Author: haroldblackphd

November 8, 2023

I am going on my annual deer hunting trip to Eagle Pass, TX, the epicenter of the illegal crisis. Seemingly every night Fox News has a report from there. I wonder why they only interview white ranchers. Even though the rancher where I hunt is at his wits end, the people most severely impacted are the residents of Eagle Pass whose town is inundated with illegals. Most of the residents are Hispanic as are the town officials. Why Fox doesn’t interview ordinary citizens is beyond me. Las year while sitting in a shooting tower, we saw two groups of illegals walking through the ranch all wearing backpacks and looking at their cell phones. In addition to hunting deer, I guess I’ll wave at them as they stroll by. At last count the border patrol had apprehended “migrants” from 160 countries. Mind you there are only 195 countries in the world. There are over 40,000 from India along with those from China, the Middle East and who knows where.

I don’t understand the Taylor Swift phenomena. Sure she is cute but I have yet to get past her videos.

Why is it that all the burglars on the security commercials are white males?

Previously the anti-Israel crowd claimed that it was not anti-Semitic. It supposedly was against the Israeli occupation of Palestine denying the Palestinians access to their homelands. Of course, the same ground is the homelands of Israel too. The attacks on Jews in this country and others puts a lie to the claim of not being anti-Semitic. It is pitiful to hear the Biden folks warn against Islamophobia when the attacks on Jews are tenfold that on Muslims.

The news coverage of pro-Hamas demonstrations on college campuses makes it appear that most students are anti-Semitic. I wonder if that is true. It seems that all the quotes are from professors in the humanities. What about the professors of business and engineering? I wonder how many business and engineering students are in the protests.

I applaud Brandeis University for expelling the radical Jewish hate group Students for Justice in Palestine from its campus. Florida has done the same. I wish more universities had the guts to follow suit. Imagine what would be the consequences of another student group using the same rhetoric against blacks. I am waiting with baited breath for the SPLC to label Students for Justice in Palestine a hate group.

The Deep State has reared its head in the Israel-Hamas war. Civil servants in high places in the Federal government are criticizing Biden for supporting aid and arms to Israel. We know that the Deep State worked to thwart Trump when he was in office. Now it is doing the same with Biden. Something has to be done about this. Civil servants should be agenda free carrying out the wishes of their bosses. You always hear about term limits for politicians. What about term limits for civil servants?

As I have noted before, Israel is creating a schism in the Democrat party. Yet all those that I have seen interviewed who are members of the Hamas Caucus at the state and federal level are all politicians of color. Aren’t there some white progressives who hate Isreal too?

We were at the Georgia – Missouri game and for the first time in four years were able to sit with my granddaughter who is a graduating senior at Georgia. She is a recruiting specialist and at every home game is with the recruits. She was able to be excused during this game to come sit with us in the Terry College’s box. My thanks to the Dean for making this happen. It was great. I am proud of her achievements at UGA and look forward to being her commencement speaker December 15.

Knoxville Focus

knoxfocus.com

November 6, 2023

I am suffering from Trump Fatigue Syndrome (TFS).

Trump dominates the news. When he was president 92 percent of the media coverage of him was negative. Amazingly – but not surprising – Biden has received less negative media coverage than any president on record. Who was it that said that the legacy media was the PR arm of the democrat party?

There is a new COVID variant afoot. The CDC and the media are already starting to raise the possibility of masks and mandatory vaccinations. I thought this was the “my body my choice” crowd?

Trump has a video in which he says “The left-wing lunatics are trying very hard to bring back COVID lockdowns and mandates with all of their sudden fearmongering about the new variants that are coming.” “But to every COVID tyrant who wants to take away our freedom, hear these words: We will not comply, so don’t even think about it. We will not shut down our schools. We will not accept your lockdowns. We will not abide by your mask mandates, and we will not tolerate your vaccine mandates.” 

I guess that he forgot that he was the first to impose mandates that shut the economy down, issued mask mandates and closed the schools. Remember flattening the curve? Remember 15 days to stop the spread? That was Trump. Remember Operation Warp Speed and the rush to produce mRNA experimental vaccines that indemnified Big Pharma? That was Trump. 

