In the recent political campaign speech (improperly labeled as a “state of the Union” address, a strangely invigorated and generally-well-spoken Uncle Joe didn’t actually specifically tell us what the state, the condition, was.
But his speech clearly implied that (1) the condition was great and improving daily, and (2) the only reason it wasn’t perfect was his predecessor. And all the bad things that guy did.
But is that true? The mere fact that the words were put into Uncle’s mouth means we have to question their veracity.
But when we look at the actual facts – the publicly available information – the Union (what is left of it) should be on life-support. And double-checking the will and last testament.
According to a short discussion in FEE, a bill has been introduced in Minnesota which would restrict sale and purchase of paints (apparently both interior and exterior house paints) and create a licensing scheme for house painters. (At least we think it is just house painters: for all we know it may include car body painters, painters of pavement, and painting of plastic models.)
Minnesota economist John Phelan said the legislation is “regulation for the sake of regulation.” Various claims are being made as to how this legislation will protect the public health and safety. And the environment. And property.
In an interview on March 8th, a Woke and Democratic Representative (Wild of Pennsylvania) acknowledged there are people in the country who believe that abortion is “taking the life of a child, and the answer to that is, those people are not being required to have an abortion.”
I fear that I may understand this woman too well: her logic seems to be that “people believe that driving drunk may endanger and kill other people on the road, and they aren’t required to drive drunk.” Or perhaps, “some people believe that having sex with a child is child abuse, so they aren’t required to have sex with a child.” This implies that morality – committing violence against an innocent person – is all in the eye of the beholder. That it is really relative.
To put it crudely: It’s okay if you think it is wrong to rape someone. You aren’t required to rape them. But you can’t stop me from raping them just because you think it is wrong.
Several have asked if we had a response to the first major campaign speech of the 2024 election from the Democratic presumptive candidate (or at least his teleprompter):
We should know what to expect from Uncle Joe by now. Ditto for The Donald. And DC in general.
Ohh! The mainstream media is freaking out over Chinese police being “NEAR” Hawai’i. A mere 1300 miles away in Kiribati. Goodness! “Chinese authorities have stated their intention to reconstruct an airstrip on Kanton Island, previously used by the U.S. military during World War II to combat Japan.” Oh dear! The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, under the control of Marxist Justin Trudeau, is only about 400 miles away from us here in the Black Hills, and the Federales down in Juarez are only about 400 miles from the Four Corners! We have to start trembling in fear!
The media is also in a panic over rising Christian Nationalism – especially with The Donald closer than ever to returning to the White House. “Newsreports about a rising conservative think tank express concerns about its ties to the movement. A high profile documentary asks whether a new wave of believers will wash away democracy in America. And Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, is increasingly embracing the narrative that he has been chosen by God — that only he can save America from Satan.”
As readers may know, the northeast corner of the Texas Panhandle has had a series of wildfires for more than a week. The largest, the Smoke House Fire, has burned 1,058,482 acres and as of this afternoon is 74% contained. Wild grass fires are a fact of life and have been for centuries in the Great Plains.
Above: Map of fires in northeast Panhandle (Oklahoma to the right)
Supposedly the largest in Texan history (it probably isn’t, but may be the largest in the last two centuries), we are now hearing people claiming that this wildfire was intentionally ignited by the FedGov as part of a “War on Texas.” Just as it is claimed that the wildfires on Maui were ignited by some horrible energy beam because everyone knows that grass fires don’t cause houses and barns to burn and explode.
One of those is Mike Adams, the “Health Ranger.” He also claims that the death of 6,000 head of cattle in the fires is “proof” that the FedGov has a war on Texas, on ranchers, and on meat supplies, tying it to apparently intentional Israeli starvation of poor, peaceful Arabs in the Gaza Strip.
Let us address the facts in this nonsense: First, Texas has an estimated 12.7 million cattle (of the 92 million estimated in the States overall). 6,000 is a rounding error. We are not dismissing the impact on the ranchers of Roberts and Hemphill Counties, or the rest of the area. But this is not any significant impact on the availability of hamburger or beef baloney or steaks in the States or the world. And if is some kind of FedGov Uncle Biden war on ranching, it is about as effective as one of his stump speeches. More cattle often die from big blizzards and flooding. (Rest assured: beef isn’t going to vanish from your local store or the price double because of a million-acre fire: Uncle Joe and crew (including Republicans!) will find other ways to do that.)
And is it the FedGov? Some superweapon? Well, Xcel (a regional electrical power supplier) has already stated that the fire started with a downed powerline from a broken pole – documented and verified by local firefighters. So unless some FBI type snuck in and broke that power pole…
Adams is far from the only one who does not understand Texas, the Great Plains, the Westm, cattle, or wildfire. But he is an example of people that we cannot trust to know and tell us accurately what is going on.
