The Kool-Aid Crowd and COVID

Bobblehead DollSince 2000, the US Federal Government has spent billions, if not hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to improve labels and then “educate” people into reading labels.  The laws passed have forced private businesses to spend hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars in changing labeling on packaging and products to comply.  Go to any mask package and you will find similar:Mask Packaging

Recently I sought service at a Xfinity retail store and was denied service because I cannot wear a mask.  During this outing, I received severely dirty and threatening looks and attitudes from shoppers in a Walmart, all because I cannot wear a mask.  People are becoming violent, just as the government has demanded, to anyone not toeing the government COVID line, and this behavior reminded me of the Jim Jones religious cult.

President Biden is expected to force more people to listen to him threaten and try to scare Americans into getting vaccinated.  The mayors of Boston, Chicago, and New York continue to double down on activities that have not worked since February 2020.  The governors of California, New Mexico, Michigan, and others, continue to use powers not available to them in the name of “public health emergency.”  More mask mandates, more vaccination orders, and more “green passes” to exist.  Here’s the rub, how many of these solutions have worked; honestly, look at the data from February 2020 to December 2021, and tell me how many people were saved wearing masks.

People saved from these government freedom theft mandates, I guarantee, the number is NOT statistically significant!  How do I know; Australia, essentially a large island, has the strictest policies, and Omicron was still able to get onto the island.  How do I know; COVID infected children (school age K-12) have the same risks as uninfected children.  Who is the resource for this information, The New York Times!

Real numbers, Israel has one of the highest vaccinations and boosted populations on the globe; guess what, they also have the highest spike in Omicron infections!  Europe, socialized medicine, high vaccination and boosted populations, where the Omicron and Delta variants spiked infection rates.  Think of this for a moment, populations forced by government to vaccinate, and they are still passing around COVID infections, which is precisely viral science in action!

Peer reviewed researchers in the virus infection community have shown this life cycle of viral infections repeatedly since scientists began writing down what they do.  Vaccinated people pass around strains of viral mutation, which then infect other vaccinated people, until the virus mutates itself to death.  Please, do not believe me, look up this science for yourself, and you will come to a similar conclusion.  At the end of the day the viral infection community of scientists are plotting the death of COVID as a viral infection, but government elected leaders, and the bureaucrats powering the echo chamber of political thinking, will not give up the power theft committed since Feb 2020.

Jim Jones and the Kool-Aid cult suicide has been mocked, used as case studies in group think, and represents a dark time in human psychology and the abuse of religious thinking and adherence.  Guess what, the insanity of COVID-19 is as silly, irresponsible, and dangerous as Jim Jones and his cyanide-laced grape-flavored Kool-Aid.  Senator Manchin nailed it, government is beating the “living crap” out of every citizen, the beatings are intensified by the state government, and the county and city governments.  Yet, little Joey is going to continue to threaten, cajole, beat, and denigrate people using COVID as the excuse.

Did you get the vaccination just to appease government and end the beatings?  Are you able to unmask and live your life without COVID mandates, just because you got vaccinated?  I have friends here in NM who have masked, vaccinated, and done everything the government has demanded of them to avoid the government beatings.  They caught COVID, the whole family was quarantined, and extended family still caught COVID from my friends, once the quarantine was lifted, they gathered, and the extended, vaccinated, masked family caught COVID.  The repetition of this story is exhausting and provides clear proof the government beatings, mandates, and exercised powers are NOT helping but hurting, and make the Jim Jones Kool-Aid episode even more appropriate.

The science from South Africa, where Omicron variant was identified, reports the COVID virus stays in the nose and mouth region.  Guess what, so does the common cold virus, and there has NEVER been an attempt to vaccinate against the ever changing common cold.  We, the citizens of representative government, are the owners of government and it is time we take the reigns and stop the Kool-Aid massacre.  Government should never hold the power over an individual citizen’s health, welfare, or ability to pursue happiness.  Yet, this is exactly what the government bureaucrats want you to give to the government to stop COVID.  Since February 2020, has this worked?  Answer this question as well; how much faster would herd immunity have been achieved had government done what it has done for every other Chinese virus, which is nothing?

Look at recent history, Asian Flu, Hong Kong Flu, Bird Flu A (H5N1), Swine Flu, SARS, etc. the government did nothing.  NO shutdowns, no mandates, no economic stimulus, no job losses for those not vaccinating, no Big Pharma money pump for vaccinations of dubious nature, and the world did not end.  Did some people die; yes.  Did some people get sick; yes.  But herd immunity was faster and more effective than any action the government could think would have worked.  Dear reader, to you I ask, “Are you better off for the government intervention on COVID-19?”  I know my answer, but to you I leave the question and the answer.

