You Must be a Democrat

If you believe that shutting down the production of oil and gas in the United States and driving the cost of gasoline and diesel to record highs, moving the country from a a position of energy independence and having to become a oil importer,  is a good thing and:

If you believe that the pull out from Afghanistan was a well organized operation that left hundreds of Americans and thousands of Afghans that supported us, at the mercy of the Taliban,with American soldiers paying the ultimate price, and:

If you believe the borders of the United States should be open so that any body can come in, including the cartels, wanted criminals and the millions of doses of deadly drugs, is a desirable position and:

If you believe that the police are all racists and they should be defunded and social workers put in their place, while crime is on the rise, and:

If you believe that criminals should be released without bail so that they can continue to wreck havoc on the general public and:

If you believe that printing of over 5 trillions dollars and giving it to the public, regardless of means,  resulting in massive inflation, where there are now more dollars in the hands of consumers than there are goods, proving once again that the law of supply and demand is true, was a smart thing, and:

If you believe that abortion should be legal up to the cutting of the umbilical cord after birth should be legal and encouraged, and:

If you believe that teaching young school children, below the 3th grade, about sex and about the validity of the group that takes up half the alphabet and any parent who objects, should be named a domestic terrorist and monitored by the FBI, and:

If you believe that election of Republicans in 2022 will be the end of democracy, in spite of our history that shows the country has undergone tremendous upheaval many times since our founding and democracy remains intact. Of course if you believe that without any evidence other than a failed attempt by a group that believed that the election in 2020 was stolen and decided to take a very ill advised action, and action which was doomed to failure from the start. That idea is being spouted with no idea how that could happen. The balance of power still exists and this Supreme Court has shown that it is very much in support of the constitution as it is written and not some interpretation favoring some ideology. The Roe versus Wade decision was a proof that they believed in the 10th amendment which clearly states that if a power is not given to the federal government then it reverts to the states. And:

If you believe that any opinion contrary to that of the government should not be allowed and should be banned on all the social media platforms. The contrary opinion of many medical experts about the actions on the Covid 19 outbreak taken by the government was ill advised as an example. That the government was able to get the social media platforms to squelch all papers showing data that did not support the government view as great. That the clear evidence that the virus originated in the Chinese lab, was man made, and somehow escaped, was denied by the government until lately and that idea was squelched was great. And:

If you believe that all the statues of the founding fathers of our country should be struck down because so many of them owned slaves or at least tolerated slavery or some other act that 21st century Americans found unacceptable. That we should no longer teach about the perilous position those people were in when they rebelled against a nation with the most powerful army in the world because that made them appear heroic, and:

If you believe that we should not recognize other significant people who were instrumental in the discovery, preservation and expansion of the Americas such as Washington, Jefferson, Columbus, Andrew Jackson, Pope, yes and even Lincoln, and:

If you believe that there was collusion with Russia to support Trump during the 2016 election and that the FBI did a bank up job in being neutral in the election cycle, in spite of the fact the the whole thing was made up by the Clinton campaign with the paper work generated by them and in collusion with key members of the FBI, who knew the papers were fake, but was used to get a warrant to spy on Trump and his campaign. And:

If you believed that it was Okay to suppress the information on the Hunter Biden laptop as Russian disinformation, in spite of the fact that the FBI knew that it was real and might, if released, influence the election in 2020 was a good thing. That the FBI informed social media that the whole thing was a false information and they should not post it  was great. Then:

You must be a Democrat.

 

 

The Second Amendment

 Have you ever wondered why our Constitution bakes into law the right of the average citizen to have a private gun? That is a right that is not given to it's citizens in any other country. 

Many third world countries are seen where almost everybody is carrying around an AK47 and shooting them off at will, but they haven't  been given that right under the law. Most, if not all, of the more advanced countries have severely restricted the distribution of firearms. Many have a total ban on the private citizen owning a gun. Why are we different?

