Congress spends money on de-escalation training. Here we go again.

Again, we need to teach the cops to de-escalate. Not the civilians.

While on patrol Thursday I found this interesting article on what our great leaders (excuse me, just spit out some coffee) are accomplishing in the USofA. Passing a budget, which they haven't since FY 2010. No. Bringing spending under control? Nope. Trying to control the border? Funny. No, they will lecture cops on the street on how to do their jobs with "de-escalation training."

We've been doing this, informally and formally, for decades. And the ignorance of the people here is astonishing, even for members of congress. And the "journalist" writing this is not showing himself a genius <sarcasm>, IMHO.

Here we go.

Congress passes bill to fund police de-escalation training

The bill will help PDs adopt de-escalation training when encountering individuals with mental health issues in an effort to reduce officer-involved fatalities

By Farnoush Amiri

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — In one of its final acts of the year, the House passed bipartisan legislation late Wednesday that would empower law enforcement agencies across the country to adopt de-escalation training when encountering individuals with mental health issues as part of an effort to reduce the number of officer-involved fatalities.

Mr. Amiri, police agencies were "empowered to adopt de-escalation training" since they were established.  The local sheriffs, police departments, state police, etc are already established and have set training requirements. This is simply eyewash for members of the congress to say, "Hey, I voted for something..." 

The bill passed 264-162 with Republican support and capped off a modest two-year effort by Congress to pass police reform legislation. The proposal — first introduced by Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island — will now go to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.

“By giving law enforcement the tools they need to help those experiencing mental health emergencies and other crises, we can help make communities safer by building a stronger bridge between the criminal justice system and mental health care,” Cornyn said in a statement late Wednesday.

I will give Biden this, he does know about mental illness. But what tools are the congress giving local cops? Let's see. 

The bill that passed the House on Wednesday will amend a 1968 federal crime law to authorize $70 million in annual grant funding for law enforcement training on alternatives to the use of force that include scenario-based exercises for officers. It will also require the Justice Department to develop a series of curriculum and training topics in partnership with stakeholders like law enforcement and civil liberties groups and mental health professionals.

“Whether it be Rodney King, or whether it be George Floyd or any of the number of incidents we’ve seen over the last 30 years: How police deal with force is at the heart of the discussion about policing,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington-based think tank. “And what we have come to find out over the last five to eight years is that the training is outdated. It doesn’t live up to current-day practices.”

They are putting out $70 million a year in grants. There are 50 states, over 18,000 police agencies, divide the money by the number of agencies, that's less than $4,000 a year per agency. Not a really good statistical analysis, but good enough. Especially when you see that local/state governments spend over 200 billion a year on law enforcement. 

The point about the federal Just-Us department putting out "curriculum and training topics in partnership with stakeholders like law enforcement and civil liberties groups and mental health professionals" is very  troublesome. The fact is Democrats want to federalize local/state law enforcement, and they will do it any way they can. And by federalize, I mean destroy. 

A point I've written over before is the federal government has pushed for body worn cameras on local cops, they have been very hesitant to have their agents wear them. My personal experience is they have been a net positive for cops, leading to more complaints being dismissed, as the evidence shows the police acted properly. 

As far as Mr. Wexler's comment's, he's dead wrong. Rodney King wasn't just walking in the street and four cops decided to beat him for no reason. He had committed multiple crimes and was evading in a vehicle:

LAPD officers beat Rodney King on camera

At 12:45 a.m. on March 3, 1991, robbery parolee Rodney G. King stops his car after leading police on a nearly 8-mile pursuit through the streets of Los Angeles, California. The chase began after King, who was intoxicated, was caught speeding on a freeway by a California Highway Patrol cruiser but refused to pull over. Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) cruisers and a police helicopter joined the pursuit, and when King was finally stopped by Hansen Dam Park, several police cars descended on his white Hyundai.

A group of LAPD officers led by Sergeant Stacey Koon ordered King and the other two occupants of the car to exit the vehicle and lie flat on the ground. King’s two friends complied, but King himself was slower to respond, getting on his hands and knees rather than lying flat. Officers Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Ted Briseno, and Roland Solano tried to force King down, but he resisted, and the officers stepped back and shot King twice with an electric stun gun known as a Taser, which fires darts carrying a charge of 50,000 volts.

But coming back to the "de-escalate" canard, the author here, and the man quoted, miss the critical fact. If the suspect is not willing to de-escalate, no amount of talking by the cop or training by a federal contractor will change this. If Mr. King had not driven drunk over miles, endangering the public, he would never have been known. And if he had complied with the orders of the cops, again, this would have never blown up. 