Which is no different than government elected officials, bureaucrats, and jackbooted thugs. Is it?
We will discuss more examples of craziness in a future commentary.
Let us know your thoughts on Texas, the FedGov “war on Texas” and other fun things!
The story linked below is hilarious but points out some vital truths.
We are used to a constant stream of childish behavior in the US Capitol, but this is not about the idiocracy in DC. Rather, that found in Pierre, the capital city of South Dakota.
Seems a couple of GOP types in the Senate had tried to honor Nancy Green (Aunt Jemima in lore and marketing) for being erased as politically incorrect several years ago. It was clearly a political statement and popular (and fun). But another GOP type in the House objected to it, and so nothing was done.
It is Tuesday, the 5th of March, AD 2024. A beautiful day… well, at least some places. And even if it is snowing and the wind is blowing, it is a nice day: we need the moisture!
We live in a land once filled with promise, with hope. The first nations established based on migrating relatively peacefully to a new and less crowded land, which then joined into a compact between those who wished to be part of what was then a very odd experiment. We freely admit that there were problems with how that was done (both the settlement part and the joining together), but overall it was unique in human history, as far as we know.
And for many years, it kind of worked. Oh, we had and have really bad problems. But overall, even despised minorities still enjoyed many more liberties and much more freedom than in other places. (No, we are not making apologies for slavery or for hatred and racism, whether against AmerInd or black or Asian or Irish! Just pointing out that there was a lot of good and some bad.)
But we got spoiled. And lazy. And failed to be diligent, to be vigilant enough.
We are seeing it constantly. Truckers badly needed! Fast food workers wanted urgently! Massive shortage of teachers! Miners in short supply! Call center operators needed – apply now! Timber and lumber workers and operators wanted NOW!
But just as noticeable to us at TPOL? We hear and see this in South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah. Companies hurting for people. Some rapidly increase wages and salaries to steal workers from their competitors. It is no secret: we here at TPOL have close ties with mining (mostly construction aggregates), lumber, over-the-road trucking, and construction. We constantly hear and see how clients and friends can not find the people they need. To work to make money, of course, but they make money by doing work and providing products that people need.
It is a multi-level nightmare. To mine sand and gravel, you need people. And you need equipment for those people to operate. To excavate, crush, screen, and load materials. And to reclaim the mined land. That equipment in turn needs parts fuel and lubricants. Which must be manufactured or produced, transported, and installed. Done by people.
Fast food places have limited hours. Or resorted to drive-thru only: not enough people, even with overtime (time and a half), to keep the doors open. Ditto for many convenience stores. And even supermarkets and other businesses.
And the people aren’t there: jobs are begging. Well-paid jobs – generally well above the nonsense of “minimum wage.” We see signs on many business windows, we see pop-up adverts and more.
But at the same time, we hear of people who cannot find a full-time job.
So what gives?
We should be long past the enforced and bought-off “no-work” force of COVID – the beer flu Pandemic Panic. At least here in the Western States. We supposedly have people flooding into the Rockies and the Great Plains who are fleeing from the Coasts. And we are seeing massive construction projects – especially of apartments – across multiple States. Many of which have experienced great delays. We are told it is labor shortages and materials delays. So again we ask, what gives?
Part of it is certainly a growing underclass. Yes, many border jumpers are hard workers and eager to make a living by providing services. We tend to meet a fair number in and at various projects.
But we do see, and hear, those who are coming across that seem only to want handouts and easy living off others. And otherwise spend a lot of time preying on people or just doing nothing good. And they are part of a growing population of native-born and longer-term migrants who also are, in old terms, bums.
As we see more and more inflation, taxes, economic failures, and – of course – government intervention, this chart and cartoons from the past is worth studying once again. Although it addresses the State of Utah specifically, it is not much different for any of the other 49!
The Price of Liberty 
State of the Union 2024? 2025?
In the recent political campaign speech (improperly labeled as a “state of the Union” address, a strangely invigorated and generally-well-spoken Uncle Joe didn’t actually specifically tell us what the state, the condition, was.
But his speech clearly implied that (1) the condition was great and improving daily, and (2) the only reason it wasn’t perfect was his predecessor. And all the bad things that guy did.
But is that true? The mere fact that the words were put into Uncle’s mouth means we have to question their veracity.
But when we look at the actual facts – the publicly available information – the Union (what is left of it) should be on life-support. And double-checking the will and last testament.
Why?
Continue reading →