John Yoo returns to discuss a lotta legal stuff this week. He talks presidential pardons, Daniel Penny, United States v. Skrmetti and the murder of UnitedHealth’s CEO in Midtown Manhattan.

Plus, after an extra-long Thanksgiving season hiatus, the boys are back with much to be grateful for.

Stories of the week:

  • President Dementia has seen the future
  • Pete Hesgeth and Alcohol
  • Conspiracy theories
  • Fox News discovers immigration
  • Fixing Social Security

 

Is this the Golden Age for American government reform?

 

America’s friends of limited government have had a rough go lately. Government bureaucrats and spenders of all stripes have been living it up.

Since 2001, the last time the federal budget was balanced, federal revenues have shown a healthy growth of 3.9% annually, while inflation averaged only 2.5%. These figures would normally signify a sound, sustainable economy. But spending has grown at a rate of 5.5%, so instead we have a destabilizing gross federal debt of $36 trillion.

I hope that was a mugger

 

United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson was killed on Wednesday in New York City.  Written on the shell casings left by his killer were the words “Deny,” “Defend,” and “Depose,” which suggests this was not a random killing.  NYC police have been investigating the fact that UnitedHealthcare has been under attack recently from People’s Action Institute — a leftist organization with a leftist name whose website describes their goals thusly:  “Advance a long-term agenda for racial, economic and gender justice by investing in powerful state and local organizations and campaigns that win real change in people’s lives.”  Why can’t leftists just come out and say what they want?  I can think of only one possible explanation, and it’s not good.

Anyway, People’s Action Institute released the following statement recently about Medicare patients getting denied coverage.  They mentioned no specific cases, but said:
“Despite having health insurance coverage, people are experiencing barriers to receiving care. The largest barrier to receiving care is the private health insurance corporations themselves refusing to authorize or pay for care.”  
These people have apparently never heard of Canadian or British healthcare systems.  They have also never heard of Obamacare, apparently, in which millions of people have health insurance but can’t get health care.  They’re shocked. SHOCKED!

Leftists demand that government pay for health care.  So we get Medicare.  Today, Medicare has a $1 trillion dollar budget, 75% of which is deficit spending.  And even with that, Medicare can’t come close to meeting the health care needs of elderly Americans.  So it allows them to buy secondary insurance, to help cover that which Medicare just can’t afford.  And even with that, the private insurance companies can’t cover everything, either.  We eventually run out of other people’s money.  And guess who leftists get mad at?  Private insurance companies.

Questions about G-d: Who Made G-d?

 

I made a short series of videos considering questions about G-d that I have noticed get asked from time to time. Below is a rewriting based on the script for the first video, followed by the video itself.

I hardly know what to say about this question, but it does come up sometimes, and it needs a response.  It seems to arise in response to cosmological arguments for the existence of G-d. The response “Who made G-d then?” seems to be a sort of “Gotcha!” response.  Or maybe it’s an honest question.

It’s an all-rant episode this week as Henry breaks down the latest polling on Donald Trump’s boosted favorability. (They like him. They really like him!) Plus, we go abroad to take a look at the populist movements that are sinking European establishmentarians who were meant to keep this global movement at bay.

Two very different ways to get ahead

 

Source: National Action Network website

In a society based on centralized control (leftist, socialist, communist, whatever), there is really only one way to get ahead.  You must figure out who has political power, befriend them, and do favors for them.  There is no reason for you to help the common man, so you focus on those in power.  Everything is in one pie, and if you want a piece of that pie, you must serve those above you.

It Was Always a Lab Product

 

The House Oversight Committee has exhaustively confirmed what should have already been well-known about the origins of COVID-19 but for the concerted effort by the governments of China and the USA with the cooperation of zealously anti-Trump media to promote a lie.

The initial rise of COVID-19 cases in the northeast USA and Western Europe simultaneously began in mid-March 2020 and initially peaked in mid-April.  However, virologists had already analyzed the virus in January, and Anthony Fauci knew he had a problem. It was already clear that the virus was very unlikely to have a natural origin.