Now, flash forward 10-years in your mind.  The real death toll of government intervention is still being hidden, but the deaths from a dubious vaccine are scaring populations silly.  When do we ask ourselves if the forced government vaccinations are the cause for infertility, for economic destruction, and for the massacre of human dreams and lives?  Who do we blame after the money is spent and the vaccines have irretrievably destroyed wide swaths of populations?  When vaccinated children whose risk from COVID remains minimal are sick, twisted with pain, or are dying in droves with reduced life expectancies, but the government continues to defend “doing something in the face of COVID.”

If the Jim Jones religious cult comparison is not appropriate now, when will it be appropriate and concerning to every single citizen across the globe?  Do you know the phrase “Judas Goat?”  The Judas Goat is the goat that befriends sheep, and then leads them to their doom in a slaughterhouse.  Belief in the omni-powerful government is a myth and a Judas Goat, yet to not blindly follow the government mandates is to be refused employment (nurses, firefighters, doctors, police officers, etc.) to be denied service (anyone unable to wear a mask), to be refused legal protection, and be castigated as heretic.  Jim Jones’ believers did similarly to everyone not believing, and they are all dead!  Those who are skeptical of the Judas Goat, are also dead, but their fellow sheep herd went first.

I admit, from day one (October-November 2019) when I first began reading of a new viral infection killing people in China, I have been skeptical, concerned, and boring the daylights out of my wife with the reports, the history, the potential ramifications of this new viral infection.  But in my most fevered nightmares I never thought the government could assume and amass so much power without citizens becoming rebellious.  Flash forward two-years, three arrests for not being able to physically wear a mask, fines, and economical losses incalculable, and my horror is just starting, when I see the vaccinated kids, the shutdown schools, the lost opportunities and potential, and the “hits just keep coming” from government and the bureaucrats.

?u=http3.bp.blogspot.com-CIl2VSm-mmgTZ0wMvH5UGIAAAAAAAAB20QA9_IiyVhYss1600showme_board3.jpg&f=1&nofb=1China is using biological warfare against the world; but the Chinese government is to blame, not the people of China.  I repeat, only for emphasis, do the research yourself.  Make your own decisions.  Unlike the government, Big Tech, and the bureaucrats hungry for power, I trust you to use your freedom and powers of critical thinking.  We might not reach the exact same conclusions, but we can still respect each other, and being better informed from reputable sources improves us both.  Political party be hanged, we are humans first and we need each other.  Please, do not go quietly into that dark night like the sheep entering a slaughterhouse, following the Judas Goat who has skipped aside to miss the consequences.

© Copyright 2021 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images.  Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.

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“That’s Crazy!!!” – More Chronicles from the VA – Chapter 2

I-CareAs bad as the last several months have been, I hate adding more bad news; but the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) – Office of Inspector General (VA-OIG) keeps reporting, and I keep summating.  Due to the absolute overabundance of incredible bureaucratic insanity, today’s article format will necessarily shift to report more and comment less.  Don’t worry, I will still comment on the more egregious examples, for some of these VA-OIG reports are scarier than Joe Biden dressed as a mall Santa at a Fourth of July celebration feeling up little children!

  • 2020 Pre-award reviews of contracts totaled $81 million; guess what:
      • 24 of the 31 contracts awarded contained conflicts of interest.
      • 25 of the 31 contracts had problems with overcharges for hourly rates of services rendered.
      • 6 of the 31 price gouged Medicare.
      • 25 of the 31 contracts, if they had adequately followed the contract process, would have saved taxpayers $16 Million. – Would it shock anyone to hear this is just the “tip of the VA-OIG” report iceberg?

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  • Financial Efficiency Review of the Southeast Louisiana VAHCS in New Orleans; guess what:
      • The VAHCS in New Orleans scored 75% out of 90%. The VA does not try to get a 100% because they regularly fail financial audits as a fact.
      • Actual costs are difficult to relate in dollars and cents because the leaders intentionally hid costs from the VA-OIG, then blamed the new medical center director.
      • Avoidance costs, Purchase card abuse, prime vendor program abuse, and more were employed to avoid proper fiscal practices.
      • Audit, FAILED! No accountability, no person held responsible, and the taxpayer is left holding the bill!

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  • Followup to VAHCS Ozarks Pathology Failures From Dr. Levy Scandal; guess what:
        • Levy Scandal for those who do not remember. – Intentional misdiagnosing, VA coverup, refusal to discuss with patients affected. The report is ghastly!
        • 5% of the patients have now been contacted, and the VA-OIG considers this a “success.” I sure hope you are not part of the 24.5% patient population.
        • Here’s the rub in the 76.5% notification, “an absence of a clearly defined process for clinical providers to alert the Clinical Review Team if later changes in a patient’s health required reconsideration of institutional disclosure.” Does the VA-OIG still want to cheer about that notification rate?
        • Less than 5% of the severely sick patients have been notified of the scandal and the problems created by Dr. Levy. Is this how the VA admits culpability, waiting for the patient to pass?
        • Now, here’s the real kick to the balls; “The VA-OIG determined facility processes related to disclosure of the pathology errors and amending patients electronic health records generally met Veterans Health Administration policy requirements, but opportunities for improvement existed.” – Are you KIDDING ME?