Mr. Floyd suffered, and likely died, from a fentanyl overdose. Did the cop screw up, yes, in my opinion. The cardiac compression was a technique he was trained on and authorized by the department. But once he looses consciousness and the heart stops, everything changes. At that moment you need to tell dispatch to get the ambulance there faster, start chest compressions and render other first aid. 

But another paragraph brings this entire endeavor into question:

The issue is a perennial one for the nation. While nearly one in five U.S. adults has a mental illness, people who are untreated are 16 times more likely to be killed during a police encounter than other people approached by law enforcement, the Treatment Advocacy Center, a nonprofit dedicated to getting treatment for the mentally ill, concluded in a 2015 report.

Let's just pass on the ridiculous stat of 20% of Americans have mental illness, and go again to this article. The congress funded de-escalation training, i.e. cops, the is is how to handle people on the street who are angry, etc. Mentally ill people are different animals, and they likely will not respond to "de-escalation" training, but Crisis Intervention Training, or CIT (a concept originated at local police agencies, not the feds, thank you very much). So why do we have to discuss mental issues in this article? 

Again, more eyewash and wasted money for people. The problem is once this crap is put in, cutting it out of the budget is practically impossible. And the funding will come with strings attached.   

Almost Christmas. In honor of the Savior's Birthday, Silent Night by Manheim Steamroller.

Enjoy.

Officer Down

 

Corrections Officer Onochie Sunday Ikedionwu
Georgia Department of Corrections, Georgia
Age 64
Badge 5726
End of Watch Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Corrections Officer Onochie Ikedionwu died from complications as the result of contracting COVID-19 in the line of duty at Dodge State Prison in Chester, Georgia.

Officer Ikedionwu is survived by his wife, two daughters, and siblings.

Rest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch

Nemo me impune lacessit

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh.

The Griner trade. Could have been much worse.

I for one am not complaining

Last February I heard Women’s NBA player Britney Griner was arrested in Moscow for carrying hashish oil in her luggage, and like million my reaction was, “Who?” Apparently she is a well know WNBA player and was playing off season in Russia to make some extra cash. Can’t knock her for wanting to make some side money, I do it myself. 

 

As of yesterday, Ms. Griner was traded by Moscow for a convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. By all accounts, he is a piece of human waste, selling arms to both sides of the Angolan civil war, and other conflicts. Bout was caught when he was lured to Taiwan in a sting operation set up by the US Drug Enforcement Agency:

By 2007, the Drug Enforcement Administration devised a plan to lure Bout out of Russia with an arms deal that would be hard to refuse. The agency hired an undercover agent to contact a trusted associate of Bout's about a big business deal. That exchange led to the first meeting between the DEA's fake arms buyers, who were posing as officials of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, also known as the FARC, and Bout's associate on the island of Curacao, a few hundred miles off the coast of Colombia…

…Weeks later, Bout was on his way to Thailand, thinking he would be meeting with FARC officials to discuss shipping what prosecutors said was "an arsenal of military grade weapons" to attack American helicopters in Colombia.

During a March 2008 meeting in a Bangkok hotel conference room, Bout told the DEA informants posing as FARC officials that he could airdrop the arms in Colombia and acknowledged that the weapons could be used to kill Americans…

OK, after he was sentenced to 25 years (Scheduled to be released in 2029), Russia wanted him back. And whom did he get back in return.

Let's just say Ms. Griner is not Miss America. Not sure if she knelt during the National Anthem or just waited in the locker room until after honors to America were completed, but she did say it should not be played during WNBA games.  

For the moment, lets assume the worse about Ms. Griner, is this the worse possible outcome? Not really.

In 2014, then President Obama traded five Taliban prisoners, men who could only be described as high officials in the organization, in exchange for one Army deserter, Bowe Bergdahl. After Bergdahl deserted his unit in 2009, six soldiers were killed looking for him (a seventh died from his wounds later). What’s happened since then? Well, the five served for a time in the Taliban’s political office in Qatar. Latest is four are now officials of the new Afghanistan government that Joe Biden installed (don’t doubt number five is still working for the Taliban). 

I remember a very heated Facebook dispute with a high school friend, who claimed the trade for Bergdahl was something “Americans do,” and we don’t leave soldiers on the battlefield. I pointed out to the Obama worshiper (likely has a 10ft by 15ft picture of The One on his wall to worship 5 times daily…slight exaggeration) that Bergdahl was a deserter in a time of war, men died trying to get his ass back, and if anything he should be facing a court martial and execution upon return. Also, prisoner exchanges are one for one, and generally at the same Geneva Convention Level, i.e., Bergdahl would be traded for one Taliban fighter, not five Taliban “generals.”

