Hippocrates and Hormones

The Greek physician Hippocrates is traditionally regarded as the father of medicine.

The National Library of Medicine describes Hippocrates this way.

Hippocrates was the first physician in history to establish medicine as a science and to suggest the boundaries of physicians' behavior towards their patients. The Hippocratic Oath is applied in many healthcare systems worldwide as an ethical guide for doctors graduating from medical school. It determines modern medicine’s most significant values, such as physicians' specialization to avoid harm and respect patients’ privacy. 

Hippocrates literally established the idea of clinical medicine and surgery. His work set the foundation for most modern day specialties, such as surgery, urology, neurology, and acute medicine,

One of the major contributions that Hippocrates made to the practice of medicine was the importance of taking a holistic approach when diagnosing or treating a patient.

One of the most significant innovations of the founding father of clinical medicine was the holistic approach for the diagnosis and treatment of disease. This approach is based on the assumption that the human body is a sum of many parts that function in harmony and that if one part is ill, the balance will be affected and the whole person will suffer. Hippocrates considered that patients consisted of body, mind, and spirit and this is also the modern physicians' approach when treating a disease.

One of the ideas that Hippocrates had in taking account of the holistic approach was why was it that women had more emotional and physical distress than men?

Four centuries before Jesus Christ was born, Hippocrates understood that there were emotional differences between men and women in addition to the physical features and functions of males and females.

Hippocrates believed the hormonal or emotional differences in females was caused by the uterus wandering around the body and pressing on other organs.

He called this condition "hysteria" which meant uterus or womb in Greek.

We know now that the uterus does not wander around the body but it is generally agreed that hormonal issues in women can result in both physical and mental issues.

We have seen all of this play out in Massachusetts in recent months.

It has been hard to miss all of the media attention that the Lindsay Clancy case received in that state recently.

The mother of three strangled her three children and claimed it was due to postpartum depression and psychosis.

The criminal trial ended in a mistrial deadlocked with 11 jury members (mostly women) in favor of acquittal by reason of insanity and one male member opposed.

I did not follow the details of the case close enough to have a sound opinion of guilt or non-guilt in this case.

Unless you hear every piece of evidence that a juror hears in a trial it is impossible to say you are truly informed on all the issues in any case.

However, when I was in law school I found the insanity defense in the case of a murder trial to be one of the toughest issues to comprehend.

It goes without saying that in almost all cases outside of war, taking the life of another human being (particularly a child) suggests a certain level of insanity. The mind is obviously not operating normally in such a case.

The law recognizes this and the general rule for an insanity plea to be upheld is proof that the assailant did not know the difference between right and wrong.

In Massachusetts the standard is showing beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knew the wrongfulness of their actions and could follow the law.

Clancy clearly had serious mental issues but did she know it was wrong to kill her children?

That is the fundamental question in this case.

One of the problems facing the jury in this case were the limitations based on state law.

A guilty verdict meant Clancy went to prison. A not guilty verdict by reason of insanity meant that she went to a mental institution for treatment. However, when doctors assessed she was no longer a threat to herself or others she would be free to return to society. There is no middle ground. This put the jurors in a tough spot.

Massachusetts would be better served with a verdict that would have allowed "guilty but mentally ill". This would have acknowledged diminished capacity at the time of murder, would provide mental health treatment in the prison system but when "cured" the defendant must serve out the remainder of any prison term given in the trial.

Postpartum depression and psychosis is not to be minimized. It is real and I have known women who have suffered from it.

However, does it absolve someone from murder?

PTSD is also very real for those who have been in war.

Would that mean that a father returning home from Afghanistan or Iraq could be found not guilty by reason of insanity for killing their children?

There is another interesting factor here in the issues of hormones affecting Clancy's mindset. 

The defense argument is that the hormonal effects of her postpartum issues overwhelmed her mind. As a result. she was incapable of controlling herself and discerning right from wrong.

However, we often talk about the hormones of young men going wild. This has never been an excuse for rape.

In fact, the Muslim religion is built on the fact that these hormonal urges are so strong that it mandates that women completely cover themselves from head to toe so as not to be a temptation and accelerant to those hormones in men.

Is there a double standard somehow involved here?

However, what is most interesting to me in this case is the emotional outpouring we have seen among other women who are vocal in their support of Lindsay Clancy.

Many of these women are not even willing to admit that Clancy killed her children. It seems they are incapable of accepting that a mother could kill her own children.

They believe her husband committed the crime even though her own attorney did not dispute that Clancy killed her own kids in his defense of her at the trial.

Hundreds of women turned out daily in Plymouth, MA to show their support for Clancy during the trial.

Clancy may have been not guilty by reason of insanity.

The fact remains that three children are dead. 

Does this justify any type of rally?

Source: https://kmph.com/news/nation-world/demonstrators-gathered-outside-courthouse-to-support-lindsay-clancy-aug-20-2026

You also have to ask what precedent will the Clancy case have on future murders by mothers?

If Clancy is eventually absolved of any criminal responsibility in her case what does it mean for other cases?

