Author: haroldblackphd

Phonics, Phonics, Phonics: The Mississippi Miracle

Years ago I went to the superintendent of public schools here in Knoxville. A local philanthropist had shown me the remarkable improvement in reading proficiency of second graders using a method called Direct Instruction. That method utilizes phonics and its computer-based instruction is called Funnix. The philanthropist wanted to fund the use of Direct Instruction in the poorest performing schools in the system and had literally guaranteed that within three years, those schools would become the highest performing schools. One of my acquaintances told me that the method would never be adopted because there was no way that they would allow three mostly poor black schools to out perform the mostly white schools. I was naïve. I thought that once the parents at other schools saw the performance in the poor schools, they would demand a change in method because even the best performing schools in Knoxville have embarrassingly poor reading scores.

The superintendent knew about the results from using phonics yet rejected the proposal using the excuse that the state accreditation board would not allow the reading program because it contained too much reading. Instead, under pressure from the county mayor, he allowed me and several retirees to tutor difficult second grade learners in an afterschool program. At the end of the school year all our kids could read anything you put in front of them. Our reward was that we were not asked back. I am convinced that neither the superintendent nor the local school board have any interest in teaching our kids how to read.

In 2011 only one in five Mississippi fourth graders could read at grade level. The state ranked consistently at the bottom of all states. Remember the saying “Thank goodness for Mississippi?” Well that has changed. In 2013 the state adopted a reading program based on phonics and today when adjusted for socio-economic factors, Mississippi’s fourth graders have the nation’s best reading results. You see it is rather simple. We all know that our public schools are a model of how not to educate our children. They have been pushed by their unions to be more interested in social grooming than in the education basics or reading, writing and arithmetic. Our students do not know civics or geography. But they do know that there are at least 72 genders. in Minneapolis, high schoolers are required to take lessons saying that capitalism is a pillar of white supremacy alongside slavery and genocide. Mind you the system is run by white people who obviously hate themselves. Go figure. We graduate illiterates. If education were a private enterprise it would long be out of business. But this is a result of a government monopoly where failure is rewarded rather than punished. We need a return to the basics and teach reading, writing and arithmetic. All else is garbage. There is a curriculum in Washington state that says that “mathematical knowledge has been appropriated by Western culture” and that “math has been and continues to be used to oppress and marginalize people and communities of color.” Do you want these fools teaching your children?

The problem lies in the method of instruction. Direct Instruction is the only proven method that allows kids who come to school deficient in reading and mathematics to catch up with those who are proficient. This is an important point for conservatives have been strong advocates for charter schools and vouchers. Yet neither will increase proficiency of the vast majority of students who are deficient. Consider that in Knoxville, the charter schools are part of the public school system and are limited in the innovation of teaching method. The education industrial complex is solidly against Direct Instruction and only if states step up and insist on a change in method, like Mississippi, can all children learn to read at or above grade level. Today more than half of black fourth graders in Mississippi read at grade level compared to 28 percent in California. Tennessee has made some strides in addressing this problem too with mixed results. What needs to be done is for the state to force the change on the school systems, teachers’ unions and change the accreditation standards.

Mind you there will always be defenders of the old method of instruction. There will be those who nitpick the Mississippi statistics. For instance, Mississippi schools like many across the country have a problem with chronic absenteeism. Nearly a quarter of public school students are absent at any time. Consequently, it is doubtful that those students were tested for proficiency. The state needs to address the problem of truancy. Nonetheless, those students who were tested showed tremendous improvement. But chronic absenteeism is not just a problem in Mississippi, post-pandemic nationwide fully a quarter of students are absent from school. These students are the ones responsible for missing instructional time and the major source of the dismal reading scores, nationwide.

It should be noted that many of the charter schools that have shown progress have been able to innovate in teaching method. Again I have written on education innovation and will not repeat that here. See my essay Robert Woodson’s “Red, White, and Black: Rescuing American History from Revisionists and Race Hustlers” entitled “Bring back the Rosenwald Schools” in which I advocate setting up a school system completely separate from the current ones. I say “Children are smart and can be taught. They are stuck in failing schools using a failed method of instruction…It is time to recognize that the education of our children is too important to be left to the government.”

The chart below shows the reading proficiency for Knoxville schools. The vertical axis is third grade reading proficiency. The horizontal axis is percent children on free lunch programs. First, you don’t want to be below the line which is the statewide average. Most of the Knoxville schools are below the line. The highest performing school is in a wealthy area has proficiency of 83 percent. Eight percent of its students are on free lunches. The outlier is a school with 44 percent on free lunches but a reading proficiency of 80 percent. What is disheartening is that the school superintendent has not and apparently is not interested in finding out what works at that school which uses the failed method and imposing it on the rest of the schools. Still, the school with 83 percent proficiency means that 17 percent do not read a grade level. Under Direct Instruction, virtually all students will be proficient unless they have a learning disability.

As one educator said “We know how to teach reading,” she said. “We just have to do it.” Mississippi, for one, holds students back in third grade if they cannot pass a reading test but gives them multiple chances to pass after intensive tutoring and summer literacy camps. The state requires every K-3 teacher, elementary principal and assistant principal to take a 55-hour training course in the science of reading. “We have to break that cycle of generational poverty. One of the best ways to do that is to make multiple generations of readers.” One teacher said that in college she didn’t learn a thing about teaching kids to read. One wonders what do they teach in our colleges of “education?” 

Moreover, I have long advocated that colleges of “education” should not offer undergraduate degrees. Potential teachers should have real majors such as business, mathematics and language. Then in order to be certified they should get that certification from graduate programs offered in the college of “education”. However, it is noteworthy to question the value of certification. University professors need only the requisite degrees and not any other certification that supposedly teaches them how to teach raising the question of the value of certifications period.

