The stories and pictures coming out of the southeastern part of the United States are horrific and terrifying. Hurricane Helene was more than catastrophic, but what is even more is the incredible lack of immediate response to human need and suffering by the United States government.
FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was supposed to be ready to aid at a moment’s notice. It was not and is not. FEMA is the responsibility of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. After Hurricane Helene hit the United States, Biden spent days on the breach and Kamala was busy raising money for her campaign. FEMA was no where to be found. Given the condition of Biden who appears can barely fully function, the bulk of the responsibility rests right in the lap of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Now we hear stories that private citizens who did respond are being prevented from helping. We are hearing stories that the National Guard and US Army troop and resources are being hampered or have not been given proper orders to move ahead. What is happening is at the least totally incompetent but bordering on criminal.
We hear now that FEMA has a lack of money. The story is that FEMA does not have enough funds to be able to respond to another hurricane or natural disaster. We know now that billions of dollars allocated to FEMA have been used up to provide for illegal aliens. They have gotten transportation, cash, cell phones, and housing. Funds have been depleted to the point of not having enough to help our own citizens.
Kamala comes in and offers $750 in aid to people who have lost everything. And people have to sign up to even get that paltry amount of aid. The problem is there is little way for people to even sign up.
We hear of all communications systems being destroyed. No cell phones and no Internet available. Power and lines down. Response came from action by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk with Starlink. But, now we hear that the government is taking Starlink down. Trump, as a private citizen, came quickly with aid and has given $25 million of his own money. He and Samaritan’s Purse under the leadership of Franklin Graham are and have been there with help.
Biden, Harris, Mayorkas (Homeland Security Secretary), and FEMA Adminstrator Deanne Criswell must go. They are all either totally incompetent or guilty of criminal neglect. Given the areas most affected by Hurricane Helene, one has to wonder if politics comes into the picture. Many of the areas most affected are heavy Republican politically.
In this time of huge domestic need for citizens of our country, we are reminded as well of the billions of dollars that have been diverted to Ukraine by the Biden administration. Dollars that are needed at home.
We are reminded as well of the response by the Bush administration to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Bush had Michael Brown at the head of FEMA. Brown had been the Judges and Stewards Commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association for 12 years before joining FEMA where he was promoted to FEMA Administrator in 2003. He resigned 18 days after Katrina hit New Orleans. Maybe it is time for Criswell and Mayorkas to do the same.
United States citizens are hurting and crying out for help. US government should have been ready and was not. Those responsible must go.
Stupid Is as Stupid Does
The New York Times has once again shown itself in a recent column by writer Jennifer Szalai. One cannot read the original column in the NYT without paying for it. This is something I sure will not do given the history of the NYT. Up front, I am depending upon an in depth review of the Szalai column by others.
It seems Szalai believes the US Constitution is a danger to the country and a threat to democracy. Even that kind of thinking shows her stupidity. So, I did a bit of research. I learned Szalai was educated in Canada and Great Britain. This should tell you a lot already. Then I read she is a reviewer of non-fiction books. Maybe she should stick to that.
If she is going to be critical of the US Constitution, maybe she should bone up on some US history. The Founders of our country never intended it to be a “Democracy”. It was structured as a Republic. There are major differences built in. The Founders intended for the Federal Government to be limited in scope and the country never to be governed by a simple majority of the population. This is clearly evidenced by the creation of Congress in two parts: the House of Representatives that reflects population and the Senate that represents equally the states and not population. The Electoral College that selects the President reflects a combination of the number of Representatives and of Senators. It stops rule by the masses and gives significant political power to States equally….. The United States of America. How incredibly wise and cleaver.
This will not change. It is built into the Constitution. Any change would have to come by amendment to the Constitution; a process that is detailed and difficult to accomplish. Any amendment must first be passed by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress and then approved by three-fourths of the legislative bodies of all 50 states; that’s 38 states. To make the change from the Electoral College to a simple majority vote for the President of the United States will not happen…… ever. The less populated states have the power to stop any such move and would. The Founders purposefully structured government, a Republic, this way.
