Does The Road To The White House Run Through Springfield, Ohio?

I doubt that many people in the United States had ever heard of Springfield, Ohio until Donald Trump brought up the city in his debate with Kamala Harris last week.

Of course, if you are a regular BeeLine reader you already knew about "The Sad Story of Springfield, Ohio". Six weeks ago I wrote about the plight of this small town of 58,000 trying to deal with the influx of 20,000 Haitian migrants into the city over the last several years.

This is what I wrote in that blog post six weeks ago.

In the last five years an estimated 15,000-20,000 Haitian migrants have settled in Springfield, Ohio.

Over 15,000 Haitians move into a city of 58,000 within a few years time?

I was shocked recently when I heard this fact about what has happened to Springfield.

I don't know how any city could absorb the influx of an increase in its population by almost one-third within five years without causing major disruptions to the quality of life of its citizens. 

It is even worse when the influx involves people with no shared language, culture or values.

How is any city supposed to deal with this?

What made the Springfield story stand out in the debate was Trump referencing various reports of migrants stealing and eating dogs, cats, geese and ducks which apparently is part of the culture in Haiti.

ABC News moderator David Muir quickly pushed back on Trump's statements on the pets stating they had checked with the city manager of Springfield who said that they have no reports of that taking place.

I don't know whether those claims are true or not but I have seen the same videos that Trump must have seen of Springfield, Ohio residents talking about the situation there.

You also have to wonder what would be the motivation of a Springfield resident to lie about something like this? On the other hand, the city manager might have plenty of reasons to avoid confirming the story,

I do know the following.

Trump's line about Springfield and the fact check by Muir was probably the most memorable exchange during the entire debate.

My guess is that more people remember that about the debate than anything else that was said.

Does anyone remember much of anything that Kamala Harris said during the debate?

Yes, she was polished and prepared. However, was there anything of substance Kamala said that voters will remember in two weeks?

I also know that it is difficult to evaluate the impact of a debate until a week or so after the event. You need that amount of time to see how the narratives from the debate settle in.

Let's put aside the claims about eating dogs, cats, ducks and geese.

The important point here is that the sad story of Springfield, Ohio was introduced to most voters for the first time at the Trump/Harris debate.

The sensational reports may be proven false. The Democrats and the media who claim that Trump's claim is "baseless" may be right. The claim might be unconfirmed but it is hardly "baseless" in that it came from reports of residents. There is also plenty of evidence that this is consistent with the culture in Haiti.

However, bear in mind that it would only take one concrete example of the Haitians eating pets and Trump will be proven right on this issue and the perception of who won the debate will turn against Kamala.

Time will tell.

You don't have to have pets, ducks and geese disappearing in Springfield to know that something is seriously wrong about the situation in that city due to the policies of Biden/Harris the last four years.

What is not in dispute is what has happened in Springfield as a result of the influx of Haitian migrants.

There are hard facts to back that up.

Housing costs have skyrocketed with the influx. Rents have outpaced the national averages over the last two years by a considerable margin.

This is despite the fact that many houses or apartments may be housing 20 Haitians sleeping on cots.

Crime is up.

As one example, there were 14 reported rapes in Springfield in 2019. In 2022, there were 58.

The 2022 crime rate (the most recent year available) is higher than 97.9% of U.S. cities.

What will the 2023/2024 numbers look like?

Source: https://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Springfield-Ohio.html

The Springfield, Ohio school district has about 7,000 students.

1,600 are non-English speaking according to this report by WHIO-TV in Dayton, Ohio.

That number was 250 in 2017.

Credit: https://x.com/greg_price11/status/1833187536560177650

As educators must devote time and money to support these non-English speaking students it inevitably takes away from the other students in the district.

The Springfield school district was already financially challenged to begin with. 

Over half of the students are minorities and 76% are Medicaid eligible.

These students need all the help they can get in the classroom and this invasion of migrants in their schools is going to create even more disadvantages for them.

Credit: https://x.com/greg_price11/status/1833187536560177650

In 2020 (the first year of Covid)  the local hospital and health care clinic treated 71 immigrant patients during the year.

Between 2022-2004 that number grew to 7,334.

This data is from the City of Springfield.

Source: https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1835047184049532988/photo/1

There are reports that the streets in Springfield have become like a war zone due to the number of Haitian migrants driving vehicles with no training and no knowledge of the motor vehicle laws.

