Truth Will Very Patiently Wait For Us

By Rich Kozlovich

The experts make claims demanding everyone accept the idea that they know best about everything, and they should be put in charge of everyone’s life. This is really scary!  Not only because they have crazy ideas, but also because as soon as they come up with a solution, they end up protesting the very solutions they have promoted. Worse yet, their solutions always seem to be meaningless failures at best, but at the worst their solutions are deadly.  Take a look at they loved Tesla as it was saving the world from global warming.  Now, they're setting them on fire.  Apparently they're more concerned with ending the vast corruption in government, which was a massive source of funding for these destructive leftist activists.   Reality bites.  

Bozone: The layer of substance surrounding stupid people that prevents any bright ideas or solutions from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.  It does however allow for a constant level of inactivity, nay saying, obstructionism, and smug self congratulations.  Too long a period of exposure to the bozone layer eventually leads to Glibido.  A condition that is all too common among many prominent individuals.  All talk and no action.  This has been known to lead to the Dopeler effect.  This is the tendency to have stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.  Eventually these are people will have achieved the ultimate goal of their lives and become Ignoranus’.   Generally suffered by people with cranial rectal intrusion.

They make all sorts of claims and express deep concern about environment disasters that are or supposedly manmade. It would be nice if they were as concerned about the disasters they really have caused worldwide with their policies. Unlike their fallacious claims, these disasters are not theoretical. These disasters are very real and very real people really are dying very real deaths and suffering very real afflictions, and it is happening to millions as a result of their schemes. 

In spite of the fact that there is a whole history out there that shows what happens when leftist policy becomes government policy, the media, academia, and many others have convinced society in general all this is a good thing.   At least until now, the exposure by DOGE of the lies and corruption has shocked the nation. 

Over the years I have seen more junk science in the media than I thought possible. How could I be so sure that this stuff is “Junk”?  I've read enough to know when something is odiferous and where to go to properly research the information for myself.   

Truth, time, and history are on the same side. 

What Does It Mean To Be a Leftist?

By Rich Kozlovich

Many years ago I was watching a television show dealing with how seriously peer pressure impacts children.  In this case teenage children. They demonstrated a study using a classroom as the lab for this experiment in human nature. Two sentences appeared on the blackboard, sentence “A” and sentence “B”. The class was asked, “Which sentence was the longest?” I don’t actually remember which sentence was the longest, but for this commentary let’s say that sentence “B” was actually the longest. This test was structured in such a way that only a small number of the kids in each group was "unaware" as to what was going on and could vote which- ever way they saw fit. All the rest were in on it and their job was to vote for sentence “A” as being the longest when in reality it was the shortest. 

Now the question! How many of the control students voted along with the crowd for sentence “A” as being the longest, ignoring the obvious truth that sentence “B” was in reality longer? It appears that 93% of the test students chose to go along with the crowd rather that have the courage and integrity to stand up for the evidence of their own eyes. Going along to get along!

Although a recent study actually put the number at 95%, studies have a way of proving what the creator of the study wants proven. Therefore there is no way of knowing if 93% is a truly reliable number. Does it matter? Would it matter if the numbers were 90% or 80% or even less? Probably not, because science should be proving things that we can easily see going on around us and our own experiences in life show that the pressure on youngsters to go along is tremendous and most youngsters succumb to that pressure in greater or lesser degrees.

What is the point of all of this? The desire of young people to fit in is well known, but this isn’t really the issue. The real issue is this. How serious is this problem as we age? Quite frankly, I don’t think it changes all that much except on little issues. Adults have the courage to stand up for issues that don’t amount to much. I used to work with someone who was always the first to stand up and be counted. Always the first to criticize over any tiny issue that really didn’t matter much and would have had little impact on anything, especially his job. How did he respond when a serious issue arose between the company and the employees? Such as a change in how we were to be compensated? This was one of those issues where standing up and being counted could possibly cost you your job. The silence was deafening.

Adults, like children, also have convenient memories. Some years later at a social gathering this came up in discussion and his recollection was, “if you remember, I was the only one to speak out on this issue”.   Since he was generally regarded as being outspoken no one questioned it, at least until someone actually pointed out what was actually said and happened at that meeting, and all of a sudden memories became clear again because it was pointed out that after the boss temporarily walked out of the room his comment to the only one speaking up was “why don’t you shut up, I just hope this is all that they take away”.

It would appear that whenever issues become complex or challenging you get the same result with adults as you get with children. Why? Just because issues that appear to be a small matter to adults doesn't mean that these issues aren’t “big” to children. They don’t have the same concerns as adults. Being accepted by their peers is extremely important to children, especially teenage children. To their perspective, it has the same level of importance as major issues do to adults.

