Tag Archives: News

Subsidizing Foolish People

20 Thursday Jun 2024

Posted by in Insurance

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        If your neighbors decided they didn’t like to use electric lights so they used torches and used bonfires to cook their food while living in a forest would you contribute to rebuilding their burned out houses? No, you probably would not subsidize their stupidity. If they continued to do it over and over I know you would not be just as stupid. Now, how about you subsidized it because your house and auto insurer raised your rates to keep rebuilding their house? That is exactly what is happening in the Midwest states. We are subsidizing the property of people who live in hurricane prone areas and tornado alleys. As climate changes, those areas plus the southern and southeastern will see more damaging storms and flooding.

            Those states allow people to locate in areas where they are damaged often and sometimes more than twice each year. Sure the insurance companies want a profit so they raise rates to cover losses from those damage-prone areas. That means we who live in sensible areas pay for damage in the areas insurers are often required to cover.

            The government subsidizes homes that are built in flood plains. Most states have laws against building in those areas but somehow – legally or illegally – builders are allowed to build in the dangerous areas. The state of Florida runs an insurance company for people that either cannot get or cannot afford private insurance. Granted I do not subsidize any state’s policies but I do the private ones.

            If you wonder why your home and car insurance suddenly skyrocketed you now know. Finding a less than national company to insure your home may save you hundreds each year. Stop subsidizing fools

Biden’s Dilemma

27 Monday May 2024

Posted by in Gasoline, President Biden

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        The price of gasoline is critical to inflation, interest rates, economic and the upcoming election in November. The price of gasoline determines world politics and wars. What would you do if you were President?

            The price of gasoline is dependent on the price of oil which is dependent on the amount of oil for sale. The amount of oil produced by OPEC is supposedly tightly controlled by voluntary agreements among its members. Another “restriction” is the sanctions imposed by the United Nations and members of NATO.

            Oil is currently selling for less than $80 per barrel. Iran is allowed to sell one million barrels a day to comply with the UN sanctions but it sells over three million to China and India. By law, we can sanction the small refineries in China but they wouldn’t care since they have little or no trades with outsiders. The only way cut them back to one million would be to board the mega-tankers and confiscate the oil by taking them to another port. After two or three tankers are held the others would be unlikely to carry above sanctioned amount. The loss of two million barrels would raise prices twenty to thirty dollars or more. It could also cause a higher level of violence by Iran and push their nuclear path to a bomb.

            Russia’s sanction is to not sell oil above sixty dollars but they go around this by moving oil on a Russian-flagged tanker and in the middle of the Black Sea transferring oil to other countries’ flagged tankers. The oil is then sold at market price. Stopping this would mean encountering Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and a shooting war with NATO. Price of oil would skyrocket.

            So what would you do and when?

Guns, Guns, and More Guns

23 Tuesday Apr 2024

Posted by in Gun Control, Gun Violence

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        The gun culture is winning out over commonsense. We are allowing teenagers, preteens, and even younger children to play with and carry guns outside the home. No wonder why we have bicycle and drive-by shootings where bullets are sprayed at groups of other children. More than once a week police shoot a kid with a gun.

            In the 1950’s the weapons were zip guns. They were homemade single shot devices using a rubber band. Now teenagers are carrying large caliber pistols with extended magazines or even an automatic with conversion parts bought off the internet.

            Why are parents allowing their children to become so involved with guns? Illinois may be the first state to put parents in jail for their child killing other students. Perhaps the police and courts should go farther and penalize parents just for allowing the children to be around guns. Parents of dead kids march after shootings to soothe their feelings about not protecting their own kids,. Why didn’t they keep their kids out of gangs and associating with gang members? If necessary move to a safer area.

            Yes, the police may be more strict and rough in some ethnic or race communities than safer areas, but it is from past experiences. Every day they put on body armor to try to go home at shift’s end. There are always bad seeds in the force and the community. It is the responsibility of the rest of us to eliminate them from being a problem. The problem is too many gangs and lenient courts, laws, and stupid parents.

When It Is Over

18 Thursday Apr 2024

Posted by in President Trump, Trials

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        Former President Donald Trump’s defensive plan is to stall all the trials until after the election. If he happened to win he thinks he would be safe for at least four years and then only if he can’t figure out how to extend his second term.

            Once he was indicted no time limit has an expiration date so he would still be in jeopardy when he left office. Maybe Trump is looking to pardon himself for all federal crimes and get the Republican Governors to pardon him for their state’s crimes. Both he and the Governors would pardon his co-conspirators so they wouldn’t be pressured to testify against him.

            One question is why would he be free from any trial if he won in November? He would not be president until January 20’s inauguration. What happens if he is found guilty? It will probably go to the Supreme Court.

            Another question is; if Trump is found guilty after the election but before January 20 and sentenced, does his Vice-President get sworn in as President? Back to the Supreme Court I suppose.

            So many questions; if he won but none if he loses the election. Let’s hope he loses and the country’s legal system isn’t put into greater disrepute! The three Justices he set on the Supreme Court have shown their loyalty to him so far. The Judges lied repeatedly during their confirmation hearings so they can be counted to always vote in Trump’s favor.

Two Fences with a Narrow Space Between

09 Saturday Mar 2024

Posted by in Israel

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        I can argue both sides of the Hamas-Israel War without any effort which is why I have a gap between two fences. Both parties have inflamed the other side.