More random #75

Letitia James indicted

The president’s new interim DA for eastern Virginia took all of a week to bring an indictment against another one of the president’s adversaries, New York DA Letitia James. She is accused of mortgage fraud (naturally). The indictment says that James on a mortgage application for a home in Norfolk, VA said that she was going to use the home as a vacation home but instead rented it. Wow! I am certain that such a serious charge is punishable by death. Seriously, who doubts that the reason Trump’s hatchet man Bill Pulte head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency dredged up the charge is because Trump has declared retribution on his most prominent enemies? The indictment charges that by putting down “vacation home” the terms were such that James would save a whopping $19,000 over the length of the term. One former prosecutor said that it would be exceedingly rare for such a circumstance to even merit an indictment and “The amount of loss in this case is small peanuts, period.” Another former prosecutor said “The idea that someone would expose themselves to federal fraud charges for so little money doesn’t really make any sense.” This was another instance in which the prosecutor that Trump fired had said that the merits of the case did not rise to an indictment. Another former prosecutor said “I would be shocked if this thing makes it to a jury trial. I fully expect the judge to grant a motion to dismiss based on vindictive prosecutions.” James, herself, says that she made an error that was quickly corrected. 

John Bolton is probably next on the pay-back list. What about Adam Schiff(less)? Didn’t Joe Biden pardon him?

Environmentalists now like nukes?

In the “Surprise, Surprise” category, some environmental groups are now lobbying to keep nuclear plants open. There are actually protests in Belgium to keep a plant slated for closure open. However, the operator says it wants to exit the nuclear business and is intent on shutting it down. The Greenies have finally figured it out that nuclear is emission free clean energy. Yet their zealotry has closed plants all over Europe and now they are reaping what they have sown in expensive “green” energy, sans nuclear.

Speaking of nuclear, another one of the reasons for its resurgence is AI which is notoriously energy thirsty. The demands of AI threaten the energy grid and would significantly raise the cost of energy to everyone if it tries to glom onto the existing grid. AI companies will in many cases will have to build their own energy plants.

A little sport talk

I am not a pro football fan but I read about it. So I am wondering what has happened to the Kansas City Chiefs who lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Philadelphia Eagles who lost to the New York Giants and the Baltimore Ravens who got wiped out by the Houston Texans. All the winners are bad teams. It is hard to imagine the embarrassment of losing to them. It would be like Alabama losing to Vanderbilt.

The New York Yankees just lost in the playoffs to Toronto. Some have written that Aaron Judge who will win another MVP (sorry Cal Raleigh) is being wasted for playing 10 years and not winning a championship. Well at least his team has made it to the playoffs. Think about poor Mike Trout who for a period was the best player in baseball and has never been to the playoffs. Trout is a rare being. Everyone else, including his once teammate Shoei Ohtani, would have long ago requested a trade.

The Yankees typically have one of the highest payrolls in the league (I guess the cost of living in New York is high) but are a model of frustration. Their last championship was 16 years ago. The highest payroll teams generally make the playoffs but rarely win a championship – last year’s Dodgers are an exception. But 90 percent of those who win a championship are in the upper half of all payrolls. So it is great to see bottom half teams – Milwaukee, Detroit and Seattle – go deep in the playoffs.

So what about those future rate cuts?

At least two members of the Fed’s Open Market Committee have started to express reservations about lowering the Fed funds rate lower expressing concerns over rising inflation. I know we are no longer getting data – albeit poor data – from the BLS with this government shutdown, but private sources show inflation at over 3 percent and climbing. Remember that the Fed’s target is 2 percent which is long in the rear view mirror. It will be interesting to see what transpires at the next Open Market Committee meeting on October 28-29. I would bet that the president’s man Stephen Miran will again push for a 50 basis point reduction and should be laughed out of the meeting. Some will vote for 25 basis points, likely the two Trump appointees Waller and Bowan while the rest will probably vote for no change.

A lot of people are pointing to the rise in the stock markets as evidence that the economy is strong. Yet statistics indicate that at least 22 states are in recession with either zero or negative growth. Moreover, the increase in the stock market is being fueled by tech stocks and AI and not by consumer based stocks. The president is adding new tariffs on consumer goods such as furniture and drugs and will further dampen consumer optimism and spending. 

If tariffs are making us rich as hell, then why are we getting poorer? The president keeps saying that his tariffs will bring manufacturing back to the US. Well manufacturing as a share of GDP is now falling because of the tariffs. The president seems not to know that close to 50 percent of what we import are used as inputs to American production of goods. For example, steel in the US is almost $1,000 a ton compared to $440 in the rest of the world. Gee thanks Mr President.

The rise in the markets came to a screeching halt when the president unilaterally increased China’s tariffs by 100% in retaliation to their restricting the export of rare earth minerals. The president also threatened to cancel his upcoming meeting with Chairman Xi. The president criticized the Chinese restrictions as “a rather sinister and hostile move” and countered with one of his own. The president said that the tariffs would be 100 percent “over and above any Tariff that they are currently paying,” as well as American export controls on “any and all critical software” — both of which would begin on November 1, “or sooner, depending on any further actions or changes taken by China.”

The S&P 500 dropped 2.71 percent, the Dow fell 878 points and the tech heavy NASDAQ fell 3.58 percent. The president said “Some very strange things are happening in China! They are becoming very hostile, and sending letters to Countries throughout the World, that they want to impose Export Controls on each and every element of production having to do with Rare Earths, and virtually anything else they can think of, even if it’s not manufactured in China.” Hum, doesn’t that sound a bit like what Trump, himself, is doing?

Only China and Canada have retaliated Trump’s tariffs. Stay tuned to see who blinks first. But curtailing the rare earths will severely hamper the production of the magnets which are so crucial in virtually all high tech products. I wonder what impact will this have on the Open Market Committee meeting?

Happy Columbus Day, America

It is Columbus Day, although my Mac calendar says it is also something called “Indigenous Peoples’ Day.” What is irritating about the Mac calendar is that you can’t edit it. So you are stuck with things like Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Ashura and Eid al-Adha. So what is an “indigenous people”?  My AI says “Indigenous peoples are the original inhabitants of a region, often with distinct cultures, languages and traditions that differ from the dominant society.” This means that there are no “original” inhabitants because they are probably all extinct. There are no more hominins, no Australopithecus left, no neanderthals or Cro-Magnons. They are all gone. 

