Commentary

Whenever I write on single issues, some excellent material ends up in my stack of stuff.  I save it because it’s stuff you need to know and may not have heard or read about.

Excuse me, but I have to again begin with a bit of humor because there’s so much negative stuff in the news.  I recently wrote of the humor generated by climate change tales, and the fawning quote about Joe Biden by NBC’s Howard Fineman.

Here’s your laugh of the day – Most of you are likely to be familiar with Rob Reiner, if not from his role as “Meathead” in All in the Family (the show about Archie Bunker), or by his liberal political views from Hollywood. 

Coincidentally on April Fool’s Day, Reiner wrote @robreiner: “It’s long past time that we acknowledge the sure-handed, effective, grace under fire, success of Joe Biden’s presidency.” LOL

IMMIGRATION

As thousands of illegals cross our southern border every day, former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson under Obama, called the crisis “unsustainable” during an interview on MSNBC.  It’s too bad he doesn’t have any connections with the current White House.  Maybe he does, and they don’t care.

INFLATION

As a “student” of Milton Friedman economics, my interest was drawn to a piece, “The ghost of Milton Friedman is haunting President Biden,” published by American Spirit.  “As Americans sour on his presidency in response to rising inflation (among other things), Friedman is having the last laugh,” it states.

You may recall that candidate Biden said, “Milton Friedman isn’t running the show anymore.” 

Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon in the sense that it is and can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output.” – Milton Friedman

Wages are up, primarily in the leisure and hospitality sector, but the increase in prices of goods and gasoline is eating it up.  In a Gallup poll released this past week, 53.2 percent of the respondents said they were “thriving,” the lowest since January 2021.  On a scale of 0 to 10, Americans who rate their lives at seven or higher are determined to be “thriving.”  Nearly four percent rated themselves as “struggling.”

Corruption Among the Bidens

The sudden interest in Hunter Biden’s laptop by the mainstream media after they sat on the story since before the 2020 election seems to point to their learning of inside information that something big is coming from the grand jury investigation, and they don’t want to be seen as part of the cover-up, even though that’s said and done.

Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleisher, Tweeted @AriFleisher: “This story is not over.  It’s just the beginning.”

“How did a person (President Biden) who spent his entire life in public service amass such a family fortune,” Historian David McCullough opined.

While we are learning more and more of the content of the laptop, another matter of ethics and corruption has surfaced around The Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children, founded just weeks after his death.

While the Foundation received $3.9 million in donations, including $1.8 million from The Biden Foundation, and $225,000 from one of the president’s top political donors, it spent just $544,961 (58 percent) on its mission.

$1 million went to salaries for the foundation’s executives.  Pointing out that most top-rated nonprofits spend at least 75 percent on programs, the Beau Biden Foundation’s 58 percent “does not reflect a high level of financial efficiency.”

The Coming Midterms

“We’re focused on our path to the majority,” House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik said during an interview with the Daily Caller, as she announced that some 280 women have filed as candidates, the most in our nation’s history.

Meanwhile, things are not looking up for the Democrat’s chances of maintaining a stranglehold on the Hispanic vote, according to the latest Quinnipiac poll.

Pew Research noted a growing cultural divide in America, in which Hispanics appear to be increasingly turned off by progressive mottos and movements.  The Democrat Party is losing its brand among white working-class voters and Hispanics.

Climate Change

Again, a bit of humor.  Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager who has been scolding world leaders for dragging their feet on addressing climate change, confirmed that “The Climate Book” will be published in October.

“This is the biggest story in the world,” she said, “and it must be spoken far and wide as our voices can carry, and much further still.”  She’s invited over 100 leading voices – scientists, experts, activists and authors to create the book that will cover the climate – an ecological crisis from a holistic perspective.

We can expect more scare tactics.

In defiance of another book, “Fossil Future,” author Alex Epstein has learned that the Washington Post’s climate reporter, Maxine Joselow, intends to not only discredit the book but portray him as a racist.

Obviously concerned with the need for supplies of minerals critical to the production of batteries for those electric cars, President Biden is considering invoking the Defense Production Act to boost domestic production of lithium, nickel and graphite, cobalt and manganese.

For more than a decade, I have been critical of American automakers for caving in on Café standards, believing that cars made to gain more miles to the gallon will be made lighter and less safe.   They should be building cars people want.

How disappointed I was this week when I learned that the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the top lobbying group for automakers and suppliers, petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals to join the EPA in defending the tougher standards against a legal challenge.

Cars and light trucks in 2026 will supposedly give purchasers vehicles that will get 49 miles per gallon.

More “stuff” in my next post.

Now, more than ever, may God continue to bless the United States of America