in 2016 and delivered $35,000 to an unnamed individual in New Jersey, according to NJ.com. He also admitted to twice hosting a Chinese government agent at his Princeton home that fall.

He’s being held at the Elizabeth Detention Center awaiting immigration proceedings, a worker at his restaurant told the Post on Saturday.

“He’s doing good, I mean, given the circumstances,” the worker said. “But yeah, he’s just kind of waiting… to get let out.”

The community surrounding Zhang’s restaurant has apparently rallied around him and his restaurant in the days since his arrest. 

“The whole town has been really supportive,” the worker said. “Everyone’s been coming in, offering phone numbers, talking to his family . . . everyone’s really supportive.”

What is wrong with Americans? The man was spying for a country that would very much like to eliminate America and its freedom. During World War II, would they have treated a Nazi spy this well?

How Could They Be So Cruel?

I hope that as you read this article, you will realize the headline is dripping with sarcasm.

On March 25th, The New York Post reported the following:

Trump administration officials have severed $620,288 worth of federal funding that was aimed, in part, at pregnancy prevention for transgender boys, a senior official confirmed to The Post.

The grant, titled “inclusive teen pregnancy prevention program for transgender boys,” was given to the Center for Innovative Public Health Research, a non-profit public health research group, by the National Institutes of Health.

All of the $620,288 in funding has been saved after the grant was cut off earlier this month, according to the official, who confirmed the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) claim about the cut.

“Youth who are assigned female at birth (afab) and identify as transgender … not as girls, are at risk for negative sexual health outcomes yet are effectively excluded from sexual health programs,” grant data given to the government explained.

When dealing with the concept of transgender, follow the money is always a good idea. Gender dysphoria when treated with drugs and surgery results in a medical patient for life. Gender dysphoria has always been relatively common in children at certain ages. In the past, the treatment was to let the child outgrow the idea that they were in the wrong body. Sometimes counseling was used to tell the child they were not a mistake–they were exactly as they were supposed to be. Unfortunately, today a counselor is more likely to encourage surgery and drugs. I am familiar with a case where a young boy told his parents he wanted to be a girl. His parents sent him to a counselor who found the root of the problem. He had a handicapped sister and thought he would get more attention if he were a girl. A solution was found, and he continues his growth as a young man. Unfortunately, many of the medical treatments given to teenagers with gender dysphoria are not reversible, and if the patients later change their minds, there really is no going back.

The article concludes:

Other recent cuts made across the Department of Health and Human Services include $1,344,044 from Boston Children’s Hospital for a “TransHealthGUIDE” initiative; $222,977 in savings from a University of Miami program to monitor migroagressions against black women with HIV; and $573,588 to the University of Michigan to research prevention for HIV spread in transgender women/men.

Some in the medical profession have forgotten their oath to do no harm.

An American Prisoner Returns Home

On Thursday, The New York Post reported that George Glezmann, who had been kidnapped by the Taliban in December 2022 has been released and is on his way back home.

The article reports:

A Georgia man held by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers since December 2022 was on his way back to the US Thursday after Trump administration negotiators secured his freedom, a diplomatic source told The Post.

The Taliban kidnapped George Glezmann, 65, while he was visiting Afghanistan — but he has just been released following negotiations brokered by Trump special hostage envoy Adam Boehler, Taliban officials and Qatari officials.

Boehler and former US envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad met with Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman and senior adviser to the prime minister Majed Al Ansari as well as Afghanistan foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to finalize Glezmann’s release earlier Thursday.

Glezmann later left Kabul en route to Doha following weeks of three-party talks.

It is wonderful that he is being returned, but why was he visiting Afghanistan? There are better places to go on vacation.

The article notes:

Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified before Congress in 2023 that at least 175 Americans remain stranded in Afghanistan, though he didn’t divulge how many were being wrongfully detained by the Taliban.

Qatar is taking the lead in providing support for Glezmann’s immediate repatriation and any necessary medical assistance as he flies back to be reunited with his family.

President Trump “has made the freedom and homecoming of Americans held abroad a high priority,” Khalilzad said on X. “It is an honor to assist in this important effort.”

“We extend our deepest appreciation to the State of Qatar, who’s steadfast commitment and diplomatic efforts were instrumental in securing George’s release,” added the State Department in a statement.

“Qatar has consistently proven to be a reliable partner and trusted mediator, facilitating complex negotiations,” the department added.

“George’s release is a positive and constructive step. It is also a reminder that other Americans are still detained in Afghanistan. President Trump will continue his tireless work to free ALL Americans unjustly detained worldwide.”