I explained to my friend, “In the chess game that is war, your idol gave the enemy back their queen, both knights, both rooks, and in return we didn’t get back a checker.”

Now, back to Ms. Griner. Latest I heard was Biden’s State Department was trying to arrange a two for one trade, Bout for Griner and former Marine and civilian contractor Paul Whelan. Reportedly Biden said he made an “agonizing” decision to leave Whelan there because he could bring one home or none home. Reportedly Putin was willing to exchange two for two last summer, but that fell apart. 

Mr. Biden, in case you missed it, you have lost your best leverage with Putin. Good luck in future negotiations with him. Damn I would love to play poker with you Joe, but it be unsporting to wipe the floor with a mental defective. 

So, in summary, a bad deal, but it could have been much worse. 

Merry Christmas in November

I get annoyed when I see Christmas stuff in store as early as August. Hey guys, the kids ain't back in school yet! 

Well, Thanksgiving is past and it is now the official Christmas season. The next few Fridays it will be Christmas music. If you have never seen Mannheim Steamroller live, do yourself a favor and watch them. The show is fantastic. 

Carol of the Bells live. Enjoy and have a great weekend.

Robert Reich and "assault weapons."

Let’s say you’re a moron. Or let’s say you’re a former Clinton cabinet member and current Berkley professor. But I repeat myself.

After  the shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs, Robert V Reich immediately put this up on his Twitter feed: 

Researchers have estimated that if we still had a federal assault weapons ban, we would see 70% fewer mass shooting deaths. S-E-V-E-N-T-Y PERCENT. Reinstating it should be a no-brainer.

Now one thing I am very meticulous about in my writings is sources. If you’ve read my stuff, I have links to studies, online publications, etc., where you can judge for yourself my assertions. Granted, Twitter is not a full blown, “sourced,” or “peer reviewed” information source. Fair enough. 

 

But one thing I do have issue with is Mr. Reich seems to expect people to read his stuff and swallow it whole. His intellectual arrogance is what makes people despise higher education faculty.

 

A simple search will find facts of mass shootings. Mass shootings are defined as those where 4 or more people are shot and killed in one incident. From the National Institute of Justice:

Notably, most individuals who engaged in mass shootings used handguns (77.2%), and 25.1% used assault rifles in the commission of their crimes. Of the known mass shooting cases (32.5% of cases could not be confirmed), 77% of those who engaged in mass shootings purchased at least some of their guns legally, while illegal purchases were made by 13% of those committing mass shootings. In cases involving K-12 school shootings, over 80% of individuals who engaged in shootings stole guns from family members.

Granted, they, like Bobby Reich here, don’t define what an assault weapon is. Again, I started with a Web search and I found a two-decade old reference from the OJP:

The paper defines an "assault weapon" as a "civilian, semiautomatic version of a military weapon." Generally, the characteristics of an assault weapon make firearms more lethal, more accurate, and/or less conspicuous when used. 

Well, what does the Encyclopedia Britannica say about assault weapons:  

assault rifle, military firearm that is chambered for ammunition of reduced size or propellant charge and that has the capacity to switch between semiautomatic and fully automatic fire. Because they are light and portable yet still able to deliver a high volume of fire with reasonable accuracy at modern combat ranges of 1,000–1,600 feet (300–500 metres), assault rifles have replaced the high-powered bolt-action and semiautomatic rifles of the World War II era as the standard infantry weapon of modern armies…

I’ve said countless times over the years, I’ve carried both a Ruger Mini-14 and a Safariland AR-15 as patrol rifles. Both fire .223 ammunition and both have “high capacity” magazines (I carry 30 round magazines). Furthermore both are semi-automatic, i.e., you must pull the trigger every time you want to fire one round, as opposed to automatic, where once your squeeze and hold the trigger, the rifle will fire rounds until you release the trigger, run out of bullets, or the rifle jams. 

 

So, compare these two rifles to a M-16. All three fire .223, all three have “high capacity magazines,” but only the M-16 A1 has full auto (M-16 A2 has burst fire of 3 rounds). Otherwise the AR-15 and the M-16 similarities are cosmetic, not functional. The Mini-14 looks nothing like the AR-15 or M-16, although it functions like the AR-15

 

Another lie put out by many politicians and other ignorant sources is the AR-15 is a “weapon of war” or a “military weapon” in civilian hands. I then ask people this one question: Which army in the world uses the AR-15? I get no answer, and in internet searches, I get no answer. I have no doubt some Guerra groups use them, but no nation’s armed forces that I can find uses it.