It is a matter of perception and once we realize this it is easy to realize why so many adults make so many decisions to go along with programs and issues that are clearly detrimental to their own interests. We use the term “peer pressure”, but in reality it isn’t a peer pressure problem. It is a herding problem. The innate desire to go along to get along. The need to be part of the herd.  I find it to more like the Stockholm Syndrome. 

The size of the issue is a matter of perspective and fear of rejection, fear of being ridiculed, fear of job loss and fear of isolation cause people to go along to get along. Coupling these fears with a lack of knowledge and proper understanding of important issues absolutely assures the 93% rule. Is 93% the actual percentage for adult decision-making? Once again, I have no idea, but the rule certainly applies as a principle because the actual percentage is immaterial when that percentage is still very large.

Global Warming is one of those issues, and here are six questions that everyone needs to ask.

1. Is it possible that no one sees the obviousness of promoting this insanity?   
2. Is it possible that no one sees that the fruitage of the environmental movement has been the unnecessary death of millions along with wretched living conditions and sickness for millions more?  
3. Is it possible that no one sees the devastation that has ensued in the third world as a result of promulgating environmentalist programs?  
4. Is it possible that no one sees that most of what the environmental movement has promoted has been based on fear mongering and lies?  At the very least lies of omission?  
5. Is it possible that no one sees that the Administrative State is not a neutral, willingly making decisions that have been disastrous to mankind without any scientific basis whatsoever? One could even say fraudulent science!  
6. Does no one see that these policies are detrimental to humanity?

Either we are making uninformed decisions or we are guilty of the 93% rule. Going along to get along! The appeasement mentality of Neville Chamberlain was in reality the 93% rule. 

For entirely too long we've been required to stand up for things which are unproven or unprovable. To support things that are not true, while refuting or rejecting those things which are true, those things that work, those things that allow for the continuation of advanced societies.   We've been forced to believe in the fairy tales of people like the Mother of Junk Science, Rachel Carson and her acolytes, and call it science.” The only thing left is to hallow that which is unholy!

That's what it means to be a leftist.  

Pathways and Stepping Stones

By Rich Kozlovich

History is the pathway of the past which leads to the stepping stones into the future.  For more years than I can recall we've heard activists demand all sorts of insane things, including banning .... welllll.... anything that makes an advanced civilization possible.  And "it's all for the children".  This, in spite of the fact that most of what they've done has been "to" the children, not "for" the children.  The ban on DDT, and the ban of chlorine in water in South American nations are two excellent examples.  Both of which cause massive negative health problems.  Both crimes against humanity.

Huge numbers of children have suffered and died unnecessarily from “green” policies that banned pesticides and genetically modified foods.  Yet we only continue to hear all sorts of theoretical, speculative claims about pesticides andcausing a host of "potential" disasters from the media.  Even if there was a grain of truth in these claims, the benefits would seriously outweigh any potential risks.  Why do we keep ignoring the facts? 

The events surrounding pesticide bans in the undeveloped world should be lesson enough to show that these types of actions are detrimental to the public health; yet we still go along with the activist’s nonsense.   So many just really want to be green; yet we have no idea what that means. 

Everyone from my generation remembers that great comic strip “Peanuts”.  One scenario was repeated over and over again was Lucy offering to hold the football for poor Charlie Brown to kick.  Charlie always knew that Lucy would pull the ball out just at the last minute and he would fall on his back.  Why was that funny?  Because they would go through this dance about how she “always” pulled the ball out at the last minute and she would swear that this time it would be different, and he fell for it each and every time.   Believing that activists can be believed to keep a bargain is not one bit different.

No agreement made with the activists will be kept by them because they have no command and control structure.  If one group makes a deal with industry, another group will attack them and industry.  No agreement will be honored by them.  And that goes for government agencies also.  No matter what agreements are made with bureaucrats, just as soon as some activist group starts making demands the agreement be rescinded, it will be overturned. 

What probably sickens me the most of all is the worldwide media!   In spite of the vast amount of evidence activists are directly and indirectly responsible for the death of tens of millions, not to mention and the needless suffering of hundreds of millions more because of the implementation of environmentalist’s policies, the media mostly remains silent.   By remaining silent or promoting these green activists ideas they are as blood guilty as Walter Duranty was when he won the Pulitzer Prize for say that Stalin wasn’t starving his people to death. 

