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Knoxville Focus

September 25, 2023

Prior to the Civil War this country was referred to as “the United States are.” Afterwards, it became “the United States is.” Now it may be appropriate to once again refer to the country as a collection of individual states. I seriously believe that within my grandchildren’s lifetime there will be efforts by some states to secede due to irreconcilable differences with those in power at the Federal level. I have a friend who thinks that the Administrative state will thwart any republican president leaving the democrats de facto in power into perpetuity. If that were the case, then certain states would find increasing support to justify secession. The question is whether that secession will be peaceful unlike the attempt in 1861. If part of a state wants to secede and create its own state or join another state, secession is virtually impossible because it requires approval of the state itself. Thus, although Staten Island would like to secede from New York City, the state of New York won’t allow it. The same goes for regions who want to secede from California, Illinois, Virginia, Washington and Oregon. Their state legislatures will veto every effort. Such was not always the case. In the early years of the nation, New York ceded Vermont, Virginia ceded Kentucky, Massachusetts ceded Maine and North Carolina ceded East Tennessee. West Virginia was carved out of Virginia and is an illegal state. The western counties of Virginia were pro-Union and voted against secession. When Virginia seceded, the western counties formed a new Virginia legislature and approved its own secession. The US government recognized the rouge legislature and admitted the new state as West Virginia over the protests of the government in Richmond. In 1871, the Supreme Court in Virginia v. West Virginia upheld the unconstitutional secession as constitutional. Now the western counties of Virginia want to join West Virginia. Although West Virginia approves of such a move, Virginia does not so those counties are stuck with being dominated by the DC suburban counties and liberal Richmond. Another instance involved Texas seceding from Mexico in 1836. Mexico did not recognize the secession and tried to use force to stop it. Legends were made.  Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, William Travis, the Alamo, Santa Anna, Sam Houston and the Battle of San Jacinto were the result. Texas then petitioned to join the United States and was accepted resulting in the Mexican-American War. I have often wondered what would happen if Alberta which is always at odds with the government in Ottawa would try to secede from Canada and join the United States. Would the congress vote to accept them and if it did, would Canada threaten war?

The esteemed Justice Scalia said “If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede.” There is little chance that any effort by a state to leave the union would get the approval of both houses of congress and three fourths of the states. However, I do wonder if there were serious civil discord within a state (or states) that became violent against Federal authorities and that state’s national guard were poised to fight against the Federal government, if there might not be a mutual agreement to part. Perhaps we should revert back to the Articles of Confederation which were adopted by the Congress in 1777 that bound the 13 colonies to a weak central government. There are reasons why that arrangement did not work in 1777 but might work in 2023. Switzerland is a modern confederation made up of 26 cantons and a relatively weak central government. It seems to function as a nation. If our differences are truly irreconcilable then perhaps a confederation is our only hope to survive as a nation.

August 26, 2023

I just got my Tennessee University of Georgia license plate. Twenty five years ago I organized an alumni chapter of Georgia graduates here in Knoxville and could not get enough signatures for a plate. I tried twice. This irritated me to no end since Georgia Tech had a plate as did most of the SEC schools. Even Purdue, my brother’s alma mater had a plate. Purdue!  I then asked the alumni office in Athens to try. They tried twice and were unsuccessful. Finally last November they tried one more time and lo and behold they succeeded! I put it on my convertible. I have been trying to get the Buckeye Club to try to get one for Ohio State. That one would go on my F250.

The liberal media is referring to Trump as the “disgraced former president” because the democrats impeached him twice and indicted him four times.  In fact the New York Times proclaimed that “Donald Trump is forever disgraced”. Really? Disgraced? Certainly not in the minds of his supporters or even among us who are not his supporters. So the question is that if only the democrats consider him as “disgraced” is he actually disgraced? The right wing press calls Joe Biden a disgrace. So should he be referred to as “the disgraced current president”? I guess he should if you apply the same standards that the left employs for Donald Trump. Hilary Clinton anyone? 