The president has weighed in on the matter and said:“Columbus, obviously, discovered the New World in 1492. He was a great Italian explorer. He sailed his three ships—the Nina, the Pinta, and Santa Maria—across the Atlantic Ocean, and landed in what’s today the Caribbean. And this is a particularly important holiday for Italian Americans who celebrate the legacy of Christopher Columbus, and the innovation and explorer zeal that he represented.”

I beg to differ. How could Columbus “obviously” discover the New World if there were already people here who were already here before his arrival on these shores? That very observation was the cause of my very first “C”. In my economic history class at the University of Georgia where I was its first black male freshman and the only black in every class I took for four years, the professor the first day asked “Who discovered America?” The students in the class (unlike the president) knew it wasn’t Christopher Columbus and were afraid to venture an answer. I – who always sat in the front row on the end seat farthest from the door – apparently had a smile on my face. The professor (who turned out to be a member of the John Birch Society) looked at my smile and literally sneered “I guess you know who discovered America.” I said “Yes, the Indians.” He said “I meant white men” and I responded “Who cares about white men?” He then refused to call on me from that point on. He put a “C” on all my papers and exams which I just knew deserved A’s. He refused to say why and when I went to his office, he kicked me out and told me never to come to his office again. He refused to acknowledge my presence in his class. I complained to the department head who said I could drop the course without penalty. I refused and told him I would not give the professor that satisfaction. He gave me that “C” which kept me off the Dean’s list that quarter. But when I returned to campus in the fall, the professor’s name was no longer on the faculty roster. I asked the department head what happened to him and was told “I did not want that SOB on my faculty.”

I know that many on the left want to purge Christopher Columbus from history. They are fools. Columbus and the explorers from his era should be celebrated. Anyone fool enough to sail into the unknown on rickety ships for months out of the sight of land must be admired. But they will persist in calling it “Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Even Investopedia, one of my favorite sites said “We’ll be taking a short break for Indigenous Peoples’ Day. We will return on Tuesday.” Shame on them. My credit union had a sign up saying that they were closed on Columbus Day celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day. Good Grief. Regardless, I highly recommend the reading of Christina Thompson’s “Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia.” It is a wonderful telling of the story of a remarkable, courageous and incredible people – indigenous or not – who in their canoes populated the Pacific. I think we should have a Polynesia Day too.

Well the president issued a proclamation that October 13^th was Columbus Day not IPD. Take that you anti-Italian left wing kooks! Here is what the president proclaimed:

“Today our Nation honors the legendary Christopher Columbus—the original American hero, a giant of Western civilization, and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the earth. This Columbus Day, we honor his life with reverence and gratitude, and we pledge to reclaim his extraordinary legacy of faith, courage, perseverance, and virtue from the left-wing arsonists who have sought to destroy his name and dishonor his memory. Outrageously, in recent years, Christopher Columbus has been a prime target of a vicious and merciless campaign to erase our history, slander our heroes, and attack our heritage. Before our very eyes, le”-wing radicals toppled his statues, vandalized his monuments, tarnished his character, and sought to exile him from our public spaces. Under my leadership, those days are finally over—and our Nation will now abide by a simple truth: Christopher Columbus was a true American hero, and every citizen is eternally indebted to his relentless determination.”

Bravo! Well said and of course Columbus Day is when Columbus discovered Ohio.

Random thoughts #74

Chicago Marathon

The Chicago Marathon is Sunday October 12^th. It goes through immigrant neighborhoods and Chicago’s mayor says that there will be upwards of 40,000 participants, 3,000 from Mexico. I wonder what will be the presence of ICE at the race and whether many participants will chose not to run this year because of their immigration status. I have visions of ICE personnel in combat boots, flak jackets and full gear running after folk clad only in running shorts and a singlet jersey. BTW, I have run in 13 full marathons and have the t-shirts to prove it. That was before my knees gave way to arthritis dooming me to walking on a treadmill and gaining 40 pounds.

Accreditation equals monopoly

Texas just became the first state to end ABA accreditation. Halleluiah! The American Bar Association has become a woke joke. It has forced race-based ideology into law school curricula. Although membership in the ABA has dropped significantly, graduation from an ABA accredited law school is still required to take the bar exam in most states. (Tennessee substitutes state licensing in which graduates from non-ABA schools can take the bar). Also in order to receive a federal student loan, the law student must be enrolled in an ABA accredited school. President George W. Bush was the first president to discontinue the ABA’s screening of judicial nominees. President Trump followed suit. President Trump issued an executive order explicitly criticizing the ABA for its DEI practices and ordered the Department of Education to hold accountable through denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination of accreditation recognition, accreditors who fail to meet the applicable recognition criteria or otherwise violate Federal law.” Then why does the ABA have any accreditation power at all?

The ABA mandates “educating law students on bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism” and suggests satisfying the requirement with “courses on racism and bias in the law.” Note: my uncle in Cincinnati never attended law school. He did not have the money. Rather he clerked at a law firm and read the law and when he felt prepared, he took the bar and passed it. Perhaps we should only require passing the bar and omit the law school requirement entirely. In Texas, its supreme court will decide the criteria by which a person can sit for the bar. Florida and other states are moving to follow Texas’ lead. Presumably the candidate still must attend a law school.

I think it is time to call into question all accreditation and licensing boards. They all operate in constraint of trade. Why not just require proficiency and knowledge to work in a profession? Here in Tennessee we have the famous instance of hair braiders being required to go to school and get a cosmetology degree which is completely unnecessary. The ones who argue that licensure is necessary to “protect the public” are those already in the profession who want to limit competition. I have long argued that accreditation boards are mainly responsible for limiting innovation in teaching our kids. I never will forget that when I proposed that the Knoxville school system adopt a program demonstrated to raising reading proficiency that the superintendent told me that the state’s accreditation board would reject it because it contained too much reading.

There he goes again

Remember when President Trump demanded that Microsoft fire a person that it had hired who had been in the Biden administration and led some of the investigations against him? Well I wonder what is he going to say about Peter Marks, the top vaccine regulator at the FDA joining Eli Lilly to oversee molecule discovery and infectious diseases after being fired by Robert F. Kennedy in March? Revolving door anyone?

