Thursday, November 11, 2021

Veteran’s Day 2021

 


To all those who served, I salute you. To all those who waited at home for their loved ones to return, I thank you. For all those who didn’t return home, I pray for you. Veteran’s Day is an annual day where the country is reminded of the sacrifices of those who were willing to lay down their lives for the country we love. Sadly, most of the other 364 days the veteran is forgotten by most of our country. It doesn’t matter whether they volunteered, were drafted or what the circumstance, each and every one is a brother and sister to every veteran who served. In service the only thing that mattered was character and willingness to stand tall, in peace or combat. We were all the same, and when the chips were down, each and every one was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for a comrade in arms. A true brotherhood and sisterhood that few would ever find in the civilian world.

Please take a moment to reflect on where we would be without our veterans. Remember those who didn’t come home, those who did, and those who still carry the burden of their service through illness and injury.

God Bless America 

Monday, November 8, 2021

What's really, really wrong in America is Biden

 I suppose if you are far left, Biden is doing a great job. Also if you are the leaders of China, Russia, the Taliban, ISIS or whatever foreign entity that would love to overthrow the US, Biden is doing an outstanding job. Same with the Democrats who seem hell bent on driving our beloved America down the drain as fast as they possibly can. 

Let's look at what Biden has accomplished in a short 10 months in the White House:

 1. Our borders are a shambles and estimates are over 1.7 million illegal immigrants have been encountered at the border this fiscal year alone, including 147,000 unaccompanied children! That's just the ones encountered by authorities, not those who got into the US by sneaking in. Those are reputed to be over 1,000 illegals per day! "More than 655,000 Mexicans were arrested, the most from any one country, according to the latest data, along with a combined total of more than 700,000 from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Together, migrants from Mexico and Central America represented 78 percent of the total."

2. We now have the highest gasoline prices in history, thanks in part to Biden's shutdown of American oil production. Isn't it great that he grovels at the feet of the Russians and Saudis begging for more oil when he destroyed our own production at home. Not only that but immediate unemployment of thousands as a result of the shutdowns, creating yet another calamity for oilfield workers.

3. Natural gas prices are hitting historic highs, while production is nearing historic lows. As winter approaches and bitter cold envelops much of the nation, those who cannot afford the price to heat their homes will end up sick, or freezing to death, while Biden sits in comfort in a taxpayer funded house. 

4. Food prices have increased significantly with a pound of chopped meat that cost about $4.00 a year ago now nearing $8.00 in many markets. This all in the past year. 

5.Raging inflation is growing at an unprecedented pace of 5.4% for the past 12 months. And the GDP, the measure of our domestic production, has only grown at about 2%. Inflation under the 4 year Trump administration was under 2% and in 2020 was just 1.4%. A sad commentary on where the current administration is leading America.

6. Shortages of virtually every commodity are engulfing the nation. And Biden's answer is to order ports to operate 24/7, which does nothing to alleviate the bottlenecks due to an overwhelming number of empty containers and nowhere to stack them, which impacts the ability to bring in new containers. The scheme of extending over the top unemployment benefits has decimated the trucking industry as well as many other businesses. Truckers are in short supply and the ability to move containers in and out of ports has almost ground to a halt. 

7. Employers cannot find sufficient workers, particularly in the service sector. Restaurants are reducing hours, closing, many even after surviving the onslaught of COVID. The extension of generous benefits of up to $900.00 a week allowed many lower income employees to live better on that than on employment, so why return. Yes, those benefits have stopped, but in the interim we bred a whole new group of people living on the government dole.

8. Biden promised no new or higher taxes on those making under his self-imposed cap of $400,000. Yet here we are with more and more new onerous taxes in place or on the horizon that will impact every American, no matter their income.

 9. Biden and his cronies decided we should all be under the microscope and proposed the IRS be privy to just about every withdrawal or deposit from personal bank accounts. Yes, anything over $600 would be under the gun, so the IRS could find tax dodgers. He wants to hire 87,000 new IRS agents, effectively doubling the size of the IRS. However those making billions will still be able to get away with paying little to no taxes using loopholes the ordinary taxpayer couldn't even begin to know.  Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk pay very little in tax versus their net worth or income per reports by ProPublica. "In 2007, Jeff Bezos, then a multi-billionaire and now the world’s richest man, did not pay a penny in federal income taxes. He achieved the feat again in 2011. In 2018, Tesla founder Elon Musk, the second-richest person in the world, also paid no federal income taxes." also "According to Forbes, the 25 richest people in the US saw their worth rise a collective $401 billion from 2014 to 2018. They paid a total of $13.6 billion in federal income taxes in those five years, the IRS data shows. That’s a staggering sum, but it amounts to a true tax rate of only 3.4%".

10. The way Biden led, or rather misled, the charge out of Afghanistan is pitiful. Biden made the United States look like fools, led to the deaths of 13 heroic service men and women, left our allies to die at the hands of the Taliban and ran us out with our tail between our legs like a frightened puppy. No military leadership ever left all the armament, aircraft and weapons of war behind for the use of the enemy. Yet what we saw was no military leadership at all. And how many Americans and our allies have been left behind? It seems nobody either knows or will tell. 