This is a summary of some of the killings by mothers of their children since Lindsay Clancy murdered her kids in 2023.

Dr. Naomi Wolf also raises the question of if a woman's hormones are an excuse for murder where does that leave the women's movement generally?

Source: https://x.com/TPostMillennial/status/2098446812285976890

You also have this meme that shows an interesting contrast in the financial support in two cases involving mothers and fundraising for them after tragic events.

Lindsay Clancy has had over $1 million raised on her behalf on GoFundMe after killing her children..

A Swedish woman who was burned over 93% of her body in pulling all six of her children out of raging house fire in 2019 only raised a fraction of that in a fundraiser to assist her recovery.

You can read the full story of the accuracy of these claims at Snopes.com.

Yes, the Swedish did end up with more money in other fundraising efforts over the years but it did not come close to the Clancy money. 

Why the difference?

I don't have an answer.

It is difficult enough to process everything in the Clancy case. The sideshow surrounding it is even harder to understand.

It might be enough to further confuse Hippocrates on the effects of hormones on the female mind and body.

9/11 + 25

Today we recognize and remember the horrific events of September 11, 2001 on the 25th anniversary of that fateful day.

There is not a person who was alive on that day, beyond the youngest children, who do not remember where they were or what they were doing when they got the news of the attacks.

I remember it as if it was yesterday and I also recall how subdued and quiet it was in the days and weeks after 9/11. It was almost as if everyone was in a state of shock.

The quiet extended to the skies as for several days after 9/11 as all civilian aircraft were grounded so there were none of the familiar background sounds of a passing jet or airplane.

Mrs. BeeLine and I were invited to spend a night at a friend's lake house outside of Pittsburgh two weeks after 9/11. Our host had been fishing on the lake when the jet that ultimately crashed in Shanksville, PA flew very low over him as the passengers battled with the terrorists on board.

We attended a play at a small community theater during our visit not far from Shanksville and I remember how quiet the audience was before the performance and at intermission. There was no small talk and no laughter. It was as if everyone was waiting for the next shoe (or plane) to drop.

I flew from Pittsburgh to Portland, Maine about six weeks after 9/11. 

I remember how quiet the airport was as I walked to my gate. 

There also could not have been more than 10 passengers on the flight. 

When I arrived in Portland I walked through the same airport that the 19 Muslim terrorists had as they began their day before boarding flights to Boston, Newark and Dulles.

2,977 victims died on 9/11 in New York City, at the Pentagon and in that field in Shanksville after those terrorists got on their connecting flights and made the planes killing missiles.

If we did not know it before, 9/11 revealed the true fanaticism of elements of the Muslim religion and the wide gulf in our values.

We have continued to deal with that reality for most of the last 25 years including most directly over the last six months in Iran.

With all that in mind, what I find most interesting are the changes we have seen in the United States over the 25 years since 9/11.

New York City had a population that included 177,000 Muslims in 2001.

It now has over 1 million Muslims residing in the city.

New York City's mayor is now a Muslim socialist.

Many of Zohran Mamdani's supporters have anti-American views in addition to being anti-semitic and anti-Israel.

Another Muslim socialist is currently running for the U.S. Senate in Michigan.

There are two high profile House Democrats who are Muslim---Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashid Tlaib (D-MI)--who are known for anti-American rants from time to time.

The Muslim population in the United States has grown from an estimated 1.8 million in 2001 to 2.4 million in 2007 to 5.5 million in 2026.

Source: Pew Research Center

That increase in population is reflected in the number of mosques in the United States.

There are now over 3,150 mosques in the United States.

There were 50 in 1950.

All Muslims are obviously not Islamic extremists like those who flew those planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the field in Shanksville. This was stated over and over in the days after 9/11 to combat any Islamophobia.

However, what causes a young man to fly a plane into a building, strap on a suicide vest or take an automatic weapon into an opera house with the intent to kill or maim shouting "Allahu Akbar"?

Ten years ago I came across an interesting paper by Dr. Tawfik Hamid, "The Cause of Jihadist Terrorism and How to Combat It" in a publication by the Air Force Research Laboratory (credit to Viable Opposition for pointing me to this) that attempts to explain this question.

Dr. Hamid knows something about this subject because at one time he was an Islamic extremist himself in his native Egypt.

The radical Islam we see today has its roots in what is called the "Salafi Movement" within Islam. Its followers believe in taking a very fundamental approach to Islam. They believe that Islam has strayed from its roots and has become decadent over the years. 

They reject any religious innovation and support the implementation of sharia law. One of the key signs of spreading Salafism is for the women to wear the hijab, a key part in the imposition of sharia law.

Interestingly, Hamid sees the wearing of the hijab as an important indicator of increased radicalism in a Muslim community. This is how he describes how this takes hold.

The process begins with the propagation of Salafi jihadist ideology within a community. Increasing numbers of women begin to wear the hijab, which is both a symptom of Salafi proliferation and a catalyst for Islamism (see, e.g.,Mahmood, 2005). In turn, the proliferation of militant Salafism and the hijab contribute to the idea of passive terrorism, which occurs when moderate segments of the population decline to speak against or actively resist terrorism. 