Industry information sources also do not challenge these people because they say that we can’t win in the court of public opinion, or they are not in a position to do so.  If industry never challenges them every time they make outrageous claims, how does anyone know?   At the very least, information should be made available to the public and to those inside industry that will give them the ammunition to defend industry. 

It is painfully obvious to me these leftists intend to destroy developed societies, with little concern over the human suffering that would entail.   It is also painfully obvious to me that industry will not have any problem compromising.  No matter what the cost may be in human suffering.  

Why do so many young people embrace this insanity?  Here's some of the rationale offered:

1.  “They're attracted by the romantic radicalism and emotional appeal of the ‘movement.’” 
   
2.  “The "movement" provides them with an outlet." 
   
3.  “They protest against the seeming inertia of the politicians of the older generation."
4.  "It is a truly religio-psychological phenomenon.”   
5.  "The clouded vision of the green movement is one of bio-harmony; like a beautiful rainbow." 
   

That is romantic nonsense that facts and history demands that neither industry or society can justify embracing such delusions. 

Leftists demand perfection.  The best we can hope for is the most acceptable imperfections.  That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t attempt to improve what becomes the acceptable level of imperfection, but the solutions presented by the left ignores, derides, and abandons the most effective system for overcoming imperfection the world has ever known.  Capitalism!  

Imperfections are weeded out by the profit motive.  If something isn’t working it's dismissed, and replaced by something that does.  And if the dominant companies refuse to innovate, then they become commercially incompetent and someone else will come along and innovate.  The end result?   Those dominant companies will be out of business or cease being dominant. 

IBM gave Bill Gates DOS because “because everyone knows that the money is in the hardware”.   Much of what Microsoft and Apple used as the basis for their empires was thrown away by IBM and Xerox. 

When Rockefeller’s Standard Oil of New Jersey monopolized the oil industry did things get better or worse for the nation?  Let’s take a look at this.   

Rockefeller believed it was necessary to take over the oil industry because he believed it was the patriotic thing to do.  Shocking isn’t it?  In reality he was right! Because the price of oil was based on availability, and no one knew when the next gusher was going to come in.  The fluctuation of the price of oil was so dramatic that it was difficult for industry to plan.  

Rockefeller reasoned that if he controlled all the oil it would stabilize the price; and it did.  It might be noted that he didn’t crush all the oil companies…many of them asked to be taken over because it would stabilize their profits.  Before he monopolized the oil industry the price of oil in 1860 was $12.00 to $16.00 a barrel.  Between 1879 and 1900 it dropped to under $1.00 a barrel in every one of those years.   

The Standard Oil of New Jersey story is often touted to show that breaking up monopolies works because the five companies that Standard Oil was broken up into became much, much larger than Standard Oil ever was.  That is a logical fallacy because they leave out the most important part of the story.   

What was the number one product of Standard Oil?  Kerosene!  And gasoline as a byproduct that was thrown away because it was so volatile they had no use for it.  Obviously that changes the values of the story.  They didn’t become so much larger because they were the product of a Sherman Anti-Trust Act breakup.  They became so much larger because the introduction of so many automobiles it turned that volatile product into the energy source to run the huge number of cars and trucks that appeared in America.  That is, as Paul Harvey used to say; “the rest of the story!” 

We need to start telling the story; the whole story, and that needs to be done by attacking the lies told by leftist activists.  The activists attack and society changes to appease them.  The activists attack some more and society adapts and changes and continuing to appease them.  They attack again, and again, with  their successes breeding more attacks.  Attacks which become even more virulent.    

When society adopts their philosophies becoming compliant, subservient, and obedient, that's not compromise, it's capitulation.    Those days are over!  Trump is attacking them at their very core, the money!  End their funding, and crush them.  He's eliminating thousands of bureaucrats, and he's eliminating regulations that are arbitrary, insane, and never passed by Congress.  

Will that stand the test of time.  We'll see. 

P&D and the Week That Was

Sorry folks, my computer is in the shop, so.. no P&D and the Week That Was on Saturday.   Be back as soon as I can.  

Best Wishes,

Rich

Thought For the Day

Currently, district court judges have assumed the mantle of Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, Secretary of Homeland Security and Commander-in-Chief. Each day, they change the foreign policy, economic, staffing and national security policies of the Administration. Each day, the nation arises to see what the craziest unelected local federal judge has decided the policies of the government of the United States shall be. It is madness. It is lunacy. It is pure lawlessness. It is the gravest assault on democracy. It must end and will end. - Stephen Miller, U.S. Homeland Security Advisor March 2025

Crooked Cory Won’t Shut Up

By Daniel Greenfield @ Sultan Knish Blog

Sen. Cory Booker’s 25-hour congressional floor rant is being hailed as a major achievement, but nobody has ever questioned Booker’s ability to talk endlessly. It’s his greatest talent.
That and making other people’s money disappear.