Szalai also does not like the Supreme Court structure with President Donald Trump having appointed three of the current Justices. Again, she clearly does not understand United States government. Those three were approved by the US Senate as required by the Constitution. Trump did not have the power to appoint Justices by himself. Szalai, along with so-called Progressives, just does not like some of the current rulings by the Court. Too bad. There were rulings in the past that displeased Democrats and others that displeased Republicans. The structure of the Supreme Court with majority approval by US Senate required to be seated and the appointments to be lifetime do much to prevent manipulation of the Court makeup by one political party or another.
So, it appears the Founders of the Constitution knew a little more about what they intended for this country to be than that of Jennifer Szalai. She needs to return to reviewing books.
Klamath River: Free Flowing Once Again
The Yurok Tribe
190 Klamath Blvd
Klamath CA 95548
Dear Ones:
Miracles do happen, but in the case of the Klamath River and dam removal, it depended upon the years of dedication to river restoration by the Yurok Tribe. I have to tell you that when I read all about what has been accomplished to give life back to all of the fish species, particularly the salmon, whose existence depends upon a free flowing Klamath River, it brought tears to my eyes.
Fish are special to me. My doctorate at Purdue had sturgeon as my focus for research. Before that were catfish and medaka. Fish, indeed, are incredible creatures from our Creator to be treasured and husbanded.
My wife, Marcia, is a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Michigan. They have a history of deep relationship with the fish of the Great Lakes, as you may well know. Their work and dedication to preserving the lakes and streams and the fisheries associated with them has been rewarding to see as well.
When I read the mission statement of the Yurok Tribe on line, one can hope that someday all will adopt the philosophy of your Tribe. Earth and all therein are, indeed, sacred.
So, I deeply thank you for what you have accomplished. I wish you all the best for the future.
Blessings,
Kent H Blacklidge Ph.D.
Failed Secret Service
The failures of the US Secret Service nearly got President Donald J Trump killed. It was only by the Grace of God that Trump turned his head to just the right angle that the bullet meant to kill him just grazed the side of his head. The failures that day at Butler, PA, were nearly catastrophic.
Later, we learned the Secret Service protective detail for Trump was grossly under staffed and incompetent. We learned many of those assigned to protect Trump that day were not Secret Service protective agents but rather agents from the Department of Homeland Security that had effectively no training as protective agents. The failures were so egregious many now think they were intentional.
Then yesterday, 9/5/224, when listening to the Dan Bongino radio show, I heard more. Dan, in case you do not know, was a Secret Service agent for more than a decade and was even an instructor at the Secret Service Training Academy in Beltsville, MD.. He spent several years assigned to the Presidential Protection Division. SS whistle blowers have the ear of Bongino.
Bongino reported that the day before yesterday the Republican nominee for Vice President, J.D. Vance, had an event where, properly staffed by the Secret Service, there were 35 posts to be manned. The whistle blower reported in fact there were only 4 Secret Service agents there with the remaining 31 posts manned by untrained Department of Homeland Security agents. Yet another scenario asking for disaster. Intentional? Who knows?
Bongino is highly critical of particularly the upper echelon of Secret Service management. He says the agency has been under staffed for a decade or more. He says even if corrective action is taken and new agents hired, it would take up to 2 years to get correction accomplished given the training required. All of this falls under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas who has proven to either be totally incompetent or intentionally so. Just look at what has been going on at the southern border under the leadership of Mayorkas.
There are those who want Trump dead. There are those who want Vance dead. The real question is who is responsible for keeping both protected from harm. Are they doing their job or are they intentionally lax? That question needs an answer.
Many of us want Eric Prince, former Navy Seal and founder of Blackwater, a private security firm, years ago to come back. In testimony before the US Congress, Prince said at one point he had 3500 employees that over years provided tens of thousands of protective assignments around the world without one protectee loss or harm. From 1997 to 2010, Blackwater was awarded $2 billion in government security contracts for both unclassified services and classified ones. Clearly the Secret Service could learn from Blackwater experience and from Eric Prince.
Now, given the state of the US Secret Service, about all we as citizens can do is pray for the safety of all political office holders and candidates. Do.
KT & Illegal Immigration
I am not sure why, but the Kokomo Tribune seems to have come down editorially and from a news standpoint on the side of illegal immigration. The recent front page story about a family from Venezuela now in Kokomo and an editorial on August 30th critical of Hoosier citizens in Seymour resisting the creation of a “Welcome Center” for illegal aliens suggests just that — in favor of illegal immigration.
