With a nod to Bill Engvall, let’s honestly discuss three complete holes in America where suicide by legislative fiat and executive stupidity has produced catastrophic failure. Let me be perfectly honest, if either of these states were a business, they would have been forced into receivership, broken up, sold for parts, and their leaders jailed for incompetency and felonious charges of malfeasance long ago! The charades have ended, the rose-tinted glasses are off, and frankly, the party is over, all the taxpayers are fleeing, and the businesses are closing shop and fleeing for healthier climates.
California this week passed another job-killing piece of legislation. The bill is targeted at Amazon and is built on hogwash, acrimony, lies, and allegations so thin you could read Apple’s User Agreement through them. Not the first time California’s legislative body has targeted a specific business for job-killing legislation, not the first time the legislation is built on sand, and the forecast is for torrential rain, not the last time this idiocy is going to happen. The fact that California keeps killing itself is depressing!
New Jersey and California hold an interesting title, and 32 other states are 100% insolvent in their Unemployment Compensation Trust Funds. Business owners, this fact alone should scare the living daylights out of you and every one of your workers right now! Now, some of you get it; some are scratching your heads and going; why is this important. For those who got it, feel free to skip the following explanation.
The unemployment trust fund is akin to the social security trust fund managed by, raided, and depleted by the Federal Government. No money means that the debts in those trust funds cannot be paid, and all the funds being collected right now are not being used for future calamities. For all you economists out there, yes, this is a very simplified explanation. Insurance trust funds are expected to be the funds of last resort to ensure payments to investors; those paying premiums for coverage can receive protection. Not having these trust funds means the state unemployment insurance fund is in deep trouble, and there is only one direction to point the blame, the legislators and executives in government.
Now, some are claiming these funds were only depleted due to the COVID pandemic. Do not believe the hype. These funds were in trouble long before COVID hit, and the fact that there are funds to replenish these trust funds and government leaders are refusing to invest money in the trust funds should be major red flags for everyone in the state! State and local governments are spending money like it’s Christmas, and the New Year will never come with the bills from the holidays. Think drunken-sailor on 7-day liberty here if you prefer that analogy. Either way, financial troubles are brewing above and beyond the current inflation woes, and the media is deftly NOT reporting this crisis. Does anyone want to venture why this topic is not being discussed?
The Article from the Tax Foundation lays out the data nicely, and you are left to draw your own conclusions from the data. But tell me, what happens when you call GEICO, Farmers, All-State, etc., with a claim and the claim is denied because the insurance company has no money? Now multiply that by every wage-earner and business in your state and tell me if maybe, just maybe, the unemployment insurance trust fund being insolvent should be a more significant issue of discussion.
If your state is insolvent, and your next paycheck is a LOT lighter, remember this tidbit about unemployment tax insurance trust funds.
“Unemployment insurance tax rates on businesses rise automatically when trust fund balances are low.”
Do you see the trouble now? First, the government maliciously raids and spends the funds, then a hidden tax kicks in, depleting your paycheck, and the government does not have to tell you why your paycheck is lighter. Especially since those in legislative bodies traditionally exempt themselves from having to pay these taxes. Now add in the other hidden taxes; inflation goes up because when taxes climb, inflation climbs, prices go up to cover the hidden taxes of higher costs to operating a business, and wages stagnate, which crimps your budget even further.
The states mentioned are not the states that did not need Federal Intervention, and they are not counted among the states spending money wisely, as discussed by Governing.com. Please tell me that nobody is surprised by this revelation. I find it alarming that Governing.com, in their analysis, was able to conclude the following:
“Despite predictions that COVID-19 would crush state tax revenues, most of them didn’t need mega-billions in pandemic aid to balance their budgets. But for the most part, they seem to be spending the money wisely.”
Leading me to ask, why did the Federal Government invest our tax dollars, venture into such incredible debts, and shut down a booming economy? COVID has proven NOT to be worthy of the title “Pandemic.” Yet, COVID remains an excuse for emergency measures, emergency spending, and emergency police actions. Will any media representative ask a politician why? I didn’t like the book, but I read Albert Camus’ book “The Plague” for light reading. That is a book about a public health crisis, a pandemic worthy of the title pandemic, and several times in world history, the title pandemic has been warranted when survivors are burning corpses in the street. COVID fits none of the definitions or situations for a Pandemic, except for the politically connected to laugh at the politically abused populations.