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  • Speaking of fiscal inefficiency and audit failures. The VA continues to overspend and under-deliver on prosthetic devices, especially for shoe inserts.
        • In the fiscal year 2019, such items—artificial limbs, shoes, shoe inserts, and compression garments—accounted for about $318.8 million, or about 9 percent of prosthetic spending.
        • Oversight of prosthetic spending was ineffective, resulting in medical facilities sometimes reimbursing vendors at unreasonable rates.
        • Medical facilities spent about $10 million more than reasonable rates in the six months from October 2019 through March 2020.
        • Rates and data in databases remain unreliable, no oversight, and those in charge of oversight are missing in action. Yet, the VA continues to spend pell-mell.  Does this sound like fiscal responsibility to you?

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  • VA-OIG double-speak lives, and is blatantly observable in the following report, the “Contracting Officer Warranting Program.”
        • For those unfamiliar, a simple explanation: “A warrant gives federal contracting officers the authority to obligate taxpayer dollars. VA’s contracting officers help serve our nation’s veterans by procuring the goods and services required for their care and support.”
        • Never forget – There have been long-standing concerns (Never Resolved) with VA’s contracting officer warrant program. Since 2015, the VA Office of Inspector General (VA-OIG) has issued multiple reports [describing how] warranted contracting officers exceeded their authority and made decisions that put veterans and VA facilities, resources, and information systems at risk.
        • Never forget – The VA-OIG has documented multiple times, and the VA has never resolved, that the VA’s acquisition management has been included on the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO’s) high-risk list for fiscal impropriety and poor contractual adherence.

BUT…

        • The VA-OIG found that while VA’s contracting officer warrant program complied with Federal Acquisition Regulation requirements, opportunities exist to strengthen the program and that the VA lacked assurance that all contracting officer warrants were justified and necessary. – Essentially, this is bureaucrat double-speak for, continue to lie, cheat, steal. We like our job and want to continue, and since Congress doesn’t care, neither do we!

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  • The VHA continues to suffer from employee shortages. I have written about this shortage until I am blue in the face and my fingers ache.  I am fed up telling the VHA how to fix this problem.  If they want answers, call me!

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  • Nurse Bethann Kierczak of Southgate, Michigan, was charged with theft of government property and theft or embezzlement related to a healthcare benefit program. She allegedly stole authentic COVID-19 vaccination record cards from a VA hospital—along with vaccine lot numbers necessary to make the cards appear legitimate—and then resold those cards and information to individuals within the metro Detroit community. – Frankly, with the way the Federal Government is acting, this theft is almost understandable and acceptable.
          • No! I am not condoning an illegal action!  I am simply stating that Pelosi and her ilk do 10-times worse hourly by Congressional standards and get away with those crimes!

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  • Donald Peter Auzine of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Bonnie Jean Lawless Diaz of Slidell, Louisiana, pleaded guilty to misprision (or knowing concealment) of the commission of a felony. From March 2014 through October 2016, Auzine, the marketing manager at Prime Pharmacy Solutions, defrauded TRICARE and other benefit programs. Diaz concealed the fraud by knowingly submitting compounded medications for which there was no medical necessity. Both will be sentenced on January 4, 2022.

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  • Amanda Dawn Rains of Fayetteville, Arkansas, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail, wire, and healthcare fraud, obtaining federal employees’ compensation fraudulently, and paying kickbacks. Rains, a former executive with a Rogers medical supply and billing company, participated in 2013 to 2017, defrauding the US government and private insurance companies.

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  • Robert Seifert of Utica, New York, was sentenced to two years in prison for making telephonic threats to Albany Stratton VA Medical Center employees. He admitted that on January 14, 2021, he made successive calls to three separate employees and left each of them threatening voicemails in which he used demeaning and offensive language. Seifert’s threats caused the employees to fear for their safety and property. He will also serve one year of post-imprisonment supervised release.

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  • Patsy Truglia of Parkland, Florida, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and one count of making a false statement in a matter involving a healthcare benefit program. From January 2018 through April 2019, Truglia and other conspirators generated medically unnecessary physicians’ orders via their telemarketing operation for orthotic devices like knee, back, and wrist braces. Truglia, co-defendant Ruth Bianca Fernandez, and other conspirators caused approximately $25 million in fraudulent durable medical equipment claims to be submitted to Medicare, resulting in approximately $12 million in payments.

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  • Larry Ray Bon, 62, was sentenced to over 16 years in prison for shooting a firearm inside the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center in Florida. Bon brought the firearm to the emergency room, and after becoming frustrated with medical staff, he retrieved it from his wheelchair and fired several shots. In March 2020, he pleaded guilty to three counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding federal employees and one count of possession of a firearm in a federal facility with the intent to commit a crime. At that time, Bon was committed to the custody of the US Attorney General for 25 years of mental health care and treatment at a suitable medical facility. However, Bon was determined to no longer need psychiatric hospitalization and was recently sentenced accordingly.