Source: https://nypost.com/2024/09/12/us-news/influx-of-wild-driving-haitian-migrants-turning-streets-of-springfield-ohio-into-combat-zone/

Longtime residents say the immigrants are getting temporary driving permits without having to learn how to drive safely in the US — or even knowing how to drive at all.

“There must be eight to 10 accidents a day here,” one resident who asked not to be named told The Post.

“I’ve seen cars drive up into buildings and onto sidewalks. I believe everyone deserves help, but we shouldn’t be providing cars and licenses until people know how to drive here safely.”

Longtime residents say the immigrants are getting temporary driving permits without having to learn how to drive safely in the US — or even knowing how to drive at all.

On social media, residents have posted alarming footage showing cars in ditches, smashed up at intersections, flying across the road into oncoming traffic, and even crashed through homes and businesses.

Why was the Springfield, Ohio story the one thing that was "sticky" after the debate?

I think it is because it is easy for everyone to say to themselves, "That could be my town."

How would it feel if it was your rent exploding because of these migrants or your schools and health care services were being overwhelmed?

The reality is that these forces are in play all over the nation but it is not as blatant as what we see in the microcosm that is Springfield, Ohio.

It is happening around everyone but many don't make the connection between illegal immigration and rising housing prices, inflation, strained medical services and schools and increased pressure on our environment and infrastructure.

It is popular to talk about the need for sustainability today. However, there is nothing that is worse for sustainability in the United States than the the addition of 10+ million illegal immigrants entering the United States in several years that no one planned on being here.

For example, consider this chart comparing the number of births in the United States with the illegal aliens who entered the country but were not expelled over the last four years.

In total, we have seen as many illegals enter the country as the number of US births over the last two years.

For a good part of last year, more illegals were entering the country than the number of births in the United States.

The contrast to when Trump was President is striking.

Source: https://x.com/fentasyl/status/1835120548398891505/photo/1

As population increases through births we have years or even decades to make the necessary additions to medical and education services, housing and infrastructure due to the population increase.

That is not the case with illegal immigration.

Over time, more and more of the United States will increasingly feel the effects of illegal immigration and the orchestrated migrant invasion that Biden, Harris and the Democrats have unleashed on the nation over the last four years.

There are "Compounding Effects of Illegal Immigration" as I wrote in June.

The immigration laws were established to provide order for our society. The laws were considered necessary to provide for the entrance of an established number of immigrants annually that could be assimilated without disrupting and degrading the experience of U.S. citizens and others who are rightfully here.

The compounding effects of uncontrolled immigration is the reason that the immigration laws were put on the books in the first place.

When the law is ignored or not enforced, chaos is sure to follow due to the compounding effects of large numbers of people the society is not prepared for.

Adding too many immigrants, too quickly,  puts added pressure on the social order if those immigrant numbers outpace the ability to integrate and assimilate them into the general population.

Too many immigrants puts too much strain on our resources. It puts unnecessary strain on everything in our society---our water, our sewer systems, our roads, the electric grid, our infrastructure and our environment. It contributes to congestion and urban sprawl.

Add to this what it does to increase the financial strain on our schools and our health system and cost pressure on rents and housing costs, not to mention our law enforcement and justice system.

What happens when AI and technology displaces many of the jobs that low-skilled immigrants are likely to hold? Are we importing a gigantic permanent underclass that will have to be supported by welfare and tax dollars for years and years to come?

Is this the underlying reason that Democrats have embraced open borders? Importing large number of people who will be dependent on the government for support provides future votes to support the Democrat party agenda.

If you want to dismiss that last suggestion just consider where the federal government has settled the over 400,000 Haitian migrants that have entered the country the last few years.

81% went to states that voted for Trump.

Source: https://x.com/fentasyl/status/1834995793540903329

Is that just a coincidence?

It is not just Haiti either.  The chart looks similar (just a lot more migrants) when you add in those coming from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

We are talking 1 million illegals from these four countries in just the last 12 months.

For context, the annual legal limit for immigration into the United States from the entire world is 675,000 Exceptions for spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens, and some other exceptions, has historically meant that 1-1.2 million immigrants in total receive permanent legal status in a typical year..

We have seen that much from these four countries alone in the last 12 months.

And almost all of them are being settled in states that voted for Trump?

Source: https://x.com/fentasyl/status/1835061741883212208

My suggestion is for Trump/Vance to have a town hall meeting in Springfield (It is not an original idea of mine. Others have also suggested this.) and primarily use it to listen to what long term residents of the city have to say about what is happening around them.

