Author: haroldblackphd

December 3, 2023

An old friend of mine called and asked why was the Fed targeting interest rates in order to fight inflation. She wanted a one minute explanation on the relationship between interest rates and the general level of prices. Obviously, the answer took longer than a minute but the root of her question was more insightful than even she realized. Ironically, the night before I was at the annual director holiday dinner hosted by the Nashville branch of the Atlanta Fed. The speaker was an economist at the Atlanta Fed who talked about the Fed’s strategy for combatting inflation and the prospects going forward. What was revealing was that in the entire discussion, he focused on interest rates, employment and real economic growth. I kept quiet because there was no reason for me to comment on his being completely wrong.

Milton Friedman once said that inflation was always a monetary phenomena produced by increases in the money supply that are faster than growth in output. That means that inflation is always caused by governments producing too much money. Yet our central banker did not mention the explosive growth in money produced by the incredible increases in government spending and the enabling of the Fed. That is, the government caused the mess we are in and then attempts to straighten that same mess out. I told my friend that the Fed by financing irresponsible fiscal policy had driven up the money supply driving down interest rates and then tried to hold them near zero. Monetary economics says that that action would then eventually lead to higher inflation. And it did. When the inflation occurred, the Fed’s reaction would then be to decrease the rate of growth in the money supply, driving interest rates up. The key is what happens to the money supply. 

But central bankers do not even talk about the money supply and its control, mainly because central bankers seldom understand monetary economics. If they did, they would seek to control the rate of growth in the money supply rather than focusing on interest rates. In monetary economics there is the monetary rule that says that you can have economic growth without inflation if the rate of increase in the money supply is set to the long term growth rate of the economy. Central bankers reject the monetary rule knowing that if they accepted it, they would be out of a job. Central bankers feel obligated to fiddle with the economy. It gives them a sense of importance. However, this discretionary monetary policy is inherently disruptive to the economy, creating busts and booms and periods of inflation and deflation.

Central bankers also craft regulations and oversee financial institutions and most are qualified to do that. The problem with central bankers is that few of them are qualified to do the most important part of their job – control the money supply. Many are lawyers. On the current Fed board there is only one governor trained in monetary economics. The rest are either lawyers or economists with interests other than monetary theory. The chairman is a lawyer. Therefore, it is not surprising that Fed policy is a mish mash of confusing actions and incoherent policy. Interesting that when the one person who was a serious student of monetary economics was nominated to the Board, the Senate rejected the nomination. Imagine if the Supreme Court only had one justice who was a constitutional lawyer. Well that is the current (and most previous) situation at the Federal Reserve and at central banks around the world.

Happy Thanksgiving 2023 

During the holidays we rarely traveled. We celebrated at home in Atlanta. Mother’s home was Gray, GA while Dad’s was Americus, GA. Instead of going to either’s home we stayed in Atlanta. In large part it was because Mother’s side of the family never fully embraced my Dad and Dad’s side of the family never fully embraced Mom. We paid the obligatory annual visits to each but I don’t recall them being especially joyous occasions.

Thanksgiving meant turkey, ham and all the fixings. Mother was not an especially good cook but Thanksgiving did not demand a particularly skillful chef. Roast turkey, roasted ham, sweet potato pie, potato salad, dressings always baked in the oven and never stuffed in the bird and that awful cranberry gelatin-thing. My parents were thankful of the bounty having grown up poor and living through the Great Depression. Mom was better off than Dad living on a farm. Dad had memories of being told to take a cane pole, dig up a worm and to not come home without dinner. They had little meat in his house so he insisted on at least one meat at every meal. My folks iterated that education was the one important factor that transformed them from subsistence to plenty and sometimes Dad would shake his head and say “I never want to be poor again.” My brother and I could not identify with the possibility of poverty, growing up in a brand new solidly upper middle class neighborhood with stable nuclear families, well educated households, streets litter free and no crime. 

I have more fond memories of Christmas. My brother and I were given full access to the Sears Roebuck catalog. We earmarked what we wanted knowing that Santa somehow would get the catalog and new clothing would appear under the tree. We knew everyone on our street. We lived in the third house. The men would go house to house starting with neighbor in the first house. He would go next door. The two of them would come to our house where my mother would give them her homemade scuppernong wine. Then along with my Dad, they would go from house to house down one side of the street and up the other side picking up neighbors and depositing those when they came back to their house. Dad didn’t drink but made an exception at Christmas and was always a bit wobbly when he returned home. The kids would be in the street with their new skates or bicycles. When we were small we played cowboys and Indians with our six-shooters. Later we played basketball or touch football. Every house was decorated. Dad especially loved Christmas and went overboard. I remarked that when he turned on the lights, that we would almost cause a brown out. 