 

The facts are Mr. Reich put out a unsubstantiated statement. I’ll be generous and give him the benefit of the doubt he’s just ignorant of the truth. As a Berkley professor, that is very believable. But either way, it’s false, and it shows he’s not to be taken seriously. 

Video Killed the Radio Star...

But launched an awesome television channel. 

I didn't see the first two hours of MTV, but I did see the video that started it, Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles.  Followed quickly by one of my favorite rockers, Pat Benatar with You Better Run.  I read in her book Between a Rock and Heart Place they filmed the video in a warehouse on the New York docks. She said how everything was going wrong (technical problems, it was hot and humid, etc.) and that was part of the reason she had a stern look on her face. And they had no idea what a "music video" was. Thankfully she learned. 

Unfortunately an unknown idiot changed an awesome channel into another reality TV hellhole. But for years, it was an incredible distraction. So for a long week, here is the first two hours of MTV back when it was great. Enjoy, have a great weekend, and Happy Thanksgiving. 

Something you don't see every day...a gun in a chicken in luggage on an airplane.

 I've travelled on airlines countless times with my firearm. By that I mean it's in my checked luggage. Simple to do, have it unloaded in a locked case, declare it when you check your baggage, and the TSA agent has to verify it's unloaded. 

Well, never thought of this technique to carry my weapon. 

TSA agents find gun smuggled inside raw chicken

 

A TSA agent finds a gun wrapped in a package inside a raw chicken. (Photo courtesy of the Transportation Security Administration)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A person going through a airport checkpoint got caught trying to smuggle a gun inside a raw chicken and was called out by the Transportation Security Administration on social media.

Photos shared on the agency’s Twitter page shows agents removing a gun wrapped in a bag inside the chicken. "There’s a personal fowl here. Our officers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) @FLLFlyer made this very raw find. We hate to break it to you but stuffing a firearm in your holiday bird for travel is just a baste of time," the TSA captioned. 

Air travelers bringing guns into Florida airports is becoming an alarming trend. So far this year, the TSA reported that passengers have brought 700 guns to checkpoints, including 120 seized at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The agency noted in these incidents that most of the guns confiscated by agents were loaded and had ammunition in the chamber.

The TSA shared on its website that unloaded guns can be carried in a locked hard-sided container as checked baggage only. Guns and ammunition also have to be declared at the ticket counter. 

A TSA agent finds a gun wrapped in a package inside a raw chicken. (Photo courtesy of the Transportation Security Administration) 

...According to the TSA, passengers that bring an unloaded gun with accessible ammunition to a security checkpoint face a fine or civil penalty. The agency can impose civil penalties of up to $13,910 for each violation.

I think I need a new lock for my case. And no, it won't be from the meat aisle.  

An awesome cover of an Aerosmith classic…

I've been trying to dust off the blog again, and this week I've probably made more post than the last month. I'll keep working at it! 

One of the things I want to restart is the Friday music send off for the weekend. I think you will enjoy this. 

This song from Aerosmith is on my bucket list. Seeing the bank is touring again, hopefully the wife and I can finally get to see it live. But until that, Postmodern Jukebox will help. Their cover is excellemt.  

Have a great weekened.

Is Hypocrisy the New Name of the Democrat Party?

Some months ago I became a weekly columnist for the American Free News Network. My post are generally every Tuesday morning. But here is one from a fellow columnist that is very pertinent with the Democratic party now. Especially with the elections ongoing, I think you'll find it interesting.

Remember, vote early, vote often! :<)

Is Hypocrisy the New Name of the Democrat Party?

November 2, 2022 by Ronald E. Yates

As the nation prepares to vote in the upcoming midterm elections, I couldn’t help recalling a couple of years ago when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stormed around the Capitol building purging it of all things reminiscent of the Confederacy.

That prompted House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to wonder if Pelosi should consider changing the name of the Democrat Party, given her newfound disdain for the Land of Dixie.

“The speaker has the power to do that,” McCarthy said in response to Pelosi, who ordered the removal of the portraits of four speakers who also served in the Confederacy.

“If the speaker is concerned about that, should she also start talking about changing the name of her party and chastizing the occupant of the White House?” McCarthy asked in a reference to Joe Biden, who referred to late Democrat Sen. Robert Byrd, a former KKK leader, as a mentor and “dear friend.”