Bill Clinton was impeached. Why isn’t he also labelled “disgraced”?

Are you a single adult in a relationship with another single adult? I am and have been for the last 28 years. How do you refer the other person?  “Girlfriend” doesn’t work because she is an adult. “Womanfriend” sounds strange. “Partner” sounds like a law firm and many think that it only applies to same sex couples. “Comrade” sounds like we are communists. “Mate” sounds like we are in the Navy. “Companion” works because we are not blood relatives and are a romantic pair who associate with each other on an almost continuous basis. So “companion” it is although a friend suggests I use “main squeeze.”

Isn’t it interesting that the left still runs cover for the Bidens insisting that no evidence of wrong doing has been presented – only innuendo. Hunter’s laptop is not evidence? Certainly there is more evidence in the case of the Bidens than in the Russia hoax. Why wasn’t Hilary Clinton not indicted for trying to sabotage the Trump campaign with false accusations ? Trump was. But of course we now have a two tiered “justice” system.

Its ironic to Civil Rights veterans like me that black DAs (Alvin Bragg in New York and Fani Willis in Atlanta) are applying uneven “justice” to whites much like how the “justice” system has historically had white DAs treating blacks unfairly.

I had lunch with my “progressive” friend who was livid about Florida’s proposed AP course. Like the rest of the libs he had seized up the statement that some slaves acquired skills that proved beneficial when they were freed. He asserted that this implied somehow that the acquisition of skills outweighed the human cost of slavery. Of course it did not. But the left’s narrative fabricated that lie. My friend insisted that Dr William Allen who was part of the group that wrote the curriculum actually said as much. He did not and there is no evidence to support that lie. But of course, if you tell a lie often enough it soon becomes the truth.

I still say that neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump will be their party’s nominee.

There is little doubt that all the Bidens will be indicted. I think he should be impeached for his open border policy which clearly imperils the nation. Biden’s secret documents are as bad as or worse than Trump’s. His financial dealings with Hunter are impeachable and criminal. Its only a matter of time. I think the only out is for Biden to pardon his whole family and then pardon Trump.

Hollywood actors and writers are on strike. The question is “will anyone notice?” I certainly won’t since I don’t go to movies. The last movie I sat through in a theatre was Saving Private Ryan only because my other half’s father was a Bedford Boy in the first wave at Omaha Beach. My favorite movies are the Godfather, Choose Me, Pulp Fiction and Casablanca. Netflix and downloads have essentially killed the movie theatres much like music stores have dwindled because of Pandora, Spotify and downloads. I don’t even have a Netflix subscription because there is little being produced in Hollywood worth my watching. Movie trailers are so violent that I mute them or turn them off. Hollywood does not share my morals or values. They do precious little that interests me. It seems that Hollywood today offers mostly retreads and remakes – most of which are grossly inferior to the originals. They exhume faded stars hoping to rekindle interest in old themes played by old actors. Indiana Jones anyone? Then they remake old movies injecting wokeness. The little mermaid is now black. Snow White is now Hispanic. The seven dwarfs are now a group of full sized strangely dressed actors who look like the Village People. Since Snow White was supposed to have skin white as snow, do they retitle the movie Brown Snow because of the Latina lead? Thank goodness they did not choose an Asian actress. Disney is well documented in putting LBGTQ scenes in their movies including animations aimed at children. That they are losing money should come as no surprise given that the LBGTQ communities are  so small and large only in their protestations. 

I also don’t watch any television programming that needs actors and writers. I watch baseball, Critter Fixers (featuring two black veterinarians who are alums of my mother’s school, Fort Valley State University), Port Protection and First Alaskans. But mainly I read. Science fiction, mysteries, global politics and economies, historical fiction, history and science fact among others are on my shelves and in my ipad, iMac and iphone. I am a curious person. The academic in me always asks for evidence both confirming and contrary. I have wide ranging interests and was once asked by a student how did I know so much. I told him that he was asking the wrong question.

