Thursday’s podcast:
Biden vs Thurmond....LA City Council vs Texas....and more.....
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Thursday, August 31, 2023
Thursday's video: Biden vs Thurmond....LA City Council vs Texas....and...
Biden vs Thurmond....LA City Council vs Texas....Open borders and terrorists.....Senator Cruz 2024....Frank Robinson (1935-2019)....and other stories....
Who knew that ISIS would try to take advantage of an open border?
(My new American Thinker post)
My late mother would read this story and scream: "Que estupidos son" or loosely translated to "how stupid they are." Yes, who knew that ISIS or any other terrorist group would exploit a porous border?
This is the story:
Border Patrol arrested a whopping 12,028 criminal illegals in Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, and the criminals keep coming. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics on criminal illegals apprehended FY2023 to date (last updated Aug. 16) is 10,810 criminal illegals. There was also a 600% spike in potential “national security risk” migrants (i.e. potential terrorists) apprehended in FY2022, a total of 25,627 individuals -- hence the Border Patrol Union is warning that thousands of terrorists could be entering the U.S. illegally.
Again, why would anyone be surprised that people who want to harm the country would exploit an opportunity to harm the country?
There is more from the story:
The FBI is investigating more than a dozen Uzbek nationals allowed into the US after they sought asylum at the southern border with Mexico earlier this year, a scramble set off when US intelligence officials found that the migrants traveled with the help of a smuggler with ties to ISIS, according to multiple US officials,” CNN reports. “While the FBI says no specific ISIS plot has been identified, officials are still working to ‘identify and assess’ all of the individuals who gained entry to the United States, according to a statement from National Security Council spokesman Adrienne Watson. And they are closely scrutinizing a number of the migrants as possible criminal threats, according to two US officials.”
More than 100 suspected terrorists have been arrested at the U.S. southern border since President Joe Biden took office. It is estimated two million “gotaways” have crossed into the U.S. undetected. In May, an Afghan national on the terror watch list was arrested in San Diego.
What would a responsible president do? First, he would close the border and let the system digest the ones already here. The mayor of New York City might support that. He could use a break from the buses.
Second, he would assure the country that further steps would be implemented to keep out criminals or security threats. This is consistent with the oath that he took when he assumed the position.
Third, why aren't we talking to Mexico about this? It's hard for me to believe that Mexico cannot stop this in a heartbeat. Or maybe they can't and that would call for unilateral action against the criminal elements profiting from the human traffic.
So the border is open and bad people are crossing it. Read my mother's quote again.
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Wednesday's podcast: Border criminals...Biden 5400...Canada warning about US states & More
Wednesday's podcast:
Border criminals...
Biden 5400...Canada warning about US states & More....
Wednesday's video: Border criminals...Biden 5400...Canada warning abo...
Wednesday's video:
Border criminals...Biden 5400...Canada warning about travel to the US......
Ian Fleming's Joe Biden 5400
(My new American Thinker post)
So I heard that Biden had 5,400 Biden pseudonym emails. Wonder what the late Ian Fleming would say about that? His Bond 007 only had one name as I recall. And James Bond put his life on the line!
This is the story:
The National Archives and Records Administration acknowledged possessing potentially up to 5,400 emails connected to then-Vice President Joe Biden's pseudonym accounts that he used to forward government information and discuss business with his son, Hunter Biden, and others, and on Monday the Southeastern Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit to compel the agency to turn over the emails.
The non-profit constitutional legal group that filed the lawsuit said the archives confirmed that Biden used the pseudonyms of Robin Ware, Robert L. Peters, and JRB Ware during his time in the Obama administration.
The archives' admissions confirm years of reporting from Just the News about Biden's use of a personal email as vice president and the pseudonym accounts he used.
Well, the man is interesting. Isn't he?
I have many questions. Why would a man need so many pseudonyms? I mean he is a public figure making decisions with policy consequences.