In a letter to House Clerk Cheryl Johnson, Pelosi requested the “immediate removal of the portraits in the U.S. Capitol of four previous Speakers who served in the Confederacy: Robert Hunter of Virginia (1839-1841), Howell Cobb of Georgia (1849-1851), James Orr of South Carolina (1857-1859), and Charles Crisp of Georgia (1891-1895).”

A Confederate Democrat Speaker bites the dust al la Pelosi

All of those men were once members of her Democrat Party—the party that has a long, tumultuous history of defending the institution of slavery and fighting to keep it.

Pelosi also called for the removal of Confederate statues in the U.S. Capitol, characterizing them as “monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end. The portraits of these men are symbols that set back our nation’s work to confront and combat bigotry,” Pelosi told reporters. “You have to see the remarks that they had made and how oblivious they were to what our founders had in mind in our country. We must lead by example, so we’re glad that that is gone.”

Pelosi’s comments and actions are the very height of hypocrisy, as well as an attempt to erase and rewrite American history.

For example, Pelosi has yet to address the role her father, Thomas D’Alessandro Jr., played in overseeing the dedication of the Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee Monuments in Baltimore’s Wyman Park while serving as the city’s mayor in 1948

“Today,” her father said in remarks at the time, “with our nation beset by subversive groups and propaganda which seeks to destroy our national unity, we can look for inspiration to the lives of Lee and Jackson to remind us to be resolute and determined in preserving our sacred institutions . . . . to remain steadfast in our determination to preserve freedom, not only for ourselves but for other liberty-loving nations who are striving to preserve their national unity as free nations.”

Gen Robt. E. Lee & Stonewall Jackson statue in Baltimore

Ahem. “Preserving our sacred institutions?” Did you mean, perchance, slavery, Mayor D’Alessandro?

But wait. There’s more. Pelosi’s father also encouraged Americans to “emulate Jackson’s example and stand like a stone wall against aggression in any form that would seek to destroy the liberty of the world.”

Not exactly politically correct, is it, Nancy?

And, of course, that is exactly what’s wrong with the hysterical imbeciles who are toppling statues and attempting to erase and cleanse America’s checkered history.

The past is the past. People a century ago or longer thought behaved and spoke differently from people in the 21st Century.

They certainly did so in 1948 when Pelosi’s father praised Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson during the dedication of those statues. I wonder if Pelosi, in her fervor to cleanse history, will call for those statues in Baltimore to be ripped down.

But wait! The statues were removed by the city in the dead of night, thereby saving them from defacement and destruction.

In that case, I wonder if Pelosi will condone the desecration of her father’s grave (as some have suggested with the graves of Confederate soldiers) because he was sympathetic to those two giants of the Confederacy.

Don’t count on it. Pelosi has conveniently forgotten the dark history of her beloved Democrat Party.

For example, its founder, Andrew Jackson, was a slaveholder and Confederate politicians were ALL Democrats.

Hmm. As they say on TV: “And that’s not all!”

The Democrat Party for decades fought desegregation, formed the Ku Klux Klan, resisted Reconstruction following the Civil War, created Jim Crow laws, and instituted the notion of separate but equal in the South—a clear violation of the 14th Amendment of the U. S. Constitution that guarantees equal protection under the law.

Should this former Democrat President be purged?

The party itself is the very quintessence of hypocrisy. What about it, Speaker Pelosi? Is it time to cleanse the Democrat Party of its past sins? Should you not be working to eradicate its transparent and nauseating connection to the Confederacy?

Speaking of nauseating Democrats, what about Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va? A couple of years ago, on the Senate floor, he blathered that America “didn’t inherit slavery from anybody. We created it.”

That has to be the dumbest declaration ever made on the Senate floor. The Democrat Party has now completed its unconditional surrender to the forces of historical illiteracy.

Slavery has been rife throughout all of ancient history. Most, if not all, ancient civilizations practiced it, and it is described (and defended) in the early writings of the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Egyptians. It was also practiced by early societies in Central America and Africa.

Three thousand years ago, Egyptians enslaved Jews who eventually escaped via something we now know as “The Exodus.”

Then there were the Romans. They enslaved just about everyone they conquered. And lest we forget, what about the million or so Europeans who were kidnapped by African Muslims and forced into slavery?

Here’s another reality. Slavery in America existed long before the first Europeans arrived. American Indians were slaveholders before and long after slavery became an institution in the South. In fact, slavery is the only African institution ever adopted by this country.

And here’s another salient fact: Portuguese — not Americans — brought the first slaves to Jamestown in 1619.

For those in this country who believe slavery in the world ended with the American Civil War, guess what? It still exists today and is even more prevalent than it was in the 19th Century.