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Finally, if you want a really good reading, you can visit the VA-OIG page and see the lowlights of the VA-OIG’s reports for yourself by visiting the page here.  Excluded from this list are the usual reports of malfeasance and misfeasance captured in the comprehensive healthcare inspection (CHIp) reports, where we find the exact carbon-copied hits from report to report.  We find moral distress, problems in staffing, continued refusals by leadership to train staff, and the ever-present refusal to attend disruptive committee meetings.  Also omitted from this summation were the inspection of veteran centers and the myriad of failures, bureaucratic ineptitudes, and abysmal behaviors.  Frankly, I could not stand being depressed more by writing and analyzing another moment’s detestable and criminal behavior.Angry Grizzly Bear

What curdles the food in my stomach, this is just the VA.  What about all the other official and unofficial government agencies in the alphabet of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of what we collectively call “the government.”  To all the freedom-loving people in America, please awake and arise; we need you!

© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved
The images used herein were obtained in the public domain; this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.

 

Libya, and Afghanistan – Days American Governance Died!

QuestionI prefer not to quote radical far right, far left, or emotionally driven people.  However, Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity have made similar comments over the past 10-days that have resonated with me: any government’s purpose is to look after their people.  There is no higher duty!  In Afghanistan, Britain and France have sent special forces, heavily armed convoys, rescued their citizens and closed their embassies in good order.  America created a middle-of-the-night Charlie-Foxtrot for the world to handle, then left her citizens to barter with their lives.  Representing cowardice and treason most vile before an enemy most intolerant!

While the actions of the American Government in Afghanistan and the president specifically are deplorable and detestable from a military perspective and a government management perspective, words cease to describe the treasonous actions of abandoning American Citizens’ passports and visa holders to face an enemy unarmed!  How can any government claim they represent anyone if they first do not support their citizens; they cannot.  Thus, what are they doing in power or calling themselves a government?  I do not like it, but as a soldier, then as a sailor, I took the pay, I took the risks, I knew the score; soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, we live on the tip of the spear, and sometimes we lose our lives, and the political aspects make no sense.  It leaves people angry and bitter, but we knew the score and took the risks.  The civilians did not and were promised protection from the government.  Where is the government?Plato 2

Libya

Chris Stevens, US Ambassador to Libya - September 11, 2012 - Benghazi. Pinterest jpg ...From time immemorial, the death of an ambassador is considered a direct challenge to a host country and an overt act of war.  Spies, military members, lower-level representatives are like pawns on a chessboard; sometimes, they die in the back and forth of political negotiations.  But, ambassadors, legally recognized representatives are sacrosanct; their safety is secured and assured by the host country through legal and binding treaties, their family’s safety and security are inviolate.  The loss of an ambassador is a BIG FREAKING DEAL!

11 September 2012, while calling, pleading, begging for military help not 60-minutes away, available and ready, an ambassador was killed.  American citizens were terrorized, killed, wounded, and the president slept.  The Commander in Chief, the head representative of the American Government, was as distant from Libya as if he were on the moon.  His Secretary of State remains up to her neck in the Libyan scandal and death of an Ambassador, a direct employee, and several other direct employees.  The blood of American citizens stands as a bright testimony on the sands of Libya as if painted on a white sheet and hung from the White House door.UC Fund Honors Ambassador Christopher Stevens on Anniversary of His Death | Piedmont, CA Patch

From 1600 local time in Washington DC, the CIA, State Department, and the White House watched from drone footage, in real-time, as the Ambassador died and Americans bled out, refusing to send aid. They were actively refusing multiple requests from the embassy, countermanding written operational orders to go in support of the embassy, and allowing people to die.  Let this sink in for a moment; the Ambassador is being murdered, his bosses are watching it live and in color, and all relief and help is being actively refused and denied while it could have helped.  Long have I wept over this incident, but those tears are from frustration and anger for the loss of life and the senseless stupidity of the leaders in Washington; yet, was it stupidity or a design to creatively murder people and destroy evidence of crimes?

America is Weeping! - Corel Discovery Center11 September 2012, the night Ambassador Stevens died, so too did the American Government.  So to did the trust, honor, integrity, faith, and courage of the American people.  Craven government leaders were missing; they have dodged accountability, evaded responsibility, and abused American Justice for personal gain and pajama parties.  Here, I thought the American government could sink no further.