I grew up in an era of minimal dumbing down with no participation trophies. Competition was encouraged. I only had one true-false multiple test while in college. The tests were always essays and short answers. Virtually every class had reading lists in the library and required term papers. I kept injecting microeconomics into my sociology, political science, philosophy and history classes. All of my professors – except for one – encouraged the exchange given that most had no knowledge of the implications from economic theory.

I was in the era where black parents seldom praised their children. My folks thought that if they said “good job” that I wouldn’t work as hard. I never told them what I was going through my freshman year at Georgia because I knew that I would get no sympathy from my father and would just worry my mother to death. When I graduated she said that she could now get a good night’s sleep. They never found out until they read Calvin Trillin’s “An Education in Georgia” some years later. Mother said “Is this true”? When I said yes, her reaction was that she should give me a spanking. When I got the grades from my first quarter – actually they were mailed to my father – Dad balled them up, threw them on the floor and pointed his finger at me saying “Don’t you ever bring grades like that again into this house.” I made an A, B+ and a B. The quarter that I made all A’s, Dad said “Don’t they give A+’s at that place?” The only indications that they were proud of me was what I was told when I went to our home church and when I received a letter at the end of my freshman year inviting me into the honors program. Mom framed the letter and hung it in my bedroom. 

Why do white people eat so many casseroles? I don’t think I ever had a casserole while growing up – unless mac and cheese is a casserole. 

I love to cook and get several emails a day from cooking sites. Almost daily comes another recipe for a casserole including links to things like “Grandma’s 142 favorite casseroles.” I have yet to try any.

Southern Living magazine has an article “Why do Southerners make casseroles?” saying “These 12 recipes will tell you exactly why Southerners, if given a chance, will almost always make a casserole”. Actually, the title should be “Why do White Southerners make casseroles.” Not one of the recipes appeals to me.

The magazine also announced “50 Bake And Take Casseroles Your Neighbors Will Love.” If my neighbors brought me a casserole, I would consider moving.

What about “15 irresistible au gratin potato recipes”. Fifteen? Is au gratin a casserole?

Is baked ziti a casserole?

Growing up I thought that you ate because it prevented you from starving to death. My mother was an awful cook. She knew it. But Dad was worse. Once when Mother was in the hospital, Dad cooked us breakfast but we could not recognize what he put on our plates. My brother and I took over the cooking until Mother got back. She used to joke that if she were dying that Dad would ask her to cook him dinner before she died.

I had never had a fresh mushroom. Italian was canned Chef Boyardee (to the day she died Mom hated pasta). All eggs were soft scrambled. All meat was floured and fried except for turkey and roasts – although once she deep fried a pork roast. There was a grease can on the stove. All vegetables were cooked to death so that the only way we could tell them was by the color. She fried squash and boiled okra. I refused to eat them then and won’t eat them now. Her biscuits were from a can. However, I looked forward to the winter because Mom’s growing up on a farm meant that in the winter we got breakfasts with fried catfish and grits and fried pork chops and grits. Dad loved fried oysters and grits (with Mother’s canned biscuits). I grew up thinking oysters were a breakfast food. When I first saw oysters on a dinner menu I was shocked. It was like seeing bacon and eggs for dinner.

At Georgia, the cafeteria food wasn’t great but it was different. The cooks were all black and cooked southern. But there were fresh mushrooms, vegetables that were not overcooked, pastas and eggs over easy (which would have probably caused my mother to retch). I also had my very first omelets, baked chicken and marinara sauce. The cooks always managed to sneak something onto my plate like an extra piece of ham. Soon I realized that there was joy in eating and kept discovering flavors as I learned to cook. Mother once remarked how my brother and I learned to be such good cooks because we obviously didn’t learn it from her. My brother was really skilled and after he retired from flying airplanes actually studied to be a chef.

