Category: Public Policy

Doing The Christian Thing.

I feel that anyone that tries to help their fellow man deserves all the credit…..but it appears that in Arizona it is against the law to feed the homeless.

n elderly Arizona woman is the first person to be arrested under a city ordinance after she shared food with people in need in a public park—and the first now to sue her hometown over that ordinance, per the AP. Norma Thornton, a 78-year-old retired restaurant owner, was arrested back in March in Bullhead City for passing out free food she’d prepared at home to individuals (some of them homeless) in the city’s Community Park, something she’d done regularly for at least four years, per her complaint filed Tuesday. Thornton had noticed after moving to Bullhead City that the park was “several miles away from the nearest shelter or food pantry,” and so she thought her expertise and home cooking could help those who needed sustenance, according to her suit.

Problems arose, however, because Thornton was technically breaching the city’s May 2021 ordinance against sharing food in public parks, which requires a $30 permit, proof of insurance, and a $250 refundable deposit within five days of food distribution. Even then, those who obtain such a permit can only hand out food once a month for two hours. The city says the rule is meant to “protect public health, safety, and welfare” and to “accommodate competing interests and uses for park space.” Mayor Tom Brady notes the ordinance applies only to public parks, and that churches, clubs, and private property are fair game without a permit.

The Institute of Justice, which is representing Thornton, has posted video of her arrest on March 8, in which the arresting officer even seems reluctant to haul her down to the police station. “I think this is a PR nightmare, but OK,” he’s heard telling his superior, per NBC. Thornton was issued a citation and could have seen up to four months behind bars and a fine of up to $750. She wouldn’t accept a plea deal, though, and the charges were eventually dropped. That didn’t stop her from wanting to sue.

Bless her good heart for not accepting a plea deal.

Arizona that bastion on conservatism….this tells me that these so-called Christians care nothing for their fellow man….they are such hypocrites that have a firm grip on the penis in one hand and a Bible in the other….and that is their policies reflect.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

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AI Bill Of Rights

The Biden group has issued what is being called a new Bill of Rights….they take on technology…….

The White House rolled out a proposal for an artificial intelligence Bill of Rights Tuesday, saying that while automated systems have “brought about extraordinary benefits,” progress “must not come at the price of civil rights or democratic values.” The blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy lists five principles that should be built into AI systems to protect the public from discrimination and violations of privacy, Axios reports. The White House warned that automated systems including those used for patient care “have proven unsafe, ineffective, or biased,” and algorithms used in hiring decisions have been found to “reflect and reproduce existing unwanted inequities or embed new harmful bias and discrimination.”

The principles state that Americans should know when automated decision-making is being used and they should be able to opt out. They state that algorithmic bias should be limited and users should be given control of their data. The White House said the document was released after a yearlong consultation with two dozen government departments, as well as tech companies and civil society groups, the AP reports. The proposals are nonbinding and government regulation of artificial intelligence remains “minimal or nonexistent,” Axios notes, though numerous other sets of AI guidelines exist, including EU guidelines released in 2019 and an “algor-ethical” proposal the Vatican released in 2020. Companies including IBM have released their own ethical guidelines.

“This is the White House saying that workers, students, consumers, communities, everyone in this country should expect and demand better from our technologies,” Alondra Nelson, OSTP deputy director for science and society, tells Wired. Nelson says the blueprint is “really just a down payment” on moves to limit harmful AI, though critics say the proposal should have included a framework to hold people and companies responsible for abusive AI practices. The US Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, warned that if some of the recommendations become law, it will “handcuff America’s ability to compete on the global stage,” reports Reuters.

I support the idea…..but corporations will see that their paid agents in Congress will make this just a fart in the political wind.

But for those interested in the bill and the actions….I have the link for you…..

https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/ai-bill-of-rights/

Read it and decide for yourself….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Inflation Reduction Act

Recently the Congress and the White House passed and signed a great bill that is suppose to help struggling Americans keep the prices of drugs down….

The Inflation Reduction Act is set to lower drug prices for millions of people in the U.S. — but experts fear pharmaceutical companies could exploit loopholes in the bill, ultimately keeping prescription costs high for many.