Every day across the African continent, black men, women, and children are captured, bought, and sold into slavery, with the Western world paying scant attention. For example, in Mauritania, slavery persists, with tens of thousands of blacks continuing to be held in bondage.

In Sudan, tens of thousands of African women and children from mostly Christian villages were enslaved during the jihad raids of the Second Sudanese Civil War. At least 50,000 remain in bondage today.

According to the Global Slavery Index (GSI), 106,000 black Africans are estimated to be enslaved in Algeria. Migrant women and children of both sexes risk being forced into sexual slavery while men perform unskilled labor.

Sound familiar? For Democrats, it should. It’s what that party supported and protected for decades in the South until President Lincoln and the Union Army ended slavery by force.

Grant and Lee at Appomattox

And by the way, as bad as the turgid goons who ripped down statues in the summer of 2020 think this country is, America remains the only nation that fought a bloody civil war to end slavery.

But even then (unlike the demented zealots who rampaged through our cities in 2020), with more than 600,000 Americans from both sides dead and millions wounded in the Civil War, there was room for forgiveness, benevolence, and graciousness.

At the South’s surrender at Appomattox, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant allowed Gen. Robert E. Lee to keep his sword. As Lee mounted his horse to leave, Grant saluted him. Then, after announcing the South’s surrender at the White House, President Lincoln ordered the band to play “Dixie.”

It was a stunning and humane way to end the bloodiest war in America’s history–a point that is lost on the destructive imbeciles who ran amok in our cities a couple of summers ago.

That's putting it mildly Mr. Biden...

Joe Biden, the current mentally infirm occupant of the White House (we still are not sure who is making the decisions, but it is likely a combo of his chief of staff and Obama), is going to tax the oil companies to give us lower gas prices.

I would think he's not that stupid, but yes, he is. Or he could simply not understand what he's saying. The dementia has really progressed in him and he may just be reading what's on a card some other idiot wrote for him. But let's look at what this genius said:

'They ain't seen nothing yet': President Biden just accused oil companies of 'war profiteering' and threatened them with a new windfall tax. Will it help with gas prices?

In the wake of scorching inflation and Russia’s war in Ukraine, major gas companies like Chevron and Exxon Mobil are raking in profits. And it’s got President Joe Biden hot under the collar.

“Record profits today are not because they’re doing something new or innovative. The profits are a windfall of war,” Biden said in remarks at the White House on Monday, accompanied by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

With gas prices still elevated, and an expensive winter ahead, Biden says he’s ready to force these oil companies to act — but while his words for these companies may be strong, he may not have the power to back them up.

Biden doesn’t mince his words

Biden has been waging a battle with oil companies over the last few weeks, but he escalated it Monday when he called on them to “act beyond their narrow self-interest,” to “invest in America by increasing production and refining capacity” on behalf of “their consumers, their community and their country.”

And if they don’t? Biden warns they’re going to face “a higher tax on their excess profits and … higher restrictions.”

The president didn’t elaborate on what those restrictions might be, but promised his administration would work with Congress to evaluate all the available options....

Got it. He will simply tax their windfall profits and spend it on...whatever he wants to.

Now this reporter seems to be missing something. Joe Biden (hell, Democrats in general) have been at war with American energy for years. One day one of is administration, Biden cancelled Keystone XL, banned all new leases for oil, had his energy department stop issuing licenses for oil drilling (you can't drill on a leased area without a license). He is openly talking about putting energy companies out of business, so this is limiting the supply of oil. 

If you make something difficult to produce, it will limit the supply. You limit supply relative to demand (fixed or increasing), that will cause the price to rise. So oil companies are making more money per unit of supply (i.e. barrel of oil), and more profit. And who do the oil companies thank, and American people should blame? Joe Biden. 

Basically what Biden has told Big Oil is, "Drill for five years, keep prices low through the 2024/2026 elections, and after that, I'll put you out of business..." Not exactly encouraging to producers to come on line. But it's not like we haven't seen this movie before. 

In the Carter years, he put a "Windfall Profits Tax" on oil companies. The smart people would use that to fund "alternative energy" to end our consumption of oil, and we would be free of oil (what we would use plastic, rubber, jet fuel is still not determined). And guess what? Oil companies slowed production, and why not? There is no reason to produce more if the profit will be stolen immediately by people who did nothing to produce it. 

In January 1981, the finest president of my lifetime was inaugurated. In one of the first acts of his administration, Ronald Reagan deregulated the oil market, and oil prices did rise for the first six months or so. And by the summer of 1981, prices started to drop as more oil was  brought up on the market. Capitalism, works every time it's used. 