My food enlightenment started when I lived in Konstanz am Bodensee finishing my dissertation while visiting at the University of Konstanz. The local cuisine opened my eyes. Back in the states, pizza was just being introduced and tasted like tomato sauce spread on cardboard with cheese sprinkled on top. In Konstanz the local pizzeria had wonderful pizzas, calzones and pasta. Here I had my first taste of pesto in pasta and on pizza and knew that this was confirmation that there was a god. My favorite pizza was spargel (asparagus) pizza with pesto. I thought about expatriating knowing what food I would face when I got back to the states. But I was homesick. So much so that I asked my mother to send me some red dirt. She sent it in a small box and I was called into the customs office and asked “Was ist das?” I said “dirt”. “Schmutz?” “Ja. Schmutz.” They just shook their heads, handed me my box of Georgia red dirt and let me go.

I moved back to the states and took my first job at the University of Florida in 1971. I weighed 235 pounds having sat on my behind during the four years in graduate school eating mostly fast foods. In Gainesville I lived in the same complex as the great marathoner Frank Shorter. Inspired I started to lose weight by changing my diet and started to run. I eliminated all meat having read that the great boxer Archie Moore who fought in several weight categories would stop eating meat if he wanted to lose weight. So I stopped eating meat and all fried foods. I gradually lost weight and kept running. I started running in the local races. I was no Frank Shorter and in my first marathon I was passed by a race walker. But eventually I was running a weekly 10K, two half marathons and a fully marathon yearly. I now weighted 165.

When invited to eat at friends, I would tell them that I did not eat any meat but cook whatever you want and I would eat the vegetables and salads. I did eat fish because fishing became a passion. Gainesville had great fresh water fishing and quick access to salt water. Later when I moved to Knoxville, I was fishing with a friend weekly until deer season when he quit fishing to hunt. He took me one day and although I did not see anything living, I became addicted to the solitude and peacefulness. I relived my memories of following my grandfather around the family farm in Gray, GA with my little 22 while he hunted squirrels or rabbits. Since I was now hunting deer, I ate them and to this day, the only red meat I eat is what I kill myself.

I would rather eat my cooking than at any local restaurant. But I always crave Nashville’s Hattie B’s fried chicken. I have yet to duplicate it in my kitchen and all the places that advertise Nashville Hot Chicken are just a parody of the real thing. I also do not cook Chinese at home or Indian. When my son was going to UT we would eat at a local Indian restaurant once a week. I love curried dishes but don’t care for the smells in my house.

One of my favorite memories is when my son was around six he was asked what was his favorite food and he said ziti with pesto.

In Knoxville, the local cuisine is bland – straight down the line middle American. Ruby Tuesday’s started here as did Wendy’s. I miss the food in DC. The local Chinese restaurants were spectacular, especially the chili crabs and escargot. The Cuban restaurant’s cuttlefish in its own ink was to die for even if it looked like the crankcase of a 49 Ford. The Italian restaurants were great and every pizza place I ventured into while in New York was excellent. I can’t believe that the Greenie Weenies want to ban New York’s wood fired pizza ovens. 

Yet I would rather live in Knoxville than in DC or New York. The quality of life is hard to beat.

August 19, 2023

I hate “journalism” by Twitter. That is where the supposed journalist writes one paragraph and then fills up the article with Tweets.

I still don’t know what an influencer is and who the influencer influences.

I get confused trying to figure out why they call soap “body wash.”

The Fed may actually achieve a “soft” landing. Its policies in conjunction with what is happening in the rest of the world’s economies have meant a slowdown but no crash while inflation is coming down. This while countering the government’s exploding expenditures. It is akin to driving a car with one foot on the gas pedal while the other is on the brake.

I don’t understand what “white supremacy” means with white males being discriminated against by other white males who happen to be “progressives.”

I am suffering from Trump Fatigue Syndrome.

I don’t understand the Fulton County, GA Trump indictment. Isn’t the charge by a local DA rather than at the federal level? If any local run of the mill DA can bring charges, then why are Republican local DAs not indicting Hunter Biden?