The work to return all overseas hostages to America needs to be a priority. American citizens need to have the full force of the government behind them when they travel overseas.

Scaring Up Voters–Literally!

One of the signs held up by the Democrats at President Trump’s speech on Tuesday said “Save Medicaid.” Just for the record, Medicaid is not in danger. That is a scare tactic to try and persuade voters to vote Democrat.

On Wednesday, The New York Post reported:

Get ready to be bombarded with ghoulish ads warning about grandmothers dying and children denied needed cancer treatments “just to make billionaires like Elon Musk even richer.”

The ads, paid for by a Democratic PAC, started running Monday. And Monday night Democrats attending President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress held up paddles with the message “Save Medicaid.”

It’s demagoguery in full swing to combat Republican efforts to control federal spending on Medicaid and stabilize the nation’s debt.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is claiming, “House Republicans just voted to rip health care away from up to 1.8 million New Yorkers — all to bankroll giveaways for billionaires.”

The article notes:

These are lies. The needy are not going to lose their health care, and the demagogues know it. 

Truth is, congressional Republicans are finally sticking up for working people who resent covering the bills for healthy folks who refuse to work.

To control Medicaid spending, Republicans are calling for a “work requirement” for able-bodied adults without children or an elderly dependent.

“Work” overstates the toughness.  Anyone who is employed for 80 hours a month, or attends school, a training program or drug-recovery program and is low income will still be eligible for free care. Just not moochers.

Just a reminder–in 1996, President Clinton added a work requirement to welfare payments. President Obama removed it in July 2012. President Trump reinstated it in 2017. President Biden removed the work requirements for Medicaid and food stamps.

The article reminds us of the recent history of Argentina:

Take it from Javier Milei, Argentina’s president, elected one year ago.

He campaigned with a chainsaw, pledging deep cuts to his government’s out-of-control spending.

At that time, his country had one of the highest inflation rates in the world. A year later, inflation is coming down fast.

Republicans aren’t taking a chainsaw to Medicaid, but slowing its spending growth will help deter inflation and allow them to renew Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which are about to expire.

Before 2017, the US was losing 10 multinational corporate headquarters a year to countries with lower corporate taxes.

After Trump’s 2017 cuts, the exodus stopped.

Renewing those corporate tax cuts is essential to save American jobs. Possibly yours.

When you hear the demagogues oppose Medicaid “cuts,” think of the guy sitting on the couch, while you go to work to pay his health-care tab.

Don’t fall for the phony sob stories.

Remember, there is no legal requirement for political ads to tell the truth.

How Does The Amount Of Money Actually Used To Solve The Problem Compare To The Amount Of Money Given To The NGO ?

On Saturday, The New York Post posted an article about the misuse of American taxpayer dollars under the banner of USAID.

The article reports:

DOGE wants to see where our tax dollars go, and we should let them. No surprise that the “government industrial complex” will resist every effort to bring transparency and accountability to how those funds are spent when the system is ripe with problems.

I’ve had first-hand experience with USAID and other international aid organizations, such as the World Bank, UNESCO, and even the Red Cross, during my 40-plus trips to Haiti after being invited by then Haitian President René Préval to help rebuild the nation following the devastating 2010 earthquake.

And I’ve seen how USAID, along with other NGOs, delivered on very few of their promises, failed to coordinate relief activities, and even skimmed money off the top.

…What happened in Haiti captures, at the very least, the incompetence — if not the outright corruption — of these international relief organizations. There is probably no more corrupt government agency than USAID.

Since the 2010 earthquake in Haiti killed as many as 300,000 people, the US government has disbursed around $4.4 billion in foreign assistance to the small island nation.

At least $1.5 billion was disbursed for immediate humanitarian aid, while another $3 billion went to recovery, reconstruction and development.

Of the at least $2.13 billion in contracts and grants for Haiti-related work, less than $50 million, or 2% went to Haitian organizations or firms. By comparison, $1.3 billion, or 56%, has gone to firms located in or near the US capitol. Little wonder USAID is so threatened by the sudden scrutiny.

The article concludes:

Money is lost when charities give funds to other organizations to implement the work they had promised. For example, the Red Cross set aside some of the original Haiti funds for their own administrative fees. Then, the charities they hired took a cut of their subsequent administrative fees.

Finally, the Red Cross had yet another charge which they described as “program costs incurred in managing third-party projects,” or an oversight fee.

Ultimately, this lack of transparency allows for ineffective and misleading uses of large donations that might otherwise have the potential to make an important impact in long-term relief.

The lack of information required by these organizations also complicates further analysis of this distribution of money and its long-term success.