The chart below shows the process of radicalization as well as the reinforcing cycle that continues to make the problem worse as time goes on. Hamid makes the point that while only a small percentage of Muslims become active terrorists, there are a very large number of what he calls "passive terrorists" who support the ideals of the cause but will never become violent.

However, it is a numbers game. The more adherents of Islam who follow the fundamentalist view of Salafism, the greater chance that a few more will become violent extremists. The first step in combating jihadist terrorism is to reduce the number of "passive terrorists" as Hamid calls them.

The solution to all of this is exceedingly complex. "No single, magical solution for defeating Islamism" exists according to Hamid.

However, Hamid sees a critical first step that can be taken is to weaken what he calls the "hijab phenomenon" .

Weakening the hijab phenomenon is pivotal to stopping the growth of Islamism at the ideological level. Wearing the hijab is discussed as a cultural phenomenon, rather than an individual choice, as many Muslim women are peaceful people (Hamid, 2007, pp.120-121). I have observed that, over the last few decades, terrorism was preceded by an increase in the prevalence of the hijab. In Sunni Muslim areas such as Kurdistan in Iraq, most women did not wear the hijab; these areas experienced fewer acts of terrorism than areas where the hijab was common, such as Al-Anbar Province.  

If it is a numbers game as Dr. Hamid suggests, we are losing badly.

25 years ago it was rare to see a woman wearing a hijab in the United States.

Today it is a everyday occurrence in many cities around the United States.

The Governor of New York was even wearing a hijab speaking two weeks before the 25th anniversary of 9/11.

Who would have ever thought 25 years ago that this is where we would be in 2026?

While it is true that Muslim extremists are a distinct minority it is rare that other Muslims criticize or call out the extremists.

Are mainstream Muslims afraid to do so or are there many more "passive terrorists" out there than we know?

Although there may be very few Muslims willing to be active terrorists we do know that substantial numbers in the United States favor the implementation of sharia law.

A 2024 survey showed that 39% of Muslims in the United States would support the implementation of sharia law.

In that sharia law is completely at odds with the traditional values of the American people and incompatible with the U.S. Constitution, this should give anyone pause in looking where we are in another 25 years.

One of the most interesting questions I have pondered in these pages over the years is why is it that over the last 50 years Christianity has gotten more liberal and tolerant and Islam has gotten more conservative and less tolerant?

It is a puzzling paradox as conventional thinking suggests that as societies age and mature they tend to become more progressive. For example, they advance from a primitive, barbaric system of justice to a system that recognizes individual rights and equal justice. They become less authoritarian and more flexible.

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next 25 years in the United States.

What will 9/11 + 50 look like?

Will Muslims in America become more tolerant, flexible and less accepting of strict Islam?

Will Muslims more willingly assimilate into American society?

Or will Christians, Jews and other religions in the United States become less tolerant and more forgiving in the face of attempts by Muslims to impose itself on the rest of society?

The 25 years since 9/11 suggests that the road ahead promises plenty of problems based on current trends.

More Than A Name

The media is all worked up because President Trump has signed an executive order renaming the section of Lake Ontario in United States territory to Lake America.

I personally think it is silly and needless.

However, there is no doubt that Trump does things like this to get under the skin of others---both the Canadians and liberals in America.

You could say there is a method in Trump's madness.

It is about more than a name.

Liberals are outraged.

"You cannot rename a lake with a name that goes back eons."

"How dare he!  Trump is changing history."

However, their reaction to all of it exposes a larger hypocrisy which undoubtedly is part of Trump's calculus in all of this.

The same people who argue we are living on stolen land conveniently forget other history.

The Native Mohawks tribes referred to the lake as Catarakui.

The Iroquois referred to it as "oniatarí:io" which meant "lake of shining waters" in their language. 

Somehow it ended up being Lake Ontario and the Mohawk name disappeared.

Map from 1774
Source: Library of Congress

The same can be said about Manhattan and New York City.

The lower part of Manhattan Island was a city named New Amsterdam when the Dutch controlled the area in the early 17th century.

When the British seized control in 1664 they renamed the city New York.

Times change. Attitudes change Names sometimes also change.

As has been said many times before, history is written by the victors.

Of course, those same liberals have not had any problem changing all sorts of names in the last few years.

History and legacy be damned.

Here are few examples of name changes that were pushed by liberals in one form or fashion to be more "politically correct" that I pulled together from a couple of different sources.