The 25 hours of rambling summed up everything wrong with Booker as a politician and a man. Booker and his media allies tried to bill it as a filibuster, but it wasn’t because the senator from New Jersey wasn’t trying to fight an actual piece of legislation, just calling attention to himself.

Booker claimed that he was blocking the usual business of the Senate, but the only thing he was slowing down was the nomination of various officials, including Harmeet Dhillon for Assistant Attorney General, Matthew Whitaker as the representative to NATO, and Dean Sauer for the Solicitor General. In his 25 hours and 4 minutes, Booker did not actually have much to say about Sauer, Dhillon or Whitaker (who won his confirmation by 52-45 despite Booker’s ‘nay’ vote).

Cory Booker made a point of trying to break the record of Strom Thurmond’s filibuster of the Civil Rights Act. Except that was an actual filibuster of actual legislation. Booker pretended that just running out the clock by talking for an hour longer than Thurmond was in and of itself an accomplishment.

Why did Booker actually ramble for 25 hours in the Senate? To run for president.

As stunts go, this was the most obvious one yet. Booker’s next Senate election is in 2026, but he has a campaign page up which claims that “he cannot stay quiet and complacent while Donald Trump and Elon Musk shatter constitutional checks and balances” and urges, “Stand with Cory by making a donation today.” But his obvious long-term goal is 2028.

There’s a problem with Booker’s presidential aspirations. And it’s not just that every time he speaks, he reminds everyone of an unsuccessful Obama.

It’s his corrupt track record.

While Booker was boring the Senate, one of the staffers for the militant gun control politician was being arrested by the U.S. Capitol Police for carrying a gun without a license. The last time Booker ran for president, he proposed a federal gun licensing program for all gun owners that would expire and need to be renewed every five years. Presumably his staffers are exempt.

Like Obama, you’re expected to believe in Booker as a transformative politician, but even Obama knew better than to massively defraud his donors before running for president.

In 2010, Cory Booker, then mayor of Newark, went on Oprah with Mark Zuckerberg. The Facebook boss wrote a $100 million check to fix Newark’s schools. The money famously disappeared, including some $20 million spent on consultants, some who were being paid $1,000 a day, and grades actually declined. But millions were spent on polling and focus groups.

“MZ’s money is not going in to classrooms,” a Booker aide admitted in an email that was only released after a lawsuit by the ACLU.

But what happened next was even more blatantly corrupt.

After burning through Zuckerberg’s $100 million, Cory Booker turned to Oprah and Dot Com donors to raise millions for Waywire, a company that was supposed to be a “progressive” version of YouTube. Waywire employed Booker’s Senate campaign social media consultant and gave a board seat to the 15-year-old son of CNN boss Jeff Zucker.

As Freedom Center Investigates reported, Waywire failed miserably and Booker sold his stock to the parent company of FOX News, and donated shares of Yandex, Russia’s top search engine, linked to Putin. (In his 25-hour rant and previously, Booker had accused Trump of ties to Russia.) Waywire ended up with a Ukrainian owner and no longer exists. Neither do Booker’s donors.

Booker had burned through Silicon Valley cash through such blatant schemes that his presidential campaign failed to launch. The big money just was not there.

In the 2020 race, Booker didn’t qualify for the debate and was left begging for money before dropping out. “It’s working,” he told the media about his campaign “it’s not translating to people choosing me in the polls.” That is as good a ‘Bookerism’ as any other.

But somehow neither of these two grifts represented Sen. Cory Booker at his very worst.

That would be the Newark Water Group.

During his fake filibuster, Sen. Cory Booker bragged to the media that he had gotten through it by “curbing his water intake”. Sadly, that was not the case at the nonprofit tasked with managing the Newark water authority where he appointed his political allies who stole millions “through kickbacks and outright embezzlement, bogus contracts, risky investments and excessive pay”.

Money went to Booker’s law firm which was still paying him and contractors contributed to his political campaign. The agency’s executive director, who went to prison after taking nearly a million in kickbacks, told the FBI that their job was to raise campaign money for Booker.

Booker was sued by the reconstructed agency, but his lawyers argued that he’s immune from lawsuits because he was doing his work as a “public servant”.

“The consequence of a failure to uphold these immunities would dissuade an even wider swath of individuals from seeking to hold public office. This would impoverish our democracy,” Booker’s attorneys argued.