When I had my own family we tried to visit my parents and in-laws each Christmas season. After our divorce, I had custody of my son and the kids would be together for the holidays. If it were my turn, we would spend Christmas in Atlanta with my parents. It was always a good time. It was a time when I found myself deferring to my parents just like in my youth. I might have children of my own but during Christmas it was as if I became a child again for a day. Now that they are gone, I think that is what I miss the most at Christmastime.

Knoxville Focus

knoxfocus.com

November 27, 2023

Current events have opened up differences that pose existential threats to both the Republican and Democrat parties. For the Republicans the speaker mess has exposed pure venom being directed at the eight who toppled Kevin McCarthy. There is considerable friction among Republican members over continued funding for the Ukraine. The new Speaker, Mike Johnson voted against supplemental funding for Ukraine. The question is whether the Republicans can come together and act as a party or will they continue to conduct a circular firing squad. One outcome is for the right wing of the party to splinter off into a new party. A close friend suggested the name Whigs 2.0 which is brilliant. But let’s call it the Conservative Party. 

For the Democrats, the schism is over Israel. The “progressives” have come to the aid of Hamas under the guise of protecting the Palestinians. They have protested in rallies with the pro-Palestinians groups condemning Israel and calling for a cease fire – which would only serve to save Hamas from the Israelis’ vengeance. At many of the rallies, some have carried swastikas. Previously, when white supremacists would brandish swastikas, the press was full of pictures and talking heads on CNN and MSNBC who would literally go crazy. Now that the anti-Israeli student organizations and groups are waving swastikas and calling for the elimination of Israel itself – the chant from river to sea –  criticism from the media is totally absent. AOC, the Squad, the Democratic Socialists of America and Antifa have more in common with the Aryan Brotherhood and the American Nazi Party than they want to admit. 

The rift amongst the Democrats showed in the vote in the House to support Israel and condemn Hamas. The vote was 410-10-6. Nine of the no votes were all the usual suspects: Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush, Jamaal Bowman, Andre Carson, Al Green, Summer Lee, AOC, Ilhan Omar and Delia Ramirez. Some were totally disingenuous when they said they opposed the resolution because it did not mention a two-state solution. Either they are ignorant or think that we are because the Palestinians themselves reject the two state solution. All 15 were members of the progressive caucus. Fifteen of the 16 are “people of color”. The other nay vote was from Thomas Massie (R-KY) who supported Israel but voted no because he craves publicity.

The divisions in the Democrats came front and center when Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) said “Last night, 15 of my Democratic colleagues votes against standing with our ally Israel and condemning Hamas terrorists who brutally murdered, raped and kidnapped babies, children, men, women and elderly, including Americans. They are despicable and do not speak for our party.” This provoked one of the “Hamas Caucus” Andre Carson (D-IN) to call Gottheimer a punk. Do you think reconciliation is possible between these two. Moreover, Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) said “someone who votes against this doesn’t have a soul.” 

The anti-Israelis in the Democratic party are not limited to the Congress. In North Carolina, a resolution passed unanimously only because the Democratic members walked out before the vote. Jewish legislators see this and have been critical of their “progressive” colleagues. Many comments are scathing. One wonders what is being said in private. Why are the majority of Jews Democrats when Israel’s most vocal critics tend to be on the left? I have not heard of a single Republican coming to the defense of Hamas. Some like Lindsay Graham favor bombing Hamas. But then again, Lindsay Graham is in favor of bombing everyone. 

Even the far left is splintering as one of the leaders of the Democratic Socialists of America has resigned over that organization’s support of Hamas. Expect the Jews to scale back their financial support of Democrats and splinter the legislative caucuses. Perhaps the anti-Israeli faction will leave the party and create their own political party. Omar, Tlaib, Pressley, Bowman and AOC would likely be more comfortable in a party than in one with Steve Cohen and Chuck Schumer. Let’s call it the Progressive party.

It is likely that the Conservative Party would siphon off 20 percent of the Republicans and the Progressive party would garner 20 percent of the Democrats. That would give us four parties with enough supporters to influence elections and could lead to a coalition government. Those governments make for strange bedfellows. Just look at Europe.