Look at Washington, New York, New Jersey, California, and Oregon across the COVID-19 political mania. Tell me why COVID is not an exercise in malicious government and politics gone horribly wrong. Sure, we can add New Mexico, Minnesota, Michigan, and a couple of other states into the mix for fun. These core states are where politicians made vast sums of money on COVID-Hysteria, and I would like to keep the focus small for the current article.
The House Ways and Means Subcommittee is reporting 32 states are intentionally withholding money from rural governments as a political move. When you take the top 20 receivers of COVID-Relief money and the 32 states withholding COVID-Relief money, you find some lines of congruence with states with the harshest COVID restrictions, ridiculous COVID mandates, and no correlating data to infection risk avoidance. Now, why isn’t COVID reported as a political and social experiment gone horribly wrong? Worse, why was the money borrowed by the Federal Government at extortionate rates and given pell-mell to the states when the majority of those states do not need the money and the states that did need the money have sufficient if their politicians reigned in spending?
The five states mentioned are not poor states by any stretch. They have resources, both human and natural; they have riches galore, they have potential, they used to have favorable business climates, they are committing suicide. Why should the rest of America bail them out? Why not break them up into parts, sell assets to cover debts, place them into receivership, and force them on a diet of sanity and logic until the bills are paid?
I close with a word of warning. Texas, you’re headed to California status faster than you would like to admit! Your COVID restrictions are particularly heinous and represent the infection found in Austin spreading like fast-moving cancer to steal your state and liberty. Arizona, Idaho, Wisconsin, Iowa, you are all on a similar track, the speed might not be as noticeable right now, but the infection is there and growing. Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, both Dakotas, you are all at various places in being terminally sick with the same cancer. If soft words and political expediency can conquer the Western US, the entire United States is lost. New Mexico has been lost since it was given statehood in a political move that robbed Arizona and Texas of land!
The time to awake and arise is now! The fight for liberty and freedom will be fought and won or lost in the American West. Sure, the coasts of America are well and truly infected. But, the fight for independence is not on the shores; it is right outside your doors. The media and politicians like to hyperventilate about the coasts, but the rural communities in the “Fly-Over” states are more important to liberty and freedom surviving than any other local in America. Awake and Arise!
© 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.
Two days ago, I received an email that still has me baffled. What is an “Illegal Safe House?” The subject line of the email states precisely that, “Illegal Safe House.” The email had been forwarded to me from other sources, and I got lured into research mode.
Other sources report the following regarding this “illegal safe house,” which I have collated into a single comprehensible statement. I am not the author of this information, and the sources from which it was gathered are not vetted for veracity.
With America being a representative government, this means that the citizens are responsible for the actions of their government. I refuse to be held accountable for feeding the ever-hungry jaws of human slavery and trafficking, the sex and drug industries. Join me; throw off the chains that threaten to bind and gag us, refuse to be governed by the current crop of politicians who refuse to do their jobs, while taking bribes and “political donations” from groups that are trying to overthrow America!
I was presented with a question the other day regarding anthropomorphic climate change that has kept me thinking. I pose the same question to you. “How can paying a carbon tax to the government change the weather?” Did paying taxes to the government end the war on poverty; no, in fact, the war on poverty has lost ground since the pandemic and government mandates. Did paying higher taxes end the war on drugs; no, in fact, the drug problem is worse than ever. Thus, how will paying the government a tax, or a fee for carbon usage, change the weather?%2Fhttps%3A%2F%2Fpublic-media.si-cdn.com%2Ffiler%2Fe4%2F13%2Fe4136a97-b510-432c-8089-15a4d7ba50f7%2Fgettyimages-515303088.jpg&f=1&nofb=1)
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Is it possible that eventually scientists will discover a way to leach the metals and man-produced chemicals from the dirt and water; possibly, and this is a science I can fully support. But to even consider that man’s puny arm could change the direction of a cloud or dictate where and when rain occurs is absolutely silly! To blame a man for how much precipitation falls in a designated area is insanity at its finest and most disturbing. To even consider that man can change the temperature of an entire geographic region is blatantly and patently false as a concept and as a pseudo-science!