Let the rest of the country hear it as well. 

Trump and Vance can support what the residents are concerned about in Springfield by preparing real facts and data in charts similar to what I have shown above. In that way the "fact checking" is already done for the media.

Most importantly, make sure that the voters know who is responsible for what has happened to Springfield, Ohio---Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and the Democrat party. 

It is hard to blame the Haitians wanting to get out of the hell-hole they live in.

However, how does it makes sense to create a similar situation in Springfield, Ohio, or in any other city or town in the United States, while our own citizens struggle?

The road to The White House in this election may run through Springfield, Ohio if Trump and Vance can use its sad story so that voters can understand how unsustainable all of this illegal immigration is and the compounding effects that it will inevitably have on every voting citizen in the United States.

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Sport Shorts---September 13, 2024 Edition

 I am a big sports fan.

A few interesting factoids in the world of sports that I have seen recently..

Fairways, Greens and Real Green 

Ted Scott is the caddie for the current #1 golfer in the world Scottie Scheffler.

Scheffler had a tremendous year in 2024.

He won The Masters. The Olympics gold medal in golf. He also won the season long FedEx Cup on the PGA Tour.

Scheffler won a lot of money this year---$62 million.

Ted Scott earned a lot of money carrying Scheffler's bag.

In fact, the estimated $6.2 million that Ted Scott earned caddying for Scottie would mean that he made more money traversing those fairways and greens on the PGA Tour this year than all but 14 Tour players.

To put that in additional perspective, that $6.2 million is more than the LIFETIME earnings of Jack Nicklaus playing golf on the PGA Tour ($5.7 million) that included winning 18 majors.

Yes, inflation is part of it.

However, even if you inflate the winnings of Jack, he still earned only $31 million over his entire career in today's dollars.

That is only half of what Scheffler earned in one year.

Ted Scott still earned 1/5 of the career earnings of Nicklaus caddying this year.

That is some real GREEN.

It also makes you wonder that with all this money in play, why is it that the PGA Tour and LIV golf still cannot figure a way forward in their merger talks?

Caitlin Clark

Caitlin Clark was a generational talent who vastly expanded the popularity of college women's basketball while she played for Iowa.

There were veteran women's players who were of the opinion that Clark would have a difficult time transitioning from the college game to playing as a professional in the WNBA.

Diana Taurasi was one of the most vocal about Clark.

Those assessments seem to have been proven wrong.

Compare Caitlin's rookie stats to other WNBA stars in their first season, including Taurasi.

Thru games of 9/11/24
Source: https://stats.wnba.com/player/1642286/

Caitlin Clark is also responsible for putting fans in the seats at her games.

Total attendance at Indiana Fever home games is up 264% compared to last year.

Caitlin has put more eyeballs on the WNBA than any other player before.

All 14 of the most-watched televised WNBA games ( and 17 of the top 20) this year were games in which Caitlin Clark's Indiana Fever team played.

Source: https://sportsnaut.com/wnba-tv-ratings/

Caitlin Clark is MONEY to the WNBA.

However, why is it that almost 1/5 of all of the flagrant fouls in the WNBA this year have been committed against Caitlin?

And how does the WNBA allow that to occur without taking major actions such as ejecting and suspending the offenders?

Did we see anything like this on the PGA Tour when Tiger Woods arrived on the scene?

Or when Larry Bird came to the NBA?

Is it jealousy? Is there something different in the makeup of men and women on this subject?

Is it reverse racism? Only 19% of WNBA players are White. 

A combination of both and the fact she is also a rookie who has not "paid her dues"?

What is it?

How does it makes any sense to do this to the one player that is putting all that money in your pocket?

What Would Brock Purdy Get Paid In The SEC?

Brock Purdy is the starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. He led his team to the Super Bowl in  his second year in the league last year. He was fourth in the NFL MVP vote.

Brock Purdy is earning a base salary of $985,000 this year in the third year of a four year contract that he signed after he was the last player drafted in the 2022 NFL draft.

What is really wild is that Brock Purdy is making less money than the average starting college quarterback is in the SEC this year---that dollar figure is $1,040,000.

Source: https://x.com/ClayTravis/status/1832892721759187449

Just a small example of how absurd the entire NIL scheme has become in college football.

Student athletes?

If you doubt the power of the SEC to dominate college football, take a look at the pay scales across the various positions compared to the other Power 4 conferences.

As far as Brock Purdy is concerned, he should soon find himself in a better financial position soon if he does not get hurt.