Clearly, the Kokomo Tribune and by reference its parent company, Community Newspaper Holdings Inc, don’t get it. Crossing the border of the United States of America is a crime according to US laws. It does not matter what the conditions are in home countries. There is a legal way into the United States and there are illegal ways. I am all for welcoming people who have come the legal way on the the path to either temporary residency or perhaps ultimately to citizenship. I am totally against illegal immigration.
I repeat, obviously, the KT does not get it. It is now estimated there is something between 10 and 20 million illegal aliens now in this country. For comparison, the population of Indiana total is about 6.8 million. Illegal aliens are taking away from resources sorely needed to care of US citizens. For example…. schools, health care, jobs, housing and even other financial benefits; all from taxpayer money. Even in Kokomo, I see the presence of homeless people that badly need help.
The Indiana Attorney General has recently gone after three “Sanctuary Cities” in our state. One was in the Gary area, one in Lafayette/West Lafayette, and one in Bloomington. At last count, only one remains; the one in Bloomington. The other two have rescinded sanctuary city designation and actions. Indiana should have zero sanctuary cities.
One can feel sorry for folks in other countries that live under seriously adverse conditions. This does not mean the United States must become the destination for all who want to escape where they live for whatever reason…. particularly if it means crossing into the United States illegally. The citizens of our country are already in stress given the state of our economy under the nearly four years of the Biden administration. We don’t need more stress created by the presence of illegal aliens and the additional burdens they bring on.
I hope the Kokomo Tribune will support the immigration laws of the United States. Unless I am missing something, it currently does not.
At It Again
Senator Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren is at it again. She has introduced a bill in the US Senate with a price tag of $550 Billion to fund the construction of new housing for low and middle income folks. And where is the money going to come from? Natural, raising taxes. In this case, she wants to re-institute estate (death) taxes including raising them above where they were before.
This is yet another crazy and unjust move by a liberal to penalize those who have accumulated wealth. She does not recognize that the dollars or value in an estate have already been taxed through income tax and sometimes through capital gains taxes. She wants to tax the dead for their success yet again.
What is the result? In the past we have seen families lose farms or have to sell off farmland to pay estate taxes. We have seen families lose businesses that have been built through entrepreneurial efforts because they had to be sold to raise money for estate taxes.
I can offer a first hand experience. I had family members that owned a daily newspaper in our town. It was a very successful newspaper in the day when newspapers were valued and sought after. But we had several elderly owners that did not have significant other assets beyond the value held by their share of ownership in the newspaper. That paper had to be sold to satisfy the payment of estate taxes. The family lost ownership that had been built by a single family member beginning in 1897 and passed down through a couple of generations later. Again, income had been produced by this newspaper through the decades and income taxes paid all along.
What Warren is proposing is about as unfair as it gets. Accumulated wealth and pay taxes along the way through effort and success and then get taxed again when you die and want your family to be able to carry on with benefit from your efforts. Think about it.
Warren has again shown her socialist/communist colors. Fortunately, this bill if approved by the Senate, and a companion bill introduced in the House by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver will never seen the time of day in the US House of Representatives as long as Republicans have a majority.
So, we have one more reason to take back the Senate, increase the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, and take back the White House in the coming election.
Known by Many Names
Vice President Kamala Harris has been known by many names: Crazy Kamala, Cackling Kamala, Senator Kamala, District Attorney Kamala, CA Attorney General Kamala, Border Czar Kamala, and more. But the best one I have heard came from her days in California when she was climbing the political ladder with the help of Willie Brown, her 30 year older lover and political heavy weight. That was “Headboard Harris”.
The other I like the best is “Cackling Kamala”. I swear when she gets into that hysterical laughing, she looks much like the Joker in the Batman series.
So, now we have what appears to be the chosen one, but not elected, Democrat running for President of the United States in the coming 2024 November election. Harris has not yet been crowned with the official nomination of the Democrat Party, but she is headed in that direction with the Democrat Party Convention coming soon. To secure the nomination, she will need to steal the delegates that were pledged to Joe Biden through primary elections in the states. Harris has not a single vote from anyone in any state in an election for the nominee for President. That does not matter though. The Democrat Party bosses will see her through.