Joe Biden does what he promised he would not do – pardon son Hunter – and even the Democratic shills in the media have had enough.

As the once and future FLOTUS has told of her “debanking” experiences, others such as Marc Andreessen have shared their stories. Ed Butowksky of Chapwood Investments joins the show with his tale.

Join Ericka Redic and Jay Shepard as they welcome host of “American Journal” on InfoWars, Harrison Smith. Harrison, Ericka and Jay discuss the controversial InfoWars auction, the use of lawfare against Harrison and the InfoWars team, and the evolution of media.

Brash, irreverent, and mostly peaceful! Stay in contact with us!

A Tale of Retro Parties, Shoulder Taps, and Officer Discretion

 

Let’s start with some police jargon definitions before my walk down memory lane.

Retro party: Transients that file a disabled Social Security claim. It can take some time for a disability claim to be approved, and, if approved, the monetary benefit can be back-dated to the date that the claim was filed. That retroactive payday is used to buy enough alcohol for a party in a park or homeless camp.

This week on The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy of DFER and U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng interview Dava Sobel, acclaimed author of The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science. Sobel delves into the life of Marie Curie, the “scientific Joan of Arc,” exploring her extraordinary journey from clandestine education in Tsarist-controlled Poland to becoming the first woman to win two Nobel Prizes in different scientific disciplines. She highlights Madame Curie’s groundbreaking discoveries of radium and polonium, with her husband Pierre Curie, and her pioneering work in radioactivity. Sobel also examines Marie Curie’s role as a mentor to women scientists, her wartime contributions with mobile X-ray units, and her enduring legacy as a trailblazer for women in STEM. Through Madame Curie’s story, Ms. Sobel reflects on the power of scientific curiosity and its profound societal impact. In closing, Sobel reads a passage from her book, The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science.

Government Crisis in South Korea

 

There have been serious developments in South Korea over the past several hours, including a declaration of martial law by the South Korean president and a vote in the National Assembly lifting the martial law declaration.

I know little about the South Korean government or the formal state of our relations, though I know that tens of thousands of American troops have been stationed in South Korea since the 1950s.  It appears that we have a formal treaty of alliance with South Korea.

Jeff is joined by historian Tevi Troy to discuss an issue of both historical and current relevance: what happens when the interests of commercial and industrial giants clash with those of the president? Is there anything we can learn from past rifts between the likes of Rockefeller and Roosevelt, of Ford and Wilson, to help us understand the impact of Musk, Zuckerberg, and others on our current government? Why do the interests of government and industry diverge, or converge?

#potus #industry #musk #rockefeller

The Last MSM Lie for Biden?

 

As of today, it appears to be the new (attempted) spin that Biden did not lie.  Circumstances changed. He considered what was best for his family and he then changed his mind, which means he was sincere earlier when he said he would not issue a pardon for Hunter.  Therefore, he did not lie. Sure.

Ceasefire? That’s so last week!

 

Two days ago my family (and many others) benefitted from the Houthi ‘alarm clock.’ At 6:22 AM, the sirens went off due to an incoming ballistic missile. This includes not just neighborhood sirens, but every phone in the house. Within about 20 seconds, we were all fully awake and in the shelter. My youngest, a 7-year-old girl, lifted up her head (she and her 10-year-old brother sleep in the shelter) and said — with a mixture of fear and disappointment: “But I thought there was a ceasefire…”

That missile was a Houthi special delivery. Two days ago, the ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon (not Hezbollah in Iraq, which never stopped firing) appeared to be holding. Today, a mere two days later, it appears to be over. Part of the post-ceasefire process will be the assignment of blame. Who broke the ceasefire? France and then the US have claimed Israel violated the ceasefire. Israel has claimed that the ceasefire was not a mere ceasing of fire but an agreement that Hezbollah would move north as per the internationally imposed 2006 ceasefire – which didn’t happen in 2006 and hasn’t happened here. So, who is right?