There a several reasons why. When the first 12 amendments (only 10 were approved) were being written, the main purpose was to protect the citizen from an overreaching government, whether that government was federal or local. The early citizens of this country had only recently won a war against, what they thought of as, a tyrannical government. They were very wary of large government with unchecked powers. They were afraid that government would take away the freedoms that they had fought so hard to gain. Thus the first amendments to the constitution. The second amendment was part of that list of protections of the people from its government.

To start with, you have to remember the atmosphere of this country at it's basic formation and the conditions that existed here in the late 18th century. 

First, the founding fathers did not envision that the country would have a large standing army. The  Constitution specifically says that nation should raise and maintain a navy, but merely says that the congress can call up an army in time of need. And where was that army coming from? The militia of course. The is the main reason the second amendment is worded as it is. They coupled the restriction on the government from infringing on the rights of the citizen to have a gun by noting that a militia was necessary. They believed that if the country needed to raise an army, that the militia would be called up and the militia men would take their guns down from over the fireplace and an instant army would be formed. Each state was responsible for raising and training a militia. Added to that was a distrust of a strong standing army and the potential threat it might have to the nation if lead by strong leader. 

Secondly, everything west of the Atlantic states was completely unsettled by white men. The west was a hostile place. It was necessary, therefore, that the people that were on the frontier be able to defend themselves against the hostile natives that didn't care much for the white mans incursion into what they felt were their territory, because they won it in battle from some other native tribe.  

I'm sure that the originators of the first amendments had some other personal issues for wanting the 2nd amendment. They likely had guns themselves. But, essentially the amendment was written and approved to put a check on the rise of government power to the point where government itself became the enemy of the people. Our founding fathers were very highly educated people and extremely well read. They foresaw the course governments tend to take as they grew larger. Governments want to control everything. They 2nd amendment assures that the states had a large force that could oppose a large and overreaching federal grab for power over the states. After all the states considered themselves as semi-independent countries bound together only by the constitution. Recall that the 10th amendment to the Constitution specifically states that any power not given the the federal government by that document is reserved to the individual states. An amendment that seems to be largely ignored today. 

Indepence Day

Today is July 2nd. It should be remembered that this is the true date of colonies independence. It was  July 2, 1776 that the continental congress voted for and passed the resolution for independence from Great Britain, and approved the Declaration of Independence. Ben Franklin proclaimed that this would be a day celebration into the future. But, the copy completed by the calligrapher dated the Declaration as July 4th. So here we are,  celebrating our independence on the wrong day. 

The Green New Deal

 The climate change/global warming mafia are reveling in the situation that exists today. Led by our President. He canceled the building of a pipeline from Canada and has made future drilling for oil almost impossible because of his executive actions and the regulations imposed on any drilling. Pupin conveniently started a war in Ukraine which severely impacted the world oil supply, because Russia was a big oil and gas exporter. His actions along with the war in Ukraine have induced a shortage of oil and resulted in a dramatic increase in the price and the corresponding increase in the price of gasoline. And, there is no  plan to change his policies to increase the supply of American oil now, in the near or far future. Canada is a big supplier of oil, but Biden has made no effort to increase the flow of that oil into the United States.

One of their aims is to get you to park that gas burning car and truck; that has become very expensive to drive, and to switch the nation and world into electric vehicles among other things. 

If they can drive the price of oil, natural gas and coal high enough, they think, the industry will be weaned off fossil fuels and turn to other forms of clean and renewable energy sources. They seem to be winning that battle. Have you noticed? Almost all of the car manufacturers are now producing electric cars and almost all the commercials on TV are promoting those cars. 

They will have come a long way if they can get Americans to switch from oil to clean energy, like electrics, or perhaps hydrogen if that ever comes to fruition.  More that half of all oil burned in the United States are consumed by the cars, trucks, trains and planes.

 

 

If they can get at the inroads into the industrial sector to also switch they will have achieved a large step in their goals.  

But, oil is not only one of the fossil fuels that have their shorts in a bind.

