Last Saturday was an interesting, busy and unusual day!

June 21, 2025

On Saturday, the nation celebrated the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, which actually shares a birthday with President Donald Trump. This important point escaped the notice of many leftists.

But the left instead celebrated a new “holiday” called “No Kings.” This was enjoyed by celebrants at protests across the nation to complain about the “King,” the 45th and 47th President of the United States of America.

There were many responses to this “holiday” on social media, in emails and elsewhere. Here are a few examples: “Half his orders are tied up in the judicial branch and he cannot get his budget through the Senate his party controls. That doesn’t sound like a king to me.”

“Is a king a President who is caught having stolen classified documents but doesn’t get prosecuted because he is a ‘well-meaning old man with a poor memory?’” 

“A king might be a man who ignores immigration laws and invites anyone to come into the country.”

“A king is a man who allows foreign countries to fly spy balloons over military bases and won’t let the army shoot them down.”

Many on the left are busy financing or participating in violent “protests” resulting in injuries and property damage and destruction on the basis of their belief that illegal aliens — many of whom have been convicted of violent crimes, or charged with them — should not be deported without additional and unnecessary legal proceedings, despite their being known criminals by virtue of the having entered the country illegally, and existing charges and convictions.

Instead, they blame “King” Trump for using federal authorities to find and remove the illegal aliens, as they are required to do by the U.S. Constitution and federal laws.

At one of the “protests,” there was a poster attached to a speaker stand that said, “No Kings,” and below that are the numbers “8647.” In case you are unaware, 8647 means to eighty-six (murder) president number 47.

But the best idea of all is that in a land that actually was ruled by a king similar to the one the left tries to convince us is in charge of the U.S., there would be no protests championing “No Kings.” Or if there were, particpants would be jailed or shot. Maybe the “king” was unaware of this activity.

Also on Saturday, two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses were shot in a horrible assassination attempt “by someone impersonating a police officer,” as reported by Fox 9, Minneapolis/St. Paul. 

“Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were killed. Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were taken to a hospital for surgery.”

“Gov. Tim Walz called the incident ‘an unspeakable tragedy.’ This was an act of targeted political violence. Peaceful discourse is the foundation of our democracy. We don't settle our differences with violence or at gunpoint," Walz said.

“Authorities have identified the suspect as 57-year-old Vance Boelter, who remains at large,” Fox 9 reported. And early comments and reports showed different ideas about the suspect’s connections and motives.

A Facebook friend happily posted a video with the person saying that Boelter “has been confirmed to be a strong Trump supporter, who voted for Donald Trump, as well as a registered Republican.” He showed information that convinced him that Boelter is “a right-wing Christian, nationalist.”

He showed a photo of the New York Post newspaper that said Boelter was registered as a Republican. He also strongly condemned those on the right, whom he said rushed to judgement to blame someone on the left for these horrible crimes.

Soon thereafter, a report from NPR said, “Records from the state's secretary of state indicate that Boelter was a member of the Governor's Workforce Development Board once from 2016 until 2018 and again from 2019 until early 2023. State records indicate that he was not registered with any political party.”

“At a press conference, Col. Christina Bogojevic of the Minnesota State Patrol said flyers reading "No Kings" were found in the suspect's car, though she added that there were no direct links beyond that that authorities knew of,” the NPR report continued.

So, which report do we believe: The New York Post that lists Boelter as a Republican, or NPR that said there was no evidence of political affiliation, but that the suspect had worked for state Democrat administrations?

An additional piece of information is that the two Democrat lawmakers who were targeted were voting against their party on an important issue. Both had crossed party lines to vote against continuing free healthcare for illegal immigrants last week.

That fact, and the fact that “No Kings” material was found in the suspect’s car suggest a liberal position for Boelter. However, a list of potential future targets found in Boelter’s car had Planned Parenthood and other pro-choice organizations and people.

It appears that the murders were politically based, although the evidence available does not make it clear which side was behind it.

The level of political-based violence in this country is unacceptable in this country, which highly respects the freedom to hold whatever political positions one chooses. Here, political decisions are made at the ballot box, not through the use of force.

The Department of Education has not helped public education

June 10, 2025

When the Framers of the U.S. Constitution were creating the document, they were determined to develop a system where the federal government was going to have limited size and authority. Under the federalism concept, some things would be left to the states and localities, and education was one of those things.

They reasoned that some things were better left in the hands of the people who were affected by them, and who could adequately control them, and the federal government was not going to control everything. And, at that time, education was not even considered a function local government.

For roughly 200 years, prior to the establishment of the Department of Education (DOE) in 1979, education at first was handled by the community and religions. Eventually, local and state governments took over. 

And, at the time the DOE was created, our education system was regarded as one of the best, if not the best, in the world.

On March 20, two months after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th President, Whitehouse.gov posted the following: “Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order to officially begin the process of closing the Department of Education. After more than four decades and over $3 trillion spent with virtually nothing to show for it, President Trump’s bold plan will return education back where it belongs — with the states.”

Today, roughly five decades since the DOE was created, American public education has fallen dramatically lower on the success scale.

Earlier this month, Marissa Streit, the CEO of Prager University, provided information demonstrating how much poorer a job public education has been doing since the good old days.

“Right now, the United States is ranked 28th in the world in math and 36th in literacy. 

“One in four eighth graders lack a basic proficiency in math. One in three are not reading at grade level. Only 13% are proficient in U.S. history.

“In certain cities, the numbers are truly appalling. For example, in Chicago, 22 schools didn’t have a single student who was proficient in reading comprehension, and 33 schools didn’t have a single student who was proficient in math.” 

And, she says, it’s not a problem based on insufficient financing. 

“According to the most recent numbers, the United States spends $17,000 per student. In Chicago, it’s $29,000.”

So, what happened?

In the early days of the country, people were very conscientious about child rearing. They wanted the children to be able to function in society, to take care of themselves when the time came. For many years it was more natural for families and communities to teach their children what they needed to know.

And when public education first appeared, that same philosophy was prevalent. 

Today, not so much. Many factors have intervened, affecting how and if kids learn. Cell phones and social media have a great effect, and that effect is largely left to do damage by so many parents who don’t engage with their offspring as once was the habit. Those fairly new factors are a major influence today, but what happened prior to that?

With a federal agency largely in control, and handing out money, school systems do “what they need to do” to keep Washington happy. Last year, the DOE’s budget was $268 billion, and a lot of that went to schools.

And to a dangerous degree, Washington also does what it needs to do to keep voters happy. Millions of voters are involved in education at all levels. Streit cites political concerns as a major factor for the DOE, perhaps even the greatest one.

In 1979 then-President Jimmy Carter was campaigning for reelection, and it wasn’t going well. She notes that with “the Iran Hostage Crisis, crippling inflation, and gasoline shortages, Carter’s approval ratings had plummeted to a dismal 28 percent.”

Needing votes, Carter looked for support and focused on the largest labor union in the country, the National Education Association. While there was no movement in the country for a federal education department, the NEA had been very interested in that for a while.

“So, Carter gave the union what it wanted — a brand new government department and all the perks that go with it: a big budget, a big stick with which to threaten local schools (adopt this program or you won’t get federal dollars) and a big bureaucracy, which they could fill with their loyalists,” Streit wrote. 

Even so, with three candidates in the race in 1980, Ronald Reagan defeated Carter with 50.8% of the vote to Carter’s 41.0%

The DOE began as a political institution, and not focused on students. Its employees are mostly Democrats, Streit wrote, and it dispenses about $80 billion to schools across the country. It goes to educationally questionable initiatives like “teacher development,” “diversity training,” “critical theory studies” and “climate change” awareness, as well as hiring school administrators, counselors, and their assistants, not on educational objectives.

It is fairly clear that the DOE hasn’t helped education, and has actually made things worse. 

Trump’s efforts at cleaning up the federal government and cutting spending will be aided by shutting down the DOE, and it may well help make public education better.

The One Big Beautiful Bill and the environment in the news

June 3, 2025

A very hot topic in the news lately is the Republican’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBB) that passed the House by a razor-thin margin and is now before the Senate. As with many bills of this kind, there are good things, and not-so-good things, in it. And, predictably, the Democrats are 100% against the bill, and even some Republicans have issues with it.

There will be much activity in the Senate for members to get things taken out they don’t like, or to moderate things to make them more acceptable.

And like so many others, this one breaks a common-sense idea about legislation. The OBBB is 1,100 pages long and proposes tax cuts and spending cuts, as well as several other subjects that are not related to each other. The bill contains many things that Republicans and President Donald Trump like and want, hence its title. 

However, as a practical matter, bills before Congress should address 1 item, or maybe a couple that are very closely related, and not be as long as, or longer than, a best-selling novel.

Bills are often used to sneak in a controversial topic that a small number of the members support. It might get passed because the primary topic or topics are very popular, and voting against the bill because of the sneaked-in aspect would not sit well with constituents. Also, having a number of different topics in a bill makes it longer and harder to get through, as well as more difficult to understand and to develop a level of support or opposition.

Ideas about changes to the OBBB are being suggested. The Club for Growth, for example, has a list of 21 “potential improvements,” including: 
* Full and immediate repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act  
* Cut marginal tax rates for individuals 
* Reduction to Corporate Income Tax rate 
* Enhance the qualified business income deduction from 23% to 40% 
* Reduction of capital gains and dividends taxation/investment income 
* Index Capital Gains to Inflation 
* Allow all Americans to save for their futures tax-free through Universal Savings        Accounts 
* Prohibit funding for sanctuary cities 
* Eliminate the SALT deduction 
* Extend Work Requirements to all anti-poverty welfare benefit programs
* Sell federal land

There are also a few articles dealing with the environment that are not widely available. Some of them challenge the popular narrative, while others discuss topics less common than those to which we are accustomed. 

Dr. Roy Spencer is a former NASA scientist, climatologist, author, and former Visiting Fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment. He offered this information in a Heritage Foundation article. 

“Warming of the global climate system over the past half-century has averaged 43 percent less than that produced by computerized climate models used to promote changes in energy policy. In the United States during summer, the observed warming is much weaker than that produced by all 36 climate models surveyed here. 

“While the cause of this relatively benign warming could theoretically be entirely due to humanity’s production of carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning, this claim cannot be demonstrated through science. At least some of the measured warming could be natural. Contrary to media reports and environmental organizations’ press releases, global warming offers no justification for carbon-based regulation.”

Two “Key Takeaways” from the Heritage article are:
* Climate models that guide energy policy do not even conserve energy, a necessary condition for any physically based model of the climate system.
* Public policy should be based on climate observations—which are rather unremarkable—rather than climate models that exaggerate climate impacts.

Appearing in emails and elsewhere is this: “After nearly two decades of accelerating ice loss (with losses reaching about 142 billion tons per year from 2011–2020), Antarctica saw a dramatic shift between 2021 and 2023.

“During this period, satellite data (GRACE and GRACE-FO missions) show the Antarctic Ice Sheet gained about 108–119 billion tons of ice per year.

This gain was especially pronounced in four major glacier basins in East Antarctica (Totten, Moscow University, Denman, and Vincennes Bay), which had previously been rapidly losing mass.”

Another article discussed a lesser-known factor that affects our environment. “A recent scientific study confirms that changes in Earth’s orbit play a key role in triggering ice ages. These shifts, known as Milankovitch cycles, affect the planet's climate over tens of thousands of years by altering the amount of sunlight reaching Earth. Based on current orbital patterns, researchers estimate that the next ice age could begin within the next 11,000 years. This discovery deepens our understanding of Earth's long-term climate cycles and the natural forces that drive major environmental changes.”

And Researchers from ETH Zurich and the Carnegie Institution for Science say Earth is cooling far faster than we thought — and will turn into a dead, rocky planet like Mars much sooner than expected.

Our environment is very complex, with factors of which most people are unaware that affect it. They are rarely talked about outside of scientific circles. But they have an effect on the environment that cannot be ignored. We must always be aware of the “big picture” of our environment.

Has politics infected the actions of our judicial system?

May 27, 2025

Hardly anyone disagrees with the statement that America has some serious problems. One of the most serious of those problems is what is happening in our judicial system. Mis-interpretation of our Constitution and our laws is not new, but is a problem.

A prominent interpretation issue has to do with birthright citizenship. In January, shortly after being sworn into office, President Donald Trump signed several executive orders. One of them sought to end birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents who are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. 

The liberal left, which supports illegal immigration, immediately reacted. They think that according to the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, if an illegal alien woman with child sneaks across the border on a Thursday and gives birth to that child on Friday, that child is automatically a citizen of the United States of America. 

Section 1 of the 14th Amendment states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Upon first reading, and without thoughtful analysis, this would tend to suggest that anyone born in the U.S. is immediately a citizen, no questions asked. But with thoughtful analysis, and/or an understanding of why the 14th Amendment was ultimately passed by Congress, that interpretation falls on its face.

The liberal’s interpretation ignores both the actual language, and the actual purpose of the Amendment. Properly interpreting the Constitution’s language, and the language of laws passed by Congress, is not just relevant, but essential. And, applying the factors that were responsible for that piece of the Constitution, one of its Amendments, or a particular law — the original intent — is critical. 

Just because many years or decades have passed, and thinking may have changed since the enactment of the item in question does not mean that those factors should be or can be ignored.

A useful analysis of this comes from the Heritage Foundation, via Amy Swearer, Senior Legal Fellow, Meese Center, and Hans von Spakovsky, Election Law Reform Initiative Manager and Senior Legal Fellow.

“For the first century following the 14th Amendment’s ratification, few legal scholars would have batted an eye at a directive like Trump’s. If anything, they’d have been more confused as to why the federal government started issuing passports to the U.S.-born children of illegal aliens, tourists, and ‘temporary sojourners’ in the first place.  

“Contrary to popular belief, the 14th Amendment doesn’t say that all people born in the U.S. are citizens. It says that ‘all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof’ are citizens. That second, critical, conditional phrase is conveniently ignored or misinterpreted by advocates of ‘universal’ birthright citizenship. 

“This was intended to constitutionalize the protections of the 1866 Civil Rights Act, which provided that ‘all persons born in the United States, and not subject to any foreign power’ would be considered citizens.   

“That’s because the sponsors of the 14th Amendment made it clear that ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the U.S. means owing your political allegiance to the U.S., and not to another country. Children born to aliens are citizens of their parents’ native land, and thus owe their allegiance to, and are subject to the jurisdiction of, that native land.”

Another example of problematic judicial action is provided by an article in The Western Journal. This challenges that the idea that a federal district judge in one of the hundreds of districts can routinely issue a ruling that affects the entire country, including the actions of its president and the co-equal administrative branch.

“Trump U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer argued when being questioned by [Supreme Court] Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday that the phenomenon of district court judges issuing nationwide injunctions is relatively new in the nation’s history, becoming prominent in the last four or five administrations.

“Further, they have been meted out in unprecedented numbers against Trump, with 40 in the last four months, he said.

“Sauer directed Kavanaugh to the New Deal under President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a reference point. ‘There were very, very passionate challenges to nationwide policies during the Roosevelt administration, and they were not addressed by issuing universal injunctions,’ the solicitor general highlighted.

“Sauer also addressed the Supreme Court’s past rulings on whether lower courts can issue nationwide injunctions.

“So, when the [Supreme Court] has considered and addressed this, it has consistently said, ‘You have to limit the remedy to the plaintiffs appearing in court,’’ Sauer argued.

“Then [Justice Clarence] Thomas made the most important observation of the day by asking, ‘So, we survived until the 1960s without universal injunctions?’”

“That’s exactly correct. And in fact, those were very limited, very rare, even in the 1960s,” Sauer responded. “It really exploded in 2007.”

So, we are now experiencing a pandemic of improper judicial rulings, it seems. Are these the result of persons appointed to positions of federal judgeships who really do not understand the law and the necessity of judicial neutrality and boundaries? Or, are they more concerned with political goals than with being judicially neutral referees in these cases?

Could the current political divide spell the end of the U.S

May 13, 2025

Douglas Murray is a British author, political commentator, cultural critic, and journalist, and his columns have appeared in a long list of publications, including the New York Post and National Review. 

Back in 2018 he created a video in which he said that “Europe is committing suicide.” He went on to explain that there were two major causes of Europe’s impending downfall.

The first, he said, “is the mass movement of peoples into Europe.” This process had been going on for a long time, “but sped up massively in the migration crisis of 2015, when more than a million migrants poured into Europe from the Middle East, North Africa and East Asia.”

The second major cause, which he said was equally significant, was “that Europe lost faith in itself — its beliefs, its traditions and even its very legitimacy.”

Given the current state of affairs here in the United States, Murray’s comments might also describe the suicidal tendencies we have here.

Our challenges have been going on since before the date that Murray first mentioned about Europe, 2015. And, like the European experience, they have increased markedly in recent years.

Like the European countries, the U.S. has seen a tremendous influx of people from other countries. Millions came across our open borders unvetted during the Biden administration. There were some good people, looking for a better life and escaping oppression. But there were thousands, or perhaps millions, who were drug and child traffickers, murderers, rapists, robbers and terrorists.

Over the last few decades the U.S., like Europe, has seen a gradual abandonment of its once strong history and culture.

We have seen persons in many areas forsake their solemn duties, favoring ideals that are not American ideals, and are dangerous to our future. 

Attorneys general and district attorneys refuse to prosecute many types of crimes. Mayors and municipal council members open their doors to illegal aliens, and protect them from being properly deported.

Many of the people we call educators put their professional integrity on the shelf and fail to present their students with a proper background of their country. They have done an equally bad job of teaching crucial basic concepts, like fundamental math, reading and writing. 

And many parents have likewise failed to teach their children about becoming a good American, respecting the law, the rights of others, and basic human behavior.

News organizations and journalists often see no problem with presenting “news” according to their political ideals, rather than abiding by journalistic principles.

Some medical professionals support and assist people in becoming the opposite gender, even children. And some in public education assist children in doing that, and hide that from their parents.

Members of Congress, Republican and Democrat, have recently been heard using what we used to call “cuss words” in their comments on the floor of the chambers. This sort of language, which is profane, is nearly always considered inappropriate, especially for formal settings like public appearances, media appearances, and public activities. 

And the frequency of violence in protests from groups with an ax to grind is shocking. What they are unable to achieve through persuasion with their ideas they try to achieve through force and violence.

Many of these activities are illegal, and all are certainly subversive to the established principles, values and culture of our country.

Politically, we have lost much ground. Many of us remember when Republicans and Democrats got along with each other, despite having different ideas about how to keep the country great, and even to improve it.

The current political discourse reflects the wide gulf in philosophy. One side wants to restore things while the other wants to change everything. The two sides talk to each other in sharp, cutting terms, rarely finding agreement on anything.

Roger Kimball, editor of The New Criterion, sees efforts to restore the previous state of things. He said that following the unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Donald Trump at a campaign rally last year there has been talk of restoration of the values and environment of the past. And that has picked up speed since Trump’s election and inauguration.

In a speech at Hillsdale College’s Blake Center for Faith and Freedom shortly after Trump took office in January, Kimball said, “We always hear about the ‘peaceful transfer of power’ when a new president takes office.

“The usual procedure is for the old crowd to vacate their positions while the new crowd slides in to take their places. The institutions remain inviolate. Nothing essential changes.”

But, he noted, Trump was not elected to preserve the upside-down status quo, but to make badly needed changes. Given the existing political divide as this process gets under way, there is fairly broad satisfaction on Trump’s side, but great fear and resistance on the other.

Whether the suicide that Murray talked about occurring in Europe will be the ultimate conclusion for America remains to be seen. Those who understand and appreciate the original unique design, individual freedom and other benefits of the American system are working hard to see that the shining city on the hill survives this attempted revolution.

There is much discussion of Trump’s first 100 days in office

May 6, 2025

There’s lots of talk about all the things President Donald Trump has and hasn’t done in his first 100 days in office. As expected, his supporters are satisfied with some things, and his critics are shouting about him not completing his rather long and strenuous list of hopes and dreams.

A lot of people are upset over Trump’s heavy focus of tariffs. In case you are not aware of the current tariff situation, here’s a look at what other countries are doing to the United States with tariffs on our goods, taken from the chart that Trump was seen holding in the Oval Office recently.