The US provided $72 billion in aid to 180 countries in 2023, with USAID serving as its lead agency. DOGE attention to USAID is much deserved and long overdue as American goodwill and generosity have been repeatedly squandered.

The Haitian experience is the best case study of the failures of the American foreign aid program’s lack of transparency and accountability.

Governmental agencies such as USAID and their NGO partners and collaborators act as if they are sovereign nations — accountable to no one.

I don’t mind helping countries in need. I do mind lining the pockets of people who run charities where very little of the collected money actually goes where it needs to go.

People Who Live Or Work In New York City Will Cheer This

On Wednesday, The New York Post reported that the much-hated congestion toll in New York City will be going away. The Department of Transportation (DOT) under President Trump has pulled the previous approval of the toll.

The article reports:

New York City’s spectacularly unpopular congestion pricing scheme is on death row as the Trump administration announced Wednesday it is pulling its approval of the toll — slamming it as “backwards and unfair” — in a major blow to Gov. Kathy Hochul, The Post has learned.

The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration terminated the approval of the controversial program, according to a letter Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent to Hochul on Wednesday afternoon.

“New York State’s congestion pricing plan is a slap in the face to working class Americans and small business owners,” said Duffy, noting that commuters entering NYC have already financed the construction and improvement of city roadways through their taxes.

“But now the toll program leaves drivers without any free highway alternative, and instead, takes more money from working people to pay for a transit system and not highways. It’s backwards and unfair,” he said, blasting the program as harmful to small businesses in the Big Apple that depend on customers from New Jersey and Connecticut.

I have a nephew (who has since moved to North Carolina) that worked in New York City in the motion picture industry. The toll would have resulted in more than $100 a week in commuting expenses. There were times when he needed to bring his truck into the City for his job, and the extra expense would be a problem. The people paying this toll are not the people who can afford it–they are the working people who are afraid to ride the subways because of safety issues. During the 1960’s, I rode the subway every day when I commuted to school, but I wouldn’t want to ride it now. This tax needed to go away, and I applaud Secretary Duffy for ending it. Also, some serious effort needs to be made to clean up the subways and make them safer.

Where A Lot Of The Money Went

On Thursday, The New York Post posted an article about how much money the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spent on migrants from 2020 to 2024.

The article reports:

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ramped up grants for migrants from 2020 to 2024 — which included cash assistance to buy cars, homes and even build credit for startup businesses, according to a shocking watchdog report that found taxpayers were left on the hook for $22.6 billion.

HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) — which came under fire last year for having lost track of 32,000 migrant kids in the US — handed out the high sum to a host of nonprofits, effectively acting as a “giant magnet” for those crossing the US border and claiming asylum, auditors from the money monitor OpenTheBooks revealed exclusively to The Post.

Tasked with settling migrants, asylum seekers and other refugees in America, ORR drastically increased the number of noncitizens eligible to receive funding over the bulk of President Joe Biden’s term, with more than $10 billion shelled out to grant-receiving organizations just in fiscal year 2023.

…Non-governmental groups bilked taxpayers for up to $1.7 billion in services including dollar-for-dollar matching savings plans for cars, homes, college educations or startups; small-business loans of up to $15,000; loans to repair credit history of up to $1,500; “cultural orientation,” “emergency housing support,” legal assistance and Medicaid care.

Some programs were only available to migrants or refugees who had been living in the US for several years, who were employed or who were making around double the federal poverty level or less, among other stipulations.

The article concludes:

Hart (OpenTheBooks CEO John Hart) slammed ORR’s treatment of migrant kids and said it had revealed “the Left’s counterfeit compassion around immigration.”

“Losing track of 300,000 children violates their dignity and puts them at risk,” he said.

In its report, OpenTheBooks claimed Dunn Marcos’ past work for nonprofits receiving ORR grants posed a “conflict of interest.”

Reps for Dunn Marcos’ office said in a statement that after being appointed in September 2022, she had recused herself from approving funding for any past employer.

…OpenTheBooks nevertheless submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to ORR’s parent office, the Administration for Children and Families, where Dunn Marcos served until recently. Email bouncebacks, the group noted, suggest she departed government service after President Trump took office Jan. 20.

“While Dunn Marcos may have disappeared from ORR, our questions remain over whether certain nonprofit organizations received special treatment amid the billions in grants furnished by the government office,” the group’s report concludes.

“What’s clear is that ORR has funded a constellation of NGOs deployed in border states and nationwide, who give out aid designed to attract even more migrants.”

Reps for HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It is clearly time to stop the NGO gravy train.

Making Room For People Who Tell The Truth

On February 3rd, The New York Post posted an article about changes being made in the Pentagon office space designated for news organizations.

