In my deep, deep, deep blue pocket of the country, Montgomery County, Maryland, we are still trapped in spring 2020 when it comes to COVID. We’re still wearing masks indoors, my kids are the only kids in their outdoor soccer league playing maskless, and many county services and events are still using COVID as the excuse to avoid resuming normal operations. Last week I had a piece in the Washington Post about it, arguing for full reopening of our county; likely a fruitless effort akin to yelling at the wind, but it was worth a college try.

One of my co-authors, Jen Reesman, has been following the issue of the libraries closely. She wrote this paragraph in our op-ed,

The Democrats have a new economic strategy.  The first step is to cause inflation with quantitative easing (“sell” Treasury Bills to the Federal Reserve Bank in exchange for printed currency.)  Since these borrowings comprise printed money and don’t compete in the market for funding, they cause little pressure on interest rates.  The Fed can keep rates artificially down.  However, by design, inflation will eventually result (we see it every day) which discounts the value of federal debt owed; i.e., debts will be repaid with inflated future dollars.  Further, to help fund this future debt service, inflation itself is taxed when taxable income is redefined to include unrealized market gains.

What great madness is this?

It is important to remember that federal tax receipts have nothing to do with federal spending.  Deliberately misleading, even fraudulent, estimates of tax receipts are used to politically justify massive increases in government spending.  It’s a cynical game.  Only the federal debt ceiling, that is cumulative spending above cumulative tax receipts, determines the ceiling for future spending levels.  But I digress, this essay is not about the Eschleresque topic of monetary theory and floating currency, it is about the taxing of unrealized gains.

Dave Chappelle always had the advantage in facing down his critics. Not only is he world-famous and wealthier than a few nations, the comedian has a secret weapon. Chappelle is funny; his critics are not.

Whatever he said in his most recent Netflix special, “The Closer,”  the knives were going to be out. Instead of following a bloodless script pre-approved by progressive censors, he speaks his mind and often reveals uncomfortable truths. That makes him dangerous. Woke activists insist that every celebrity bend the knee and Chappelle isn’t one for bending. He wouldn’t knuckle under to Comedy Central suits and certainly won’t bow to midlevel Netflix dresses.

Let’s be honest: the mostly white media has stoked a weeks-long controversy to bludgeon an uppity black man until he agrees with white gender theorists.

Alvin Plantinga is important. Even if he were never right about anything, he’d still be important because hundreds of thousands (or millions) think he’s important.

But that’s where the similarities to Joe Biden end.

Unlike Biden, Plantinga is actually right about a lot of things.

I work at an electric utility.  My job is IT-related, providing support to our power plant workers and field personnel (linemen and other electrical workers).  As a part of that job, I attend safety meetings.  Safety is big at our electric utility and again and again is called the first priority for employees, with providing electricity to our consumers as a second priority.

My job is not as hazardous as the electrical workers I support, but my job does take me inside power plants and substations, and my training includes safety protocols to follow while in those facilities.  In addition, the technology I am responsible for assists in making those facilities a safer place.

“Photos, or it didn’t happen.”

That’s a saying we have around here.  I’m not sure where it originated.  In any event, it’s become a popular phrase, and we generally try to oblige.

One of the must-see sights in Chiang Rai, Thailand is Wat Rong Khun, or the White Temple.  It’s less a “temple” in the strict Buddhist sense than it is a frolicking, impudent, and eclectic art exhibition mixing traditional Buddhist themes with modern entertainment and political icons, many of them from the West and familiar to the hundreds of tourists who flock to the temple each day.