This little speech about why not holding a wealthy senator who wrecked a water agency that a minority community depended on accountable is “vital for democracy” did not make its way into Cory’s 25-hour speech.

Sen. Cory Booker claimed that his 25-hour talk was about holding President Trump accountable for violating democratic norms, but his idea of democratic norms is personal immunity for his conduct.

In his last financial disclosure, Booker revealed assets of around $1 million, but reporters know to take his disclosures with a grain of salt. When he first ran for Senate, Booker did not reveal his Waywire shares on his disclosure forms and only admitted it when the media found out about them.

Booker told the media that his campaign had “met requirements for disclosure and transparency and we’ve gone above and beyond what most of the—all of the candidates in this race have submitted to in terms of disclosure.” By that he meant that his campaign handed the papers to reporters in a hotel room, didn’t let them make copies, and then demanded them back. Typical behavior for a politician who has gone above and beyond and has nothing to hide.

Crooked Cory will talk for 25 hours about Trump’s money, he won’t talk for even 1 minute about where his money comes from. But Oprah knows. Mark Zuckerberg knows. And the people of Newark know

And Linda Watkins Brashear knows. The former director of the Newark Water Group got out of federal prison last year told the FBI that contractors were expected to buy $500 tickets to Booker’s campaign and his allies.

Funny how in 25 hours and 5 years, Booker never found the time to mention it.

Daniel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article previously appeared at the Center's Front Page Magazine. Click here to subscribe to my articles. And click here to support my work with a donation.  Thank you for reading.

 

Dodging DOGE

By Terry Payne Published on March 26 in The Cherokee Scout 

Editor's Note:  This is one of the commentaries selected from Robin's weekly newsletter Patriot Neighbors. If you wish to get the full edition, E-mail her at PatriotNeighbors@yahoo.com to get on her list, it's free. RK

Liberals are railing against many of President Trump’s policies. They describe him as a “bully and authoritarian.” Criticisms span from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to Ukraine, and finish with the Gaza Strip. Following President Donald Trump’s joint address to both houses of Congress, many liberals were nicknamed the Dour O’Crats.

President Trump leads a de facto third party rising from the rotting corpses of the Democrat and Republican Parties, or if you prefer, the Washington D.C. Uniparty. President Trump is destroying these party brands forever. It’s cooler to be a proctologist than a Democrat and Republican Uniparty member nowadays.

Criticisms of Donald Trump and DOGE are simply fine. In a republic, everyone who holds public office, runs for public office, or exercises any form of public responsibility is fair game. As Elon Musk has acknowledged, DOGE has made some mistakes, while trying to take aggressive action in the face of nearly $37 trillion in federal debt. The DOGE audits have uncovered government waste, fraud, and abuse that affects our national security. DOGE has confirmed one universal fact:

“When you trim the fat, pigs squeal.”

However, ad nauseum, in a constant stream of hysterical hand wringing, the absurd anti-Trump “resistance” sounds pointless desperate alarms. The cabal of nitwits expressing trepidation that President Trump is a fascist because he’s “single handedly rewriting the US foreign policy” and simultaneously wailing in unison that Trump is “seizing control of the military” are intentionally ignoring the U.S.

Constitution’s, Executive Branch, Article II powers of the president. One of the worst offenders is The View, which Wall Street Journal’s Andy Kessler recently called:

“a gaggle of Greek mythology’s human-tormenting screeching harpies with a TV show.”

DOGE, inferior officer Elon Musk’s, appointment has been ruled constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court under the U.S. Constitution’s Appointments Clause. Congressional approval or legislation isn’t required for Elon Musk’s temporary 18-month appointment by the chief executive. DOGE teams at federal agencies aim to identify spending cuts and “modernize federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” DOGE is not coming after your money, they’re coming after the people that are “stealing” your money. Those people are squawking the loudest against DOGE audits.

As we acclimate and tune out this meaningless gibbering, President Trump becomes insulated from criticism. Are they both an Ostrich Party and unconscious? No one is making Donald Trump more untouchable than his “critics.” Here’s a quick poll:

1. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who deceitfully claimed serving in Vietnam.
2. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who lied about an FBI informant’s account that Vice President Joe Biden accepted a five-million-dollar bribe.
3. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who fabricated evidence to destabilize a duly elected president, CNN.
4. The Atlantic warns the Trump administration has done something deeply troubling. 