            The Israeli’s pushed hundreds of thousands Palestinians off land their ancestors had farmed hundreds of years before. The ones who didn’t leave have not got full citizenship even if they have a couple of seats in the Knesset. The ultra right-wingers are trying to take away those seats and any right they have now. A few of the ultra-right Israeli Zionists do things to cause protests by the Muslims and reactions by the police and military. The people of Gaza or those on the West Bank may shoot someone or blow themselves up in frustration and revenge for an Israeli action. Every time they bomb an apartment building killing families, they create more Hamas fighters.

The Israeli’s leadership and ultra-right have their own agendas which is to overreact to any action. The majority of the Israelis would like an equitable peace between all three sides. Some past Prime Ministers have done deals with the PLO to make peace in spite of what the settlers have done. Israel does supply water and electricity to Gaza as a humanitarian effort but they frequently cut it off for actions of a few.

            Both sides get massive subsidies for their economies and their military organization. The United States gives money because of Jewish political leverage in Washington D.C. and originally because we stopped most Jewish immigration from the Nazis. We have worked to eliminate or greatly lessen any conflict with the area’s Arab countries. They have cut some subsidies to Gaza in hopes of ending conflict but Iran has stepped up its support of Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

                I think the wars would be over if all subsidies were stopped by American and the Arab countries.

Today’s War on Disputed Land

05 Tuesday Mar 2024

Posted by in Israel

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        We have learned our Intelligence Agencies told the Israeli Agency about the activities in Gaza. For some reason they did nothing to counter the possibility of the massive attack. Israelis who survived the initial attack on their Kibbutz want to know why the army did not react to sappers opening the gaps in the wire barrier. One settler said the army was always there in minutes when a bird or pig touched it.

            The satellites showed Hamas was concentrating its missiles for a barrage on September 28th. October 5th, the CIA gave another warning and the next day the Israelis were reporting theirs and U.S. intelligence of the major increase in activity. The attack occurred the next day, October 7th, when Hamas launched its attack. An Israeli source said Netanyahu didn’t want to ruin the country-wide parties.

            We can be absolutely sure that Netanyahu was informed before the sixth so the warning could be distributed. Why did he not move troops to where the attack was aimed? Why did he not warn the area settlers? Did he decide to wait until the Hamas troops came over the border to kill them? Did his plan go awry? Did he allow this to happen so he could divert attention from the over 100,000 protesters that are against his pushing to cut the Supreme Court’s power and his taking the land on the West Bank for his ultra-right wing supporters.

            I don’t support either side in this war because both sides are to blame. The Israelis are finally going to do what we did when he moved the people off the land they had lived on for hundreds or thousands of years. We said it was God’s way of giving the Europeans a home. We only killed eighteen of the twenty million through diseased blankets, starvation, or with lead. I guess bombing ten story buildings with families in them is the modern way of exterminating those people Israelis don’t want.

Politics Over Patriotism

13 Tuesday Feb 2024

Posted by in Patriotism, Politics

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“Déjà vu all over again” and “history repeats itself” are two sayings which apply to Donald Trump’s claim to be able to quickly settle the Ukraine and Russian war. I laughed when he said it. Then I remembered past similar situations.

The first was former President Richard Nixon during his campaign against former Vice-President Hubert Humphrey. He said he had a secret plan to end the war within months. What we didn’t know is his people had been talking with the North Vietnamese. Whatever the plan was, it didn’t work.

The next scenario was former President Ronald Reagan’s people talking with the Iranians about keeping the hostages until he was sworn into the Presidency. They were released that day.

Former President George Bush II campaigned that Americans could handle money better than their government so he would cut taxes. Remember, former President Clinton was paying off the National Debt which was definitely more responsible than the people who were increasing their debt. His cuts started the huge increases in National debt.

Now Donald Trump says he can talk with his friend Putin and end the Ukraine War. He has pressured the Republicans in the House and Senate to reject an immigration bill with everything the Republicans want so he can use it in his campaign.

During the next eight months over a million more people will come across the Southern Border because the current laws can not stop them as per the Supreme Court during Trump’s administration. The Pandemic gave Trump a legal reason to close the border. When the pandemic died out the courts took away Biden’s authority. Trump says he could stop it but that will require passing a law that he couldn’t get passed during his term.

Think First

06 Tuesday Feb 2024

Posted by in Voting

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When I was in high school a classmate and I were walking in front of a line of stores. The pharmacy had a metal two sided sign hanging about eight foot above the sidewalk. He suddenly leaped up and gave it a karate chop, breaking a bone in his hand. Six weeks later he got the cast off and as we walked under that same sign he did the same thing with the same result. It was my first experience with “Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.” I think I learned that lesson from his pain but why do so many people keep doing the same stupid things? We keep electing the same candidates with the same insane goals they know can not or should not happen. Examples are former President George Bush campaigned against raising the income tax former President Bill Clinton was using to balance the budget and pay off the National Debt. He said he could cut the taxes and get more revenue. He cut taxes and the deficit took off again. Former President Donald Trump cut taxes as he promised and the deficit ballooned even more.

We elect people who say they are going to help us but they increases the debt. Getting re-elected is more important to them than doing the hard work. The social media CEOs were just in front of an “angry Senate committee.” The CEOs pledged to cut their involvement with kids; so the Senate will create another committee to look into it which means the matter will quietly die. Why? This is the second time they assembled with the same result.

I know Gary learned a painful lesson about hitting a sign but Americans keep hitting the sign when they should know the result will hurt. To reduce the National Debt, we heed people who know a substantial increase in taxes now is critical.