Actually, it is not clear if there will be any Democrat Convention physically in Chicago. They have talked about doing the Convention virtually with no one showing up in town. Whatever the case, Kamala Harris for President is a total sham. Joe Biden was sidelined by his own party against his will, clearly. Yes, Joe should not have run for another term, but he should have gracefully bowed out long before he did leaving the nomination field open for others with a nomination to be completed the legitimate and legal way. Did not happen. What has happened is clearly a coup.
The record shows there is no one farther left politically than Kamala Harris. When she was in the US Senate representing California, she was named the most liberal (Socialist/Communist) person in the Senate. Before that, she was a nightmare of a District Attorney in San Francisco and as California Attorney General. Check her record beginning as a D.A. in California through her time in the US Senate and lastly as Vice President. Now it appears there is an ongoing attempt to remake her image into a moderate Democrat, but her record is clear and scary.
In her campaign, Harris has already pulled the race card. She went directly to a traditionally black sorority, Zeta Phi Beta, in Indianapolis at their biennial convention to ask for support from black women. This was her second speaking stop as the Democrat presumptive Presidential candidate. She shunned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the joint session of Congress on the same day. This as Vice President of the United States and President of the US Senate. This was a clear message to Israel who is in a fight for their very existence.
The next months are going to define the course of the United States of America. Get informed and make the right choice. Are you better off now than you were four years ago under President Donald J Trump?
The Biden Question
Where is President Joe Biden? Supposedly from his Delaware home he wrote a letter of withdrawal from the campaign to be the Democrat Party nominee for President of the United States for the November 2024 election. Yet Biden has not been seen for many days.
The letter itself is suspect. It was not on official White House letterhead. The letter head said only “Joseph R Biden Jr”. There was no Presidential seal. The signature is in question and there was no “President of the United States of America” under the signature. Finally, the grammar in the letter appears to have been language written by someone other that President Biden.
So, what the hell is going on? There was a phone call to VP Harris from Biden it is claimed to be. It was supposedly a message of endorsement for Kamala Harris to become the Democrat nominee for President. What a disaster for this country she would be for this country if ever elected. She is dumb as a bag of rocks and has never received a vote by a single person to be either the presidential nominee nor for the vice president nominee and Vice President before. The votes of those who voted for President Biden to the be nominee would simply be tossed out by the Democrat Party bosses.
Supposedly, Biden has “released” his Democrat Party convention delegates. There is a question about whether this is even legal at least for the first ballot at the convention. And even if the convention comes out with Harris as the presidential nominee and someone else as the VP nominee, there are all sorts of questions about whether state ballots can be changed at this point. Expect law suits.
Finally, there is speculation that Joseph Biden is already dead. This is one way out. Of course, if that is the case, there would be a huge state funeral and laying in State in the Capitol Rotunda. This would certainly capture the news cycle for days even after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, and put Republicans in a bit of a spot when deciding what to do about and how to continue campaigning.
So, as President Donald J Trump always says, “We will see what happens.”
Budget Shock
Indiana State Representative Mike Karickhoff does a good job of keeping his constituents informed about state government. He deserves our thanks. This week brought into my mailbox Karickhoff’s most recent update and with it a SHOCK!
There is a graphic that shows clearly where Indiana citizens tax dollars actually go. I have included it so you will see for yourselves.
For the fiscal year 2024-2025, Indiana will spend 47% of all tax dollars on K-12 education and another 10% on higher education. That means over half, 57%, of all tax dollars go to education of Indiana citizens, largely children.
The Indiana Department of Education reports 82% of third graders can read at grade level which means 18% (about 14,000 students) cannot. It also reports Indiana’s literacy rates have been declining for a decade, well before the pandemic. Somewhat similar performance occurs in math proficiency. All of this in spite of the fact it is reported the USA spends more per student on education than all other advanced countries of the world except for tiny country Luxembourg.
And according to the National Literacy Institute, on average 79% of US adults nationwide are literate in 2024. Further, it reports the US ranks 36th in literacy among countries. Something is amiss.