Sports Nicknames:

Washington Redskins---- Commanders

Cleveland Indians----Guardians

Stanford Indians ---- Cardinal

Edmonton Eskimos---- Elks

Miami Redskins---RedHawks

William and Mary Indians---- Tribe


Places and holidays:

Columbus Day --- Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Robert E. Lee High School --- John Lewis High

Jefferson Davis Highway--- Richmond Highway

Mount McKinley --- Denali

Fort Bragg ---Fort Liberty

Fort Hood --- Fort Cavazos

Fort Benning---Fort Moore

Fort Gordon---Fort Eisenhower

Brands and institutions:

Boy Scouts of America --- Scouting America

Aunt Jemima ---Pearl Milling Company

Uncle Ben’s --- Ben’s Original

Eskimo Pie --- Edy’s Pie

Land O’Lakes --- kept the land, dropped the Indian

Language and Terms:

Illegal alien --- undocumented immigrant

Hispanic --- Latinx (a term Hispanics never asked for and don’t use)

Mother ---- birthing person

Breastfeeding --- chestfeeding

Inmate / prisoner / convict --- justice-involved person

Ex-con --- returning citizen

Fat --- plus-sized

Master bedroom --- primary bedroom

Shooter---trigger puller

To put all of this in better context, compare the number of official geographic name changes made by the Biden administration compared to what the Trump administration had done prior to renaming Lake Ontario.

Most of the Biden era changes involved the removal of "Squaw" as a geographic name.

Until I did research for this blog post I did not know there was anything offensive about the word "Squaw".

 

In school I was taught that it just referred to a Native American female, most particularly a young, maiden woman.

I did not know that it was now considered a derogatory word.

Who knew? All of my contemporaries I asked about it did not know it was offensive either.

As a result, the Biden administration decided that "Squaw" had to be eliminated anywhere it was used in the name of a geographic location in the United States.

For example, Squaw Valley in California was renamed Yokuts Valley.

Squaw Lake in Colorado became Grizzly Lake.

Squaw Island in Wisconsin became Keyes Island.

This must also explain why "Mia" the Indian woman who graced the Land O Lakes packaging was eliminated several years ago.

Which packaging is more appealing? 

Admittedly, the Trump name changes (now 3) are higher profile but the bigger point is that time changes as does the acceptance of certain names.

It is just another example of how biased  and selective the outrage can be about names, history and legacies.

And a reminder there is always more than a name involved in these situations that usually can be traced back to politics in some form or fashion.

Celebrate Labor Day More Than Ever

Labor Day was established as a national holiday in 1894 after Congress in the Grover Cleveland administration passed a law to recognize, honor and celebrate the American labor movement.

Its origins dated back to 1882 in New York City when several labor organizations organized a voluntary parade and activities to raise the visibility and influence of the labor movement and the laboring classes.

In the late 1800's it was not unusual that many workers might work 12 hour days and six or seven day weeks to make a living.

The American union movement was attempting to gain strength and celebrating a "Labor Day" fit in well with their plans for wider recognition and respect.

The idea caught on and many other city labor centers followed suit in the next several years

Individual states began to pass legislation recognizing the day (Oregon was the first in 1887), and by the time Congress acted, 30 states had adopted some form of Labor Day

The political motivation was to repair relations with the labor union movement when there were considerable tensions as unions agitated for more influence.

Labor Day may have begun as something connected to the labor movement but it seems to me it needs to celebrated even more today.

Barely 5% of private sector workers today are members of a labor union. 

That compares to over 30% in the late 1950's and early 1960's.

Source: https://equitablegrowth.org/aligning-u-s-labor-law-with-worker-preferences-for-labor-representation/

On the other hand, over one-third of public sector workers (teachers, state, local and federal government employees) are in a union.

Source: https://jacobin.com/2022/01/labor-density-historical-comparison-strikes-weakness

Overall, the 15 million labor union members in the United States are split roughly 50% public sector and 50% private sector That amounts to 10% of the total workforce.

The large number of public sector union members is a big change from as recently as the 1960's when it was generally illegal for a public sector employee to even be in a union.

It is important to remember that there is no real legal or economic reason for the very existence of a public sector union in the first place. 

In fact, liberal luminaries in the 1930's such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Fiorello LaGuardia were opposed to public sector collective bargaining for the simple reason that it threatened the broad needs of the citizenry. This was the principal reason it was illegal for most government employees to unionize until well into the 1970's.

That is why you only see the public sector line above begin where it does.

Credit: https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/government-unions/what-was-fdr%e2%80%99s-stance-government-unions

The historical basis for unions in the private sector is based on insuring a balance of power to insure that workers receive a reasonable share of profits and work in safe and sanitary conditions. Governments don't have profits to share. They levy taxes to provide services to the public.

In addition, has anyone ever heard of a government worker toiling in a sweat shop? 

Governments also generally work in a monopoly situation meaning that if they provide poor service, no service, or they strike, there is no corresponding power by the consumer to go elsewhere as there is with a private sector business that is unionized.

Most importantly,  private sector unions are balanced against managers who have a natural incentive to push back on union demands. 

In the public sector no such tensions exists. More often than not the elected officials on the other side of the bargaining table are incentivized to give in to the unions for their own political survival. Democrats in particular know that they would not have been elected (nor will they be reelected) without that public sector union money flowing into their campaign coffers.

Why do I suggest that Labor Day needs to be celebrated more than ever today despite the decline of private sector unions?

It is because those that work and labor today (union or non-union, manufacturing, service, healthcare or anything else) are the ones who are paying taxes and pulling the wagon for everyone else.

These are the people who are making the United States work through their labor, sacrifice and tax payments.

And that number seems to get smaller every year.