Another question: Did President Obama know this? Can someone please ask him? And ask him about Hillary Clinton's private server too?
It's hard to take the Biden's Hunter defenses seriously anymore. As they say, a pseudonym is a fictitious name used to conceal an identity. Am I the only one who thinks that such concealment is unacceptable in a public figure discussing business with his son?
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.
Tuesday, August 29, 2023
Tuesday's podcast: Biden and other names, Trump factor, Gas prices & Katrina 2005
Tuesday's podcast:
Biden and other names, Trump factor, Gas prices & Katrina 2005.....
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Tuesday's video: Biden and other names, Trump factor, Gas prices & Katrina 2005
Tuesday's video:
Biden and other names, Trump factor, Gas prices & Katrina 2005
The bad, the ugly, and the sound of the pump
(My new American Thinker post)
Once upon a time not very long ago, I paid $25 to fill up my four-cylinder Ford. Just a few days ago, I paid $40. Please don't tell me that inflation is under control because the gas pump did not get that memo.
Over at the Wall Street Journal, the story is not going to make your day.
U.S. consumers in recent weeks have seen gasoline prices tick up to reach their highest levels so far this year. The increase is leaving many with an unwelcome sense of déjà vu, recalling last summer’s record gasoline prices.
Prices have retreated slightly in recent days but remain elevated. A gallon of regular gasoline averaged about $3.82 nationally on Sunday, about 60 cents higher than at the beginning of the year, according to OPIS, an energy-data and analytics provider. Diesel prices are down about 31 cents compared with early January but have gained more than 40 cents from a month ago.
The ascent of oil prices could complicate the Federal Reserve’s effort to lower inflation to 2%, economists say.
Complicate the Fed's efforts? I think so.
Inflation at the pump is killing small businesses, as the article points out. My exhibit A on that point is the landscaping crew that comes around every other week. I can see them at the gas station filling up their various tanks and mowers early Saturday morning. Last week, I asked the owner of the business for a quick assessment of the inflation situation. He said something in Spanish that translates to "it stinks" although he used an X-rated word not suitable for the ladies who may read this.
The problem with inflation is that you can't explain it with numbers. This is because inflation is food, gasoline, electricity, and going out to dinner. Inflation hits us in the pocketbook and as scary these days as a Randy Johnson inside pitch coming down at 100 miles per hour.
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.
Monday, August 28, 2023
Monday's podcast: The week in review with Bill Katz the editor of Urgent Agenda
Monday's podcast:
The week in review with Bill Katz the editor of Urgent Agenda....
click to listen:
Monday's video: The week in review with Bill Katz the editor of Urgent Agenda
Guest:.......Bill Katz the editor of Urgent Agenda......The proposed DeSantis vs Newsom debate......GOP debate reaction.....Black men going to the GOP?.. and other stories....
One bus, two buses now up to 10 buses
(My new American Thinker post)
We call them "Abbott buses" and they keep driving in just about every direction. Number 10 just made it to Los Angeles and here is the story:
As President Joe Biden's open border continues to wreak havoc on the United States, one Democratic city is suffering the consequences.
Over the weekend, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) sent its tenth bus full of illegal migrants to Los Angeles just days after its mayor criticized the border state for sending migrants.
Democrat Mayor Karen Bass got a rude awakening when a bus of 39 illegal migrants showed up on her doorstep. The bus, which included 12 families and 21 children, was sent five days after Abbott sent the ninth shipment to the liberal city during Tropical Storm Hillary.
“LA has not extended an invitation asking for people to come. This is a political act,” Bass said, despite declaring Los Angeles a sanctuary city in June.
The mayor of LA is complaining that they didn't invite the migrants. She is blaming Governor Abbott for playing politics. Of course, the reality is that Los Angeles did invite them when it pronounced itself a sanctuary city.
My guess is that some of these cities did not really think that someone would call their bluff on the matter. It was a great talking point when they were behind the microphone or on campaign mode. Now, they are dealing with people actually showing up on their location. It looks a lot different now, doesn't it?