It has been my pleasure to have lived in Arizona four separate times since 1996. Employment and pleasure have brought me relocation opportunities, and I have enjoyed my time in Arizona. However, since my return in 2005 to the present, I have feared for the soul of Arizona. I have watched as despicable and detestable politicians have won political races that never should have been won. I have witnessed governors act in cowardly and craven methods to thwart the people’s will. I have witnessed those elected to Federal Offices from Arizona stop being held accountable to the electorate until the politicians have set up a hegemony and no longer fear the ballot box. Most egregious of all, I have witnessed the veteran community become increasingly abused as every day ticks past.
No VA Administrator has addressed the root causes of those scandals, and without proper persuasion from Washington, D.C., they never will! Worse, without continuous scrutinization, the bureaucrats will continue to exemplify the duplicity and failures, hiding behind designed incompetence and tissue paper-thin excuses for poor behavior. Yet, what do we find from those enjoying elected office? Zero interest, half-truths, straight lies, misinformation, smoke and mirrors, and plain laziness! We, the electorate, find the politicians sitting on their hands, engaging in hopeless and stupid legislation that will go nowhere, and we find lackadaisical meandering in the House and Senate leadership. I have witnessed amoebic life with more robust spines than the current political leadership in Arizona!
Several years ago, my granddaughter and her father came from Lansing, Michigan, to Phoenix, AZ, to visit grandpa and grandma. We planned a series of events for their one full day of activity with us that included a visit to “
When we visited, I gave my cell phone camera to my granddaughter, and she filled the phone with pictures of various butterflies. One particular butterfly has remained with me, not for the butterfly’s beauty, which was gorgeous, but because of the dramatic story of a toddler 2-3 years old, a Koi Pond, and how the toddler rescued the butterfly.
I have no idea how the butterfly got into the Koi Pond. I entirely missed the beginning of this story. I noticed the little boy because my danger button had been triggered with children and bodies of water. Thus, I watched warily and enthralled as the drama unfolded. The little boy was visibly upset; he wanted his mom to rescue the butterfly and actively worked to try and gain her attention, all to no avail. The boy then tried to keep the Koi fish away from the butterfly. He waved his arms; he moved his hands closer to the water to shoo the fish, he threw what he could wrap his hands around. But that did not work too well, and the boy became more visibly upset at the peril of the butterfly. Finally, the little boy settled onto a plan; you saw his plan take shape on his face, intention entered his eyes, and he designed a potential solution. He stretched himself onto the low wall of the Koi Pond until his chest was squarely on the ledge of the wall; he extended his body and arm and fingers towards the butterfly, and at the absolute end of his stretch, he could just barely come within a distance of the stranded butterfly.
The butterfly, visibly exhausted from trying to free itself from the Koi Pond water, clung for dear life to this little boy’s middle finger. The little boy, realizing he had the butterfly, gently pulled himself back, and gently placed the butterfly onto the edge of the wall, away from danger. Still wanting to help, the little boy watched the butterfly. He did not try to touch the butterfly’s wings, as I expected. He continued to try and gain mom’s attention to “help the butterfly be better,” and he waited and attentively watched for the butterfly to gather strength. You could see the hope for the butterfly written in the eyes and face of this toddler. He cared and wanted the butterfly to be okay.
All actions I never suspected a little toddler would do, this toddler did. He was very patient with this resting butterfly, even shooing other butterflies away who might interrupt the rest of the recovering butterfly, including final shooing motions to the Koi fish who gathered at the base of the wall where the boy and the butterfly were. After a period of minutes, the butterfly began flexing it’s now dry wings and shortly flew further into a nesting area to rest more and eat. Mom collected the toddler, and they strolled through the rest of the exhibits. The little boy never looked back after the butterfly flew away; he seemed to become interested in other things and talked happily with mom. What he said was standard toddler, but I cannot help but wonder at the story he told.
In a recent post on virtues to live by, I encouraged you, the audience, to see people. The story of the monarch butterfly and the toddler is one of my favorite stories of “seeing people.” Watching the stories of life unfold around me. Being present in the moment to record, understand, and then reflect upon what is witnessed, and hopefully, in the recollecting, help others to “see people.”