The civilian labor participation rate (the adult population working) is only 61.4%.

20 years ago it was over 66%.

Source: https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-labor-force-participation-rate.htm

Why are fewer people in the labor force?

Baby boomers have been retiring.

Source: https://usafacts.org/articles/what-is-this-years-social-security-cost-of-living-increase/

More people have a disability.

More people are just choosing to simply not work.

It means more people in the wagon. Fewer people pulling the wagon.

You can see the stark reality of this in these color coded maps of the United States that show the share of personal income in each county that comes from government transfers.

In 1970, not even 1% of counties relied on government transfers for 25% or more of its personal income.

In 2000, 10.4% did.

By 2022, 53% of all counties in the United States were relying on government money for over a quarter of their total personal income.

Credit: https://x.com/GreenPlusAnE/status/2094796289019871502

Those government transfers have to be covered by taxes on those who are in the labor force.

Or new debt that will ultimately have to be paid by someone laboring in the future.

Do you see why we need to celebrate Labor Day more than ever?

Hug someone who is working today.

Oh Canada!

Over the last couple of years I have written several times about the substantial challenges facing Canada.

Here are two examples.

Our Northern Neighbor Heading South?  in February, 2026

What's Next For Canada in May, 2025

The latest example of a misstep by the Liberals who have led the country for the last 11 years is attempting to start a trade war with the United States.

Take a look at Canada's trade numbers and tell me who is going to win any trade war between the two countries.

Source: https://x.com/trish_regan/status/2092429759158301013/photo/1

77% of Canada exports go to the United States.

Those exports represent 22% of Canada's total GDP.

In fact, more goods are exported from Canada to the United States each year than any goods that are transferred among the provinces of Canada.

Canada is also heavily reliant on those in the United States to hold its debt.

Canada has about 

For context, Canada's national federal debt is about $1 trillion.

Beyond all of that, Canada almost totally relies on the United State for its defense.

Canada had neglected spending money on defense for most of the last five decades although it is scheduled to finally spend the NATO required minimum 2% of GDP this year.

Of course, that only came about due to pressure from Trump on Canada and other NATO countries that were getting a free ride from the United States for many, many years.

Prime Minister Carney's actions in treating Trump's trade actions as an attack rather than a negotiation  seems politically calculated rather than being based on sound and rational policy.

Look at the trade numbers above if you don't believe that.

Carney seems to be only interested in playing to the liberal voters who dominate Canadian politics right now and who have a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Just 15% of Canadians have a positive approval of Trump.

What is really sad is that the majority in Canada want to blame Donald Trump for their problems when the reality is that they have done this to themselves by following the wrong leaders and the wrong policies.

It helpful to shift blame for Canada's problems and away from him.

Trump understands what Carney is doing as shown in this Truth Social post from yesterday.

Trump also knows that Carney is only going to accelerate Canada's decline.

I get it that the Canadians believe that Trump is threatening their sovereignty.

However, Trump doesn't have it in for Canada or its people.

He is just playing chess rather than checkers.

Trump understands that Canada has gotten the better part of the trade and defense aspects of the U.S-Canada relationship for a number of years.

For example, the U.S.-Canada trade balance got massively unbalanced during the Biden years.

Source: Grok

Trump  came into office in his second term desiring to bring some balance back to the relationship.

He also knows that Canada has been trying to assist China in circumventing Chinese tariffs by putting Chinese content and parts in goods manufactured in Canada.

Trump's request in the negotiations was merely that when a product comes in from Canada and is marked as "Made in Canada" that it really is true.

The U.S. wanted assurances that it was truly made with non-Chinese parts and labor so that the Chinese could not use Canada to circumvent U.S. tariffs on China.

This apparently is what Carney called an "attack". It would seem this would be something Carney should want for his country anyway.

Trump is also looking at Canada and the United States as a business man would rather than a politician.

Looked at from the perspective of a businessman like Trump. if the U.S. and Canada were corporations, they would be ideal candidates for a consolidation or merger.

It needs to be kept in mind that although Canada encompasses a larger geographic area than the United States, its population is only 40 million compared to 335 million in the U.S.

Further, 90% of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the U.S. border.

Canada is resource rich but does not have the population, manufacturing and technology infrastructure to take full advantage. Nor do they have the financial resources to maximize its assets.

The Canadian dollar is near 20 year lows in value relative to the U.S. dollar.

A Canadian only provides 72 cents $US at recent exchange rates.

15 years ago the Canadian dollar was trading as high as $1.08

Canadian/US Currency Exchange Rate
Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/CADUSD=X/

The average Canadian has lost over 30% of their purchasing power over that period.

Consider the decline in the real GDP per capita and the standard of living in Canada compared to the United States since 2016.

Credit: https://x.com/WallStreetMav/status/2028326186783236412

The Justin Trudeau administration in Canada was disastrous to the financial well-being of average Canadians.

The Carney administration might end being worse.

In this era where economies of scale are more important than ever, and the cost of government services (especially defense) is growing more expensive every year, there is an argument that combining the United States and Canada would make sound economic sense.

