Trump’s efforts to downsize government has Democrats going crazy

March 4, 2025

The left’s attitude toward President Donald Trump is — unsurprisingly — unchanged since he won reelection last November. In fact, a recent Pew Research Center poll shows Democrats dislike everything Trump does. Imagine that! 

It seems that anything that can be said regarding Trump to make him or his actions look bad is approved and encouraged.

Here is one example: “President Donald Trump announced late Sunday that he was naming former Fox News personality Dan Bongino as deputy FBI director, the latest in a series of controversial picks for high-profile law enforcement positions,” as reported by Politico. And, another source referred to Bongino merely as a podcaster.

However, these sources of important information that people depend upon neglected to tell the public that Bongino had served 4 years as a New York police officer and 11 years as a U.S. Secret Service agent during the tenure of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He has much more substantive law enforcement credentials than a Fox News personality or a podcaster. 

This is a good example how the left “sort of” reports things, using negative and/or derogatory information while leaving out relevant information in reporting on the Trump administration, its personnel, and its actions.

And it’s not just the news media that are indulging in this behavior.

The left likes to think of itself as open-minded, inclusive, tolerant and peace-loving. However, the extreme portion of the left pursues hatred and intolerance as normal elements in its dealings with, and references to Trump supporters and Trump administration officials. And since voters voted against the radical left last November, this behavior is becoming more mainstream.

Down in Louisiana an LSU law professor criticized both Trump and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry using vulgar language in class. A few days later, in response to student complaints, the professor was suspended by LSU pending an investigation into the complaints.

At a recent meeting of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, Florida Democrat Rep. Maxwell Frost called President Trump “the grifter in chief,” and referred to Elon Musk as “President Musk.” 

At a town hall held by a Republican Congressman near Atlanta, Georgia recently, he was repeatedly interrupted with shouts and jeers. A similar result was found in a town hall in La Grande, Ore., where the audience booed and yelled. A Wisconsin Republican Congressman was booed after saying that Trump has done “some very good things.” 

In response to the activities of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), one person said, “this is all a horror show,” and another person said that “Democrats should treat this as a war.” And California Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters screamed, “We have got to tell Elon Musk that nobody elected your [expletive deleted].”

Continuing her rant, Waters added, “We’re in a crisis in this country because Trump and Elon Musk and the billionaires have decided they’re going to put us all in our place. They’re going to run this country. They’re going to make sure that they take over everything.”

"This is what the start of dictatorship looks like," Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar said. "When you gut the U.S. Constitution and you install yourself as the sole power, that is how dictators are made."

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) is trying to protect illegal aliens from being deported. This is a high priority for the Trump administration, especially for the violent criminals among the millions of illegals. “Believe it or not, in America EVERYONE has rights,” AOC wrote. “Citizen or not, we all should know our rights to protect ourselves and others from illegal search & seizure.” Even she ought to understand that the one right they do not have is to be here illegally.

Whether these Democrats actually do not know what they are talking about, or are deliberately distorting the truth for political gain, is an open question. Nothing seems to be more important to them than damaging Trump and his policies, the things that tens of millions of Americans support. Trump collected 77 million votes and 312 Electoral votes, when only 270 are required to be elected.

Doesn’t it seem odd that the Democrats who constantly complain about how “our democracy” is being treated, loudly demonstrate how little they understand about how “our democracy” — our constitutional republic — is supposed to work?

It seems to puzzle them, and in fact, set off their alarms, that by the U.S. Constitution the President of the United States of America, who was elected by a majority of the voters in the nation, controls the Administrative Branch. All of the people in the Administrative Branch work for the President, and they do not require Congressional approval or any approval outside that of the President.

A new Gallup poll shows that Democrats want their party to moderate their positions. And for the good of the people that those in Congress are elected to serve, this is a sensible idea.

The problem is that by moderating their talk and behavior they must abandon their political goals, which are more important to them than restoring and maintaining the nation as created by the Founders.