Satire? Obama ISIS Speech Depresses Nation | Hooper's War - Peter Van BurenAfghanistan

After promising a smooth, transparent, and well-laid transition plan out of Afghanistan to our allies at the G-7 meeting, the US President did a quick U-turn and abruptly removed American troops like a thief trying to flee a bank robbery, producing a hurried, fearful looking and fatal retreat full of confusion, stupidity, and betrayal.  Would a member of the US Press please ask why!  Would a member of the US Press establishment please demand answers to why the leader of the US representative government is camping and missing when American blood is being needlessly spilled in Afghanistan over a stupid and recalcitrant order to abandon the country in the middle-of-the-night?Pin by Lynn St. John on fracking & other enviro vandalisms | How to dry basil, Weeping, America

Dr. Mark Skidmore has been tracking $21 Trillion in missing Pentagon money for over a decade now.  Dr. Mark Skidmore republished a Julian Assange quote from 2011 that has me asking questions; I pass it along for your consideration:

“The goal is to use Afghanistan to wash money out of the tax bases of the US and Europe through Afghanistan and back into the hands of a transnational security elite. The goal is an endless war, not a successful war.”

Anti-Money Laundering Laws in India - iPleadersIt is being hypothesized that with a new strategy for hiding money, the Department of Defense no longer needs to be used to launder money out of America.  The security apparatuses of the United States can be employed for this operating better, and with fewer questions, long-term.  The intelligence community knows how to keep secrets better.  Hence, war and the Department of Defense are no longer needed; thus, closing the war in Afghanistan as quickly as possible was a prerequisite to moving on for the liberal and global banking elite.  Whether correct or not, I do not claim; I do claim there is a connection between large money interests and Afghanistan.  I do claim that China’s interest in Afghanistan will grow as Afghanistan offers China illicit drugs, useful idiots for long-term LIC, and a perfect place for laundering money.  When a major nation launders money for other major nations is it still money laundering?

What Can Be Concluded?

Knowledge Check!While Afghanistan and Saigon have been compared, I repeat, only for emphasis.  Afghanistan makes Saigon look like a tip-toe through tulips on gossamer wings of spun sugar plum spice.  Both are catastrophes that represent politicians making policies they should be utterly ashamed of!  Both represent days when America broke her promise, people died, countries were abandoned, and the world took a hit for representative government.  Worse, both incidents spun off years of pain, sorrow, and destitution for millions, and those responsible need held accountable for their despicable behavior.  I hope they live long and healthy lives to appreciate the breadth and depth of their disastrous decisions fully!

Americans are in danger right now; I call upon the US Military to honor the UCMJ by refusing the orders to stand by and watch.  Get out, gather the Americans, bring them into safety, and honor your promise to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic!  The US President has hung the Americans in Afghanistan out to dry. Will you allow them to die?

Image - Eagle & FlagTo our allies, but more importantly to our enemies, America is not our government!  We might be saddled by this deleterious administration through fraud and deception, we might have too many weak-kneed, yellow-bellied, no-spine bureaucrats in positions of power, but they do NOT represent AMERICA!  You will find AMERICA is a whole lot different than what you see surrendering on TV.  Do not test us, especially we, the sheepdogs of war!

Quoting from President Roosevelt, “We, too, born to freedom, and believing in freedom, are willing to fight to maintain freedom. We, and all others who believe as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live [life] on our knees.

© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved
The images used herein were obtained in the public domain; this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.

NO MORE BS: Come, Let Us Reason Together – Chapter 5

Bait & SwitchIn Chapters 2 and 3 of this series, the discussion regarding money and the $350 Billion dollars COVID relief monies were discussed.  As this is a continuing discussion, I would encourage you to read those missives as well for a fuller understanding of the principles being discussed.  Regardless, several facts remain pertinent:

      1. The states accepting this money will be bound to spend it in a manner the Federal Government specifies.
      2. The money being given to the states as a “stimulus for COVID economic growth,” will not spur anything but inflation and poor fiscal policies.
      3. The strings attached to this money are a noose on individual state economic growth long after the deadline to spend the money (31 December 2026) comes and goes.

Doherty (2021) writing for the NCSL (National Conference of State Legislatures) provides some clarity on the Treasury Department’s rules and regulations regarding this $350 Billion albatross being forced down the state’s throats.  The funds being discussed originate in the $1.9 Trillion American Rescue Plan Act, and the Treasury Department has released operational guidance to the states and cities receiving the funds.  Never forget, while the Treasury Department claims there is an algorithm for sharing the money, politics and political connections will be the final determinant in who receives how much of the funds being doled out.

The Duty of AmericansPensions are the first point of discussion as to where these funds can go; never forget, pensions remain the largest single expense for states in the United States.  Those bloated governmental salaries, negotiated by unions, and put in place by legislative fiat, keep the taxpayer on the hook for poor financial planning long after the initial beneficiaries of the union retirement pyramid scheme and dead and buried.  Read carefully the pension data provided by USAToday for a full and detailed discussion on just how big the pension problem is for the states of the United States.