But that doesn't seem to concern this petulant man-child  (Second one of these to hold the presidency. Democrat of course.) Amazes me how unaccomplished he is yet he treats others like children. Remember how he was upset people were not taking the Covid shot:

“We’ve been patient,” Mr. Biden said in a sharp message to those who refuse to be vaccinated. “But our patience is wearing thin. And your refusal has cost all of us.”

Hey, Little Joey, remember, my body, my choice, or something like that? 

It scares me that this demented idiot served as assassination insurance for Barrack Obama, and he now had another idiot serving the same purpose. God help us, hopefully the GOP takes thee congress and starts opening drilling again. 

Multiple nations are paying for Obama's "Worst Mistake"

One of the many disastrous foreign policy efforts of the Obama presidency was overthrowing nations in the Middle East. For a candidate who ran on a “no war” promise, he seemed to have no issue with interfering with an unstable hostile state (Syria), making it worse; an allied nation (Egypt), almost giving it to the Muslim Brotherhood, and; and a stable non-hostile state, Libya, turning it into a disaster.  

The Legacy of Obama’s ‘Worst Mistake’

There’s a problem with the American way of war.

 

By Dominic Tierney April 15, 2016

In a Fox News interview last Sunday, Obama was asked about his “worst mistake.” It’s a classic gotcha question, but he had an answer ready. “Probably failing to plan for the day after, what I think was the right thing to do, in intervening in Libya.” This was yet another act of presidential contrition for the NATO operation in 2011 that helped to overthrow Muammar Qaddafi but left the country deeply unstable. In 2014, Obama said: “[W]e [and] our European partners underestimated the need to come in full force if you’re going to do this. Then it’s the day after Qaddafi is gone, when everybody is feeling good and everybody is holding up posters saying, ‘Thank you, America.’ At that moment, there has to be a much more aggressive effort to rebuild societies that didn’t have any civic traditions.” In recent interviews with The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg on the “Obama Doctrine,” the president bluntly said the mission in Libya “didn’t work.” Behind closed doors, according to Goldberg, he calls the situation there a “s*&^ show...”

Mr. Obama, maybe you should have thought (snicker) about that before you decided to overthrow one of the successes of the Iraq War. Qaddafi, no angel, in the aftermath of Saddam Hussein’s ouster, gave up his WMD program, settled the civil actions arising from the Lockerbie Scotland airline bombing, and was cooperating with us on intelligence matters. In case you never understood this, we don’t necessary need friends, or allies in other nations. A non-hostile but stable nation is also good to have. We had that in Libya, until you and your Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton,  turned stability to a “s*&^ show.”

 

Perhaps you and Mrs. Clinton should read something other than Rules for Radicals, like a biography of one of your predecessors, Dwight Eisenhower. He was famous for many things, including thinking things through. He had been planning major operations for decades, and he always asked, “And what next?” You plan for what will come after you execute your grand plan.

 

The results of your great plan in Libya? Well, from the CATO institute:

The Obama Administration Wrecked Libya for a Generation

Such is the cost of America’s promiscuous war‐​making

Libya’s ongoing destruction belongs to Hillary Clinton more than anyone else. It was she who pushed President Barack Obama to launch his splendid little war, backing the overthrow of Moammar Gaddafi in the name of protecting Libya’s civilians. When later asked about Gaddafi’s death, she cackled and exclaimed: “We came, we saw, he died.”

The arrogance, hubris and incompetence of Mrs. Bill Clinton never ceases to amaze me. 

Alas, his was not the last death in that conflict, which has flared anew, turning Libya into a real‐​life Game of Thrones. An artificial country already suffering from deep regional divisions, Libya has been further torn apart by political and religious differences. One commander fighting on behalf of the Government of National Accord (GNA), Salem Bin Ismail, told the BBC: “We have had chaos since 2011.”

… in 2011, the Arab Spring engulfed Libya, as people rose against Gaddafi’s rule. He responded with force to reestablish control. However, Western advocates of regime change warned that genocide was possible and pushed for intervention under United Nations auspices. In explaining his decision to intervene, Obama stated: “We knew that if we waited one more day, Benghazi…could suffer a massacre that would have reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world.” Russia and China went along with a resolution authorizing “all necessary measures to prevent the killing of civilians.”