I have to wonder. My impression is that we are spending an inordinate amount of money and energy on school athletics and marching bands and not enough on academics. A good example is the multi-million dollar girls softball field at Kokomo High School. And take a look at the football stadium for KHS. It rivals many at the collegiate level. Then there is the marching band facility and even the architectural horns and whistles on any new building construction.
Too, I wonder about how many hours of classroom instruction per year take place in schools. I read that in Indiana 180 days of instruction in an academic year are required at minimum for elementary and secondary schools; that is less than half the days in a year. I see school buses leaving schools with students a little after 2:00 in the afternoon. Indiana requires a minimum of 5 hours per day for grades 1 through 5 and 6 hours for grades 7-12. These don’t count any recesses or lunch periods.
From past experience, I know that a significant percentage of students who sought admission to Indiana University Kokomo could not pass the English or the math proficiency requirement. Remediation courses were required.
Given the taxpayer funds spent on Indiana education from grade one through state supported university levels, maybe it is time to rethink a few things.
Change
My morning ritual is to get out of bed, half stumble down the hall to the kitchen, pour a cup of coffee, and head to my home office to check email. There are windows close by that give me a clear view of the outside world. I check out the weather, watch birds at the feeders and the squirrels trying unsuccessfully to rob the feeder seed.
I see, too, an old wood shelter on the golf course that has been there for as long as I can remember anything growing up including my first wood shaft golf clubs. That shelter causes me to think about how life must have been 100 years ago and my own memories growing up in this town.
I think about how things have changed over the years. I think about the wondrous scientific and technological innovations that have become a normal and expected part of our lives.
My earliest memories, though, are of Victory Gardens and Block Wardens and a father gone off to World War II. They are of milk being delivered to our home by a Med-O-Bloom Dairy horse-drawn milk wagon and of the fresh homemade butter, eggs, and vegetables coming directly to our door from local farmers. They are of times of racing home after school to gather by the radio to hear programs that stimulated imagination like “The Lone Ranger”, “ The Green Hornet”, “Inner Sanctum”, “The Shadow Knows”, and “Tennessee Jed”.
They are of times when children just old and tall enough to put a dime into the bus coin box could travel downtown to Kresge’s or Woolworth’s or Penney’s or to see the movie serials each week and be safe.
Everyone walked to school. No problem. It seemed the adults in our town looked after each other and any children around. Even the dogs and cats were friendly and free. Most folks did not lock their homes when going off to shop or work. I ask myself whether we have really made any progress in our quality of life here in these past, say, 70 years. Certainly, there is bigger and more of everything, but is it better?
Things were not all roses over those years, though. Racism and religious prejudice were pretty ingrained in our society in those days. Those were hurtful to people. My belief is we have come to a healthier place with these in mind and practice. By doing so, we have strengthened our town, state, and nation. There is strength in diversity among caring people.
We did some pretty stupid things, too: Things that we were told were wonderful and harmless at the time. I remember going to the dentist again and again to get a cavity filled. As a reward, the dentist would give me a gel-capsule filled with mercury. I loved holding that marvelous, liquid metal in my hands and using it to polish coins by rubbing the mercury and coins between my fingers. Today we would say, “Are you crazy?”
I remember going to Eby’s Shoe Store downtown to get new Buster Brown shoes. To check the fit, the store had a wonderful machine into which one would insert a foot with a new shoe on it, push a button, and see how the shoe fit. Gosh, you could see all the bones in your foot, too! The machine was an X-ray machine. I often have wondered what happened to Mr. Eby and the other employees of the shoe store.
I remember the hot summer days in our neighborhood. Sometimes, the bugs, particularly mosquitoes, were kind of bothersome, but there was a fix for that, too. The city would send around the truck to take care of the bugs. We looked forward to it. It was great fun to ride our bicycles in the cloud coming from the truck. The DDT smelled pretty good. We were told this miracle chemical had saved the world from malaria and from being overrun by insects. We believed it because the chemical companies said so.
We are now in a time when science and technology are moving much faster than then. It is important we learn from our past, take the best from the past, and move on. This means carefully examining change and innovation to be sure they lead in directions good for people and planet Earth. One huge lesson is not to be so quick to believe all that is new and claimed to be so wonderful, particularly if the message is coming from those who stand to make money or gain politically from whatever the message conveys. We have been fooled before. There are those who would and are trying to fool us now…. And will again and again.