Coal is a big problem for the Green New people. You can see why. It is the dirtiest of the fossil fuels. Almost all of it goes to producing electricity. But, for the Greens the trend is going in the right direction, just not fast enough. The switch from coal to natural gas is accelerating.

 

From the governments data:

In 2020, about 477 million short tons (MMst) of coal were consumed in the United States. On an energy content basis, this amount was equal to about 9.2 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) and to about 10% of total U.S. energy consumption. This was the lowest amount and the lowest percentage share of total U.S. annual energy consumption since at least 1949. Although coal use was once common in the industrial, transportation, residential, and commercial sectors, today the main use of coal in the United States is to generate electricity. The electric power sector has accounted for the majority of U.S. coal consumption since 1961.

U.S. coal consumption by consuming sector by amount and percentage share of total coal consumption in 2020 was:¹

• Electric power—436.5 MMst—91.5%
• Industrial total—40.0 MMst—8.4%
  • Industrial coke plants—14.4 MMst—3.0%
  • Industrial combined heat and power—9.9 MMst—2.1%
  • Other industrial—15.7 MMst—3.3%
• Commercial—0.8 MMst—0.2%
• Residential and transportation—not available ²

On an energy content basis, U.S. coal consumption peaked in 2005, but the total annual tonnage of U.S. coal consumption peaked in 2007. Coal consumption declined in most years since then, mainly because of a decline in the use of coal for electricity generation. 

U.S. coal consumption by major end users, 1950-2020

An interactive area flow chart showing amounts of U.S. coal consumption by major end users in 1950 through 2020

The chart has 1 X axis displaying values. Range: 1950 to 2020.

The chart has 1 Y axis displaying million short tons. Range: 0 to 1200.

     The irony is that the predominant use of goal is to produce electricity to power those electric cars and trucks.

       A look at  the use of natural gas reveals its usage.

     The United States used about 30.5 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas in 2020, the equivalent of about 31.5 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) and 34% of U.S. total energy consumption.

• Natural gas use by U.S. consuming sectors by amount and percentage share of total U.S. natural gas consumption in 2020 was:¹
• electric power11.62 Tcf 38%
• industrial10.09 Tcf 33%
• residential4.65 Tcf1 5%
• commercial3.15 Tcf 10%
• transportation08 Tcf 3%

t.

U.S. natural gas consumption by sector, 1950-2020

Chart with 5 data series.

An interactive area flow chart showing annual U.S. natural gas consumption by consuming sectors in 1950 through 2020

The chart has 1 X axis displaying values. Range: 1950 to 2020.

The chart has 1 Y axis displaying trillion cubic feet. Range: 0 to 35.

Where natural gas is usedNatural gas is used throughout the United States, but five states accounted for about 39% of total U.S. natural gas consumption in 2020.

• The five largest natural gas-consuming states and their percentage shares of total U.S. natural gas consumption in 2020 were:³
• Texas 15.2%
• California 6.8%
• Louisiana 6.0%
• Pennsylvania 5.6%
• Florida 5.2%
  

¹ Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review, Table 4.3, April 2021, preliminary data. Sum of shares may not equal 100% because of independent rounding.
² Total energy consumption is primary energy consumption in the end‐use sectors, plus electricity retail sales to the sectors and electrical system energy losses. Also includes other energy losses throughout the energy system.
³ Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Natural Gas Annual, September 2021

      Where does all this natural gas go?

 

   As you can see, the United States has become a major exporter of natural gas since about 2016. And the trend is growing. Strange; that is about the time that Trump took office. The trend had already started in the mid 80s and really took off due to the lifting of a lot of the regulations hampering the industry when Trump came into the picture.

A disaster in the White House.

 

 Is Biden the worse President the nation has ever had?  I'm not sure, but he certainly is in the running. He has created, by executive order, some the worst catastrophes ever visited on the American populace. One of his driving forces seem to be to cancel everything Trump did.

