Thought for the day: A breath of fresh air, and redefining “Crazy”
James Carville made a great comment yesterday (you know: Famous and partially-retired Democrat strategist): Democrats lost big on Tuesday because of “Stupid Wokeness and Defunding the Police”. Duh. If Tuesday, November 2, 2021 was anything for me, it was a breath of fresh air that clearly demonstrated two things:
First: We haven’t all gone crazy. Only the currently in-control section of the Democratic party. All my democrat friends … still good people (I already knew that, incidentally). Across the nation party lines were crossed to vote clearly against the extremes in education, from Long Island to Minneapolis to Seattle. From New Jersey to Colorado to Texas. The extreme leadership was generally repudiated, gained no ground, and often lost ground in many, many places. Defunding movements were defeated everywhere they were on the ballot, or a candidate supporting them were on the ballot. Seats were flipped as Hispanic-dominated districts, forever-democrat, moved away from supporting crazy policies. This wasn’t just in Texas – it was also in districts all over Virginia and New Jersey., among other places.
And Second: This further proves that November 2020 was all about the man and little about the policies. He was so disliked by the other side that you would have voted for a turnip to replace him.
MSNBC and CNN and NBC lit up with “White Supremacy drove the election”. OMG, seriously? Go actually look at who was elected. Mostly non-white, reasonable and smart people.
(if you make it to the bottom of this post, check out the $450K/person DOJ deal … you’ll love that one)
Well… Here’s the turnip: Highest inflation in (now) 30 years; highest gas prices in a decade and climbing to new records; serious supply chain disruptions; unemployment rates remain painfully slow to recover (now around 4.8%), while job opening remain near 10.4 million; labor strikes since Joe took office: 184 and counting, and he’s encouraging them; COVID deaths now passing 772,000 in the US (it was 425, 522 the day before Joe took office – with a vaccine JUST being released … now it’s almost doubled with 3 vaccines in play); a war on fossil fuels that took us immediately from energy net-exporter (independence) to net importer (and the immediate reaction by OPEC was to raise prices and cut production, with Joe begging them to increase their production); a disastrous departure from the Afghan withdrawal agreement-with-established-consequences to the mass exodus that has now left a hundreds of Americans stranded (first they said only a hundred; then they said maybe a few more; last week it was revised to at least 438). And no diplomatic leverage to get them out – just former US soldiers running privately-funded missions to sneak these people away.
And let’s not forget the climate crisis and the multi-trillion dollar “reconciliation / human infrastructure / build back better plan.” I’ll deal with that plan soon – it’s another crazy one. And, of course, Joe and his team’s unbelievable need to jump back into the Paris accords. Those ones the last Administration left … remember? We left because it was … yes … a BAD deal. Why? Easy: The US was obligated to pay in hundred of millions, and actually billions of dollars into the agreement fund while also cutting our emissions. Guess what? We DID cut our emissions during the last Administration anyway. But we didn’t have to pay the piles of cash. You know what else was NOT there in those accords? Yup – any obligation from Russia, India, and China (and Brazil) to do anything. Or pay anything. They are obligated to do nothing. Nada. Zip. No cuts. No cash. Yes, folks .. it was a bad, bad deal. In fact, just today India pushed back any self-imposed cuts to AT LEAST 2040.
Let’s visit that a bit further. Just to make sure we’re all clear: We have about 500 coal-fired power plants. We’re moving most to natural gas (well, until we stopped drilling for that), as it’s far cleaner as a transition fuel. China has 3,000 coal plants. They are building … right now … 500 more. They are buying up coal mining ops all over Asia and the world. A full, rapid (and I emphasize rapid) shift in our energy economy is what Biden and his team are trying to do right now, and we’re seeing just the beginning of the economic fallout and national weakening. Meanwhile, China and Asia are totally ignoring this and investing in fossil fuels like madmen.
Let’s be clear: I would very much agree we need to transition our energy. But we need a smoother plan that isn’t equivalent to a light switch being flipped, and a mitigation strategy for the warming. Why? Because without China and the Far East participating, we’re not stopping or slowing anything. The Marshall Islands and many others are in danger. Our money should be helping them, and our coastlines, while we also transition.
Getting back to last Tuesday: It was refreshing to see parties often being ignored and instead policies being voted on. You didn’t need to be a Dem or GOP to vote for common sense and reason; you just needed to be breathing. How can I be so sure? Easy: Those that voted extreme most likely had their heads up in places where they couldn’t breathe. My opinion. But the results seem to back it up.
Recall what was voted out when the turnip was elected: Lowest unemployment in history across most major groups. A massive tax reform that allowed over 48% of the REGULAR population to pay $0 in Federal taxes (people really need to get off the “break for the rich” bandwagon). A US Treasury that continued to see increased tax revenues year-on-year, despite the tax cuts. Really. Go check my earlier blogs and look it up. The breaks worked. Booming economy (pre-pandemic and recovery coming fast). Almost fully re-built military (now being cut again). A foreign policy that kept North Korea at the table, and no US deaths in Afghanistan for well over a year before that Administration left (their responses were feared…deterrence through strength 101). And by the way – North Korea is back to testing long range missiles at about 1 per week. A border that was becoming increasingly secure. And so on, and so on. But the turnip looked better.
One last jewel to toss in, to make sure you’re aware: Did you know the ACLU and DOJ are in talks right now to pay each illegal immigrant family that was separated under the last Administration (not Obama’s – they’re getting a hall pass), $450,000 per person, and up to $1,000,000 per family??? Seriously!! When FOX asked Biden about it at the pressor yesterday, he called it “garbage and not true and wasn’t going to happen”. Today the ACLU fired back and said “we’re talking with your DOJ RIGHT NOW about it; too bad you don’t know what your own department is doing”. And then later today the White House walked back Biden’s denial. Are … you … kidding me? Gold Start families get less than a quarter of that. These families broke the law and were separated as adults were charged for breaking the law. Fortunately, the crazy ones in the GOP (well, all of the GOP) in congress are moving to block it if they can.
That’s the turnip who was elected. And we’re 10 months in.
And one more thing: Go watch how our president was panned globally in the media during the G-20. Unfortunately, it was embarrassing.
Have a good night, folks.