China - 67%; European Union - 39%; Taiwan - 64%; Japan - 46%; India - 52%; South Korea - 50%; Switzerland - 61%.

The highest two are Vietnam at 90%, and Cambodia at 97%. And there are a few at reasonable levels, such as the United Kingdom, Singapore and Brazil, all at just 10%.

On the other side of this situation is that the highest the U.S. charges is less than 50%, with the highest two at 49% for Cambodia and 46% for Vietnam. Everyone else is below 40%. That doesn’t include the current fight with China that might be higher if things don’t even out through negotiations.

Trump wants low tariffs, or no tariffs, so that trade with other nations is fair for all parties, in terms of cost of goods.

This process will take time — more than the 100 days Trump has been working on it. And, yes, there will be some discomfort.

Richard Porter, writing in Newsmax magazine, describes it this way: “Trump’s tariff policy is pragmatic and populist while theoretically inconsistent. It’s of a piece with his broader attempt to rebalance the terms under which the United States deals with other nations, moving away from the post-war, subsidy-for-friends model toward an everyone-pulls-their-own-weight model — a model in which alliances are premised on shared interests instead of subsidies.”

Perhaps the most noteworthy thing he has accomplished in his early days is to address the influx of some 12 million illegals who casually walked in during the Biden administration, and who it dispersed all across the country, criminals and all.

This critical need did not require Congressional action to reform the immigration policy of the country, as former President Joe Biden and his partners in this travesty kept telling us. All it took was someone willing to fix it.

As of now, daily border encounters are down by 93%; encounters with gotaways – the top threat to public safety – are down by 95%; and migrant crossings are down by 99.99%.

In March of this year, we had less than 7,200 border encounters, the lowest monthly number in recorded history.

The energy picture is also improving, and we are moving to recover the conditions achieved during Trump’s first term. He is moving us away from ideas that sound good, but are not good, such as the New Green Deal, and an electric vehicle mandate. 

We are returning to using clean coal for energy production, which is good for the Appalachian coal field communities, and drilling in new oil fields; working to ship natural gas to Europe, which badly needs it, and continuing fracking.

Because of the increased production of energy, the price of oil, which at one point under Biden was $120 a barrel, is now down close to $60 a barrel. Trump is no longer draining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and will likely begin to refill it.

He has also begun doing away with the foolish policy of diversity, equity and inclusion, which put factors other than the abilities of people in their selection for important things.

While many/most prices are still too high, inflation has subsided. “This is truly remarkable,” economist E.J. Antoni, Ph.D., said. “Average annual inflation rate from ‘09 until ‘21 was 1.8%, then Biden drove it up to 8.6% for a year and a half, then it rose steadily at 3.1% for the rest of his term; but now Trump is averaging a mere 1.0% - remarkable!”

Trump is not perfect, not by a long shot. But neither was Biden or Obama, or any other president.

But his ideas are far more “American” than those of either Biden or Obama, or millions of other people who think that what is happening to Abrego Garcia is really important. Then there are the ones who idolize Luigi Mangione, the accused murderer of Brian Thompson, who was gunned down in cold blood as he walked down a street in midtown Manhattan.

Thompson was allegedly killed just because he held the position of CEO of UnitedHealthcare, a health insurance company. And Mangione is being celebrated as "so handsome!!!" and "guilty for being hot." He is even being celebrated with a new musical in his honor, as he and others believe Thompson’s murder was justified because of problems with the health insurance industry.

Much of the opposition to Trump is because some just don’t like him. But mostly it is because what he wants to do to help the country and its citizens are things that work directly against the twisted goals of Democrats, progressives and socialists.

Our political division is so great that it challenges our future

April 29, 2025

Why is it so important for some on the left — some, not all — to put so much emphasis on supporting and helping illegal aliens in this country?

A good example is the situation of illegal alien Abrego Garcia, happily referred to by the left as “a Maryland man.”

Information available online about Garcia has been missing in many reports of his recent deportation. Here is some of that.

According to police and court records, Abrego Garcia was arrested in Hyattsville, Maryland, in October 2019. He was identified by the Prince George's County Police Gang Unit as a member of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang.

Garcia was pulled over by a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper in 2022 driving an SUV belonging to Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes, another illegal alien who in 2020 confessed to human smuggling across the U.S.-Mexico border. Garcia was observed speeding and unable to stay in his lane.

There were eight individuals in the car with Garcia, who said they were headed for Maryland from Texas for construction work. However, the trooper suspected it was a human trafficking incident, as there was no luggage in the vehicle. The officer only gave Garcia a warning for driving with an expired license.

Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez, said that he is a "violent" repeat wife-beater in 2021.She wrote in a complaint, "At this point, I am afraid to be close to him. I have multiple photos/videos of how violent he can be and all the bruises he [has] left me."

Garcia is said to have admitted to entering the United States illegally in 2012, and was issued a deportation order in 2019. By that time, two judges had believed him likely to be a member of MS-13.

That year, an immigration judge ruled that Garcia was removable to anywhere other than El Salvador because of a threat from a rival gang. It was not a mistake by the Trump administration to deport Garcia, but he should not have been sent to his home of El Salvador. However, since that time the rival gang alluded to is apparently no longer a threat to him, and he has been unharmed since his arrival in El Salvador in March.

However, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said that Garcia was no longer eligible for any form of immigration relief in the United States after MS-13 was declared a terrorist organization.

Contrary to the commonly reported idea, there seems to have been a lot of due process over several years. 

And, referring to Garcia as “a Maryland man,” implying that he is a law-abiding person in the U.S. legally and a loving husband and father, is as dishonest as saying that China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are our best friends.

The FBI arrested a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge who reportedly has ties to left-wing activists last week. Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested after she allegedly helped hide a migrant charged with violence from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

The Daily Caller News Foundation reported that “ICE agents visited the courthouse where Dugan sits on April 18 to arrest a migrant scheduled for a hearing with Dugan that day, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported. Dugan reportedly directed the man and his lawyer to walk down a hallway toward another floor where the ICE agents wouldn’t find him.”

Another judge, this one in New Mexico, has been arrested, along with his wife, accused of harboring an illegal immigrant suspected of being a member of the Tren de Aragua street gang in their home.

According to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Judge Joel Cano is facing obstruction charges. “He took one of the TdA members’ cell phones himself, took it, beat it with a hammer, destroyed it, and then walked the pieces to a city dumpster to dispose of it to protect him,” Bondi said, adding that his wife is also facing charges for destroying evidence.

It is relevant to note how many judges have become involved in ruling against the Trump administration’s efforts to rid the country of violent illegal aliens. The cries from the left in defense of the illegals noting a lack of due process and other complaints is loud and shrill.  Those same judges sat quietly in their chambers while millions of foreigners walked illegally into the country during the Biden administration’s tenure. And the left was unmoved by the lack of due process and the abundant crime during those four years.