The going rate for a top NFL quarterback appears to have settled in at $50+ million per year and trending to $60 million.

Source: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfls-top-10-highest-paid-qbs-of-2024-where-dak-prescotts-new-cowboys-deal-stacks-up/

That is a nice chunk of change. 

However, it is not as much as Scheffler earned on the golf course.

Of course, those quarterbacks don't have to pay a caddie!

The Worst Team in the History of Major League Baseball?

The 1962 New York Mets are generally considered to be the worst teaim in the history of the modern era (since 1900) of major league baseball.

The Mets were an expansion team that year that were comprised of cast off players from other major league teams. Most would probably have been playing in the AAA level of the minor leagues but for expansion.

The New York Mets finished 40-122 in 1962. 

Through 147 of their 162 game season the Chicago White Sox are 33-114.

The Los Angeles Angles have the second worst record in the American League. They have won 27 more games than the White Sox.

Source: https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/standings/

The Chicago White Sox are not an expansion team. They were a charter member of the American League when it was founded in 1901.

To avoid becoming known as the worst team ever in Major League Baseball the Sox have to win at least 7 of their remaining 15 games.

Can they do it?

It is going to take a .500 record in the last couple weeks of the season when they have only been winning at a .224 clip so far. The odds do not look good.

The hapless Mets of 1962 may soon be replaced in the record books.

Trump/Harris Debate

The debate last night between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris might have been one of the most important Presidential debates in history.

It did not rise to that importance because people needed to see Donald Trump and understand his position on the issues any better.

It was important because so few people had ever had the opportunity to see Kamala Harris for an extended period of time.

It goes without saying that there has not been a Presidential candidate in my lifetime that has had less exposure to the voters and so little scrutiny from the media.

Some of this is due to the fact that she never was on the ballot in the Democrat primary in either 2020 or 2024.

The rest is intentional in that it seems that her campaign strategy has been based on avoiding interviews, media appearances and press conferences at all costs.

There is a pretty good record of the positions and beliefs that Kamala held in 2019 when she first attempted to run for the 2020 Democrat nomination before dropping out due to meager support in preference polls.

Axios chronicled some of these past positions and the extent she seems to be running away from them today.

Credit: https://x.com/ClayTravis/status/1832085835266883816

She has also adopted the campaign slogan "A New Way Forward" to suggest to the voters that she has not been at the right hand of Joe Biden the last four years.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/KamalaHarris/posts/now-is-the-time-to-chart-a-new-way-forwardto-build-an-america-where-everyones-wo/1057709232382180/

Harris finally put some policy positions on her campaign website on the eve of the convention under the mantle of that "A New Way Forward" slogan.

A New Way Forward?

Kamala has been VP for the last four years.

The Democrats have held the Presidency for 12 of the last 16 years.

Kamala is suggesting that she is a change agent.

A favorite line in her speeches is "we are not going back".

However, Bret Baier of Fox News points out that portions of her platform were simply copied and pasted from Biden's campaign page as evidenced by the page's source code.

Kamala Harris is well known for her fervent support for progressive, woke and far-left causes.

In the past, she has been in favor of defunding the police, decriminalizing illegal immigration, criticizing the border wall, supporting reparations, legalizing all drugs (including heroin and fentanyl) and using taxpayer funds to pay for transgender surgeries for detained illegal immigrants.

This is CNN (yes, CNN!)  reporting on some of the positions that Harris had on immigration in 2019.

Is any of this mentioned in her policy positions today?

How about her love of all woke causes?

Link to video 

What happened to everybody needed to be woke?

Consider this text analysis of the policy positions on her campaign website.

Anything woke has gone missing.

However, America and Americans have suddenly become more important than illegal immigrants.

In other words, expect Kamala to say anything to win this campaign.

Why does Kamala Harris and her advisers feel the need to hide and revise her true values, positions and beliefs in this campaign?

Bernie Sanders himself said the quiet part out loud when asked about why Kamala is no longer talking about the issues like she used to.

Has she abandoned her progressive ideals?

Bernie says not to worry. She is just doing that to win and we will get the real Kamala if she is elected.

Link to video

The challenge for Trump last night was to attempt to expose Kamala Harris for what she is to the voters.

It is a task that should not be his alone.

That is why we are supposed to have a free and vigilant press.

However, consider the coverage of the candidates by the ABC nightly newscast of David Muir thus far according to the Media Research Center/

Muir was also one of the debate moderators last night.