As soon as he was sworn in he cancelled the construction of the wall that Trump was having built along the Mexican border. He opened the borders to all comers and created a severe crises as illegals flooded the border to come into the United States. And they came, by the thousands. They are being carried at governments expense into various locations in the country and dumped on local governments to provide for them. A severe strain is dumped on local government to provide education, medical care and housing. An expense they can't afford. The odd thing is that the illegals seemed to be settled in red states. 

As one might expect, along with refugees fleeing to the United States for a better life, the drug cartels were quick to take advantage and the flood of drugs began. Nothing, absolutely nothing has been done to reduce this problem.

He cancelled building of the pipeline leading from Canada and ceased all oil production by fracking and all oil exploration on federal lands, costing thousands of jobs. The United States became an oil importer again instead of oil exporter. The result, of course, was that Biden now had to ask for OPEC to increase oil production because the price of oil is rising and is reflected at the pump with significant gas prices at the pump. In the meantime a war broke out in the Ukraine with Russia invading. Because Russia provides the oil and gas for much of Europe and other reasons, a shortage of oil resulted on the world market and the price of oil increased significantly. Prices at the pump of gasoline sky rocketed, passing over 6 dollars a gallon as of this writing and with no end in sight. Meanwhile Biden does nothing the increase the flow of oil in the USA, or in the future. 

Biden has insisted that the big jump in oil prices are due to the Putin war. But, a quick review of the facts put some of that statement in doubt. Looking at the actual price of crude of the last year or so, it is easy to see that the price of crude was already rising before that war ever started in February 2022.  It had already reached about 90 dollars a barrel at that time.

 

Then he decided that we should get out of Afghanistan. That is well and good, but he did not put together a comprehensive plan for that withdrawal and result was one of the biggest  cluster ####?s in memory. Hundreds of Americans and thousands of our Afghan interpreters, essentially leaving them at the mercy of the Taliban, were stranded in that country. To add to the mess, he didn't even warn our allies that we were pulling out. On top of that, soldiers were killed due to his poor planning.

Now we have those huge spending packages that he and left wing of democratic party is trying to ram though congress that will add over five trillion dollars to the national debt. That is on top of the huge amount of money the government has already spend, that it doesn't have, during the earlier round of spending.

His policies have triggered a round of inflation like we haven't seen in many decades.  And, he tries to blame it totally on Putin and the Ukraine war. The fact is that the inflationary spiral had already started before Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia did not invade until February of 2022.  When Biden took office the inflation rate was at 1.7 percent.

 

The New York times finally broke down and admitted that the letters on the laptops that were reported over a year ago by the New York Post  were authentic. This clearly implicates Biden in corruption while he was Vice President. Of course, about the only place you will hear about this is on Fox. Most of the main stream media doesn't want to touch it. If the media, except Fox, had covered this story before the election, it might have well resulted in a different outcome.

He is all in now for helping Ukraine in their defense against the invading Russian. Well, sort of all in. As of now he will not approve of sending jet fighters from Poland into Ukraine for fear the the Russians won't like it. Obama/Biden team while he was VP, give not one piece of lethal military equipment to Ukraine. That was done even in the face of the Russian invasion and annexation of the Crimea in 2014. On the other hand Trump provided the Ukraine armed forces with over two billion dollars of lethal military equipment from May 2017 until June 2020. At the time the Dems were accusing Trump as being in bed with the Russians. 

 Biden jumped on the band wagon in March 2021 and started supplying Ukraine with lethal military equipment. That coincided with the Russian build up on the Ukraine border. In total, 685 million dollars in lethal military equipment has been allocated to Ukraine under his watch.

The training the British provided the Ukraine armed forces in 2015, coupled with the military equipment supplied by the United States, allowed the Ukraine armed forces to impede the invasion in it's first hours and days. Otherwise the war would have been a walkover. 

I'm not sure this President has done anything right. Even the virus issue, witch he likes to take credit for, was really started by Trump under operation Warp Speed. That decree not only produced the vaccine in record time but set up the mechanism for the distribution of it. It took no real thinking on Biden's part just to continue what Trump started and take credit for the whole thing.