Who takes notice? Or are you so bored that you roll your eyes so hard that you nearly pass out? Imagine you pay for car insurance every month. Then one day, someone rear-ends you, but the insurance company doesn’t help you pay for damages, and instead buys a Rolls Royce for someone who doesn’t have insurance. That’s how we get treated as the American taxpayer. And then the cheaters will call you a racist, fascist, or worse for noticing. DOGE has already identified over $100 billion in wasteful spending and has until July 4, 2026, to conduct its mission.

Let’s review the politicians, policies and programs that liberals voted for on November 5th: · Voted for the worst presidential candidate in history – dishonest, lazy, and incompetent. Kamala Harris was a walking neon sign for Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI).

1.  Voted for a political party which is anti-woman, anti-American, anti-peace, and delusional. · Allowed fraud and embezzling of funds for Covid relief aid totaling 10 percent of the disbursed $4.2 trillion by the U.S. government.
2.  Allocated $42.5 billion to connect people to high-speed internet; but, no one was configured to high-speed internet.
3.  Allocated $22 billion to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for free housing and cars for illegal aliens.
4.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted $20 billion in subsidies to green energy charlatans.
5.  Allocated $12 billion to the Navy for submarines but not one submarine was built.
6.  A “popup NGO shell” company, “Climate United Fund,” linked to Democrat Party activists, was awarded with a whopping $6.97 billion grant.
7.  Allocated $101 million for DEI contracts at the Department of Education.
8.  Allocated $60 million for Indigenous peoples and Afro-Caribbean empowerment in Central America.
9.   Allocated $59 million for illegal alien hotel rooms in New York City.
10.  Allocated $45 million for DEI in Burma.
11.  Allocated $42 million for social and behavioral change in Uganda.
12.  Allocated $40 million to improve the social and economic inclusion for sedentary migrants.
13.  Allocated $32 million for left-wing propaganda in Moldova.
14.  Allocated $20 million for Arab "Sesame Street" in the Middle East.
15.  Allocated $14 million for improving public procurement in Serbia.
16.  Allocated $10 million for male circumcision in Mozambique.
17.  Allocated $8 million for LGBTQI+ promotion in Lesotho, South Africa.
18.  Allocated $8 million for making mice transgender.
19.  The Veterans Administration paid $56,000 to have a “plant contractor” water eight potted plants.
20.  Hired more than 85,000 new IRS agents to extort money from conservative voters.
21.  Removed restrictions on billions of Iranian assets and regime sanctions -- the biggest funder of terrorism in the world. 

Liberals now control only 20 big hellhole crime ridden cities. The reason they are going the way of the dinosaur is President Trump and his sidekick Elon Musk are killing their income streams.

Tip O’Neill said it best: “Money is the mother’s milk of politics.” Without money a political party or candidate is finished. Democrats, or if you fancy, Dour O’Crats, have just lost all their best sources of income because of President Trump, Elon Musk, and DOGE.

Events Around the Nation and The World

By Robin Itzler

Editor's Note:  This is one of the commentaries selected from Robin's weekly newsletter Patriot Neighbors. Any cartoons appearing will have been added by me.  If you wish to get the full edition, E-mail her at PatriotNeighbors@yahoo.com to get on her list, it's free. RK

Events From Around the Nation:

Florida:  Before you rent a U-Haul to leave a blue state with insane leftist politics, consider that some of the “utopia” destinations have their own issues. For example, Florida real estate is not selling because prices have risen along with ever-increasing property taxes and homeowner’s insurance (IF you can get homeowner’s insurance). From Yahoo Finance on March 15:

For-sale inventory in the state has reached the highest levels on record, and homes are staying on the market longer even as peak home buying season kicks off. In many parts of the state, prices are starting to fall. The turning market comes as migration to the Sunshine State slows, and a combination of hurricane fears, rising insurance and tax bills, and a steady supply of new construction has given buyers more leverage.

Maine: You knew it. We knew it. Everyone with gray matter between their ears (so that leaves out liberals) knew that Maine’s progressive Governor Janet Mills would cave about keeping MALES out of FEMALE sports. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that the Pine Tree State agreed to keep transgenders out of female sports … so they could keep federal funds coming their way. To share your thoughts with Gov. Mills:

Email: Click here Phone: 207-287-3531 Write: 1 State House Station Augusta, ME 04333

Minnesota: Republicans want Trump Derangement Syndrome accepted as a mental illness: “TDS means the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal persons that is in reaction the policies and presidencies of President Donald J. Trump. Symptoms may include Trump-induced general hysteria, which produces an inability to distinguish between legitimate policy differences and signs of psychic pathology in President Donald J. Trump’s behavior.”

Read Elon Musk “DOGE” Modern-Day Robin Hood by Katherine Daigle.