The law takes aim at insulin costs, caps out-of-pocket spending for Medicare beneficiaries, and allows the federal government to negotiate prices on the costliest prescription drugs. It also will require drugmakers to pay a rebate to Medicare if they raise prices too sharply.

These provisions won’t be implemented all at once.  Instead, they’ll go into effect gradually over the next several years, beginning with insulin price caps and rebates in 2023, out-of-pocket caps in 2025, and finally drug negotiations in 2026.

Because of the four-year gap before the law is fully implemented, policy and legal experts fear that pharmaceutical companies may have ample time to go on the offense and — if they don’t try to get the law thrown out in court — figure out ways to sidestep provisions that affect their ability to maintain their high profits.

The tactics may ultimately threaten the law’s ability to lower drug costs for consumers. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey found about 8 in 10 adults say the cost of prescription drugs is unreasonable.

“Trying to reform the system is like playing three-dimensional chess,” said Robin Feldman, a pharmaceutical and intellectual property law expert at the University of California, Hastings. “Whatever move the government makes, companies will move on three different levels to try to get around it.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/inflation-reduction-act-aims-lower-drug-costs-s-big-pharma-get-rcna48341

This is typical….the Congress installs loopholes that can be exploited by the donors that pay their representatives to make it easier for them exploit the people of this country.

So bend over my fellow Americans and enjoy the ride….you will get use to it (sarcasm)….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Water….Is Not Everywhere

For decades the Colorado River has been tapped for its water supply….and now that resource is running out thanks to the 20 year drought in the American West.

After 22 straight years of drought, the Colorado River’s flow is in increasingly bad shape—and two of the seven states that rely on its water are going to have to make more cuts. Last year, a Tier 1 shortage was declared on the river for the first time, causing mandatory cuts to the use of its water in Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico under a plan the seven states and Mexico signed in 2019, CNN reports. But with the water shortage getting worse, the Department of the Interior announced Tuesday that a Tier 2 shortage will be declared starting in 2023, causing more cuts for Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico. Arizona will lose more than a fifth of its yearly allotment.

The cuts are based on water levels at Lake Mead, which are now at historic lows and are expected to fall even further next year, the AP reports. The lake, America’s largest reservoir, is currently just a quarter full, and experts warn that it is getting dangerously close to the level where the Hoover Dam can no longer generate power. Bureau of Reclamation chief Camille Touton warned in June that states need to come up with a plan to cut water usage by next year. But negotiations between states are not going well, and the federal government might have to step in, reports CNN. The states missed the bureau’s August 15 deadline for announcing proposals to cut water use.

Authorities say any cuts made are likely to be in place for a long time as the West becomes hotter and drier. “In order to avoid a catastrophic collapse of the Colorado River System and a future of uncertainty and conflict, water use in the Basin must be reduced,” said Tanya Trujillo, the Interior Department’s assistant secretary for water and science, per the Los Angeles Times. Water managers say a long-term plan is needed, but their main priority is coming up with a plan to get through the next three years without the system falling apart.

The Colorado is so bad it can be seen from space……

The full scale of the drought, however, can only be seen from space. NASA satellites have been monitoring waterways in the West for years and documenting how the region is drying up. It’s part of a trend lasting almost two decades, making it the worst drought in 1,200 years. Part of the severity of this “megadrought” has been worsened by climate change.

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/23308281/colorado-river-western-drought-satellite-hoover-dam-mead-powell

Now there is a proposal to help the struggling Colorado River by sucking water out of the Mississippi River……

Two hundred miles north of New Orleans, in the heart of swampy Cajun Country, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1963 cut a rogue arm of the Mississippi River in half with giant levees to keep the main river intact and flowing to the Gulf of Mexico. 

The Old River Control Structure, as it was dubbed, is also the linchpin of massive but delicate locks and pulsed flows that feed the largest bottomland hardwood forests and wetlands in the United States, outstripping Florida’s better known Okefenokee Swamp. 