A formal merger or annexation is probably not achievable but an economic union with open trade, a common currency and the ability for Americans and Canadians to travel and work freely by and between the two countries might not be out of the question.

This is clearly where Trump's thinking is leading him.

However, this would necessarily require a common policy on immigration that limits and controls this problem. There would also have to be some type of parity in government benefits.

Canada's current more liberal immigration policies make this impossible.

Almost 25% of Canada's population is foreign born compared to 15% in the United States.

If you include those who are first-generation Canadians (their parents were foreign born) that number is about 45%.

In the City of Toronto, 51% of the population is foreign born.

In Vancouver it is 43%.

No economic union or other consolidation would work unless there is full agreement on the immigration issue.

The media and others may want you to believe that Trump is a madman highlighting the possibilities described above.

However, the facts above show there is sound logic and arguments for everything Trump has talked about.

It is confusing to many because Trump is literally thinking two or three steps beyond where most everybody else is who are captured by conventional thinking and the status quo. 

We can only hope that cooler heads will prevail in all of this.

There is too much history of harmony. goodwill and shared values between the two countries.

All I can say is "Oh Canada!" when I look at all of this.

Do Carney and Canadians fully understand the implications of the fight they seem to want to take on?

This guy on X sums it up pretty well.

What are they thinking?

This and That----September 2, 2026 Edition

A few random observations, charts and factoids to provide some context on what is going on in the world.

Prescription Drug Prices

All of the media attentions seems directed at higher gas and food costs.

For some reason no attention is being paid to lower prescription drug prices.

 Prices are down 3.1% over the last 12 months.

They were down 0.8% in July alone---the largest decrease in the last 60 years. That equates to an annualized decline of almost 10%.

The drop in prices has been so dramatic that it was a major factor in revenues slowing down for Walmart last quarter.

Revenues from Walmart's pharmacy business declined year over year spooking investors as Walmart's overall revenue gains were affected by the pharma price declines.

Walmart,s stock quickly dropped 10% in the aftermath of its earnings release,

What did Walmart state was the cause of the decline in pharmacy revenues?

Source: https://www.ndtvprofit.com/markets/walmart-earnings-impact-shares-plunge-6-pre-market-as-drug-price-decline-spooks-investors-11935834

Despite the stronger overall performance, falling drug prices emerged as a concern for investors. Walmart said the decline was partly linked to the federal government's Medicare prescription drug regulations.

The company specifically pointed to lower prices for GLP-1 drugs, saying prescription growth was “more than offset by price-mix headwinds.”

The pressure comes as the US prescription drug market experiences significant price deflation. According to Axios, drug prices are seeing their biggest decline in generations.

Those declines were due to pressure by the Trump Administration that was made possible in part by the new law passed in Trump's Big Beautiful Bill last year.   

That provision requires pharma companies to provide "most favored nation" pricing in the United States similar to prices offered to the lowest or second-lowest prices paid in comparable, wealthy international peer nations.

Is the reason that you don't hear about lower drug prices due to the fact that Donald Trump is in The White House and not a Democrat?

Drug Use Deaths

Pharmacy prices have decreased over the last year but so have deaths from illegal drug usage.

A few years ago all we heard about were deaths from fentanyl.

Deaths are down 54% from the peak in 2024.

Credit: https://x.com/Smirkley/status/2092263071272100135/photo/1

Deaths from meth, cocaine and heroin are also down since 2024.

The downward trend appears to have begun before Donald Trump was elected in 2024 but it is hard to say that stronger border enforcement and using the Navy and Coast Guard to track and destroy drug running craft in the Caribbean has not had a significant effect on these numbers.

Again, how much of this is being reported in the. mainstream media?

 

Cola Wars

For years we have been hearing about the cola war between Coke and Pepsi.

There have also been several books written about the brand competition over the years.

I was surprised recently to see that the Cola War is no longer between Coke and Pepsi.

It is between Coke and Dr. Pepper.

Dr. Pepper has passed Pepsi, Sprite and Diet Coke in recent years to become the second best selling soft drink in the U.S.

Source: Google AI

Pepsi might need another Roger Enrico.

Unfortunately, he passed away 10 years ago.

Pepsi's competition with Coke seems to have passed away as well.

Were The Good Old Days Actually That Great?

We hear a lot about how it used to be better in the good old days.

We also have our younger generations believing that nothing will ever get any better.

There is no reason that it is not possible for the next 80 years to show more improvements than the last 80 years did.

Credit: https://x.com/newtgingrich/status/2090803212659950059/photo/1

 

Most of what we have today was unthinkable 80 years ago.

The graphic above does not take account of such improvements as the television, satellite communications, computers, the internet, cell phones, Google, Amazon, AI and much more.

The best is always yet to come as long as human ingenuity and innovation, the "ultimate resource", is involved.

BeeLine Sets Another Record on Views

BeeLine broke all records for views in the month of August.

More than 500,000 views of BeeLine blog posts were registered during the month.

That is an average of over 17,500 per day.

Source: Google Analytics
August, 2026 Activity

The previous monthly record was 300,000 views.

Thank you to all my followers and readers for your support.