Illegals

Total border apprehensions in fiscal year 2025 were 237,565. That sounds like a lot until you realize that the yearly average was 2.2 million during the Biden years. And I thought Biden said he needed a change in the law before he could limit the flow of illegals?

Again, I wonder why the democrats have decided to fight to keep all the illegals from being deported. I guess they say that they brought them in and they want to keep them here. But isn’t it silly that the dems rejected the continuing resolution to keep the government money following for seven more months when they had voted for the identical bill seven months before? Now they want to add permanent funding for Obamacare subsidies that were put in as a “temporary” measure during Covid. Although this will add a minimum of $450 billion to the budget over 10 years, there are rumors that the president is willing to talk compromise. I’m shocked.

Although several states – you can probably name them – have attempted to add illegals to their Medicaid rolls, most illegals do get medical care legally. It is in the emergency room where hospitals cannot deny treatment. The Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act requires hospitals to provide care to anyone experiencing a medical emergency regardless of legal status. So far the republicans have made no effort to change this law. BTW illegals are prohibited from receiving federally funded health insurance, including Medicaid.

Gold and the greater fool

Gold just reached $4,000 an ounce. One indication is that the policies of the president have caused the dollar to no longer be a safe haven. Central banks are now replacing dollars with gold. The value of the dollar keeps going down. The deficit keeps rising. Longer term Treasury rates keep rising in anticipation of inflation caused by the tariffs and by the Fed’s lowering of the Fed funds rate with more decreases anticipated in the future. I think gold, like bitcoin, is venturing into the greater fool territory and if you had previously bought either, I think it is time to think about selling. Yes both will probably still go up in the near future because Trump is too stubborn to change course and the Fed is finally succumbing to political pressure but I would not buy gold (or bitcoin) at these prices. The only reason to do so is that you think that there is a bigger fool out there who will pay more for these trinkets than you did. Proceed with caution.

Kristi Noem strikes again

The head of Homeland Security (nee: Border Barbie) must be the PR person for Antifa. She just elevated their status by declaring that “Antifa is just as sophisticated as MS-13, as TDA, as ISIS, as Hezbollah, as Hamas, all of them. They are just as dangerous.” Really? Is Antifa now doing drug trafficking, murder and extortion like M-13 and TDA (Tren de Aragua)? Is Antifa as dangerous as ISIS, Hezbollah and Hamas? Don’t be silly. Antifa is a bunch of rowdy thugs who love to engage in protest activism, civil disobedience, property damage and harassment. But on the level of ISIS, Hamas and Hezbollah? Not even close. They pale compared to the Weather Underground.

Bondi goes off!

Never in my experience have I seen a congressional hearing more contentious than the one with attorney general Pam (Blondie) Bondi and the senate judiciary committee. Yes I know there have been hearings described as “contentious” before but those were decidedly one sided. Brett Kavanaugh’s comes to mind as does Neil Gorsuch’s. But in those the senators who objected to Gorsuch and Kavanaugh came across as unreasonable mudslinging a-holes while the nominees were on their part painfully graceful. Not so with Bondi. She knew that the democrats on the committee hated her boss and would be hurling insults and talking over her not giving her an opportunity to respond. But unlike the others before her she didn’t take it. She had been criticized for continuing to be the president’s private attorney and politicizing the “Justice” department. She knew she was going to be grilled on the Comey indictment. She also knew that the day before a letter of ex-employees had released a letter critical of her leadership.

So while the republicans were overly polite lobbing layups and not asking any tough questions, Bondi was prepared to insult any democrat senator who would be critical of her role and her relationship with the president. It was though she had had prepared a list with brickbats to hurl at each democrat. When Dick Durbin (D-IL) sharply questioned her about the deployment of national guardsmen to Chicago, Bondi said “You voted to shut down the government, and you’re sitting here. Our law enforcement officers aren’t being paid. They’re out there working to protect you. I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump.” Wham!! When Durbin claimed that Trump had cut funding for certain law enforcement programs in Illinois, Bondi said “show me”. “Tell me a specific grant that I turned off in Illinois that would help law enforcement, and I will work with you, but you have not done that.”

Bondi refused to answer questions related to Comey saying that she would not discuss ongoing investigations. She refused to comment on the scathing letter from former employees saying that she would not discuss personnel matters. She refused to address any of the questions regarding Jeffrey Epstein. When California’s Adam Schiff whined “This is supposed to be an oversight hearing where members of Congress can get serious answers to serious questions,” she responded “I think you owe the president an apology for your entire career.” “You know, Schiff, (not “senator”) if you worked for me, you would’ve been fired, because you were censured by Congress for lying!” When Schiff said that “We can stipulate to, you can stipulate to all your personal attacks on the Democratic members of the committee—” Bondi retorted, “Personal attacks? You’ve been attacking my FBI Director, my office, the border czar…’oversight?’ You want your 5 minutes of fame!” Wham (again)! 

When Dick Blumenthal (D-CT) accused her of impropriety, she shot back “I cannot believe that you would accuse me of impropriety when you lied about your military service. You lied to be elected a US senator.” She said “How dare you? I’m a career prosecutor. Don’t you ever challenge my integrity. Do not question my ability to be fair and impartial as attorney general, or anything regarding my former firm.”

When California’s Alex Padilla asked that order be restored in the hearing she retorted “You know, you want ‘order’ here now, yet you stormed the Director of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem. You sure didn’t have ‘order’ that day, did you, Senator?” (recalling when Padilla as initially arrested at a homeland security meeting in California). In response to questions from Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii (who is generally cited as one of the dumbest senators) about the closing of an investigation into border czar Tom Homan reportedly taking $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents, Bondi said that no evidence of wrongdoing was found. She then said to the senator from Hawaii “You were also on video outside the White House protesting with a group …where ANTIFA members were. Does that mean you’re a member of ANTIFA?” 

When Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) accused Emil Bove of prosecutorial misconduct during his brief stint as principal associate deputy attorney general, Bondi said “To correct you for one moment, that would be the Honorable Judge Emil J. Bove III to you.” Bove, another one of Trump’s personal attorneys, was accused of recommending that the administration ignore the courts’ orders restraining the president’s aggressive immigration policy. The senate confirmed him to the federal bench 50-49 with Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski joining all the democrats in voting against him.

If there have been more two-way contentious hearings I don’t know of any. I don’t ever recall seeing this much contempt and hostility displayed in Washington. It is obvious that both sides really loathe and dare I say hate each other. But it is clear that this administration is going to aggressively defend its actions and not let the democrats dictate the narrative. 

By the way, what do you call it when Pam Bondi walks into a room trailed by Karoline Leavitt? The blond leading the blond.

Send in the troops!

The democrats must have some internal polling that tells them to resist ICE at all costs. Why else would so many of them choose to go to ICE facilities to protest whatever they are protesting and even be arrested? They are uniformly proclaiming that they do not want ICE in their cities and the national guard sent into their states. The president wants to send in the guard for two separate reasons. The first is where there is a high crime rate and second to protect ICE facilities. In the first instant troops were sent into Washington, DC and there was a meeting at the White House where troops would be sent into Memphis. In the latter, troops were sent to Los Angeles to quell ICE related riots and the president is trying to send troops to Portland, Oregon to protect an ICE facility. In Chicago, Trump also wants troops to protect ICE personnel and ICE facilities. Chicago is the poster child for the need to address crime with the use of increased enforcement.

There are 2,500 troops in DC to deter violent crime. I would guess that crime is down significantly where they are present. They will be deployed until the end of November. The troops are engaged in other activities as well. They are picking up garbage, hosing down graffiti, mulching, painting fences and replanting grass. Some locals refer to them as the National Gardeners. A spokesman said “We believe a clean and well-maintained environment contributes to overall community well-being and can indirectly deter crime.” I presume that they are deployed in high crime areas of DC mainly across the Anacostia river. However, one suspects that violent crime will return once the troops are gone.

As to the ICE protests, the courts have ruled that the president had the authority to send troops into Los Angeles but have ruled that the president does not have the authority to send them to Portland. Los Angeles was a full blown riot completely beyond the control of the local authorities, regardless of what the mayor and the governor were saying. Even though the president said that Portland was burning to the ground, the protests have been confined to a one block area and is a localized protest against an ICE facility. The court questioned the need to send in 500 national guardsmen to handle the situation. However, it is apparent that the Portland mayor, the governor of Oregon and both senators (all democrats) have bought into the resist ICE mantra. They are not using local law enforcement to protect the ICE facility. Given that it is a federal facility, then why cannot Federal law enforcement protect it if the locals won’t? Again 500 troops seem a bit overkill.

The judge in the Portland case is a Trump appointee so partisan bias cannot be alleged by those who disagree with her ruling. She was quite forceful in her ruling. She said that the president’s description of “War ravaged Portland” was “simply untethered to the facts.” The president had tweeted “At the request of the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, I am directing the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists. I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

The judge did not agree. She noted that although there were some incidences of violence she found that “these incidents are inexcusable,” but “they are nowhere near the type of incidents that cannot be handled by regular law enforcement forces. She also noted that recent events in Portland are “categorically different from the violent incidents in Los Angeles.” So she issued a restraining order against the president’s order to deploy Oregon National Guardsmen to Portland. The president then tried a cute one by ordering California guardsmen and Texas guardsmen to Portland instead. Of course, California governor Gavin Newsom sued. The judge almost immediately issued another restraining order saying that Trump’s move was “in direct contravention of the court’s order issued yesterday” and she then said that her order covered “the relocation, federalization or deployment of members of the National Guard of any state or the District of Columbia in the state of Oregon.”

The judge wrote the president “lacks constitutional authority to federalize the National Guard once he exceeds the constitutional authority that Congress granted him.” Since the president is “federalizing the Oregon National Guard absent constitutional authority, his actions undermine the sovereign interest of Oregon as protected by the Tenth Amendment. Oregon has a Tenth Amendment power to control its National Guard to the extent it is not cabined by the Militia Clause.” 

The judge’s ruling is important since Trump has sent troops into Chicago authorizing the deployment of 300 National Guardsmen. The mayor of Chicago Brandon Johnson and the governor of Illinois JB Pritzker both oppose the deployment. Pritzker said he would challenge the deployment. “Their plan all along has been to cause chaos, and then they can use that chaos to consolidate Donald Trump’s power.” He then referred to the deployment as “Trump’s invasion” and that “there is no reason a president should send military troops into a sovereign state without their knowledge, consent, or cooperation.” Chicago’s mayor went even further. “Today, we are signing an executive order aimed at reining in this out-of-control administration. The order establishes ICE-free zones. That means that city property and unwilling private businesses will no longer serve as staging grounds for these raids.” 

So does the president have the legal authority to unilaterally call out the troops? The judge in the Portland case has made that clear that the president’s citing of his authority under 10 USC 12406 was not persuasive in that “the protests in Portland were not ‘a rebellion’ and did not pose a ‘danger of a rebellion,’ especially in the days leading up to the federalization.” While the government presented evidence of sporadic violence against federal officers and property damage to a federal building, it did not offer any evidence demonstrating that those episodes of violence were part of an organized attempt to overthrow the government as a whole.” I guess this one is destined to the Supreme Court too.

Maybe it is just me but isn’t there an obvious solution to all of this? First, where the protests are against ICE and ICE facilities, then why call out 300-500 troops? Can’t Federal law enforcement be used to protect federal agents and property if the local authorities refuse? The national guard should be used only when the situation has escalated beyond the control of local law enforcement or when requested by state and local officials.

I can actually understand why governors would resist the Federal government sending in troops without their consent. Yet there are circumstances that merit it. The Civil Rights era comes to mind where National Guardsmen were sent to allow black students to go to previously all white schools in the face of often violent protests by whites. Who could ever forget the poignant picture of Ruby Bridges, aged 6, being escorted to elementary school in New Orleans by US marshals? I think even Newsom, Pritzker and Johnson would not object to that.

Are you well read?