Clouds of birds – hundreds of species – live in or travel through Louisiana’s rich Atchafalaya forests each year, said National Audubon Society Delta Conservation Director Erik Johnson. They include gawky pink roseate spoonbills, tiny bright yellow warblers, known as swamp candles because of their bright glow in the humid, green woods, and more. 

This summer, as seven states and Mexico push to meet a Tuesday deadline to agree on plans to shore up the Colorado River and its shriveling reservoirs, retired engineer Don Siefkes of San Leandro, California, wrote a letter to The Desert Sun of the USA TODAY Network with what he said was a solution to the West’s water woes: Build an aqueduct from the Old River Control Structure to Lake Powell, 1,489 miles west, to refill the Colorado River system with Mississippi River water. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/08/15/climate-change-west-mississippi-river-pipeline/10332092002/

Seriously?

These people are killing the mighty Colorado and now that it is dying they want to impose their need on a major watery artery to the middle of the country.

I have a problem with this plan.

You?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is It Corruption?

I am asking about our government…..is it a representative body of the people or just a pack of greedy slugs scratching for more cash to do business?

I mean Russia has its oligarch…..and so does the US….although we pretend that it is different…..it is not greedy slugs selling their vote for cash…..it is corruption….but do not take my word for it…..

Another sign of growing discontent in America? A new poll from the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics finds a majority of Americans think the government is corrupt and stacked against them.

To probably no one’s surprise, 73 percent of poll respondents who identify as “strong Republican” respondents agreed with the statement that the government is “corrupt and rigged against everyday people like me.” But Republicans are far from alone in this sentiment. Fifty-one percent of “very liberal” voters agreed with the same statement.

Overall, 56 percent of survey respondents said that the government is corrupt. This included 66 percent of all Republican respondents, 63 percent of independents, and 46 percent of Democrats.

The survey of 1,000 registered voters found that a significant number of people expect that extreme measures may be necessary to protect against government overreach. 28 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that “it may be necessary at some point soon for citizens to take up arms against the government.” Thirty-six percent of Republicans, 35 percent of independents, and 20 percent of Democrats agreed. 

While some have portrayed this as a sign of increasing polarization or extremism, I think it’s the kind of poll question that makes for dramatic results but doesn’t really tell us much. Agreeing that armed revolution “may” (or may not!) be necessary at some unspecified point in the future doesn’t mean you think it’s terribly likely to be necessary.

One interesting finding is that people across the board believed that their political opponents might agree with them if they were better informed. Asked about “people who you disagree with on political issues,” half said that “the root of the problem” is that these people “are misinformed because of where they get their information.” Fifty-one percent of Republicans, 52 percent of Democrats, and 37 percent of independents believed this.

Most Americans Think Government Is Corrupt, a Third Say Armed Revolution ‘May Be Necessary’ Soon

This was made more possible thanx to yet another SCOTUS decision that let corporations give money hand over fist to representatives in the form of ‘donations’….bribes to do their bidding…..

Time for a change….you decide what to do….then do it!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

All That ‘Breaking News’

This draft was written before the mass shooting in Uvalde and now the SCOTUS ruling…it had to wait for the news to play out.  I apologize for the delay.

I have avoided the MSM since the invasion of Ukraine…..they are pro-war and anti-gun and they are trying to influence the country as best as they can….and their corporate masters continue to set the news….but many of us are disillusioned by the way the MSM handles the news.

A growing number of people are selectively avoiding important news stories such as the coronavirus pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the cost-of-living crisis, according to a report released on Tuesday.

While the majority of people surveyed consume news regularly, 38% said they often or sometimes avoid the news – up from 29% in 2017 – the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism said in its annual Digital News Report. Around 36% – particularly those under 35 – say that the news lowers their mood.

Trust in news is also declining, and is lowest in the United States. On average, 42% of people said they trust most news most of the time; that figure has fallen in almost half the countries in the report and risen in seven.

“Large numbers of people see the media as subject to undue political influence, and only a small minority believe most news organisations put what’s best for society ahead of their own commercial interest,” wrote Reuters Institute Director Rasmus Kleis Nielsen in the report, which is based on an online survey of 93,432 people, conducted in 46 markets.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-06-14/more-people-are-avoiding-the-news-and-trusting-it-less-report-says

Then there is the manure of ‘breaking news’….