November 23, 2023

Happy Thanksgiving: The Pilgrims were socialists and almost starved to death.

I believe that merchants look at my credit card purchases to decide what to quit stocking.

Did you watch the third Republican debate? Me neither.

Every democrat in the Senate voted against the $14.3 billion to Israel that was to come out of the crazy funding bill for the IRS.

Jews make up only 2 percent of the population but suffer 60 percent of the hate crimes. Yet the media basically ignores this in favor of hate crimes against blacks and searches high and low for Islamophobia.

I was talking to a close friend who while defending the right of Israel to defend itself was critical of the civilian casualty figures in Gaza. I told him that I did not believe the figures coming out of either side and it was interesting that he and the media had blindly parroted the figures given by Hamas. 

Hamas is saying that the majority of those killed are women and children. I rather doubt that. But the world has apparently forgotten the Israeli women and children killed.

The god of the Jews is the god of the Old Testament. Eye for an eye. Tooth for a tooth. Vengeance is mine saith the lord.

The god of modern western civilization is the god of the New Testament. That god is a more whimpy god.

Is either Muslim or Zionist right?

The radical Islamists quote the Koran to justify their hatred of infidels. The Zionists quote the Talmud to justify their hatred of Muslims who hate the Jews. It is akin to the confederates justifying slavery by quoting the Bible while the abolitionists quoted the same Bible.

It has always puzzled me why American blacks adopted the religion of the slavers.

I don’t particularly care for country music. But at a Georgia game they played The Zac Brown Band’s “Chicken Fried” during a break. It resonated with me as did Jason Alden’s “Don’t try that in a small town.”

I did not see any reporting of pro-Hamas demonstrations on southern campuses. Are the antisemites only in the northeast?

I saw no pro-Hamas business school or engineering school students interviewed. Nor professors. Only in the “humanities”.

During a radio interview, I was asked why so many students now looked favorably on socialism. The answer is simple. They have never had to work for a living – and neither had their leftist professors.

Want to solve poverty? Its really simple. Finish high school, get a job, get married and have babies. In that order. Less than 5% are poor. Deviate and your chances to be poor skyrocket.

Are progressives ever positive?

DEI stands for diversity, equity and inclusion (except for Jews and Asians). Ever wonder why its “equity” and not “equality”?

The news yesterday was all breathless about a terrorist attack in upstate New York. The coverage went on and on and was never ending. Then they found out it was not a terrorist attack. Never mind.

Do you believe in God?

I saw a woman wearing a t-shirt that said “The Bible said it. I believe it.” Does she believe every word? If so, how does she manage that?

How many religions are there in the world. There are the “main” ones: Christianity (Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestantism) Judaism (Orthodox, Reform, Hasidic), Buddhism, Islam (Sunni and Shia) and Hinduism (Jainism and Sikhism). There are all the East Asian ones: Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto). Then there are all the cults, folk religions and various other ones. I presume that each considers theirs as the only truth and all the others are heretics, infidels or worse. Which are correct? I believe that they all are.

November 22, 2023

Finding your DNA roots is proving interesting. It used to be that the racists said that if you had a drop of African blood you were black. Well a dear friend of mine is white but she found via the 1870 census that her great great great grandmother is listed as mulatto yet she still considers herself as white. On a hunting trip with a father and son, they found that their DNA listed them as one percent African. They joked about it and still consider themselves as white, not black. I am one percent Native American – presumably Cherokee – but am still black. I wonder why if all these other people have African blood, why aren’t they not African-American? Obviously they are not or else they would be able to dance much better than they can right now.

So who is really African-American? I don’t use the term for myself even though I am 50 percent African. If I go to Togo, Benin or the Congo, none of the residents look vaguely like me. No one is going to come up to me and say welcome home my brother in whatever language they speak. We blacks in America are a unique race, having been thoroughly mixed up. I have 10 distinct DNA strains. My mother was 32 percent British but never claimed that nationality. In fact the term African-American was first used by racists at emancipation to denigrate the newly minted black citizens as being a lesser American. Isn’t it interesting that we have adopted the same term? 

When the term “black” was first used in the civil rights era my father refused to call himself that. In those days, the terms “Negro” and “colored” were used. My Dad used to say “well what are we calling ourselves this week? The term black then denoted something that was not positive. He finally came around to using “black”. I find African-American as ignoring all the other DNA strains. I guess I am a Mongrel-American but that term will never get traction.