What do you want to be when you grow up? I can’t recall how many times I was asked that when I was a youth. My response was usually that I didn’t know. I once wanted to emulate my father’s father and drive a coal truck making deliveries to households. I guess the propane truck has replaced the coal truck. Then I wanted to be a cartographer. Later an astronomer.

My friends growing up had parents that were electricians, insurance salesmen, mechanics and physicians. Mine were school teachers and Dad also worked at night as a postal clerk. I didn’t want to be any of those. Yet I was predestined and didn’t know it. My mother said that I always had my face in a book. I mainly read science fiction, books on geography, astronomy and the Civil War. My favorite place was the West Hunter street public library where I would go and spend hours. When I had read all that they had, they ordered me books from the main library in Atlanta – where I was barred from entering. My folks being teachers encouraged my reading and always brought me books that they thought I would enjoy. I still have an almost complete collection of Edgar Rice Burrough’s Tarzan novels and John Carter of Mars stories. I also have the copy of McKinley Cantor’s Andersonville that they gave me when I was still in elementary school.

Andersonville? Yes. My father was from Bainbridge, Georgia and the infamous Andersonville prisoner of war camp is in Sumter County. One day he took my brother and me to the camp and looking over the multitude of rows of gravestones, he told us the story of the horrors of the camp. Dad was pretty certain that there were black union POWs there as well but he could not verify it. There were no search engines during most of his lifetime. But that got me going and I started reading Civil War histories and fiction. I still do. And yes, there were black POWs and on a visit back to the site, there is actually a recognition of them at the camp.

So when I went to the University of Georgia and had to declare a major I said “pre-law” only because my Dad’s older brother was an attorney in Cincinnati. I enrolled in the business school rather than arts and sciences because a foreign language was not required. I had had a year of French and a year of Latin in high school and considered both a waste of time. Why would I want to take more language in college when the courses taught everything about the structure of the language but not how to speak it? Anyway I used to joke that my French was only good for being able to read a menu. 

I almost immediately realized that I wanted to be a professor. I remarked to a friend “You mean I can read for a living?” Now what subject? Was I going to be a law professor? That was a real possibility until I took the first course in economics. I made good grades in my pre-law course but also enjoyed math and philosophy. Ironically, I did not care for history because it was literally an all-white history and was different from what I had been taught growing up in all black schools. But I loved economics and from that day forward I added economics and business to my readings.

I probably have thousands of books and I read almost daily. To the list of subjects I have added historical fiction and mysteries. My students used to remark how did I know so much. I used to tell them that they were asking the wrong question. Students in my financial markets and institutions class would complain that this was a finance course and not one in history, civics, geography or philosophy. I told them “yes it is.”

So I considered myself as well read until one of my dearest friends sent me a first year reading list from Phi Beta Kappa. BTW I am not a member of that august society since I have a business degree and not one in arts and sciences. My senior year I got a call from the registrar’s office that my name was not on the Phi Beta Kappa list but all I had to do was to take three more electives in arts and sciences to get a BA degree rather than a BBA. Ironically I had already elected to take a year of German but opted not to do so because there were other business courses I wanted to take.

On the Phi Beta Kappa reading list I have read only three of the books and they are all classics: Brave New World, the US Constitution and the works of Socrates. I am somewhat shaken. How could I possibly be well read if I am not well read? But don’t you think that Taylor Branch’s Parting the Waters and Louis L’Amour’s Education of a Wandering Man should be on the list?

https://www.pbk.org/programs/arts-sciences/first-year-reading-2025

Please Mr President, chill

Phil Gramm (my college economics tutor) once told me that those who walk down the middle of the road get hit by trucks going in both directions. I feel that way about how people react to my writings about President Trump. My friends on the left are appalled when I say that given all that has transpired over the year, if I were to vote today I would still vote for Trump rather than Kamala Harris. Then my friends on the right say that I am too critical of the president. Yet I have given my reasons and explained them.

There is much I like on the domestic front and I have listed them all. But there are the ones I don’t like – namely his economic policies, I have taken pains to explain why. So don’t forget that – as I reminded one reader – I like closing the border. I like deporting criminals. I like leaving the Paris Accord and defunding the Green new deal. I like what Zelden is doing at EPA. I like defunding Education and the CFPB. I like downsizing the federal government, stopping duplication and reassessing out priorities. I like trashing DEI. I like returning the military to its mission, and there is much more that I like. I have said all these things in the past. But there are things that I don’t like and I am sorry that some have the impression that I “disagree with anything (actually everything) Trump.”

But I am not going to abandon markets in favor of government intervention. I want the Fed to remain independent of the executive. I will never embrace global tariffs and the president’s seemingly chaotic behavior. I have given the conditions under which I actually support targeted tariffs and government subsidies. I think industrial policy is wasteful whether enacted from the left or from the right. Trump is doing things supported by his followers that once upon a time they all opposed. I opposed them then and I oppose them now. Tariffs and government takeovers are not the way to make America great again. As Phil Gramm once told me, at least I am consistent. I was consistent then and I am consistent now – even if it means being hit by trucks moving in both directions. I also remind you that if Biden were doing this expansion of the power of the executive would you be supportive?

I am bothere by all of the president’s braggadicio. He is saying that “tariffs are making us rich as hell.” He said “I love tariffs. Most beautiful word, but I’m not allowed to say that anymore. Tariff is my favorite word. I love the word tariff. We’rebecoming rich as hell. We have a big case in front of the Supreme Court, but I can’t imagine it because this is what other nations have done to us.” 

Now is he saying that other nations are rich because of tariffs? If that is so then the countries with the highest tariffs should be among the richest in the word. Of course that is not the case, it’s the countries with the lowest tariffs. But more fundamentally, if you took money out of your left pocket and put it in your right pocket, would you be wealthier? Well that is what tariffs do. Since importers pay the tariff, then there is just a transfer of money from one group in the country to another with no increase in the national income of the country that imposes the tariffs.