Since the conflict in Ukraine began I have been bitching about the use of the news tag of ‘breaking news’……CNN was the worse offender….it was breaking news for 12 hours, the same report time after time…..of course I have written about this….

Ukraine And The Media

The Reporting On Ukraine

Please read those and see what I am on about….

With the recent mass shooting this story got lost in the headlines….

If you’re a regular CNN viewer, you’re also intimately familiar with one of its most well-known chyrons: the bright-red “Breaking News” banner that seems to accompany a good number of its newscasts. No more, says new network chief Chris Licht, who’s now issued an edict on cutting down on the banner’s use. Axios reports that on Thursday, Licht, 50, informed staff there are now stricter parameters on when to use the “Breaking News” label; updated guidelines have been written by Sam Feist, the network’s DC bureau chief. “Breaking News” has to “mean something BIG is happening,” Licht wrote in a memo to employees. “We are truth-tellers, focused on informing, not alarming our viewers. … The tenor of our voice holistically has to reflect that.”

The reasoning behind the shift, which CNBC calls “the first significant programming alteration” Licht has made, ties to his desire to pull CNN back from a more progressive-leaning, sometimes sensationalist approach to one more focused on hard news. That return to traditional journalism is also said to be a top priority for David Zaslav, the CEO of CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery. The move is also intended to keep the “Breaking News” banner from become diluted by overuse. “It has become such a fixture on every channel and network that its impact has become lost on the audience,” Licht noted in his memo.

Licht, who took the helm of CNN in early May, was said to have held meetings with staff to try to suss out when and how the banner is employed, at which point he directed Feist to come up with an update on its usage for CNN’s stylebook. Licht noted he’s open to feedback and “tweaks” to the guidelines, but that “this is a great starting point.” He added in the memo: “We must be vital, relevant, and respected—and how we show up for our audiences, in every story, in every part of the country, and around the world, matters.” Deadline has his memo in its entirety.

Maybe someone was reading after all…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Guns, What To Do?

These are the bills that the House will be considering in aftermath of the latest spat of mass shootings……list compiled by Raw Story…….

Bill: H.R.3015: Raise the Age Act

Introduced by Rep. Anthony Brown, Democrat of Maryland.

This bill would prohibit the sale of certain semiautomatic rifles to anyone under 21. Currently, a person needs to be 18 to purchase one.

There are exceptions under the bill. They would include members of the armed forces or a full-time employee of the U.S. government who is authorized to carry a firearm.

This bill had two Republican co-sponsors, Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.

Bill: H.R. 2280: Prevent Gun Trafficking Act

Introduced by Rep. Robin Kelly, Democrat of Illinois.

This bill would establish a new federal penalty for gun trafficking, which could range from a fine to up to 10 years in prison. The bill also allows for the seizure of firearms and ammunition involved in the offense.

It would also be “unlawful to sell or dispose of a firearm or ammunition to any person knowing or having reason to believe that the person intends to sell or dispose of the firearm in violation of a federal law, or to sell or dispose of the firearm to a person in another state in violation of that state’s law.”

This measure had no Republican co-sponsors.

Bill: H.R. 3088: The Untraceable Firearms Act

Introduced by Rep. David Cicilline, Democrat of Rhode Island.

This bill aims to curb ghost guns, which are homemade guns that lack a serial number, making it difficult for law enforcement to trace the owner of the weapon if it’s found at a crime scene. The Biden administration directed the Justice Department to issue a final rule to ban manufacturers from making ghost gun kits.

The measure would require that all firearms need to be traceable, including guns that are made with a 3D printer. Only gun manufacturers are allowed to issue a serial number for a firearm, according to the bill.

In terms of penalties, a first violation of this law would result in a fine, no more than a year in prison, or both. If there is a repeat offense, a person would be fined, serve up to five years in prison, or both.

This bill had no Republican co-sponsors.

Bill: H.R. 748: Ethan’s Law

Introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut.