And then we have members of the U.S. Congress going to El Salvador to lobby and work for the return of Abrego Garcia.

Judges are put in place and trusted to be honest and unbiased in legal matters. Is our country’s sense of honesty and integrity so unimportant that judges now do such illegal, dangerous and un-American things as we are seeing today? 

And why would members of the U.S. Congress go to such extraordinary lengths to defend such a person as Garcia, the El Salvador man, and to demand he be brought back, and allowed to remain in, the U.S.?

At least part of the problem is the dislike for Donald Trump, and people putting that dislike above all else.

An atmospheric scientist “clears the air” on climate change

April 22, 2025

The debate about global warming — or climate change, as some prefer to call it — goes on. There are essentially two sides to this debate, those who believe the environment is under attack by carbon dioxide (CO2), and those who think CO2 is not really a problem. There are regular people on both sides of the debate, and there are also scientists on both sides of it.

One scientist with significant credentials divides those who are pro and con on the global warming/climate change debate into three groups. Two of those groups are scientists, and group three, he says, are mostly politicians, environmentalists and the media.

The authority cited is Richard Lindzen, who was professor of atmospheric sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for 30 years, who wrote an article for Prager University. During his professional life, Lindzen has published more than 200 scientific papers. He notes that in his 30 years at MIT, “the climate has changed remarkably little.”

He says that during that time, “the cry of ‘global warming’ has grown ever more shrill. In fact, it seems that the less the climate changes, the louder the voices of the climate alarmists get. So, let’s clear the air and create a more accurate picture of where we really stand on the issue of global warming.”

He begins by describing the three groups involved in the debate: “Group one is associated with the scientific part of the United Nation’s International Panel on Climate Change or IPCC (Working Group 1). These are scientists who mostly believe that recent climate change is primarily due to man’s burning of fossil fuels — oil, coal and natural gas. This releases C02, carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere and, they believe, this might eventually dangerously heat the planet.

“Group two is made up of scientists who don’t see this as an especially serious problem. This is the group I belong to. We’re usually referred to as skeptics.”

He notes that there are many reasons why the climate changes, including “the sun, clouds, oceans, the orbital variations of the earth, as well as a myriad of other inputs. None of these is fully understood, and there is no evidence that CO2 emissions are the dominant factor.”  

He then lists five things that the two groups generally agree on:

1. The climate is always changing.

2. CO2 is a greenhouse gas without which life on earth is not possible, but adding it to the atmosphere should lead to some warming.

3. Atmospheric levels of CO2 have been increasing since the end of the Little Ice Age in the 19th century.

4. Over this period (the past two centuries), the global mean temperature has increased slightly and erratically by about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit or one degree Celsius; but only since the 1960’s have man’s greenhouse emissions been sufficient to play a role.

5. Given the complexity of climate, no confident prediction about future global mean temperature or its impact can be made. The IPCC acknowledged in its own 2007 report that, “The long-term prediction of future climate states is not possible.”

So, where does the heated discussion come from? He explains that, “Most importantly, the scenario that the burning of fossil fuel leads to catastrophe isn’t part of what either group asserts. So why are so many people worried, indeed, panic stricken about this issue. Here’s where Group Three comes in — the politicians, environmentalists, and media.

“Global warming alarmism provides them, more than any other issue, with the things they most want: For politicians it’s money and power. For environmentalists it’s money for their organizations and confirmation of their near religious devotion to the idea that man is a destructive force acting upon nature. And for the media it’s ideology, money, and headlines. Doomsday scenarios sell.”

He adds that over recent years scientists who are not directly involved in climate science have joined the crowd that believes that CO2 will destroy the Earth. They are “publishing papers blaming global warming for everything from acne to the Syrian civil war,” and others, whom he calls “crony capitalists,” are after the abundant and easily procured government subsidies.

Group three has taken the lead in the public argument, having out-shouted the other side, replacing what ought to be serious debate with organized, but inaccurate noise.

Lindzen concludes his article with this: “But while politicians, environmentalists and media types can waste a lot of money and scare a lot of people, they won’t be able to bury the truth. The climate will have the final word on that.”

We need to understand that quite a few scientists support the idea that we actually need more CO2 in the atmosphere, not less. They say plant life, hence humans, would benefit from twice the CO2, given that plants produce and release oxygen. There is also the fact that global temperatures have been higher several times in the past than they are now.

The scare tactics that the climate change faction is pumping out have done damage to the country and the people. Things such as lost jobs, economic problems, unnecessary changes to what we are allowed to purchase and how we are allowed to live our lives are not justified.

China is the United States most significant adversary

April 15, 2025

It is widely recognized that the most serious adversary of the United States of America is China, which is under control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Many years ago, in an effort to bring China into the group of nations with market-based economies, make it a partner in international trade, open it to global investment and help make it the workshop of the world, China was admitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO), on December 11, 2001.

Since then, things have not gone as planned, and China misses the mark on the commitments and responsibilities of membership in the WTO. Its lack of faithfully meeting the WTO’s foundational principles is detrimental to its trading partners and the international economic system.

WTO members have rights to enjoy preferential access to other nations’ markets. However, they also have responsibilities, such as committing to support and pursue “open, market-oriented policies,” observing foundational principles of “non-discrimination, market access, reciprocity, and fairness.”

China has played half the game. It fully exploits the WTO’s rights, but for the most part ignores the responsibilities and commitments that go with them. It practices state-directed capitalism, and denies other members access to Chinese markets on reciprocal terms; distorts global markets, including for advanced-technology goods; and deprives nations of the reciprocal benefits they should receive as a member of the community of trading nations.

China’s failure to perform according to WTO standards has had a serious effect on the U.S. 

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation provided a report in 2021 with some troubling information. “From 2001 to 2020, the United States accrued a $6.82 trillion deficit in trade in goods with China. Throughout the prior decade, U.S. goods trade deficits with China were consistently in the $400 billion to $500 billion range annually, topping out with a $539 billion trade deficit in 2018.”

“The Economic Policy Institute estimated that the growth of the U.S. trade deficit with China between 2002 and 2018 was responsible for the loss of 3.7 million U.S. jobs, including 1.7 million jobs lost since 2008. Three-fourths of the jobs—about 2.8 million in total—lost between 2001 and 2018 were in manufacturing.”

China currently owns property, primarily farmland, in 29 of our 50 states.

According to a 2021 report from the Department of Agriculture, China owns roughly 384,000 acres of U.S. agricultural land. These properties were purchased by Chinese investors, which could be individuals, companies, or the Chinese government, or U.S. corporations with Chinese shareholders. The purchase of properties has continued through the years, and increased in recent years. This land was valued at about $2 billion when purchased.