Source: https://x.com/mitchellvii/status/1833195276598730981

Considering all of the above, Donald Trump went into the debate with a challenging set of circumstances.

It was akin to trying to corral a slippery eel in a vat of WD-40 while wearing gloves coated in vaseline.

FULL DISCLOSURE---I wrote all of the content above before the debate so I would not be up to 2am this morning writing this blog. What follows below are my reactions to the debate.

Kamala Harris was that slippery.

There was no evidence of the cackling, far-left progressive on the stage last night.

It was if she had just been placed on earth last night to save the United States from all its ills and Donald Trump.

There was no evidence of that committed far-left progressive.

Donald Trump had the difficult job of trying to stay composed but also putting Kamala on defense for both her past positions and for her job as VP with Joe Biden.

The bottom line---Trump spent too much time defending his record and himself rather than getting Kamala Harris to defend herself in the debate last night.

.

Whatever goes on in these debates the reality is that most people have made up their minds before either candidate says a word.

For example, in the Trump-Biden debate, as abysmal as was Biden's performance, the polls only moved a point or two in Trump's favor.

Source: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-trump-june-debate-poll/

My sense of the debate was that Trump failed to do what he needed to do in putting Harris on the defensive about her past positions and her record as VP.

He was too defensive regarding the attacks by Harris and repeated too many talking points on the economy, immigration and that we are failing as a nation under the leadership of Biden/Harris. He had many missed opportunities where he could have scored points on a range of topics but kept repeating the same lines where he could have exposed Kamala's record and flip flops.

Kamala was a slippery eel and to uniformed voters I am sure her messages sounded good. She came across as polished and prepared even though there was very little substance in anything she said regarding her policies.

She said she would explain her flip-flops on a number of issues but only spoke to one---fracking. However, she really gave no substantive reason for her change in position.

She was measured and spent most of the night suggesting that Donald Trump was unhinged and crazy and that she would be a uniter (we seem to get that talking point with every Democrat candidate) and be the President for everyone. (Does that also include the 20+ million illegal immigrants who are here?)

Never mind that Trump was President for four years without the world blowing up in war, runaway inflation, the border being overrun or the American standard of living falling like it has over the Biden/Harris years.

It should also be noted that ABC's moderators were not as fair and balanced as we saw in the CNN debate in June.

They were quick to "fact check" Trump but not once did they attempt to do the same to Harris.

We will see where this leads over the next days and weeks in the polls.

Two pollsters with good records in the past came to different conclusions in polls done right after the debate.

Trafalgar had Harris winning 55%-43%

Democracy Institute had Trump as the winner.

Source: https://www.the-express.com/news/politics/148368/who-won-presidential-tv-debate-harris-trump-poll

I generally don't put much stock in polls taken right after the debate. You get a more read on how the debate shaped views over the next week or so as people talk among their friends and neighbors.

Interestingly, the Harris campaign has already called for a second debate in October after consistently refusing another debate when it was offered to them previously.

That tells me that they feel good about Kamala's performance last night but they must also have some real concerns about her standing in their internal polls.

If they were really confident about where she stands why risk it?

In addition, will we see Kamala do any interviews and press conferences or will she go back to the basement again?

It all says that there is still a long path ahead to November 5.

Election Interference Redux?

The U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray shared details last week of accusations of Russian election interference efforts in this year's election.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/04/politics/video/russia-2024-election-interference-merrick-garland-doj-digvid

Garland stated that the American people have the right to know when the FBI finds evidence of possible election interference by a foreign power.

Garland hinted that the interference was intended to benefit Donald Trump without ever mentioning his name or the Republican party.

Consider some of the narratives that the DOJ said were examples of foreign influence and disinformation.

"Concerns about the cost of living."

"Losing the American way of life."

"Threat of crime from people of color and immigrants."

"Overspending on foreign policy."

"Risk of job loss by white Americans."

These may be examples of foreign influence but is this disinformation?

For example, consider the breakdown of net jobs over the last 12 months in the Bureau of Labor Statistics report for August released last week.

Of course, this comes shortly after it was reported that the BLS had to revise the number of jobs added to the economy that had been previously reported by over 800,000 jobs over the last year.

It seems that in almost every month over the last year the BLS was overestimating job growth in the economy. Yes, the BLS numbers are estimates. However, what are the chances that the numbers so happen to always go one way?

Coincidence or election interference in support of the Bidenomics narrative that all was great?