Palestine, New Jersey: Its official name might be Paterson, but for all intent and purposes, the city is PALESTINE, New Jersey. This police officer revealed how the city has become an Arab city, not an American city. He is wearing the Gaza/Palestinian flag on his official UNIFORM. His patrol car highlights it is pro Gaza/Palestinian.

Outside of work, the police officers can wear whatever they want, but on their POLICE UNIFORM? Mayor Andre Sayegh fully agrees with this police officer as he has publicly stated: 

"Paterson is the capital of Palestine in the United States of America." 

"Paterson is the fourth holiest city in the world: Jerusalem, Mecca, Medina, and then Paterson, New Jersey.”

If the once blue-collar city of Paterson, New Jersey can become Gaza, it can happen anywhere in the United States. Maybe even to YOUR city. To share your thoughts with Mayor Sayegh that the only flag on an American police uniform should be the flag of the United States of America:

Email: feedback@patersonnj.gov Phone: 973-321-1600 Write: Paterson City Hall 155 Market Street Paterson, NJ 07505

Click here to watch the two-minute interview with the police officer.

Events from around the World 

Hungary: Oy vey! What should we do when a Jewish person seizes the word “deportation,” as in the Trump administration is deporting criminals in vicious gangs, and connects it to the Nazis deporting innocent Jewish men, women and children? Hungarian pianist Andras Schiff has stupidly announced he will not play in the United States during Donald Trump’s presidency because ... 

“My family, my Jewish family, was deported — some to Auschwitz, and some to other concentration camps.”

Japan:  If you think the relatively homogenous Japanese culture is immune from the mentally ill trans syndrome, you will want to read this Savvy Tokyo article. “LGBTQ+ in Japan: Women Dating Women.”

Trump Axes Globalization With Sweeping Tariffs

Happy Liberation Day to all who observed.

By Andrew Moran | Apr 3, 2025 @ Liberty Nation News, Tags: Articles, Economic Affairs News, Opinion, Politics

In the classic 1924 Giacomo Puccini opera Turandot, the famous “Nessun Dorma” aria concludes, “At dawn, I will win! I will win! I will win!” It was not at dawn, but President Donald Trump did declare victory against the globalist machine when he unveiled the contours of his sweeping tariffs. At an April 2 White House Rose Garden event, the president released details of his long-awaited pursuit of reciprocity.

New Tariffs Are in Town

President Trump will impose a universal baseline tariff of 10% on all imports, effective April 5 at 12:01 a.m. Higher but discounted reciprocal tariff rates will be implemented on countries making the “worst offenders” list; those will go into effect on April 9 at 12:01 a.m. Soon after his speech, Trump signed an executive order to begin the process of enacting tariffs. “Reciprocal. That means they do it to us, and we do it to them. Very simple. Can’t get any simpler than that,” he said.

The trade measures go beyond just tariffs. Trump and senior administration officials emphasized that non-monetary trade barriers – currency manipulation, government subsidies, import restrictions, domestic tax policy, and other pillars restricting US goods – played a significant role in assigning rates to countries worldwide.

China uses third-party countries like Cambodia and Vietnam to avert tariffs. Brazil mandates licenses to import American agricultural products. Israel, according to White House officials, steals intellectual property for pharmaceutical manufacturing. Indonesia maintains local content requirements. India has burdensome and duplicative certification requirements for various sectors. The administration says this harms US businesses and workers trying to export American-made products.

The Trump team estimates that these barriers cost the US industry tens of billions of dollars annually. “Monetary tariffs and non-monetary tariffs are two distinct types of trade barriers that governments use to regulate imports and exports,” the White House said in a fact sheet. “President Trump is countering both through reciprocal tariffs to protect American workers and industries from these unfair practices.”

So, while the rest of the world will endure an across-the-board levy, major US trading partners will be hit with two-, three-, or four-times higher rates. The most notable ones were Cambodia (49%), Vietnam (46%), China (34%), India (26%), Japan (24%), and the European Union (20%). Of course, several small countries were dinged on the head with enormous reciprocal tariffs, including Lesotho (50%), Madagascar (47%), the Falkland Islands (41%), and Liechtenstein (37%).

Trump did follow through on previous comments that he would be “flexible” and “lenient” when designing this comprehensive tariff strategy. “We will charge them approximately half of what they are and have been charging us,” said the president at the press conference. “So, the tariffs will not be a full reciprocal.”