In fact, the fears were fraudulent. Gaddafi was no angel, but he hadn’t targeted civilians, and his florid rhetoric, cited by critics, only attacked those who had taken up arms. He even promised amnesty to those who abandoned their weapons. With no civilians to protect, NATO, led by the U.S., bombed Libyan government forces and installations and backed the insurgents’ offensive. It was not a humanitarian intervention, but a lengthy, costly, low‐​tech, regime‐​change war, mostly at Libyan expense. Obama claimed: “We had a unique ability to stop the violence.” Instead his administration ensured that the initial civil war would drag on for months—and the larger struggle ultimately for years…

And thanks to Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama’s foolishness, they turned a stable nation in an unstable region into an example of disaster. Critically, Libya’s inventory of 20,000 Man Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) was lost, and the US and Israel had only recovered 5,000 of them as of 2013. 

Amazingly, ten years since Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama “worse mistake,” other nations are having to deal with this disaster of foreign policy. The Italians have elected a new prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. One of her promises is to “secure the border” (Sound familiar?). 

From the Washington Post:

… (Giorgia) Meloni has also called, repeatedly, for a “naval blockade” of the Mediterranean. A spokesman for Meloni said Monday that such a move could only be led by Europe, and in cooperation with North African countries.

 

In her interview with The Post, Meloni said “migrant flows need to be managed,” because “nations only exist if there are borders, and if those are defended.” She said that Italy had been giving immigrants few legal pathways, while instead letting migration be dominated by “smugglers” and “slave drivers.”

But there is no question thanks to the chaos of Libya, established by the Obama’s interference in their nation, Europe is having to deal with millions of refugees. Italy is having to deal with over a million refugees from the Libyan civil war. Did the US start the civil war, no. But interference by the US and NATO was a disaster, causing a strain on the nations of Europe and Africa. 

I can recommend another book to Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, Once an Eagle. Towards the end, the protagonist, Sam Damon, is speaking with an officer of the fictional nation of Khotiane (obviously an allegory of Vietnam). The officer reviews with Damon how Great Britain almost entered on the side of the south during the American Civil War. He makes the point just as Britain had no business being in that conflict, the Americans have no business in Khotiane’s fight. “It is our civil war.” 

Unfortunately Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton didn’t learn that lesson. And Europe, as well are other nations, are paying the price for it.

God I will not miss this RINO idiot in the Congress.

Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.

Mark Twain 

This past week, we saw the fall of the House of Cheney. Liz Cheney, after three terms in the House of Representatives, is heading home to K Street, where her Dad Darth Vader will greet her with open arms. 
But her other partner is stupidity is making a name for himself. Thankfully his time is soon up.

Kinzinger says Pompeo ‘did all of Donald Trump’s bidding’ while serving as secretary of State

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said on Friday that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “did all of [former President] Donald Trump’s bidding” while serving in the role. 

Kinzinger told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he and Pompeo, who previously served as a congressman from Kansas, are friends and worked together while they were both in Congress, and they agreed on foreign policy issues. He said Pompeo did “a good job” while serving as director of the CIA but completely committed himself to Trump after he joined the Cabinet. 

Kinzinger, who is one of two Republicans serving on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, made his remarks following Pompeo meeting with the committee last week. ..

...Kinzinger said Pompeo is trying to run for president but knows he cannot attack Trump and run, so he is hoping that Trump does not run, and he can take Trump’s place. 

“So, he’s trying to walk a tightrope,” he said. “That is somebody without a moral center, and he had a moral center. So, I don’t know what happened when he went off to the administration.”

And Mr. Kinzinger is surprised Mr. Pompeo did the President's bidding...how? 

Adam, I think you need a refresher on the government of the United States. It has three branches, Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. Article 2 sets up the Executive Branch, and you need to reread it:

The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.

You see Adam, the President IS the Executive Branch of the government. Now obviously a single man cannot handle the Executive Branch duties by himself, that's why the President has, are you ready, departments and agencies to execute the laws, etc., needed. Now Adam, these agencies have secretaries, administrators, etc to run them. One of those cabinet agencies is called the State Department, which is tasked with handing the foreign policy of the United States. And the head of the department is called the Secretary of State. 

Now the Secretary may be the head of the Department of State, the head of the Executive Branch is the President of the United States of America. The President sets the foreign policy of the United States of America, and while the Secretary of State serves in the government, his duty is to execute the President's foreign policy. In other words, "do his bidding." 

And Mr. Pompeo did his bidding, like John Francois Kerry, the haughty French looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way served in Vietnam, and Mrs. Bill Clinton, did for Barack Obama. Or  Condoleezza Rice and General Colin Powell did for George W. Bush.  You may disagree with the foreign policy of the President, but your opinion is irrelevant. It's set by the President, and executed by his Secretary of State. 

Hope you got it now Adam. If not, while your on the January 6 Committee, I suggest you ask an intern to explain it to you.