Research would tell me these experiences cannot happen, or only happen rarely a statistical anomaly, and more. Yet, I believe in the human spark, the human animal’s intelligence to think, reason, and act. Best of all, in all my years of human observation, I know without a doubt, this was not a singular event.
One particular incident involving young, toddler age children, 2-5 years old, occurred in a hospital emergency room situation. The younger children cried along with the child who was injured. The older children gathered around with looks of deep concern, thoughtfulness, and a desire to act. Race did not matter; sex did not matter, boys and girls had their attentions set upon what was happening; a young child was in peril, and they wanted to help comfort the child. Over the space of a few hours, while doctors and nurses rushed about, came in and out, and administered to the child’s injuries, little toys started showing up on the injured child’s bed. A small dinosaur, a car, a book, a fluffy bunny, and other small items came out of pockets and parents’ bags and became gifts for the little injured child. The mother of the wounded child witnessed this miracle, tried to return some items. But eventually allowed the giving to continue unabated through the night. Other children came and went, some offered help, others noticed and were enraptured by the drama for a spell, almost in the attitude of praying for the injured child.
It is a pattern for us on multiple levels. We can choose to see people, and in seeing people play that influential role of helper, friend, mentor, coach, caregiver, or simply listening ear and recognizing eye. We can act locally for great good. We can follow these children’s examples and chose to exercise that divine spark within us, reach out, and make a small difference somewhere. We can encourage good!
The toddler and the butterfly powerfully reflect the desire to help, coupled with a plan of action; after all other resources were exhausted, success was saving a life. To that toddler, that butterfly’s life was precious, and help was needed urgently. The New Testament, Luke 12:6-7, records:
In a few short hours, America will inaugurate the fraudulent president. A president is coming to office where the “Rule of Law” was blatantly plasticized, contorted, and flagrantly forgotten. I am not a conspiracy theorist; I am an American Patriot. I have deep concerns and reservations about how Biden/Harris won the presidency, and I have deep and valid concerns about down-ballot winners and losers. Worse, I have deep and abiding concerns about America’s future elections.
The last role of an elected head of the executive branch is to oversee the fair, honest, and transparent election process. Yet, President Trump was thwarted at every hand in his duties to ensure a fair and transparent election occurred in November 2020. Thus, when Biden/Harris is referred to as the fraudulent presidency, it is because they have assumed office and never denied or tried to help ensure an honest, fair, and transparent election in November 2020. Is the problem apparent? The supposed “winners” of the election never once offered to help protect their election win from claims of fraud; to me, this is the first and largest red flag!
What about the numbers that do not add up in Pennsylvania? The stop/start vote counting that suddenly overturned election results in multiple states that is statistically impossible, what about the time gaps in reporting the numbers? So many questions abound. An honorable person would not assume the presidency under these circumstances. Because under a cloud of fraud, every action will appear to be a slight and insult to the last officeholder and an insult to every American.
Fair, honest, and transparent elections are the job of local city, county, and state governments, and they have failed to perform their most sacred job. Even if your state was not included in the primary “battleground states,” can you affirm that only legal votes were counted? That only legal votes were counted once. That legal votes can be tied directly to a single person, holding a government ID, and the legal ability to vote? On the subject of scrutinization, how are you, the state legislators, proving the voting machines’ results did not reduce one person’s vote to a percentage based upon the candidate’s political affiliation or candidate vote cast?
Supreme Court of the United States, I repeat my question: Why was legal precedent set aside in November 2020 that has been in place for most of American History? When accusations of fraud arose, and questions with evidence began to be forthcoming indicating fraudulent voting occurred, why did the Supreme Court not immediately halt the election counting, walk over to the Department of Justice, assign an investigator, and look into irregularities’ claimed? The Supreme Court should have been the most vocal and avid defended of honest, fair, and transparent elections; but, you were nowhere to be seen. Even after receiving evidence and hearing the charges, you refused to act. You refused to return the election results to the state legislatures and demand coherent action. Why were the Dominion Voting Machines, along with all other voting automation machines, not placed under Federal Warrant, sealed, and then had a full audit performed in the code, the software, and the hardware as a means to protect election integrity? You are the court of last resort, and when you fail to act, you leave the American People hanging, and election fraud continues! Why are you refusing to do your job?