This bill aims to regulate the storage of firearms, particularly in homes with children, by setting federal, state and tribal requirements. The bill establishes “requirements for firearms on residential premises to be safely stored if a minor is likely to gain access without permission or if a resident is ineligible to possess a firearm.”

A person could be fined up to $500, per violation, and if a minor or someone who does not possess a firearm obtains a firearm in the home and is injured or causes injury, the person to whom the firearm belongs can be fined, imprisoned for up to five years, or both.

There were no Republican co-sponsors to this bill.

Bill: H.R. 6370: The Safe Guns, Safe Kids Act

Introduced by Rep. Elissa Slotkin, Democrat of Michigan.

This bill would establish federal requirements for the storage of firearms on residential properties. The bill would make it unlawful if a person who has a firearm “knows, or reasonably should know, that a minor is likely to gain access to the firearm without the permission of the parent or guardian,” and if “a minor obtains the firearm and uses the firearm in the commission of a crime or causes injury or death to such minor, or any other individual.”

There were no Democratic or Republican co-sponsors for this bill.

Bill: H.R. 130: The Kimberly Vaughan Firearm Safe Storage Act

Introduced by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat of Texas.

This bill would establish federal requirements for firearms and ammunition on residential properties by requiring firearms and ammunition to be safely stored if a minor is likely to gain access without permission to the firearm.

The firearms would need to be secured, unloaded and separated in a safe and locked, or the firearms would need to be off the residential property and stored at a storage facility or gun range. The bill would also require those safes and storage facilities to be certified by the Department of Justice.

If someone violates this law in connection with a civil charge, and there is no discharge of the firearm, they can be fined up to $5,000.

If someone violates this law in a criminal action, and there is a discharge of the firearm, they would be fined a minimum of $50,000 and no more than $100,000, imprisoned for no more than 20 years, or both.

There were no Republican co-sponsors to this bill.

Bill: H.R. 5427: Closing the Bump Stock Loophole Act

Introduced by Rep. Dina Titus, Democrat of Nevada.

This bill would classify bump stocks as machine guns and require them to be registered under the National Firearms Act and prevents the manufacture, sale, or possession of new bump stocks for civilian use.

A bump stock allows “a semiautomatic firearm to shoot more than one shot with a single pull of the trigger by harnessing the recoil energy of the semiautomatic firearm to which it is affixed so that the trigger resets and continues firing without additional physical manipulation of the trigger by the shooter,” according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

There were no Republican co-sponsors to this bill.

Bill: H.R. 2510: The Keep Americans Safe Act

Introduced by Rep. Ted Deutch, Democrat of Florida.

This bill would make it unlawful for the import, sale, manufacture, transfer or possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device, which can be a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device that has a capacity of more than 10 rounds of ammunition. However, the bill allows existing magazines to be “grandfathered” in, so they can still be held in possession, but prohibits the sale or transfer of “grandfathered” large capacity ammunition feeding devices.

This bill also allows for the use of funds from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program for buy-back programs for such devices. Individuals who surrender a LCAFD under a buy-back program receive compensation.

There were no Republican co-sponsors to this bill.

Now you have the attempts to control/lessen the mass shootings…

Personal opinion here….,these are lame ass attempts that will go nowhere in preventing more mass shootings and more innocent deaths……

Basically band-aids for a gun shot wound (no pun intended).

Please read the bills and then tell me where the good will be.

Another fart in the wind from the US House of Representatives.

So much more to be said!

As the Senate tries to find a compromise on gun control legislation, the House is moving ahead with its own package on the issue, starting with an emergency markup this week.

Although lawmakers are currently on recess, the House Judiciary Committee returned Thursday for an urgent session focused on multiple bills intended to address the age limit for purchasing guns, the sale of large-capacity magazines, and firearm storage. During the markup, committee members approved the package, setting it up for a floor vote as soon as next week.

https://www.vox.com/2022/6/2/23151914/house-democrats-gun-control-package

All in all a waste of time….only purpose this will offer is some fodder for campaign ads.

And the deaths go on….