There is solid evidence that trade wars caused the Great Depression and Biden is following Trump’s lead and heading us toward a trade war with the latest imposition of tariffs on tin. Putting tariffs on our allies will lead to retaliation and retaliation will lead to recession. You heard it here first.

Nobody is saying the obvious: China’s economic woes are a result of its failed industrial policy. This should be a warning to the US which with its CHIPs act and “Inflation Reduction Act” is headed down the same road. Some so-called experts are amazingly calling for China to add stimulus to get out of their recession. That’s what got them in it! This would actually only make things worse. Again, you heard it here first.

Will a severe Chinese recession spill over to the rest of the world?

Will a severe Chinese recession lead to the end of Xi’s regime?

It is a wonder that it took so long for China to spiral downward with its extreme COVID lockdowns, its imprisonment of successful entrepreneurs, its paranoia regarding security, its failed family planning policies, its shrinking population, its imploding real estate sector, its high youth unemployment, its huge and growing debt burden and its repressive government. Why “progressives” like Paul Krugman love the Chinese is beyond me.

We are in serious trouble as a country when the President does not respect the rule of law.

We no longer trust our most hallowed institutions. Without that trust, anarchy soon follows.

The Founders feared the tyranny of the majority in a democracy so they created a representative republic with checks and balances. However, what we now have is the tyranny of the minority where an absurdly small minority has imposed their will on the rest of us. The LBGTQ communities have found allies amongst the left. They get local school boards to introduce their literature into the classrooms of our youth. Schools are hosting queer drag shows. Governments proclaim queer month and fly gay flags. Corporations cater to them. Retailers prominently display their merchandise and market directly to kids. The Bud Light boycott was a result of the beer maker marketing with a man who is pretending to be a young girl which is simply weird. Universities openly silence and discipline those who do not kowtow to the LBGYQ mantra. The Biden Administration is endorsing open bathrooms and locker rooms, letting males participate in women’s sports and including gender in Title IX. The military leadership is openly woke with total disregard to what this means for fighting effectiveness. They were even using a trans sailor in recruiting videos. No wonder they are having little success in recruiting. I find it difficult to believe that the majority of Americans agree with any of this. They are just silent and  afraid to rock the boat and afraid to be called bigots. However, it is not bigotry to oppose the grooming of children. These matters are best left to the parents in the home. Under no circumstances do these issues belong in school curricula. Lastly, Denmark is the latest country to restrict the use of gender “affirming” care for children. Although the advocates loudly proclaim that such “care” lessens suicide among confused children, there is little evidence to support this claim. The use of hormonal and surgical procedures on children is truly frightening. Yet the American Academy of Pediatrics remains solidly behind the idea of the medicalization of puberty. I don’t deny that there are some children who suffer from gender blending issues but I am not convinced that these issues should be addressed with powerful drugs and surgery. I also think that children claiming gender confusion is more social contagion than real. Again I bet that most of these children reside in cities and states that have adopted the propaganda of the LGBTQ communities and it has become a fashion fad. If these children want to transition as adults, let them. But not as children.

One “expert” whose “research focuses on the development and psychological experiences of transgender, gender-nonbinary, gender-expansive or gender-exploring children” claims that children can be a gender Tesla, a gender Prius or a gender minotaur. Excuse me? This is truly frightening and even more frightening is that this expert is a professor in a school of medicine.

Did you know that Arkansas has joined Florida in removing the AP course on black “history” from its schools? No? Its because its governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is not running for president and considered a threat to Joe Biden’s reelection. I am waiting for the NAACP to issue a travel advisory for Arkansas. Obviously, its governor has created a hostile environment for black people by not adopting Critical Race Theory and queer black history. I am also waiting for the National “Educators” Association and the American Federation of “Teachers” to blast the decision as trying to eliminate black history. Will black organizations cancel their conventions in Arkansas? Imagine no longer being able to partake in the charms of Little Rock or visit Bentonville, the home of Walmart.