The article reports:

The Trump administration has ordered four left-leaning news organizations including the New York Times and NBC News to vacate their dedicated office space at the Pentagon, making room for new media outlets such as The Post and the right-leaning Breitbart News and One America News.

The decision was announced late Friday in a Department of Defense memo issued by spokesman John Ullyot, who wrote that the Times, NBC News, NPR and Politico must relinquish their Pentagon office space by Feb. 14.

According to Ullyot, the move is part of a new annual media rotation program designed to allow access by “a new outlet from the same medium that has not had the unique opportunity to report as a resident member of the Pentagon press corps.”

As part of this reshuffle, The Post will replace the Times as a print outlet, OAN will take NBC News’ spot as a cable network, Breitbart News will assume NPR’s role as a radio outlet and HuffPost, owned by BuzzFeed, will take Politico’s space.

The reaction is predictable:

She urged the Pentagon to expand media office space to ensure equal access for all news organizations.

Other affected outlets voiced similar concerns.

Politico’s senior managing editor Anita Kumar called the decision “troubling,” while an NBC News spokesman expressed disappointment over losing a broadcasting booth that had been in use for decades.

Where were the complaints when the organizations now given space didn’t have space?

The article concludes:

The reshuffling of Pentagon media access marks another chapter in the Trump administration’s strained relationship with the press.

With accusations of press favoritism and concerns over media transparency mounting, the decision is likely to fuel further debate over the role of independent journalism in government reporting.

If the reporting of the news organizations that lost their space had been accurate, they would still have their space.

Follow The Money

Some of us were appalled by the message given at the National Cathedral Prayer Service. It was not Biblical and was not appropriate. (article here) Well, as usual, it turns out that there was more to the story than meets the eye.

On Friday, The New York Post reported the following:

Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde’s sermon to President Trump during an inaugural prayer service, coupled with her church’s advocacy for humanitarian immigration programs, reveals a striking hypocrisy — one that could be seen as self-serving and even a conflict of interest.

That’s because the federal contracting arm of the church, Episcopal Migration Ministry (EMM), is paid to bring in people on resettlement programs that Trump has temporarily paused and targeted for re-evaluation.

EMM budget figures for 2024 are not available yet, but in 2023 it earned $53 million from various taxpayer-funded government programs to resettle 3,600 individuals.

…Unlike everyday immigrants, these new arrivals receive government assistance and, most importantly, are immediately eligible for all forms of welfare, such as Medicaid and cash assistance, on the same basis as a US citizen.

Further, they can immediately sponsor friends and relatives under a recent Biden expansion of the refugee resettlement program.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement was projecting 656,500 new arrivals in 2025, who would fall under its care. Clearly this is a program wildly out of control.

In an wild understatement, a 2012 Government Accountability Office report quotes an official noting that “funding is based on the number of refugees they serve, so affiliates have an incentive to maintain or increase the number of refugees they resettle each year rather than allowing the number to decrease.”

The article concludes:

Of course, it is not fair to question the Episcopalians alone on this.

Their resettlement contractor is the second smallest of the 10 contractors in the industry. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) dwarfs EMM.

Forbes reported that USCCB affiliate Catholic Charities USA, which has its hand in all aspects of immigration and seems to get money from every government agency except NASA, received $1.4 billion in taxpayer dollars in 2021. That’s 68 times more than EMM got that year.

It was never intended that the sponsoring organizations, formerly known as “Voluntary Agencies,” would be purely federal contractors, with all the behavior, untoward incentives, money, and influence-peddling that this brings, not to mention questions of church-state relations which are never raised in this context.

Any re-tooling of our humanitarian immigration programs must put the bulk of responsibility back on the “sponsoring” entity and limit new arrivals’ access to welfare.

As for encouraging the church to practice true sacrificial charity, Bishop Budde may have put it best when she said in an interview with Rachel Maddow, “the first and primary role that we have is [to lead] by example.”

I would have no problem with the church sponsoring immigrants if the church took care of them after they got here rather than making the taxpayer pay for the church’s generosity. This is a racket. These facts make the Bishop’s remarks seem even more hypocritical than they seemed to be at the time they were given.

Another Consequence Of The Biden Administration

In June of 2024, The New York Post reported that the Biden administration had fast-tracked the takeover of the Audacy radio network by George Soros. Audacy reaches 165 million monthly listeners and includes a handful of conservative shows from hosts including Sean Hannity, Dana Loesch, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck and Erick Erickson.

This week we saw one ugly result of that takeover.