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.
Sunday, August 27, 2023
Sunday's video: The Texas political report this week
Guest: George Rodriguez, South Texas conservative.......Buses to LA.....NY migrant crisis....and other stories......
Biden, it's you
(My new American Thinker post)
Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams are covering that old song called "Baby It's You." Their cover version is "Biden It's You," or sort of their way of blaming the Biden administration for the sanctuary state mess that they created.
This is the story:
That was one small step for Kathy Hochul — one big mistake for New York.
The governor, up to her eyeballs in migrants, this week pointed the bony finger of blame at Biden administration border policies — and this was a very hopeful sign.
Could she be coming out of her coma?
Probably not.
For the governor then effectively endorsed the root cause of New York's border-crosser crisis — Gotham's completely insane, prohibitively expensive and totally unsustainable "right-to-shelter" policy.
My guess is that Governor Hochul is in a no-win situation. She knows that the problem lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, who opened the border. At the same time, she has to keep the liberal wing of the party happy, or the same people who support this insane policy.
Mayor Adams is in the middle of this mess. His hands are tied, and the Abbott Bus Lines keep dropping off passengers.
The key word in the article is "totally unsustainable," or the reality that a state losing taxpayers can't afford to spend more money. In other words, every dollar that goes to migrants comes from another state or city program.
The other reality is that there is no money coming from Washington. The House won't pass such an expenditure, and there are not 60 votes in the U.S. Senate.
So Hochul-Adams can sing "Biden It's You" 'til the wee hours of the morning. They'd be better off, and so would the citizens they represent, if they would call on the migrants to stay in Mexico rather than New York.
PS: Check out my blog for posts, podcasts, and videos.
Saturday, August 26, 2023
Saturday's video: The situation in Venezuela with Comandante Cazorla
Saturday's video:
The situation in Venezuela with Comandante Cazorla
Not my kids, say the parents
(My new American Thinker post)
More and more parents are not happy with public education. I hear it from a local friend who tells me that the phone at the local Catholic schools does not stop ringing. Who is a calling? A parent disillusioned with public schools asking a single question: "How can I get my kid in your school"? I'm sure that this experience is not limited to Catholic schools. My guess is that other private or religious schools are getting similar inquiries.
Why is this happening? Well, let's check out one judge in Maryland and her opinion:
A federal court in Maryland decided Thursday that parents can't opt their kids out of reading books with LGBTQ+ content in Montgomery County Schools.
In Tamer Mahmoud v. Monica B. McKnight, parents sought to reinstate a MCPS policy that would allow them to opt their children out of reading and discussing books with LGBTQ+ characters in elementary schools. The parents argued the content in these books was a form of indoctrination that violated their families' religious beliefs. The court disagreed. Judge Deborah L. Boardman, a Biden appointee, concluded that the parents' "asserted due process right to direct their children's upbringing by opting out of a public-school curriculum that conflicts with their religious views is not a fundamental right."
The judge denied the parents' request for a preliminary injunction that would allow them to opt-out their kids when school begins on August 28.
So a parent cannot opt-out of a subject that violates their religious principles? Welcome to Cuba, where the state decides what's good or not good for your kids. Parents don't -- the state does!
Parents need to go to the next level of the courts and argue that they have rights too. For now they are stuck in these schools focusing more on indoctrination than education.
The Democrats may be playing with fire here. The parents in many of these districts are devout religious people, often Muslims or Hispanics who do not want these values pushed on their kids.
Furthermore, the teachers union should be reminded that parents pay the taxes that pay their salaries. You can't survive if you are not listening to your customers, or the parents.
Yes, that phone at the other school is ringing loud and louder. Of course, maybe some of these parents will figure out that they got what they voted for. Maybe some will cast a different vote the next time.
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.