I thought the timing of the DOJ announcement  on Russian election interference was also interesting coming just one week before the Trump/Harris debate.

What do you think the odds are the Kamala Harris will bring this up in the debate tomorrow night and attempt to feed another Russian collusion hoax narrative?

I also thought it was interesting that Garland and Wray are so concerned with foreign election interference but the DOJ and FBI did nothing about the blatant election interference in the 2020 election.

Do you remember a similar story that came out a week before the Biden/Trump debate in 2020?

This was shortly after it was revealed that Hunter Biden's laptop contained a treasure trove of damaging info about Hunter and Joe.

51 former U.S. intelligence "experts" quickly came out a few days before the debate and stated that the laptop story had all the earmarks of a Russian disinformation and election interference scheme.

It was later revealed that the entire narrative was created to provide Joe Biden a defense to the laptop story at the debate.

Even worse, the FBI had been in possession of the laptop for over nine months and knew Russia had nothing to do with the laptop. It was Hunter's. The FBI did nothing to correct the record when it could have easily done so in the name of JUSTICE.

A poll taken after it was revealed that the laptop story was authentic found that 79% of Americans believed that the laptop coverup changed the election.

Source: https://tippinsights.com/shock-poll-8-in-10-think-biden-laptop-cover-up-changed-election/

A whopping 79 percent of Americans suggest President Donald Trump likely would have won reelection if voters had known the truth about Hunter Biden’s laptop—that it was real and not “Russian disinformation,” as intelligence officials aligned with Joe Biden falsely led the public to believe, a new national poll reveals.

In fact, 47 percent said that knowing before the election that the laptop contents were real and not “disinformation” would have changed their voting decision—including more than two-thirds (71 percent) of Democrats.

Almost 8 of 10 respondents said that a truthful interpretation of the laptop would have likely changed the election’s outcome more in favor of Trump.

The DOJ ultimately used the contents on that laptop to help convict Hunter of a federal gun charge earlier this year and to get Hunter to plead guilty to federal tax charges last week.

It has also been disclosed that the FBI was behind the effort to have social media and mainstream media companies censor the Hunter Biden laptop story in the final days of the 2020 election.

There is little doubt we need to be concerned about any attempts at foreign election interference.

However, isn't domestic election interference of the kind we witnessed by the FBI and those 51 former U.S. intelligence "experts" far more sinister and alarming?

What happened to the investigation and prosecution of what went on in the domestic election interference of 2020?

Let's look a little closer look at that guilty plea that Hunter Biden pled to last week.

 

Of course, it should also be remembered that the DOJ initially did everything they could to let Hunter Biden walk on all charges related to both his gun and tax charges.

It was only when a Delaware judge questioned the details behind a friendly plea deal for Hunter with the DOJ that all was exposed.

Joe Biden previously has said that his son Hunter was "the smartest man that I know."

Biden also told us that Hunter "never did anything wrong" when asked about his son's activities.

Hunter pleaded guilty yesterday to tax evasion and fraud charges a day before he was to be tried on those charges in a federal court in California.

This comes after Hunter was also found guilty of a federal gun charge in a jury trial in June.

The speculation is this is a prelude to Joe Biden either providing his son with a pardon or commuting Hunter's sentences before he leaves office.

Sentencing is scheduled for November 13 on the gun conviction and December 9.on the tax guilty plea.

After the guilty verdict in June on the gun charges Biden said he would not pardon Hunter or reduce his sentence.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c133mdjkl7go

Anyone want to bet on Joe standing by that statement?

The timing of the sentencing in the two cases is interesting coming after the election in both cases.

If Kamala wins, Joe will probably stand by his statement but a deal will have been made so that she has to do the dirty work when she takes office

If Trump wins, Joe will forget he ever made the statement. He is not going to allow the smartest man he knows to be put in a prison cell.

It goes without saying that it has been a very bad ending for both Joe and Hunter over the last several months.

However, as bad as it is, I have the feeling we don't even know the half of it when it comes to both of them.

Election interference has serious consequences. We have lived with the consequences over the last four years.

I would feel better if I was fully confident that the FBI and the DOJ were not involved in it.

I once thought it was impossible to believe this.

Sadly, that is no longer the case.

This and That----September 6, 2024 Edition

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

Are We Looking At The Right Target?

Another school year. Another school shooting.

Why?

If on cue, the Democrats are again saying that we have to ban "assault weapons".