His latest round of tariffs was made possible by declaring a national emergency through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). This 1977 law authorizes the chief executive to enact trade restrictions on foreign countries, primarily through tariffs. Trump invoked this act in February when he slapped import duties on Canada, Mexico, and China based on drug and illegal immigration issues. The US Senate passed a resolution to end the national emergency declared to imposed these tariffs hours after the president’s speech, with one Republican not voting and four others joining all the Democrats to achieve a 51-48 majority. It was, however, essentially a symbolic vote, as it’s unlikely the GOP-controlled House would follow suit.

Canada and Mexico were spared from the Liberation Day announcement. However, the country’s North American neighbors will still be punished under the previous 25% tariff regime due to illicit drug and illegal immigration flows. In addition, previous Section 232 measures, such as tariffs on foreign automobiles, car parts, steel, and aluminum, will not be subjected to these latest actions.

While the White House stopped short of providing revenue projections, one official was bullish on his expectations. In a recent Fox News interview, Peter Navarro, the president’s senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, predicted the US government would collect $6 trillion in tariff revenue over the next ten years. This assumes that current global trade flows remain the same.

Wall Street Panics

US stocks finished the April 2 trading session in positive territory. However, the leading benchmark averages started tanking minutes into Trump’s press conference. Following his announcement, the tech-driven Nasdaq Composite Index crashed as much as 4.5%. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average tanked 1,100 points, and the broader S&P 500 erased 3%.

Government bond yields plummeted, with the benchmark ten-year falling toward the 4% mark. The US Dollar Index (DXY) cratered 0.7%. US crude oil prices fell below $70. Bitcoin dropped about 2%. Gold was the only asset that extended its gains, as the precious metal inched toward $3,200 per ounce. However, in the metals market, silver and copper fell.

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Investors were hoping for two things ahead of the blueprint’s unveiling: a better-than-expected plan and clarity. One analyst suggested that traders received neither. “What was delivered was as haphazard as anything this administration has done to date, and the level of complication on top of the ultimate level of new tariffs is worse than had been feared and not yet priced into the market,” said Art Hogan, the chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth Management, to CNBC.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent shrugged off the after-hours trading results, uttering a terrific line that will grace the pages of business publications for weeks to come. “The Nasdaq peaked on DeepSeek day, so that’s a Mag 7 problem, not a MAGA problem,” he said. Nice.

The Reaction

Bessent delivered a message to the world: Don’t. In an interview with CNN, the seasoned hedge fund billionaire urged countries not to retaliate with countermeasures. “Let’s see where this goes because if you retaliate, that’s how we get escalation,” he said. “Doing anything rash would be unwise.”

It might be too early for nations to issue responses. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo confirmed earlier in the day that she would not reply with tit-for-tat retaliation. The Vietnamese government pre-emptively slashed tariffs across a diverse array of US goods. India said it is considering lowering tariffs on half of US products entering the South Asian country. Israel vowed to abolish remaining levies on US imports.

For Discerning News Hounds

Conversely, China threatened resolute countermeasures. In a statement published by the Ministry of Commerce, officials said the government “expressed strong dissatisfaction and clear opposition” and that “China urges the U.S. to properly resolve differences with trading partners through equal dialogue.”

The White House later clarified to reporters that the 34% tariff rate on China is on top of the existing 20% import duties. So, if you do your calculations and carry the one, Beijing will be slammed with a true tariff rate of 54%.

Upending Global Trade

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who vowed countermeasures, conveyed to reporters that Trump’s reciprocal tariffs will “fundamentally change the global trading system.” This is what the 47th president of the United States is banking on.

Liberation Day was about more than tariffs. The much-anticipated date on the calendar was the US “declaring economic independence,” marking a turning point for decades-long globalization. Perhaps historians will examine the time as the start of transforming global trade and rekindling the flame of free trade.

“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump said. “Foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories, and foreign scavengers have torn apart our once beautiful American dream. We had an American Dream that you don’t hear so much about.”

A key part of his remarks was about how the public will hear grievances from globalists, outsourcers, special interests, and the fake news over the coming days. He urged the American people to ignore their thoughts. Why? “They were wrong about NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement],” he said. “[T]hey were wrong about China. They were wrong about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would have been a disaster if I didn’t terminate it.” Economists will debate the veracity of these comments, but the Trump administration will point to towns destroyed by shuttered factories, plants, and mills.

Trumponomics

Trump has championed the same pro-tariff message since an appearance on Oprah Winfrey’s program nearly four decades ago, espousing that what has been going on is not free trade. Well, years later, the real estate billionaire mogul can declare victory against the elite. But will he usher in an oft-spouted “new golden age” that will create prosperity for all? It took many years for the United States to reach this point, so it could take as many years to eradicate the odor of globalization.

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