Millstone of Designed IncompetenceJust as important, look at the total number of government workers as a share of the total workforce, and you will discover just how big your state and local governments have become.  For example, two states selected at random from the 50-state list, New Jersey, and New Mexico are displayed below, and sourced from the article:

New Jersey

  • Funded ratio: 38.4%
  • Total pension shortfall: $130.7 billion shortfall (3rd largest)
  • Gov’t workers as share of total workforce: 13.3% (20th lowest)
  • Avg. annual payout per public retiree: $32,148 (9th highest)

New Mexico

  • Funded ratio: 61%
  • Total pension shortfall: $18.2 billion shortfall (18th largest)
  • Gov’t workers as share of total workforce: 18.6% (4th highest)
  • Avg. annual payout per public retiree: $20,907 (15th lowest)

ApathyConsider New Jersey for a moment, if you met 100 new people in one day, more than 1/10th of those met will work for the state or local government in some capacity, and those 11 people are earning $32,148 taxpayer paid dollars a year for being retired.  Worse, New Jersey is kiting checks on your children’s future to the tune of $130.7 Billion dollars every year.  Raising taxes cannot help closing the funding gap in the pension.  Want more news, the majority of those retired are not living in New Jersey, so all those taxpayer monies are not being recouped in sales taxes, property taxes, and other taxes.

Yet, the Federal Government just borrowed $1.9 Trillion to give the states $350 Billion, and the monies provided will not even pay a years’ worth of pension payments in most cases.  Let alone pay for all the other accounts that have been stripped to pay for the pension gap.  For example, infrastructure (Roads, Bridges, Highways, Broadband Internet, the Electrical Grid, etc.), Teachers, Community Colleges, Unemployment Insurance, Water and Wastewater Treatment facilities, and Health and Human Services, just to name a few cash strapped state programs.

Plato 2A few days ago, I was discussing broadband Internet grids, and there susceptibility to failure with people who work for a major Internet Service Provider.  In Umatilla County, as an example, the Internet either currently, or previously, went down nightly for 5-6 hours at a time.  Read the outage reports and you will find regular large geographic areas of the country suffering with Internet latency and connectivity issues.  Yet, your state legislators must focus not upon the potholes damaging your car, not upon shaky bridges and overpasses prone to failure, but upon pensions for retirees.  All due to labor unions and promises that should never have been made in the first place!

Pensions are the number one reason I, personally, think that government workers should not be able to unionize, and that the government pensions should be as rigidly controlled as the private sectors pensions.  Yet, the inverse is true, unions growing in the public sector, shrinking in the private sector, and the taxpayer is left with the bill.  Since the government can continue to kite checks, our children’s great grandchildren are already up to their necks in debt that is unsustainable.

Plato 3Come, let us reason together for solutions that actually work.  I offer below the following suggestions, feel free to agree, disagree, add more, and discuss openly in the comments.  We, the owners of government, must re-take control of the government, and to do so, we must communicate and act.

      1. Reduce the size of government immediately to the size posted on 31 December 1999. This is an immediate and interim step.  To be followed by a position by position, value discussion, where technological solutions to replace workers is decided.  Eventually culling government size back to a Pre-1930’s level.
      2. Automate as many functions as possible. The processes of how government function are necessarily complicated to justify a jobs program.  This culture of complication must cease forthwith, the processes cleared of unnecessary complications, and streamlined to allow for automation of the processes.
      3. Take the pensions and eradicate the unions. Privatize pensions should be the letter of the law for all, public and private sector employees.  Thus, creating a new market and investment industry.
      4. Privatize public maintenance of roads, the fuel taxes are sufficient to pay for this and improve road maintenance immediately.
      5. Privatize wastewater and water generation and distribution.
      6. Privatize and deregulate all utilities, allowing for maximum competition, and ending the private geographic monopolies the tech companies and Internet providers have established.
      7. Privatize K-12 and Community Colleges changing the pay structures for teachers and reducing the “staff” positions. Get focused on delivering a product, the product is an educated student who can read, write, and do math, thinking logically, and critically.  This means ending the surplus of standardized tests and putting the teacher in charge of the classroom.

PatriotismNever Give Up!Not every child should be forced into college.  Not every job requires a college degree.  Opening the community colleges produces certified, trained, and non-debt laden students that are workforce ready.  Workforce ready means able, willing, and skilled in working, be that in academia for a degree, or in the workforce as a tradesman the requirement is the same and the distinction needs removed from the leaders of K-12 educational leadership.

The aim and the intent of all government programs is to get out of the way and let people act as they think best for themselves and their families.  Not pushing children to college for a degree and a life of debt payments.  Not forcing them into the military because you are too lazy to teach them how to read, write, think, and speak.  Not forcing them into poverty to support a government jobs program.  The government will not go “quietly into that dark night.”  But, with enough insistence the government we currently know can be cut, reduced, and forced to retreat.  We, the citizens, need to take back our government through the ballot box, through the judicial branch, and through demanding change in the legislative and executive branches at all levels of the government.

Knowledge Check!First step, believe it is possible; live like it has already occurred.  Second step, join others to raise the cry and demand the changes.  Third, support only candidates who already live fiscally proper, morally upright, and ethically dedicated.  Fourth, never give up!  Never lose focus, and never relinquish the moral high ground for a bowl of pottage or 30 pieces of silver.

© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved
The images used herein were obtained in the public domain; this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.

