Today I heard Oprah say that if Trump wins, then we may never have the ability to cast a ballot again.  Just to remind you, Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden on the ticket without a single ballot cast.  They also said that the tax cuts only benefit the wealthy, where everyone who makes more that $11K per year got a cut.  They also said that Trump will abolish abortion, track women pregnancies, ruin the environment by drilling and fracking, and the list goes on.  They even tried calling him Hitler during his MSG rally because Hitler held a rally there in 1939.  By the way, Bill Clinton accepted his Presidential nomination at DNC at the same venue with supporters chanting Clinton’s name.

So, why would they continue making this up?  Surely, they can come up with some actual problems, other than the times he puts his foot in is mouth at these rallies (which happens very often).  They do have the fact that Trump appointed the Supreme Court Justices that assigned the abortion issue to the states and Congress.  So, the Dems did hammer that hard and even added that Trump will take control over all women health.

I decided it is because they actually feel his previous presidency was good and they couldn’t find anything they could truthfully run against.  He led a great economy with lower taxes, rising GDP, lower fuel prices, net exporter of oil, increase in domestic manufacturing, renegotiated trade agreements.  The Southern border was secure and he attacked the growth of Fentynol in our cities. When the pandemic hit, he fast tracked the vaccine, converted US manufacturers to develop more ventilators, moved a hospital ship from the west coast to NY to assist with full hospitals and performed daily updates to the country.

Trump has been hitting the Biden Harris presidency with facts such as a wide open border and inflation caused by Biden’s “Pay Them More” comments and limiting oil production.  He couldn’t hit her on her promised policies, because she has none.

The latter days of this cycle shows that Harris has run out of things to say, so they drag out celebrities to help spread nonsense like what Oprah said.  Maybe these celebrities will perform a song that will make you like her better.  Wait, they already tried that too.

Now, the government has all these charts and reasons for the rise in prices.  None of the reasons are their fault.  They mention it is because of the pandemic, supply chain issues, blah blah blah.  Well, my eyeballs tell a different story.  The rise in prices are 2 reasons, labor and fuel.  In many businesses, especially service businesses, fuel and labor is most of their cost.

For labor, Biden’s famous “Pay them More” speech made workers demand higher wages and, because of the labor shortage, they had to pay them.  My daughter just got a job right out of college.  Companies were throwing money at her as signing bonuses and retention bonuses.  Now, these companies are not going to absorb these higher costs, they are forced to raise prices…inflation.  This is not something we can eliminate, now that folks are getting paid more.  We cannot lower wages, that would cause mass protests.  However, we can help with fuel prices.

Everything comes to stores by truck, we also drive our cars into work, fuel is needed for all aspects of our economy.  Fuel costs are up tremendously since 2021, when Biden took office.  When he took office, he immediately signed executive orders handcuffing the oil companies to drive toward electric vehicles.  Although I believe electric vehicles are a good idea, we are not ready to abandon fossil fuel vehicles.  The technology is not ready and the infrastructure is not available. Until these issues are ironed out, we need to stay at the status quo.  Being able to drill for oil and become a net exporter of oil, like we were before Biden took office, will drive down fuel prices. Biden says that most land drilling is on private land and that is not on them.  What the government does not say is that oil companies must have a permit to drill on any land and 100% of offshore drilling is controlled by the Federal Government.  The Executive Orders rescinded the drilling permits causing a major slowdown in drilling…the price of gas immediately went up.  Biden also says the war in Ukraine caused fuel to rise.  I read that we get 10% of our fuel from Russia.  If that is true, that does not seem to be enough to drive the steep rise in prices.  In addition, if we were a net exporter, the rise of prices from Russia wouldn’t matter.  Companies are not going to absorb these costs as well.  They raise prices to accommodate those rises in fuel costs.  The solution is to drill, become a net exporter again, and lower the cost.

One other part of inflation we are not talking about are credit card fees that consumers are now paying when buying products.  I went to a restaurant and they were charging 3.5% service charge when paying with a credit card. First, that is outrageous. If they are wanting to cover their costs, they need to be paying somewhere around 2.4% in fees, not 3.5%.  The owner of the restaurant said they cannot afford to absorb the credit card fees anymore due to the rising costs of labor, food and supplies.  Therefore, she had to pass them along to the customer.  The extra percentage may be a way she can raise her prices, but not show on the menu.  This is all due to inflation caused by the rise in labor and fuel costs.  Now, tack on another 3.5% above the 8.3% inflation rate.

Biden just announced releasing 15 million barrels to help with fuel costs. We use 24 million barrels per day,  so it will not help with prices.  Biden can release permits and off shore drilling.  This will reduce fuel costs, almost immediately. Therefore, just like the border issue, the Federal Government has no interest in solving this problem.

Now, with the Biden administration, it is as if the government did forget what happened that horrible morning.  Afganistan is back to terrorist rule.  Biden bailed out of the country and just let the terrorists take control.  He forgot.  Should we be fighting a 20- year war?  Probably not.  However,  a military presence in the area is needed just like we have always done in the past.  We still  have military bases all over Europe. The Taliban tried to make moves during the Trump administration, so, he dropped the MOAB on them.  There was no counter offensive against them after the Taliban moved on toward Afganistan.  Biden just let it happen, leaving people and billions of dollars of equipment behind. No plan, he just withdrew as if we were defeated and ran out of the country.  He forgot.