Friday, August 25, 2023
Friday's podcast: The GOP debate with Richard Baehr, American Thinker
Friday's podcast:
The GOP debate with Richard Baehr, American Thinker......
click to listen:
Friday's video: The GOP debate and update on Trump with Richard Baehr, American Thinker
Friday's video:
The GOP debate and update on Trump with Richard Baehr, American Thinker
They want their Redskins making football great again
(My new American Thinker post)
Back in the 1990s, I heard Troy Aikman talk about playing in Washington. It was brutal, he said. Those fans hated the Cowboys as much as we hated the Redskins here.
Everybody wants to make something great again. Over at the offices of professional sports, weak CEO types bought into name changes and the Redskins are now Commanders plus the Indians are Guardians.
Sonny Jergusen or Joe Theisman a Commander? Rocky Colavito or Bob Feller a Guardian? No way. Sam McDowell wearing a Guardian jersey instead of those Indian vests on my baseball card? No way.
Well, 40,000 fans have signed a petition and they want their Redskins scoring TD's or intercepting passes again. Here is the story:
A petition to change a controversial NFL team name is nearing 40,000 supporters as of Tuesday morning.
The Washington Commanders, formerly the Washington Redskins and briefly the Washington Football Team, dropped the "Redskins" name in 2020 amid widespread racial tension following the murder of George Floyd. The move drew criticism from fans who are now pushing to restore the team’s historic moniker.
“The name ‘Redskins’ carries deep cultural, historical, and emotional significance, honoring the bravery, resilience, and warrior spirit associated with Native American culture,” the petition reads. “It was never intended as a derogatory or offensive term but as a symbol of respect and admiration.”
Way to go! Keep that list growing.
Who exactly thought having a team named Redskins offended anyone? It wasn't all those liberals at the Stadium singing "Hail to the Redskins.”
Seriously, did anyone ever mention over a hot dog and a beer that he was offended that they were called that name? The answer is no. The people who get offended are not even football fans. They are more likely to spend their Sunday afternoons watching reruns of the UN meetings on climate change at CSPAN.
So bring back the Redskins so that we can hate them again when they play the Cowboys. We grew up calling these Redskins names and I can't get into Commanders. The rivalry is not the same.
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.
Thursday, August 24, 2023
Thursday's podcast: The GOP debate the day after
Thursday's podcast:
The GOP debate the day after.....
What do you do when one of your English teachers turns 92?
(My new American Thinker post)
We say 'Happy Birthday' to Barbara Jean Morehead who was born in Tucson, Arizona, in 1931.
Most of you know her as Barbara Eden and “I Dream of Jeannie.” It was on the air for five seasons in the 1960s. What can happen when an astronaut finds a bottle with a pretty woman inside? Watch the show!
Well, I remember the show, but my story is more than that.
Our family arrived in the U.S. in September 1964. My brother, sister and I walked to school every day. My father had two jobs and my mother was at home helping out and keeping everyone in tune. Most of all, we were grateful for freedom and our parents always kept us current on the situation in Cuba.
Our early days were pretty typical. Most Cubans will share similar memories of growing up and watching your parents put everything on the line for their kids. They worked hard and we got to enjoy the new culture and the reality that most of our friends had never seen a Cuban not named Ricky Ricardo or Minnie Minoso.
After dinner, we waited for our father to get home and we watched all of those T.V. shows of that time. There were only three channels but there was something good on each one.
Today they have 300 channels and I end up watching one channel that features all of those old ones.
And this is where Barbara Eden comes in. Her show "I Dream of Jeannie" was a real favorite of my late mother.
So we would translate for her and then she laughed at whatever line it was. Imagine a Cuban woman in her late 30s watching Jeannie with so much intensity and interest.
And that's one of the ways that we learned English, from "Jeannie" to "Gidget" and all of those shows that celebrated humor without wokedom.
Happy # 92 Barbara Eden.
Maybe someone's told her how she taught so many "cubanos" to learn English.
P.S.: Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.