The president who is given to hyperbole tweeted “Without tariffs, and all of the TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS we have already taken in, our Country would be completely destroyed, and our military power would be instantly obliterated.” Good grief. We have not taken in “TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS.” In fact we have collected $142 billion in tariffs so far this year. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent estimates that tariffs will be $300 billion for the entire year and as much as $2.5 trillion over the next decade (if kept in place). The president has been floating the idea of a $2,000 tariff “rebate” to US households and Josh Hawley (R-MO) has introduced a bill to make it so. 

Since the tariffs go into the general fund, it will take an act of congress to distribute them. However, the president does not seem to be aware of this in that he has proposed to use $10 billion of the tariffs to send to the farmers hurt by the cutting off of purchases by the Chinese. Maybe Hawley will introduce a bill to make this so as well. BTW, will the $10 billion transferred from the general fund to the farmers increase national income? No.

The president has also claimed that tariffs have generated enough money to cut the deficit in half – which is clearly not the case. “They’re just starting to kick in. Ultimately, your tariffs are going to be over a trillion dollars a year.” Please stop it. You know you are just exaggerating but it makes it seem as though you are delusional.

I know it is wishful thinking but I wish the president would just be quiet and chill. Let others who know the figures and are experts do the talking or at least get the numbers right. If Joe Biden were making these same statements those on the right would be pointing out the huge discrepancies, doing fact checks, awarding Pinocchios and asserting that Biden was lacking mental acuity. In fact, that is what those on the left are now asserting about the president. They are taking the president’s quotes, his emails and his very public rants and questioning his mental stability. I, for one, do not doubt the president’s mental capacity. I just wish he would tone it down and use some restraint. I know he is playing to his base but he is giving fodder to his enemies.

A publication called “The Verge” alleged that Google was barring all AI inquiry into the president’s mental state. It said that Google withheld answers for searches questioning whether Trump shows signs of dementia, while continuing to provide similar responses about other presidents. When asked “Does Trump show signs of dementia?” Google search responds “An AI overview is not available for that search.” The left has gleefully then argued that Google is afraid of the wrath of Trump which is the cause of its response. But all of this has emboldened the democrats to further attack Trump’s mental wellbeing.

Chicago’s mayor Brandon Johnson – not quite a towering intellect – said that Trump is an “unstable human being” who must be “checked” on his use of the military in U.S. cities. Two clinical psychologists have said that Trump is constantly “deteriorating” and his cognitive ability is “slipping even more”. The president’s “unpredictable” conduct is said to indicate cognitive decline said another psychologist. Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey said of the president’s remarks to the military brass at Quantico, “I’ve been doing this a long time. That presentation at Quantico from the president and secretary of Defense was one of the most bizarre, unsettling events I’ve everencountered. The president sounded incoherent, exhausted, rabidly partisan, at times stupid, meandering, couldn’t hold a thought together.”

The president’s rants and diatribes against the Fed, Jerome Powell, his various enemies, Tylenol, Jimmy Kimmel and Taylor Swift among a multitude of others have prompted JB Pritzker (!), Maxine Waters (!) and others to call for invoking the 25^th Amendment as the right did during the Biden years. Trump’s email to Pam (Blondie) Bondi on prosecuting Comey may have endangered any possibility of conviction by a judge or a jury. Here is what he said about Jimmy Kimmel and seems to imply that he will have ABC investigated as well.

“I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled! Something happened between then and now because his audience is GONE, and his “talent” was never there. Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE. He is yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution. I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers! Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings.”

Not what you would call a calm and reasoned response no matter what your bias. Even the trio of incidents at the United Nations which Trump and his allies contend was sabotage is considered by his opponents as indicative of his unstable mental behavior. The president tweeted

“A REAL DISGRACE took place at the United Nations yesterday ‒ Not one, not two, but three very sinister events! First, the escalator going up to the Main Speaking Floor came to a screeching halt. It stopped on a dime. It’s amazing that Melania and I didn’t fall forward onto the sharp edges of these steel steps, face first. It was only that we were each holding the handrail tightly or, it would have been a disaster. … Then, as I stood before a Television crowd of millions of people all over the World, and important Leaders in the Hall, my teleprompter didn’t work. It was stone cold dark. I immediately thought to myself, ‘Wow, first the escalator event, and now a bad teleprompter. What kind of a place is this?’ I then proceeded to make a Speech without a teleprompter, which kicked in about 15 minutes later. The good news is the Speech has gotten fantastic reviews. Maybe they appreciated the fact that very few people could have done what I did.” 

The reaction from the left was to say the president was paranoid and completely unhinged. Here is what the president said about Tylenol

Pregnant Women, DON’T USE TYLENOL UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, DON’T GIVE TYLENOL TO YOUR YOUNG CHILD FOR VIRTUALLY ANY REASON, BREAK UP THE MMR SHOT INTO THREE TOTALLY SEPARATE SHOTS (NOT MIXED!), TAKE CHICKENP SHOT SEPARATELY, TAKE HEPATITAS B SHOT AT 12 YEARS OLD, OR OLDER, AND, IMPORTANTLY, TAKE VACCINE IN 5 SEPARATE MEDICAL VISITS! President DJT”

I’ve commented on this before and just wish that his medical appointees had issued the report and cited the evidence leading to this conclusion.

The New Republic, no fan of the president is now saying that “Donald Trump is becoming totally incoherent.” Where have we seen this before? For years I have wanted him to shut down the tweets, stop the name calling and the rants. But Trump’s behavior is not much different from that of Biden, Obama, Clinton, Nixon or Johnson. All were profane and given to temper tantrums. Trump just does his in public rather than behind closed doors. Some think this is refreshing but I find it a bit disconcerting. 

One of my friends tells me that the president is too nuanced for me to understand. I have said this before “prove me wrong and I will adopt your opinion.” But for now I know this plea is futile but chill Mr President, chill.

Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl?

The halftime entertainment for the next Super Bowl is someone called Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican rapper Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio. I got roundly chastised for criticizing last year’s “entertainment” that featured Kendrick Lamar, but Bad Bunny? Those on the right have voiced their displeasure. Seems that Bad Bunny sometimes wears a dress (gender fluid is now the term). From Nashville, our Robby Starbuck said “This is not a pick designed to unite football fans or let people just enjoy the show. It was a pick designed to divide fans and no doubt Bad Bunny will find some way to push a woke message.” Recently, he (or is it she/they/them?) chose not to do a US tour for fear of ICE saying that he was worried about raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in light of mass deportations of primarily Latinos.  