The incomparable Heather Mac Donald on Trump’s nominees and priorities: the hits and the misses.

Energy Policy in Transition

 

The arrival of the second Trump presidency has brought out latent tensions in the troubled area of energy policy. Over a four-year period, the Democrats, under the leadership of Jor Biden, have made it their highest priority to turn away from fossil fuels to alternative forms of energy, most notably wind and solar. The key argument for this position was, and remains, that the existential threat of continued global warming makes it critical to adopt stern responses lest—in the words of Inside Climate News—Trump, along with people like Chris Wright, who has been tapped to lead the Department of Energy, manage “to turn the US into a pariah petrostate.”

At the political level, the current trend works in sharp opposition to the Biden administration’s nonstop initiatives that began on day one in 2021 with the shutdown of the Keystone XL Pipeline, which resulted in the cancellation of the project by TC Energy some six months later. TC Energy is a Canadian outfit operating in Alberta, whose Premier Jason Kenney reported that he was “disappointed and frustrated” by the unilateral cancellation without consultation.

A Positive View of the Pardon

 

In my opinion, Hunter Biden is a corrupt, money-grubbing launderer of Joe Biden’s shake-down schemes, especially in the Ukraine.  This team brought about world troubles, overturning millennia of diplomatic customs, and bringing us to a high risk of superpower war.

So why is the pardon a good thing?  Well, hang on to your hats, here’s my take on it.

What Became of Old Marmalade

 

During a pleasant evening walk a few months ago, my daughter and I were petting an orange cat that suddenly grabbed me around my leg and bit me on the shin, leaving four neat fang impressions.  I let it go for a few days, but all it took were a few people to say or suggest the “r” word and the incident began to weigh on me. I had listened to a Radiolab podcast on that disease years ago, and not only did I skip parts of the episode, I also quit listening to that program.  I didn’t need to know that a horror movie infection actually exists, and once it takes hold, science doesn’t really have a cure.

So after about a week, I felt as if I were taking a risk with something you can’t take risks with; costly precautions could be worth the chance I was throwing away resources.  I remembered we had a vet as a neighbor, so hoping for reassurance, I texted her, explaining what had happened. How high is the incidence of rabies around here? The reply was ambiguous–just what I didn’t want to hear.  Rabies is actually rare; however, I should call the health department, because they would want to track down the animal and figure out its vaccination status. Oh, great.

Not Who You Think

 

Today is my birthday.

We went to church. I cried through the entire service.

This past week, we traveled for Thanksgiving where I found myself in the company of too few people; too few in that the impact of the one who harbors unwarranted resentment towards me could not be neutralized by a larger choice of others whom I might have enjoyed conversating with. Last year it was a larger crowd, and I thoroughly enjoyed the others, and myself. I had hoped for a similar experience this year. Foolish me.

Sixty Years Old With Three Little Kids

 

Call this a sequel to She’s “Girl, Just Keep Your Legs Together, And All Will Be Well!” She just turned 70. When I turned 50, I thought nothing of it. I didn’t feel old, and actually, I still don’t. All the years between 50 and 60, I never thought much about retirement, being old, or what I was going to do with the rest of my life. Back in the middle of May, I had a cake with more candles than midnight Mass at St. Paul’s Cathedral. BOOM! It’s time to be responsible and start thinking about retirement. I know. I’m a procrastinator. I’m getting around to fixing that.

I started watching Holy Schmidt on YouTube. He is a financial guy with the perfect amount of dorkiness. Great guy with a lot of good advice. I came up with a financial plan that works for me. I won’t be driving a new Teletubby Jaguar but I’ll be fine. I hear they have TRANSmission problems anyway. I’ll get by but I’m looking for another line of work that has nothing to do with programming or managing people. I’ve had enough of both. Except for people I actually want to talk to, and using my computer to send invoices will be okay, too.