I don’t blame Trump for his initial response with all the fear mongering from Fauci, the CDC and all the models predicting the end of the world. But Fauci and the CDC were lying and the models were bogus. I do blame Trump for shutting down small businesses while allowing the giants to remain open leading to thousands of small business failure. I do blame Trump for not pivoting when the evidence came in showing the folly of masks and vaccines for less vulnerable groups. Masking and vaccinating children are akin to child abuse. Those who are most vulnerable should be protected and the rest of us left alone. For the vast majority of us, COVID is a bad cold or the flu and we don’t shut down and mask for either even though 50,000 die from the flu yearly.

The vaccines have come with serious adverse effects. I have two otherwise healthy friends who almost died from the Moderna vaccine. There were also adverse reactions to the Pfizer/AstraZeneca vaccine with myocarditis and pericarditis risks. It just stands to reason that if Big Pharma is indemnified then they would be less careful in the production of the drug.

It’s no wonder that the new booster is sitting on the shelves gathering dust. I don’t know anyone who has gotten it. Do you?

Biden is so bad that he has made Trump look good. We tend to forget Trump’s inability to govern and his disastrous cabinet appointments. He pledged to end the administrative state and reform the Civil Service. He did neither. Instead he wasted his time on trying to “repeal and replace” Obamacare. That was a mistake. The two should have been separate. The first should be to repeal and then introduce an act to replace. The effort failed due to the one vote of John McCain who likely voted “no” simply because he hated Trump. Now Obamacare with all its warts is imbedded and will never be repealed.

Trump also ranted and raved about NAFTA claiming that it was the worse trade deal ever. Studies had shown that those states most adversely affected by NAFTA actually had positive gains in employment post NAFTA. But facts don’t matter in politics. So Trump and his people worked for countless hours to replace NAFTA with USMCA – the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Rolls right off the tongue. Close scrutiny shows that there is not much difference in the two despite the rhetoric.  

But Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices, made America energy independent and stemmed the flow of illegals crossing the southern border. He also reduced the regulatory burden on Americans. Those positives mean four more years of Trump will be better for the country than four more years of Biden who seems intent on destroying the economy.

I am a baseball fan. When the NFL and MLB seasons overlap I invariably watch baseball. I find the NFL boring while most find baseball boring. Yet this year I did not watch a single inning of the World Series. Neither did many others making this World Series one of the least watched in history. However, I was glad that the Texas Rangers won. They are the only MLB team that does not have a “Pride” night. That was enough for me to buy a Rangers cap.

The new speaker is causing much consternation among the left. They hate him. He would be wise to ignore all their criticism and follow his own muse. As expected, the Israel support bill coming out of the House did not contain funding for the Ukraine. What was unexpected is that the bill did not include new funding, rather the $14 b was drawn from the ludicrous $80 b slated to go to the IRS in the likewise ludicrous “Inflation Reduction” Act. The Senate Democrats howled and said the bill was dead on arrival. Mitch McConnell was not apparently happy either. Good. Although I thank McConnell for not allowing the hack attorney general Merrick Garland a seat on the Supreme Court, he has been too much of an establishment Republican for my taste. You know the type: content with the status quo, big spender but not as big as the Democrats. 

McConnell and the establishment Republicans act as if they want the approval of the mainstream media. Right now the media hates Mike Johnson. I hope he does not try to curry their favor. Let’s hope he sees their criticism as evidence that he is doing a good job.

Empirical research has been always suspect but never more so than now. Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases handed out over $45 b in research grants with some institutions receiving over $300 m a year. It should not be surprising that the recipients of the grants seldom produced results that ran afoul of Fauci. ”Research” supported Fauci’s claim that COVID did not come from the Wuhan lab, even though that made the most sense. The Center for Disease Control was in lock step with Fauci and its woeful director Rochelle Walensky was embarrassing. The result being that few people believed her utterances and fewer belied the results of their reported “research” results. Not surprisingly, the new COVID boosters are sitting on the shelves.