11. Biden's supporters in the House are willing to throw America to the sharks with multi-trillion dollar spending plans that will leave us, the taxpayers, our children, grandchildren and ever more generations with huge debts to pay. Nothing about these wild spending sprees can be considered self-funding, but those in the House seem to believe the Golden Goose will never die and it will be easy to squeeze just one more golden egg out. This is not an immortal Golden Goose folks!

12. The socialist and ultra liberal policies espoused by many in the Democratic party have led to the coddling of criminals and the vilification of our police and other law enforcement, while rioters and "protesters" destroy, injure and run amok in our cities. Look at Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis and other Democrat controlled cities and it's apparent they have failed in every way possible. Failed their own citizens, many who are afraid to shop in their own city, failed to protect property, failed to provide the police adequate support. Many jurisdictions have set "no bail" policies so felons can be back on the street within hours and commit more crimes. Yes, even murder when out on bail just a few hours. When did it become acceptable to destroy public and private property with no accountability? When did only the leftist agenda count, when history can be reversed and rewritten to appease those who don't like it? When did any life matter more than any other, regardless of race, color or creed? When did we start letting anarchists rule the streets and then punish those who stood up against them?  When did politicians stop answering to the people and pander only to those who create mayhem?   

We are in deep trouble as China and North Korea speed up nuclear development, armament and testing, Russia sits back waiting for our fall, and our enemies in other countries just wait until our weakness becomes apparent and we are an easy target. And what then, will Joe Biden wake up from his nap? Will he take actual command of this troubled ship? I fear not. The ship we call America is listing badly and the captain at the helm is too far gone to effectively control the rudder. We are running aground at full speed and the reef is fast approaching.

I always said God Bless America; now I simply say God Help America.

 

  


SANDAG in San Diego California should be called SANDBAG!

 

Tax on top of Tax on top of Tax! The San Diego Association of Governments aka SANDAG is sandbagging the public with an onerous and outrageous tax plan.

The decision by SANDAG to tax motorists per mile is the most ridiculously conceived decision in many years. This was more than thoughtless and appears simply a way to increase funding, while leaving those who must depend on motor vehicle transportation on the hook to pay for those who do not

The premise for this tax is they don’t receive enough in motor fuel tax so they need more money. Wait a minute; wasn’t the State of California one of, if not the first, to push for improved fuel mileage for cars? And when the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) improved, now SANDAG complains it reduced their tax intake? And was the State not the first to press for electric vehicles? And now those vehicles don’t use motor fuel so SANDAG believes it’s time to increase taxes for everyone?

1.      Unincorporated area and rural residents will be the major fall guys for this tax. In many areas we have no public transit available and must drive distances to schools, shopping, doctors and the necessities of life. This equates to an “inconvenience tax” because we have no public transit conveniences available. Imagine living in Bonsall, Fallbrook, Rainbow, unincorporated North and East County or many other areas and the driving distances required just for daily living.

2.      Residents have to drive children to schools because most of the county has no school bus transportation for other than disabled children. This becomes an “Education Tax” for thousands of parents.

3.    What about the disabled and senior citizens who require use of a vehicle simply to exist? Adding yet another burden on many who barely can afford day to day expenses.

4.    What about people who must drive for work or drive for a living. Some drive several thousand miles a month or more, and will be required to ante up a thousand dollars a year in road taxes?

5.    What about the entire cross border traffic coming into San Diego County? How will you force those drivers to pay the tax, or will this yet be another tax where San Diego County residents are forced to pick up the slack for out of country drivers?

6.    If you live outside the County but drive into San Diego, how will that fee be collected? And if you live on the periphery of San Diego and another county, will you be taxed simply because you live here yet most mileage is outside the county?

7.     How will you collect these taxes from the many thousands of vehicles that are unregistered in California but belong to actual residents? People renew vehicle licenses at addresses out of state to avoid the onerous registration fees in California. People who lease vehicles prior to moving into California have out of state plates for years.

8.    What about the tens of thousands of military personnel who have out of state plates legally; how will you collect the taxes from them?

9.    Many roads in unincorporated areas are abysmal, yet we pay our taxes like any other area and receive very little for those taxes. SANDAG does nothing to improve those pothole filled roads, and the State touts road improvements by the increased gasoline taxes. We sure don’t see that money being spent here!

10   Does SANDAG really believe the public is so gullible to accept that this new road tax will result in lowered gasoline taxes? The way this is presented is that the new road use tax would be in lieu of gasoline tax. What SANDAG doesn’t say is there is no plan to lower gasoline taxes; this is to make up for the huge push for electric vehicles that do not use motor fuels and still the moror fuel taxes will be paid by motorists driving conventional vehicles. Taxes in California only go skyward, never lowered, as “fees” that do not require voter approval are passed time and again to bypass the public vote. Reduce a “fee” or tax and then it gets raised again in what appears an exponential manner.

California was known as the “Golden State” but that glow has tarnished. The Golden Bear of yore has been replaced by the “Golden Goose” of taxation, but these increases will, as the story goes, kill that Golden Goose one day, perhaps sooner than later. Then where will the greedy governmental entities reach for more money?