Wednesday, August 23, 2023
Wednesday's podcast: GOP debate ideas, Mask is back? & Shoplifting is now a real issue..
Wednesday's podcast:
GOP debate ideas, Mask is back? & Shoplifting is now a real issue....
Click to listen:
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.
Wednesdays video: GOP debate ideas, Mask is back? & Shoplifting is now a real issue..
Wednesdays video:
GOP debate ideas, Mask is back? & Shoplifting is now a real issue..
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.
Me and my Corvette
(My new American Thinker post)
It's hard to separate President Biden from his Corvette. He’s always talking or telling us about it. It's sort of like that song by George Jones that goes like this:
"As he stared at my Corvette
He said, "I had one just like her son in 1963
'Til the man down at the bank took her from me"
Well, the bank did not take Joe's Corvette, but a fire almost did. Or so we learned yesterday. Thank God that there were not sensitive documents when the fire threatened the Corvette. This is the story:
Lightning struck the home of Sen. Joseph Biden, starting a small fire that was contained to the kitchen.
No one was injured in Sunday's fire, which started amid a storm that caused serious flooding in Pennsylvania and knocked out power to hundreds of Delaware homes and businesses. Biden is Delaware's senior senator and the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His wife, Jill, reported the fire Sunday morning, officials said.
Many lightning strikes were reported in New Castle County, where the Biden home is.
Firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke coming from the house, but were able to keep the flames from spreading beyond the kitchen, said Cranston Heights Fire Company Chief George Lamborn.
``Luckily, we got it pretty early,'' he said. ``The fire was under control in 20 minutes.''
And the story from 2004 did not mention the Corvette. Once again, President Biden goes out and uses someone's tragedy to exaggerate his own. I'm sure that everyone in that community, with perhaps as many as 1,000 missing, had to be dumbfounded at hearing about the Biden fire that probably never got beyond an insurance claim.
It'd be easy to say "tone deaf" but this is way beyond that. This is more like a man who does not know what he is saying or goes off into fiction.
My question is this: Isn't Mrs. Biden humiliated by this? Does she enjoy watching her husband make a fool out of himself and insult the people on the ground who are still searching for their dead?
Maybe Mrs. Biden is saying to herself, Joe is bad but Kamala would be worse.
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.
Tuesday, August 22, 2023
Tuesday's podcast: President Biden and Hawaii, GOP debate & Nolan Ryan # 5,000....
Tuesday's podcast:
President Biden and Hawaii, GOP debate & Nolan Ryan # 5,000....
click to listen:
Tuesday's video: President Biden and Hawaii, GOP debate & Nolan Ryan # 5,000....
Tuesday's video:
President Biden and Hawaii, GOP debate & Nolan Ryan # 5,000....
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.
Anybody looking for materials to build a border wall?
(My new American Thinker post)
Before you go shopping for materials and supplies for your next fence, please call the Biden administration and check out their inventory. They've got a lot of stuff, as we see in this story:
The Biden administration reportedly has been selling off millions of dollars’ worth of border wall materials in a race against Republicans who are vying to pass legislation to finish its construction.
Steel "square structural tubes" photographed in a storage lot in Arizona were listed for sale on GovPlanet, an online auction marketplace run by publicly traded Canadian company Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, this month. Those 28-foot-tall hollow beams are "excess border wall materials that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers turned over to the DLA for disposition and are now for sale," the Department of Defense’s logistics agency first confirmed to the Daily Upside and later the New York Post.
GovPlanet, which specializes in military surplus, has sold 81 lots of those beams for about $2 million, according to the Post.
Joe Biden the merchant? Something like that!
In reality, the Biden administration cancelled the project because they said that it was "a "waste of money that diverts attention from genuine threats to our homeland security." So what did the Biden administration do to tackle the threats to our national security? Well, they opened up the border and have criminal elements moving drugs and migrants to the U.S. That's the way it is on the U.S.-Mexico border today.
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.