The Southern Poverty and Law Center brands organizations as hate groups and brands conservative groups with the label. So the Alliance Defending Freedom where Johnson was an attorney is labelled a “hate group”. Why? Because it is an anti LGBTQ advocacy group and is anti-abortion. The SPLC also brands Moms for Liberty as a hate group for their opposition to imposing LBGTQ, critical race theory and transgender curricula in public schools. However, the SPLC does not list Antifa as a hate group. Go figure.

The anti-Israel, pro-Hamas, demonstrations on and off college campuses are clearly anti-Semitic. Why else would Jews be targeted by the demonstrators and attacked? Why else are Jewish businesses attacked?  That the left is anti-Israel and labelled it an apartheid state is puzzling. Is Israel practicing apartheid within is borders? Are its Muslim citizens second-class? Apparently not. Yet Israel’s actions in the West Bank are clearly apartheid-like. Nonetheless, all of Israel’s Muslim neighbors are clearly apartheid states. They do not tolerate LGBTQ. They do not tolerate other religions and are clearly racist. Yet the progressives would rather support the Muslims over Israel. Why? The only reason that I can figure is that it is racial. The Israelis are being portrayed as the white oppressor of brown people.

Automobile manufacturers in the US and Europe are scaling back their production of EVs. The majority of the public would rather not have them. The initial sales spurts are over. The save the world crowd has gotten their EVs and the rest of us are buying the gasoline/diesel vehicles. The only way to get EVs widely purchased is to mandate them and ban internal combustion engines. Europe has moved in that direction as have California and other states. Biden’s new fleet milage requirements can only be met by EVs. This will lead to increased demand for used cars. The question is whether people will rebel and vote out the greenies.

EVs are evidence of Harold Black’s Laws 4-7.

4. If something fails the market test and exists only because of the government, it is bad.
5. If it is mandated it is bad.
6. If it is subsidized, it is bad.
7. If it is protected, it is bad.

The Republican caucus is a mess. Unlike the Democrats who seem to be able to vote unanimously on most issues despite some ideological differences, the Republicans have difficulty getting their act together. Being Speaker for them is like trying to herd cats. Contrast what the Republicans were doing with the relative ease that Hakeem Jeffries was voted in as minority leader, replacing Nancy Pelosi. Although Pelosi was an anathema to most Republicans, she was the unchallenged leader of the House Democrats. When she was challenged in her congressional races, it was always from the left who asserted that she was too moderate and not progressive enough. Yet she was elected to Speaker unanimously by the Democrats. Jeffries is in the same mold. Although many on the right try to paint him as a socialist, in fact he is anything but. By New York standards he is a “moderate” and actively campaigns against candidates of the Democratic Socialists of America. He would like nothing better than the socialists to lose in state races and in particular in races for the House. It is clear that he does not care for Jamaal Bowman and would like to see him defeated. I have written previously of how the Democrats could enact certain parts of their agenda even with the House Republican majority. All it would take would be seven defections from the Republicans and a unanimous Democrat vote. Thank goodness the Republicans finally elected a speaker, Mike Johnson of Louisiana. Who? Mike Johnson. Perhaps Johnson was the beneficiary of fatigue and exasperation, but finally we have a speaker. None to soon. The world is blowing up, the government shutdown is looming and the image in my mind is Nero playing his fiddle while Rome burns.

As expected, the Democrats and their allies have taken out the sharp knives to go after Johnson, instantly labelling him as the MAGA speaker. They have attacked his devout Christianity, his stand against abortion, against gay marriage and the administration’s trans policies. He was a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund defending conservative Christian interests. The ADF has been branded as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is becoming a badge of honor.

Johnson is a devout Christian with solid conservative credentials. He voted for McCarthy. He did not join Gaetz’ gang to ouster McCarthy. But he voted against the Ukrainian supplemental appropriations bill and supported the Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn the Trump defeats in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Johnson also voted for the resolution to impeach Joe Biden and is an advocate for single appropriations bills rather than the omnibus bills of Nancy Pelosi that no one had the time to read. Remember “We will find out what is in the bill after we pass it?” No wonder Trump endorsed him – but of course he also endorsed McCarthy. What will be interesting is that Johnson has only been in his fourth term making him one of the least experienced speakers in history. Hopefully he can successfully herd cats.