Watch This Blog!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Convention Of The States

This is a draft of mine from those dark days before we became fixated on Ukraine…..

Or as we use to call this thing….a Constitutional Convention….

A Convention is the mechanism used to amend our US Constitution……or as some call it exercise the Article Five of the Constitution…..

For those that are ignorant of this article…..

Article V Convention, amendatory convention, or a convention of states, applied for by two-thirds (currently 34) of the state legislatures, is one of two processes authorized by Article Five of the United States Constitution whereby the United States Constitution may be altered. Amendments may also be proposed by Congress with a two-thirds vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate…..

Article V of the Constitution says how the Constitution can be amended—that is, how provisions can be added to the text of the Constitution. The Constitution is not easy to amend: only twenty-seven amendments have been added to the Constitution since it was adopted.

Article V spells out a few different ways in which the Constitution can be amended. One method—the one used for every amendment so far—is that Congress proposes an amendment to the states; the states must then decide whether to ratify the amendment. But in order for Congress to propose an amendment, two-thirds of each House of Congress must vote for it. And then three-quarters of the states must ratify the amendment before it is added to the Constitution. So if slightly more than one-third of the House of Representatives, or slightly more than one-third of the Senate, or thirteen out of the fifty states object to a proposal, it will not become an amendment by this route. In that way, a small minority of the country has the ability to prevent an amendment from being added to the Constitution.

Article V does potentially provide a way for the states to bypass Congress, although it has never been used. Article V says that “on the Application of two thirds of the Legislatures of the several States, [Congress] shall call a Convention for proposing amendments.” The convention can propose amendments, whether Congress approves of them or not. Those proposed amendments would then be sent to the states for ratification. As with an amendment proposed by Congress, three-quarters of the states would have to ratify the amendment for it to become part of the Constitution.

Article V also allows Congress to choose between two ways that the states might ratify an amendment. An amendment can be ratified by the state legislature—the part of the state government that enacts laws for the state. But Congress can provide instead that the states must call conventions for the single purpose of deciding whether to ratify an amendment. So far, though, with one exception (the Twenty-First Amendment), every amendment has been ratified by state legislatures.

Now the Civics lesson is over let’s move on…..

The last attempt to ratify was the Equal Rights Amendment…..and that was a clusterf*ck……

I have been saying for decades that we need a convention to clarify the Constitution…..the Founders did a helluva job in being vague which in my mind leads to all the confusion and chaos around our Constitution.

Let me return to the thought of the day……

The latest attempt to ratify is going to be the same chaotic mess as the ERA…..

Conservatives in states have put together a campaign of ratify the Constitution in their favor…..mostly it deals with money……

Georgia, Alaska, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Indiana, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arizona, North Dakota, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Utah and Mississippi have also approved resolutions of their own.

It will take 34 states to trigger a Convention of the States. COS organizers  said “momentum” is on their side.

For me there are several problems with this attempt by conservs……

Calling a Constitutional Convention is very dangerous. If Congress called a Constitutional Convention, or attempted
to do so, the country would be thrown into great turmoil, a period of extraordinary tension and deep anxiety, and
likely find itself quickly mired in momentous, lengthy legal and political battles of great consequence to the nation’s
future.
 States cannot limit the agenda of a Constitutional Convention. A Constitutional Convention would open up the
Constitution to whatever amendments its delegates chose to propose, just as the convention that produced the current
Constitution ignored its original charge, to amend the Articles of Confederation, and instead wrote an entirely new
governing document.
A balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution would be a highly ill-advised way to address the nation’s longterm fiscal problems. By requiring a balanced budget every year, no matter the state of the economy, such an
amendment would raise serious risks of tipping weak economies into recession and making recessions longer and
deeper, causing very large job losses. That’s because the amendment would force policymakers to cut spending, raise
taxes, or both just when the economy is weak or already in recession — the exact opposite of what good economic
policy would advise.

This is just another attempt to exclude portions of our society from the government….a typical conserv ploy that goes back for decades…..the same trivial games these conservs always play.