I also appreciate the fact that many of you are forwarding BeeLine content to others.

This type of reach would not be possible without you.

Who Is Going To Win The Midterms?

As the calendar turns towards September I am getting a lot of questions about what to expect in the midterm elections in November.

Midterm elections are traditionally challenging for the incumbent President's party.

It is often a referendum on the man in The White House.

Donald Trump's current approval ratings suggest that the Republicans face an uphill battle retaining slim majorities in the House and Senate.

Trump's average approval rating at RealClearPolitics.com currently stands at just 40%.

Source: https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/approval/donald-trump/approval-rating
as of 8/30/26

This is not helpful to Republicans seeking office right now

In the last 22 midterm elections (dating back to 1938) there have only been two times that the incumbent party gained House seats (1998 and 2002). The average loss of House seats in a midterm election is 26 since World War II.

Both times the President's party gained seats in the House were when the President (Clinton in 1998 and George W. Bush in 2002) had approval ratings of over 60%.

Things do not look good right now for Republican prospects in the midterms but we are still two months away from election day.

What are some of the factors that might come into play?

It is important to remember that for almost the entirety of Trump's time in politics his approval rating has hovered between 40%-45%. Despite this he won two Presidential elections.

Source: https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/approval/donald-trump/approval-rating

There are a lot of people who may not approve of Trump personally, or his methods, but vote for him anyway because they believe he is right on the issues.

Trump's approval recently has suffered principally due to the lingering Iran war and high gas prices.

These issues have hurt Trump particularly with Independent and swing voters.

However, a settlement of the Iran conflict favorable to the United States or an outright collapse of the Iranian regime leading into November could  provide a tremendous boost in momentum and enthusiasm for Trump and Republican candidates.

I wrote a blog post in January that the leaders of the Iranian regime were "Dead Men Walking".

I didn't know at that time how literally true that would turn out to be with the Israeli and American strikes on Iran.

However, my point at the time was that it seemed inevitable that Iran's regime would ultimately collapse due to economic problems and their inability to take care of their people.

This is what I wrote last January before the Iran war began in February.

The mullahs and Iran's regime leaders are dead men walking almost any way you look at it right now.

Exhibit One is the complete collapse of its currency.

Iran's rial is now essentially worthless vs. the Euro.

It is worth nothing vs. the U.S. dollar.

The Mullahs may hang on for another day, week, month or year.

However, they are dead men walking

The only question now is whether they collapse from within or from the weight of all of this?

It is even truer today as Iran's military power has been degraded and its economy is being strangled by the naval blockade and even stronger economic sanctions on the regime,

The Iranian rial has lost another 40% of its value against the dollar since the beginning of the year.

Timing is everything in politics. 

If the Iran problem is resolved between now and November it could be a boost for Trump and the Republicans. 

It is also hard to ignore the sizeable gap in campaign money between the Republican and Democrat national committees right now.

Trump's political action committee, MAGA, Inc. was also sitting on over $400 million in cash at the end of July,

The largest Democrat aligned PAC had less than one-third of that total.

Money talks in politics and it might make a difference in the last two months.

Finally, you have the sharp left turn the Democrat party has made to Socialist candidates.

It may play in New York City or Vermont but will it play in Peoria, Illinois, Piqua, Ohio, Paw Paw, Michigan, Prosper, Texas and Portland, Maine?

Democrat candidates are going to be constantly asked about their acceptance of Democrat Socialists and their platform that wants open borders, free rent, food and everything else plus abolition of the Senate and the electoral college.

How will that play out across America?

People may not approve of Trump or Republicans right now but there may be more voters who fear the Democrat Socialists than dislike Trump.

It is worth considering one other point in all of this.

The Iranian regime clearly calculated that negative media coverage of the Iran War and the upcoming midterm elections would pressure Trump into backing off and agreeing to a deal that would benefit Iran.

Every day we get closer to the midterms proves that assumption wrong.

In fact, right now it is the Iranians who want to go back to the terms of the earlier Memorandum of Understanding that resulted in the initial ceasefire.

Trump has moved beyond the MOU as the midterms loom. He has not backed off and increased the economic pressure on the Iranian regime.

This reinforces a point I have made about Trump in the past and I think is a reason that he survives politically despite approval ratings that would sink others.

Trump is not afraid to be great.

I wrote this at the outset of the Iran War in early March.

Great Presidents usually come about by facing great challenges. In many respects, the times make the man. It was certainly true with Washington, Lincoln and Roosevelt.

Greatness does not follow when taking the easy road. It only graces those who are not afraid of the challenge on the hard road.

Success is never assured. Trump may fail bigly. However, he is not afraid to be great.

That in itself is a rare commodity.

When push comes to shove many voters understand this and would rather have Trump working on their behalf when all things are considered.

However, Trump is not on the ballot this time.

Despite this, if Democrats gain majorities in the House and Senate they will do everything in their power to see that Trump is under constant attack and will likely attempt to impeach him again.

If people think chaos reigns today, consider what things will be like the next two years in that scenario.

Nothing will get done.

This may be the best argument to vote Republican for someone who is on the fence and fed up with politics.