That is what Trump, Musk and the rest of the administration is working toward.

Coal’s future is better than the climate change faction hoped

February 25, 2025

Those of us who have been around for a good while remember the days when dozens of train cars loaded with coal filled the Bluefield railyard and were seen moving coal on the tracks throughout the area. The immense effect coal had on the economics of the southern West Virginia and southwest Virginia regions was a greatly appreciated fact. That is what actually built much of the area.

Over the years, coal’s use has declined substantially, due to various factors, a major one of which is the climate change mania that took aim at coal, oil and natural gas as fuels. This action cost the region a heavy price.

The climate change faction has been sounding the alarm that there is a dangerous level of CO2 in the atmosphere, and it needs to be immediately lowered. However, many scientists argue against that opinion. They say the CO2 level should be doubled to increase the growth of plants that in return produce the oxygen that feeds humanity and animals.

Even if the climate mania narrative is correct, the US effort to reduce CO2 by mandating cutting back on coal, oil and natural gas use made little to no difference in the CO2 level. The “improvements” we made were rendered moot by the greatly increased use by other nations. So, while thousands were put out of work, and other negative economic results were achieved in the US, China and India made that all seem pointless.

Friends of Coal is a non-profit organization based in Charleston, WV supporting the continued use of coal. “The supposed energy transition from fossil fuels to a suite of government-supported alternatives like wind and solar has always seemed more of a marketing campaign than reality,” a Friends of Coal newsletter stated. “It’s a transition that we are asked to believe has been ongoing since at least 2015 and the signing of the Paris Climate Accords, yet the percentage of primary energy supplied by oil, natural gas, and coal continues to hover right at the 80 percent level despite all the trillions of dollars in government subsidies thrown at the problem.”

Citing new leadership in West Virginia and the nation, Friends of Coal says that West Virginia’s coal industry has strong support for its part in “powering homes, businesses and national infrastructure.”

Coal also plays an important role in West Virginia’s economy by providing 15 percent of the state’s annual revenue and more than 50,000 jobs.

While coal’s part in producing electricity for the nation has been diminished over recent years, it is still active in that role, and is prepared to step up to help meet the predicted need for more electric power in the near future.

And the new US Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, told interviewers at Bloomberg that the time has come to halt the closing of coal-fired power plants that resulted from the war on coal under the direction of former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. "Coal has been essential to the United States' energy system for over 100 years,” he said. “It's been the largest source of global electricity for nearly 100 years, and it will be for decades to come, so we need to be realistic about that.”

And there is more good news for the industry. Increases in coal’s existing uses, and new uses for it are on the horizon.

Forbes reports that “India and the U.S. are plugging a hole in the market for steel-making coal caused by declining Chinese demand,” and the “dominance by China for steel-making, or coking coal, is fading as the Chinese Government encourages a slowdown in steel production.”

A report on the World Economic Forum website suggests that the uses of coal have not been fully realized. Coal is a highly varied material and its molecular complexity has not been explored for new uses.

Where coal has been being refined into basic elements and then used as a feedstock for the chemical industry’s production of plastics, dyes and solvents, it now is thought to be a basis for producing solar panels, batteries and electronic devices. 

It may also be used in manufacturing carbon products. Whereas petrochemical or biomass feedstocks are now used for products like carbon fiber and carbon additives for cements and the like, coal is now seen as a likely substitute for these processes. And, it has the further advantage of being a fairly cheap base material, which is a very positive factor.

Other new developments are also helping make coal more useful and less polluting. Through gasification and liquefaction processes, coal can be converted into synthetic gases or liquids, and these products can be processed into valued chemicals like methanol and hydrogen, which are used in industrial processes.

And processes like high efficiency low emission technologies work to reduce the emissions of coal-fired power plants. Carbon capture and storage processes are being developed to prevent CO2 emission from entering the atmosphere.

These new developments in the use of coal hold promise for the industry. And while it might not grow the industry to its former size and influence, it could again become a strong economic factor in places like southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia.