So Now We're Changing Definitions?

 The media was filled with stories this week about the 2 month recession in the spring of 2020.  What a joke.  One or two down months do not make a recession; that is clear.  We need at least two quarters of economic contraction before a recession can be called.  The magnitude of a one or two month contraction doesn't matter.  The must be a six month period of contraction at a minimum.

So why the rush to change the definition and call a two month contraction a "recession?"  Isn't it obvious?  Those two months were during the Trump years.  Now the media can talk about how Trump brought us a recession.  That will play well once the Biden recession starts next quarter.  Biden won't be breaking about 12 years without a recession.  No, Biden will just be brought down by the terrible after effects of the recession brought in by Trump.

Why can't there be a modicum of honesty from the media?

Those Pesky Facts

 After reading the 25th article on the need for gun control to stop the “epidemic” of murder, I though it might be instructive to look at how other countries have handled the issue. I looked at a few countries in South America (Ecuador and Brazil), Central America and the Caribbean (curacao and Jamaica), Europe (Russia and Estonia), Africa (South Africa and Nigeria) and Asia (Pakistan and Yemen). In each of these countries, the murder rate is significantly higher than it is in the USA, even with the major surge in murders here in 2022

Then there’s the fact that nearly every murder in the USA is NOT committed using so called assault weapons. It’s less than 2% of the total

What stops street crime is effective policing which is hard to get while the Dems are busy defunding those programs. Somehow we need to get back to factbased law enforcement rather than bogus left wing ideology. 

DACA Finally Gets The Boot -- It's Unconstitutional

 A federal judge in Texas ruled yesterday that the program protecting illegal aliens who were brought here as children is unconsitutional.  The problem is not the content of the program but rather that President Obama simply did it by Executive Order when he clearly did not have the power to do so under the Constitution.  An act of  Congress was required to change the law in this way.

There is no real question that the ruling is correct.  Indeed, Obama himself said on many occasions prior to announcing DACA that he simply did not have the power to put such a program in place.  Obama acknowledged that Congress had to act but then chose to ignore the Constitution and just try to do it himself.  Obama knew that eventually the program would fall, and now it has.

President Trump tried to get Congress to act on this, but the Democrats blocked any compromise to keep the program in place.  Even now, it seems clear that the Dems don't want to compromise.  They are talking about changing the immigration law through reconciliation -- something that is impossible if the Senate Rules are actually followed.

It would be great if the Congress could reach a compromise bill to protect these people.  After all, it is not their fault that they were brought here by there parents years ago.  A simple compromise would continue allowing "dreamers" who have registered to continue to work without fear of deportation (assuming they are not committing other crimes or promoting gang violence.)  It would also allow them to apply for US citizenship which could be obtained after an appropriate waiting period -- something like the wait that legal immigrants have to meet.  They would also have to show that they have paid their taxes on past employment and otherwise complied with the law.  Congress could also make other changes like getting rid of the visa lottery which unfairly penalizes many who have waited patiently and legally for immigrant visas.  It would also be good to limit some of the family ties that allow for green cards to be issued, but that would be up to Congress.

The judges ruling ought to be a call for reason and compromise to prevail.  It won't.  There is just no appetite for compromise in DC.  Even Biden immediately shot down any compromise when he commented on the court's ruling.  It's too bad we have a president who only says he wants compromise but NEVER, NEVER means it.

Can't Common Sense Triumph Over Trump Hatred?

 About half the country really didn't like President Trump.  Nearly every Democrat party activist hated our former president.  I get that.  When Biden won and took office he and his people did all they could to reverse many of Trump's policies.  Sometimes the reversals were on a political basis and sometimes it was just due to Trump hatred.  Still, Biden just took an action to reverse a Trump policy that can only be described as insanity.

One of Trump's big achievements was the Abraham Accords.  Trump and his team actually managed to facilitate peace between Israel and four Arab countries with more, including Saudi Arabia, likely to follow.  It was the first progress towards a Mid-East peace in over 20 years.  Biden's State Department stopped supporting these accords once in office.  Now, Biden is actually taking steps to undermine these accords.

One part of the Abraham Accords was was the establishment of a fund to promote economic growth of the participants in the peace deals.  The US contribution to the fund was $5 billion.  In the context of Biden's spending proposals, $5 billion is like spare change.  Nevertheless, Biden just acted to freeze any contribution by the USA to the fund.  Amazingly, Biden and his party are so opposed to anything connected to Trump that they are prepared to undermine peace in the region just to undo a Trump accomplishment.  It's not just bizarre; it's also disgusting.

Watching the Collapse

 During the Obama years, nothing much really happened once Obamacare was passed.  The Democrats never used their massive majorities to change the immigration laws or to enact major climate change legislation or to deal with any of the other favorite plans of the left.  They talked about all of them, but given overwhelming control of the government they really did very little.  They preferred talking and photo ops to actual action (which they knew wouldn't actually work.)  

The Biden administration seems to be pushing towards the same inaction.  Sure, Congress passed the COVID "relief" bill which was mostly a payoff to various Dem constituencies.  The Dems haven't passed their tax bills, their infrastructure bills, their climate legislation or any of the myriad of other favorites of the far left.  They seem to be leaderless and rudderless.

How can the Dems expect this inaction from the party of government will play with the American people.  The Dems spend years saying the government should handle this or that only to do nothing once they are in control.  They seem to be trying to prove the point that government can't really solve much of anything.

Is it possible that the Dems really want to be in opposition where they can complain and complain and denounce the "racist" Republicans and complain some more?  Every so often they get power so that they can have the federal government pay off their supporters, but that's about all.

At the moment, I am watching the collapse of the Dems who will surely lose the House and Senate in 2022.  It truly seems as if that is what they actually want.

How bizarre.

The Media Doesn't Understand Joe Manchin

 I saw yet another article this afternoon about how Nancy Pelosi hopes to back Joe Manchin into a corner so that he will have to vote for the ridiculous 6 trillion dollars extra spending bill being pushed by the left.  Clearly, the people who writes such pieces are morons, and that's being kind.  Manchin is a senator from West Virginia.  His vote is crucial if the Dems are to pass their crazy spending bill. The problem for the Dems, though, is that West Virginia is an extremely Republican state.  Trump's margin there was almost 40% in 2020.  There are no statewide Democrat office holders aside from Manchin.  

The idea that Pelosi would think that causing upset for the Democrats in WV would motivate Manchin is preposterous.  Manchin won election bevause he was not a typical Dem and would not tolerate their nonsense is what got him elected.  He knows that.  So does Pelosi.