Our southern border is another sign that he forgot. The 9-11 terrorists came into our country on temporary visas, false identities and attended flight school.  With intense training and planning they attacked us.  Now, it is actually easier for them to attack us.  Just travel to Mexico, blend into the multitudes sneaking into our country and attack us.  No need for visas, passports and false identities. The attack is also easier now.  They can silently attack us by carrying phentenol across the border. That will silently kill thousands of Americans.  Maybe the terrorists will not wave their flags and thump their chests, but they will still achieve their goal of ridding the Earth of the “infidels”.

He forgot and so did we by electing him.

At the beginning of all this Covid mess, we were all told to get the vaccine and all will go back to normal.  You will not get it, you cannot spread it and you can remove your mask after 2 weeks of the 2nd dose.  Go back and review. That is what Fauci and Bix said.  I am not sure if it was due to the variants, but now they say the vaccine just protects against severe illness.  In addition, we have found that a vaccinated person can get it and spread it.  This was true in my family.  We are all vaccinated with one boost.  My daughter got it, spread it to my other daughter, and it spread to me.  We did not have a severe case, just a couple of days of feeling crummy.  Maybe that is the vaccine working or maybe this variant is mild, especially to healthy adults.

So, why are vaccines being required for entry?  Why can’t Novak Djokovic play in the US Open?  It is proven that vaccinated people can still spread the disease.  Therefore, the vaccine only helps protect against severe illness (if that) of the person who gets the vaccine.  The CDC requires folks traveling to the US to be vaccinated.  I guess there is an exception for our Southern Border. With this rule, Novak Djokovic has to stay home.  The CDC is infringing on our rights to do what we feel is best for ourselves.  There is no bearing on any other person, no infringing on others’ rights and not detrimental to any other person’s health.   What happened to “My Body, My Choice”?

We are just blindly following along without exercising the next level to make sure this makes sense. We do not push back, even just a little. We just shake our heads at those who buck the system and move on.  By the way Djokovic had Covid fairly recently and has natural immunity.  Who gave the CDC so much power?

Upon graduation, she ended up with a Bachelor’s degree and an amazing job right out of college.  She just has about $13k in student loans…not bad at all.

Now, Biden announces his plan to forgive almost all of her debt.  Paying close to language, he announced his plan.  This is different than announcing that it will happen.  I am not sure he has the power to do it on his own.  I would think Congress would need to be involved.  As a Dad with a child in debt, I am glad that her career will take off with little debt from school.  As a taxpayer and someone who pays his debts, I do not like this plan.

These students bought something, a college education.  It can be said that college is too expensive and unfair.  That may be true, but they bought the “service” anyway.  College costs are posted on university’s websites and there is no secret on the costs.  If the student failed to use their education,  then that is not my fault as a taxpayer.  If there is some major life event causing undue hardship, then that should be discussed as an exception…but it is not the norm.

The plan calls for folks making $125k or less can receive $10K in relief.  I know there is more to this plan, but this part applies to my family.  First, I feel the income threshold is too high.  Really, if you are making $80k, you should be able to pay $10k of low interest loans over time.  Really, any post-college job should be able to pay off a $10k low interest debt.  The repayment timeframe is basically unlimited.  If you made a bad decision on your major or post-graduation job, then that is not the tax payers’ fault.

This plan, announced in Aug 2022, is clearly to help the Democrats in the mid term election by buying the young vote.  If it wasn’t,  the program would have been announced on day one, since it was what Biden campaigned on. He enacted several plans such as cancelling the Keystone Pipeline when he became president, so, why not this plan.  Simple,  the pipeline decision is a negative and could cost him votes.  The financial aid plan would definately earn the party votes.  The Democrats hope that voters will forget the pipeline decision while keeping the financial aid plan top of mind just 2 months before the mid term.  The democrats are polling very poorly right now and need this as a boost.

Many feel this plan is unfair.  Those who pay cash for college, paid off their loans and those who never went to college are totally left out and forced to foot the bill for these students.  By the way, many  students made good decisions and can afford to pay off their loan.  Again, these students bought something and should pay it back.  The stories we hear on the news seem to revolve around interest rates.  One story mentioned a student who had about $130k in loans and they paid the minimum each month and the balance actually went up $8 at year-end.  Nobody mentioned that the $10k will not really help this person. So, if it is true that the issue is that students cannot pay off their loans because of the interest, then a better plan would be to just excuse the interest on the loans instead of gifting $10k-$20k per student.  This way, the student would just have to pay off what they borrowed.  The government can even make it retroactive so that payments so far can go to just pay off the borrowed balance.  This plan will still keep the student responsible for their decision, keep the folks who didn’t go to college from having to pay for someone who did and level the playing field for those who paid their loans or paid cash for school.  There is still a cost for this plan in the form of the cost of money and the difference between present value and future value of money, but it should be a far cry from the $300B-$500B price tag the news is throwing around.