On Monday, Newsbusters posted the following:

This weekend, a radio station owned by the George Soros-controlled Audacy outrageously identified the vehicle whereabouts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents operating in San Jose, California, which is known for violent gang activity.

KCBS 740 AM – not to be confused with the Los Angeles CBS affiliate – elevated the insane unmasking of ICE agents from the leftist Rapid Response Network, which fights against deportation initiatives during the January 26 edition of KCBS Radio Weekend News.

But to make matters worse, anchor Bret Burkhart gave exact descriptions of the vehicles the ICE agents were reportedly using, including specific locations. NewsNation confirmed January 27 that the agents were conducting an operation in the area around that time, meaning their cover was potentially blown.

Post Millennial senior editor Andy Ngo noted the agents were allegedly working “undercover.” KCBS, in effect, “put the law enforcement officers at serious risk while an operation was ongoing targeting violent, criminal foreign nationals,” Ngo concluded. 

The article notes:

KCBS 740 was one of the stations prominently implicated in that deal. The Federal Communications Commission, in a bizarre act, fast-tracked Soros’s purchase of the radio giant, which was also backed by foreign money.

I am not sure if there is a definitive law that covers this activity, but there should be a penalty for this action.

Be Careful When You Donate

On Sunday, The New York Post posted an article about some of the donation sites collecting money for the victims of the California wildfires. When you donate to anything, be sure to read the fine print.

The article reports:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom sparked fierce outrage for soliciting donations to victims of the deadly Los Angeles wildfires via his super PAC, which pushed users to add their personal information to a Democratic fundraising site.

Newsom, 57, posted a link on X to californiafirefacts.com, a website set up by his campaign committee, in response to what he claimed was misinformation on the wildfires. 

But the site urges users to give money to the California Fire Foundation and links them to a module from ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s fundraising platform. The ActBlue donation box says the money is being raised by Campaign for Democracy, Newsom’s super PAC. 

…The California Fire Foundation, which helps firefighters, their families and victims, allows users to donate directly without relying on a service like ActBlue to make those transactions. 

Users who donate via Newsom’s fundraising appeal are also automatically signing up for text messages from his super PAC, if they provide their phone numbers.

ActBlue isn’t doing this for nothing:

Observers online also quickly pointed out that ActBlue takes a portion of all donations as a processing fee. ActBlue claims to “charge a flat rate of 3.95% on each donation” to “cover the processing cost.” The Post has contacted ActBlue for comment. 

The article notes:

“Both Gavin Newsom and Elizabeth Warren were exposed for using the California fires to push Democrat fundraising efforts. It doesn’t get much worse than this. Americans, remember these receipts when you head to the polls,” X user Jack wrote.

“Getting a great preview of how a President Newsom would handle a national emergency—hop on a left wing podcast, have the hosts use Act Blue for relief donations (where $ will ultimately get funneled to Dem causes), and then retain the donor lists for future Dem fundraising,” user Vanessa wrote on X, referencing Newsom’s appearance on the liberal “Pod Save America” podcast.

“Newsom….never let a fundraising opportunity go to waste,” user Andrew Laing wrote on X.

Donations directly to The California Fire Foundation, Operation Blessing, Samaritan’s Purse of the Salvation Army might be more effective.

Common Sense Would Have Prevented This Tragedy

On Wednesday, The New York Post posted an article about some of the policies that have resulted in the severity of the California fires. Frankly, I don’t know how they will rebuild from this. The losses are staggering. Many of the homes destroyed were multi-million-dollar homes. In California a one bedroom home can cost over $600,000, so the losses in every area affected are going to be monumental. However, there are common-sense precautions that could have been put in place that might not have prevented the fires, but would have made them less severe.

The article reports:

President-elect Trump, during his first administration, put Gov. Gavin Newsom on notice for his handling of repeated wildfires in the state, years ahead of the devastating Los Angeles wildfires currently raging.

“The Governor of California, @GavinNewsom, has done a terrible job of forest management. I told him from the first day we met that he must ‘clean’ his forest floors regardless of what his bosses, the environmentalists, DEMAND of him. Must also do burns and cut fire stoppers,” the former and upcoming president posted to X in 2019.

“Every year, as the fire’s rage & California burns, it is the same thing-and then he comes to the Federal Government for $$$ help. No more. Get your act together Governor. You don’t see close to the level of burn in other states,” the thread continued.

President Trump also stated:

“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,”Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday. /pal

“He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!”

This is not playing politics–this is telling the truth. If the Governor had taken the proper action, the disaster could have been prevented.

All Americans will wind up paying for the neglect of California’s forests and California’s misplaced priorities regarding its water systems. That is the result of irresponsible leadership in the State of California.