I guess that ICE may target sporting events with large Latino participation but do illegals typically attend Super Bowls? Maybe Bad Bunny is talking about those who work for him rather than the attendees. Well one of the president’s men, Corey Lewandowski said “There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people in this country illegally. Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else. We will find you. We will apprehend you. We will put you in a detention facility, and we will deport you. So know that that is a very real situation under this administration.” Also commenting on some of Mr Bunny’s comments regarding ICE, Lewandowski said It’s so shameful that they’ve decided to pick somebody who just seems to hate America so much to represent them at the halftime (show).”  I am waiting for President Trump to chime in. It’s not like him to keep quiet on items of this magnitude. Someone on the right suggested Kid Rock and Jason Aldean as halftime entertainment saying that it would “unite America.” Huh? That would inflame the left. Is there any entertainment that would not be divisive? 

I don’t know how the NFL selects who is going to perform at the Super Bowl but I do know that the league feels it is big enough and important enough to follow its own path and not the one dictated by this administration. The league has kept the messages in the end zone that it started as a result of George Floyd. Each team can pick from four phrases for their home games: “End Racism,” “Stop Hate,” “Choose Love,” or “Inspire Change.” The league has even kept its vice president for social responsibility – DEI anyone? The league whose owners are mostly republicans must find a middle ground between the views of its players – most of whom are black – and its owners. Perhaps as businessmen, the owners view the monetary aspect of the Super Bowl show as a benefit regardless of the performer.

Well I have a suggestion. Why not feature at halftime the spouses/companions of NFL players like Ciara and Taylor Swift? And yes I know that when Swift endorsed Kamala Harris, Trump said that she was no longer “hot”. He tweeted “Just look at Woke singer Taylor Swift. Ever since I alerted the world as to what she was by saying on TRUTH that I can’t stand her (HATE!) She was booed out of the Super Bowl and became, NO LONGER HOT. The tide has seriously turned — Being WOKE is for losers, being Republican is what you want to be. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Well tell that to the multitude of her fans. And by the way, to my tastes I would classify Swift as “cute” rather than “hot”. Now hot? Take a look at Ciara. That’s hot!

More random thoughts #73

In the “there they go again” department, Trump’s Office of Management and Budget headed by Russ Vought just released its economic forecast. It predicts that the deficit will be cut in half over the next 10 years. Of course only the president’s Council of Economic Advisors will issue a similar forecast. Rosy scenario anyone? I doubt if anyone in those offices actually believes such a forecast. A senior administration said that Trump’s “pro-growth tax reform, fair and reciprocal trade, unleashing American energy, cutting regulations and restraining spending boost economic growth and reduce de6cits.” Needless to say that the CBO, the Fed and independent forecasters do not agree with the president’s forecasts. CBO projects that the deficit will increase to 118 percent of GDP by 2035 while the Fed projects a deficit of $2.7 trillion by 2035 increasing from $1.9 trillion in 2025. Maybe what OMB meant that the rate of increase in the deficit will be cut in half rather than the deficit itself.

Trump is cutting out funding for the “Green New Scam” but only in the democrat (I refused to use colors) run states. Remember when the republicans in Georgia begged to keep the funding from the misnamed “Inflation Reduction Act.” Well it looks like they got their wish. OMB director Russ (Jeffries’ malignant political hack) Vought said “Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled.” Where? In California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. And what do all those states have in common? They voted for Kamala Harris.

Did you see Trump’s latest incursion into socialism? It was the announced deal with Pfizer where they will have a website “TrumpRx” directing buyers to a Pfizer website to buy deeply discounted drugs. Again all this puffery about drug pricing stuff seems to be a nothingburger. Most drugs are generic and will not be covered. Insurance reduces the costs of most drugs. So the only things affected will be Pfizer’s name brand drugs where they can reduce the price of drugs with already inflated prices. So now is this the first step into rightwing government healthcare? The president seemingly has forgotten that he used to be against this kind of stuff. But I guess if they put his name on it (TrumpRx) its ok by him. I thought he hated Obamacare?

Did you know that the blue-chip art market is in a slump? What in the wide world of sports is going on? In a world in which gold and bitcoin (bitcoin?) are considered safe havens with exploding prices, blue-chip art is in a slump? It used to be that it was a safe haven too. What happened?

Just like Trump’s tariffs are devastating Lesotho with expiration of the African free trade agreement, the same is happening in Haiti. In that country, their duty free trade program is also expiring and the Trump folks are not renewing it. The textile industry is Haiti’s largest and accounts for 90 percent of its exports. But with the ending of duty free will also come Trump’s punitive tariffs (up to 40%) on that impoverished country with whom we have a surplus. Hanes, Calvin Klein, Gap and Victoria’s Secret make garments in Haiti and without the agreement will move production to Southeast Asia. Pardon me if this makes no sense. Economic desperation will increase in an already economically desperate land. This administration has no soul. This administration has no heart.

Walmart has announced that it is removing the synthetic dyes from its branded products. It has now joined the MAHA movement. Now get rid of the high fructose sugar.

Isn’t it hilarious to see democrats running against incumbent republicans who pledged to lower the national debt now sounding like the republicans used to sound? One democrat challenger of a once diehard debt slasher who voted for the “Big beautiful bill” said “He pretends he’s a fiscal conservative, but this is $4 trillion of new debt. I mean, the next generation is really going to struggle with this. We’re mortgaging our children’s future with that $4 trillion.” One republican incumbent whined “If you explain it the right way, the BBB actually is intended to reduce the deficit over time. We can’t do it overnight, but the fact is that we’re doing it incrementally.” Now didn’t the dems say the same thing about the “Inflation Reduction Act”? What goes around.

Finally, did you see where 100 passengers got sick on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship? I have friends who love to cruise. But why anyone would want to get on one of those floating petri dishes is beyond me.