Arkansas stated that the AP African American studies course was not a history course but rather an exercise indoctrinating liberal woke ideology. When Ron DeSantis said the same thing, the progressives wailed and gnashed their teeth. The Arkansas “Education” Association did say that the decision is of “grave concern” to its members and worried about “the abandonment of teaching African American history and culture”. The president of the NAACP intoned that state-level attacks on Black history are undemocratic and regressive. But no travel advisory? I really don’t understand the “undemocratic” and “regressive” nature of the bans. So please explain. 

What Arkansas did was to pass a law that prohibits the teaching of certain topics including gender, sexual orientation and Critical Race Theory. I personally think that these are best left out of school curricula. Rather, schools should concentrate on teaching basic skills like reading, math, science and language. That teachers’ associations, school boards and school administrators have veered off into liberal ideology is likely due to their miserable failure to teach basic skills. Student proficiency in math and reading is pitiful in virtually all public schools in the country. Arkansas had aggressively moved to rectify the poor education received in its schools.  It passed – over the usual objections of the education establishment – an education reform bill that enacts a universal school choice program. I wonder if such a program is “undemocratic” and “regressive”?

The left is always going to contend that the right is trying to suppress the teaching of black history which is a blatant lie. As Arkansas (and Florida) noted, the AP course was not a course in history. When Florida replaced the AP course with one that really was about history, the left pounced on one statement that said that some slaves learned skills that were helpful when they became free claiming that the new curriculum stated that slavery was beneficial. However, the same statement appears in the AP course which the left endorses. However, they fail to see the contradiction and have no shame.

Angel Hernandez, almost universally considered as the worst umpire in major league baseball had the audacity to sue MLB claiming discrimination. In his suit, Hernandez claimed racial discrimination and complained that he had not be named a crew chief and had not been named to work the World Series because he is Hispanic. The courts rejected his suit twice first in district court and second on appeal. Actually, Hernandez is lucky to have a job at all. If he were not Hispanic, he would have likely been fired for incompetence. Google his name. You will only find his bad calls. He has the distinction of having three calls at first base overturned during the same game. During a recent game, when he was behind the plate, he had at least 15 missed calls and was criticized by the announcers for both teams. One writer wrote “Umpire Angel Hernandez Continues to be an Embarrassment for MLB After Laughably Bad Game.” Another wrote “Angel Hernandez is the Worst Umpire in the History of Major League Baseball.” He actually may be worse than Eric Gregg. Hernandez crying racism reminds me of a comedy routine by the great Dick Gregory in which a friend said that he had applied for a job but was turned down because he was black. Dick’s friend had a severe stutter and when asked what job he applied for, he stuttered “r-r-a-a-d-d-i-u-o a-a-n-n-o-u-c-e-r.”

Knoxville Focus

August 14, 2023

I have lunch once a month with a close friend who thinks Biden is doing a great job. We agree on very little. Although we both think the education industrial complex does everything but teach reading, writing and arithmetic, he favors “teaching” critical race theory. I don’t. He opposes charter schools. He thinks climate change is an existential threat aim and cites current weather as justification. He fears for the planet. I told him that I am in the middle. I am not a denier but I am not a zealot. You cannot infer anything about climate change from today’s weather. He thinks global warming is “settled science.” I told him there is no such thing and that there is a large literature from agnostic scientists – including a Nobel Laureate in physics – who have found otherwise. Much like the Hunter Biden laptop and COVID, the mainstream press, social media and many “scientific” journals have chosen not to publish contrary opinions and research. I told him of the falsification of climate data by British scientists and how US government agencies have fudged the numbers. I mentioned that I published an econometric paper that confirmed two conflicting hypotheses using the same model and the same data set. I told him of the research that showed that over 50 percent of the scientific empirical work in several disciplines have been shown to be false. Didn’t the president of Sanford recently resign when it was discovered that his research was not original? It should come as no surprise that the scientists whose research was funded by Dr Fauci dismiss the assertion that COVID originated in the Wuhan lab. Eminent scholars reach different conclusions analyzing the same data. Dissect their models, the choice of data, the choice of data period and the statistical technique and make a decision as to the efficacy of each. My friend rejects contrary evidence out of hand.