Making Life Harder For Those On Fixed Incomes

On Sunday, The New York Post posted an article about a recent regulation put in place by the Biden administration. First of all, why are we being governed by regulations instead of laws passed by Congress? It is time to go back to the government envisioned by our Founding Fathers. I want every regulation voted on by Congress and their votes made public.

The article reports:

A Biden administration ban on certain natural gas water heaters as part of the lame duck president’s climate agenda could send prices soaring for the elderly and the poor.

Under the policy, new non-condensing, natural gas-fired water heaters will be prohibited for sale starting in 2029 due to concerns about carbon-dioxide emissions. The policy comes during President Biden’s twilight days in the White House and was quietly announced without a press release.

If the policy takes effect, as it is slated to on March 11, a little less than 40% of the tankless water heaters currently on the market would be banned, according to an estimate from the Appliance Standards Awareness Project. 

First of all, carbon-dioxide emissions have been proven to be beneficial to the planet–not detrimental. Farmers blow carbon-dioxide into their greenhouse to help the plants grow. Would they be doing that if it were killing their plants?

The article notes:

Customers will be pushed towards buying models that are more expensive or lean on non-instantaneous storage tank water heaters, which are generally cheaper but tend to be less efficient than the ones that are facing a ban, per the report. 

For example, a Rinnai America tankless non-condensing natural gas water heater goes for roughly $1,000 at Home Depot, while a comparable condensing tank goes for about $1,800.

Tankless technology is frequently used in smaller apartments or housing spaces, which means that a lot of lower-income and elderly people tend to use those types of water heaters.

“Forcing low-income and senior customers to pay far more upfront is particularly concerning. DOE’s decision to go ahead with a flawed final rule is deeply disappointing,” Matthew Agen, the American Gas Association’s chief counsel for energy, told the outlet.

By the Department of Energy’s estimate, the costs saved over the long run by the new rules will be about $112 over a roughly 20-year stretch, Agen emphasized.

This regulation needs to be struck down as soon as possible.

Here’s A Medal For Attempting To Destroy America

On Saturday, The New York Post posted an article about President Biden’s list of people he will be presenting with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The article reports:

President Biden will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, to former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, billionaire Democratic megadonor George Soros and several others at a White House ceremony on Saturday. 

The White House said Clinton, Soros and the 17 other recipients of the prestigious award are “individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors.” 

“President Biden believes great leaders keep the faith, give everyone a fair shot, and put decency above all else,” the White House said in a statement. “These nineteen Americans are great leaders who have made America a better place. They are great leaders because they are good people who have made extraordinary contributions to their country and the world.” 

The article includes the entire list. There are actually some people on the list who have made a positive contribution to America, but I am not sure I would use the term decency in my description of either Hillary Clinton or George Soros.

The President (or whoever is currently running the country) gets to choose the recipients of the award, but I think the current choices have greatly reduced the prestige of the award.

One Possible Solution To Rising Crime On The New York City Subways

On Sunday, The New York Post posted an article citing one possible solution to the increasing level of crime on the New York City Subways.

The article reports:

The Guardian Angels are resuming their patrols of the Big Apple’s subways as if it were crime-riddled Gotham in 1979, after the horrifying arson murder of a sleeping straphanger on a train last week, founder Curtis Sliwa said Sunday.

The red-beret-wearing volunteer vigilante squad is beefing up its ranks to its level 45 years ago, Sliwa said.

“We’re going to have to increase our numbers, increase the training and increase our presence as we did back in 1979,” Sliwa said at the Stillwell Avenue-Coney Island station in Brooklyn where the woman was killed.

Curtis Sliwa is now 70, but  he still loves his city as much as he did then. He has been a fighter for the city for a long time.

In August of 2005, The New York Times reported:

Testifying in the federal racketeering trial of John A. Gotti, Mr. Sliwa said he thought he had “hit the lottery” when he climbed into the back of the cab he had hailed near his apartment in the East Village before dawn on June 19, 1992. The driver recognized him and seemed to know that he was going to the WABC radio studios near Madison Square Garden, where he was host of a morning show. Within moments, Mr. Sliwa said, a second man popped up from under the dashboard “like a jack-in-the-box,” pointing a silver-plated pistol at his belly.

“Take this, you son of a bitch,” Mr. Sliwa recalled the gunman saying. He said he heard at least three shots, and felt blood spurting under his shirt and then searing pain in his legs, “like a knife through hot butter.”

Mr. Sliwa managed to escape the taxi and survived. Now he is back to help again.