Some of that land is owned by Smithfield Foods, a major American pork producer, which a Chinese company purchased in 2013.

The New York Post published information about Chinese properties in the U.S. last June. “China has been buying up strategically placed farmland next to military installations across the U.S., raising national security fears over potential espionage or even sabotage.

“The Post has identified 19 bases across the U.S. from Florida to Hawaii which are in close proximity to land bought up by Chinese entities and could be exploited by spies working for the communist nation.

“They include some of the military’s most strategically important bases: Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg) in Fayetteville, North Carolina; Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood) in Killeen, Texas; Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego, California, and MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.

“Robert S. Spalding, III, a retired United States Air Force brigadier general whose work focuses on US-China relations told The Post: ‘It is concerning due to the proximity to strategic locations.

“‘These locations can be used to set up intelligence collection sites and the owners can be influential in local politics as we have seen in the past,’ he added.”

Author and China scholar Gordon Chang was born in China and lived there for a few years before his family left. Since then he spent much time living and working in China, and has written several books on the country. He points out some problems China has that may make us feel a little better about the future. 

Writing in his book, The Coming Collapse of China, Chang notes: “The Communist Party has struggled to keep up with great change over the last two decades, but now it is beginning to fail as it often cannot provide the basic needs of its people. Corruption and malfeasance erode the Party’s support from small hamlet to great city …. Social order in their nation is dissolving. The Chinese are making a break for the future, and the disaffected are beginning to find their voice …. The people are in motion now, and it’s just a matter of time before they get what they want.”

While China’s internal problems give us reason to feel somewhat encouraged, we must not stand by idly hoping for a good outcome.

China should own no U.S. food producers or have control of any American farmland, particularly near military bases. The Trump administration must focus on reclaiming ownership and control over any and all farmland and food production companies in the U.S.

Perspective! Critically important, but horribly out of sync!

April 8, 2025

Those seasoned citizens among us are frequently a bit dazzled by what they see going on in America today. Seeing how the younger generations are so unimpressed and displeased with the way things are, causes them to scratch their heads in disbelief.

Having grown up decades ago, when life was very, very different, we watched as technology and culture gradually evolved over many years into what is readily available today.

Some of us remember times before television, hand-held telephones, microwave ovens, and a long list of things that are commonplace today.

We had radios, but only AM stations, and they had to be plugged into the wall, or the car’s electrical system. When TV came around, it was little boxes with a black and white picture. And we got only one or maybe two stations, which we received over the airwaves by rabbitears on the TV, and later an antenna mounted on the roof. 

And remote control involved someone getting up from their chair and walking up to the TV and twisting the channel selector, adjusting the volume, or turning the set on or off. Later, color TVs and FM radio came along, and cable TV service

We had typewriters and adding machines, but not computers or calculators. Our telephones were connected to the world by wires and after a while we were able to replace the operators who placed the calls for us with the ability to dial a phone number by ourselves with a wheel device on the phone base.

Milk bottles were delivered to our front porch by delivery people. And the kids entertained themselves playing games outside like tag or hide and seek, riding their tricycles or bikes, or some sport. Or maybe they played inside with plastic bricks to build things.

Cooking was done on the electric kitchen stove, or perhaps a campfire. Our houses were heated by a coal or gas furnace, and air conditioning consisted of opening windows and turning on the fan.

Travel around town could be on foot or a bicycle, by city buses and trolleys, or by the family car if we could drive. We could listen to music performed live, but at home before the late 60s, early 70s, if it wasn’t on TV or radio, we heard it from a 78 rpm, or perhaps 33 rpm record player system that had mono sound.

As the years passed, things improved. More options became available, and life became much easier and more enjoyable.

Kids born since the 90s — Gen Z and Generation Alpha — are so lucky, compared to us. Whereas we saw these improvements come gradually over many years, these young people found all of this waiting for them when they arrived. So, all of these wonders are just normal to them. Nothing to get excited about, folks. Just dull, always-the-same stuff all the time.

An interesting perspective on this situation recently appeared online. It was written by a 26-year-old college graduate student working on her MBA. Alyssa Ahlgren was sitting in a small coffee shop trying to think of a topic to write about. 

“I scroll through my newsfeed on my phone looking at the latest headlines of presidential candidates calling for policies to ‘fix’ the so-called injustices of capitalism. I put my phone down and continued to look around,” she wrote.

Among the sights in her view were people talking amongst themselves, working on their computers, ordering food, which they got rather quickly. And then, reality dawned on her. “We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we’ve become completely blind to it,” she wrote.

“Vehicles, food, technology, freedom to associate with whom we choose. These things are so ingrained in our American way of life we don’t give them a second thought,” she continued.

“We are so well off here in the United States that our poverty line begins 31 times above the global average. Thirty. One. Times!!!”

She notes that virtually no one in America is poor by global standards. And the fact that someone can place an order online one day, and receive it the next day does not impress so many of us. “Oh, that’s just normal. No big deal,” they think.

And then, the real trouble is brought to light. “Our unappreciation is evident as the popularity of socialist policies among my generation continues to grow.” She references New York Democrat Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as commenting that the entire millennial generation, which is a very large electorate, has never even seen prosperity in America. 

They live it, daily, but haven’t noticed how good they have it. And they look to socialism to turn the best country they could ever live in into another Venezuela.

The current protests further highlight how little so many Americans actually know about America and its priniciples.

History instructs us how every great nation eventually collapsed, or killed itself. America appears to be on that track. We have failed to teach so many people about life and their country. And unless dramatic changes are made, America will become just one more memory, and a sad chapter in history.

The American legal system badly needs some modifications

April 1, 2025

Since Donald Trump entered the political arena the number of times he has been involved in legal actions has grown enormously. And as he continues to be involved in politics, that list continues to expand.

Each of the times he has been charged with a crime or sued excites his political enemies, and provides them with ammunition to fight him with. And his supporters and some others say that is mostly why these allegations are made and charges are brought in the first place.

The term “lawfare” has become a common term. It means to use legal elements as warfare, or using the law as a weapon of political war.

A shining example provided by Trump supporters of how lawfare is used occurred in New York not too long ago. In May of 2024, he was charged by a Democrat DA who campaigned on “getting Trump,” and he was tried in a court in a heavily Democrat county, presided over by a judge with heavy Democrat ties, and found guilty by a jury of all or mostly Democrats.

Democrats disagree with that description, of course. But the heavy influence of Democrats in that part of that heavily blue state are inarguable.

And as time has passed more questionable actions have only added to the concerns that our legal system is sometimes driven more by politics than it is by the law and the Constitution.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to immediately halt efforts to remove criminal illegal aliens until he has more time to consider whether Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act was illegal. And, there are other instances where a district judge has also intervened in a presidential action.

There are 94 federal judicial districts and each one has at least one district judge, who is appointed for a life term. In total there are more than 670 federal district judges in the U.S. And as some of these judges see it, each of them, having judicial authority over a very small area of the country, somehow has the power to overrule the President of the United States.

