I Don’t Believe It

Here’s a list of things I don’t believe at the moment – and my comments.

1. The crime rate is going down.

The national statistics on crime are dependent on reporting by local law enforcement agencies. As those entities have shrunk, fewer arrests are made. Further, local businesses are reluctant to report crimes because 1) they know the chances of arrest and prosecution are often nil and 2) in cases of theft, insurance rates will increase on top of the losses. In sanctuary cities and states, crimes by illegal immigrants are oft-times not reported to the FBI/DOJ.

2. No cash bail following arrests has no effect on law enforcement or criminal attitudes regarding alleged crimes.

Cash bail is meant to be commensurate with the alleged crime and to ensure the accused shows up when the case goes to court. Crime without bail begets more crime, not less.

3. More jobs have been added than under any previous administration.

Because of the COVID shutdowns, 2021 saw the economy and jobs at an extremely low point. Counting people returning to work is not “adding” jobs. The Labor Participation Rate remains below pre-COVID levels.

4. Inflation is decreasing. Ergo, people are paying less.

A decreased rate of inflation does not decrease the prices/costs of goods and services already built into the numbers – i.e., groceries cost 25-30% more than pre-inflation.

5. The border is secure.

During the past 3+ years, with 7.5M coming through checkpoints without vetting and an estimated 1.5M got-a-ways, it means no one has any real idea of who’s being allowed into the country or who they are or where they are. The southern border is anything but secure and is deliberately porous.

6. Human males can get pregnant.

No one in their right mind believes that regardless of the transgender issues.

7. The mass media is politically unbiased.

We hardly get any news that doesn’t have slant to it these days.

8. Guns kill people.

People kill people by whatever the means used to do so. Gun control laws have not reduced the number of murders and violent assault cases.

9. The oceans will not only rise to intolerable levels, but they will boil if we don’t stop emitting heat-trapping CO2 into the atmosphere.

Meteorological “experts” like Al Gore, John Kerry and Joe Biden have become leaders of a relatively new religion centered around regular ‘cry wolf’ scenarios regarding global warming. With unquestioning support of the mass media, every time there’s a storm or unseasonal temperatures – warm or cold – or a wildfire, it’s attributed to global warming. If you’re a convert, you believe solar and wind power can quickly replace and produce all the electricity we need now. You also believe EVs will solve global warming. We’re told if the planet warms one degree Celsius this century the impact will be catastrophic. Currently, the culprit CO2 is .0004, or .04% of the atmosphere. Alarmists tell us unless we the use of eliminate fossil fuels, that number could increase to a “whopping” 0.1% in the next century, perhaps increasing global heat by 1 degree Celsius. Sorry, I don’t believe these people know what they’re screaming about.

        10.The homeless are victims of a capitalistic society.

Most homeless people living on our streets have addiction or mental health problems.

        11.Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) ideology will negate white supremacy.

White supremacy as an acceptable idea by a small, but identifiable, number of people hasn’t existed in this country for over 50 years.

What DEI does is promote inequality and rewards non-achievers and excludes equal access based on merit to various “victim” groups. i.e. universities that exclude higher grades and test scores by Asian Americans.

12. Parents have no rights when they disagree with school Boards, school administrators or the teachers’ unions. They’re domestic terrorists if they do.

Parents are responsible for their children. Exercising parental rights by people other than parents is counter intuitive.

      13.Children as young as kindergarten age can choose their life-long sexual orientation.

Transgenderism is not an acceptable K-12 school subject. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are. Adults can make the transgender decision. Children can’t buy a gun or alcohol and are not eligible to vote. But they can decide on their lifelong gender? I don’t think so without later major irrevocable regret.

14. Monetary Reparations to blacks will offset past slavery, and discrimination.

In 1865 President Lincoln proposed giving former slave families 40 acres and an ass. At the time, the Congress determined that the hard, bloody Civil War to end slavery was enough.

15. Free speech is dependent on what’s said.

The freedom to say anything and/or print it is not dependent on subjective interpretation. Anyone can also disagree with anything. To propose otherwise is unconstitutional. We have tort laws to address defamation and slander. Without free speech we are not the United States of America. We may have different opinions, but that doesn’t mean either one of us is squelched or censored in expression. Who checks the fact checkers?

       16. Ukraine is winning its war with Russia.

We have provided over $100B to Ukraine to fight Russia, but we are not tracking the money or the equipment provided to an historically corrupt government. That war should never have started and could be ended tomorrow.

*****************

Have a great and prosperous week.

Hug somebody.

SPIDER Bites

This week’s trivia question is: How many keys or notes are there on a piano? The answer to last week’s question re: Michael Joseph Blassie, who died in the Vietnam War, was identified through DNA testing in 1998 and was reinterred after having been buried in what specific location for the previous 26 years. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. There are actually 4 bodies in the tomb: 1 each from WWI, WW!!, Korea and Vietnam. Three of them are now ‘unknown.’

The Academy Awards held last week expectedly picked Oppenheimer as the best movie of the year. It’s lead role player, Robert Downy Jr, was named best actor, while the best actress award went to Emma Stone in Poor Things.

March Madness begins Tuesday for NCAA men’s basketball. The women’s version begins Wednesday with Iowa’s all-time leading NCAA scorer, Caitland Clark, heads to that tournament.

President Biden presented his fiscal 2025 budget to Congress last week. It calls for spending $7.3T, a 4.6% increase over this year. At the same time he’s proposing tax increases for everyone to pay for it.

Our FL Legislature passed a bill last week to bar cities and counties from allowing people to sleep in or on public property. The measure would allow local governments to designate, for one-year, certain property for sleeping or camping if the sites meet standards set by the Florida Department of Children and Families and are drug and alcohol free. Those wishing to sleep on the streets will just have to make their way to California where they’re obviously welcomed.

Haiti’s chaos is resulting in more immigrants from that country as we prepare to dump another $100M in aid to the island that’s going who knows where. Meanwhile, Venezuela and San Salvador, like Haiti, appear to be emptying their jails and sending their criminals to us via our porous border, similar to Castro’s move in 1980.

Gov. De Santis has deployed more law enforcement officers and the National Guard to stop the boats filled with Haitians from coming ashore here.

A bill providing up to $150K to immigrants to buy a home has been introduced in the CA Assembly. At the same time, CA is now charging a surtax on electricity for anyone making $28,000 or more/year – up to $128/month based on income, not usage. It’s part of Gov. Newsome’s “tax the rich” strategy.

Tic Tok will have 6 months to divest itself of Chinese communist ownership or be banned from operating in the US, according to legislation passed by the House. President Biden has indicated he will sign it if and when it’s passed by the Senate.

Oil reached $80+/barrel last week. It likely will go higher with the Mid-East conflicts.

The January inflation number at 3.2% is a reminder to the public that the money in their wallets buys less with each passing day. Don’t expect any interest rate relief from the Fed in the short-term. The nearly 40,000 home foreclosures last month continue to soar as the average interest rate for 30-year mortgages last week was 6.74%. The typical salary required nationwide for homeownership is up to $106,500 – a stunning 61% increase from the $59,000 required just four years ago, according to Zillow.