They seem to ignore the fact that there was a so-called "assault weapons" ban enacted in 1994 with a 10 year sunset provision. The ban was not extended by Congress in 2004 as there was not enough evidence to indicate that the ban had been effective in the decade after its enactment. 

Of course, machine guns and automatic weapons (what Tim Walz would like to call "weapons of war") have effectively been banned in the United States since the 1930's.

Also lost in this discussion is the fact that rifles of any type (automatic, semiautomatic or any other long barrel) are rarely used in any homicide. 

Less than 3% of murders (mass shootings included) are committed by using any type of rifle.

We are talking about 500 per year in a nation of 340 million people.

Consider the FBI statistics for the year 2022 (the latest year data in available) on murder victims by weapons.

Source: https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/explorer/crime/shr

Many also do not know that there are many more deaths by guns due to suicide than in homicides.

60% of gun deaths are from suicides. Only 1% of gun deaths involve mass shootings.

This data is from Brady, the nation's oldest gun violence prevention group.

Source: https://www.bradyunited.org/resources/statistics

I am not sure Democrats are focused on the right target in these shootings.

 

Does Anyone Think We Should Ban Alcohol Again?

The United States has experience with bans. The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect in January, 1920. It prohibited the production, sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the United States.

That ban was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.

The argument for banning alcohol was not primarily based on protecting the drunkard. It was based on the adverse effects that alcohol had on society at large. It contributed to domestic issues, broken homes, child neglect and abuse, poor health, crime, debauchery and degeneracy. The argument was that by eliminating alcohol society would be improved substantially.

Of course, history shows that Prohibition was an utter failure.

It was found to cause more unintended consequences and adverse effects than alcohol did alone.

All of the arguments that existed to ban alcohol that existed in 1920 still exist today.

(I have written several times about Prohibition in the past here ,  here  and here if you would like to know more about the subject),

I found it interesting that the country of South Africa banned alcohol sales three times as part of their Covid measures during the pandemic.

Each period the government banned alcohol sales, deaths from homicides and other unnatural causes declined rapidly. However, when the ban was lifted deaths quickly went back up.

Weekly Mortality in South Africa from Unnatural Causes During Covid Pandemic
Source: https://x.com/cremieuxrecueil/status/1831471828025712646

Assaults and rapes also followed the same pattern.

Similar patterns were seen in the United States during Prohibition. There were many benefits to society from the ban on alcoholic beverages.

However, in the end, the ban on alcohol was seen as overly burdensome on the overwhelming majority of Americans who used alcohol responsibly.

Does anyone see any parallels here with the subject above?

Does A Climate "Expert" Really Exist?

Western societies are spending trillions of dollars to fight climate change.

Joe Biden has said that climate change is the single biggest threat to mankind that exists. Nuclear conflict is not even a close second according to Biden.

Kamala Harris has said in the past that climate change is real and we must be aggressive in our response.

ABC News recently reported that "during a CNN forum on climate change in 2020, Harris said she opposed fracking and offshore drilling. She said she would also ban fossil fuel leases on public lands if elected as president."

As a Senator, Harris was an early co-sponsor of the Green New Deal that wanted to transition the United States to 100% clean energy in 10 years. That was five years ago.

Of course, neither Joe Biden or Kamala Harris is a climate scientist.

They rely on so-called experts on this subject.

Experts that are supposedly telling us what the climate is going to be 10, 20, 30 or 40 years in the future.

In the meantime, those same "experts" predicted this about the 2024 hurricane season this past April.

What are they saying today?

You may also remember the famous prediction that Al Gore made in 2009 that the Arctic ice cap might disappear in as little as five to seven years. This was based on the projections of polar science"experts".

We are just finishing up the summer of 2024 in the Arctic. This should be the time period when the arctic ice cap is at a minimum. 

Arctic sea ice extent is 20% larger as of September 3 than it was 12 years ago.

If the "experts" are this far off in a forecast involving a few months or years, why would anyone trust spending trillions of dollars and totally reworking our energy infrastructure on a forecast of climate change decades in the future?

What Happened To A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats?

The California legislature just passed a bill that would make undocumented immigrants eligible for up to $150,000 in state supported loans to buy a house.

Even better, the bill would not require any interest to be paid on the loan until it is sold. At that point 15-20% of any appreciation on the house would be due as interest.