A friend of mine said that for him African-American denoted all of us who have African roots and whose ancestors were enslaved. So I guess that excludes all blacks who were not the product of slavery. What of the blacks who came as indentured servants and were never slaves? Are they African-Americans too? What about the black immigrants? Are they African-Americans?

What all this means is that the one drop of blood no longer defines what is an African-American but neither does slavery. What are we and what should we call ourselves? The term African-American is a cop-out and is the product of intellectual laziness. Yet it is convenient. I will still use the term black but I am a dying breed.

What do you call yourself? I know Italian-Americans, Greek-Americans, Asian-Americans, Native Americans and other hyphenated Americans. Yet few if any are “pure”. They claim the dominate DNA gene. One person I know mother’s side came from Italy and his father’s side came from Poland. What is he? His last name is Polish but he doesn’t consider himself a Polish-American. He actually says he has closer ties to his mother’s side of the family yet he doesn’t say he is Italian-American. This country has been truly a melting pot and perhaps one day all this racial distinction will fade and we will all recognize ourselves as a mixed breed. Obama had an African father and a white mother. Is he mixed race? Tiger Woods has a Thai mother and a black father. Is he mixed race? What about the rest of us? American-Americans anyone?

Knoxville Focus

knoxfocus.com

November 20, 2023

I read that if the US transitioned over night to all electric motor vehicles, the impact would be at most a 12 percent reduction of the earth’s carbon emissions. It would actually be much less given the negative environmental impacts of electric vehicles which may be more damaging to the environment than internal combustion engines (ICE). If true, then the war that the Biden Administration has been conducting on automobiles, fossil fuels, small engines, leaf blowers, weed eaters, gas furnaces, wood fired ovens, light bulbs and all the rest will have a negligible effect on the environment. So to quote Stevie Wonder “What the Fuss?” 

There is a large scientific literature – mostly suppressed – that finds that the world is not in imminent danger from changes in the climate. Many prominent scientific journals will not publish these studies and many funding sources will not fund research contrary to the climate change narrative. Since researchers are driven to publish for success and to acquire funding, they are motivated to cheat and falsify their findings in order to achieve the “correct” results. It has been reported elsewhere that over 60 percent of published empirical results may be compromised. 

Part of the review process for submission to a journal entails peer review. The paper is sent out to one or two experts in the field to opine on the worthiness of publishing. Reviewers are apt to reject even a well reasoned paper if the results fall contrary to what the reviewer believes. I have encountered this with several papers and ended up submitting to other journals in hopes of finding a sympathetic reviewer. Biases exist. I rejected a paper solely on the basis that the although the author had cited several of my papers, my name appeared in the references as African-American, Harold A. I kid you not.

These falsifications are not merely of young assistant professors struggling to publish in the top journals to achieve tenure and promotion. It is also the most eminent scientists in the country. The climate director at Berkeley altered results in order to get a paper published. The president of Stanford recently resigned accused of falsifying data. Plagiarism has always been rife within academics (as well as politics, see Joe Biden). 

The false reporting by scientists and other researchers and the rejection of contrary narratives were magnified by COVID. Many of the most cited studies of COVID were found to be false. COVID deaths were inflated. Dubious models predicted the end of the world and led governments to shut down the economy, force vaccinations and masks on the public. Papers that questioned these models were refused publication and labelled “misinformation.”

I have conducted empirical research over a 40 year period. During that time, I have been an expert witness in cases where statistics are used by both sides to “prove” their arguments. Often I was on the opposite side of the government. Invariably, the government’s experts used incorrect models, or data, or statistical models to generate results favorable to the government. When I produced evidence demonstrating that my models, methods, data, et. al were more plausible, my side prevailed. We did not lose a single case to the government.

I have come to the point where I don’t necessarily believe what scientists purport to find unless I – or some disinterested third party – can corroborate the findings. I do not believe the CDC’s pronouncements or that from any agency in the current administration. Biden and his minions lie to us with a straight face, i.e., “the border is secure.” They know they are lying. We know they are lying. They know that we know that they are lying. But they do it anyway and their apologists simply make excuses.

I am not alone. Trust in the government is low perhaps because the public knows their officials are lying. It is becoming evident that the climate “crisis” may not be a real crisis and may be manufactured in order for governments to manipulate their constituents and exert control over them. Many businesses and individuals have become rich promoting their “inconvenient facts” about the climate and have their useful idiots who block highways, deface priceless art and spike trees. A recent study of glacial ice finds that from a historical standpoint, the planet is not warming. It is warming only from a particular point in recent history and still well below what has been the norm for the planet.

