It seems that Johnnie Walker in his “Sound Off” letter to the Tribune on February 27th is a little confused. He starts right off suggesting DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) should continue when President Trump wants job applicants, college applicants, and any applying for a position to be considered on merit against the requirements for whatever is being applied for rather than upon race, color, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Merit considers education and skills as the reasons for qualification.
Choosing merit over DEI does not degenerate African Americans, Native Americans, immigrants or any other identities including European Americans. Everyone starts out equal with no “group” having an advantage over another. Seems pretty straight forward and honest.
As for immigrants, no one is suggesting legal immigration is not OK. Those that came to this country in the late 1800s and early 1900s came legally. They were greeted by the Statue of Liberty as were and will be all legal immigrants. Illegal aliens are criminals according to US law and are not welcome. They need to return to home countries rather than largely be a drag on the US economy.
And concerning cutting federal government spending significantly, that has to happen or the USA will go bankrupt. It is that simple. Already Elon Musk and the Musketeers have found massive corruption and fraud in the way US taxpayer dollars have been handed out. That must be rooted out and stopped and even more spending must be cut. Yes, this will be painful, but so is surgery to fix health issues, which is what this really is.
Our country is in trouble. Left that way by the four year Democrat regime of President Joe Biden with the help of Senator Chuck Schumer and RINO Senator Mitch McConnell…. And many more.
We have one chance to make America great again. I hope we don’t blow it.
Small Nukes
The February 24th editorial in the Tribune from the Anderson Herald Bulletin that knocks small scale nuclear power is both short sighted and in instances inaccurate. The writer suggests why would Hoosiers want the “bane of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl in our backyard, when technologies for wind and solar power are much cheaper, more stable and less dangerous?”
Of course, no one wants a Three Mile Island or Chernobyl anywhere. Both were large scale nuclear power plants. The Three Mile Island incident in 1979 was pretty minor in scope. The American Nuclear Society concluded that average local radiation exposure was equivalent to a chest X-ray and maximum local exposure equivalent to less than a year’s background radiation. In short, the amount of radiation released into the atmosphere was too small to result in discernible direct health effects to the population in the vicinity of the plant.
The Chernobyl accident in 1986 is another matter. From the very beginning, experts knew of design flaws and risks of this Russian designed plant. The results were catastrophic with consequences still ongoing. This one is way off base for any comparison.
However, neither of these incidents has anything to do with small scale nuclear power plants. It behooves us to explore what possibilities there may be with such plants. Think about it. The United States Navy has submarines and air craft carriers powered for years by small scale nuclear power plants. I cannot think of a single adverse incident reported from any. So, engineers do have significant experience with small scale design.
Yes, nuclear technology does need to be advanced, but turning ones back on possibilities is not wise. Already we have been told that electric power generation in the United States is lacking and will become even more so with large data centers coming, electric vehicles, and manufacturing moving back to the United States…. and the decommissioning of coal plants.
One of the major advantages of nuclear power generation over both wind and solar generation is that it is full time. Wind depends upon unpredictable wind. Solar depends upon unpredictable sun and even then only half the time. Users of electricity cannot bank on erratic energy sources. Full time availability is essential. Oh… and wind and solar are not cheaper and surely not more stable.
For historical accuracy, Indiana’s Marble Hill nuclear plant (a large scale plant) construction began in 1977 and was terminated in 1984. It never got close to operation and that was about 45 years or so ago. Nuclear technology has advanced since then.
So, small scale nuclear generation of electricity may be the way of the future. It must be explored.
A New Day: MAHA
You know, there are days and there are days. Today, I deeply believe has been one blessed day for the United States of America. We have witnessed the swearing in of Robert F. Kennedy Jr to be the Secretary of Human and Health Services (HHS) for all of us.
Kennedy has dedicated his life to the betterment of our environment and the health of all people in our country. He has pointed out time and time again that as a country we are sick and getting sicker with every day that passes. He strongly believes it is all connected to our food supply (Big Food) and to Big Pharma and Big Agriculture. I could not agree more.