Betting against Trump has proven to be a losing bet over the years.

Despite this, history and data suggest to me that I would not be willing to bet my house on the Republicans maintaining its Congressional majorities as things stand right now two months out from election day.

Does Trump have an ace up his sleeve?

He and the Republican need it looking at the midterms.

What Happened To Responsibility?

It seems that one of the defining characteristics of this era is the utter lack of anyone willing to take responsibility for anything.

There also seems to be a cadre of people who want to excuse the behavior of the bad actors.

50 years ago if a child acted up in school parents often meted out more discipline for the bad behavior than what the child faced at school.

Today a parent is more likely to blame the teacher or the school rather than their child.

Think back to all the violence and turmoil in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.

Floyd's death was a true tragedy. It should not have happened.

However, it also would not have happened if Floyd had not been passing counterfeit money, acting erratically and being high on drugs before the police were called.

Floyd was made out to be a saint but he had previously been convicted of eight crimes.

Few would admit that he might also have borne some responsibility in all that transpired.

Of course, the violence and looting that occurred in the aftermath of the Floyd death was also often explained away.

It was justified as targeting oppression, a reasonable reaction to racial injustice or just poor people getting the necessities they need to live.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stated that the crime surge in the aftermath of the Floyd death was mostly parents shoplifting bread for their hungry families.

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/aoc-blames-nyc-crime-spike-

Just this month a Socialist New York state assemblywoman argued that shoplifting for biological needs is okay.

Source: https://nypost.com/2026/08/15/us-news/socialist-ny-lawmaker-emily-gallagher-says-shoplifters-have-a-biological-need-to-steal/

She believes that shoplifting should be legalized in New York.

State Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher strongly suggested shoplifting should be legalized while joined at a news conference outside Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday by other lefty pols and criminal justice advocates with Court Watch NYC. The group claimed it monitored 360 arraignments over four days and found more than half were for misdemeanor offenses.

“Most of what we saw were crimes of poverty-people who are stealing things like toothpaste, people who were stealing things like, you know, soap. And that means if you’re stealing those things, you need them,” said Gallagher, who reps Greenpoint and other sections of woke northern Brooklyn.

We also have people in New York City that are upset that Luigi Mangione, who killed United Healthcare executive Brian Thompson in cold blood on a Manhattan sidewalk in December, 2024, should not have pled guilty last week to federal charges in the murder.

They think that larger "crimes" in the healthcare industry justified the murder.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/13/politics/video/luigi-mangione-fans-ahead-of-potential-plea-dont-give-up-lcl

Illegal immigration into the United States is excused and explained by poverty, climate change or anything but the truth---crossing the United States border secretly or without inspection is a federal crime and has been since 1929.

I understand that some people do not agree with an unauthorized border crossing being a criminal offense but the fact us that it is the law of the land.

We have had almost 100 years where that has been the case but there has not been one situation in that time that anyone has been able gain the necessary Congressional support to alter the law.

When people do not want to assign responsibility for the most obvious crimes, we are in a very bad place as a society.

All of this is also reinforced in what we have witnessed in the aftermath of Covid.

It is clear to most objective observers that much of what we were told was not correct.

It is now generally accepted as highly unlikely that Covid had natural origins.

It almost certainly was caused by a leak at the Wuhan lab that was being funded by Fauci and others to conduct gain of function experiments that had been outlawed in the United States.

The lockdowns and school closures were in direct contravention of established pandemic response standards. I wrote a blog post in April, 2021 that detailed how the CDC and Fauci were ignoring long established pandemic response protocols titled Panic, Politics or Power.

There was no science behind the effectiveness of cloth masks and the six feet rule. 

The vaccines clearly did not prevent infection or transmission of the virus.

The claim that natural immunity would not provide any protection was simply false.

Their was an organized and concerted effort by the federal government to censor and cancel the free speech of those who offered information that contradicted the approved narrative.

How many in authority have claimed responsibility for the misinformation and misdeeds?

Dr. Anthony Fauci, when given the opportunity to take some measure of responsibility and apologize for his actions in all of this with a Presidential pardon in hand before a Senate committee, proceeded to take the Fifth Amendment over 100 times.

Despite all that we now know, we still have scores of people who excuse and deny that Fauci and others bear any responsibility for what was done.

This includes millions of people (Democrats more than Republicans) who wanted to implement the most authoritarian responses possible to those who were not willing to adhere to the "party line"on the Covid vaccines.

Never mind that each of these proposed compliance measures were in contravention of some of our most basic constitutional principles.

A majority of Democrats and 20% of Republicans were in favor or locking the unvaccinated at home?

Half of Democrats wanted to fine and imprison critics of the vaccine?

A third wanted to take children away from unvaccinated parents?

Support for Various Covid Vaccine Compliance Measures
January, 2022 Rasmussen Poll

How many of these people have been willing to apologize to their friends and neighbors that they might have been wrong about Covid and taken some responsibility for thinking this way?

Our society is in trouble when the most obvious crimes and misdeeds are ignored, justified, excused or rationalized. 

What happened to responsibility?