At least the Republicans tired of as my mother would say “making a fool out of themselves” and elected a speaker. It will be interesting to see what comes out of the House, especially with regards to the Federal budget. Expect any bill not to be passed by the Senate. Instead, the bills will go to conference to find a compromise. In the past, compromise mean Republican surrender. I have the feeling that with Johnson, it will be a true compromise. However, expect the Democrats to test him and maybe even force a government “shutdown” thinking that the Republicans will fold given the pressure from the Democrats’ allies in the media.

October 24, 2023

Current events have opened up differences that pose existential threats to both the Republican and Democrat parties. For the Republicans the inability to coalesce around a Speaker has exposed pure venom being directed at the eight who toppled Kevin McCarthy. But there has been considerable friction caused by Republican members of the Freedom Caucus who oppose continued funding for the Ukraine. There is some pushback in the Senate but it is minor compared to what is coming out of the House. 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 likely outcome is for the Freedom Caucus and its supporters of Donald Trump to splinter off into a new party. 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 save Hamas from the Israelis’ vengeance. At many of the rallies, some have carried swastikas. Previously, when white supremacists would rally and brandish swastikas, the press was full of pictures and talking heads on CNN and MSNBC who literally go crazy. Now that the antiIstraeli student organizations and groups are waving swastikas and calling for the elimination of Israel itself – the chant from river to sea – the criticism from the media is totally absent and the silence is deafening. Maybe 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 anti-Israelis in the Democratic party are not limited to the Congress. At many state legislators, Democrat members refused to support resolutions supporting Israel. In North Carolina, a resolution passed unanimously only because the Democratic members walked out before the vote. Jewish legislators see this. Steve Cohen of Memphis has appeared in the media more in the past three weeks than he has in his previous15 years in the Congress. Other Jewish legislators on the state level have been critical of their “progressive” colleagues. Many comments are scathing. One wonders what is being said in private? I have previously wondered why the majority of Jews are Democrats when Israel’s most vocal critics tend to be on the left. 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. It seems reasonable that if the Democrats do not censure these members, that the Jews will scale back their support financially and splinter the legislative caucuses. Perhaps the antiIsraeli faction leave the party and create their own political party. Omar, Tlaib, Pressley, Bowman and AOC would likely be more comfortable in another party than in one with Steve Cohen and Chuck Schumer. Let’s call it the Progressive party.

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 many European governments.

Knoxville Focus

knoxfocus.com

October 23, 2023

Of course it won’t happen but suppose everyone decided to follow the lead of John Fetterman and dress casually? Fetterman if you don’t know is a senator from Pennsylvania who seldom wears suits and ties. Rather he favors hoodies and shorts. Since senate rules barred anyone from the chambers who was not dressed appropriately, Fetterman would stand outside the doors to vote. For some reason unbeknownst to us all the senate majority leader waived the dress code for senators. I guess that no vote was needed. Mind you everyone else still had to adhere to dressing professionally. I can’t figure out why Schumer capitulated to allow Fetterman to come into the senate chambers dressed like a slob. The democrats own a 51-49 majority thanks to the republicans blowing the last election, so Schumer didn’t need Fetterman’s vote. Yet he is now for allowing him to wear his hoodies and shorts on the senate floor. Of course, if Fetterman were a Republican Schumer would have never changed policy. Susan Collins remarked that she could now wear a bikini if she wanted. Thank goodness she will spare us of that horrid sight. Surprisingly, some democrat senators have objected. Not surprisingly, one of them is Joe Manchin. Surprisingly, one is Dick Durbin. Under pressure from both some Democrats and all Republicans, the Senate formally adopted a dress code mandating coat and tie for its male members. Women were not mentioned in the resolution.