Ever since my encounter with Rachael Carson’s book, Silent Spring, in the very early 1970’s, I have done whatever was in my power to help address environmental issues. This was first when the CEO/Publisher of the Kokomo Tribune, then as a biological scientist at Purdue working on graduate level research. That was a long time ago and much has happened since. The advent of genetic engineering of crops and the use of very toxic poisons in agriculture has only gotten worse. It continues to grow.
And in our food supply, the use of all sorts of chemicals in food is rampant. It seems the food production companies don’t really given a damn about our health. They want us addicted to whatever they produce.
And we see the push for more and more pharmaceuticals about every minute we watch television. The advertising is all over the place. I hope you have been listening to the possible side effects of everything promoted. As a scientist, I have from the very beginning been very skeptical of the mRNA vaccines that never were properly tested for effect and safety.
So, we now have a Secretary of Health and Human Services that is going to take a look at it all… and make drastic changes. This is really Bobby’s way of lifting us all up. He has said that every day for the past 20 years he has gotten out of bed, gotten on his knees, and prayed for God to bring him a way to make change. He has said God brought him President Donald Trump. Trump and Kennedy have joined in a mission to Make America Healthy Again.
When I saw him being sworn in, I have to admit it brought tears to my eyes. We all need to be very grateful. Thank God.
The Musketeers with Bloodhound
Brian Howey in a Feb. 10th column in the Kokomo Tribune states in his opening paragraph that the federal government is bloated, wasteful, and inefficient. Then in the closing paragraph he states that President Trump, via Elon Musk, is causing “….a constitutional crisis in the making. These are emerging dictatorial powers replacing the lawful order that has served Americans well for nearly 250 years”. Really!
America (the USA) is in deep debt to the tune of about $35 trillion dollars. The current financial course is not sustainable and has not been for years. At some point, the wall will be hit and catastrophe will follow unless drastic change occurs.
Howey writes about all the wonderful things USAID is and has been doing in the world. He does not write about all the corruption, perverted programs and organizations that USAID has been funding in the USA and around the world. Musk and the Musketeers have exposed corruption, fraud, and outright stealing of taxpayer money in billions of dollars.
Howey quotes the Washington Post… now there is sure a credible source of news. We know better. He says the Post reported Musk’s DOGE staffers accessed sensitive internal data systems, including those of the U.S. Treasury. DAAAAAA! And exactly how does one review what has been historically done without viewing records? President Trump runs the Executive Branch of which the Treasury Department is a part. He has authorized the Musk DOGE probes.
What scares the crap out of those who want to hide nefarious acts is that “Follow the Money” has taken on new meaning when the bloodhound is an algorithm-powered web crawling bot designed to drill through internal government firewalls and map out redundancy, waste, and longstanding hidden internal influence networks established over decades. This is called transparency; something many do not want.
I, for one, am all in for Elon Musk and his Musketeers. They need to keep going through every government agency that disburses taxpayer money. They need to report to the taxpayers exactly how they have been cheated and robbed…. and how the USA has gotten into $35 trillion dollars in debt.
Maybe full transparency will change the course of the USA. Maybe we will realize we cannot be the ATM for the world and that other countries must take care of themselves. Maybe we can stop the funding of domestic graft and nonsense. Maybe we can finally honestly make “America First”.
TPS Ending
Temporary Protective Status, also known as TPS, is ending the United States at least for some. It will be for more if we can get the liberal courts out of the way. That will be a challenge for US Attorney General Pam Bondi.
TPS was supposed to be just that — temporary with no path to US citizenship. It was to provide a way for the United States to host people from other countries for a time when conditions in home countries were threatening. The problem is that, particularly during the Biden administration, TPS turned into PPS, permanent protective status. Renewals of extensions came to be automatic with no end.