Other actions by trial judges have brought about resistance. New York Republican House of Representatives member Elise Stefanik produced two ethics complaints, alleging judicial abuse by two judges in cases against Trump.

One of them was Judge Arthur Engoron of the Manhattan Supreme Court. Stefanik’s complaint noted that Engoron had called Trump “a bad guy,” and had supported Attorney General Letitia James for going after him. When challenged on this, he refused to recuse himself.

During the trial, Engoron told Trump’s attorney, who was trying to file a routine motion, that he wasn’t interested in what he had to say, and “to just sit down.” He then issued a gag order against Trump.

The second complaint was filed against New York state Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the trial in which Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records. Stefanik provided evidence that Merchan’s daughter was working for the Kamala Harris presidential campaign, calling into question his ability to preside impartially.

The New York Judicial State Commission on Judicial Conduct did not even consider those complaints.

A theory on what has led to many judges making rulings and taking other actions beyond their actual authority is the existing assumption that judges hold absolute immunity for their actions. There are cases where obvious errors and deliberate improper actions by judges have been ignored. Judicial immunity has been awarded to judges by other judges.

One example: An Indiana judge ordered a 15-year-old girl to be surgically sterilized for no better reason than that her parents asked for it. There was no hearing of evidence or a trial that determined this action, and the girl was told she was going to have an appendectomy, not sterilization. She didn’t realize what had actually happened until she was married years later, and discovered she could not have the children she wanted.

The victim later sued the judge, but his peers defended him from being held accountable for his horrific action. You see, he was protected by absolute immunity. The court wrote that, “A judge will not be deprived of immunity because the action he took was in error, was done maliciously, or was in excess of his authority.” 

The idea of judicial immunity was inherited from English common law, and has survived several legal challenges. However, this situation has caused some organizations to seek a change to this assumption of blanket immunity from all actions. 

One of them, the Institute for Justice (IJ) — a nonprofit, public interest law firm — has launched the “Project on Immunity and Accountability.” The basis for this, IJ states, is this simple idea: “If we the people must follow the law, our government must follow the Constitution.”

We do not want a situation where judges and their decisions will be challenged every time one side or the other in a legal matter is displeased with the outcome. 

But what we must have are conditions in existence that will insure that judicial decisions are based upon the law and the Constitution, as written, not on personal or political opinions.

The left’s anger, fear and desperation cause misplaced actions

March 25, 2025

The situation of the resistance to everything President Donald Trump says and does has always been a bit crazy, but since he took office in January, this reaction has become even crazier.

Perhaps the best example of that is the reaction to the efforts to restore order and propriety to the use of taxpayer money that the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is doing. Specifically, the involvement in DOGE of Elon Musk, who owns X (formerly Twitter) and Space X, and is CEO of Tesla is problematic.

Musk has had criticism from all sorts of people, and even threats on his life, for his efforts to find and eliminate wasteful and improper spending of our money, something every American should support.

This criticism comes primarily from those on the political left. The left is concerned about the climate and the problems they ascribe to too much CO2 in the atmosphere. They heavily oppose the burning of fossil fuels, and heavily favor wind and solar power to replace them.

Musk has helped with that by owning the company producing the very popular Tesla electric vehicle (EV).

Some on the left who disapprove of DOGE’s activities have gone after Musk. And their idea of how to get even with him, in addition to direct actions and threats against him, is through violence, which includes destroying Tesla vehicles and charging stations, and even dealerships. 

Note to those leftists: Musk does not own the vehicles, charging stations and dealerships that you are bombing with Molotov cocktails and damaging through other means. Those vehicles are owned largely by people who agree with your position on the environment, believing EVs are beneficial to the environment. And the charging station and dealership properties are owned mostly by local businesses who provide jobs for local people and generally support their communities.

These violent attacks are suspected to not be spur-of-the-moment reactions, for the most part. Vice President J.D. Vance suggests that they are coordinated and paid for by someone.

"My guess is that if we do get to the bottom of this, we're going to find out that there are some very crazy, very deranged, but very wealthy left-wing people who are funding this stuff," Vance said.

Along that line of thinking, the FBI believes there is a “map” that supposedly charts the location of Tesla owners in the United States, and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said the bureau is investigating this. These actions have been described as a form of domestic terrorism by Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The Daily Signal reported that “A website called ‘Dogequest’ claims to have published the personal information of Tesla owners across the country, and it turns the user’s cursor into a Molotov cocktail. The site’s operators, who also posted the exact locations of Tesla dealerships, say they will only remove personal information if the Tesla owners provide proof that they sold their electric vehicles.”

Townhall.com reports that three people have been federally charged for destruction of Tesla properties, using Molotov cocktails. They will "face the full force of the law" for allegedly firebombing Tesla cars and charging stations, according to a Department of Justice press release. The charges carry a penalty of from five years to twenty years in prison, if those charged are convicted.

"The days of committing crimes without consequence have ended," Bondi said. "Let this be a warning: if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars."

This attitude on the part of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are very welcome, after the long four years of selective prosecutions in the Biden administration. Violence, including setting fire to police stations and other properties — which the main stream media reported as “mostly peaceful” protests, as buildings burned in the background — were brushed off. 

However, parents complaining about their children’s education to their local school boards, and others carrying signs opposing abortions near abortion clinics, ranked higher with the DOJ, which labeled them “domestic terrorists.” 

And the squad of liberal prosecutors behaved like political operatives, instead of living up to their pledge to enforce laws to protect the public, for whom they work.

The country approves of and protects free speech, which often appears as organized protests. There seems to be many people who do not understand what protests actually are. And instead of peacefully protesting, they stoop to committing violent, destructive and dangerous acts. What they are doing is not protected speech; it is grounds for arrest and jail time.

Political actions and events are intended to persuade people to your way of thinking. The left’s misfocused thinking and dangerous violence only shows people how out of touch they are, and it turns people away. These illegal and dangerous antics must be stopped, and the perpetrators punished.

And what Trump and his administration are trying to do is to restore our federal government to its original design, which includes making government smaller, less controlling and less expensive. 

Why this should drive people to violence is difficult to understand, unless they believe that violence is the only path to get their way.

Moving toward a limited and cost-effective federal government

March 18, 2025

Our country is currently experiencing many problems, and some are quite serious. As President Donald Trump’s opponents constantly remind us, he has not yet corrected these problems, even though he has been in office for almost two months.

But seriously, folks, we do have some real problems. And what the most serious of them is depends to a large degree upon whom you ask about that. Some of them are: the national debt, inflation and the resulting high prices, illegal immigration, military strength, big government.

But in whatever order you rank these problems, none of them can be cured overnight; they will all take time to be worked out. That amount of time will be shortened if everyone involved will work together for that purpose. And perhaps that is the most complicated problem of all.