At first I thought it was of little importance as to what Fetterman wanted to wear. But I changed my mind. Some have pointed out that this is another example of the coarsening of America and the lowering of standards. They are right. Suppose everyone decided to dress slovenly and all of our elected officials and bureaucrats wore hoodies and shorts or worse. Would they govern even worse than they do now? That is a frightening thought. My parents bemoaned the loosening of the dress code for teachers. They contended that when standards regarding dress were lowered so went academic standards and respect for the teachers. They didn’t object as much to wearing a nice shirt and pants but not hoodies, shorts and sneakers. They also bemoaned the change in the churches. No longer did one have to wear their Sunday best to church. I remember growing up in a Baptist church in Atlanta where the men wore coat and tie and the women looked splendid in their dresses, heels and hats. In the winter I remarked while looking over the congregation that the mink population had been severely reduced given all the women’s fur coats. I loved going to church probably more to look good and to feel good than for any other reason. Now even our southern Baptist churches have gone casual and I wonder if the spirit moves less because of it.

I admit guilt. Once I wore coat and tie to teach in. Then one day I rode a motorcycle to work. I showed up in all leather. When I first did that as a young assistant professor it was a wonder I didn’t get fired. It was obvious that my colleagues did not approve. However, I had the best classes ever. After the students got over their initial shock, they were livelier and more participatory. I never wore suit and tie again. Of course my parents objected profusely stating that the students would respect me less if I looked like one of them rather than one who “dressed right.” They were right if I showed up in a hoodie and shorts (naturally being black if I wore a hoodie and shorts I would be labelled a thug). However, shirts and slacks might be appropriate dress for teachers but not for senators. But as Deion Sanders aka Coach Prime so eloquently puts it, “If you dress good, you look good. If you look good, you play good. If you play good, they pay good!” So dress appropriately.

The Republicans can’t elect a speaker and they keep making things worse. There was no possible way for Jim Jordan to be speaker and I was puzzled that he would try. Jordan has been a non productive member of Congress for 16 years with a dismal legislative record. He is famous for yelling at people and does not build coalitions. In his quest for speakership, he had his minions actually threatened members of Congress and their families. Such shameful and despicable behavior should not be rewarded. It would be akin to the Democrats nominating AOC as speaker and even the Democrats are not that dumb. 

I would not vote for Jim Jordan. Although there may be someone in the Congress that could garner 217 votes, that person has not emerged. Even Patrick McHenry whom all sides seem to coalesce around to be interim speaker has come under scathing criticism from the far right. I know how to solve the problem. There are two people that come to mind that would make an excellent speaker – if they wanted the job: Newt Gingrich and Phil Gramm. Both are super smart, ex-professors, superb legislators with solid records, and have emeritus status in the Republican party. So come on Republicans, think out of the box for a change and nominate Gingrich or Gramm!

October 18, 2023

The Republican caucus is a mess. Unlike the Democrats who seem to be able to vote unanimously on most issues despite some ideological differences, the Republicans cannot get their act together. Being Speaker for them is like trying to herd cats. Contrast what the Republicans are now doing with the relative ease that Hakeem Jeffries was voted in as minority leader, replacing Nancy Pelosi. Although Pelosi was an anathema to most Republicans, she was the unchallenged leader of the House Democrats. When she was challenged in her congressional races, it was always from the leftwho asserted that she was too moderate and not progressive enough! Jeffries is in the same mold. Although many on the right try to paint him as a socialist, in fact he is anything but. In New York, he has endorsed “moderate” democrats and encouraged them to run against those in the Democratic Socialists of America. He would like nothing better than the socialists to lose in state races and in particular in races for the House. It is clear that he does not care for Jamaal Bowman and would like to see him defeated. I have written previously of how the Democrats could enact certain parts of their agenda even with the Republican majority. All it would take would be seven defections from the Republicans and a unanimous Democrat vote. Given the mess in the Republican caucus I would not be shocked if Jeffries were made Speaker! Again if the Republicans are hopelessly divided, then a few defections would make Jeffries Speaker. So it is imperative that the Republicans get their act together and do it soon. The world is blowing up, The government shutdown is looming and the image in my mind is Nero playing his fiddle while Rome burns.

