JUST SOME POSTS

I am writing this on the morning of the 4th of July. As noted in the title, the 4th of July happens everywhere. What does not is Independence Day. The 4th of July is celebrated in the U.S. to mark the day the 13 colonies of North America declared their independence from Great Britain. But, why the 4th? It is at the top of the Declaration of Independence, the official document that was drawn up by Thomas Jefferson at the behest of the Continental Congress. However, there are a lot of other dates that we could (and maybe should?) celebrate or at least publicize. As you might imagine, I am going to do a bit of that for you now. By July 4th, 1776 the Colonies were already at war with Great Britain. (fyi, for simplicities sake, I am going to follow convention and just refer to Great Britain and her armies as "the British" in most cases) The first shots "officially" fired at British troops by Continental militia were at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts on April 19th...

  Unless you have been living under a rock you have probably seen a couple of news stories (and maybe other types of mentions) about the recently passed law that passed in Georgia on voting - "The Election Integrity Act of 2021". It has been labeled by most of the media and an increasing number of celebrities and athletes as "racist", the "revival of Jim Crow", "suppression of the minority vote", and other scary names.  As with some other laws and proposed laws, I decided to actually read the bill to see what the uproar is about. I would wager that most of those railing against the bill have not read it. The bill is 94 pages long. It contains a lot of "stuff" that probably could have been said more clearly and simply - like most bills. It seems those that write the bills at the State and Federal level live by the theory that if 20 words is good, 100 words is better. I am going to try to give you a synopsis of the bill and tell you what ...

The "woke" warriors that are now trying to save us from anything they consider the least bit offensive have gone after another icon - Theodor Geisel better known as Dr. Seuss. The Dr. Seuss books have now been determined to be racist and show stereotypes that will have a negative effect on the development of the children that read them. smh I figured these revised books may be more fitting in today's society: Dr. Seuss aka Theodor Geisel was a known fighter against racism and discrimination. Did he use depictions and symbols that are now seen as offensive? Yes, to some. But to repeat something I wrote a while back:  "Our view of the past will always be distorted when seen through the lens of the present" Erasing history or trying to make if fit neatly into our world view today (or to be more correct - a small minority view, imho), is pointless and harmful for those that are actually trying to grow as humans. a note: I am not that good at photo manipulation - tho...

  The recent historic cold weather in Texas and the effects it had on the energy grid there has been bandied about by many politicians, newscasters, and just about everyone else that could (and still can) do so. The folks on one side are saying that the failure was due to the recent emphasis on green energy, especially the windmills that quit working due to freezing up. The other side is saying it is because Texas separated itself from the national electric grid and was unable to get help from others among other things. As with most statements that are polar opposites and extreme, the truth appears to lie somewhere in between those two positions. Here are some facts I have been able to find after hours of study and digging around on websites. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) runs the Texas power grid - which is somewhat independent of the national grid. FYI, most power companies have some level of autonomy and control over their own areas of the country that t...

I think there may be one other instance where in the over 10 years I have been doing this blog that I have used someone else's words instead of my own. I do not think I have ever just used someone else's words. This does not need anything I can give it other than an introduction. So here it is:  Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) delivered a strident address on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday afternoon in which he cited examples of Democrats encouraging violence and aggressive behavior against Trump supporters and Republicans. Paul highlighted the Democrats’ hypocrisy as he spoke against the impending impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, which is scheduled to begin Tuesday afternoon, though substantive proceedings will be delayed until February 8. Paul’s remarks, in full, are as follows. *** "This impeachment is nothing more than a partisan exercise designed to further divide the country. Democrats claim to want to unify the country, but impeaching a former president,...

  A lot has been made in the last couple of weeks of the President's (now past President) pardons and commutations (although most don't know what a commutation is - they "know" they should be upset with them. For the record a commutation is the substitution of a lesser penalty than originally given - typically time served. The conviction and criminal record still exists. A pardon is the overturning of the actual conviction. It exonerates the person and expunges their record of the crime.) Presidential pardons and commutations are a power granted to all Presidents from the U.S. Constitution. In the section enumerating Presidential powers and authority, Article 2, Section 2, Clause 1 states which states: "...he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States". Although there has been some arguments among Constitutional scholars, this power is considered to be only for convictions and/or violations of Federal laws, not Sta...

I have done a couple of fairly recent posts on perspective. I have been amazed at the fear shown over Covid-19 from young people. I am not making light of any deaths. However, statistically Covid-19 has not been a significant cause of death for those under 65 at all. If you look under 55, it is even less. There are many other things that are as if not more likely to kill you. Some US Covid-19 numbers The most deaths in number and as a percentage of that population is in those over 75. That demographic represents just under 7% of the total population (6.88% of the numbers I was using). However, they account for just under 60% (59.6%) of all the Covid-19 deaths. Read those numbers again - 6 out of every 10 Covid-19 deaths in the US are in people 75 and older!  If you include the next demographic - 65 years and older (so it would include the previous group as well as those from 65 to 74 years old) you are now at almost 81% (80.9%) of all deaths from Covid-19. This group represents jus...