NO MORE BS: Highlights (?) of the first 100-Days

Theres moreOn this momentous day, marking 100-days of the fraudulent president, I thought it fitting to mark the occasion by reminding everyone of freedom grabbing runaway government promoted by President Biden.  As CNN so clearly stated, “To date, 10 of President Biden’s actions on immigration have been reversals of President Trump’s policies.”  Begging the question, do you feel safer in your home now, or this time four years ago?  I know my answer, and I am looking forward to your thoughts.

To date, President Biden has made 50-end runs around the US Constitutional process through executive orders.  For the record, you could take President Trump (38) or Obama (34), add them with President Bush II (13), and still not max out President Biden’s lead.  I have written about executive orders and why I detest this singular action made in a free Republic (if we can keep it) by any leading elected official, Mayor, Governor, or President.  The US Constitution does not need more beatings coming from leading executives, but less.  Much, much, less executive actions, executive orders, and singular people acting “for the good of all” without Congressional representation.  Why use CNN; because as the biggest cheerleaders for the fraudulent president, they have the clearest cheering squad.

Detective 2Examining closer the 50-executive orders issued by President Biden, we find the most egregious of these orders, raising the minimum wage of Federal Contract Workers from $10.95 to $15.00 by 2022 and eliminating the tipped minimum wage by 2024.  I am thoroughly unfamiliar with any federally contracted jobs that fall under the tipped minimum wage.  Thus, I can only presume the president is now arbitrarily setting the minimum wage for the country without congressional approval—leaving serious questions behind about the legality of this executive order.  Where is Congress in exerting its power and rights to set minimum wage?

A minimum wage is a serious issue; any time the wage goes up, jobs are lost.  A competent first-year economics major can trace that cause and effect line easily!  There are direct causal relationships between high school kids needing employment and not finding it due to the minimum wage laws.  This group of uneducated workers extends to many low-income families, minorities, and many others trying to find work as laborers and cannot find jobs.  Yet, as a political stunt, the president signs an executive order, betrays the US Constitution, upsets the separate but equal branches of government balance, and somehow this is a “nothing burger.”  I beg to differ, vociferously!

Detective 4Another interesting aspect of the president’s first 100-days is immigration.  The current president’s Trump Derangement Syndrome has him reversing 10 of President Trumps Executive Orders and writing two additional immigration-related orders.  The plasticization of modular language reveals the tyranny of ruling by executive order!  The terms “fair,” “equitable,” “just,” “proper,” etc., all point to the president’s desire to see America devalued by illegal immigrants.  Look at the rhetoric used by the president to “explain” why he has reversed, revoked, and wrecked the legal immigration process, and you will find that through Congressional inaction.  With Congresses’ refusal to exert its rights, the president can do anything he wants on immigration, and Congress’s leadership just cheers!

To the US House and US Senate, I must ask, where are you?  Did you take a taxpayer-paid vacation and stopped caring that you are a co-equal branch of the government?  Do you think the judicial branch will stop the president’s runaway government by executive fiat?  Do you believe that the American people stopped caring that the president is giving away America, one illegal alien at a time, and we would not notice?  Why are you not scrutinizing the executive branch and exerting your rights, standing up for your voice, and making sure you are playing a role in the governance of America?

PatriotismI have been insulted, denigrated, derided, and many other things for my stand that every president should have a contentious Congress!  I firmly believe that when a president has a contentious Congress, the will of America’s people is better respected, observed, and through the process of working together, real compromise occurs.  But, what do we see in the US House of Representatives; we see a Speaker who is also the majority leader and the minority leader abdicating their duties to their caucuses and the US House of Representatives.  We see members of the US House race-baiting, employing every card in the deck of identity politics deck and refusing even to acknowledge the other party.  But, the US Senate, if anything is worse, and the US Senate’s problems can be traced directly to the executive actions of Speaker Harry Reid (D) during President Obama’s tenure.

Millstone of Designed IncompetenceAmerica, we learned a lot about the “families” presenting themselves at the US Southern Border for entry into America.  We learned about child prostitution, children being “attached” to two strange adults and calling it a “family.”  We learned about a lot of schemes to feed the growing human trafficking problem in the United States.  Yet, the media continues to call the separation of “families” unfair, and the president has proved he learned nothing but smoke and mirrors.  At the same time, these children are raped, abused, disappeared, and destroyed, all through executive order instead of legislated demand!  Legitimate families should be kept together, but until documentation can be obtained, separating the families for the safety of the children should be paramount!  Sorting through the MS-13 plants is not uncaring; it protects America’s main streets from terrorists!  But, these immigration policies, designed by President Trump, are hated by the media; so, these policies have to go.  Thus, I ask again, do you feel safer in your home or not?

The Duty of AmericansI was never a President Trump (R) supporter; but, I did, and do, support anyone willing to try new ideas to make America safer.  I am not a supporter of holding children indefinitely in nice hotels when veterans are homeless and fully support an America FIRST agenda.  But, I also firmly believe that the churches and non-profit groups of America can organize to help in a humane way better than runaway government supported by executive fiat!