Under the current President Trump administration, TPS has returned to what it was intended for in the first place. Many of those who are in the United States under TPS are on their way back to their home countries. The Trump administration, for example, is ending TPS for 350,000 from Venezuela which is about half of the total Venezuelans numbering about 600,000. The remainder face ending TPS with return to Venezuela later this year.
Reportedly, about 1 million people from 17 countries currently reside in the United States under TPS. These include people from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan. Trump tried to end TPS for these people in his first term but was thwarted by immigration advocacy groups through court action. Times are different now. More returns home are on the horizon.
All of this is just a part of moving out of the United States of America people who are either in the country illegally or have temporary status. It is a move to establish residence only for American citizens or people who have arrived via lawful pathways. It is for people who have followed the long path to citizenship, are temporary foreign students, or have some other legal authority under immigration law.
President Trump promised removal of illegal aliens in addition to ending TPS. There are millions to be sent back to home countries. The herculean effort has begun.
The Crash
As one who held a private pilot license some years ago, I have to comment on the crash involving an Army helicopter and the American Airlines passenger plane. The more information that comes out, the more it is clear the Army helicopter pilot and crew are totally to blame for the 67 souls killed that night.
The helicopter was flying above the allowed height of 200 feet and the pilot was wearing night vision goggles that significantly reduces the field of vision. I don’t know if all of the helicopter crew were wearing such goggles.
The passenger plane was on final approach for a landing at Washington National airport. Its runway was originally to be runway 33, but the air traffic controllers asked the pilot to use runway 1 instead. This meant an adjustment left and then right had to be made by the airliner. Flaps and landing gear were down. The plane was going slow for the landing. No doubt the airline crew was concentrating on the coming landing ahead of them really just seconds away. The plane was on a perfect path to land when it was slammed in its side by the helicopter. The result was explosion and crash into the Potomac River. All aboard both the airliner and helicopter were dead.
We know now that one air traffic controller was doing the job of two. The controller had responsibility for both the helicopter and the airliner. A second controller was allowed to leave the tower early which created the dual job requirement. But the controller did alert the helicopter pilot at least twice about the airliner. The helicopter pilot made no change in course with a catastrophic consequence. We learned, too, that the tower was significantly under staffed with 19 present when full staff is 30. This with an airport that has a number of take offs and/or landings numbering about 800 per day; and with shorter than optimal runway lengths.
On top of that, we learned that military helicopters are all over the place in the same air space at the same time as airliners. Any baboon would be able to tell this was a recipe for disaster. It came. No such mix is safe regardless of weather conditions which reportedly were clear on crash evening.
Lessons: the volume of landings/takeoffs allowed at Washington National should always reflect the number of air traffic controllers on duty. The force was 2/3 rds of what it should have been that night. This should have meant a maximum of 533 take offs/landings that day, not 800. Who knows if this would have made the difference, but spacing of events would have been different.
Allegedly, the Army was and always does practice along the Potomac River for a “continuity of government” exercise. This is practice for an emergency event in Washington DC when critical government officials must be transported out of the area. Understandable, but this cannot be combined with normal airline traffic flow in the same area; period. This reason must have priority over normal airline traffic. The answer; stop airline use of Washington National airport for nearly all passenger flights.
There is a huge airport about 26 miles west of downtown Washington D.C.. It is Washington Dulles International airport. Dulles occupies 13,000 acres or just over 20 square miles of land. It is the fourth largest airport in the USA in terms of land area. The result: it is safe. It does not have cramped space, short runways, and all sorts of military helicopter activity. Already, there are multiple ways to get from Dulles to downtown Washington DC; but more options could be developed.
The worst happened. It seems many have warned of this possibility. No one listened.
DOGE and the Big Dog
Elon Musk and his small cadre of geniuses are causing tidal waves and they have just gotten started. The incredible stink that has come out of USAID is almost beyond comprehension. The waste of US taxpayer dollars is more than huge; it is monumentous.