Hamas has 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. In fact, the only ones who want to accept refugees are members of the Squad. If fellow Muslims do not want Palestinian refugees, then neither should we.

If what I have read about Israel and gun control is correct then the Israelis are incredibly stupid. Israel has tough gun control laws. Less than 2 percent of Israelis are permitted to have guns. It would seem to me that all Israelis should have guns and that gun ownership should be mandatory in the settlements and close to the borders of 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 under Jim Crow that were enacted to prevent southern blacks from owning guns.

Those who hate Israel constantly refer to it as an apartheid state. Apartheid is the name for southern Jim Crow laws in South Africa. Calling Israel “apartheid” is a strategic ruse intended to make Israel and its friends to waste time denying the accusation. It is like calling everyone a racist or using the terms like homophobe. 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, if one looks at the Israeli actions on the West Bank, it is clear that their actions there are akin to apartheid. Nevertheless, isn’t it interesting that all the Muslim countries in the Middle East are apartheid themselves? All restrict the actions and liberties of non-Muslims and discriminate against them. Ignoring this is similar to those on the left favoring the Muslim nations which restrict women’s rights, persecute Christians and non-Muslims and are uniformly intolerant to the LBGTQ gang. 

knoxfocus.com

October 16, 2023

My colleagues Congressman Duncan and the publisher of the Focus, Steve Hunley are more qualified to reflect on Tim Burchett’s vote to vacate the Speakership to oust Kevin McCarthy. However, I feel obligated to comment on our congressman’s decision. First off, I consider Tim Burchett a friend. I have voted for him in all his elections. When he was country mayor, he supported my erstwhile futile efforts to get the school superintendent to teach children to read at proficiency levels by changing the teaching method. The superintendent was persuaded to allow me and several retirees to use a computer based program called Funnix in an afterschool program. By the end of the school year all of our “unteachable” kids could read. The result? We were invited not to come back. We were a threat to the teachers even though it was not their fault that they were using a failed method favored by the Education Industrial Complex.

I supported Burchett’s run for Congress. I think he has served us well. He honored me on the House floor by reading into the record the University of Georgia’s naming its new freshman dormitory for me and the two other first black freshmen who entered in the fall 1962. He called me a friend.

But his vote is a head scratcher. It was not needed to oust McCarthy yet he felt necessary to do it. Moreover, the leader of the revolt was Matt Gaetz who is the diametric opposite of Burchett. Gaetz comes across as insincere, bombastic, publicity seeking and totally devoid of ethics and morality. This is the type of person that Burchett would normally run away from as fast as his feet could carry him. Yet he chose to vote with Gaetz and the five others who openly hated McCarthy. Nancy Mace also voted for the ouster. She like Burchett had voted for McCarthy in the 15 ballots necessary for his elevation to Speaker. Yet she and our congressman joined in the junta. What is as disturbing as his voting with Gaetz was that all the Democrats voted in bloc to oust McCarthy. Their vote was a calculation to wreak havoc on the Republican conference demonstrating the Republicans’ inability to govern. They succeeded. That our congressman would vote with AOC, the Squad and all the loony progressives is stunning.  

Nonetheless, the blame for McCarthy’s downfall rests with McCarthy himself. By agreeing that one Republican congressman could call for a motion to vacate sealed his fate. He wanted the job too badly. Gaetz, Andy Biggs, Matt Rosendale, Eli Crane, Ken Buck and Bob Good were poised to pounce at the right time. They obstructed virtually every action that McCarthy tried to take. Crafting bills that would satisfy Gaetz et. al. might pass the House but would be rejected by the Senate and vetoed by Biden. Consequently, a deft touch was needed to get a bill passed, modified in conference with the Senate and sent to Biden for his signature. Gaetz and his gang did not want to pass any bills, opting for a government shutdown instead. Presumably they thought they could force the Democrats to acquiesce and approve bills to lower spending, fund border security and reduce support for Ukraine. I am far removed from Washington but if those were Gaetz’ goals then he is a fool. Tim Burchett is not a fool. He obviously knows something that we don’t. Maybe he disliked McCarthy and feels that a new speaker would succeed where McCarthy failed. He may be correct but his vote aligns him with the Gaetz gang and likely hampers his influence in the Republican caucus going forward. The likelihood of history repeating itself with a new speaker may be tempered by the spectacle associated with McCarthy’s ouster. I certainly hope so, or else the Republican party is doomed to be the minority party for the foreseeable future. Polls show that the majority of Americans favor Republican policies but dislike the Republican party. The recent follies do not discredit that feeling.