ApathyAmerica, we need legislation on immigration, NOT executive orders that change as frequently as the president!  I have maintained this stance, publicly, since President Reagan signed the first orders providing paths to citizenship for illegals.  The illegal immigration policies in America can be directly traced to President Roosevelt and WWII executive orders allowing foreign workers access to America’s jobs in agriculture.

Feel free to look this historical tidbit up, and ask yourself, are you safer in your homes and places of business with executive orders or legislation?  Are you feeling more secure in your finances with runaway executive actions or through the “Rule of Law?”  Do you prosper more under one “Rule of Law” or under identity politics where every single identity can request special treatment, special laws, and special rights?

Image - Eagle & FlagIf the fraudulent president has proved anything in his first 100-days, he has proved America is in trouble, DEEP Trouble, due to the executive orders, runs around the constitutional process, and the abdication of Congressional rule (legislative branch) at all levels of government.  Beyond a shadow of a doubt, this president has proved that bigger government is a millstone dragging this Republic down.  Finally, this president has proven you cannot “trust” the government and must watch it like a toddler running with a knife!  So, CNN, and all the other corporate media outlets, you cheer the fraudulent president; but don’t you dare try to claim this is a good thing for America!

© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved
The images used herein were obtained in the public domain; this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.

NO MORE BS: The Speaker, The Majority, and The Minority Leadership

The Duty of AmericansIn the legislative branch, the legislators have two jobs, write laws and scrutinize the government.  The laws written should do the most good, for the most people, consistent with the U.S. Constitution, which makes sense.  These laws are not to be interpreted by the judicial because the legislators were too lazy to read the laws they are passing.  Nor should the judicial and the executive branches of government be forced to put up with “pork-filled, bloated bills.”  If the law is too difficult to read in chambers and committees, that piece of legislation needs culled and cut until it is easy to understand.

Thus, bringing up the three leadership roles of the speakers of the House.  Important to note, the Speaker of the House does not have to be an elected legislator.  The House’s Speaker can be, and maybe should be, elected from an independent, neutral party.  Regardless, the House Speaker and majority and minority leaders are elected on the first day of a new Congressional session.

The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives has the following duties:

      • Responsible for administering the oath of office to the Members of the U.S. House of Representatives
      • Permits Members to speak on the House floor
      • Chooses Members to serve as Speaker Pro Tempore
      • Counting and declaring all votes
      • Appointing Members to committees, sending bills to committees, and signing bills and resolutions that pass in the House.
      • The Speaker is third in line, behind the Vice President, to become President should the President be unable to fulfill their duties.

The Majority Leader has the following duties:

      • The majority leader is second-in-command to the Speaker of the House.
      • The majority leader schedules legislation to be considered on the House floor
      • Organizes daily, weekly, and yearly legislative plans
      • Consults with Members to understand how party members feel about issues
      • Works to advance the goals of the party.

The Minority Leader has the following duties:

      • The minority leader serves as the floor leader of the “loyal opposition” and the minority counterpart to the Speaker of the House.
      • The minority leader is responsible for leading the minority party in the U.S. House of Representatives.
      • Include speaking for the party and its policies
      • Protecting the minority’s rights
      • Nominating minority party Members to committees

Andragogy - The PuzzleThe majority and minority leaders continue to represent his or her district in the U.S. House of Representatives.  However, the majority and minority leaders usually do not serve on committees and do not lead floor debate on major issues.  Important to consider, much of the “duties and roles” of the majority and minority leaders are not written in the U.S. Constitution but are only traditional activities that previous speakers, majority, and minority leaders have engaged upon, usually to the detriment of the American Citizen.

Nowhere in this list of job duties does it declare the ability to write foreign governments, visit foreign governments, engage upon duties held by the executive or judicial branch, or grandstand extremist issues to force changes upon the American body culturally, socially, or religiously.  Nowhere in this list of duties is the Speaker, the majority or minority leader responsible for weaponizing government against the American people.  Nowhere in this list of job duties and roles allows the Speaker of the House to act like a monarch over a medieval fiefdom.

The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives has been eroding the executive branch’s powers for several presidencies now.  Since the media is not calling upon the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives to restrict themselves solely to the duties outlined in the U.S. Constitution, we, the people, must remind and scrutinize!  Knowledge is power; and right now, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives is cashing in on Americans’ ignorance and, in conjunction with a conniving media, to protect the American People’s abuse, the waste of taxpayer dollars, and the support of a medieval fiefdom.

DutyI encourage all to observe, understand, and scrutinize the politicians’ actions in leadership positions, including the U.S. House of Representatives’ Speaker, the majority and minority leaders.  When you catch them acting outside their assigned roles, duties, and responsibilities, be the loyal opposition and call them out for the neglect of their duties!

© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved
The images used herein were obtained in the public domain; this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.