But my training makes me a skeptic. Even if the earth’s temperature is 1 degree higher, is that a bad thing?  Certainly more people die from exposure to cold than to heat so a little warming may not be a bad thing. If the oceans rise, can’t we adapt much like the Dutch? Some have argued that more carbon dioxide is a good thing. Doesn’t the earth heal itself? Even the assertion that climate change is manmade is disputed. One thing is clear to me. I believe that China is funding the radical environmentalists like Just Stop Oil and groups like Black Lives Matter. Both endorse policies aimed at weakening western countries while enriching China. The Chinese make all the sympathetic clucking noises regarding the Paris Accord while building coal plants. The Accord will fail anyway because neither China nor India will sacrifice economic development to satisfy the global warming crowd who enrich themselves and their buddies at the expense of their citizens,

Biden’s industrial policy where the politicians pick the winners and losers will also fail. Industrial policy always results in poor choices based on political favors trying to force products down consumers’ throats. The political choices kill alternatives and result in less innovation and efficiency much like the politicians choosing catalytic converters over a simpler, cheaper, more efficient system pioneered by Honda. It is also true that “renewable” energy such as wind farms and solar panels are costly to the environment and highly inefficient. It is also true that EV batteries are more damaging to the environment than fossil fuels. Nickle and cobalt mining are ecological disasters. Windmills kill birds onshore and sea mammals offshore. Solar panels present a disposal nightmare. All the mandates coming from the Biden administration to get rid of today’s gas stoves, dishwashers, furnaces, lawn equipment, gas powered vehicles will only make us worse off economically without any net benefit to the environment. Indeed, I just read a study that said that because of the sun and axial tilt of the earth, that the one degree increase in temperature was baked in and would not change even if all of the actions of the overlords in the western world were enacted. So pardon me if I think all this climate stuff is just because politicians love imposing their dictates on the rest of us as a power grab while enriching themselves and handing out subsidies to their green donors.

Random Thoughts Yet AgainDisney’s remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has been cast with a Latina lead and six tall people plus one dwarf. Maybe it should be retitled as well as Brown Snow and the Village People. Thank goodness they didn’t cast an Asian as lead.

Saudi oil profits fell with lower output? I thought oil demand was inelastic? If so then when the Saudis cut output, price should increase and total revenue should increase as well. However, if revenues fall lowering profit, then demand is elastic not inelastic. The demand for oil must be sensitive to price changes.

That the democrats are the party of the “elites” but pretend to be the party of the people is best illustrated by their actions regarding climate change. The forced shift from fossil fuels to wind and solar will result in higher energy prices and higher cost of goods. We all know that. We also know that the result will be a significant decrease in real income for the poor making them worse off. Yet the dems persist in this anti-poor campaign and not a one complains. Where is Maxine Waters when we need her? I guess she will try to increase subsidies and handouts to assuage her constituents.

Just because a higher percentage of minorities are poor is not evidence of discrimination since there are much larger numbers of poor whites. The reasonable comparison is to see why the poor are poor and welfare dependent. The data show that regardless of race, if people graduate from high school, get a job, get married and have children in that order then they will not be poor. So obviously the government should enact policies that have been demonstrated to increase reading and math proficiency, to provide incentives to get a high school diploma and to delay childbearing until marriage. However, the government does the opposite giving incentives that reinforce and encourage poverty.

Fixing K-12 will address most of our socioeconomic ills. But we must also recover our morals, lessen out of wedlock births and re-establish two family households. Currently, much of our culture is amoral and nonreligious. Thus, it is not that economic differences reflect racism rather they reflect poor education, poor morals and the absence of religion.