Georgia has what is considered a strict Voter ID law. Thus, it should be possible to trace every single vote to a legal citizen to prove they voted. Would the state legislature of Georgia please explain why you remained silent, refused to help, and allowed your state’s honor and integrity to be trashed through fraudulent election practices?
Michigan has lax and just about useless voter ID laws. I doubt Michigan could stop fraudulent ballots with a bulldozer and a front-end loader. Yet, the legislature refuses to act to protect election integrity, transparency, and accountability. Fulfilling the terms of the definition of insanity as Einstein provided, “Repeating the same actions expecting different results.” Shameful!
An absolute sham has been thrust upon American Citizens by the political left. The political left does not deny they committed fraud. The political left has been giddy as little school-girls about this entire election game they played. A black day has begun in America, and the sun will not shine again upon America until we clean house, reduce government, and fix the broken election system.
A noted fact in American History, not favorable, but factual; in every election the dead will vote for the political left. When the dead vote, this is fraud. Fraud is generally defined in terms as, any wrongful or criminal deception, with intent, that results in financial or personal gain. Logic relates that the dead, being dead, are not eligible to vote in an election; yet, somehow, the dead continue to vote.
What is gained in committing election fraud; the gain is political power, favorable laws, a compliant media to fawn upon you, and personal gain. My friend asked me how a politician gains financially by being elected. I responded, how did Ex-President Bill Clinton in the year after leaving the White House, just making 57 speeches, earn $13.7 Million in speaking and writing fees? One year, 57 different speeches, a little writing, and $13.7 Million USD just appeared. This is but a single example of how politicians, and ex-politicians, turn momentary fame in the ballot box into lifelong Millions of dollars.
However, one of the legal issues facing the calls to clean up voter records and the fraud of dead people voting is the legal hairsplitting between intentional and unintentional fraud. Unintentional fraud is also referred to as negligent misrepresentation. If you, as a citizen concerned about election fraud are confused, it is okay, this is a lawyer’s bread and butter, and a logical person’s headache.
In every county and state in America, ballot dumps occurred. In the six states causing the most problems, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, and Nevada, we find the most egregious ballot dumps. Pennsylvania had 90,000 votes dumped into counting in the early hours. Where did these votes come from? Why did more than 89,000 votes for Biden and a third-party candidate, when the regular population mix would have these vote totals much lower?
In several previous professional positions, especially those in call centers, there has been considerable time spent training people to actively listen. The problem; active listening can be faked, and fake active listening is as useful as a shower without soap or shampoo. You might get wet, but you do not feel clean.
Consider the press conferences at the White House. A room is full of people who would claim they are professional listeners, who then report what is being said. Yet, how many times do you see questions asked with an agenda, personal opinions warping what is said into what they desired to hear, and then reporting what they erroneously heard to satisfy their desires politically; every single time. Hence, the problems with active listening and how active listening can be faked. Desire and attitude of service are not being applied to improve customer service focus.
Consider two people the media has proclaimed as great communicators, Presidents Reagan (R) and Obama (D). President Reagan was listened reflectively, asked good questions, listened to the answers, asked more questions, and then listened some more. In listening and asking questions, President Reagan built people (customer service focus) and was respected by enemies and friends for his ability to communicate (personal desire determined destiny). President Obama has been labeled by the media as a good communicator; but by all accounts, he never listened, his questions showed he desired to be heard, and his focus was all on him as the smartest person in the room. Desire builds an attitude of service, which then forms the customer service focus, which then reflects a desire to reflectively listen and achieve mutual understanding with those being communicated with.
Not listening is probably the largest social problem in the world today. Everywhere fake active listening is observed, along with copious amounts of observable inactive, selective, and active refusals to listen. Some of the problems in improving listening are policies and procedures that do not allow for individual adaptation or situational understanding. However, too often, the individual choices to grab power, exercise authority, and pass along inconvenience are the real problems in not listening. Harvey Mackay is reported to have said, “Easy listening is a style of music, not an attribute of communication.” Proving again that listening is a choice, a personal choice, borne from desire, bred on attitude and reflected in verbal and non-verbal patterns of communication.