Teach our students to be responsible for their decisions. To take credit for the good ones and to work on the not-so-good ones.

To begin with, I am a firm believer that abortions should not be used as a form of birth control.  There are scientific advances today that were not around during the 70s when Roe v Wade was ruled upon.  For example, birth control methods are much more advanced.  Along with the birth control pill, there are IUDs and the morning after pill.  Now, for the guy, there is nothing wrong with a condom.  They are not like they were in the past.  If you are wanting to have unprotected sex, then these methods should be in your nightstand.  People need to act with reasonable responsibility and take responsibility for their actions.  We all know where babies come from, we all know how to prevent pregnancy and methods are widely available.  One argument is that some people cannot afford an IUD, the pill, condoms or the morning after pill.  There are programs in pretty much every community (at least in GA) that they can get their method of choice either free or next-to-free.  I took a look at some numbers and the best sample size I found was from Florida where in 2020 95.3% of abortions were due to Elective or for socio-economic reasons, in other words, Birth Control. (https://abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/). Therefore, almost all abortions are not due to the health of the Mother, the health of the baby, incest or rape.  Since the sample size in this study was large, I have to believe that the proportions would be similar nationwide, maybe +/- a percentage or two.

Now, let’s go to the debate that the government and the media want to fight.

They taught “What about the health of the mother, the health of the child, incest, rape?“.  Well, then we are working on just 4.7% of all abortions.  Then, you hear on the news that Louisiana and Kentucky are having a near BAN on Abortions (notice the emphasize BAN on Abortion) and never, ever explain what “near” means.  There are probably exceptions, but I did look into many of the states the news, in this case ABC, and read what their new abortion laws say.  They all said that there are exceptions for the health of the mother and baby.  Many also allow abortions between 6 and 15 weeks.

Next, they say “Now I have to travel across state lines to obtain an abortion“.  During the week of the decision, I watched ABC News and paid close attention to the language.  They seemed to be in Louisiana and Kentucky during the week.  The reporter in Louisiana said “I am standing in front of the only abortion clinic in the state”.  The next day, the reporter said, “I am standing in front of one of only 2 abortion clinics in Kentucky”. I realized that women may already be travelling to obtain an abortion.  So, then I looked at how many clinics are in the U.S. In 2017, there were 808 clinics that performed 95% of all abortions in the United States.  Half of those clinics were in just 5 states (NY, CA, WA, FL and NJ).  Therefore, if you wanted an abortion before the Supreme Court decision, you would probably still have to travel.  Since most abortions today are performed medically, they may be able to be prescribed the medication and taken at home.  I have not explored this scenario, but it does seem there are some risks to having this done without doctor supervision.

Next, what about the abortion ban after 13 or 16 weeks?  This is the “Heartbeat Bill” that keeps buzzing around.  Let’s assume that a heartbeat can be detected at 13 weeks.  Some say 13, some say 16.  It probably isn’t an exact science.  The media and government says “There are many women who do not know if they are pregnant that early“.  OK, I am a guy and this may be incorrect, but 13 weeks is 3 months.  A woman would have missed 3 periods.  My wife and daughters told me that many women do not have regular periods, so that wouldn’t apply.  However, it would apply to those who do have regular periods.  OK, so if not 13 or 16 weeks, pick a number and let’s go with it.  There will always be someone who says that isn’t fair.  So, I next went to the statistics.  According to the CDC, in 2019 93% of abortions happen before 13 weeks.  It appears that women know that they are pregnant before 13 weeks.  For those who do not act responsible, the 6-week mark for the state of GA looks to me to be out of line when looking at when a fetal heartbeat is detected.  I just feel the 13-week heartbeat rule seems to be a good compromise.  It is very difficult for me to “compromise” on a child’s life, but there has to be a bridge somewhere.

Lastly, it is true that if a pregnant woman is killed, it is a double-murder.  So, legally, when does life begin?  When is it murder to have an abortion?  According to God, life begins at conception.  However, legally that rule would be very difficult to withstand.  I think that Baby Roe is glad that she was born before the decision was made in 1973.

[UPDATE 8/27/22]

This just aired on Good Morning America and shows the bad reporting and bias from the media.  The audio is a bit hard to hear because I recorded it from my cell phone.  This is important, so, please do your best to hear it.  Basically, ths person’s issue is that she had an idiot doctor who didn’t understand the basics of Louisiana’s law.  Even after the state reiterated that she can have an abortion, ABC News still said she has to go out of state. This is not true.  She is able to terminate the pregnancy in Louisiana without having to travel anywhere.  ABC appears to be purposely devisive and that is a huge problem in America.

Really? Can Hillary please stop talking about the 2016 popular vote? All that means is she had more votes in California. Just look at the numbers.

Hillary had 4 million more votes than Trump in California, but only had 3 million more votes total. Meaning she lost ground throughout the rest of the country. This is why we have the Electoral College. We do not want California picking our President. As Biden just said last night, the President should be the President of all the people. Of course, he didn’t mean it that way.

There was no stealing the election and no cheating. It was just how our Founding Fathers designed it to be.