Is there any wonder why major new media were so far anti-Trump when in a short period of time the news organization Reuters got $9.1 million, Associated Press some $19.5 million, New York Times three grants totaling nearly $50 million, BBC $2.6 million and finally, Politico $8 million. It goes on and on.
There were too many to count grants to organizations promoting LGBTQ and transgender programs and activities around the world. Then all sorts of crazy projects and organizations both domestically and worldwide.
President Trump has shut down USAID nearly completely. What is left will be absorbed into the State Department, but even that will be a small skeleton of what it once was.
Honestly, I do not see the case for any tax dollars going out of the United States of America to others until and only until we have taken care of our homeless folks, our veterans, those hurt by hurricanes and fires, and any who are without shelter and food. We must be America First. All that and taking care of the mountainous national debt the USA has. Only then should be thinking about sending funds out of our country to others.
The list of the handouts of taxpayer money is endless. USAID was acting like the largest philanthropic foundation on the planet with taxpayer money. That and it had favorites on the left and woke side of the political spectrum.
USAID is largely now gone. DOGE will move on to the Defense Department, Medicare fraud, and other departments. What eventually results will the saving of billions of taxpayer dollars.
The big dog has come off of the porch!
US AG & Poisons
We have heard frequently the complaint from President Donald Trump that other countries will not buy or permit in U.S. agriculture products. I think there is a darned good reason why they will not.
Generally speaking, our agriculture products are tainted with poisons (pesticides) of all kinds. These poisons follow the products into human food supplies. The best example of this is the use of glyphosate (RoundUp) on corn and soy beans and on other crops that have been genetically engineered to tolerate that poison. There is strong evidence glyphosate causes cancer.
But that is not all. Weeds are now showing adaptation to glyphosate, so higher and higher doses of it are applied to crops to kill weeds. And Dicamba is being added as well; a more toxic and dangerous poison. The cycle continues with more toxic chemicals added all the time. This is just one example of many.
The only way for the consumer to avoid the pesticides in their food is to purchase only “Organic” products. Yes, they are more expensive, but is one’s health worth it in the long run?
We have a chance now to clean things up. Robert F Kennedy Jr will become the next Secretary of Human and Health Services. He is a strong advocate for getting harmful chemicals out of our food supply. He will tackle big Pharma, big Agriculture, and big Food. Hopefully, he will have cooperation from the new Director of the EPA, Lee Zeldin, and the new Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, to clean up the food supply.
Things must change. We are the sickest society on the planet…and getting sicker… and spend the most money on health care than any of the developed nations.
President Trump needs to get the message. He can complain all he wants about other countries keeping our agriculture products out, but until we take serious and significant action to clean up our own act, that will continue to be the case. To date, we have capitulated to Big Agriculture and Big Food. That must end. The era of poisons must end.
As long ago as 1962, Rachael Carson in her book, “Silent Spring”, tried to warn us. That was 63 years ago! It is long past time to wake up.
DEI Out!
Let me see, the Kokomo Tribune editorial of February 1st advocates the filling of Indiana State agency jobs based upon color, religion, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. (the hallmarks of DEI) rather than on selecting the best person for the job based upon merit qualifications; that is, job requirements
As I recall, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. advocated for a color blind (and by implication, DEI blindness) society based upon merit and achievement. Reverend King said, “I have a dream my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”.
Every job has qualifications for the performance of certain work. The qualifications have nothing to do with DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion). They are objective requirements that must be completed for optimal job performance. They do not depend upon one’s color, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. Applicants must be evaluated based upon the ability to complete the job requirements. Period. The person best fitted to completing job requirements should be the one obtaining the job.
This is vitally important for jobs funded by Indiana taxpayers; state agency jobs. It is the responsibility of state government to see so. There can be no DEI consideration, no political favoring, no nepotism, or anything else except measuring an applicant’s perceived ability to do a job against the requirements for a job.
Seems pretty straight forward to me and in the best interest of taxpayers. In short, the KT editorial position is way off base.