One of the clearest lessons discovered in life is that of genetic behavior, usually to the shame of the person witnessing their behavior being acted upon by others. We pass behavior onto our children, our acquaintances, and our circles of influence. The problem with genetic behavior is that of exponentialism or the exponential growth between generations. Research supports that cheating behavior in high school is found in cheating an employer later in life. Research also relates that those witnessing the cheating behavior will then steal. The third generation of people the behavior is passed onto will steal bigger items, cheat more, and commit more crimes. The cycle just keeps building until the criminal justice system is full of hard crimes committed.
Thus, freedom-loving people, who support justice, desire domestic tranquility, seek to provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and well-being of others, and work tirelessly to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, witness these politicians and want them removed, and held accountable for their crimes. Not to punish without cause, but to support the common good in America. The reason we have courts, lawyers, judges, etc. is to separate the crimes committed from the criminal committing. This is the epitome of the word justice. The US Criminal Justice System is imperfect, without doubt, but it remains the best system the world has ever seen and deserves support from law-abiding and freedom-loving people.
Make no mistake, I am not advocating for the refusal of these people to have their day in court, before an impartial judge, to be sentenced for their crimes, and held accountable before the bar of justice. I am advocating that until their trials can be arranged, they deserve to be held in prison awaiting the slow turning of the wheels of justice. When you break the peace of society, you give up your rights and liberties; thus, these mob members deserve to be held and witness their rights to habeas corpus rescinded.
Every member of the US Military swears an eternal commitment to upholding this document, to securing the rights and laws of the United States as prescribed therein, and to follow the orders of the commander in chief before God. I have had the privilege of taking that oath six times in my life.
During my military service, I read a quote, applicable to the relationship between politicians working to destroy America and freedom lovers who support the US Constitution “No truer friend; no fiercer enemy!” No truer friend can be found than I in the support of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. No fiercer enemy can be found than I to those working to suppress the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights; “So, help me, God!”.
The Department of Veterans Affairs – Office of Inspector General (VA-OIG) reports they are returning to a more regular schedule of release for the inspection reports with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recovering from COVID-19. Congratulations are in order, to the VA, as they begin returning to normal operations and procedures. The reality is that standard operating procedures (SOP) are regularly missing at the VA, this absence causes uncertainty, and forms the crux of this report. A question for the VA-OIG, “How can you assess employee competency without SOPs?” To the VA VISN leaders, “How can your directors and supervisors, conduct employee evaluations without written SOPs?” The short answer is you cannot!
The Marion VAMC VA-OIG report raises a common theme, and this is a reality the VA appears to be incapable of addressing training and two-directional communication. From the hospital director to the patient-facing staff, training always appears as a significant issue in VA operations. Having experienced the training provided by the VA for employees, and as an adult educator, I know the uselessness of the training program and have several suggestions. Perhaps the problem would be best addressed if more evidence was provided of a systemic failure in training employees at the VA.
The VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System in North Las Vegas, in response to a referral from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC), was investigated by the VA-OIG after a community healthcare worker was attacked. The VA-OIG findings are appalling, but the reasons for the problem are worse.
04 October 2016, the VA-OIG released a report on dead veterans after the comprehensive investigation into the Carl T. Hayden VAMC in Phoenix, Arizona. The same event occurred in 2014, at the same hospital, with the same causes and the same conclusions. The core causes for the dead veterans, no written procedures, poor to no training, and reprehensible communication practices. The Phoenix VAMC went out of their way to fire all the employees who reported problems at the Phoenix VAMC before the veterans began dying in 2014, I can only speculate that the same occurred in 2016. Staff was frightened in 2014; they are demoralized in 2020. Nothing has changed at the Carl T. Hayden VAMC in Phoenix, Arizona, after two successive hospital directors, if anything the problems have worsened. The problems worsened because leadership failed to act, failed to write down SOPs, failed to communicate, and failed to train. The hospital directors since 2014 have been appointed from the same pool of candidates who created dead veterans in the first place, and that is a central failure of the VA Secretary and Congressionally elected representatives’ failure to act!
DNC-Consulting 