I’ve always said “Prove me wrong. If you do, I will adopt your view.” So my challenge to the environmental doom-and-gloomers, show me your evidence. Show me your models. Show me your data.

Knoxville Focus

Knoxfocus.com

November 13, 2023

Hamas committed an unspeakable evil. It targeted defenseless civilians for extermination. How anyone regardless of their feelings toward Israel could sympathize with this barbaric act is beyond me. Israel seems intent on destroying northern Gaza and to that end is forcing its 1 million Palestinians to evacuate to southern Gaza. What is striking is that Egypt and Jordan have closed their borders to the Palestinians. Lebanon and Iran haven’t opened their borders to them either. In fact, the only ones who want to accept refugees are members of the Squad and their fellow Democrats. If Muslim nations do not want Palestinian refugees, then neither should we.

In retrospect the Israelis were incredibly stupid. Israel has tough gun control laws. Less than 2 percent of Israelis are permitted to have guns. It would seem that all Israelis should have guns and that gun ownership should be mandatory in the settlements that are close to Gaza and Lebanon to counter Hamas and Hezbollah. Apparently, the Israelis thought that their military could respond quickly to any threat and protect their citizenry. They were wrong. Why they didn’t have armed security at the music festival is beyond me. They need to rethink the security of their citizens who live so close to those that want to kill them. The only reason for such strict gun control is that they must fear their Muslim citizens. This is akin to the gun control laws in the deep south that were enacted to prevent blacks from owning guns.

Those who hate Israel often refer to it as an apartheid state. Those who try to counter the charges are wasting their time and the name callers should be ignored. Defenders of Israel point to its Muslim citizens having the vote and being in the Knesset. However, Israeli actions on the West Bank are akin to apartheid. Nevertheless, all the Muslim countries in the Middle East practice apartheid themselves. All restrict the actions and liberties of non-Muslims and discriminate against them. They also restrict women’s rights, persecute Christians and non-Muslims and are uniformly intolerant to the LBGTQ. Why aren’t they called apartheid too?

One thing is certain. As the war progresses people will forget the atrocities that caused it and will turn against the Israelis as the progressive Western press will blame Israel for the suffering of the Palestinians. Hopefully, Israel will ignore all noise and do what it considers best in order to survive.

The Palestinians resoundingly reject Biden’s suggestion of a two state solution. Rather they and their supporters call for a Palestine “from river to sea.” This is the land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea. Here Israel is situated meaning the Palestinians want to erase Israel. These are the Palestinian homelands. But these are also the Jewish homelands and the Jews have words from the Old Testament to justify their claim. Exodus 23:31 says “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River. I will hand over to you the people who live in the land and you will drive them out before you.” This was literally done and created both the modern state of Israel and its eternal enemies.

There has never been a Palestinian state. Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire, as was most of the Middle East. After World War I, that territory became administered by Britain. The Brits led by Winston Churchill subsequently divided the territory into nations and established Israel. Although the Palestinians did not have a nation, there were over 500 villages and 600,000 residents living in the territory that had to be either relocated or absorbed into the new nation of Israel. In many cases, the removal of the residents by force was not peaceful and in some cases tragic. The worse instance was in the village of Deir Yassin where Zionist paramilitary groups killed (some say massacred) men, women and children Palestinians. I had a Palestinian MBA student whose family survived the massacre and called it Palestine’s Wounded Knee. In fact, the removal and displacement of the Palestinians is akin to that of the American Indians. It is a miracle that we do not have Native American terrorists killing whites and demanding the return of their Homelands.

Israel now exists and will continue to exist. The Jews who fled Europe have created a miracle in the desert. They have taken barren desert and transformed it into a vibrant dynamic economy that is as rich in human capital and ingenuity as it is empty in natural resources. However, with both Palestinians and Israelis claiming the same land and evoking the same god, peaceful coexistence will be an eternal challenge. 

Its no secret that I love baseball. Now that Shohei Ohtani has rejected his qualifying offer, he is reputed set to receive a record free agent contract. A qualifying offer is made to free agents by their current team. A qualifying offer is the average of the top 125 contracts by annual value. This year that figure is $20,325,000. Ohtani was one of 7 who rejected their offers. The others were Cody Bellinger (who is rumored to go to the Yankees), Josh Hader, Blake Snell (who may win the Cy Young in the National League), Aaron Nola (who is from New Orleans!), Sonny Gray and Matt Chapman. Gray and Chapman were surprises to me. I would have taken the money.