In 1994, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Police Commissioner William Bratton instituted what is called the Broken Windows Theory which resulted in a decrease in crime in New York City. One of my daughters was a freshman at Cooper Union in New York in 1992. The difference in the city the year she began her education there and the year she ended it was noticeable. New York City needs a mayor like Rudy Giuliani again (and the help of the Guardian Angels).

Equal Treatment Of Accused Offenders

On Friday, The New York Post reported:

Reps. Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene called on Congress Thursday to release the names of current and former members on a secret list of lawmakers that have used taxpayer money to settle sexual harassment claims. 

“Congress has secretly paid out more than $17 million of your money to quietly settle charges of harassment (sexual and other forms) in Congressional offices,” Massie (R-Ky.) wrote on X.

“Don’t you think we should release the names of the Representatives? I do,” he added. 

Massie’s suggestion was quickly endorsed by Greene (R-Ga.).

…“Taxpayers should have never had to pay for that. Along with all the other garbage they should not have to pay for,” she argued. 

Since 1997, the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights has paid out more than $17 million in public money to settle nearly 300 cases of workplace disputes at the US Capitol – including claims related to sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation and pay disputes. 

The obscure office does not release the identities of those have reached settlements and does not break down how much of the money disbursed over the last 27 years is specifically related to sexual harassment claims. 

This is in response to making public the ethics committee report on Matt Gaetz. The report was filled with unproven allegations with evidence so flimsy that even the Merrick Garland politicized Department of Justice chose not to pursue the case.

The article concludes:

“Yes. Taxpayers deserve to know,” former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) tweeted in support of Massie.

The demands from Massie and Greene follow the release of a House Ethics Committee report into allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use against Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). 

In the aftermath of the controversial release of the report, which came after Gaetz resigned from Congress, the Florida Republican floated the idea of briefly returning to Capitol Hill for the sole purpose of exposing those on the secret list.

“Someone suggested the following plan to me,” Gaetz wrote on X last week. “1. Show up 1/3/2025 to congress 2. Participate in Speaker election (I was elected to the 119th Congress, after all…) 3. Take the oath 4. File a privileged motion to expose every ‘me too’ settlement paid using public funds (even of former members) 5. Resign and start my @OANN program at 9pm EST on January 6, 2025.”

Politico reported last week that some GOP lawmakers are already passing around a draft resolution that would do just that. 

If you are willing to publish unfounded accusations against one Congress member, you should be willing to publish unfounded accusations against all Congress members.

When Do We Start Talking About Treason?

Periodically America holds elections. We elect people to run our government and represent us. Some people represent us better than others. However, no one elected the numerous bureaucrats that seem to think they run the country (they think that because it’s probably true).

On Thursday, The New York Post reported:

Spy chiefs “silenced” researchers in the Defense Department and FBI who discovered strong evidence that COVID-19 most likely leaked from a Chinese lab, The Post has learned.

As a result, their findings were kept out of an August 2021 report to President Biden on the origins of the global pandemic.

That report concluded that the virus behind COVID “was probably not genetically engineered.”

After the pandemic erupted in Wuhan, China, three scientists from the Defense Intelligence Agency began trying to figure out exactly where it came from — whether SARS-CoV-2 jumped from bats into humans, or whether the virus was man-made and came from a lab accident.

The “zoonotic origin” theory was backed by powerful members of the public health establishment, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, and questions about a possible “lab leak” were repeatedly dismissed as a conspiracy theory.

But the researchers’ analysis compiled dozens of data points in favor of a lab leak — compared with a “paucity of evidence supporting the natural origin theory,” a source familiar with their investigation told The Post.

…Rather than amplifying these findings, they were all but ignored as Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines was preparing her report on COVID origins — which Biden ordered in May 2021.

“The scientists who had the subject matter expertise were silenced,” the source said, noting that Biden and others remained “completely unwitting” about the evidence that SARS-CoV-2 likely leaked out of a lab.

The spy chiefs further forbade the scientists from sharing the information with Congress — even after Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) expressly requested them in a March 2021 letter — or from rebutting a since-disgraced May 2020 paper — prompted by Fauci — that sought to discredit the lab leak theory.

The spy chiefs did not have the right to prevent the sharing of information about the origins of COVID from the President. He is an elected official–they are not.

Please follow the link to read the entire article. It includes a lot of information on why scientists believed the lab leak theory and what was withheld from the President.

Somehow Taxes, Once In Place, Never Seem To Go Down

Remember when New York State Governor Kathy Hochul put the congestion tax in place in New York City after the election so as not to lose Democrat votes? Remember when she told you how much money she was saving you because she decided that the tax should be $9 instead of $15? (article here) Well, don’t be too grateful all at once, because changes are coming.