The Biden Administration has sent $2.35 billion  to the Taliban after we ceded control of Afghanistan to them. Huh? Someone has some explaining to do. Why we would send this murderous repressive regime a penny is beyond me. Where is congressional oversight when you need it?

Alpha Phi Alpha the black Greek fraternity has decided to move its 2025 convention from Orlando. The fraternity’s website announced that the cancelation was “due to Governor Ron DeSantis’ harmful, racist, and insensitive policies against the Black community.” “Alpha Phi Alpha will continue to support the strong advocacy of Alpha Brothers and other advocates fighting against the continued assault on our communities in Florida by Governor Ron DeSantis.” The projected impact on the Orlando economy is $4.6 million. I’m sure it will be missed. That the fraternity is doing this is no surprise. The surprise would have been if it had not canceled. The fraternity is composed of some really smart people (my late genius brother was a member) and are availing themselves to the opportunity of piling on DeSantis a la the NAACP’s “travel advisory.” The fraternity is part of the black bourgeoise, professionals, well educated and high income. It has demonstrated no interest in advancing the economic well being of poor blacks. Several years ago, I made a presentation on direct instruction to a group of prominent blacks and showed a chart with the poorest performing schools in their town. I got no support. The overwhelming reaction was “Thank goodness my grandchildren don’t go to those schools.” Most NAACP and Alpha Phi Alpha members probably have no interest with sexual/gender, critical race theory, queer history and the glories of Marxism taught to second graders. However, they are so deep in the pockets of the liberal donors that they would not dare but toe the party line. 

If the NAACP is serious about boycotting Florida it should encourage their members (including their president) to move from the state. They should shut down their Florida offices and Alpha Phi Alpha should close their chapters on Florida campuses. The problem is that they know its all for show. I am writing this from Flagler Beach and have encountered no hostility except I do consider 100 degree days a hostile environment. Moreover in my trip to Madeira Beach last month I was attacked by racist fire ants.

August is a melancholy month. My mother’s birthday is August 6. She would have been 105 having died April 14, 2020 at age 101. On August 6 one of my granddaughters called me to reminisce about her great grand Mom. Then there were emails from by children and my brother’s children saying that they couldn’t believe she was gone but she will live forever as long as any of us were alive. Dad’s memory doesn’t engender the same emotions. Not that he was loved less but the feelings are somehow different. He was a strict disciplinarian who tolerated no excuses. I learned to never openly disagree with him but say “yes sir” and then do or think what I thought was best. Perhaps the only time he revealed a different side to me was when he was in his 80s and said “Please tell me when I become a fool.” He was getting solicitations that he said occurred only because of his age. Obviously, those scams were working or else they would not exist. Dad said that only a fool would agree to whatever was being solicited. He never became a fool. He died on August 13. He knew that he was dying. He told me that although he wanted to live until November 19 which would be his 89^th birthday, he had changed his mind and just wanted to make it to August 30^th – my daughter’s due date with his newest granddaughter. She was born at 6AM on August 13^th and Dad died at 6PM the same day. But he knew of his granddaughter and knew that my daughter to her everlasting credit named the new addition “Savannah”. My dad graduated from Savannah State University.

Unlike Dad, Mother took an active role in all our lives. She too had a dominant personality and was generous with her advice. I would never consider living in Atlanta because I knew that I would have little peace. When my brother was living (he retired to Atlanta), they would talk several times a day. Even though he had a washer and dryer, he took his clothes over to the house to do his laundry. Several times a week, they would have dinner together. When he died, mother was devastated. He was the favorite. She called me and said that instead of our customary once on Sundays at 5 o’clock call, I now had to call her every day. So at 7AM we said good morning and at 7PM we said good night. Often my phone would ring at all hours of the night so I made Everette Harp’s “Night Calls” her ringtone. I still miss those calls and when I hear “Night Calls” I still reach for the phone. Only now there are tears in my eyes.