Commentary

“I love him.  I don’t want to hear nothing you got to say about that racist stuff,” said Forlesia Cook, a black grandmother whose grandson was murdered in Washington DC during his deployment as a member of the National Guard.

It was genuine, coming from someone unaccustomed to public speaking, let alone in the White House with President Trump at her side, and the audience in the East Room of the White House recognizing Black History Month warmly responded as she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Then there was the appearance of Alice Johnson, a black woman who had her life sentence for cocaine trafficking commuted in 2018 and fully pardoned in 2020 by Trump, who said, “Don’t let anyone tell you that this president is not for black America, because he is,” adding that “I’m standing here today as a testament.” She is now Trump’s pardon czar.

The gathering was officially entitled, “President Trump Celebrates Black History Month: Advancing Opportunity and Prosperity for Every American.”   Note his use of “every American.”  No Black Lives Matter crap.

While the official White House announcement referred to a list of benefits to black families, it states his interest in ensuring prosperity is accessible to every American citizen.

When the event was announced, I wondered what Trump would say about the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who passed away a day earlier.  “Wondered,” because Trump, like CEOs across the country, years ago were persuaded to contribute to Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition.  Some have said, “or else.”

However, Trump referred to him as “a good man, with lots of personality, grit, and street smarts,” while noting that he had given Jackson office space for him and the Rainbow Coalition for years.

Remarking that, “I am falsely and consistently called a racist by the scoundrels, and lunatics on the radical left, Democrats all,” Trump said, “Jesse was a force of nature like few before him” and that he “will be missed,”

Okay for the Left, but …

For years, I have been critical of the EPA as unelected bureaucrats wrote the environmental regulations that were forced upon us, and Congress did nothing to reign them in.

I recently wrote how President Trump gave his EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin a green light to bring common sense to the organization.  “To follow the law exactly as it is written and as Congress intended – not as others might wish it to be.”  Big difference … it’s Trump’s bureaucrats who are now in charge,

But a coalition of the “green” organizations have sued the EPA, and California’s Governor Newsom was ready and willing to support them, calling Zeldin’s move “unlawful, ignores basic science and denies reality,” unwittingly conceding that that was the modus operandi of the Obama-Biden era EPA.

Troubles in Mamdaniville

Does the Forbes magazine headline, “Mamdani’s Proposed 9.5% NYC Property Tax Increase Stirs Debate,” surprise you?  If you are a New Yorker or someone, like me, who has been following the Big Apple’s self-inflicted move by voting for a socialist, Zohran Mamdani, you’re not.  Punishing the wealthy has never been a good idea.

Then there’s the reaction to the first fully free grocery store in the West Village that opened at 2 p.m. on February 12, where there was a four-block line to get in.  Branded “The Polymarket,” it was open to the public for four days, offering staples like milk, eggs, bread and produce.  No payment required, no income verification and no purchase limit.

Mamdani floated a proposal to open city-run grocery stores in every borough, selling food at wholesale prices.

But Mamdani is not getting tax hike help from Governor Hochul, who is running for reelection.

Newsom has Problems too

California has the highest concentration of billionaires in the U.S. with 255 individuals, or slightly more than a fifth of the country’s billionaire population according to data available, and there are efforts to hit them up with more taxation.

A California healthcare union has proposed an emergency one-time five percent levy on the wealth of any resident worth over $1 billion to plug the gap in cuts in the Medicaid program.

Is it any wonder that no tax states like Florida and Texas are attracting the wealthy?  JPMorgan Chase now has more employees in Texas than in New York State.

May God continue to bless the United States of America.