I say if you call for a convention then the attempt should be made to clarify all the vagueness in the Constitution….not pick and choose what will be addressed.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Do Sanctions Violate The Constitution?

I have made my thoughts on sanctions in the past….and now I would like to offer up another thought….this one from a FOX News pundit…..Napolitano…..keep in mind these are HIS thoughts not mine…..personally anyone that listens or believes anything from FOX News is basically adding to the confusion and misinformation (but that is me)……

For those that would like to check my thoughts on sanctions then by all means jump to my previous post….

Is Sanctions The Answer?

The US and most of the rest of the world has put into place crippling sanctions against Russia and its oligarchs….Napolitano says that these sanctions violate the US Constitution….

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration has undertaken a vast scheme against Russian economic actors, which it characterizes as “sanctions.” The scheme consists in seizing assets, freezing assets, and prohibiting lawful and constitutionally protected commercial transactions.

All of this is aimed at dissuading Russian President Vladimir Putin from his determination to use extreme state violence to neutralize the government of Ukraine and install a government more favorable to the Kremlin. Yet, the targets of these sanctions are neither Putin nor the Russian state. Rather, his friends and political supporters, as well as Russian banks and commercial entities, and even American banks and commercial entities, have been targeted – and hundreds of millions of consumers and investors have been harmed.

By prohibiting the use of assets and international money transfers, the sanctions have severely harmed folks in Russia who have nothing to do with Putin’s war by radically reducing their purchasing power and eliminating many everyday choices from their spending options. All of this was done by presidential edict.

Can the president constitutionally prevent Americans and foreign persons from the lawful use of their own assets and from engaging freely in lawful commercial transactions? In a word: No.

Sanctions on Russia Violate the Constitution

Now you have what a FOX pundit thinks…..do you agree?

Make your thoughts known!

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I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

SOTU–2022

Last night the president trotted his butt out and addressed a joint session of Congress to give his State of the Union speech…..here is my take for those that had rather watch paint dry.

Ukraine was front and center of this speech…..

Here is a short list of the proverbial promises…..

President Biden began his first State of the Union address Tuesday night with a focus on Ukraine, and he got a bipartisan standing ovation with his condemnation of Vladimir Putin’s invasion. That big line early: “Freedom will always triumph over tyranny,” he said, per CNN. Members of both parties were holding Ukrainian flags.

  • Putin: “Six days ago, Russia’s Vladimir Putin sought to shake the foundations of the free world thinking he could make it bend to his menacing ways,” Biden said. “But he badly miscalculated.”
  • US airspace: Biden also delivered a tangible piece of news, announcing that Russian airlines are banned from flying in US airspace. The US follows Canada, Britain, and the European Union in making the move. The main effect is that the Russian airline Aeroflot can no longer travel to or from the US, or even travel over the country en route to somewhere else, reports the New York Times. The Washington Post notes the ban also is expected to affect Volga-Dnepr Airlines, a Russian cargo carrier used by Boeing to move aircraft parts in the US.
  • Inflation: Biden pledged to get inflation under control. “We have a choice,” Biden said, per the AP. “One way to fight inflation is to drive down wages and make Americans poorer. I have a better plan to fight inflation. Lower your costs, not your wages.” Among other things, he urged investment in US manufacturing so the US would be less dependent on foreign supply chains. “Economists call it ‘increasing the productive capacity of our economy,'” said Biden. “I call it building a better America.”
  • Tax reform: “I may be wrong, but my guess is if we took a secret ballot on this floor, that we would all agree that the present tax system ain’t fair,” said Biden. He called for reform, adding that his policies would not raise taxes on those who make less than $400,000 a year. “I’m not looking to punish anybody. But let’s make corporations and wealthy Americans start paying their fair share.”
  • More on Ukraine: “Putin may circle Kyiv with tanks, but he will never gain the hearts and souls of the Ukrainian people,” Biden said. “He will never extinguish their love of freedom. He will never weaken the resolve of the free world.” He said Russia would emerge from all this a weaker nation.

All in all a pretty standard and boring speech.

Now aren’t you glad you had better things to do than watch this worthless waste of time?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”