Of those many problems, one that has attracted much attention, and one that is actively being addressed, is the size, cost, and activities of the federal government. Due to the way things have been going for decades, we have become saddled with a national debt of $35.46 trillion, as of fiscal year 2024, and this figure is rising every second. As of last week, it was $36.22 trillion. And the impact of that is enormous: the interest on the national debt is billions of dollars per day.

Our government is too big, it costs too much to operate, its reach has grown far too broad, and it has expanded its power and authority well beyond its originally designed limits. Almost every year the government has a sizeable budget deficit, which adds more to the national debt.

And not only are we spending far too much, billions of those dollars are being spent improperly. Many decisions on spending are being made not by Congress, as is the constitutional process, but by unelected bureaucrats, many with partisan motives.

The entire operation of the government and its spending practices are currently being examined by the newly created and temporary Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Despite the fact that the people pay taxes on what they earn, on what they spend, annually on property they own, and the Social Security payments they receive, and businesses pay taxes on their operation, the country still spends more than it takes in.

In 1789, several years after the creation of the country, there were only three federal departments: State, War, and Treasury. Today, there are 15 departments. The government has five times the departments it had in the early years. And there are fair points being made that we don’t need some of them, and that others need to be downsized and/or merged.

One example of this is that we don’t need USAID, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and that its work can be done by the State Department. Another is the Department of Education. Its job can be done by the individual states, who handled it before the department was created in 1979.

Liberal criticism of the Trump administration contains the scare tactic that Trump wants to create a dictatorship. That would mean a government that controls everything. But that situation has been building for many years, as evidenced by the increase of government departments and the authority they now exercise.

And what Trump is aiming for is reducing the size, cost and broad authority of the federal government. This is being done by DOGE and other efforts of the administration.

With our oversized federal bureaucracy, we are dependent upon other countries for some of the goods that our people need and want the most. And some of them are things that were once produced here, or that could be.

Due to various causes, many of those things were moved out of the U.S., and for the most part, the reason is that government interfered with domestic production by increased regulations that made production more difficult and more expensive. This caused production of some to be moved to other countries, and made foreign products more necessary.

Why shouldn’t a country as great as America not produce the things its people need and want at home? Why should we be at the mercy of other countries, some of whom love to make us suffer, when we can reorganize our country to produce nearly all of the things we need and want?

By appealing to companies that have moved out of the U.S. and encouraging them to return, and by attracting companies that have not been located here to move here, great things will happen. Thousands of new jobs will be created, and the prices on many items will be better. 

We can act to make domestic products more desirable than foreign made products, if some of them are threatening our own products.

Imagine a country that has an abundance of good jobs creating needed and wanted products. And one with a balanced budget, enough income to allow lowering the national debt, and with national spending low enough to allow a tax system with low tax rates that enable the people to keep more of their earnings.

All of this is possible. But the road to that future is not an easy one.

The problem with today’s protests at colleges and universities

March 11, 2025

Protests have been in the news over the last few months. They are not new things. Going back to the 60s and 70s, protests were reasonably common occurrences, and not unusual since then.

Some examples of what gave birth to protests were objections to the Vietnam War, and seeking an end to racial injustice and gender inequality.

The civil rights movement began in the 50s, but continued into the 60s and 70s. It was focused on racial equality, and ending segregation, and it involved nonviolent protests, sit-ins, boycotts, and marches.

Disagreement with the Vietnam War produced many protests and demonstrations, especially on college campuses. Other topics found sympathetic ears on college campuses, too. Major focuses were freedom of speech, and complaints about the status quo, which involved the women’s liberation movement, and the gay rights movement.

In the 60s there arose a rejection of traditional values, emphasis on peace and love, the hippie culture and alternative lifestyles.

For the most part, these protests and demonstrations were peaceful, but there were
some exceptions. And, they were protests of objectionable policies and ways of life that people didn’t like. 

Going back just a few years, we saw many protests based upon policies and events that were far less peaceful than those of the 60s and 70s. Property, both personal and public, was damaged and destroyed. And injuries to and the deaths of individuals occurred.

The recent campus protests have been mostly peaceful and involved students protesting, setting up tent encampments on campuses, and even taking over campus buildings. In some situations, both students and faculty members were actively protesting, as well as some college employees going on strike.

There are organizations representing and coaching the protesters. And these organizations and the protesters are making demands on the schools. Some of the demands are that schools sever financial and academic ties to Israel and companies involved in the current conflict, to disclose investments, and to cease accepting research funding. They also want the U.S. to end military support for Israel.

Protesters have damaged furniture and computers at one campus library, and shattered windows during their occupation of the buildings at another.

Several universities saw student protesters replace American flags with Palestinian flags on campus flagpoles. However, administrations and law enforcement personnel took down the Palestinian flags and put the American flags back up.

The major difference between these recent protests and those of the 60s and 70s, however, is that while actions and policies are part of the basis for the recent protests, the major factor is the high degree of hatred the protesters have for one group of people.

In the conflict between the Iranian terrorist proxy group Hamas and Israel, the college student protesters take the side of those living in Gaza and Hamas. Hamas is who the Palestinians selected as their government. The protesters express their objections to the nation of Israel, and hatred for Jews that live there. And because there are Jews living and attending colleges and universities in the United States, they are also the targets of the protester’s hatred.

Colleges and universities have begun to take steps to halt this unacceptable rule-breaking, and in some cases illegal activity. There have been many protesters arrested, some have been suspended or expelled, while others have been evicted from campus housing, and some have been financially charged for damages to campus property and facilities.

And while some, or hopefully all, of the protesters may get their just rewards for their breaking of rules and laws, will they ever understand or pay a price for their disgusting anti-Semitism?

“The Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announced that it will be visiting 10 university campuses that have experienced anti-Semitic incidents since October 2023,” reported the Department of Justice’s Office of Public Affairs website. “Created pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order on Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism, the Task Force set as its first priority to eradicate anti-Semitic harassment in schools and on college campuses.”

The Task Force is aware of allegations that these schools have failed to protect Jewish students and faculty members from discrimination, potentially in violation of federal law, said Leo Terrell, Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, and leader of the Task Force.

The 10 universities are: Columbia University; George Washington University; Harvard University; Johns Hopkins University; New York University; Northwestern University; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Minnesota; and the University of Southern California.

Terrell said that the Task Force will meet with various groups to gather information about what has been happening, including university leadership, impacted students and staff, local law enforcement, and community members. 

“The President, Attorney General Pamela Bondi, and the entire Administration are committed to ensuring that no one should feel unsafe or unwelcome on campus because of their religion,” Terrell said. “The Task Force’s mandate is to bring the full force of the federal government to bear in our effort to eradicate anti-Semitism, particularly in schools.”

Anti-Semitism, or any sort of racial hatred or discrimination, is the precise opposite of what America is about. And it must be eliminated.