Knoxfocus.com

October 9, 2023

Harold A Black

I don’t know Tennessee governor Bill Lee. I voted for him despite his going to Auburn and being a KA (Kappa Alpha fraternity). That fraternity was known for its racism. When I was at Georgia in the early 1960s, the KA house flew the confederate flag and we were told to avoid walking past it. Lee himself is pictured in a confederate uniform in Auburn’s 1980 yearbook. But that was then and hopefully his sentiments are now different. When he was elected, I had high hopes. He was a businessman and not a career politician. I admit that I have paid scant attention to him since he was elected. He has made a rather feeble effort to improve the state’s dismal schools but it seems to be half-hearted. With republican majorities in the state house I would have hoped that the state would be as aggressive as Arkansas in taking on the Education Industrial Complex. Doing so would go a long way in atoning for being an Auburn grad and a KA.

However, one initiative by Gov. Lee is a blight on his record. That is the Ford plant in west Tennessee. The governor likely considers the new Ford plant as a crowning achievement. The state has offered over $800 million in incentives and Ford is building the plant to manufacture the electric F-150. The press release from the governor’s office states that the plant will generate more than 27,000 new jobs and generate over $1 billion in annual earnings. Color me a skeptic. Most economic studies show that such incentive packages seldom generate revenues that make the project worthwhile. Most of the jobs generated are not local and those currently unemployed or underemployed are not usually affected. 

My displeasure stems from two sources. First, although Ford is currently advertising that it is “All in on America” noting that it’s F-series of pickups are made 100 percent in America, it has partnered with the Chinese to produce the batteries for the electric pickup. The Chinese factory was rejected by Virginia but approved by Michigan. The project is now on hold due to the ties of the company to the Chinese Communist party. That company is to receive over $500 million in government subsidies. Note that Chinese companies are to be among the main beneficiaries of the subsidies in Biden’s “Inflation Reduction Act”. Again, how much money did the Chinese give Hunter? Ford may be saying one thing in its advertisements but the reality is something entirely different.

My second source of displeasure is the use of eminent domain to seize the land of black farmers near the Ford plant. Eminent domain is allowed by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution that states that private property cannot be taken for public use without just compensation. In reality, eminent domain has been a weapon used by governments against black property. Blacks are five times more likely to suffer eminent domain than whites. The interstate system is testimony to that fact where entire black neighborhoods have disappeared. Urban renewal projects were in reality urban removal projects where black property was seized with meagre compensation. Seldom, if ever, were residents offered “just compensation”. I am an economist and just compensation, to me, means the market price of the property. Instead, the price paid by governments has been anything but just. In west Tennessee, where once a 70 acre tract was valued at $10,000 an acre, the arrival of Ford caused the listing to jump to $14.5 million. The state is again using eminent domain to displace the black farmers who own the land that the state is seeking to acquire. The state is offering a ridiculous $3,750 an acre. This is outrageous and shameful. This is certainly no “just compensation” and is a blatant violation of the Fifth Amendment. It is also a blatant violation of what is right. As one black farmer stated “I told them this is the biggest ripoff there is. They want your land, but they don’t want you to participate in the wealth.” 

Even if the state offered market price, the farmers still would not recoup the true value of their land which has been in their families for many generations. My farm in Georgia has been in our family since 1868. A developer once offered my mother over $1 million for the 126 acres. Her reply was “You don’t have enough money to buy this land.” I am certain the west Tennessee famers feel the same way. Ultimately, they will have little choice. But I hope they can sue the state for violation of the Fifth Amendment and receive at least the market value for their land. Regardless, Gov. Lee should be ashamed.