On Wednesday, The New York Post reported:

The new $9 toll to drive into Midtown Manhattan could soar another 25% — to $11.25 — on “gridlock alert days’’ starting next year, The Post has learned.

The MTA’s right to jack up the already hotly controversial commuter tax was listed in a footnote in the revised congestion pricing plan filed with the state’s rule-making publication, the New York State Register.

“If whacking hardworking Jersey and New York families with a new, $9 a day Congestion Tax wasn’t enough, the MTA is now pouring extra salt on the wound with a 25 percent extra Uber-style surge pricing tax on so-called ‘Gridlock Alert Days’ — whenever they want,” seethed Dem Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who represents northern New Jersey communities that border the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan.

“It’s a huge insult to our families trying to make ends meet,’’ said Gottheimer, who is running to become Garden State governor next year.

When you give a mouse a cookie…

It’s Time To Find The Children

On Wednesday, Breitbart posted an article about one of the priorities of the incoming Trump administration.

The article reports:

On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” incoming Border Czar Tom Homan stated that the Trump administration will attempt to locate and rescue as many missing migrant children as possible and “We’ll deal with the immigration consequences later, we’ve got to get these kids back with their families, and we’ve got to make sure they’re protected.”

Homan said, “[U]nder the Trump administration, we had a DNA testing. We vetted everybody in the household, not just the sponsor…to make sure there wasn’t a gang member or a child predator living in that household. So, this isn’t incompetence, this isn’t mismanagement, this is by design, this is about moving as many people into this country as possible, because they see a future political benefit in all of this. Do I think they meant to put [children in harm’s way]? I don’t know that. I have my suspicions. But what they did is harming hundreds of thousands of children, and I’ll tell you right now, some of these children, we’re never going to find. Some of these children are dead. Some of these children are living a life of hell every day.”

In August, The New York Post reported:

The Biden-Harris administration has lost track of more than 320,000 migrant children who crossed the border without parents, according to a shocking new report.

Untold numbers of the children — who were released into the US to “qualified sponsors” — are now at risk of sex trafficking, forced labor and other forms of exploitation, a Homeland Security Inspector General’s report released Monday said.

As of May 2024, there are 291,000 migrant children who arrived in the US as unaccompanied minors who were set free and never given a date to appear in immigration court — meaning there is no way to track their whereabouts.

That is in addition to the 32,000 children that Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities released into the US with hearing dates but then failed to show in court, according to the 14-page report — which tracked a period from October 2018 to September 2023.

One federal whistleblower said that she believes many of these vulnerable kids could already be in the hands of criminals and sex traffickers.

It’s time to close the border to illegal immigrants, and locate the missing children and provide them with the safety and protection they deserve.

 

Commuting The Sentences Of People Who Committed Horrible Crimes

On December 23rd, The New York Post posted an article about a number of prison sentences commuted during the final days of the Biden administration. Some of the people whose sentences were commuted as simply scary.

The article reports:

President Biden on Monday commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 men on federal death row — a list that includes at least five child killers and several mass murderers — while leaving off three notorious fiends.

…“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden said in a statement.

“But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Vice President, and now President, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level. In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”

The article lists some of the beneficiaries of President Biden’s largess:

Among those receiving the holiday cheer is Thomas Sanders, who in 2010 kidnapped and then shot 12-year-old Lexis Roberts four times and cut her throat in Louisiana — days after the girl watched as Sanders murdered her mother on a road trip near the Grand Canyon.

Christmas also came early for Anthony Battle, who murdered an Atlanta prison guard with a hammer in 1994 while serving a life sentence for raping and murdering his wife, a US Marine, in 1987 at Camp Lejeune, NC.

Jorge Avila-Torrez sexually assaulted and stabbed to death two girls — Laura Hobbs, 8, and Krystal Tobias, 9 — who had been riding their bicycles in their neighborhood in a suburb north of Chicago in 2005.

Four years later, he strangled naval officer Amanda Snell, 20, inside her barrack in Arlington, Va.

Iouri Mikhel, another clemency recipient, was convicted of murdering five Russian and Georgian immi­grants after kidnapping them for ransom, which in some cases was paid before he killed them anyway.

Kaboni Savage, meanwhile, was convicted of committing or ordering the deaths of 12 people including four children as a Philadelphia drug dealer — while James Roane, Jr. participated in the murder of 11 people as a drug dealer in Richmond, Va.

Follow the link to the article if you want to see the rest of the group.

My first thought is to wonder who exactly is making these decisions. Is President Biden aware enough mentally to study these cases and make the decisions?