Source: https://www.mtdemocrat.com/news/state/california-legislature-allows-undocumented-to-get-free-150k-home-down-payments/article_1cf5d090-9e53-5b3d-b6e3-6f0594b5f036.html

The California legislature passed a bill allowing undocumented immigrants to make use of the state’s $150,000, 0 down, 0 interest home “loans.” The bill now goes to the governor’s desk, where he must either veto or approve the bill by the end of September.

California’s Dream for All Shared Appreciation Loans program allows applicants to secure “loans” of up to $150,000 or 20% of the home’s purchase price — or, about what a typical down payment is — with zero down payment on this state “loan,” and no payments. In exchange, the state receives the original loan amount plus 20% of the appreciated gain when the home is refinanced, sold, or transferred. 

Meanwhile, in the state of Washington a similar program that offers 0% home loans of up to $150,000 has been established based solely on race.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/washington-states-homeownership-program-offers-loans-based-solely-race

The loan program seems to be available for everyone but Caucasians.

We also recently saw Kamala Harris say she wants to make housing more affordable by providing $25,000 to first-time homebuyers and the construction of 3 million new homes over the next four years.

There is no doubt that housing has become prohibitively expensive for many Americans. This is particularly true for younger Americans looking for their first home or apartment of their own.

This chart says it all.

Credit: https://x.com/charliebilello/status/1824279436306297294/photo/1

Why has housing become so unaffordable the last several years?

1. Home mortgage interest costs have soared due to inflation

2. Construction costs have risen substantially due to higher energy costs and inflation

Compare the increase in costs of building materials in the 2016-2020 period compared to 2020-2024.

Source: https://www.nahb.org/advocacy/top-priorities/material-costs

I am also sure that Kamala Harris has not considered what a government program will do to these building material costs when her 3 million new homes (twice the normal number) is instituted. 

3. Over 10 million illegal immigrants seeking housing who have arrived here the last four years has put enormous demand pressure on housing costs.

Consider this chart that shows the level of illegal immigration over the last decade or so. This is the chart that Donald Trump credits with saving his life as he turned to refer to it at the Butler, PA rally in July.

Who was sitting at the helm in Washington, D.C. as all of this unfolded before our eyes?

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Kamala Harris now wants to tell us she has a plan to fix the mess that she and Joe created with their misguided policies in the first place?

It also goes without saying that "Kamala's plan" would be paid by U.S. taxpayers or (more likely) the creation of more federal debt.

All of this is occurring at the same time that the pending sales of homes has dropped to its lowest levels in recent memory.

Lower than the depths of the pandemic. Lower than in the Great Recession of 2009/2010.

I guess the argument can be made that the housing market needs all the help it can get.

However, what happened to the way things used to be done?

The federal government facilitated growth in the economy by establishing an environment that allowed prosperity to flourish by protecting free enterprise and limiting government control and interference where possible.

Is the American system perfect?  No.

Are there inequities from time to time? Yes.

Kamala Harris likes to repeat the following line in her speeches.

"What can be...unburdened by what has been."

Here is a 2 minute clip showing Kamala uttering that same phrase over and over again.

Link to video

It is essentially Harris telling us that she wants to throw out America's past and its success and replace it with a system that favors redistribution and government control that she believes will be more equitable.

It is similar to what the socialists and communists in Russia, China and Venezuela told the people of those countries as they sought to achieve power.

However, President John F. Kennedy probably said it best when he stated what the real focus should be in government policy.

A rising tide lifts all the boats.

The Democrat party of JFK was interested in making the pie bigger for everyone. Its primary interest was looking out for the working men and women of America and seeing that everyone had a fair shot at success and getting a piece of the pie.

That Democrat party no longer seems to exist. It is more interested in handouts than providing a helping hand. Instead of focusing on giving everyone equal opportunity, Democrats have decided they want certain groups moved to the front of the line. It seems that prosperity is no longer their primary goal. Their entire focus has become about their own power. And the control they need over the people to keep getting the votes they need to retain their political power.

Kamala Harris may want to be unburdened by the past history of the United States. However, the fact is that no other country has provided more opportunity and more prosperity for more people than the United States has.

There is no better proof of that than in looking at the economic success of the United States of America and what it has meant to its populace over the course of history.

Even the poorest Americans have a much more prosperous life than the vast majority of people in the rest of the world.

The fact that tens of millions of people from around the world are willing to cross our borders illegally to get here is all the additional proof you need to know how true that JFK adage about the benefits of a rising tide lifting all boats.

What happened to the "a rising tide lift all the boats" philosophy of JFK?

 It apparently is not even a distant memory for the Democrat party any more.