Monday, August 21, 2023
Monday’s podcast: The week in review with Bill Katz the editor of Urgent Agenda
Guest:.......Bill Katz the editor of Urgent Agenda....The Biden and their pseudonyms.......Cost of housing.......GOP debate..... and other stories……
click to listen:
Monday's video: The week in review with Bill Katz the editor of Urgent Agenda
Monday's video:
The week in review with Bill Katz the editor of Urgent Agenda
Our house is a very, very, very expensive house
(My new American Thinker post)
So have you talked to anyone looking for a home lately? Or someone renting? Well, check this out:
On Friday’s broadcast of “CNN This Morning,” co-host Phil Mattingly and CNN International host Julia Chatterley discussed the surge in mortgage rates and said that the skyrocketing mortgage rates have contributed to “the worst affordability crisis in housing that we’ve seen for four decades” that won’t “really change until the Federal Reserve starts to bring rates down, these things ease, people start to sell their homes, and that’s going to take some time” and that comes as rent prices remain high and are one of the stickiest inflation components.
Mattingly stated, “[M]ortgage rates in the United States have soared to their highest level in more than 20 years. Now, according to the data from Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged above 7% over the week ending yesterday. A year ago, just over 5%.”
Worst affordability crisis in four decades? They must be talking about those days from the early 1980s when people kept losing their homes and could not really afford another one.
I called a local real estate agent for a little real-world perspective. He works in the Dallas-Ft. Worth market where the housing situation is apparently better than other places.
I asked him one question: Why are people waiting to sell when so many are moving in from California willing to pay top price? He said that homebuyers don't want to give up their lower interest rates. They'd prefer to wait until rates drop again.
So inflation is down unless you pay rent, want to buy a home, shop for food, or put gasoline in your car. Other than that, the Inflation Reduction Act was a smashing success.
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.
Sunday, August 20, 2023
Hi Petro, Robert wants to talk about the weather in Kiev
(My new American Thinker post)
Can it get any better than this? I guess that everything is possible in the ongoing drama about a rogue father and son who sit in important places. Now we learn that Joe and Hunter used pseudonyms à la Mitt Romney’s “Pierre Delecto” when communicating about business. Let your imagination run for a second and imagine a conference room, a speaker phone in the middle of the table, and Hunter telling his Ukrainian friends that a guy named “Robert” wants to talk about the weather in Kiev.
Here is the story of Robin, Robert, and JRB:
President Biden used at least three pseudonyms during his vice presidency to send messages to his son Hunter concerning both family and official government business — including meetings with Ukrainian leaders, emails found on the first son’s abandoned laptop show.
Then-Vice President Biden emailed Hunter under the aliases ‘Robin Ware,’ ‘Robert L. Peters’ and ‘JRB Ware’ between 2014 and 2016, keeping his son abreast of scheduled talks with then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Kyiv Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, among other communications The Post first revealed in 2021.
The elder Biden had one of his aides, John Flynn, send his daily schedule to the private email address “Robert.L.Peters@pci.gov” at least 10 times between May 18 and June 15, 2016, copying Hunter on a May 26 message with a note about an “8.45am prep for 9am phonecall [sic] with Pres Poroshenko.”
Confused yet?
I’ve argued for some time that the Joe-Hunter scandal is not complicated at all. In other words, a son takes advantage of his family name and the father does not have the courage to tell him to get a real job. At some level, every father wants to help his son get ahead. It’s normal. At the same time, a father, who was vice president and in charge of Ukraine policy at the time, has to have the backbone to draw the line and say enough.
The media will probably say that there is still no evidence that Robin put any money in Robert’s pocket. What we do see is evidence that a former vice president, now president, was playing all kinds of games to keep his role secret in this business relationship.
What would Charlie Chan say about the Robin and Robert mystery? “Best place for skeleton is in family closet.” Or he might add that the best place for a skeleton is in a conversation about the weather in Kiev.
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.