I really like Ohtani. He will win another American League MVP. If he pitched full time he would win the Cy Young. If he DH’ed full time he would win the Triple Crown. But doing both has resulted in his getting hurt too often. But he is worth the price of admission. We go to St Petersburg and camp for a week and go to two Rays’ games when the Angels come to visit. Ohtani will likely get a guaranteed contract in excess of $60 million a year. The question is how many years. Naturally the Yankees are listed as a possible suitor. But they should know better. They got GianCarlo Stanton in free agency from the Marlins. Stanton has been a bust mainly because of his frail health. He was awful last year batting .191 with 24 home runs. The Yankees may waive him but are on the hook for the $94 million remaining on his contract.

Currently the richest contract in the majors is Ohtani’s teammate Mike Trout. Yet with Ohtani, Trout and a former high priced free agent in Antony Rendon the Angels have never made the playoffs. That got me to wondering if these free agents are worth the money. I know you will say the Texas Rangers who paid dearly for Jacob deGrom, Corey Seager and Matt Scherzer. But deGrom was hurt all year and Scherzer came via trade late. But Corey Seager may have been worth the $325 million. He has been a consistent all star, won the World Series with the Dodgers and Rangers and was MVP in both. Nevertheless, the Rangers are a collection of no names. The same is true of the Tampa Bay Rays who have of late out performed the high priced Yankees and Red Sox in their division despite having very little fan support and one of the lowest payrolls in baseball.

All this leads me to wonder if the team with the highest payroll ever won the World Series. The answer is yes. The Yankees in 2009 and the Red Sox in 2018. I was surprised that the Dodgers were not on that list when they won the World Series in 2020. They had Mookie Betts and Clayton Kershaw but were second in payroll to the Yankees. Corey Seager was MVP was paid “only” $13.75 million. So expect Ohtani to get record bucks, be a huge attraction and win MVPs. But don’t expect his team to win the World Series.

Harold A Black

I am not an expert on immigration. But neither are the vast majority of our politicians who are expected to enact laws on immigration. There are some common sense (to me) actions that would address the problem of the massive movement of illegals to our southern border. One of my friends asked me how would I deal with the crisis. Here are my ideas. Please tell me where I am wrong and how to fix it.

Suggestions on illegal immigration:

Provide pathway to citizenship to the “Dreamers”

End citizenship for children born in the country to noncitizens

Require work permits for all able bodied adults

Deport those without work permits

Deport “got-aways”

Provide an easier pathway to citizenship to legal immigrants

Provide financial support to communities on the border

Require visas for entry at border (obtained through US Embassies or consulates)

Return all unaccompanied minors to their home country

Reinstitute ICE removals

Tie aid to foreign countries to assistance with illegals migrating from those countries

Reinstitute remain in Mexico policy

End catch and release and replace it with catch and deport

End the hearings where illegals are held in detention for 20 days and then released with a hearing date

Require those with visas and work permits to renew or be deported

I know that some will say that this will result in profiling where those who look foreign will be required to prove that they are legal, resulting in harassment of Latinos and people of color. It will be akin to my being pulled over for driving while black (DWB). I admit this bothers me but the alternative bothers me more.

By the way, the photo was taken by me in during a hunting trip to Eagle Pass, TX

A reader of my column in the Knoxville Focus (knoxfocus.com) asked me to cite Biden’s failures. I told him that if he had to ask, then there was no use for me to cite them. He insisted and said that I might be able to convince him. Again I told him that I didn’t consider it my duty to convince anyone of anything. What I have found is that those things that I consider a failure, those on the left consider it a success. But here goes.

Afghanistan pullout

Afghan aid

Iran nuclear deal

Iran blackmail dollars

Paris Accord

Foreign policy

Domestic policy

Incompetent cabinet

Keystone pipeline

Woke military

Illegals

Green new deal

Spending

Inflation

Economy

Bidenomics

Woke administrative state

Weaponization of DoJ

School trans policy

COVID 19 tyranny

Energy dependence

Federal debt

“Gender affirming” care

Gaffes and Blunders (too numerous to list)

Most divisive president since Abraham Lincoln

Did I leave anything out?